The Assembly, STV/ITV1, Friday
It is billed as “an interview like no other”, where no question is off the table, and no topic is out of bounds.
But even by those standards, Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance on The Assembly tomorrow night makes for genuinely astonishing television.
The former First Minister of Scotland was visibly moved throughout her grilling by a panel of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled interviewers, calling it “one of the most special experiences of my life”.
Others may take a different view.
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“What could possibly go wrong?” we hear her say before she arrives on set. She works the room like the seasoned political pro she is. “Beautiful name,” she says to one woman. “Lovely to meet you,” she tells another. She must be anxious because she introduces herself to the same person twice.
The first topic was her marriage. What happened?
“Er, look, shit happened,” she replies. The line response gets gasps and a big laugh. “Shit happened!” she repeats.
A couple of softball questions follow - which politician does she like least (“Sorry Nige”), her preferred tipple (a glass of red or “a cheeky wee gin and tonic”). The questioning then moves on to the harder stuff, starting with her arrest in June 2023.
"It was a horrible thing. I would not recommend it. I think I put myself into some kind of shutdown state and since then I’ve just tried to blank it out of my head,” she says.
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Ms Sturgeon is no stranger to the rough and tumble of interviews. As many a journalist can attest, she can give as good as she gets. That is not the way The Assembly works, however.
The show first aired in France in 2022 as Les Rencontres du Papotin (roughly, “Encounters with Papotin”, the Paris-based newspaper produced by journalists with autism). It made headlines all over the world after President Emmanuel Macron was asked if marrying his former teacher set a good example. It now shows in 16 territories, including Australia and Canada.
The BBC screened it in 2024 as a pilot, before ITV bagged the UK rights. The first series, featuring David Tennant and Gary Lineker among the guests, was widely praised as groundbreaking, moving, and very funny. In the age of the 30-second soundbite on TikTok, it was as close to old-school interviewing as journalism now gets.
While the questions can be tough, the atmosphere is supportive. Guards are duly lowered. As well as having a sense of humour, interviewees must be able to read the room. Ms Sturgeon takes an obvious shine to the questioners and vice versa. But a former FM has more than one room to read. She must have known that what was said in a London studio would play differently in Scotland, and not always to her credit. This was obvious when the questioning turned to Alex Salmond.
Asked if there were “things left unsaid”, she replies: “The thing I wished … is that he would say to me, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t your fault what happened.’ Even if he wasn’t going to admit that it was his fault, he would say, ‘Look, I know it wasn’t you that did this to me, and I’m sorry for suggesting it was.’ I would have loved at some point for him to say that. But I knew he wasn’t the type of person who would ever do that.”
Often, it’s the juxtaposition of serious questions with lighter ones that leads to the more bizarre moments. There are times, particularly when she speaks about her miscarriage, when your heart goes out to her. Hugs are offered and dispensed throughout the session.
There is a risk here for politicians. It is natural to want to please an audience and become relaxed in their company. But you are not, as the saying goes, actually “at your aunties”; you're on TV. Occasionally, Ms Sturgeon seems to forget this, as when she says her younger, stroppy self would not take advice from the Nicola of today. “She would probably say f*** off,” she laughs.
This, and the earlier “shit happened”, are hardly Trumpian levels of cursing, but is it big, is it clever, does it befit the office she held? Or does she have the paperback version of Frankly coming out soon?
The show ended with two of the panel singing a Deacon Blue song, Dignity. I think they call that irony.
The Assembly continues 10pm Friday 10 April on ITV1 and ITVX, STV and STV Player
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