And now here they are, the closest thing British news has to a pair of high-octane celebrities, waiting to greet me on the other side of a set of security barriers, a little PR sequence. How do they feel? Are they nervous, excited, or both? In fact, their mood today seems to be slightly dizzy. Having worked on the podcast for weeks – dummies have been created, along with real interviewees – the two are set to disappear on holiday ahead of its launch at the end of this month. There is a sense that school is out, at least for a while. Maitli wears shorts with her mules. But maybe that’s just the way it is. There’s always been something slightly playful about their relationship, or so they tell me when we’re settled around a table in a nondescript boardroom. Maitlis says that when they were presenting together on the BBC news channel a long time ago, the danger of him killing her was ever-present. Off air, there was much laughter. “What was that program?” asks Sopel, who is smiling and cheerful. “You know… the one where these couples lived next door and were great partners and had an organic garden?” Does he mean the Good Life? “Yes, the good life.” Maitli, who is made of somewhat sterner stuff, rolls her eyes. “That makes no sense at all,” he says. “Do you think I’m Barbara?” But it gets worse. “No, the other one,” he announces. (He means the formidable Margot, with her caftans and snobbish affections.) Maitlis gives him an indulgent smile. “We’re not like them in any sense,” he says, with all the firmness of a parent. Andrew Marr is among other big names to leave the BBC in recent years. Photo: Global/PA In recent years, Global has been the cause of, at least according to the Daily Mail, something of a brain drain at the BBC, Shelagh Fogarty, Eddie Mair and, more recently, Andrew Marr have all signed to LBC. But the movement of Maitlis and Sopel is, perhaps, of an entirely different order. They do not fill existing positions on a schedule. They’re trying something completely new, the concept of which I’m not sure I fully understand. Maybe this is a silly question, but what exactly would a daily news podcast consist of? When will it land and when do they hope listeners will hear it? Impartiality will be very important to us. We’re not trying to shock jock Emily Maitlis True to form, Sopel answers first. “Well, it’s not going to be breathless, breaking news, just shaking and hyperventilating,” he says. “We will be behind the big story. We will ask: what should I know about it? What will be really exciting, clever, something I didn’t already know? We’re going to have some really great guests who will shine a light on these topics.” OK, but could you give me an example? Two days ago, for example, Britain saw record temperatures. So their podcast, if they were to make it now, would they see the weather? Maitlis now enters. “My sense is that he wouldn’t,” he says. “Our producer found this marathon to be held in Death Valley in California, so we could have done that as an opener… like: you might feel like this is unbearable, but what’s going on there? But beyond that – not to belittle climate change – everyone is telling the same story. We’d like to kind of contain it.” Still, isn’t there already plenty of in-depth news available elsewhere? How will they compete? “That’s the challenge,” says Sopel. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.” So are they going to record it during the day and release it, say, at night? “We are working on the speed of recovery,” says Maitlis. “Right now, it should be up to driving time [about 5pm] and we’ll record it in the afternoon.” The show will be called The News Agents (see what they did there?). They’re aiming for a two-hour turn, and while the five podcasts they’ll publish each week won’t be longer than an hour, they’ll never, except in exceptional cases, be shorter than 30 minutes. “You have to be realistic about people’s driving time, dog walking time, or whatever else is going on,” says Sopel. Maitlis and Sopel are good friends off air. “We can be honest with each other,” says Maitlis. Photo: Suki Dhanda/The Observer Maitlis enjoys the “endless flexibility” of a podcast. “One day the prime minister makes a statement at seven, we’ll go: hang on guys, it’s worth the wait and we’ll leave it for later. After the primaries [when the Conservatives lost both in Wakefield, and in Tiverton and Honiton]we all decided that we would have all stayed up all night and [dropped it] first thing in the morning.” Again, the run-off election took place on the same day as the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, thus radically limiting women’s abortion rights. “I think we would have done two podcasts that day, probably,” Sopel says. This all sounds exciting, but I still wonder: how will they fit into people’s busy, busy lives? “We have to make it a habit,” says Maitlis. It would be crazy, he says, to tell me they know exactly how it’s going to work at this point. It is a case of responding to public needs. “What we loved about Americast was that people were really hungry for it, [disappointed] when there was no episode.” They enjoy the thought of listeners asking why they don’t do this or that thing. “We have to find our way. If we’re doing a lot of stories about South Sudan and there’s not an audience out there for South Sudan, you know, we’ll try to address that. You have to tell stories that are editorially important, but you also have to tell stories that people feel aren’t reaching elsewhere. That’s the challenge and it’s a risk.” Quick guide
Four other notable news anchor duos
projection Four other notable news featuring twins Piers Morgan and Susanna ReedGood Morning Britain, ITV (2015-2021) Morgan and Reid presented the ITV morning show GMB until he quit last March after falling out over Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. During those busy six years, Reid was often calm and measured during Morgan’s erratic outbursts, with viewers drawing comparisons to the spoof This Time With Alan Partridge.He said (on his departure from GMB): “I thought the whole thing was a prank.”He said: “There is only one Piers Morgan. But no one is completely irreplaceable.” Michael Portillo and Diane AbbottThis Week, BBC One (2003-2015) The unlikely duo – a former Tory cabinet minister and a Labor supporter – helped Andrew Neil on Thursday night’s programme. Although the duo’s politics were polar opposites, fans of the show often commented on their chemistry. He said: “She’s great when she’s angry.”He said: “Michael and I certainly never socialized beyond the walls of the BBC.” Nicky Campbell and Rachel BurdenBBC Radio 5 Live (2011-2021) Campbell and Burden have been accompanying early morning audiences for a decade. The friendship and respect the duo have developed over the years shone through, particularly as they said goodbye to each other when Campbell left the show in 2021. He said: “You were such an amazing friend.”He said: “Sometimes the cracks popped a little, but I loved every minute of it.” Anne Diamond and Nick OwenTV-am, ITV (1983-1986); Good Morning With Anne and Nick, BBC One (1992–1996) The co-hosts of morning television captivated audiences as they approached serious issues with an informality and conversation that was unusual at the time. They reunited to host a weekly Zoom web chat show during the 2020 lockdown.He said: “We rarely talk to each other – we just think the same way journalistically.”He said: “We always finished each other’s sentences and moved on.” Rebecca Brahde Thanks for your response. He looks across at Sopel, who says, “Yeah, we might fall flat on our faces. In five years, people can laugh at us.” Again, whenever he came home from the US, it was Americast who stopped him on the street to talk. “That was kind of revealing. Like, my God, people are listening here.” But what is more important? When it comes to audiences, is it size or loyalty that counts? Surely Global is really only interested in the former? “I’m greedy,” he says. “I want both.” Will they miss being on TV? Many people, even those who consider themselves journalists first and presenters second, are addicted to it, whether they care to admit it or not. But as it is…
