Hilary and Michael Whitehall share the hilarious process behind The Wittering Whitehalls podcast

Virgin Radio

30 May 2023, 13:03

Married couple Hilary and Michael Whitehall have opened up about getting the giggles while recording their hit podcast, The Wittering Whitehalls. 

The parents of comedian Jack Whitehall host the hilariously wise problem-solving podcast, in which the couple offer complete access to their combined life experiences and the precious wisdom that they’ve gathered over the years.

Series three of The Wittering Whitehalls launched in April, with new episodes airing weekly, and while chatting to Nick Grimshaw on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch, the duo dished on their process, and why Michael didn’t believe any of it was actually real. 

Hilary shared: “We love doing it. I think Michael thought all the emails that came in were fakes and written by the producer. And I said, ‘no, they are real people!”

Michael explained further: “I had absolutely no idea what a podcast was. I now know about that and the other thing that I discovered is that I thought the producer who's an extremely nice young man…I thought he was writing these questions to keep the show going and making it all up.I didn't realise that people were actually listening.”

The Whitehall patriarch often “goes off topic” during their podcast recording, causing Hilary to “lose it”, but according to Michael, he’s just got lots of good (albeit old) stories to share.

He shared: “My problem is being the age I am, my anecdotes are all very old anecdotes about a very long time ago. So Hilary keeps it sort of topical, even though I still go off. I mean, I told a very long story not very long ago on the thing about David Bowie who I spent some time with in Berlin. I started telling this David Bowie story and then I thought, ‘why am I talking about this? Why am I talking to these people if they really are there? Why am I talking to these people about meeting David Bowie in a nightclub in Berlin with David Hennings in the 70s?”

Outside of the podcast, the Whitehalls are about to become grandparents again as comedian Jack is expecting his first child with girlfriend Roxy Horner. 

Speaking about the impending arrival, Hilary said: “We're very excited. If she looks like her mum…he or she will hopefully have lovely long legs like mummy. Mommy is gorgeous. We love Roxy. 

“I've got to be honest, you'll appreciate this, she's not a woman you want to get stuck next to in a photograph when you look like I do. The direct comparison is brutal.”

New episodes of The Wittering Whitehalls air weekly on all podcast platforms.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.