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22 July 2020: The Young Offenders chose M.I.A., Stormzy and Radiohead as Scott investigated fake Dinner Date houses

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22 July 2020: The Young Offenders chose M.I.A., Stormzy and Radiohead as Scott investigated fake Dinner Date houses

 

A six-ring hob exposed Dinner Date

Listener Henry had been watching ITV’s *Dinner Date* and spotted something he simply could not believe.

A contestant aged around 22 or 23 appeared to live in a huge house with a six-ring hob.

Henry, himself 22 and living above a Turkish buffet, refused to accept that this could genuinely be her home.

Scott thought he was probably right.

That brought in listeners with first-hand experience of the trick.

Jess admitted she had once taken a date to her grandmother’s home and presented it as her own. She had even had to work around photographs of her grandparents.

Scott remembered another story in which somebody had borrowed a wealthy friend’s house and replaced family photographs with pictures of himself before bringing a date back.

The conclusion was clear: impressive kitchens should not automatically be trusted.

Jack Saunders arrived for celebrity feuds and children’s television

Radio 1’s “indie boy” Jack Saunders took on Don’t Look It Up.

Scott first apologised for teasing Jack during Breakfast cover, including a joke that he secretly loved pop acts rather less alternative than his usual playlist.

Jack said his ego had survived.

The first round tested celebrity feuds.

Both performed strongly.

Then came retro children’s television themes.

The pair had to identify programmes from old theme tunes, which immediately proved harder than the celebrity questions.

The final round eventually gave Scott another victory, leaving Jack to return to his evening show with the result hanging over him.

The Young Offenders began with a film made for almost nothing

Alex Murphy and Chris Walley — Connor and Jock from *The Young Offenders* — took over the guest mix.

They explained that the whole thing had begun as a very low-budget film.

Alex had been only 17.

The film cost somewhere around £50,000–£60,000, then developed a following, reached Netflix and eventually became a BBC series.

Scott pointed out that the original film was considerably ruder than the television version.

Half the music budget seemed to go on Paper Planes

Alex’s first choice was M.I.A.’s *Paper Planes*, a song used in the original film.

He said director Peter Foott had been determined to open with a recognisable record because it would immediately make the film feel bigger and more expensive.

A remarkable proportion of their limited budget therefore went on licensing that one song.

Alex remembered worrying that everybody would associate it with *Slumdog Millionaire*.

The response was effectively that if audiences were comparing their tiny Irish comedy with an Oscar-winning film, they were doing all right.

Chris brought Sigrid and the Rolling Stones

Chris’s first choice was Sigrid’s *Don’t Feel Like Crying*.

The conversation turned to famous fans of the programme.

Ed Sheeran had got in touch, asked them to sign something for his pub and then sent them a video in return. Alex and Chris hoped this might eventually translate into a few free drinks.

Chris later chose the Rolling Stones.

He admitted that his fandom had begun after wearing a Stones T-shirt without really knowing the music. Not wanting to be one of those people, he actually started listening to the band and became obsessed.

His choice was *Sympathy for the Devil*.

Cork had embraced Connor and Jock

Scott asked what it was like being recognised in Cork, where the series was set.

The actors said locals had been hugely supportive and were particularly proud to see the city on screen.

People were often happy to let the production use homes and locations.

Alex’s grandmother had even become convinced that young men around Cork copied her grandson’s haircut from the programme and would tell strangers exactly that.

Alex and Chris had not known each other before auditioning for the original film.

The friendship viewers saw had developed through making it.

Radiohead and Stormzy completed the choices

Alex later picked Radiohead’s *High and Dry*, one of the first songs he learned properly on guitar.

They also talked about knowing actors from *Normal People*, including Paul Mescal, whose sudden fame had become almost impossible for him to process.

Chris finished with Stormzy’s *Pop Boy*.

He and Alex had been trying to learn the different rap parts and promised that, when studio visits eventually became possible again, they might have the performance ready.

Bamboleo Wednesday survived another week

Because it was Wednesday, the programme also made room for the show’s long-running fixation with *Bamboleo*.

By 2020 it needed little explanation: Wednesday had simply become the day when the Gipsy Kings were likely to turn up somewhere in the show.

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