How To Fail With Elizabeth Day by Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment | Podcast Rankings & Episodes

Every success story you've ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out. Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary - and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them. Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we're still finding out. With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK's most successful podcasts. And yes, we're aware of the irony. Pick an episode. Start anywhere. An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production. All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Latest episodes

Russell T Davies - On Dr Who, Grief and Gay Representation on TV

September 30, 2026 · 57 min

Russell T Davies has spent decades creating some of Britain’s most beloved and groundbreaking television. After studying English at Oxford, he went from writing for children’s programmes and Coronation Street to creating Queer As Folk in…
Sir Paul Smith - ‘People In Fashion Are Insecure’

September 23, 2026 · 52 min

Sir Paul Smith is one of Britain’s most iconic fashion designers, renowned for his sharp tailoring and his sartorial flair. His clothes have an innate sense of mischief: brightly coloured linings, unexpected stripes and a determination…
Louise O’Neill - ‘Full Recovery Is Possible’

September 16, 2026 · 59 min

This episode contains references to and descriptions of eating disorders. Louise O’Neill is a bestselling, award-winning Irish author whose fearless writing has helped shape modern feminism. Her fiction is taught on the Irish curriculum…
Nish Kumar - Failure Is Information. Comedians Call It Material.

September 9, 2026 · 57 min

Nish Kumar is one of the UK’s best-known comedians, known for his impassioned political progressiveness. You might remember him as the host of the topical BBC comedy show, The Mash Report, which ran to great acclaim until it was abruptly…
Remembering Gloria Steinem

September 3, 2026 · 58 min

It was a privilege to have one of my all-time heroes, the feminist activist, writer and icon Gloria Steinem on How to Fail back in 2020 and we are heartbroken to hear of her passing at the age of 92. To celebrate her life, we’re…
David Sedaris - ‘My Father Said I Was A Bad Influence Because I Was Gay’

September 2, 2026 · 53 min

David Sedaris is one of America’s best-loved humorists, famous for turning the absurdities of everyday life into razor-sharp, deeply human essays. He joins Elizabeth Day on How to Fail to talk about the moments that have shaped him: from…
Failure Throwback: Mo Gawdat

August 26, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

This episode with Mo Gawdat originally went out in 2019, but its message feels as relevant as ever. We’re re-releasing it to celebrate the 500th episode of How to Fail. Just occasionally, you meet someone who changes the way you think…
Failure Throwback: Phoebe Waller Bridge

August 19, 2026 · 52 min

To mark 500 episodes of How to Fail! To we’re re-releasing the first ever episode with Phoebe Waller Bridge, which originally went out in July 2018. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag, writer of Killing Eve, superstar…