Episode Details

When Lisa Faulkner received an invitation for a routine mammogram, she nearly put it off. A further scan and biopsy revealed early-stage breast cancer - a diagnosis that brought back painful memories of losing her mother to cancer when Lisa was just 16. Treatment was successful, but the experience changed how she sees the future.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Lisa to trace the extraordinary path from a childhood shaped by family parties, home cooking and long summers with her grandparents, to becoming an international model, actor and, eventually, one of the country’s best-loved food writers and television cooks.

Lisa reflects movingly on losing her mother, the quiet resilience of her father and sister, and the complex grief of being a teenager when the person you most need is suddenly gone. She remembers being scouted at a Tube station, travelling the world as a young model and landing her first major film role in The Lover before building an acting career in dramas including Dangerfield, Holby City and Spooks.

She also talks about winning Celebrity MasterChef, choosing to learn in professional kitchens, and writing the cookbook that connected her mother’s recipes with her daughter, Billie. Along the way, Lisa discusses adoption, overcoming her fear of the stage and why, after cancer, she is more determined than ever to make the most of what comes next.

It’s a warm, candid and life-affirming conversation about grief, reinvention, family and food - and about learning that it is possible to begin again, more than once.

Find out more about John and Lisa’s Weeknight Dinners by John Torode and Lisa Faulkner here.

Full Disclosure is a Global Production. Listen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.