Happy Place

Everyone deserves a safe and dignified birth, but when Louise Thompson gave birth to son Leo, she was left with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In this chat with Fearne, Louise talks through how her PTSD manifests, the way she disassociates, and the therapies she’s tried to work through it, including CBT and EMDR.

She explains why her own experience has led her to petition the government. She wants to appoint a Maternity Commissioner to improve maternity care for mums and babies in the UK.

Four years post-birth, Louise is reflecting on the ways she’s grown from her trauma, and is exploring how she can allow herself to slow down while maintaining her ambitious nature.

Louise and Fearne also both share how they use busyness as a distraction from their uncomfortable thoughts, and wonder what being ‘likeable’ even means...

Sign Louise’s Maternity Commissioner petition here

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Struggling to know if you’ve achieved enough? If you’re happy enough? Worry everything you’ve built could fall apart? Even national treasures Ant and Dec don’t feel like they’ve ‘made it’.

In this chat with Fearne – their first ever podcast appearance – Ant and Dec explain that nearly four decades into their careers they’re still laughing together just as much as they did at the beginning, but now they’ve got far more gratitude for each day they get to be on TV.

Both Ant and Dec have children, and explore how fatherhood has changed them... and challenged them at times too. They also share why it’s so vital to have an open mind and let your worldview expand as you’re introduced to new ideas and opinions.

Plus, can Fearne convince Ant and Dec to swear on air, and how do they really feel about the PJ and Duncan days...?

You can listen to Hanging Out With Ant and Dec from January 22nd.

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Greg James

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What would you do if you weren’t afraid? That’s the question spiritual teacher and intuitive guide Sonia Choquette wants you to think about.

In this chat with Fearne, Sonia explains how to have more agency over your own mindset. It’s time to stop thinking the worst, and start expecting the best!

Sonia talks through how neuroscience is showing that our guts, skins, and organs are all conscious entities. Once we understand this, we understand why it’s so vital not to surpress our body’s intuition.

Do you have repeated physical ailments? Sonia wonders that tending to your emotional troubles could dramatically impact your physical health. Plus, laughter can put you firmly back in your physical body, so is the secret to stopping overthinking to start taking the mick out of your anxious thoughts...?

Sonia’s book, Soul Mastery, is out now.

Follow Sonia on Instagram.

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Sonia’s first Happy Place episode

Estelle Bingham

Natalie Lue
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Do you constantly replay conversations, wondering if you said the wrong thing? You’re in good company; actor Erin Doherty’s biggest demon is overthinking.

In this chat, Fearne and Erin explore how fearful cancel culture has made us all, as well as how to have the courage to speak your mind, even if it means being disliked.

Erin has an unapologetic attitude towards ambition, and explains why she wants to see more queer characters on screen. Plus, how do you feel about long-distance relationships? Erin and her girlfriend tried it for a while...

Fearne and Erin also bond over their love of the Kardashians.

You can watch Erin in A Thousand Blows on Disney+ from January 9th.

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Fundamentally tells the story of Nadia, an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, so she decides to get away by accepting a UN job in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and Nadia is astounded at how similar they both are: they’re feisty and opinionated, they’re from a Muslim background, and they both love a Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines...

In this Book Club chat with Fearne, author Nussaibah Younis explains how she managed to write an incredibly funny book based on her own experience of creating a de-radicalisation programme... Satire and comedy, she says, is vital in examining tough topics.

They also natter about how you’d react if you had to hang out with your teenage self, and why doing the job you love can sometimes mean giving up a little bit of yourself.

Thank you to Weidenfeld & Nicolson for the use of the Fundamentally audiobook, narrated by Sarah Slimani.

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