People Who Knew Me - 2. Fettuccine Alfredo

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

New episodes released on Tuesday and Thursday. If you’re in the UK, listen first on BBC Sounds. Connie starts chemotherapy and tries to ignore the advances of fellow patient, Paul, as she delves back to her past to try to figure out where it all went wrong with Emily’s husband Drew. She recalls them meeting at NYU in 1993, their whirlwind romance, her choosing Drew over Gabe, their marriage and bohemian life. It was all so happy and full of promise. Back in the present, Paul gives some good advice to Connie about letting people in. This leads her to faces the difficult moment of telling Claire she has cancer. Credits Connie / Emily - ROSAMUND PIKE Drew - KYLE SOLLER Claire - ISABELLA SERMON Gabe - ALFRED ENOCH Jade - JESSICA DARROW Marni/Jenny - DANIELLA ISAACS Dr Richter / Reporter - CHARLES HAGERTY and HUGH LAURIE as PAUL Additional voices: PIPPA WINSLOW, NANCY CRANE, JOEY AKUBEZE, BARNEY WHITE, JILL WINTERNITZ Written and Directed by Daniella Isaacs Adapted from the original novel and Consulting Produced by Kim Hooper Produced by Joshua Buckingham Executive Produced by Faye Dorn, Clelia Mountford, Sharon Horgan, Kira Carstensen, Seicha Turnbull and Brenna Rae Eckerson Executive Producer for eOne Jacqueline Sacerio Co-Executive Produced by Carey Burch Nelson Executive Producer for BBC Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioner for the BBC Lorraine Okuefuna Additional Commissioning support for the BBC Natasha Johansson and Harry Robinson Production Executive Gareth Coulam Evans Production Manager Sarah Lawson Casting Director Lauren Evans Audio Production & Post-Production by SoundNode Supervising Dialogue Recordist & Editor Daniel Jaramillo Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Design & Mix: Martin Schulz Music composed by Max Perryment Additional Dialogue Recording: David Crane, Martin Jilek Assistant Dialogue Recordists: Jack Cook, Giancarlo Granata Additional Dialogue Editing: Marco Toca Head of Production Rebecca Kerley Production Accountant Lianna Meering Finance Director Jackie Sidey Legal and Business Affairs Mark Rogers at Media Wizards Dialect Coach for Rosamund Pike - Carla Meyer Read in Hannah Moorish Artwork: Mirjami Qin Artwork Photographer by Sibel Ameti Additional thanks to: Emily Peska, Caitlin Stegemoller, Sam Woolf, Charly Clive, Ellie White, Ellen Robertson, Kate Phillips, Ed Davis, Ciaràn Owens, Jonathan Schey, Daniel Raggett and Charlotte Ritchie.

The baggy flamboyant luminous green pink and yellow shirt. Brillacreamed hair, boy band style. Levi's denim jacket, Wack on the Clone. Welcome to Belfast 1997. Not just any old part of Belfast, but gay Belfast. It was electric. There is a Seminick guy dancing in cages.

Every cell in my body was just lit up. Sad at the bar was Direnbratel. What happened next would go on to threaten peace in Northern Ireland. One of the few gay police officers in the country shot dead. If someone had told them that Daren Bradshaw was going to be murdered, it's a story that's never been told before. For his own skin, he traded Daren's life. This is Blood in the Dance floor.

Listen and I, on BBC Sons. You're about to listen to episode two of People Who New Me. New episodes will be released twice a week wherever you get your podcasts. If you're in the UK, you can listen before anywhere else, first, on BBC Sons. BBC Sons, Music, Radio, Podcasts. This episode contains themes and strong language, which some listeners may find upsetting. All events are dramatized. Emily, I feel possessed. I'm currently having rap poison pumped through my veins at the chemo

clinic and all I'm thinking about is you. Oh, she years in that picture? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's my daughter Claire. She's beautiful. I'm Nersami. I'll be monitoring your treatment cycles over the next few months. Great, great. So has Claire taken the news, okay? Oh yeah, yeah, she's a trooper.

Don't know where she came from. Lire. We went to the Melrose flea market on the weekend, Emily. I was going to tell Claire about the cancer then. Something is definitely up. Cowboy boots are not vital pieces of footwear. Do you want the boots or not? Taylor Swift has the boots, of course I want the boots.

I couldn't do it. She was going to see Hotel Transylvania that night with Talia, who she's totally in love with, by the way, and I didn't want to kill the mood. She's playing soccer in the photo. Your daughter, Claire. Sorry, you're a waging, this might think. I mean, I haven't fucked anyone in 15 years. I haven't kissed. I haven't held

someone's hand. I don't date. I'm basically a sending none. I'm Paul. I'm six weeks to the chemo prostate cancer. And I have no eyebrows. Your turn. Welcome to cancer anonymous. I'm sure he was a very seasoned dataer before his prostate got in the way, but if this guy thinks he's gonna get lucky at a cancer clinic... Come on! I'm Connie! I'm a chemo virgin, and I've got dumping cancer. Breast. Breast. Sorry. I'm a fully grown 59-year-old man, and I cannot say breast and not blush.

I'm a fully grown 59 year old man and I cannot say breast and not blush. So it's Claire, would you see a daddy's girl or maybe not, maybe you're very into soccer too? That would be extremely cool. Uh, probably a bit of both. Uh huh. Is he coming today? I love you. Not today, no.

Shane, how did you guys meet? Emily, this is why I don't make friends. because I have to bolt shit out of my ass. Lying is tiring. I'm sorry, do you mind if I just... Oh no, no, no, no, you go for it. Listen to your thing, don't tell my me. If I'm gonna tell Claire about you and her dad, then I'm gonna have to remember how this whole fucking mess began.

Oh, God. Get a half to remember how this whole fucking mess began. Oh, God. I said hello. I can't believe I said hello. What are fucking things, er? NYU, 1992. Meeting Drew. With your roommate, Jenny. You spent hours listening to her while she chatted away, limbs split in a bath. 18 months later and you lost touch completely. I should warn Claire. Best friendship can be so fleeting. We need a reason to go over there.

Like what? We're making cookies. Can we borrow a baking sheet? Yes. Oh my god, yes. Yes, that could work. Let's just ask if they want to go for pizza. What? No. Yeah. No, shit. My date with Gabe. Fuck, it's tonight. Gabriel. Gabe. Fuck, it's tonight.

Gabriel, Gabe, Walters. God. So perfectly handsome that it made everyone around him, including you, unbearably self-conscious. So disgustingly attractive that you immediately assumed he was a jerk. Frustratingly, he was the opposite. Going to Ba'habat Shukar over a summer to stay with my mom's family. I'm going to surf for eight hours a day.

Surfing for eight hours a day kind of hotness. Come? Mama, what? I'm serious. I think dinner should come before a plane ride. Not a chance. It goes. Plain.

Then surfing. Then dinner. If you still want to go out when you're back, I'll go. For dinner. You were sure that would be the end of it. He'd fall in love with Aphrodite in Rhea Dijonero. September came around and shocking me. I believe you said you'd let me take you for dinner.

Come on. Where are you going? Gabe won't be here for an hour. If I leave you to it, you'll be knocking on his door at midnight, begging him for some sugar. Oh my god, I'm obsessed with you. Come on.

Hello. Hi, I'm Emily. I mean, this is Jenny. Emily and Jenny. Like you were some weird variety show hosts. This wasn't who Jenny was talking about. She was into JFK Jr. kind of guys. This guy was messy.

We just wanted to come and say hello. Hello, hello. Drew. Hey. And here came J.F.K. Junior. I'm Brian. Hello. You worked it out pretty quick. Brian, like Jenny, was a trust fund kid. Both had parents who owned apartments and granite.

And you and Drew were the Bohemian art students. I am majoring in liberal arts. Prosperine from your friends privilege. And what you plan to do that? Oh, you know, just grow home made beer, make performance art, and maybe... ...vina squad. The bookshelf was full of vana-gut, hemmingly, miller. Or all those books, yours? Guilty.

And the music? Yeah, it's mine too. Oh, you have the Nevermind album on vinyl. I approve. Nevermind, the Nevermind album on my run. Jenny had to leave. Sorry, guys. I'm going to go pick up my Chinese.

Good to meet you. Do you want some help? Nothing. You'll need some, like, good... Sorry. I don't need... Oh, Jenny. Oh, Jenny.

Just think you might want some. Sure. I hope that. You stared at your feet. So conscious of the space between you. The horoscope book? Is that yours? Yes, sadly, I am very psychic, Emmy. Emmy, he called you Emmy.

He traced his finger along the line of your sweaty palm. Let me see. Oh, thank God for that. What? Well, you are going to live a very long time. I don't think you'd tell me if I wasn't. Well, I couldn't lie to you on the first day. I've been met you. That'd be very wrong of me, Emmy. Would it true? Yes, Emmy. Anything else?

True? Oh, yeah, let me see. Amy. Anything else? True? Oh, yeah, let me see. Okay, yeah, you will experience a lot of love and a lot of very, very good sex. You are lucky that way, Amy. You smiled and dared to look them in the eyes. By the way, I know absolutely nothing about palm reading, but it is very nice to hold your hand.

And in that moment, those palms felt really the most sweaty they'd ever been in your life. Shit, I forgot, I have this dinner thing. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, maybe when you don't have a dinner thing, which, um, you know, I think it's actually a date thing. Maybe we could do our own dinner.

Think. He smiled and you tried not to stumble over your own feet. Connie, I'm just going to change you for say talks and now. How are you feeling? I'll tell you how. She's been zenning out while I've been staring at my ex Lulu on Facebook. Can I add you, Connie? I don't have it, sorry. What?

Wow! You... Everybody has Facebook. I don't have it, I'm sorry. Well, well, okay. Last time I checked Facebook, Drew was married to a woman named Lisa Shaw. My profile name's Jane Smith, and if I told this guy, he'd ask why this student him, and I'd vomit

another story and have another lie to hold. No thanks. Back to NYU. You ran Gabe. I know this is strange, and you'll hate me forever, but I have to cancel. Are you sick? No, I just met someone.

Wow, Bummer, uh, lucky guy. Well, if it doesn't work out, then, I mean, no, I guess. You were sure Gabe Walters would never offer to take you to an Italian on Bleaker ever again? I canceled. Wait a minute, just in time for dinner? Okay, just everything that you've just done there, that's more cooking than I've done in my entire life. Yeah, but I mean, I cook from my mom growing up.

You know, I love it. Oh no, are you using me? I was raised by a single parent card. Won't work. I'm a fatherless child, too. I used to have cooking and won't work. I'm a fatherless child, too. You still cooking in abandonment already? I mean, child, yeah.

What's left? It was brief, that kiss. Easy. You haven't even asked what's for dinner. You have the right books. You have the right music. My guts telling me you'll be making the right... I'm not a genius for it now.

Oh no. You hate it. I'm up his last with it. Homemade goat's cheese and spinach, how's it? And then he practically cooked for you every night. Ayyosas, can you believe I made Gioza Burrito? Thank you very much. You both slept in that tiny bed in Brian's apartment for six months.

And Jenny was pissed. Emily, Laura's much more present. I need that for my mental well-being, so... You'll need to be out by March. Brian moved Boston when you graduated, and suddenly your privilege was stripped from you. You found a shitty one bed in Brooklyn 20 years before Brooklyn was cool. Drew got a job at a shipping yard,

you at a coffee shop. Neat the balls and the spaghetti for the lady. What? And... Open the door. No! Oh no! Oh no!

Oh no! Oh no! You called him Bruce. It was very true to buy a dog on a whim. You went to the pet shops straight away, and while looking at tug toys and a 40 pound bag of tibble. I feel like we've had a kid. I think we have a little dirty blonde white. Um, sorry for being so traditionalist or whatever, but I mean if we have a kid it kind of feels right that we should get married. Are you proposing to me over a kibble? I mean what even is kibble? I think it comes from cobble stones like because cobblestones look like kibble, maybe? So I think, yes, I will marry you, Drew.

I think that's a really good idea. You know, just for the sake of our dirty blonde little boy. Bruce. Pa. Pa? Yellow. I just wanted to say sorry if I was rude or... Oh no no no! No!

It was me. I was being too much. No, you were... Can I give you some advice that you probably not seek it? Sure. This is my second cancer expedition. Okay, first time I was with Molina Thompson. Every chemo trip she has to come win the big cancer picnic. And every time I was with Molina Thompson, every chemo trip she has to come in and they make a cancer picnic. And every time I said no,

and eventually she got fed up. Let your husband in. I'm not married. Sorry, you're... No, I mean, I'm not married. I'm not with, I haven't, I'm sorry, I'm just, I mean, I'm single. I haven't, I'm on my own.

Oh, but you said... I know what I said. I was just, I was just, I mean, I'm single. I haven't. I'm on my own. Oh, but you said... I know, I know what I said. I was just... I was tired and I... I'm sorry. Okay, well, next time you just tell me to shut up, you don't have to make up a story. Yeah. Oh, wait. Can I just ask, when did you lose your hair? How, how, uh, quickly? Uh, I was about three weeks. Some take less though. My friend, Frank, you're a hair-fill-opinant week. Okay. Okay.

You haven't told your kid. What? Of course I have. Okay. Sure. Sorry. Hey, Con. Sorry, that's too much. Connie, maybe next time we could get a juice or something after we're done. Sure. Great. Great. You're my chemo buddy now, I'm afraid. You're my chemo buddy. Great. September 26, 1994. A cheap champagne wedding brunch and a discount macy's dress. What's the honeymoon plan?

You hadn't seen your mom in over a year. She only thinks she could slur, was prying about your vacation. We have more important things to do. Drew wants to go to culinary school, and I want to do a master's. How will you afford that? Sorry! God, stupid! Drew's mom had a tremor even back then. He told you not to worry about it. Mm.

I'll just raise my broken glass to you, you beautiful kids, and your bright and equally brilliant futures. How did it all turn so sour? I'm glad you never had to do this to me. The bit we're over a banana split, a mother tells her unbearably perfect kid. I've got breast cancer. You got chocolate on your tent. Did you hear?

Yeah. Why? Why? Maybe I cancer. Well, good question. I don't know. Well, have you been feeling sick? Have you been sleeping?

I don't think it works like that, sweetie. I...I...I feel fine. You know, Laurie at my school's mom had breast cancer, and she's fine. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to be scary. So, you're saying a scary one? No. Okay. Did grandma have the same cancer?

No, she had a much worse one. It was a... It's very different now, sweetie. It's a... It's not like it was. Lire. Mom here. There was some kind of plate crash where you were.

She and her from next door is here. Call me when you can't. Mom, thanks for being honest with me. Tell me, Carm is a load of fucking bullshit, Emily. Tell me I'm gonna live. Of course. Always sweetie. Always. People who knew me, starring Rosamond Pike, Kyle Soler, Isabella Sermon, Alfred Enoch,

Jessica Darrow, Charles Hackerdy, Daniela Isaacs, and Hugh Laurie. Other voices, Gippa Winslow, Nancy Crain, Josephckabase, Barney White, Jill Winternitz, written and directed by Daniela Isaacs. Adapted from the original novel by Kim Hooper. Producer Joshua Buckingham, executive producers, Fay Dorne, Cleelya Mountford, and Sharon Horgan, executive producer for the BBC, Dylan Haskins, production manager, Sarah Lawson, casting director, Lauren Evans, supervising dialogue record as an editor, Daniel Haramizio, supervising sound editor, sound design and mix, Martin Schultz, sound design and recording by sound node, Music composed by Max Peri-Mont. If you've been affected by anything you've heard

in this episode, details of health and support in the UK are available at bbc.co.uk forward slash action line. People who knew me was in first on BBC Sounds. on BBC Sounds. What happens when a life coach takes over your life? For the last 18 months, I've been investigating claims that a UK mentoring company is actually a cult. What we're doing is helping human beings actually gain control of themselves,

not for us to gain control of you. I don't know who I am anymore, right? Absolutely no idea. The only money he had to give them was his house. Controlling its members was more about portioning blame to my parents. These toxic groups called families. Intimidating critics. When I'd asked questions. They said, if you leave, and you turn against us,

we have all those personal recordings of yours. We'll come for you next. How do you feel Paul about the fact that so many people think you're running a cult? We're not running a cult, because they don't know what a cult is. They're slurring us, they're smearing us. I'm Katja Nye, and from BBC Radio 4, this is a very British cult. Listen on BBC Sounds.