TikTok star & One Directioner Maddie Grace Jepson is now the host of a new BBC Radio 1 podcast, ‘One Direction: A Fan Story,” a deep dive into the rise of stan culture in relation to this generation’s biggest boy band.
In the eight-part series, Jepson enlists the help of songwriters, superfans, music journalists, friends of the band & music industry insiders who witnessed the madness of One Direction’s explosion into the mainstream.
Moreover, through the use of music, archive & interviews, One Direction fans or not alike will deep-dive into their history and understand the cultural scope the boy-band and their millions of fans had worldwide.
Maddie Grace Jepson, who now boasts over 1.7 MILLION followers on TikTok, talks about signing onto the podcast:
I was so excited when I was asked by BBC Radio 1 to host a podcast on One Direction. My very first Twitter handle was literally ‘maddietomlinson’ with my whole account dedicated to the band, so being able to do this has literally been a dream come true.”
It’s been so fun reflecting on the amazing journey from X Factor to their first ever single, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ through to selling out albums and tours. The One Direction hype was real and I was very much and still am a Directioner at heart.”
Jepson is no stranger to the BBC family, as she has worked prior with content creator Kyron Hamilton to co-host their TikTok Takeover event in December 2022.
Alongside the podcast, listeners are in for a treat as BBC Sounds will offer more One Direction content starting Friday, November 17th for their One Direction Artists Icons. This bundle includes: ‘One Direction at the BBC’ hosted by Radio 1 resident Matt Edmonson, who recounts the boy band’s history with exclusive BBC Archives; ‘One Direction and Me’ which features pop culture commentator Tyler Oakley picking out his favorite One Direction track from their extensive catalog; and ‘Fans of One Direction’ which features a one-hour playlist curated by Edmonson with music that influenced the band’s musical upbringing.
The series is written and produced by Gráinne Morrison Worrell and commissioned by Executive Will Wilkins for BBC Radio 1.
All eight episodes of ‘One Direction: A Fan Story’ are now available to stream on BBC Sounds.
