Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment
410 episodes listed below
Elizabeth Day asks well-known guests to name three failures and what they taught them.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is a reflective interview show built around the parts of life that did not go according to plan. Recent episodes move from Emma Grede on ambition and work to conversations about boundaries, blended families, grief, shame, and historical misjudgment.
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The core format is a one-on-one interview: Elizabeth Day sits with a single guest for 25 to 60 minutes and works through a fixed structure of three named failures, using each as a way into the guest's biography. Guests skew toward UK celebrity and media figures — pop stars like Natasha Hamilton, reality-TV personalities like Sophie Habboo, entrepreneurs like Emma Grede, and film/creative figures like Baz Luhrmann and Luke Evans — though international guests appear as well. Recurring subject matter includes mental health and therapy (ADHD diagnoses, postnatal depression, CBT), relationship patterns like people-pleasing and difficulty with boundaries, blended families and co-parenting, career ambition and entrepreneurial setbacks, and the mechanics of creative work. Some episodes depart from the standard one-guest format: 'ON FINDING LOVE AT ANY AGE' and 'ON FINDING THE ONE' compile multiple guests (Luke Evans, Dolly Alderton, Miranda Hart, Celeste Barber, Glennon Doyle) around a shared theme rather than a single interview. The show has also spun off History's Greatest Fails, co-hosted with historian and broadcaster Dan Jones, which uses the same failure lens on historical figures such as Richard III. Elizabeth Day frequently connects a guest's story back to her own biography and previously stated philosophy that failure is not defined by outcome. Episodes are conversational and narrative rather than tightly scripted, with the host allowing extended personal disclosure on topics like self-harm ideation, tabloid scrutiny, and estrangement. Listeners who follow celebrity culture, memoir-style interviews, or personal-development framing of setbacks are the core audience. Production is guest-driven audio interview with occasional panel and crossover-series episodes rather than narrated documentary or scripted segments.
Made for: Listeners who enjoy memoir-style celebrity interviews focused on setbacks, mental health, and personal growth rather than straightforward career retrospectives.
What sets it apart: Every interview is structured around a fixed three-failures format rather than open biography, and the show has extended that same framework into a historical-figures spinoff co-hosted with a historian.
How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things in life that haven’t gone right and what we might learn from them along the way. Every week, Elizabeth’s guest explores three failures, and what these failures have taught them about how to grow and succeed, better. We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with Elizabeth to share your failures, problems or questions - anonymously or otherwise. She'll go through these each week with the help of her very special guests. And remember: a fail shared is a fail halved. Click here to get...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Elizabeth Day turns candid accounts of failure into precise conversations about ambition, relationships, upbringing and the stories people tell about themselves.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day turns setbacks into focused conversations about the beliefs and circumstances behind them. Elizabeth Day moves comfortably between ambition, boundaries, family expectations, relationships, money and creative fear, asking guests to connect difficult…
Failure gets a proper debrief until your worst decision starts looking suspiciously useful.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Emma Grede makes a pointed case for ambition, office visibility, and holding your nerve in rooms built for other people.
Emma Grede's How To Fail conversation is a blunt defense of ambition as something earned, not apologized for. The sharpest stretch is her refusal to retreat from a contentious view on working from home.
A thoughtful, intimate episode about family praise, ambition, boundaries, and the shock of discovering the world has its own script.
Sophie Habboo's conversation with Elizabeth Day turns on a small, uncomfortable idea: love can give you confidence, but it can also give you a script you did not quite choose.
A warm, argumentative preview that turns Richard III into a question of reputation, tragedy, and who gets called a failure.
Elizabeth Day's new show is introduced through friendship first: an old photograph, a 21st birthday party, university proximity, and the odd way podcasting can turn a loose acquaintance into a real connection.
A candid conversation about boundaries, red flags, and rebuilding a sense of self after losing track of it.
Amy Jackson Westwick's conversation with Elizabeth Day circles the uncomfortable distance between knowing the word "boundaries" and knowing how to live by it.
A warm, candid episode about love arriving late, young, and through complicated family change.
Finding the one is treated less as a fairy-tale arrival than as something people reach by different, messier routes. Elizabeth Day frames the episode with Miranda Hart marrying at 51, Celeste Barber becoming a step-parent at 21, and Glennon Doyle leaving a marriage for Abby…
Natasha Hamilton turns Atomic Kitten's chart chaos, divorce, and financial recovery into a candid story of being underestimated.
Natasha Hamilton's visit to How To Fail is a clear-eyed look at pop fame from inside a young, working-class girl group that was underestimated until the chart numbers changed.
Baz Luhrmann talks through fear, shame, love, connection, and creativity as the thing that keeps him steady.
Baz Luhrmann's How To Fail appearance treats creativity less as a triumphal gift than as a working method for living with fear. The strongest moments are personal: his embarrassment at being "this geek from a small country town," his shame around that younger self, his devotion…
A tender episode about family silence, romantic resilience, and staying open after fear.
Finding love at any age opens onto something older and more frightening: the risk of being known before you feel ready. The strongest passage comes from Luke Evans remembering a hidden private item in his family armchair, the panic of finding it gone, and the fear that his…
Forgiveness practice, one sentence at a time.
Emma Grede does not soften ambition.
Sophie Habboo starts with boundaries and the old question of feeling good enough.
A photograph cracks the episode open.
Amy Jackson Westwick reflects on moving from the Isle of Man and Liverpool to winning Miss Teen World 2009, then being cast in a Bollywood period drama at 16 after a photo in the Daily Mail caught director ALVJ's attention.
Love arrives unevenly.
This episode features Chris Appleton discussing his experiences with shame, coming out at age 26, and how failure shapes identity, while also including promotional content for a true crime podcast network.
This episode is a heartfelt tribute to Mel Schilling, who passed away from cancer, celebrating her vibrant life and friendship, and re-releasing a special interview episode in her memory.
This episode promotes the true crime podcast 'Blink Jake Handel's Story' about a man who survived a terminal brain illness linked to heroin use, featuring elements of medical malpractice and mystery.
Natasha Hamilton comes in frank and bruised.
This episode explores the raw and real experiences of motherhood through interviews with singer-songwriter Jessie Ware and writer Francesca Siegel.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, exploring themes of growth and resilience.
This episode introduces Crime Scene, a weekly true crime podcast from The Binge network, featuring investigative storytelling by hosts Jonathan Hirsch and Cooper Mall.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about three failures in their lives and the lessons learned.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned from them.
Fear waits near the door.
This episode promotes the true crime podcast 'Blink' about Jake Handel's survival from a terminal brain illness and discusses the gossip show 'Infamous' covering celebrity scandals and orgasm cults.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, exploring how setbacks lead to personal growth.
This episode introduces Crime Scene, a new weekly true crime podcast from The Binge network, featuring investigative storytelling and a promotion of the host's previous series Blink about a survivor of a mysterious brain illness.
This episode features Mo Gilligan discussing fatherhood and personal challenges like dyslexia and debt, with a promotional segment for the true crime podcast 'Blink' about Jake Handel's survival story.
Something was tucked inside an old armchair.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, exploring how setbacks lead to growth.
A housewife investigates a murder but her motives are questioned, leading to a potential wrongful conviction.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, with a promotional segment for a wellness brand.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned from them.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, with this episode featuring a discussion on parenting and resilience.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and the lessons learned, promoting growth and resilience.
Elizabeth Day explores the topic of IVF through an interview with a guest who shares their personal failures and lessons learned.
Elizabeth Day interviews Charlotte Church about her failures and lessons learned, with a promotional segment for a true crime podcast.
Elizabeth Day curates past interviews exploring guests' failures and the lessons learned.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, with this episode featuring a guest discussing marriage and alcohol addiction.
Elizabeth Day interviews Dame Jilly Cooper about her failures and life lessons, celebrating her legacy as a writer and cultural observer.
Elizabeth Day resharing a meaningful conversation with the late Jane Goodall about learning from failure, hope, and resilience.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about three failures in their lives and what they learned from them.
Elizabeth Day interviews guests about their failures and what they learned, with this episode featuring a guest discussing fears of public embarrassment and finding comfort in women's spaces.
This episode features highlights from the How to Fail podcast, where guests discuss their failures and the lessons learned.