The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed is a British podcast and BBC Radio 4 programme in which the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage speaks to an invited guest, usually in his writing-shed of his Yorkshire home. The first series of twelve hour-long broadcasts began in March 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the second series of nine began in July 2021, and the third series began in February 2023. The programme broadcast on 27 May 2020 was recorded while Armitage was self-isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was the last of the first series.
The broadcasts were recorded in Armitage's writing shed in the garden of his home in West Yorkshire. The contents of the shed include "a harmonium, a pizza oven, a daybed, books on birdspotting, a decent spread of music cassettes, and an impressive collection of sherry", and he has described it as "close to nature without camping on the lawn, it's half inside and half outside". Armitage and his guest have a wide-ranging conversation, often touching on his ongoing translation of the medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale, and the guest answers a series of quick-fire questions such as "night or day, north or south, Woman's Hour or In Our Time?" before being offered a glass of sherry.
In series 3, broadcast in 2023, the podcast available on BBC Sounds was up to 60 mins long but only a shortened version of 30 mins was broadcast on Radio 4.
On 2024 Radio 4 announced that it would not re-commission the series, a decision that Armitage described as "utterly bewildering". Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival in April 2025, Armitage announced that the show would be revived with a different broadcaster, probably as a podcast. He reiterated his dissatisfaction with the BBC's decision not to make another series:
Episodes
+ Episodes Series Episode number First broadcast Guest Notes1 1 4 March 2020 Guy Garvey, singer, music presenter, birdwatcher 2 11 March 2020 Kae Tempest, author 3 18 March 2020 Testament, rapper and beatboxing champion 4 25 March 2020 Maxine Peake, actor 5 1 April 2020 Antony Gormley, sculptor 6 8 April 2020 Lily Cole, model and entrepreneur 7 15 April 2020 Sam Lee, singer 8 22 April 2020 Melanie Plimmer, judge 9 6 May 2020 Jackie Kay, poet 10 13 May 2020 Laura Ashe, historian 11 20 May 2020 Chris Packham 12 27 May 2020 No guest Recorded in self-isolation2 13 3 July 2021 Johnny Marr, guitarist and member of The Smiths 14 10 July 2021 Amanda Owen, shepherdess 15 17 July 2021 Imtiaz Dharker, poet 16 24 July 2021 J. K. Rowling, writer 17 31 July 2021 Jo Whiley, radio and television presenter 18 7 August 2021 Gillian Burke, television presenter Recorded in Gyllyngdune Gardens in Falmouth. 19 14 August 2021 John Tiffany, theatre director 20 21 August 2021 Sabrina Verjee, vet and ultrarunner 21 28 August 2021 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Recorded in the Prince's "shed", a barn at Llwynywermod in Wales.3 22 5 February 2023 Ian McKellen, actor 23 12 February 2023 Lucy Beaumont, comedian 24 19 February 2023 Simon Dobson, composer and conductor 25 26 February 2023 Pam Ayres, poet 26 5 March 2023 Loyle Carner, musician Recorded in Carner's studio in Hackney, London. 27 12 March 2023 Olive Senior, poet 28 19 March 2023 Glyn Maxwell, poet 29 26 March 2023 Julie Hesmondhalgh
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