In the latest episode of Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin, Eric Idle talks his decades long career and what keeps him going in the comedy world. 

We get in an insight into the life of the SAS with ex-commander Jamie Pennell. 

And Australian sailor and world record holder Lisa Blair talks her journey around Antarctica and the documentary that followed.  

Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin brings you the best interviews from Newstalk ZB's The Sunday Session. 

Listen on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. 

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In the latest episode of Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin, <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/eric-idle-comedian-and-monty-python-founding-member-ahead-of-his-always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life-tour/">Eric Idle</a> talks his decades long career and what keeps him going in the comedy world.&nbsp;
We get in an insight into the life of the SAS with ex-commander <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/jamie-pennell-former-nzsas-commander-on-his-new-tell-all-memoir-serviceman-j/">Jamie Pennell</a>.&nbsp;
And Australian sailor and world record holder <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/lisa-blair-australian-solo-sailor-on-the-sailing-trip-around-antarctica-that-inspired-the-documentary-ice-maiden/">Lisa Blair</a> talks her journey around Antarctica and the documentary that followed.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin brings you the best interviews from Newstalk ZB's&nbsp;The Sunday Session.&nbsp;
Listen on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Get the very best from Newstalk ZB's Francesca Rudkin as she brings you the top interviews from her chats from The Sunday Session. 

Hear from the big names globally as well as those making headlines right here in New Zealand. 

Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin is the home of in depth, enlightening and entertaining conversations. 

Listen on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Get the very best from Newstalk ZB's Francesca Rudkin as she brings you the top interviews from her chats from The Sunday Session. 
Hear from the big names globally as well as those making headlines right here in New Zealand. 
Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin is the home of in depth, enlightening and entertaining conversations. 
Listen on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin

News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your Sunday morning listening covered with The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on Newstalk ZB.

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Episode 3: Eric Idle, Jamie Pennell and Lisa Blair

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7348cfc1-b45f-476f-9c74-b2550149d3a9/transcript

Crackhead is a new, locally produced dark comedy, and it's getting plenty of positive reviews.

Created and written by actress Holly Shervey, Crackhead is loosely based on Shervey’s own experience of addiction and psychiatric care. 

Holly Shervey and her husband, director of the show, Emmett Skilton, explained the creative process behind creating the show.

"When we finally start to take it off the page, I see Holly really embracing it - she mentioned it's cathartic, she is very liberated by doing this."

LISTEN ABOVE

Crackhead is a new, locally produced dark comedy, and it's getting plenty of positive reviews.
Created and written by actress Holly Shervey, Crackhead is loosely based on Shervey’s own experience of addiction and psychiatric care.&nbsp;
Holly Shervey and her husband, director of the show, Emmett Skilton, explained the creative process behind creating the show.
"When we finally start to take it off the page, I see Holly really embracing it - she mentioned it's cathartic, she is very liberated by doing this."
LISTEN ABOVE

Holly Shervey and Emmett Skilton: Crackhead creator and director on the new locally produced dark comedy

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/39f060a3-fbe4-43f7-b7e6-b40e000b7911/transcript

Australian author Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Wild Dark Shore has been widely reviewed as one of the must read books of 2025. 

It also saw McConaghy named on the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. 

Ahead of her appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival, she's opened up about the creative journey behind her iconic work.

"I was concerned that my sort of level of immersion into my writing was so different than what it had been in the past, and I was worried that it was going to sort of translate into the book and into the writing - they're very normal doubts to have as a writer."

LISTEN ABOVE

Australian author Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Wild Dark Shore has been widely reviewed as one of the must read books of 2025.&nbsp;
It also saw McConaghy named on the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.&nbsp;
Ahead of her appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival, she's opened up about the creative journey behind her iconic work.
"I was concerned that my sort of level of immersion into my writing was so different than what it had been in the past, and I was worried that it was going to sort of translate into the book and into the writing - they're very normal doubts to have as a writer."
LISTEN ABOVE

Charlotte McConaghy: Australian author speaks ahead of Auckland Writers Festival appearance

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/b03c557d-2f0b-4343-9251-b40e00045367/transcript

Lake Effect by Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney. In 1977, just as The Joy of Sex is sweeping through suburbia, neighbours Nina Larkin and Finn Finnegan leave their respective families for a new life together in a seismic betrayal which ripples through their children’s lives and has a profound, ongoing impact on them all. Yet family bonds are not easily broken and somehow seem to stretch, bend and accommodate all the chaos and mystery and love which life throws at them. This author writes wonderfully about family dynamics - small stories about everyday people living ordinary lives which in their own way are fascinating.

Every Second Counts by Charlotte Glennie. Charlotte Glennie was TVNZ’s first Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong from where she lived a frenetic life chasing down major world events, natural disasters, political turmoil and more. This is a compilation of recent world history which humanizes those involved, told with insight and fierce empathy and is a fascinating account of the stories of our times told by someone who was there and witnessed it all first hand. Highly recommended. 

LISTEN ABOVE

Lake Effect by Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney. In 1977, just as The Joy of Sex is sweeping through suburbia, neighbours Nina Larkin and Finn Finnegan leave their respective families for a new life together in a seismic betrayal which ripples through their children’s lives and has a profound, ongoing impact on them all. Yet family bonds are not easily broken and somehow seem to stretch, bend and accommodate all the chaos and mystery and love which life throws at them. This author writes wonderfully about family dynamics - small stories about everyday people living ordinary lives which in their own way are fascinating.
Every Second Counts by Charlotte Glennie. Charlotte Glennie was TVNZ’s first Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong from where she lived a frenetic life chasing down major world events, natural disasters, political turmoil and more. This is a compilation of recent world history which humanizes those involved, told with insight and fierce empathy and is a fascinating account of the stories of our times told by someone who was there and witnessed it all first hand. Highly recommended.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Whitcoulls Recommends: Lake Effect and Every Second Counts

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/5003459e-bf5e-447d-bfa0-b40d0189d4d4/transcript

Episode 3: Eric Idle, Jamie Pennell and Lisa Blair

Great Chats with Francesca Rudkin

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