The actor and writer join Nick and Angela to talk about the new series of The Responder.

Martin Freeman is a man of many genres and he has mastered most of them in his 27 year career. We first fell in love with him as Tim in The Office in 2001; he gained cult status as Dr Watson in Sherlock in 2010; and then hit the big time as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit in 2012. Martin won a Bafta and an Emmy for Sherlock and last year scooped an International Emmy for his portrayal of Chris Carson in The Responder.

Tony Schumacher spent 12 years as a policeman in Liverpool before a period of poor mental health forced him to take stock. While on the road to healing, Tony tried his hand at stand-up comedy and, encouraged by his wife, decided to pursue his dream of becoming an author. Tony has written three novels and penned his critically-acclaimed BBC drama with Martin Freeman in mind.

Nick welcomes our guests with a negroni while Angela prepares the best bolognese by Martha Collison, a dish specially requested by Martin. The meal is paired with a Villa Antinori Rosso by the experts at Waitrose. Talk around the table kicks off with praise for Martin Freeman’s Liverpudlian accent, we find out what makes Tony cry and Martin recalls the day he decided vegetarianism was no longer for him.

Just so you know, our podcast might contain the occasional mild swear word or adult theme.

All recipes from this podcast can be found at waitrose.com/dishrecipes

A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish

We can’t all have a Michelin star chef in the kitchen, but you can ask Angela for help.

Send your dilemmas to dish@waitrose.co.uk and she’ll try to answer in a future episode.

Dish is a S:E Creative Studio production for Waitrose

Martin Freeman and Tony Schumacher, the best bolognese and a negroni