Reading · Not On The Beeb's Substack

Have you ever wondered, “How did I end up here, doing this?”

I certainly have.

As a young man, I knew that telling facts was not the way to deliver the truth.

At film school, I was never interested in documentary. I leaned into drama, as I believed that it is through fiction that important truths could not only be told but, more importantly, heard, understood, felt and absorbed.

Since I’ve often wondered how I ended up in truth-telling via Not On The Beeb, when deep down I’ve always known the route to people’s hearts and minds is through story?

As many of you might remember, realising the depth of trouble we were all in, on the 8th August 2020, I dropped working on my novel MoMo, and became a full-time pandemic counter-narrative activist.

This led to the formation of Not On The Beeb on the 29th August 2020 at the first major London gathering against the lockdown measures.

Since then, I’ve been 100% full-time, from morning to night, only taking 6 weeks out to finish my work of passion, MoMo.

Last Saturday, I came back to the UK from working on the audio version of AI & I, ready to appear on the infamous Doc Malik Podcast.

So strange that in 2026, on reentering the country, I needed to brace myself at the airport for a potential arrest under terrorism charges. I walked through freely, but the fact that I even suspected there could be a problem speaks volumes about the state of our country.

Still jet-lagged, I went on a podcast with the highly respected Dr Malik to discuss AI & I. Funnily enough, he had also recently returned to the UK. He had also calculated the same risk, and had given his wife instructions on what to do if he were arrested.

We discuss this state of the UK later in the interview.

However, to my utter surprise, he started the podcast with “I’ve got a bone to pick with you…”

The interview took on a theme I had not been expecting…

Doctor Malik’s introduction:

“...About this Episode - When I first connected with Mark Playne, I thought we’d mainly be talking about his independent news and activist platform, Not On The Beeb, which emerged during the COVID era. For anyone outside the UK, “Beeb” is a common nickname for the BBC, Britain’s state broadcaster. Mark was out on the streets filming protests, interviewing people, documenting the magnetism phenomenon, and covering many of the stories the mainstream media ignored. I assumed that was where this conversation would primarily go.

But several weeks ago, Mark sent me two books. One was Momo, The Incredible Adventures of Me, My Duck, and a Man Called Wolof. The other was AI and I, which I haven’t read yet.

I’ve literally just finished reading Momo, and I have to say, it’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. It had me laughing out loud, crying with tears streaming down my face, and at moments it genuinely touched my soul. It’s clear to me that Mark is a truly gifted storyteller, someone who deeply understands childhood, imagination, and the emotional depth of being human. He writes about love, love lost, and love that perhaps was never meant to be. He writes about suffering, hope, joy, pain, and the strange beauty of life itself.

One of the things we explored in this conversation was how the book is helping me connect more deeply with my own children. And I genuinely think Mark intentionally wrote it in a way that encourages exactly that. This wasn’t just a conversation about literature, it became a conversation about humanity itself.

We talked about how storytelling shapes children, how reading together passes wisdom between generations, and how love, loss, and shared human experiences bind us all together.

Of course, we also ventured into darker territory. We discussed war, propaganda, censorship, manipulation of public opinion, and how Mark came to create Not On The Beeb. We touched on migration, cultural identity, Islamophobia, terrorism narratives, and the wider psychological shaping of society.

Towards the end, we explored AI, modern warfare, and what it means to remain human in an increasingly technological and manipulated world.

This was a truly beautiful conversation with a beautiful man, and I genuinely cannot wait to have Mark back in the studio.

I hope you enjoy it, folks.

Enjoy, folks.

Much love

Doc Malik

The interview is here on Substack:

Doctor Malik is a true gentleman and a genuine, heartfelt freedom fighter. Not just a skilled Doctor but a man of immense integrity. You can read part of the smear campaign here… who was in his own words, “suspended without pay and cancelled because I dare to challenge the Government narrative, defend informed consent, oppose mandates and lockdowns, question experimental jabs….”

…and of course, time has proved this brave doctor was 100% right.

Doc Malik also offers private consultations and hosts a summer retreat.

See more here: https://docmalik.com/

The book we discussed at the start is called MoMo. Click on the image below to read more, or to watch a short video trailer for the story…