Simon Mayo dishes on a career in radio, imposter syndrome and the best celebrity he’s interviewed

Radio presenter Simon Mayo, 62, on finding a home in drivetime radio, imposter syndrome as a thriller author and why Tom Hanks is the best celebrity to interview.

How did your new drivetime slot on Greatest Hits come about?

I got a call from my boss, who said, ‘Would you like to go back to doing Drivetime on Greatest Hits?’ I’ve been doing the Sunday afternoon album show on the station for about nine months and I was enjoying that. I was surprised but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made because it does feel as though it’s unfinished business. We still had a great audience and a hugely successful show on Radio 2, and then it was stopped for advertised reasons.

What is it about the drivetime slot you like so much?

It’s like the flip side of breakfast, and I did breakfast on Radio 1 for five years. Drivetime is the other end of the day and feels like an iconic time to be on the radio. It’s a mood programme and if people are going to choose to spend time with you, they need a pick-me-up. It also works well for me because I can write my novel in the morning and do radio in the afternoon.

What can listeners expect?

It’s Drivetime 2.0 for me. It’ll be similar to what I did before — the old jingles, Matt Williams will be doing sport, Nigel Barden is going to be doing some food on a Thursday and we have some new features too. The music will be reflecting Greatest Hits — huge hits over three decades.

You’ve said Radio 2 was where you’ve been happiest…

Doing Drivetime was the happiest I’ve been doing a show. Everything fell into place. Then 2018 happened so that stopped. And then I was offered the chance to launch a new radio station, Scala — an opportunity that doesn’t usually come a broadcaster’s way. We had a great time for a year in the studio and the second year I’ve been in my spare room with all the gear. Who knew a bed, carpet, curtains and shelving is just as good acoustically as a very expensively assembled glass studio?

Do you think radio has become more important?

The familiarity and intimacy, which are the two overriding qualities of good radio, have played to our strengths. And whether you want to go for news or, like at Scala, classical music, I sense from our audience that we’ve been a huge help during lockdown. When everything else is changing and different — you can’t see your family, go shopping or go on holiday — the predictability of a radio station has been hugely important.

Everybody’s launching podcasts. Are you pleased you have an established one, Kermode And Mayo’s Film Review?

It’s true, everyone has a podcast now, but when we started I didn’t really understand what they were. We were just doing a radio programme that was then edited as a podcast. It’s easy to set up a podcast but less easy to have good content. We were early adopters and people are very loyal to that.

Why do you think your partnership with Mark Kermode works so well?

We were put together by Matthew Bannister, who was the controller of Radio 1, and it just sort of worked. I don’t think anyone now would commission a movie show presented by two old white guys. We have clearly defined roles: I’m the presenter, he’s the expert. It’s a film show for people who love film but even if you have no intention of watching the film, it’s become about life and is cross-generational. Mark is in the New Forest and I live in north London but I haven’t seen him for a year. When the social side presents itself, that will be great.

You’ve interviewed so many celebrities. Who do you get most excited about?

Tom Hanks is the greatest guest of all time and I always get excited interviewing him. He’s unique in as much as he has a gift of making every interview feel as though it’s the only one he’s giving to promote his project.

As an author, you’ve been called a ‘force to be reckoned with in the thriller world’. That must make you feel good.

I suffer, as I think a lot of people do, with imposter syndrome. So when Knife Edge has that quote as well as Jack Reacher author Lee Child saying ‘the best kind of thriller’ on the front, it’s kind of reassuring.

Your children’s novel, Itch, has been adapted for TV…

Yes, the first series is on iPlayer. All three Itch books are set in Cornwall but it ended up being set in Albany, Western Australia, because it was filmed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it works brilliantly because it’s a mining story. I was there on day one of filming and met the cast, which was great. The film rights to Mad Blood were bought before I’d written a word, which is unusual.

Listen to The Simon Mayo Drivetime Show on Greatest Hits Radio every weekday from 4pm, greatesthitsradio.co.uk.

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