Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast

Sam talks to Natalia about an independent magazine called THE FENCE for forty minutes, because who is honestly going to stop him?

THE FENCE is a quarterly magazine based on life in the UK and Ireland, featuring fiction, deep-dive investigations, and cultural essays. Sam talks to Natalia about the articles featured in Issue 29 of THE FENCE. Remember when we were watching all of Nolan's films? No, neither do we.

Topics of conversation include calling postmen 'post-people', Soho, ELO, the death of print media, why nobody is reading anymore, THE NEW YORKER reporting on 9/11, Gloucestershire, William Boyd, TV guides, EASTENDERS in Poland, Andy Burnham's first job at TANK WORLD, Mandy Burnham, "I am a female police officer, and I find that offensive!", Rupert Lowe and a pub crawl in Great Yarmouth, right-wing pub culture, the Cotswolds, gas prices in the US, the perfect funeral, SHREK 5, crazy seagulls, Taylor Swift hate, fighting Stanley Kubrick, Facebook pages for dead people, Bundesliga, Miss Great Britain, the fifth Beatle, and Princess Diana.

Don’t forget to ⁠follow and find us on Instagram⁠ (@learningbritishfilmtv) and follow us on Reddit (r/learningbritish).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review⁠.

‘Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast’ (or just ‘Learning British’) is a weekly show hosted by Sam Brown, a born-and-bred Brit, and Natalia Brammen, a Polish immigrant living in the UK.

In each episode, Sam introduces Natalia to a new British film or TV show. From badly aged sitcoms to acclaimed dramas, they explore what these films and TV shows reveal about British culture, history, and identity.

You can keep up with the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningbritishfilmtv/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyWasTheRobot

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/learningbritish
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man…”

Sam and Natalia watch the final film in the UP series, 70 UP.

UP is a documentary series that chronicles the lives of ten boys and four girls as they grow older. Starting in 1964, filmmakers have returned to each of the original fourteen participants every seven years to see what has happened in the intervening years. The documentaries have developed a cult following, and provoke existential questions relating to age, expectations, and human existence.

Sam introduces Natalia to the final film in the series, 70 UP, which was recently released in two episodes on ITV.

Topics of conversation include Pixar's UP, Michael Apted and Asif Kapadia, sexism, Eton, roasting BOYHOOD, the BFI Southbank, HARRY POTTER, Rooney Mara, Marvel, unconscious bias training, how race plays a part in British culture and history, being born out of wedlock, Simon Says, and the British class system.

Don’t forget to ⁠follow and find us on Instagram⁠ (@learningbritishfilmtv) and follow us on Reddit (r/learningbritish).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review⁠.

‘Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast’ (or just ‘Learning British’) is a weekly show hosted by Sam Brown, a born-and-bred Brit, and Natalia Brammen, a Polish immigrant living in the UK.

In each episode, Sam introduces Natalia to a new British film or TV show. From badly aged sitcoms to acclaimed dramas, they explore what these films and TV shows reveal about British culture, history, and identity.

You can keep up with the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningbritishfilmtv/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyWasTheRobot

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/learningbritish
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam and Natalia visit the Southbank Centre in London as the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist is revealed.

The Booker Prize is a literary award given to the best English-language novel published each year. After attending the 2026 shortlist announcement on September 22nd, Sam and Natalia go through their thoughts on each book.

Intro: 00:00 - 05:50

THE END OF EVERYTHING by M. John Harrison: 05:50 - 08:04

THE DISAPPEARERS by Marlon James: 08:04 - 13:23

BLACK BAG by Luke Kennard: 13:23 - 17:12

MAY WE FEED THE KING by Rebecca Perry: 17:12 - 21:08

THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY by Elizabeth Strout: 21:08 - 23:45

JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart: 23:45 - 28:14

Conclusion: 28:14 - 36:20

Topics of conversation include FLESH by David Szalay, pronouncing Québec, The National Book Award, Natalia's cough, insiders, DOCTOR WHO, Asimov and Vonnegut, THE NEW YORKER, expensive books, The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, books that are over 600 pages long, A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS, Raymond Antrobus, Russell T Davies and TIP TOE, cringe, campus novels, Michael Fassbender's BLACK BAG, trampolinists, judging books by their covers, divisive American politics, remote Scottish islands, SHUGGIE BAIN, and this week's episode of LEARNING BRITISH.

Here's the article we used to guide our conversation: "Booker Prize judges reveal shortlisted novels after selection 'tussle'", written by Ian Youngs for the BBC.

Don’t forget to ⁠follow and find us on Instagram⁠ (@learningbritishfilmtv) and follow us on Reddit (r/learningbritish).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review⁠.

‘Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast’ (or just ‘Learning British’) is a weekly show hosted by Sam Brown, a born-and-bred Brit, and Natalia Brammen, a Polish immigrant living in the UK.

In each episode, Sam introduces Natalia to a new British film or TV show. From badly aged sitcoms to acclaimed dramas, they explore what these films and TV shows reveal about British culture, history, and identity.

You can keep up with the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningbritishfilmtv/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyWasTheRobot

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/learningbritish
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam and Natalia, for some reason, watch all three seasons and forty-eight episodes of the mostly forgotten American crime drama TV show, LIE TO ME.

LIE TO ME is an American crime drama television show that aired on Fox from 2009 to 2011. It follows Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth), and his friends and colleagues, who assist in criminal and civil investigations by 'truth-checking' suspects; the show purports to demonstrate that their 'truth-checking' methods, based on a mixture of body language and microexpressions, are reflected in real-life psychology.

Sam and Natalia watch all of LIE TO ME to help answer the question on everyone's lips: why, exactly, are Sam and Natalia watching this show?

Topics of conversation include the CSI: NY theme song, the war on terror, consistently declining viewership, dinnertime TV, BONES, British main characters in American TV shows, nostalgia, HOUSE and SHERLOCK, George Bush to Barack Obama, social media, the ridiculous length of American TV shows, the most insane actor cameos of all time, an accidental BREAKING BAD cast reunion, Dr. Lie-man, and Zendaya's entire filmography.

Don’t forget to ⁠follow and find us on Instagram⁠ (@learningbritishfilmtv) and follow us on Reddit (r/learningbritish).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review⁠.

‘Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast’ (or just ‘Learning British’) is a weekly show hosted by Sam Brown, a born-and-bred Brit, and Natalia Brammen, a Polish immigrant living in the UK.

In each episode, Sam introduces Natalia to a new British film or TV show. From badly aged sitcoms to acclaimed dramas, they explore what these films and TV shows reveal about British culture, history, and identity.

You can keep up with the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningbritishfilmtv/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyWasTheRobot

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/learningbritish
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam introduces Natalia to Jon Ronson and his new book, THE CASTLE, in this thrilling episode of the LEARNING BRITISH podcast.

THE CASTLE (or Adventures in a World of Unravelling Men) is a 2026 book by acclaimed journalist Jon Ronson. THE CASTLE follows Ronson as he investigates a mysterious castle in rural Connecticut.

Topics of conversation include Jon Ronson discovering Alex Jones in THEM, JK Rowling, SO YOU'VE BEEN PUBLICLY SHAMED, Louis Theroux, FRANK, messaging people on Instagram, THE SIMPSONS, the manosphere, why nobody is talking about the male loneliness epidemic, overheard conversations, Chris Mark and 101 PRINCESSES, Andrew Tate, EYES WIDE SHUT, why absolutely nobody is talking about the male loneliness epidemic, Hugh Hefner, biohacking being the crypto of lifestyle content, IF BOOKS COULD KILL, Armie Hammer and Graham Linehan, and, seriously guys, why is nobody talking about the male loneliness epidemic?

Don’t forget to ⁠follow and find us on Instagram⁠ (@learningbritishfilmtv) and follow us on Reddit (r/learningbritish).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review⁠.

‘Learning British: A Film and TV Podcast’ (or just ‘Learning British’) is a weekly show hosted by Sam Brown, a born-and-bred Brit, and Natalia Brammen, a Polish immigrant living in the UK.

In each episode, Sam introduces Natalia to a new British film or TV show. From badly aged sitcoms to acclaimed dramas, they explore what these films and TV shows reveal about British culture, history, and identity.

You can keep up with the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learningbritishfilmtv/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SkyWasTheRobot

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/learningbritish
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.