Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

This episode includes discussion of sensitive topics, including addiction, that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening, and feel free to pause or step away if you need to.
From a privileged childhood in Surrey to the chaos of addiction, expulsion and eventual recovery, Marcus Brigstocke’s early life was far more turbulent than his public persona might suggest.
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the comedian, writer and performer to explore the experiences that shaped him: boarding school at seven, a damaging relationship with food from childhood, and the compulsive behaviours that would later give way to alcohol, drugs and despair while he was still in his teens.
Marcus speaks with extraordinary candour about shame, survival and the long road to recovery, reflecting on the pain of being sent away so young, the sense of being trapped inside patterns he could neither control nor explain, and the intervention that ultimately saved his life before adulthood had properly begun.
They discuss the strange overlap between addiction and comedy, the instant feedback of making people laugh, and the role performance played in helping him endure what was happening offstage. Marcus also reflects on class, masculinity, recovery, parenthood and the double life of a stand-up- thick-skinned and vulnerable, commanding and needy, all at once.
Funny, forensic and deeply moving, this is a conversation about trauma, reinvention and the hard-won joy of becoming the person you might not have lived long enough to meet.
Additional support:
If you've been affected by anything you've heard in this episode, please take a moment to read the resources listed: We Are With You, Change Grow Live, Turning Point
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Full Disclosure is taking a short break over the Easter holidays, but we’ll be back very soon with a brand new episodes!
Until then, why not dip back into the archive and catch up on some of this year’s standout episodes, with guests including Jonathan Pryce, Sadiq Khan, Gary Lineker, Naz Shah and more.
Listen now on Global Player, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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From a childhood in Islington to more than three decades on one of Britain’s biggest television shows, Natalie Cassidy’s life has unfolded in public for almost as long as she can remember.
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the actor to trace a journey that began in a close-knit working-class family, took shape at the Anna Scher Theatre, and changed forever when she was cast in EastEnders at just ten years old.
Natalie reflects on growing up surrounded by adults, losing the privacy her parents had valued, and navigating fame before she was old enough to understand what it meant. She speaks movingly about family, grief and guilt, the loss of her mother at nineteen, and the grounding influence of the women who helped shape her, from Wendy Richard and Barbara Windsor to the incomparable June Brown.
They discuss the strange psychology of child stardom, the realities of soap acting, and the courage it took to step away from a role that had defined her for so long. Along the way, Natalie talks with warmth and honesty about money, motherhood, class, friendship, ambition and the need, now, to be brave enough to try something new.
Funny, candid and deeply perceptive, this is a conversation about identity, resilience and what it means to build a life when the whole country thinks it already knows who you are.
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For 25 years, Fast Food Nation has shaped the way we think about what we eat, how it is made, and who pays the price. Its author, Eric Schlosser, did more than expose the hidden realities behind the fast food industry. He revealed a much bigger story about corporate power, political influence and the human cost of profit.
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the acclaimed investigative writer to mark the anniversary of the book that changed the conversation around food. Schlosser reflects on a childhood shaped by privilege, culture and intellectual curiosity, before explaining how early ambitions as a playwright and screenwriter eventually gave way to a career in long-form journalism.
They discuss the reporting behind Fast Food Nation, from slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants to boardrooms and lobbying operations, and why Schlosser came to see the industry as a lens through which to understand modern America. He explains how the story of fast food became a story about labour, inequality, deregulation and the alliance between government and big business.
The conversation also ranges across his wider body of work, including prisons, nuclear weapons and the enduring appeal of investigative writing that challenges power rather than flatters it. Thoughtful, unsparing and deeply timely, this is a conversation about journalism, capitalism and why the systems shaping our lives deserve much closer scrutiny.
Find out more about the 25th anniversary edition of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser here
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From Le Caprice and The Ivy to The Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel, Jeremy King has helped define the way London eats, drinks and sees itself. His restaurants became institutions, attracting everyone from Princess Diana and Lucian Freud to generations of actors, artists, politicians and power players.
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the legendary restaurateur to trace an extraordinary life behind some of the capital’s most iconic dining rooms. Jeremy reflects on a childhood shaped by shyness, social awkwardness and a lasting sense of being an outsider, before explaining how an early fascination with risk led him to make major life decisions according to the throw of a dice, including the choice that pulled him away from Cambridge University and into hospitality.
They discuss his first jobs in the restaurant world, the formative partnership with Chris Corbin, and the instincts that helped create some of London’s most celebrated establishments. Jeremy reveals why great restaurants are about far more than food, how atmosphere and service can transform a room, and why making people feel they belong matters just as much as what is on the plate.
From celebrity diners and royal visits to business setbacks, reinvention and the long-awaited reopening of Simpson’s, the conversation moves through the highs, the risks and the resilience behind a singular career. Warm, candid and full of hard won insight, this is a conversation about ambition, instinct and the subtle art of creating places people never forget.
Simpson's in The Strand
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