Emilia Fox, a butternut and toasted pumpkin seed risotto, and a vodka martini

We finish one year and start the next with an ode to good food. Emilia Fox is an English actress and presenter. She is best known for playing Dr Nikki Alexander in the popular long-running TV series Silent Witness, a role she has been playing since 2004, when Nick was still at university and Angela was on TV with Gordon Ramsay in Hell’s Kitchen. Emilia is with us to chat about the upcoming series of the show (its 29th!!) which lands on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in early 2026. But before that, we have (just enough) time to go through Emilia’s likes and dislikes, which have been made into a novella with a limited print run... of three. Emilia is passionate about seasonal and Italian food, and could eat roast chicken every day, so immediately enters into Angela’s good books. We begin the show by serving a perfectly chilled vodka martini with a twist. This is followed by a butternut & toasted pumpkin seed risotto, paired with a glass of Ricossa Barbera Appassimento Piemonte DOC. There’s no need for rice fear as Angela guides Emilia and Nick through her risotto method and top tips. This is a heart-warming dish, recipe and guest with which to start 2026. We get Emilia’s love of great food, her stories of being a (very sackable) waitress and how she deals with dead bodies on set. Plus, a few thoughts for potential New Year’s resolutions. Bellissimo! You can watch full episodes of Dish on YouTube and, new for this season, on Spotify. All recipes from this podcast can be found at waitrose.com/dishrecipes A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish If you want to get in touch with us about anything at all, contact [email protected] Dish from Waitrose is made by Cold Glass Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 0:50Speaker 02

  Dish from Waitrose is a cold glass production. This podcast may contain some strong language and adult themes. Hello, welcome to Dish from Waitrose. I'm Nick Grimshaw.

• 1:03Speaker 03

  And I'm Angela Hartnett.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  And here we are, Ange, the final episode of the year.

• 1:08Speaker 03

  2025.

• 1:09Speaker 02

  That's the year. This is it.

• 1:11Speaker 03

  This is it.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  The last one.

• 1:12Speaker 03

  How's your year been? Has it been good? Are you happy?

• 1:15Speaker 02

  Great, yeah. Been really good. It's been busy.

• 1:17Speaker 03

  Busy, yeah.

• 1:18Speaker 02

  So tired. But really good, yeah. Have you had a nice year, do you think?

• 1:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's been very busy. It's come around very quickly, actually. Neil and I were thinking, it's our friend Tom's birthday. It was just before Christmas and the other week they said, "God, it's Tom's birthday already." It's gone like that.

• 1:35Speaker 02

  It has gone quick.

• 1:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:36Speaker 02

  I feel like Glastonbury, which was six months ago, was like maybe six weeks ago.

• 1:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Like if you said it was probably about a month ago, I'd be like, yeah, probably.

• 1:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's gone quick. We're recording this, not live, honestly. It's a couple of weeks before New Year's Eve. But we're actually going to be together on New Year's Eve.

• 1:54Speaker 03

  Spooky.

• 1:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, not spooky. Real nice. Do you like New Year's Eve?

• 2:01Speaker 03

  I do. Yeah, I do, actually. I do. I'm not obsessed with it. And there have been nights where I've spent it with mates and my mum over a bottle of wine, which would be brilliant. This is probably the first New Year that I've really planned.

• 2:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:14Speaker 03

  You know, like, I've got a group of people together, you've got a group of people together, a little bit organised, there's text messages galore going around and emails. So, well, yeah, it should be fun.

• 2:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm excited. I think I do like it, same as you, but take it as it comes.

• 2:29Speaker 03

  Bring your swimming suit or your swimming dip in the ocean.

• 2:33Speaker 02

  A New Year's Day swim.

• 2:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, got to.

• 2:36Speaker 02

  Do it?

• 2:37Speaker 03

  Yes. Come on, you'll feel so much better after a 10-second dip in the ocean.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 2:44Speaker 03

  You will. You'll feel so much better, honestly.

• 2:47Speaker 02

  Okay, I will. Do we need to bring a wet suit?

• 2:50Speaker 03

  No, I'm sure. No wet suit. Come on.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  It's gonna be cold.

• 2:53Speaker 03

  I know, but we're not, you know, it's not the Antarctic.

• 2:56Speaker 02

  Might as well, mate. Okay, all right then. All right, I'll bring my swimming trunks, yeah.

• 3:04Speaker 03

  You can borrow my dry rope. There you go. Share it. You can dry it. Borrow my dry rope.

• 3:09Speaker 02

  Lend us that. Oh, I wanted to ask you about this. This is what I wanted to ask. Have you heard of a first footer?

• 3:14Speaker 03

  Uh, no.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  So, a first footer, popular Scottish New Year's tradition, where the first person to enter the house after midnight brings good fortune, ideally a tall, dark-haired male, bearing symbolic gifts like coal, shortbread, whisky, salt, and a coin for prosperity, warmth and cheer.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  We've done that. We've been to a neighbour's house and our gift was a lump of coal. That I've heard of. I didn't know it was called a first footer.

• 3:39Speaker 02

  First footer?

• 3:40Speaker 03

  Oh, okay then.

• 3:40Speaker 02

  So I wonder if I'll be our first footer?

• 3:42Speaker 03

  All right, okay.

• 3:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I feel like Neil could take on that role.

• 3:45Speaker 03

  He's definitely Scottish, isn't he?

• 3:46Speaker 02

  He's Scottish, yeah.

• 3:47Speaker 03

  Just give him a bag of coal and go to everyone's, you know, knock on the door.

• 3:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, there you go.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  I feel like Neil should be our first footer. I had a really nice time with Neil the other day.

• 3:54Speaker 03

  Uh, you were at the French house?

• 3:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, fun.

• 3:56Speaker 02

  We went for our team, like, radio team lunch.

• 3:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  It was fantastic.

• 4:01Speaker 03

  All Neil did was come back and tell me stories that you repeated about me to him.

• 4:05Speaker 02

  What?

• 4:06Speaker 03

  I don't know what you were saying. She goes, oh. Oh, she said something about my text messaging.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, the text messaging.

• 4:11Speaker 03

  I said, Neil, you be on the end of it. It's quite annoying.

• 4:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, Neil was team you for that. So I will text separate lines for each thought.

• 4:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:20Speaker 02

  And Angela, I messaged her the other day and she just wrote back going, "Why can't you just write in one text message?" But I didn't reply and then a screenshot of Makita had also texted you in that same way. And she said, "Here's another one."

• 4:37Speaker 03

  You and your mates, what is it about you? You'll go, "Hi," and then you go, "How are you?" And so you look at your phone and you go, "Oh, six text messages and they're all from the same person, just different sentences."

• 4:47Speaker 02

  I don't know why I do that. My mum tells me for that as well.

• 4:50Speaker 03

  So we were chuckling, but then Neil did pay you a very good compliment.

• 4:53Speaker 02

  What?

• 4:54Speaker 03

  You know, he knows his food, doesn't he, Lee? He likes his food.

• 4:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I just ate it. I didn't make it.

• 4:58Speaker 03

  No, but, no, but in the sense that he was judging you all from what you ordered. He obviously placed a good order.

• 5:04Speaker 02

  Oh, right. Okay, yeah.

• 5:05Speaker 03

  You know, there weren't any well-done beefs or anything or anything like that. You know, fish cooked correctly. He was impressed that you all had steak tartare.

• 5:14Speaker 02

  Steak tartare. And then they had like a squash salad to start, which was really good.

• 5:21Speaker 03

  Yummy, yeah.

• 5:22Speaker 02

  And then a steak tartare and then loads of nice cheeses.

• 5:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, lovely.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  Okay, today on the show, we have Amelia Fox. So Amelia Fox is here to talk to us. A brand new series of Silent Witness.

• 5:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:33Speaker 02

  Sort of good New Year telly.

• 5:34Speaker 03

  How many? What is it?

• 5:35Speaker 02

  Series twenty-nine.

• 5:37Speaker 03

  That's incredible, isn't it?

• 5:38Speaker 02

  Series twenty-nine.

• 5:40Speaker 03

  I mean, she hasn't made it in all of them, but she's done a fair amount.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  She's done it, yeah, since two thousand and four.

• 5:44Speaker 03

  That is pretty amazing.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Where were you in the world in two thousand and four?

• 5:48Speaker 03

  Twenty-four. I was at the Conall.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:52Speaker 03

  Were you ready on?

• 5:54Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 5:55Speaker 03

  T four?

• 5:55Speaker 02

  No.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 5:57Speaker 02

  I was... At uni.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  Oh, all right.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:02Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, you are quite a lot younger than that.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  Because I would have gone to uni in two thousand and two.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Oh, right.

• 6:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, in two thousand and four, great year, when MySpace reached one million users. Did you ever have a MySpace?

• 6:13Speaker 03

  No.

• 6:14Speaker 02

  Loved MySpace. It was when Strictly Come Dancing started.

• 6:17Speaker 03

  God, is it?

• 6:18Speaker 02

  And it was when Friends finished.

• 6:20Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:22Speaker 03

  Friends finished. That's when I did Hell's Kitchen with Gordon that year then.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  Why?

• 6:27Speaker 03

  Because I remember that because we were doing that on ITV. And the final was the same night Friends went out on Channel Four. And our ratings, this is how when people watch TV, got ten million.

• 6:39Speaker 02

  Whoa.

• 6:40Speaker 03

  And beat the final of Friends.

• 6:42Speaker 02

  Shut up.

• 6:42Speaker 03

  Shut up. Gordon Ramsay, Hell's Kitchen, did that. There you go. I know.

• 6:48Speaker 02

  Wow, good times.

• 6:49Speaker 03

  That's nuts, isn't it? Doesn't happen anymore.

• 6:52Speaker 02

  It does not happen anymore. Well, Amelia Fox will be here to, one, talk about silent winners. Two, I think we should have a little reminisce of two thousand and four. And also, she loves food. She particularly loves seasonal food as well. So I think she's going to be a fantastic guest.

• 7:05Speaker 03

  She'll chat away.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  She's actually done such a long list of likes and dislikes.

• 7:09Speaker 03

  We have a booklet.

• 7:10Speaker 02

  We've made it into a booklet, yeah. Sort of a bit like a hymn book.

• 7:13Speaker 03

  It does feel like. It feels like something you get at church, something you have at Mass or Christmas. And she comes from a very acting family. Her father, her brother, her mum, all of them, and her cousins and uncles. No, she's a great heritage. Excited to meet her.

• 7:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, me too.

• 7:32Speaker 03

  Hi.

• 7:33Speaker 04

  Hello. How are you?

• 7:35Speaker 03

  How are you?

• 7:36Speaker 04

  Welcome to Dish. Hello.

• 7:39Speaker 03

  How are you?

• 7:40Speaker 04

  Thank you for having me.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Oh, we're so excited.

• 7:42Speaker 04

  Very, very thrilled.

• 7:43Speaker 02

  A risotto is on. It is happening.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  This is the best.

• 7:48Speaker 02

  I love a risotto all day.

• 7:49Speaker 03

  Let's get you set down.

• 7:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, come in and sit down and we'll get you a drink as well.

• 7:52Speaker 04

  I've actually got you both a present from Italy because I've just got back from Rome.

• 7:57Speaker 03

  Were you filming or?

• 7:58Speaker 04

  I was filming out there, so I thought I'd arrive with a present. But it's not a glamorous present, but it's just a discovery.

• 8:05Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 8:06Speaker 04

  Do you like coffee?

• 8:07Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 8:08Speaker 04

  You do?

• 8:08Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:09Speaker 04

  Okay. This is the discovery of all discoveries.

• 8:13Speaker 03

  What's it called?

• 8:13Speaker 02

  Pocket coffee.

• 8:14Speaker 04

  As I say, not glamorous.

• 8:16Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, pocket coffee.

• 8:18Speaker 04

  But a real find.

• 8:19Speaker 03

  So is it like little sachets or something?

• 8:21Speaker 04

  No, no, no. Try one now.

• 8:23Speaker 02

  Oh, it's like a little chocolate.

• 8:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  Oh, pocket coffee.

• 8:27Speaker 04

  Pocket coffee.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  Do you want pocket coffee?

• 8:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, let's go for it.

• 8:32Speaker 04

  I've never seen them here.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  I've never seen pocket coffee.

• 8:35Speaker 03

  It feels like something that was made 20 years ago. Yeah. The style of it, the design.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  I know.

• 8:41Speaker 03

  Let's give it a go.

• 8:42Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  In for a penny.

• 8:45Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 8:46Speaker 04

  That's good, isn't it?

• 8:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:49Speaker 02

  Wow, it's a proper coffee.

• 8:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:51Speaker 02

  Pocket coffee.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  You've got to get it in in one.

• 8:56Speaker 03

  It's real liquid.

• 8:58Speaker 02

  Liquid Santa.

• 8:59Speaker 04

  It's not fancy, is it? Because you can get it in the supermarket, but...

• 9:03Speaker 02

  No, I love that. Yeah.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  You know what I think would be great?

• 9:06Speaker 02

  What?

• 9:07Speaker 03

  If you froze one. I know you should freeze them. I think that'd be good as well.

• 9:13Speaker 02

  Well, should we welcome our guest, Angela?

• 9:14Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  I think it should happen, right? Time to welcome our guest, an actress known for her incredible work as a pathologist in Silent Witness. Here to eat, drink, and then deliver her own post-mortem. It's the one and only Amelia Fox, everybody. Hi.

• 9:30Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 9:31Speaker 02

  Welcome.

• 9:32Speaker 03

  Welcome.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. I'm so good. I'm so excited to be here.

• 9:36Speaker 02

  Thank you for being with us. Our last one of the year.

• 9:39Speaker 04

  I know. I feel very honoured. Thank you.

• 9:42Speaker 02

  Well, thanks for being with us on New Year's Eve. Do you like, we were just chatting before you came in about New Year's Eve, the night itself. Do you enjoy, do you put pressure on, is it something you look forward to?

• 9:52Speaker 04

  I really look forward to it, but I take all the pressure off because Christmas is always like you're busy, busy, busy to the finish line, aren't you really? And getting all of that organised. And then I like New Year to be quiet and family and with Rose, my 15-year-old, and probably with family and a walk on the beach or something like that.

• 10:10Speaker 03

  Oh, lovely.

• 10:11Speaker 02

  Will you do resolutions either or like, maybe not a resolution, but like a new thing or, because it's always quite a good time to start something new.

• 10:16Speaker 03

  I think it's good to do something new, but not one of those resolutions that I'm, I don't know, I'm never gonna...

• 10:21Speaker 02

  No peas or something.

• 10:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, or something, yeah. But sort of try something new, because I think that's good for your brain and to get you, you know, whether learn a language or, you know, like something, you know.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  I did do that.

• 10:31Speaker 04

  What did you do?

• 10:32Speaker 02

  I started Spanish lessons.

• 10:34Speaker 04

  On Duolingo?

• 10:35Speaker 02

  Duolingo and also on Zoom with a teacher.

• 10:39Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  I'd have it like once a week, yeah. And I could do it for the hour we were on Zoom and I could do it like the hour after. And then I'd forget it by the next Thursday. I had it every Thursday. So she's like, you really need to be doing it every day.

• 10:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:51Speaker 04

  I know.

• 10:51Speaker 02

  So I was just like.

• 10:52Speaker 03

  You need to have to be speaking it every day.

• 10:53Speaker 02

  Every day, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So maybe I'll try again this year. What about you? Is there anything that you'll you'll start this year that you wanna?

• 10:59Speaker 04

  Well, I'm a great believer like you in taking up things rather than giving up things. That seems easier. I've been trying to do my Italian. You'd think that I'd be fluent, having done three series in Italy and being surrounded by it and having my pocket coffee.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Hello, pocket coffee.

• 11:15Speaker 04

  So I'm gonna keep going with that. And I've also taken up learning sign language, because I thought.

• 11:20Speaker 03

  Oh, that's interesting. Yeah.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  So I like taking things up and drawing things, but who knows whether I'll manage to keep it up.

• 11:27Speaker 02

  And how is your Italian? Because Angela obviously speaks Italian.

• 11:31Speaker 03

  I'm okay. I'm okay.

• 11:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. You could do this episode in Italian if you want.

• 11:34Speaker 04

  Oh, I wish, I wish.

• 11:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:37Speaker 04

  But I feel like I can understand it, but maybe not speak it.

• 11:42Speaker 03

  But they're very forgiving, the Italians. They're so appreciative if you try and speak it. You know, they they love, you know, I always think I speak a lot better because they're like engaged. And I think I'm sure they don't actually understand a word I'm saying.

• 11:55Speaker 04

  I went to the supermarket and it was such a heavenly experience being in their supermarket. Not like, oh, I've got to go to the supermarket. So I did my shop, went round. Then I tried to ask for some bags in Italian. And she was so delighted that I'd used Italian that she blew me kisses as I left. And I thought, I can't wait to go back to the supermarket.

• 12:18Speaker 03

  Actually.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:19Speaker 04

  So that is the key to a good supermarket shop.

• 12:21Speaker 02

  What's bag in Italian?

• 12:23Speaker 04

  Posso avere una bussa, per favore.

• 12:26Speaker 03

  And where where were you in Italy?

• 12:28Speaker 04

  In Rome.

• 12:29Speaker 03

  Oh, wow. Fabulous.

• 12:30Speaker 02

  Because is it in franciac?

• 12:32Speaker 03

  Sac.

• 12:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. Like when you ask for a bag in a shop, it's sac. I love that. Got sac. We got le sac. Look at that. Anyway, we're gonna have a martini because me and Eve, I mean, you heard it's your favorite.

• 12:42Speaker 04

  What a treat.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  So cheers and welcome. Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers. We've done it with a twist.

• 12:50Speaker 03

  Lovely, no?

• 12:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:51Speaker 04

  Oh, that is delicious.

• 12:52Speaker 02

  Cheers. Nice after a pocket coffee.

• 12:55Speaker 04

  That is so good.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  That is real nice, yeah.

• 12:58Speaker 04

  That's perfect.

• 12:59Speaker 02

  Mmm, so good. Before we get into our menu for today, I guess we should do your food likes and dislikes. We always ask our guests what they love, what they don't love. Yours were so amazing. We've actually published them into a book.

• 13:12Speaker 03

  There you go, there's your booklet.

• 13:14Speaker 04

  Oh, wow.

• 13:15Speaker 02

  Because they really were. They really were quite something because, you know, I think this was the way that you wrote about your food was poetic, it was beautiful.

• 13:24Speaker 04

  I love food.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  It was beautiful. We know, we've got the booklet, we've got the booklet. So some of our favourite sections that I thought we could go through. You love a good olive oil.

• 13:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:34Speaker 02

  And you love drinking it off the spoon. Is this a daily sort of ritual, you have the olive oil or just when you're cooking?

• 13:40Speaker 04

  If someone offered it as a daily ritual, I would do it, but I just.

• 13:44Speaker 03

  Would you like some now?

• 13:45Speaker 04

  Yes, please.

• 13:46Speaker 02

  Well, will you have it as a shot or a little just as?

• 13:49Speaker 04

  Before the next pocket coffee and the sip of martini.

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Martini, pocket coffee and some olive oil.

• 13:56Speaker 04

  This is what we're taking up for the new year.

• 13:58Speaker 02

  This is what we are gonna do. Well, it's very good for you now.

• 14:00Speaker 03

  I've heard that people do have a thing, Neil did it the other day, my husband, he was just giving himself a spoon of olive oil.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Oh, I want one.

• 14:06Speaker 03

  Apparently it's a good thing to do. It's good for you, a little spoon of olive oil. It's good for you.

• 14:12Speaker 04

  It's just so delicious. And that's got a real like pepper taste at the end.

• 14:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, mmm.

• 14:20Speaker 04

  Isn't that delicious?

• 14:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, delicious. Are you having one, Ange?

• 14:23Speaker 03

  I'm so much going on, martini, pocket coffee, olive oil, yeah.

• 14:27Speaker 04

  That's got to be good for you though, hasn't it?

• 14:29Speaker 03

  It is, yeah, without doubt.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  And is it better for you like that, isn't it, rather than cooked olive oil?

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Yes, I think so, yeah.

• 14:36Speaker 02

  Mmm.

• 14:38Speaker 04

  I could definitely do that every day.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Let's do it, 2026.

• 14:42Speaker 04

  And different flavours. Olive oil tasting, that's what we're gonna take up.

• 14:47Speaker 02

  That's what we're gonna do.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, let's go.

• 14:49Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. This is just the most pleasurable morning I've had.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  You also love herbs and spices. You love how they can obviously change the flavour and the identity of a dish so much. You love chillies, all vegetables, you love eating seasonally.

• 15:03Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:03Speaker 02

  Something that Ange, you are very hot on.

• 15:06Speaker 03

  Hot on.

• 15:06Speaker 02

  And you also love, I wanna know about the punterella. What's the punterella?

• 15:10Speaker 04

  Punterella.

• 15:11Speaker 02

  What's punterella?

• 15:11Speaker 04

  Can we discuss punterella?

• 15:13Speaker 02

  Please.

• 15:15Speaker 03

  It's chicory, it's part of the chicory family.

• 15:17Speaker 02

  Oh, okay, yeah, I love that.

• 15:18Speaker 03

  It's huge, like this, and the roots can be very spiky.

• 15:23Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:23Speaker 03

  But then they have these beautiful bitter leaves. You would like it.

• 15:26Speaker 02

  I love bitter leaves.

• 15:27Speaker 03

  And you can either have it, I think the best way personally, punterella, is you prep all the leaves, cut them finely down, not finely, but chopped, and then you make an anchovy dressing with it. And I think that's absolutely stunning. Or you can cook it.

• 15:41Speaker 04

  And I'm not a mega fan of the anchovies.

• 15:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:44Speaker 04

  But there is something, when you put the two things together, it's so good. And I think it's so exciting because you don't find it very often.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's true.

• 15:53Speaker 04

  And you have to wait for it to be in season. So if you go too early and say, have you got any punterella? No.

• 15:58Speaker 02

  No.

• 15:59Speaker 04

  You know, like, no.

• 16:00Speaker 03

  Exactly. Mano, I believe, man, on, nah, eh. Actually, I'm thinking about it now. I haven't had a good punterella salad this year. I need to do it.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  What is the peak month for a punterella?

• 16:12Speaker 03

  It's coming, it's this sort of autumn.

• 16:14Speaker 04

  It's November.

• 16:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly.

• 16:16Speaker 04

  January, yeah.

• 16:17Speaker 03

  This is it.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  Well, another thing we can do in January.

• 16:20Speaker 04

  It's mouthwatering.

• 16:21Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm ready. You're also a fan of chestnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, wild rice, love wild rice, lemons, ginger and lemongrass. You also said you can eat chicken every day of the week.

• 16:34Speaker 04

  Yeah, I could.

• 16:35Speaker 02

  Angela Hartnett.

• 16:36Speaker 03

  I could do that as well. I love chicken.

• 16:37Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's definitely the thing which I look forward to, whereas one year, they very kindly said in catering, what would you like to eat on Silent Witness, which we filmed for seven months, and I went, uh, fish? And I ate it for seven months every single day. And I didn't want to see fish again for a bit.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  No, fair.

• 16:54Speaker 04

  But chicken, every day.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  I could do it, yeah.

• 16:57Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:58Speaker 02

  Um, your verdict on chorizo cooked through in arisotto was yum. You most love fish, particularly white fish, although not every single day for seven months, please, yeah. Can't beat a good Parmesan, is what you said. You can't. You can't. That I could eat just, and I do.

• 17:14Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:14Speaker 02

  Just with a knife off of Angela's chopping board. That does happen a lot. All types of pasta. You definitely see it as a treat and something that's not part of your everyday eating.

• 17:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:24Speaker 02

  Um, I mean, can't go wrong with it. Oh, tell us about your tomato risotto. Why don't you have that?

• 17:29Speaker 04

  I had that the other day in a restaurant. I'd never heard of a tomato risotto.

• 17:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, and did they put, was it all, did, we make one in the restaurants and we then put like a basil, oil and basil through it and then anchovies on top.

• 17:43Speaker 04

  Oh delicious.

• 17:44Speaker 03

  Which is really nice, yeah.

• 17:45Speaker 04

  Because I always think of tomato with pasta, obviously.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  Sure, yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 04

  But I'd never had it in a risotto.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  Do you ever make a risotto?

• 17:51Speaker 04

  I don't have the best confidence with doing a risotto.

• 17:55Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 17:56Speaker 04

  Because I know there are different ways of doing it. So there's either the, you put it in and then you leave it, walk away. Or stir, stir, stir, stir, stir. So I have a bit of a crisis about which to do.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  I'm with you. Someone said to me, it was actually my friend Fifi, who's a great cook. When I, she would sort of have everyone over to hers on a Sunday and do a roast or whatever and she, you know, she's still a great cook. And I remember her once saying to me when we were like twenty two or something, oh risotto, it's pain in the arse, it takes ages. And I've just like never done it ever since. Because I'm like, I'll never do it. But is that true? Is it, is it a...

• 18:30Speaker 03

  It takes twenty minutes, but you don't have time.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Oh, okay, I can do that.

• 18:33Speaker 03

  We've started one now. But because I know the pan's non-stick and I know enough stock is in there, I'm sort of leaving it up and down. But normally I would stand there, because I actually find it quite therapeutic to just be stirring, listening to the radio.

• 18:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, lovely.

• 18:48Speaker 03

  Sipping a glass of wine, it's twenty minutes that you just have, don't have to talk to anyone. Text messages from him, you know, five times, it's quite nice. Shut up.

• 18:57Speaker 02

  Shut up.

• 18:58Speaker 04

  But you need to know when to take it off, don't you?

• 19:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, you time, time.

• 19:03Speaker 04

  Time, time, okay.

• 19:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, and on that now, I'm gonna go and finish.

• 19:06Speaker 02

  Oh my god, is it actually time?

• 19:08Speaker 03

  Well, no, it will still be another five minutes.

• 19:09Speaker 02

  Okay. Should we do your dislikes? It's towards the back of the book.

• 19:13Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:14Speaker 02

  We're just skim reading. You can buy Amelia's book.

• 19:18Speaker 02

  Um, your dislikes. Chickpeas, straight in with chickpeas. You don't love the texture?

• 19:23Speaker 04

  No, I don't love the texture.

• 19:24Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 19:25Speaker 04

  And I don't really get the flavour. I can see that they're probably useful in hummus and things like that, which I do like.

• 19:31Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 19:32Speaker 04

  But without the garlic.

• 19:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, because you're allergic to garlic. No intolerance?

• 19:35Speaker 04

  Well, I don't know what the difference is between the allergy or the intolerance, but it just makes me feel sick if it's not like cooked through. And onions, if they're not cooked through, feel really sick.

• 19:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, okay, so we'll avoid those, yeah.

• 19:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:48Speaker 02

  And you've also never been able to eat baked beans because of the texture.

• 19:53Speaker 04

  No, I really don't like them. And I, I did try as a child because they're, you know, the easiest thing to give. I can't do them. And the thought of them now is like...

• 20:03Speaker 02

  I can see that. I've had my own bean journey.

• 20:06Speaker 04

  Oh, have you? Where are you on it?

• 20:08Speaker 02

  Do you know what? We're in a great place at the moment.

• 20:11Speaker 04

  Are you?

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Yeah. I actually, yeah, I was very like you, like the thought of them.

• 20:15Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  Like, even if other people eat in them, I had a real aversion to beans as a child.

• 20:21Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:21Speaker 02

  But I had beans on toast on Friday night for my tea.

• 20:25Speaker 04

  Did you?

• 20:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:26Speaker 04

  And you liked them?

• 20:27Speaker 02

  And I was like, I know what I want for my tea. And I got up and I walked to my corner shop and I got beans and I did beans on toast. And then I had beans yesterday.

• 20:36Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 20:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's double beans.

• 20:38Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 20:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:39Speaker 04

  I might follow in your bean footsteps.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, and then I was like, love beans? Salmon is a dislike for you?

• 20:47Speaker 04

  Well, I'm just a bit uh about salmon. I love smoked salmon. I love wild salmon. But it doesn't thrill me. And I love food. I love thinking about food. I love talking about food. But I haven't got much to say about the salmon.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  No. Have you got anything to say about the salmon, Ange?

• 21:04Speaker 03

  I think salmon's good with a lot of Asian spices and flavours.

• 21:08Speaker 04

  Yes, yes.

• 21:08Speaker 03

  I think that's where it's good. But if you don't, would you like trout?

• 21:11Speaker 04

  Oh, yes, yes.

• 21:12Speaker 03

  See, you know, that's an alternative if you like that. But I think Asian spices or cured.

• 21:17Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 21:17Speaker 03

  I think if you don't like it cooked, cured with some soy sauce, sesame, bit of chili on there, I think it would work.

• 21:24Speaker 04

  You've instantly made it more appealing. Yeah, yeah.

• 21:27Speaker 02

  Um, it's a no to roast beef.

• 21:29Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm not mad for roast beef as well.

• 21:32Speaker 04

  Of all the roasts, it's not the one I would choose to have.

• 21:37Speaker 02

  Did you have it as a kid a lot?

• 21:38Speaker 04

  No.

• 21:39Speaker 02

  Oh, right.

• 21:39Speaker 04

  And maybe that's why, because I had chicken and lamb as a child, but not really roast beef. And it just feels a bit too much for me.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, we used to have roast beef like every Sunday. And my dad had one of them, you know, in electrical.

• 21:53Speaker 04

  Oh, yes.

• 21:54Speaker 02

  Knives.

• 21:55Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 21:56Speaker 02

  Are they still around, Ange?

• 21:57Speaker 03

  My mum had one of them. I used to use them. I can't believe as a 12-year-old I'd be given that knife. But I used to help my mum make the roast dinner, all this, you know, lunch and stuff. And so I'd have that.

• 22:11Speaker 04

  You've just reminded my grandmother, who was not a good cook. Sorry, but she was not. I once found an enormous builder's nail in the chicken pie.

• 22:21Speaker 02

  No.

• 22:22Speaker 04

  But she used to make something called, and it's a very odd thing to call something, but cut and come again.

• 22:28Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 22:29Speaker 04

  Do you know that?

• 22:30Speaker 02

  No.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  I think it was.

• 22:32Speaker 02

  What now?

• 22:33Speaker 04

  The bits that are left.

• 22:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:39Speaker 04

  I think it might have been the bits that were left over that all got smushed together and then had to be sawed through with the electric carving knife. The thought of that is awful.

• 22:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:52Speaker 04

  It looks akin to something that you might give the dog.

• 22:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, I remember it was quite grey.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  Grey?

• 22:59Speaker 02

  Quite grey, yeah. So I'm with you, I'm not obsessed with roast beef.

• 23:02Speaker 04

  I would say cut and don't ask me again.

• 23:07Speaker 02

  When we were doing our research, we found out that you did some waitressing.

• 23:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  Back in the day.

• 23:12Speaker 04

  A lot of waitressing.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  A lot of waitressing. And how did you enjoy that? Were you a good waitress, would you say?

• 23:17Speaker 04

  I thought I was a great waitress. But I still, to this day, I'm not quite sure why, but I kept being fired from, because my mum and dad always said you have to go and work in the holidays to earn your own pocket money. So from 14, I was like in the local, you know, tea rooms. Then in London, I was in like, you know, different establishments, pubs and cafes and things like that. And I was always fired or demoted. I was demoted in one establishment from being a waitress to cleaning glasses to cleaning loos. And I thought that was really unfair. Well, apparently I talked to the customers too much.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  That's fantastic.

• 24:01Speaker 04

  Is that bad?

• 24:02Speaker 02

  I want to try to Kathy. Yeah, go on, Andrew, do you think it's the best?

• 24:06Speaker 03

  No, I don't think it's bad, but I think if you're there at one table too long, you're neglecting your other tables. Did you do what my cousin, who I love to death, would go to the tables, talk to them so much. If we got to take the order, he'd go in the kitchen and say, where's the order? And they couldn't get it.

• 24:21Speaker 04

  Maybe, that might have been it.

• 24:22Speaker 02

  That might have happened.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  But I'm a good cleaner and I like cleaning, so to be demoted from glass cleaning.

• 24:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:28Speaker 04

  I will try again, probably one day. Then there was, I worked in a pub and I was demoted from being a waitress to being a hostess, which is literally saying, here is your table, madam.

• 24:42Speaker 02

  But you enjoyed it, you just were maybe too.

• 24:44Speaker 04

  I really enjoyed it.

• 24:46Speaker 02

  Tasty for the honest likes, yeah.

• 24:47Speaker 04

  And then I was told by, it was friends of my parents who had this pub. The engineer, do you remember the engineer in Primrose Hill?

• 24:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, I do, yeah.

• 24:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, really nice. And they said, maybe you should think about doing something else. So that was the end of my waitressing.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Maybe it was be a great actor instead. And you were working as a waitress when you got your role in Pride and Prejudice?

• 25:10Speaker 04

  Yes, so I was preparing for my next job application in the holidays. And then I got offered an audition for Pride and Prejudice. And so I thought, okay, well, I'll give that a go. Got offered the job in Pride and Prejudice and thought, well, I don't have to go back to waitressing. So, and that was that.

• 25:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, and you were happy?

• 25:31Speaker 04

  I was happy. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I thought, oh, well, this is going better. I wasn't fired off it, so.

• 25:38Speaker 02

  And then tell us about one thing that we found out was about you having soup with Victoria Wood.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  Oh, yes.

• 25:42Speaker 02

  Can we hear that story, please? Because Victoria Wood was so important to my childhood. And that was some of my strongest memories of just watching Victoria Wood on the telly in my family.

• 25:52Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 25:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, so when, how did you enjoy soup together?

• 25:56Speaker 04

  So we did a show called Ballet Shoes together and we talked about our lack of cooking abilities, but that we could both do soup. And so I would go up to hers to have soup and she would make a really good bread rolls. And I really remember her coming over, like, I'm literally wincing about it, thinking about it. And I decided to reciprocate and make bread rolls. They were solid.

• 26:20Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 26:21Speaker 04

  Solid and definitely joke worthy. So we laughed a lot about that, but she was the best, yeah. She was lovely. Wow, thank you so much.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  Thank you so much Ange, thank you.

• 26:35Speaker 04

  Please will you tell us about this deliciousness?

• 26:38Speaker 03

  So it's a butternut and toasted pumpkin seed risotto. But instead of butternut, because delica pumpkin is in season at the moment, which is that really bright, small, orange pumpkin, really dense. I've used that instead. And the key, I think, with this one is you chop up all the pumpkin or butternut and you cook it in your vegetable stock. And then you drain off your, drain your pumpkin off, because you add that in at the end and then use that stock to cook the base of your risotto. So in the base, we've got very well cooked onions, to the point they're soft to soft. You can add garlic if you want to, but we obviously left it out today.

• 27:14Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 27:15Speaker 03

  Roast it off with a touch of chopped thyme leaves. Add your risotto in there, that's roasted off with your butter. And then your hot stock, make sure your stock's really hot. And then you start to cook your risotto for about 18 minutes. And then towards the end, just as you finish cooking it, when you think it's ready, you re-add in that pumpkin that's already cooked. So that's soft and just goes in right at the end. And then we've made a, because I know you like texture. And because pumpkin can be, you know, soft, we've made a pangrata, which is just toasted breadcrumbs, I've added some walnuts into there, the pumpkin seeds as well, and then a touch of sage leaves on top. So you get that crunchiness when you eat into it. And then, this recipe says pecorino,

• 27:56Speaker 03

  but I worry sometimes that can be a bit salty, because it's a different type of cheese to Parmesan. And you love Parmesan.

• 28:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, I love it.

• 28:02Speaker 03

  So I've just done Parmesan instead. Finished with a little bit of butter and Parmesan, and more Parmesan on top. That's it.

• 28:09Speaker 04

  This is the greatest treat of the year.

• 28:11Speaker 02

  So good.

• 28:12Speaker 04

  What a way to start a new year.

• 28:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, fabulous. And we're serving it with a Barbera Rosso from Piemonte, which is an Italian fruity wine, bursting with juicy cherry notes. You both were nervous about making risotto. And I think the key is, this recipe doesn't call for white wine. It says put white wine vinegar at the end. But in a classic risotto, you toast off your rice, then you add your wine, and that's your first lot of liquid. And then put your Your timer on for twenty minutes. And as long as you follow your timer, you pretty much can't get it wrong.

• 28:44Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 28:44Speaker 03

  And make sure your stock is hot.

• 28:47Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 28:47Speaker 03

  I think they're the two things people do. If it's a cold stock, all it does is take your temperature of your risotto rice down. And therefore it's all gonna be out of sync as you're cooking.

• 28:56Speaker 02

  This might be a stupid question, but the white wine.

• 28:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:59Speaker 02

  That shouldn't be cold.

• 29:00Speaker 03

  No, that, yeah, but that's the first thing going in, because that will evaporate off. You want it in a way. Once it hits that hot pan, then the alcohol evaporates off, so that's fine. Yeah, that doesn't need to be hot. There you go.

• 29:11Speaker 04

  Top tips, thank you.

• 29:12Speaker 03

  So, there you go.

• 29:12Speaker 02

  Why do people go wrong overcooking it?

• 29:14Speaker 03

  I think I overcook it. Yeah, you should be able to tip it from a pan. It should be loose.

• 29:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  And then I think, you know, and I think also, if you're trying to learn, stick to things like a mushroom risotto or a pumpkin risotto or tomato. Vegetable ones that won't cost a lot of money if it suddenly goes wrong. And, and I think vegetable-based risottos are delicious anyway.

• 29:33Speaker 02

  So delicious.

• 29:34Speaker 04

  If it goes wrong, can you salvage it in the moment?

• 29:38Speaker 03

  Well, it's hard to salvage if you've overcooked it, but you can make it into little arancini balls.

• 29:42Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 29:42Speaker 03

  So if you filmed in the south, you'll see them everywhere in Sicily. They do them like this, sort of, I don't know what their shape is like, pyramid shapes.

• 29:49Speaker 02

  Like coney?

• 29:50Speaker 03

  Cones, that's the word. And they fill them sometimes with meat fillings. And saffron is a very popular one there. So, you know, we make risotto to make arancini balls. But every time, like, we've had some events recently and there's a few ladles, I'm like, don't throw that away. Either eat it or arancini balls.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 30:06Speaker 03

  Never waste it.

• 30:07Speaker 04

  Because don't like waste.

• 30:08Speaker 03

  No, there you go.

• 30:08Speaker 04

  But also look at the colour of it. Isn't that just blissful winter colour?

• 30:13Speaker 03

  Pumpkin, yeah.

• 30:14Speaker 02

  I mean, I've ate mine, unfortunately.

• 30:15Speaker 03

  You have yet.

• 30:16Speaker 04

  Me too, I've nearly finished mine.

• 30:18Speaker 03

  Well, guys, you've been chucking.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  It was really good. Thank you, Ange. If you want to try this recipe at home, all the ingredients are available in your local Waitrose, or you can get it online, waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes.

• 30:29Speaker 03

  Dish recipes, perfect.

• 30:31Speaker 02

  On there. Maybe I will try this as a new year. New year, new me, new risotto.

• 30:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm not being scared of risotto.

• 30:37Speaker 04

  No, we're gonna seize the day.

• 30:39Speaker 02

  No, it's rice. It's just rice.

• 30:42Speaker 03

  You see, I'm scared of making basmati rice and rice that you make for, like, Chinese, because I'm rubbish at that. But I can do this. We all have our things.

• 30:51Speaker 02

  Of rice.

• 30:52Speaker 03

  Let's not be scared of rice. Let's hold hands and just, you know, we're fine.

• 30:55Speaker 02

  We're okay.

• 30:56Speaker 04

  New year resolution.

• 30:57Speaker 03

  Cheers.

• 30:59Speaker 04

  Cheers, and thank you so much, and happy new year.

• 31:02Speaker 03

  Well, happy new year.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  Cheers and happy new year.

• 31:03Speaker 04

  Happy new year. Thank you.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Hey, should we talk about Silent Witness?

• 31:08Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 31:09Speaker 02

  Well, you have to talk about Silent Witness because it's in its 30th anniversary as a show. 29th season and 21 years since you took the role. Wow.

• 31:24Speaker 03

  You don't actually look old enough, Amelia.

• 31:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, that is true, actually.

• 31:27Speaker 03

  I really don't.

• 31:28Speaker 02

  That's a title.

• 31:29Speaker 03

  When did you start, in Pigtails?

• 31:32Speaker 04

  How many series have you done now?

• 31:34Speaker 02

  I actually don't know.

• 31:35Speaker 03

  Eight, we're in eight series.

• 31:36Speaker 04

  If you enjoy doing something.

• 31:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's true.

• 31:39Speaker 04

  You don't think of it as that length of time because I really, really still love doing it.

• 31:47Speaker 04

  And it's been, you know, every bit of it I find interesting. So it's very rare to have that experience of getting to play a character for so long to really explore all the corners of her. She's been, the character has been like a sort of best friend and ally in my life through all the things that life throws at you and the challenges and the ups and the downs. And, and then I've known that she's there with me and, and I've really loved going back every year.

• 32:17Speaker 02

  People have, you know, fallen in love with Silent Witness, like the whole country has and falls in love with it. And, and now it's sort of inspired a generation of people to be pathologists. Which I'm obsessed with, like, I'm gonna do this.

• 32:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, the people, when you see, you know, like when you have like young students come up and say, oh, because I, you know, I grew up watching Silent Witness with my family and, and so then I thought, oh, I'd like to go into forensics or pathology. That's such a lovely thing to hear, that a fictional crime series can inspire someone to follow that in their real life.

• 32:53Speaker 04

  Because maybe they haven't thought about going into that, you know, profession. So I find that very satisfying and to do.

• 33:02Speaker 02

  And I imagine it's quite a hardcore day learning the scripts.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh my gosh.

• 33:08Speaker 02

  A lot of terminology.

• 33:09Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 33:09Speaker 02

  A lot of, you know, language that you would only use in that field.

• 33:13Speaker 03

  Because I always wanted, like, they always ask a question, if you were... Went to chef, what would you be? And I always say I'd love to have been a pathologist.

• 33:19Speaker 04

  Really?

• 33:19Speaker 03

  No, seriously, I just think it's, I think it's amazing that you can see a crime scene and someone can go in. Well, they must have done it with the left hand.

• 33:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  The blood splatter, you know, all of those, you know, I love watching crime stuff, not true crime necessarily, but I do like shows like that. So do you, this is a weird question, do you sort of hear stuff on the news and sort of go, hmm, I think I know how that was done?

• 33:40Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, because you must see, you might, it must be ingrained in you now after this time that, because it's real, what you're learning. It's not, you know, you have to follow it properly.

• 33:51Speaker 04

  I do think about it and I do ask the experts that we have who come and help us on the show, like, what would you be looking for here? And, um, and so that is a very useful phone a friend for when we want to get a bit more detail. Um, and they're with us, obviously they do the advising on the scripts, but they're also with us when we're doing the post-mortem. So that we try and get it as true to life as possible. I mean, you know, post-mortems take much longer, obviously than we take over them.

• 34:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:22Speaker 04

  But they take us through the movements, they take us through understanding what we're saying, because otherwise some of it is like a completely different language. I need Duolingo for pathology, really, um, and just the pronunciations of it.

• 34:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  And how are you at learning that? Because we've got some lines here that the team wanted us to read to you.

• 34:41Speaker 04

  Oh, great.

• 34:41Speaker 03

  You can tell us what they're saying, yeah.

• 34:44Speaker 02

  But yeah, how do you go, is it quite hard to be learning? Basically, it's another language.

• 34:48Speaker 04

  I have to learn it in like riddles. So I'm like, there are two Ds in this sentence and, uh, you know, like, uh, I associate it with other words.

• 34:57Speaker 02

  Right, got it, okay.

• 34:58Speaker 03

  All right, could you tell the doctor that she's fractured the left orbital rim and possibly the exterior maxillary wall? And the radius and ulna are fractured in her left arm?

• 35:09Speaker 04

  Oh, my gosh.

• 35:10Speaker 02

  Mine says, a high binding affinity with alpha two.

• 35:15Speaker 04

  Oh, my God.

• 35:16Speaker 02

  Adrenergic and M1 muscarinic receptors.

• 35:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, literally that brings me out in a sweat. I remember having to say that line so many times.

• 35:28Speaker 02

  And M1 muscaric.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  God, you're there, you're there.

• 35:31Speaker 02

  Nearly there, nearly there, a few more takes.

• 35:33Speaker 04

  Do you know what it's like? It's, it's like being on a horse and seeing a jump coming up.

• 35:39Speaker 02

  You're like, it's coming.

• 35:41Speaker 04

  And it's coming, it's coming, it's coming. Oh, it's there.

• 35:44Speaker 02

  It's coming.

• 35:45Speaker 04

  Oh, I've just got over it. And if you do get over it, it's such a relief.

• 35:49Speaker 02

  Mm. And are they, um, real people sometimes, laid down pretending to be dead?

• 35:54Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 35:55Speaker 02

  Or is it prosthetics or both, I guess, yeah?

• 35:57Speaker 04

  Both.

• 35:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:58Speaker 04

  Um, uh, so, but, uh, you know, and it's, i- it is quite vulnerable making, I think, for the actors who are having to lie on the mortuary slab if they're real and not prosthetic.

• 36:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:11Speaker 04

  Apart from anything, you know, you've got a whole crew of people who are all really, like, considerate to what the experience is. But y- you're also having to imagine yourself dead, which I imagine is a weird experience. So I try and make it like a spa day and, um, say, you're gonna, I'm gonna have your, um, nails done by me. And then I, like, fiddle around taking things out then. So I say, this is gonna be the massage moment.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  And do people, when you're doing that, jump occasionally because they've, you know, you've knocked a nerve or something?

• 36:41Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. Or like if you're...

• 36:43Speaker 03

  I might be like that, wouldn't you? Don't you have someone massages on you? It's twitching.

• 36:46Speaker 04

  Or tickly bit.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly, yeah.

• 36:48Speaker 04

  So if you're having to look at their feet.

• 36:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:50Speaker 04

  And they feel tickly, but I would be hopeless, wouldn't I?

• 36:53Speaker 03

  No, I'd be rubbish, yeah.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  I actually would love to play their body.

• 36:55Speaker 04

  Would you?

• 36:56Speaker 03

  Should we do it?

• 36:57Speaker 04

  Oh, great. Well, would you next series?

• 36:58Speaker 02

  I'm serious, yeah.

• 36:59Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 37:00Speaker 02

  Um, well, because you've been playing Nikki for so long, 21 consecutive years, um, we wanted to look at other actors that have played characters for, for a long time. We wanted you to tell us if these actors have played these characters for a longer or a shorter stint than you have with Nikki.

• 37:16Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 37:16Speaker 02

  Okay. Um, first up, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green in Friends. Longer or shorter than you?

• 37:23Speaker 04

  Well, I think it was shorter because I think they did a decade.

• 37:26Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 37:26Speaker 04

  Is that right?

• 37:27Speaker 02

  Absolutely correct. Shorter.

• 37:28Speaker 03

  Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote.

• 37:32Speaker 04

  I think longer.

• 37:34Speaker 03

  Correct. 22 years.

• 37:35Speaker 04

  Ah, yes.

• 37:36Speaker 02

  22 years.

• 37:37Speaker 03

  You're catching up, man.

• 37:37Speaker 04

  Legends, legends.

• 37:39Speaker 02

  Um, Nancy Cartwright.

• 37:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 37:41Speaker 02

  As Bart Simpson in The Simpsons.

• 37:44Speaker 04

  Oh, that is hard.

• 37:46Speaker 02

  Longer or shorter than you?

• 37:48Speaker 04

  Longer.

• 37:50Speaker 02

  Longer. Since 1987.

• 37:52Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  That's a nice check, isn't it?

• 37:56Speaker 02

  Like a voiceover for like nearly forty years.

• 37:59Speaker 03

  That's nuts.

• 38:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:02Speaker 03

  Um, Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane in Cheers and Frasier.

• 38:07Speaker 02

  Oh, because it was the same guy, yes. Sorry, yes.

• 38:10Speaker 03

  Longer, yes. Shorter.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  Shorter?

• 38:13Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 38:13Speaker 04

  How many years?

• 38:14Speaker 03

  It was twenty consecutive years between nineteen eighty-four and two thousand and four.

• 38:19Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 38:19Speaker 03

  There you go.

• 38:20Speaker 02

  I loved Frasier's.

• 38:21Speaker 03

  I did. I loved it, yeah.

• 38:23Speaker 02

  So good. Finally, William Roach as Ken Balas.

• 38:28Speaker 04

  Oh, longer.

• 38:29Speaker 02

  Longer.

• 38:29Speaker 04

  Longer, much longer.

• 38:31Speaker 02

  Five hundred years.

• 38:34Speaker 02

  Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Well, the brand new series of Salad Winter starts very soon, so the early twenty twenty-six.

• 38:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 38:42Speaker 02

  So not long to wait.

• 38:44Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  Amelia Fox, it is time for your fast food quiz.

• 38:50Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 38:50Speaker 02

  Tell us, please, your favourite way to eat eggs.

• 38:52Speaker 04

  Scrambled.

• 38:53Speaker 03

  What's your favourite sandwich, Philin?

• 38:56Speaker 04

  Uh, chicken.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  What's your favourite form of potato?

• 38:59Speaker 04

  Baked.

• 39:00Speaker 03

  Your favourite herb?

• 39:02Speaker 04

  Uh, rosemary.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  Your favourite crisp?

• 39:04Speaker 04

  Uh, salt and vinegar.

• 39:05Speaker 02

  I like how quick you're at this.

• 39:07Speaker 03

  You're very good. This is the best farthing.

• 39:09Speaker 02

  This is how it should be, everyone.

• 39:11Speaker 03

  Okay. Um, favourite kitchen utensil?

• 39:13Speaker 04

  Uh, a spoon.

• 39:15Speaker 03

  Nice answer. I like that answer.

• 39:16Speaker 02

  Favorite pasta?

• 39:17Speaker 04

  Um, tally a telly.

• 39:20Speaker 03

  What's your favourite item on a roast?

• 39:22Speaker 04

  Um, my favourite item on a roast?

• 39:25Speaker 03

  On a roast, yes, lunch or supper. The potatoes, the.

• 39:29Speaker 04

  Oh, roast parsnips.

• 39:30Speaker 03

  Parsnips, yeah, good choice.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  What is the best nut?

• 39:33Speaker 04

  Um, ooh, uh, at the moment, a pistachio.

• 39:37Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:38Speaker 03

  Um, what's your favourite topping for toast?

• 39:41Speaker 04

  Uh, marmite.

• 39:42Speaker 02

  Um, and finally, what is your go-to pizza order?

• 39:46Speaker 04

  Um, margarita.

• 39:47Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 39:48Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 39:48Speaker 04

  Just keep it simple.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  That's all you need.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:50Speaker 02

  That's all you need. Now, that is how you're meant to do the fast food quiz.

• 39:53Speaker 03

  We need to show people that every time.

• 39:55Speaker 02

  That was fast.

• 39:57Speaker 02

  We come to the end of the show.

• 39:58Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  Thank you for being our last guest of the year.

• 40:00Speaker 03

  Yes, thank you so much.

• 40:01Speaker 02

  Of twenty twenty-five, a perfect finale, I think.

• 40:03Speaker 03

  I know, you'd be lovely.

• 40:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, thank you so much. This is for your chance to win this Waitrose goodie bag. All you've got to do is open this envelope.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  There we go.

• 40:13Speaker 02

  Answer the question and that goodie bag will be yours.

• 40:15Speaker 04

  Woo.

• 40:15Speaker 02

  So here you go.

• 40:16Speaker 04

  How exciting.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  End of the show question, but thank you so much for being with us.

• 40:19Speaker 04

  I hope I can answer the question, though.

• 40:22Speaker 02

  Same.

• 40:22Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 40:25Speaker 04

  Oh, I might have to put my glasses on, hang on. Hi Amelia, thank you for being our last guest of 2025. You are also the first guest we've had with a family motto to the brave, nothing is difficult. True, we are quite jealous of that. To win the Waitrose goodie bag, would you please issue Dish with its own motto?

• 40:48Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:49Speaker 04

  Thanks, Team Dish.

• 40:51Speaker 03

  Oh, that's quite a question.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  No pressure, just a motto.

• 40:55Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  Wait, so what's your family motto to the brave, nothing?

• 40:58Speaker 04

  Nothing is difficult.

• 40:59Speaker 03

  Oh, that's fabulous.

• 41:01Speaker 04

  Brave, nothing is difficult.

• 41:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's good. Food's nice.

• 41:08Speaker 02

  Hey, have you ever tried food?

• 41:11Speaker 04

  Um.

• 41:12Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 41:14Speaker 04

  How about?

• 41:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:16Speaker 04

  No dish is too difficult for those who are adventurous in the kitchen.

• 41:21Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 41:22Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  That is good, that is good, that is good. That is good.

• 41:27Speaker 04

  The pressure, the pressure.

• 41:29Speaker 03

  Neon sign there.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, we need to sign there. Angela, be a nice tattoo for the new year for you. Amelia, thank you so much. The goodie bag is yours.

• 41:37Speaker 04

  Oh, wow, thank you so much.

• 41:39Speaker 02

  Amelia Fox, everybody.

• 41:43Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 41:44Speaker 02

  That's so fun. Thank you so much.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Fabulous, fabulous.

• 41:48Speaker 02

  If that episode has left you wanting more, find us on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Just search Dish.

• 41:56Speaker 03

  If you want to make any of the meals I cook on Dish, head to waitrose.com/dishrecipes for all the ingredients and the recipes.

• 42:05Speaker 02

  Email your questions, thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

• 42:11Speaker 03

  Dish from Waitrose is a Cold Glass production. Waitrose, the home of food lovers.