The comedian loves crime dramas but finds property shows “triggering”
Add Go Get Arty to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? We’ve got a telly in every room except my office. When I stopped doing [Harry Hill’s] TV Burp, I was so sick of watching TV that I got rid of the one in there. At 8pm each evening, my wife [artist Magda Archer] will watch her stuff on the kitchen TV – A Place in the Sun, almost exclusively – while I go into the TV room and watch my boy’s stuff. I like crime dramas like This City Is Ours and MobLand. They’re all the same story, really, but it’s one I enjoy. Would you ever bring back TV Burp? I don’t have any plans. These things are best left undone. We did all the jokes. Trying to re-create that, I’d be on a hiding to nothing, but I’d love someone else to do it. There’s a space for that sort of show and I’m surprised no one’s filled it. What’s Knitted Character up to now? He’s in my live show. He comes on at the end as part of the badger parade, riding on the back of a heron. Blink and you’ll miss him because he’s only tiny, but he’s still working. Knitted Character is older and wiser now. He doesn’t necessarily want the stress of a weekly show, either. What comedy inspired you as a kid? Brucey, Eric and Ernie and The Two Ronnies were big in our house, but what really got me was Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The problem was, my dad decided what was on, and at 9pm, he wanted to watch the news on BBC1. I wanted to watch Not the Nine o’Clock News on BBC2. We’d sneak it on, turn the sound down and hope he wouldn’t realise what the time was. You now voice Bristles the talking paintbrush in CBBC series Go Get Arty. The show is a bit like Neil Buchanan’s Art Attack, isn’t it? My kids watched that, but there’s been a bit of a gap ever since. Go Get Arty is the first “how to” art show for a while. It does what the BBC is supposed to do, which is educate and entertain, but not in a heavy-handed way. The BBC should never have hived off children’s TV from the main channel. They shot themselves in the foot there, because that’s where you build your brand loyalty. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch ITV. It was sort of seen as common – full of shouty people doing dangerous stuff that looked absolutely fantastic. Did you watch art shows as a kid? I liked Take Hart, with Tony Hart and Morph. Vision On was fantastic, too. It was supposed to be for hearing-impaired children, but I loved their silent bits where the guy would be out in a field, painting white lines with a line-marking machine, then you’d get an aerial view of what he’d drawn. Did you make the things you saw? I made an Action Man house out of a cardboard box. There wasn’t much else to do back then, especially in rural Kent during winter. We weren’t even allowed to use the phone. If you wanted to find out if Adam Starkey was up for playing, you’d walk a mile up the road and knock on his door. If there was no answer, you’d go to the next one on your list: Patrick Crawley. Or sometimes you’d sit on Adam Starkey’s doorstep and wait for him to come home. You’re an accomplished artist today… It’s a hobby. I do it for fun, not financial gain. I’m not self-conscious about drawing. I don’t worry about what it ends up looking like, I just embrace the process. I’ve always been into the visual side of my work, both on TV and in my live shows, even down to the tour brochure. I make sure it’s all in keeping with the Harry Hill aesthetic. Who are your favourite artists? Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Philip Guston. I have a Tate membership and go to anything that’s on. Magda is a painter and one of my daughters is, too, so occasionally we get invited to private views. I revere artists. It’s the purest calling. What better way to earn a living?
Harry Hill will never bring back TV Burp – but he wants someone else to revive it
The comedian loves crime dramas but finds property shows “triggering”.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? We’ve got a telly in every room except my office. When I stopped doing [Harry Hill’s] TV Burp, I was so sick of watching TV that I got rid of the one in there. At 8pm each evening, my wife [artist Magda Archer] will watch her stuff on the kitchen TV – A Place in the Sun, almost exclusively – while I go into the TV room and watch my boy’s stuff. I like crime dramas like This City Is Ours and MobLand. They’re all the same story, really, but it’s one I enjoy. Would you ever bring back TV Burp? I don’t have any plans. These things are best left undone. We did all the jokes. Trying to re-create that, I’d be on a hiding to nothing, but I’d love someone else to do it. There’s a space for that sort of show and I’m surprised no one’s filled it. What’s Knitted Character up to now? He’s in my live show. He comes on at the end as part of the badger parade, riding on the back of a heron. Blink and you’ll miss him because he’s only tiny, but he’s still working. Knitted Character is older and wiser now. He doesn’t necessarily want the stress of a weekly show, either. What comedy inspired you as a kid? Brucey, Eric and Ernie and The Two Ronnies were big in our house, but what really got me was Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The problem was, my dad decided what was on, and at 9pm, he wanted to watch the news on BBC One. I wanted to watch Not the Nine o’Clock News on BBC Two. We’d sneak it on, turn the sound down and hope he wouldn’t realise what the time was. You now voice Bristles the talking paintbrush in CBBC series Go Get Arty. The show is a bit like Neil Buchanan’s Art Attack, isn’t it? My kids watched that, but there’s been a bit of a gap ever since. Go Get Arty is the first “how to” art show for a while. It does what the BBC is supposed to do, which is educate and entertain, but not in a heavy-handed way. The BBC should never have hived off children’s TV from the main channel. They shot themselves in the foot there, because that’s where you build your brand loyalty. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch ITV. It was sort of seen as common – full of shouty people doing dangerous stuff that looked absolutely fantastic. Did you watch art shows as a kid? I liked Take Hart, with Tony Hart and Morph. Vision On was fantastic, too. It was supposed to be for hearing-impaired children, but I loved their silent bits where the guy would be out in a field, painting white lines with a line-marking machine, then you’d get an aerial view of what he’d drawn. Did you make the things you saw? I made an Action Man house out of a cardboard box. There wasn’t much else to do back then, especially in rural Kent during winter. We weren’t even allowed to use the phone. If you wanted to find out if Adam Starkey was up for playing, you’d walk a mile up the road and knock on his door. If there was no answer, you’d go to the next one on your list: Patrick Crawley. Or sometimes you’d sit on Adam Starkey’s doorstep and wait for him to come home. You’re an accomplished artist today… It’s a hobby. I do it for fun, not financial gain. I’m not self-conscious about drawing. I don’t worry about what it ends up looking like, I just embrace the process. I’ve always been into the visual side of my work, both on TV and in my live shows, even down to the tour brochure. I make sure it’s all in keeping with the Harry Hill aesthetic. Who are your favourite artists? Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Philip Guston. I have a Tate membership and go to anything that’s on. Magda is a painter and one of my daughters is, too, so occasionally we get invited to private views. I revere artists. It’s the purest calling. What better way to earn a living? The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Bergerac review: Reboot is less Death in Paradise, more Grace
Jim Bergerac has undergone a modern reimagining, with Brassic and The Split's Damien Molony taking over from John Nettles. But does it capture the magic of the original?
Van der Valk. Magiret. Perry Mason. The Equalizer. Endless Agatha Christies and Sherlock Holmeses. Call it a desire to honour the classics or a dearth of fresh ideas but TV loves rebooting vintage detectives. The latest to get the treatment is DCI Jim Bergerac - a 1980s favourite who’s been given a 21st-century makeover in this dark and moody update. Long before he was the original Inspector Barnaby in Midsomer Murders, actor John Nettles became a household name as maverick sleuth Bergerac, who cracked crimes on the sun-soaked tax haven of Jersey. His BBC escapades ran for a decade, drawing 15m viewers at their peak. The hit series sparked a Channel Islands tourism boom and made the teak-tough, perma-tanned Nettles a housewives’ heartthrob. One critic at the time called Nettles "half man, half nutmeg, all sex god". Now, 34 years since the credits rolled on the original, U has exhumed - sorry, "reimagined" - the character for a 21st-century audience. Charismatic Irish actor Damien Molony (The Split, Brassic) takes over the role, bringing him up to date with an angsty edge and fashions worthy of an indie band’s frontman. Read more: Bergerac meets Bergerac: John Nettles and Damien Molony reveal references and Easter eggs Bergerac star explains why David Tennant casting wouldn’t have worked Grace season 5 release date confirmed – with series picking up on a tragic note Some of the drama’s hallmarks remain. Our hero is still battered and bruised by life. Both incarnations are recovering alcoholics, but whereas old Bergerac was divorced with a limp, new Bergerac is burdened by crippling grief. We first meet him at a support group, a broken man, battling his demons and on compassionate leave after the death of his wife six months ago. Other nods to the original will tick boxes for longtime fans. Bergerac still wears a brown leather jacket and drives a burgundy 1947 Triumph Roadster. Sadly, there’s no sign of the reggae-tinged accordion theme tune, which was a banger. The reliably wonderful Zoë Wanamaker plays Jim’s minted mother-in-law Charlie Hungerford - a gender-flipped character from the original series - who’s helping to raise his 14-year-old daughter Kim (Chloé Sweetlove) and stop Bergerac self-destructing. Wry-witted Wanamaker makes a good foil for the sardonic widower. Their barbed back-and-forths are a highlight. Philip Glenister - no stranger to renegade detective roles himself - shares top billing as millionaire mogul Arthur Wakefield, whose dysfunctional dynasty are hiding some dark secrets, as dysfunctional dynasties do. When a member of Wakefield’s family is murdered, chief of police Uma Dalal (Sasha Behar) wants her top detective on the case - even though he’s still grappling with bereavement and booze. For Bergerac, solving the high-profile crime offers salvation and a fresh start. A chance to get his life back on track and prove himself to Kim. To get results, he must first win a power struggle with DI Barney Crozier (Robert Gilbert) at police HQ in St Helier. The rival detective took charge in Bergerac’s absence and doesn’t take kindly to the rule-breaking, cage-rattling cop swanning back in. The pair’s tense, spiky relationship complicates the case. Bergerac v2.0 is written by Toby Whithouse, whose credits include Doctor Who, The Game, The Red King and cult supernatural drama Being Human - which also starred Molony as an obsessive-compulsive vampire. Whithouse’s scripts are sprinkled with sparky lines. "They’re interviewing Piers Morgan and it’s making me violent," snaps Charlie, turning off her car radio - but the tweaked format doesn’t do him many favours. Whereas the zippy original saw Bergerac solve a different crime in each self-contained episode, this one follows a single case across the entire six-part series. It allows for greater depth and character exploration, sure, but does mean the pace is slower and almost glacially Scandi in style. The island setting is windswept as much as it’s sun-soaked. Expect plentiful shots of characters gazing broodingly out to sea. The long-retired Nettles, now 81, has given the revival his blessing. He’s said of his successor: "I was Cliff Richard, this is much more Clint Eastwood." Bergerac Mk I was jollier and jauntier, almost Death in Paradise-esque, with our rugged hero pursuing roguish conmen and glamorous jewel thieves. Bergerac Mk II is more like Grace - a knotty whodunnit, led by a protagonist with a troubled past. The result is solid cosy crime which, a couple of character names and the Jersey setting aside, doesn't bear much resemblance to its forebear. Rather like ITV’s recent Van der Valk remake, it’s not faithful enough to please fans of the original, not whizz-bang enough to win over a new generation. Molony is terrific as the titular hero, but Nettles had more sting. Bergerac premiers on free to air channel U&DRAMA and free streaming service U on Thursday 27th February. 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.
Who is your favourite resident of Button House? Is it Robin the caveman or sweet, innocent Kitty? Pat the scoutmaster or Thomas the poet? Julian the trouser-free Tory MP or Mary the lightly smouldering (alleged) witch? Or maybe it’s the actual living couple, Alison and Mike? They’re all much-loved, but we’ve managed to rank the BBC comedy’s main 15 characters from worst to best. See where your favourites figure in our spectral countdown - and feel free to haunt us for all eternity if you disagree… 15. The plague victims Lurking in the basement of Button House are an indeterminate number of ghosts who died during the Black Death and were buried in a plague pit beneath the cellar. Centuries spent next to the boiler have made them experts on the house’s antiquated heating system, which comes in handy. Amusingly, the plague ghosts have a particular dislike of Julian (although he eventually pulls one of them), but believe Thomas is a local celebrity. One of them, a little girl named Jemima, sings creepy nursery rhymes in the pantry. They were last glimpsed in the finale, delighted that the cellar had been converted into a hotel sauna. 14. The neighbours "Bitches!" Don’t worry, it’s just Barclay Beg-Chetwynde (Geoff McGivern) calling his dogs. The arrogant toff and his alcoholic wife Bunny (Sophie Thompson) are Alison and Mike's nosy neighbours, with whom they have a land dispute over access roads. Braying Barclay always gets Alison's name wrong, calling her "Annabel", but comes good by bonding with Mike and donating toys for the cash-strapped couple’s nursery. 13. The ghost pigeon The show’s only non-human ghost is a pigeon which died after one of Barclay Beg-Chetwynde’s "bitches" caught and killed it in the Button House grounds. It continued to fly around in phantom form, nesting in Mike and Alison’s bedroom, driving them mad with its coos and refusal to be shooed away. 12. Annie Played by comedian Bridget Christie as a sort of proto-feminist, Annie is the ghost of a Puritan woman who died in 1711 by choking on a piece of bread. She haunted Button House prior to the first season, but is seen in flashback form. She formed an endearingly close friendship with Mary, her closest historical peer, teaching her how to speak her mind. The pair insulted men with relish, even though they couldn’t hear them. Annie eventually moved onto the afterlife and was much missed by Mary, so the ghosts still celebrate the "Annieversary" of when she got "sucked off". 11. Lady Button "A lady does not hold a carrot like that!" Lady Stephanie 'Fanny' Button (Martha Howe-Douglas) is the Edwardian lady of the manor who’s distantly related to Alison, hence her inheriting the house. She was pushed out of a window in 1912 by her adulterous husband George, who was "found upon the groundskeeper, with the butler upon him". She’s fuzzily visible in photographs, earning her the nickname "Grey Lady". Fanny subconsciously re-enacts her death nightly at 3am - until Julian alters a clock so she does it a few hours later, meaning her scream instead serves as a morning alarm call. Fanny might be starchy and pompous, but she shows her softer side in her adoration of stuffed dog Dante and maternal pride in Alison. She briefly develops a crush on Mike after reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and has a secret affair with Humphrey’s body. As you do. 10. Mike Alison's husband Michael Cooper (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) is a loveable man-child who always hatches grand business plans which never come to fruition. He initially believed the ghosts were Alison's concussed hallucinations but came to accept them, often trying in vain to communicate with them. He doesn’t like the idea that they can see him on the toilet, though. His mum still buys his pants. He gets stuck on the roof with a hangover. He’s oddly obsessed with zorbing and stuffed bears. He’s sweetly jealous of Alison’s exes and worries about whether he’ll be a good father. A big-hearted charmer, if a bit hapless. 9. Headless Humphrey Laurence Rickard arguably has the toughest gig due to his dual role - not only playing Robin the caveman but also appearing as the head of Sir Humphrey Bone. The Tudor nobleman, we learn, wasn’t beheaded by royal guards, but accidentally decapitated himself after mistakenly being accused of his French wife’s plot to assassinate Elizabeth I. Poor old Humphrey often struggles with his body, dropping his head and forgetting to pick it up. Yet he’s surprisingly wise, often counselling his fellow ghosts or Alison. In some ways, he’s got his head screwed on. 8. Alison The show’s chief protagonist is Charlotte Ritchie as Alison Cooper, who inherits Button House from an aristocratic distant aunt. After nearly dying when Julian pushed her out of a window, Alison is suddenly able to see, hear and interact with the ghosts - much to her initial terror and their delight. She becomes their foil and friend, while driving the plot with her mortal worries about money, life and love. She puts up with Thomas and Kitty’s infatuations, not to mention Mike’s crazes, and turns out to be a gifted artist and pianist. Little known fact: the creation of Alison’s character was loosely inspired by Danny Dyer, specifically his episode of Who Do You Think You Are?. 7. Thomas Flouncy Regency fop Thomas Thorne (Mathew Baynton) is the melodramatic poet who was fatally shot in a duel over a woman in 1824 - later learning that his opponent cheated and that he hadn’t died unloved, as he feared. Flamboyantly verbose, this tortured romantic falls in love with Alison at first sight (despite her being alive, married and a distant relation) and constantly criticises Mike out of sheer jealousy. He becomes a fan of Kylie, The Cure and Rachel-from-Friends, considers Lord Byron his arch enemy, and grows obsessed with the ideas of veganism and radio. Much to his chagrin, Fanny turns out to be a better poet than him. Damn your eyes, sir! 6. Mary Much-missed Mary Guppy (Katy Wix) was a Stuart-era peasant who was unjustly burnt at the stake after a 1612 witch trial. She’s soot-stained, smoulders when stressed and the living can smell burning if Mary passes through them. Mary might be timid and superstitious, but don’t be fooled - she knows more than she lets on. She was close friends with Annie, while her close bond with Robin tipped over into gentle flirtation. Mary turned out to be a gifted filmmaker and herbal medicine practitioner, but believed swans worked for the devil, referring to one as "Lucifer's lackey". After she ascended to the afterlife in the fourth season, Robin poignantly named a star after her. 5. The Captain We don’t find out that his name is James until the fifth and final season, but the Captain (Ben Willbond) is one of the most affecting of the Button House ghosts. A stern, slightly officious, tidily moustachioed army officer who was stationed at Button House during the Second World War, he was heartbreakingly unable to admit his repressed romantic feelings for his lieutenant, Havers. Despite never seeing frontline combat, "Major-General Can’t-Sing" remains obsessed with the war and tries to organise the ghosts with military precision. 4. Julian "Order, ordaaah!" The most recently deceased ghost is Julian Fawcett MP (Simon Farnaby) - a disgraced Tory minister who had a heart attack during a scandalous sex act in 1993, hence being destined to spend eternity trouserless. To a limited extent, Julian can physically interact with the corporeal world - although usually only with one forefinger to push small objects or press buttons. He might be corrupt and money-grubbing, but Alison occasionally uses his moral bankruptcy for her own benefit. He’s secretly proud that his daughter grew up to become a Green Party MP, and adorably bonds with Mike’s baby niece. As Julian always says: "Family, family, family." 3. Kitty The goofiest of the ghosts is Katherine 'Kitty' Higham (Lolly Adefope) - a highly excitable, endearingly naïve Georgian noblewoman. As the only non-white ghost, some have speculated that the character is loosely based on real-life figure Dido Elizabeth Belle (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw in 2013 biopic Belle). Needy Kitty becomes convinced that Alison is her best friend. She has repressed unhappy memories of her adoptive family, especially her abusive elder sister, preferring to remain blissfully ignorant. Soppy and starry-eyed, she adores dancing, romantic fiction and Grease. Hysterical in more ways than one. Just don’t entrust her with any secrets. 2. Robin Aka "Captain Cave-p***k" or "Budget Tarzan". By far the oldest ghost is a Stone Age caveman who lived on the land now occupied by Button House. Originally named Rogh, he was killed when lightning struck the tree he was hiding up to escape a bear - hence his terror of Mike’s taxidermy one. Due to the manner of his death, Robin can manipulate electricity. He plays chess with Julian, speaks fluent French, loves eating "bum and chips", worships the "Moonah" and can be heard by living animals - a gift which comes in useful. Despite speaking in primitive broken English, 10,000 years of human history have made Robin rather wise and soulful. Even if he still gets excited by fire. 1. Pat "Oh naff off, yer wazzock." Patrick 'Pat' Butcher (see what they did there, EastEnders fans?) is the scoutmaster who died on the Button House grounds in 1984. As is physically apparent, he was shot through the neck with an arrow during an archery lesson. This proud Yorkshireman loves Watneys ale, am-dram and Abba. He tolerates Thomas’s pretensions, patiently teaches Mary and keeps an avuncular eye on Kitty. One of the most poignant episodes portrays Pat’s “Death Day”, when his living family come to pay their respects. Warm, friendly and kind, Pat is the purest distillation of Ghosts’ funny-but-touching tone, which is why he claims our top spot. He’s also the most reliably hilarious - as proven by the way actor Jim Howick can makes his castmates corpse with laughter just with a look. Oh, Pat. Every stately home should have one. 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.
Industry recap: What happened in seasons 1 and 2?
The high finance drama returns to US screens after a lengthy absence.
Industry is back - and this time, the stakes are even higher. The acclaimed HBO/BBC drama, set in the cut-throat world of London high finance, returns for its third season. Expect more ruthless backstabbing, six-figure bonuses and blurred lines between the personal and the professional. Created by ex-City traders Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, Industry has been described as "the missing link between Succession and Euphoria". Read more: Industry season 3 trailer teases steamy drama as Game of Thrones star joins cast Industry season 3 cast: New and returning characters Ahead of its eagerly awaited return, here’s a handy memory-refreshing recap… What is Industry about? When it debuted in 2020, Industry introduced us to a group of five ambitious graduates competing for permanent positions at a prestigious investment bank, Pierpoint & Co, in the City of London. Our fast-tracked fivesome were posh, privileged Yasmin (Marisa Abela), working-class-made-good hedonist Robert (Harry Lawtey), hard-working Hari (Nabhaan Rizwan) and frustrated intellectual Gus (David Jonsson). The wild card? Risk-taker Harper (Myha'la Herrold), a highly driven New Yorker who, it turned out, hadn't graduated from university but forged her credentials. Let the big money games begin… Industry recap What happened in season 1? Fuelled by energy drinks and stimulant pills, Hari works all hours - until Gus is shocked to find him dead from a heart attack in the office loos. Yasmin struggles with the office culture, particularly misogynistic boss Kenny (Conor MacNeill), but she bonds with Harper and they became flatmates. Gus and Rob also move in together. Disillusioned by Hari's death, Gus refuses to play the corporate game, and isn't hired after the six-month trial period. Harper forms an uneasy mentor/protégé relationship with her maverick boss Eric (Ken Leung), holding her nerve to make the bank serious money. Having sailed close to the wind for years, Eric is fired after locking "Harpsichord" in a conference room, but later rehired when she chooses her career over female solidarity and withdraws her testimony. That concluded the debut run. What happened in season 2? The second season, which aired in 2022, saw Pierpoint traders return to the office after Covid lockdown. Harper continues to work remotely, but under pressure from Eric, saves her skin by recruiting notorious hedge fund boss Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass) - aka "Mr Covid", who made billions from the pandemic - as a client, thanks to them staying in the same swish hotel. Rob is newly sober but has lost confidence at work. He proves his worth when he begins sleeping with valuable but "handsy" client Nicole Craig (Sarah Parish), while Yas uses her wealthy family connections to bring in business, but risks becoming the kind of bullying boss she previously hated. Jobless Gus is undergoing a quarter-life crisis, complete with bad DIY hair dye. He is hired to privately tutor Bloom's wayward student son Leo (Sonny Poon Tip) and they embark on a gay affair. Gus then begins working for a "Tory with a conscience" MP, and he leverages his political position to get Leo into Oxford University. Gus is fired, however, when he leaks lucrative Westminster intel to Jesse, who ruthlessly plays everyone. He offers Gus a job as his assistant to repay him. Harper has an office flirtation with New York envoy Danny Van Deventer, aka "DVD" (Alex Alomar Akpobome). DVD tells her that Pierpoint global bigwig Bill Adler (Trevor White) is planning to close the London office, but she alone will be offered a job at the Manhattan mothership. Harper then teams up with the sidelined Eric and bullish Pierpoint salesman Rishi (Sagar Radia), hatching a risky plan to jump ship and take their business to a rival bank. Industry season 2 ending explained In a double-bill finale, Rob learns that Nicole previously made unwanted advances towards Harper. She later sexually assaults another Pierpoint graduate trainee, making it clear this is a pattern of behaviour, but Adler hushes it up. Disgusted by their complicity, DVD joins the Harper/Eric/Rishi rebel alliance. Co-dependent duo Harper and Eric eventually throw DVD under the bus, arguing that Adler should keep open a slimmed-down London office with them as his "super-team". They threaten to expose Pierpoint's culpability in Nicole's multiple misdemeanours. Desperate to avert a looming HR/PR crisis, Adler agrees. Harper celebrates by having toilet sex with Rishi the night before his wedding. Furious at the rape culture in the City, nepo baby Yas turns against her rich father, who has a history of predatory sex and payouts to silence his victims. In retaliation, he cuts off his daughter financially, even changing the locks on her flat. Rob is also arrested for cocaine possession (he was only helping out an upset Yasmin, for whom he's long held a torch) but Nicole bails him out, regaining control over him. In a shock final twist, Eric dobs in Harper for falsifying her educational background, hinting that it's for her own good. Father figures Eric and Jesse both seemed to care about our enigmatic ani-heroine. Both ultimately betrayed her. The season ends with Eric forced to fire Harper from Pierpoint, her eyes ablaze with confusion and fury. What do we know about season 3? The third season launches on HBO in the US on Sunday 11th August, and is expected to arrive on BBC One later this year. Joining the cast are two big names from HBO stablemates: Games Of Thrones' Kit Harington stars as a green energy mogul and Barry's Sarah Goldberg plays a portfolio manager at an ethical investment fund. The Marisa and Harry psychodrama continues, while a freshly shorn Harper lands a new job and soon becomes Pierpoint's unscrupulous competitor. As Eric taught her: "Everyone is collateral." Industry seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch in full now on BBC iPlayer. For more news, interviews and features, visit our Drama hub or find something to watch now with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Missing Ghosts? 10 shows to watch to fill the Button House-shaped hole in your life
Here at RadioTimes.com, we often lament the loss of Ghosts. Since the BBC’s hit haunted house sitcom said a bittersweet farewell last Christmas, its blend of loveable characters and heartfelt hilarity are much-missed from our viewing schedule. But what might help fill the Button House-shaped hole in our lives? Here are our top 10 shows to plug the Ghosts gap (and where to watch them)… Read more: Ghosts stars reveal storylines that are based on real life Ghosts co-creator on “big pitfall” he wanted to avoid with the ending 10 shows to watch after Ghosts - and fill the Button House-shaped hole in your life 1. Yonderland (2013-2016) Between Horrible Histories and Ghosts, the self-styled "Six Idiots" created this vastly underrated fantasy sitcom for Sky. It follows a bored stay-at-home mum (Martha Howe-Douglas) who is informed by an elf (Mathew Baynton) that she’s the "chosen one", destined to save a magical world which can be accessed via a portal in her kitchen cupboard. The rest of the gang play multiple supporting roles, with Simon Farnaby having a ball as both chief villain Negatus and an Elder of the realm who’s obsessed with "casting off these cumbersome robes" and getting naked. Shades of trouserless Tory MP Julian. Look out for Stephen Fry as the mysterious Cuddly Dick. Giddy, inventive fun. Watch it on: Sky or NOW 2. Being Human (2009-2013) A supernatural houseshare, you say? The much-loved comedy-drama, created by Doctor Who writer Toby Whithouse, portrays a spooky surrogate family. Vampire Aidan Turner, werewolf Russell Tovey and ghost Lenora Crichlow are thrown together in a grungy Bristol gaff. As the trio try to live a normal existence, they're threatened with exposure or by more evil members of their communities. The original stars were on the rise and eventually departed, to be replaced by now-familiar faces such as Michael Socha, Damien Moloney and Sinéad Keenan. It became an early breakout hit for BBC Three, hugely popular on iPlayer and an undisputed cult classic. Watch it on: ITVX 3. Ghosts US (2019-present) If you’re missing the British original, why not give the surprisingly decent CBS remake a whirl? It’s both subtly different and reassuringly similar. Alison and Mike are now married New Yorkers Sam and Jay, who inherit a crumbling country mansion from her great-aunt. The ghosts are tweaked too. Robin the caveman becomes Thor the Viking, while a '60s hippy, an indigenous tribesman and a Prohibition-era lounge singer replace Kitty, Thomas and headless Humphrey. The humour is slightly softer and soppier. It proved such a hit that it was swiftly recommissioned and is already on its third season, with a fourth due this autumn. Watch it on: BBC Three or iPlayer 4. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (2024) If you enjoy ye olde daftness of Horrible Histories and the flashbacks on Ghosts, you’ll love this period sitcom. Noel Fielding stars as 18th-century England’s most infamous highwayman, who leads the criminal Essex Gang while trying to evade thief-taker Jonathan Wilde (Hugh Bonneville). A host of comedy favourites pop up in supporting roles, including (deep breath) Dolly Wells, Mark Heap, Marc Wootton, Ellie White, Guz Khan, Jessica Hynes, Connor Swindells, Diane Morgan, Joe Wilkinson, Tamsin Greig, Asim Chaudhry, Greg Davies and, yes, a certain Simon Farnaby. Stand and deliver, indeed. Watch it on: Apple TV+ 5. Miracle Workers (2019-2023) Lolly 'Kitty from Ghosts' Adefope joins forces with Daniel Radcliffe in this quirky high-concept sitcom. Following the low-level angels at Heaven Inc responsible for handling humanity's prayers and starring Steve Buscemi as a bored God, it begins as an offbeat romcom in which our celestial heroes can only avert the end of the world by getting two socially awkward earthlings to kiss. It’s actually an anthology comedy, with each of the four seasons transposing the same cast into different settings. A hidden gem. Watch it on: Sky or NOW 6. The Wrong Mans (2013-2014) Mathew 'Thomas the romantic poet' Baynton co-created and co-starred with fellow Gavin & Stacey alumnus James Corden in this unjustly forgotten comedy thriller. After a Berkshire County Council worker answers a ringing mobile phone found at the site of a spectacular car crash, he and his bumbling colleague accidentally become entangled in a far-reaching criminal conspiracy. Is this the mismatched duo’s chance to become heroes? Slick direction and fizzing chemistry between the leads make this darkly comic caper a treat. Watch it on: BBC iPlayer 7. What We Do in the Shadows (2019-present) Another creepy houseshare comedy. Jemaine Clement created this deliciously daft horror mockumentary about vampire roommates in present-day New York. Based on the cult film of the same name by Clement and Taika Waititi, it mines mirth from the centuries-old characters clashing with the modern world, rather like Ghosts. The cast is led by UK talents Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou and Matt Berry. All manner of US comic talent pops up for cameos, alongside Hollywood A-listers like Tilda Swinton and Mark Hamill. It soon airs its sixth and final season, so now is the perfect time to sink your teeth in. A hat-trick of Emmy nominations can’t be wrong. Watch it on: BBC iPlayer or Disney+ 8. Fresh Meat (2011-2016) Another series where Charlotte Ritchie is saddled with some eccentric housemates - although at least this posse are still alive. After Peep Show (and before Armstrong went supernova with Succession), writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong created this superlative student comedy-drama. After applying late to the fictional Manchester Medlock University, Ritchie’s insecure Oregon is shoved into off-campus lodgings with Sloaney bantersaurus Jack Whitehall, hedonistic rebel Zawe Ashton, socially inept Greg McHugh, ladette Kimberley Nixon and pretentious Joe Thomas. They bicker, bond and create gag-packed, sharply-observed magic. Watch it on: channel4.com or Netflix 9. The Good Place (2016-2020) Like Ghosts, a sitcom about the afterlife - albeit a glossier, higher-concept Hollywood one with no "sucking off". After her death, pharmaceutical sales rep Kristen Bell is welcomed to a Heaven-like utopia by its architect Ted Danson as reward for her moral life. But wait, was she sent there by mistake? Created by Michael Schur of The US Office and Parks & Rec pedigree, the NBC hit is a fantasy charmer with clever ethical philosophy themes and some truly gasp-inducing plot twists. Watch it on: Netflix 10. Stath Lets Flats (2018-2021) There’s not one but two Button House alumni in Jamie Demetriou’s BAFTA-winning comic masterpiece. Katy 'Mary' Wix is stroppily competent Carol, while Kiell 'Mike' Smith-Bynoe is office cynic Dean. Both are long-suffering colleagues of the bungling Greek-Cypriot letting agent who only holds down a job because his dad owns the company. Over three seasons, the endearingly daft ensemble sitcom built into an utter joy with an unexpectedly poignant undertow. Like the man himself says, it’s "the best thing since life’s bread". Watch it on: channel4.com or Netflix Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Taskmaster 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.
The BBC crime drama returns with a brand new lead detective – but does she hold her own?
This review is based on episode 1 only. Jimmy who? Caledonian detective drama Shetland has returned to BBC One for season 8 with a new protagonist looking windswept on the bleakly beautiful archipelago. Douglas Henshall hung up his signature black peacoat last September after seven seasons as DI Jimmy Pérez and tonight, we got our first look at his replacement, who surely won over any viewers still pining for Henshall's careworn hero. Ashley Jensen picked up the crime-cracking baton as Met detective Ruth Calder, arriving in the isles on the trail of a valuable but vulnerable witness to a gangland shooting. Yet, this wasn't a Death In Paradise or Doc Martin-style 'fish out of water' scenario. DI Calder was born and bred here, but escaped at the first opportunity. "Pack your bags, you're going home," her boss ordered the eye-rollingly reluctant Calder. She clearly wasn't in the market for a McMinibreak. Right from the off, this reset series felt thrillingly different. An eight-minute cold open showed how fugitive witness Ellen Quinn (Maisie Norma Seaton) stumbled upon the cold-blooded execution of a police informant and fled all the way north to the Aberdeen ferry. Who'll find Ellen first? The police, the hitmen or her powerful family, led by no-nonsense matriarch Grace Bain (Downton Abbey's Phyllis Logan on formidable form)? Sighing, snapping and generally reverting to the sulky teenager she was when she left, Calder teamed up with Acting DI Alison "Tosh" McIntosh (Alison O’Donnell) to track down Ellen before the gangsters did. Sparks soon flew. Tosh had jurisdiction but Calder took charge. Both called the other "annoying". Grudging respect gradually developed. This fresh dynamic fizzed, recalling classic female duos like Cagney & Lacey or Scott & Bailey. Except neither of those pairings ever had to investigate a spate of sinister sheep slayings on the side. The counterpoint to these uneasy police partners were the bickering contract killers – experienced Howell (Don Gilét) and volatile Nowak (Arnas Fedaravičius) – on a mission to recover a holdall of missing drug money and permanently silence Ellen in the process. There were not one but two brutal murders before the credits rolled. And that was just the human ones. The accomplished Jensen – a familiar face from Agatha Raisin, Ugly Betty, Catastrophe and Mayflies, as well as her collaborations with Ricky Gervais – hit the ground running. Her character arrived fully formed and well-rounded. Her expressive face revealed conflicted feelings about this enforced homecoming. The script wasn't afraid to make Calder prickly and unlikeable, with a tangled private life and troubled childhood. She confronted ghosts from her past, including ex-boyfriend Cal (Guilt's Jamie Sives, always excellent) and estranged brother Alan (Steven Miller) – now the vicar at their late father's old church. Plenty of intrigue to unspool across the six-part series. Read more: Shetland star Ashley Jensen’s detective gets frosty welcome in teaser Shetland star explains Tosh and new detective's "unusual" dynamic Shetland's Alison O'Donnell on season 8: "It's a risk, it's a gamble" There were also welcome flashes of wit. When Ellen fled barefoot, Calder called her "little Zola Budd". Her "walk of shame" after a night with Cal was neatly played. So was Nowak's endearing interest in puffins. Many fans had backed longtime sidekick O'Donnell to step into her former mentor's shoes. Presumably, she wasn't deemed quite a big enough name. We saw a different side to Tosh as she forged a fragile partnership with the new arrival. Sure, some viewers are bound to miss Pérez, but two women fronting the show feels sufficiently different. Replacing Henshall with another male lead would have been way more jarring. With its brooding landscapes and slow-burning plots, the BAFTA-winning drama often feels like Scandi crime transported to the Highlands and islands. "Shetland’s the edge of the world," as one character put it. Tosh pointed out that the lack of trees is what lends the place its unique feel. It’s a hauntingly atmospheric setting for a high-class police procedural. On this evidence, the distinctive drama is in safe hands. From Taggart to Unforgotten, from Silent Witness to Death In Paradise, plenty of crime favourites have managed to change lead actors without losing their magic. Ashley Jensen's casting is a wee stroke of genius which might just give Shetland a whole new lease of life. View Green Video on the source website Shetland season 8 airs on Wednesday 1st November at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Ann Cleeves's Shetland novels are available to buy now. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who with a special issue of Radio Times. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Sixth Commandment finale: Ben Field's verdict, explained
The BBC true crime drama charts Ben Field's wicked crimes.
The Sixth Commandment is one of the most talked-about dramas of 2023 so far, with the final episode of the BBC show revealing what became of Ben Field following his unrelenting cruelty towards his two unwitting victims. The series followed a neat chapter structure. The first episode focused on the relationship between sinister church warden Field (a star-making performance from Irish actor Éanna Hardwicke) and lonely university lecturer Peter Farquhar (the gut-wrenchingly great Timothy Spall). The second episode saw Field then turn his attention to Farquhar's elderly neighbour in the sleepy Buckinghamshire village of Maids Moreton, retired headmistress Ann Moore-Martin (a heartbreaking turn from Anne Reid). That was followed by Thames Valley Police's dogged investigation into Field's crimes, and finally, in the fourth episode, the high-profile 2019 trial at Oxford Crown Court. How did Ben Field plea? Baptist minister's son Field concealed his evil behind a mask of polite piety, bidding prison warders "good morning" and thanking the court clerks he came into contact with. He'd pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of drugging Farquhar and defrauding both victims - £160,000 from Peter's will and £31,000 in cash "gifts" from Moore-Martin - but he denied murdering Farquhar and attempting to murder Moore-Martin. Field boasted about getting his moment in court, convinced he'd "get away with most of it", and decided to give evidence in his own defence – most unusual for someone charged with murder. As Farquhar's brother Ian (Adrian Rawlins) observed in the TV adaptation: "It's all a game to him. This isn't a trial, it's the Ben show and he'll be loving every moment." Which version of Peter Farquhar's death was real? In the TV drama, much of the case hinged on whether Field was present when Farquhar died, and whether he had systematically drugged Moore-Martin. During the depicted trial, as prosecuting barrister Oliver Saxby QC (Happy Valley's Rick Warden) painted a verbal picture, we flashed back to 2015, where two possible reconstructions of Farquhar's last night played out. First, we saw Field's version of events. When Farquhar left the care home, seemingly recovered, they spent the evening drinking ginger beer and watching TV. After Field left, Farquhar allegedly found a bottle of whisky left by lodger Martyn Smith (Conor MacNeill). He then drew the curtains, turned off the lights and TV, and downed half the bottle alone in the dark. Farquhar was found dead on his sofa by his cleaner the next day. Then we saw the prosecution's version. A powerful imagined conversation between the pair saw the quietly furious Peter rumble that Field had been manipulating him ("I see you now"). In response, Field was cruel and foul-mouthed, showing his true colours. He bought Peter yet another drug-spiked cup of tea, prompting a terrifying bout of confusion and disorientation. According to prosecutors, Field force-fed the whisky to Farquhar while he was too weak to resist and, when that wasn't enough to kill him, he suffocated him with a cushion. They claimed he set up the room to make it look like an accident or suicide. Peter's final moments in either scenario weren't shown. This smart decision helped dodge the ghoulish pitfalls of lesser true-crime dramatisations. However, we can safely assume that the latter version is much closer to what really happened on that fateful night in 2015. Why was Ben Field cleared of some crimes but not others? Field talked about his ability to "snake talk" his way into "an old man's house like a sociopath" in chat logs discovered on his computer. Once inside Farquhar's home, he laced his food with a cocktail of strong sedatives (eight times his normal dose of sleeping pills) and psychoactive drugs, causing hallucinations and ­cognitive problems. Field suggested these symptoms were signs of dementia and alcoholism, sowing the seeds for the ­deception that Peter had drunk himself to death. Crucially for the case, Field left written notes of his plan to poison his vulnerable victims, then subjected them to prolonged periods of gaslighting. Farquhar's own daily journals also proved invaluable to police. When his body was exhumed, forensics concluded that he hadn't drunk enough ­alcohol for it to be fatal, while hair tests confirmed he'd been drugged for at least six months. It was the evidence needed to charge Field. After deliberating for 19 days, the jury acquitted him of Moore-Martin's attempted murder but found him guilty of Farquhar's. Police couldn't definitively prove murder, but it all added up. Imposing a life sentence, Mr Justice Sweeney said there was "overwhelming evidence” of murder and sentenced Field to life imprisonment with a minimum of 36 years. Field has made two unsuccessful bids to challenge his conviction at the Court of Appeal. What was Martyn Smith's role in the drama? Field's co-accused Martyn Smith was depicted in the BBC series as a sad figure. He was a failed magician who suffered from anxiety and depression and was seemingly groomed by fellow student Field. He was soon in thrall to the older, taller, more charismatic man, to the extent where Martyn meekly obeyed orders. In the drama, Field even repeatedly instructed him to "breathe". He assisted Field's "manoeuvres" in Maids Moreton but became increasingly guilt-ridden and reluctant to help Field move onto his next target, Liz Zettl (Sheila Hancock). Police accused Smith of being Field's "co-conspirator" and "scout". In reality, as Farquhar's lodger, Smith denied knowledge of the relationship, let alone drugging and fraud. He was left £10,000 in Farquhar's will but insisted this came as a surprise. A copy of Zettl’s will was also found on Smith's laptop but the defence claimed she'd asked him to help make amendments. Zettl's fading memory meant her testimony was unreliable. Smith delivered romantic letters to Moore-Martin on Field's behalf and was aware of his mirror-writing ruse, but Smith was ultimately found not guilty of aiding Farquhar's murder, plotting to kill Moore-Martin, fraud and burglary. What details were left out of the drama? Award-winning screenwriter Sarah Phelps did a magnificent job of telling the story with empathy, delicacy and devastating sadness. However, there were details discovered by Phelps in her extensive research that she decided to omit, partly because the drama was made with the blessing of both victims' families. "There are things that I've had access to which will never, ever see the light of day," she said. "If I'd put them in, people wouldn't be able to watch it. It would be too horrible. But they live in my head." The families were "at the forefront" of her mind when writing, she added. "It's very difficult for them to revisit these events. I didn't want to cause them even more distress." Prosecution lawyers detailed Field's extreme gaslighting of Farquhar, some of which wasn't shown on-screen. This included secretly hiding his belongings and deleting contacts from his phone to isolate him and make him fear for his sanity. Field took explicit photographs of Moore-Martin without her knowledge in case he needed them to blackmail her, and filmed humiliating footage of Farquhar in a drug-addled state. Phelps and director Saul Dibb got the balance spot-on in the show. The case was harrowing but viewers were spared gratuitous detail without the drama losing impact, and the victims were treated with dignity, with the series celebrating their lives, while offering compassionate insights into loneliness and desperation for love. It was fitting that the series ended not on the cowardly Field but by paying poignant tribute to Farquhar and Moore-Martin. Why was Anne-Marie Blake so important to the case? Schoolteacher Anne-Marie Blake (played in the series by the superb Annabel Scholey) proved herself to be instrumental in putting a stop to Field's scheming. He wasn't suspected of murder until Moore-Martin died of natural causes 18 months later, after which her devoted niece began joining the dots. Like Farquhar, her beloved "Auntie Ann" had been duped into a relationship and convinced to change her will to make him the main beneficiary. Moore-Martin also alleged that Field had drugged her, causing her health to rapidly decline, although there was no evidence to prove that. Blake alerting the police proved key to ­unmasking the monstrous Field. Seizing his notebooks, detectives discovered he'd drawn up a 100-strong hit list of people who might be "useful". Field claimed his scribblings were merely thoughts, but detectives described him as a psychopath who would have posed an "ongoing danger to society". "He's just getting started," said the drama's iteration of DCI Mark Glover (Sherlock's Jonathan Aris). Blake was almost broken by Field's unrepentant evil. She suffered PTSD, thought he had lurked outside her home, and needed a screen between them in court, with Scholey's character explaining: "I can't have him watching me." When the 'real-life Midsomer murderer' denied drugging her aunt and was found not guilty (no traces of the mysterious "white powder" were found), Blake couldn't bear to be there for the verdict. "Guilty people get away with it," said her husband Simon (Ben Bailey Smith) in the TV series. "It happens all the time." Blake burned with injustice but managed to find peace. The Sixth Commandment's closing scene saw her apologise to the Farquhars for putting them through the pain of his death all over again, but Sue (Amanda Root) reassured her: "You stopped him." The Sixth Commandment airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Bear ending explained: What will Carmy do next?
The US comedy-drama came to an eventful end, but what did the money twist mean and what will Carmy's next move be? **WARNING: Contains spoilers for The Bear**
After debuting in June 2022, FX show The Bear was universally lauded by fans and critics alike. The series stars Jeremy Allen White as young chef Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto, who comes home to Chicago to run his family’s failing Italian sandwich shop after the suicide of his estranged older brother, and was hailed for its exploration of the dark side of working in the food industry. Now, the FX comedy-drama has returned for its second season, with White returning as Carmy, and Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach back as Sydney and Richie, respectively. The new instalment follows the crew at The Original Beef of Chicagoland as they endeavour to transform their grimy sandwich joint into a next-level spot, The Bear. But for those who need a recap of season 1 before they get stuck into the second instalment, read on for everything you need to know about The Bear season 1's eventful ending… The Bear ending explained Was Carmy in the midst of a breakdown? We last saw Carmy mentally deteriorating during that nerve-shredding, single-take penultimate episode. He took out his spiralling stress on sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), before hurling the order ticket machine across the kitchen in fury. As we rejoined our fragile hero, Carmy spoke at an AA meeting for the families of addicts, laying bare his relationship with late brother Michael (Jon Bernthal, seen in a flashback). In a devastating seven-minute monologue, Carmy recalled how they’d bonded by cooking together, but as Mikey lapsed into drug addiction and the restaurant began to struggle, he wouldn’t let Carmy work at The Original Beef of Chicagoland and cut off contact. Carmy became a fine-dining chef to prove himself to his beloved brother. However, his success only put further distance between them. When Mikey took his own life, he left The Beef to Carmy as "a final f**k you". Carmy realised his all-consuming mission to repair the broken business was his way of trying to heal his grief. But first, could he fix the damage to his staff relationships? Why did Richie nearly kill a guest? The Beef hosted a bachelor party for "white collar criminals" as a favour to Uncle Jimmy Cicero (Oliver Platt), a local mobster who’d invested $300,000 in Mikey’s business. It went about as well as the last bash they’d catered for him, when they accidentally put a houseful of unruly children to sleep with Xanax. When a fight broke out, front-of-house manager Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) intervened a tad too aggressively and was arrested after hospitalising a guest. Fortunately, the victim regained consciousness, and Richie was charged with aggravated assault rather than manslaughter. It was a wake-up call for the combustible "cousin". Resistant to change, he’d been locking horns with Carm and Syd all series. He now acknowledged that Carmy, who’d spent his last funds bailing him out, was "all he has". Ritchie called a truce with his 'cuz' before returning to The Beef to remove the lap dancers’ discarded lingerie from their workstations and commence the clean-up. When Carmy accidentally started a stove fire, he stared at it blankly at it while the other chefs put out the blaze. He needed to snap out of his funk, so the newly enlightened Richie finally gave Carmy the letter from Mikey that he’d found in the locker room. What would the message from beyond the grave say? Why did Mikey leave money in the tomato tins? The suicide note simply said: "I love you, dude. Let it rip." The latter was Mikey’s motivational mantra to his little brother. It also included his secret recipe for family spaghetti, recommending smaller cans of tomatoe purée because they taste better. Remember how one of Carmy’s first decisions upon taking over had been to buy more cost-effective larger cans instead? Now he opened a can to make the staff meal and was shocked to find a roll of $100 bills hidden inside. Realising that Mikey had sent him a message, Carmy instructed the chefs to open all the cans. Lo and behold, wads were stashed in them all. As the team got splattered with tomato juice (symbolising blood money?), the cash piled up to the sum that Cicero had loaned Mikey. Carmy had found records of Mikey making monthly payments to KBL Electric but nobody had heard of this mysterious company. We now glimpsed KBL on the tomato tin lids. Mikey hadn’t been squandering the money, he’d been sealing it inside cans for safekeeping, away from the taxman. Most professional kitchens have an electric can-seamer. It seemed Mikey had told the truth to Cicero. He’d wanted funds to franchise the restaurant with Carmy. It had taken eight episodes for stubborn Carmy to attempt the recipe. Now, he had a team around him and was ready to face the future. As they tucked into the spaghetti, all smiles, Carmy had a vision of Mikey grinning back at him. Were Carmy’s team back on board? Just about. Sydney and Marcus met to discuss their futures over Chilean seabass and tomato confit, as you do. Both had quit amid the kitchen chaos and Carmy’s outbursts. Gentle baker Marcus admitted that he’d blossomed under Carmy’s tutelage and Sydney’s encouragement. He returned to work, Carmy apologised and Marcus was soon lovingly producing cakes again. Ambitious, impatient Sydney was more reluctant but after Carmy apologised via text - while pointing out that her near-perfect risotto dish needed more acid - she came back. Carmy had found Sydney’s notebook of ideas for the revamped restaurant and approved of her vision ("family style, two tops, booths, Danish design, tasting menu at the bar, window at the side for sandwiches"), sealing their reconciliation. Now he had a nest egg to start afresh, Carmy hung up a sign announcing the closure of The Beef and that a new restaurant called The Bear would be opening soon. Roll credits on a superlative series. The Bear seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream in the UK now on Disney Plus – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. If you're looking for something else to watch, visit our TV Guide or take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Sinéad Keenan on Unforgotten: 'What eejit is going to follow Nicola Walker?'
The actor speaks to RadioTimes.com about taking over from Nicola Walker in ITV crime drama Unforgotten.
Sinéad Keenan is the new star of Unforgotten but she very nearly wasn't. When the Dublin-born actor was first approached about replacing the much-loved Nicola Walker for the equally loved ITV crime drama's fifth season, she immediately said no. "I watched series 4 when it went out," Keenan recalls. "I saw the outcry on Twitter when Cassie [Walker's character DCI Cassie Stuart] was killed: 'Never going to watch it again!', that type of stuff. "A few months later, I was on holiday and got a phone call from my agent: 'The people from Unforgotten want to send out scripts to three people and you're one of them. Would you read it?' I was very quick to say no, thank you very much. Because what eejit is going to follow Nicola Walker? No, I don't think so." But the 45-year-old's agent was persistent. "She said, 'Look, I've read it and it's very good. Please just read the first script.' And I was like, ‘OK, fine.’ And sure enough, I read it, called back and said, 'Er, is there another script knocking around? Because I just really want to know what happens!' "Then I met the team, who were lovely. They very kindly asked, 'Would you do it?' and I said, 'Go on then.' That was it. Now I'm literally the eejit who's following Nicola Walker." The eagerly awaited new season opens with a grisly discovery up a chimney in Hammersmith, West London. Was Keenan on a beach somewhere exotic reading this? "The first call from my agent came when I was looking after my two kids in a toy shop in Portugal," she laughs. "Actually, I was lucky to be by the pool when I read the script. But it was compelling, as [series creator] Chris Lang's scripts always are." Read more: Why did Nicola Walker leave Unforgotten? Cassie's fate explained Unforgotten's Sanjeev Bhaskar on Sunny's backpack reaching "weird status" Meet the cast of Unforgotten season 5 on ITV Had she also seen the three previous seasons which made Unforgotten a slow-burning hit? "I hadn't, only because I'm late to every party," she admits. “But I went back and watched them. God, it’s good. It’s no wonder the show’s so blooming popular.” Which was her favourite series? “Four, I thought, was brilliant. But also the first one, with Gemma Jones and Tom Courtenay’s confessional. Then again, there was heartbreaking Mark Bonnar in series 2 and Alex Jennings in series 3. What. A. Psychopath. "They’re all great and my God, the casts. It's testament to the writing, the calibre of actor they get in. It’s no wonder because it’s all there in the scripts. Everything starts and ends with a great story, which Unforgotten delivers.” Another attraction was the premise of a cold case police procedural. "I liked that idea because there's some family grieving somewhere," she nods. "It's important to give people dignity in death, to find out what's happened to them and give closure to their loved ones." After earning a BAFTA nomination and winning an RTS Award for her devastating portrayal of Melanie Jones – mother of murdered Liverpool schoolboy Rhys – in 2017's acclaimed Little Boy Blue, it's a subject close to Keenan's heart. Keenan was pleasantly surprised to retain her own Irish tones for the Unforgotten role. "I usually don't use my own accent," she says. "When they approached me, I assumed it would be an English accent but Chris really wanted me to keep the Dublin one. "It was odd at first because I'm not used to hearing myself like that when I'm working. I was like, 'Who's that and why does she sound so awful?' On the plus side, there was enough to worry about without mastering another accent as well." View Green Video on the source website When we first meet Keenan's character, DCI Jessica James, she’s in the midst of a domestic drama. "Her first day in her new job certainly doesn't go the way she'd hoped," agrees Keenan. "On the way into work that morning, something happens which knocks her completely off-kilter, which doesn't help when she's going into a team who are not only grieving the loss of a colleague but of a friend. "They're greeted with this shadow of a DCI who's not up to scratch, which naturally doesn't go down well. Jessica's usually great at her job - very on-point, good at managing teams - but that all goes to pot because she's shellshocked and blindsided." Hang on, didn't Keenan’s character in 2021 legal drama Showtrial also have a wild west name? "That's right, it was DI Paula 'Butch' Cassidy," Keenan laughs. "First Butch Cassidy, now Jessie James. There's definitely a theme here. I clearly give off cowboy vibes. Maybe all my jobs will be westerns from now on." Did playing a cop in Showtrial help prepare her for Unforgotten? "Not really," she says. "They're such contrasting characters and different styles of show that the fact that they're both detectives is fairly incidental, despite them sharing cowboy-ish names." DCI James certainly isn't a like-for-like replacement for Cassie. Firstly, she seems to have little interest in solving historic murders. Was the intention to wrong-foot everyone? "Oh, completely," says Keenan. "They're grieving and it's mirroring what the audience is doing, mourning the loss of Cassie, the loss of Nicola. "To add insult to injury, this seemingly inept person takes over from someone who was held in such high esteem and much-loved, especially by Sunny [right-hand man DI Sunil Khan, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar]. Viewers will and should feel annoyed by that. But as the story develops, Sunny and Jessica eventually get into their own particular groove." The chemistry between Cassie and Sunny was key to Unforgotten's success. How does the new double act develop? "They're wary of each other, understandably," explains Keenan. "Initially, Jessica goes in and is a little cack-handed. She tries to make jokes but they don't land. Nothing she does is working. "He's also a bit sarky with her. There's a brilliant line at the end of the first episode where Sunny puts Jessica in her place. That's only human. It's what happens in real-life. They're both in a bad place, taking it out on each other." Despite the dark subject matter, the cast and crew managed to keep the mood light. "There was lots of laughter on set," Keenan smiles. "And I have to say, 99.9% of that came from Sanjeev. Between takes, you just wind him up and let him run. It was constant anecdotes and hilarious stories. He's a really lovely, fun person to be around." Keenan says she's "fully prepared" for Unforgotten fans taking time to adjust. "It's a bit like if your parents split up and your dad brings home a new girlfriend. You're like, 'Nah, I will not be liking you.' "That's probably a poor analogy because Cassie was killed, obviously, but Chris has been clever about introducing Jess. The audience aren't kept in the dark. They know from the get-go why she's acting the way she is, otherwise there'd be uproar. It might take a while, but hopefully viewers will enjoy it by the end." Will Jessie return for season 6? "Well, I do know that Chris has a plotline and everything ready for a further series. We just need to wait for the grown-ups to decide." Is it true that a TV legal drama first made Keenan want to become an actress? "Yes, Matlock! This '80s series starring Andy Griffith in his white suit, looking a bit like Colonel Sanders, always doing these grandstanding speeches in court. I used to love it as a kid and thought I might study law. Until I realised that was a lot of work and I'd rather play the character instead." Her fascination with criminal cases has never quite left her: "I do enjoy a good true-crime podcast, I must admit. It all started with Serial back in the day. My latest binges were The Teacher's Pet and its sequel The Teacher's Trial. The same investigative journalist, Hedley Thomas, also did Shandee's Legacy. I'm not fanatical, but do find them compelling." Last year, Keenan popped up in the final season of Derry Girls as ex-con Aideen O'Shea, the third episode's titular 'Stranger on a Train'. "That was brilliant fun," she chuckles. "Lisa McGee wrote a sitcom I did called London Irish, back before Derry Girls were born. I've known her for years and she's so clever, so I was delighted to go back and do a little stint." Keenan's breakthrough role came in cult BBC Three supernatural drama Being Human back in 2009. For three seasons, she played nurse-turned-werewolf Nina, girlfriend of Russell Tovey's George. Has she stayed in touch with her former castmates? "There isn't a Honolulu Heights WhatsApp group, sadly, but I do keep in touch with lovely Russell, who's still filming in New York as we speak. "He's finished American Horror Story and has now moved onto another big Ryan Murphy production about Truman Capote [Feud: Capote's Women]. He's got his Talk Art podcast too, so he's doing brilliantly. I can’t wait to see him when he comes back.” What's next for Keenan herself? "The honest answer is, I don't know," she says. "Something will turn up. I need to get back to that Portuguese toy shop with my children and wait for the phone to ring." She laughs again. "Maybe I'll continue the cowboy theme and it'll be Annie Get Your Gun." Read more Big RT Interviews: Daryl McCormack on Bad Sisters and Peaky Blinders future Wunmi Mosaku: 'Alice, Darling has the power to change a person' Eugene Levy: 'We've never stopped thinking about returning to Schitt's Creek' Unforgotten airs weekly on ITV1 from Monday 27th February at 9pm. The complete series will be streaming as a boxset on ITVX after the first episode airs. For more news, interviews and features, visit our Drama hub or find something to watch now with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.
Gangs of London season 2 ending explained: How finale sets up potential season 3
And yes, the bodies piled up... **SEASON 2 FINALE SPOILERS AHEAD**
Crime epic Gangs of London has become one of Sky Atlantic’s biggest ever hits, winning a loyal fan following with its thrilling blend of underworld turf wars, cinematic ultra-violence and Shakespearean storytelling. The second season ratcheted up the action several notches - and it climaxed with a twist-packed, blood-soaked finale, directed by showrunner Corin Hardy. Here’s everything that happened in the eighth and concluding episode… Grievous bodily arm “You were out, so we’ve left your parcel containing a severed arm with a neighbour.” Thankfully, the courier didn’t need to leave this card because the threatening package was safely delivered. After his Paris assassination plan unravelled, renegade enforcer Elliot Finch (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) took an axe to the tattooed left arm of Billy Wallace (Brian Vernel), before sending his lopped-off limb to brother Sean (Joe Cole) and matriarch Marian (Michelle Fairley) as grisly leverage. Sean realised his mother hadn’t just colluded with Albanian mafia boss Luan (Orli Shuka) to intercept the shipment of heroin bound for Pakistani drug baron Asif Afridi (Asif Raza Mir), she’d also let Elliot know how to find it - and with it poor Billy, who she’d locked in the back of the van. When Marian coldly tried to stop him from rescuing his brother, Sean exploded in fury and half-strangled her. He’d seen his mother’s true colours at last. Elliot promptly called to give Sean his instructions. If he wanted to see Billy alive again, he’d play ball. Algerians' kitchen nightmare Ruthless Georgian mercenary Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) and his henchmen marched teenager Saba (Jahz Armando) into the Algerian café. To avenge the assassination of her uncle Basem (Salem Kali) at Billingsgate Fish Market, she’d facilitated Elliot’s Parisian plan. Now she’d pay with her life. In the nick of time, Sean arrived to ask for Koba’s help. Elliot had ordered him to surrender at a remote airfield in exchange for Billy. This was their chance to kill him. “I need full comms and a sniper team,” Koba told his right-hand man. “Let’s take this motherf**ker out.” As he left, Koba warned the Algerians to deal with Saba. They marched her through the kitchen but before snaky Hakim (Aymen Hamdouchi) could do the deed, plucky Saba threw barbecue coals in his face, shot him and fled with cousin Faz (Fady Elsayed). Attagirl. Meanwhile, Marian arrived at the woodland hideout to find both Billy and 1.4 tonnes of heroin gone. Elliot had taken Billy but who’d got the drugs? Consigliere Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) and his daughter Shannon (Pippa Bennett-Warner) were the only others who knew the location. Luckily, Luan had put a tracker inside the van as insurance. Marian told him to get their smack stash back, whatever it took. Read more: Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on season 2: "There's a different atmosphere" Gangs of London showrunner breaks down Bond-style start to season 2 Dumanis make a power-grab Honourable Ed didn’t like stealing from Marian. The ambitious Shannon was having none of it. The Wallaces had used their family as bag-carriers, grave-diggers and money launderers for years. The heroin was a chance to build their own empire - a similar pep talk to the one she gave Elliot in the previous episode. Besides, she wanted to ensure her brother Alex (Paapa Essiedu) hadn’t died in vain. They stashed the drugs in their motel bathroom and waited, knowing Luan’s men would be coming. When two carloads of Albanians turned up, balaclava-clad and heavily armed, Ed warned Shannon: “If we do this, there’s no turning back.” The Albanians burst in to find an empty suite, with heroin piled high in the bathroom. Too easy. It was a trap. Ed and Shannon opened fire from the room next door, their machine guns pumping bullets through the adjoining wall. Pillow feathers flew. Blood spattered. Six Albanians lay dead. Ed called Luan, who was waiting across the car park, and cautioned against giving Marian all the power. “There’s a reckoning elsewhere tonight,” he added. “Let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.” The two seasoned campaigners shared a mutual respect, especially since Ed helped Luan find his kidnapped wife, so Luan drove off. Cut to that reckoning… Burger and chips, hold the poison When Sean vowed to get rid of his mother, having already betrayed his lover Lale (Narges Rashidi), lone wolf Koba was impressed: “I thought I’d have to kill you because a weak partner is a liability. But we might be on the same page.” En route to the rendezvous with Elliot, the pair stopped at a service station for a comfort break. Sean bought them both burgers and watched as Koba greedily tucked in. Soon he got a nosebleed. Then he bled from the eyes and vomited blood, which splashed over his chips like ketchup. “It’s a compound poison,” Sean calmly told him. “You’re paralysed.” Koba died and Sean crammed his body in the car boot. A flashback showed him poisoning the burger and slitting the throat of Koba’s driver in the garage toilets. He’d complied with the first phase of his instructions. Elliot now sent him the real location, a disused scrapyard. The airfield had been a decoy, sending Koba’s sniper to the wrong place. Now it would just be Sean vs Elliot, with Billy along for the ride. He was in Elliot’s passenger seat, severed arm strapped up, high on morphine. What Elliot didn’t realise is that Billy had managed to conceal a screwdriver up his sleeve. Read more: Gangs of London season 2 review: Same, but different Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on season 2: "There's a different atmosphere" Fistfight at the OK Corral Sean arrived at the mist-shrouded junkyard for a cowboy-style showdown, complete with western-tinged soundtrack. Elliot made him toss away his concealed weapon and produce Koba’s corpse. He then got both Wallace brothers on their knees. Time to avenge his father, who Sean had ordered killed. Elliot was about to pull the trigger when Billy lunged with the screwdriver, stabbing Elliot in the stomach and through the hand. Sean pounced and as Billy looked on, the pair grunted their way through a bone-crunching fight. Sean threw engine oil in Elliot’s face, momentarily blinding him. Sean was about to finish him with a fence spike when Elliot throttled him with Billy’s strapping and strung up Sean from a crane. As he clawed at his throat, Billy pleaded with Elliot to let him down but Sean croaked: “Your dad would be proud.” Elliot and Billy drove away. The screen faded to black. Was Sean dead for real this time? The pawn became a king The first twist came in flashback, with Elliot deciding that killing Sean wasn’t enough: “I’m going to make you watch as I take everything you ever built. Your power, your people, your city. I’m going to replace you.” He stood Sean on a tyre and left him for the police to find. We later glimpsed one-armed Billy visiting Sean in prison. Meanwhile, Elliot was suited, booted and swaggering into a gangland summit, where he took his seat at the table between Ed and Shannon. As Marian arrived to sit opposite, she and Elliot smiled darkly. They’d once been on the same side. Now they were deadly rivals. Still time for a tantalising postscript. Over in Pakistan, we saw Asif in exile, plotting his return to London. For that, he needed a partner who also wanted to reclaim what was hers: Lale. Yes, the kickass Kurdish freedom fighter was alive after all. Wallaces vs Dumanis vs the Asif/Lale alliance looks set to be the next battle for London’s soul. Roll credits – and bring on a season 3 confirmation please. Loose ends & case notes Who will the string-pulling Investors now align behind? Asif originally had their backing but Elliot went rogue and Sean still has the microchip of incriminating evidence against them. The Algerian street gang weren’t seen again. Expect them to resurface next season. Shannon’s son Danny (Taye Matthew) was watching movie The Raid - a knowing in-joke, since the beat-’em-up thriller was directed by Gangs of London creator Gareth Evans. Can’t wait for Sean to come face-to-face with Lale again. Hearts and flowers are unlikely to feature. Gangs of London season 2 is available on Sky and NOW – find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV. For more to watch, check out our TV guide or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.
BBC's Ghosts - Why Mary’s shock exit had to happen
"She was there and then she was not there."
"It's Mary. She's gone. She was there and then she was not there. All very sudden. A whoosh and then poof!" Haunted house sitcom Ghosts took a surprise sad turn in tonight's episode (Friday 14th October) when one of the spectres left the building. Just minutes into the poignantly titled Gone Gone, witch trial victim Mary (brilliantly played by Katy Wix) was suddenly bathed in golden light before ascending into the afterlife. Her last word was a heartbreaking "Ooh" as she gently floated up through the ceiling. The other Button House ghosts were left open-mouthed and it wasn't long before they found themselves in a tailspin. Scoutmaster Pat (Jim Howick) comforted naive noblewoman Kitty (Lolly Adefope); trouser-less Tory MP Julian (Simon Farnaby) saw red; army officer The Captain (Ben Willbond) kept busy to avoid thinking about it; romantic poet Thomas (Mathew Baynton) made it all about him, as usual; even the stiff upper lip of Lady Fanny (Martha Howe-Douglas) wobbled. It seems that's the last we've seen of Mary, who has become a firm favourite of Ghosts fans. She was the 17th century West Country peasant woman who added comic relief every time she pluralised random words ("I smells burnings"). She was deeply superstitious about wedding garters and lucky cake-throwing. She called TV cameras "one-eyed metal cows", cocktails "the devil's juice" and swans "Lucifer's lackeys". Way back in the Stuart era, Mary was cynically blamed by male villagers for a poor harvest, falsely accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake. As a result, her face was forever smeared with soot and she constantly smouldered. The living could smell toast if she passed through them. "She's at peace now," Pat reassured the tearful Kitty. The masterminds behind the show - the Horrible Histories gang of Baynton, Howe-Douglas, Farnaby, Howick, Willbond and Laurence Rickard - told RadioTimes.com: "We were so lucky to have Katy Wix with us in Button House for four fun-filled series. She, ironically, breathed life into the role of Mary, as only Katy could, making her into such a unique, hilarious and popular character. We're sad to see her go but can't wait to see what she does next." Why did she become the first main character to move on? It might well have been a workload issue for Wix. She's increasingly in demand – her CV includes Carole in Stath Lets Flats, Fergie in The Windsors and Jules in Big Boys. She has a flourishing writing career, having published acclaimed memoir Delicacy last year, and she's currently co-writing Fat Camp, a comedy series about a children's weight loss retreat, in which she'll also star. While this is the end of the road for Mary, there's plenty more to come from Wix. Viewers will miss Mary too, but at least she was given a worthy send-off. Despite its supernatural silliness and high gag rate, Ghosts is frequently unexpectedly affecting – see the episodes about Thomas's death in a duel, Fanny's murder at the hands of her husband, or The Captain's unrequited love for his wartime lieutenant. This was definitely one of those bittersweet moments. In fact, Mary's departure was the most moving storyline yet. Her character allowed the writing team to subtly explore themes of sexism and misogyny. Because of Mary's horrific death, she was painfully shy and traumatised. Two episodes ago, she finally plucked up the courage to tell her story. We saw how she was unjustly executed and belatedly learned to speak her mind with the help of her feisty undead friend, Puritan housemaid Annie (Bridget Christie). "Now we're free," Annie told her. "More than we ever were in life." When Annie moved on herself, Mary watched her go with mixed feelings, muttering: "Lucky cow." Indeed, the show has been slyly laying the groundwork for Mary's own exit all series. When her fellow ghosts briefly feared that caveman Robin (Rickard) had passed over first, Mary said: "He’s been sucked off, the lucky beggar." Now it was Mary's turn in a gasp-inducing, tear-jerking plot twist. After realising that her spirit friends were struggling to process their loss, landlady Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) decided to hold a memorial service. As she explained: "It's not the end of her life but it is the end of her afterlife." Alison and Thomas gathered items to help them remember her: the sketched portrait of Mary, a bulb of fennel (her favourite vegetable, like a fancy onion), a magazine with her beloved "Loose Womens" on the cover, a framed photo of Alison's husband Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe), on whom Mary had a not-so-secret crush. Alison put it all in a wicker basket "five potatoes high", as Mary insisted baskets should be, and buried it beneath her favourite tree. There wasn't a dry eye in Button House. Well, until their minute's silent contemplation was interrupted by the strains of Black Lace and Gangnam Style drifting in from the children's birthday party indoors. The ghosts promptly hit the dance floor because "Mary would have wanted us to have fun". For a show about dead people, Ghosts is joyously life-affirming. As two of the oldest ghosts Mary and Robin had spent centuries together and grown so close, there were once hints of potential romance. Hence it felt strange that Robin initially seemed unaffected by her departure. He later admitted that he has his own way of mourning the many deaths he's witnessed. "Find them a star," he growled, gazing up at the night sky. "Because that's where we go, back to the stars. That one has a twinkle. Goodbye, Mary." Mary's appearances in Ghosts were quietly diminishing. She was sometimes absent from ensemble scenes. It began to look suspiciously like Wix was unavailable for filming due to scheduling conflicts. Last week's episode saw Mary wandering the grounds alone, chatting cheerfully to herself while the rest of the ghosts tried to apologise to Alison for their bad behaviour. Mary had done nothing wrong, so rightly refused to join them. Death had given her a voice at last. "I hope whatever comes next is even better," she said. We hope so too. RIP. Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.
Jeff Bridges on starring in The Old Man: 'TV is just as good as film nowadays'
The star spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com about playing an ageing action hero in the new Disney Plus drama.
Jeff Bridges is returning to the small screen after more than 50 years - but he insists it’s not a step down. The Oscar-winning actor, who stars in new Disney Plus drama The Old Man, believes that TV is just as good as film nowadays. The seven-part spy thriller series, based on the bestselling 2017 novel of the same name by Thomas Perry, sees Bridges play Dan Chase, an agent who absconded from the CIA decades ago and has since been living off-grid. When an intruder arrives at Chase’s remote cabin and attempts to assassinate him, the veteran operative is forced out of hiding. He realises that to ensure his future, he must reconcile with his dark past. Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview, Bridges says filming the series taught him there is "absolutely no difference" between creating film and TV. "The only difference really is that across a full series, you get a chance to learn more about the characters. You don’t have to rush and tell the story too quickly. You can stretch it out and go more in-depth. It’s almost more like a novel." The 72-year-old star also admits that TV has changed since the 1960s. "The quality now that comes out of the television is incredible," he laughs. "My father, Lloyd Bridges, did a bunch of TV series and back in those days, there was never enough time to make the quality work you wanted. He struggled with that. But then seeing these great TV shows coming out now, I thought, wow, I want to explore that medium." Throughout The Old Man, there are plenty of bone-crunching, bruising fight scenes - but how did Bridges enjoy playing a mature action hero? "I had a lot of fun," he says. "I don’t think I’ve ever done that many fight scenes but we had masterful stunt co-ordinators. Thank God for muscle memory. You think you’ll never pull it off but then your body remembers it somehow." The actor shares lots of screen time with his character’s two trusty guard dogs in the new series, defying the old showbiz adage that you should never work with animals or children. "See, I don’t hold with that," Bridges continues. "I’ve learned a lot of acting lessons from children and animals. Basically, acting is an advanced game of pretend, like you play when you’re a kid. And the dogs were wonderful to work with. "My character has these two Rottweilers but in reality, there were half-a-dozen dogs, each hired for a particular trick or speciality. The trainer, Sarah Crawford, trained me just as much as the dogs. She taught me how to work with them and make it seem like they were my pets. We spent a lot of time together. They’re very sweet." The Old Man is adapted for TV by Jonathan E Steinberg and Robert Levine. The first two episodes are directed by Jon Watts, who helmed three Spider-Man movies. The series co-stars John Lithgow (Dexter, The Crown) as the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, Harold Harper. He’s called upon to lead the man-hunt for fugitive Chase due to the pair’s shady past together. Working alongside Harper are his protégé Angela Adams (Search Party’s Alia Shawkat) and CIA liaison Special Agent Raymond Waters (EJ Bonilla). Also on Chase’s tail is Julian Carson (The Wire’s Gbenga Akinnagbe), a highly-trained special ops contractor. While on the run, Chase rents a room from divorced single mother Zoe McDonald (The Leftovers' Amy Brenneman), whose life is turned upside down when she learns the truth about her new tenant. "Amy was such a wonderful actor to work with," Bridges adds. "As was John Lithgow. We got along well. My favourite thing is when I get to act with these other artists and jam with the story. That’s really terrific." And it seems Bridges will need his new-found dog-handling skills and combat muscle memory for a while yet. Well-received in the US, The Old Man has already been renewed for a second season. The Old Man streams on Disney Plus from Wednesday 28th September – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV guide to see what's on tonight. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio on scrapped storylines, Steve and Kate's potential romance and "H"
The mastermind behind the BBC behemoth celebrates its 10th anniversary with RadioTimes.com.
Jed Mercurio is a busy man. The writer, showrunner and all-round TV thriller king is currently in the midst of post-production on the second season of BBC One crime drama Bloodlands. He's juggling that with pre-production on a series that hasn't been announced yet. But despite his teeming in-tray, Mercurio is happy to mark a certain anniversary with RadioTimes.com. Sunday 26th June marks 10 years since the debut of his signature creation Line of Duty, the police corruption saga which began its life as a cult hit on BBC Two before making the leap to BBC One's primetime Sunday night slot, where it draws in an astronomical number of viewers. To date, we've enjoyed six seasons, 36 episodes, a lot of bent coppers and even more acronyms. Join Jed as he takes a trip down AC-12 memory lane - en route, revealing his story inspirations, casting secrets, alternate storylines and most memorable moments. Beeeeeeeeep! Interview commencing... How are you feeling about Line of Duty's 10th anniversary? It's a great milestone. Back when we started, even the idea that we'd be at this point would have appeared fanciful. Take us right back to the beginning. What first inspired you to write a drama about police corruption? Just looking at the real world. That's often where I get my inspiration from. Over the years, there have been plenty of incidents of police misconduct. That got me thinking about portraying it in a TV show that works as a thriller, rather than a factual drama picking over the bones of a real case. As a fictional model, I enjoyed The Shield. That led us to the idea of an anti-corruption unit which targeted an officer who is effectively the main protagonist. If they're definitely up to some dodgy dealings but also an effective police officer, there's tension there. Was DS Steve Arnott, played by Martin Compston, always your starting point? I definitely began with the idea of a new officer joining anti-corruption. We used that to show that anti-corruption wasn't necessarily a job that many police officers would seek. That came out of conversations with real police officers, where they expressed a mixture of mistrust or even antagonism towards it, so it felt interesting to portray how Steve would find himself exiled in anti-corruption. That led to him being ostracised when he stands up for his principles. He ends up conflicted because he's investigating a police officer that he admires. He doesn't want to be going after fellow officers, he wants to be out catching criminals, doing the job he was trained for, so it absolutely revolved around Steve. How did DC Kate Fleming, played by Vicky McClure, evolve? We wanted to create a strong female co-lead to go alongside Steve. We kicked around thoughts about whether she'd work in anti-corruption and they'd team up, or if she'd be working for DCI Tony Gates (Lennie James) but somehow get turned and become an informant. We ended up doing both. She appears to be one thing, then it turns out she's another. That made a nice twist. It also meant we could play with their relationship. You initially get a sense there's going to be a thing between Steve and Kate. Then when they realise they're going to be partners, that's off the table and never really addressed again. How tempted were you to make it romantic between Arnott and Fleming? We talked about that but decided to just make them colleagues. The way their relationship works is refreshing. It's a modern workplace where people should be able to work alongside each other. Was the setting always going to be an anti-corruption unit in the Midlands? Originally, it was set in Birmingham and the department was Professional Standards, which is the name for anti-corruption in a lot of constabularies. But quite late in the pre-production process, we were given strong guidance by the BBC legal department that we shouldn't call it Professional Standards because that's the real department. And we shouldn't specify Birmingham because that's a real city, so we had to fictionalise the department and anonymise the location. Why did you call it AC-12? Obviously AC is anti-corruption, then we just went through numbers until I got to one where I was like, 'Yep, that works.' I'm not making comparisons at all but when Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22, he went through a hell of a lot of numbers too. Once the audience start hearing it, it lands. Other AC units get mentioned in the show and their numbers have to sound right too. Have you rewatched the debut season lately? We all did in 2020, when it got a lockdown repeat on BBC One. It was fun to marvel at how young the cast were. I remember when we shot it, there was a lot of discussion about Martin's make-up design and making sure he didn't look too young. We considered him having a goatee but Lennie James already had one, so we wanted him clean-shaven. But if he shaved in the morning, he just looked so fresh-faced. Instead, he shaved in the evenings, so he'd have a little bit of shadow by the next day. Poor Martin. We imposed a shaving schedule on him! Did you see that first season as self-contained? How much of the over-arching narrative was in your head? Some. The BBC understood it was a returnable series, so we discussed how a second season would work - that AC-12 would come back and there'd be a new investigation of a character on the scale of Tony Gates. We were really proactive and optioned Martin and Vicky for a second season anyway. When that first run was successful, it was a very easy conversation. There was also such a great reaction to the Adrian Dunbar character (Superintendent Ted Hastings) that we wanted to bring him back as well. He was promoted to the main cast in season 2. What was your original vision for Hastings? Initially he was written very differently to how he turned out. Casting-wise, we were looking for something else but never found it. And then Adrian auditioned and it really worked, so we went a different way. Originally he was someone who'd been in anti-corruption too long and didn't, as Hastings would say, carry the fire. It was that professional ennui that surrounds big institutions, where you do just enough to investigate wrongdoing but don't go after anyone high-profile, don't ruffle any feathers and the bigwigs are happy. The plan was for there to be antagonism with Steve and Kate because as they dig into Tony Gates, Hastings wants to pull back because it's getting too explosive. But all that got abandoned. We stuck with the Adrian Dunbar way of doing it, which was a fiery character who's up for catching bad guys. The murder of Jackie Laverty (played by Gina McKee) in episode 2 was Line of Duty's first shock death. Was that you setting out your stall and telling viewers that nobody was safe? It wasn't planned that way, it just felt right as a plot device. We needed to up the stakes for Gates and create a way for the OCG (organised crime group) to gain leverage over him. It was great that viewers responded how they did. It became something people started to associate with the show. Tommy Hunter was the OCG leader, but how did the character of DS Matthew "Dot" Cottan aka "The Caddy", his inside man on the force, come about? Well, Tommy Hunter isn't revealed as head of an OCG until the very end. He's just a presence over the phone, so we wanted a great actor with a distinctive voice and got that in Brian McCardie. The idea of someone embedded within the police was really just a tiny thought. When you create long-running shows, you end up doing quite a lot of work in the first season to put things in place. You may never exploit them but they're there if you need to, so there's a very significant scene in the season 1 finale between two characters who we later find out are extremely corrupt. It appears to be just two coppers going about their business but what they're doing isn't right. DI Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle) lets Cottan interview a suspect alone just after their arrest. That was foreshadowing. By season 2, we decided to focus on Cottan because there was something more conventional about him being corrupt. Buckells had already been portrayed as out of his depth but we didn't want to exploit that too early. Cottan's character and Craig Parkinson's performance were a better fit, so we had him join AC-12 in season 2, by which time we know he's corrupt. So Buckells being bent was there right from the start? Yep, it was there. When the Buckells character came back the next time, in season 4, again it didn't feel like the right time. He's certainly involved and adjacent to the action, but it felt like the focus wasn't on him. What was your own most memorable moment from season 1? Shooting some stuff where it was just me, a cameraman and a sound guy with Lennie driving around Birmingham at night. I was in the back of the car as we drove around Selly Oak, where I used to live as a student. I remember thinking, 'This is pretty cool, driving around my old stomping ground, shooting a TV show with a brilliant actor.' And then came season 2, with Keeley Hawes as DI Lindsay Denton. Did that take the show to the next level? Actually, ratings were lower than season 1! When the overnight figures came in, there was a real feeling that we were in trouble but it was one of those rare occasions where nobody blamed the show. The BBC kept promoting it and numbers crept up. By the time we'd finished, we'd doubled our audience. What was your most memorable moment from season 2? Moving to Belfast. It was our first season over there and I'd never been before, so it was great to realise we could move from Birmingham and stay true to the look of the show. I also remember a night shoot for the ambush sequence at the beginning. That was the first meaty stuff that Keeley had done and her character was enthralling. As the sun came up at 4am, I had a strong sense that the show was in a good place. Was it the success of Denton that inspired you to bring her back the following season? Totally. I thought Keeley was a real revelation. She always knew she could do that kind of stuff, it's just that people weren't asking her to. When we did, she absolutely nailed it. She's a very smart, confident actor and Denton propelled her to the next stage of her career. The plan for season 3 had always been to create a brand new character but because of the response to season 2, we had a rethink. That's why Danny Mays' character [Sgt Danny Waldron] isn't around for long. He gave way to allow Keeley and Craig's characters to take centre stage. For many fans it's their favourite season... It was actually quite an odd season for us, in that the main antagonist vanished and the story then grew out of existing characters, Denton and Cottan. But it was also the season where we really hit our stride and expanded the landscape into talking about institutional corruption, not just in the police but the politics system too. We obviously dealt with some very serious issues that had real world correlates – notably child sexual exploitation. Was there nervousness at the BBC about that? Oh God, yeah. The "Urgent exit required" scene in the finale seemed to crank up everything action-wise… Again, that was an experiment. A shootout within AC-12 was very controversial. There was a lot of debate about whether we were breaking out of the realistic setting and doing something too heightened. The chase and shootout got bigger and bigger but [director] John Strickland and I were both committed to it. Vicky loved the idea of doing it, too. Nobody stopped us, so we did it. It was an interesting moment in the show's history. We learned a lot from the reaction – maybe we lost some viewers, but we gained more. What was your most memorable moment from season 3? The scenes in AC-12, seeing the gang together. Martin, Vicky, Adrian and Craig, who was a huge part of season 3, relished working together. That was the point when everything fell into place and we all wanted to stick with the show. We knew we were coming back to Belfast for season 4 and it felt great. Season 4 was when the show moved from BBC Two to BBC One… The viewing figures for season 3 had been enormous. Also, the BBC had restructured so there weren't separate station controllers. Charlotte Moore was in charge of content for both BBC One and Two, so it meant one controller wasn't stealing a show from another. BBC One was where we'd originally pitched it and been turned down! But we agreed to move because we felt it would give us more opportunity to keep going. BBC Two wasn't known for long-running returning series. Creatively, it didn't change much. Was Thandiwe Newton [as DCI Roz Huntley] a step up in terms of casting? Yes. I never write with actors in mind but we needed a character who was very distinct from Lindsay Denton and an actor who brought different things. When we started kicking around ideas with our casting director Kate Rhodes-James, Thandiwe's name came up and we thought, 'Wow, seriously?' She had a window, she wanted to work in the UK, she responded to the character and wanted to give it a go. It was huge for the show's profile. She was so good and it was a dream ticket for us. Huntley's hand had to be amputated due to an MRSA infection. As an ex-doctor, was that your medical background coming out? I guess so. I liked the idea of this stigma relating to what had happened. And obviously I know that wounds, particularly if inflicted in a fight, can get infected, so I took advice from a mate from my medical days who's now a microbiology consultant and decided on that particular storyline. When she comes around in hospital and realises she's missing her hand, it's a helluva scene… That was our Ronald Reagan moment! [In 1942 film Kings Row, Reagan's character wakes up to discover his legs have been amputated.] What was your most memorable moment from season 4? Again, the opening sequence. We wanted to introduce Huntley in a dynamic way and tell a lot of story quite densely within that scene. The serial killer manhunt on the estate all came together well. And season 5 got even bigger ratings-wise? Yeah. That was one time where, from the first reading of the script, the team started saying, 'Well, it's Stephen Graham, isn't it?' The cast had all worked with him and thought he was a good fit [as DS John Corbett], so we just asked him. We had a 20-minute phonecall – I was on a golf tour in Italy, Stephen was getting his kids ready to take them swimming – but he was dead keen, so it worked smoothly. You also brought back Ryan Pilkington, who'd been a delinquent schoolboy in season 1 and had grown up into a gangster... It goes back to what I was saying about putting things in place that you might use at some point down the line. That relationship in season 1 between young Ryan and PC Simon Bannerjee (Neet Mohan) – Ryan developing a rapport with an officer who cares about social issues and might save him from a life of crime – could have gone any number of ways. In season 5, we went inside the OCG for the first time. As it happened, Gregory [Piper] would be of age by then, so we got Kate Rhodes-James to find out if he was still acting and he was. It was a way of seeing the legacy of the show on-screen, someone who'd grown up in the time that the show had been on-air, which was very fulfilling. There was the start of the "H" storyline too… That exploited the whole Balaclava Man mania of season 4. We'd never done a mystery before because the audience always knew who the Caddy was. It was just a case of whether he'd ever be caught. When we built up Balaclava Man across season 4 and this riddle of who he might be, it appealed to the mass audience. That became a prelude to the "H" mystery of season 5. At the end of season 4, we shot a scene specifically to hint there might be something amiss with Hastings. I remember looking at the edit and feeling like there was something missing, so we went back to the AC-12 set and had Adrian peer out of his office at Steve and Kate, like he wasn't sure what they were up to. That was enough to carry into season 5 and build on the "H" mystery. What was your most memorable moment from season 5? Feeling like a really talked-about show. Out and about in Belfast, the cast were getting big reactions from people. Everyone was asking if Hasting was bent and who "H" was. A lot of the banter on-set was just about calling Adrian a bent b*****d. Thank goodness Hastings turned out not to be H... I know. Adrian was desperate that he wouldn't be revealed as corrupt. Nobody wanted that. But I quite liked the fact that nobody wanted it, which is why it was something to bash Adrian with every now and again. And in season 6, all the narrative threads came together. What did you make of the mixed reaction to the Buckells-as-H reveal? We knew it was going to be controversial but you can't please everybody. The primary engine of the H story was mystery, so it had to be a well-crafted surprise. That's what we directed our efforts towards and we succeeded because the reaction was real shock. Also, I guess some people had strident reactions against what it said about the nature of corruption. But we didn't think that somehow a cop show would make the whole nation think, 'Oh OK, so that's what's really going on, maybe we should overthrow the government.' Did you enjoy telling Nigel Boyle that he was the Fourth Man, aka "H"? Oh yeah. He was really excited and keen not to give anything away. Buckells had been there to exploit for years. When we got to the business end of the "H" story, we decided to push the button on that. We decided pretty early that it wasn't going to be Hastings, because that doesn't make any sense, but then there were lots of other candidates who potentially it could have been. We weighed up what we wanted to say dramatically. By going for this crossover between incompetence and corruption, rather than a criminal mastermind, it was a down ending. But it couldn't be a predictable solution. What's your abiding memory from season 6? How odd it was due to Covid. We all had to stay in our apartments and avoid interactions outside work. Everyone was wearing masks and testing. It was just a very strange experience. We were one of the first shows to go back into production but rigorously followed the protocols and managed to complete the shoot without any Covid outbreak or shutdowns. What does the future hold for Line of Duty? Well, it's something that we talk about. Maybe one day we'll say it out loud! Can you tell us any ideas that didn't end up on-screen? There are hundreds! A prominent one is Danny Mays' character in season 3. He was originally alive longer but we were also bringing back Lindsay Denton and it was starting to pull the show apart. The audience wouldn't know whether it was Lindsay's show as the antagonist or Danny's, so I rewrote the first episode and had him killed to make space for Denton. Also, at the end of season 3, I seriously considered keeping the Caddy hidden from the rest of the team. Cottan came up with lots of plausible denial, framed Steve and continued within AC-12. But I knew people were desperate for justice. Who was your most random candidate to be H? I never did that. The rules were it had to be someone who'd been in the show from the start. You can't just have a walk-on. That's why we did the Jimmy Nesbitt thing [as DI Marcus Thurwell], to kid the audience it might be someone who randomly appeared. But obviously we wouldn't have gone with that. How did the script's use of acronyms develop? They were kind of always there. Right from the first series, we had AC-12 and Gates' unit TO-20. It's part of the texture of our fictional world. As we went on, we started doing more procedural stuff and our police advisors were telling us how real officers would speak, rather than how they talk in cop shows. So we thought, let's do it their way and embrace it. It's like the first show I ever did, Cardiac Arrest, was the first British medical drama where the characters truly talked like doctors. Do you take pleasure in torturing your cast with those long interview scenes? That's grown as the show developed. Lennie led that in season 1. Gates' first interview scene was about 10 minutes and Lennie was very clear that he wanted to do it in single takes, rather than break it up, And he was right. It absolutely worked. When we came back in season 2, we went a bit longer with a couple of Lindsey Denton interviews, then a big one with DCC Mike Dryden (Mark Bonnar). A different cast might have struggled. It's testament to how fortunate we are to have these brilliant performers. The beeps from the recorder are definitely getting longer too… We just guess at the beeps! I honestly don't know how long the beep is meant to be. We just do it in the edit to whatever feels right, for the rhythm of the cutting, so it probably varies from episode to episode. That's one thing we definitely do wrong. The other thing is disclosure. For dramatic licence, we have people being told stuff in interviews that should really have been disclosed to their legal representative beforehand. We'll let you off. Has this been an enjoyable trip down memory lane? Of course. It's a career highlight working on Line of Duty and always fun to reminisce. We're incredibly grateful for viewers who watch the show, who talk about it and who've put us where we are. I'm very proud of the show. The core creative team has stayed together right from the early days in Birmingham and we've become great friends. It's a lot of time spent together and a lot of good times. And a lot of curry… One of the most pleasing things about the team is our love of curry. We're hugely compatible in terms of our culinary tastes. But it gets silly - we'll have a curry several times per week. Any excuse to go for a curry rather than beans on toast in our apartments. Martin Compston has said his waistcoats get snugger as the series go on... Yeah, that does happen. Read more on Line of Duty: Line of Duty's Vicky McClure says "we're all game" for season 7 return Martin Compston teases possible Line of Duty return: “We’ll figure it out” Line of Duty star wants big return for Buckells in twisty season 7 idea Line of Duty star: 'There are ideas for more, but nothing concrete' All six seasons of Line of Duty are available on BBC iPlayer. Check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Drama hub for the latest news. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
Bruno Tonioli's best Strictly Come Dancing moments as judge exits
After 18 years on the BBC's Strictly, Bruno Tonioli has put down his paddle. Here, we take a look back at his best moments.
We don’t talk about Bruno, no, no, no! Or at least, the official announcement of the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judging line-up doesn’t. The BBC has confirmed that this autumn’s ballroom contest will retain the same quartet of judges as last year. Returning to the paddle-raising panel once again are Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and head judge Shirley Ballas. This means not only that ex-pro Anton’s well-received stand-in stint has now been made permanent, but also that Bruno Tonioli won’t be coming back after all. After 18 years, he's bowed out of the (UK) ballroom for good. Bruno’s presence for the past two seasons had been minimal due to the pandemic. He combines his Strictly duties, of course, with the same role on US version Dancing with the Stars. However, COVID travel restrictions meant he was unable to commute between the two shows like usual. In 2020, he appeared only via video link. In 2021, Anton kept his seat warm, supposedly on a temporary basis. It’s understandable why everyone has come to the decision. As Bruno himself explained on The One Show, the travel situation made his return impossible to guarantee. Plus, the 2021 contest, memorably won by Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice, was a huge BAFTA-winning hit. Going into the milestone 20th series, why change a winning formula? However, the 66-year-old Italian stallion is a Strictly stalwart. He was part of the original cast from 2004 and his flamboyant exuberance will be much missed. The rapturous reception Bruno got from arena crowds when he returned for the latest live tour was testament to his beloved status. Let’s hope he gets some sort of send-off when the Glitterball starts spinning in September. For now, though, let’s say arrivederci by rewinding Bruno’s best bits. Bruno Falling off his chair (season 16, 2018) Bruno became known for laughing so hard and gesticulating so wildly that he’d slip off his judging chair. He took a full tumble in Movie Week after Dr Ranj Singh’s Aladdin quickstep. “Are you alright, my darling?” asked Tess Daly as he was sprawled out on the studio floor, before quipping: “Do you need a doctor?” View oEmbed on the source website Getting kissed by Gavin Henson (season 8, 2010) Bruno had a crush on rugby ace Gavin Henson, who played on it by pausing his quickstep to lean across the desk and plant a smacker on the judge's lips. It did the trick. Henson duly registered his highest score of the season. The smooch promoted 80 complaints from viewers who deemed it inappropriate. Bruno deemed it just fine and was left fanning himself. View oEmbed on the source website Swearing without realising (season 13, 2015) After eventual winner Jay McGuiness danced the paso doble, Bruno came over all potty-mouthed. “Oh yes, those are the bull’s b******s,” he blurted out. His fellow judges looked aghast. When Tess Daly apologised for his language, Bruno looked baffled. He did it again three years later by accidentally congratulating Stacey Dooley for her “medley of greatest t*ts”. You can watch the full clip, here. Opening the show with a song (season 17, 2019) Talk about all-singing and all-dancing. The Strictly pros donned bright pink for a camp group number to Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Who should emerge from behind showgirl-style ostrich feathers to croon the cheesy listening classic? No less than Bruno, wearing a white tuxedo. Twitter went into meltdown. Tess Daly called him a “man of many talents”. Co-host Claudia Winkleman added: "That was just the right amount of understated we need after Blackpool.” It really was just too good to be true. View oEmbed on the source website Bruno's comments about Ann Widdecombe (season 8, 2010) Bruno always had a memorable turn of phrase and deployed it to full effect during his acerbic verdicts on the clod-hopping former Conservative MP. After her American Smooth, he called Widdy “a Dalek in drag”. He likened her cumbersome waltz to “the Ark Royal on stormy seas” and her pink-frocked foxtrot to “a family-size Pepto-Bismol bottle”. When she attempted a Blackpool samba in a yellow feathered gown, he compared her to “a lame canary who never takes flight”. Cheep. You can watch the clips, as well as some more of Bruno's equally interesting moments, here. “Scott!” (season 8, 2010) Bruno was rather partial to EastEnders actor Scott Maslen and could reduce him to blushing giggles just by saying his name. “Scott!” he would purr, over-enunciating flirtatiously. It grew more exaggerated as the series went on, ending up as “Ssssscotttt-ah!” View oEmbed on the source website Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year. Want something else to watch? Check out our full TV Guide or visit our Entertainment hub for the latest news. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
Why that Derry Girls kiss had to happen – and what next?
Alexa, play Kiss Me. **SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 4**
It's the kiss that was heard all around Donegal and beyond. As two of Derry Girls' lead characters locked lips after 16 episodes of secretly crushing on one another, viewers couldn't contain their delight as they whooped and hollered following the romantic display. When James (Dylan Llewellyn) had a "near-death experience", courtesy of Sister George Michael's runaway van, he decided to seize the day – YOLO, and all that. The morning after their spooky sleepover, he put on his big boy pants and admitted his feelings to Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson): "I think I've liked you for a long time... I think you're beautiful." Aww. And then came that internet-breaking snog. The Radio Times Podcast Derry Girls special - listen now! Fans have been calling for the pair to get together since season 2 when James gallantly missed his Doctor Who convention to accompany Erin to the school prom. She'd been stood up by dastardly John-Paul O'Reilly, so "the wee English fella" stepped in at the last minute, like Derry's own version of Ross Geller from Friends. Clare (Nicola Coughlan), the most perceptive member of the gang, picked up on their spark, as did many viewers, with the couple duly nicknamed "Jerin" online. View oEmbed on the source website Writer Lisa McGee has mentioned in interviews that she'd always privately planned for Erin and James to become an item, but she was also wary of disrupting the group dynamic. Llewellyn also expressed hopes that they'd become a couple, but insisted he'd be happy with whatever McGee had planned. Last year, he teased fans on TikTok by gazing at Erin on his TV screen while Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams played in the background. "I want it to happen so badly," said Coughlan ahead of the third and final season, with Jackson confirming: "There's definitely a spark there." Given all of that, a snog had to happen eventually. But even if McGee and the cast hadn't banged the drum for "Jerin", five hormone-addled teenagers don't spend all of their time together without the odd flash of intrigue, and this was always the couple most likely to. After all, wild child Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell) is James' cousin, swotty Clare's "a wee lesbian" and space cadet Orla (Louisa Harland) has her heart set on... well, who knows? Tayto crisps and KitKats, probably. That just leaves Erin and James as the show's star-crossed lovers. Derry Girls stars on future spin-offs: "The possibilities are endless" Their tentative romance is a natural, believable development. Over two-and-a-half seasons, the "wee English fella" has gradually overcome his gawky shyness by fully inhabiting his honorary "Derry girl" status. His commitment to film-making and his role as the gang's designated driver also prove just how much his confidence has soared – and not even Michelle's near-constant berating can crush James' spirit. On the flip side, his fondness for Erin is partly why he puts up with the relentless ribbing from his cousin and the rest of the gang. The timing of James' actions also tracks. We're all familiar with that do-or-die feeling as we approach the end of one chapter and look ahead to the next. As James nears the end of his time at school, bidding adieu to his current life, it is, in many ways, a case of now or never – and he chooses to embrace the now. As for Erin, she's outgrown some of the immature self-absorption she displayed when Derry Girls kicked off back in January 2018. The aspiring author's literary pretensions, while still present, have receded somewhat into the background as she endeavours to simply enjoy her final days of school – and achieve better GCSE grades than her cousin Orla (you win some, you lose some). Plus, after having her heart broken by David Donnelly (well, he was in a band) and John-Paul (who feigned interest in Erin just to make his model girlfriend jealous), she's realised that bad boys aren't all they're cracked up to be. Maybe the sweet, kind, loyal guy right under her nose is a better bet? Besides, she thinks James looks a bit like Spike from Press Gang, which definitely helps his cause. As swooning Nineties hit Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer struck up on the soundtrack, echoing high school movie She's All That, the pair finally gave into their feelings – until they were rudely interrupted by Michelle arriving downstairs in her Derry City FC top and outsized slippers, demanding: "What the actual f**k?” She furiously accused them of committing incest, which it clearly isn’t, but it will be fascinating to see how this plot twist affects the equilibrium of our famous five, and how other onlookers will react. Have "Jerin" really "lost the absolute run of themselves"? Erin has always been concerned about the opinions of others – her hesitation following Michelle's outrage once again confirms that old habits die hard – but the newly determined James vowed to wait for her. As Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby kicked in, Erin gave a small smile of delight. As the girls would say, absolutely cracker. Their romantic awakening is representative of the show's overall journey – rather like Mary's new-found passion for studying literature. Derry Girls combines the personal and political, combining Northern Ireland's progress towards peace, freedom and a brighter future with the emotions and rich interior lives of its people. As we rattle along the home stretch, fear is being replaced by hope. There's vibrant optimism beyond the barricades. Life and love go on. With just two episodes (plus the surprise bonus special) to go, surely it's all building towards a big climax – likely to be at Halloween, the Good Friday Agreement celebrations or Our Lady Immaculate College leavers' disco. What could be more romantic than Erin and James going public in front of the whole school, doubtless after a few false starts, in textbook romcom fashion? Even Michelle might grudgingly approve, especially if she pulls a "massive ride" of her own. Derry Girls creator on whether there could be a movie in the future Such a crescendo would also see Derry Girls align itself with the raft of beloved sitcoms that have come before in the loved-up lineage of Ross 'n' Rachel, Tim 'n' Dawn, Miranda ’n' Gary, John ’n’ Kayleigh, Daphne 'n' Niles, Smithy ’n’ Nessa and the rest of the small screen's great will-they-won't-they couples. Well, either that or it'll never be mentioned again. Happy now, Michelle? Derry Girls continues on Channel 4 and All 4 on Tuesday 10th May. Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what else is on tonight. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
Finn Shelby explained - what happened in the Peaky Blinders finale?
Farewell, then, Finn Shelby. Try not to let the Garrison Tavern door hit your backside on the way out. Amid all the blood-letting, caravan-burning and brain tumour twists, the Peaky Blinders finale stealthily delivered a low blow - the surprise ostracising of Harry Kirton's Finn. So, why was the youngest Shelby brother on the naughty step? And what now for the fresh-faced flat cap-wearer? Here’s our handy explainer of Finn’s fate... Why was Finn Shelby in Tommy's bad books? Loose lips sink Shelby ships. Remember season 5’s shock finale, when the gang’s assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley was fatally foiled? Well, the “black cat” traitor might have been Irish bookmaker Billy Grade (Emmett J Scanlan), who tipped off the IRA, but it was foolish Finn who’d blabbed the plan to big-mouthed Billy in the first place. The pair had fallen into sloppy habits at the betting shop, taking cocaine and drinking on the job. Their boozy bromance grew too close for comfort. Unforgivably, Finn had seemingly forgotten that some matters were strictly family business. Earlier in the series, hapless Finn had again proved a liability. A Chinese assassin disguised herself as a sex worker to honey-trap Finn and hold him at gunpoint with his pants down, enabling triad leader Brilliant Chang (Andrew Koji) to demand a meeting with Tommy about his pure refined opium. Now Finn’s disliked new bride was wearing the tweed trousers in their marriage, ordering him not to partake of alcohol until after 6pm #whiskeyoclock. Tommy disapproved and further excluded his hen-pecked sibling by talking in Romani, a language Finn could barely understand - whereas Erasmus “Duke” Shelby (Conrad Khan) was fully fluent. In the battle of the young bucks, the new arrival was firmly in the ascendant. And he was about to do Tommy’s brutal bidding. What was Finn Shelby's punishment? Banishment from the Shelby organisation and family fold. While Duke proved himself these past few weeks, Finn demonstrated that he was inept, unreliable and not to be trusted. Still thick as thieves with treacherous Billy - who by now was acting as inside informant to Boston-Irish mob boss Jack Nelson (James Frecheville) - the pair tipped up drunk (again) to Arrow House, ostensibly to recover vital documents and dig up bodies. Typically, Finn and Billy treated it as a party, a chance to drink the wine cellar dry and invite girls, rather than a piece of business. Taken into Tommy and Arthur’s confidence, Duke and Isiah Jesus (Daryl McCormack) beat up Billy. They ordered Finn to shoot him. If he didn’t, he could “walk away from this family for good”. Shaken Finn showed his true colours, not just by furiously insulting Duke’s mother but by turning the gun on Isiah and Duke. Rather than firing, though, it just dry-clicked. As advised by canny Charlie Strong (Ned Dennehy), Duke had emptied the first two chambers - enabling them to witness Finn’s betrayal while remaining unscathed. His fate was sealed. Duke executed Billy, then told Finn he was excommunicated - by order of you-know-you. “I will come for you,” spat Finn as he departed in disgrace. Ickle Finn was always the odd one out. He hadn’t fought alongside his elder siblings in the First World War trenches, with Arthur, Tommy and John forging the tight bond of brothers-in-arms. Their baby bro was seen as weak and wet behind the ears. Finn lacked the ruthlessness of a true Shelby. Or does he? He might now get a chance to prove otherwise. Why was Finn Shelby so underused in Peaky Blinders season 6? For the first few episodes of this swansong series, the mystery of mute Finn became a mild obsession amongst the Peaky fandom. He’d been briefly glimpsed among the mourners at Polly and Ruby’s funerals but otherwise was a fringe figure. When stand-in boss Ada (Sophie Rundle) needed someone to accompany drug-addled Arthur to Liverpool Docks, it was notable that she chose Finn’s contemporary Isiah, without even seeming to consider her little brother. Had actor Harry Kirton fallen out of favour? Had he somehow lost his voice, perhaps due to COVID? Had Finn turned to mime, like a sort of Midlands Marcel Marceau? Was he simply being left on the cutting room floor to make room for more shots of Cillian Murphy’s icy blue eyes and sculptural cheekbones? Finn finally got some scenes in last week’s penultimate episode. First, Tommy announced at a family summit that Finn had married his sweetheart - and London railway station soundalike - Mary Bone (Abbie Hern). Somewhat cruelly, this was met with widespread indifference. Tommy duly brought out and introduced long-lost son Duke, which caused much more of a stir - putting Finn’s nose further out of joint. Later in the episode, it was Finn who brought the problem of the bribe-resistant football referee to Arthur. Once again, someone else had to take responsibility. Finn had become a bystander, rather than a problem-solver. After what we learned in the finale, we can retrofit this string of snubs as deliberately sidelining someone who Tommy and his loyal lieutenants had decided wasn’t steadfast enough. With regret, Finn, you’re fired. Thank you for the opportunity, Lord Shelby. What's next for Finn Shelby? His feud with Duke looks like being picked up in the forthcoming feature film. Don’t be surprised if the narrative leapfrogs forward a few years to the Second World War, with Finn and Duke both in their 20s - the prime demographic for joining the army or, indeed, staying home in Blighty and making a mint on the black market. A time-jump might also bring Tommy’s son Charles (Billy Jenkins) into the equation as the next-gen Peaky Blinders scrap for supremacy. Finn didn’t get much action in this series but his story looks far from over. Finn - but not fin? Read More: Peaky Blinders season 6 ending explained – what happened to Tommy Shelby? Read More: Duke Shelby star Conrad Khan on Peaky Blinders movie Read More: Peaky Blinders boss reveals "most memorable" moment of show Read More: Peaky Blinders movie release date speculation, cast, latest news Read More: Why won't there be a Peaky Blinders season 7? Peaky Blinders seasons 1 to 6 are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer. Catch seasons 1 to 5 on Netflix. Read our guide to the best series on Netflix, check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV guide. The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
How The White Lotus invents the "Aloha Christie" genre
The HBO and Sky drama combines the sun-soaked escapism of Love Island with the wicked thrills of Killing Eve, the superannuated soapiness of Big Little Lies and the glossy murder-mystery of The Undoing, writes Michael Hogan.
“Aloha and welcome to The White Lotus Resort & Spa. Enjoy your stay and try not to get murdered.” OK, we added the last bit but that’s basically the premise of your next must-see US boxset. Landing on HBO on Sunday - and coming to Sky Atlantic later this summer - The White Lotus is a TV drama like no other. A tragicomic whodunit set at a swanky Hawaiian resort, you might say it invents a whole new storytelling style called “Aloha Christie”. See what we did there? Painful pun aside, though, this is a show well worth your attention. The Agatha Christie comparison is apposite. The queen of crime enjoyed nothing more than trapping a group of disparate characters in a confined location, then watching sparks fly and corpses pile up. Rather than Christie’s favoured locations - boats, trains, sleepy villages, country houses - this murder-mystery unfolds at a five-star holiday destination. Created, written and directed by Mike White (of Enlightened and School Of Rock pedigree), the six-part series follows a fresh intake of White Lotus guests across a week as they attempt to relax and rejuvenate in the idyllic, highly Instagram-able resort. With each passing day, though, dark secrets bubble to the shiny surface. The dress code might be “beachy-casual” but the daiquiris have a sour aftertaste and the lobster dinners have vicious claws. Taglined ‘Paradise is no vacation”, The White Lotus was filmed on the island of Maui and it’s a holiday for the eyes. Palm trees sway, waves lap up on the picture-perfect beach and cloud-shrouded volcanos loom over the bay. Its setting resembles Disney musical Moana with added scuba lessons and spa treatments. Right from the opening scene, we know that a resident has been killed. We just don’t know who, why or the gory details. We then flash back seven days to witness how events turned quite so murderous. Just like a Christie mystery, there’s a limited list of suspects. The culprit had to be a tourist or member of hotel staff. So who's the deadly serpent in this elite Eden? The ensemble cast is full of familiar faces who you’ll recognise from other prestige US productions. The seemingly cheerful White Lotus employees are led by fastidious resort manager Armond (Murray Bartlett from Looking and Tales Of The City), who becomes more Basil Fawlty-ish as the story unfolds. He’s joined behind the marble reception desk by spa manager Belinda (Insecure’s Natasha Rothwell), who gets taken on an emotional rollercoaster by a needy client. As for the VIP guests, well, they’re a deeply dysfunctional bunch. First come the Mossbacher family, led by alpha-exec Nicole (Nashville’s Connie Britton), a tech mogul who can’t help treating her family like troublesome employees. She’s supposed to be de-stressing but can’t stop rearranging the furniture in their vast hotel suite to enhance its feng shui and perfect the Zoom background for her corporate video calls. Her gaffe-prone, emasculated husband Mark (Treme’s Steve Zahn) is struggling with a health crisis, a parentage revelation and a terminal inferiority complex. Their teenage son Quinn (The Woman In The window's Fred Hechinger) is a socially awkward gamer who’s glued to his gadgets but about to undergo an epiphany. A comic Greek chorus is provided by their daughter Olivia (Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney) and her best friend Paula (Little Voice's Brittany O’Grady) - a pair of terrifying acid-tongued college sophomores who sit in sardonic judgement of everyone else. This hilarious pair often seem to have wandered in from Mean Girls or Broad City but their relationship develops in unexpected directions. On their fairytale honeymoon are entitled, Ralph Lauren-clad douchebag Shane Patton (The US Office's Jake Lacy) and his much more relatable new bride Rachel (Alexandra Daddario from the Percy Jackson films). Suddenly faced with each other’s flaws - not to mention the surprise arrival of smarmy Shane’s overbearing mother (Molly Shannon of Val-the-neighbour from Will & Grace fame) - love’s young dream soon turns nightmarish. Last but by no means least, there’s the wealthy but unstable Tanya McQuoid (comedic grande-dame Jennifer Coolidge), a solo traveller recovering from the recent death of her mother and in desperate need of a deep tissue massage. All glamorous frocks and trembling lips, it’s a matter of time (and a few large glasses of Chardonnay) before she “unleashes the crazy”. Coolidge and Bartlett are the standout performers here. The series opens with an episode called “Arrivals”, while the finale is entitled “Departures”. In between, it’s full of surprises. Romantic boat-trips backfire. Candlelit dinners dissolve into bitter rows and kamikaze tequila benders. Unlikely hook-ups happen. A jewel thief pulls off a heist. Characters emerge as heroes who you’d never expect. There’s a sudden birth to counterbalance a sort-of-funeral, not to mention that dead body in a sunken bathtub. Nearly every character seems to be at a career crossroads or in the midst of a personal crisis. There are three knowingly outrageous nude scenes - in episodes one, four and six, in case you want to diarise them - which will make you squeal aloud at the screen. Beneath the grass skirts, floral garlands and whip-smart gags, it’s refreshingly intelligent too. Characters suddenly quote Tennyson or refer to Greek myths. Beside the infinity plunge pools, sunbathers read Nietzsche and Malcolm Gladwell. There’s a running theme of white privilege, wealth inequality and colonialism. The culture wars intrude via “cucking” and “cancelling”. A Black Lives Matter mix-up causes much mirth. The White Lotus has heart as well as brains. Two holiday romances are surprisingly sweet. Sequences of sea turtles swimming and whales breaching are downright magical. Several characters’ arcs are poignant, poetic and ultimately uplifting. The result is an addictive, genre-busting blend of cringe comedy, whodunit drama and “wellness” satire. Goop supremo Gwyneth Paltrow might find herself “triggered” by the tongue-in-cheek therapy-speak and cod-spiritual psycho-wibble. This is a world of reiki healing, oxygen facials, craniosacral therapy and all-round holistic hogwash. The White Lotus combines the sun-soaked escapism of Love Island with the wicked thrills of Killing Eve, the superannuated soapiness of Big Little Lies and the glossy murder-mystery of The Undoing. This deeply idiosyncratic, scathingly sardonic series is arguably one of the TV dramas of year so far. It's certainly one of the most singular in tone. Check in and enjoy your stay - but do watch out for killers carrying kitchen knives. Namaste. The White Lotus airs in the USA on Sunday 11th July at 9pm ET/PT on HBO, and is set to this summer on Sky in the UK. Take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage, or find out what else is on with our TV guide.