Dermot O'Leary on new podcast: 'I'm not doing a Piers Morgan, that's not my style'
Dermot O'Leary says his new weekly podcast People, Just People has no agenda or set format, nor is he trying to grill his interviewees like Good Morning Britain's Piers Morgan – it's just him "luxuriating" in informal chats with mixture of high-profile celebrities.
"You don't want to make it an echo chamber of people you agree with, but similarly I'm not getting people on to do a Piers Morgan, that's not my style," Dermot told Digital Spy.
"I want it to be personal but it's a bit like a conservation over a cup of tea or drink in the pub. I script an interview, but there's no particular agenda. I don't go in going, 'I must get this, I must get that'."
His hour-long series from Audible – which launches today – will include guests such as Fleabag's 'Hot Priest' Andrew Scott and former Labour leader Ed Miliband.
"I made a list of about 50 people I really want to interview and then my producer added some that he thought were interesting," Dermot continued. "I wanted to break it up. I wanted to make it as diverse as I could, so one is a political commentator, an actor, an actress, some kind of sports person, without going too detailed into sport."
The podcast will debut with a live interview with producer John Lloyd (Blackadder, QI) at Wilderness Festival at the Audible Live Stage on August 3.
"The reason I'm doing what I'm doing in my career is that I'm interested in people," the X Factor presenter explained. "I had this [BBC Radio 2] afternoon show and then I moved to the morning, but the one thing I missed about it was having a middle hour guest where I could luxuriate really in the interview, and indulge myself and I really missed that.
"And I didn't want to do anything formatted, so I deliberately wanted to pursue something almost like an old-fashioned interview with the most interesting guests we could find."
Meanwhile, Dermot will be back as host for this year's X Factor, which is returning for an all-stars and celebrity series.
People, Just People launches today on Audible.
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