Listen on Spotify
Pictured at the top: Penny Lancaster (left) with Talking Dyslexia hosts Jamie Wace and Ellen Broomé.
In episode four of Talking Dyslexia, released on 29 September 2025, Penny Lancaster talks to my co-host Ellen Broomé, CEO of the British Dyslexia Association, and me about finding out she was dyslexic as an adult. At over 50 minutes, it’s one of the longest conversations in the series.
Who is Penny Lancaster?
Penny’s career has taken in dancing, modelling, photography and television presenting, and she has more recently served as a special constable. She spent ten years as a panellist on Loose Women and was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
She was diagnosed with dyslexia at 46. She has spoken publicly about having long suspected it, and keeping it to herself, until then. Today she’s an ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association, working with the charity towards a more dyslexia-friendly society.
What the episode covers
her late dyslexia diagnosis, and what came before it
how dyslexia, and finding out about it so late, has shaped her life
why she is now a proud ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association
her book, Someone Like Me, which was about to be published when the episode came out
If Penny’s story sounds familiar
Penny found out at 46, after years of suspecting she was dyslexic and keeping it to herself. Plenty of adults will recognise that story: difficulties at school that nobody explained, and a lot of effort spent working round them.
It’s never too late to find out. If Penny’s story makes you wonder about yourself, the British Dyslexia Association’s advice for adults explains where to start.
Some parents first recognise dyslexia in themselves when they start to notice it in their child: the same frustration with reading or spelling, the same sense of working harder than everyone else. If you’re wondering about your own child, see how screening at home works →
Listen and watch
Listen on Spotify, where you can also watch the video version
Watch a clip on YouTube (British Dyslexia Association channel)
Related reading: Mark Blundell on school, racing and a diagnosis in his late fifties, another guest who found out as an adult.
Talking Dyslexia: E4: Penny Lancaster - Her Late Dyslexia Diagnosis and Her New Book (Spotify, 29 September 2025), episode description
British Dyslexia Association on YouTube: Penny Lancaster - Talking Dyslexia Podcast (clip)
British Dyslexia Association: Penny Lancaster, BDA ambassador (career, diagnosis at 46, ambassador role)
British Dyslexia Association: Advice for adults
