OUTCAST WORLD

Graeme Smith

Queer politics • sex • culture Outcast World is a queer politics, sex and culture podcast hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and podcaster Graeme Smith, alongside rotating guests and co-hosts including the Cosmopolitan and Gay London Life writer Topher Taylor and Loud Brown Gays host Nick Charles. It offers progressive political takes rarely heard in a podcast world dominated by right-wing reactionaries. Each week features an eclectic mix of guests. Journalists, comedians, academics, authors, activists and artists appear alongside cult internet figures like the late Sophie Anderson, queer stars from the BBC’s groundbreaking I Kissed a Boy, and familiar faces from global reality franchises including Married at First Sight and TOWIE. The show also features authors of some of the biggest-selling queer books of recent years, leading UK queer academics, and comedians such as Manchester comic Dan Tiernan. The Independent noted, the line-up is “eclectic”. Reactive, candid and often funny, the show unpacks UK and US politics, sexuality and culture through discussion and debate. While rooted in a queer perspective, its cultural analysis and political commentary resonate well beyond LGBTQ+ audiences.A gold winner at the British Podcast Awards and nominated for Best Interview Podcast in 2025 — alongside Louis Theroux and The News Agents — Outcast World has been recommended by The Guardian and The Independent, and was named a must-listen queer podcast by The Independent. Now entering its fifth year, with listeners around the world including a strong US audience, it has established itself as a trusted space for frank, progressive queer focused conversation.

  1. 18h ago ·  Video

    The Fox News Regular Who Sells Paid Protesters

    A Fox News regular runs a company that sells paid protesters to the highest bidder. We sat him down and asked about the bodies, the lawsuits, and the crowds he says he can manufacture for anyone willing to pay. Adam Swart is the founder of Crowds on Demand, a Beverly Hills firm that supplies actors and paid demonstrators for protests, hearings and PR stunts. He has spent the past year on Fox News, Newsmax and OANN telling conservative audiences that the protests against Donald Trump are organised, funded and fake. The catch is that manufacturing protest for money is, by his own account, the entire business. This drops the morning after Trump turned his 80th birthday into a cage fight on the White House lawn, while millions took to the streets in a fresh round of No Kings protests. So we dug into the real history of Crowds on Demand: paid actors posing as Hurricane Katrina survivors at a council hearing, a federal racketeering lawsuit settled with a published apology, a recruitment drive for people hired purely to intimidate, and an unverifiable claim that someone once offered Swart millions to fake an anti-Trump crowd. It is not a hit job. He comes with some genuinely interesting anecdotes, including work his company says it did for people who use PrEP, and the conversation finds real common ground before it asks the harder questions his usual bookers never do. Outcast World is an independent, queer, left-leaning interview show. Broadcasting that does not pull its punches. Subscribe and stick around.

    38 min

  2. 5d ago ·  Video

    The young gay men jailed for consensual sex in a private home. Using a law from 1533. In 1998.

    In 1998, eight months into Tony Blair's government, seven gay and bisexual working-class men from Bolton were convicted at Crown Court of buggery and gross indecency for having consensual sex together in a private home. No victim. No complaint. Some went to prison. All were placed on the sex offenders register. The laws used against them dated back to 1895, and in one case to 1533. Greater Manchester Police, the same force that prosecuted Alan Turing, pursued this case with a fervour no other police force in the country was matching at the time. Almost nobody knows this happened. Hugh Sheehan is the writer and audio producer behind Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7, the five-part BBC Sounds documentary series that spent years in the making and is referenced in Russell T Davies' Channel 4 drama Tip Toe, starring Alan Cumming as a gay bar owner in Manchester's Gay Village. Davies made Tip Toe because, in his words, the fight is back on. He's right. And the Bolton Seven are a significant part of why. In this episode of Outcast World, Graeme and Hugh cover the full story: the centuries-old laws that remained quietly on the books after partial decriminalisation in 1967, the two-man rule that made consensual group sex a criminal act regardless of what straight people were doing, the class dimension that meant working-class men from Bolton had no legal defences that a wealthier man in a privately owned home might have had, and the Chief Constable whose fundamentalist homophobia had shaped Greater Manchester Police for over a decade before the Bolton Seven were ever arrested. Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7 is available on BBC Sounds, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    38 min

  3. Jun 8 ·  Video

    Gay MAFS Star "I Was Drunk For Most Of The Show – And The Format Is Dangerous!"

    As a wave of safeguarding scandals hits the Married At First Sight (MAFS) shows around the world and the former head of Channel 4 and OFCOM says he would never have commissioned a show this potentially hazardous for participants we ask is this a good moment to call time on the controversial reality series. Former MAFS UK star, Liverpudlian Thomas Hartley returns to Outcast World a different man from the one who last sat in our studio. As Married at First Sight UK brings one of the biggest scandals to TV in years, he gives us the rarest thing in the whole story, the view from inside the format. Back in 2022 he was going viral for his antics on the show's 10th season, but now he says he was out of control at the time and was drunk for most of the recording. He is unsparing about ten years of daily addiction and the queer pain underneath it, but generous about the welfare team who looked after him, and unflinching that the format itself is dangerous and should be redrawn by the very people who have lived it. CONTEXT: A BBC Panorama investigation set out allegations from former contributors that two women were raped by their on-screen husbands during filming, and that a third was subjected to a non-consensual sex act. The men deny the allegations, and the Metropolitan Police have asked anyone affected to come forward. Channel 4 has pulled every episode and a major sponsor has walked, and the regulator is reviewing the broadcaster's own welfare report. Thomas is neither an accuser nor one of the accused, and throughout this conversation he is speaking only about his own experience. Other contributors, and the reporting around the show, have described aspects of the production, including alcohol, differently to Thomas. If anything in this episode affects you. For drugs and alcohol, Talk to Frank, 0300 123 6600. For emotional distress, Samaritans, 116 123, free and round the clock. For sexual violence, the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, 0808 500 2222. Outcast World is an award winning platform for queer politics, sex and culture. Subscribe for the full conversations and the weekly drop. Listen everywhere you get your podcasts and read more at outcastworld.net Follow us on TikTok @thisisoutcastworld #ThomasHartley #MarriedAtFirstSight #MAFS #MAFSUK #OutcastWorld #Sobriety #LiverpoolPride #RealityTV #QueerPodcast #DutyOfCare

    20 min
  4. "Now I Tiptoe... Just In Case" | Why Tiptoe Has Hit So Hard

    Jun 3 ·  Video

    "Now I Tiptoe... Just In Case" | Why Tiptoe Has Hit So Hard

    Russell T Davies is back with Tiptoe and it has left viewers shaken. In this episode of Outcast World, Graeme Smith and Topher Taylor unpack the first two episodes of Channel 4's most talked-about new queer drama and ask why it feels less like fiction and more like a warning. From the brutal opening scene to Melba's now-viral speech about queer life in 2026, the conversation explores whether LGBTQ+ people are witnessing a genuine backlash after decades of progress. Has the optimism of the Queer as Folk era been replaced by fear? Are queer people becoming political targets once again? And what happens when online hate starts spilling into the real world? Graeme and Topher discuss the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, attacks on queer spaces, social media radicalisation, Reform UK, Donald Trump, trans rights, community resilience and the uncomfortable feeling that many rights once considered secure may no longer be guaranteed. The episode also features the debut of "Topher's Slag Bag" as listeners send in questions about sex, relationships, toys, threesomes and navigating intimacy. A funny, emotional and sometimes unsettling conversation about queer life, community, sex and politics in 2026. In this episode: • Russell T Davies' Tiptoe and its cultural impact • The legacy of Queer as Folk • LGBTQ+ rights and political backlash • Reform UK, Trump and the rise of reactionary politics • Canal Street, queer spaces and community • Social media radicalisation and online hate • HIV, memory and generational trauma • Topher's Slag Bag: sex toys, anal prep and threesomes Outcast World is the global queer group chat — covering LGBTQ+ news, politics, sex and culture from London around the world. Featuring: Graeme Smith and Topher Taylor. #LGBTQ #Tiptoe #RussellTDavies #QueerAsFolk #GayPodcast #OutcastWorld #LGBTQRights #CanalStreet #QueerCulture #DonaldTrump #ReformUK #GayLife #QueerPolitics #Channel4

    42 min
  5. Who Really Owns Hoopla?

    Jun 1 ·  Video

    Who Really Owns Hoopla?

    Her off of Loose Women was there. So was Jane McDonald. And so, four ownership layers up, were the financiers. Graeme is joined by Loud Brown Gays host and Outcast alumnus Nick Charles to talk about the contradiction at the heart of the best weekend of the queer calendar. Mighty Hoopla is owned by Superstruct, owned in turn by the US private equity giant KKR, a firm that backs weapons manufacturers and holds stakes in Israeli corporations tied to the occupation. We waved Free Palestine flags at a festival whose money flows straight up to it. This is not a call to boycott and it is not a pile-on. It's a confession, because we were all there, and an honest look at why our anger lands on the rainbow logo while the people with the actual power stay invisible. Plus: queer club night DILF was deleted from Instagram overnight. Who will be silenced next? #OutcastWorld #MightyHoopla #QueerNightlife #LGBTQ #Palestine

    23 min

  6. May 28 ·  Video

    Britain’s New Gender Panic

    The UK’s new EHRC guidance has triggered outrage, confusion and fear across the LGBTQ+ community, but what does it actually mean in practice? This week, Graeme Smith is joined by journalist Jamie Wareham, founder of QueerAF, for a sharp, urgent conversation about the Supreme Court ruling, the EHRC’s controversial code of practice, and the wider political shift happening across Britain. They discuss why this debate no longer affects only trans people, how gender policing increasingly impacts butch lesbians, feminine gay men and anyone seen as “not masculine enough,” and why many activists believe the UK is sliding backwards on LGBTQ+ rights at an alarming speed. Also explored - Wes Streeting, the Cass Review, media hostility toward trans people, Britain’s collapsing international LGBTQ+ rankings, and why local communities and businesses may now become the frontline of resistance. This is OUTCAST WORLD

    32 min

  7. May 20 ·  Video

    Nigel Farage, HIV & A Warning From History

    Nigel Farage has revived one of the most controversial arguments of his political career: that migrants living with HIV should be denied NHS treatment. It's a position he first promoted during the 2015 election campaign. At the time, HIV charities, clinicians and public health experts condemned the claims, arguing that treating people living with HIV protects public health, reduces transmission and ultimately saves lives. Now, more than a decade later, the same rhetoric is back. The difference is that Farage is no longer a fringe insurgent. He is leading one of Britain's most successful political movements and could conceivably find himself in Downing Street. The question at the heart of this debate is not really about immigration. It's about who deserves healthcare. Who deserves treatment? And who gets left behind when politicians decide some lives are more worthy of care than others? That question sits at the centre of filmmaker Matt Nadel's remarkable documentary Cashing Out. He talked to us in a long form chat for The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast Oscars special. Here we listen to an extended cut of the chat about a dark moment in queer history. The film tells the story of an extraordinary industry that emerged during the AIDS crisis in America. Thousands of people living with HIV sold their life insurance policies while they were still alive in order to pay rent, buy medication and survive with dignity. Investors collected the payout when they died. What makes the story even more extraordinary is that Nadel later discovered his own father had been one of those investors. In this conversation, Graeme Smith speaks to Matt Nadel about HIV, political memory, healthcare, capitalism, family secrets, queer history and why the lessons of the AIDS epidemic still matter today. Because history doesn't always repeat itself. But political rhetoric often does. The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast is available everywhere now and is out every fornight, hosted by Graeme Smith and it's the home of intelligent queer conversation - the intersection of ART, QUEER, CULTURE. #HIV #NigelFarage #ReformUK #LGBTQ #AIDS #Healthcare #Politics #OutcastWorld #MattNadel #QueerHistory

    40 min

  8. May 18 ·  Video

    Labour Panic, Reform Chaos & The Funniest Review Comic Leila Navabi Ever Received

    Labour looks like it’s eating itself alive, Reform councillors are combusting in real time, the manosphere is getting dismantled by Louis Theroux with the energy of a disappointed supply teacher — and somewhere in the middle of the collapse, Leila Navabi joins Outcast World with the genuinely incredible story of how making a baby with her friend as a sperm donor somehow became a full-blown musical. Yes. Really. Graeme opens this week’s episode by wading into the increasingly bizarre state of British politics: Keir Starmer’s apparent slow-motion leadership death spiral, Wes Streeting’s endlessly rehearsed Westminster energy, rumours of Andy Burnham positioning himself as Labour’s northern saviour, and the growing sense that Reform UK’s rise could eventually force Britain into electoral reform whether the establishment likes it or not. There’s also the small matter of Reform councillors dropping like flies under public scrutiny — including allegations surrounding extremist online content and another candidate exposed over explicit gay OnlyFans material involving sex in public places. Different allegations, different levels of seriousness, same recurring problem: a party obsessed with presenting itself as the guardian of “traditional values” repeatedly finding itself consumed by scandal. And then there’s HS Ticky Tocky and the collapsing manosphere ecosystem, following Louis Theroux’s documentary and the increasingly surreal online fallout around Grindr, burner accounts, fake alpha masculinity and influencer culture built almost entirely on performance and contradiction. Then Leila Navabi arrives and the entire show takes a gloriously chaotic turn. The comedian, broadcaster and writer discusses the DIY IVF journey with her friend that inspired her musical, the absurd realities of queer parenting logistics, and one of the funniest theatre reviews imaginable after falling over on stage during a performance — with Time Out delivering a line about it so brutal it’s become legendary in her own personal history. There’s also a very direct message from Leila to gay people supporting Reform UK, alongside a wider conversation about identity, community, culture-war politics and why some queer people appear determined to align themselves with movements that fundamentally do not like them very much. Smart, filthy, political and properly funny. This is Outcast World.

    33 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Queer politics • sex • culture Outcast World is a queer politics, sex and culture podcast hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and podcaster Graeme Smith, alongside rotating guests and co-hosts including the Cosmopolitan and Gay London Life writer Topher Taylor and Loud Brown Gays host Nick Charles. It offers progressive political takes rarely heard in a podcast world dominated by right-wing reactionaries. Each week features an eclectic mix of guests. Journalists, comedians, academics, authors, activists and artists appear alongside cult internet figures like the late Sophie Anderson, queer stars from the BBC’s groundbreaking I Kissed a Boy, and familiar faces from global reality franchises including Married at First Sight and TOWIE. The show also features authors of some of the biggest-selling queer books of recent years, leading UK queer academics, and comedians such as Manchester comic Dan Tiernan. The Independent noted, the line-up is “eclectic”. Reactive, candid and often funny, the show unpacks UK and US politics, sexuality and culture through discussion and debate. While rooted in a queer perspective, its cultural analysis and political commentary resonate well beyond LGBTQ+ audiences.A gold winner at the British Podcast Awards and nominated for Best Interview Podcast in 2025 — alongside Louis Theroux and The News Agents — Outcast World has been recommended by The Guardian and The Independent, and was named a must-listen queer podcast by The Independent. Now entering its fifth year, with listeners around the world including a strong US audience, it has established itself as a trusted space for frank, progressive queer focused conversation.

Information

  • Creator
    Graeme Smith
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    154
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 7th Planet
  • Show Website
    OUTCAST WORLD

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