What fun it is to spend an afternoon with Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson, AKA the Scummy Mummies, making jokes and talking nonsense at Thorn’s kitchen table in south London. Having planned to take no more than 45 minutes to discuss the 10th anniversary of their podcast and their careers in general – smash hit podcast, sold-out live tours, two books, two Guinness world records and more – I end up staying for more than two hours in a full-on chat-athon. Thorn (Australian, warm, funny, 44) and Gibson (Londoner, cynical, funny, 45) are the best sort of company: indiscreet, hilarious, good at sharing the spotlight.
No surprise, then, that their Scummy Mummies podcast, which they started on 29 July 2013, was a hit from the off. Its format has changed – “Initially we were a bit Radio 4, you know, we’ll review things and be newsy!” – but the USP of the show has always been the same: their friendship. The podcast is, essentially, this kitchen table chat: them being themselves, telling uproarious stories of where their lives are at, and asking guests questions that interest them.
