Doyennes of the media and stage, Melanie Phillips and Maureen Lipman, explore their politics, passions, writing, journalism and broadcasting, coinciding with the print publication of Melanie Phillips’ memoir, Guardian Angel, and her first novel, The Legacy.

This event features live subtitling by Stagetext.

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author. She writes a weekly column for The Times, contributes to the Jerusalem Post and the Jewish Chronicle, and makes regular contributions to topical radio programmes such as The Moral Maze. She started on the left of the political spectrum, writing for the Guardian and New Society. Her book, Londonistan (2006) was a bestseller, followed in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle Over God, Truth and Power.

Maureen Lipman CBE is an acclaimed film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedian. She was a member of Laurence Olivier’s national Theatre Company at the Old Vic, and of the RSC for its 1973 Stratford Season. She gained prominence on television in the 1979 hit sit-com, Agony, and in the role of Jewish grandmother, Beatrice Bellman, in a series of much-loved commercials for BT. She has starred in many lauded productions, including Aunt Eller in the National Theatre’s Oklahoma!, and Roman Polanski’s film, The Pianist, besides roles in Coronation Street and Jonathan Creek. In 2017 she starred with Felicity Kendal in a revival of Lettice and Lovage at the Menier Chocolate Factory. She is the author of nine books, and writes regularly for Standpoint magazine and Spectator Health.

Tanya Gold is a freelance journalist and restaurant critic for The Spectator. She won a British Press Award in 2010 and a Foreign Press Association Award in 2015. She writes for Harpers Magazine, The Times, Telegraph, New Statesman, Guardian and many more.