When It Hits the Fan
Episodes
Co-op Live, political spin and inside the Trumpian bubble
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss Manchester’s Co-op Live arena opening delays – will these prove to cause long-term reputational damage to th...
Huw Edwards, PR speak and runaway horses
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the resignation of Huw Edwards and how the BBC has handled this ongoing crisis – its PR, its strategy and the ...
Matthew Freud special
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a special episode of When It Hits the Fan, Simon Lewis and David Yelland talk to Matthew Freud about his 40-year career at the head of one of the m...
Dorothy Byrne special
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On When It Hits the Fan, we often talk about crises as if they should be avoided at all costs. But Dorothy Byrne, the former head of News and Current ...
Mick Lynch special
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis talk to Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT, about how to get your point across.We seem to be liv...
What can we learn from Kate?
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the lessons learnt from the Princess of Wales’s video announcement that she is undergoing tre...
TikTok and China, how to make a royal story go away and cybersecurity PR
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis are talking TikTok. In the US, the social media platform is facing an existential threat. But behind it...
The Palace in crisis
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a former editor of The Sun, and the late Queen’s first communications secretary, David Yelland and Simon Lewis used to be on opposing sides of a ...
Christian Horner crisis continues, the Telegraph battle and Hancock’s Eton cockup
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis return to Formula 1 and the latest instalment of the Christian Horner crisis. The alleged texts between the Red Bull bos...
Talking crap, car crash interviews and Trident’s plop
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss when using the word crap is not a crap comms strategy at all. Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, used it t...
NatWest, the first 100 days and F1's Red Bull
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the coming PR tornado that is the apparent plan to sell the government's 38.6% of NatWest back to the public in ...
Quick Wins: How to deal with imposter syndrome
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins is a series of short guides from the When It Hits the Fan team that’ll help you manage your own personal PR so you can navigate the world...
F1’s Christian Horner, Soho House and The National Trust
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss how it has hit the fan for two global, glamorous names this week – the first is F1 Red Bull boss Christian Hor...
Quick Wins: How to manage your reputation online
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins is a series from the When It Hits the Fan team that helps you navigate your own personal PR in just a few minutes. After all, if the rich a...
The King's cancer, Facebook PR and Greta Thunberg
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss how the Palace is managing news of the King’s cancer diagnosis. How will the royal communications team be cont...
Klopp’s reveal, vaping PR and Barbie’s disappointment
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis enter into the secret world of secrets and discuss how it is still possible to keep big news under wraps – how Liverpo...
Quick Wins: How to deal with a difficult boss
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins is a series of short episodes from the When It Hits the Fan team to help you navigate your own personal PR.In this episode, David Yelland a...
CEO salaries, Jordan Henderson and prostate PR
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the fan-hitting hornet’s nest that is executive pay. After Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said he couldn’t just...
Post Office PR, Boeing and the King's new biography
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the aggressive PR strategy that was part of the Post Office scandal. When does defending your brand become toxic...
Quick Wins: How to ask for a pay rise
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins is a series of short and snappy episodes with lots of useful advice aimed at improving your working life.In this episode, David Yelland and...
Quick Wins: How to quit your job
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins is a series of short and snappy episodes with lots of useful advice aimed at improving your working life.In this episode David and Simon sh...
Gerald Ratner special
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis take you into the eye of a media storm and talk to a person who has lived through it. What’s ...
Harry's victory, Baroness Mone Part 2 and 2023's PR lessons
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss Prince Harry’s phone-hacking victory in the High Court and how the British print press is dealing with its own...
Baroness Mone, ITV and VIP PR
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss Baroness Mone of Mayfair’s self-funded YouTube documentary – does it make her a PR genius or just terribly u...
Quick Wins: Office parties
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Wins from the When It Hits the Fan team is our how-to guide to being better at your own PR and navigating the world of work like a pro. In these...
Omid Scobie Part 2, COP PR and Wilko
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis return to the continuing fallout from Omid Scobie’s book Endgame, which has provoked a highly unusual change of PR str...
Omid Scobie, RIP PR and Ridley v the historians
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week David Yelland and Simon Lewis go behind the scenes as the Royal Family tries to cope with Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame, which appears to...
You’re fired! Everton and political PR
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After a week in which some top people in British politics have lost or given up their jobs, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the strange case of ...
The King’s PR, Shell and a million-dollar handbag
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the King marks his 75th birthday, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at how the Palace is using artificial intelligence to track public sentiment, ...
Rishi and Elon, Robert de Niro and that M&S ad
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rishi Sunak’s fireside chat with Elon Musk following the UK’s AI Safety Summit has been criticised as a PR disaster for the Prime Minister. But wa...
NatWest’s Alison Rose, Unilever and I’m a Celebrity...
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis assess the endgame around former CEO Alison Rose’s departure from NatWest. With a forensic PR eye they return to the s...
Britney’s memoir, BT's rebrand and Meryl Streep
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Following the release of Britney Spears’ autobiography David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the wisdom of the tell-all memoir. How does it measure ...
Captain Tom's family, Barclays and the Grand National
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the decision of Captain Tom’s family to enter the lion’s den in a TV interview with Piers M...
Tobacco, Beckham Inc and an Eton mess
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss “PR-ing the impossible” - the dirty business of representing the tobacco industry. Also, co...
The Taylor Swift effect, GB News and following Feargal
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss the soft power of one of the most influential people in the United States right now. It’s not...
Murdoch, HS2 and British Gas
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of Rupert Murdoch's retirement, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss a tale of two successions and how the fates of one of the world’s ...
Russell Brand, BP and Britain's 'golden triangle'
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss why parts of an ecosystem of powerful men right at the top of social media are supporting Russell Brand in the w...
Elon Musk, 'sorry not sorry' and being booed
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis lift the bonnet on the world of crisis managers and spin doctors as they watch the week’s biggest PR disasters unfold....
Crumbling concrete, Harry returns and the Spanish FA
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Yelland and Simon Lewis lift the bonnet on the world of crisis managers and spin doctors as they watch the week’s biggest PR disasters unfold....
Introducing When It Hits the Fan
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the world of crisis managers and spin doctors, as David Yelland and Simon Lewis watch the week’s biggest PR disasters unfold.