Abi Morgan on rebuilding just about everything in your 50s - THE SHIFT REVISITED

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8 • 525 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode first aired in May 2022. Today’s guest is a woman I’ve admired for the longest time: stage and screenwriter Abi Morgan. Throughout her thirty year career Abi has written some of our most memorable drama: Shame, Sex Traffic, The Queen, Iron Lady, The Hour (for which she won an Emmy), Suffragette and, most recently, the BBCone hit, The Split. In her work, female characters took centre stage long before that became the fashionable thing to do. But now, Abi has been forced to take centre stage herself. Four years ago, she returned home one lunchtime to find her partner of 20 years, Jakob, collapsed on the bathroom floor. It was the start of a sequence of events that would upend their family forever. And it’s the subject of perhaps the most extraordinary memoir I have ever read - This is Not a Pity memoir. And it isn’t. It’s about love, trauma and ultimately - weirdly! - about hope. Abi joined me to talk candidly about the cataclysmic impact of Jake’s illness, the long - and ongoing - journey to rebuild their family and how, in the midst of all that, she coped with her own breast cancer diagnosis. She also told me about being a lone woman in a world of white men in leather jackets, budging up to make room at the table and why she’s done with being “user-friendly”. * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including This Is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and this episode was edited by Emily Sandford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Isn't life grande?
0:01.9	And making it better just got easier with Starbucks new protein cold foam.
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0:18.5	Add a delicious swirl on top of your drink.
0:22.3	Just like that.
0:27.0	Protein never tasted so good with Starbucks new protein cold foam.
0:29.8	Subject to availability while stocks last.
0:44.9	Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds-bar truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker.
0:50.9	Today's guest is a woman I've admired for the longest time, stage and screenwriter Abby Morgan. Throughout her 30-year career, Abby has written some of our most memorable drama.
0:55.4	Shame, sex traffic, the Queen, Iron Lady, The Hour for which she won an Emmy, suffragette,
1:01.3	and most recently, the BBC One hit, The Split. In her work, female characters took centre
1:06.7	stage long before that became the fashionable thing to do. But now Abby has been forced to take
1:11.6	centre stage herself. Four years ago, she returned home one lunchtime to find her partner of 20 years,
1:17.6	Jacob, collapsed on the bathroom floor. It was the start of a sequence of events that would upend
1:22.6	their family forever. And it's the subject of perhaps the most extraordinary memoir I have ever read. It's about love, trauma, and ultimately, weirdly, about hope. In starting to write the book, I was just trying to work about why I wanted to tell this story. You know, after the kids were in bed and after I'd done my work and after I'd, you know, been either, you know, at the hospital, certainly caring for Jake. Why did I want to sit down at my kitchen table until two, three in the morning and get it out? And it became such a comfort to me.
1:48.3	Abby joined me to talk candidly about the cataclysmic impact of Jake's illness, the long and ongoing
1:54.1	journey to rebuild their family and how, in the midst of all that, she coped with her own
1:59.3	breast cancer diagnosis. Oh my God, thanks for your
2:02.1	amazing quote. Oh, thank you for your amazing book, Abby. Really, honestly, it was really lovely,
2:08.5	and those things have been so much, so thank you. So how are you feeling now it's imminent?
2:13.4	Oh my gosh. Well, I mean, it's quite strange because I've had a week because my other show,
	...

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