This week we talk with veteran Aussie actor Guy Pearce, whose career now spans four decades, from his debut as a novice straight out of high school in Neighbours, via Hollywood movies like LA Confidential and international hits like The King's Speech, to high-end TV series such as Jack Irish and Mare of Easttown and his new show coming out shortly on Disney+ - The Clearing - an eight-part thriller set in Victoria. Hosting this conversation - about everything from how fatherhood has changed him, to his itinerant global life, to how he really feels about the Neighbours reboot, is senior culture writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Karl Quinn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk with journalist Paddy Manning, author of the 2022 book The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch. Manning is no stranger to writing about powerful people, having previously penned biographies of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former mining billionaire Nathan Tinkler. He's also working on a PhD, A Century of News Corporation, and is appearing soon at both the Sydney and Byron writers festivals. Hosting this conversation about everything from Rupert and Lachlan, Crikey and Dominion, Tucker and Trump and Succession for the Murdoch empire is the editor of Good Weekend, Katrina Strickland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk with actor, writer and director Matt Nable about his unlikely shift from professional rugby league and boxing into film and television, where he's played tough guys in shows such as Underbelly, Bikie Wars, The Dry and Mr Inbetween; penned his own screenplays and novels (from the comfort of his car) and recently, turned his hand to directing. Nable talks about all this plus the benefits of being a military kid, coming to terms with his beloved brother's motor neurone disease, and his own mental health issues, in a conversation hosted by The Sydney Morning Herald senior writer Garry Maddox. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we talk with revered songwriter Don Walker who joins us in the studio for a chat about his time penning hits with Cold Chisel, including everything from Khe Sanh to Flame Trees, as well as his own new album, Lightning In a Clear Blue Sky and the tour he's about to kick off next month. Hosting this conversation is music writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Martin Boulton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk with champion soccer player and co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement, Craig Foster, about everything from the upcoming coronation of King Charles to matters much closer to home, including the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Voice to parliament. As well: how as a country we’re at an important inflection point, grappling with the legacy of colonisation and dispossession, genocide and racism. The conversation, hosted by Good Weekend senior writer Jane Cadzow, also explores Foster’s childhood in Lismore, along with the many campaigns he has waged on behalf of asylum seekers and the personal toll of such humanitarian crusades. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk with Hugh Van Cuylenburg, a former teacher turned podcaster and public speaker who founded the Resilience Project and co-hosts The Imperfects podcast. Van Cuylenburg talks to Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall about the twists and turns in his own life, the lessons he wants to impart to others and why he loves a good long run. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we speak with Nagi Maehashi, the creator of cult cooking website, RecipeTin Eats, which has grown into a global success story since it launched almost a decade ago. Nagi Maehashi talks with us about what inspired her to start cooking her obsessive testing process and how her former career as an auditor helped make her business so strong. And hosting this discussion, which includes generous mention of Maehashi’s much loved sidekick Dozer - a golden retriever almost as popular as her food - is senior culture writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald Kerrie O’Brien. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we speak with outgoing sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins. Jenkins speaks about everything from the conversations we have about respect and harassment of women to the way the legal system is equipped or not to deal with sexual assault. Hosting this discussion about prosecution and conviction, sons and daughters politics and people - is expert columnist and senior writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Jacqueline Maley. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Currently touring Australia, singer songwriter Billy Bragg is celebrating 40 years since the release of his first album. Hosting this chat was senior culture writer Kerrie O’Brien, who leads a discussion about everything from life in the United Kingdom after Brexit – “We soiled ourselves publicly,” Bragg says – to the fact the world will be watching as we vote on introducing an Indigenous Voice to parliament. As an Englishman, Bragg argues he has “skin in the game”, and sees this as an opportunity to “right a terrible, historic wrong”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been a big start to the year for Michael Cassel. The theatrical producer moved the mega-hit Hamilton to Brisbane (and brought creator Lin Manuel Miranda to Australia to meet the team and promote the production). He opened the juggernaut Mary Poppins in Melbourne to rave reviews. Then finally, he launched & Juliet – a Broadway darling based on the songs of international hitmaker Max Martin, who was flown in from Sweden for opening night. In this episode, Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland chats to Cassel about everything from what he learnt from Harry M Miller and Alan Jones, to the theatre shortage in Sydney, to his hopes for a new show based on the songs of John Farnham. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kon Karapanagiotidis had a nickname growing up. The boy with the unpronounceable surname was dubbed “Mr Alphabet”. As the child of Greek immigrants, the now CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre thus grew up with an acute appreciation of the otherness experienced by refugees, and the need to wrap your arms around such people. “You understand the importance of what we call ‘philoxenia’ in Greek culture, which is to welcome and accept the stranger,” he says. “Everything I do comes from an understanding of where I come from, what I’ve been through, and how lucky I am to be here," he tells Konrad Marshall, senior writer for Good Weekend Magazine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we speak with British TV presenter and doctor Michael Mosley, whose brush with type two diabetes introduced him to intermittent fasting and led to a documentary: Eat, Fast and Live Longer, which helped popularise the 5:2 dieting regimen around the world.Mosley is in Australia right now researching sleep and also for a national speaking tour this month. Hosting this chat with him about everything from hunger as the driver of intelligence, to unlocking the power of push ups and squats in the morning - is Kerrie O’Brien, a senior culture writer with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fans of Australian Survivor would have been unsurprised to see writer Benjamin Law voted off the show earlier this week. Law had been on the outs with other players since the beginning, never able to form true alliances despite his best efforts – a necessity when looking to advance in the game – and repeatedly labelled by a number of players as “shifty”. But his exit has kickstarted a larger discussion about the way people of colour can be “disadvantaged” on the show, and the issue of diversity on Australian TV more generally. “I think there’s a real opportunity for Survivor, and all Australian shows, to be bringing a better mix [to the cast]," said Law while speaking to culture writer for The Age, Meg Watson this week's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do affairs run in families? Are there seven stages to go through after discovering your spouse has cheated on you? What is the best way to move on? Journalist Kate Legge delves into these questions and more - with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland - after discovering not only that her husband had cheated on her, but that their son had cheated on his partner too, and that her husband's father and grandmother had both also had affairs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isaac Humphries is the only pro male basketball player in the world who is currently playing and publicly gay, having made a tearful, viral announcement to his Melbourne United teammates late last year. The 25-year-old stands 211 centimetres tall and is known for his defensive “beast mode” qualities on court, but in this conversation with Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, Humphries shows his thoughtful side, stepping listeners through the private pain of the coming out process, including his decision to become one of just a handful of elite sportsmen playing today to share that side of themselves in public. On the eve of Sydney WorldPride 2023, Humphries also details the aftermath of that decision, both good and bad. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When your resume of theatrical smash hits includes Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Oliver, it might seem safe to assume you have the Midas touch for staging musicals. But the industry’s global doyen, Cameron Mackintosh, takes nothing for granted. Mackintosh is in Melbourne right now for the opening of one of his other shows –Mary Poppins. Recording from within Her Majesty’s Theatre, he chats with Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall, about singing and stagecraft – and sales within a creative yet cutthroat field. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For all the talk about our fractured attention spans and ability to still read books, when a new phenomenon hits the shelves, we crack open the covers. “If Harry Potter is delivered, what do we see? We see kids who are apparently distractible and distracted with their noses in their books - and they can’t be prised away from reading,” says Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler. In this episode, Adler talks all things books and publishing with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland. A former CEO of Melbourne University Publishing and one-time publisher-at-large at Hachette, Adler was speaking ahead of her first Adelaide Writers’ Week, which runs from March 4 to 9 in the South Australian capital. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Australia is rushing towards a filmmaking crisis due to the paucity of locally-produced shows on which up-and-coming writers, directors and other key creatives can develop their skills. So says acclaimed producer Tony Ayres, whose hit shows include Glitch, Stateless, The Slap, Barracuda, Seven Types of Ambiguity and Clickbait. In this episode, Ayres discusses the skills shortage he expects to hit in about five years time, along with the high and low points of his own career and life, with senior culture writer Karl Quinn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On her retirement, we revisit this conversation we had with Daisy Pearce late last year: A premiership medal has so far eluded Melbourne’s captain Daisy Pearce, widely regarded face of the AFLW, but the Demons star says her football journey has been “so much more than that”, as she’s found fulfilment outside the flag dream. Last season, when Melbourne made the grand final for the first time in competition history, a narrative was quickly created around “Do it for Daisy”. Pearce speaks to sports reporter for The Age, Marnie Vinall, about the upcoming preliminary final against North Melbourne at Ikon Park on Saturday, where the Demons are the strong favourites to progress into another grand final. “The beauty of AFLW footy is the amount of time you spend together, and the time and level that you can connect on," says Pearce. "You know, people that just challenge and inspire every day, in all walks of life, not just to get better at footy, but just to be better in general, has been awesome." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be back in late January 2023 with plenty of exciting interviews booked in the calendar. But for now enjoy one of our most popular episodes from the past year. And remember to subscribe and share. Paralympic gold medalist, winner of tennis’s uber-rare Golden Slam and Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott feared he'd miss tennis when he stopped playing earlier this year. He didn't - not one jot. In this relaunch episode of Good Weekend Talks, Alcott discusses with Konrad Marshall his post-tennis career plans, what he really wants to achieve as Australian of the Year, and why people with disabilities, aka "natural born problem solvers", make for great employees. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.