I am an executive producer and audio consultant. I started out producing for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, working across multiple programmes, including Woman’s Hour, Outlook, The Conversation and Front Row. I created and hosted features for ‘Woman’s Hour’ on motherhood, addiction, estrangement, and sex. I have freelanced regularly for BBC Sounds, Audible, Cup & Nuzzle and Rethink.
I hosted and produced the BBC Sounds podcast Duvet Days where I jumped into bed with great artists including Christine and the Queens and Munroe Bergdorf to chat all things burnout, mental health, creativity and childhood bedrooms. I’m passionate about digging into the creative process with writers, actors and musicians such as Jodie Whitaker and Lemn Sissay. I also appreciated interviewing psychologists in lockdown (including Esther Perel and Harriet Lerner), meditation teachers and memoirists on how to stay calm in a crisis. As an avid reader, creating PAGE and talking about books was a dream.
I’m interested in one-on-one interviews, roundtable discussions, expert-led content and using audio in organisations and workshop settings to prompt meaningful conversations around change, equality and health. Over the past few years, I have appreciated looking at podcasting trends for Spotify, specifically researching how audio and apps in the well-being space are being used in the UK compared to the US to educate and support listeners. I care about looking after contributors and interviewing people who are too often spoken about rather than spoken to. This inspired my latest project Circles.
I co-founded Circles alongside the Empathy Museum and health psychologist Esther Murray. Circles is a well-being space where NHS nurses can sit in a circle together and listen to recorded stories. Stories about burnout, resilience, systemic racism and what good support looks like. The group are then invited to share their responses to the audio and reflect on how they are feeling. I’m passionate about participatory arts projects that hold a mirror up, show the truth of a situation and validate experience so we can hopefully feel less alone. I’m currently researching how Circles could possibly benefit paramedics and palliative care doctors and make space for difficult conversations to happen in a safe, confidential environment.
As an audio consultant I enjoy spending time with clients to really discover what matters to them. I love coming up with ideas, assessing how best to serve the listener and playing with new formats. I created Changes for Annie Mac and have developed ideas for Sandi Toksvig, Nova Reid, Stellar Quines theatre company, Curtis Brown & Decca Records. I am keen to continue researching mental health, social justice and the arts. Please email abbyhollick@hotmail.com if you’re interested in collaborating.
Projects include:
Circles
Circles is a listening and sharing space for nurses, matrons and midwives in all NHS departments and bands. Eight people and two hosts sit in a circle around an audio speaker. Prompted by recordings of fellow nurses’ experiences, we reflect on how we’re currently feeling in our own lives.
PAGE is a podcast where writers dissect a single page of their book. Bestselling memoirists and non-fiction writers discuss their most frank and moving page. Host Abby Hollick picks the pages, which examine a breakthrough moment and teach us how to cope when things fall apart. Guests include: Caitlin Moran, Nova Reid, Michael Rosen, Lenny Henry and Hollie McNish.
Barred
Musician Nadine Shah, tackling grief and her first tour in two years, immerses herself in the fitness phenomenon Barre and the controversial story of its originator, Lotte Berk.
Duvet Days
Abby Hollick gets into bed with musicians and artists for frank under-the-cover chats. Guests include: Lemn Sissay, Yola, Jordan Stephens and Nicola Coughlan.
The Why Factor: Resilience, BBC
Why is ‘resilience’ such a buzzword at the moment? In this edition of the Why Factor, Abby Hollick asks, what exactly is resilience and why do some people cope better than others?
Postnatal FAQ
Postnatal experts answer your questions. On maternity leave Abby Hollick collected postnatal stories and discovered many women feel that there is a lack of mental and physical support after birth. Abby interviews maternal health professionals to discuss the issues raised, including: birth trauma, anxiety, pelvic health, exercise, back ache and asking for help.
Women in One
Listen to audio snapshots of women of all ages and backgrounds as they answer personal questions about their life, love, childhood and fears and confess what makes them tick. ‘Women in One’ is a series of short interviews with the strangers reporter Abby Hollick bumps into all over the UK.
Hooked
Abby Hollick asks actors, musicians and writers to reveal what music, book, film or podcast they are Hooked on right now.
Get Happy
In this five-part series, US happiness expert and positive psychologist Michelle Gielan and British journalist and author Oliver Burkeman explore ways to become truly happier, backed up by scientific evidence. Bringing their own unique and counter-balanced personalities to proceedings they ask questions such as: what is happiness? Can we make ourselves happier? And why is everyone talking about mindfulness?
Vashti Harrison on Augusta Savage, BBC Children’s, The Character In My Head