S7 EP3: Lulu discusses alcoholism, marrying a Bee Gee, and David Bowie’s thighs

The Louis Theroux Podcast

Spotify Studios

Comedy, Arts, Society & Culture

4.1 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Louis is joined in the Spotify studio by Scottish singer, actor and TV personality Lulu. The pair discuss her struggles with alcoholism, being married to a Bee Gee, and her intimate knowledge of David Bowie’s thighs. Warnings: Strong language and adult themes. Links/Attachments: Song: ‘Shout’, the Isley Brothers (1959) https://open.spotify.com/track/72VH13PSrYh963lzB5NzG4 To Sir, With Love (1967) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062376/ Book: Lulu: I Don’t Want To Fight, Lulu (2020) https://www.waterstones.com/book/lulu-i-dont-want-to-fight/lulu/9780751546255 Book: If Only You Knew, Lulu (2025) https://www.waterstones.com/book/if-only-you-knew/lulu/9781399744249 TV Show: ‘It’s Lulu’ (1970-1973) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299320/ TV Show: ‘Lulu’ (1975) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072537/ Song: ‘Getting To Know You’, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein III (1951) https://open.spotify.com/track/0aGN51LOR5E4zQAqhT1Ok7 (not 1951 version) Song: ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III (1959) https://open.spotify.com/track/5ewWvQPbrBf8Z9TKmYaRY6 (not 1959 version) TV Show: ‘Happening For Lulu’ (1968-1969) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063926/ Jimi Hendrix on Lulu’s show (1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usel2OAtQ_s&list=RDUsel2OAtQ_s&start_radio=1 TV Show: ‘Not Only...But Also’ (1965-1970) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128004/ Article: Jimi Hendrix Banned from BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p032vp1d Song: ‘The Man Who Sold the World’, Lulu (1974) https://open.spotify.com/track/36jha42uJrGq7Ew9REPLIo Song: Boom Bang a Bang', Lulu (1969) written by Alan Moorhouse and Peter Warne https://open.spotify.com/track/67HolMSJIT9IMPhxieOHeu TV Special: ‘When Louis Met... Jimmy’ (2000) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304938/ Louis Theroux: Savile (2016) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07yc9zh TV Show: ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ (1975-2007) - BBC https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197163/ The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9850386/ Saturday Night Fever (1977) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076666/ Song: ‘Night Fever’, The Bee Gees (1977) https://open.spotify.com/track/4t2euPkyLUs5n5j1HDZ2Tr Song: ‘To Love Somebody’, The Bee Gees (1967) written by Barry and Robin Gibb https://open.spotify.com/track/0mbS3VwRbO6HVBMPXnzOGA Song: ‘Woman In Love’, Barbra Streisand (1980) written by Barry and Robin Gibb https://open.spotify.com/track/1pTGc8pwyo6xtgXBKCBcFn Song: ‘Chain Reaction’, Diana Ross (1985) https://open.spotify.com/track/1it9umP1j9qSqzKbSLLqqy TV Special: ‘An Audience with Lulu’ (2002) - ITV https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0788014/ Lulu’s Mental Health Trust https://www.lulusmentalhealthtrust.com/ Credits: Producer: Millie Chu  Assistant Producer: Mark Maughan Production Manager: Francesca Bassett  Music: Miguel D’Oliveira  Audio Mixer: Tom Guest Video Mixer: Scott Edwards Shownotes compiled by Elly Young Executive Producer: Arron Fellows     A Mindhouse Production for Spotify  www.mindhouse.co.uk  Open a Moneybox Cash ISA at https://moneybox.onelink.me/Cqlx/y3xncge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Woo!
0:02.0	That's my vibrato. Why? I'll explain later.
0:09.0	But for the moment I'll just say hello and welcome back to the Louis Theroux podcast.
0:14.0	For this episode, I sat down with Scottish singer, songwriter, actress and all-round
0:27.7	leg-end Lulu.
0:30.2	In her more than six decades in the spotlight, Lulu has had numerous top ten hits, including
0:35.3	a cover of the Isley Brothers song Shout,
0:37.9	released when she was only 15 years old.
0:41.1	Do not sing any of these, says Millie, copyright issues.
0:44.6	Boom, Bang a Bang, with which she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969,
0:49.5	alongside three other people, or bands.
0:52.4	I'll explain that later.
0:56.3	And the title song for the Bond film,
1:04.3	The Man with the Golden Gun. She has a gravelly textured R&B inflected voice, but she can also sing pop, which is one of the things we talk about. She's uncategorizable in certain respects
1:09.3	that may even have held her back. She was so
1:12.4	versatile it was hard for her to pick a lane. Alongside the glittering music career, Lulu hosted her
1:18.2	own TV shows and starred in a number of films, most notably to Sir with Love alongside
1:23.8	Sidney Poitier. Maybe you've heard of him. Her song for the movie was a number one hit in the US in 1967,
1:31.0	her song of the same name.
1:32.6	To many Americans, she still is mainly identified with that track.
1:36.9	There were also high-profile marriages, well, two.
1:39.7	Let's not make it sound too outlandish.
	...

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