Episode One - Olivia Colman

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The wonderful actor Olivia Colman, star of The Crown, The Favourite, Fleabag and so many other brilliant productions, joins Alex at home in London for a chat about her most treasured pieces of jewellery and the stories connected with them. Listen in as Alex and Olivia discuss secret engravings, the Crown jewels and how a beautiful aquamarine ring became such a special token of her marriage to husband Ed.

This wasn’t the first podcast I’ve recorded, but we thought it was a fun one to start with. 

Olivia is a friend and she doesn’t live far away so I thought it worth a cheeky ask if she wouldn’t mind popping over for a good old chinwag... if I promised to supply fresh tea and biscuits, and a playdate for her two dogs (and my daughter Connie and her PomChi Blue). 

We recorded this podcast during one of the less strict periods of the horrible coronavirus pandemic. Even with safe distancing and plenty of hand sani we had such a great chat! Time flew, the dogs ran riot, and I ended up with far too much recorded for our hard-working and genius editor, Emily Sandford, to sift through. Let me just say she edited out a LOT of barks! 

Olivia is sooooo very nice. Not in a saccharine way, she’s a tough cookie too, but she is basically really nice and kind and very generous and there are absolutely no airs and graces about her. 

So we love her, we love her work, and we love the brilliant stories told through her jewellery. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

- Alex Monroe

I’ve been helped with these podcasts by my beautiful and talented daughter Connie. But you might notice that we occasionally refer to her anorexia and mental health issues. Both Connie and I have had our challenges with mental health, we think of it as very normal so we talk openly about it.

Here are some useful links for further reading on issues, events and artefacts discussed by Alex and Olivia.

For further information on anorexia www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

For more information on mental health www.mind.org.uk

For information on the crown jewels www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-crown-jewels

For further reading on the Aberfan disaster en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster

Illustration by Connie Bella Monroe
Edited by Emily Sandford
Music by Daniel Patrick Cohen

Please note, that this podcast was recorded during one of the less strict periods of the coronavirus pandemic, with all the necessary safety measures in place.