diff --git a/hammond-gtk/src/main.rs b/hammond-gtk/src/main.rs
index a648f9b..d5b2b4e 100644
--- a/hammond-gtk/src/main.rs
+++ b/hammond-gtk/src/main.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ extern crate lazy_static;
 extern crate log;
 
 extern crate chrono;
-extern crate dissolve;
+// extern crate dissolve;
 extern crate hammond_data;
 extern crate hammond_downloader;
 extern crate humansize;
diff --git a/hammond-gtk/src/utils.rs b/hammond-gtk/src/utils.rs
index 81a9bad..f7c438f 100644
--- a/hammond-gtk/src/utils.rs
+++ b/hammond-gtk/src/utils.rs
@@ -257,6 +257,49 @@ pub fn time_period_to_duration(time: i64, period: &str) -> Duration {
     }
 }
 
+/// https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/fractal/blob/da016b252a0710ffd324469cd2059e3e090695eb/fractal-gtk/src/util.rs#L44-79
+/// Converts the input `&str` to pango format, replacing special characters
+/// `&, < and >` and parses URLS to show as a link
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```
+/// let m = markup("this is parsed");
+/// assert_eq!(&m, "this is parsed");
+///
+/// let m = markup("this is <span>parsed</span>");
+/// assert_eq!(&m, "this is &lt;parsed&gt;");
+///
+/// let m = markup();
+/// assert_eq!(&m, "with links: <a href=\"http://gnome.org\">http://gnome.org</a> ");
+/// ```
+pub fn html_to_pango_markup(s: &str) -> String {
+    let mut out = String::from(s);
+
+    out = String::from(out.trim());
+    out = out.replace('&', "&amp;");
+    out = out.replace('<', "&lt;");
+    out = out.replace('>', "&gt;");
+
+    let amp = "(&amp;)";
+    let domain = "[^\\s,)(\"]+";
+    let param = format!("({amp}?\\w+(=[\\w._-]+)?)", amp = amp);
+    let params = format!("(\\?{param}*)*", param = param);
+    let hash = "(#[\\w._-]+)?";
+
+    let regex_str = format!(
+        "(https?://{domain}{params}{hash})",
+        domain = domain,
+        params = params,
+        hash = hash
+    );
+
+    let re = Regex::new(&regex_str).unwrap();
+    out = String::from(re.replace_all(&out, "<a href=\"$0\">$0</a>"));
+
+    out
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -327,4 +370,44 @@ mod tests {
         let id = 000000000;
         assert!(lookup_id(id).is_err());
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_markup() {
+        let markup = html_to_pango_markup;
+        let m = markup("this is parsed");
+        assert_eq!(&m, "this is parsed");
+
+        let m = markup("this is <span>parsed</span>");
+        assert_eq!(&m, "this is &lt;span&gt;parsed&lt;/span&gt;");
+
+        let m = markup("this is &ssdf;");
+        assert_eq!(&m, "this is &amp;ssdf;");
+
+        let url = "http://url.com/test?param1&param2=test&param3#hashing";
+        let m = markup(&format!("this is &ssdf; {}", url));
+        assert_eq!(
+            &m,
+            &format!(
+                "this is &amp;ssdf; <a href=\"{0}\">{0}</a>",
+                url.replace('&', "&amp;")
+            )
+        );
+
+        for l in &[
+            ("with links: http://gnome.org :D", "http://gnome.org"),
+            (
+                "with links: http://url.com/test.html&stuff :D",
+                "http://url.com/test.html&stuff",
+            ),
+        ] {
+            let m = markup(l.0);
+            assert_eq!(
+                &m,
+                &format!(
+                    "with links: <a href=\"{0}\">{0}</a> :D",
+                    l.1.replace('&', "&amp;")
+                )
+            );
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/hammond-gtk/src/widgets/show.rs b/hammond-gtk/src/widgets/show.rs
index ca5ca04..8415ad8 100644
--- a/hammond-gtk/src/widgets/show.rs
+++ b/hammond-gtk/src/widgets/show.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use dissolve;
+// use dissolve;
 use failure::Error;
 // use glib;
 use gtk;
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@ use open;
 
 use hammond_data::Podcast;
 use hammond_data::dbqueries;
-use hammond_data::utils::replace_extra_spaces;
+// use hammond_data::utils::replace_extra_spaces;
 
 use app::Action;
-use utils::set_image_from_path;
+use utils::{html_to_pango_markup, set_image_from_path};
+// use utils::set_image_from_path;
 use widgets::episode::episodes_listbox;
 
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -120,8 +121,9 @@ impl ShowWidget {
     fn set_description(&self, text: &str) {
         // TODO: Temporary solution until we render html urls/bold/italic probably with
         // markup.
-        let desc = dissolve::strip_html_tags(text).join(" ");
-        self.description.set_text(&replace_extra_spaces(&desc));
+        // let desc = dissolve::strip_html_tags(text).join(" ");
+        // self.description.set_text(&replace_extra_spaces(&desc));
+        self.description.set_text(&html_to_pango_markup(text));
     }
 
     /// Set scrolled window vertical adjustment.