Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-03-06T11:46:34.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: 10 Questions with Holliday Grainger
items: The Capture star Holliday Grainger talks Strike, deepfakes and Northern representation
items: 'There's a lot of prejudice, but I love being deaf'
items: Rose Ayling-Ellis on Code of Silence and how "a lot of coffee" helped with intense Doctor Who role
items: View from my sofa: Lenny Rush
items: Lenny Rush on Am I Being Unreasonable? return: 'Ollie is like a more psychopathic version of me'
items: Jessica Brown Findlay says Playing Nice reflects the "hazy, wild, visceral reality" of parenthood
items: James Norton on Playing Nice: 'When I see injustice, I get really p****d off'
items: 'I would not be the good guy'
items: 'The story hit me in a deeper way'
items: 'It's so common but still so uncharted'
items: 'People started to call us Abba'
items: The Sister Act
items: 'JP still controls her from beyond the grave'
items: Twisted sisters
items: 'I would literally kill for my sister'
items: Sharon Horgan explains why Bad Sisters is returning after being designed as a one-off
items: Eve Hewson: 'Sharon Horgan captures reality for women in Bad Sisters'
items: Rebecca Hall "waged an aggressive campaign" to land The Listeners role
items: Bad Sisters' Anne-Marie Duff: 'There’s a time-bomb ticking away in season 2'
items: 'I had an insane childhood'
items: Sam Heughan and Eleanor Tomlinson on the "debaucherous fun" of The Couple Next Door
items: Call the Midwife's Helen George and Olly Rix on Trixie and Matthew's "beautiful" wedding
items: John Torode and Lisa Faulkner on their favourite TV shows and cooking on a budget
items: Daisy May Cooper on Am I Being Unreasonable?: 'They're damaged, but who isn’t?'

10 Questions with Holliday Grainger
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor talks deepfakes, “slopaganda” — and why she stays off social media
encoded: Add The Capture to your watchlist Holliday Grainger has been scene-stealing since the age of six, when she landed her first role in the BBC’s All Quiet on the Preston Front (1994). Now 37, she’s firmly in her detective era. As well as continuing her role as the unflappable Robin Ellacott in Strike (series seven will air later this year), she’s back as the inscrutable surveillance boss Rachel Carey, diving into the murky world of deepfakes and institutional cover-ups, in BBC One’s The Capture. What was the hardest part about filming this third series? To be honest, the hours! But to be more specific, the learning of the procedural jargon. You’ve got to make it look easy, otherwise you’re doing your job wrong. Give me a stunt scene any day. It doesn’t require as much homework. I really enjoyed doing a lot of the action stuff this season. I love how Rachel doesn’t try to be likeable — is that important? Yes, and I do, too. I also love that you don’t get a major back story with her. It’s all about the plot and the work. This is a generalisation, but women tend to be people-pleasers. She’s not. I really like her bluntness. It makes it all the more poignant when you see a little slip into her inner emotional life, although those are few and far between. When The Capture first aired in 2019, the idea of “deepfakes” felt outlandish. Now that the internet is littered with fake Artificial Intelligence (AI) videos, do you feel it was ahead of its time? Completely. At the time, most people thought the idea was so far-fetched. Now, it’s not just the scary ways people in power might be manipulating footage, it’s day-to-day manipulation on social media, and how easy it is for anyone to create fake content. I don’t think we would’ve believed it in 2019. Today, how do we sort fact from fiction? I don’t think we can at the moment. We’ve just got to keep an open mind. The more cynical we are, the more it’s probably the truth. Working on this new series completely reframed how I read w…

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The Capture star Holliday Grainger talks Strike, deepfakes and Northern representation
type: item
date: 2026-03-02T17:00:11.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: Grainger spoke with Radio Times magazine about the third season of her hit BBC techno-thriller.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Holliday Grainger has been scene-stealing since the age of six, when she landed her first role in the BBC’s All Quiet on the Preston Front (1994). Now 37, she’s firmly in her detective era. As well as continuing her role as the unflappable Robin Ellacott in Strike (season 7 will air later this year), she’s back as the inscrutable surveillance boss Rachel Carey, diving into the murky world of deepfakes and institutional cover-ups, in BBC One’s The Capture. What was the hardest part about filming this third series? To be honest, the hours! But to be more specific, the learning of the procedural jargon. You’ve got to make it look easy, otherwise you’re doing your job wrong. Give me a stunt scene any day. It doesn’t require as much homework. I really enjoyed doing a lot of the action stuff this season. I love how Rachel doesn’t try to be likeable — is that important? Yes, and I do, too. I also love that you don’t get a major back story with her. It’s all about the plot and the work. This is a generalisation, but women tend to be people-pleasers. She’s not. I really like her bluntness. It makes it all the more poignant when you see a little slip into her inner emotional life, although those are few and far between. When The Capture first aired in 2019, the idea of "deepfakes" felt outlandish. Now that the internet is littered with fake Artificial Intelligence (AI) videos, do you feel it was ahead of its time? Completely. At the time, most people thought the idea was so far-fetched. Now, it’s not just the scary ways people in power might be manipulating footage, it’s day-to-day manipulation on social media, and how easy it is for anyone to create fake content. I don’t think we would’ve believed it in 2019. Today, how do we sort fact from fiction? I don’t think we can at the moment. We’ve just got to keep an open mind. The more cynical we are, the more it’s probably the truth. Working on this new series completely refram…

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'There's a lot of prejudice, but I love being deaf'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Rose Ayling-Ellis has shone in everything from EastEnders to Strictly. Now she takes centre stage in a police drama with lip-reading and BSL as her co-stars
encoded: Add Code of Silence to your watchlist Few viewers could have failed to be moved – many to tears – by the “silent dance” performed by Rose Ayling-Ellis in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Hailed as the show’s “greatest ever performance”, when the music stopped and she continued to dance with her professional dance partner in poignant silence, it simultaneously paid respect and raised awareness of the deaf community. Which is what Ayling-Ellis has been doing ever since. Four years after scooping the trophy, she’s still on a winning streak – the first deaf contestant not only to appear on Strictly but to win it, the 30-year-old actor’s series of firsts also include being the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on British TV (as a presenter for Channel 4’s coverage of the 2024 Paralympics), the first person to work with a major toy company to produce a doll with a hearing aid (Barbie, in 2022) and the first person to sign a Bedtime Story on CBeebies. Her first book, Marvellous Messages, was published in March, part of a ten-book deal that will deepen her advocacy for the deaf community while educating those of us who can hear. Although “educating” sounds too preachy for a person who’d rather entertain and enlighten. Preachy is the last thing that Ayling-Ellis is, which is something that becomes apparent as soon as we start chatting in the tasteful, plump-cushioned environs of a five-star London hotel. “French,” she says definitively, when I ask her what the hardest accent is to lip-read. “They talk with their teeth together. Men are generally harder to lip-read because they mumble too much. Look me in the eyes and open your mouth more, please!” With lip-reading and BSL (British Sign Language) as her co-stars, Ayling-Ellis has just notched up another first, playing the lead in Code of Silence, a tense new ITV drama in which her deafness plays a starring role. Written by Catherine Moulton, who has been partially deaf since childhood, the police drama c…

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Rose Ayling-Ellis on Code of Silence and how "a lot of coffee" helped with intense Doctor Who role
type: item
date: 2025-05-12T23:01:10.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: The Code of Silence star spoke exclusively to Radio Times magazine about her new role.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Few viewers could have failed to be moved – many to tears – by the “silent dance” performed by Rose Ayling-Ellis in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Hailed as the show’s “greatest ever performance”, when the music stopped and she continued to dance with her professional dance partner in poignant silence, it simultaneously paid respect and raised awareness of the deaf community. Which is what Ayling-Ellis has been doing ever since. Four years after scooping the trophy, she’s still on a winning streak – the first deaf contestant not only to appear on Strictly but to win it, the 30-year-old actor’s series of firsts also include being the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on British TV (as a presenter for Channel 4’s coverage of the 2024 Paralympics), the first person to work with a major toy company to produce a doll with a hearing aid (Barbie, in 2022) and the first person to sign a Bedtime Story on CBeebies. Her first book, Marvellous Messages, was published in March, part of a ten-book deal that will deepen her advocacy for the deaf community while educating those of us who can hear. Although “educating” sounds too preachy for a person who’d rather entertain and enlighten. Preachy is the last thing that Ayling-Ellis is, which is something that becomes apparent as soon as we start chatting in the tasteful, plump-cushioned environs of a five-star London hotel. “French,” she says definitively, when I ask her what the hardest accent is to lip-read. “They talk with their teeth together. Men are generally harder to lip-read because they mumble too much. Look me in the eyes and open your mouth more, please!” With lip-reading and BSL (British Sign Language) as her co-stars, Ayling-Ellis has just notched up another first, playing the lead in Code of Silence, a tense new ITV drama in which her deafness plays a starring role. Written by Catherine Moulton, who has been partially deaf since childhood, the…

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View from my sofa: Lenny Rush
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: The teenage Bafta winner is almost done with school (just don’t tell his mum)
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in February 2025. Add Am I Being Unreasonable? to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? I tend to watch telly in my bedroom, because I love my bed. I have a TV right in front of me, and I’ve actually got my Bafta up on the top shelf – just as a little reminder! [In 2023, he won best male comedy performance for Am I Being Unreasonable?] Bed, telly and a cup of tea. What have you enjoyed on TV recently? The Traitors. I was very sad when Linda left. She was incredible. View oEmbed on the source website Who controls the remote at home? My mum. If something I’m watching is boring her, she’ll make it clear. Tell us about season two of Am I Being Unreasonable? What can we expect from your character, Ollie? He’s a bit more serious. You see a more grown-up side to him. He notices when things are off, some of which his mum can’t see, and he gets a bit annoyed. He loves her but he gets frustrated. We all get frustrated with our mums, don’t we? Oh, yeah. I get frustrated with my mum, to be honest. Any other similarities between you and Ollie apart from that? Apart from the cat killing? He’s like a blunter, more psychopathic version of me. In the last series, when he got his birthday present, he made it very clear that he didn’t like it. I might not like a birthday present, but I wouldn’t let people know. What’s it like working with Daisy May Cooper, your co-star and series creator? She’s incredible – so funny. There’s quite a bit of improvisation on set, which makes the dialogue more realistic and funnier. She’s the queen of improvisation so it’s daunting, but she never makes me feel uneasy and always helps me out. She’s crazy as well! But in the best way. You’re 15 now and have been acting since age seven. That’s some CV… Technically over half of my life! There are still bits that don’t feel real. At the Baftas, I remember thinking, “Last year, I was sitting on my sofa watching this.” What’s been your favourite …

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Lenny Rush on Am I Being Unreasonable? return: 'Ollie is like a more psychopathic version of me'
type: item
date: 2025-01-28T00:01:32.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: Rush is back for the second season of Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli's comedy-thriller.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What's the view from your sofa? I tend to watch telly in my bedroom, because I love my bed. I have a TV right in front of me, and I’ve actually got my BAFTA up on the top shelf – just as a little reminder! [In 2023, he won best male comedy performance for Am I Being Unreasonable?] Bed, telly and a cup of tea. What have you enjoyed on TV recently? The Traitors. I was very sad when Linda left. She was incredible. Who controls the remote at home? My mum. If something I’m watching is boring her, she’ll make it clear. Tell us about season 2 of Am I Being Unreasonable?. What can we expect from your character, Ollie? He’s a bit more serious. You see a more grown-up side to him. He notices when things are off, some of which his mum can’t see, and he gets a bit annoyed. He loves her but he gets frustrated. We all get frustrated with our mums, don't we? Oh, yeah. I get frustrated with my mum, to be honest. Any other similarities between you and Ollie apart from that? Apart from the cat killing? He’s like a blunter, more psychopathic version of me. In the last series, when he got his birthday present, he made it very clear that he didn’t like it. I might not like a birthday present, but I wouldn’t let people know. What's it like working with Daisy May Cooper, your co-star and series creator? She’s incredible – so funny. There’s quite a bit of improvisation on set, which makes the dialogue more realistic and funnier. She’s the queen of improvisation so it’s daunting, but she never makes me feel uneasy and always helps me out. She’s crazy as well! But in the best way. You're 15 now and have been acting since age seven. That's some CV… Technically over half of my life! There are still bits that don’t feel real. At the BAFTAs, I remember thinking, "Last year, I was sitting on my sofa watching this." What's been your favourite "pinch me" moment over the past few years? Probably the BAFTA win. I still can’t believe it. But it’s no…

Jessica Brown Findlay says Playing Nice reflects the "hazy, wild, visceral reality" of parenthood
type: item
date: 2024-12-23T15:17:33.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: The star of ITV's new drama on returning to the screen after navigating motherhood and the NICU.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In recent months, fans of Lady Sybil Crawley could be forgiven for wondering whether she’d swapped the high life for one below stairs, so yawning has been the absence of actor Jessica Brown Findlay from our screens. In fact, the Downton Abbey star has been busy with another role – her most demanding yet – as the mother of twin boys. Since welcoming them in November 2022, she’s been in what she describes as a "nappy bubble". "I’d spent the year at home with the boys, pottering around. After my first trimester, I wasn’t able to work; being pregnant with twins, I was high risk." When she was approached to play Lucy - a talented artist married to the entrepreneurial Miles (James McArdle) - in ITV's Playing Nice, it felt like fate. "I’d been out [of commission] for a while, so to read something this good, with this cast, blew my mind," she recalls. "I devoured the script. "It felt like such a gift of a role. As dark as it is, it also felt like the perfect step out of maternity leave. I’m a strong believer that your real life is the only way to learn how to be an actor. So, to be able to bring to the table the experience that I’d been living for so long felt serendipitous." As was how she came to the role in the first place. "Years ago, I’d done a short film with James [Norton]. We ended up chatting away for a couple of hours on a train back to London, then went our separate ways. I’d see him over the years, but only peripherally. Then this came to me as an offer." Like any new mother returning to work, she was nervous. "On my first day back, I thought, 'Whoa – is my brain going to be able to work at speed again? In one sense [as a new mum], your synapses have been popping off and you’ve been learning every second of every day – but in a different way. After that first day at work, to realise it was all still there – that there was more in my brain, and more in my heart – felt amazing. I was grateful for the opportunity…

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James Norton on Playing Nice: 'When I see injustice, I get really p****d off'
type: item
date: 2024-12-23T15:09:04.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: Norton's psychological thriller explores modern masculinity, parental dilemmas, and post-natal depression.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. From tall, ginger and handsome in Grantchester to tall, blond, murderous and handsome in Happy Valley, James Norton has finally ticked every box on the archetype by dyeing his locks dark brown. "The tabloids are convinced I’m massively vain about my hair," he says when I mention it. "Of course my hair changes… I’m an actor." The 39-year-old actor’s latest role is his most challenging yet – if not in terms of range, then certainly in terms of responsibility. He’s starting 2025 with a bang by starring in Playing Nice, a psychological thriller based on the 2020 novel by JP Delaney. The fact it’s the first TV drama from Rabbit Track Pictures, the production company he co-founded with Kitty Kaletsky in 2019, makes it a project more personal and onerous than most. "It was the first book we optioned," says Norton. "We saw the potential for a TV show, and knew it was the kind of thing we wanted to make – great characters, an incredible hook, a real thriller." Insofar as Rabbit Track has a creative mandate, "good storytelling" is it. "When you develop something, you have to be with it for years. So, if you don’t love it initially, you’re dooming yourself. At the beginning, we’d only gravitate towards what we loved. Now, we’ve got 12 projects in development, and there’s a sense of a through line. It’s quality drama, the characters have to be nuanced and identifiable. We don’t like heroes and villains, or broad brushstrokes. Putting these rich characters into mad circumstances and stretching them, threatening them and thwarting them is what we love." That’s a spot-on description of Playing Nice, whose big questions are tailor-made for the watercooler (or group chat, if you work from home). How would you feel if your baby was accidentally swapped at birth, and you only found out three years later? Would you want your biological child back, or would you be too bonded to the child you thought was yours? That is the dilemma faci…

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'I would not be the good guy'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: He was the ultimate villain in Happy Valley and now James Norton is back in a dark drama facing a parent’s worst nightmare. But this time he was torn on whether to stay nasty or start Playing Nice
encoded: Add Playing Nice to your watchlist From tall, ginger and handsome in Grantchester to tall, blond, murderous and handsome in Happy Valley, James Norton has finally ticked every box on the archetype by dyeing his locks dark brown. “The tabloids are convinced I’m massively vain about my hair,” he says when I mention it. “Of course my hair changes… I’m an actor.” The 39-year-old actor’s latest role is his most challenging yet – if not in terms of range, then certainly in terms of responsibility. He’s starting 2025 with a bang by starring in Playing Nice, a psychological thriller based on the 2020 novel by JP Delaney. The fact it’s the first TV drama from Rabbit Track Pictures, the production company he co-founded with Kitty Kaletsky in 2019, makes it a project more personal and onerous than most. “It was the first book we optioned,” says Norton. “We saw the potential for a TV show, and knew it was the kind of thing we wanted to make – great characters, an incredible hook, a real thriller.” View oEmbed on the source website Insofar as Rabbit Track has a creative mandate, “good storytelling” is it. “When you develop something, you have to be with it for years. So, if you don’t love it initially, you’re dooming yourself. At the beginning, we’d only gravitate towards what we loved. Now, we’ve got 12 projects in development, and there’s a sense of a through line. It’s quality drama, the characters have to be nuanced and identifiable. We don’t like heroes and villains, or broad brushstrokes. Putting these rich characters into mad circumstances and stretching them, threatening them and thwarting them is what we love.” That’s a spot-on description of Playing Nice, whose big questions are tailor-made for the watercooler (or group chat, if you work from home). How would you feel if your baby was accidentally swapped at birth, and you only found out three years later? Would you want your biological child back, or would you be too bonded to the child you thought was yours? That is …

'The story hit me in a deeper way'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Playing Nice was a different sort of challenge for new mother Jessica Brown Findlay
encoded: Add Playing Nice to your watchlist In recent months, fans of Lady Sybil Crawley could be forgiven for wondering whether she’d swapped the high life for one below stairs, so yawning has been the absence of actor Jessica Brown Findlay from our screens. In fact, the Downton Abbey star has been busy with another role – her most demanding yet – as the mother of twin boys. Since welcoming them in November 2022, she’s been in what she describes as a “nappy bubble”. “I’d spent the year at home with the boys, pottering around. After my first trimester, I wasn’t able to work; being pregnant with twins, I was high risk.” When she was approached by Rabbit Track to play Lucy, a talented artist married to the entrepreneurial Miles [James McArdle], it felt like fate. “I’d been out [of commission] for a while, so to read something this good, with this cast, blew my mind,” she recalls. “I devoured the script. It felt like such a gift of a role. As dark as it is, it also felt like the perfect step out of maternity leave. I’m a strong believer that your real life is the only way to learn how to be an actor. So, to be able to bring to the table the experience that I’d been living for so long felt serendipitous.” As was how she came to the role in the first place. “Years ago, I’d done a short film with James [Norton]. We ended up chatting away for a couple of hours on a train back to London, then went our separate ways. I’d see him over the years, but only peripherally. Then this came to me as an offer.” Like any new mother returning to work, she was nervous. “On my first day back, I thought, ‘Whoa – is my brain going to be able to work at speed again? In one sense [as a new mum], your synapses have been popping off and you’ve been learning every second of every day – but in a different way. After that first day at work, to realise it was all still there – that there was more in my brain, and more in my heart – felt amazing. I was grateful for the opportunity, and also for my partner, w…

'It's so common but still so uncharted'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Playing Nice shines a light on women's mental health
encoded: Add Playing Nice to your watchlist How did you come to be cast as Maddie? I was asked! It was an offer, and it came from James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky from [their production company] Rabbit Track. I knew it was their first TV venture, and I jumped at the chance to work with James. He has great taste in projects, I really admire his work and he’s such a lovely guy. What was it like filming in Cornwall? The main four cast members [Algar, Norton, James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay], we pretty much moved our lives down there for the autumn and winter, and bonded immediately. There’s a big surfing community, and they really embrace the outdoors. I grew up in the countryside [in Mullingar, Ireland], so for me, it was like a home from home. Maddie has a career, while Pete’s has taken a back seat. Was it important to represent the stay-at-home dad? Definitely. It’s role reversal, in the fact that you’ve got a loving, stay-at-home father, who is supported by this woman who runs her own business, but is equally as loving and caring towards their child. For them, it’s normal. Why would it even be a conversation? Fathers who raise their kids while their wife works should be represented [on TV] as well. Post-natal depression (PND) is another of the themes running through Playing Nice. What research did you do around the subject? Grace Offori-Attah, who wrote the series, was previously a doctor, and also has a degree in psychiatry, so I could lean on her as a reference. I also spoke to people who had suffered from PND. When you really delve in, you realise how common it is, yet it’s not represented a whole lot on screen. It shouldn’t be so uncharted. Women should feel there’s a platform for stories like that, and a space to be able to have those conversations. Did you enjoy working with the little boys who play your sons, Theo and David? They put in amazing performances. [Laughing] Honestly, it was great to finally work with professionals. I was like, “McArdle and Norton —…

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'People started to call us Abba'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: A strong bond lightened the mood for the show's stars
encoded: Add Playing Nice to your watchlist Can I start by saying how much I hate Miles? Congratulations on creating such an unlikeable character! Great — job well done! Miles is extremely controlling, isn’t he? Definitely. The coercive control element was something we wanted to handle delicately. Jess [Brown Findlay, who plays Lucy, his wife] and I spoke about that a lot. We played siblings in [2022 drama] Life after Life, so already knew each other, which really helped. There are some dark moments between us, so it was important to me that she was safe and happy. We trusted each other. But as we say in Glasgow, he has “all the gear and nae idea”. Everything is a tactic to undermine and emasculate, all done with a political smile on the face. How did you come to be cast? James Norton and I were in the same year at drama school, so we’ve known each other for ages, and had always wanted to find something to work on together. When he sent me the script, it was a no brainer. Was there any discussion around you keeping your accent? Kate [Hewitt, director] was keen I did. Usually if I’m getting to be Scottish, I’m speaking Shakespearean words, so it felt unusual to play a Scottish character with contemporary language. Without that extra layer, I could think about the psychology of the character straightaway. Kate wanted to back-foot people, which was quite a genius stroke, as the Scots accent is known to be warm, self-effacing and instil trust. Were there any light moments in filming such a heavy show? Sometimes the heaviest hits are the times you have the most laughs. Being trapped in Cornwall for four months together, socially, it was actually one of the happiest jobs of my life. People at work started to call us Abba, because of how we look, so when the locals invited us to a Halloween party, we went as Abba… Some of us may have turned up to work the next day still dressed as Abba.

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The Sister Act
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: Collections
description: As series two of Bad Sisters signals more trouble for the Garveys, stars Anne-Marie Duff, Eve Hewson, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene reveal how burying their characters' secret has forged an unbreakable bond between them
encoded: View oEmbed on the source website

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'JP still controls her from beyond the grave'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Anne-Marie Duff plays Grace
encoded: Add Bad Sisters to your watchlist It’s no spoiler to say that Grace starts this series with a smile on her face… We find her in a really lovely space. She’s loved up, she’s free of JP and she’s moved forward in her life. But there’s a time bomb ticking away – her guilty secret. In that way, JP still controls her from beyond the grave. How has Grace changed since we last saw her? For the outside world, she played the role of grieving widow. She’s reconnected with the church and formed a close friendship with a character who’s played by the incredible Fiona Shaw, and she becomes her support. So she’s swapped one controlling relationship for another? Totally. Sadly, until we sit in a therapist’s chair, we tend to be repeat offenders, don’t we? We put the washing machine on the same cycle until we learn to confront certain aspects of ourselves. Coercive control is such an important issue. Did you feel a responsibility portraying it on screen? Absolutely. Both Claes [Bang, who played JP] and I were committed to telling this story properly. We had to, because if we didn’t make it as true as possible, the audience would not have been willing the sisters to kill him. You had to make it that they felt desperately sorry for Grace. Also, you don’t know who’s watching. There will undoubtedly have been more than one person who has found themselves in a similar situation, and just to hear their story being told will be really powerful for them. So you have to serve it well. Did you research or talk to anyone who’d been in that situation? I did. I’ve worked on projects over the years where I’ve involved myself with Women’s Aid and I’ve been to refuges and spoken to women who are in violently abusive relationships and controlling coercive relationships. So, I’d had conversations with people who had experienced it first-hand. Do you share any traits with Grace? We’re quite different, actually. But I suppose trying to see the good in people. I’ve got that sort of idealism that she ha…

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Twisted sisters
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: From murder to the menopause, Sharon Horgan covers it all as her Bafta-winning Bad Sisters return to face the aftermath…
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in November 2024. Add Bad Sisters to your watchlist As its fans would vouch, the five sisters in Bad Sisters aren’t actually “bad” at all: they are good sisters driven to do a bad thing. If series one explored the circumstances that led up to the bad thing, series two explores the aftermath. If only guilt, doubt, fear and recrimination could be disposed of as tidily as a dead body. “You’re absolutely spot on,” says Sharon Horgan, the show’s producer, writer and co-star, who, to the delight of Bad Sisters’ fans, is reprising her role as eldest sister Eva Garvey in series two of the Apple TV+ drama. “That was one thing I thought about a lot when we were considering the second series. Having researched women who’ve killed their partners and ended up in prison being punished, it doesn’t mean that they stop loving that person. As well as capturing the idea of their conscience and their guilt, there’s the question of who looks after these women, who are victims themselves. How do you move on from that?” This is the thorny question facing the Garvey sisters – Eva, Ursula, Bibi and Becka – as they rapidly realise that Grace’s problems haven’t disappeared with the same finality as her murdered husband, John Paul, aka “The P***k”, or JP. “Grace has this family that’s there to support her, but in the two years that have passed [since John Paul’s death], they’ve been damaged by it, too. While they are there for each other, they’re all acting out in different ways.” View oEmbed on the source website Although, they weren’t supposed to be acting out at all. Bad Sisters was originally conceived as a one-off (based on Belgian drama, Clan), but Horgan says her mind was changed after being “blown away” by the viewers’ response. “You hope that people will connect with the characters, but you never know. We had a sense that it could have legs for more, plus I kept having ideas for what could happen, post the offing of The P***k. M…

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'I would literally kill for my sister'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Eve Hewson plays Becka
encoded: Add Bad Sisters to your watchlist As one of four siblings, do you relate to the relationships the Garvey sisters have? Totally. Me and my sister are two years apart, so we’re very close. We steal each other’s clothes and fight all the time, but we love each other, and we would literally kill for each other – I would happily do that. But my brothers are eight and ten years younger than us. So we’re not a squash. My sister and I were more about changing their nappies and kind of being mini babysitters for them. It was a different kind of dynamic. I read that you formed a band with your siblings over lockdown. How did that work out? I didn’t form a band, but I found the rest of my siblings writing songs as if they’d formed a band, and I’d not been invited. Then I tried to get in on the action, but they were like, “You have to leave”. Why? Are you tone deaf? No! I had too many great ideas, and they were jealous of how good I was! Are you now close to your on-screen sisters? Very! Almost too close. We are in communication with each other at all hours. We have many different forms of WhatsApp group. We literally talk on three different WhatsApp groups a day. We were just reunited last week in London [for the publicity tour], which was lovely. We also have three days coming up in New York. Lots of dinners and spa trips have been planned. So, where do we find Becka at the start of the new series? She’s matured in the last two years. She’s seen more of life, and she’s in a healthy place. She’s got this new boyfriend, she’s more of a grown-up – or she’s at least attempting to be. What are her best and worst traits? Her best are hard to choose, because I quite like a lot of her. I like that she’s like a million different emotions in one second. Her most annoying trait? Chewing loudly. All the Garvey sisters are brilliantly complex. What do you think is so special about Sharon’s writing? I guess how honest it feels. It feels as though these are real people, living real lives. T…

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Sharon Horgan explains why Bad Sisters is returning after being designed as a one-off
type: item
date: 2024-11-12T00:01:29.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: "We really like being a big gang of sisters."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As its fans would vouch, the five sisters in Bad Sisters aren’t actually "bad" at all: they are good sisters driven to do a bad thing. If season 1 explored the circumstances that led up to the bad thing, series two explores the aftermath. If only guilt, doubt, fear and recrimination could be disposed of as tidily as a dead body. "You’re absolutely spot on," says Sharon Horgan, the show’s producer, writer and co-star, who, to the delight of Bad Sisters’ fans, is reprising her role as eldest sister Eva Garvey in series two of the Apple TV+ drama. "That was one thing I thought about a lot when we were considering the second series. Having researched women who’ve killed their partners and ended up in prison being punished, it doesn’t mean that they stop loving that person. As well as capturing the idea of their conscience and their guilt, there’s the question of who looks after these women, who are victims themselves. How do you move on from that?" This is the thorny question facing the Garvey sisters – Eva, Ursula, Bibi and Becka – as they rapidly realise that Grace’s problems haven’t disappeared with the same finality as her murdered husband, John Paul, aka "The P***k", or JP. "Grace has this family that’s there to support her, but in the two years that have passed [since John Paul’s death], they’ve been damaged by it, too. While they are there for each other, they’re all acting out in different ways." Although, they weren’t supposed to be acting out at all. Bad Sisters was originally conceived as a one-off (based on Belgian drama, Clan), but Horgan says her mind was changed after being "blown away" by the viewers’ response. "You hope that people will connect with the characters, but you never know. We had a sense that it could have legs for more, plus I kept having ideas for what could happen, post the offing of The P***k. Maybe we could find a bigger enemy. We did a writers’ room to figure out if there was anythin…

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Eve Hewson: 'Sharon Horgan captures reality for women in Bad Sisters'
type: item
date: 2024-11-12T00:01:23.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: "I think that’s why people love the show: you feel as though you’re watching real people."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As one of four siblings, do you relate to the relationships the Garvey sisters have? Totally. Me and my sister are two years apart, so we’re very close. We steal each other’s clothes and fight all the time, but we love each other, and we would literally kill for each other – I would happily do that. But my brothers are eight and 10 years younger than us. So we’re not a squash. My sister and I were more about changing their nappies and kind of being mini babysitters for them. It was a different kind of dynamic. I read that you formed a band with your siblings over lockdown. How did that work out? I didn’t form a band, but I found the rest of my siblings writing songs as if they’d formed a band, and I’d not been invited. Then I tried to get in on the action, but they were like, "You have to leave". Why? Are you tone deaf? No! I had too many great ideas, and they were jealous of how good I was! Are you now close to your on-screen sisters? Very! Almost too close. We are in communication with each other at all hours. We have many different forms of WhatsApp group. We literally talk on three different WhatsApp groups a day. We were just reunited last week in London [for the publicity tour], which was lovely. We also have three days coming up in New York. Lots of dinners and spa trips have been planned. So, where do we find Becka at the start of the new series? She’s matured in the last two years. She’s seen more of life, and she’s in a healthy place. She’s got this new boyfriend, she’s more of a grown-up – or she’s at least attempting to be. What are her best and worst traits? Her best are hard to choose, because I quite like a lot of her. I like that she’s like a million different emotions in one second. Her most annoying trait? Chewing loudly. All the Garvey sisters are brilliantly complex. What do you think is so special about Sharon’s writing? I guess how honest it feels. It feels as though these are real people, li…

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Rebecca Hall "waged an aggressive campaign" to land The Listeners role
type: item
date: 2024-11-12T00:01:19.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Magazine
description: Rebecca Hall speaks to Radio Times magazine about new drama The Listeners, which begins airing next week on BBC One.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Silence is elusive. Does silence even exist? The very question is enough to drive you mad. Pursue it and all you’ll hear is noise. These aural assaults will only be amplified by watching The Listeners, a haunting new BBC drama that tells the story of Claire, a 40-something English teacher who begins to hear a low humming sound whose faintness is in inverse proportion to the chaos it unleashes in her life. This unravelling is portrayed beautifully by Rebecca Hall, who is mesmerising as Claire. A veteran of stage and film, it’s a thrill to see her on the small screen again, starring alongside Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Crown, Ten Percent) and Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason, The Greatest Showman). "Claire craves a depth and intensity to her life," says Hall, when asked what drew her to the role. "Hearing this hum changes her understanding of the world. We all have an understanding that reality is exactly like this and then, when you delve into the physics and scratch the surface, suddenly the fabric of the universe peels away. And actually, it’s chaotic. Nothing about this is ordered or normal." "Oh, weird!" she suddenly exclaims. "There’s steam coming out of the top of your head. What is that? They’re pumping a smell into the atmosphere. It’s intense." At first, I think she’s riffing on her theme of chaos, but turning around, I see that we appear to be sitting next to the source of a pungent odour, with vapours billowing through a vent in the wall that presumably pass for room fragrance in the upscale hotel we’re in. "I’m very easily distracted by my environment," Hall apologises. Based on Jordan Tannahill’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Listeners is beautifully shot, with a whimsical quality that amplifies the unsettling nature of the story. Claire is happily married but unfulfilled, yearning for a connection that she finds in the unlikeliest of places, after discovering that one of her pupils, Kyle, can also h…

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Bad Sisters' Anne-Marie Duff: 'There’s a time-bomb ticking away in season 2'
type: item
date: 2024-11-12T00:01:07.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: "In that way, JP still controls her from beyond the grave."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s no spoiler to say that Grace starts this series with a smile on her face… We find her in a really lovely space. She’s loved up, she’s free of JP and she’s moved forward in her life. But there’s a time bomb ticking away – her guilty secret. In that way, JP still controls her from beyond the grave. How has Grace changed since we last saw her? For the outside world, she played the role of grieving widow. She’s reconnected with the church and formed a close friendship with a character who’s played by the incredible Fiona Shaw, and she becomes her support. So she’s swapped one controlling relationship for another? Totally. Sadly, until we sit in a therapist’s chair, we tend to be repeat offenders, don’t we? We put the washing machine on the same cycle until we learn to confront certain aspects of ourselves. Coercive control is such an important issue. Did you feel a responsibility portraying it on screen? Absolutely. Both Claes [Bang, who played JP] and I were committed to telling this story properly. We had to, because if we didn’t make it as true as possible, the audience would not have been willing the sisters to kill him. You had to make it that they felt desperately sorry for Grace. Also, you don’t know who’s watching. There will undoubtedly have been more than one person who has found themselves in a similar situation, and just to hear their story being told will be really powerful for them. So you have to serve it well. Did you research or talk to anyone who’d been in that situation? I did. I’ve worked on projects over the years where I’ve involved myself with Women’s Aid and I’ve been to refuges and spoken to women who are in violently abusive relationships and controlling coercive relationships. So, I’d had conversations with people who had experienced it first-hand. Do you share any traits with Grace? We’re quite different, actually. But I suppose trying to see the good in people. I’ve got that sort of i…

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'I had an insane childhood'
type: item
creator: Laura Craik
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Sensitive to sound and an insomniac from the age of seven – Rebecca Hall reveals how her upbringing prepared her for her latest role in The Listeners
encoded: Add The Listeners to your watchlist Silence is elusive. Does silence even exist? The very question is enough to drive you mad. Pursue it and all you’ll hear is noise. These aural assaults will only be amplified by watching The Listeners, a haunting new BBC drama that tells the story of Claire, a 40-something English teacher who begins to hear a low humming sound whose faintness is in inverse proportion to the chaos it unleashes in her life. This unravelling is portrayed beautifully by Rebecca Hall, who is mesmerising as Claire. A veteran of stage and film, it’s a thrill to see her on the small screen again, starring alongside Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Crown, Ten Percent) and Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason, The Greatest Showman). “Claire craves a depth and intensity to her life,” says Hall, when asked what drew her to the role. “Hearing this hum changes her understanding of the world. We all have an understanding that reality is exactly like this and then, when you delve into the physics and scratch the surface, suddenly the fabric of the universe peels away. And actually, it’s chaotic. Nothing about this is ordered or normal. View oEmbed on the source website “Oh, weird!” she suddenly exclaims. “There’s steam coming out of the top of your head. What is that? They’re pumping a smell into the atmosphere. It’s intense.” At first, I think she’s riffing on her theme of chaos, but turning around, I see that we appear to be sitting next to the source of a pungent odour, with vapours billowing through a vent in the wall that presumably pass for room fragrance in the upscale hotel we’re in. “I’m very easily distracted by my environment,” Hall apologises. Based on Jordan Tannahill’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Listeners is beautifully shot, with a whimsical quality that amplifies the unsettling nature of the story. Claire is happily married but unfulfilled, yearning for a connection that she finds in the unlikeliest of places, after discovering that one of her pupils, …

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Sam Heughan and Eleanor Tomlinson on the "debaucherous fun" of The Couple Next Door
type: item
date: 2023-11-21T14:03:34.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
description: Heughan and Tomlinson caught up with Radio Times magazine about their steamy new Channel 4 thriller.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. Four years after Poldark last graced our screens, it still feels odd to see Eleanor Tomlinson minus her Regency gown – and even more strange to see Sam Heughan minus his kilt, cravat and wig, given that the show he’s worn them in, Outlander, is still running. Both actors are period-drama veterans – Tomlinson played Demelza Poldark for six years, while Heughan has played Jamie Fraser for almost ten, and is about to start filming series eight of the popular show. But the pair have far more in common than their roles in 18th-century costume dramas: they also have many mutual friends – including Caitríona Balfe, who plays Jamie’s wife, Claire, in Outlander. All of which made teaming up for Channel 4’s new psychological thriller, The Couple Next Door, a no-brainer. Five minutes into our conversation (Tomlinson is speaking over Zoom from her home in London; Heughan is speaking over Zoom from his New York hotel), it’s clear that their friendship is genuine and close, built on mutual respect for each other’s work, as well as a shared sense of humour. "Caitríona knew El before I did," smiles Heughan. "So I’m already jealous of that situation. I want to say that El is my best friend, not Caitríona’s. But that’s something Caitríona and I will fight over on set." Tomlinson, meanwhile, describes working with Heughan as "debaucherous fun". Debaucherous fun is something the characters in The Couple Next Door very much aspire to, even if it often eludes them. When university sweethearts Evie (Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch) move to a cookie-cutter street in a fictitious suburb of Leeds (though the show was largely shot in Antwerp), they’re immediately befriended by Becka (Jessica De Gouw), a beguiling yoga teacher, and her equally beguiling partner Danny (played by Heughan), a traffic cop. But like most suburban streets, theirs harbours myriad secrets. Things are definitely not what they seem. And soon a wedge come…

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Call the Midwife's Helen George and Olly Rix on Trixie and Matthew's "beautiful" wedding
type: item
date: 2023-02-26T09:00:43.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Drama
subject: TV
description: The Trixie and Matthew stars talk wedding drama and keeping their characters' married life "exciting".
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. Everyone loves a wedding. Never more so than when it’s that of a much-loved couple whose relationship has been plagued by setbacks. To say the course of true love didn’t run smooth for Matthew and Trixie is an understatement. Since becoming an item in series ten, the couple have experienced more than their fair share of heartache. All of which makes Trixie and Matthew’s wedding day a very special one, destined to be a ratings-buster for the popular show – although we’re not giving away any spoilers by revealing that there are some major hiccups – this is Call the Midwife, after all. Speaking to Radio Times over Zoom from their respective homes in London, Helen George and Olly Rix agree that filming their characters’ big day was an uplifting experience, but also an arduous one. While weddings look wonderful on screen, they can be notoriously tough and drawn-out to film. "It was a long day," Helen confirms, her own hair much longer, wavier and more brunette than Trixie’s. "We did go over our schedule by about an hour and a half. But it was also a beautiful day. There was a real sense of occasion. And it was lovely that all the cast got to be together." Helen says that the look of the nuptials was inspired by society weddings of the time – after all, Matthew is the son and heir of an aristocrat – and that Trixie’s dress referenced a Givenchy campaign starring Audrey Hepburn, a muse to the designer throughout the 1960s. "It was a beautiful photograph of Audrey looking demure and gorgeous with this small pillbox hat on her head, and a long veil. Trixie’s version was loosely based around that." View Green Video on the source website While it would be unfair to call Trixie a bridezilla, her patience is tested when one of her "something old, new, borrowed and blue" accoutrements fails to materialise. Is Trixie’s perfectionism something to which Helen can relate? "I think it’s natural for any woman to want to g…

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John Torode and Lisa Faulkner on their favourite TV shows and cooking on a budget
type: item
date: 2022-10-01T08:00:48.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
description: We caught up with the couple to find out what they are enjoying watching on telly at the moment.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. The husband-and-wife stars of John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen, John Torode and Lisa Faulkner, open up about their budget recipes, cooking for their kids and the one show they have to watch. What’s your TV-watching set-up? Lisa: We have a sofa each. I’m in one corner on one and John’s on the other. If the kids are there, I’m on the end. Nobody moves John. Is there anything you’ve recently watched together? John: I liked The Midwich Cuckoos, with Max Beasley and Keeley Hawes. Lisa: [to John] Oh, you did like it. John: I don’t really watch TV. Lisa: John sits there and plays Patience. John: Or Scrabble. Lisa: Or Scrabble. I binge watch. I’ve just finished Everything I Know About Love. I really… John: [interrupting] I quite like a movie. But I’m not very good with drama. There’s enough drama in the world already. Lisa: Hard thing his wife’s an actress. I take it you have the remote, Lisa? Lisa: Yes. John: I have no real desire to have the remote. Lisa: One thing we do watch is MasterChef, but I’ll say we watch it because I want to. John: There’s only so much of your own voice you can listen to. How do you feel about seeing yourselves on screen? Lisa: My acting shows, my things, we haven’t really watched. John: Everything you’ve ever been in, I’ve watched. Lisa: Oh, sorry. OK. I don’t sit down to watch them, so I haven’t seen John watch them. John: But I have to watch MasterChef. Moving on, what can we expect from the new series of Weekend Kitchen? John: We’re trying to do dishes that are doable and a bit of fun. I’ve learnt a lot from Lisa about what people want to cook at home. A lot of basics, especially for Christmas and New Year, which can be really stressful for people. Obviously it’s a worrying time with the cost of food spiralling. Have you been conscious about showcasing budget-friendly recipes? Lisa: Absolutely. Our food shop has doubled, and it’s terrifying. We have a couple of showstoppers, but …

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Daisy May Cooper on Am I Being Unreasonable?: 'They're damaged, but who isn’t?'
type: item
date: 2022-09-22T08:00:43.000Z
creator: Laura Craik
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
description: We caught up with the writer before her new comedy thriller airs on BBC One this week.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. Some people baked banana bread over lockdown. Others learnt Mandarin. But Daisy May Cooper co-wrote Am I Being Unreasonable?, an offbeat comedy thriller about obsessive friendships, women on the edge, a freak accident and a dead cat. Imagine the gnarliest Mumsnet thread come to life and televised, and you’ll get the vibe. “We were very inspired by reading those [Mumsnet] posts,” laughs co-writer Selin Hizli, on the question of whether the show’s title is an allusion to the parenting website’s most overused phrase. “Those posts are so brilliant,” laughs Cooper. “Women talking about how awful their marriages are, and all the other women go, ‘Leave the b*****d.’ They could write that their husband sneezed, and they’d still go, ‘Leave him!’” Ask how the series came about, and you get a surprisingly candid answer. “It was because I was desperately unhappy in my marriage, but didn’t realise it at the time, and then lockdown put this massive spotlight onto it,” says Cooper. “My daughter had asked me to put a pair of dungarees on a Sylvanian Family squirrel. It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was completely broken.” In fact, at the time of writing Am I Being Unreasonable?, Cooper and Hizli’s lives very much mirrored their characters’, with both women eventually splitting from their partners (Cooper shares a daughter and son with hers, while Hizli shares eight-year-old twins). “As Daisy says, you don’t realise you’re unhappy until [lockdown] magnifies it,” says Hizli. “We didn’t realise how much we were missing that really important friendship as a source of comfort and connection. That was the starting point for our writing, and also talking about other female friendships that we’ve had, and how some of them get really toxic and make you doubt yourself more.” The plot centres around 40-something mum-of-one Nic (played by Cooper), a cantankerous character bored by her marriage and grieving a l…

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