Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett on Dish podcast: ‘We had 11am gin and tonics with Rob Brydon'

The pair are in the north London studio where they record their hit podcast Dish, from Waitrose, but this time they’re sat on the side of the table usually reserved for their celebrity guests. This season has featured Stephen Fry, actors Damian Lewis and East Yorkshire-born Anna Maxwell Martin, and comedian Rob Brydon.

You can see why Dish is so loved – the two of them seem like family. If you’ve never caught an episode, Oldham-born Grimshaw, 40, brings the chat, nosily quizzing guests on their lives and favourite crisps, setting each one up to sparkle. Meanwhile, Hartnett, 56 – imperious chef patron of the renowned Murano restaurant – cooks, so they can have a proper natter over a meal.

Now into their sixth series since buddying up in 2022, ask them how they feel about working together and they don’t miss a beat. “Awful, terrible,” says Grimshaw. “Nightmare,” adds Hartnett.

Then, to laughter from the whole studio, Grimshaw adds: “I get to come and just eat really nice food and have a laugh with Angela. Like, I keep thinking, what’s the catch?”

“I’ll tell you in season eight,” quips Hartnett.

Grimshaw adds, incredulous with joy: “We had 11am gin and tonics today with Rob Brydon!”

Half the time the pair end up chatting away before their guests’ mics even are on, meaning the crew have to remind them to “save it for the podcast”. “With Stephen and Rob, I forgot I was doing a podcast,” says Grimshaw. “You’re just sat there chatting and then look round and see 15 bored faces and you’re like (oops) I’m at work.”

They’ve learnt quite a bit already from this series. Like the fact comedian Judi Love doesn’t like risotto (“You don’t say that to an Italian,” says Grimshaw, deadpan, to Hartnett, who, yep, you guessed it, is half-Italian) and that actor Richard E Grant likes to salt his own food before he’s even tasted it (“He brought his own salt,” says Grimshaw. “I saw how much he put on, it was a handful, plonked on!”).

And Fry talked about how people don’t sit down for dinner as a family so much now. “The kitchen isn’t the heart of the household anymore,” says Hartnett. “It never used to be like that, and that’s really sad that’s happening.”

“I didn’t think there was another way,” says former Radio 1 Breakfast host, Grimshaw. “When I went to uni and everyone was having their dinner on their knees, I couldn’t do it. I was, like, trying to figure out how to eat. I’d genuinely never done it. So I love the idea of everyone, whatever they’re up to, school, college, work, all coming together and just having that time around the table.”

Making Dish has changed how, Grimshaw at least, cooks. “I used to find it quite stressful if people came round for dinner, and when my friends come around now, they’re like, ‘We can tell you work with Angela’. I don’t like, study Angela, but it’s Angela’s attitude to cooking,” he says, turning to Hartnett. “You’re not into being stressed out by it...I always thought that people were, like, it was Come Dine With Me and they were gonna score me. And actually, it’s not.”

Ultimately, Hartnett hopes the pair of them “can encourage people to just feel relaxed about food”.

Grimshaw agrees. “I hope people have a laugh listening to it. I hope they feel part of it. I hope they get insight into someone’s life. I love hearing about what people eat and how they live at home, and I hope they feel more equipped in the kitchen and more confident to say, ‘Do you know what? Let’s have everyone around at the weekend,’ but don’t think you’ve got to put on the Ritz.

“No one’s expecting like, a three-course meal,” he says. “But I hope people feel like, ‘Oh, let’s get our neighbours around that we’ve not seen for ages, and like, have a bowl of pasta.’”

Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.