Is there a conspiracy to stop us watching a feel-good film about pensioners? Who was younger than Hannah when it was filmed? Whose legs does Jen envy? How high are Mickey's socks? We answer all these questions and more as we watch Ron Howard's sci-fi comedy drama about old people fighting age with the help of aliens. Learn more about your ad choice…

In this month's Outside The Box, Hannah and Jen are chatting about The Rehearsal, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Beth, The Better Sister and The Last Anniversary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Standard Issue

Announced as the new associate artistic director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre back in November 2024, Tinuke Craig is keen to show just how broad the theatre's programming can be. A production of Noughts and Crosses, based on the Malorie Blackman young adult series, and directed by Tinuke kicks it all off. Jen chats to Tinuke about bringing Nou…

Where John Hughes first dared to tread, many – so very many – teen movies have followed. Starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson as five VERY DIFFERENT American high school kids thrown together in Saturday detention for various misdemeanours, does the Gen X cult classic pass muster with Mick, Hanna…

An emergency caesarean brought journalist Hannah Marsh's first child into the world. Afterwards, she struggled to make sense of the events that had led to his traumatic birth and her intense feeling of shame for not having the “perfect” birth she’d envisioned. Hannah set about looking into the origins of procedure, which in turn led to her new book…

What makes a genius a genius? Do IQ tests teach us anything? Is a belief in genius right-wing coded? Hannah chats to journalist, author, broadcaster and Standard Issue fave Helen Lewis about her new book The Genius Myth, hero worship, eugenics, class and (braces) football. To hear the full interview or to listen ad-free you can: * You can become a …

Adapted from his own novel, Inconceivable, Ben Elton’s 2000 directorial debut is hard to track down these days. Should Jen ever have unearthed it? Has Elton written a convincing female character in Joely Richardson’s baby-hungry Lucy? Is Hugh Laurie just dialling it in? What in the sweet fancy Moses is Emma Thompson doing? And can Hannah and Mick e…

Back in 2020, then-student Ella Lambert started The Pachamama Project, when she was just 20 herself. 500 million people worldwide experience period poverty, including 100 million girls who miss school every single month. The Pachamama Project creates and distributes reusable period products to vulnerable women, girls and people who have periods, in…

Artist Kirstie McLeod founded the Red Dress project in 2009, as a platform for women in marginalised groups to share their stories. Sixteen years later, the collective embroidery project represents 380 embroiderers across 51 countries and is exhibited all over the world. Jen chats to Kirstie about the project, embroidery as a (perhaps) surprising m…

Fresh from her run in The Almeida's Rhinoceros, singer, composer, writer and actor Anoushka Lucas is back on stage in a revival of her one-way play Elephant. She chats to Hannah about why going back to it is a bit like reading an old diary, having a spectacularly successful side hustle and living in Russia. Tickets to Elephant at London's Menier Ch…

Inclusion, exclusion, cervical wands, disallowed ads, sunk rescue deals, and three whole women: Jen and Mick cover the lot in this week’s look at the news. Sexism of the Week uncovers a not so brave new world in how young men view women, and in JOTB there’s a pride of Lionesses, and some excellent cycle team names. Learn more about your ad choices.…

What happens to characters when writers lose interest? They get a terrible film. Which is what The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is all about. Very meta. But does it avoid becoming a bad film itself? And since it's got Geoff Tipps, a surprisingly touching Herr Lipp plot, and Victoria Wood herself in it, do Mickey, Hannah and Jen even care? Learn…

Kate Muir’s name might not ring any immediate bells, but her documentaries with Davina McCall about the perimenopause, menopause and HRT made quite the stir. And rightly so, given they busted myths around HRT that have been stopping women asking for it for decades. Mick got on the Zoom with the women’s health campaigner, documentary maker, journali…

Former model Jess Davies started campaigning around image-based sexual abuse after her own experience of it, and the realisation that so many other women she knew had been through the same. Off the back of this came a string of documentaries, including Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next for BBC Three, and now a book, No One Wants to See Your Dick: A …

The most terrifying dystopias are within touching distance of now. And so it is with Alex Garland's Civil War, in which he uses imagined journalists chasing a story in an imagined civil war in an imagined future America to explore topics that resonate very loudly in the real world today. It’s a bleak, brutal and occasionally beautiful watch. But is…

How many kids is too many kids? Well, Boris Johnson and the UK Government are pretty divided on the issue. As well as covering the news of possible changes to the current two-child benefit cap, Hannah and Jen are talking about the horrific treatment of Nicola Packer, sexism and misogyny in the New South Wales police, and finally some good news abou…

A kids’ film with genuine horror credentials? Don’t Look Now’s Nicolas Roeg directs Roald Dahl’s 1983 tale of one boy (mouse) and his grandma versus a whole coven (convention) of child-killing witches. And by witches, we mean middle-aged women who don’t meet society’s arbitrary beauty standards and wear sensible shoes. WHAT COULD IT MEAN? Mick, Han…

Acclaimed biographer Judith Mackrell makes a second visit to Standard Issue to chat about the Johns, a pair of siblings who went from an unhappy home in Wales to become two of the greatest British painters of the Edwardian period. She chats to Hannah about the very different but intertwined lives of Gwen and Augustus and why their work isn't always…

After leaving an abusive relationship, former GB Boxer turned entrepreneur Lesley Sackey found herself living in survival mode – until she realised some of the lessons she’d learned in the ring could prove useful in life. She went on to co-found Fight Forward, an initiative helping women to empower themselves after experiencing abuse, as well as th…

Which Standard Issue presenter would survive an apocalypse? Just one of the many important questions Hannah and Mickey are asking in this week's Bush Telegraph. See also: Is America deporting legals? What next for Gaza? Why do the courts treat women so poorly? And what does any of this have to do with a Romanian model? So good job we no longer have…

Alan Parker’s musical-drama exploded the careers of Irene Cara, Gene Anthony Ray and others, and – thanks to the hit TV series that followed – earned a reputation as a fluffy tale of leg warmers and sweatbands. But underneath the choreographed routines, will this warts-and-all depiction of life at the New York School of Performing Arts prove TOO MU…

In an era where misinformation is rife and spreads at light speed, the role of experts in research is more critical than ever. And yet, historical underrepresentation and systemic biases have led to a lack of trust in research among women and marginalised groups. So how do researchers regain our trust? Why is inclusivity so important? And how can w…

Cariad Lloyd is an actor, comedian and writer (and one of our faves), who has been talking about grief since the death of her father when she was 15. She’s turned her experiences into an award-winning podcast, Griefcast, and a bestselling book, You Are Not Alone. She’s now written a children’s book, Where Did She Go?, which aims to improve how we t…

The big news is that someone has finally finished Mad Men, but if you're looking for some more recent TV, we've got that too. We chat about Poker Face, The Last of Us, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, Austin, The Four Seasons and Malpractice in our big round-up of the month's TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm…

A film about racial tensions, police violence and disaffected youth? And this might be dated, you say? OK, probably not, but join us anyway as we talk about one of France's most well-respected films, why it's funnier than you'd imagine, and its breakout star Vincent Cassel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

When writer and director Sara Harrak got back into 5-a-side as an adult, she became obsessed, which led to her short film, Solers United. Starring Leah Harvey as Bills, it follows the trials and tribulations of a grassroots women's and non-binary team fighting for survival. Jen chats to Sara and Leah about community, gentrification, taking up more …

Journalist, author and life-long athlete Bonnie Tsui is fascinated by muscle: how it looks; what it does, and how we think about it. Her curiosity led her to the meat of her new book, On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters, which explores the world of muscle from five different perspectives: strength; form; action; flexibility, and e…

Should Labour be addressing immigration? Should men be mammographers? Does anyone fancy being imprisoned in the Jorvik Viking Centre? Jen and Hannah attempt to answer these and many other important questions in today's podcast. Plus, in Jenny Off The Blocks, we're talking about ACL injuries and good news for Charlton Athletic. Learn more about your…

Ridley Scott’s epic regeneration of the swords and sandals genre made megastars out of Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix and bagged a whole load of metal for the trophy cabinet, alongside a heap of box-office kerching. But 25 years on, does this tale of blood, brutality, bread, circuses and vengeance still thrill? Mick, Hannah and Jen share their t…

Feminist writer, campaigner, and one of Standard Issue’s firm favourites, Laura Bates’s latest non-fiction is called The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny. Anyone fretting about the good old age of sexism, fret ye not, because it is still alive and kicking and very much fuelling and influencing the new one. And it’s i…

It’s game, set and love matches in our Yosra’s pick of 2024 films, as she, Mick and Hannah watch Luca Guadagnino’s sweaty tale of rivalry on and off the courts. Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, it was a bit of a critics’ darling and a box-office champ. But does that mean a flying sausage for our three women? Or will they take issue w…

There’s a whole load of ‘but why the feck isn’t that already happening?’ in Hannah and Mick’s look at the news this week, as they take in nudification apps (no thanks), fresh rules for the police (yes please), and new investigations at old mother and baby institutions in Ireland (finally). Still, good news comes in the shapes of Jon Bon Jovi, minia…

Director Amy Heckerling is known for films centred on thefemale experience, but how feminist is a film about a woman narrated by anactual man-baby? Or a single mum hell-bent on finding a dad for her youngchild? Jen, Mick and Hannah revisit 1990’s Look Who’s Talking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

If an adult male grooms a teenage girl into a sexual relationship, we're increasingly likely to call it abuse. But reverse the sex of the perpetrator and victim and attitudes are very different. In her latest podcast, Lucky Boy, journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou investigates one such case. She chats to Hannah about why female abusers are judged less ha…

Anyone who’s ever been anywhere near social media can attest to the somewhat loose definition of “self-care” adopted by society. Broadcasters Lauren Mishcon and Nicole Goodman, keen to challenge the deeply consumerist notions underpinning the wellness industry, and so their podcast, The Self-Care Club, in which they try and test different practices…

In Girl On Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Sophie Gilbert underlines how popular culture isn’t an innocuous force. She chats to our Mick about how focusing on how women and girls have been presented in pop culture from the late 1990s through the first two decades of this century r…

Once cool, now ick. That could describe so many things from 1995, but in this instance it's Luc Besson's thriller about a prepubescent girl and her assassin neighbour. But could it all have been so different? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Standard Issue

Two young women walk into a theatre in China in 1935 and so begins a relationship that spans a turbulent period of history and ends with the death of one of them. Hannah chats to playwright and historian Amy Ng about her latest play, Shanghai Dolls, about finding the women behind the legends of Sun Weishi and Madame Mao, and about how we could all …

Books are a bit like buses for author Abigail Johnson, who signed a two-book deal after taking a punt on a creative writing course during the pandemic. Fast forward a few years, and Abigail's debut novel The Secret Collector is out now. Jen catches up with Abigail to talk about loneliness, learning from our elders (and indeed youngers), and the bes…

There's a long weekend ahead and if you want to spend it watching telly, then you do you. Have some help choosing in the form of our monthly chat about TV, in which we're talking about The White Lotus, The Last of Us, After the Party, Dying for Sex, Black Mirror, Black Snow and Black Doves. Yeah, we saw the pattern there too. Learn more about your …

Things are looking very worrying over in America, so of course we're talking about that. But we manage to get in a lot of other stuff too, including workers' rights, good news about bad games, rich women in space, mean girls in tennis and some more dreadful French pronunciations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Comedy? Horror? Satire? A full-length Huey Lewis and the News music video? There’s a lot going on in Mary Harron’s big screen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial 1991 bestseller. Will Christian Bale’s much-lauded turn as Patrick Bateman blow Mick, Hannah and Jen away or turn their stomachs? What does a female director’s perspective brin…

Alice Vincent was a music journalist for many years, which had already started to shift how she listened, but then pregnancy and a deep trauma when her baby was very small led to her relationship with sound fracturing. In her new book, Hark: How Women Listen, she explores how she rebuilt that relationship, and also talks to other women about their …

Elsa James’s new exhibition, It Should Not Be Forgotten, explores themes of chattel enslavement and its impact on contemporary Black British life. Confronting Britain’s national amnesia around its role in the transatlantic slave trade, Elsa’s work seeks to bring an alternative perspective on how we engage with the past. Jen chats to Elsa about the …

Actor Honeysuckle Weeks has been onstage and screen for more than 30 years and can currently be found touring as Marmee in a new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women. Jen chats to Honeysuckle about how relatable the 1868 novel remains to young women, the tragedy of Jo, and loving Leslie Manville. Learn more about your ad choices. V…

There’s a whole lot of manosphere in this week’s Bush Telegraph, helmed by Hannah and Mick, but maybe, just maybe, there’s a side of justice to boot. Thank Christ? Turns out a lot more Gen Z-ers have turned to God than we thought, so perhaps. Thank dire wolves? Well, now you’re just being silly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/…

John Waters’ follow-up to smash hit Hairspray saw the so-called “Pope of Trash” enjoy the first-ever bidding war for his work. But does 1990’s cult classic Cry-Baby live up to the hype? Is it the lol-a-thon Jen remembers? And can Mick and Hannah still bear to look at Johnny Depp’s face? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Writer, actor and top woman Brona C Titley was keener than mustard when she was asked to adapt Brian Helgeland’s 2001 medieval action comedy for the stage. A Knight’s Tale the Musical opens at Manchester Opera House this Friday, so Mick got Brona on the Zoom to chat the whys, the hows, and the horses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho…

Namulanta Kombo pitched an idea for a podcast to the BBC World Service and the result - Dear Daughter - has become a worldwide success story, garnering a devoted listenership and a bunch of awards. She joins Hannah from Nairobi, to talk about advice, good and bad, and the importance of passing on life lessons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi…

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt and adapted from Amy Liptrot’s prizewining 2017 addiction memoir of the same name, The Outrun follows the recovery of young alcoholic Rona, and offers emotional turmoil in dramatic places. How will Mick, Yosra and Hannah cope with that? And it stars Saoirse Ronan. How will Hannah cope with that? Learn more about your ad…