PODCAST · society
The Shift with Sam Baker
by sam baker
The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women's voices once they pass 40? That's where The Shift comes in - a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond. Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image... What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you...) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she's going - and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it... Past guests have included Elizabeth Gilbert, Martha Beck, Siri Hustvedt, Jojo Moyes, Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Phil
Episodes
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Rose Ferguson: 'You don't have to settle for feeling worse just because you're getting older'
My guest today is the former model turned leading nutritionist Rose Ferguson. At the age of 15, Rose was discovered in McDonalds on Oxford Street by the legendary 90s photographer, Corrine Day. For a decade or more, Rose was her muse and her face and body were synonymous with the 90s aesthetic.…
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Denise Brown on the loss of her sister Nicole Brown Simpson and her lifelong fight against domestic abuse
Hello and welcome to season 23 (!) of The Shift podcast, and this first episode is very close to my heart. Domestic abuse is something I have spent a lot of my adult life campaigning about, so I could not be more honoured that today’s guest is Denise Brown, older sister of Nicole Brown Simpson…
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Jackie Kay on rediscovering yourself in your 50s - REPLAY
My guest today has blazed a trail through the British poetry scene ever since her work was first published in 1991. Born in Edinburgh, Jackie Kay MBE was brought up in Glasgow by her adoptive parents, Helen and John Kay, of whom much more later. She has had countless poetry collections, short...
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Marina Benjamin on the unseen, unsung, undone work of women - REPLAY
I first encountered today’s guest, Marina Benjamin, when I was researching The Shift book and stumbled across her memoir, The Middlepause. An insightful look at what middle age means today, it was prompted by Marina’s own sudden menopause after a hysterectomy. The sense of dislocation she…
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Zandra Rhodes: how a 'boring little girl' made a big bold life - REPLAY
I can’t be cool about today’s guest, so I’m not even going to try. Ever since I started The Shift I have had a Wishlist and high up on it from day one was Dame Zandra Rhodes. Yes, that Zandra Rhodes. There can only be one after all. For over 50 years, Zandra has been a leading figure in the…
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Louise O'Neill on her midlife dating odyssey - BONUS EPISODE
You can be swimming along nicely and then all of a sudden everything you thought you had is gone. That’s what happened to today’s guest, the best-selling Irish novelist, Louise O’Neill. She was 38 and had just taken on a big mortgage with her partner of five years when he blindsided her by…
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Miranda July on the unexpected wildness of ageing - REPLAY
It's two and a half years since I first interviewed Miranda July for this podcast and wow, what a change! Her novel All Fours became a must-read, got shortlisted for the Women's Prize and has been optioned for screen - a far cry from the moment she asked me, will you have my back? We did Miranda,...
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Rachel Eliza Griffiths shares two great loves and two great griefs
My guest today is the writer and award-winning poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Eliza is a woman who has been through A LOT in a short space of time. In September 2020, on the day she married her second husband, the globally renowned novelist Salman Rushdie, her best friend of 17 years, her ‘chosen...
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Meera Syal: 'I am now a Triple Bad Bet – Old, Female and Brown!'
My guest this week is the actor, playwright, screenwriter, novelist and multi-award winner Dame Meera Syal. Most of us have those people we grow up alongside and it feels like Meera has always been a fixture in my life, ever since I first saw her in the 80s film, Sammi and Rosie Get Laid. She’s...
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Tabitha Webb on being an older mum & the menopause-puberty collision
My guest today is the fashion designer and entrepreneur turned novelist Tabitha Webb. What can I tell you about Tabitha - other than her life makes mine look extremely dull? She ran away from university, chased a hot surfer to America, was a roller blading extra in the movie Birdcage and got held...
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Charlotte Wood: 'I don't fear ageing, but I do fear becoming a boring, annoying old person!'
My guest today is the Australian writer and thinker, Charlotte Wood. Charlotte is the celebrated author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. I first encountered her with her novel, The Natural Way of Things, which won the Stella Prize (the Australian equivalent of the Women’s Prize) in...
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Helen Thorn on how to bounce back from life's shittiest moments
My guest today is the award-winning comedian and podcaster Helen Thorn. The co-creator of the comedy duo and hit podcast, Scummy Mummies, Helen travels the UK performing in a gold catsuit. Which might scream confidence to you, but her books tell a different story. She is also the bestselling…
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Jennie Godfrey: 'midlife is a powerful place if you lean into it'
My guest today is the bestselling novelist Jennie Godfrey. Jennie has experienced the kind of midlife turnaround most of us can only dream of. She started her career working in HR and rose to the top of her chosen industry working for a large corporation. Life was a whirlwind of high powered...
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Jane Green on being a walkaway wife & rebuilding your life in your 50s
Where do you turn when the identity you’ve clung to for decades slips away? That’s the position today’s guest, Jane Green, found herself in at 55. Her solution? She packed a case and ran away! Anyone who was a fan of women’s commercial fiction (aka chicklit, ugh) in the 90s and noughties will…
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Sarah Hiscox on self esteem, shame and overcoming addiction
Hello and welcome to SEASON 22(!) of The Shift with Sam Baker podcast. That's 300 fascinating conversations with women in midlife and beyond, if you're new here and fancy diving in. (To think that when I started it back in 2020, I thought I'd only do six!) My guest today is Sarah Hiscox. Now a...
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Stacey Duguid on coming back from midlife collapse - THE SHIFT REVISITED
Ever since I wrote about Stacey Duguid's campaign to shine a light on women's midlife career crisis loads of you have messaged me to say, 'Get her on the podcast!' Well, I have news for you - Stacey has been on the podcast! She first shared her midlife experience with me in September 2023, but…
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Clare Grogan: Back on the road and better than ever at 60 THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode first aired in the summer of 2022. I'm replaying it now because Altered Images are going back on the road this autumn, touring their iconic album, Happy Birthday, 45 years (45!!!) after its release.... I can’t remember the first time I met my friend Clare Grogan. But like many...
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Sabrina Pace-Humphreys: how running saved me from workaholism and alcoholism THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode first aired June 2022... This week’s guest will make you wonder what you do with your time! Sabrina Pace-Humphreys is an award-winning business woman, a social justice activist, an ultra-runner, a mother of four and grandmother of three. (And as if that wasn't enough, right now, as…
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Dawn O'Porter - on ageing, Botox, self-worth & kaftans! THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode first aired in autumn 2022. I'm replaying it now because Dawn's new memoir, Hungry Eyes, borne of her love of food (and her Celebrity Masterchef almost triumph!) is out now... My guest today has packed a helluva lot into her 43 years. Dawn O’Porter started her career in TV…
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Lyse Doucet: What I learnt from 40 years on the frontline THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode first aired last autumn, but I'm replaying it now because last week Lyse won The Women's Prize for Non-Fiction for her remarkable people's history of Afghanistan, The Finest Hotel in Kabul... My guest today is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet. Since starting...
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Liz Earle: 'Much of what we've been told about ageing as women is wrong'
My guest today is the woman who put Cleanse & Polish cleanser and muslin cloths in bathroom cabinets all over the country, Liz Earle. Back in the 1980s, Liz started her career as a beauty editor, before going on to found a skincare empire that started with the aforementioned Cleanse & Polish…
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Dr Kate Lister: Most women could benefit from 'pleasure education'
My guest this week is a historian columnist television presenter and vocal advocate for better sex for women! I first encountered Dr Kate Lister when I stumbled across her brilliant instagram account @whoresofyore, along with half a million others. In a world where even back in the late 20-teens...
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Maria Semple knows all the dirty little secrets of midlife!
My guest this week is Maria Semple the author of one of my favourite books of all time, Where’d you go bernadette,. Once encountered, Bernadette Fox is never forgotten. I wasn’t alone, Bernadette was translated into 40 languages, sold over 200k copies in the UK alone, was shortlisted for the...
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Melissa Auf der Maur on surviving the 90s and her big midlife resurrection
Today’s episode will take you ricocheting back to the 90s - in all the ways. Canadian singer, songwriter, photographer and producer Melissa Auf der Maur is best known as the bassist of Hole throughout the mid/late 90s, and consequently had a front row seat at the pillorying of Hole’s legendary...
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Katriona O'Sullivan on women's bodies, hunger & why women shrink
My guest today is Dr Katriona O’Sullivan. Katriona grew up in Coventry and her early life was marked by poverty, addiction and abuse. She became pregnant and subsequently homeless at 15, let down and written off by the adults who were meant to care for her. In 1998 she moved to Dublin with her…
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Siri Hustvedt on living on when the love of your life dies
My guest today is the acclaimed writer Siri Hustvedt. The author of seven novels (including my personal favourite What I Loved and the Booker longlisted The Blazing World), five essay collections, a poetry collection and a memoir, The Shaking Woman, or a history of my nerves. Her work has been...
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Bryony Gordon is done with people pleasing
There aren’t many people I let make a repeat visit to The Shift, but sometimes a guest proves so popular that I have to make an exception. That’s the case with journalist and author Bryony Gordon. The first time Bryony came on The Shift we talked mental health, alcoholism and the gratitude she…
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Margaret Busby: Britain's first black female publisher on the power of passing it on
My guest today is the pioneering publisher, Margaret Busby. It is safe to say that without Margaret’s lifelong work the publishing industry today- and indeed our bookshelves - might look very different. In 1965, at just 22, she became Britain’s youngest first black female publisher, when she…
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Abi Morgan on rebuilding just about everything in your 50s - THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode first aired in May 2022. Today’s guest is a woman I’ve admired for the longest time: stage and screenwriter Abi Morgan. Throughout her thirty year career Abi has written some of our most memorable drama: Shame, Sex Traffic, The Queen, Iron Lady, The Hour (for which she won an Emmy),...
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Emily Nagoski knows the surprising secret to long term intimacy - THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode of The Shift first aired in June 2024. I first came across today’s guest, Dr Emily Nagoski, on this very podcast, when my then guest Sarah Knight (creator of the NoFucks Given franchise) raved about the transformational power of her runaway bestseller, Come As You Are. I hunted it…
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Elif Shafak on the power of older women & why menopause can be the end of shame - THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode of The Shift first aired in August 2021. My guest today is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful people I’ve ever interviewed - and I’ve interviewed A LOT. Writer and academic, Elif Shafak has written 19 books and 12 novels and been shortlisted for countless literary prizes,...
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Christie Watson on menopause, mischief and midlife - THE SHIFT REVISITED
This episode of The Shift first aired in June 2022. I’ve lost count of the number of women I’ve spoken to who were taken totally by surprise by perimenopause but, to date, none of them actually had medical training. Todays guest changes all that. Before she was an award winning writer, Christie...
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Martha Wainwright on music, motherhood & finding love in midlife - FROM THE ARCHIVES
This episode of The Shift revisited was first aired in February 2023. I first met today's guest, Canadian singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright, when I interviewed her in Glasgow at the end of 2022. We got talking about the nuts and bolts of midlife in the green room and I was thrilled when she...
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Prue Leith: 'I've had HRT patches on my bum for more than 40 years!'
Somehow it’s the end of our 20th season and I’m delighted to say that my guest today is a woman who has spent the last decade giving us a masterclass in ageing. One of my very own old bird role models, Prue Leith. Now 86, Prue has lived a multitude of lives. Chef, businesswoman, author, food...
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Poorna Bell is rewriting the rules around ageing
This week I’m delighted to welcome back the powerhouse Poorna Bell. Poorna is a journalist, author and speaker known for her advocacy on body image and diversity. And now she’s adding ageing to the list of things she is not about to shut up about. When Poorna first came on The Shift she had not...
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Elizabeth Gilbert: "It's quite radical, what happens to us as we get older"
My guest today doesn’t really need an introduction. Elizabeth Gilbert is many things - an internationally bestselling author of the global phenomenon, Eat Pray Love, a Time 100 most influential person, a speaker and a teacher, with millions of online followers. But she is also, to put it in her…
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Fatima Bhutto: surviving a coercive relationship & letting go of shame
My guest today, Fatima Bhutto, knows more than most about loss and living with a traumatic family legacy. Now 43, Fatima is descended from one of Pakistan’s most prominent political dynasties. When she was just 14, her father, the politician Murtaza Bhutto, was killed by his political opponents...
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Catherine Newman on surviving the midlife sandwich – THE SHIFT LIVE
This is a special live episode of The Shift with Sam Baker podcast, recorded live at the wonderful Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. Catherine Newman is the author of some of the most on-the-nose books about being a woman in midlife that I’ve ever read - her bestselling debut, We All Want...
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Amy Larocca: 'the wellness industry sets women up to fail'
Say the word wellness and it conjures an instant image in our minds… glowing skin, enviable abs, sludgy looking juice, tasteful muted leisurewear and lots and lots of money. Where we used to have diets and anti-ageing cream, we now have peloton and ashwaghanda gummies and collagen powder. Or we…
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Gretchen Rubin on happiness, acceptance and the secrets of adulthood
Hello and welcome to The Shift - the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds barred truth about being a woman post-40. Created and hosted by me, journalist and author, Sam Baker. Have I got a treat for you today. Because my guest this week is Gretchen Rubin, one of the most influential writers on...
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Melani Sanders DOES NOT CARE - and she doesn’t care that she doesn’t care!
Hello and welcome to SEASON 20! of The Shift - the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds barred truth about being a woman post-40. Created and hosted by me, writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. At any one time, approximately 13 million women in the UK are ‘in menopause’, in the US that number…
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Dr Gladys McGarey: Life lessons from a 103 year old - FROM THE ARCHIVES
To celebrate the old bird/broad role models who’ve appeared on The Shift with Sam Baker, I’ll be rerunning some of these conversations throughout December and into January. Last but very much not least is my oldest ever guest Dr Gladys McGarey. Dr Gladys was 102 when we recorded this episode. She...
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Isabel Allende on feminism, anger and being 'fatally heterosexual' - FROM THE ARCHIVES
To celebrate the old bird/broad role models who’ve appeared on The Shift with Sam Baker, I’ll be rerunning some of these conversations throughout December and into January. Next up, bestselling novelist Isabel Allende... ---- The main word I can think of to describe this week’s guest is wise.…
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Lynda La Plante on a lifetime of breaking boundaries - FROM THE ARCHIVES
To celebrate the old bird/broad role models who’ve appeared on The Shift with Sam Baker, I’ll be rerunning some of these conversations throughout December and into January. Next up, screenwriting legend Lynda La Plante... ---- My guest this week is a woman who - to coin a bit of 1980s jargon -...
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Helen Garner on divorce, grandmothering and the erotic gaze - FROM THE ARCHIVES
To celebrate the old bird/broad role models who’ve appeared on The Shift with Sam Baker I’ll be rerunning some of these conversations throughout December and into January. Next up is Australian literary legend Helen Garner who, in her 83rd year has finally broken out in the UK and US and won the...
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Miriam Margolyes on the power of living life without secrets - FROM THE ARCHIVES
• To celebrate the old bird/broad role models who’ve appeared on The Shift with Sam Baker, I’ll be rerunning some of these conversations throughout December and into January. First up Miriam Margolyes... ---- It’s the final episode of the season and all my podcasting dreams have come true.…
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Lady Glenconner on stepping into the spotlight at 87
My guest on the final episode of this season is Anne, Lady Glenconner. Now 93, Lady Glenconner has lived to put it bluntly, one hell of a life. She was born in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th earl of Leicester and brought up in the early 20th century’s rigid social hierarchy on the ancestral...
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Karen Dobres: how menopause & football turned me into an accidental radical
My guest today is the accidental radical Karen Dobres. Until her early fifties, Karen’s life had taken a path familiar to so many women. From modelling in her early twenties, she trained as a counsellor and worked alongside bringing up a family. So far, so familiar. Then, as she puts it, she had...
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Samantha Ellis on food, family and finding your identity in your 40s
My guest today is a woman on a mission to preserve the language of her grandparents. Playwright, screenwriter and novelist Samantha Ellis is the author of one of my personal favourites How To Be A Heroine. Sam was in her early 40s and a new mum when it dawned on her that her mother tongue - or…
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Holly Dawson on facing permanent memory loss at 40
For many of us losing our memory is our worst nightmare. To be told that that is happening when you are still young (ish) is close to unimaginable. That’s what happened to this week’s guest, writer, teacher and reader in residence at Charleston, Holly Dawson. Holly was just 40 when she started to...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker.
Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women's voices once they pass 40? That's where The Shift comes in - a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond. Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image... What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you...) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she's going - and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it... Past guests have included Elizabeth Gilbert, Martha Beck, Siri Hustvedt, Jojo Moyes, Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Phil
HOSTED BY
sam baker
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Shift with Sam Baker have?
The Shift with Sam Baker currently has 316 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Shift with Sam Baker about?
The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women's voices once they pass 40? That's where The Shift comes in - a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking,...
How often does The Shift with Sam Baker release new episodes?
The Shift with Sam Baker publishes regularly with 316 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Shift with Sam Baker?
You can listen to The Shift with Sam Baker on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Shift with Sam Baker?
The Shift with Sam Baker is created and hosted by sam baker.
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