Episodes

On this week's episode, we're joined by Russ Kane, who spent 20 years reporting traffic from a light aircraft and now conducts funerals for a living. He was Chris Tarrant's wingman on Capital Radio Breakfast, the flying eye on a show pulling four million listeners a week. He walked away from it after his wife Sally died at 43, leaving him with five-year-old twin boys. He'd already lost his dad. His mum's dementia came next, and lasted years longer than any doctor told him to expect. Russ talks a...

Kaye joins Karen from Puglia for a very relaxed midweek catch-up involving questionable Italian, a holiday glass-door incident, and Ian’s mysterious new lease of life. There’s talk of pasta-making fatigue, pillow protectors, Karen’s ongoing domestic standards, and whether Ian’s new phone screensaver, Vespa adventure and tennis match with “the man from Monaco” point to a full-blown midlife crisis. Plus, Kaye and Karen give a quick Edinburgh Fringe update ahead of their live shows on 7, 8 and 9 ...

On this week's episode, we're joined by Sky Sports legend Jacquie Beltrao, who was told seven years ago that her breast cancer had returned and spread. Her scans are clear now, but as she says, she doesn't know what the future holds, only that she has today. Jacquie talks candidly about the doom spiral of a stage four diagnosis, the antidepressants that pulled her out of it, and why she thinks her mind has been harder to conquer than her body. She also opens up about turning 60 as a cancer patie...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, we get Kaye's verdict live from the Amalfi Coast: stunningly beautiful, wildly overpriced, and Positano is basically Disneyland with a coastline. She's also two days into a self-imposed digital detox, phone banished to the bedside drawer, after Bonnie stopped her mid-scroll in the pool and asked if they could just take a moment to appreciate where they are. The child has a point. Karen, meanwhile, is not detoxing from anything. She's deep in a Vinted spiral, six ...

On this week's episode, we're joined by Bibi Lynch, who moved house 30 times in ten years, nineteen of them in a single stretch of 24 months, all while writing for the national press and turning up on live radio as if nothing were wrong. Bibi was hidden homeless for a decade after losing the flat she'd bought on her own, and she was carrying it alongside the death of her dad, the collapse of what freelance journalism paid, and the slow realisation that she wasn't going to have the children she'd...

Kaye's had a nightmare. Cancelled flight, a 6.20am rescue seat, and a live telly show to present on no sleep, softened by a lunchtime pisco sour and a nap she snorted herself awake from. This week: Ian gets diagnosed by Dr Kaye and ChatGPT, then refuses the sedative for his endoscopy to save himself a phone call. Karen hunts for the perfect white tablecloth and earns a new nickname. And after a friend books Puglia entirely on the strength of Karen's holiday photos, a star is born. Plus: Charly...

How much time is left on your warranty? Cindy Sheahan, 64, left a 32-year marriage, packed a backpack, and turned a two-week hike into a whole new life in Sicily. She tells Kaye and Karen about travelling solo after 60, why her son cheered her out the door, and making friends with uncertainty. Plus we're bringing How To Be 60 to the Edinburgh Fringe this August, with retirement rebel Siobhan Daniels joining us fresh from her camper van trek to Alaska. Tickets on sale now at the Gilded Balloon. ...

Karen's back from her "sex retreat" in rural Italy (the most relaxing time, she swears, two trips to the beach and not a thing else), and she's convinced her feet have put on weight. Kaye's hosting an awards do in a jumpsuit so sheer it'll need industrial-strength knickers, which leads, naturally, to a deep dive on thongs versus hearing aids. There's the photo of Karen's backside disappearing through a first-floor window over a blocked water butt, Bonnie discovering cup-a-soup like it's a brand-...

On this week's episode, we're joined by Donna Lancaster — therapist, author, co-founder of The Bridge Retreat, and a self-described "elder in training" who turns 60 next March and genuinely cannot wait. Donna grew up with violence, addiction and racism in 1970s Britain, became a social worker trying to save versions of herself, and was eventually "brought to her knees" by a breakdown at work. She talks about why she sees that collapse as a gift, the "turd-wrapped gift" buried inside our hardest...

Karen's calling in from sunny Puglia, and after last week's second-hand pyjamas confession, the internet has voted: for once, it's Team Kaye. What follows is a spirited defence of "vintage" nightwear, the wearing of pants underneath it, and whether any of it is, frankly, minging. Plus crepey skin, why loud bars now feel like punishment, un-labelled moving boxes, and a lovely summer read: Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin. Look ahead to Friday's guest, Donna Lancaster, and catch Kaye and...

For her 70th birthday, Gail Rice booked a male escort. It was a toss-up between that and a skydive, and she went with the one that scared her more. But it was never really about sex. The Canadian-born psychologist tells Kaye and Karen why she needed what she calls a battery jump, the first encounter that was a disaster, the refund she asked for and got, and the thing that was actually brave, which had nothing to do with the escort. She has since turned it all into writing and a cabaret that terr...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, Karen's back in Puglia on the annual trip, exactly a year on from the news that changed everything, this time with a cocktail in hand and second-hand Ralph Lauren pyjamas (£12, gusset thoroughly interrogated). Kaye runs Race for Life alongside Dame Kelly Holmes and films the road instead of the finish. Plus, we're coming to the Edinburgh Fringe, 7-9 August at Gilded Balloon. Get in touch with your thoughts at podcast@htb60.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

Bestselling novelist Jane Green had it all. E18 New York Times bestsellers, over 10 million books in print, the beautiful homes, the blended family, the loving husband. And then, piece by piece, she lost most of it: the marriage, the financial security, the career status, and for a while, herself. This week Kaye and Karen sit down with one of the original queens of chick lit for a remarkably honest conversation about menopause, the empty nest, a crumbling marriage, the shame we lock away for de...

Kaye's spent £120 on running shoes she may never run in, Karen might finally be selling the camper van, and a "blackhead" turns out to be something else entirely. Then comes the row that splits the nation: is Kaye's kitchen pine or oak? Plus a look ahead to Friday's guest, bestselling author Jane Green. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, Pauline Campbell got in touch herself and said she'd be a good guest. She was right. Told at 15 by a teacher she wasn't capable, Pauline believed it for years. Until she didn't. In her mid-30s she started driving between a council job and a full-time law degree, qualified as a solicitor, and hasn't stopped since. Now 61, she's a legal hero, a pro bono Windrush advocate, a published author, and the owner of an accent she refused to lose even when a judge pointed it out in ...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, Karen turns up in cut-off trousers she hacked herself and sandals that have been in the garden all week. She gets her nails done and the woman has to scrape the muck out on a bit of kitchen roll. Kaye's been to a glamorous event in London surrounded by 26-year-olds and her hearing aid starts whistling. She doesn't say a word. They check the air conditioning. Plus doggy goggles that don't work, the Joy of Sex drawings that put everyone off, and Kaye's knee falling ...

On this week's episode, we're joined by Sian Reeves — actor and host of the Who Cares? podcast. Sian talks about caring for her poorly dad, what it costs (£4-7k a month), and the Loose Women appearance years ago she didn't make because she'd been conned out of eight grand by a hairdresser and was too ashamed to come on and say it. Plus the acid yellow mini dress she bought in France that she's still not sure she'll wear. Sian's Who Cares? podcast is wherever you listen. How To Be 60 is at the...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, Kaye Adams and Karen MacKenzie mark the death of Scott Hastings at 61, six months after he joined How To Be 60 to talk about losing his wife Jenny. Karen also opens up about starting counselling, and why "how are you?" is a question people only ask when they want the easy answer. Plus a David Tennant selfie, the great kitchen debate, and a teddy bear made from a mink coat. Whether you're processing something big yourself, or just tired of saying you're fine when ...

Cally Beaton was a high-flying TV exec, a single mum of two, and quietly falling apart in her 40s. Then Joan Rivers looked her in the eye over dinner and told her to try stand-up. Two weeks later, Joan died. Two weeks after that, Cally walked on stage. Now she's touring, bestselling, and says her 50s have been the best decade yet. Plus: the perimenopause misdiagnosis that had her on the wrong medication for nine years. Cally Beaton’s Sunday Times Top 10 bestselling book ‘Namaste Motherf*ckers' ...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, Karen marks a year since her breast cancer diagnosis and admits she's only just starting to feel it. Because no one tells you that you don't process it while you're in it. Plus: Kaye's hearing aid has started whistling (her daughter keeps clocking it, much to Kaye's denial), Karen has befriended Amanda the pharmacist, and the great fringe debate returns. Friday's guest: telly exec turned stand-up Cally Beaton, with her paperback Namaste, Motherf**kers out this w...

Philippa Perry on why adult children go no contact, what they wish their parents understood, and why the door might open again if you try a different one. Plus, her debut cosy crime novel Shrink Solves Murder is out May 7th. Whether you're the parent wondering what went wrong or the adult child wondering if they'll ever be understood, this one will sit with you. Get in touch with your thoughts at podcast@htb60.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's Midweek Catchup, we're back together after Karen's Crete holiday and straight into the big questions: is Kaye developing a six-pack or just losing weight? Neck or arms first? And is hearting someone's dog photo actually rude? Plus holiday gifts, the Devil Wears Prada sequel verdict, and why daytime drinking at 60 is a whole different sport. Get in touch with your thoughts at podcast@htb60.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, we're joined by Mia Mauge, who went from feeling invisible in her forties to walking onto a Marks & Spencer's lingerie set at 54 — and she still can't quite believe it either. Mia spent almost 20 years dyeing her hair out of shame, navigating single life in midlife, and wondering where women like her had gone in the shops she was still spending money in. Then she stopped. Stopped fighting, stopped hiding, stopped waiting for the gatekeepers to notice her. She went public...

On this week's Midweek Catchup, we discover that Kaye has been staring at her belly button in the mirror and what she found there is... haunting. Karen's reporting live from Crete - where she forgot her pyjamas and is sharing a bed with her friend Caroline behind a glass bathroom door that hides absolutely nothing. There's a big announcement: How To Be 60 is heading back to the Edinburgh Fringe (August 7th–9th, same museum, 2:45pm — mark it now). Kaye filled out the forms and had to formally con...