The Girlie Show’s Sarah Cawood – “I was never a ladette!”

Diving deep into all things ’90s… Young and quick-witted with an infectious energy and a flame of short red hair, Sarah Cawood encapsulated everything it meant to be a ’90s TV presenter. Fronting The Girlie Show with Sara Cox before moving onto Singled Out, Live and Kicking, Top of the Pops and Night Fever, she represented everything a smart carefree ’90s woman could be. But behind the scenes it wasn’t that easy.

Sarah had to prove herself against misogyny of the era: when her male co-hosts decided move on, Sarah would be asked to leave too. And even though The Girlie Show had a magnetic all-female lineup, an anarchic format and a cult audience it was came from a male perspective that doesn’t sit well today.

Sarah Cawood joins Miranda Sawyer to dig into the highs and lows of 90s TV, explain why she’s decided to document the era on Substack, and says why she’ll always be a rebellious indie kid at heart. Sign up to support us on Patreon for extra material too. 

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• Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

• Advertisers! Want your brand to reach the 3.5 MILLION people who listen to Podmasters podcasts every month? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more.Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait and Amelia Phillips. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. 

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