Go back

Gillian Anderson

42m 31s

Gillian Anderson

In this podcast episode, hosts welcome actress Gillian Anderson to discuss her new book, "Want," a collection of anonymous letters from women detailing their sexual fantasies. Anderson explains that the book was inspired by Nancy Friday's "My Secret Garden" and structured into chapters like power and submission. She highlights that ages were omitted to underscore the ageless nature of fantasy, and shares that the project garnered nearly 1,800 submissions. The conversation explores privacy concerns, with one host feeling fantasies should remain personal, while Anderson praises the contributors' bravery. Anderson also reflects on her upbringing, moving between Chicago, London, and Michigan, and recalls childhood dishes like tuna casserole. The episode includes a casual meal where they discuss food traditions, such as Thanksgiving dishes like green gelatin, and Anderson's current life cooking for her children in London. The tone is warm and humorous, blending deep discussion with lighthearted personal stories.

Transcription

5768 Words, 29901 Characters

English
[Music] Hello and welcome to season 17 of Table Man. How come we're doing on season 17? We've been going for seven years. How is that darling? I don't know. That makes me feel quite old. Because I started off. What's your 72? Doesn't make it all old. I started off at 65. Season 17 makes me sound 82. Thank God. Just a live laugh. Yeah, thank God. We are kicking off with a goddess. What she's someone when I mentioned it, that I think there was going to be a cue of my male friends outside the front door. And female friends. Because female and female friends. Everyone has an opinion and thinks this woman is extremely amazing and beautiful and wonderful actress. We've got Jillian Anderson coming on. We started watching her in ex-files as agent Scully. The fall. Stella Gibson, mum. I'm wearing silk in honour of Stella Gibson. She's played some big scoop, scoops to play Emily Mailless, past guest of The Table Manor's Margaret Fatcher. She's just amazing. We've seen her in two different productions of Streetcar. I think so. I think so. That's really wild. Well, I saw her at the young viz. So she is coming on to not talk about acting. She's talking about her new book, which is. Want. It's just your cup of tea, J. Not your cup of tea, mum? Well, it's about women's sexual fantasies. She's curated letters from women about their sexual fantasies. This was very much inspired by a book in the 70s called Secret Garden. I think by Nancy Friday, my Secret Garden, which was anonymous letters about desires and fantasies. I think by playing the role of Jean Milburn in Sex Reocation, where she is a sex therapist, I wonder whether that's kind of spurred this on. So, want submitted by anonymous, collected by Jillian Anderson. So, what she's done is she's collected, I think, thousands of letters anonymously sent in. And there's different chapters. So, there's like off-limits to be worshiped, power and submission. I thought that you'd probably write one in that chapter, like. What about how her makes people submit and excise my power? The watch is in the watch. Ruff and ready, Lenny? Me! Anyway, so Jillian's coming on to talk about this book. It's already out. And it's kind of divided us, hasn't it, Mum? Yeah. You've got an opinion on it, and I've got an opinion. And I'm interested to see what Jillian thinks about it. Well, I think fantasy is something personal and it shouldn't be published in a way. But it's anonymous. I know it's anonymous, but once you've set it out, loud to someone else and shared it, is it still your own personal fantasy? Well, yeah, because it's faceless and nameless. Yeah, but it doesn't matter once you set it, surely for me, fantasy is in my head. We'll pick this up with Jillian. What's on the menu today, Mum? She's coming in to a bit of an odd time, so we've got some raros beef on a bed of rocket and cheese. Palm ham. A book classic. Classic, classic, classic. Classic, where stable. Where stable. Did you get your little meat slicer out? Got my meat slicer out. Is that still the same one from the '90s? Yeah, yeah. Not from the '90s. Was it the '90s? I've got a new one though that Antiliz gave me. Oh. You can have it if you want. And there's a food mixer for you. Okay, thank you. So I've made that. I've got a fennel, apple, and green chili salad. Who's recipes that? It's a vans kitchen that I've followed. We love the vans kitchen. Yeah, with a black rubber gloves. Okay. Yeah, that fits into the sexual fantasy of things. Ooh! Um, you've just done some potatoes. Well, you kind of told me what to do. Oh, yeah. Not the sunboshing. You did them, and I just see. A maid. And then we've done some roasted tomatoes with cold yogurt. Yeah, hot and lengue. I've also been doing this many times in this podcast. I mean, she might not eat anything this early hour. Six o'clock. Five o'clock's my favourite time to eat. I know, but it's probably, it's early for most people. Late for you. Mm. I hope she brings her drink, G-Six. Well, she's got a new website called Geoed. Oh, so we can ask her about that. But I'm going to put some lipstick on. Gillian Anderson coming up on table. Gillian, thank you. You've had a very busy day. It's been a very busy day. We're going to feed you. We're going to have a rest. And I feel like we should start with the old G-Six. Yeah, go on. Is that something that you would reach for? Oh, yeah. Time of need. OK, which one are you going to go for, though? So soon. I don't need sooth. I need to actually make up definitely a lift. Or a round. Or a round. I don't really need to be a rouse at the minute. Really? You guys are going to have some a rouse. I will have some lift. OK, so lift is-- We have berries and peppercorn. Sarah Wack. That-- yeah, that's right. Sarah Wack. It's got adaptogens and neutrons. Yeah. Do you need a high sparsher? Am I going to be up all night? No. It definitely won't be up all night. You might want a little bit of ice here. Yeah, it's nice cold. Here, darling. Which ones are you afraid? You just happen to have ice. Let's do it. I think it's about half yesterday. And what's your favourite? I've lived actually. OK, I'm going with lift. But I feel like when in Rome we're talking about one, we should get arounds on the-- I agree. --on the pod too. So I'm reaching through all of your ice. It's fine. Gillian Amson is fingering. Yeah. Let me use ice. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Black ice. Right. Cheers. So this is a food podcast. I know. But I'm excited. But we're going to talk-- We're going to eat a little bit. Yeah. Also-- You're going to make it in front of me, like-- No, it's kind of pre-made. OK. We learn that we don't do that. Because it just becomes very noisy and chaotic. Yeah. And each time I try and cook and I'm like, people over. If somebody walks in the door, well, I'm taking the potatoes out of the oven and they ask me a question like, how are you? I'm like, I'm taking the fucking potatoes out of the oven. I'm going to see you. Yeah, busy. That's exactly how I am. So what was my holiday read? Oh, was it? Yeah. And everyone was interested to hear about it. Yeah. I found it really, really interesting. And congratulations. I think that the way you curated it is really beautiful and generous and protective. I'm respectful. There's all these different chapters, which acknowledge different fantasies. But I felt like you were celebrating these people. There was-- and I actually never really thought about what my fantasy would be. And so I think it's quite provocative. And I still don't know what my fantasy would be. What do you mean you don't know? I don't know. I don't know if I've got, like, an essay in me. Yeah. This is quite an odd subject to be talking about with my mother, by the way. Yeah, no, no, no. I'm so-- I would probably struggle. But just because they've been turned into essays for the nature of the book doesn't necessarily mean that they would come out as an essay, I guess, in your mind. It would be more-- it could just be purely visual. Yeah. I mean, but I did love the dentist one, which was very short and sweet. She was like, you know, I just really want to fuck my dentist. But not my real-- it was really good. And it had-- it was funny. It was very funny. I wanted to ask, because there was underneath each essay or letter, there was some information, there was the amount that they earned, or, yeah, there was their religion, sexuality, whether they were in a relationship or in children. Why did you choose not to put age in that? Good question. That was an internal decision with the Blundsbury. And as I understand it, it was because they felt that fantasy is ageless. And that somehow maybe it would be more identifiable. OK. To women, if they were reading and not necessarily know. And sometimes it's evident. And sometimes what's really interesting is you read a fantasy and somebody talks about never having kissed anybody and then they reveal their 70 years old. And so it's a very, very moving book. There's a lot of tenderness and compassion and sadness and a lot of joy and obviously-- A lot of provocation. There's a lot of cock. Yeah, a lot of orgasms. Tentacles. Tentacles. There's a few tentacles. A big, but milk-feeding. Yeah. But you know what? I kind of-- I didn't-- because Mum and I were discussing this. You think you were a bit of a prude, don't you? I don't think I'm a prude at all. All right. I think I'm more private about my sexual fantasies because I feel my fantasy is my own within me. And I think if I shared it, it would no longer be mine in a way. Fair enough. But it's anonymous. So-- But it doesn't matter if it's like publishing something if it would not be mine anymore. But that's why I was so impressed by the writers because they give everything to me. And more. And it's kind of-- Well, they wanted to because-- They're safe, clearly cooperative. Yeah. So they wanted to do that. Yeah. I mean, how many submissions did you have? So what I find fascinating is that 1,800 women started letters. And I think we ended up in the end just under 1,000. And maybe I think we had 800,000 words. And so I'm very interested in the ones that decided against it, or called "feet" or-- So what did you have to ask for their permission to be published? Or was it people-- When you say they started? Yeah. So we created-- or Bloomsbury created a portal. And you would sign up to the portal. And then you could start your letter. And you could see in the portal apparently that people had seen. "Hodd yn yu nadeb yw'r yw ddol, ac yn yw'r cywsio'r ysfynu rhan amser. Mwy'n gwneud o'r yw'r cymdebun amser, 'dol yw'r cymdebun amser, ac yn yw'r cymdebun amser. Mwy'n gweld i ddyn. Mwy'n gweld i ddyn. Mwy'n gweld i ddyn. Mae'n gweld i ddyn. Mae'n gweld i ddyn. Mae'n gweld i ddyn. Mae'n gweld i ddyn. Mae'n gweld i ddyn. - I don't know, Michigan. - Born Chicago, grew up here. - And then moved. - And then moved to Michigan. And then moved back to Chicago for uni. - Love Chicago. - Is your American accent to Chicago accent? - I don't know. - I don't think it's, I don't actually don't know what, how I'm-- - If you were in America now, you'd speak with an American accent. - Yeah, yeah. - Is that just 'cause it comes naturally? - Yeah. - So who was round the dinner table? - God, what were you eating? What's really memorable dish from your childhood? - So in Crouch End, it would have been me and my mum and dad, and that would have been it. And what would it have been like a, mum would kill me, but like a tuna fish casserole with crisps stuck in it? - Oh. - You're not the first person to say about the crisps. Is your mum American? - Both of us. - Okay, so like it's in America. - I don't think so, to my own. - Did you like it? - I think I liked anything that I was given. I can't literally remember anything else. - How old were you eating a tuna fish casserole with crisps? - Of course I think. I remember her also making it when we moved to Michigan, so I'm sure it was until I left home. - Why did you live here and then why did you move back? - So I was born in Chicago, but when my dad wanted to go to the London Film School, and he wanted to go to A Film School and ask my mum whether she wanted them asked to move to either London or California, and she said London. So we didn't have any money, so we went to Puerto Rico for a period of time because by grandparents, my dad's parents were living there with his siblings, and so we weren't there and saved money for apparently 15 months, and then we moved to London. - Oh, great, great. - And well, first we were staying on people's couches and sharing houses and stuff, and then when they could afford a flat parents. - With their very young parents, yeah. - And then my dad went to London Film School, and yeah, we moved from Crouch, eventually we were in Crouch, and then we were in Harringay, and then we went back to the States, and we moved to Gran Apricot, Michigan. - Were you interested by food when you were growing up? Was it kind of just a. - No, no. - I was interested in sweets. I was about the extent of my. - What was your favourite sweet that you'd go to the shop for? - Anything. - Oh, God, you know those things used to dunk the licorice in, those. - Oh, the licorice. - The liqueurish. - The liqueurish. - Oh, I don't know. - They're called licorice fountains. - Oh, I don't know. - The licorice comes out and it's sherbet, and it dip it in a sherbet, and it dip it in a sherbet. - It's basically different sugar, it's licorice dunked and sugar-recicly. - I wonder if you can still. - It's making me so happy. - I saw it actually within the last year I've seen them. - Did you buy one? - I did not. - No, no. - Should we get some food? - Yeah, I'm. - I text Elizabeth Day today, who's a friend of mine. - Oh, is she? - Who, I said, "Oh, I've got Jillian Answers and on, and she's a police and my love." She's the best. - We heard such a fun show. - She loves you, but she also said, "Can you let David Decoveni know that he's completely ripped off her podcast and she's feeling. - Oh, is she. - I mean, wink, but yeah. - It feels like it. - It's a fail factor. - I know, but it's actually nothing like it. - Yeah. - Yeah. - It's not. - What's he like? - It's nothing like it. - He's your friend, isn't he? - Yeah. Yeah, before we take quite a complex relationship, you know, when you work that intensely with somebody for such a long time, I mean, we were basically married to each other. - Yeah, right. - I've actually listened to his podcast a fair number of times, and it's. I think it's good. It's interesting. It's interesting hearing a man talks about openly about emotional things, because he really does talk about loss and guilt and feelings and, you know. And I feel like I've learnt more about him this thing to his podcast. - And actually when you work, yeah. - What's a memorable dish from that time when you were recording an X-Files? Was there something. - I went through so many stages. I went through a macro-barotic stage for a while. - That sounds fun. Which is impossible to make yourself. You really need somebody else to do it for you. - I think that's what macros aren't. - So it's a macro-barotic, is it's a mixture of grains, so it's usually like brown rice or quinoa or millet or something. And there's seaweed and mushrooms and fermented foods. - So kind of healthy food. - Yeah, it's very very healthy. And some people swear by it, it's very cleansing. It's meant to be very good for your biome and your whole system, but also sometimes people who have cancer go on macro-barotic diets and feel that it heals them. Somehow the process sometimes they can, they believe that they reverse their cancer by eating that. - The diet, yeah. - Yeah. - So here we have some cold beef, rocket and plums and very nice. - Otolenguies, have you ever had this otolenguied tomatoes? It's so warmed tomatoes with gonga and they've got cumin in there and lemon. - That's a fennel apple, jalapeno and cabbage salad and some potatoes and some asparagus. - Sparaguy. - Sparaguy. - Sparagusses. - Help yourself. - Thank you very much. - Excellent. - Do you live in London? - Mm-hmm. - Where'd you love to eat? Have you go and eat out a lot? - Would you cook? - Well, I'm with my kids, I cook. Pretty basic stuff. - Tuna casserole. - No. - Have you, maybe you need to recreate her? - You know salmon and cavlinero and they love chicken wraps. You know stuff like that. - So do mine. - How old are yours? - Eight. - Five and three. - Cheese. - Oh no. - I'm so sorry. (laughing) - It's quite intense at the moment. - There's something going down my throat. It's like you think you have a burning. - It's quite, it's very spicy. - It's a spicy thing in there. - That happened to me a minute ago and I'm sorry. - That was right, it's quite spicy. - Well, she put them in there, but I think there were two. - I know, certainly. - She said to put Serrano peppers in, but I didn't. - Right. - Then I looked it up and someone said, "Oh, they're just like, glinchillis." - Yeah. - But they're all pretty powerful. - She was in there. - And so sorry. - There's such an innocent piece of apple. - Yeah. - And then it's like, - So sorry in the last few years. - I'm sorry not to talk too much about food. I don't have a big food's history. There was a certain point where apparently my mum decided she was no longer gonna cook after it, 'cause I had a brother and sister who were 13 and 16 years younger than me. And there was a certain point. I don't know where they were in their schooling, but my mum just put her down and said, "I'm not cooking anymore." - Did you have to cook them? - No, I was no longer. - Were you living in a married living? - Yeah, I was, but I was probably already, I may have already been doing it as far as by the time she declared that. But yeah. - Chili. - Chili. - Yeah. - Oh, chili con carne. - Chili con carne, rice and beans. - I like cooking, I like cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas. - Oh yeah. - I enjoy that. - Are you celebrating? - What's your dish? - Will you make it all or what's your dish that's like? - Yeah, yeah, I'm making it. - Well, I think we pretty much, if it's family, which it usually would be, it's the usual turkey, sometimes a ham as well, and sweet potatoes with the marshmallows. - Don't you usually do marshmallows, but sweet potatoes, and. - Do you put cinnamon on? - I like cinnamon. - I don't. - But I do put a little bit, sometimes, depending on sweet potatoes, might put a little bit of maple syrup in it, just a little bit and salt and butter. And onions, grata, so like, pearl onion, grata. - Oh, really? - Oh, yeah. - So what's your whole? - Their whole but tiny. - But tiny. - And you can't really really get them except, you can buy them frozen and they're just as good. - Oh, that's good. - Yeah, 'cause otherwise, all you can get here is just, like, shallots, the shallots are too big, 'cause they're proper pearl onions, you get frozen. So you can get frozen pearl onions, and it's got cream and bread crumbs. - Oh, great. - Yeah, it's really, really yummy. - That sounds, I think we're going to do that. - I think we're going to do that, darling. - And, and he has. - Russell Sprouts with, I can't remember. - Pinchetta maybe. Yeah, with Pinchetta, yeah, and chestnuts. But then there's also this thing that we make, which is called a green gelo, green gelo. - A Rita Wilson. - Rita Wilson talked about doing this too. - Really? - Yeah. - Her Tom Hanks is wife. - Yeah, she did a green gelo. - You tell us about your green gelo. - So there's a green gelo that my, but we call it green glass gelo. - Why? - Because famously there was a dish where my mother was growing up in Wisconsin. That was made in a beautiful antique green glass bowl that was put up on the fridge and somebody over the door and the green gelo fell into the, fell onto the floor and destroyed everything. But within the green gelo is lime gelo and pilot. and I think lemon jello and also cream cheese. Oh! But it's like a sweet, sweet, disgusting. It's a sweet dish that you have in the house. A sweet jelly on the same plate as you have your turkey and cranberry stuff. Oh wow. This is fantastic. This is pioneering stuff for me. I guess you have kind of cranberry. Yeah. But not cranberry. Not kind of jelly. Not jelly and plimond on the same plate as your turkey. So it's very much cratt with orange peel in it. Yeah, love that. But I would try it. I was invited round by it. I'd try it. Yeah, good. But it's the image of it kind of looking like she'd been ghost busters that is kind of feeling you have for me. It has thrown up. And then also a stuffing. A really nice like cornmeal stuffing with lots of herbs and onions and absolutely delicious. What would be your last supper? Oh. Starter, main, put- Drinking choice. You're going after a desert island. Starter would probably be really eggy courgette flowers. Oh. We are. For the starter. Yeah. For the codther. Or mascarpone. What is it? I mean, I've been eating it. You know, we've only had them in Greece and they stuff from the rice and dill. The same as dolmardis, yeah. But ricotta sounds pretty good. I know. So good. And plain. Probably a ribeye. Mmm. Perfectly cooked ribeye with brinece, maybe, or mm-hmm. What are the sides you're having? I love salads. And like really good salads with seeds and I must do better than a salad. What else could be a confine? Cream spinach. Yeah, not a huge fr- I like super cheddar fries. Maybe super cheddar fries. And, um, Corset fries. Corset fries. Corset fries. Corset fries. Let's do Corset fries. And maybe some spinach but sauteed spinach with garlic. And, um, I'll. Do you eat fish? I do. Yeah. Which fish do you know? I really like salmon. Do you like salmon? I love salmon. Did you know? I made it yesterday. And it says, "Oh mum, what have you do? Don't make salmon." Your salmon isn't my fish though. That's true. But honestly, I did a side of salmon and it went straight away. I love seeing a poached salmon on the table. Yeah, me too. And it was really delicious. Was it poached? Yeah, I poached it and I did it in the oven with lemon. And it was delicious. It was delicious. Stock '90s. Yeah. Oh, shut up. I have a lot of stuff. That's when you say it that. I love a cockle, though. I saw what you'd do. I do. Jessica. She'd be alright. She's so perfect. Yeah, I do. I have all these cock books, you know, on the Leninga Cookbooks, and more on Cookbooks. And I use grandmother's favourite recipes, basically. I do love more. She has an open door. She's too busy. I drink a cockle of ham and I boil it once. And so pudding? Hmm. You big pudding person? No. I was. I recently gave up sugar and gluten. But it's my last supper. I would absolutely eat sugar and gluten, so I'd probably do a. Gosh, what would I do? I'd have been offy pie. Oh, yeah. Right? Another one of my feet pie. It gives everything. It is delicious. It's very. It's very. The lot. Yeah. How long have you been off this sugar and gluten? Since September. And do you feel better for it? Not necessarily. But I would say. I know I should say, yeah, I feel better. I'm a little bit. No, but it's rude to us why you gave it up. I was drinking five coaks a day. Of full fat. Full fat, yeah. Ah, okay. Yeah. For the sugar, you think. And the caffeine for everything. Yeah. The heaven. But so then I also did a drink to kind of help me to get off of them. But so I stopped. Yeah. Stop sugar. Can I ask what your drink of choice would be? Would it be. Would it be. Would it be. Would you say that, Jessica? Yeah, well, usually drink. I drink. I drink. Apple juice with a bit of fizzy water in it. Or a juice bottle. I apple ties. That was my theatre drink. Oh, you still have an apple ties there. Can I ask out of all the characters that you've played, who would you like to have dinner with? It would be pretty fun to sit at a table with. Thatcher serving you. What would she serve? Well, she served in the city, like she would make. What was it? It was. Kedgerie. She served it to her ministers. Yeah. Yeah. Have some Margaret Thatcher Kedgerie. That'd be interesting. Yeah, interesting. Did you like playing Emily Makeness? I did, yeah. Perfect. Yeah. She's pretty cool. Does it feel hard to play somebody that is alive? Harder than somebody who is no longer. Yeah. Because you want to honour them and don't want to. I don't know. Honoured them and also. You know, she's in the community. She's about. You see her every once in a while or in like Hyde Park or something. And that's. And also, you know, mutual friends. God, that's spicy. How do I say that? So that's all I want. I'm just so sorry. I'm just so sorry. Barry, let me just put some potato on. I hope she'll leave. So I don't even have it. Yeah. And. What's the kitchen staple that you can't live without? It's always there. It's a permanent fixture. Mine would be Marmite. Really? Yeah. You couldn't live without that in your kitchen. No. I mean, like, fine. Yeah, well, Oliver, yeri, yeri, but like, Marmite is something that I need in my shop. Interesting. I might have gone. What do you think that says? I love it. You don't know that. That's so interesting. I know she loves Marmite, but it wouldn't be my staple in my kitchen for food. Right. What would you always be? Chicken stock. Interesting. I mean, that's quite niche. No, because I. Which one though? Tell them. Yeah, she's talking about chicken soup. Because I make chicken soup a lot and I couldn't live without that. And I use it in everything, even when I make other soups. Okay. Yeah. Ah, cardos, probably. I always have other cardos. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I put my boys like to have literally the same thing per breakfast every single morning. And so I use poached eggs on toast with avocado and seeds. See, add a little Marmite in that. And it's going to really. It's going to give it a little bit of. I'm not sure. It's not spicy. How about you? Togin. Do you have Togin on it? Mm-hmm. Do you know what that is? I do. I've got one here. Do you want it? Yeah, I'd love it. Thank you. There's some. Oxlengue's got this red paste that he makes. I don't know what it's actually called, but one of my sons really, really likes it. And you can mix it. You can serve it with chicken, num, mix it into pasta or whatever. It's a tomato based something or maybe it's red pepper on both. I see that so. But it's really yummy. And so I probably always have that in the fridge as well because I. Oh, I must get it. Yeah, it's really. No, I've been. Can you discuss where you like going out for dinner? There's a new restaurant in. Or maybe it's about a year and a half old. That's actually in. Is it a Holland Park? Called Akub. Akub. A dinner A, K-U-B. What kind of food? It's Middle Eastern food. It's really, really yummy. Oh, I'll try it. It's really nice. It's in a house that they've redone as a restaurant, but it's really beautifully done. That sounds great. It's very, very yummy. And can I ask you what is a nostalgic taste that can transport you back to some time? The other day, where was I? I had a potato that tasted like a school dinner potato from when I was going to nursery and culture and it lit. It was a boiled potato. Why did it come? I can't remember what I was eating or with whom or where was I. I was in Copenhagen. And this potato took me right back to being four years old. Wow. That crazy. Was it a happy memory? That was so yummy. Oh, was it? Yeah, it was so yummy. I don't know if I was particularly happy there in that nursery, but it was. It was so yummy. Gillian, thank you so much for coming on. And thank you for having me. It's such a pleasure to meet you. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for bringing all these goodies and sharing your books so early for a holiday. Can I just ask you one more question? Did any of the episodes terrify you or did it make you not scared of scary movies like when you did? I had X files. Yeah, with X files. Terrifying. But because I used to watch it and I was terrified. It was reading the scripts was terrifying. I had to read them in daylight because reading them at night time was too much. So I never used to be able. I used to have panic attacks when I used to see scary things and horror of things. Until. Because I mean after X files, I did some scary things. I did the fall and blow up. Yeah. But it was only when I started shooting sex education that I started being able to watch crime stuff. And it started with like Ted Bundy tapes or something like that, like the darkest of the darkest. I started watching it until like three o'clock in the morning because maybe because I was doing comedy. That's really interesting. Isn't it? Yeah. That's amazing. But I'm just wondering when you were filming. filming the fool. Yeah, I just think it was so sexy. Was it not, was it terrifying doing it though? It was terrifying. Don't get like when you when you're in the shower you're in the room and he was in your room and you're in the shower room or you go for a wee. Yeah, you're getting on dread. Like that one that there was a scene like that. Yeah, it wasn't in the hotel. It was some he did but that was for the diary. I think somebody else was show. Wasn't it? It's on the subway. It's you showering. I mean it was a free. You were in your hotel. You did a lot of swimming. I did do a lot of swimming. Yeah, but did that feel like a swimming devil did? Because I had a show. It was you. It was at the beginning but I had a frozen shoulder so I couldn't actually do the crawl. But can you see us? Are you okay? Okay. But did that feel like a different kind of fear? Was it kind of hot? Was it hot? I mean he was a murderer. I know but he was so sexy. It was like we didn't want him to be a murderer. Let me hear him and James and Autumn have really fucked up my issue with Psychopaths. Do you know what I mean? Jamie Dawn and you've got a lot to answer for. Well, her Wendy was pretty hot if you're going there. What's she up to? Should I down? Should I go with my truck? Yeah, with my tri-o of pots like. That is. On that note. Good night. That sleep well. Yeah. Thank you. Mum, you won't mind if I take these G-spots home. They are delicious. Have you found your G-spot? I've found a few G-spots. Thank you to Gillian Anderson for coming on and talking about Want. Submitted by Non-Amus, collected by Gillian Anderson. It's out now with Bloonsbury. It's a really interesting read. Yeah, it was such a treat having her on. I mean she's a legend. She is a legend. She's a stellar blanche. All those people she's played. And then she was sitting at my table eating your raros beef. Eating my raros beef. I felt a bit star-struck by her, you know. Yeah, I did as well. She's got such power. Yeah, she's very serene. Yeah. Thank you everyone for listening and we'll see you next week.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. The podcast hosts introduce actress Gillian Anderson, discussing her career and her new book "Want," which compiles anonymous letters from women about their sexual fantasies.
  2. Anderson explains the book's inspiration, its structure into thematic chapters, and the decision to exclude ages to emphasize that fantasy is ageless.
  3. The conversation touches on personal views about privacy regarding fantasies, with differing opinions on sharing them even anonymously.
  4. Anderson shares personal anecdotes, including her childhood moving between the US and the UK, family meals like tuna casserole, and her current life in London cooking for her children.
  5. The hosts and Anderson enjoy a meal together, discussing food preferences, Thanksgiving traditions, and lighthearted topics like podcasts and favorite sweets.

Summary:

In this podcast episode, hosts welcome actress Gillian Anderson to discuss her new book, "Want," a collection of anonymous letters from women detailing their sexual fantasies. Anderson explains that the book was inspired by Nancy Friday's "My Secret Garden" and structured into chapters like power and submission. She highlights that ages were omitted to underscore the ageless nature of fantasy, and shares that the project garnered nearly 1,800 submissions.

The conversation explores privacy concerns, with one host feeling fantasies should remain personal, while Anderson praises the contributors' bravery. Anderson also reflects on her upbringing, moving between Chicago, London, and Michigan, and recalls childhood dishes like tuna casserole. The episode includes a casual meal where they discuss food traditions, such as Thanksgiving dishes like green gelatin, and Anderson's current life cooking for her children in London.

The tone is warm and humorous, blending deep discussion with lighthearted personal stories.

FAQs

It's a book titled 'Want' that collects anonymous letters from women about their sexual fantasies, inspired by Nancy Friday's 'My Secret Garden' from the 1970s.

She was inspired by her role as a sex therapist in 'Sex Education' and wanted to create a curated, anonymous collection that celebrates and protects women's voices on this personal topic.

She received around 1,800 letters from women, with about 1,000 making it into the final book, totaling approximately 800,000 words.

Each entry includes information like the writer's income, religion, sexuality, and relationship status, but intentionally omits age to emphasize that fantasy is ageless.

She recalls her mother making tuna fish casserole with crisps (potato chips) on top, a dish she ate until leaving home.

She cooks basic meals like salmon, chicken wraps, and dishes her children love, and enjoys preparing traditional feasts for holidays like Thanksgiving.

Chat with AI

Loading...

Pro features

Go deeper with this episode

Unlock creator-grade tools that turn any transcript into show notes and subtitle files.