Your privacy

Get in touch

Thomas James operates The Variety Show website and is the data controller responsible for personal information collected through it. The website is hosted by Thomas James in the United Kingdom. For questions or requests about your information, contact Thomas James through the show at podcasts@channel84.co.uk. Include the page or message you are asking about, but please don’t send identity documents unless we arrange a secure way to verify a request.

Episode comments

We store your comment, the name you choose and when it was submitted. Your comment and name appear publicly on the episode page. You may use a nickname or leave the name blank. Avoid posting contact details or information about other people.

The hosts can moderate comments. Hiding a comment from the website does not automatically erase its database record. Contact us if you want to request deletion.

Episode votes

We store your choice against the episode together with your IP address to limit repeat votes and show your existing choice. Vote totals are public; the voting feature does not publish your IP address.

Listener ideas and questions

We store your message, category, optional name, extra details, submission time and its review status so the hosts can consider it for the show. The inbox is available to signed-in administrators and is not a public message board.

Your idea or question and chosen name may be mentioned on the show. Use a nickname or leave the name blank if you prefer. Please don’t include personal contact details or sensitive information. Archiving a message keeps it in the inbox database; deleting it removes the live database record.

Listening and other websites

Episode pages with an RSS.com player load it automatically. This connects your browser to RSS.com before you press play. RSS.com receives connection information such as your IP address and browser details, and may collect listening statistics or use cookies and similar technologies. Read RSS.com’s privacy policy for information about its practices.

Voicemail, social media and podcast-platform links take you to other services. Those services handle information under their own privacy policies. A voicemail sent to the show may be considered for use in an episode.

Fonts are served from this website. The site’s application code does not include advertising trackers or a general visitor-analytics script.

Storage and security

Comments, votes and listener messages are stored in the site’s database. Our retention period is up to the lifetime of this website, while the information remains necessary for the purposes described above. Information may need to be deleted or anonymised earlier when it is no longer needed or following a valid deletion request. Website closure requires a review and removal of personal information that no longer needs to be retained.

The application does not automatically expire these records; retention reviews and deletion are managed by Thomas James. Removing something from the live database does not necessarily remove copies in backups immediately. The same necessity-based retention limit applies to personal information in backups and server logs.

The server and its infrastructure may also keep access and security logs containing connection information. Essential sessions support sign-in, form protection and feedback messages. See cookies and the embedded player for details.

Your choices and rights

You can browse without commenting, voting or sending an idea. Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law gives you rights to request access, correction, deletion or restriction of your personal information, and to object to its use. Some rights depend on the reason information is being processed.

Contact the show using the email above to make a request. You can also raise a data protection concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office.