A pop emergency
Nobody had heard Zayn Malik’s first solo single, “Pillowtalk”, but its title and a shirtless promotional photograph gave Chris enough material to record a prediction. Scott’s brief was “a dirtier Nick Jonas”, and Chris produced a one-minute song before the real track’s Friday release.
The recording was sent away for a hurried master and scheduled for 3.15pm as though it were a global exclusive. Scott invoked earlier occasions when Chris had anticipated Adele, Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding and Avicii, while listeners pretended they were waiting for one of the year’s most important pop events.
Chris’s slow, suggestive version was finally played under the full weight of the manufactured “pop emergency”. The real Zayn record would arrive the next morning, allowing the show to discover whether its guess had gone anywhere near the new sound.
Confessions of a dentist
The conversation with Fiona prompted an anonymous dentist near Bristol to call using the name Fred and an attempted disguised voice. When the manual disguise became painful, the team applied a voice changer and began a long series of professional confessions.
Fred admitted fancying two current patients. Dating them would breach rules imposed by the practice and governing body, but attractive patients could still make the dentist blush and shake. Poor teeth immediately destroyed the effect, as straight, white teeth were an essential requirement.
Small talk about work, gyms and social lives was not always innocent. Fred sometimes used it to learn where an attractive patient spent time and had encountered patients outside the surgery. Eye contact could also become uncomfortable, although Scott was reminded that the dentist should generally be looking at the teeth.
The revelations changed the way Scott interpreted dental appointments. A question about the gym, an accidental touch or an unusually long look might be routine professional behaviour, but the possibility of hidden interest could no longer be dismissed completely.
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