Pottering with Tom Allen

Oh, what a joy it was to welcome my dear friend Alan Carr into the garden for a spot of Pottering! 🌻 Comedian, presenter and turret-loving TV sensation, Alan is always a delight! You’ll know him from the brilliant Changing Ends on ITV, his Mediterranean makeovers with Amanda Holden on BBC One, BAFTA-award winning The Traitors, and of course so much more besides. We shoot the breeze (or should that be the trout?) about Alan’s brand new castle, our favourite National Trust spots, and being shamed by national treasure Dame Mary Berry. Much to enjoy! 🏰🍷🦜🍾 So pop open the bubbles, grab those birdwatching binoculars, and perhaps change out of that Poirot outfit, just in case, as you come Pottering with us.🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, perhaps leave us a review, it's very much appreciated, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh what a treat it was to chat with true gardening icon Carol Klein! Presenter, author and gardener extraordinaire, Carol is so gloriously entertaining and a true horticultural hero of mine and so many others. It was an absolute pleasure to chat with her, even if the spring sunshine soon swapped out for sleet! ☂️❄️🌸 We discuss the promiscuity of the primrose, the dangers of the Chelsea Flower Show bar and even, briefly, bathing with John Lennon. 🍷🍇If you’ve enjoyed the conversation, I’d highly suggest seeking out Carol’s books, in particular her perfectly named Hortobiography and, brilliant news, the new series of Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein is available on BBC iPlayer right now, please do take a look!Now, pour yourself a glass of crisp rosé, pop open those umbrellas and come pottering with us. Quick! Before the sap rises!🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week joining me for some Pottering is Horticultural Hercules, social media sensation and author of Garden Yourself Happy, Jonny Hincks! 🪴 It was a real delight to have a true green-fingered great in the garden, and we had a lovely chat about the intoxicating smells of nature, the power of planting for our health and wellbeing, and Jonny’s lessons for lawns: don’t go too short! ✂️ It's rather a different story when it comes to fashion. So, lucky YouTube and Spotify viewers, please do enjoy a closer look at our legs. 👀 Oh, the joys of a visualised podcast! Now, stick on those Daisy Dukes, grab your trusty trowel, and let’s go Pottering... 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Umbrellas at the ready, dear listeners, as the brilliant Lou Beckett joins me in the garden on a rather dreary spring morning. ☔But fear not, spirits remain undampened. We chat reality television, the delightful side of social media, and, with plenty of thoughts on motherhood along the way, discuss Lou’s wonderful new book, Lessons from a Default Parent. Out right now! 👈So, pause Real Housewives, don't you dare forget your waterproofs, and come pottering with us... This way, mind the urn.🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whilst Pottering is taking a little break, we’re bringing you some of my favourite moments from the first series, some Clippings if you will. 🌱 Join us this week to hear from Jo Brand, Gareth Howells, Phil Dunning, Fay Ripley, Angela Scanlon, Amy Annette and Giovanna Fletcher. Expect chats about ghosts and gravy, Edinburgh Fringe adventures and fancy dress, hun culture and hypnosis. Yes, Pottering really does have something for everyone! So, turn that slug light up to maximum, grab a bowl of those delicious homegrown tomatoes, and join me once more for some Pottering. 🍅🍅🍅 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whilst Pottering is taking a little break, we’re bringing you some of my favourite moments from the first series, The Clippings if you will. 🌱Join us this week to hear from Rob Beckett, Suzi Ruffell, James Gill, Gabby Best, Phil Wang, Lee Peart and Natalie Cassidy. A truly glorious gathering for the garden. We cover everything from Christmas chaos to cocktail creation, with a few horticultural musings along the way, naturally.So, pop on those wellies, pour yourself a Martini, and join me once more for some Pottering. 🌿🍸 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What a treat it was to welcome the glorious Sam Battersea and Charlie Baker into the garden for this week’s episode. An entertainment power couple and long time friends of mine, we share our gardening secrets, chat the world of TV acting, and get a glimpse into Charlie's superb showbiz knowledge, covering everything from Pat St Clement to Lionel Bart! Arriving laden with gifts for the garden, Sam’s acting career has taken her from the corridors of The Mill Health Centre (Doctors) to the grand ballrooms of the ton (Bridgerton). She can currently be seen in the BBC sitcom Can You Keep a Secret?, so please do take a look! Charlie will be familiar to many from TalkSport and Virgin Radio, his roles in EastEnders and Doctor Who, or his excellent stand up comedy, keep your eyes peeled for an announcement on that very soon! Now, please do dust off that shovel, pop on your top hat and tails, and join us in the garden for a spot of Pottering. Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining me this week among the perennials is the fabulous Amy Gledhill! An Edinburgh Award winning stand up, actor and writer, Amy recently appeared in Netflix hit Run Away, and is very soon to be the star of Last One Laughing UK and Taskmaster! Yes, she is very busy, which makes me even more grateful she popped by for a chat. Melancholically meandering from Dungeness to dungeons, we chat the terror associated with Aled Jones, the infectious nature of the rumba, and fancy funeral plans! So pause that episode of The Demon Headmaster, reach for the boot polish, and join me for another episode of Pottering. Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. And please do like and subscribe (is that what I'm meant to say?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The brilliantly talented and very funny Phil Dunning joins me this week for a drink and a chat in the rain. A wonderful friend, superb stand up, and creator and star of BBC hit sitcom Smoggie Queens (series 2 on the way very soon), Phil is a complete delight. It was an absolute joy chatting with him, as always, even if we were both slowly soaking through. Listen in as Phil gives us the recipe for the iconic Chicken Parmo, reveals all about working in London's glittering West End, and yes, we do eventually touch on gardening. Phil also very kindly helped me plant some bulbs, although it was dark and raining, so we await the results on those, watch this space! Now, don your head torches, grab a handful of posh crisps, and join us for another episode of Pottering. Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. And please do like and subscribe (is that what I'm meant to say?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to the garden, where we are kicking off 2026 properly with the gloriously funny Gabby Best. A brilliantly talented actor and a very good friend of mine, you may know Gabby as Alan Carr’s neighbour in the wonderfully funny Changing Ends. Series 2 is available now on ITV and ITVX so do please take a look. We chat holiday tomatoes, norovirus with Noel Edmonds, and the audience crossover between air fryers and mindfulness. Gabby even treats us to a cheeky bounce on the trampoline and kindly helps me pull up some potatoes! Don't forget, you can also watch the podcast on Youtube - just search for @tomallen. So, pop on that tanning oil, grab the gardening gloves and please join us for another episode of Pottering. Now, if you will excuse me, I am off for a small lie down in the wardrobe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh well, a very merry Christmas to you, my dear friends. Thank you so much for listening to Pottering this year. It has been an absolute delight to spend time in the garden with such a glorious parade of guests, and I am simply thrilled that you have been enjoying it too. By now, Fay Ripley will almost certainly be elbow deep in the preparation of a truly spectacular feast, Lee Peart has very likely treated himself to a martini, possibly two, and James Acaster’s cats, one imagines, will have been indulged in a festive turkey nibble of some description. Frankly, as it should be. Whatever you are up to today, I hope it brings you joy and comfort, and that amongst all of the goings on, you are able to carve out a little time for some Pottering of your own. Thank you for being such lovely company this year, and have a very happy Christmas. Don't forget you can watch Pottering on Youtube! Why not revisit some favourites with a box of Quality Street and a glass of something. Just search @tomallen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The utterly fabulous national treasure that is Natalie Cassidy popped into my garden for a spot of Pottering this week. EastEnders legend, cultural icon, podcaster and noted trumpet aficionado, she was, as you would expect, an absolute delight from start to finish! Her joyous new book Happy Days is out now which, may I say, would make a marvellous Christmas present. We chat Ronnie Corbett on Strictly Come Dancing, the incomparable taste of homegrown tomatoes and the many joys of hun culture. Things also took a decidedly festive turn which I did not mind one bit! Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. So pop on those wellies, pour yourself an eggnog and join us for another episode of Pottering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, I had such a lovely time pottering with my dear friend Amy Annette, a marvellous comedian, writer and broadcaster and an all round delight. Amy joined me fresh from the triumph of her Edinburgh show Busy Body, and if you have not yet seen it, do catch it on tour early next year! It's always a delight to see Amy! We discuss Mr Blobby, the rise of misinformation and why the future of streaming may just belong to Angela Lansbury. We also have a go at our very own Tavern Fantasy Play, yes that's right, and enjoy some bouquet building. Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. So put down that episode of Murder, She Wrote, pick up your pruning shears, and join us in the garden for another episode of Pottering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices