Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-12-08T15:02:25.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Legendary photographer Martin Parr looks back on his work and recalls the way we were
items: Call the Midwife star reveals she wants a damehood as cast tease much-anticipated 2025 Christmas special
items: 10 Questions with Alan Cumming
items: Alan Cumming teases "prescient" new show from Russell T Davies about rage faced by "marginalised people"
items: View from My Sofa: Mandip Gill
items: Doctor Who favourite Mandip Gill teases "furthering" relationship between Thirteen and Yaz in new adventures
items: 'I'm not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories'
items: Hark the Poplar angels sing!
items: Joanna Lumley dishes on Ghost Story for Christmas: "I'm not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories"
items: Call the Midwife 2025 Christmas preview as Trixie's marriage gets a major update
items: Caught in the crossfire
items: Prisoner 951 writer reveals why Boris Johnson wasn't cast with "buffoon" performance in Zaghari-Ratcliffe drama
items: Meet the family
items: 'It's a joy to be a part of'
items: The sum of her parts
items: View from My Sofa: Kate Garraway
items: Dobson's choice
items: The Forsytes cast - from Poldark to Doctor Who stars - reveal all about their dramatic new revamp of the iconic period drama
items: From Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle to Doctor Who - Shirley Henderson reveals secrets behind her iconic roles
items: Kate Garraway reveals the fan-favourite she predicts will win The Celebrity Traitors — and who has slipped up
items: Celebrity Traitors' Kate Garraway reveals the fan-favourite she predicts will win – and who has slipped up
items: Anita Dobson teases the Rani's return to Doctor Who following Mrs Flood cliffhanger as she talks new role
items: View from my sofa: Rick Edwards
items: Rick Edwards reveals why fatherhood has changed his presenting work for ever - and talks his modelling past
items: All Creatures Great and Small's Anna Madeley on Mrs Hall's secret talent – and *that* Siegfried speculation
items: 'It's The Forsytes with a lot of Dallas'
items: The new Forsyte Saga is not a straight adaptation of "male-centric novels", says Poldark creator
items: View from my sofa: Amanda Holden
items: Amanda Holden: 'My daughter's not a nepo baby – her success is nothing to do with me'
items: View from My Sofa: Eric Idle

Legendary photographer Martin Parr looks back on his work and recalls the way we were
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T15:02:25.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: Speaking to Gareth McLean in Radio Times magazine back in August 2025, Martin Parr shared his singular vision of Britain.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine in August 2025 – just months ahead of Parr’s death on Saturday 6th December 2025. “Yellow card!” Martin Parr admonishes. “You’re intellectualising these things a bit too much for my liking.” I have earned his reproach for suggesting that the razing of the Lido in New Brighton — as featured in The Last Resort, the series of photographs that made his name — could be seen as a metaphor for the hollowing-out of Britain’s working-class communities over the past 40 years. “There’s politics in my images if you want to find it, but I don’t push it down people’s throats,” Parr proclaims. “People should just sit back and enjoy the images, really.” People certainly do enjoy Parr’s photography. As well as chronicling changing life in Britain, Parr’s work has transformed photography itself, with his garish but gritty signature style influencing everything from fashion editorials to war-zone reportage. Why does he take photographs? “It’s just what I do naturally,” he says. “I have a desire to go out and capture these images, and the crazier the scene in front of me, the happier I am.” The subject of a BBC4 documentary and co-author of an upcoming memoir, Utterly Lazy and Inattentive, which looks at his life by reflecting on 150 of his best-known photographs, Parr says that of the hundreds of thousands of photographs he’s taken, not one of them has been perfect — though he’s got close. “You know when you’re out shooting that most pictures you take aren’t going to be perfect or great. But you keep shooting to have that momentum so, as and when, things start to fall into place.” Parr ponders. “It’s just the luck of finding a scene.” Mayor of Todmorden’s Inaugural Banquet, West Yorkshire 1977 “Between 1975 and 1980, I lived in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire and would attend all the different social events that were going on. This photograph was taken at the inauguration of the mayor of Todmorden, and it’s the best buffet sce…

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Call the Midwife star reveals she wants a damehood as cast tease much-anticipated 2025 Christmas special
type: item
date: 2025-12-07T16:00:17.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Magazine
description: As Call the Midwife returns for Christmas, Judy Parfitt and Helen George talk friendship, fame and festive traditions after more than a decade at Nonnatus House.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Judy Parfitt, 90, plays Sister Monica Joan, the Keats-quoting grande dame of Nonnatus House. Devoted to her calling, she has an abiding love of cake and an interest in astrology. Helen George, 41, plays Trixie Aylward, the troubled party girl – but formidable midwife – who married a baronet. The pair have worked together since the drama began in 2012. Helen, when did you first meet Judy? Helen: At the first-ever read-through, and she looked every bit the star she is: sparkling blue eyes, fiery red curls, beautiful cashmere and pearls complementing her porcelain skin. I introduced myself – nervously – and she was delightful. I was terrified initially because she has such a strong presence, but she quickly took me under her wing. She’s been a wonderful friend and confidante over the years, be it in work or in my private life. I love her dearly. Working with Judy and Jenny Agutter and watching the way they conduct themselves on set – how fun they are and how naughty they can be, but how professional and how dedicated they are to their craft – has been an exemplary education. Judy, were you aware you were such an inspiration? Judy: Monica Joan is such a wonderful character and I’ve been having so much fun; I didn’t think I was teaching anyone anything. I was educated in a convent, you see, and I always wanted to play a nun. Helen: What I admire most about Judy is that she gets the work done, but with such innate talent. She doesn’t suffer fools – she’s very direct, unapologetically, and I really appreciate that, especially as a woman. I used to always apologise for myself. Now I think, ‘I’ll be a bit more Judy!’ I just say it. Without a sorry at the end. She gets away with so much because of that sparkle in her eyes! She’s an icon. Do you feel iconic, Judy? Judy: Well, I haven’t got anything after my name to say that I am! Would you like something? Judy: I’d like to be Dame Judy, for my family and for me. So many acto…

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10 Questions with Alan Cumming
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor and presenter on The Traitors, speaking out — and being a superhero
encoded: Over an illustrious 40-year career, Alan Cumming, 60, has appeared in an eclectic range of TV shows, films and stage plays — from the Emcee, full of licentious glee, in Sam Mendes’ productions of Cabaret to the weapons-grade camp host of The Traitors USA. Grammy-nominated, he has won Emmy, Tony and Olivier awards and was named by Time magazine as one of the three most fun people in showbusiness (alongside Stanley Tucci and Cher, apparently). He’s played God and the Devil, sold out Carnegie Hall and written seven books. Now, the actor-writer-singer-activist-photographer has added artistic director to his talents, taking charge at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland where he recently announced his inaugural season next year. You have quite a CV — have you ever been presented with an opportunity and thought “I’ll pass”? I believe in saying yes – and why not? If you have the pizazz and passion for it, give it a go. I feel like the most successful things I’ve done are things I haven’t overthought. I’ve just had a funny feeling in my tummy, excited and inspired, which is what I’ve got about Pitlochry. It’s about celebrating Scottish talent and bringing new ideas and international stuff to Scotland. When you were on Desert Island Discs, you said, “I do things I might fail at”. You’re not frightened of failure then? I’m not. I mean, it’s not my favourite thing, but Patti Smith said to me, “Alan, it won’t be a failure if you’ve done your best”. It could be a failure in financial terms, but those things don’t matter to me. The biggest and most important critic to me is myself. I’ve found in my life that if you believe in something, your passion can inspire other people. This is why I think I’d make a good cult leader. It feels harder than ever to be hopeful these days. As someone who lives in America, how do you remain optimistic? Depressed isn’t quite the right word to describe how I feel about American politics. I’m disgusted. Appalled. I recently hosted The Jimmy Kimmel…

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height: 1287

Alan Cumming teases "prescient" new show from Russell T Davies about rage faced by "marginalised people"
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:35.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The actor and presenter on The Traitors, speaking out – and being a superhero.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Over an illustrious 40-year career, Alan Cumming, 60, has appeared in an eclectic range of TV shows, films and stage plays — from the Emcee, full of licentious glee, in Sam Mendes’ productions of Cabaret to the weapons-grade camp host of The Traitors USA. Grammy-nominated, he has won Emmy, Tony and Olivier awards and was named by Time magazine as one of the three most fun people in showbusiness (alongside Stanley Tucci and Cher, apparently). He’s played God and the Devil, sold out Carnegie Hall and written seven books. Now, the actor-writer-singer-activist-photographer has added artistic director to his talents, taking charge at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland where he recently announced his inaugural season next year. You have quite a CV – have you ever been presented with an opportunity and thought “I’ll pass”? I believe in saying yes – and why not? If you have the pizazz and passion for it, give it a go. I feel like the most successful things I’ve done are things I haven’t overthought. I’ve just had a funny feeling in my tummy, excited and inspired, which is what I’ve got about Pitlochry. It’s about celebrating Scottish talent and bringing new ideas and international stuff to Scotland. When you were on Desert Island Discs, you said, “I do things I might fail at”. You’re not frightened of failure then? I’m not. I mean, it’s not my favourite thing, but Patti Smith said to me, “Alan, it won’t be a failure if you’ve done your best”. It could be a failure in financial terms, but those things don’t matter to me. The biggest and most important critic to me is myself. I’ve found in my life that if you believe in something, your passion can inspire other people. This is why I think I’d make a good cult leader. It feels harder than ever to be hopeful these days. As someone who lives in America, how do you remain optimistic? Depressed isn’t quite the right word to describe how I feel about American politics. I’m di…

View from My Sofa: Mandip Gill
type: item
subject: App
subject: App features
description: She’s currently a copper in the Peak District, but this city girl would love to play a villain
encoded: Add Cooper and Fry to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? A massive pouffe to put my legs on and a lovely-sized TV. But what I really like to look at are memorabilia from shows that I’ve done, because when I think of the show, I think of the people. What kind of memorabilia? By the TV, there’s a gold frame from Can You Keep a Secret?, a sitcom that I filmed this year with Dawn French and Mark Heap [coming to BBC One in early 2026]. I’m really proud of it. I’ve seen bits of it five or six times and they still make me laugh. As a wrap gift, Dawn bought us each a lovely plate with Can You Keep a Secret? written around the rim, so I’ve got that out, too. Any other notable pieces? One of the presents that Jodie Whittaker bought me when we were doing Doctor Who [Gill played the Doctor’s companion Yasmin Khan] was this gorgeous lamp with a massive round bulb.The bulb has blown now and I can’t afford to replace it, but it’s not just an ornament because it wasn’t just a lamp. I look at it and I think of the show and of Jodie. In the kitchen, I’ve got a piece of fan art. Someone engraved Jodie and me in the last scene of Doctor Who onto a piece of cork, and it’s so beautiful. You reunited with Jodie to do Doctor Who audio dramas. How was that? So good. You’ve gone back to characters you adore, you’re working with these amazing people and also having such a laugh. They don’t need a budget for location so these stories can go anywhere – and you don’t need to learn your lines. And I get to spend 72 hours in a room with one of my best friends! We further that relationship between the Doctor and Yas that I know a lot of people cared about and invested in. I know I did. Your current TV drama series, Cooper & Fry, is adapted from the novels of Stephen Booth about an odd couple of Peak District detectives. Are you an avid reader? I started reading self-help books as an adult and everyone was like, “Are you OK?” Now I’m reading what I would call “warm books” – self-help, bu…

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Doctor Who favourite Mandip Gill teases "furthering" relationship between Thirteen and Yaz in new adventures
type: item
date: 2025-11-28T17:01:38.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: "I know a lot of people cared about and invested in [it]. I know I did."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? A massive pouffe to put my legs on and a lovely-sized TV. But what I really like to look at are memorabilia from shows that I’ve done, because when I think of the show, I think of the people. What kind of memorabilia? By the TV, there’s a gold frame from Can You Keep a Secret?, a sitcom that I filmed this year with Dawn French and Mark Heap [coming to BBC One in early 2026]. I’m really proud of it. I’ve seen bits of it five or six times and they still make me laugh. As a wrap gift, Dawn bought us each a lovely plate with Can You Keep a Secret? written around the rim, so I’ve got that out, too. Any other notable pieces? One of the presents that Jodie Whittaker bought me when we were doing Doctor Who [Gill played the Doctor’s companion Yasmin Khan] was this gorgeous lamp with a massive round bulb. The bulb has blown now and I can’t afford to replace it, but it’s not just an ornament because it wasn’t just a lamp. I look at it and I think of the show and of Jodie. In the kitchen, I’ve got a piece of fan art. Someone engraved Jodie and me in the last scene of Doctor Who onto a piece of cork, and it’s so beautiful. You reunited with Jodie to do Doctor Who audio dramas. How was that? So good. You’ve gone back to characters you adore, you’re working with these amazing people and also having such a laugh. They don’t need a budget for location so these stories can go anywhere – and you don’t need to learn your lines. And I get to spend 72 hours in a room with one of my best friends! We further that relationship between the Doctor and Yas that I know a lot of people cared about and invested in. I know I did. Your current TV drama series, Cooper & Fry, is adapted from the novels of Stephen Booth about an odd couple of Peak District detectives. Are you an avid reader? I started reading self-help books as an adult and everyone was like, “Are you OK?” Now I’m reading what I would call “warm books…

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height: 4088

'I'm not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories'
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The Ab Fab and Amandaland star dishes on ghosts, ghouls, and gore.
encoded: Add A Ghost Story for Christmas to your watchlist The day Radio Times visited the set of the Ghost Story for Christmas, The Room in the Tower, Dame Joanna Lumley was filming a pivotal scene, unrecognisable under impressive prosthetics. It is only between takes that her trademark plummy timbre confirmed that, yes, it was her under the make-up. “I do like a scary story. I’m not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories,” she enthuses afterwards. This is probably just as well, given her acquaintance with the genre. In the 1973 Hammer horror The Satanic Rites of Dracula, where Christopher Lee’s titular Transylvanian plotted to exterminate humanity, Lumley played Jessica Van Helsing, the often-screaming object of the count’s affections. This year, she appeared in Netflix’s Addams Family reboot Wednesday as Morticia’s mother, Hester. And in between, there was also the slightly terrifying Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous. “She can’t be killed,” Lumley says, merrily. “She lives off air and alcohol and smoke and drugs.” To that oeuvre, she now adds Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of the EF Benson story for what is the Sherlock writer’s eighth chilling tale for Yuletide. In it, Tobias Menzies plays a man haunted by a recurring dream of being invited to stay in a house that hides an unseen terror. Lumley plays its sinister mistress. It is The New Avengers and Amandaland star as you’ve never seen her before. I ask the most obvious question: does she believe in ghosts? “I do believe that there are ghosts. We know what happens to our bodies — to bones, to dust, then gone — but I can’t believe that the rest of it, the soul or the mind or the spark, just goes too. It goes somewhere…” She also believes in God — or something bigger than us at least. “I adore classical music and I’m so lucky to be married to a musician [conductor Stephen Barlow] because I learn from him all the time, and I do believe that there is such a thing as ‘the divine spark’.” She carries on with enthusias…

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height: 2856

Hark the Poplar angels sing!
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: From lunchtime carols to Michael Bublé, boozy cakes and EastEnders – Renee Bailey, Helen George and Natalie Quarry share their seasonal secrets
encoded: Add Call the Midwife to your watchlist Helen George plays Trixie Aylward <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/CMT-Christmas-92d8eab.jpg" width="7236" height="4824" alt="Two women dressed as angels walk through a snowy street at night, smiling as they take part in a festive parade. They wear white coats with fluffy collars and large feathered wings. One pushes a decorated pram covered in white fabric and gold stars, while the other waves at onlookers. Snow falls heavily around them, and a brass band plays in the background beneath strings of laundry hanging overhead." title="Call the Midwife" /> How is Trixie this festive season? Even though there’s a huge distance between Trixie and her husband, things feel more stable than they possibly ever have. For once, she feels settled, strong even, and in a space, psychologically and literally, where she feels at home. But you do wonder how Trixie would react if her whole world were to change, if Nonnatus House faced a fresh threat to its very existence. Trixie deserves stability after all the tumult but, as an actor, do you wonder where the drama is going to come from if she’s content? It’s quite a relief, actually. I’ve spent so much time enduring, going through things and being desperately heartbroken all the time, it’s really fun that now she’s fighting other people’s battles and not her own. Given this is the 14th Yuletide edition of Call the Midwife, there must be a great feeling of camaraderie! It’s a family and I absolutely adore them all. It’s Judy Parfitt’s (Sister Monica Joan) birthday today; it’s lovely that she’s here so we’re celebrating together and have filled her trailer with balloons and flowers. I had a Halloween party – I went as a banshee and my daughters [she has two, aged eight and four, whom she shares with her ex-partner Jack Ashton] were clowns so were terrifying – and Hilda, a focus puller on the crew, came with her husband and her son, and Victoria Yeates wh…

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Joanna Lumley dishes on Ghost Story for Christmas: "I'm not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories"
type: item
date: 2025-11-25T11:10:23.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Christmas
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Ab Fab and Amandaland star dishes on ghosts, ghouls, and gore.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The day Radio Times visited the set of the Ghost Story for Christmas, The Room in the Tower, Dame Joanna Lumley was filming a pivotal scene, unrecognisable under impressive prosthetics. It is only between takes that her trademark plummy timbre confirmed that, yes, it was her under the make-up. “I do like a scary story. I’m not tremendous on gore but I do love frightening stories,” she enthuses afterwards. This is probably just as well, given her acquaintance with the genre. In the 1973 Hammer horror The Satanic Rites of Dracula, where Christopher Lee’s titular Transylvanian plotted to exterminate humanity, Lumley played Jessica Van Helsing, the often-screaming object of the count’s affections. This year, she appeared in Netflix’s Addams Family reboot Wednesday as Morticia’s mother, Hester. And in between, there was also the slightly terrifying Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous. “She can’t be killed,” Lumley says, merrily. “She lives off air and alcohol and smoke and drugs.” To that oeuvre, she now adds Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of the EF Benson story for what is the Sherlock writer’s eighth chilling tale for Yuletide. In it, Tobias Menzies plays a man haunted by a recurring dream of being invited to stay in a house that hides an unseen terror. Lumley plays its sinister mistress. It is The New Avengers and Amandaland star as you’ve never seen her before. I ask the most obvious question: does she believe in ghosts? “I do believe that there are ghosts. We know what happens to our bodies – to bones, to dust, then gone – but I can’t believe that the rest of it, the soul or the mind or the spark, just goes too. It goes somewhere…” She also believes in God – or something bigger than us at least. “I adore classical music and I’m so lucky to be married to a musician [conductor Stephen Barlow] because I learn from him all the time, and I do believe that there is such a thing as ‘the divine spark’.” She carries on with enthus…

Call the Midwife 2025 Christmas preview as Trixie's marriage gets a major update
type: item
date: 2025-11-25T00:00:38.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Ahead of the annual Call the Midwife Christmas special, Helen George lifts the lid on Trixie and Matthew.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Ahead of this year's Call the Midwife Christmas special, Helen George sat down with Radio Times to discuss what's going on with Trixie and Matthew, her love of the festive season, and her upcoming stint as the Fairy Godmother in the Richmond Theatre's Cinderella pantomime. How is Trixie this festive season? Even though there’s a huge distance between Trixie and her husband, things feel more stable than they possibly ever have. For once, she feels settled, strong even, and in a space, psychologically and literally, where she feels at home. But you do wonder how Trixie would react if her whole world were to change, if Nonnatus House faced a fresh threat to its very existence. Trixie deserves stability after all the tumult but, as an actor, do you wonder where the drama is going to come from if she’s content? It’s quite a relief, actually. I’ve spent so much time enduring, going through things and being desperately heartbroken all the time, it’s really fun that now she’s fighting other people’s battles and not her own. Given this is the 14th Yuletide edition of Call the Midwife, there must be a great feeling of camaraderie! It’s a family and I absolutely adore them all. It’s Judy Parfitt’s (Sister Monica Joan) birthday today; it’s lovely that she’s here so we’re celebrating together and have filled her trailer with balloons and flowers. I had a Halloween party – I went as a banshee and my daughters [she has two, aged eight and four, whom she shares with her ex-partner Jack Ashton] were clowns so were terrifying – and Hilda, a focus puller on the crew, came with her husband and her son, and Victoria Yeates who played Sister Winifred came along, too. It’s just so nice to be in each other’s lives, and for so long. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/CMT-Christmas-92d8eab.jpg" width="7236" height="4824" alt="Two women dressed as angels walk through a snowy street at night, smiling…

Caught in the crossfire
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held prisoner in Iran for six years, while her husband fought for her freedom. A new BBC drama tries to do their story justice
encoded: Add Prisoner 951 to your watchlist Among the myriad delicate, difficult and perplexing questions that Stephen Butchard had to ask himself while writing Prisoner 951, was whether or not to feature Boris Johnson. As Foreign Secretary, Johnson played a pivotal part in the story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained and imprisoned by Iran for six years from 2016, and her husband Richard, who kept her name in the news in the UK by any means he could, including going on hunger strike. In November 2017, Johnson incorrectly told a Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran “simply teaching people journalism” and although immediately refuted (she was visiting relatives), the Iranian authorities claimed that Johnson’s blunder was proof that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was engaged in propaganda against the regime. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/Prisoner-951-Nazanin-Zaghari-Ratcliffe-Richard-Ratcliffe-d7857da.jpg" width="4582" height="3055" alt="Narges Rashidi as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Joseph Fiennes as Richard Ratcliffe in Prisoner 951, sitting on a park bench with her head resting on his shoulder." title="Narges Rashidi as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Joseph Fiennes as Richard Ratcliffe in Prisoner 951." /> Undoubtedly, Johnson’s remarks endangered Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, increased risk for her in detention and raised the spectre of Iran adding years to her sentence. When, in 2022, she met Johnson after her release, Zaghari-Ratcliffe told the then prime minister that she had “lived in the shadow” of his words for the past four and a half years. So Butchard couldn’t ignore the part that Johnson played. But casting someone to play him could become a distracting sideshow that both pulled focus and changed the timbre of the drama. “I decided we shouldn’t have an actor,” Butchard says. “Boris Johnson is almost a caricature himself, and if you bring in an actor to play that caricature, you get a buffoon…

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Prisoner 951 writer reveals why Boris Johnson wasn't cast with "buffoon" performance in Zaghari-Ratcliffe drama
type: item
date: 2025-11-18T00:01:20.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held prisoner in Iran for six years, while her husband fought for her freedom. A new BBC drama tries to do their story justice.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Among the myriad delicate, difficult and perplexing questions that Stephen Butchard had to ask himself while writing Prisoner 951, was whether or not to feature Boris Johnson. As Foreign Secretary, Johnson played a pivotal part in the story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained and imprisoned by Iran for six years from 2016, and her husband Richard, who kept her name in the news in the UK by any means he could, including going on hunger strike. In November 2017, Johnson incorrectly told a Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran “simply teaching people journalism” and although immediately refuted (she was visiting relatives), the Iranian authorities claimed that Johnson’s blunder was proof that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was engaged in propaganda against the regime. Undoubtedly, Johnson’s remarks endangered Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, increased risk for her in detention and raised the spectre of Iran adding years to her sentence. When, in 2022, she met Johnson after her release, Zaghari-Ratcliffe told the then prime minister that she had “lived in the shadow” of his words for the past four and a half years. So Butchard couldn’t ignore the part that Johnson played. But casting someone to play him could become a distracting sideshow that both pulled focus and changed the timbre of the drama. “I decided we shouldn’t have an actor,” Butchard says. “Boris Johnson is almost a caricature himself, and if you bring in an actor to play that caricature, you get a buffoon. You might want to do it, but it wouldn’t be truthful.” Instead, Butchard opted for a smarter solution: he cast Johnson as himself. “You look for archive footage – from the news, say – and you play what he said off other characters.” This choice is informed by, and informs, answers to other questions that are fundamental to the nature of Prisoner 951 and the story that Butchard, director Philippa Lowthorpe and actors Joseph Fiennes a…

Meet the family
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The cast of 5's costume drama, The Forsytes, on powerful families, Britain's relationship with money – and hair...
encoded: Add The Forsytes to your watchlist James Forsyte played by Jack Davenport What appealed to you about The Forsytes? One of Debbie Horsfield’s great skills is that she’s able to wrestle these giant, creaky old galleons of novels into more modern shapes and reframe what the focus is. She and Damien [Timmer, The Forsytes’ executive producer] said they were interested in exploring patriarchy and its structures, such as primogeniture [the right of succession belonging to the first-born son] and how that system eats people alive. Because even though they’re rich and privileged, the likes of Jolyon Sr and James, and Jolyon Jr and Soames have no real agency because their paths are preordained. That intrigued me. Also, they wanted to focus on the women who, because they don’t have power, have a self-awareness that the men do not. So the men are powerful but clueless — and that tension seemed like an interesting thing to play with. Isn’t The Forsytes about Britain and its relationship with money and power? Don’t forget that the Forsytes are not aristocrats. They are upper-middle-class, and they have made their money by taking advantage of other people. When I’m in central London and I look up at the limestone buildings, I think to myself: this is a small island that can fit into the state of Texas seven times and yet look at this place! It’s a lot of blood and treasure that made this. We had our foot on a lot of people’s throats to achieve what we achieved. My character is a ghastly human, and I welcome Debbie’s subtle critique of the system that has made him extremely wealthy. Jolyon Forsyte played by Danny Griffin The last leading man in a Debbie Horsfield adaptation was Aidan Turner in Poldark. No pressure on you then… Yeah, it is a big deal. I was very nervous when I started on the show. I wanted to prepare — overprepare, really — as it’s all you can do. I had a lot of questions for Debbie when we first met. Questions about the stuff that the audience wouldn’t know that I …

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'It's a joy to be a part of'
type: item
date: 2025-11-14T14:24:39.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Stephen Moyer loves a collection, from guitars and typewriters to great roles – and his latest in The Forsytes is one to treasure
encoded: Add The Forsytes to your watchlist In the course of our 45-minute interview that lasts an hour and a half, Stephen Moyer, 56, shares that he collects guitars – which he has hung up on the walls of his new home in Suffolk, because he can’t actually play the guitar – and typewriters, of which he has 30. We establish that he looks good in a duffle coat – which not every grown man does – and what he has in his pockets. Namely a “quite rare” $1 coin and an acorn, “which is a long story”. Further, he impresses upon me the virtues of good headphones and quality speakers, summer evening walks on Clifton Down in Bristol [he stays in the city while filming The Forsytes] and cooking for one in a Belfast kitchen. He confesses a love for Marmite and peanut butter, and details his favourite snack. “Anna [Paquin, his actress wife] calls them Stevie Snacks and they consist of some cheese, roasted almonds, some saucisson and chutney.” His mum makes an amazing green tomato chutney, apparently. “I’ve got jars from 1994 in my cupboard and I’m not even joking.” In his 20s, Moyer lived on a houseboat for seven years in London’s Little Venice, with no electricity – which is why he bought his first typewriter – and recently, in his 50s, he’s taken up sailing. “I really love that it’s an ancient skill and it doesn’t involve phones. I spend a lot of time in the digital world and I love it, but I’m actually quite analogue.” Moyer is great company, as inquisitive as he is forthcoming. You might be tempted to say that his work is the least interesting thing about him. Except that isn’t true. For this Essex-born actor, who made it big in America, also collects great roles, recently adding two very different characters to his collection. First, there is patriarch Jolyon Forsyte Sr in Debbie Horsfield’s fantastic take on John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga. “What Debbie has done is empower the female characters in the story to be having the conversations that they weren’t having in the novel,” he s…

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The sum of her parts
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: A ghost, a journalist, a small furry alien in a galaxy far, far away… Shirley Henderson recalls some of her most significant roles – and her latest
encoded: Add Summerwater to your watchlist In Summerwater, adapted from Sarah Moss’s novel about the British capacity for both cruelty and compassion, Shirley Henderson plays Annie Campbell, a visitor to the lochside holiday cabins that give this tense thriller its title. Geographically, Summerwater is situated in the Highlands; psychologically, it feels a stone’s throw from The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Henderson doesn’t want to say too much about Annie for fear of spoiling the drama, which she describes as “an investigation of relationships, of memory and of longing”, but she will say that “something’s happening, something’s changing for her, and parts of her are leaving her”. Locked in a fraught marriage to Dougray Scott’s brittle Dr David Campbell, it may be Annie’s life that leaves her before the series’ end. In episode two, the pair take an ill-advised clifftop walk, during which the good doctor is clearly thinking bad thoughts, though Annie is breezily oblivious — or seems so. Like many of the characters Henderson has played, Annie has hinterland. When I first interviewed Henderson 21 years ago, she told me “it’s fun being messy or angry or disturbed,” and her CV is populated with such characters. But there are plenty of others, too… 'I'd never filmed before' Elizabeth Findlay in Shadow of the Stone STV (1987) Available on YouTube Children’s TV drama about a young girl and her 17th-century alter ego, who is accused of being a witch. “This was my first job. I got the part after Leonard White — who was a lovely man — from Scottish Television saw me in my last play at drama school. I stayed at my auntie’s, got the bus into Glasgow, walked up to the STV studios, got changed and went to work — and then did the reverse at the end of the day. It was Monday to Friday and we always finished around five o’clock. No job has ever been as civilised. I’d never done any filming before and I didn’t know any filming techniques so Leonard, who directed it, was teaching me at the same t…

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View from My Sofa: Kate Garraway
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The broadcaster has found solace in nature — and in the company of Traitors
encoded: Add The Celebrity Traitors to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? The view is brilliant because it faces, not the TV, but the windows. So, out the window, I have this view of trees. Lots and lots of trees. I look out and see the seasons from my sofa – as well as a very nice bird feeder. Sounds thoroughly rural. I live in a bit of north London, which they’ve worked out used to be some kind of fruit forest for a king or queen of the past. We’ve got plums and pears and apples and cherries and greengages – all delicious, by the way. Trees are beautiful. They flower and they fruit and they’re the lungs of the Earth. I am a tree-hugger. I love hugging a tree. I feel like I sense the vibrations. Speaking of sensing vibrations, how was The Celebrity Traitors for you? I loved it. Being thrown in with that group of people was extraordinary and intense. You’ve got no phone, wi-fi, TV or radio so you’re in this bubble, everyone’s feeling a bit vulnerable and you’re very much absorbed in the game. How did it feel being cut off from technology and just sitting with yourself? I like having what I call a “power-down”. When it all gets a bit overwhelming, I have a zone out and, when I’m at home, stare at my trees out of my window. I’ve been trying to do more of that because real life is hectic and we have a lot of demands on us. How do you think you played the game? They were all suspicious of me from day one and I was voted the weakest player by the Traitors and everybody agreed with that so, in one way, not great. But the Faithful didn’t get a Traitor until after me. It’s a challenge – as a Faithful you’re trying to stay alive and not be murdered or banished because you can’t catch a Traitor when you’re out. How do you feel watching it back? It’s so beautifully put together and it’s fascinating, in that a lot of things that seemed big in my head didn’t feature at all, and things that seem obvious in watching it weren’t obvious when you’re in there. Everyone keeps saying…

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Dobson's choice
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Anita Dobson was wooed by James Mason, witnessed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, created one of soap’s most famous characters and ripped up time in Doctor Who. Now she’s reviving Play for Today
encoded: Add Play for Today: Never Too Late to your watchlist Anita Dobson suspects you get more fearless as you get older. “You should do, shouldn’t you?” she says conspiratorially. “The third time they asked me to do Strictly,” she continues, by way of explanation, “my best friend said to me, ‘You love dancing. Why do you keep saying no?’ I said, ‘I suppose I’m a bit scared of making a fool of myself.’ And she said, ‘At 62, do you care?’ And in that moment, I realised I didn’t.” So, in 2011, she signed up for the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing, continuing in the competition until a very respectable ninth week. There were scary moments during her Strictly experience, but Dobson used fear, not as a brake, but as an engine. Fearlessness features in Never Too Late, the first of 5’s reinvention of Play for Today, the classic series of one-off plays broadcast on the BBC from 1970 to 1984. Dobson plays Cynthia, a sprightly senior citizen who, after one too many funny turns, is packed off to a retirement village by her daughter (Tracy-Ann Oberman). This institutional life ill-fits free-spirit Cyn and soon she’s protesting about rules and regulations – and quite possibly railing against the distant but encroaching dying of the light. If the drama is a meditation on mortality, it’s one with gags about escaped snakes and randy pensioners – and Nigel Havers. He pops up as Frank, Cynthia’s estranged former flame and faded 60s crooner. Capers ensue, secrets are revealed and there’s some singing. “After I read it, I rang them straightaway and said, ‘Yes, definitely. 100 per cent.’ I was gung-ho to get on board,” Dobson enthuses, “especially as it was giving people opportunities who might not otherwise get them.” Like the other Plays for Today (see page 23), Never Too Late was commissioned by 5 with the express intention of championing new behind-the-scenes talent. A laudable ambition that, upon watching the Plays, you wish 5 had believed in a bit more and invested just a bit more …

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The Forsytes cast - from Poldark to Doctor Who stars - reveal all about their dramatic new revamp of the iconic period drama
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T00:01:34.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 5
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Stephen Moyer loves a collection, from guitars and typewriters to great roles – and his latest in The Forsytes is one to treasure.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In the course of our 45-minute interview that lasts an hour and a half, Stephen Moyer, 56, shares that he collects guitars – which he has hung up on the walls of his new home in Suffolk, because he can’t actually play the guitar – and typewriters, of which he has 30. We establish that he looks good in a duffle coat – which not every grown man does – and what he has in his pockets. Namely a "quite rare" $1 coin and an acorn, "which is a long story". Further, he impresses upon me the virtues of good headphones and quality speakers, summer evening walks on Clifton Down in Bristol [he stays in the city while filming The Forsytes] and cooking for one in a Belfast kitchen. He confesses a love for Marmite and peanut butter, and details his favourite snack. "Anna [Paquin, his actress wife] calls them Stevie Snacks and they consist of some cheese, roasted almonds, some saucisson and chutney." His mum makes an amazing green tomato chutney, apparently. "I’ve got jars from 1994 in my cupboard and I’m not even joking." In his 20s, Moyer lived on a houseboat for seven years in London’s Little Venice, with no electricity – which is why he bought his first typewriter – and recently, in his 50s, he’s taken up sailing. "I really love that it’s an ancient skill and it doesn’t involve phones. I spend a lot of time in the digital world and I love it, but I’m actually quite analogue." Moyer is great company, as inquisitive as he is forthcoming. You might be tempted to say that his work is the least interesting thing about him. Except that isn’t true. For this Essex-born actor, who made it big in America, also collects great roles, recently adding two very different characters to his collection. First, there is patriarch Jolyon Forsyte Sr in Debbie Horsfield’s fantastic take on John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga. "What Debbie has done is empower the female characters in the story to be having the conversations that they weren’t having i…

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From Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle to Doctor Who - Shirley Henderson reveals secrets behind her iconic roles
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: A ghost, a journalist, a small furry alien in a galaxy far, far away… Shirley Henderson recalls some of her most significant roles – and her latest.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In Summerwater, adapted from Sarah Moss’s novel about the British capacity for both cruelty and compassion, Shirley Henderson plays Annie Campbell, a visitor to the lochside holiday cabins that give this tense thriller its title. Geographically, Summerwater is situated in the Highlands; psychologically, it feels a stone’s throw from The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Henderson doesn’t want to say too much about Annie for fear of spoiling the drama, which she describes as "an investigation of relationships, of memory and of longing", but she will say that "something’s happening, something’s changing for her, and parts of her are leaving her". Locked in a fraught marriage to Dougray Scott’s brittle Dr David Campbell, it may be Annie’s life that leaves her before the series’ end. In episode two, the pair take an ill-advised clifftop walk, during which the good doctor is clearly thinking bad thoughts, though Annie is breezily oblivious — or seems so. Like many of the characters Henderson has played, Annie has hinterland. When I first interviewed Henderson 21 years ago, she told me "it’s fun being messy or angry or disturbed," and her CV is populated with such characters. But there are plenty of others, too… 'I'd never filmed before' – Elizabeth Findlay, Shadow of the Stone - STV (1987) Children’s TV drama about a young girl and her 17th-century alter ego, who is accused of being a witch. "This was my first job. I got the part after Leonard White — who was a lovely man — from Scottish Television saw me in my last play at drama school. I stayed at my auntie’s, got the bus into Glasgow, walked up to the STV studios, got changed and went to work — and then did the reverse at the end of the day. It was Monday to Friday and we always finished around five o’clock. No job has ever been as civilised. I’d never done any filming before and I didn’t know any filming techniques so Leonard, who directed it, was teaching me at the same t…

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Kate Garraway reveals the fan-favourite she predicts will win The Celebrity Traitors — and who has slipped up
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: It's anyone's game ahead of the final…
encoded: Add The Celebrity Traitors to your watchlist The Celebrity Traitors final is fast approaching, with just five players left in the ultimate game of deception, betrayal and trust. Amongst the remaining players are Traitors, Alan Carr and Cat Burns, and the remaining Faithful, David Olusoga, Nick Mohammed and Joe Marler - and it's truly anyone's game. While it seemed both Alan and Cat were shoe-ins to win after Jonathan Ross's banishment, Joe's suspicion of the two could prove to be their downfall, but recently banished Faithful Kate Garraway isn't so sure. Speaking to RT ahead of the final, the broadcaster revealed she'd love a Faithful to win the programme, despite initially thinking Cat was going to win the whole show. "I'd love Nick, David or Joe M to win. I feel like Nick and Joe M might have more of a chance," she explained. "I felt like Cat was going to steal the show, because she is so brilliant, but I think she might have mucked up a bit actually, because I think by voting for me and encouraging others to vote for me, when other people think voting David, she's left herself as the last woman in the game." Despite rooting for her fellow Faithful, Kate revealed she has "a feeling" that "Alan's going to win the whole thing". Viewers will finally know who has won the game in just two days in a special 70-minute long episode. Following the finale, there will be an extra special extended episode of The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked on BBC Two and Sounds, where Ed Gamble will be joined by the all-star cast, the finalists and host Claudia Winkleman, as they react to the final episode and reveal everything about their time at the castle. The Celebrity Traitors continues on Thursday 6th November at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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Celebrity Traitors' Kate Garraway reveals the fan-favourite she predicts will win – and who has slipped up
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T12:00:25.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: It's anyone's game...
encoded: The Celebrity Traitors final is fast approaching, with just five players left in the ultimate game of deception, betrayal and trust. Amongst the remaining players are Traitors Alan Carr and Cat Burns, and the remaining Faithful David Olusoga, Nick Mohammed and Joe Marler – and it's truly anyone's game. It seemed both Alan and Cat were shoo-ins to win after Jonathan Ross's banishment, but Joe's suspicion of the two could prove to be their downfall – and recently banished Faithful Kate Garraway isn't so sure either. Speaking to Radio Times magazine ahead of the final, the broadcaster revealed she'd love a Faithful to win the programme, despite initially thinking Cat was going to win the whole show. "I'd love Nick, David or Joe M to win. I feel like Nick and Joe M might have more of a chance," she explained. "I felt like Cat was going to steal the show, because she is so brilliant, but I think she might have mucked up a bit actually, because I think by voting for me and encouraging others to vote for me, when other people were thinking of voting David, she's left herself as the last woman." Despite rooting for her fellow Faithfuls, Kate revealed she has "a feeling" that "Alan's going to win the whole thing". Viewers will finally know who has won the game in just two days in a special 70-minute episode. Following the finale, there will be an extra special extended episode of The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked on BBC Two and Sounds, where Ed Gamble will be joined by the all-star cast, the finalists and host Claudia Winkleman, as they react to the final episode and reveal everything about their time at the castle. The Celebrity Traitors continues on Thursday 6th November at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Add The Celebrity Traitors to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. For more TV r…

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Anita Dobson teases the Rani's return to Doctor Who following Mrs Flood cliffhanger as she talks new role
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T00:01:32.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Anita Dobson was wooed by James Mason, witnessed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, created one of soap’s most famous characters and ripped up time in Doctor Who. Now she’s reviving Play for Today.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Anita Dobson suspects you get more fearless as you get older. “You should do, shouldn’t you?” she says conspiratorially. “The third time they asked me to do Strictly,” she continues, by way of explanation, “my best friend said to me, ‘You love dancing. Why do you keep saying no?’ I said, ‘I suppose I’m a bit scared of making a fool of myself.’ And she said, ‘At 62, do you care?’ And in that moment, I realised I didn’t.” So, in 2011, she signed up for the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing, continuing in the competition until a very respectable ninth week. There were scary moments during her Strictly experience, but Dobson used fear, not as a brake, but as an engine. Fearlessness features in Never Too Late, the first of 5’s reinvention of Play for Today, the classic series of one-off plays broadcast on the BBC from 1970 to 1984. Dobson plays Cynthia, a sprightly senior citizen who, after one too many funny turns, is packed off to a retirement village by her daughter (Tracy-Ann Oberman). This institutional life ill-fits free-spirit Cyn and soon she’s protesting about rules and regulations – and quite possibly railing against the distant but encroaching dying of the light. If the drama is a meditation on mortality, it’s one with gags about escaped snakes and randy pensioners – and Nigel Havers. He pops up as Frank, Cynthia’s estranged former flame and faded 60s crooner. Capers ensue, secrets are revealed and there’s some singing. “After I read it, I rang them straightaway and said, ‘Yes, definitely. 100 per cent.’ I was gung-ho to get on board,” Dobson enthuses, “especially as it was giving people opportunities who might not otherwise get them.” Like the other Plays for Today, Never Too Late was commissioned by 5 with the express intention of championing new behind-the-scenes talent. A laudable ambition that, upon watching the Plays, you wish 5 had believed in a bit more and invested just a bit more budget. “We di…

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View from my sofa: Rick Edwards
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The 5 Live DJ on the joys of fatherhood, the downside of modelling — and crying on air
encoded: 5 Live Breakfast is on Monday-Friday at 6am on BBC Radio 5 Live. Add it to your collection What’s the view from your sofa? It’s a fireplace that I think I like, but I’m not completely sure about. It’s very ornate, with a wooden surround that incorporates a mirror above it. It probably dates from, and hasn’t been changed since, the 1920s. Then there’s the TV, which is small and probably temporary, and keeps tilting backwards because I mounted the little feet on it badly. Sounds like you need a TV upgrade! We left the TV that we loved in our old house because it was wall-mounted, was perfect in the space and it felt like a nice thing to do, to leave it for the next people. My wife Emer [Kenny, Karen Pirie writer and actor] and I really regret that now. You began your career as a model — when did you realise you’re handsome? I was a cute kid, I think, and then, from 10 to 16, which is the worst age for this to be the case, I was not a good-looking boy. At all. I wonder if, in those formative years, it was character-building. Then, around 17 or 18, the proportions of my face sort of settled down, and from that point, it’s been fine. It’s weird to go from being not-good-looking to, a couple of years later, getting scouted for modelling work. I did it when I was at university and just after. That was odd. I didn’t like it one bit. Aside from the models, who seemed fine, it’s an industry of a lot of not very nice people. I found it a bit grubby. What’s the best TV programme you’ve watched recently? Your Friends & Neighbours on Apple TV starring Jon Hamm. He’s great – the whole cast is good – and it has some quite interesting things to say about family. As a fairly new father, with anything that says anything at all about family and fatherhood, I am quite likely to cry. How do you juggle family life and, among other things, 5 Live Breakfast? It’s tricky, because both Emer and I work and I’m very conscious of ensuring that she still has all the time she needs to work. Trying…

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Rick Edwards reveals why fatherhood has changed his presenting work for ever - and talks his modelling past
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T00:01:44.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The 5 Live DJ on the joys of fatherhood, the downside of modelling — and crying on air.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? It’s a fireplace that I think I like, but I’m not completely sure about. It’s very ornate, with a wooden surround that incorporates a mirror above it. It probably dates from, and hasn’t been changed since, the 1920s. Then there’s the TV, which is small and probably temporary, and keeps tilting backwards because I mounted the little feet on it badly. Sounds like you need a TV upgrade! We left the TV that we loved in our old house because it was wall-mounted, was perfect in the space and it felt like a nice thing to do, to leave it for the next people. My wife Emer [Kenny, Karen Pirie writer and actor] and I really regret that now. You began your career as a model — when did you realise you’re handsome? I was a cute kid, I think, and then, from 10 to 16, which is the worst age for this to be the case, I was not a good-looking boy. At all. I wonder if, in those formative years, it was character-building. Then, around 17 or 18, the proportions of my face sort of settled down, and from that point, it’s been fine. It’s weird to go from being not-good-looking to, a couple of years later, getting scouted for modelling work. I did it when I was at university and just after. That was odd. I didn’t like it one bit. Aside from the models, who seemed fine, it’s an industry of a lot of not very nice people. I found it a bit grubby. What’s the best TV programme you’ve watched recently? Your Friends & Neighbours on Apple TV starring Jon Hamm. He’s great – the whole cast is good – and it has some quite interesting things to say about family. As a fairly new father, with anything that says anything at all about family and fatherhood, I am quite likely to cry. How do you juggle family life and, among other things, 5 Live Breakfast? It’s tricky, because both Emer and I work and I’m very conscious of ensuring that she still has all the time she needs to work. Trying to dovetail it all together is a comp…

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All Creatures Great and Small's Anna Madeley on Mrs Hall's secret talent – and *that* Siegfried speculation
type: item
date: 2025-10-23T20:40:55.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 5
subject: Exclusive
description: "They do get on and they do have a lot of affection for each other. Where that will lead...?"
encoded: Anna Madeley visibly bristles when I suggest that Mrs Hall, her much beloved housekeeper from All Creatures Great and Small, might be repressed. “It’s funny,” she begins in a tone that does not indicate amusement, "putting labels on characters when one of the things I love about this show, one of the things we’ve set out to do from the get-go, is avoid tropes and archetypes". Mrs Hall, Madeley is adamant, is not your typical busybody, buttoned-up housekeeper. “We could have very easily come out with the old trope of the bossy woman telling everyone what to do, which a lot of people expect, and instead what’s really refreshing is having a character who has proper story behind her, history that informs who she is.” And who is she? “She is a woman of her time with expectations of her life that fit where she’s from. She had a difficult time with her husband and she’s come through something there. She’s had a difficult time with her son and she’s come through something there. Her life’s been tough.” Madeley is, of course, quite right to challenge my broad brush strokes’ characterisation of her character. Younger than she is in the novels and altogether warmer a character, Madeley’s Mrs Hall is a woman with hinterland, and hidden talents. Just tonight, we discovered her heretofore unknown adeptness at darts. Played with delicacy and nuance by Madeley, Mrs Hall isn’t just Skeldale House’s beacon of decency, stoicism and quiet resilience – without whom the house could not function, on a very practical level – she is also its moral centre and beating heart. Yes, there is a fortitude befitting the period and Mrs Hall’s class and position, but there is also extraordinary tenderness. As the vets of All Creatures deal with wounded animals, Mrs Hall, in her own way, heals wounded souls – including her own. “She's someone who speaks her mind, gently,” Madeley says. “She’s the person in the house who does say there's an elephant in the room and we need to talk about it.” Read more:…

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'It's The Forsytes with a lot of Dallas'
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Have Poldark’s Debbie Horsfield and Damien Timmer struck gold again with their reimagining of TVs greatest saga?
encoded: Add The Forsytes to your watchlist It began, as epic journeys often do, with a single step. It was the summer of 2021 and on Hampstead Heath – 800 acres of greenery and wild woodland in north London – writer Debbie Horsfield and producer Damien Timmer went on a walk to discuss what they might do next. Their last collaboration, Poldark, had ended two years earlier after five series and, as Timmer puts it, “Having had a rest after Poldark, we were trying to find a slab of story that Debbie could really enjoy getting her teeth into.” “I think it was Damien who first mentioned The Forsyte Saga,” says Horsfield. “I mean, I’m all for anything with ‘saga’ in the title.” Horsfield and Timmer were of course familiar with the previous dramatisations of John Galworthy’s novels, from 1967 and 2002. The former was a sprawling 26 parts from the BBC and is widely regarded as a TV classic. “It’s spoken about with hushed reverence,” Timmer notes. “And then there’s the Granada version for ITV at the turn of this century.” As Tuppence Middleton, who plays Frances Forsyte, says, “It hasn’t been done as often as some of the other big classics, but there’s still a reputation to live up to.” What Timmer intended to do was to “make a version for now. In our ever more divided society, there is a real parallel with that late Victorian era. We wanted to take a magnifying glass to this extremely wealthy family who are the one per cent.” Prior to Poldark, adapted from Winston Graham’s novels, Horsfield was known for big, messy family dramas like Making Out, The Riff Raff Element and Cutting It. “I’m from a big family and family dynamics have always fascinated me. I’ve written a lot about inter-generational conflict, and I don’t necessarily mean in a grim, serious way, but only ever my own original ideas, all contemporary and pretty much all set in Manchester, where I’m from. Then Poldark came along and it was very much new territory.” New to adaptation, Horsfield says, “Initially, I was nervous…

The new Forsyte Saga is not a straight adaptation of "male-centric novels", says Poldark creator
type: item
date: 2025-10-13T23:01:20.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 5
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Have Poldark’s Debbie Horsfield and Damien Timmer struck gold again with their reimagining of TV's greatest saga?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It began, as epic journeys often do, with a single step. It was the summer of 2021 and on Hampstead Heath – 800 acres of greenery and wild woodland in north London – writer Debbie Horsfield and producer Damien Timmer went on a walk to discuss what they might do next. Their last collaboration, Poldark, had ended two years earlier after five series and, as Timmer puts it, “Having had a rest after Poldark, we were trying to find a slab of story that Debbie could really enjoy getting her teeth into.” “I think it was Damien who first mentioned The Forsyte Saga,” says Horsfield. “I mean, I’m all for anything with ‘saga’ in the title.” Horsfield and Timmer were of course familiar with the previous dramatisations of John Galworthy’s novels, from 1967 and 2002. The former was a sprawling 26 parts from the BBC and is widely regarded as a TV classic. “It’s spoken about with hushed reverence,” Timmer notes. “And then there’s the Granada version for ITV at the turn of this century.” As Tuppence Middleton, who plays Frances Forsyte, says, “It hasn’t been done as often as some of the other big classics, but there’s still a reputation to live up to.” What Timmer intended to do was to “make a version for now. In our ever more divided society, there is a real parallel with that late Victorian era. We wanted to take a magnifying glass to this extremely wealthy family who are the one per cent.” Prior to Poldark, adapted from Winston Graham’s novels, Horsfield was known for big, messy family dramas like Making Out, The Riff Raff Element and Cutting It. “I’m from a big family and family dynamics have always fascinated me. I’ve written a lot about inter-generational conflict, and I don’t necessarily mean in a grim, serious way, but only ever my own original ideas, all contemporary and pretty much all set in Manchester, where I’m from. Then Poldark came along and it was very much new territory.” New to adaptation, Horsfield says, “Initia…

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height: 1333

View from my sofa: Amanda Holden
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: She’d love to return to acting, but for now she’s adding fizz to a new Saturday-night quiz show
encoded: Add The Inner Circle to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? I have a very bright, paprika orange sofa – my husband [music producer Chris Hughes] nearly had a heart attack when I got it – and the view from it is what you’d call a media wall. I found a good carpenter, who made the shelves and painted it green. Now I’ve got lots of different things on shelves – and, in the middle of them, a big telly. Who controls the remote? The kids. They’re on Netflix and YouTube and all the streamers and my algorithm is completely ruined with things like Wednesday and I Know What You Did Last Summer – or maybe it’s The Summer I Turned Pretty – which have nothing to do with my taste at all. Was there a summer you turned pretty? There was not! I had braces and a cowlick for years. Is watching television a communal activity in your house? There are certain shows that we all watch together – Strictly, Gogglebox and Modern Family. No one is allowed to watch those separately. If my mum’s here, we’ll catch Pointless. And I have to say Changing Ends, obviously, because of Alan [Carr]. The kids watch Amanda and Alan… but I don’t tend to watch things I’m in. Your daughter, Lexi, was scouted by the model agency Storm. The phrase “nepo baby” gets bandied about a lot these days… Yes, she’s related to me, but that’s nothing to do with me. The word “nepo” can be thrown around for ever but it’s unfair it’s been used in showbiz. When I was young, I got a job in a fruit ’n’ veg shop because my mum knew the fruit ’n’ veg guy. If you know someone that can help your child get in somewhere, you’ll do whatever. But they have to have talent and backbone, and work to succeed. I’m proud of my daughter, doing stuff for Storm as well as two normal jobs while at uni. She’s not going to come out with a debt. That’s amazing. Did you always want to work in showbusiness? My mum says I always wanted to act. I would do shows in the garden and make posters for them and stick them to the telegraph poles aro…

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width: 2959
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Amanda Holden: 'My daughter's not a nepo baby – her success is nothing to do with me'
type: item
date: 2025-09-29T23:01:40.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: She’d love to return to acting, but for now she’s adding fizz to a new Saturday-night quiz show.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? I have a very bright, paprika orange sofa – my husband [music producer Chris Hughes] nearly had a heart attack when I got it – and the view from it is what you’d call a media wall. I found a good carpenter, who made the shelves and painted it green. Now I’ve got lots of different things on shelves – and, in the middle of them, a big telly. Who controls the remote? The kids. They’re on Netflix and YouTube and all the streamers and my algorithm is completely ruined with things like Wednesday and I Know What You Did Last Summer – or maybe it’s The Summer I Turned Pretty – which have nothing to do with my taste at all. Was there a summer you turned pretty? There was not! I had braces and a cowlick for years. Is watching television a communal activity in your house? There are certain shows that we all watch together – Strictly, Gogglebox and Modern Family. No one is allowed to watch those separately. If my mum’s here, we’ll catch Pointless. And I have to say Changing Ends, obviously, because of Alan [Carr]. The kids watch Amanda and Alan… but I don’t tend to watch things I’m in. Your daughter, Lexi, was scouted by the model agency Storm. The phrase “nepo baby” gets bandied about a lot these days… Yes, she’s related to me, but that’s nothing to do with me. The word “nepo” can be thrown around for ever but it’s unfair it’s been used in showbiz. When I was young, I got a job in a fruit ’n’ veg shop because my mum knew the fruit ’n’ veg guy. If you know someone that can help your child get in somewhere, you’ll do whatever. But they have to have talent and backbone, and work to succeed. I’m proud of my daughter, doing stuff for Storm as well as two normal jobs while at uni. She’s not going to come out with a debt. That’s amazing. Did you always want to work in showbusiness? My mum says I always wanted to act. I would do shows in the garden and make posters for them and stick them to the teleg…

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width: 10288
height: 5432

View from My Sofa: Eric Idle
type: item
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The Python on his love of language, poking fun at the powerful — and the joy of executive-free comedy
encoded: What’s the view from your sofa? Usually, it’s cricket – I love being indoors watching endless hours of cricket. I like the footie, too. I used to support Chelsea but I got tired of having my weekend ruined by 11 men in shorts. Are you watching anything else? Television now seems to be people trying to bonk each other on islands, game shows or news shows, so it’s not terribly interesting. I mean, it’s been stolen by the streamers, which is really bad news. They’ve uninvented television and it’s very sad. Do you miss watching television? Growing up, my generation – so that’s all of the Pythons – grew up without television. That’s quite a big difference, rarely observed. We grew up with radio, where the words involve your imagination much more. On radio, the Goons could set the Thames on fire. Is listening to radio where your love of language comes from? It meant we had a bias towards language; Terry Gilliam was the one putting in all the imagery. If you look at the Python sketches that are really funny, they all evolved from language – Argument Clinic, for example. Later, as we did on a couple of German shows, they were largely visual sketches. But that was because we had to learn them in German and we didn’t want to talk. When did you realise that you were on to something with Monty Python? When we were given our TV show, it was late on a Sunday night and the BBC was just trying to see if anybody was awake after 10pm and the pubs were closed. What was really lovely was that we could please ourselves, there was no one overseeing us, so it was executive-free comedy and all the funnier for it. No executive has ever improved a comedy. What makes you laugh today? What South Park is doing with Trump is heroic and I know they’ve done him a lot of damage. There’s a reason Hitler and Trump get rid of the comedians first. They hate being laughed at. So, it’s great that Governor Newsom is taking the p*** out of Trump and his hands. Comedy is saying the right thing at the wrong …

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