Explore every episode of the podcast Queer as Friends

Friends of over 10 years, James Robert Moore (author of Not Good Enough, Muswell Press 2025, and associate director on The Hunger Games on Stage, Shirley Valentine starring Sheridan Smith, and 2:22 A Ghost Story) and Alex Pritchett (Director on Remember, Remember currently playing at the Pleasance Queen Dome in Edinburgh at 5.15pm daily )  talk about what’s in the arsenal of sustaining a happy, joyful friendship through significant life changes.

To read the full transcript visit our blog. 

We decided to launch the Queer as Friends series with a conversation we recorded of just the two of us… partly because it gives a real flavour of us and our friendship and partly to put ourselves under the same spotlight of reflecting on our friendship as we are asking of our guests. To see what it feels like, and what comes to the surface when we ask a few simple questions.

For more information about us:

Tanith Ilsley (she/her) is a producer and stage manager based in Northampton. She has over 20 years’ experience working on productions for a vast range of theatre companies including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Birmingham REP and Royal & Derngate, and on shows in London’s West End. Tanith is currently producing Improbable Sessions, an evening of improvised live music for award-winning company Improbable and Five Pianos, a one-man show by actor, comic improviser and writer Niall Ashdown. Tanith is also training through the CPCAB to be a qualified therapist. She whiles away the rest of her time parenting her 6-year-old daughter, Frances and being married to Ed. @tanith.ilsley

Katie Hall (she/they) is a London-based writer and producer. She co-founded and edited the queer women’s lifestyle platform Planet London. She created and wrote the UK’s first queer women’s web series, the award-winning ‘She’s In London’. Katie produced queer indie thriller feature film ‘Under the Influencer’ which completed a very successful festival tour.  Her writing has featured in numerous anthologies, and she has been a finalist in several national and international writing prizes. Her debut novel ‘To Autumn’ was released in 2025. Most recently, she completed her research-by-practice PhD which explored the role of queer friendships via memoir. www.katiemhall.com @katiemargarethall

To read the full transcript of the podcast, visit our blog. 

This is the start... Queer as Friends: Brilliant conversations on the beauty of friendship is launching on Tuesday 4th August and do we have some incredible guests lined up for you in the weeks ahead, including Robert Sheehan (Umbrella Academy), Adam Young (The Lord of The Rings, The Rings Of Power), Denise Warner and Donna Solomon Carter (My Lesbian Radio) and James Robert Moore (The Hunger Games on Stage, Shirley Valentine and 2:22 A Ghost Story).

Ride or die? Enemies to friends? Fast and firm, or a slow burn? Perhaps you’re friends who lost touch and then rekindled or maybe you maintain a friendship long distance? Whatever your friendship journey, there’s a brilliant story about its beauty waiting to inspire others.

Join Dr. Katie Hall and Tanith Ilsley for a new podcast Queer as Friends – brilliant conversations on the beauty of friendship and go deep about the most important relationships you’ll ever have.

Best friends of nearly 30 years, Katie and Tan interview pairs of friends for an in-depth look at why their friendships have gone the distance and what we can learn from these often-underestimated relationships and their impact on our lives.

With gentle humour and authenticity, Katie and Tan want to get to the bottom of why friendships matter, sometimes more so than romantic or family relationships, and celebrate the variety of forms incredible friendships can take.

Queer as Friends opens up conversations about friendship and allyship with people who are part of, or who impact, the queer community in all fields… although when it comes down to it, queer doesn’t have to be your identity, because it’s ours. Without queerness, we don’t think we would have even met!

www.queerasfriends.uk

@queerasfriends

Transcript available on the QaF blog.