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An Evening with Deborah Frances-White and David Tennant

History &
Social Policy

Analysing the state of freedom of speech, politics in the arts, and the value of critical thinking

Deborah Frances-White is the writer and comedian best known for hosting The Guilty Feminist podcast. David Tennant is the multi-award-winning actor who has played iconic roles including Doctor Who, Hamlet, Barty Crouch Jr., Rivals’ Lord Tony Baddingham and more.

In April 2025 they came to Intelligence Squared to discuss how we can have better and more open conversations on difficult topics. Drawing from her new book Six Conversations We’re Scared to Have, Deborah shared how she grew up in a cult which shut down any dissenting voices. And she made the case that she sees similar tactics being used today in our rapidly changing digital society. Deborah and David discussed the state of freedom of speech, politics in the arts, and the value of critical thinking. 

Speakers for the motion

  • Deborah Frances-White

    Award-winning writer and comedian, best known for her hit podcast The Guilty Feminist. Her forthcoming book Six Conversations We're Scared to Have is published in April 2025.

Chair

  • David Tennant

    Multi-award winning actor on stage and screen

Speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Speaker

Deborah Frances-White

Award-winning writer and comedian, best known for her hit podcast The Guilty Feminist. Her forthcoming book Six Conversations We're Scared to Have is published in April 2025.

Award-winning writer and comedian, best known for her hit podcast THE GUILTY FEMINIST. The show has been recorded live around the world at venues including The Royal Albert Hall, The London Palladium, The Sydney Opera House and The Wellington Arena with over 200million downloads. Her book, THE GUILTY FEMINIST, is published by Virago Press at Hachette and is a Sunday Times Best Seller. Her second book SIX CONVERSATIONS WE’RE SCARED TO HAVE will also be published by Virago in April 2025. Her BBC Radio 4 show, DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE ROLLS THE DICE, won The Writers’ Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy. She wrote the independent feature film, SAY MY NAME and her next movie, THE WISHBOARD, is in pre-production with Redwave Films.  Deborah’s television credits as a comedian include QI, WOULD I LIE TO YOU?, HAVE I GOT NEWS TO YOU, MOCK THE WEEK and QUESTION TIME. Deborah is an official ambassador for Choose Love and Amnesty International. 
Host

David Tennant

Multi-award winning actor on stage and screen

David Tennant's career has traversed film, television and theatre, seeing him win numerous awards including an International Emmy, a Critics Circle Award and the Special Recognition Award at the NTAs.  On television David is best known for playing the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC’s classic series Doctor Who and the iconic detective DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch.  Recent TV work includes Marvel/ Netflix series Jessica Jones, Des (for which he won the NTA for Best Actor) and Litvinenko, for ITV. For the  BBC,  drama Inside Man and comedy drama There She Goes.  For Amazon David stars alongside Michael Sheen in Good Omens.  They collaborated again on a unique project during lockdown - Staged - which was bought by the BBC and ran for 3 seasons.   He returned to Dr Who earlier  in 2024 for 3 special episodes celebrating the show's 60th Anniversary.   His most recent television role was as the villainous Lord Tony Baddingham in Disney +/Hulu's adaptation of Jilly Copper's Rivals, season 2 of which will begin production later in 2025.  David was the host of the 2024 and 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall to brilliant reviews both years.