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PODCAST

When It Hits the Fan

Inside the world of crisis managers and spin doctors as David Yelland and Simon Lewis watch the week"s biggest PR disasters unfold. In each episode our hosts go behind the scenes of the latest news stories and find out how, where and when it all began to hit the fan. When It Hits The Fan is hosted by two of the most influential and experienced people in the game; David Yelland is the former editor of the Sun and alongside him is Simon Lewis, former trouble-shooter for the Queen and Gordon Brown, as

news politics

All Episodes

29:01

When Poachers Turn Gatekeepers

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/03/25

What happens when you cross enemy lines and join the other side?As King Charles hires a Sky Royal correspondent for a top comms job at the Palace, David Yelland and Farzana Baduel discuss what happens when journalists switch to PR.Crucially, they need to learn how to go from broadcast to mute. No more fabulously indiscreet anecdotes involving the rich and powerful over dinner - they're now your clients and your job is to protect their reputation.And that's just for starters. There are a whole load

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22:08

Can You Spin ChatGPT?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/03/18

In the good old days, if you wanted some favourable PR for a client, you could call up a journalist and take them out for a jolly good lunch. It's not so easy when the thing you're trying to influence is a bot. So is it possible to spin the likes of ChatGPT?This week David Yelland is joined by Lauren Beeching - a crisis management expert with clients that count their followers in millions.They discuss how AI is changing so much of the nuts and bolts of the PR reputation game - from having to become

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27:01

A Gulf in Communications

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/03/11

When your country's PR plan relies on the projection of safety and security, how do you keep that image alive when you're under attack?This week, David Yelland is joined by global PR expert Farzana Baduel to examine how countries in the Gulf have managed their comms since the start of the war in Iran.In Dubai especially, social media influencers have been used as foot soldiers in the reputation battle. But has the relentlessly on-brand, 'we feel safe' messaging been successful? David and Farzana

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19:13

The Generation Game

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/03/04

Getting your message out is obviously a cornerstone of PR. But where you put that message is becoming even more important.This week, David Yelland is joined by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty from the BBC podcast Fame Under Fire. Together they look at the challenge for big institutions - especially the Royal Family - of cutting through. You may think you've been successful if your story gets pick up in all the traditional places - but has anyone under-35 even seen it? They discuss the need to populate

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25:25

Friends: The One About PR

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/02/25

When you’re in a crisis, you discover very quickly who your friends are. Or perhaps more accurately, who your friends aren’t.This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis examine how different types of friends are deployed to the PR front line when it comes to reputational combat.When you can't defend yourself in public, you need the right sort in your corner. But not all friends are equal. There's the named friend, the unnamed friend and the showbiz favourite - 'close friend of the couple'.And David and

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30:55

Heart v Head PR

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/02/18

How do you fight a PR battle when everyone's already decided you're the bad guys?That's the problem facing the water industry on the eve of a new Channel 4 factual drama called Dirty Business. The clue is in the title. It focuses on a 10-year investigation into sewage-polluted waters.Sticking to the facts is a basic rule of PR - but when coming up against raw anger and emotion, do you need more than facts? How do you appeal to hearts as well as minds?On the extended edition on BBC Sounds, PR itself

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26:47

Is the Office of PM Beyond PR?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/02/11

Some jobs just can't be done. Circumstances, events and a changing world simply make them undoable.This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis ask whether one such job is communicating on behalf of the Prime Minister. Not just this Prime Minister, but any Prime Minister.After only five months, the PM's Director of Communications, Tim Allan has quit. He's the fourth person to hold the role under Sir Keir Starmer. The old levers of PR clearly aren't working and there seems to be a general bafflement has

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29:14

Are Andrew and Mandelson Beyond the Fan?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/02/04

How close is the Palace to being sucked into the Epstein reputational black hole - again?In this episode David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the latest revelations from the Epstein files about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Can a reputation ever be so utterly ‘nuked’ that there is no coming back and anyone close gets sucked in? What is the Royal Family's PR calculus to avoid the gravity pull of the Epstein PR black hole? On the extended edition on BBC Sounds, David and Simon look at another man in a

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24:05

Is the Beckham Brand in Jeopardy?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/01/28

It started with a bombshell but the aftershocks are only just getting started.This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis ask whether David and Victoria Beckham's seemingly bulletproof brand is under threat. The cause is of course the incredibly emotional social media outburst from their son, Brooklyn.Theirs is a brand built on family - so what are the PR challenges when threads start to unravel? And crucially, what say will the money men have about how the Beckham's handle the fallout? On the extended

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32:00

A New Blueprint for PR

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/01/21

Reputations supposedly take years to build and seconds to destroy. But what if that's no longer the case? What if the normal rules about earning - and keeping - a reputation simply don't apply any more.This week, David Yelland is joined by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, from the BBC podcast Fame Under Fire. Together, they venture into some distinctly dubious corners of the internet to see how public opinion is really being shaped.Examining the trial of rapper Diddy, they explain how he may have

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25:48

Is the Worm Turning on 'Fat Jabs'?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/01/14

When everything's going really well, there's always a lurking fear that it can't possibly last.This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at how the discussion around weight-loss injections is suddenly, subtly shifting. New research suggests that once you come off them, you put weight back on faster than if you'd shed the pounds in a more traditional way.The findings dominated the news agenda.So is the PR worm ever so slightly turning? David and Simon discuss what happens when a product

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9:39

3. Don't Break the Fourth Wall

When It Hits the Fan ·

2026/01/07

Call it smoke and mirrors, call it sleight of hand. The best PR is often invisible PR.In this latest episode of our mini-series on the Golden Rules of PR, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the risks of showing your workings.Increased transparency is admirable in many cases - but beware of just how much you reveal.A great example from 2025 was the Heathrow Airport crisis. A power outage caused the airport to shut down - and it quickly became known that Heathrow's CEO was asleep when the decision

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10:13

2. Don't Delay PR

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/12/31

Most of us are guilty of it. A problem looms or a crisis kicks off and the knee-jerk reaction is often to ignore it and hope it goes away.Newsflash - it rarely does.In this latest episode of our mini-series on PR's Golden Rules, David Yelland and Simon Lewis explain why doing something is usually better than doing nothing.Two great examples from 2025 involve the BBC and the Royal Family. Both faced enormous crises - both faced accusations of not saying or doing the right thing quickly enough.David

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10:19

1. Rolling the Pitch

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/12/24

This episode will change your life. Seriously.It's a big claim and carries an enormous risk of over-promising.Welcome to the latest episode in our mini-series on the Golden Rules of PR. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the risks of rolling the pitch - of laying the PR groundwork - for a forthcoming announcement.As the Chancellor Rachel Reeves found out in the run up to the Budget, trying to manage expectations can seriously backfire. But we all do it - we try to soften people up

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24:37

Why Optimism is a PR Superpower

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/12/17

It may be the season to be jolly but there's not a lot of good cheer going around at the moment. With so much unrelentingly bleak news, how do you persuade anyone that not everything's as bad as it seems? This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the power of optimism. It's not just a useful PR tool, it's vital. When optimism is authentic, it can inspire and be incredibly infectious. The trouble is, it can also feel totally out of step with people's own experiences.That's why it's such a

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29:15

10/12/2025

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/12/10

Who's in the news for all the wrong reasons? With David Yelland and Simon Lewis.

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30:14

Nuns on the Run

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/12/03

It's not easy winning a PR fight when you're up against three octogenarian nuns whose story has become a global smash.This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the case of Sister Bernadette, Sister Regina and Sister Rita. They ran away from the care home they'd been sent to and broke back into the Austrian convent where they'd lived for more than 60 years. In the process, they've gained huge support on social media.Now, they've been told they can stay at the convent - so long as they stop

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30:43

Power, PR and the 'Epstein Class'

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/11/26

Imagine being able to read the private emails sent between some of the most powerful people on the planet. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis do exactly that. The release of thousands of pages from the so-called Epstein files shows the ways in which the elite communicate with each other. The exchanges reveal what one New York Times columnist describes as the 'nomadic bat signals' the rich send the rich. Epstein's criminality and cruelty are already crystal clear - but the legacy of these

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28:58

The Secrets of the List: Putting Yourself in the...

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/11/19

When a top job becomes available, there very soon follows a list of potential 'runners and riders'. But how do you get your name on it? And how do you get your name off it?This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis reveal the PR secrets of The List. Whether it's the BBC, HSBC or Apple, there are suddenly lots of big names being touted around for some very serious jobs.But there are PR traps along the way. Being seen as the frontrunner doesn't always end well - and if you didn't put your name forward,

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27:34

Is the BBC 'hopeless at PR'?

When It Hits the Fan ·

2025/11/12

"They make really stupid basic mistakes and they are hopeless at PR."If you're a podcast about PR, then that quote - made about the BBC this week - is a good place to start when assessing the reputation of the Corporation. This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis examine the crisis engulfing the BBC. One which began with a leaked memo, resulted in two huge resignations and now has President Trump threatening to sue for $1bn.How did we get here and did the BBC make some cardinal PR mistakes along the

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143 results

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