Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2022-01-14T11:05:24.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Outlander: Explore the spectacular Scottish filming locations
items: On the trail of Dan Brown's Inferno in Florence
items: The Jungle Book: Searching for Shere Khan at India's Pench National Park
items: A Game of Thrones fan's guide to Malta
items: Dag review: "As is often the case with Scandinavian comedies, the humour's as black and dry as a lump of coal"
items: Will Ferrell's The Spoils before Dying: "Sub-Airplane! gags just can't get off the runway"
items: Luke Evans: why the real-life Dracula was more hero than horror
items: Premier League football: Liverpool v Southampton preview
items: Premier League football: Manchester United v Swansea City preview
items: Peter Richardson on the past, present and future of Comic Strip Presents...
items: 6 of the Best... Songs by Comedians
items: Are Coldplay really the favourites of 6 Music listeners?

Outlander: Explore the spectacular Scottish filming locations
type: item
date: 2018-06-14T09:00:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: As the historical romp returns to More4, Gary Rose goes for a spin in the Highlands...
encoded: It's May but it feels like July, as I hit the road from Inverness's implausibly wee airport. "I don't bother to check the weather forecast, it changes by the minute," says Andy, my kilted driver and tour guide. Sunshine lights up the heather and gorse. A pair of buzzards flank our route like feathered surveillance drones. The sound of a Red Hot Chilli Pipers CD fills the dead air between historical anecdotes (they’re the most famous bagpipe band on the planet, apparently). And so begins my tour of locations used in series two of Outlander. Terminating in Edinburgh, it's a 150-mile road trip slicing through the heart of the Highlands, taking in the Cairngorms National Park and some of the UK's most dramatic scenery. 5. Culloden Battlefield Barely ten minutes' drive from the airport is Culloden Battlefield, the site of the last big hand-to-hand battle fought on British soil, 250 years ago. Culloden is a major theme in series two, as Claire struggles to prevent the conflict she knows will decimate Jamie's Jacobite rebels. Given the site's importance, it's not surprising that scenes from the battle (which are actually set to appear in series three) weren't filmed here. Instead, they were shot in Cumbernauld, north-east of Glasgow. Still, for a dash of historical context the recently revamped, National Trust-owned Culloden visitor centre is worth a look. Its centrepiece is a 360-degree "Battle Immersion Film", where projections on all four walls chuck you, Saving Private Ryan-style, into the thick of the action. 4. Clava Cairns It's a short drive from Culloden to Clava Cairns, the Bronze Age burial site that stood in for the Standing Stones: Claire's gateway between the centuries. There's no fancy visitor centre here, but the place has an aura of mystery about it. I arrive at the "golden hour", just before dusk, when the grass sparkles ultra-vivid green under the sun's soft glow. It looks like Hobbiton on steroids. The passages leading into the two stone burial cairns al…

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On the trail of Dan Brown's Inferno in Florence
type: item
date: 2017-02-16T13:30:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: News
subject: Travel
description: Gary Rose pairs Dante with chianti on an Inferno-themed weekend in the Tuscan capital
encoded: Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) awakes in hospital with a sore head and depleted memory cells, in the opening scene of Inferno. Glancing out the window, he spies a familiar medieval skyline silhouetted against the dusk. "What am I doing in Florence?" he asks. I have the exact same reaction as I pull open my shutters, bleary-eyed, at the city's Hotel Brunelleschi on a damp Saturday morning. Then my recall kicks in. Ah yes, I'm here to explore locations used in the big-screen version of Dan Brown's Dante-inspired novel (out on Blu-ray/DVD 20th Feb). And where better to start than in the main tourist zone, at the museum that features heavily in the first half of the film... The Museo de Palazzo Vecchio Palazzo Vecchio translates as "old palace". Apt, as it's been around since 1299, and was home to the Medici family for 350 years. It's now the city's town hall, although the majority of the building is open to the public as a museum. Ceiling in the Hall of the 500 The museum's most prominent Inferno-related room is the 60-foot-high Hall of the 500 (above); a former meeting chamber sprinkled with somewhat aggressive Renaissance artworks. Here, Langdon and his companion Sienna examine Vasari's giant fresco The Battle of Marciano... and unveil a secret message. "Cerca trova," it says. "Seek and you shall find." "We sought it and we found it. So now what?" says Langdon. Well... how about heading upstairs to the Hall of Maps, a room adorned with elegantly drafted cartography. Like in the film, the map of Armenia conceals a secret passage; unlike in the film, you can't access the building's rafters from here. Just as well really, it looks dangerous up there. And if you fell to your death through the Hall of the 500's ceiling (like the assassin in the film), the museum staff wouldn't be happy. Those 500-year-old frescos are a pain to replace. Also on display here is Dante's death mask, which the amnesiac Langdon is gobsmacked to see himself pinching on a CCTV recording. My…

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The Jungle Book: Searching for Shere Khan at India's Pench National Park
type: item
date: 2016-08-16T05:00:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: News
subject: Travel
description: Gary Rose seeks out creatures including the elusive Bengal tiger on a Jungle Book safari in Madhya Pradesh
encoded: "Welcome to my office," says Shree, my safari guide, as we drive under the rusty, tiger-striped barrier guarding the entrance to the core area of Pench National Park. I picture the view from my desk of Hammersmith Road and concede defeat. I'm here to explore the habitat that inspired Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (Disney's live-action version of which is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 22 August). Kipling was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), an hour's plane journey south-west of here, and many of the tale's characters are based on this area's wildlife: Baloo the sloth bear, Akela the wolf, Kaa the python and, of course, Shere Khan the tiger. Sadly, there are as little as 3,000 wild tigers left on the planet, and the endangered felines are Pench's tourist economy's main draw. Government initiatives and charities such as Born Free (www.bornfree.org.uk) are working to protect and conserve the species. But, as much as he'd love to, Shree can't guarantee we'll see one. I'm staying at a place called Baghvan ("tiger forest" in Hindi), within the national park and about an hour's drive from its protected "core area". You get more than just the bare necessities of life here. It's jungle de luxe, with its tastefully appointed dark-wood huts kitted out in colonial style. Village tour Some local villagers will show you around their home for a modest fee. So the day before my first safari I get Baghvan's staff to arrange a visit to Khmbha, home to some 460 people. The drive to the village is an effusion of colours, popping out of the landscape like felt tip in a colouring book. Rows of saris dot the paddy fields as women work, bent like boomerangs, knee-deep in sludgy water. Kingfishers line up on telephone wires, glistening like turquoise tightrope walkers in waistcoats made from mother of pearl. Even the grass looks supernaturally green. I'm greeted by some smiley kids who are pumping water from a well, then shown into a house floored with a mix of soil and cow dung. The owner's wi…

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A Game of Thrones fan's guide to Malta
type: item
date: 2015-09-29T14:30:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: How to turn your holiday on Malta and Gozo into a Game of Thrones pilgrimage
encoded: "Winter is coming," as the Starks are so fond of saying in George RR Martin's books. Time to start planning a break in the sun. And if you fancy adding some Game of Thrones tourism to a Maltese holiday, here are the locations to look out for. Valletta Back in series one — before Arya had spilled a man's blood and when Ned Stark still had a head on his shoulders — Malta was used as the backdrop for The Seven Kingdoms' warmer locations, from King's Landing to the Dothraki Sea. From series two onwards, shooting shifted to Dubrovnik, Morocco and Spain. But Malta is still a film industry hot spot, and if you're lucky you might stumble across a film crew on the streets of Valletta, Europe's most southerly capital. "Welcome to the nation of 400,000 inhabitants and 300,000 cars," says my tour guide en route to the medieval walled city. I'm not sure whether he's exaggerating, but traffic jams are definitely a problem on this densely populated island. Even though it's smaller than the Isle of Wight, it can take a while to drive from one end to the other. The slow cruising speed allows me to spot some clues to Malta's colonial past: red post boxes; pelican crossings; there's even a signpost to (I kid you not) a place called Clapham Junction. Request a holiday brochure from one of our partners Valletta is intensely photogenic, with its Mediterranean panoramas and narrow streets flanked by baroque buildings of sandy stone (see gallery below). It's laid out in a Manhattan-style grid system, but the roads are straight for military reasons, I'm told — so the army could shoot cannons at invaders, knocking them down like pins in a bowling alley. There are a lot of cannons here; they even use them as bollards. I visit the ornate St John's Co-Cathedral, home to two Caravaggios; sink a pint in the pub where Oliver Reed took his final tipple (while filming Gladiator); and spy on the set for the Assassin's Creed movie, which is being pieced together in one of the squares. But what I'm rea…

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Dag review: "As is often the case with Scandinavian comedies, the humour's as black and dry as a lump of coal"
type: item
date: 2015-07-31T13:20:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Just like its lead character, this Norwegian "shrink-com" is flawed but redeemable, finds Gary Rose
encoded: The Americans have always loved a fictional psychologist: there's Frasier Crane, of course, Dr Melfi in the Sopranos and... well, maybe there aren't as many as it seems. The point is, while it's currently in vogue for American networks to pinch Scandinavian ideas, Dag feels like a US sitcom (albeit of the dark, HBO variety) repackaged for a Norwegian audience. The series revolves around misanthropic marriage counsellor Dag (played by comedian Atle Antonsen), who doesn't seem to agree with the concept of marriage at all. In fact, he spends his therapy sessions lobbing nuggets of cynicism at his shellshocked clients, leaving them pondering the futility of their future together. It's a miracle he makes any money at all. "If you live alone, your mood is how happy you are. Living together, you're only as happy as the least happy person there," he tells one couple. Harsh, but fair. Clearly, the whole therapy set-up is more cathartic for Dag than for those he's trying to help. What emotional trauma must have befallen the poor guy in the past, we wonder, to transform him into such a socially frigid grouch? More importantly, do we really care? The opening episode in tonight's double bill sees the curmudgeonly counsellor flitting between several scenarios: dishing out misanthropic soundbites at his office; sucking Valium out of Pez sweetie dispensers at home; and going on a series of disastrous dinner dates. As is often the case with Scandinavian comedies, the humour's as black and dry as a lump of coal. While intellectually satisfying, this doesn't generate many laughs. But the introduction of Dag's sister's beautiful friend Eva (Swedish actress Tuva Novotny) should provide enough chemistry to drag you into episode two, where things start to pick up. Can Eva kick-start Dag's malfunctioning heart? More to the point, what on earth does she see in him? Much like its lead character, the show is far from perfect, but it does hold the potential for redemption. Oh, and the soundtra…

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Will Ferrell's The Spoils before Dying: "Sub-Airplane! gags just can't get off the runway"
type: item
date: 2015-07-23T13:40:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The sequel to Ferrell's TV comedy The Spoils of Babylon boasts a glossy film noir backdrop - but it's the same lacklustre formula, finds Gary Rose
encoded: Creators Matt Piedmont and Andrew Steele did well to get a second helping of this comedy mini-series commissioned, because its predecessor, The Spoils of Babylon, was something of a frustrating flop. Frustrating, because Babylon enticed you into its screwball world under entirely false pretences. Its glitzy cast, fabulous music and Thunderbirds-style opening credits promised more than the show could ever have realistically delivered. By the time crooner Steve Lawrence's theme tune had dissolved into the ether, I was convinced The Spoils of Babylon was a classic in the making. Like a junkie, I spent the following 21 minutes hoping to recapture the high of the opening sequence. What I actually got was a spiral into incoherence followed by a painful comedown. This nosedive in quality was reflected in the ratings, which plummeted from just under half a million for episode one to a paltry 77,000 by the finale — unthinkable for a show anchored by Will Ferrell and with Tobey Maguire, Kristen Wiig, Tim Robbins, Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer and Michael Sheen also on its payroll. Could The Spoils before Dying succeed where Babylon failed? Unfortunately, on the evidence of the first couple of episodes, it's more of the same — only this time set against a glossy 1950s film noir backdrop. It's not all bad: Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire) is decent as the swinging, Tom Waits-soundalike jazz cat who finds himself framed for murder. And again, the retro styling is spot-on, the music's silky smooth, and if there were an Emmy award for typography, Spoils would give the competition a proper licking. The problem is, the script is missing the guilty-pleasure spark that made you laugh at the likes of The Naked Gun or Anchorman despite yourself. Its sub-Airplane! gags just can't get off the runway; instead they flounder haplessly on the tarmac, hoping that if they repeat themselves often enough somebody will laugh out of pity. All of this is a shame, because there's clea…

Luke Evans: why the real-life Dracula was more hero than horror
type: item
date: 2015-02-09T06:00:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: "There's more to the man than just the impaling," says the Dracula Untold star
encoded: Fact and fantasy team up in Dracula Untold, in which real-life 15th-century leader Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia – aka the notorious Vlad the Impaler – merges with Bram Stoker's fictional character. Radio Times travelled to Transylvania (where else?) to meet its star Luke Evans and hear about sword-fighting and ideas for a sequel.... Vlad is portrayed in a positive light in Dracula Untold, despite doing a lot of barbaric things... It's interesting, because if I hadn't played this role I probably would have only known about the barbarity of his legacy. But when I did my research, I realised he was revered by his people and respected by his enemies. They thought he was a successful military leader and did a good job at protecting his kingdom. Yes, he did do some dark things, but we are talking about the 1400s in eastern Europe; he wasn't the only person doing barbaric things at that time. We had the Turkish empire for a start. And a lot of the stuff you read about is contradictory, because it was so long ago and the history books get rewritten. There are a lot of stories about his impaling, for example, where the numbers go from 25,000 down to 2,000. But for me, as an actor doing a film about a real person who turns into a fictional character; we just tried to create a human story that people could relate to, and see a man who's fighting for what is good and doing what he felt was right, but choosing to use the power of darkness to accomplish that. Have you spoken to any Turkish journalists about it, because the Turks are far more terrifying than the vampires in the film. Do they have a different perspective over there? I don't know how well it did in Turkey (laughs). I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't even open. The film was shot in Belfast and the surrounding ares, but did you get a chance to come to Romania before shooting, to get a feel for the place? I didn't. I was doing pick-ups for The Hobbit in New Zealand. I was there for six weeks, and I was busy doing ch…

Premier League football: Liverpool v Southampton preview
type: item
date: 2014-08-15T06:48:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Football
subject: News
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Premier League
description: Southampton begin their season with three of their key players now playing in the red of Liverpool – isn't the Premier League fixture machine cruel?
encoded: Premier League football: Liverpool v Southampton, Sunday 12.30pm Sky Sports 1 (kick-off 1.30pm) Having bagged three of their best players in a summer smash-and-grab raid, Liverpool now welcome Southampton to Anfield to kick off a campaign burdened with unusually high expectations. After an excruciating end to the last season and a miserable World Cup, can Steven Gerrard pick himself for another 38-game slog? And with the Reds' skipper yet to sign a new contract, might it be his last chance to secure a title-winner's medal? Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana all joined Liverpool from Southampton this summer, and the first two could well start against their former club this afternoon. Lallana will miss the game with a knee injury, but otherwise this will be a good early opportunity to see whether the Reds' busy transfer window has filled the void left by the departure of Luis Suarez. New Saints manager Ronald Koeman has plenty of work to do to rebuild a squad shredded by the summer's dealings. Worse still, the fact that Morgan Schneiderlin has so far had his transfer request refused will do little to inspire team harmony. A bitter start all round for the south coast side.

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Premier League football: Manchester United v Swansea City preview
type: item
date: 2014-08-15T06:18:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Football
subject: News
subject: Sport
subject: TV
description: New Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal gets his first taste of life in the Premier League
encoded: Premier League football: Manchester United v Swansea City, Saturday 12pm BT Sport 1 (kick-off 12.45pm) Much has been written about Louis van Gaal's tough – even arrogant – approach to man management, but now it's time for his players to do the talking as Man Utd open the new season against Swansea City at Old Trafford. With Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Dutch national side on his CV, van Gaal's managerial pedigree is second to none. And, despite last season's hiccups, you'd be brave to best against a United win today. It's a new era for Wayne Rooney too, club captain for the first time following Nemanja Vidic's transfer to Inter Milan. He appears to be responding well to the faith placed in him by van Gaal, and the fact that there hasn't been another summer of speculation about his future can only be positive for both the player and Man Utd. Swansea, meanwhile, have lost their way somewhat after the early daring of previous manager Michael Laudrup, but with Garry Monk secure in his position the Welsh faithful will hope for at least a statement of intent in their opening game.

Peter Richardson on the past, present and future of Comic Strip Presents...
type: item
date: 2013-10-09T10:29:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The mastermind behind the troupe looks back at one of Britain's most influential alternative comedy movements and hints at more to come very soon...
encoded: This week sees the release of The Best of the Comic Strip Presents, a five-disc DVD box set of hand-picked gems including Bad News, The Strike, GLC and Five Go to Rehab. We caught up with founder, writer, director and star Peter Richardson to discuss the groundbreaking series: Why did you decide to release this "greatest hits" collection? What we wanted to do was try to remove the less remarkable ones — that includes ten of mine by the way — which we felt weren't quite up to scratch and weren't as memorable as some of the others, along with including the new ones. We wanted to nail the Comic Strip as being of a certain quality and some episodes had perhaps let it down a bit. The Strike and GLC feature on the box set. They were landmark political comedies, but it's rare you get something that overtly political on TV now... We did The Hunt for Tony Blair a few years ago, with Stephen Mangan as Blair on the run. So we try to keep up with things. I love doing satire. We're trying to think of another one to do now, actually, so hopefully we'll do one again soon. Well I was worried this release might mark a hiatus for the Comic Strip. But that's clearly not the case. We've always been on and off. The thing is we had such a long run, and then people go "we've had enough of you". And then someone says "we'd love to have you back again". So we wait to be invited, I guess, and then we come back with something. I was watching Julian Temple's 1981 Comic Strip feature recently. That early stuff has a real punk feel to it. Were you conscious of filling a comedy void in the same way as punk filled a musical void? Yes, we were into all that sort of thing at the time: being loud and outrageous and drinking lager and being sick. And we were surrounded by the punk bands — the Pistols and the Clash — and that spilled over into our comedy. I guess we destroyed a few careers though, the older comics, some of whom were great, like Les Dawson. Who were Bad News based on? I know they came b…

6 of the Best... Songs by Comedians
type: item
date: 2013-03-02T06:24:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: audio
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: BBC Radio 6 Music
subject: Comic Relief
description: 6 Music is doing its bit for Comic Relief this year, but which comedians can boast the best tunes?
encoded: Red Nose Day is on the horizon, and 6 Music is getting involved by letting two comedy veterans hijack the playlist for an hour each over the next couple of Sundays. First up, on 3 March, is award-winning actress and erstwhile Harry Enfield collaborator Kathy Burke. The following Sunday sees the turn of Spinal Tap and Simpsons legend Harry Shearer. Comedians usually claim to have an affinity with music, but letting them loose in a recording studio can lead to unpalatable results. Of course, there are always exceptions. In no particular order, here are six of the best tunes by comedy acts from the past few decades. Eddie Murphy: Party All the Time: Ok, so it's more funky than funny, but Party All the Time is actually a pretty decent Michael Jackson pastiche. Producer Rick James gives the track a credibility boost and also allows his fabulous "Carlos Valderrama on Soul-Glo" hair to star in the video, as Eddie and the lads horse around eightiesly in the studio. Turn this one up loud and try not to dance; it's impossible. View oEmbed on the source website Flight of the Conchords: Business Time: It's tough to choose one track from the Conchords' potpourri of parodies, but the "erotically charged" Business Time perhaps showcases the duo's talents best of all. Jermaine's rubber-faced falsetto combines with Bret's lascivious strumming to electrifying effect. View oEmbed on the source website The Rutles: Cheese and Onions: Ah, the Rutles — only the band the Beatles could have been. Cheese and Onions is so sublime it could almost pass for a lost Fab Four composition from 1968; and there's no higher praise than that. George Martin's production is aped beautifully, while Neil Innes's vocals are even more Lennon than John himself. View oEmbed on the source website Spinal Tap: Big Bottom: It's crude, it's childish and its squelchy keyboard sound is horribly dated, but it's a virtuoso skit of bands like Judas Priest, Scorpions and Saxon. And it contains the priceless line "how coul…

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Are Coldplay really the favourites of 6 Music listeners?
type: item
date: 2013-02-01T17:15:00.000Z
creator: Gary Rose
subject: audio
subject: News
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 6 Music
description: Coldplay's Clocks has been voted as the "Greatest Hit" of 6 Music's lifetime, but is the online poll actually representative of the station's listeners' tastes, asks Gary Rose
encoded: Today 6 Music unveiled its 100 most popular songs since the station began; and the biggest shock was just how conservative the top ten is. OK, nobody expected Lower Dens (a choice clearly bearing the Tom Ravenscroft seal) to garner many votes, but Coldplay at number one? Surely not. Of course, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, the Killers et al are good at what they do, but they're nothing you can't hear in any branch of Argos on a Saturday afternoon. Let's cut to the chase: they're not exactly "cutting edge". When 6 Music listeners petitioned, pestered and harassed the BBC Trust to save the station from closure a few years back, were we striving to salvage the last remaining nationwide outlet for innovative, "alternative" music, or simply standing up for our right to listen to Coldplay's Clocks? True, the shortlist was uninspiring, but I don't want to be too critical of the station; with Tom Ravenscroft, Jarvis Cocker, Marc Riley, Cerys Matthews and Gideon Coe on board it boasts some of the finest music broadcasters on the radio. However the fact is, in recent years its daytime output has often swerved dangerously towards the mainstream. For instance, a couple of Saturdays ago I was surprised to hear (I kid you not) Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic. Whether or not this was a clever, ironic, postmodern gag is irrelevant. Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic is rubbish, and if I want to hear Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic I will purchase a copy of Big Tunes: Back 2 the 90s Vol II. This is obviously an extreme example, and perhaps if the licence-fee payers want a more pop-centric 6 Music, featuring Coldplay and chums, then that's what they should get. But hold on, there might be more to this than meets the eye. Coldplay are a hugely popular band; they have nine and a half million followers on Twitter. So when they tweet their fans, as they have done three times over the past few weeks, asking them to vote in the 6 Music poll, it's a powerful weapon in their battle against relative…