Nick Grimshaw, the former face of mid-00s “yoof” culture, is absorbing the decor of our interview location, a meeting room on the fourth floor of the BBC offices in central London. He eyes up the floor-to-ceiling black drapes and the bright orange, weirdly impractical coat stand nestled in the corner. “This is quite chic,” he says brightly, looking over to friend and fellow former Radio 1 DJ Annie Macmanus, AKA Annie Mac. The pair are here to talk about their new music-themed BBC Sounds podcast, Sidetracked, but Grimshaw’s already been distracted. “Look at the lights,” he continues, “a bit of personality. It’s just strip lights on the eighth floor.” It was on that less-aesthetically desirable floor where Grimshaw and Macmanus spent most of their 20s and 30s, the former working his way up to being host of the flagship Radio 1 breakfast show and the latter eventually taking over from Zane Lowe as the station’s chief tastemaker.
Both left in 2021 and have since added books (Macmanus, 45, is working on her third novel, while Grimshaw released his memoir last year), lifestyle podcasts and more TV work to their already bulging CVs. Grimshaw recently presented an interiors show for Channel 4, hence his love of our locale’s plush aubergine chairs. On the brink of turning 40, and with all this middle-aged furniture chat on his mind, he asks his friend of 20 years a pressing question: “Am I still fun?” They look at each other.
