The Sunday Times Magazine – September 6, 2026

Summary

Martin Parr's 1983 black-and-white photo "A Shore Bet" — spectators at Rossbeigh Strand, Co Kerry — opens The Sunday Times Magazine (6 September 2026) whose cover promises salary disclosures from 43 workers ranging from a £25,040 Anglican priest to a CEO. Inside, Eric Idle, 83, recounts surviving pancreatic cancer and buying his French farmhouse for £10,000 in 1971, while Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard reveal their This Morning salaries (£600,000 and £550,000 respectively) and the show's 4-million weekly viewership.

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The 6 September issue anchors itself on the 10-page "Jobs' worth" cover feature — a raw salary survey spanning a police constable (£43,527 plus overtime), a personal trainer running 35 sessions a week at £90,000, and a London-based worker trapped by the £100,000 tax trap paying private school fees. Liz Edwards meets the Seven Up! participants now aged 70 ahead of their final documentary instalment. Eric Idle talks to Michael Odell about his Provence home (a former cow shed), his 2019 pancreatic cancer diagnosis and his ongoing feud with John Cleese. Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard give a double-length interview covering co-parenting, their rise from SM:TV Live and The Bigger Breakfast, and how This Morning reclaimed its best daytime show crown at the NTAs after the Schofield-Willoughby fallout.

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Regular columns deliver the issue's practical value. Rebecca Cope's Health page lists seven burnout warning signs — citing the WHO definition and Mental Health UK data suggesting up to 90% of the workforce is affected — with steps for intervention before a full collapse. Ben Tish contributes autumn recipes built around sausages, root veg, figs and squashes. Relative Values pairs Joanna Scanlan with her brother Patrick on their Fawlty Towers childhood. Phoebe Luckhurst's opening column tackles lunchbox politics. Elliott Gould, 88, closes the issue in A Life in the Day, reflecting on Barbra Streisand and living alone in Los Angeles. A Martin Parr photographic feature on Irish race-day spectators adds a cultural centre spread.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story / Money

p.26 · Jobs' worth: What 43 people earn — and whether they think they're worth it
Bus drivers, gardeners, teachers, influencers, AI developers and CEOs reveal their payslips in this 10-page survey. A police constable in the domestic abuse unit earns £43,527 plus overtime and a free Oyster card. A personal trainer aged 30 pulls £90,000 across 30-35 weekly sessions. An Anglican priest makes £25,040. One London contributor describes the £100,000 tax trap forcing private school fees. Compare your own pay band against each respondent's self-assessment — the value is in the raw numbers, not commentary.

▸ Interview

p.18 · Sofa so good
Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard sit down with Phoebe Luckhurst for a joint interview covering their first two years anchoring This Morning after the Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby departures. Deeley, 49, describes her 5am starts in Hampstead and collecting Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. Shephard, 51, recounts being fired by a Channel 4 exec in his twenties. The programme now reaches 4 million weekly viewers and won Best Daytime Show at the NTAs in 2025. Apply their answer to any career reset: rebuild trust before you try to grow an audience.

▸ Interview

p.38 · Idle chitchat
Eric Idle talks to Michael Odell from his house in Cognac, Provence — a former cow shed bought for £10,000 in 1971 with no electricity or water. He describes surviving pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2019 after a bizarre coincidence (he had consulted the same doctor years earlier for a character's illness in Death: The Musical), his DIY philosophy as an anchor against fame, and his refusal to reconcile with John Cleese. "Every day is extra time for me — I just hope there aren't any penalties at the end."

▸ Feature

p.10 · OK boomers
Liz Edwards meets the childhood stars of Michael Apted's Seven Up! documentary series, now aged 70, ahead of their final instalment. The piece follows the original working-class and private-school children through seven decades of filming. Use it as a case study in longitudinal character-driven journalism — the format itself is the story.

▸ Interview

p.6 · Relative Values: Joanna and Patrick Scanlan
The actress (The Thick of It, Getting On) and her brother, a property developer, discuss their Fawlty Towers childhood — growing up in a hotel run by their parents. Joanna describes a childhood salmonella infection requiring weekly faecal samples and life in Babell, Flintshire. The value here is in the ordinary detail: sibling perspectives on the same upbringing rarely match, and this one doesn't either.

▸ Regulars

p.45 · Recipes: Ben Tish's autumn bangers
The chef offers seasonal sausage recipes built around root vegetables, figs and squashes. The dishes are designed for early-autumn cooking when the farmers' market shifts from berries to brassicas. Each recipe names specific sausage types — look for the combination of pork with fennel or apple to match Tish's flavour profile.

p.50 · Health: Seven signs you're about to burn out
Rebecca Cope lists seven workplace burnout indicators, drawing on the WHO's definition of the syndrome caused by "chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed" and Mental Health UK data showing up to 90% of the workforce affected. Signs include exhaustion, negative feelings about your job and reduced effectiveness. The column recommends coaching and a graded return to work. The actionable trigger: if you recognise three signs simultaneously, start the intervention process, don't wait for a crisis.

p.58 · A Life in the Day: Elliott Gould
The 88-year-old actor — Trapper John in MASH, Jack Geller in Friends — describes his current Los Angeles life: rising at sunrise, doing stretches, living alone. He talks about his enduring love for ex-wife Barbra Streisand, with whom he has a son, Jason, and his despair at the United Nations. A short, reflective read that benefits from Gould's unfiltered voice.

p.5 · Phoebe Luckhurst: Lunchbox politics really takes the biscuit
The opening column takes on the culture war around school lunchboxes — who packs what, who judges whom. Luckhurst's solution: mono-lunchers can keep their sad salads, and everyone else should mind their own sandwiches. A sharp 800-word opener that lands the magazine's tone before the heavier features follow.

▸ Culture / Food

p.48 · Long Lunch: Camilla endures a long-winded Northumbrian restaurant in London's East End
The restaurant critic visits a Northumbrian-themed spot in east London. The review format is narrative rather than star-based. A reminder that regional British cuisine outside London rarely translates well when stripped of its original setting.

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Editor's Take

This is the strongest general-interest issue of The Sunday Times Magazine in the current batch. The 10-page salary survey is genuinely original journalism — raw, transparent and useful in a way that most "money" features aren't. The Eric Idle and Cat Deeley/Ben Shephard interviews both deliver personal details that didn't appear in the morning's news cycle. The burnout health page is concrete enough to act on. Weaknesses: the "OK boomers" Seven Up! piece reads as a teaser for the documentary rather than a standalone feature, and Ben Tish's recipes page is too short to cook from properly (three dishes max). The Martin Parr photograph used on the cover is a striking image but has nothing to do with the salary theme inside. Best for readers who like their Sunday supplement heavy on reported features and light on shopping — this issue has almost no fashion pages, which may disappoint Style regulars but will please anyone tired of advertorial spreads.

Strengths
• 10-page salary survey with named real earners and specific figures
• Eric Idle interview with genuine personal stakes (cancer, Cleese feud)
• Burnout health page with WHO-sourced clinical grounding

Weaknesses
• Seven Up! piece is a documentary trailer, not a feature
• Cover image (Parr racegoers) unrelated to cover story theme
• Only one recipes page — too thin for a cooking reader

Verdict: Recommended — the salary survey alone justifies the cover price, and the double interview with Deeley and Shephard is the best read on daytime TV's post-Schofield recovery you will find this month.