Bits #80: GUEST EDIT by Lucy Williams

I’m ooo this week, so I’ve persuaded one of the culture vultures in my life to share some of her favourite recs. You probably know Lucy Williams for her endlessly creative aesthetic eye and design collabs (she also writes one of Britain’s most popular newsletters, Remotely) and it’s true that we met 16 years ago at the now defunct fashion magazine, InStyle, where she was fashion assistant and I was features assistant (my favourite outfit then was a lilac lace leotard with sequin-trimmed denim cut-offs lolilolilol), but for me, one of Lucy’s most impressive qualities is her forensic knowledge of telly. Every time I see her, I come away with five things I want to watch immediately.

She’s also a prolific guzzler of podcasts, books, interiors and travel, and in today’s list, she has recommended more than 15 things to read, watch, listen and plan a visit to. I hope you enjoyed devouring them as much as I did! I’m listening to one of them, as I type. Over to Lucy.

I’ve slowly and subconsciously swapped true crime podcasts for politics and investigations and The Observer/ Tortoise’s most recent audio documentary, We Call Her Emma, was fascinating. Hosted by journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, who co-wrote the series with Gary Marshall, it’s about the rise and big, big fall of Asma al-Assad, the British born wife of overthrown Syrian dictator and war criminal Bashar al-Assad.

Like many people, I developed a dark fascination with this family after news emerged they were living in a wealthy enclave of Moscow alongside neighbours including Roman Abramovich and Edward Snowden. An old friend of mine, Oliver Marsden, is the Middle East correspondent for The Observer; previously he was at the The Times, and he published an amazing report from the Assad’s deserted home when their regime was toppled in the middle of night in 2024. The abandoned palaces were strewn with designer shopping bags, super cars left in the garages and bank statements citing millions hidden away in offshore ban accounts.

We Call Her Emma focuses on how much al-Assad knew about her husband’s brutal regime and the torture he inflicted on his own citizens. Essentially, plausible deniability seems entirely farcical and now, the British government have sanctioned her and her entire family, potentially threatening to revoke her citizenship. It’s astounding to think that she was once just a dentist’s daughter from Acton, known as Emma.

The one podcast my husband and I always agree on listening to is Dish with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, which is set up like a dinner party at a restaurant. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I want to listen to Rosamund Pike on her favourite crisps and Bob Mortimer on his favourite way to eat eggs more than I want to hear them talking about this new project or that new project.

When the subject of an interview is food, it makes everyone notably more relaxed and at ease. One of my favourite all-time discussions is about what would be your last meal on earth (please tell me yours!) so that’s probably why I love hearing about people’s foodie likes and dislikes so much.

I found a new favourite artist on a recent trip to Sweden. I went to the Millesgården museum, which is so impressive, like a much bigger version of Barbara Hepworth’s museum in St Ives, with Swedish sculptor Carl Milles’s home and garden turned into a museum filled with his various work. (There was also a preserved guest house/cottage stuffed with Svenskt Tenn, a favourite in Sweden, and original Delft tiles that will make you want to inject more colour back home immediately.)

In the temporary exhibition space was a solo show by the artist Tal R called The Elephant in the Room. The pieces were big, bold and almost childlike and both my husband and I adored them — which is unusual when it comes to our differing tastes in art! There’s a massive pink elephant sculpture in the double-height studio, complete with embedded eyeballs because, well, it’s the elephant in the room.

His 2019 piece, Natten, is also amazing - just imagine having a wall (and a wallet) big enough to house that.

I am a novice when it comes to art, but I know what I like, and I have a real thing for horses in paintings. I’m currently obsessed with Romy Elliott’s. They’re cosy and nostalgic. I say I love horses in paintings, but really, it’s Elliott’s depictions of dogs and humans together that I love so much.

TV is a big love in my life (and we all need big loves). I just binge-watched the new Katie Price documentary, Nothing to Hide, which I thought was one of best celeb docs I’ve seen in ages. It’s a warts and all look at the last 25 years in a refreshingly candid way. Peter Andre was absent, but Gareth Gates, Dane Bowers and Alex Reid are all in there as are the WILD headlines and press coverage that plagued and fuelled her career. I loved fellow ‘00s icon Kerry Katona’s role throughout it too, like a bitchy sister who’ll happily stick the knife in, but would never let anyone else.

It’s predictably scandalous and fascinating, but also rather moving and sad. Her wise and sweet kids Princess and Junior acknowledge that their mum “just wants love” which is why she ends up moving so fast with a string of unsuitable men — including ex-husband Kieran Hayler, who’s currently on trial for the rape of a 13-year-old girl — and their experience of her addiction felt really raw and poignant. Price’s insistence on calling her younger self ‘ugly’ is hard to watch. Her family, mum, siblings and her kids, especially, are her grounding silver lining.

Nothing to Hide reminded me of Olivia Attwood’s documentaries for ITV, Getting Filthy Rich on the sex industry and The Price of Perfection on the plastic surgery industry - I live for her documentaries.

As someone who works in a public-facing, online industry, I find both subjects absolutely fascinating when it comes to our collective psyche around beauty standards and commodifying oneself. I love shows like this, it looks and sounds like fluffy, gratuitous reality TV on the surface but I it always challenges the way I think and shines a light on places and things a lot of us just might not be aware of otherwise.

Speaking of Only Fans…