James became his target’s housemate for three weeks
James the private investigator returned with what he described as probably the furthest he had ever gone undercover. A woman in a relatively new relationship wanted to know whether her boyfriend could be trusted before things became more serious, and an opportunity appeared when the boyfriend advertised a spare room.
The client paid the rent, James applied for the room and used information from her to make himself sound like the kind of housemate the man would choose. His cover story was that he worked in the City and mainly needed somewhere to sleep, and after a telephone interview he was accepted.
That meant James did not simply follow the target from a distance. He lived in the next room for three weeks. They went shopping together, negotiated whose shelves were whose in the fridge, watched films and had drinks, while James maintained an entirely invented version of his own life.
The girlfriend would message James when her boyfriend claimed to be at home or going to bed early. On several occasions he was not there at all. As the target became more comfortable with his new housemate, he also began bragging about nights out and what he had been doing.
The investigation finally resolved itself when the man brought another woman back to the flat. James checked with the client, who had been told something completely different, then told her what was happening. She announced that she was coming round immediately, leaving James to make his excuses and get out before the confrontation.
James did not know whether the target was ever told that his apparently ordinary housemate had actually been a private investigator. Scott and Chris were left fascinated by the scale of the cover, particularly the fact that James had spent three weeks becoming just friendly enough to be trusted without ever forgetting why he was there.
Meghan Trainor returned with “No Excuses”
Meghan Trainor joined the programme to talk about her new single “No Excuses”, which she described as a song about bringing respect back into the world. Her advice was simple: hug somebody, be happy and be respectful.
She also revealed that her father Gary Trainor, known in the family as GT, was involved in the forthcoming album, playing piano on one of the songs. Meghan said the wider family and her fiancé Daryl Sabara were part of the record too.
The album was expected in the summer. Meghan spoke warmly about Daryl, who was with her during the interview, saying he supported her every day and even drove her to work.
Scott immediately slipped back into the same slightly overexcited fan mode he had shown when meeting Meghan at Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Afterwards Chris replayed the moment Scott reminded her about their previous hug and Meghan said she remembered and missed him. Chris was far less convinced that she genuinely remembered the encounter.
Chris finally got to speak to Zedd
Zedd, whose collaboration “The Middle” was Scott and Chris’s Tune of the Week, also joined the show and produced the opposite version of the same problem: this time it was Chris doing the fangirling.
Chris told Zedd he had wanted him on the programme for a long time because he loved his songwriting and the size of the records he produced. Zedd took the enthusiasm well and said he would happily come back.
He explained the manipulated vocal sound heard in “The Middle”. In simple terms, he could play the notes he wanted on a keyboard, sing into the system and let the technology reproduce the melody in the processed voice. He even offered to bring the small keyboard into Radio 1 next time he was in Britain so Scott and Chris could try it themselves.
Chris also asked about the ticking-clock sound that had appeared in more than one Zedd record. Zedd said he had first used it years earlier on “Hourglass”, where the idea obviously fitted the title, and then kept returning to it as listeners began to recognise it as part of his production style.
Zedd said ideas could arrive at unexpected moments, including while he was in the shower and not deliberately trying to write music.
The weather stopped Greg James in Moffat
Greg James’s Pedal to the Peaks challenge for Sport Relief hit a serious weather problem. After the snow and wind that had already made Scafell Pike difficult, the team became stuck in Moffat in Scotland.
Conditions were so bad that the safety team would not allow Greg onto the bike. Visibility was extremely poor, the snow was deep enough to interfere with the wheels and the wider region was under severe weather warnings.
Adele Roberts reported from the hotel that the snow was reaching knee depth and getting worse. Greg was fully dressed and ready to continue, but the people responsible for safety were not prepared to let him go simply because the original schedule said he should.
The frustration was obvious because Greg had built the entire week around moving continuously from peak to peak. Scott repeatedly stressed that the weather was outside his control and that there was no shame in being stopped by conditions which official warnings described as dangerous.
The fundraising total had reached £392,827. One supporter even made it through the weather to the hotel simply to hand over a £10 donation. Scott also read an email from 19-year-old Georgia explaining how severe anxiety and depression had affected school, work and ordinary life, and how hearing mental health discussed openly on Radio 1 had helped her feel less isolated.
The email became another reason to keep pushing the Sport Relief total even while the physical challenge itself was temporarily frozen.
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