A simple question, surprising answers.
Since 2020, Michael Fenton Stevens has been asking guests to choose five things for a time capsule. The conversations that follow tend to go places neither of them expected.
The show
My Time Capsule is a podcast that asks its guests a simple question with surprising depth: what five things would you like to put in a time capsule? It can be anything at all — an object, a memory, a piece of music, a film, even an entire country. Four of them are things they'd like to preserve. One has to be something they're happy to bury and never have to think about again.
What comes out of it is something between an interview, a confession and a warm fireside chat. Named Podcast of the Week in The Times, The Guardian and the Radio Times, the show has welcomed hundreds of guests from across comedy, film, theatre, music, sport, politics and science.
"A perfect blend of nostalgia, humour, and heartfelt storytelling."
Meet your host
Michael Fenton Stevens
HostBritish actor and comedian. Has been on your television and radio for over four decades, often as a very familiar face whose name you can't quite place — which, for a character actor, is rather the point.
Michael began his career in comedy almost by accident. While studying law at university he was asked by a fellow student — one Angus Deayton — if he fancied joining the revue at the Edinburgh Festival. That decision led, more or less directly, to The Hee Bee Gee Bees (whose Bee Gees parody Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices) was a number-one hit in Australia) and to singing lead on The Chicken Song, the Spitting Image chart-topper of 1986.
He was one of the principal cast of Radio 4's long-running comedy Radio Active, which later transferred to television as KYTV. Over the decades he's popped up in Only Fools and Horses, Ghosts, Armando Iannucci's Avenue 5, Nighty Night, My Family, Benidorm, Outnumbered, One Foot in the Grave and, memorably, as the man staying in Room 425 in the classic Mr. Bean episode "Room 426".
On stage he has appeared as the Wizard in Wicked in the West End, and he's one of the most in-demand voice actors in the country, with credits across audiobooks, animation, and Radio 4 drama — including Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
In 2020 he launched My Time Capsule with his son John. Five years and over 570 episodes later, it's become one of the UK's most-loved independent podcasts.
The production
My Time Capsule is produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions. The theme music is by Pass The Peas Music and the artwork is by Matthew Boxall. Episodes are released weekly, and have been since the spring of 2020.
The credits
Proudly partnered with Viva!
My Time Capsule is proud to be associated with the charity Viva!, which provides theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people.