Katie Piper and husband Richie Sutton hosted 'Our Love' on Magic Radio
They joined us for a special one-off Valentines Day show
Last updated 15th Feb 2021
Multicultural relationships took center stage as the station broadcast powerful real-life stories from Magic Radio listeners and celebrities.
This February, Magic Radio is shining a light on human connection in new special series ‘Our Love ’.
Listen back to each episode here
Airing across Magic Radio from 8th February and culminating in a two hour show on Valentine’s Day, the special series aims to spark a conversation around the cross-generational challenges faced by those in interracial and cross cultural relationships. Listener stories will be presented as audio vignettes across the schedule with special guests and insights from Gogglebox’s Tom Malone Jr and his girlfriend Bryony Briscoe. Katie Piper and her husband Richie Sutton will then present a very special two hour show on February the 14th at 1pm.
Speaking about ‘Our Love on Magic Radio’ Katie Piper said “We are really looking forward to our show on Magic Radio. It will give us a chance as a couple to share our experiences, both positive and negative, around interracial relationships. The contributor stories are so powerful, and they show how important it is to continue this conversation and dialogue in 2021 and beyond.”
Tom Malone and Bryony Briscoe said: “Being part of a show like Gogglebox opens you up to public attention, and that puts a spotlight on our personal life, which can be both good and bad. The Valentine’s period is the perfect opportunity for Magic Radio to shine a spotlight on interracial relationships and to highlight listeners personal stories. Bryony and I can’t wait to hear it and share the message of positivity”
Advice For Couples
Dr Reenee Singh, founding director of the Interracial Couples Centre also shared advice for those in interracial and intercultural relationships.
This series is supported by The Audio Content Fund, a scheme to provide funding for the creation of original radio production in the UK. Since their launch in April 2019, The Audio Content Fund has supported 77 projects, from 52 different suppliers, broadcast on 314 different radio stations.
Get to know the couples:
Deanna and Mon
Deanna and Mon are constantly educating themselves on racism. Deanna doesn't have contact with her father and has had to ask herself a lot of questions about her own heritage. They have different ideas on how to discipline their child but communicate well about it.
Amit and Michelle
Amit and Michelle got together at age 15 but Amit kept their relationship secret from his family for 6 years until 6 months before he proposed. They now have two kids and the families are united.
Francisca and Colin
Francisca and Colin met 5 years ago and got married in August 2019.
Harriet and Yasin
Yasin who identifies as black Muslim and Harriet who identifies as white Christain, have been together for four years and they met in a club in Bournemouth.
They both visited America and Yasin was racially profiled and stopped by the immigration office which was the first time Harriet had experienced them both being treated differently as a couple.
Their families have been very accepting of their relationship, Yasin mentioned that in Islam you don't force people to convert and an individual is meant to make the choice themselves, but he has said that he thinks when they have children and they mix their identities it is a positive thing for their child to have a mix of two cultures.
Alyssa and Mitch
Alyssa and Mitch met 3 years ago when Alyssa was studying for her Masters at University. They have spent their relationship between Wales and the US.
Jasmine and Edward
Jasmin and Edward have been together for 2 years and have a 1-year-old daughter.
Josh and Serah
Serah was born and raised in Kenya and came to the UK when she was 20 and Josh of Indian ethnicity was born and raised in Oman. They have been together for 7 years and married for 6 years.
Jo and Toby
Toby is Polish Roma Gypsy and Jo is Indian, Irish, and Italian. They have 6 children together who are proud of their Gypsy culture. They have been married for 13 years.
Musu and Junaed
Musu, from Sierra Leone/America and Junaed, from South Asian/English heritage have been dating for 7 years with their anniversary falling on Valentine's Day.
Nabs and Maria
Nabs and Maria are celebrating their 20 year wedding anniversary this month. They married in their 20s.
Megs and Simone
Simone is a mixed-race woman who lives in Brighton with her fiancé Meg who is White British. They are due to get married in July.
Maria and Fabrizio
Maria is from Trinidad and Fabrizio is of Chinese and Italian mixed heritage, they have been married for nearly 15 years and have two children.
Paul and Asad
Asad is British Pakistani and from Manchester, he now lives in London with his husband Paul who is white British born in Southampton. They have been together for 9 years and married for 2 years.
Wafa and Orlando
Wafa is half-Somalian and half middle eastern and Orlando is South American. They started off as friends but their fondness for each other soon grew into more. Wafa's family had doubts about her relationship choices and she had also received death threats from her community. Although they are now back in the picture, her family still does not accept her partner. The grandchildren suffer because of the lack of contact with Wafa's parents. Wafa's mental health suffered and she had panic attacks due to her anxiety and depression.
Richard and Katie
Tom and Bryony
Tom, known for his appearance on Goggle Box and his girlfriend Bryony met through social media, they've been dating for 7/8 months.
On popular social media app, Tik Tok, people would leave awful racist comments and Bryony had to navigate her way through an unfamiliar public eye.
Andrea and Adrian
Andrea is Columbian and Adrian is British. Together they have 2 children, a 10 and 2 years old. Adrian's family are not very close which is unusual for Andrea, she sometimes feels very alone in the UK she feels she only has her husband and children. When Andrea told Adrian's parents she was pregnant their first reaction was "the first mixed grandchild". The grandparents referred to them as Afro Caribbean even though they're half Latin American. In the past, they stopped visiting their grand children for years because they weren't 'English enough.'