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Soho Bites Podcast

Soho Bites Podcast

By: Dominic Delargy
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Soho, that one square mile at the heart of bohemian, cosmopolitan London, has been the setting for a surprisingly large number of films. In each episode of Soho Bites, producer and presenter Dominic Delargy is joined by a special guest to discuss a different Soho film, accompanied by a shorter, thematically linked item drawing on Soho's rich history of crime, music, art, vice & film. Guests have included BFI curators, film scholars, crime historians, former Windmill girls, punk musicians, jazz singers and the occasional actual film star. Written, produced & presented by Dominic Delargy. Based on an original idea by Dr Jingan Young. https://bsky.app/profile/sohobitespodcast.com https://sohobitespodcast.com/donate https://sohobitespodcast.com/reviewDominic Delargy 2019-26 Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Soho Bites 52: Irina Palm (2007)

    Soho Bites 52: Irina Palm (2007)
    May 28 2026
    Do you need a hand with that?The NSFW Irina Palm (2007) was directed by Sam Garbarski and stars 1960s icon, Marianne Faithfull as Maggie, a middle aged woman who turns to sex work to raise money for her grandson's medical treatment. Adopting the name Irina Palm, the service she provides is a very limited one and is such that she never has to change out of her floral overall.The film was described by Guardian's film critic, Peter Bradshaw, as “a gobsmackingly awful British film - awful in the way that somehow only British films can be…”To talk about Irina Palm, we were joined by author & former associate professor of film and culture at the University of the West of England, Estella Tincknell to see if she agrees with Peter's opinion.For the thematically linked supporting feature© we talk to Laura Watson from the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) to hear about their history, aims and campaigns.Watch a trailer for the film HEREIn this scene, Maggie succumbs to one of the dangers of the job, Penis Elbow.Estella's new book will be released later this year.Irina Palm had an award name after it - the Irina Palm D'OrAlthough Irina Palm received a thumping from the UK critics, it did actually win some foreign film award and was viewed more favourably, on the whole, by foreign critics.Follow the ECP on Facebook and Instagram. They do also have a Xwitter account but I wouldn't want to post that here for Musk reasons.The ECP's YouTube channel is great though.Thank you for listening.Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more)We're now on YouTubeEmail us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.comWe'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW.And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful.Check out our spin-off series Mural MorselsIn fact, see all relevant links HERE
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Soho Bites 51: King of the Underworld (1952)

    Soho Bites 51: King of the Underworld (1952)
    Apr 14 2026
    Not a Humphry Bogart film.King of the Underworld (1952) stars Tod Slaughter as Terence Reilly - a master criminal who is always one step ahead of his arch nemesis, Inspector Morley, played by Patrick Barr. The film should not be confused with King of the Underworld (1939) which stars Humphry Bogart and is a very different film all together.It was not originally made as a film and is actually three episodes of a low budget TV show called Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates, clumsily stitched together.To talk about King of the Underworld, we’re joined by Vic Pratt from the BFI, a man who loves a bit of Slaughter and has a tenuous family connection to him.Aidan McManus joins us in the first half of the show to talk about a different, real life king of the underworld, Bernie Silver.Follow Vic on Blue Sky and read some of his work at the BFI website.Next time you're in Foyles, pick up his book (available at other places too, obvs)Listen to Aidan on Portobello Radio and book for one of his walking tours of Soho HERE. He also does a tour about David Bowie and he came on episode 29 to talk about him.Watch King of the Underworld at TPTV Encore and if that's simply not enough Tod, pick up this box set from Indicator films.Thank you for listening.Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more)We're now on YouTubeEmail us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.comWe'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW.And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful.Check out our spin-off series Mural MorselsIn fact, see all relevant links HERE
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Soho Bites 50: Bartleby (1970)

    Soho Bites 50: Bartleby (1970)
    Mar 6 2026
    I would prefer not to.Based on “Bartleby the Scrivener - A Story of Wall Street”, a short story by Herman Melville, Bartleby (1970) is the story of a young man at odds with the world in which he finds himself. He starts work as an audit clerk at an accountancy firm but within a few days begins to refuse to do any work, saying merely that he “would prefer not to”.Starring John McEnery in the title role and Paul Scofield as his extremely patient boss, the film is the only feature to be directed by Anthony Friedman.Stephen Armstrong, journalist at The Observer and freelance film critic joins us to talk about the film.In popular culture, Bartleby has become a symbol of passive resistance to corporate bureaucracy. Among many other things, Bartleby’s famous line “I would prefer not to” has become a:Column in the economistSeveral T-shirtsA slogan used at Occupy Wall St and other protestsSocksThe official motto of philosopher Slavoj Žižek!In Herman Melville’s original story, he mentions the names of two real life people - John C Colt & Samuel Adams. Little heard of today, they would have been extremely famous at the time due to a notorious murder which gripped the United States. We tell the story of this case in the first half.Read or listen to Stephen Armstrong’s work at the Observer and find his books here. Stephen also produces an extremely Soho podcast called Strippers in the Attic.The director of Bartleby, Anthony Freidman, did not direct any other feature films and went back to academia.See the Bartleby locations thanks to our friends at ReelStreets.Buy the Blu-ray from Indicator Films.The New York Sun published this special edition all about the John C Colt / Samuel Adams case in January 1842.Most of the information about the Colt / Adams case came from two books by Andie Tucher and Harold Schechter.The Bartleby sound track, composed by Roger Webb, was released by Trunk Records on vinyl. It’s also available on Spotify.Troy Taylor provided the voice of John C Colt. Check out his website, his podcast and his Museum of American Oddities on Facebook.Thank you for listening.Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more)We're now on YouTubeEmail us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.comWe'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW.And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful.Check out our spin-off series Mural MorselsIn fact, see all relevant links HERE
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    1 hr and 15 mins
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