Scott’s trip into work now involved a temperature test
The new week began with another glimpse of how odd broadcasting during lockdown had become.
Scott was still travelling into Radio 1 while Chris worked from home. Scott’s lunch had leaked through his bag, and arriving at Broadcasting House now meant standing in front of a thermal camera for a temperature check.
For someone who already described himself as a “sweaty fox”, the few seconds waiting for the machine to approve him created its own anxiety. The team joked that Jordan North should permanently wait in a glass emergency box, ready to take over for any presenter who failed the test.
Chris, meanwhile, was still doing the show from the same corner of his home, with the pair noting how strange it was that they spoke every day on air but had not actually seen each other for weeks.
Scott had become a Zoom quiz crasher
After joining a listener’s Zoom quiz almost by accident, Scott decided he wanted more.
The show asked listeners to send in details of their family and friends’ quizzes so Scott and Chris could drop into them unannounced.
Scott described the experience as similar to arriving at a wedding where you only knew one person: suddenly he was staring at a grid of strangers who nevertheless knew him from the radio.
The whole thing was awkward enough to make it entertaining, particularly when quiz etiquette collapsed and people shouted answers before they were supposed to.
Don’t Look It Up raided the Live Lounge archive
The day’s Don’t Look It Up included forgotten Radio 1 Live Lounge performances.
That meant trying to identify covers which genuinely had happened but had largely disappeared from memory. The feature suited the enormous Live Lounge archive perfectly: even Scott, who had been at Radio 1 throughout much of it, admitted some of the performances felt completely unfamiliar.
Scott coached Freya Ridings through Lost Without You
The show also replayed one of Scott’s old “vocal coach” sessions.
The joke was that Scott would take an accomplished singer and confidently explain how they could improve their own hit. This time it was Freya Ridings and *Lost Without You*.
Scott tried to make Freya live the lyrics more dramatically, effectively becoming the lover she was singing to and supplying increasingly ridiculous emotional prompts. He insisted the song would work better if she looked at him, opened and closed her eyes on cue and imagined an extremely messy break-up.
Chris pointed out that the session had become less like vocal coaching and more like Scott inserting himself into Freya’s relationship.
Sean Paul chose the records from Jamaica
Sean Paul then took over the mix from Jamaica.
He selected music that had influenced him, including Shabba Ranks, and talked about the huge number of collaborations he had accumulated.
Sean said the song mattered more than the name attached to it: if he heard something he could genuinely add to, he was interested. He also revealed that some collaborations had been recorded remotely without ever meeting the other artist in person — including Sia — while others, such as Beyoncé on *Baby Boy*, had involved meeting properly.
The mix closed on a more serious choice as Sean selected Bob Marley and reflected on equality and racism.
It gave the show a guest slot that moved easily between dancehall history, huge pop collaborations and the politics behind one of reggae’s most enduring songs.
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