Joining the Dots: Episode Two with Hattie Collins

Recorded in Don Letts’ creative bunker at the bottom of his West London garden, Joining the Dots traces the way artists, athletes, activists, and subcultures have interacted across decades and continents without even realising.

Across the course of this first season, Don sat down to talk with guests as diverse as photographer Guy Martin, skater and artist Ed Templeton, big wave surfer Andrew Cotton, and emerging musician Georgia.

In this week’s episode, Don meets writer and journalist Hattie Collins, the documenter-in-chief of the grime generation. For fifteen years, she has had a ringside seat to the rise of the likes of Skepta and Wiley from East London basements to sold-out stadium tours. Her 2016 book, This is Grime, is the definitive history of the most dynamic and influential subculture to emerge from Britain since punk. Don and Hattie talk about the early days of the genre, its newfound success, and what they both hope is a bright future for British culture.

Joining the Dots was produced in association with Size?. Listen to Joining the Dots on acast, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to subscribe to get each new episode delivered straight to your feed.