A little different format this week! Jamie and I answer your questions and let you know what's happening next. We actually had mega amounts of fun recording this is I hope you like it too! Thank you so, so much for listening to series 2, we can’t wait to have you back for series 3. All my love, April x Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week my guest is the beautiful Molly Rainford! Molly was thrust into the spotlight at the age of 11 when she got to the final of Britains got Talent. I was so interested to speak to someone that experienced that overnight fame at such a young age, and how one grapples with the industry thereafter. Did she have a support network? Who was making the decisions for her? And how to you live you forge a career in the public eye when you’re still at school and have your education to finish? We...

This week we welcome my on screen mummy; Arabella Weir! I’m not sure if Arabella had quite any idea how much of an impact she had on an impressionable young 17 year old trying to find her feet and place in the industry, but I hope by the end of this chat she did. I remember so clearly how much I was in awe of Arabella on set, sure of herself, asking for what she needed and also looking out for the younger women on set, I really learnt so much from her about how to advocate for myself....

John Owen-Jones is here… insiiiiiide your mind…! Little Phantom of the Opera reference there for you theatre heads who might already know that John Owen-Jones was the longest running Phantom on London's West End and has also played Jean Valjean in Les Misérables just shy of 2000 times! I therefore think he is the perfect guest to explore just what embodying a character for so many years feels like for the man behind the mask. We speak about the time we were both in Les Misérables together...

Nikki Blonsky are you Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray?! I couldn’t believe it when Nikki said yes to this interview; not only was she so iconic in this role, and played it so brilliantly, but the similarities to my experience are remarkable. We were both 17 when we got our first big role and were suddenly thrust into the spotlight and we talk about how we’ve found matching that role since. However we also spoke about the differences; Tracy Turnblad was so well received and held in such high...

My guest this week is classic Skins alumni from series 1 - Siwan Morris! Siwan played Angie the teacher who had an affair with one of the students. It was so interesting catching up with Siwan, not least because I hadn’t heard her lovely voice in over 15 years, but to hear her experiences of being a 32 year old woman filming the same risqué scenes we as 17 year olds had to. And in her case - full frontal nudity. Did she feel empowered? Did she a feel a little unsafe like we did? Or did she...

My guest this week is Jade Ewen; you might know her best as the sixth member of Sugababes, but she has many guises and is also known as one of the UK’s most successful Eurovision contestants, Princess Jasmine on the West End and most recently none other than Mariah Carey in Netflix’s Luis Miguel. We chat about her many breaks and unknowns including being flown out to LA without being told she was about to join the Sugababes, and starting filming Luis Miguel without being told she was playing...

WE’RE BACK!! And with an episode that shows EXACTLY why I created this podcast. I was thrilled when Shenae agreed to speak to me (having been the biggest 90210 fan) and even more so when her kind words about Are You Michelle from Skins? helped me understand the reason why I’m doing this, and made me cry. So many of Shenae’s experiences during, and after 90210 resonated hard with me and we both feel so thankful to have since created our own spaces to share our actual lived experience. Shenae...

Hello and welcome to THE SECOND SERIES of Are you Michelle from Skins? with me, April Pearson. And yes, I played Michelle in E4’s iconic teen drama, Skins. This show is helping me work through the highs and lows of being associated with something so memorable by talking to other creatives who are also known for that one seminal moment in their career. I'm speaking to boyband members, soap stars, and other Skins cast members about how that one iconic role has impacted their life and career...

For the final episode of the series I welcome Jessica Sula Skins Gen 3 alumni…and what a finale episode this is. This conversation is exactly why the concept of Are You Michelle from Skins? exists, and I’m so so proud of having created a space to have these frank chats. Jess was so honest, candid, and vulnerable when speaking about her experiences in Skins and thereafter, they echo a lot of my own, and I’m just so so grateful to her for sharing this with me. We speak about life in the Welsh...

This week I welcome my friend Mickey Sumner onto the podcast. We met when we were both working on the film “Caught” and have remained friends ever since. Mickey has recently published an essay in Romper where she discusses mothering her son with disabilities and her experiences with postpartum anxiety. It's raw, brave and honest and I urge you all go and read it here: https://www.romper.com/parenting/what-i-know. In this episode Mickey speaks about what fame and success mean to her, how that...

Antony Costa... who knew the legendary Blue star also moonlights as a therapist? We had SUCH a lovely chat which culminated in the most helpful therapy session for me! Antony shared how his time in naughties pop sensation Blue so precedes him that he often forgets his own surname, which makes him the perfect guest for Are You Michelle from Skins? We also spoke about life since Blue, musical theatre, how important it is to put the hard work in and how ultimately, we all need to be a little...

Spoiler alert: IT’S THE CADDY! Dot Cottan himself joins me this week to talk about life after the success of Line of Duty, how despite leaving 6 years ago but it still features heavily in his life with him hosting the official podcast, and how a break in acting jobs post Line of Duty lead him to start his own podcast. Craig is so open and candid about his experience and there are so many parallels to my own, not least because I also featured on his podcast! Give my episode of the Two Shot...

As a Skins alumni like me, Laya’s experience of shooting an explicit series at such a young age, has haunting echoes with mine. We talk together about what we went through and about how we are hopeful now that we are all working hard to address these issues in the industry. Yet Laya seems to have remarkable coping mechanisms and a real level head - she shares her mantra for believing in herself, her tales from working behind the bar, how she’s also “that girl from the Barclays advert” and how...

Fred and George… or Ollie and James? I chat to the twins about not being like their Harry Potter characters, how they’re not actually ginger, and in fact whether they are really twins (as one interviewer asked them). They speak about how the juggernaut that is Harry Potter has been in their lives since 14, what success means to them, Olly recounts how therapy lead them to start their own podcast, and they tell me about one absolutely TERRIFYING incident on a plane.   Jump in the flying Ford...

I am thrilled to welcome actual TV legend LES DENNIS to Are You Michelle from Skins? this week! Les has been a TV icon throughout the decades, from Family Fortunes, to the official best episode of Ricky Gervais’ Extras, and THAT iconic appearance in Celebrity Big Brother (listen in to his behind the scenes tales of talking to the chickens). However I know him as the kind and wonderful friend I met when we worked on the film Sideshow together. Les takes everything in his stride with an...

Well, what an iconic guest for the inaugural episode of Are You Michelle From Skins? ! I talk to Aston Merrygold about what it’s actually like being in a boyband; from X factor early days, to touring arenas with JLS and the decision to walk away from the band. We speak about him being a triple threat, from turning his hand to football, acting, and how singing was the back up plan! And of course, we speak about the classic unmasking on this series of the Masked Singer and just where the...

Hello and welcome to the trailer for Are you Michelle from Skins? with me, April Pearson. And yes, I played Michelle in E4’s iconic teen drama, Skins. This show is helping me work through the highs and lows of being associated with something so memorable by talking to other creatives who are also known for that one seminal moment in their career. I'm speaking to boyband members, soap stars, and other Skins cast members about how that one iconic role has impacted their life and career going...