A rival Instagram account was already getting out of hand
The show opened with Scott and Chris continuing a very lockdown-specific side project: an Instagram account devoted to photographs of the enormous chain Chris used to wear in his younger days.
It had been created as a rival to the fan account for Connell’s chain from *Normal People*. Chris was supplying old photographs from holidays and nights out, including one with Chesney Hawkes, while Scott delighted in the dated clothes, excessive tan and huge piece of jewellery. Within roughly a day the account had already gathered thousands of followers.
That led neatly into a discussion about what each of them would do if they somehow swapped bodies. Chris said he would finally fix Scott’s missing tooth, restore the arms from Scott’s old fitness photographs and slightly tone down the tan. Scott’s answer was simpler: he would kick a football, because being in Chris’s body might finally allow him to do it properly.
Lockdown had made Charlotte fancy Chris
The strangest confession came from listener Charlotte, who said she had reached the stage of lockdown where she had started to find Chris attractive.
Charlotte could not entirely explain it. She described Chris as having a harmless, boy-next-door quality and suggested there was something appealing about his potential rather than him being a finished product.
Chris recognised the argument immediately. He said his wife had essentially received a “rough product” when they met and had spent time improving his wardrobe and general presentation.
Scott warned Charlotte that this was probably a lockdown effect. One day she might be on holiday with friends, look back on this period and remember the point at which things became so desperate that she started fancying Chris Stark.
Don’t Look It Up tested their birds
The daily Don’t Look It Up quiz returned with a round on British birds, forcing Scott and Chris to rely on whatever fragments of bird knowledge were already in their heads rather than searching for the answers.
It was exactly the sort of deliberately ordinary subject the feature worked well with: questions that sounded easy until the phones and laptops had been taken away.
Busted were back together — remotely
The main event was a DJ mix from Busted.
Scott made no attempt to hide how excited he was. He had always been a genuine Busted fan, and lockdown meant the reunion had to happen with Matt Willis, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne joining from three different locations.
The three selected tracks and talked their way through the mix, effectively putting the band back together on Radio 1 without anyone needing to be in the same room.
For Scott it was the ideal lockdown guest slot: a nostalgic act he genuinely loved, reunited in an appropriately strange 2020 format.
Chris joined a bowls club and considered Morris dancing
The day’s instalment of *24 Years at the Tap End* went back to Chris and his friend Dougsy spending a long post-GCSE summer hanging around Pinner Memorial Park.
They became fascinated by the bowls club and were invited in by an older player called Donald. Chris and Dougsy eventually joined, convinced that starting bowls unusually young might give them enough decades of practice to become world champions by the time they were 60.
Their membership caused unexpected administration because the presence of much younger members meant the club had to deal with safeguarding checks. After all that effort, Chris admitted they only kept going for a few weeks.
The same park introduced Chris to Pinner’s Morris dancers. He loved the ale, bells, clashing sticks and general hero status they seemed to enjoy at village events. One routine even involved throwing a rubber chicken.
Chris never actually became a Morris dancer, but the story ended with him still liking the idea that he and his mates could eventually return to bowls or Morris dancing in later life.
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