Best Minnie Driver Podcasts (2025)

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Hilma Wolitzer: 80 years of writing – and not done yet (from the archives) 53:50

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2d ago53:50

53:50

(This episode first aired in August 2022.) My guest today is the writer Hilma Wolitzer. Born in 1930, Hilma had her first poem published at the age of 9. She then shelved that ambition in favour of marriage and children, as women were expected to in the 1950s. 26 years later she had her first short story published. Then there was no stopping her. H…

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Sarah McLachlan: Making Music to Connect and Heal 37:19

6d ago37:19

37:19

Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan says, “we need opportunities to feel connection and to feel less alone.” For her, music is the salve. The three-time Grammy Award winner is back with her tenth studio album, Better Broken. Amidst our tense collective cultural moment, McLachlan aims to create music that bridges divide. In this episode, Sarah McLachl…

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Caryn Franklin on why fashion still fails older women - from the archives 56:36

10d ago56:36

56:36

(This episode was first published in November 2022.) Today's guest is one of my personal heroes, Caryn Franklin. Caryn started her career in the 80s as a fashion editor before moving into TV where she presented, amongst other things, BBC’s The Clothes Show. Always outspoken, Caryn has spent four decades being a thorn in the fashion industry’s side.…

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Lisa Jewell on hitting a golden seam of success in her 50s - FROM THE ARCHIVES 1:01:51

17d ago1:01:51

1:01:51

(This episode first aired in September 2022.) Today’s guest is one of Britain’s best loved novelists, Lisa Jewell. Her career started with a smash hit debut novel Ralph’s Party - which she started writing as a bet at the age of 27 while she was unemployed, and, according to her, “totally lacking in direction and ambition”. It was the book of the mo…

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Thomasina Miers on the midlife Mexican escape that rebuilt her 53:18

24d ago53:18

53:18

Hello and welcome to the final episode of season 18. 18!!!! My guest today is the cook, Thomasina Miers. Despite being taught to cook as a child, Tommi didn’t really embrace her love of food until her late 20s when a trip to Mexico inspired a love of Mexican food that was to change her life. In 2005, she became the first person ever to win Masterch…

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Laura Lippmann is having a second coming at 60 54:06

30d ago54:06

54:06

A few weeks ago, I was pootling around on substack where The Shift newsletter lives - https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/ - and I noticed I had a DM from a new subscriber. It turned out to be from one of my favourite crime writers - the award winning Laura Lippmann, who some of you might know from the recent apple TV+ series of her novel, Th…

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How Natasha Rothwell’s Life Brought Her to “The White Lotus” 33:40

1M ago33:40

33:40

Actress Natasha Rothwell returns as Belinda in The White Lotus Season 3, a role that’s earned her two Emmy nominations and cemented her status as the show’s moral center. In this episode, Rothwell shares how she connects to Belinda’s journey of self-discovery and how she collaborated with creator Mike White to bring greater nuance to the character.…

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Charlotte Mendelson – middle-aged women are entitled to want more 1:01:53

1M ago1:01:53

1:01:53

This season is dedicated to helping you pick your summer reads and my guest today is the novelist Charlotte Mendelson whose writing has been compared to “late Shakespeare meets Modern family!” So you know where to turn if you’re looking for a painfully funny, on the nose look at the dynamics of love and marriage. Charlotte worked as a publisher for…

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Betsy Lerner is on a mission to destigmatise mental health in her 60s 50:51

1M ago50:51

50:51

My guest this week is the novelist Betsy Lerner. Now Betsy is here to talk about her critically acclaimed debut novel, Shred Sisters, which takes us from the 1970s to the 90s and tells us the story of two troubled sisters, Amy and Ollie. No less a legend than Patti Smith described it as “moving like a souped up pick up truck” - and who am I to argu…

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Daniel Dae Kim Leads Spy Drama and Fights for Industry Change 21:48

2M ago21:48

21:48

Actor Daniel Dae Kim is no stranger to breaking barriers. From his groundbreaking role on Lost, to his Tony-nominated turn in Yellow Face, Kim continues to affirm his title as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. With his new show, Butterfly, he steps into the spotlight as the leading man of a high-stakes international spy thriller. …

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Nicola Sturgeon on life after leadership 56:18

2M ago56:18

56:18

This week I’m delighted to welcome back to The Shift one of my most listened-to guests, Nicola Sturgeon. When we last spoke, at the start of 2022, Nicola was First Minister of Scotland - the first woman to hold the role, the first woman in 600 years to be the keeper of the seal. And During her tenure, she was widely acknowledged to be one of the mo…

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Sarah Perry on "becoming a woman who didn't have children" 56:06

2M ago56:06

56:06

My guest today is the award-winning novelist Sarah Perry. Sarah is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, but the one you will almost definitely heard of (and may well have watched) is The Essex Serpent. Published in 2016, it sold over half a million copies, and won both British Book of the Year and Waterstones book of the year befo…

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Glynnis MacNicol: everything you've been told about being a middle-aged woman is a lie 1:02:15

2M ago1:02:15

1:02:15

What happens when the life you find yourself leading in midlife doesn’t tick all the supposed boxes? That’s the situation today’s guest found herself in. Glynnis MacNicol was 46 - a woman of a so-called certain age who found herself living life without a roadmap when, in august 2021, after almost 18 months spent alone in lockdown, she picked hersel…

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Steph McGovern on money, menopause & staying out of your lane 1:08:54

2M ago1:08:54

1:08:54

Crime novels might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the name Steph McGovern. Steph is an award-winning broadcaster who is currently co-host of The Rest Is Money podcast with Robert Peston. At the start of her career in journalism, Steph worked for BBC news behind the scenes (despite having been told that “people like you do…

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Alison Bechdel on tarot, ageing & why men are scared of women who can do push-ups! - THE SHIFT REVISITED 40:45

3M ago40:45

40:45

The last of our archive episodes this time around is the cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Spent, Alison's new graphic novel-come-memoir, reminded me of the conversation we had back in 2021. Here it is... ---- My guest this week is the cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Probably best known for the Bechdel test - a tongue in cheek method she came up with in the 80…

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Esther Freud on upending your life in your 50s - THE SHIFT REVISITED 42:46

3M ago42:46

42:46

This week we're going way back in The Shift archives, to one of the earliest episodes I recorded with novelist Esther Freud. This summer Esther will be a guest of The Shift bookclub, to talk about her new novel, My Sister and Other Lovers - her long-awaited sort-of-sequel to her smash hit autofiction, Hideous Kinky, about her childhood with her sis…

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Helen Garner on divorce, ageing and the erotic gaze - THE SHIFT REVISITED 49:23

3M ago49:23

49:23

We're heading back to the archives for the next few weeks and first up here's one of my favourite episodes. With the desperately overdue publication of her brilliant diaries, How To End A Story, in the US and UK, the Australian novelist Helen Garner is finally, finally getting some of the credit she's due up here in the Northern hemisphere. Here's …

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Phil Rosenthal’s Secret Recipe: Good Food and a Laugh 22:54

3M ago22:54

22:54

Writer, producer and host Phil Rosenthal makes television for the whole family. First, he created the Emmy Award-winning sitcom classic, Everybody Loves Raymond. Now he has taken his vision to food and travel with Somebody Feed Phil. Through his global travels - to places as close to home as Las Vegas, Nevada, and as far away as Sydney, Australia -…

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Molly Jong Fast: confessions of a bad daughter 47:31

3M ago47:31

47:31

My guest today is the journalist Molly Jong Fast. The author of four books, Molly started writing about politics in 2016. She’s now a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, a political analyst for MSNBC News and host of the Fast Politics Podcast. But she is also the daughter of the novelist Erica Jong, who in the 1970s wrote a novel that became syn…

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Jo Hamilton: The Post Office scandal stole 20 years of my life 55:07

4M ago55:07

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This is a really special episode and one I’m honoured to be trusted with. Because my guest today is Jo Hamilton, one of more than 700 British sub postmasters who was prosecuted between 2000 and 2014 by the Post Office. Falsely accused of stealing £36,000 Jo was ordered to put right a wrong she hadn’t committed, forced to remortgage her house and bo…

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Olia Hercules: my periods vanished when the war started 1:03:28

4M ago1:03:28

1:03:28

My guest today is the Ukrainian chef, food writer and activist Olia Hercules. Olia was born in the South of Ukraine and has lived in the UK since her late teens. After working in journalism she decided to follow her heart, her stomach and arguably her heritage, and become a chef. She trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, worked in kitchens, i…

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Tunde Adebimpe Channels His DIY Roots Into Raw Solo Debut 37:28

4M ago37:28

37:28

TV on the Radio co-founder Tunde Adebimpe is a force of positivity. In the face of unimaginable loss, Adebimpe has channeled his grief into Thee Black Boltz, an upbeat, high-energy solo debut. You might know Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio, the band whose era-defining hits like “Wolf Like Me” helped shape the 2000s New York indie scene. Or you’…

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Melissa Febos on what she learnt from a year of celibacy 54:07

4M ago54:07

54:07

My guest today is the author and essayist, Melissa Febos. Melissa has written four award winning books - Whip Smart, Abandon Me, Girlhood (which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the states) and Body Work. She’s won too many prizes to mention here and her writing has appeared all over the place! In her mid thirties, after, let’s just sa…

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Reeta Chakrabarti on growing older & bolder 54:34

4M ago54:34

54:34

My guest this week is the journalist and broadcaster Reeta Chakrabarti. After two decades producing and reporting for the BBC, Reeta became a news presenter at the age of 49. She was the main BBC presenter in Lviv in Western Ukraine and is now one of the chief presenters of BBC news at 6 and BBC news at 10. Brought up in Birmingham, as a teenager R…

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George C. Wolfe on Desperation and Desire in His “Gypsy” 25:43

4M ago25:43

25:43

For Tony-winning playwright and theater director George C. Wolfe, the “landscape of America is rich and complicated and messy.” He takes the greatest joy in putting that messiness on the Broadway stage. This time, he’s directing the Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” widely considered the best of the Golden Age musicals. Alongside the show’s lead actor A…

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Jeanine Cummins on confidence, identity and surviving the American Dirt controversy 57:36

5M ago57:36

57:36

My guest today is the bestselling novelist Jeanine Cummins. You might think you haven’t heard of her, but I’ll be pretty surprised if you haven’t heard of the book that catapulted her into the public eye, American Dirt. A story about a Mexican mother and son escaping to America after their entire family is massacred by a drug cartel, which Oprah sa…

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Jennifer Weiner on Ozempic, ageing and growing some boundaries! 56:11

5M ago56:11

56:11

My guest today is the bestselling American novelist Jennifer Weiner. I first encountered Jen When her debut novel, Good In Bed, was thrust into my hands by someone I worked with on Company magazine. It was the first time I’d ever read a mainstream novel whose lead character was a fat woman who didn’t need fixing. Good In Bed was a smash hit on both…

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Naga munchetty on her 30 year battle to get her painful periods taken seriously 1:03:01

5M ago1:03:01

1:03:01

To launch season 17 (season 17! I know!) I have a very special guest. Back in 2023, British journalist and BBC breakfast and radio 5 live presenter Naga Munchetty hit the headlines when she spoke out about having been diagnosed with a gynaecological condition called adenomyosis. When I heard the clip I did a double-take because I too have adenomyos…