Letters to my Dead Dad – Details, episodes & analysis

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Letters to my Dead Dad

Oliver Double

Kids & Family

History

Comedy

Frequency: 1 episode/28d. Total Eps: 12

Oliver Double lost his father in 2024. And while clearing out his house, he found a box containing every letter he'd written to his Dad since leaving for university in 1983. Scattered around various different rooms, he also found an amazing collection of objects relating to his family history, going right back to the late 19th Century. In each episode, you'll hear Double reading one of the letters and looking at an item from the Family History Box. Prepare to be amused, touched and surprised by a cosy podcast about life, death and the passage of time.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Data updated on 31/10/2026

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Good

Score global : 89%

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Milligan, Punch and Grandad

Season 2 · Episode 3

Thursday, October 29, 2026 • Duration 01:03:57

Normal service is resumed, as Olly reads a letter he wrote on 25 April 1984 thanking Eddy for his birthday present – a book of limerick by Spike Milligan. Looking back through the book today, Olly finds some of the limericks amusing, others depressingly racist. Sticking with the theme of humour from days gone by, this episode’s dip into the Family History Box reveals a copy of Punch magazine from July 1969. Olly wonders what made Eddy keep his copy of this particular issue, and finds a number of the articles and features that are surprisingly relevant to his current life. We also introduce a new regular feature – Harold’s Life – about Olly’s Grandad, Harold Double. Olly and his sister Alison shares memories of Harold sparked off by two photos of him from the 1960s, when they were both tiny children.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account @letterstomydeaddadpod and our Letters to my Dead Dad Facebook group.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Scattering Ashes at Blakeney, part 2

Season 2 · Episode 2

Thursday, October 22, 2026 • Duration 23:36

We return to Olly and his siblings out on Blakeney marshes in Norfolk to scatter the ashes of their Dad, Eddy. Once that’s done, they repair to the Blakeney Hotel, where Eddy stayed many times, and have an unnecessarily large lunch. The episode ends with Olly and his wife Jacqui reminiscing about taking Eddy on holiday with them to Suffolk in 2013, where his habit of taking the longest possible time to get ready has become the stuff of family legend.

You’ll find photos of the events discussed in this episode – including a shot of the dessert Olly ate at the Blakeney Hotel – on our Instagram account @letterstomydeaddadpod and our Letters to my Dead Dad Facebook group.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Scattering Ashes at Blakeney, part 1

Season 2 · Episode 1

Thursday, October 15, 2026 • Duration 24:59

We celebrate the start of Series 2 by taking you on location to Norfolk. Back in July 2025, Olly and his siblings venture out to Blakeney to scatter Eddy’s ashes. The sun is shining and the wind’s a-blowing, so prepare for lots of atmos – not to mention to occasional bit of dodgy audio as the mike picks up the odd gust. It’s an episode filled with memories of a late dearly departed father, but don’t worry. The warmth and affection doesn’t stop them roundly taking the p*ss out of him.

You’ll find photos of the events of this episode on our Instagram account @letterstomydeaddadpod and our Letters to my Dead Dad Facebook group.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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National Service and Student Radio

Season 1 · Episode 8

Wednesday, February 4, 2026 • Duration 01:21:43

The bumper final episode of Series One starts with a clip of Olly giving Eddy’s eulogy at St Denys’s Church, Sleaford. Olly’s talking about why Eddy became so obsessed with his memories of doing National Service. After a clip of Eddy talking about National Service, we move to the letter Olly wrote to Eddy on 17 February 1984. Olly bangs on about students bands, student radio, an upcoming performance project, an imaginary art movement and all sorts of whimsical nonsense. Reading back over all this, Olly is inspired to dig out some audio that he recorded for a student radio station a few years later. Then it’s time to pull out a ton of stuff from the Family History Box, including the hat and belt Eddy wore, and some photos of him performing comedy sketches in the barracks. The series ends in style, with more audio from Olly’s student radio show. It’s a sketch called “Celebrity Execution”, in which classic children’s television character Captain Pugwash chooses to meet his maker in a truly bloodthirsty style.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Daily Mirror article and Rant cartoon

Season 1 · Episode 7

Wednesday, January 28, 2026 • Duration 35:09

A letter Olly wrote to Eddy on 17 January 1984 leads him to ponder his long experience of seeing his own words in print, as the author of books and articles about stand-up comedy and similar subjects. This is sparked by having had a comic strip published in a student magazine called Rant. As luck would have it, Olly’s found the copy of Rant that he gave to Eddy in among the things he rescued from Eddy’s house after he’s died. So he’s able to record an audio adaptation of that cartoon, featuring dialogue between two pretentious students interrupted by a sweary punk. Something else he’s found in Eddy’s house is a Daily Mirror article from the 1950s, in which Eddy is quoted commenting on the propensity of the dogs of Rutland to damage school library books.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Jesus College letter and Chaotic Cabaret

Season 1 · Episode 6

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 • Duration 51:09

Writing to Eddy on 12 January 1984, Olly is excited about his new sandwich toaster and anticipating his debut performance at the upcoming Chaotic Cabaret. This leads him to dig out an old portfolio which contains the script he wrote for that, a piece of dubious comic quality called “Eric Tory, the Mad Monetarist” – and perform it for the microphone over forty years after writing it. Then it’s time for a root around in the Family History Box, where Olly finds a letter from Jesus College, Cambridge with the bill for Eddy’s interview there in April 1950. This leads to some old audio of Eddy telling a story about an ill-fated money making scheme by his Uncle Bob, which involved dying a greyhound’s fur.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Jamaican penfriend and college band

Season 1 · Episode 5

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 • Duration 58:52

Episode 5 begins with Olly reading a letter he wrote to his Dad on 30 November 1983. It’s a bulky missive, with updates about his ultra short lived college punk band Vile Style, seeing theatre from Spare Tyre and music from Killing Joke, learning African and Caribbean students from mature student Cyril, and researching Australian First Nation performance. This sets the pebbles of memory skimming across the surface of time, as Olly thinks about his lifelong love of music and obsession with comedy – and he comes across a firsthand account from the late pioneering alternative comedian Tony Allen supporting Killing Joke at the Lyceum in 1981. Olly records a new version of one of the songs he wrote for Vile Style, before dipping into the Family History Box. There he finds an adorable letter his Dad received from his Jamaican penfriend Lloyd back in August 1949. Not only that, but he also finds a photo of the teenage Eddy playing drums with an unnamed jazz band. The episode ends with a clip of Olly talking to his Dad about his love of jazz and his hatred of racism.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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1936 family photo and 1983 synth soundtrack

Season 1 · Episode 4

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 • Duration 47:35

Episode 4 begins with another look in the Family History Box, where Olly finds a family photo from 1938 showing his Dad as a little boy standing slightly awkwardly next to his parents, Gladys and Harold. There’s a clip of Eddy talking about his Mum and Dad, and we get a glimpse of his upbringing in a working-class district of Ipswich. It’s a world away from the drama degree Olly did in the 1980s, and the letter he wrote to Eddy on 10 November 1983 sees him using his Moog synthesizer to create a soundtrack for a happening. The episode ends with a clip of a wonky song that Olly recorded in his bedroom on that very synth shortly before heading off for university.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Cartoon birthday card

Season 1 · Episode 3

Wednesday, December 31, 2025 • Duration 35:04

In episode 3, Olly contemplates a recent big birthday as he looks in the Family History Box and finds a cartoon birthday card he painted for his Dad back in 1983. He can’t help feeling guilty at how savagely he’d mocked his poor old Dad’s ageing face on that card. But undeterred, he reads the letter he sent to Eddy on 29 October 1983 – in which he’s impressed by a comedy sketch in the first student performance he saw after becoming a drama student. This leads him to muse on the weirdly massive role comedy has played in his life, up to and including his current gig compering Funny Rabbit Comedy Club at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre. The episode ends with a clip of Olly ringing Eddy from the stage of Funny Rabbit on his 90th birthday, and the entire audience singing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ – to Eddy’s obvious confusion!

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Eddy’s Definitions Quiz

Season 1 · Episode 2

Wednesday, December 24, 2025 • Duration 38:51

In episode 2, Olly looks in the Family History Box and finds a scrap of paper on which his Dad wrote down some words to remind him to look them up in a dictionary. Do YOU know what ‘deracination’, ‘ineffable’, ‘chapbook’, ‘mimetic’, ‘liminal man’ and ‘sacral’ mean? If not, you won’t want to miss Eddy’s Definitions Quiz! After that, there’s a short clip from Eddy’s eulogy at St Denys’s Church, Sleaford – and then Olly reads a letter he wrote to his Dad on 10 October 1983. This leads him to muse on his musical obsessions – and realise how much they echo Eddy’s. The episode ends in style with Olly recording his tribute to Louis Armstrong’s 1966 recording of ‘When the Saints Come Marching In’ – which was one of the songs played at Eddy’s funeral.

You’ll find all the historic items discussed in this episode on our Instagram account: @letterstomydeaddadpod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Letters to my Dead Dad – Details, episodes & analysis

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Letters to my Dead Dad – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Instagram1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Instagram1