One afternoon in July 2014 we (Adam, Ben & Mark) were
sitting in our local pub having a spirited debate over a film we’d just been to
see. It was suggested, half-jokingly, that we should record our conversations,
and from that moment the podcast was born.
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| Mark, Ben & Adam in 2014 |
The initial plan was for the podcast to cover film, TV,
music, football, wrestling, and all the other subjects that interested us. We quickly scrapped that for the much more manageable
focus on film only.
We decided we wanted the show to be a place to find honest reviews of new movies, as well as lively conversations on film related topics. Taking our name from a line in one of our favourite shows, Spaced, we became Skip to the End.
In early August 2014 we got together in Ben’s flat, armed
with nothing more than an iPhone, and recorded the first episode. Initially planned as a
non-broadcast pilot, we were so happy with the results we decided to put it out
into the world to see the response.
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| The original Skip to the End logo |
Hoping for 100 downloads within a year, we were delighted
when the first episode was downloaded over 1000 times. Encouraged by the
success of the first episode we continued to put out new episodes every fortnight.
In October 2014, after just five episodes, we were given press passes to the MCM Comic Con. Over the course of the next year we
attended several MCM events, eventually being named the official podcast of the Con.
In that time we interviewed a wide range of stars from shows such as Breaking
Bad, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.
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| Ben, Adam & Mark with our first press passes |
In February 2015 we decided to invest in some
professional equipment, purchasing a mixing desk and microphones, which dramatically
improved our production values, starting with episode 15.
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| Moving up in the world with professional recording equipment |
Our original hope of 100 downloads in a year was blown away
when we crossed the 1 million downloads mark in June 2015, just 10 months after
launching the podcast. Two months later we celebrated our one year anniversary on
the 27th episode of the show.
Around this time we also started to record a few special
episodes where we interviewed cult names in the film industry, including Tommy
Wiseau, the star and director of The Room, the best bad movie of all-time. The
Wiseau interview garnered us our first mainstream press, being featured in the
AV Club’s Podmass feature in September 2015.
The podcast began to open doors for us, and in June 2016 we were given press passes to the Download festival,
where we got to talk to some of our favourite bands and see some incredible
performances. Our relationship with Download continues to this day, having
attended every festival since.
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| Mark and Ben meet one of their idols, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno |
In July 2016 we celebrated 50 episodes of Skip to the
End, but the celebration was bittersweet as that was our final episode with
Adam, who went on to pastures new. On the following episode we introduced our
friend and frequent guest Gemma (aka Poochie) as our new permanent co-host.
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| Gemma signs her legally binding STTE contract |
We reached new heights in August 2016 when we were given
press passes to WWE Summerslam in New York. Not only did Mark and Ben get to
witness a superb show live, but they also got to meet some of their heroes from
the wrestling world. We made such a good impression on WWE that we were invited
back the following year.
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| Mark & Ben meet WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley |
In February 2017 we attended our first movie premiere in
London, getting to walk the red carpet for Kong: Skull Island, and mingle with
stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson.
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| Ben hovers near the stars of Kong: Skull Island |
In March 2017 we received our second piece of mainstream
exposure, when the official Film4 Twitter feed named us as one of the UK’s most
popular film podcasts, alongside such heavy hitters as Kermode & Mayo’s
Wittertainment, How Did This Get Made, and the Empire Film Podcast.
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| Film4 names us one of the most popular film podcasts in the UK |
Later that month we released our first official t-shirt.
The limited edition shirt was a rousing success, selling out within days. This
encouraged us to release our second t-shirt a year later, which was even more
successful than the first.
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| The first official STTE t-shirt |
In August 2017 we reached a triple milestone as we celebrated
Gemma’s one year anniversary with the podcast, our three year anniversary
overall, and our 5 millionth download. The milestones continued the following
year as we celebrated our 100th episode in July 2018.
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| Mark, Gemma and Ben in a celebratory mood |
We received our most major mainstream exposure in
February 2019 when we were invited to appear as guests on the BBC Podcast Radio Hour, where we discussed the origins and impact of the podcast. Two months
later we celebrated our 10 millionth download.
To celebrate our five year anniversary in August 2019 we
decided to give something back to our loyal listeners, the SkipFam, by putting
on our first ever live show, SkipFest. The show sold out within hours and was a fantastic event, full of games, prize giveaways, the usual STTE nonsense, and
lots and lots of booze.
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| Gemma, Mark & Ben entertain a sold out crowd at SkipFest |
During SkipFest we were joined onstage by our good friend and regular guest Benny, and also welcomed back founding member Adam, rejoining the gang for one night only, the first time he'd been part of the show in three years.
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| All four members of Skip to the End celebrate with the SkipFam |
After the success of SkipFest we began to think about the
end of the show. We were happy with all we’d achieved, and agreed that it was
best to go out on top, so in December 2019 we recorded the final episode of the podcast.
In January 2021, after more than a year away, we decided to get back together for a Lockdown Special, our first remotely recorded episode. The old magic was still there, and we had so much fun that we've reunited for a handful of special episodes since. Who knows what the future holds for Skip to the End, stay tuned...
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| Goodbye and goodnight from Ben, Mark & Gemma |
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