S1 Ep5: Holly Shortall: Podcaster and activist

07/18/19 • 25 min

Holly Shortall co-hosts the hit pop culture podcast Popsessed with her friend, the broadcaster, journalist and DJ Conor Behan. She is also an HIV activist with ACT UP Dublin. My first interviewee from outside of the UK, Holly is a favourite of UK and Irish Gay Twitter, which is how I came to know her. She lives in Dublin, and works in marketing and communications (yep, everything I’ve just mentioned is side hustle.) We talked about finding your tribe online, her work with ACT UP (actupdublin.com), and how she sees the role of an ally.

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S1 Ep4: Professor Chloe Orkin: Chair of the British HIV Association

Professor Chloe Orkin is the Chair of the British HIV Association. She is a Clinical Professor of HIV Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, on secondment to the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University College London. She is a Consultant Physician at the Royal London Hospital where her clinical duties include running a busy HIV and HIV/ HCV research unit. Professor Orkin led the ‘Going Viral’ blood-borne virus testing week campaign, and under her leadership BHIVA has been acknowledged as an early champion of the U=U campaign. Professor Orkin sees herself as a medical activist, working to improve the lives of people living with HIV in the UK by providing medical evidence that challenges stigma. She trained as a doctor in her native South Africa at the height of the AIDS crisis before moving to London, where she met her partner - who also works in HIV medicine.

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S1 Ep6: Nicki French: UK Eurovision legend

Nicki French is a singer and actor. She represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, finishing 16th with ‘Don’t Play That Song Again’. Nicki has since become a stalwart of the Eurovision fan scene, including the annual London Eurovision Party, to which she brings up to 23 costume changes. Her new EP of Eurovision covers, ‘Let’s Play That Song Again’, is out now. Nicki’s cover of fellow Eurovision entrant Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ was a top five hit in the UK and US in 1995, selling over five million copies worldwide. She has performed in gay clubs from the very start of her career and is currently signed to the HI-NRG label Energise Records, along with other Pride season favourites Hazell Dean, Sinitta, and Sonia. Since 2007, she has also been working as an actor in pantomime and musicals, including The Wizard of Oz and Annie. We talked about Nicki’s Eurovision experiences, making music for gay clubs, and playing musical theatre legend Ethel Merman.