Perfect Day: Ilkley's Jessica Knappett hosts Romesh Ranganathan, Emerald Fennell, Jessica Gunning and more on new podcast

In Perfect Day – the third episode of which is out today – she speaks to industry friends such as Romesh Ranganathan, Emerald Fennell, Jessica Gunning and Adam Buxton about what they would do if they could spend 24 hours exactly as they wished.

“I was curious about people's everyday creative lives really,” says Knappett, speaking over a video call from her Ilkley home.

“I’m interested in what goes on when people are off stage. I'm interested in the behind the scenes life and lifestyle of people, I want to know what their daily routines are and answering that question that's really difficult to answer in an interview, which is ‘how do you come up with this stuff’?

"That's really where it began, was with a curiosity about people's creative processes and creative minds.

"But in the end, I sort of felt like that was maybe a bit too dry for a podcast. It was quite well-trodden so I thought, actually, if I asked people about their fantasy day, then they might tell me a little bit about their normal day to day so I get to have a bit of both.”

There was more to it, though. “I think we're so obsessed with productivity, aren't we? And achieving things and maybe this is particular industry but everyone's very ambitious and we're all striving to be the most productive we can possibly be, and it's quite exhausting,” says Knappett, who is from Bingley, where her parents still live, and went to Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge. “What do we really want to do? It's nice to just fantasise briefly about how we would like to spend our perfect day.”

She says it has been “sweet and heartwarming” but also “profound” to discover that her guests, rather than describing some outlandish fantasy as their perfect day, generally chose pottering around the house, spending time with family or performing a great gig – all achievable scenarios.

As of 2020, Knappett is back living in Yorkshire with husband Dan Crane and their two children. “I love it,” she says. “I find it really peaceful. Yorkshire’s always been my happy place so I'm delighted to have found a way to make a career in the TV industry work from Yorkshire.

"I always wanted to do that, I never really wanted to leave the North but I sort of had to move to London for a bit and then my husband's from America, so we met and then we moved to LA for a bit. So I've dragged him, not exactly kicking and screaming but I would say unwillingly, back from Los Angeles. From West Hollywood to West Yorkshire!”

Between 2013 and 2016, Knappett created, wrote, produced and starred in four series of her hit comedy show Drifters, which was the highest rated sitcom on E4 and repeated on Channel 4.

She has also starred in films such as The Inbetweeners Movie, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, and landed roles in hit series such as Ghosts and Meet the Richardsons. Alongside Ranganathan, she appeared in and co-wrote Avoidance, which the BBC has decided not to recommission it for a third series.

Drifters also gave earlier acting and writing opportunities to names such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Emerald Fennell, who are close friends, and both went on to have their own successes with the TV series Fleabag and films including Saltburn.

“Emerald reminded me on the podcast actually that we met when she auditioned for my show Drifters, which is just hilarious for me to show how much times have changed – she is now an Oscar-winning director,” says Knappett, referencing Fennell’s Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2021 for her film Promising Young Woman.

“But once upon a time, she was auditioning to be on my E4 sitcom. We became really good friends because we had mutual friends and I've just been with her on her amazing journey, really, and it's been so nice.” And fellow podcast guest Gunning has seen her profile soar after her role in Netflix hit Baby Reindeer. Then there is the opening episode with Ranganathan (“Someone's got to give him some airtime…”) and a conversation with Buxton, whose own work was an inspiration for Knappett, who appeared on his podcast in an episode which aired in March this year.

She says: “He's kind of the godfather of it, really, and actually was really instrumental in motivating me to do this podcast because I had such a nice time when I came on his show, and he was so supportive and we both got such lovely feedback from doing that episode that I thought maybe that's something that I could do. I'd been thinking about it anyway and it really did spur me on.”

Hosting has allowed her to be a “chatterbox” with friends and peers, but also to lead a project.

“There’s definitely freedom in making podcasts,” she says. “That was something that appealed to me, that it's very obviously a very creatively free way of working.

"Nobody's going to bully me into doing it a certain way because there is nobody to tell me what to do. Everything that I do is with a small team of people who were on board and on my side. I don't know if I'm gonna get any feedback on the internet – I'm sure there will be some – I think it's just nowhere near as demanding either. It's a conversation that we just happen to be hitting record on and there isn't as much pressure for it to be perfect, ironically.”

Fewer takes, more time for the Craven Arms – that’s perfect.