15 Jan LUYA LOVES… THE 2019 EDITION
Greta Thunberg’s environmental revolution.
Greggs vegan sausage roll.
The BBC gender pay gap scandal.
The first ever photo of a black hole.
The unforgettable ‘hot priest’.
“It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account”.
Harry and Megs’ first child.
… what a 12 months we’ve had.
To start off our monthly ‘LUYA Loves’ collection, we thought we’d round-up everything we’ve been loving here at LUYA over the past year. From iconic TV moments and food trends to thought provoking podcasts and exhibitions, we’ve found inspiration in the most weird and wonderful places. Here are just a few of the things that have made us laugh, cry and swear…
THIS IS GOING TO HURT
As we all know, the NHS is an incredible health service, but staff are significantly overstretched. Million-copy bestseller, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, is an everyday account of a junior doctor’s life on the NHS’ frontline. Documenting everything you wanted to know – and a few things you didn’t – about life on and off the hospital ward. We found this book laugh out loud hilarious, painfully honest, slightly terrifying and definitely heart breaking at times.
Last year, the BBC announced that Kay would be adapting This is Going to Hurt into an eight-part comedy-drama for BBC Two. We can’t wait to watch this!
Kay has also gone on to publish his second book, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line, including the 1.4 million NHS staff.
TRUTH TELLING COMEDY
2019 saw the arrival of a range of truth-telling TV programmes that make us feel less like failures. Whether it’s trying to maintain a parenting/work/life balance, surviving our 20’s or just generally trying to get by, these shows make the good, the bad and the ugly of real life a lot more bearable.
Canadian Netflix Series Workin’ Moms is one of our favourites, written by the talented Catherine Reitman after she overcame post-partum depression. This hilarious and heart-warming series showcases cleverly thought out characters all with different styles of parenting.
We also loved the return of BBC’s Motherland. Based in West-London, it features the funny, cringeworthy, messy, real aspects of parenthood, with characters we can all relate to.
And of course, how could we forget Fleabag? Last year we waved goodbye to the most honest, progressive and hilarious thing to hit our screens.
THE ELECTION
December came around and everyone became a politician. It was Labour who dominated social media during the election with the party using memes, viral Facebook posts, and videos to create a social media storm.
Twitter in particular seemed inundated with pro-Labour publicity from high-profile celebrities such as Hugh Grant and Lily Allen, urging the population to vote Labour. A video posted by comedian Rob Delaney hailed the NHS as the ‘pinnacle of human achievement’ and was one of the most viewed videos during the election, generating 13.3m views.
If you were just following the campaign on social media, you wouldn’t have seen their defeat coming. However, their digital success didn’t translate into votes with the Conservatives winning 364 seats to Labour’s 203.
PRINCE ANDREW’S CAR CRASH INTERVIEW
Well, that just about sums it up really. Hailed as one of the worst PR disasters of all time, we were left gobsmacked with Prince Andrew’s BBC interview. But how did it happen?
The hour-long BBC Newsnight special featured journalist Emily Maitlis grilling Prince Andrew about his friendship with disgraced financier, Jefferey Epstein. According to a report by The Times, his PR advisor, Jason Stein, who was hired in September to restore his reputation, quit after his advice was ignored. Stein had reportedly advised Andrew against the whole thing, preferring a longer-term, six-month strategy to improve his reputation. However, Prince Andrew had other ideas.
The interview was declared a disaster before it even aired, with newspapers getting hold of shocking snippets of Prince Andrew’s lack of remorse. Naturally, he has been widely criticised for his lack of empathy and ignoring his council’s advice. The takeaway? Always trust your PR!
FYRE FESTIVAL
We have to mention the Fyre Festival Netflix documentary don’t we? It was the only thing anyone was talking about in February last year (or was that just us?). The hour and half-long documentary gripped every viewer with the unbelievable tale of the ‘luxury’ music festival that failed spectacularly. We loved everything about it and of course, the surrounding memes.
Speaking of documentaries… It may be a shameless plug, but we have to give a shout out to ‘The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution’. It’s still slightly surreal that it aired in September after being a huge part of our lives for two years! We worked so hard on it and the surrounding press response was phenomenal, with numerous interviews, articles and nearly every national newspaper featuring it the in the run up 💅🏼. It’s something we’re really proud and definitely a highlight of the last 12 months, proving relentlessness and hard work pays off.
What has inspired you recently? Let us know over on our social pages!
We’ll be bringing LUYA Loves back in Feb so keep your eyes peeled.