''Answer Me This!'' is a comedy

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann first broadcast in 2007, in which they answer questions submitted by the general public. It was one of the first independent

British podcasts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

to gain success, and led to both Zaltzman and Mann establishing careers as professional podcasters. Initially produced weekly, the podcast became fortnightly in January 2014 and then monthly in December 2016. The series originally ended with its 400th episode on 5 August 2021, but returned for one further episode in 2023. On 2 January 2025 — the 18th 'birthday' of the podcast — it was announced that ''Answer Me This!'' would return, at first for three new episodes over three months at the start of the year. However, the return was soon thereafter expanded indefinitely to a monthly show. ''Answer Me This!'' was nominated for

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

in 2009, 2010 and 2011, in the category "Best Internet Programme"; in 2010, the podcast won the silver award and in 2011, it won the gold award. In 2021 the podcast received a special ''Gold Award'' from the British Podcast Awards, honouring its status in the development of British podcasting.

Cast

''Answer Me This!'' was hosted by Zaltzman, Mann, and Dr. Martin Austwick (a.k.a. "Martin the Sound Man"). Since founding the podcast, all three have become professional podcasters. Prior to this, Mann's background was in presenting and broadcasting, featuring as a pundit on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

BBC Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in ...

and

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

, and as presenter on radio stations such as

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and Magic FM. Zaltzman started her career primarily as a writer, writing comedy for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

and Radio 4, and with credits on several TV shows. She also wrote book reviews for

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

and copy for several newspapers and magazines, as well as performing live with

Josie Long Josie Isabel Long (born 17 April 1982) is an English comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17. In 2006, Long won the If.comeddies Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

and

Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is known for presenting the BBC radio show '' The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox, creating Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, co-creatin ...

's Book Club and School for Gifted Children. Zaltzman and Mann met at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

, where they both studied English. Austwick, a musician and singer, has a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

and was a full-time university lecturer until 2017; he now works full-time in podcasting, both presenting and creating music for podcasts as well as producing them. In 2011, Zaltzman and Austwick got married, with Austwick subsequently changing his name to Martin Zaltz Austwick.

Format

The format of the show is Zaltzman and Mann answering listeners' questions, submitted via email, answerphone or

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

, with subjects ranging from personal problems and factual queries to philosophical dilemmas or everyday petty quibbles. The episodes are punctuated by jingles, many of which feature comedians Joanna Neary, Holly Walsh, Tom Price, Lizzie Roper and Stuart Goldsmith, and musicians Martin White, Jay Foreman, and Gavin Osborn. As well as the regular episodes, ''Answer Me This'' released several paid-for themed albums. The first of these, in March 2012 titled ''Jubilee'' featured material about the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

, while subsequent albums were Sports Day, Holidays, Christmas, Love and Home Entertainment. The albums all placed in the UK iTunes album chart. A book adaptation of the podcast, called ''Answer Me This!'', was published by

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

on 4 November 2010 and features questions from the podcast as well as brand new ones.

Critical success

The show has been Critic's Choice in numerous national publications, including ''The Times'', ''Time Out'', ''Radio Times'', ''Q Magazine'', and ''The Independent''.What The Papers Say
Answer Me This! A list of reviews from newspapers and magazines On 27 July 2009, the show was chosen by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of its "Top 10 comedy podcasts in the world";Top 10 Comedy Podcasts
''The Guardian'', 27 July 2009 the following day, '' The London Paper'' also named the show in its chart of the "Top 10 homemade podcasts in the UK".The 10 best podcasts
The London Paper, 28 July 2009

Radio show

Zaltzman and Mann worked together on several radio shows, building on the success of ''Answer me This'', becoming the first presenters in the UK to move from podcasting into national radio.BBC Radio 5 live to Answer Me This!
Broadcast, 27 November 2009 "Web 2009 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on

Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport i ...

on 31 December 2009.BBC Radio Five Live Announces Christmas Treats
News on News, 27 November 2009 A second programme, called "Web 2010 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on

on 4 July 2010.Web 2010 with Helen and Olly
BBC Radio 5 Live, 4 July 2010 In 2014, they presented a two-part Radio 4 documentary called "Podcasting - The First Ten Years".

Luxembourg audience

In December 2007, frustrated at having only reached as high as number 21 in the UK

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

charts, the ''Answer Me This!'' team spent one day in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

attempting to crack the Luxembourg iTunes top 20. Their publicity stunts, including giving away free biscuits at the Christmas market and appearing on the ARA City Radio breakfast show (

's only English-speaking radio station), saw them reach number 13 in the charts within only 24 hours. They then went on to reach number 3 by the end of the week.How we cracked the iTunes top 20
''The Telegraph'', 12 January 2008

References

External links

* * Answer Me This! Wikiquote {{Podcast platform links Comedy podcasts Audio podcasts 2007 podcast debuts 2023 podcast endings British podcasts Independent podcasts