Pixar at 40: from Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
Chief creative officer Pete Docter, Pixar's third-ever animator, explains how the company continues to evolve, while keeping its heart.
You wouldn’t know it now, but Pixar Animations Studios began small, so small that its chief creative officer reflects, “I'm not sure exactly why I went to Pixar.” Peter Docter says, “I'd always grown up thinking, ‘I'm going to work at Disney. Someday, I'm going to draw Mickey Mouse.’ Then instead, I went to this place that no one had heard of... literally no one.” The same cannot be said today, of course, as the award-winning company responsible for beloved films including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Cars, A Bug’s Life and Inside Out celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 1979, George Lucas hired Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm’s Computer Division, which in 1982 completed the first fully computer-animated scene in a feature film for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas and officially founded Pixar as an independent company, made up of about 40 employees. In 1988, the short film Tin Toy was released and it became the first computer-animated film to win an Oscar in 1989. Docter joined in 1990 at the age of 21 after graduating from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), where he studied character animation, as Pixar’s third-ever animator. He began animating and directing adverts, including his work on Listerine’s “Boxer”. “Friends of mine from CalArts were working on The Little Mermaid and I was animating happy products bouncing, thinking, ‘This is a waste of time,’” Docter says, but it was good practice for what was to come. “It's actually surprising how much story you can tell in 30 seconds, so it was very instructive. It was also fast, so if you hated one commercial, you’d wait a couple of weeks and be on to the next one.” It wouldn’t be long before he started working on Toy Story (which evolved out of Tin Toy), contributing to story and character development and serving as supervising animator. “Steve [Jobs] put up with us losing basically a million dollars a month before Toy Story. Frankly, I think he was distracted working on [computer company] NeXT, and then ultimately Apple, and he wasn't really paying attention that we were burning through his cash. The fact he stayed with it was pretty monumental.” A lot of studios passed on Toy Story until the Walt Disney Company agreed to produce it. “I never really considered that other people would see it, which sounds absurd, but I remember driving and seeing a billboard for Toy Story and being stunned, like it didn't really compute that it was going to be rolled out to the world,” Docter says. “I was surprised by how many people afterwards said, ‘I thought my toys came to life too when I wasn't in the room.’ I think the reason it worked was probably because it had that central conceit, and then it had fun, entertaining characters. Plus, the voice talent we had and the animators.” Toy Story was the first feature-length computer-animated film, and its fifth instalment will be released on 19 June, where Bonnie’s toys (Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Forky and the gang) are cast off in favour of a tablet called Lilypad. Although in Toy Story 4, Woody became a “lost toy” living with Bo Peep and helping carnival toys find new homes, he’s summoned back for a toys vs tech face-off. Coming up with new ideas for the franchise becomes harder and harder each time, Docter admits. “We want to make sure we're exploring stuff that we haven't already talked about. We've explored different facets of the toy world, including what it’s like to play with a kid and what's it like to be collected and preserved. I'm hoping there's more out there. “It's rare that you get a character like Woody that does seem to unfold and reveal these different layers. Other characters don't seem to have that depth, and I don't know where that comes from.” After Toy Story, Docter recalls Jobs saying, “The thing I'm most worried about is our second movie, because you can do it once, and maybe you're lucky, but to do it twice shows that it's more than luck – you have the skills and the talent to be able to do it.” Pixar’s sophomore effort was 1998’s A Bug’s Life. “The fact that came out and did well is huge.” As well as skills and talent, the success also likely lies in how much heart is put into Pixar’s films in the first place. “As an animator, I was working on this shot of Woody. He's used to being on the bed, which is sort of the throne, and he's dethroned as Buzz is put up there. He comes crawling out from underneath the bed, and he looks around at all the other toys and says, ‘It's nothing, just some cake and ice cream. It's a mistake.’ I was thinking, ‘What's going on in his head?’ “I used to be the star animator, then there were these young guys coming in, dethroning me, so that sense of jealousy I was able to tap into, like, ‘Oh, of course, I'm going to brush it off, pretend like it's no big deal,’ which is what I did. Even if the story is not about you in big or small ways, I think it’s the job of the artist to say, ‘This is coming from a place in my heart,’ and that shows up on the screen.” Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2024), all films that very much contain elements of himself. The character of Riley Anderson from Inside Out was inspired by his own daughter Elie. “Growing up, Elie was goofy, funny, full of life, and then there was a parent-teacher conference at school and they said, ‘Elie’s a quiet child’ and we were like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She had hit that age of being self-aware, and everything changes. I remembered that as myself growing up, and that really became the core of that movie: what happens to that childhood joy?” The origins of Up came from Docter directing Monsters, Inc. “Nobody told me that directors don't actually do anything, they just go around and talk to people. By the end of the day, I'd be curled up in a ball under my desk, wanting to get away from everything, floating away in a house and feeling a little bit like Carl, like, ‘Just go away. I'm gonna slam the door and stay in my house.’ There's a lot of days that I feel like that.” Docter also voices the giant, flightless, quirky bird Kevin. “That was just out of desperation, because we couldn’t find the right sound in the bird library of sound effects, so I would make whatever noises!” Four decades on, how does Pixar strike that balance of returning favourites and new stories? Docter, who has been the chief creative officer of Pixar since 2018, says, “We try to listen to the audience. We're making these movies kind of for ourselves, but of course, for the audience. What's funny is, when you talk to people, they're like, ‘We want new stuff,’ but then their behaviour and the box office sales show that people really want to see movies with characters they know and love. We try to deliver both. “People still want to see characters that seem reflective of their own lives and that experience things that we are all going through as human beings. Even though it's bugs or fish or cars or whatever, it's us up there, and that's continued to be the same.” View Green Video on the source website Docter believes there’s always more to explore. “Working on Inside Out, I said I would love for the movie to end, and for people to say, ‘Wow, that was a huge world and I feel like I only saw this much of it.’ There's amazing worlds that go on for years in there, so there's more to play with there. Monsters, Inc was a great world to play in. What does a monster forest look like, or a mountain? We didn't get to explore any of that. Maybe someday… “On a number of films, we’ve thought, ‘What if?’ Then you go in and you realise you’re retelling the same story or it's leading somewhere that just doesn't feel interesting, so we close the door on it. It's got to earn its keep.” While Toy Story 5 fully engages our nostalgia, new film Hoppers, released on 6 March, ticks the newness box, while maintaining the great characters, story, and emotional depth we’ve come to expect from a Pixar movie. When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, teenager Mabel “mind-hops” into a robotic beaver to protect a threatened wildlife habitat. Interestingly, both Hoppers and Toy Story 5 deal with technology in different ways, and technology has changed drastically since the start of Pixar, even just in how computers have progressed. “We couldn’t have dreamed of doing the hair and the fur from Monsters, Inc, on Toy Story. Then, with Finding Nemo and the water. Today, we don't really consider the technical restrictions. We just know the wizards we work with can do anything we need.” In 1995, it took an average frame of Toy Story seven hours to render, and in 2008, the average time it took to render a frame on faster machines was under one minute. Now, Docter explains that they use AI to complete renders, but it saves time without robbing anyone of their creative abilities. “AI is a prickly topic, even at Pixar, a technology company,” says Docter, “Artists and people are angry, scared, intrigued and very interested – it’s a wide range. We've approached it with curiosity, a sense of play, and what we can use it for. How can we make what we do better, more creative, more deep and more human? Because that's the danger – when you see stuff online, it feels eerily soulless. I don't think people are going to be satisfied and we certainly are not going to be, so we’re looking at it as a new tool to augment the skills of the artist. “AI is going to be disruptive in the way we work. The hope would be we can use it on background characters and sets that don’t matter as much so we can focus on the important stuff in the foreground. We can use it to do the boring stuff, so we can do the exciting stuff – to generate things that visually you've not ever seen before. "Based on how much people are watching and how much is available at any time, there's going to be a great premium placed on new stuff that somehow is unlike anything you've seen.” Pixar did it with Toy Story in 1995, and they’re sure to do it in 2026, and beyond.
Pixar Animation Studios at 40: From Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
You wouldn’t know it now, but Pixar Animations Studios began small, so small that its chief creative officer reflects, “I'm not sure exactly why I went to Pixar.” Peter Docter says, “I'd always grown up thinking, ‘I'm going to work at Disney. Someday, I'm going to draw Mickey Mouse.’ Then instead, I went to this place that no one had heard of... literally no one.” The same cannot be said today, of course, as the award-winning company responsible for beloved films including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Cars, A Bug’s Life and Inside Out celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 1979, George Lucas hired Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm’s Computer Division, which in 1982 completed the first fully computer‑animated scene in a feature film for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas and officially founded Pixar as an independent company, made up of about 40 employees. In 1988, the short film Tin Toy was released and it became the first computer‑animated film to win an Oscar in 1989. Docter joined in 1990 at the age of 21 after graduating from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), where he studied character animation, as Pixar’s third-ever animator. He began animating and directing adverts, including his work on Listerine’s “Boxer”. “Friends of mine from CalArts were working on The Little Mermaid and I was animating happy products bouncing, thinking, ‘This is a waste of time,’” Docter says, but it was good practice for what was to come. “It's actually surprising how much story you can tell in 30 seconds, so it was very instructive. It was also fast, so if you hated one commercial, you’d wait a couple of weeks and be on to the next one.” It wouldn’t be long before he started working on Toy Story (which evolved out of Tin Toy), contributing to story and character development and serving as supervising animator. “Steve [Jobs] put up with us losing basically a million dollars a month before Toy Story. Frankly, I think he was distracted working on [computer company] NeXT, and then ultimately Apple, and he wasn't really paying attention that we were burning through his cash. The fact he stayed with it was pretty monumental.” A lot of studios passed on Toy Story until the Walt Disney Company agreed to produce it. “I never really considered that other people would see it, which sounds absurd, but I remember driving and seeing a billboard for Toy Story and being stunned, like it didn't really compute that it was going to be rolled out to the world,” Docter says. “I was surprised by how many people afterwards said, ‘I thought my toys came to life too when I wasn't in the room.’ I think the reason it worked was probably because it had that central conceit, and then it had fun, entertaining characters. Plus, the voice talent we had and the animators.” Toy Story was the first feature‑length computer‑animated film, and its fifth instalment will be released on 19 June, where Bonnie’s toys (Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Forky and the gang) are cast off in favour of a tablet called Lilypad. Although in Toy Story 4, Woody became a “lost toy” living with Bo Peep and helping carnival toys find new homes, he’s summoned back for a toys vs tech face-off. Coming up with new ideas for the franchise becomes harder and harder each time, Docter admits. “We want to make sure we're exploring stuff that we haven't already talked about. We've explored different facets of the toy world, including what it’s like to play with a kid and what's it like to be collected and preserved. I'm hoping there's more out there. “It's rare that you get a character like Woody that does seem to unfold and reveal these different layers. Other characters don't seem to have that depth, and I don't know where that comes from.” After Toy Story, Docter recalls Jobs saying, “The thing I'm most worried about is our second movie, because you can do it once, and maybe you're lucky, but to do it twice shows that it's more than luck – you have the skills and the talent to be able to do it.” Pixar’s sophomore effort was 1998’s A Bug’s Life. “The fact that came out and did well is huge.” As well as skills and talent, the success also likely lies in how much heart is put into Pixar’s films in the first place. “As an animator, I was working on this shot of Woody. He's used to being on the bed, which is sort of the throne, and he's dethroned as Buzz is put up there. He comes crawling out from underneath the bed, and he looks around at all the other toys and says, ‘It's nothing, just some cake and ice cream. It's a mistake.’ I was thinking, ‘What's going on in his head?’ “I used to be the star animator, then there were these young guys coming in, dethroning me, so that sense of jealousy I was able to tap into, like, ‘Oh, of course, I'm going to brush it off, pretend like it's no big deal,’ which is what I did. Even if the story is not about you in big or small ways, I think it’s the job of the artist to say, ‘This is coming from a place in my heart,’ and that shows up on the screen.” Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2024), all films that very much contain elements of himself. The character of Riley Anderson from Inside Out was inspired by his own daughter Elie. “Growing up, Elie was goofy, funny, full of life, and then there was a parent-teacher conference at school and they said, ‘Elie’s a quiet child’ and we were like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She had hit that age of being self-aware, and everything changes. I remembered that as myself growing up, and that really became the core of that movie: what happens to that childhood joy?” The origins of Up came from Docter directing Monsters, Inc. “Nobody told me that directors don't actually do anything, they just go around and talk to people. By the end of the day, I'd be curled up in a ball under my desk, wanting to get away from everything, floating away in a house and feeling a little bit like Carl, like, ‘Just go away. I'm gonna slam the door and stay in my house.’ There's a lot of days that I feel like that.” Docter also voices the giant, flightless, quirky bird Kevin. “That was just out of desperation, because we couldn’t find the right sound in the bird library of sound effects, so I would make whatever noises!” Four decades on, how does Pixar strike that balance of returning favourites and new stories? Docter, who has been the chief creative officer of Pixar since 2018, says, “We try to listen to the audience. We're making these movies kind of for ourselves, but of course, for the audience. What's funny is, when you talk to people, they're like, ‘We want new stuff,’ but then their behaviour and the box office sales show that people really want to see movies with characters they know and love. We try to deliver both. “People still want to see characters that seem reflective of their own lives and that experience things that we are all going through as human beings. Even though it's bugs or fish or cars or whatever, it's us up there, and that's continued to be the same.” View Green Video on the source website Docter believes there’s always more to explore. “Working on Inside Out, I said I would love for the movie to end, and for people to say, ‘Wow, that was a huge world and I feel like I only saw this much of it.’ There's amazing worlds that go on for years in there, so there's more to play with there. Monsters, Inc was a great world to play in. What does a monster forest look like, or a mountain? We didn't get to explore any of that. Maybe someday… “On a number of films, we’ve thought, ‘What if?’ Then you go in and you realise you’re retelling the same story or it's leading somewhere that just doesn't feel interesting, so we close the door on it. It's got to earn its keep.” While Toy Story 5 fully engages our nostalgia, new film Hoppers, released on 6 March, ticks the newness box, while maintaining the great characters, story, and emotional depth we’ve come to expect from a Pixar movie. When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, teenager Mabel “mind‑hops” into a robotic beaver to protect a threatened wildlife habitat. Interestingly, both Hoppers and Toy Story 5 deal with technology in different ways, and technology has changed drastically since the start of Pixar, even just in how computers have progressed. “We couldn’t have dreamed of doing the hair and the fur from Monsters, Inc, on Toy Story. Then, with Finding Nemo and the water. Today, we don't really consider the technical restrictions. We just know the wizards we work with can do anything we need.” In 1995, it took an average frame of Toy Story seven hours to render, and in 2008, the average time it took to render a frame on faster machines was under one minute. Now, Docter explains that they use AI to complete renders, but it saves time without robbing anyone of their creative abilities. “AI is a prickly topic, even at Pixar, a technology company,” says Docter, “Artists and people are angry, scared, intrigued and very interested – it’s a wide range. We've approached it with curiosity, a sense of play, and what we can use it for. How can we make what we do better, more creative, more deep and more human? Because that's the danger – when you see stuff online, it feels eerily soulless. I don't think people are going to be satisfied and we certainly are not going to be, so we’re looking at it as a new tool to augment the skills of the artist. “AI is going to be disruptive in the way we work. The hope would be we can use it on background characters and sets that don’t matter as much so we can focus on the important stuff in the foreground. We can use it to do the boring stuff, so we can do the exciting stuff – to generate things that visually you've not ever seen before. "Based on how much people are watching and how much is available at any time, there's going to be a great premium placed on new stuff that somehow is unlike anything you've seen.” Pixar did it with Toy Story in 1995, and they’re sure to do it in 2026, and beyond. Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. Read more: Toy Story at 30: John Morris on voicing Andy from aged 7 – and whether he'll appear in the fifth movie Incredibles 3 director revealed – first in franchise not helmed by Brad Bird Hoppers arrives in cinemas on Friday 6 March 2026. Toy Story 5 arrives in cinemas on Friday 19 June 2026. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Pete Wicks: "I don't understand why more people who have a platform don't give a voice to the voiceless"
The presenter of For Dogs' Sake discusses crying, not watching reality TV and why dogs and motorbikes are his happy place.
Pete Wicks is very much a dog person. In fact, he thinks they’re “better than people”, he tells Radio Times exclusively. In Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake, now in its third series, he follows the work of the Dogs Trust centre in Basildon, where he rescued his French bulldog Eric in 2016. His French bulldog Peggy, who he adopted in 2018, recently passed away, and he revealed he’s adopted four-month old Rodney from Dogs Trust. “Whatever love you give dogs, you get back tenfold. People are quite cruel. I cannot abide by people who don't treat animals with respect. I don't understand why more people who have a bit of a platform don't give a voice to the voiceless. That’s what I try to do in any way I possibly can. It means a lot to me,” Wicks says. Series one of Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake was awarded the Best Popular Factual Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards. At the rehoming centre, the 37-year-old works with the staff who he calls “heroes”. In tonight’s episode, which airs on U&W at 9pm, he helps them rescue three puppies who were illegally brought into the country. He also meets new mum Keira (in the video below), who has arrived on the brink of starvation. She’s given immediate care, but her case becomes even more complicated. View Green Video on the source website It makes for a tear-jerking watch, and Wicks doesn’t mind crying on camera when he’s touched by the stories. “It's something I didn't grow up with – that being the right response to things. It was: men are supposed to be a certain way, but it's absolutely wrong. Being vulnerable is one of the bravest things you can do. That release is important. Men cry too.” When was the last time he cried? “About a week ago [at the time of interview], but I’m not gonna say over what. “I imagine a lot of people think I'm quite arrogant, and I would hope that I'm not, because it's a horrible trait to have. I think people probably misjudge me based on the way I look, the tattoos and everything else. Actually, really, I'm just a big softie. I spend more time crying than I do anything else.” Wicks made his first TV appearance in The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) in 2015 and was a main cast member until 2021. He’s since appeared on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebs Go Dating. “Back then, there was only Geordie Shore, TOWIE and Made in Chelsea. It wasn’t necessarily a career many of us were doing. I didn’t really know what I was getting into. The TV landscape was completely different then,” Wicks reflects. “I didn't have any social media when I first joined TV. I'm not a big fan of it. I do it because it's kind of work, but if I didn't do this job, I wouldn't have any at all. I'd just live in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dogs and goats.” He’s not a fan of reality TV and has never watched any of the shows he’s starred in, only For Dogs’ Sake, because as associate producer, he sees the cuts and edits. He explains, “You sometimes start to self-edit and then look at all the things you think are wrong with yourself." His team keep telling him he needs to go on The Celebrity Traitors and Race Across the World – shows he’s also never seen. “They sound like fun!” Wicks also co-hosts the podcast Staying Relevant with best mate Sam Thompson. “I think Sam and I are still trying to figure out how to f**king stay relevant,” he jokes. “It's just two mates catching up. Selfishly, started the project so we could do that. He’s annoying, but he’s my annoying.” Wicks also has Man Made, a podcast on YouTube, where he discusses masculinity with his guests, but what’s the one question he’d like to be asked? “No one has ever asked me what makes me happy. The answer to that is motorbikes and dogs. “Being on the motorbike is the only time I don't really have anything else in my brain. It’s like meditation for me – and being around dogs is when I am the most happy, the most content, and when I feel the most safe. They're my happy places.” Wicks calls himself a workaholic and says he always has to be busy. He’s also had bad insomnia since he was a child. “I don’t sleep very much. I only really get three, four hours a night. My body’s just kind of used to it now. My brain is quite overactive with a lot of different things." Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. Wicks has also written three books, For the Love of Frenchies: The Dogs that Changed My Life, Never Enough, and Staying Relevant: The Book with Thompson. While juggling various projects, he ensures he shows up as his authentic self for them all. “If you start being what everyone else wants you to be, then you kind of lose who you are. That's a really dangerous place to be in for so many reasons. “I've made so many mistakes over the years, but I've never forgotten who I am. I think it's really, really important to be very selective about the people you have around you. They're the ones that will notice changes if you start to lose yourself, if you get carried away with the noise. “I've got a close group of people that I've known for a really long time who will always tell me when I'm wrong. Their opinion matters to me. What someone who's never met me but has seen me on TV thinks of me, I don't really care. You put yourself in a position where you're in the public eye, everyone is going to have opinions, and you can't moan about that, but not everyone's opinions are relevant to you. “If you can put your head on the pillow at the end of the day and think you're a good person, then you're doing something right.” Brand new episodes of Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake are available to stream for free on U right now. Episode three airs tonight, 19 January, on U&W at 9pm. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Claudia Winkleman's stylist on the star's impeccable Traitors style and the brands she's faithful to
Plus, Sinead McKeefry uncloaks her top looks from every series.
The original brief given to Claudia Winkleman’s stylist, Sinead McKeefry, for the first series of The Traitors was providing 12 outfits for 12 episodes, with just four weeks to pull everything together. “We didn’t really know what we were doing,” she recalls. “Everyone was working out what the format was. There was talk of Claud wearing a parrot on her shoulder. She’s up for anything, but I was like, ‘I don't think we should make it pantomime.’ I believe there are enough beautiful things out there.” The celebrity stylist, who is based in London, was introduced to Winkleman by Fearne Cotton, who McKeefry was working with at the time, during a photoshoot. They’ve now worked together for almost 20 years. “Strictly was the most glamorous we’d ever go, but it still had a masculine edge to it and we kept it quite chic and pared back. The Piano is where you'll see the real Claudia. That's how Claudia would naturally dress, just a little more polished. She loves a Uniqlo jumper, and that's what she gets,” McKeefry explains. “With The Traitors, we can be a lot more editorial, edgy and creative.” For series 1, she focused on textures and patterns and, far from parrots and pantomime, she turned to high-quality heritage brands including Barbour, Brora, Dubarry of Ireland, and Johnstons of Elgin for countryside chic, keeping it “quite neat and obvious” to suit the backdrop of Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, where you could “wear anything and look amazing”. It’s there that 22 contestants compete for up to £120,000, with the Faithful attempting to banish the Traitors. With the show now in its fourth series, Winkleman requires 36 outfits, three per episode, with breakfast, the mission and the round table all being treated differently. They take three months to prepare, with loads of back-up options and wet weather gear for any eventuality. “We lock everything down in London,” McKeefry says. “It's almost like prepping for a catwalk show and moving everything from one location to another.” McKeefry, 51, who graduated from Central Saint Martins with an MA in Fashion, specialising – fittingly – in knitwear, doesn’t travel up to Scotland. It’s Catherine Moran and her team who look after the wardrobe in Scotland. All the looks are photographed on Winkleman and lying flat with descriptions of how they should be put together. Then they’re shipped off in a transit van. “It’s so far that the driver has to stop overnight, so I said, ‘You’re sleeping in the van, aren’t you? You’re not leaving those clothes on their own?’” She’s joking of course, but Winkleman’s tweeds, capes, fingerless gloves, boots, chunky knits, kilts, leggings and oversized coats have become iconic and are a big draw as to why people tune in. The first episode of series 4 was the show’s most-watched to date, peaking at 6.9 million viewers. It opened with some familiar imagery – Winkleman in her black “murder cape” and a close-up of her red leather fingerless “murder gloves”. “Claudia's always worn wrist warmers. One year, at the end of Strictly Come Dancing, she bought the hair and make-up girls and me some Johnstons of Elgin wrist warmers,” McKeefry says. “It was really easy to incorporate fingerless gloves as part of The Traitors looks, but production really wanted red murder gloves and I was really resistant in the beginning. That is not something you're ever going to see on a mood board of mine. It’s not working with my sludgy colours. Red against black is so cringe. I went on Amazon, got a couple of options, and the least offensive were these thinner fingerless ones.” Winkleman now always wears this outfit when the Traitors are going to murder a contestant. “I've learned to love the red gloves. I actually think it was a genius move. It was never the intention that the cape would also always be used for a murder, it was just part of one of the looks and then it became a standout piece.” What you will see on McKeefry’s mood board are “a lot of pictures of Amanda Harlech; Chanel references; editorial that I've loved over the years with things shot outside by Juergen Teller or Corinne Day; exhibitions I’ve been inspired by; and there’s a catalogue in my head of imagery I’ve used since I was studying, like Alexander McQueen’s shows that I attended.” When The Traitors returns, so do the online articles and searches related to how to dress like Winkleman. According to search agency Deviation, from data gathered in November 2025, there’s been a 900 per cent rise in searches for “Claudia Winkleman clothes style” compared with the same time the previous year and a 50 per cent increase for “Claudia Winkleman Traitors outfits”. Searches for Winkleman on Google increased to their highest yet over the past five years. And based on the most popular search terms, people are particularly interested in adding these items to their wardrobe: tartan trousers, knee high boots, lace shirts, tartan skirts, and kilts. Plenty of the pieces Winkleman wears sell out as people attempt to nail the Highland goth, castle-core aesthetic. After the show airs, some of the items are kept and archived, others are loaned, but most are auctioned off for different charities. “I really try to support new and independent brands,” McKeefry adds. “It's been great over the past few years to see those brands be able to go to the next level and have that exposure from even one of their things being on The Traitors.” An example is Devon-based Lauren Aston Designs. Winkleman wore one of her forest green knit jumpers in series 3 and it had a phenomenal impact on her business, resulting in hundreds of orders, and Aston dubbing it the “Claudia effect”. If you look at any clothing brand, this “Claudia effect” is now unavoidable, including to McKeefry. “I see it so obviously. I'm walking through somewhere like Zara and I'm like: ‘Traitors, Traitors, Traitors.’” Clearly, this is fashion we’re remaining 100 per cent faithful to. Here, McKeefry uncloaks her favourite outfits of Winkleman's from every series... Series 1 “This was one of the first fittings we did. The blazer and fine merino men's knit are from Johnstons of Elgin, and the shirt is from Reiss,” says McKeefry. “Everything had to be so quick, so I went on Amazon and typed in jodhpurs to see what came up. I think it was a breakfast look that went into a mission look. “Production phoned me to say that the breakfast looks wouldn't work for the round table. I was like, ‘What's the round table?’ and they explained it was a much darker, more evening, luxe thing. Luckily, you only really see the top half of Claudia in the round table, so that was on our side a little bit.” Series 2 “Rose & Wül is run by Nadine Rose in Nottingham who does these big hand-knitted blankets. Claudia had bought some and introduced me to her. I then contacted her on Instagram and commissioned her to do a couple of scarves. The jumper is Mr Mittens, a Belgian-Australian brand – their knits are so cool. I just love the sleeve on that,” says McKeefry. “When independent companies contact me, or I stumble across something, I'm so happy when it’s a brand that really aligns with what we do. Knitwear is such a craft. It can't be rushed; that's why it’s so expensive, especially when you're looking at using cashmeres. Hours go into these things.” Series 3 This Fair Isle lambswool jumper from luxury Scottish brand Brora sold out after Winkleman wore it on the show (and so did all the other colourways). Has McKeefry come to expect that? “It definitely is getting that way now.” The kilt is from Le Kilt, a staple on her mood board. “Sam [McCoach, the founder] works really hard and she does all of the shoots that they use to promote the brand. I love the imagery they create, so I pull a lot of their stuff off Instagram. Her partner will drop stuff to the office, so they haven't got tons and tons of people working for them.” Series 4 “Le Kilt is a go-to brand for me and I have long been a fan of their beautiful kilts. They have a wonderful eye for quality fabrics and I love that they do everything with a slight grungy/punky edge. It seemed perfect to partner the kilt with this hand-knitted vest from an independent company called Hambro & Miller, which I discovered last year. I love to support independent brands and both of these showcase stunning craftsmanship," says McKeefry. Series 1 – The Celebrity Traitors “I thought the celebrities would be leaning towards plaids, tartan, tweed and knits. I wanted Claudia to have more of a gothic edge with a romantic element, just so it wasn’t merging into everyone looking the same," says McKeefry. “We were on a shopping day when we saw those Givenchy boots, and they were bought in five seconds. Claud's a size six, and I was like, ‘We'll take anything between a four and an eight, whatever you've got.’ Boots like that really inspire with their structure, proportion and weightiness. They sum up my mood board. “The ‘murder cape’, or poncho, which is a great shape, is by a company called Luxury Family Affair. The brilliant Tilla Lindig makes them and does the personalisation on them for us [the word “Celebrities” on the back].” The Traitors series 4 continues on Wednesday 14th January at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Series 1-3, and The Celebrity Traitors, are available to watch on iPlayer. Add The 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's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
"I'm the Making a Murderer lawyer – what you didn't see changed my life"
Steven Avery's attorney reflects on the Netflix documentary a decade after it was released.
When Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi made a short film for their Master of Fine Arts in Film course at Columbia University, they didn’t expect it to turn into a Netflix viral juggernaut. Making a Murderer is a 2015 documentary about Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, filmed over 10 years. At the age of 22, Avery served 18 years in prison from 1985-2003 after his wrongful conviction for the sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Ann Beerntsen, before being exonerated through DNA testing. In 2005, 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach was murdered. Avery and Dassey were convicted in separate trials and were both sentenced to life in prison for this crime. However, the documentary presents the possibility that Avery and Dassey, who was 16 at the time and has learning difficulties, were not responsible for Halbach's death. Lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting defended Avery, and became cult heroes, with more than 19 million people in the US watching the series in its first five weeks. Now Strang, who has a new podcast, I Rest My Case with Jonathan Goldberg KC, explains how it impacted his life, 10 years after the documentary was released. Why did you want to become a lawyer? I didn't want to become a lawyer. Since being young, I had my heart set on being an editorial cartoonist, but my dad was never excited about it – he thought it was doodling. During my undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College [in New Hampshire], I realised as much as I love cartooning, it wasn’t a full-time job. My dad’s sister was a lawyer and he pushed law school, and at the time there was a huge demand for new lawyers. I got into University of Virginia School of Law [he graduated in 1985]. During my first year, I got a call from the editor of the Milwaukee morning paper I had freelanced for offering me the cartoonist role as theirs was leaving. I already really liked law school. Within a week or two, I was like, “Wow, I had no idea this would be so interesting,” so I turned down my dream job. In 1990, I had my first high-profile trial that the media called the Dairy Princess murder. There was no internet and no social media, but it got intense television and radio coverage, and a made-for-TV movie made about it later. How did you get involved in Making a Murderer? There was a civil lawsuit going on [Avery filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County for his wrongful conviction in the 1985 assault case], and the two lawyers who were representing Steven, Walt Kelly and Steve Glenn, gave Steven mine and Jerry’s name, and a few others. Steve called to say, “I don’t know if they’ll call you, but if you get in, you should know there's these two student filmmakers on the scene, they're great, they're smart, they're likeable, nice, interesting people, but just be aware they're there all the time.” I did get in, and then I suggested bringing Jerry in and the two of us doing it together. We could split the fee and make it work better than either one of us alone. How did your first meeting go with filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi? They had already been in Manitowoc for three months, talked with Steven via phone from jail, met all his family and established a good rapport. Jerry and I met with them in 2006/2007 and sounded out their project, what they were doing and their goal. They were really impressive, bright people. We said we have a murder case to defend, we can’t be distracted, and we have lawyer-client privilege. Laura practised law for a couple of years, so she understood and said they wouldn’t interfere or get in the way, so that was reassuring lawyer to lawyer. We struck an agreement with them on what the terms of our cooperation would be and they kept their word. There's no murder porn in this, and that was really important to us and them. There's no reenactment or spooky music. They weren't going to make theatrical someone's death. They were going to pursue a documentarian's vantage point and try to query how this system is working for everybody affected by it. I have fewer qualms about Making a Murderer than I do about the [true crime] genre in general. Are you a fan of true crime? Not at all. I think there's a lot that's unhealthy about it. At its worst, it exploits human pain for profit. It’s some of the most intense pain people can feel – for instance, losing a child to murder or seeing a son, a brother, a husband go off to prison for the rest of his life. Other than the lawyers, the cops and the paid volunteer participants in the system, all the involuntary participants are having the worst experience of their lives, which lasts, especially in a murder. You're never getting that loved one back. There is legitimate public interest in how the system functions. Is it failing victims? Is it failing the accused? Is it failing the public more broadly? It's about walking the line between allowing a broader public to gauge how ethically, accurately, responsibly the system is working on the one hand, and then simply exploiting pain and tragedy and peering voyeuristically into people on the other. It's treacherous territory from my perspective. Do you think Making a Murderer sparked a new interest in true crime? The podcast Serial came out first [in October 2014], then The Jinx [February 2015], then Making a Murderer [December 2015]. I think the coalescence of those three things, at least in North America, produced a resurgence of interest in true crime. I think one of the reasons for the uptake of Making a Murderer is that very few countries in the world allow cameras in their courtrooms – they started being allowed in the US in the 1980s and still photography was allowed back in the 1930s. During the Steven Avery trial, even in a small-town America courthouse, it had a soundproof room at the back of the courtroom with a glass wall where the media could shoot through the glass and there were remote cameras on the ceiling. The rule is you just can’t film the jurors. Outside the courtroom, there’s still the scrum where people run up to you with cameras and microphones – it can be a little disorienting, but it just becomes part of what you have to do. Did you ever think the series would reach as many people as it did? I thought this was a very low-risk, low stakes undertaking for us, that the chances anybody outside of a classroom at Columbia would see or hear me were very low. Moira and Laura had to make a final 15 or 20-minute short film to get their master’s degree, and they did hope for more than that, which they described to us as a documentary. To me, it meant 90 to 120 minutes in an arthouse theatre with a total audience of 30 people, 18 of whom were family members and filmmakers. They got their master's degrees, and then maybe a year later, they entered a 30-minute version in the Tribeca Film Festival under the name 18 to Life, and it got accepted. My wife and I, and Jerry and his wife, went out. We'd never been to a film festival and we had a nice weekend in New York, hanging out in Tribeca and trying to be cool and all. In this short film, I'm not sure either one of us was in that at all – I don't remember the lawyers playing any significant role. Then we didn't hear a thing from them for years. What happened next? In 2014, Laura and Moira called up out of the blue and said, “We’re still working on this, and we want to shoot some follow-up footage.” They came out to Wisconsin for half a day or something, shot some footage, and then we didn't hear anything until November 2015. I got a call saying they had sold the film and they were turning it into 10 episodes, which would be out right before Christmas. I snorted and laughed – a murder trial in an obscure corner of Wisconsin... what great Christmas fare! It sounded like the dumbest marketing scheme to me. Moira and Laura said they’d send Jerry and me a watermarked DVD of all the episodes, but I passed. I had lived it. It was and is painful. We lost the case we should have won. I don’t like watching videos or seeing photos of myself. Jerry watched it and we went to see Steven in prison before it came out, because he would never be able to see it. Jerry said, “It’s pretty good, it’s basically fair to you, there’s no cheap shots, there’s nothing libellous or wrong with it.” My wife made me watch it two or three weeks after it came out because it was blowing up. I’m not sure I watched the whole second season. What was the initial response like? It sort of was a catapult, because it came out on 18 December 2015, and I got my first email from a stranger in South Carolina that night who had gone to the trouble to find my email through my firm website and write me this long, thoughtful, well-written email. By Monday, I had hundreds of emails. I would say foremost in Ireland, followed by Australia, then England, the reaction was, “Oh my God, all the bad stuff that happens here also happens in the US. We thought the US justice system was supposed to be so great, because you're always telling us it is, but wow, you’ve got the same problems we have.” In the Scandinavian countries, it was a very different reaction on the whole. There was this really high confidence of: “This wouldn’t have happened here.” I would write back saying, “Good, and maybe you're exactly right, but just be careful, because criminologists will tell you the system misfires everywhere, no matter how your system is structured.” That same Monday, our assistant said a guy claiming to be Alec Baldwin wanted to leave a voicemail for me. I thought one of my college friends was playing a prank on me, but it was him. He was very kind to me, and continued to be. Right before his movie career took off, he was going to apply to law school, and was still interested in law. How long would you say the interest lasted after the show came out? Only about two years, but that can seem like a long time, but mostly it was a great ride. I was away from home 250 days a year for the first couple of years, so I had to drop back dramatically from practising law. It became hard to get back in full throttle. Other lawyers who referred me cases would say I was too busy or was off speaking somewhere, and so the phone stopped ringing. I've been teaching full-time since 2019. I've gone from almost every student in my classroom having seen Making a Murderer to zero students having heard of it. The collective memory is very short. What was your hope after Making a Murderer came out? For the Avery family, the Halbach family, and the cops and lawyers involved, this is a really, really important case. For everybody else on the entire planet, it’s not. If you don't like what you saw happening in one tiny rural community in one country, ask yourself, what's happening in the courthouses near me, in an area where I could do something about it? Wrongful convictions and wrongful acquittals happen everywhere. Watch seasons 1 & 2 of Making a Murderer on Netflix. Episodes of I Rest My Case are released weekly from Thursday 8 January. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Run Away's James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver on de-ageing technology in Netflix series: "It was quite shocking"
It’s the first time the actors have both experienced it in one of their projects.
**Warning: Contains spoilers for Netflix's Run Away episodes 1 and 2** Run Away is the latest binge watch based on one of Harlan Coben’s novels to hit Netflix, making it his 12th for the streamer, with all episodes released on New Year’s Day. Simon Greene (James Nesbitt) is a distraught dad who’s searching for his missing daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange). He finds her busking in a park and addicted to drugs, but she refuses to go back home with him. Her boyfriend Aaron shows up, who Simon blames for getting her hooked on drugs, and it leads to a violent confrontation. When Aaron winds up dead in his flat, the last place Paige was living, Simon and his wife Ingrid (Minnie Driver) decide to take matters into their own hands and visit the location. Things spiral out of control, and after meeting with Paige and Aaron's drug dealer, who operates in the basement of the building next door, and who they think might help locate Paige, Ingrid is shot by one of his associates. All of this action takes place in episode 1, with Ingrid in hospital and her fate uncertain in episode 2. While Simon’s at her side, there’s a flashback scene to their first date in a restaurant, and de-ageing technology has been used to make Nesbitt and Driver appear younger, using advanced visual effects provided in post-production by Space VFX. “I didn’t realise they were doing that,” Nesbitt tells Radio Times exclusively. “I was watching it thinking, ‘God, I look quite good there,’ and then I realised they’d done something.” He remembers wearing prosthetics for a previous project where he was made to look older, which “looked really incredible and was a bit frightening”, but this is the first time he’s been de-aged. “I think it looks quite good. I mean, it's odd. People know it’s obviously de-ageing, so that's sort of in your mind, but it’s an extraordinary technique.” It's also Driver’s first experience with the technology, confirming she and Nesbitt didn’t know that’s what they were going to do in the series. “I think they were going to try to get away with lots of lighting and good make-up, but obviously it's very difficult for a 55-year-old to look like they did when they were 25,” she explains. “It’s really weird, but it was only weird because I don't watch anything that I do. I'm not really interested in seeing the final product, because I'm more interested in what the making of it was. “When I was younger, it was so much about the fascination of how you look, because I was young and pretty and figuring it all out. I wanted to see how I was working as an actor. I wanted to see if I look good, like it was all the vanity of youth, and it was interesting, and it taught me things, but as I get older, I don't want to judge myself, because I do know what I used to look like, particularly on film and television. I don't want to ever be made to feel uncomfortable about getting older.” View Green Video on the source website She continues: “I watched [the de-ageing scene] because I wanted to see what the AI would look like. It was quite shocking, but it really just looked like I did when I was younger, and that made me happy. It reminded me of when I started out, and I was like, ‘I feel so grateful to her.’ It really threw me back to some of my early films, and I was like, ‘She does a great job.’ I hope she'd be proud of where I wound up.” Read more: Best-selling author Harlan Coben is Guest Editor of the Radio Times: What to Watch app Harlan Coben reveals new Netflix thriller Run Away stands out from previous shows – and which episode to watch out for Run Away is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Minnie Driver on the explosive ending of Run Away episode 1: "I didn't find it fun at all"
"I haven't done anything like this before. It was horrible."
**Warning: Contains spoilers for Netflix's Run Away episodes 1 and 2** The action-packed first episode of Run Away ends with Ingrid Greene (Minnie Driver) being shot. In the story, based on Harlan Coben’s novel, she and her husband Simon (James Nesbitt) decide to investigate the last place that their missing daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange) was living, without the police knowing. She was living with her boyfriend Aaron, and both were addicted to drugs, but Aaron was recently found murdered in the flat. A man in the building called Cornelius Faber (Lucian Msamati), who knew them both, tries to help Ingrid and Simon by introducing them to Paige and Aaron’s drug dealer Rocco, who operates out of the basement in the building next door. Aaron also worked for him. Simon is desperate and offers Rocco £10,000 for any information about the whereabouts of Paige, but before he can respond, one of Rocco’s associates, Luther, appears and shoots Ingrid. “I haven't done anything like this before, and I’ve never had someone point a [fake] gun at me before in a show or a movie. It was horrible – I didn’t like it at all,” Driver tells Radio Times exclusively. “It's just make-believe, but nonetheless, it's really strange having to act being shot and your body doesn't know that you're not going through the trauma of being frightened. I’m surprised I haven’t read more interviews with actors saying it’s really awful having a gun pointed at you. I don't know how people make all those big action movies, because it’s really scary.” In episode 2, Ingrid is rushed to the hospital where she works as a paediatrician and it’s revealed that the bullet did a lot of damage. Driver adds: “I love the prosthetics and how brilliant that is – the mechanisms they use for gun wounds, blood and the pumps and all of that, because it's super creative – but the actuality of miming being shot by a bullet is horrible. The stunt guy is saying, ‘Well, this is actually what happens to your body when you get shot. This is what it would look like.' I didn't find it fun at all. “The amazing thing about being an actor is you get to dip into these scenarios and explore it, and then you can duck out and go, ‘Wow, that was wild, and this is how much it took out of me, but yes, it was worth it, because it’s amazing storytelling,’ or ‘No, I never want to do that again.’” Read more: Best-selling author Harlan Coben is Guest Editor of the Radio Times: What to Watch app Harlan Coben reveals new Netflix thriller Run Away stands out from previous shows – and which episode to watch out for Run Away is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How The Marvellous Miniature Workshop spent a combined 200 hours on making this Radio Times feature
Hannah Lemon and Abi Trotman reveal the painstaking skill and creativity behind their enchanting Christmas miniature snowscape.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Making miniatures is no small task. Hannah Lemon and Abi Trotman, who star in The Marvellous Miniature Workshop (iPlayer) spent a combined 200 hours creating the Christmas snowscape for Radio Times' Christmas double issue (on sale now). Trotman, from south Wales, specialises in 1/12th scale miniatures for doll’s houses and dioramas and started making miniatures with her gran for her doll’s house when she was 11. Lemon, who’s from Japan and now based in the UK, started making tiny houseplants in lockdown on a break from work. Both have now made it their full-time career. Using toolkits containing tweezers, brushes, paints and glues – not to mention a steady hand – Lemon explains that RT’s snowy scene (all compiled and photographed by her in her living room) is Styrofoam, so it’s light and easy to stick items into and to carve with a blade. Then she used frost and snow effect spray and placed fake snow powder on top. The tree is made out of tinsel wrapped together to create different-sized branches. The snowmen and their miniature carrot noses are made from clay, with black glass “caviar beads” for eyes – but what about their knitted hats? “I used my old socks, but I promise I washed them!” Lemon laughs. Lemon’s biggest challenge was the reindeer – “I wanted to make something realistic, so I needed to study their anatomy.” She started with wire to create a skeleton, then wrapped masking tape around it to mimic tissue, and applied modelling paste to create the body shape. Once that was dry, she coated it with acrylic paint and applied fake fur. “Working on the face is always challenging in miniature. I wanted him to look straight at the camera, happy and proud, like he owns the place.” Trotman’s gingerbread house, meanwhile, proved to be a real construction project. “Measurements and getting the angles of the roof right took a lot of time,” she says. “You want things to look in proportion, so it’s important to scale everything down properly.” She was inspired by a gingerbread house in an old American cooking magazine from the 70s. “It was really kitsch and I fell in love with it. I used a laser cutter to cut precise, sharp lines from a material called PolyBak, then dry-fitted those pieces. I then coated the PolyBak I used for the walls with a stone clay to make it look like a gingerbread texture.” Polyfilla mixed with acrylic paint made the “perfect” icing and all the polymer clay sweets and candy canes were handmade, baked and then glazed. “There’s a lot of yourself that you put into it,” Trotman says. “Seeing someone’s heart and love in a piece will always resonate more with people.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. The Marvellous Miniature Workshop is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Tom Fletcher on the power of Paddington the Musical and being “blown away by the response”
“The story and what it actually means is so important and feels more relevant now than ever before.”
As RadioTimes.com chats to Tom Fletcher on the phone, he’s on his way to London’s Savoy Theatre, where Paddington the Musical, which he wrote the music and lyrics for, is playing. “We’ve been just so blown away by the response,” he says. “We all hoped it, and our bear, would have a warm welcome, but I don't think any of us were really prepared for just how much everyone went absolutely crazy for him.” In the show, which has received rave reviews, the role of Paddington is shared by Arti Shah (who portrays him onstage) with James Hameed voicing him offstage, as well as remote puppeteering Paddington’s face. It has also recently extended its run at London’s Savoy Theatre until 14 February 2027. The polite, marmalade-loving bear from Peru has gone on to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales backstage at the Royal Variety Performance, was photographed by Vogue at The Savoy Hotel and performed one of the songs from the musical, The Explorer and the Bear, with Fletcher on Strictly Come Dancing. “I think the reason why it's resonating with so many people is it's amazing seeing this character we know and love literally come to life on stage, and being in the same room as him is just amazingly powerful and emotional,” explains Fletcher, who has worked on bringing the musical to life for five years. “But, also, the story and what it actually means is so important and feels more relevant now than ever before. A small bear has come from another country to London with no belongings, apart from a few jars of marmalade, and he’s looking for a home and a family, but most of all, just looking for this city to be kind to him, and that is such a powerful thing to be putting out in the world right now.” Not only did Fletcher help Paddington make his stage debut, but the McFly singer and best-selling children’s author is also bringing another very special bear to life for the first time, BBC Children in Need’s mascot Pudsey. The 25-minute animation Pudsey and the Thread of Hope is based on Fletcher’s story, also available to buy as a book, about young boy Jai, who has lost his father. With Pudsey, he meets other children who have been supported by Pudsey’s kindness, with the golden thread of hope tying every story together. “Weirdly, I've got these two amazing bears in my life this year,” he says. “I've always wanted to write for animation. It's been a dream of mine for so long, and I never thought my first of experience of it would be with one of our national treasures, this iconic character.” Although Children in Need supports disadvantaged children and young people across the UK with various challenges, Fletcher was particularly moved by the charity’s bereavement projects. While writing the story, he read it to his three sons, aged 11, nine and seven, who he shares with his wife Giovanna, for their unfiltered honesty. “They ended up having these amazing conversations about quite difficult subjects. It's my responsibility as a parent to explain to them what Children in Need means and stands for. The less I dumb it down for them, the better they respond to it. I feel very lucky that I get to provide that launchpad for other families.” Pudsey and the Thread of Hope, book available now, and on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Eve at 10:20am. How to get Paddington the Musical West End tickets Paddington tickets are now live at LOVEtheatre starting from £29. The show is running at London's Savoy Theatre from 1st November to May 2026. Buy Paddington the Musical tickets at LOVEtheatre Make sure you also check out the best West End shows and our list of 40 Les Misérables backstage secrets. Also, here's how to get cheap Cadbury World tickets.
Wallace & Gromit creator teases a potential return for Feathers McGraw – and reveals hilarious hidden Easter egg moments
Nick Park tells us what’s next for the evil bird after Vengeance Most Fowl.
Criminal mastermind Feathers McGraw, the penguin who cleverly disguises himself as a chicken, returned last Christmas in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, much to the delight of fans. He first appeared in 1993’s Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers, where he stole the Blue Diamond. For his recent revenge, he escaped his prison (the zoo) and hacked Wallace’s smart gnome, Norbot, to create a whole army of evil minions to help reunite him with the precious gem. But he was once again thwarted by inventor Wallace and his loyal pooch Gromit, who swapped the diamond for a turnip. We last saw Feathers, outsmarted and deflated, escaping on the back of a train, but crucially, he was not caught by the police, which means he’s still at large, always a firm fixture on a “wanted” poster. Where exactly is he then, if not in prison? Talking exclusively to Radio Times, Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park reveals, “He’s somewhere in Yorkshire. Well, who knows where he is? He doesn't let us know these things or what his plans are. A lot of people ask about Feathers McGraw, and the response since last Christmas has been brilliant. We're still reeling from it to be honest.” Does that mean we can expect Feathers to return with another cunning plan? Park teases, “Watch this space... who knows? He’s unpredictable.” With lots of unfinished business with his enemies Wallace and Gromit, he might come out of hiding when the time is right. Until then, you can catch plenty of Easter eggs when rewatching Vengeance Most Fowl, a big part of any Aardman Animations film. Remember when Feathers actually made a very brief cameo at the end of Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget?! Park, who directed Vengeance Most Fowl with Merlin Crossingham and co-created the story with Mark Burton, tells us some of his favourites. For instance, Feathers’s pet seal actually has a name. “No one would ever know this, because it was more of a joke we had among ourselves, but we called him Ronseal, which is, I guess, a very British joke. It's Ronseal that you paint your fences with.” Park, who’s from Preston, says the barge chase scene pays homage to his Lancashire roots. “My dad used to watch The African Queen on TV with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, and that was the name of the boat, so we called one of the barges The Accrington Queen. Some people get that.” Fans will notice that Gromit is an avid reader throughout all the films, and he’s often got his nose in a good book, with puns created from the titles or author names: Pup Fiction, The Dogfather, The Republic by Pluto, Crime and Punishment by Fido Dogstoyevsky. Park mentions that in Vengeance Most Fowl, he’s reading a magazine about gardening in the future called Gardens of the Galaxy by Alan Titchmarsh. “We had to call up Alan to get permission to use that,” he explains. “He was very happy and supportive of it.” Read our full interview with Nick Park, all about making our Christmas cover with Shaun the Sheep and Gromit, in our Christmas issue – in stores now. Read more: Wallace and Gromit creator reveals whether Aardman Animations will use AI in future – and what they won’t compromise on Wallace & Gromit creators reveals how they celebrated Oscar nomination Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is available now on BBC iPlayer and Netflix. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Gen V stunt coordinator reveals some stunts were too extreme to do – even for The Boys
"I've been told a couple times, 'Dude, we can't do that!'"
Gen V and The Boys are known for their out-of-this-world stunt scenes full of explosions, blood, fight choreography and wirework. RadioTimes.com was invited to try out some stunt work for ourselves during a very special day of training with Gen V and The Boys’ Emmy-winning stunt coordinator John Koyama to learn a sequence from season 2 of Gen V, which you can watch above. During our exclusive chat, we ask Koyama how he continues to up the ante in the series that love to shock. He explains: “My team and I will break down the writing and have meetings with Eric Kripke [who created The Boys and developed Gen V] and the writers to make sure we’re still staying within the story, the tone and the characters. It's really specific what we do. “The creators of the shows have a lot of trust in me, so they let me have a big, open canvas where I can paint and do my thing. Sometimes I go too crazy and they're like, ‘Whoa.’ I've been told a couple times, ‘Dude, we can't do that!’ Now I know where the limit actually is on The Boys... I thought there were no limits!” Can he reveal where that limit is? “I can't really say, because sometimes we think of things and we’re told we can't do them, but we keep them in the bank, just in case... I don't want to spoil it – maybe they will be approved.” He can confirm, though, that the stunts have “definitely levelled up for the rest of Gen V – it just gets bigger and crazier in storytelling and action”. In season 2 of Gen V, there’s a new dean of Godolkin University, where young Supes learn to be heroes. Cipher's (Hamish Linklater) aim is to test the students’ powers to their limits, making them stronger than ever, with a particular interest in Marie Moreau’s (Jaz Sinclair) blood manipulation abilities. As for the final season of The Boys, set to be released in 2026, “It’s gonna be epic and absolutely crazy and constant,” says Koyama. “While shooting, our saying was, ‘All gas, no brakes.’ We were all gas all the way down to the floor, no brakes all the way to the very last day.” The cast do all of their own fight choreography in both series. “The only thing I take away from them, obviously, is dangerous stunts. It’s a Supe show, so you don't just get hit like a human, you go flying through walls and windows.” Eric Kripke, creator of The Boys, always planned to end the series with season 5, where Homelander (Antony Starr) is now the leader of America, and there will no doubt be a huge showdown between Billy Butcher’s The Boys and The Seven. You might also recognise Koyama from season 4 of The Boys, where he plays Ryan Butcher’s (Cameron Crovetti) stunt coach Koy during a staged rescue. Ryan unintentionally kills him when he throws him too hard against a building. Gen V season 2 will continue on Prime Video on 15th October 2025. The Boys seasons 1-4 are available to watch now – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Add Gen V 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 Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Blue Lights season 3 is scary and dangerous – with "really heavy" storylines
The cast of the Northern Irish police drama reveal what's coming up in the "emotionally-driven" new episodes.
As season 3 of the BBC’s BAFTA-winning drama Blue Lights returns, it continues to follow officers at the fictional Blackthorn Station in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, as they navigate life on the front line in modern-day Belfast. Speaking exclusively to Radio Times from the Blue Lights set in Belfast, the cast teased what’s in store for their characters as the team find themselves up against a new kind of threat – white collar crime. Watch the full interviews in our Behind the Screens video series above, where we visited Blackthorn Station and private members' club The Deanery. “They are developing in the police force and learning more about themselves as they progress in their professions. The crime story gets even more complex,” says Siân Brooke, who plays social worker turned police officer Grace Ellis. Martin McCann, who stars as Stevie Neill, Grace’s love interest on the force, adds: “It’s kind of scary, kind of dangerous.” We also revisit a storyline from season 1 involving Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin), who received an anonymous death threat, forcing her to leave her family home for her and her mother’s safety. “The death threat is constantly in the background,” says Devlin. “There’s also a lot of stuff going on back home for Annie. She’s constantly juggling the idea of, is the job worth it? Is the sacrifice worth it?” “There’s some really, really heavy topics this season and some really, really heavy scenes for Annie that are very emotionally-driven, but I’m well-supported, and it’s been my favourite season. We have become so much more comfortable in the roles, and it’s lovely to go back into these characters again.” Devlin also praises the writing, led by Northern Irish screenwriters Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, former journalists for Panorama and BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight. “I think the script will always be, and it should be, the most challenging thing about our job, because it’s always so important to dissect, to try things out, and to keep it fresh, and to constantly be asking questions and figuring things out.” Annie moved in with Grace in season 2, but she now lives with her colleagues Tommy Foster (Nathan Braniff) and his girlfriend Aisling (Dearbháile McKinney). Braniff explains: “The series focuses a lot on Tommy’s relationship with Annie. The three of them are going through this journey together, dealing with all the things the police force throws at them in Northern Ireland, and the strain that puts on the relationships, both inside and outside of the job.” Michael Smiley joins the cast as Paul “Colly” Collins, an intelligence officer who worked with Gerry Cliff (Richard Dormer), who was murdered in the first season after being shot by criminal Sully. Cathy Tyson appears as Dana Morgan, who has all the drug dealers in her pocket and owns private members' club The Deanery. A fourth run of Blue Lights has already been confirmed by the BBC. Blue Lights season 3 is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer and airs Mondays at 9pm on BBC One. Seasons 1-2 are available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The secrets of casting the next breakout child star – from Adolescence to the new Harry Potter series
Stacey Burrows founded the Bradford-based Articulate drama school and casting agency, which secures significant film and television roles for children and young adults.
A shorter version of this article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Articulate drama school and casting agency in Bradford, set up by Stacey Burrows, provided 150 child extras for Netflix hit Adolescence, which swept this year's Emmy Awards. Amélie Pease (who plays Lisa, Jamie’s sister), Fatima Bojang (Jade) and Austin Haynes (Fredo) also all came through the drama school – as did Austin’s brother Rocco, who is seen in the opening of 28 Years Later, and Rory Wilmot, who has been cast as Neville Longbottom in the new Harry Potter series in an eight-year deal. Here Burrows tells RT how she helps to nurture young talent. CHANGING CAREER In 2013, I was working as a barrister in county courts and magistrates’ courts across the North working on low-level cases, but I was doing a lot of public speaking in courtrooms. I was looking to give back, so I set up a public speaking school for kids one night a week and created a website for parents to track their children’s progress. CBeebies came across it and asked me to do a bit of vocal coaching on a series and I agreed as long as I could get some of the kids in as extras. Then they just kept calling me back asking for more children. I dropped the legal stuff and the agency really took off in 2015. SUPPORTING YOUNG PERFORMERS We've just opened up to adults, but our focus is on children and young performers up to the age of 25. We represent kids from all over the country, but a lot of them are generally from disadvantaged or diverse backgrounds. Yesterday, one of my actors couldn't afford to get to a recall, so we booked their train tickets and said, “Pay us back when you're rich and famous.” Our drama classes are about £8 a week, and we offer loads of scholarships. We also go to schools and run free workshops to teach people about what it's like to be an actor. WORKING WITH CASTING DIRECTORS We’ve got all the regulars on Waterloo Road and Emmerdale and a lot of people come to us for the gritty Northern dramas. A casting director sends us a detailed brief of all the different characters they’re looking for, including age range, maybe a particular accent or specific physical attributes if the parents have already been cast. We then suggest any actors we think might be suitable and send off their CVs, and the casting director tells us who they would like to audition. HELPING WITH SELF-TAPES They send us a sample script, which could be two or three scenes to memorise, and then the child self-tapes at home. They can send those tapes to us on WhatsApp and we can give them voice note feedback, which is something you wouldn't get at many agencies. It's an extra support mechanism to make sure they've understood everything and don't miss anything. Sometimes it's something practical, like their lighting is terrible, or if its performance-related, they might drop out of an accent. RECEIVING A CALL BACK When we feel like we've got a perfect tape, we will send it off to the casting director. They will shortlist those tapes and show them to the directors and producers. They decide who will come in for a recall – either on Zoom or in person. It's a chance to go through the scenes, and for the director to give a bit of direction to see how the actor takes that direction. After that recall, sometimes we get an offer straight away. Other times, it might be a chemistry read or a second recall. PROVIDING HONEST FEEDBACK We've got what we call small books, so we know each of our clients individually. We have weekly 10-minute drop-in sessions where we catch up with all of our clients. We're always there for feedback, and we're a very honest agency, so if we think the child needs to work on certain skills to move to the next level, we will always tell the parents, who will hopefully support them with it. SPOTTING A STAR A child has to have resilience, commitment and determination, because you get a lot of knockbacks. They also need a level of maturity, a good memory for lines and emotional intelligence. We celebrate their successes. I often even go to school plays! Then a week later I could be flying to LA to watch a movie premiere. DEALING WITH THE PARENTS A lot of agents say they don't want to deal with kids because of the annoying parents, but we don't have that issue here. Some of the kids have actor parents, but for those who aren’t actors, we help them navigate things. The industry is so alien to people who aren't in it. Some jobs are life-changing, like this new Harry Potter series – financially, but also in the sense that the child might have to move away from home and their siblings for years. One parent often has to give up a job for a substantial amount of time. NEGOTIATING THE CONTRACTS In certain deals, we organise extra flights so family members can go out and visit. We might organise Zooms with the school so the child can catch up with their friends or teachers. When you’re in a big global franchise, you lose a bit of your normal life, so we try to keep our children grounded and make sure they’re enjoying it, because if they’re not, they shouldn’t be doing it. Adolescence is available to watch on Netflix – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Add Adolescence to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Chris O’Dowd calls for more regional accents on-screen amid Celtic language "resurgence"
The Irish star on romcoms and regional identity – and why his dog is a Puffin
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? A dark-green wallpapered wall, then a big TV over the fireplace, which I know you’re not supposed to do. Our two dogs, Meatloaf and Puffin, and two cats, Boo and Myrtle, are usually on the sofa. We also have a tortoise called Sandwich. Puffin as in Puffin Rock, the kids’ animated series you narrate about the marine birds on the coast of Ireland? Yes, Puffin is named in tribute, because the kids [O’Dowd has two sons with his wife, writer/presenter Dawn O’Porter] were watching a lot of it at the time. It’s basically me reading them a story! What have you been watching lately? I really enjoyed Bad Sisters and Colin from Accounts. My kids just finished watching all of The Simpsons. It’s been fun explaining some of those jokes. I’m also in an episode! We watch old movies with them, but I made a mistake… they were too young for Arachnophobia. Luckily, the younger one said, “I need to stop watching this now.” He’s absolutely obsessed with insects, so he watches a lot of YouTube videos about how to build terrariums. We’ve got a little pond in the garden and he’s been going bananas for all these newts and salamanders, and now the frogs have started coming. Puffin Rock features regional Irish accents. Do you think we’re hearing them more often on screen? We’re going through such a great phase for Irish actors achieving success, and it’s becoming more and more normalised. Regional accents are important because it’s all about representation. There’s no point everybody just sounding like posh English people, because that’s not what everybody’s like. Can you speak any Irish? Bits, but not well. I have been using Duolingo since the Celtic revival has been happening. I think the resurgence is wonderful, because through the suppression of language we’ve lost so much knowledge about ourselves. The last century in Ireland was just about the state standing on its own two feet and the actual identity underneath all of that wasn’t the primary concern. Now we’ve kind of established ourselves, we’re yearning for the things we have lost. I just hope the Irish language isn’t destroyed by the British in the next 100 years. You also used your own accent in the hit romcom Bridesmaids. Do you think there are enough romcoms nowadays? I think they moved to television. There’s great romcom writing within shows like Sharon Horgan’s Catastrophe. It’s a shame, the cinema has become absolutely swarmed with action movies, and now there’s no place for romcoms to go. I presume date night movies are still a thing? What do people go to, Superman? You’ve written series including Moone Boy and Small Town, Big Story. Who do you test your material out on? When Dawn and I lived in Los Angeles, we hosted a lot of barbies and invited Irish actors and people like Jason Segel, who is one of my best pals, so loads of people to bounce stuff off. Now we’re in the UK, it’s Sunday roasts. I like to pitch a lot during those things and put myself under pressure to write something by the time I see everyone again in six weeks. You starred in Black Mirror as a man who enrols his wife (Rashida Jones) into a healthcare subscription service to keep her alive after she’s diagnosed with a brain tumour. Did it make you think about the future of tech? The episode [Common People] is really about how to deal with your partner when they’re unwell. I’ve spent a lot of time recently in hospitals with elderly relatives. We all live longer, but we haven’t made the conditions for being old any better. We’ve decided as a society we’re going to be led by tech rather than compassion, so we have to bear the consequences. Some of it is useful and some is terrible, just like AI. You’re not going to really be given a choice. It’s going to be like a self-service checkout – less personal, slightly more efficient and the experience is more s**t for everyone. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
"You can sit and stand on it": Meet the UK company making TV and film sets out of cardboard
Chris Gilmour of Vectar Sets creates paper-based sets for film and TV that contain up to 90 per cent lower carbon than normal set materials.
A shorter version of this article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Manchester-based Vectar Sets, established in 2022 by Chris Gilmour, creates paper-based sets for film and TV that contain up to 90 per cent lower carbon than normal set materials, and are 90 per cent lighter and 100 per cent recyclable. He’s worked on Coronation Street, Newsround, Alien: Romulus and pre-school series Treehouse, which was filmed at RD Studios, a fully sustainable production facility. Here he tells RT how he got into it, and why it matters. PAPER ARTIST I did a course called Art in Social Context at the University of Bristol. I was doing workshops with kids and mental health groups and that’s where working with cardboard started. It’s a very friendly, accessible material. I lived in Italy for a long time and was a fine art sculptor working with galleries and museums around the world. I used to do a lot of mechanical sculpture, and I was using cardboard to make prototypes – then I just started using cardboard for all of it! I’ve made life-sized motorcycles, bikes, cars…. I moved back to the UK in 2016, and after one Covid lockdown, I was asked to do an Old Spice advert. There was a shortage of wood in the UK, so we were trying to find a solution that was quick and cheap. I’m currently doing my PhD on how you can use paper materials to make film sets. ALL ABOARD There’s obviously a lot of interest in sustainability in film and TV, but it tends to be on lighting, power, transport, and reusable cups, and then it kind of ends there. Most film and TV sets are made from MDF (medium density fibre board) or plywood. MDF is made of a wood pulp, and it's got formaldehyde and resins in it, and it's completely unrecyclable. The dust is toxic and it's really heavy, but it's cheap. After filming, the sets are smashed up and put in a skip. There’s at least a tonne of set waste for a one-day advert, and for big TV shows and films, that’s 700 or 800 tonnes. A manufacturer in Sweden makes what we have now branded as Vectar board. It comes from timber waste. It’s really tough – the furniture in our office is made of it! You can sit and stand on it. FLAT PACK We'll start with a digital design, then make a model. Then it goes to specialist machines where it's printed and cut out. Assembly involves hot glue guns and craft knives, and the glue is biodegradable. When it's exposed to UV light, it breaks down, but when it's stuck inside something, there's no light on it, so it stays intact. We work with scenic painters, but any additions are ideally water-based so they’re recyclable. Rust effects are normally done with iron filings, but we mix cinnamon into the paint to give it a fleck-y, dusty look! Ultimately, it needs to look good on screen. We can also make it waterproof and fire retardant, and we've been developing things like printed tiles. Afterwards, you can cut the set into bits and put it in the paper recycling. Or, we’ll take it back, and if it’s still worth using, we’ll try to re-home it with film schools, theatres or community groups. PAPER WEIGHT Our initial focus was on short shoots where it'd have the most impact, but the sets can last for years, be repainted and tidied up. We also do a lot of outside broadcast desks, such as for the Premier League. Some of them have a Perspex top and have LED lights in. It’s useful for locations where you don't want to damage the walls or the floors. It fits well into existing sets, and if you have a part you need to move, it weighs nothing at all! I think the Sky Sports Super Sunday desk weighs about 130kg, and you need four or five people to pick it up, whereas ours weighs about 30kg. A GREENER FUTURE We've had a lot of help from the sustainability departments at ITV and BBC, and we’ve had loads of repeat customers. The only real push back we've had is from some of the traditional trades, where it could conceivably be seen as a threat. If you’ve got a carpentry company that's invested thousands of pounds in saws and drills, and have 20 carpenters working four days, you could actually have 10 people in two days. They’re reluctant to adopt it, but I think it’s an extra tool they can use. Now, we’re looking at what we could replace polystyrene with. The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday 19th August – subscribe here. Treehouse airs Saturday and Sunday at 7:05am on 5's Milkshake!. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
NHS surgeon discusses performing surgery on TV for new Netflix series
In Critical: Between Life and Death, cameras follow the work of NHS trauma teams.
A shorter version of this article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In the engrossing and shocking new Netflix documentary series Critical: Between Life and Death, 40 cameras are embedded for 21 days across the entire London Major Trauma System, which includes major trauma centres at The Royal London Hospital, St George's Hospital, King's College Hospital and St Mary's Hospital. Mr Ibraheim El-Daly, 41, who grew up in northwest London, has been a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at King's College Hospital for five years. Here he tells RT how it feels to be filmed on the job. DRILLING DOWN I studied at City St George's, University of London, and during my rotations, I fell in love with orthopaedic surgery. I liked the power tools – the screwdriver, mallet, and my favourite, the drill! I did my five-year orthopaedic training at the Royal London Hospital. I then spent a year at Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, a major trauma centre in Paris. I came back to a job at King’s College and it was very fast-paced. I thrive on stress. THE NHS GOES GLOBAL I appeared in Channel 4’s Emergency and 24 hours in A&E. The same production company behind those shows told us Netflix loved them and would like to do their own medical series. With Netflix it’s a great opportunity to expose the NHS to the world. TEXTING ABOUT TRAUMA A lot of the problems you hear in the media about the NHS are true, like trying to get an appointment, but our major trauma network is second to none. We even have WhatsApp groups with all the major trauma surgeons – there’s a national pelvic group and a national upper limb group. We post cases and discuss them. I feel sad that we don't promote ourselves, because we have such amazing experience and expertise that we should be selling our services. The NHS could benefit by going to countries and helping them create the same level of trauma care that we deliver for citizens of the UK. ON-CALL FOR THE CAMERA The camera crew followed me everywhere I went, but they never got in my way. They were constantly checking they weren’t doing anything that would cause an issue, or they’d say, “Are you OK? Do you want us to take a step back?” The only time I’d switch off my mic was when I went to the loo! There were usually two, sometimes three, cameras. Before I saw a patient, the production team asked them or their relatives if it was OK to film them. Then the camera crew would either get the green light or stand down. View oEmbed on the source website COMPLICATED CASES They filmed me doing multiple surgeries before they selected the case for the show, where the patient, Jared, was at risk of losing his leg after a motorcycle accident. He had an open fracture that was a high-energy injury, which refers to trauma caused by a significant force, so it can’t be closed by just suturing it together again. While I was operating, I explained the process for the cameras like I would to a junior trainee. King’s is a big teaching hospital and the biggest medical school in Europe, so I’m used to having trainees. You have to pass on your knowledge – otherwise, what’s the point? A RISK WORTH TAKING Most consultants say no to being filmed, because they’re worried about something bad happening. I'm dealing with complex, unpredictable injuries, so there’s a much higher risk of patient dissatisfaction and problems, but I'm confident in my skills, so I'm not too concerned about what others say or think. Every surgeon encounters complications – there was one that happened intraoperatively on Emergency where I had to intervene to stop it from becoming a disaster – but we discuss them and learn from them so we can better ourselves. We're constantly pushing the boundaries and improving. Critical: Between Life and Death is available on Netflix from 23rd July. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Call the Midwife's Helen George exposes personal vulnerabilities in new show: "It's not glamorous"
In the new ITV1 series Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters, the star faces her fears.
A shorter version of this article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… well, it is! Or at least, that’s what a batch of TV stars hope to prove in the new ITV1 series Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters. Its aim is to undo the damage Jaws did in demonising the sharp-toothed creatures as the film celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In the series, Helen George, Lucy Punch, Sir Lenny Henry, Ross Noble, Rachel Riley, Ade Adepitan and Dougie Poynter get up close and personal with bull sharks in a diving cage, while interacting with hammerheads, stingrays and more on the islands of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is home to seven to ten different shark species. As the breeds get bigger and more dangerous across five episodes, they work themselves up to the ultimate challenge: diving with tiger sharks. Although the clue is in the name of the show, Call the Midwife star George didn’t really think they’d be swimming with sharks, because “it’s TV” and “who would actually do that?” When she agreed to take part, she was not only scared of sharks, but had a phobia of even putting her head under the water – something she hadn’t done for 15 years. “I'm quite gung-ho as a person, so I thought I’d be fine, but I genuinely wasn’t,” she says. “At that point, the sharks were small fry. It was more about the water!” In episode 1, she explains that when she was young, she went to a swimming party, and as she was trying to resurface from underwater, foam mats on the top prevented her from getting out. But she signed up for the show for her daughters, aged three and seven. “I wanted to get more confident for them. They were impressed I even went in the first place, because they didn't think I would. I was really terrified of the water, so I might be a bit embarrassed about some of the scenes! “I’m an actress and I play other people’s vulnerabilities, so playing my own is always terrifying. I’m ugly crying, there’s no hair and make-up... it’s not glamorous. Now I’m thinking, ‘What have I done?’ I haven’t been ‘myself’ on screen since I did Strictly [in 2015], and that was uncomfortable for me.” She isn’t the only celeb stepping out of their comfort zone in the series, but they are all supported not only by each other, but also by safety, shark and diving experts throughout. That includes Paul de Gelder, who lost an arm and a leg in a bull shark attack, but now dedicates his life to shark conservation. They also all gained a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) certification. George was a few days behind everyone else's training. “They didn’t know whether I’d be able to pass my PADI in time for filming, because I wasn’t up to the standard that everybody else was, because I was really scared. I thought they were gonna put me on the next plane home and get someone else.” Instead, she was given the option to do a snorkelling course instead of the PADI. “It would have meant I was separate from the group and I didn’t want to be, so I knuckled down, put my big girl pants on and got on with it! I thought, ‘I’m not going to be behind everyone else. I’m not going to let myself fail in week one.’” The celebs were in the Bahamas for just over three weeks, spending a good eight hours on the dive boat some days, and being in the wetsuit took some getting used to. “Sometimes it's really hot, sometimes it’s really cold. You're just constantly wet,” George explains. “Your skin's rough as hell from all the sea water. You're just fighting against it and trying not to look rubbish for the camera at the same time. Vanity goes out the window. Everyone's peeing in their wetsuits!” Across the series, George goes from someone who had never seen Jaws, because she was so afraid of sharks, to swimming with them and even appreciating them. “I will be watching Jaws – now I’ve seen them up close, it won't scare me at all! “Sharks don’t want to eat us – we really do need to protect them. While we can joke about how scared I was, the whole premise of this show is to show how important they are and how we need to nurture them. Our marine life needs them as well.” George’s favourite moment came when she saw two gigantic Hammerheads swimming above her in the water. “I hadn’t expected that I would be brave enough to do it. I was so emotional – they’re so rare to see. There were moments of meditation where I was completely in the moment and present.” George’s aim of being on the show was that afterwards she’d be able to jump in the sea and not be as terrified. Has she achieved her goal? “I have been underwater. I haven't been diving since, but I want to go so I don't lose the skill. “I didn't realise I was going to be overcoming my biggest fear on camera in front of the nation, but that's what it turned out to be!” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters will air on ITV1 and ITVX from Monday 14th July at 9pm. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Charlotte Ritchie is "desperate" to make a Ghosts movie
The actor speaks to Radio Times about the hit sitcom's future, plus new thriller Code of Silence.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What's the view from your sofa? My boyfriend insisted on getting a big TV. His excuse was that I was away filming for five months, so he needed something to focus on. There’s also a PlayStation 4. I’ve always loved video games. On a beautiful summer’s evening, all the normal people are outside having pints, and I’ll spend six hours being chased by horrendous monsters. What have you been watching? I’ve been really enjoying the Apple TV+ series The Studio, where Seth Rogen plays a guy who’s promoted to head developer of a film studio. I also started watching The Royle Family again. I’m not really concerned with endings. If anything, I avoid them. I didn’t finish some of my favourite books. I’m sure I could be psychoanalysed and it would be quite revealing, but things aren’t tied up in life, so why should they be in art? You’re best known for your comedy roles in Ghosts and Fresh Meat, but You is a psychological thriller and Code of Silence is a crime drama. Was it challenging taking on different genres? Being more of a sitcom actor gave me a definite sense of imposter syndrome. You feel that you’ve got to earn your stripes a bit. I spoke to a bunch of older actors recently who said it only gets worse. I think back to the confidence I had early doors – the less you know, the better you think you are. In You, you play wealthy CEO Kate Lockwood, and she always looks perfect. Could you relate to that? It’s an image that is so completely unsustainable. Some people sustain it, but I can’t do that – it’s hours of work, prep, money and time. You have to work out what matters to you. I have this professional team that spend about two hours making me look like that, then I have to deal with the reality of myself, taking out the hair extensions, taking the heels off. But then I can breathe, and wear clothes I can spill my coffee down. The hardest thing is seeing people double-take me in the street: "Is that her? She doesn’t look like the person I saw on telly." Do you think women are under more scrutiny to look good than men? Yes, without a doubt, although I would argue that the general expectation of how good we’re all supposed to look all the time has increased. The boys now have to have washboard stomachs. Everyone has to look unreal – and everyone can feel bad. You introduced you to an international audience and the fifth and final series was filmed in New York. Is it still an actor’s dream to "break" America? I always had a resistance to that, because my life and my heart is in the UK. Then I got to New York. I loved it and I’d love to do more there – I was afraid of going away for five months, but nobody cares. I filmed Code of Silence just after You, so I went from being in a New York penthouse to being in an ex-police station in Watford. What was it like working with Rose Ayling-Ellis on Code of Silence? Rose is very generous. She was so inclusive bringing the cast and crew into the signing world and telling us how to communicate more effectively with people who have hearing loss or are deaf. I sometimes asked if she would sign along when she was talking to help me learn, and I also used a signing app. Communication can be inconsiderate, sloppy, indirect or impersonal, but Rose communicates through eye contact and reading someone’s face, and she expects that to be reciprocated, so you have to be so much more considered about what you’re saying. You don’t like endings, so you must have been sad when Ghosts finished. Is there the possibility of a film? It was absolutely awful! If there was a film, I would do it for free! No, don't tell them that – I'll do it for a very high fee… I'm desperate to get back in that house and see them all again. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Adrian Scarborough doesn’t want to outstay his welcome on TV, but would he do a Gavin & Stacey spin-off series?
This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in May 2025. Add The Chelsea Detective to your watchlist Adrian Scarborough has been acting for more than three decades – in television, film, radio and theatre. The accomplished character actor has played Villanelle’s violent and sinister handler Raymond in Killing Eve and Dawn’s awkward yet well-meaning husband Peter in Gavin & Stacey. He has two best supporting actor Olivier Awards and has appeared in acclaimed films including The History Boys and The King’s Speech. But it took until 2022, when The Chelsea Detective first aired, for Scarborough to be cast in a lead role on screen. Scarborough was actually ready to cut back on television work, but the part of DI Max Arnold convinced him to change his mind. “I never expected to go down this road,” says the 57-year-old who is now promoting the third series of his detective drama. “Playing the lead isn’t a responsibility that I really enjoy. People start looking at you like you must know the answer, because you’ve been there from the beginning.” Arnold and his partner DS Layla Walsh (Vanessa Emme) solve cases in the London borough of Chelsea, and in the new series’ first episode, a body is found in an allotment. Scarborough enjoyed watching John Thaw in Inspector Morse growing up and says Arnold has a bit of “bumbling Columbo” about him. It’s cosy crime at its finest. There’s no swearing, no sex and no bloodshed. “It appeals, because there’s quite a few people out there, myself included, that don’t like too much gore,” says Scarborough. “The crimes themselves are almost irrelevant. The most interesting bit is the process of working them out.” Scarborough was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. His father was a teacher and his mother was a lay worker at the local Methodist church, who inspired his love of theatre by taking him at a very young age. “I wanted to be a dancer, but it was very obvious from about the age of eight or nine I didn’t have the physique,” he says. “As soon as I saw that acting was a job you could do, I thought it was for me. My parents never turned up their noses and went, ‘You’re never going to be an actor, don’t go on the stage.’” He describes himself as a “disaster at school” and was his happiest when he left at the age of 16. “I don’t think school catered for the person that I was. My creative side wasn’t nourished. I’m a very practical person, so I learn by being active and doing. I don’t learn by reading or sitting.” He went on to attend Brooksby Melton College, where his love of acting was encouraged, and then he studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He recalls his first on-screen role in The Bill in 1991, when he had to drive a truck across an airfield. “I used to do what I call SAS acting,” Scarborough explains. “You essentially get parachuted into a job, you’re there for three days, they shoot all of your stuff, and you’re gone again. That had its own set of problems – you never got to be part of a family.” Now, he tries to make all the guest stars in The Chelsea Detective – which this series includes Alex Kingston (A Discovery of Witches, Doctor Who) as US Ambassador Emily Morgan – feel as welcome as possible. “We try to make everybody’s journeys on the show a happy one, partly because I’ve had some s**t experiences in my time. I would hate anybody to come on our set and go away with that sort of experience. It’s hard walking into a space where you don’t know people and you’re expected to do big, emotional scenes or violent stuff, or be angry. It can be really tricky getting yourself to that place in a very short space of time when there’s not a lot of trust about. “You get on a gig where people have been doing it for a very long time, perhaps too long, and they get used to doing it in a particular way, and they don’t want to do it any differently. You don’t feel welcome or comfortable – you feel like cannon fodder. Those experiences have an impact – more of an impact than the good times you have. They can upset you and play havoc with your confidence.” How did he keep going? “Well, sometimes I didn’t actually. I took time out or went off and did something completely different.” The Chelsea Detective is very different to “SAS acting”. It takes five months to film, with a couple of months’ prep before that, and involves a lot of long days. “This takes up a massive chunk of my life. Your loved ones become impatient, and sometimes tempers are thin…” says Scarborough. He lives with his wife, psychotherapist Rose Blackshaw, in Hertfordshire. Their children, Esme and Jake, no longer live at home. “We try to be as communicative as we can, but it can be hard to find time to get together. You have to go, ‘OK, you can have me for an hour and a half here, you can have me for this much of Saturday, but the rest of the day I need to sit down and work out next week’s scenes and script, and I need a bit of time to myself.’” Scarborough didn’t expect for The Chelsea Detective to run as long as it has, and believes “all gigs have a finite life”. He praises Gavin & Stacey for knowing when to end. The final episode, which aired on Christmas Day last year, brought in more than 12 million viewers. Would he ever do a spin-off with Julia Davis, who plays his on-screen wife Dawn? “I don’t think so. One of the reasons why Peter and Dawn were so delicious was that you didn’t have to have a full half-hour of them. I think you’d get exhausted pretty quickly with the highs and lows of that relationship. It would just get so frantic and mad so quickly that I’m not sure it’d sustain for six episodes, but Julia is a genius. She’s also the worst corpser [an actor who laughs uncontrollably during scenes] I have ever met!” What about The Chelsea Detective? DI Arnold could probably carry on for years, solving hundreds of cases, but would Scarborough want to? “You shouldn’t outstay your welcome. You have to be careful that you don’t get bored and complacent, particularly in this genre. You can tell when your heart’s not in it, but I haven’t reached that stage yet!” It’s safe to say Scarborough won’t be requiring a parachute any time soon.
You season 5 ending explained: Who lives, who dies and Joe Goldberg's fate
*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for the final episode of You season 5.* You's final season has come to a dramatic end, revealing the fate of serial killer Joe Goldberg after five chapters of murder, obsessions, cover-ups and stalking – and he finally gets what he deserves. Things were looking very different for Joe at the start of the new season: his new partner Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie) had managed to use her newly inherited wealth to clear his name, enabling them to live a peaceful life together. But that all changed when Joe set his sights on new cast member Bronte (Madeline Brewer), an employee at his bookstore. Chaos ensued as Joe's darker side emerged once again, and Kate was left questioning whether she really knew who he was, while Bronte revealing she was duping him and was part of a Reddit community that wanted to take him down. We knew it was going to be a wild ride of a finale, but nothing could've quite prepared us for the heart-racing battle to the death that ensued between Bronte and Joe, as Bronte continued to wrestle with her true feelings and prospective future with a serial killer. Wondering who succeeded in this game of cat and mouse between Bronte and Joe, and whether anyone met a tragic fate? Read on for a full breakdown of the fates of each character in the final ever episode of Netflix's You, including some exclusive reflections on the finale from actress Charlotte Ritchie herself. You season 5 ending explained: What happened to everyone in the finale? Does Joe get caught in You season 5? Yes, Joe Goldberg is ultimately incarcerated for his crimes. After Maddie (Anna Camp) burns down Mooney's with her own sister Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and Joe inside, Bronte came back to rescue Kate, but as she was seemingly dead and with Joe still alive, she ended up bringing up Joe to safety, where he popped the big question. The finale starts with the pair on a road trip just outside New York, driving round to find somewhere to rest up for the night before they make their way to the Canadian border with new passports that have been pre-arranged by Joe. Unlike before, Bronte isn't blinded by her love for Joe any longer after her heartfelt conversation with Marienne. She's intent on making sure the world learns the truth about Joe and plays nice, resisting the urge to speak to a police officer when they stop for petrol and concealing a gun of her own. They end up at a holiday rental that Joe breaks into (he has no money, after all), spending the evening eating and going out on the boat for a ride around the lake. They end up in the bedroom just about to have sex when Bronte gets out the gun she's concealed under one of the pillows and aims it at Joe's head, demanding to know the truth about how he killed Guinevere Beck. Bronte orders Joe to redact all his own words from Beck's book, tearfully talking about how Joe has managed to erase parts of herself while they've been together. They're interrupted by a call from Joe's dodgy friend, who informs him that Henry's online playing his game and can be patched through to Joe. Henry is at home with his uncle Teddy (Griffin Matthews), who is seen solemnly talking to the police. Henry quizzes Joe about what he's done to his mother, referring to Kate. Henry tells Joe that despite Joe telling him there weren't any monsters in his room, Joe lied and actually is the monster. Henry's emotional statement breaks Joe, who completely loses it at Bronte and starts to question how he has become the person he is. Bronte is tired of Joe trying to play the victim and says she should call the police, but Joe says there's little point as he always manages to get off scot-free. He lunges at Bronte, knocking the gun from her grasp, and the pair get into an intense brawl, with Bronte eventually managing to break free and run into the surrounding woods. She returns to the house to call the police and manages to finally get through, once she's had to jump from the bedroom window to hide from Joe again. The phone is connected as Joe admits to breaking Bronte's ankle himself to keep her around so they can talk. He calls her ungrateful and spiteful as he follows her into the lake, strangling her seemingly to death in the water. After hearing sirens, Joe goes running into the woods and ambushes a police officer, who the camera pans to for a second time as it's revealed his gun is missing. Bronte is actually alive and has taken the officer's gun for herself, aiming it at Joe, who eventually begs her to kill him as the police start to circle the area. After a tense confrontation, Joe runs at Bronte but she shoots him in the penis, he drops to his feet and the cops come to take Joe away. What happened to Bronte in You season 5? After narrowly escaping Joe's deadly clutches and making it out alive from her tense stand-off with him, Bronte is the one narrating the final part of the episode. Now living in her truth as Louise, she reworked Beck's manuscript and took out Joe's additions after demanding he redact himself. A newly released version of Beck's book is released in stores, which is bittersweet for Louise, who wishes she were there in person to see it. She admits that her life will not be seen as before and after Joe, admitting that the memory of him shrinks with each passing day. She doesn't know what she wants to do or who she wants to be just yet, but says she can't wait to find out. What happened to Kate Lockwood in You season 5? As we learn in the episode's closing moments, Kate survived the fire at Mooney's after all. Left with burn scars, she wears them proudly as she embarks on a new chapter in her life with Henry and continues to spend plenty of time with her brother Teddy, who has made Lockwood Corporation a 100 per cent nonprofit after taking over as CEO. Having now left her father's company, Kate returns to her first love of art and continues to champion Marienne as an artist, who can now live in the public limelight after Joe is put behind bars. As for the rest of Kate's family, Reagan is obviously dead, but Maddie is now living happily as herself with Harrison, whose charges for Reagan's murder were dropped. Although Maddie was tried for arson and her sister's murder, she didn't have to serve time due to the circumstances. We see her enjoying time in the park with Harrison and Gretchen, now expecting twins of her own. Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com about Kate's fate in the You finale, Ritchie said: "I found out so late. There were so many moments in the make-up room where I remember catching eyes with Penn, and he was definitely talking about Kate and he was like, 'So are you sad that Kate...?' And I was like, 'Sad that Kate what?' And he was like, 'What do you mean? You don't know?' I was like, 'I don't know. I don't know anything.' So there was this real tension." She continued: "There were a lot of rumours going around that he died, that he didn't, that he got away. They were really good at keeping it under wraps, even from us. I wonder if they were sort of still deciding towards the end... but I don't think so. I think they had that idea. "I was as satisfied as you can be. It's as close as satisfying as you could get. I reckon seeing him having to face himself, even though he won't, the possibility that he could is quite exciting. It's nice he can't get near anyone." What happened to Marienne Bellamy in You season 5? Free of Joe, Marienne can live a successful life as an artist. Having been plagued by Joe's existence for the last three seasons, Marienne is finally freed of him thanks to her alliance with the other women he has harmed. In the end, with Joe incarcerated, Marienne pursues her art and is even helped by Kate, who continues to raise Henry away from his father. What happened to Nadia Farran in You season 5? Having been freed from prison with the help of Kate and with Joe now in prison himself, Nadia returns to writing and seems happier than ever. She is seen returning to her prison to teach classes to women and uses her gifts to help others process their trauma. What happens at Joe's trial in You season 5? We then flash forward to a courthouse where Joe is being led from a courtroom to awaiting press and paparazzi, clearly numb to the fact that he has now finally been caught for his crimes. Bronte's narration reveals that Joe's trial was messy, and the truth of his true nature was undeniable. Through her shooting of him, Joe was also immortalised on the internet as a meme, eventually being turned on by the public. Joe was convicted of the murders of Love Quinn and Guinevere Beck, which then led to a flurry of allegations coming his way, which later turned to more convictions, ensuring that Joe will never be free again. We learn that Joe has also been convicted for the murders of season 1's Benji Ashby (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell), Dr Nicky's conviction for Beck's murder was also vacated, with Dominique (Natasha Behnam) and Phoenix (b) telling a podcast that they're far from done with their internet sleuthing as there continue to be many more Joe's out in the world. Speaking about how she thinks fans will react to the ending, Ritchie previously told RadioTimes.com: "I think there'll be a mixed reaction, as there always is." She added: "I think this is such a larger than life character that finding an ending that satisfies everybody based on all of the various feelings they have about him, like in his life, I don't think that's possible, but I think it's a nice nod to the kind of relationship we have with him, which I think is quite fun and quite kind of inclusive, weirdly." Does Joe Goldberg die at the end of You season 5? No, as detailed above, Joe doesn't die in the series finale. Co-showrunner Michael Foley recently told Netflix's Tudum that everyone involved in the series agreed "death would be too easy" for Joe. “I always thought somebody killing Joe wouldn’t be justice. It would be vengeance. Anybody who kills him would be brought down to his level, which is not justice for them,” he said. “He’s a quandary in a way. What would justice for him look like? I think we get as close as we can.” However, Foley did recently reveal in an interview with the New York Post that Joe almost did meet a grisly end, explaining that the fifth season had an alternative ending where Joe realised he was actually dead and is a ghost. "We liked putting him in a veritable cage [in prison]. We liked him not knowing the touch of a lover," Foley told the publication, adding that "it was late in the season" when the writers had "finally locked that down". "Throughout the series, there was a shared belief among the writers and the creators that Joe wouldn't get away with his crimes," he added. "We came into the season knowing that we didn’t want to redeem him, that he would get his comeuppance, that he was going to face some of those whose lives he ruined. And most importantly, we knew he was going to be made to face himself." What does the You season 5 ending mean? The final scene of the series is of Joe in his prison cell, with a shaven head and in a red jumpsuit, denoting he has been imprisoned for the most violent crimes. He finishes reading The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer, likely hinting at Joe's thoughts of the future, despite New York having abolished the death penalty. Joe's narration remarks on the loneliness of the time ahead and whether all the blame can be pinned on him if he's simply a product of his environment. He gets handed a letter from a fan, who is explicit in the kinds of sexual fantasies she wants to enact with Joe. Joe asks whether it's fair that he's caged while people like this continue to roam free, asking finally if the problem of this all is actually not him, but you. On that final moment of Joe reading his fan mail, Charlotte Ritchie told RadioTimes.com: "I don't know about the psychology of that. There's something about the distance that matters, right? "It's the same with the intrigue in the show. It's far away. It's not someone there in your living room or at your school or whatever. It's like they are away from you, and they exist in your mind, and in there you can control that, and that is major. People are into stuff that you can't explain." Meanwhile, speaking to Tudum about that final monologue, Foley explained it was a final "deflection" highlighting that Joe "has not changed". “I can see the whole arc of the series and I’m like, ‘Man, I’m glad I got to do that,’” Badgley added. “But there’s no amount of enjoyment or gratitude that can eclipse the brutal reality of what a man like Joe Goldberg is. And so, giving life to him for this long, I’m ready to lay that down … Hopefully, it just feels like a really good way to end it.” Elsewhere, Badgley was even more scathing about Joe's much-deserved fate. Speaking to Deadline, the actor said: "If somebody was to kill him – and it would be a woman, right – well then actually now what you’ve burdened her with is having committed murder, like that’s not just, I don’t think. Torture? Uh OK, same thing. Prison? Eh, feels a bit not enough. So what do you do? Take. His. Balls.” You season 5 is available to stream on Netflix now – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Adrian Scarborough on The Chelsea Detective's future – and why he won't do a Gavin & Stacey spin-off
Scarborough chatted exclusively to Radio Times magazine about the return of the U&Drama series.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Adrian Scarborough has been acting for more than three decades – in television, film, radio and theatre. The accomplished character actor has played Villanelle’s violent and sinister handler Raymond in Killing Eve and Dawn’s awkward yet well-meaning husband Peter in Gavin & Stacey. He has two best supporting actor Olivier Awards and has appeared in acclaimed films including The History Boys and The King’s Speech. But it took until 2022, when The Chelsea Detective first aired, for Scarborough to be cast in a lead role on screen. Scarborough was actually ready to cut back on television work, but the part of DI Max Arnold convinced him to change his mind. “I never expected to go down this road,” says the 57-year-old who is now promoting the third series of his detective drama. “Playing the lead isn’t a responsibility that I really enjoy. People start looking at you like you must know the answer, because you’ve been there from the beginning.” Arnold and his partner DS Layla Walsh (Vanessa Emme) solve cases in the London borough of Chelsea, and in the new season’s first episode, a body is found in an allotment. Scarborough enjoyed watching John Thaw in Inspector Morse growing up and says Arnold has a bit of “bumbling Columbo” about him. It’s cosy crime at its finest. There’s no swearing, no sex and no bloodshed. “It appeals, because there’s quite a few people out there, myself included, that don’t like too much gore,” says Scarborough. “The crimes themselves are almost irrelevant. The most interesting bit is the process of working them out.” Scarborough was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. His father was a teacher and his mother was a lay worker at the local Methodist church, who inspired his love of theatre by taking him at a very young age. “I wanted to be a dancer, but it was very obvious from about the age of eight or nine I didn’t have the physique,” he says. “As soon as I saw that acting was a job you could do, I thought it was for me. My parents never turned up their noses and went, ‘You’re never going to be an actor, don’t go on the stage.’” He describes himself as a “disaster at school” and was his happiest when he left at the age of 16. “I don’t think school catered for the person that I was. My creative side wasn’t nourished. I’m a very practical person, so I learn by being active and doing. I don’t learn by reading or sitting.” He went on to attend Brooksby Melton College, where his love of acting was encouraged, and then he studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He recalls his first on-screen role in The Bill in 1991, when he had to drive a truck across an airfield. “I used to do what I call SAS acting,” Scarborough explains. “You essentially get parachuted into a job, you’re there for three days, they shoot all of your stuff, and you’re gone again. That had its own set of problems – you never got to be part of a family.” Now, he tries to make all the guest stars in The Chelsea Detective – which this series includes Alex Kingston (A Discovery of Witches, Doctor Who) as US ambassador Emily Morgan – feel as welcome as possible. “We try to make everybody’s journeys on the show a happy one, partly because I’ve had some s**t experiences in my time. I would hate anybody to come on our set and go away with that sort of experience. It’s hard walking into a space where you don’t know people and you’re expected to do big, emotional scenes or violent stuff, or be angry. It can be really tricky getting yourself to that place in a very short space of time when there’s not a lot of trust about. “You get on a gig where people have been doing it for a very long time, perhaps too long, and they get used to doing it in a particular way, and they don’t want to do it any differently. You don’t feel welcome or comfortable – you feel like cannon fodder. Those experiences have an impact – more of an impact than the good times you have. They can upset you and play havoc with your confidence.” How did he keep going? “Well, sometimes I didn’t actually. I took time out or went off and did something completely different.” The Chelsea Detective is very different to “SAS acting”. It takes five months to film, with a couple of months’ prep before that, and involves a lot of long days. “This takes up a massive chunk of my life. Your loved ones become impatient, and sometimes tempers are thin…” says Scarborough. He lives with his wife, psychotherapist Rose Blackshaw, in Hertfordshire. Their children, Esme and Jake, no longer live at home. “We try to be as communicative as we can, but it can be hard to find time to get together. You have to go, ‘OK, you can have me for an hour and a half here, you can have me for this much of Saturday, but the rest of the day I need to sit down and work out next week’s scenes and script, and I need a bit of time to myself.’” Scarborough didn’t expect for The Chelsea Detective to run as long as it has, and believes “all gigs have a finite life”. He praises Gavin & Stacey for knowing when to end. The final episode, which aired on Christmas Day last year, brought in more than 12 million viewers. Would he ever do a spin-off with Julia Davis, who plays his on-screen wife Dawn? “I don’t think so. One of the reasons why Peter and Dawn were so delicious was that you didn’t have to have a full half-hour of them. I think you’d get exhausted pretty quickly with the highs and lows of that relationship. It would just get so frantic and mad so quickly that I’m not sure it’d sustain for six episodes, but Julia is a genius. She’s also the worst corpser [an actor who laughs uncontrollably during scenes] I have ever met!” What about The Chelsea Detective? DI Arnold could probably carry on for years, solving hundreds of cases, but would Scarborough want to? “You shouldn’t outstay your welcome. You have to be careful that you don’t get bored and complacent, particularly in this genre. You can tell when your heart’s not in it, but I haven’t reached that stage yet!” It’s safe to say Scarborough won’t be requiring a parachute any time soon. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. The Chelsea Detective airs on U&Drama at 8pm on Wednesday 21st May. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Nicola Coughlan on why she's the "biggest fan" of "imperative and brilliant" intimacy coordinators
The Bridgerton and Big Mood star discusses her experience filming sexual scenes.
Nicola Coughlan, who we know and love for her roles in Derry Girls and Bridgerton, has received her first BAFTA nomination for Female Performance in a Comedy for Big Mood. She stars as Maggie, who has bipolar disorder, meaning she experiences periods of intense highs (mania) and intense lows (depression). She’s been best friends with Eddie (Lydia West, It’s a Sin) for 10 years, but recently their relationship has become strained. For half of her time filming Big Mood, Coughlan was also shooting the third season of Bridgerton. She stars as Penelope Featherington, who reveals her secret identity to the Ton as Lady Whistledown, the author of an anonymous gossip sheet. There are also plenty of steamy scenes with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), her long-time crush who she ends up marrying. Coughlan even shared an Instagram photo in June 2024 of them both next to a piece of furniture they broke during a sex scene! Does she feel like she has more agency doing intimate scenes with an intimacy coordinator? "I'm the biggest fan of intimacy coordinators. They’re imperative and brilliant. Lizzy Talbot, who worked on Bridgerton, was so phenomenal," Coughlan told Radio Times exclusively. She added: "It's really interesting, because you see a lot of backlash from actors of an older generation saying they don't get why intimacy coordinators are there or why they want them. It's not poo-pooing the way that things used to be done or to shame anyone, but it just makes you feel so much safer and in control. "It's dealt with like a stunt, so it's left in your hands, but you never feel like things are going to go awry or that you don't know what's going to happen next. You leave the set feeling empowered and good, which is what everyone should leave their workday feeling like. There are no blurred lines, it's not scary." The highly anticipated fourth season of Bridgerton likely won’t be released until 2026. Luke Thompson’s Benedict Bridgerton and his love story with maid Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) will be the focus as they become acquainted at Violet Bridgerton’s (Ruth Gemmell) masquerade ball. We’ll be able to catch Coughlan in The Magic Faraway Tree, Simon Farnaby’s film adaptation based on The Faraway Tree series of children’s novels by Enid Blyton, later this year. She’ll star as woodland fairy Silky alongside fellow BAFTA nominee Jessica Gunning, plus Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
'I never wanted to play Martha as a villain – she's nuanced'
Jessica Gunning is nominated for Supporting Actress for Baby Reindeer
Add the Bafta Television Awards and Baby Reindeer to your watchlist It’s been a little over a year since drama Baby Reindeer was released on Netflix, and actor Jessica Gunning has been riding the wave of its success. She’s picked up an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG Award and Royal Television Society Programme Award for her portrayal of stalker Martha Scott. Now she could be adding a Bafta to that already groaning shelf. Gunning is smiley and giggly and uses the word “special” a lot to describe her involvement in Baby Reindeer – with good reason. It has been seen by 252 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time. It came out of nowhere, based on Richard Gadd’s one-man play of the same name from 2019, and then suddenly, it was all anyone was talking about. So, it might seem like Gunning is an overnight success, but she has been working for the better part of 18 years. The 38-year-old from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, has appeared in David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Back, the film Pride and Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws, where she was also in the writers’ room. She used to give talks at her drama school, Rose Bruford College in London, to third-year students. “I’d tell them, ‘Think about the actors who you admire – they didn’t necessarily graduate from drama school and work straight away. The things you love them in are probably things they did in their 30s or 40s. These things do take time.’ “It took 17 years for the part of Martha to come around,” she continues. It’s one of several answers she starts with, “I’ve said previously,” which is understandable, as she’s been interviewed about Baby Reindeer a lot. Although not all coverage since its release has been positive. Fiona Harvey, who claims to be the real Martha, has filed a $170 million defamation lawsuit against Netflix in the US, with a court date set for 6 May. Did Gunning ever consider “the real Martha”? “As soon as I read the scripts, I was just playing a character. I never would have wanted to play Martha as a villain or a baddie, because I never saw her in that way. She’s multi-faceted and nuanced.” Her next project is Simon Farnaby’s film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree, where she’ll be working with fellow Bafta nominee Nicola Coughlan, plus Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. Gunning’s rising star power is impossible to ignore, despite her desire to keep a low profile. “I’m not on social media and I’ve never felt the pressure to join. I don’t see myself as a celebrity and I don’t think actors need to be in the public eye. Sometimes you can just do your job and that’s that. I think there is a fascination with actors – I have it, too – where people want to know more about them. Somebody said the other day that people look at how many followers actors have in order to give them parts. I’m buggered if that’s true!” It feels unlikely that Gunning’s reluctance to join Instagram will impact her career trajectory – her life has undeniably changed for ever. “It’s been amazing to be a part of something that’s felt really special.” There’s that word again, and perhaps it’s really the only one that will do.
'I feel like TV is often catching up with real life'
Anjana Vasan is nominated for Female Performance in a Comedy in We Are Lady Parts
Add the Bafta Television Awards and We Are Lady Parts to your watchlist Indian-Singaporean actor Anjana Vasan, 38, plays lead guitarist Amina in We Are Lady Parts, about an all-female Muslim punk band. She’s also starred in Black Mirror, the film Wicked Little Letters and as Stella in a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she won an Olivier Award. How does it feel to be nominated for a Bafta? We Are Lady Parts is a very special show and it changed my life. It was the first time I played a lead woman of colour on TV – but it’s not just me, it’s five women of colour leading the show, and that’s rare. I feel like TV is often catching up with real life. We Are Lady Parts isn’t the first time punk music has been represented, it’s not the first time women of colour have done punk, but there’s real power in seeing it on screen. How important is it for the industry to trust diverse voices and female writers like Nida Manzoor (the creator, writer and director of We Are Lady Parts)? People can be quite scared to make something different, but audiences aren’t scared. The biggest opportunities I’ve ever had have come from women. Bisha K Ali co-wrote the Black Mirror episode Demon 79 with Charlie Brooker, and her presence was a big part of how I came into the picture, and the same with Nida. Any news on We Are Lady Parts series three? I will ask Nida when I see her at the Baftas! I message her all the time – the WhatsApp group is still going very strong. The best thing that has come from the show is I found so many sisters that I never had growing up.
'I was 22 in the first series of Industry. It was incredibly exposing'
Marisa Abela is nominated for Leading Actress for Industry.
Add the Bafta Television Awards and Industry to your watchlist The 28-year-old stars as investment banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani in finance drama Industry. She also recently played Amy Winehouse in the film Back to Black and appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag. How does it feel to be nominated? I found out the news on set while filming Industry, so it felt like a win for all of us. Getting a third series of the show was such a triumph. I’m currently filming series four and I’ll still be filming when the Baftas happen, so to take the win back to everyone would be really fun. It’s definitely validating. It feels great that people appreciate your work. Are the best roles in TV now female? No, but I don’t think men’s parts are necessarily better, either. There is much more equity than there was, but there’s that quote: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” There was always this idea that people didn’t want to sit down and watch a show about women, but [the HBO drama] Big Little Lies changed the game. Does working with female directors make a big difference? I was 22 when I did the first series of Industry and it was incredibly exposing in a lot of ways. The way the public deal with women’s bodies on screen over men’s will always be different and when women are asked to do a lot on screen, they need a woman guiding them through that process. There were lots of articles about how naked I got, so having Lena [Dunham] talking me through that was really important. It was the same working with Sam [Taylor-Johnson] on Back to Black, because that story was told through a very specific female lens. With the arrival of intimacy coordinators, do you feel like you have more agency? Yeah, definitely – I’m fluent in intimacy coordinator language! There are people now starting out on Industry who are as young as me when I joined and I can say, “If you don’t know what you want to ask for, I’m more than happy to talk to you about what helped me.” It’s always good to help others navigate that process.
Her career may be on a high but she’d be just as happy swapping telly for Tesco
Add Alison Hammond's Big Weekend to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? Well, babes, let me set the scene… my sofa is massive. I’m talking a sink-in-and-you-don’t-get-up-for-hours sort of sofa. It’s a lovely rich brown, so cosy. My son Aidan and I chose it, because he normally brings about ten mates over, and they could never fit before. Right above the television, there’s a beautiful picture of my late mum, so she’s always watching TV with me. Who controls the remote? I’m the queen of the scroll. If Aidan is around, I might let him have a little go – it depends if he’s making the tea. What have you been watching? Black Mirror series seven properly messed with my head, but I loved it. I’m obsessed with Love Is Blind and Married at First Sight: Australia, and am catching up on Celebrity Big Brother. You appeared in Big Brother in 2002. How has reality TV changed? There was no social media. You didn’t have that instant judgement from people, apart from when you came out and heard people clapping or booing. Now people tell you how they feel online. You also appeared on Celebrity Fit Club in 2004, which doesn’t feel like a show that would be made now. It was a different time back then, wasn’t it? All about body shaming. I remember doing Hole in the Wall [in 2009] wearing that silver outfit and they didn’t care that we didn’t look great. They just let us wear it. I’m glad that times have changed and we’re embracing everybody, no matter what they look like. In your new show, Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend, you spend 48 hours with celebrities including Sir Lenny Henry, Jimmy Carr and Mel B. How do you get them to open up? The fact they’ve said yes to do my show, they know we’re going to go deep with the chat. I would never ask a question that I wouldn’t want to be asked myself, but I’m quite an open book. As long as it’s respectful and they’re comfortable, I’ll ask anything. And even if they’re not comfortable, sometimes you have to go there. I ask all the questions you’re thinking at home. Which of your celebrity interviews has been the most memorable? Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling was the worst because I didn’t get any content for the film [Blade Runner 2049] at all. It’s the best interview if you want to cheer yourself up – you’re gonna laugh. I could never, ever re-create that situation. Ryan was in a good mood and so was Harrison. To be the one who made Harrison laugh like that was just brilliant. Not everyone finds the Hammond funny, you know! Do you like being interviewed? No, I like to be in control all the time. What’s the interview question I should be asking you? “Are you happy?” Because not many people ask that. Well, Alison, are you happy? I’m so happy! I’m in such a good place. I’m 50, I’ve done everything I needed to do in life, and now I’m just enjoying it! I’ve had hard times, and I know television is fickle, so tomorrow I could be out of work. This might not be for ever, so you’ve got to enjoy every single day, and it’s not the end of the world if it ends. I could go get a job in Tesco and be more than happy there as well. In 2021, you were the first black presenter to be shortlisted for an NTA. Do you feel like a role model? No, but I get letters from people who say that I’ve encouraged them to be more confident. It’s pressure when you call someone a role model – I’m not perfect, I get things wrong. But it’s really important to have people on the telly who everyone can relate to. My life has changed a little, but I’m still the same old Alison. I still clean my own house. There’s no difference other than I’m doing well on TV.
'I’d love to play a very unlikeable woman that has no redeeming qualities'
Nicola Coughlan is nominated for Female Performance in a Comedy for Big Mood
Add the Bafta Television Awards and Big Mood to your watchlist Derry Girls has won several Baftas and Bridgerton has received nominations, but as brilliant as Nicola Coughlan is in both, she’s surprisingly never received an individual Bafta nod – until now, for Big Mood. The dark comedy is about the friendship between Eddie (It’s a Sin’s Lydia West) and Maggie (Coughlan), who has bipolar disorder, and it’s essentially been in the works for 16 years – ever since Coughlan and writer Camilla Whitehill met at the Oxford School of Drama. “Camilla made me laugh so much. I remember seeing her first short play, and in that moment, I knew she was going to be famous,” Coughlan says. “I was never asked to be in Big Mood. It was more, ‘I’m making a show, and you’re gonna be in it.’ I was like, ‘Right, OK!’ It was never a doubt.” When Coughlan, 38, left drama school, she remembers roles for women being mainly “someone’s girlfriend, or the woman who sits behind a desk”. She found it difficult to find work in her 20s and moved to London three times in four years, each time returning to her parents in Galway, Ireland. “There were definitely lots of moments where I thought, ‘Should I quit?’ It’s a difficult industry to break into and I didn’t have any connections or money. It didn’t seem sensible for me to keep going, but I got Derry Girls at 30, which was an amazing turning point.” Some of the Bridgerton shoot crossed over with Big Mood, with Coughlan filming one during the week and the other at the weekend. It took her two hours to get ready for Bridgerton, whereas no wigs or make-up were required to play Maggie. “We didn’t want to present mental illness in a pretty way. In the scenes where Maggie’s meant to look terrible, I said, ‘I have to look terrible. If she has dirty hair, my hair will be dirty.’” She adds, “I think we’re getting braver with what’s represented on television. There’s certain things that have broken out, like Baby Reindeer and Adolescence, but it also strikes me that they centre on male experiences. I think men are still given a lot more chances in this industry than women. What would we have done without Michaela Coel [Chewing Gum, I May Destroy You] or Phoebe Waller-Bridge [Fleabag]? “I hope there’s more roles like Maggie for women to play. Maggie’s not particularly nice or sweet, she’s a bit abrasive. Viewers and reviewers massively struggle when a female character is unlikeable. Let them be terrible! I’d love to play a villain – a very unlikeable woman that has no redeeming qualities.”
Anjana Vasan on We Are Lady Parts season 3 and why her biggest opportunities have all come from women
The hilarious and zany Channel 4 sitcom follows an all-female, all-Muslim punk rock band.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Indian-Singaporean actor Anjana Vasan, 38, plays lead guitarist Amina in We Are Lady Parts, about an all-female Muslim punk band. She’s also starred in Black Mirror, the film Wicked Little Letters and as Stella in a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she won an Olivier Award. How does it feel to be nominated for a BAFTA? We Are Lady Parts is a very special show and it changed my life. It was the first time I played a lead woman of colour on TV – but it’s not just me, it’s five women of colour leading the show, and that’s rare. I feel like TV is often catching up with real life. We Are Lady Parts isn’t the first time punk music has been represented, it’s not the first time women of colour have done punk, but there’s real power in seeing it on screen. How important is it for the industry to trust diverse voices and female writers like Nida Manzoor (the creator, writer and director of We Are Lady Parts)? People can be quite scared to make something different, but audiences aren’t scared. The biggest opportunities I’ve ever had have come from women. Bisha K Ali co-wrote the Black Mirror episode Demon 79 with Charlie Brooker, and her presence was a big part of how I came into the picture, and the same with Nida. Any news on We Are Lady Parts season 3? I will ask Nida when I see her at the BAFTAs! I message her all the time – the WhatsApp group is still going very strong. The best thing that has come from the show is I found so many sisters that I never had growing up. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. We Are Lady Parts is available to stream on Channel 4. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Marisa Abela on Industry, nudity double standards, and being guided by Lena Dunham on set
The star spoke to Radio Times magazine for the new BAFTA special issue.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The 28-year-old stars as investment banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani in finance drama Industry. She also recently played Amy Winehouse in the film Back to Black and appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag. How does it feel to be nominated? I found out the news on set while filming Industry, so it felt like a win for all of us. Getting a third series of the show was such a triumph. I’m currently filming series four and I’ll still be filming when the BAFTAs happen, so to take the win back to everyone would be really fun. It’s definitely validating. It feels great that people appreciate your work. Are the best roles in TV now female? No, but I don’t think men’s parts are necessarily better, either. There is much more equity than there was, but there’s that quote: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” There was always this idea that people didn’t want to sit down and watch a show about women, but [the HBO drama] Big Little Lies changed the game. Does working with female directors make a big difference? I was 22 when I did the first series of Industry and it was incredibly exposing in a lot of ways. The way the public deal with women’s bodies on screen over men’s will always be different and when women are asked to do a lot on screen, they need a woman guiding them through that process. There were lots of articles about how naked I got, so having Lena [Dunham] talking me through that was really important. It was the same working with Sam [Taylor-Johnson] on Back to Black, because that story was told through a very specific female lens. With the arrival of intimacy coordinators, do you feel like you have more agency? Yeah, definitely – I’m fluent in intimacy coordinator language! There are people now starting out on Industry who are as young as me when I joined and I can say, "If you don’t know what you want to ask for, I’m more than happy to talk to you about what helped me." It’s always good to help others navigate that process. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Jessica Gunning on Baby Reindeer success: "It took 17 years for the part of Martha to come around"
Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning opens up to Radio Times magazine about her BAFTA nomination.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s been a little over a year since hit series Baby Reindeer was released on Netflix, and star Jessica Gunning has been riding the wave of its success. She’s picked up an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG Award and Royal Television Society Programme Award for her portrayal of stalker Martha Scott, based on writer and creator Richard Gadd’s real-life experience. Now she could be adding a BAFTA to that already groaning shelf, in what she calls her “pinch-me” year. Gunning is smiley and giggly and uses the word “special” a lot to describe her involvement in Baby Reindeer – with good reason. Since it launched, it has been seen by 252.1 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time. It came out of nowhere, with a strange title based on Gadd’s one-man play of the same name from 2019, and then suddenly, it was all anyone was talking about. “I don't think you ever do a job imagining loads of people are going to watch it, or you're going to be nominated for awards,” Gunning says. She mentions the types of people who have approached her – from teenagers to 80-year-olds and even famous fans including Kathy Bates. “When you meet people you’ve admired for years and they know your name, you’re like ‘Huh?’ It’s all just been nuts.” It might seem like Gunning was an overnight success, but in reality, she’s been working for the better part of 18 years, although she’s probably most recognisable for supporting roles and comedic parts. The 38-year-old from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire appeared in David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Back, the film Pride, and Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws, where she was also in the writers’ room. She used to do talks at her drama school, Rose Bruford College in London, to students in their third year wanting to be actors. “I'd tell them, ‘Think about the actors who you admire – like Olivia Colman or Idris Elba – they didn’t necessarily graduate from drama school and work straight away. The things you love them in are probably things they did in their 30s or 40s. These things do take time.’ “It took 17 years for the part of Martha to come around,” she continues, “hopefully it doesn’t take 17 more.” It’s one of several answers she starts with, “I’ve said previously,” which is understandable, because she’s been interviewed about Baby Reindeer a lot. Although not all coverage since its release has been positive. Fiona Harvey, who claims to be the real Martha, has filed a $170m (£132m) defamation lawsuit against Netflix in the US. Did Gunning ever consider the 'real' Martha? “As soon as I read the scripts, I was just playing a character, and so was Richard [he plays a version of himself called Donny Dunn]. We were just telling the story – all the work was there on the page. I never would have wanted to play Martha as a villain or a baddie, because I never saw her in that way. She’s multifaceted and nuanced.” Her next project is Simon Farnaby’s film adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree, where she’ll be working with fellow BAFTA nominee Nicola Coughlan, plus Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. Gunning’s rising star power is impossible to ignore, despite her desire to keep a relatively low-profile. “I'm not on social media and I've never felt the pressure to join. I don't see myself as a celebrity in that way. I don't necessarily think actors need to always be in the public eye. Sometimes you can just do your job and that's that. I think there is a fascination with actors – I have it too – where people want to know more about them. Somebody said the other day that people look at how many followers actors have in order to give them parts. I'm buggered if that's true!” Gunning came out as gay to her family and friends in 2022, and she confirmed her sexuality in June 2024 during a podcast interview on Reign with Josh Smith shortly after Baby Reindeer was released, calling herself a “big, ol’ gay”. “I didn't intend to publicly announce anything. It was just a really nice conversation. I ended up mentioning it then, because I couldn't really answer any of the questions without saying that. It took me a while to realise I was gay.” Surely this type of representation is important when it’s coming from someone so heavily in the spotlight? Gunning reflects: “After that conversation, I had loads of people say it meant a lot to them to hear my story. Those kinds of things do matter, especially if people feel seen.” Gunning says she feels like the same person after all the reception she’s received for playing Martha, but her life has undeniably changed forever. “It's been amazing to be a part of something that's felt really… special.” There’s that word again, and perhaps it’s really the only one that will do. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.