Amelia Bullmore

01/13/21 • 62 min

Serendipity on the cycle path last week. Out for my daily exercise when someone behind me in the bike lane called my name. It was the multi-talented actor and writer Amelia Bullmore. We met several years ago at a local Pilates class and even though Amelia has appeared in some of my favourite TV programmes: Coronation Street (Steph Barnes), I’m Alan Partridge (girlfriend Sonja) and Twenty Twelve (Kay Hope) - I didn’t recognise her. Sharp, brilliant and funny, she's also very low-key and modest. We always had a good chat and discovered that we were both students in Manchester at the same time, but while I was propping up the bar at the Hacienda, Amelia was touring the country with playwright Helen Edmunson and the women’s theatre group Red Stockings...

But that was then. Now she's busier than ever, filming the second series of Gentleman Jack and writing the script for the second series of her crime drama Traces. Set in Dundee, Traces focuses on the work of three female forensic scientists and is enjoyable to watch ( Mondays at 9pm on BBC1, all episodes are available on iPlayer). Amelia very generously found the time to record a That's Not My Age podcast. Together we discuss writing, the pressures on women actors as they age, costume - if you're interested in design and styling Amelia recommends the YouTube channel Costume CO which has a couple of films on Gentleman Jack. And of course we talked about style. Eulogising over the French actor Camille Cottin who stars in Call My Agent (new series coming soon), whose name we couldn't remember. That IS Our Age.

Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Jan De Villeneuve
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Digital technician: Tom Hole at Stirtingale
Coordinator: Helen Johnson

Previous Episode

Jan De Villeneuve

In the 1960s, model Jan de Villeneuve regularly appeared on the cover of Vogue and was photographed by all the greats, including, David Bailey and Norman Parkinson. An architecture and design graduate from Ohio, she was discovered in her early twenties while visiting a friend in New York. This super-cool fan of vintage fashion was refused entry to a restaurant in San Francisco in 1971 for ‘being too mod’. In a feature called ‘What we really wore in the 70s’ she described her outfit to the Telegraph, ‘I had on a long Liberty-print skirt, a white peasant blouse and a cardigan. Strangely enough, a lady wearing a skimpy two-piece leopard-print outfit with midriff showing was allowed in – I had to borrow a trench coat.’

Over 50 years later, Jan's modelling career is going through something of a renaissance and she's back on the cover of magazines. Jan still loves vintage fashion and spending time with her family - her daughters are the illustrator Daisy and model-turned-photographer Poppy de Villeneuve – she lives in Kent with her partner the rock and roll drummer Andy Newark and her dog Charlie.

Next Episode

Arit Anderson

My guest on today's podcast is the wonderful garden designer, writer and TV presenter, Arit Anderson. Who I'm sure you recognise from BBC Gardener's World and Garden Rescue. The 52-year-old grew up in North London and worked in fashion for 25 years before discovering horticulture in her mid-40s. It was moving into a new house that, er, sowed the seeds of a new gardening career and while continuing as a freelance consultant, she studied for a diploma in garden design at Capel Manor a specialist environmental college. Swiftly going on to win several awards, including one at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2013, and a Gold Medal for her conceptual garden highlighting the impact of climate change and the need for renewable energies, at RHS Hampton Court in 2016. Today, as well as broadcasting, writing and investigating ways to make landscaping more eco-friendly, she runs her own successful garden design practice.

In this podcast, Arit Anderson explains her career trajectory from fashion retail and events, to finding happiness in horticulture. We talk about how being in nature can restore our mental health, what makes a good garden and what she's doing to stay positive during the pandemic (clue: it's much more adventurous than sourdough). I'm sure you're going to love this episode. Now that we're recording the podcast using an app, I don't actually meet (or even see) the guests - which can feel a bit awkward at times - but it has to be said that Arit was warm and friendly and an absolute dream to chat to. I'm hoping that when all this is over, we'll be able to meet up IRL and I can pick her brains about my balcony. In the meantime, I've offered to email her a photo...

Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Arit Anderson
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Digital technician: Tom Hole at Stirtingale
Coordinator: Helen Johnson