Gripped

There are few concessions being offered to Radio 2's Jo and Simon Show by the radio critics. Catherine Nixey, of The Times, has some bon mots that are worth a wider audience than the paywall allows...

You can see what the bosses at Radio 2 were thinking. Drivetime looks like such an easy gig. All you have to do is play a few records, sound genial when Glenda rings in with a request and produce a bit of banter between the traffic and travel. It’s everyman radio. Surely every man — even every woman — can do it? 

They cannot. And Whiley certainly can’t. “Hi to Glenda,” she says, squeezing out the words with all the ease and enjoyment with which one might squeeze out a kidney stone. Glenda, Whiley explains, is “heading to Loch Lomond for paddleboarding”. Poor old Whiley. She wasn’t made to talk about paddleboarding. She was made to brown-nose indistinguishable indie bands in a scholarly manner.

If Whiley sounds tense and brittle, then even Mayo, usually so at ease, sounds uncomfortable. Neither seems to be able to time their speech with the other. Like people on an awkward first date, either neither of them speaks or both do. Then, not wanting to interrupt, they stop. It’s toe-curling and listeners have been complaining in droves. Not since Helen and Rob in The Archers have a couple sounded so ill at ease. It is, naturally, riveting.

Phil McGarvey, who has produced Vanessa Feltz and Steve Wright and lived to tell the tale, is in the control booth. "I am a strong leader and recognised talent manager" he avers on Linkedin.