Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's Parenting Hell - S01 EP69: Andy Day (CBeebies)

Episode Date: December 23, 2020

ROB BECKETT & JOSH WIDDICOMBE'S 'LOCKDOWN PARENTING HELL' S01 EP69: Andy Day Joining us in the studio this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) during the lockdown and beyond is the brilliant actor and television presenter, Andy Day. Star of CBeebies classic such as Andy's Wild Adventures, Andy's Dinosaur adventures, and the brilliant new Christmas show - Christmas in Storyland. Currently available on BBC iplayer.Enjoy. Rate and Review. Thanks. xxx If you want to get in touch with the show here's how:EMAIL: [e-mail]: @lockdownparent INSTAGRAM: @lockdown_parentingA 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, I'm Josh Middicombe. And I'm Rob Beckett. Welcome to Lockdown Parenting Hell. The show in which Rob and I discuss what it's like to be a parent during lockdown, which I would say can be a little tricky. So, in an effort to make some kind of sense of the current situation... And to make me feel better about my increasingly terrible parenting skills... Each episode, we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how well they're coping.

Or hopefully not. And we will be hearing from you, the listener, with your tales of lockdown parenting woe. Because, let's be honest, none of us know what we're doing. because let's be honest, none of us know what we're doing. Hello, you are listening to Lockdown Parenting Hell with... Josh Widdicombe. Josh Widdicombe. And Rob Beckett.

And Rob Beckett. Oh, absolutely nailed the ending. I love Josh Widdicombe. It sounds like if you did some sort of tax scandal, it would be the Daily Mail headline. Dosh Widdicombe. Well, let's not rule it out at this stage of the year. I've got to say this quickly.

I've been doing walks with Tom Allen, right, because he lives around the corner and it's the only thing you'll have to do. And we walked past his shop, and because we were all in tier four, he went and bought two bags of potatoes. And he seriously turned to me and went, you don't think people think I'm panic buying, do you? Two bags of potatoes, Tom. Oh, sorry, Josh. What was you going to say, Josh Riddickham?

It's my daughter, Evelyn. I made the recording in June. We're in the thick of the lockdown. She was two, she's three now. But I've just got around to sending it, which I said sums up the year a lot of us have had i mean this year this last week feels like it's gone on for months yeah i've never experienced anything like it because we're in london aren't we we're on me by the skin of my teeth yeah but you're pushing that yeah exactly but even yeah but kent's worse isn't it? Kent's the new strain. For generally, yeah.

Oh, sorry about that. But yeah, so like we are in basically proper full lockdown again, essentially, aren't we? Yes, we're in tier four, which wasn't a tier that existed last time we did this podcast. No, so I don't, you know, at this point, I'll take tier gas as the next one, rather than any more physical restrictions so we've said

to each other before we started this this is we don't want this to be like a depressing thing because it's not you know it is but it's but can i just tell you what since the last episode what my week's been like with the kids right first thing that happened was okay that um the two year old or three year old now we've had the three-year-old woke up at 5 a.m. on the dot. Bit out of character. Normally they wake up about half six, if they're lucky, seven. But when they do wake up at half six, they play for a bit. 5 a.m. on the dot, right?

And then I was waking up early as well. Lorries, double-decker buses, all sorts going past our house. There's a burst water main on another road. Everything is diverted past my daughter's bedroom like i'm talking national expresses like lorries that have got like two trailers on about 50 wheels right it's so the worst thing is rob yeah if you haven't read the news those lorries are going to be backed up so i can't even get to france now they could basically living on a lorry park so it's like you know

like it felt like i was living at a petrol station a service station did you put out a little stall selling tea to try and clean up yeah try and make some money out of it just sell your keys stuff like that yeah anyway so the 21st of december it'll be fixed so hopefully by the 21st which is we're recording this today. It's been a bit quieter. The road should be reopened, but I've had a full week of 5am wake up because it's so loud. Right. And you can't even, you can't change anything.

You can't change the routine. It's just literally, it's too loud. She's waking up. Okay. So that's, that's been going on. The, the, the tier restrictions that have really impacted the trampoline build, which we'll talk about later.

I think, do you know what? I think this saga has been building to such that we should say we're going to be putting out a Christmas special, which is on Christmas day. So, you know, when you're cooking your turkey for eight for your three people that are

living in your house, you can listen to our Christmas special. I feel like even though it will have been recorded before the trampoline saga, it feels like we want the final update on Christmas Day, not today. Yeah, on my Instagram and on the podcast Instagram, I'll give you a trampoline update, okay?

At the moment, I'm all over the place. I don't know what I'm doing. I actually found out, this is how, so this is my week, right? This week has been, we've been at the five air wake-ups okay um right so I've been doing Christmas parties for companies on zoom which is one of the most stressful things you can do it sort of it's insane so I've been doing those I'm going to say it it's not the future of entertainment I don't think it is I've stuck my neck out there. I did one, Rob.

So you're basically on a Zoom call with a load of other people. You've got 20 minutes. You simply can't do any of your normal material because you sound like you have just lost it. You sound like you're finally having a breakdown. And you can't do any physical stuff. You're sat at your desk riffing about, you know, whatever it is, organic veg boxes or that

kind of big issues i deal with and so i did one and the guy on before me poor bloke 300 people on the zoom call one of them was watching tipping point right and all we could hear was tipping point coming through you know when on a zoom, one person's much louder than everyone else? Yeah. And people are like, is that Ben Shepard? Can I hear Ben Shepard? And every time this guy went to do a joke, like to the punchline, you just hear Ben Shepard ask a question and he couldn't identify who was watching Tipping Point. That's the thing.

I think there's a lot of things that need to be ironed out with Zoom company parties. I don't think anyone attending the party loved it either. It's very much a make do with what you've got vibe. Do you know what I mean? It's like liquor on pie and mash. Gravy is better but they couldn't afford gravy so they made it out of parsley and now

nostalgically everyone loves it. But the reality is no one really likes liquor or jelly deals. It's just what it was the only thing that existed for poor people. Rob's absolutely losing his core demographic in a Christmas-related breakdown. Let me get this to them.

I do like liquor, okay? I actually do prefer liquor to gravy. I'm throwing that out there, right? But I'm just saying, if gravy was available, I don't think liquor would have been invented. And certainly, you're not jelly and eels if you've got, like, a bag of crisps. Oh, yeah.

You just have a bag of crisps. That's what I'm saying. You're not jelly and eels, Rob, if like a bag of crisps oh yeah you just have a bag of crisps that's what i'm saying you're not jelly and eels rob if it's if it's post-world war ii oh i jelly we might but my mum still eats jelly deals well we had jelly deals with my granddad she does rob of course she does your granddad's funeral i mean how sad you want someone to be in a day and now you're eating jelly deals are you the most authentically i know you're not cockney but you are the most authentically Cockney person I've ever met.

And I live in East London. Yeah, well, I think it's very Southeast London, but Southeast London has pie mash just as much as, but my mum and dad moves all over the place. But yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it's Southeast East. It's very, it's weird because it's only just a little bit over the river,

but it's basically dockers really. I'm from a load of dockers in Bermondsey. Bermondsey dockers are basically the same as East London sort of dockers and stuff. That's, you know, let's not get, I want to tell you. Let's not get bogged down. I want to tell you. This isn't who do you think you are?

Yeah, I'm going to tell you about where I was when I found out about the tier four lockdown, all the shops shutting, okay? Right? I was on Brighton seafront filming in full drag. Oh, yeah. So career's going well then, Rob. Yeah, it was a day off, right? Me and Rob Esh for our TV

show are in full drag. We've just performed drag, okay? We are in tier two Brighton on the seafront. A gale is blowing, right? And I'm fully dressed up in drag. At 5pm someone goes, oh, tier four lockdown. My phone's about to explode, right?

I've said that and it works out that all the shops are shut at midnight. News Christmas present is currently being held for me in a shop in Regent Street, but I'm due to pick up Sunday at four o'clock after some more voiceover filming I'm doing in London. So the shop's shutting at seven o'clock. I'm in Brighton in drag right

and i'm like what am i gonna do oh my god this is like a great christmas film oh yeah exactly and then as that's happening right i'm going oh my god christmas is ruined i'm not going to be able to get lose present another present well i'm not going to get back to london in time i'm in full drag it's gonna take me ages to get out of this i can't just get in a car in drag and go to Regent Street. And as this is going on, a bloke walks past me with his wife and goes, here, Beckett, you're going to be fucked trying to do your trampoline now. No one can come round your house at all. What?

That is amazing. That is unbelievable. And I didn't even compute the trampoline situation because I didn't know the full rules. I just got told no one's allowed around your house for Christmas. The shops are shut. Now I'm getting I'm faced with a problem that could ruin Christmas for my wife. And then I get heckled in the street by a stranger. And then this is what happened. And he shouted at me that. Right. And I was like, so now he's reminding me that I'm going to ruin Christmas for my kids.

And then the entire crew went to me. You can't do a trampoline on your own and I was like I know everyone keeps telling me oh my god I've never been so stressed in my life but yeah that that's where I was when it all come through and I felt a bit I felt a bit overwhelmed with it Josh I'm gonna be honest almost like it's in is he because i know he lives in like was he in like zone one or something but he was so he went mental because he was supposed to be going to a hotel for christmas right that got cancelled obviously so i was supposed to go to lapland got cancelled i was supposed to go to center park for my birthday now cancelled he was supposed to be going to a hotel for christmas and it got cancelled for christmas yeah i think it's because it was he was supposed to be going to a hotel for christmas and it got cancelled yeah i think it's because it was he was trying to work out what to do so for let's just go to

a hotel and stuff and then his mum got the up with him because he's going to a hotel without her and then then he went and then when it got cancelled like a day a day before the new restrictions he said um okay well we'll have to try and work something out because i think he's in a bubble with his mum because she lives alone or something so she could come over and all that and then now I don't think that's allowed because I don't know what the rules are in tier two and he just went I'm sick of it and then he went you can't do this to Asian families he just screamed at the top of his voice Asian mums just don't understand you can't explain it to them they don't care what Boris says because they're your mom

and that's all that matters and it's so funny how stressed he was getting about his mom he's fine you can if someone's in your in your support bubble it's fine yeah i think do you know what i think it is fine but i didn't ask any questions didn't want to get involved but i think he was just frustrated oh i'd have i'd have absolutely loved to get involved and really twist the knife anyway so that's been my quite stressful week but I've gone for I was very stressed this morning Josh because I want to say this because I think it's quite important it is quite stressful people are getting quite down and stuff like that but I think you've got about the best of the situation and you know there's nothing you can really change you can only just change the way you react to the

news and I was really stressed this morning went for a nice long walk with fresh air and that really helped so if you are struggling and it's hard work, just, you know, keep the faith, go for nice walks, listen to podcasts, and try and distract yourself as much as you can because it is brutal. And I think it's okay to accept that and admit that it's brutal and tough on you, but it's just trying to do anything you can that sort of improves your mood, you know, because it's hard work. Exactly.

It's hard work, and we'll get through it together, guys. Well, Rob, I'll take you through my week on Christmas Day because we're going to do this Christmas Day special. Yes. Which we want to be positive. Yeah, that's, yes. I think that's a good idea. There's nothing more positive than you finding out

that I've had a worse week than you. Oh, my God. What time have they been waking up? Four? Was it a four-hour wake-up? A diversion? You had a diversion? I don't know.

I'll tell you on Christmas Day, Rob, and you can enjoy it. I'm excited. But today we've got a very exciting guest, haven't Day, Rob, and you can enjoy it. I'm excited. But today we've got a very exciting guest, haven't we, Rob? Yes, it's Andy. Andy Day from CBeebies, just known as Andy, though. When you say we're interviewing Andy from CBeebies, no one's asking about the surname.

Exactly. It was supposed to be last week, but we had technical problems, and so we were just waiting for a few people to come back and okay certain things. So that's why it was a bit late. We've got it now though. And it's a great, it's a great interview. He's a lovely bloke,

Andy, great hair, great guy. And his hair is incredible, isn't it? His hair is incredible, which is really helpful on a podcast. Here's Andy.

Hello, Andy. How are you? Hey Rob. Yeah, not too bad. Thanks mate. You're the first guest we've had on the show that doesn't need a surname.

You're like Madonna or Prince. I want to call this episode Andy's podcast adventure. That's not a bad idea. Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take that. And you've got one daughter, is that right? Yeah, she's two and a half. And is she into your stuff? Does she watch your shows? Well, I pretty much force her to watch my stuff.

Just so I don't have to watch Paw Patrol and Peter Rabbit constantly 24 hours a day. So does she understand that? I suppose she doesn't understand that it's weird that you're on the TV. I don't know. I think she probably thinks everyone's dad is on the TV. I don't know. I think she probably thinks everyone's dad is on the TV. I don't know. I think she just sort of takes it for what it is. I think she sees me on TV. She knows it's me. She knows I'm sort of dressing up.

Like she says, like me and my other half will say, what does daddy do? She goes, daddy does dinosaurs. And then she'll say, mommy does photography. And the reason she did actually is because um during lockdown we we filmed a program andy's um dino toy box not adventure this time actually and he's dino toy box and um it was filmed in our in our spare room and so we'd put ruby down at seven o'clock and we'd film it to 11 and but she saw all the setup so she saw the camera and stuff like that and so she was like oh oh, oh, what's this?

And she'd see like loads of dinosaurs on the table. She goes, dinosaurs? And what's this? And she'd say, oh, mummy does photography and daddy does dinosaurs. I mean, it does sound a bit dodgy when you say it like that, actually. But I would say, Andy, you do do dinosaurs really well. If I ever wanted someone to do a dinosaur, it would be you. What's it like working, oh, filming 7 to 11 after you've done a

day's parenting uh but you know what it was quite exciting at first because it's you know like all these things it's an it's a new thing but it became exciting and and then the excitement went after probably the first or second time um and and you know what the hardest thing was i think our house is the noisiest house ever and you know what it's like when you get your little one down and she's asleep or here she is asleep you think i don't want to do anything to wake them yeah and and it's the night out the room we're filming in is the room below uh ruby's bedroom so we would just tiptoe around for an hour setting up the cameras, setting up the shop. And it was quite painful. It was just like, don't walk! You know, we'd be biting each other.

I'd go, cat, cat, don't go downstairs. Do you need to go downstairs? I've got to go to the toilet. Just hold it, you know. So what's it like when you're out and about? Do you get loads of kids coming up to you all excited while the parents are all embarrassed like trying to keep them calm rob it's interesting the assumption that parents are a lot calmer let me tell you mate is that the parents are the ones that actually get more excited uh often than the little ones sometimes they're like who i don't know who this person is because you've popped out the tv and they're used to seeing you in a box and they're not used to it but it's the parents look who it is look look who it is. Look, look who it is. It's Andy.

I would say, hiya. And then the kids are either, this is how they react. They're either terrified or they're just really, really shy, really sweet. And so, yeah, it's a funny one. Obviously, I go to parks more these days and I go to places where kids are more these days. You don't dress in the safari outfit, do you? I do wear a massive shirt with my face in it saying, that's right, it is me.

Do you go to the pub and stuff in the evening? If I saw Mr. Tumble when I was on the piss, I think I would lose it it's a it's a funny one i mean i'm not a massive pub goer to be honest i don't really go to the pub that much but we do go to the pub down our road and to be honest it's i've lived around here long enough that the parents it's quite a sort of parent heavy area and so a lot of them have sort of met me anyway and people are quite lovely they come over this that's the lovely thing about being in kids tv especially being on cbb's i think it's a really

lovely sort of popular channel um is that we're sort of seen as like the third helper in the house and so people come over to just thank you it's just always so lovely thank you so much you know you get bought drinks or let me get that and uh and and i and i often go no no honestly okay if i could have that no people are really lovely and and they're quite respected as well usually if i've got you know i'm with my family and stuff but i don't mind people coming over and saying hello and do you ever get kids and families come up to you like an awkward moment no no i don't oh do you know what i know i did actually yeah i did a good while back um i was doing this show at whipsnade it was a dinosaur show and um and i was really ill i was

really really ill but you know it's like you can sort of doctor theater you can sort of just get on and do it and then just go and sit down and of course you're around kids you don't want to give kids anything you don't want to give parents anything you know i mean it's if you've got the flu or some kind of virus and anyway um and i was it was put in this sort of open field and so you'd sit behind the stage and but you weren't really hidden like but parents could sort of like come around the side and still see you from a distance. And, and often, you know, when I wasn't ill, I'd go over and come and say hello. But of course, when you do that, everyone comes over. So I was quite keen to just, you know, I've never got a problem coming to say hello and whatever, but I was quite keen to sit there and

not give anything to anyone and just rest. mean and just rest um and uh and this family i mean bless them they had they traveled quite some while i didn't know that at the time uh but they sort of come around the side and say oh come and get a picture get a picture so i went closer and i said i'm really sorry guys i'm not feeling that great and and i thought it was all okay and they sort of understood i just got completely backlashed on on twitter but i guess you know if for them they've traveled all that way they're seeing me perform and they're thinking why can't you just come over and have a photo whereas inside i'm dying that's that's the only time i reckon far more than comics being a children's tv presenter you must have to feel

like you have to be on when you're out do you know what i mean if anyone sees you you've got to kind of really turn it on i suppose yeah there is an element of feeling like that i'll be honest josh i love my job and i understand what comes with my job comes uh you know little ones coming up to you and they're coming to say hello and i'm all for it i've i've no problem with it at all. And I always go with the, I think at the beginning, I was always like, oh, I've got to be really smiley and really, you know, but I'm generally quite a sort of happy-go-lucky person anyway.

And so it's not much of an effort. I see myself as a performer and so generally I'm, you know, not in a terrible mood most of the time. Did you always want to be a working kids TV? Yeah. Well, I say always when I decided that I wanted to do it, I was really, really passionate about it. Like I wanted to be a performer. Funny, like when I was younger, I went to this sort of drama club, step by step in Hornchurch.

Funny enough, Sarah Pascoe used to go. Oh, really? Oh oh so you and sarah went to the same drama group what an alumni that is eh yeah we we were both at college together uh i mean so a long long long time ago and yeah and i think we we um sort of both had a one of our first jobs together as well at the millennium dome we worked at the time did you work at the dome with sarah yeah yeah so when i got to the dome i sort of got a job as a worked at the time did you work at the dome with sarah yeah yeah so when i got to the dome i sort of got a job as a performer at the dome uh and sort of doing character work and and working in the audiences and entertaining them i worked uh going to do tiee theater and education

in in italy and that was a lot with kids and And I realized I loved working with kids. And it was sort of my kind of humor, really. That was my mental ability. I really enjoyed sort of that element of it. And I really wanted to get into kids TV from then on, really. And so me and my good friend Mikey sort of put a show reel together and we were doing but we i mean it was quite sad actually we started this thing called mna tv i mean we go we would actually go up to people in bars like you know back when i was 21 say you heard of mna tv and they go no

you will do mikey laughing obviously we were just mucking around but yeah so i said yeah i did i wanted to get in kids tv specifically it wasn't that i wanted to get into family entertainment even like that it was specifically kids have you always been good with kids in and did it like prepare you for being a dad i get a lot of comments before i had ruby as well before we had ruby saying oh i bet he's such a bit it'd be such a great dad and and you sort of believe it and then and then when you have your kid you have your kid you think yeah I can handle this no problem I've been in front of a camera performing to children so when she comes along it was a shock Kat Kat is I gotta

say such an amazing mum that she sort of makes my job really easy if that makes any sense do you know what I mean it's sort of like uh Kat what do we do here oh we just do that i've you know oh okay yeah and then you present yourself like you're the best dad in the world and say well i think that this is what you should do in front of people and then they go oh that's that's wise and i think yeah i think that from cat and you he must have in the last couple of years gone from a long night dealing with a baby and or a toddler or whatever and then you have to go to work and then there'll be kids at work well this is the thing just there's not kids at work that's the thing you know unless i'm doing a live show there's kids but of course you're on stage for most of that and then you're saying

hello to them after for a very brief amount of time. And the thing is, you get used to it. The beauty about it is I've got nieces, and I used to watch them watch children's TV, and they're so engaged. Like with me, people either really know me or they really don't. Do you know what I mean? Because unless you're a parent or unless you've got siblings that are younger or nieces and nephews, then you just won't know me.

Three years ago, Andy, I wouldn't have been able to identify you at a crime scene. But now, I'll be honest, you're in my dreams. So would you say you're more famous with the parents than the kids then? Yeah. It's a funny one, because I've been on there for 14 years as well. I guess some of the parents have sort of grown. Like I had an 18- 18 year old come up to

me um in a festival went oh i used to watch you as a kid i was like what how old are you she said 18 i said no that can't be true because for me it feels like yesterday you do forget it goes so quick i was saying to cat the other day you just you remember things in seasons i tend to anyway like for this year i can't remember anything that i've done that's different we started doing pe with joe at the very beginning we were like yes come on we're gonna get really fit and do it and it was quite nice to have the routine of course week five you sort of ah where is it is lockdown over yet or i think you've done well to get to week five there and i'm quite proud of a lot of people at home going he's showing off here he's massaged the numbers do you worry when your daughter goes to school that that school is gonna really lean on you to do loads of stuff for them

like if i was running a school and andy day was in the parents lineup you'd be being pulled in for everything summer fair christmas play every charity event you'd be there at the photo call are you worried about that well it is quite funny because my little one just started to go to nursery and um one of the first things when the the i suppose the head teacher or the person who runs it sort of recognized as to who i was and she she basically said well we do loads of fundraising would you be interested i was like oh hang on no this is even before she got into the nursery i thought well we're definitely going to get into this nursery then uh you know what to be fair it is a great nursery and i'd be happy to do something to sort of raise money this

sounds like i'm saying it just to be nice. I genuinely would. It's like if I could do something, it's great. It's great. Nice to be in that situation where you probably a little, you know, could do a story read, you know, for kids. And it would get a bit of attention and maybe raise a bit of cash, which is a really simple thing for me to do.

When you were growing up, did you watch kids TV? Obviously you did. But like, who were the people that you related to now? The way that kids relate to you. Like if you saw Trevor and Simon around the BBC, would you have the same reaction that people would have to you? Well, I did actually,

I did meet Trevor and Simon and I did have that sort of reaction. Oh my word. I do remember you as a kid and Trevor and Simon weren't, weren't the ones I watched as much, actually. It was more sort of Philip Schofield. But I used to love things like the programs, Round the Twist. Oh, I loved Round the Twist. There was a program called Green Claws.

Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about Green Claws. And so I used to watch, in the six weeks holidays, I'd watch like Inspector Gadget and He-Man and I'd be, but I don't remember preschool stuff because I don't think there was that much. I don't think there really was. Like what CBeebies does now,

it didn't feel like it existed when I was a kid. No. I mean, children's TV has changed beyond recognition. Oh, completely changed, yeah. Do you ever get people out and about on the street that will just shout your name? Sometimes I just get blokes in vans just shouting Cockney Horse.

Cockney Horse, it's so degraded. Why Cockney Horse? It's not because you're famous, Robert. That was just a general point. They just saw you and thought you were a Cockney Horse. People do call me Dinosaur Andy. They go, oh, it's Dinosaur Andy. Or sometimes just the Dinosaur Andy. They go, oh, it's Dinosaur Andy. Or sometimes just the Dinosaur Man,

because putting Andy in the title is not enough for them to remember the name. Do people always ask you what Mr. Tumble's like? Yes, all the time. Yeah, I get that about Jimmy Carr. Do you? People are absolutely obsessed with what Jimmy Carr's like. And I think it's the same with Justin. I guess it's because he's quite controversial.

I don't know, why would people ask about Jimmy Carr? Oh, I thought you meant Justin. I was going to say, he's controversial. I'm not across the news. How do you answer the question when it's asked? I go, mum, did you just call me? And I walk out and I go go I always ask her to say I've known Just for

well since I first started he's a lovely guy he's passionate about what he does he's very very funny he's really interesting his dad was well sort of was he's Guy Fletcher

he's a very famous song writer he used to write for Cliff Richard and and Elvis he wrote for Elvis oh wow yeah and and his sister's a news and weather reporter used to be anyway so he's sort of a quite a successful family and he's um you know he's got he's got his sort of passions about like slapstick and sort of old silent movies and which which probably comes out in his performance i would say yeah i think he's absolutely brilliant i also think like you know people think that that kind of stuff is just i think you get this with comedy as well i imagine you find this that people presume because what you're doing is like fun and larking around that you don't kind of

think about it or have to kind of take it seriously and do you have that like is there lots of serious discussions going around the cameras about well i think we need to do it because that's how comedy is and people probably don't imagine it is like that yeah i guess there is a sort of a lot of work done before certainly with the programs that you do that you you know you want to put across something in the best way possible and it's just it's not just kind of going on going you know you know there is some work to it it's true you want it to look effortless and when things look effortless people think oh like i could do that easy they've made that look really easy so it's it's easy to do and do you want to present tv or stuff outside of kids entertainment there's sort of been um offers of of doing more sort of

mainstream adult presenting for natural history program you just mean for grown-ups by adult don't you you're not that's exactly right and i'd definitely be up for you know i'm sort of one of those people that if it feels right at the time then i'll definitely go for it i've never such had a plan i mean I suppose most of my energy these days is in with the band we've put a lot of work and a lot of effort into um getting out there as much as possible and I'm writing music I love to write music and I love performing with a live band it's just it's awesome and and to sort of do uh songs as well that aren't just for kids it's sort of for family they're for everyone it's a bit of a panto audience really um and so yeah we've sort of been concentrating more on that which is sort

of aged up a bit it's more for cbbc age uh it's a bit sort of monkeys meets mighty boosh type of feel to it so i'm sort of edging up but i do you know what guys i i love doing preschool tv i really do and if i can keep working doing the thing that I love, whatever that may be at whatever time, then I've always been thankful enough to be able to do it. 14 years as well. I mean, that is a very, that's a huge kind of vote of confidence

for how good you are, I think. Well, there's a lot of longevity in preschool TV as well. And do you know what? I've got to say that the guys that make the adventures program are just just absolutely brilliant and so passionate about it and it's such it's such a great team and with a two and a half year old at Christmas how are you feeling about that are you are you going for it does she know what's happening that's quite an age where it's kind of borderline right I'm I'm really excited about we've literally i mean every night i'll do bedtime most nights um and uh and every night uh that ruse wants a made-up story

so i'll give her three made-up stories three made-up stories come on andy i could barely be bothered to read one that someone else has written but rob you haven't heard the quality of these stories and actually it's guided mostly by ruby he was obsessed at the moment with people falling over and her putting a plaster on someone's leg so every story that i tell and it's usually at the moment about father christmas and the elves and they need help and so ruby needs to go and goes over to the north pole and takes over one of the reindeer's jobs and uh and flies around the well I've said that a few times that that's good she goes and and and Ruby and and Father Christmas falls over and and

Ruby um gives him a plaster and he feels better and I go I go yeah yeah Father Christmas falls over feels better puts a plaster on there and anyway it gets to the chair and the reindeer falls over then. Wow. Three made up stories. Are you aware of Julia Donaldson, Andy? It would change your life. Oh, mate. No, honestly, I've read so many Julia Donaldson.

I absolutely love her books. Absolutely amazing. And what it is, mate, I tell you what it is. It's more when it got into the sort of winter months. And there's a method to my madness because I can't see the words on the book. And we want her to go to sleep. So we turn the lights out as much as possible. And so I was getting fed up with trying to make up the story of the book. Whereas actually she knew the story because I'd read it loads of times.

It's very hard to um to paraphrase room on the broom um well i'd say it's not it's not that hard you can make it up because you roughly know this you know the story but it's never as good when you're making it up it's much better reading it and and and the thing is you can't see the words when it's dark so just that's where it started i was going to start making up these stories. We do, we do read to her quite a lot. Actually, Kat, my other half, she's a big advocate of, of, of reading.

Does she watch much kids TV or do you have like, do you have rules on how much TV she can watch and stuff like that? Yeah. We never, ever offer the TV on. We never say, would you want to watch TV? Mainly we'll try and get her to play.

And then sometimes she'll play on her own. Sometimes she just wants to sit there and chill and watch TV so we just we're not too strict on it she doesn't tend to want to watch loads thankfully yeah she watches andy and the band quite a lot actually which is quite nice um and she does watch it she we've got like these little dinosaur figurines and she does and she does bring the dinosaurs out every now and then she'll watch daddy adventures which is lovely which is so lovely to see and some of these programs is what sometimes i've never seen like oh i was doing that what i was i was looking at that and we often put on the christmas shows as well which she loves like hansel and gretel

she loves that one do and what's on her, cause I think small children's Christmas lists are inherently bizarre. Have you got a Christmas list that you've written of what she wants to father Christmas? Do you know, she's, she's, she's written a list. Automatically you want to say she's checking it twice. Yeah.

It did feel like one of us. So she's written a list and she wants a puzzle, a small elephant, and I think quite minimal things, actually. Quite nice things. You're the winner there, mate. Yeah, so it's not too bad. What are your little ones? Mum want a trampoline.

It's going to be a nightmare building it on my own. Josh, your daughter don't want anything. She got everything she wanted when she cleaned you out with the dummy fairy. Yeah, she cleaned up on the dummies mate now rob you always like to ask the same question at the end we always like to ask the same question part of crosby's law what is the thing that your partner does that really irritates you that you'd love them to stop doing but you haven't mentioned it yet this is your opportunity to get it off your chest what you're saying andy hang on guys i haven't even married this girl yet there's every

chance you can still say no um what do i look kat has done a lot of research when it comes to it uh and i think i'm all for research she's also like you know very spontaneous and this is not just me going oh she's great you know i don't want to. And this is not just me going, oh, she's great. You know, I don't want to get in trouble. She's brilliant. She's got very good sort of instincts. Sometimes though, you know, when Ruby is doing something and I'll sort of go, no, Ruby.

I'll sort of go, oh man, you can't, don't just say no. Explain to her why. And it makes me go, okay, I'll explain it to you. I'm in a moment of sort of just, just no. You know what I mean? Come on, calm, because she's really calm. And I'm calm 90% of the time. There's a 10% where I'm going, no, you're not going to dictate

what you're going to be doing and what you want me to be doing. I'm going to tell you. But she goes, well, if you want going to be doing uh what you want me to be doing i'm going to tell you uh but she goes well if you want it to be really understood and comprehended then you need to say a bit more like this and and so it's a sort of double-edged sword because i know she's right that's the thing i know she's right because i've done it on her advice and gone oh yeah that works this is much better she's just you know it a communication thing, but it's just a little bit annoying. To give her a juice, she does sort of whisper it to me,

but it's just that bit that I've sort of reacted. And it's like when you're a kid and your parent has gone, don't do that or something like that. And you've sort of gone, oh, just let me just, you know. Yeah, I think you was right

not to get married, Andy. oh just let me just you know yeah yeah i think you're right not to get married andy and this is the cbb's christmas in storyland show which is on our plan now all of your cbb's favorites magical christmas adventure for all of the family to enjoy thanks so much for coming on andy thanks guys cheers absolute pleasure thanks andy cheers that was andy day let's just call him Absolute pleasure. Thanks, Andy. Cheers. That was Andy Day. Let's just call him Andy. That's who he is. It confuses me when you say his surname. Andy.

That was Andy. Madonna. Andy. Romesh. These are all people you don't need the surname of. Thanks to Andy. He was absolutely brilliant. The CBBC Christmas extravaganza. The the name slightly escapes me but we have said it

i've seen it it's absolutely excellent it's basically just cbb's with more you know sleigh bills exactly it's all the all the best bits of cbb's in one show you can watch it on iplayer thank you for listening we will be back christmas day a special episode you can listen to yeah while you make your christmas dinner or whatever you want yes because if if you're if this was meant that you're locked down on your own then for 45 minutes you can listen to us complaining yeah yeah exactly listen to us on christmas day moaning and then you'll realize how nice it is your house is nice and quiet without the shrieking children waking you up

on Christmas Day. Anyway, I'll speak to you, we'll speak to each other on Christmas Day. See you then. Cheers. Bye.