Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-03-14T11:24:54.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Breaking the jinx
items: Boarders creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor talks ending his beloved comedy show: "I want to keep making work about the Black experience"
items: 10 Questions with Amanda Seyfried
items: Amanda Seyfried talks Mamma Mia 3, her religious new role, and why she doesn't envy "spotlight" on Sydney Sweeney
items: Nice to eat you!
items: Phil Wang transforms into the legendary horror icon Nosferatu - and reveals his top horror picks
items: Alfie Allen goes nuclear
items: Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen recalls "isolating" and "tough times" working on series as he reunites with showrunners for new role
items: Ten Questions with Sam Claflin
items: Hunger Games favourite Sam Claflin reveals why he is still happy being the “love interest” in female-led films
items: Ten Questions with Will Sharpe
items: Will Sharpe on Too Much, playing Mozart and tuning out the critics
items: Ten Questions with Trevor Eve
items: Trevor Eve: "I upset some people but I was only difficult because I cared"
items: Ten Questions with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm
items: Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm: 'Without streaming, actors like us would just play the mayor in Batman'
items: Ten Questions with Eve Hewson
items: Eve Hewson on The Perfect Couple, Bad Sisters and why she almost quit acting
items: Ten Questions with Iwan Rheon
items: Jamie Dornan: 'The next James Bond could be someone never mentioned'
items: Stitches in time: Doctor Who’s outfits ranked and rated
items: Why Doctor Who should embrace nostalgia for its 60th anniversary
items: Where is Worzel Gummidge filmed?
items: Meet the cast of Worzel Gummidge
items: What can Doctor Who fans expect from Russell T Davies' return?
items: The real reason Doctor Who makes fans want to hide behind the sofa
items: The Mane of the Doctor: What Doctor Who haircuts can tell us about the show
items: Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes review: Boldly original, beautifully evocative
items: Meet the cast of Maigret's Night at the Crossroads
items: Doctor Who? What IS the Doctor's real name?

Breaking the jinx
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: As his culture-clash school comedy Boarders returns for a final term, Daniel Lawrence Taylor reveals why humour is more effective than anger
encoded: Add Boarders to your watchlist There was an awkward moment during Sir Lenny Henry’s address to the Royal Television Society in 2019 when, having lavished praise on Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s Bafta-nominated comedy Timewasters, he asked the ITV execs in the audience if the show would be returning for a third series. Met with embarrassed clearing of throats, Henry went on to speak of the “two-season jinx” that seemed to bedevil projects with Black leads and writers. But here’s the good news: seven years on, Taylor’s follow-up show, Boarders, has made it to series three on the BBC. The curse, it seems, has lifted. “Yeah, that feels so good,” grins the writer and performer, at home in south London. “You wouldn’t believe the number of Black creators who’ve mentioned that to me. Just the other day I was speaking to Adjani Salmon [writer-star of BBC Three’s Dreaming Whilst Black] and he said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done it!’” Launched on BBC Three in 2024, Boarders is a culture-clash comedy-drama about five underprivileged Black sixth-formers on a scholarship to a very posh, very white, private boarding school. It’s a show with a big heart – and a message that’s no less powerful for being delivered with a lightness of touch. “First and foremost, it’s a piece of entertainment,” explains Taylor, who also takes a role in the series as the students’ mentor. “When I sold the show, the first thing I spoke about was friendships and relationships… That’s front and centre. It’s just that the backdrop is a bit different for these particular kids than it is in Harry Potter. “I knew I could say something with this piece, about how a part of society experiences the world. But I also wanted to show the joy in things. Growing up where I did, I faced some difficult times, but I always tried to push through it with a smile on my face. I believe humour can be a more effective weapon than anger. That’s how I’ve always seen the world.” The show was inspired by a newspaper article about five Bl…

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Boarders creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor talks ending his beloved comedy show: "I want to keep making work about the Black experience"
type: item
date: 2026-03-09T17:00:56.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As his culture-clash school comedy Boarders returns for a final term, Daniel Lawrence Taylor reveals why humour is more effective than anger.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. There was an awkward moment during Sir Lenny Henry’s address to the Royal Television Society in 2019 when, having lavished praise on Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s BAFTA-nominated comedy Timewasters, he asked the ITV execs in the audience if the show would be returning for a third series. Met with embarrassed clearing of throats, Henry went on to speak of the “two-season jinx” that seemed to bedevil projects with Black leads and writers. But here’s the good news: seven years on, Taylor’s follow-up show, Boarders, has made it to series three on the BBC. The curse, it seems, has lifted. “Yeah, that feels so good,” grins the writer and performer, at home in south London. “You wouldn’t believe the number of Black creators who’ve mentioned that to me. Just the other day I was speaking to Adjani Salmon [writer-star of BBC Three’s Dreaming Whilst Black] and he said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done it!’” Launched on BBC Three in 2024, Boarders is a culture-clash comedy-drama about five underprivileged Black sixth-formers on a scholarship to a very posh, very white, private boarding school. It’s a show with a big heart – and a message that’s no less powerful for being delivered with a lightness of touch. View oEmbed on the source website “First and foremost, it’s a piece of entertainment,” explains Taylor, who also takes a role in the series as the students’ mentor. “When I sold the show, the first thing I spoke about was friendships and relationships… That’s front and centre. It’s just that the backdrop is a bit different for these particular kids than it is in Harry Potter. “I knew I could say something with this piece, about how a part of society experiences the world. But I also wanted to show the joy in things. Growing up where I did, I faced some difficult times, but I always tried to push through it with a smile on my face. I believe humour can be a more effective weapon than anger. That’s how I’ve always seen the world.” Th…

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10 Questions with Amanda Seyfried
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The Hollywood actor on speaking in tongues, her biggest fear, Wicked auditions and more Mamma Mia!
encoded: Add The Testament of Ann Lee to your watchlist Since making her big-screen debut in 2004’s Mean Girls, Pennsylvania-born Amanda Seyfried has starred in films as diverse as Mamma Mia!, Lovelace and David Fincher’s Mank, for which she was Oscar-nominated. On TV, she’s appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: the Return, and won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance as disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout. She’s now earning rave reviews for her latest role in The Testament of Ann Lee, Mona Fastvold’s historical musical drama about the 18th-century founder of the Shakers religious sect. Your director Mona Fastvold says she cast you as Ann Lee because “she’s really strong, a wonderful mother and a little bit mad”. Are you happy to take that? Sure. I think she meant it in a good way. “Mad” can mean so many things, but for this, it meant being completely uninhibited. The ego is a barrier for actors, and you have to be able to put that aside. As I’m getting older in my career, people seem to be able to trust me to show up in that way. Like the scene where Ann is speaking in tongues. How many directors are going to let me react like that? To allow me to just improv freely, in the most absurd way? It felt incredible. But you’ve also said making the film was “hard as f***”. How? I hate being wet and cold, and on a film set you can be wet and cold for eight hours a day. It wasn’t suffering, by any means. But it was extreme discomfort. The grief was extensive as well. [Ann lost all four of her children in infancy.] Nobody wants to feel grief. Luckily, I haven’t had to explore that in my personal life, but it’s my biggest fear. So it was imagining what that would feel like. Afterwards, I just had to hold myself. View Green Video on the source website You took your husband [actor Thomas Sadoski], daughter and son to Budapest for the shoot. Did they have fun? It was wonderful. The kids were just so happy. My son had never been out of the country, because he’s a Covid…

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Amanda Seyfried talks Mamma Mia 3, her religious new role, and why she doesn't envy "spotlight" on Sydney Sweeney
type: item
date: 2026-02-23T17:01:53.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Hollywood actor on speaking in tongues, her biggest fear, Wicked auditions and more Mamma Mia!
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Since making her big-screen debut in 2004’s Mean Girls, Pennsylvania-born Amanda Seyfried has starred in films as diverse as Mamma Mia!, Lovelace and David Fincher’s Mank, for which she was Oscar-nominated. On TV, she’s appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: the Return, and won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance as disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout. She’s now earning rave reviews for her latest role in The Testament of Ann Lee, Mona Fastvold’s historical musical drama about the 18th-century founder of the Shakers religious sect. Your director Mona Fastvold says she cast you as Ann Lee because “she’s really strong, a wonderful mother and a little bit mad”. Are you happy to take that? Sure. I think she meant it in a good way. “Mad” can mean so many things, but for this, it meant being completely uninhibited. The ego is a barrier for actors, and you have to be able to put that aside. As I’m getting older in my career, people seem to be able to trust me to show up in that way. Like the scene where Ann is speaking in tongues. How many directors are going to let me react like that? To allow me to just improv freely, in the most absurd way? It felt incredible. View Green Video on the source website But you’ve also said making the film was “hard as f**k”. How? I hate being wet and cold, and on a film set you can be wet and cold for eight hours a day. It wasn’t suffering, by any means. But it was extreme discomfort. The grief was extensive as well. [Ann lost all four of her children in infancy.] Nobody wants to feel grief. Luckily, I haven’t had to explore that in my personal life, but it’s my biggest fear. So it was imagining what that would feel like. Afterwards, I just had to hold myself. You took your husband [actor Thomas Sadoski], daughter and son to Budapest for the shoot. Did they have fun? It was wonderful. The kids were just so happy. My son had never been out of the country, because he’s a…

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Nice to eat you!
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: RT’s vampiric cover star, comedian Phil Wang, explains his new-found love of horror movies, as he gets his fangs into judging Great British Menu
encoded: Add Great British Menu to your watchlist Don’t let anyone tell you that Phil Wang isn’t a trouper. In a studio in south London, the amiable comedian has submitted, uncomplainingly, to two hours in the make-up chair to be transformed into Count Orlok – bloodsucking antagonist of one of his favourite films, Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror – to help draw together the threads of RT’s horror special and his latest gig as a judge on the new, film-themed series of Great British Menu. Having been fitted with a bald cap (“like a big condom,” according to the make-up artist), slathered in grease paint and accessorised with razor-sharp nails and false teeth – Phil Fang, anyone? – the only thing our easy-going vampire draws the line at is shaving off his moustache. “I’ve got five minutes of material about it in my stand-up show,” he explains, apologetically. That’s OK, we assure him – hipster Orlok is actually quite a strong look. “I feel like I’ve unleashed an inner part of me,” says the 36-year-old, as he vamps it up for the camera. “Also, it’s nice to have a preview of what I look like bald. I think I’ve got quite a good-shaped head.” According to his self-effacing tour blurb, Wang is best known “for one series of Taskmaster, one episode of Would I Lie to You? and one minute of Wonka”. In reality, of course, he’s one of Britain’s most in-demand stand-ups, a regular TV fixture on everything from Graham Norton’s sofa to Have I Got News for You, and the star of two hit Netflix specials, Philly Philly Wang Wang and Wang in There, Baby! He also hosted the 2021 podcast series Phil Wang Hates Horror, in which comedy pals including Ed Gamble, Rose Matafeo and Nish Kumar forced him to overcome his lifelong fear of scary movies. Did it work? Judging by his current get-up, yes – even if, as we talk, he’s slightly ruining the effect by sipping peach water instead of drinking blood… What was your main takeaway from the Phil Wang Hates Horror podcast? That horror can be really fun. As hei…

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Phil Wang transforms into the legendary horror icon Nosferatu - and reveals his top horror picks
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:20.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Video
description: RT’s vampiric cover star, comedian Phil Wang, explains his new-found love of horror movies, as he gets his fangs into judging Great British Menu.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Don’t let anyone tell you that Phil Wang isn’t a trouper. In a studio in south London, the amiable comedian has submitted, uncomplainingly, to two hours in the make-up chair to be transformed into Count Orlok – bloodsucking antagonist of one of his favourite films, Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror – to help draw together the threads of RT’s horror special and his latest gig as a judge on the new, film-themed series of Great British Menu. Having been fitted with a bald cap (“like a big condom,” according to the make-up artist), slathered in grease paint and accessorised with razor-sharp nails and false teeth – Phil Fang, anyone? – the only thing our easy-going vampire draws the line at is shaving off his moustache. “I’ve got five minutes of material about it in my stand-up show,” he explains, apologetically. That’s OK, we assure him – hipster Orlok is actually quite a strong look. “I feel like I’ve unleashed an inner part of me,” says the 36-year-old, as he vamps it up for the camera. “Also, it’s nice to have a preview of what I look like bald. I think I’ve got quite a good-shaped head.” According to his self-effacing tour blurb, Wang is best known “for one series of Taskmaster, one episode of Would I Lie to You? and one minute of Wonka”. In reality, of course, he’s one of Britain’s most in-demand stand-ups, a regular TV fixture on everything from Graham Norton’s sofa to Have I Got News for You, and the star of two hit Netflix specials, Philly Philly Wang Wang and Wang in There, Baby! He also hosted the 2021 podcast series Phil Wang Hates Horror, in which comedy pals including Ed Gamble, Rose Matafeo and Nish Kumar forced him to overcome his lifelong fear of scary movies. Did it work? Judging by his current get-up, yes – even if, as we talk, he’s slightly ruining the effect by sipping peach water instead of drinking blood… What was your main takeaway from the Phil Wang Hates Horror podcast? That horror can be really…

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Alfie Allen goes nuclear
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The star of new thriller Atomic has gone from musical punchline to the most successful member of his showbiz family
encoded: Add Atomic to your watchlist It says a lot about Alfie Allen’s career that the only window he can find in his schedule to talk to Radio Times is 8.30 on a Sunday morning. “I just feel knackered all the time,” admits the 38-year-old actor, who flew into London last night from the Spanish shoot of new Paramount+ thriller Baby Doll. Not that he’s complaining. “It’s good to be busy,” he says. “I enjoy the work, and being surrounded by people at the top of their game.” The son of actor and comedian Keith, and the younger brother of pop star Lily, Alfie could have ridden through life as a lesser Allen – but instead, he’s forged a career as an in-demand actor in big-budget, often violent TV shows and films. For example, today he’s overcoming travel exhaustion to talk about his lead role in Sky’s new high-octane thriller Atomic. Inspired by Vanity Fair journalist William Langewiesche’s book The Atomic Bazaar – an exposé of the illicit trade in nuclear weapons technology – it sees Allen’s drug smuggler Max getting caught up in a plot to traffic enriched uranium across North Africa and the Middle East. “Max has made some questionable life choices, which is something we can all relate to at points in our life,” says Allen. “But he’s kind of lovable, and a bit vulnerable.” In the first episode, Max lays out his moral code: “I’m a driver. I don’t kill people.” For Allen, spending hours behind the wheel in the Moroccan desert last summer was one of the perks of the job. “I love driving long distances,” he says. “Plus, as an actor, I like to have other things to think about, rather than just saying the lines.” He also does a lot of running in the show – often while carrying a heavy bag of supposedly hazardous nuclear material – but says the heat wasn’t too punishing. “September is when it gets really hot, and we were out by August. It wasn’t like on [BBC drama] SAS Rogue Heroes, where we were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. The hottest day on that shoot was 53 degrees, which w…

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Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen recalls "isolating" and "tough times" working on series as he reunites with showrunners for new role
type: item
date: 2025-08-18T23:01:22.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: The star of new thriller Atomic has gone from musical punchline to the most successful member of his showbiz family.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It says a lot about Alfie Allen’s career that the only window he can find in his schedule to talk to Radio Times is 8.30 on a Sunday morning. “I just feel knackered all the time,” admits the 38-year-old actor, who flew into London last night from the Spanish shoot of new Paramount+ thriller Baby Doll. Not that he’s complaining. “It’s good to be busy,” he says. “I enjoy the work, and being surrounded by people at the top of their game.” The son of actor and comedian Keith, and the younger brother of pop star Lily, Alfie could have ridden through life as a lesser Allen – but instead, he’s forged a career as an in-demand actor in big-budget, often violent TV shows and films. For example, today he’s overcoming travel exhaustion to talk about his lead role in Sky’s new high-octane thriller Atomic. Inspired by Vanity Fair journalist William Langewiesche’s book The Atomic Bazaar – an exposé of the illicit trade in nuclear weapons technology – it sees Allen’s drug smuggler Max getting caught up in a plot to traffic enriched uranium across North Africa and the Middle East. “Max has made some questionable life choices, which is something we can all relate to at points in our life,” says Allen. “But he’s kind of lovable, and a bit vulnerable.” In the first episode, Max lays out his moral code: “I’m a driver. I don’t kill people.” For Allen, spending hours behind the wheel in the Moroccan desert last summer was one of the perks of the job. “I love driving long distances,” he says. “Plus, as an actor, I like to have other things to think about, rather than just saying the lines.” He also does a lot of running in the show – often while carrying a heavy bag of supposedly hazardous nuclear material – but says the heat wasn’t too punishing. “September is when it gets really hot, and we were out by August. It wasn’t like on [BBC drama] SAS Rogue Heroes, where we were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. The hottest day on that shoot…

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Ten Questions with Sam Claflin
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: He’s comfortable mixing with A-listers but says he’ll always play second fiddle to strong women (and Alan Partridge)
encoded: Add The Count of Monte Cristo to your watchlist Since finding fame in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hunger Games and Snow White and the Huntsman, Sam Claflin has gone on to play television roles as diverse as Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders and Billy Dunne, lead singer of a fictional 1970s rock band in Daisy Jones & the Six. Now the 39-year-old from Norwich stars as wrongly imprisoned Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo, a new eight-part French-Italian adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel about betrayal and revenge. View oEmbed on the source website There are more than 50 screen versions of The Count of Monte Cristo. Why do people keep returning to this story? It has many life lessons, number one being that forgiveness is key. Learn to live in love, rather than hate. Edmond is an anti-hero – he’s a bit like Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders – but he used to be a good man, and that makes it more harrowing that he’s been led to these depths. There’s a feeling that if he carries out this vengeance maybe he’ll be fixed. But of course he won’t be. Would you seek revenge in a situation like his? Fortunately, I’ve never been through what he’s been through. But you just don’t know. Edmond is grieving for his younger self, and people grieve in different ways. But I’m someone who avoids conflict at all costs. I keep away from people who have wronged me. I don’t keep going back for more. What was it like working with Jeremy Irons on the show? I mean, he’s a legend. My introduction to him was as Scar in The Lion King, but I’ve since tuned into his other work. We’d been shooting for four months in the heat when he joined us, and I was exhausted – I was at my wits’ end – but he brought a new energy to it. He was like a fresh burst of light. I was fortunate to work with his son, Max, on The Riot Club [2014], and I’ve just finished a job with his wife, Sinéad Cusack. I’m working my way through the Ironses! You were very young when you found success in blockbusters li…

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Hunger Games favourite Sam Claflin reveals why he is still happy being the “love interest” in female-led films
type: item
date: 2025-07-28T23:01:43.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Sam Claflin's comfortable mixing with A-listers but says he’ll always play second fiddle to strong women (and Alan Partridge).
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Since finding fame in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hunger Games and Snow White and the Huntsman, Sam Claflin has gone on to play television roles as diverse as Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders and Billy Dunne, lead singer of a fictional 1970s rock band in Daisy Jones & the Six. Now the 39-year-old from Norwich stars as wrongly imprisoned Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo, a new eight-part French-Italian adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel about betrayal and revenge. There are more than 50 screen versions of The Count of Monte Cristo. Why do people keep returning to this story? It has many life lessons, number one being that forgiveness is key. Learn to live in love, rather than hate. Edmond is an anti-hero – he’s a bit like Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders – but he used to be a good man, and that makes it more harrowing that he’s been led to these depths. There’s a feeling that if he carries out this vengeance maybe he’ll be fixed. But of course he won’t be. Would you seek revenge in a situation like his? Fortunately, I’ve never been through what he’s been through. But you just don’t know. Edmond is grieving for his younger self, and people grieve in different ways. But I’m someone who avoids conflict at all costs. I keep away from people who have wronged me. I don’t keep going back for more. What was it like working with Jeremy Irons on the show? I mean, he’s a legend. My introduction to him was as Scar in The Lion King, but I’ve since tuned into his other work. We’d been shooting for four months in the heat when he joined us, and I was exhausted – I was at my wits’ end – but he brought a new energy to it. He was like a fresh burst of light. I was fortunate to work with his son, Max, on The Riot Club [2014], and I’ve just finished a job with his wife, Sinéad Cusack. I’m working my way through the Ironses! You were very young when you found success in blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean a…

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Ten Questions with Will Sharpe
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor, writer and director on working with Lena Dunham, living with bipolar disorder — and fighting Richard E Grant
encoded: Too Much is on Netflix from Thursday 10 July. Add it to your watchlist William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe has many strings to his bow. As an actor, he won a Bafta for BBC drama Giri/Haji and was Emmy-nominated for The White Lotus, while his writer/director credits include Channel 4 black comedy Flowers and Sky mini-series Landscapers, as well as feature film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. In Too Much, a new ten-part Netflix comedy from Girls’ Lena Dunham, the 38-year-old plays Felix, the love interest of New Yorker Jessica, played by Hacks’ Megan Stalter. You’re a man in high demand — why did you choose Too Much? It was a combination of being a fan of Meg’s, as well as Lena’s work and these very funny, very tender, very Lena scripts. I felt I could find a way into the character of Felix. He has lots of layers to unpack. Jessica calls Felix “My Mr Darcy… my Rochester”, while Grazia magazine has described you as “the male romcom lead we’ve been waiting for”. How does it feel to be a heart-throb? I mean… I never really thought about Felix in those terms. Lena’s obviously very aware of the tropes of the classic British romcom – but I always felt, first and foremost, that this is a Lena Dunham show. It’s certainly not shy about tackling some of the more complex and difficult aspects of a relationship. As a writer/director yourself, was it tempting to offer suggestions? My job was to play Felix. But Lena is very open and collaborative and interested in everyone. She was very curious about our thoughts and ideas – not just me, but this amazing cast she’d assembled. She wanted to use our imaginations. You have a brilliantly pathetic fight with Richard E Grant in one episode. Was that fun? Yeah, we tried to make it as sloppy and s**t as possible. Was he gentle? No – he’s really strong! The White Lotus is a savage satire of the idle rich — but some of its stars have admitted to enjoying staying in the swanky hotels. Can you relate to that? It’s not a holiday – you’re working …

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Will Sharpe on Too Much, playing Mozart and tuning out the critics
type: item
date: 2025-06-30T23:01:53.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: The actor, writer and director on working with Lena Dunham, living with bipolar disorder – and fighting Richard E Grant.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe has many strings to his bow. As an actor, he won a Bafta for BBC drama Giri/Haji and was Emmy-nominated for The White Lotus, while his writer/director credits include Channel 4 black comedy Flowers and Sky mini-series Landscapers, as well as feature film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. In Too Much, a new ten-part Netflix comedy from Girls’ Lena Dunham, the 38-year-old plays Felix, the love interest of New Yorker Jessica, played by Hacks’ Megan Stalter. You’re a man in high demand — why did you choose Too Much? It was a combination of being a fan of Meg’s, as well as Lena’s work and these very funny, very tender, very Lena scripts. I felt I could find a way into the character of Felix. He has lots of layers to unpack. Jessica calls Felix “My Mr Darcy… my Rochester”, while Grazia magazine has described you as “the male romcom lead we’ve been waiting for”. How does it feel to be a heart-throb? I mean… I never really thought about Felix in those terms. Lena’s obviously very aware of the tropes of the classic British romcom – but I always felt, first and foremost, that this is a Lena Dunham show. It’s certainly not shy about tackling some of the more complex and difficult aspects of a relationship. As a writer/director yourself, was it tempting to offer suggestions? My job was to play Felix. But Lena is very open and collaborative and interested in everyone. She was very curious about our thoughts and ideas – not just me, but this amazing cast she’d assembled. She wanted to use our imaginations. You have a brilliantly pathetic fight with Richard E Grant in one episode. Was that fun? Yeah, we tried to make it as sloppy and s**t as possible. Was he gentle? No – he’s really strong! The White Lotus is a savage satire of the idle rich — but some of its stars have admitted to enjoying staying in the swanky hotels. Can you relate to that? It’s not a holiday – you’re working – but you can stil…

Ten Questions with Trevor Eve
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The I, Jack Wright actor on career longevity, his scary reputation and that pesky Doctor Who rumour...
encoded: Add I, Jack Wright to your watchlist Having begun his career as a protégé of Laurence Olivier, Birmingham-born Trevor Eve found fame in the late 1970s as the star of BBC detective drama Shoestring. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he’s juggled award-winning stage work with screen roles, including The Politician’s Wife and all nine series of Waking the Dead. He and his wife, fellow actor Sharon Maughan, have three grown-up children, including Hollywood star Alice Eve. In I, Jack Wright, the new drama from Unforgotten creator Chris Lang, he plays the eponymous self-made billionaire whose death sparks a bitter feud among family and friends fighting for a share of his fortune. It’s no spoiler to say that, despite being the title character, you don’t last very long in I, Jack Wright. Is it the shortest role of your career? It absolutely is. There are some people, like Sean Bean, who are always dying, but I haven’t died much at all on screen. So what made you want to do it? Chris Lang. I’ve worked with him three times – I played an Alan Sugar kind of character in Unforgotten [as Sir Phillip Cross] – and Chris sent me an email saying, “I need you to do this and these are the reasons.” I don’t think I even saw a full script, so I’ve no idea what happens after I die. Could you see yourself as a captain of industry, if you hadn’t become an actor? I’d be absolutely pathetic. I dabble in business with the production company [Projector Pictures] that I run with my wife and I’m always told in meetings with lawyers and people who cost an enormous amount per minute, to cut the jokes and not get emotional. Which is the opposite of acting. Jack wants his kids to go into the family trade. Did you encourage yours to follow in your footsteps? No. I started life as an architect, and never had any intention of being an actor. With Alice, I insisted she go to university and she went to Oxford. In the creative arts, you’re dependent on approval, which is a weak position to be in. Bu…

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Trevor Eve: "I upset some people but I was only difficult because I cared"
type: item
date: 2025-04-14T23:01:06.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: Eve stars in Chris Lang's latest drama, I, Jack Wright.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Having begun his career as a protégé of Laurence Olivier, Birmingham-born Trevor Eve found fame in the late 1970s as the star of BBC detective drama Shoestring. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he’s juggled award-winning stage work with screen roles, including The Politician’s Wife and all nine series of Waking the Dead. He and his wife, fellow actor Sharon Maughan, have three grown-up children, including Hollywood star Alice Eve. In I, Jack Wright (U&Alibi), the new drama from Unforgotten creator Chris Lang, he plays the eponymous self-made billionaire whose death sparks a bitter feud among family and friends fighting for a share of his fortune. It’s no spoiler to say that, despite being the title character, you don’t last very long in I, Jack Wright. Is it the shortest role of your career? It absolutely is. There are some people, like Sean Bean, who are always dying, but I haven’t died much at all on screen. So what made you want to do it? Chris Lang. I’ve worked with him three times – I played an Alan Sugar kind of character in Unforgotten [as Sir Phillip Cross] – and Chris sent me an email saying, “I need you to do this and these are the reasons.” I don’t think I even saw a full script, so I’ve no idea what happens after I die. Could you see yourself as a captain of industry, if you hadn’t become an actor? I’d be absolutely pathetic. I dabble in business with the production company [Projector Pictures] that I run with my wife and I’m always told in meetings with lawyers and people who cost an enormous amount per minute, to cut the jokes and not get emotional. Which is the opposite of acting. Jack wants his kids to go into the family trade. Did you encourage yours to follow in your footsteps? No. I started life as an architect, and never had any intention of being an actor. With Alice, I insisted she go to university and she went to Oxford. In the creative arts, you’re dependent on approval, which is a …

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Ten Questions with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: The Hollywood heavyweights on their oilfield drama Landman, screen success and what it means to be a man in America today
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in January 2025. Add Landman to your watchlist Actors Billy Bob Thornton, 69, and Jon Hamm, 53, bring their combined star power — and competing visions of American masculinity — to Paramount+’s tough drama Landman. Created by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Tulsa King) and Christian Wallace, the show is a fictionalised take on Wallace’s acclaimed podcast Boomtown, about the “modern-day gold rush” of the Texan oilfields. Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a grizzled troubleshooter for Hamm’s billionaire oil magnate, Monty Miller. But who is the top dog when it comes to winning awards? View Green Video on the source website What attracted you to Landman? JON Taylor’s storytelling. He knows how to tell a compelling story and set it against a backdrop that feels familiar yet unique. This is a tricky landscape, in every definition of the word, and the show really leans into that complexity. BILLY It works really well as a human story: it has humour, drama, joy, sadness, pain – everything. It also shows a world we don’t see on screen very often. It’s been said Taylor’s shows can reach “heartland America” in a way that more critically lauded series like Succession can’t… BILLY Because movies are made by the coasts, there’s always been a prejudice. I experienced that when I was coming up. Jon and I both grew up in the south midwest, so we know there are a lot of people who are underserved with their stories. People tend to focus on LA, New York, Chicago… Do you still feel connected to that America? Or have you gone soft after too long in Hollywood? JON We’re all going soft. None of us is getting harder in our old age. BILLY There’s oil you can get for that! But no, I still feel connected to my roots. Jon and I are both born and bred St Louis Cardinals [baseball] fans, and that doesn’t go away. I still have relatives in Texas, I’m back there a lot. Plus I play music and tour the country, so I see every city and a lot of small …

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Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm: 'Without streaming, actors like us would just play the mayor in Batman'
type: item
date: 2025-01-07T00:01:14.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
subject: Paramount Plus
description: Thornton and Hamm spoke with Radio Times magazine about their Paramount Plus drama Landman.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Actors Billy Bob Thornton, 69, and Jon Hamm, 53, bring their combined star power — and competing visions of American masculinity — to Paramount Plus’s tough drama Landman. Created by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Tulsa King) and Christian Wallace, the show is a fictionalised take on Wallace’s acclaimed podcast Boomtown, about the "modern-day gold rush" of the Texan oilfields. Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a grizzled troubleshooter for Hamm’s billionaire oil magnate, Monty Miller. But who is the top dog when it comes to winning awards? What attracted you to Landman? Hamm: "Taylor’s storytelling. He knows how to tell a compelling story and set it against a backdrop that feels familiar yet unique. This is a tricky landscape, in every definition of the word, and the show really leans into that complexity." Thornton: "It works really well as a human story: it has humour, drama, joy, sadness, pain – everything. It also shows a world we don’t see on screen very often. It's been said Taylor's shows can reach 'heartland America' in a way that more critically lauded series like Succession can't… Thornton: "Because movies are made by the coasts, there’s always been a prejudice. I experienced that when I was coming up. Jon and I both grew up in the south midwest, so we know there are a lot of people who are underserved with their stories. People tend to focus on LA, New York, Chicago…" Do you still feel connected to that America? Or have you gone soft after too long in Hollywood? Hamm: "We’re all going soft. None of us is getting harder in our old age." Thornton: "There’s oil you can get for that! But no, I still feel connected to my roots. Jon and I are both born and bred St Louis Cardinals [baseball] fans, and that doesn’t go away. I still have relatives in Texas, I’m back there a lot. Plus I play music and tour the country, so I see every city and a lot of small towns." Is America still a nation of cowboys at heart? Thornto…

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Ten Questions with Eve Hewson
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: The Bad Sisters star is taking the lead in Nicole Kidman’s new drama but she’s not letting fame affect her — yet!
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in August 2024. Add The Perfect Couple to your watchlist Dublin-born Eve Hewson, 33, played Tom Hanks’s daughter in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and was Maid Marian to Taron Egerton’s Robin Hood, before landing the lead in Netflix thriller Behind Her Eyes. The daughter of Ali and Paul Hewson (aka U2’s Bono), Eve returned to Ireland to star in Apple TV+’s Bad Sisters. Now, in The Perfect Couple — Netflix’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling murder mystery, from Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier — she plays a woman who is marrying into one of Nantucket’s wealthiest families. Your full name is Memphis Eve Sunny Day Iris Hewson. Did you like it as a kid? When I was young I was annoyed – I didn’t understand that being different was cool. I keep asking my parents where the Memphis comes from. They say, ‘You were conceived in Memphis’, or ‘It’s because you came out with a bunch of hair, looking like Elvis’. I don’t think they know themselves, to be honest. Did your dad give you any advice about navigating stardom? I’ve gotten so much advice my whole life, it’s been wonderful. Someone once said to me that no matter who you are, if you get mega-famous, you’re going to be very weird for about seven years. You’ll start to think everything you do is important, and it’s something you have to watch out for. And have you? I haven’t really hit that kind of stardom yet! I’m not J-Lo. When I get there, I’ll let you know. The Perfect Couple has a stellar cast — Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning — and you’re the lead! Was that daunting? Not really. I want to be the lead! That’s what I’m here to do. I really liked the idea of playing an outsider, coming into the family and seeing these crazy people through her eyes. My character, Amelia, is quite honest, but the rest of the cast had such a good time dressing up and being awful. How would you describe the series? It lives in its own weird world. It’s k…

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Eve Hewson on The Perfect Couple, Bad Sisters and why she almost quit acting
type: item
date: 2024-08-26T23:01:38.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: Hewson is making waves in Hollywood with lead roles in Netflix thrillers and Apple TV+ dramas.
encoded: Dublin-born Eve Hewson, 33, played Tom Hanks’s daughter in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and was Maid Marian to Taron Egerton’s Robin Hood, before landing the lead in Netflix thriller Behind Her Eyes. The daughter of Ali and Paul Hewson (aka U2’s Bono), Eve returned to Ireland to star in Apple TV+’s Bad Sisters. Now, in The Perfect Couple — Netflix’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling murder mystery, from Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier — she plays a woman who is marrying into one of Nantucket’s wealthiest families. Your full name is Memphis Eve Sunny Day Iris Hewson. Did you like it as a kid? When I was young I was annoyed – I didn’t understand that being different was cool. I keep asking my parents where the Memphis comes from. They say, ‘You were conceived in Memphis’, or ‘It’s because you came out with a bunch of hair, looking like Elvis’. I don’t think they know themselves, to be honest. Did your dad give you any advice about navigating stardom? I’ve gotten so much advice my whole life, it’s been wonderful. Someone once said to me that no matter who you are, if you get mega-famous, you’re going to be very weird for about seven years. You’ll start to think everything you do is important, and it’s something you have to watch out for. And have you? I haven’t really hit that kind of stardom yet! I’m not J-Lo. When I get there, I’ll let you know. The Perfect Couple has a stellar cast — Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning — and you’re the lead! Was that daunting? Not really. I want to be the lead! That’s what I’m here to do. I really liked the idea of playing an outsider, coming into the family and seeing these crazy people through her eyes. My character, Amelia, is quite honest, but the rest of the cast had such a good time dressing up and being awful. How would you describe the series? It lives in its own weird world. It’s kind of its own genre – a drama, but also funny – with the whole cast giving these amazing performances. I think pe…

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Ten Questions with Iwan Rheon
type: item
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor excels at playing ruthless villains – but his dream job would be to read the CBeebies Bedtime Story
encoded: Add Those about to Die to your watchlist Carmarthen-born Iwan Rheon, 39, began his career on the Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm, before landing his breakthrough role as a superhero on community service in E4’s Misfits. Later, he found global fame as the eye-wateringly sadistic Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones, and has since played a range of characters from Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars to a young Adolf Hitler. An Olivier Award-winning stage actor and occasional singer/songwriter, Rheon now plays crime boss Tenax in Those about to Die, Roland (Independence Day) Emmerich’s new ten-part “blood and sport” saga set in the cut-throat world of Roman gladiators and chariot racers. So Iwan, how big is Those about to Die? It’s got huge ambition – they’ve really set out to show ancient Rome in all its glory. Obviously with Roland Emmerich directing, you expect it to be a big, action-packed spectacle. He likes a wide lens. But what I think is great is the way it shows a real cross- section of Roman society, from the emperor all the way down to the slaves. What’s your take on Tenax? He’s a product of his environment, really. He grew up on the streets of Rome as a homeless child and through street smarts and sheer tenacity, he’s sort of crawled his way to the top of the underworld, and formed himself as a bit of a mob boss. He’s an incredibly ruthless person, but that ruthlessness is keeping him alive. And he’s not without a heart – he looks after the street kids that he sees himself in. Your fellow countryman Anthony Hopkins plays Emperor Vespasian — but you didn’t actually get to work with him? No. It’s probably the most devastating thing that’s happened in my career. I did ask Roland, very early on, if I could have just one scene with him – playing the Welsh card – but I got a flat no. I did get to meet him, though, briefly. He’s just a legend. Tenax isn’t the first ruthless villain you’ve played, of course. Why do casting directors see that in you, do you think? Absolutel…

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Jamie Dornan: 'The next James Bond could be someone never mentioned'
type: item
date: 2022-12-13T16:52:20.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: TV
description: Jamie Dornan reflects on his career, those James Bond rumours and The Tourist.
encoded: Former model Jamie Dornan has played a serial killer, a sex object, a henchman, a proud father and – most recently – an amnesiac in the Australian outback for the BBC/HBO thriller The Tourist, which brought him new attention earlier this year. Alongside a Golden Globe-nominated turn in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, it’s been a big 12 months for the Northern Irish actor… but does he think he could be the next James Bond? Read on for 10 questions with Jamie Dornan, which originally appeared in Radio Times magazine. The Tourist was a huge hit when it debuted on BBC One on New Year’s Day 2022. Were you surprised by the response? I was really pleased by it. I thought people were either going to embrace the off-kilter weirdness of the show – the shifts between heavy drama and quirky comedy – or decide it wasn’t for them. Luckily there are a lot of weirdos out there who responded well to it. For most of the series, we don’t really know who your character is. How much did you know? I talked to [writers] Jack and Harry Williams, so I had a broad idea. But I didn’t see the script for episode 6 until we’d been out in Australia for a long time. So in a way I felt like I was on a journey with the audience in terms of what was being revealed about The Man. Which is helpful when you’re playing someone who has absolutely no recollection of who they are, or how they’ve found themselves in this position. A second series is in the pipeline. What can you tell us about it? It’s difficult to talk about without spoiling the ending of series 1, but all I’ll say is there’s an appetite for it. There are conversations about how you continue the story – is it set before or after what we’ve already seen? It’s definitely all up for discussion. I really like playing the character and I think there’s more to explore. You seem to have become part of Kenneth Branagh’s rep company, first with Belfast and now the upcoming Poirot movie A Haunting in Venice. Do you call him Sir Ken? No, he’s not like s…

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Stitches in time: Doctor Who’s outfits ranked and rated
type: item
date: 2022-07-19T18:06:16.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: BBC
description: Amid reports that Ncuti Gatwa is set to rock a pair of wellies aboard the TARDIS, here’s our guide to the Time Lord’s fashion highs and lows.
encoded: The Seventh Doctor once claimed to have “an impeccable sense of haute couture”. Which was a pretty bold statement for a man wearing so many questions marks that even The Riddler probably thought it was “a bit on-the-nose”. It’s far from the only statement look the Time Lord has sported over the years, of course. And now, if tabloid reports are to be believed – and they’re usually not, but go with me here – it seems Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor is set to gallivant around the cosmos in a fetching pair of space wellies. So what more perfect time to bring you the Definitive Guide to Wellies in Doctor Who? Just kidding (although the Cybermen did rock some delightful silver moon boots, back in the day): we’re actually here to talk about the Doctor’s duds down the years. And from Hartnell’s hat to Gatwa’s gumboots, it’s quite the catwalk parade… Doctor Who costumes ranked - from William Hartnell to Jodie Whittaker William Hartnell With a nod to the series’ HG Wells roots, William Hartnell set the default Doctor template of an Edwardian gentleman, complete with a frock coat, winged collar and cravat. What’s a ‘frock coat’, you ask? No idea, but that’s what Terrance Dicks always called it in his Target novelisations, so that’s what we call it as well. (For extra fan points, accessorise your description with an ‘Astrakhan hat’. No, me neither.) Style rating: 7/10 Patrick Troughton Patrick Troughton had some, er, eccentric ideas about his Doctor’s look, at various points suggesting he should dress in the style of “a Victorian windjammer” captain – whatever one of those is – or play him as an Arabian hero from One Thousand and One Nights, complete with blackface, which thankfully never happened. In the end, they settled on a scruffier, more dishevelled version of Hartnell’s costume – basically what the First Doctor might have looked like if he’d been thrown out of the TARDIS and forced to sleep in his car. Style rating: 6/10 Jon Pertwee Jon Pertwee’s Victorian dandy look emerged by hap…

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Why Doctor Who should embrace nostalgia for its 60th anniversary
type: item
date: 2022-03-02T16:01:00.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: As rumours of former Time Lords returning continue to mount, why are some Doctor Who fans still so wary of the show’s past?
encoded: “A man is the sum of his memories,” the Doctor once said. “A Time Lord even more so.” This typically wise and astute observation from the great Terrance Dicks was the perfect sentiment for inclusion in Doctor Who’s warmly nostalgic 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors. Because what are we, as sentient beings, if not the balance of our experiences – the things we’ve seen, the lessons we’ve learned and the people we’ve met along the way? When Donna Noble had her memories of travelling with the Doctor wiped, it felt like the cruellest possible fate. Because without those memories, Donna was literally a different, smaller person. And the same goes for Doctor Who itself. As a property of 58 years standing, it has something that most other TV shows can only dream of: it has a mythology. More important than that, though, it has a history that we all share: one that reaches back into our childhoods – however recent or distant – and through which many of us can mark births, marriages, deaths and all the other important milestones of life. So it’s hardly surprising that, as the show prepares to celebrate its 60th birthday next year, the rumour mill is alive with speculation that former Doctors such as David Tennant and Matt Smith could return for a series of special episodes. Because why wouldn’t you, right? And yet you’ll find plenty of hardcore Doctor Who fans throwing up their arms in horror – mock or otherwise – at the idea. For them, the show’s past is not so much a foreign country, as enemy territory: the stony ground of creative bankruptcy, where ideas go to die. Or something like that, anyway. But why? Why has it become fashionable among some of the programme’s most devoted followers to insist that it should only ever march relentlessly forward, eyes front, never looking back? Why this ascetic insistence that Doctor Who should be made for anyone – children, grannies, Saturday night TV audiences – but them? A couple of reasons, I think. One, they’re just showing …

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Where is Worzel Gummidge filmed?
type: item
date: 2021-12-28T08:14:06.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Take a trip to Ten Acre Field with our Worzel Gummidge location guide.
encoded: BBC One's Worzel Gummidge returns to our screens on 28th December, with Mackenzie Crook starring as the misfit scarecrow in another adventure. In the upcoming special, titled Twitchers, Worzel sees his plan to scare a pack of choughs – quite the achievement for a scarecrow – foiled by an interfering pack of birdwatchers. Worzel and friends will then return again on 29th December for Calliope Jane – the funfair is in town and Worzel has heard tell of a magical fairground that sends humans to sleep so that scarecrows can enjoy the rides unobserved... Recently, RadioTimes.com shared an exclusive first-look clip from the new episodes, which sees Worzel (Mackenzie Crook) share his scarecrow handbook with young friends Susan (India Brown) and John (Thierry Wickens). The series is set in the country town of Scatterbrook – but where is the fantasy comedy-drama filmed? And where can you find all of the locations in real life? Read on for our full Worzel Gummidge location guide. Scatterbrook Farm In the films, siblings Susan and John (India Brown and Thierry Wickens) arrive to spend the summer at Scatterbrook Farm, under the watchful eye of Mr and Mrs Braithwaite (Steve Pemberton and Rosie Cavaliero). All the Scatterbrook scenes were filmed at Valence End Farm, a working farm just outside Dunstable in Bedfordshire. The farm’s neighbours include elephants, cheetahs and brown bears (it’s right next door to Whipsnade Zoo). Ten Acre Field The field Worzel calls home was filmed in countryside close to Berry Bushes Farm in King’s Langley, Hertfordshire. This time around, Worzel’s neighbours include goblins, a giant basilisk and a certain boy wizard – it’s less than 10 minutes away from Warner Bros. studios at Leavesden, home of The Making of Harry Potter tour. Many of the other countryside exteriors were also filmed around King’s Langley. The lane The opening sequence to first ever Worzel Gummidge episode The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook sees Susan and John being driven down a high-he…

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Meet the cast of Worzel Gummidge
type: item
date: 2021-12-22T14:54:00.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Who’s who in Mackenzie Crook’s new take on the scarecrow of Scatterbrook.
encoded: Scatterbrook receives a fresh batch of visitors in two new Worzel Gummidge episodes airing on the 28th and 29th December: Twitchers and Calliope Jane. The first episode sees Worzel's hopes of scaring scare a pack of choughs thwarted by an interfering pack of birdwatchers, including Mr Brathwaite's old bird-watching rival Lee Dangerman. We then meet Calliope Jane in the episode of the same name – a friend of Aunt Sally who determines to help Worzel when he tells the gang about the myth of a magical fairground that sends humans to sleep so that scarecrows can enjoy the rides unobserved. Recently, RadioTimes.com shared an exclusive first-look clip from the new episodes, which sees Worzel (Mackenzie Crook) share his scarecrow handbook with young friends Susan (India Brown) and John (Thierry Wickens). But which guest stars will be appearing alongside the Worzel Gummidge regulars in the new episodes? Read on to find out. Mackenzie Crook plays Worzel Gummidge Who is Worzel Gummidge? The irascible titular scarecrow is the main character in Euphan Todd's Puffin Books series. He lives in Ten Acre Field and befriends children Susan and John, becoming inanimate whenever his pride is wounded (which is rather often). Mackenzie Crook's version is gentler than Jon Pertwee's. What else has Mackenzie Crook been in? The man in the turnip mask made his name as deluded assistant regional manager – sorry, assistant to the regional manager – Gareth Keenan in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s seminal mockumentary The Office. After that, he found success in Hollywood, as one-eyed sea dog Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean mega-franchise, and was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway transfer of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem. The 49-year-old can also be seen – again in heavy prosthetics – as the skull-headed shaman Veran in Butterworth’s trippy Sky Atlantic Roman invasion drama Britannia. But arguably his crowning achievement to date is writing, directing and s…

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What can Doctor Who fans expect from Russell T Davies' return?
type: item
date: 2021-09-28T15:04:57.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: The showrunner's second coming sees him poised to take advantage of a dramatically changed television landscape – but it also presents some big challenges...
encoded: So it’s official – start synthesising those enzymes, brush up on your telebiogenesis: The Nyssa Adventures are coming! Okay, so they’re probably not. Russell T Davies was almost certainly joking when he proposed a spin-off for the brainiac '80s companion during our conversation last December, so don’t expect to see Sarah Sutton slipping back into that purple velvet pantsuit any time soon (for shame). In fact, I’d be very surprised if Doctor Who was already on Russell’s radar when we spoke just before Christmas. If it had been, I suspect he’d have been a bit more circumspect before casually floating the idea of a Doctor Who Channel and David Tennant teaming up with Matt Smith for a 10-part multi-Doctor adventure. Because some people will no doubt get very cross when those don’t happen. (I’m assuming they won’t, but who knows – as Russell says, did Star Trek fans ever expect a Captain Pike prequel?) Still, idle spitballing or not, it does at least afford us a glimpse into Russell’s thinking, and the scale of his ambition to “shift Doctor Who up a gear” when he gets the keys to the TARDIS back in 2023. And if anyone’s up to the job, it’s the dream team of Russell, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Yes, they’ve got the old Bad Wolf band back together – but don’t go expecting them to just play the hits, any more than they did when they dragged Doctor Who kicking and screaming into the new century in 2005. Will it be easy, this gear shift? Not for a second. Firstly, anyone who thinks this is going to mean a return to regular Saturday night audiences of eight million (faithful) viewers is probably deluding themselves; that world no longer exists. Sure, the likes of Line of Duty and Vigil may have proved that reports of linear TV’s death continue to be exaggerated, but Doctor Who relies on continually refreshing its audience with a new generation of younger viewers. And, as Ofcom has warned, the traditional broadcasters are currently staring down the barrel of a “lost generat…

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The real reason Doctor Who makes fans want to hide behind the sofa
type: item
date: 2021-06-22T11:40:44.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: Think watching Doctor Who is fun? Not if you’re a Doctor Who fan it isn’t. From new episode anguish to DVD shelf indecision, these are the trials of (watching) a Time Lord…
encoded: If I’ve learned anything from a lifetime’s devotion to Doctor Who – and that’s a big if – it’s probably that Doctor Who fans weren’t put on this Earth to enjoy watching Doctor Who. No, in my experience, that sort of thing is best left to mere “viewers” – those lightweight flibbertigibbets who think nothing of sitting down, casual as you please, to enjoy 50 minutes of escapist fantasy, in the same way you or I might innocently tune in to Holby City, or Peston. For the hardcore faithful, by contrast, watching any new episode of Doctor Who is an uncomfortably fraught experience – one that’s wont to magnify the show’s every blemish and duff note, and leave you seriously questioning your life choices. Or is that just me? This goes double, of course, if you happen to be watching in polite company: those unavoidable occasions when you’re forced to consume Doctor Who in front of family, friends and other Not We, many of whom have probably been silently judging you – or even noisily judging you – over your choice of hobby for years. Of course, if you could guarantee the quality of what was about to unfold, this wouldn’t be such a problem. But, uniquely among TV shows, Doctor Who’s famously flexible format can make it a bit of a rollercoaster on the quality control front: for every sublime City of Death and The Haunting of Villa Diodati, there's an excruciating Underworld or Nightmare in Silver. As a result, communal viewing can take on something of a Russian Roulette quality: I have happy memories of watching Blink in a holiday cabin in North Yorkshire (even if some of the party did insist on talking all the way through it), but still burn with hot shame about the time a packed roomful of friends and family gathered in a Cornish cottage to witness the unfolding horror that was The Rings of Akhaten, in which Dr Who and his friends defeated an angry planet by shouting at it, singing to it, then showing it a leaf. Talk about wanting to hide behind the sofa. Even that, though, h…

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The Mane of the Doctor: What Doctor Who haircuts can tell us about the show
type: item
date: 2021-06-01T14:02:50.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
description: From on-trend Beatle-mops and "towering meringues" through natural curls, stalagmites of hair gel and wigs all the way to Jodie Whittaker's blonde bob, the Doctor's hair is iconic - but what can each style tell us about the Time Lord?
encoded: Minding my own beeswax in the kitchen a while back, my ear was drawn to the popular broadcasters Zoe Ball and Sara Cox discussing the hot button topic of Doctor Who’s hair. Not in the way us Who diehards might discuss it, you understand – which would probably be in the context of, say, the continuity nightmare caused by Peter Davison’s temporally unreliable barnet during season 19, or whether it might be possible to digitally remove David Tennant’s upsetting fringe from future releases of The Day of the Doctor. No, they were talking about Jodie Whittaker’s smart blonde bob (series 11 model, for those taking notes) and its influential bearing on their own tonsorial makeovers. Whatever the excuse, I was just pleased the subject of the Doctor’s hair was finally getting the traction it deserved. Because, for me, this is a much more important conversation than the trifling issues which usually take up all the bandwidth when people talk about Doctor Who: you know, stuff about scripts and casting and ratings and whether the logos on our DVD spines line-up properly. (OK, maybe not more important than that last one.) By way of illustration, look no further than Peter Capaldi’s first run as the Doctor in 2014. By Steven Moffat’s own admission, they probably went a bit far down the aggressive “Malcolm Tucker in space” route that season, leading to a rapid reverse ferret in time for that year’s Christmas special. But that isn’t the main problem. The main problem with Doctor Who series eight is that Peter Capaldi doesn’t have proper Doctor Who hair. I mean, look at it. It’s just so ridiculously… sensible; like he’s on his way to a job interview, or a court appearance (Probably the latter, knowing the Doctor). I put it to you that it’s simply impossible for Peter Capaldi to properly dispense his duties as Doctor Who with that haircut. And clearly P-Cap felt the same, which is why, over the following years, his hair gradually mushroomed into a classic, '70s-vintage Doctor Who ‘do,…

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Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes review: Boldly original, beautifully evocative
type: item
date: 2021-05-16T21:30:20.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Documentaries
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Review
description: Caroline Katz stars in this docu-drama about the sonic pioneer behind the Doctor Who theme.
encoded: Delia Derbyshire was a pioneer on so many fronts, but to her list of innovations we can now add the fact that – according to BBC Four’s new docu-drama, at least – she was the first person ever to ask for a job at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. “No-one’s ever requested to join that department,” says a baffled corporation apparatchik in one of Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes' dramatised segments. “People are normally sent there. Unwillingly.” “Like to Coventry?” smiles Delia (Caroline Katz, pictured) – a native of that equally unfashionable city – sweetly. “May I ask you why?” persists the man from the BBC. Delia’s reply has a simple clarity: “I’d like to create sounds that have never existed in the world before.” Which is exactly what she would go on to do – most famously, of course, through the menacing throb and unearthly howl of the Doctor Who theme, a moment of musical and television history that contributed greatly to Derbyshire’s belated recognition as “the godmother of electronic dance music” (a title the film suggests would have amused and baffled her in equal measure). A labour of love for writer-director-star Katz, The Myths and the Legendary Tapes was made three years ago but is only now receiving its broadcast debut as part of the BBC’s long-running Arena arts strand – the perfect berth, as it turns out, for a boldly original and beautifully evocative piece of avant-garde filmmaking. Born three years before the start of the Coventry Blitz that reduced so much of the city to rubble, Derbyshire often credited her love of abstract sounds to the constant background drone of air-raid sirens, followed by the shrill whine of the all-clear, that soundtracked her early years. Ferociously bright, she received offers from both Oxford and Cambridge – pretty much unheard of for a working-class girl in the 1950s – and in the film we see her, freshly graduated from the latter with a degree in mathematics and music, submitting to a dispiriting round …

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Meet the cast of Maigret's Night at the Crossroads
type: item
date: 2020-07-12T18:15:00.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Everything you need to know about Rowan Atkinson and his co-stars in ITV’s latest take on the classic French detective.
encoded: Classic sleuth Maigret is back on screens this Easter in a new ITV film starring Rowan Atkinson. Georges Simenon’s French detective appeared in a whopping 75 novels and 28 short stories between 1931 and 1972, and has previously been played by the likes of Michael Gambon, Richard Harris and Rupert Davies. Atkinson starred in two previous adaptations, Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret's Dead Man, and reprised his role in Maigret's Night at the Crossroads, first aired in 2017 and getting a repeat showing in 2020. Maigret's Night at the Crossroads sees Atkinson joined by an impressive cast of familiar screen faces. Here’s our guide to who’s who, and where you might have seen them before. Rowan Atkinson – Chief Inspector Maigret Comedy legend Atkinson – best known for his iconic roles as Edmund Blackadder and Mr Bean – may seem an unlikely choice to play the pipe-smoking chief inspector. But if you think he’s donning Maigret’s trilby “in order to achieve some kind of respectability”, think again, the 61-year-old told Radio Times this week. The County Durham-born star started performing as a student with the Oxford Revue, before finding fame as one quarter of the Not the Nine O’Clock News team, along with Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. He wrote the first series of The Black Adder with Richard Curtis, before Ben Elton replaced him as co-writer for Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth. He first played Mr Bean in 1990 and, following numerous TV series and two feature films, still voices the animated version of the character today. Atkinson made a memorable appearance as a bumbling vicar in Richard Curtis’ Four Wedding and a Funeral, and later fronted Ben Elton’s police sitcom, The Thin Blue Line. This isn’t his first ‘straight’ drama role: in 2013, he starred in Simon Gray’s Quartermaine’s Terms in the West End, and his CBE in that year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours was awarded for “services to drama and charity”. Shaun Dingwall – Insp…

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Doctor Who? What IS the Doctor's real name?
type: item
date: 2020-06-15T16:21:52.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
description: John Smith? The Oncoming Storm? Basil? Paul Kirkley attempts to uncover the real name of the Doctor…
encoded: What’s in a name? Quite a lot, if you’re the Doctor, or Basil, or Theta Sigma, or δ³Σx², or whatever Doctor Who's lead character is really called. It’s probably not Basil, if we’re honest. But that’s the name he gives in 2017's The Zygon Inversion, and the Doctor never lies, right? Apart from when the Doctor does lie, which is all the time. But if not Basil, or 'Doctor Who,' then what? What is the Doctor's real name? What is very clear is that the Doctor doesn’t want us to know, actually. When he first met River Song, David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was shocked and horrified that she knew his name, stating there was “only one reason” he would ever divulge that information. (We suspect that reason was marriage, because it was during their wedding ceremony, now in his Eleventh incarnation, that he supposedly whispered it in her ear – on the other hand, he could equally have been saying "Don't worry, I'm actually a robot version of me with the tiny real me hiding inside." Time Lord weddings are complicated). Around the same time, the witch (sorry, Carrionite) Lilith claimed the Doctor was hiding his true name from her “in despair”, while psychic Roman teenager Evelina said his “true name” was “hidden” even from her. Intriguing. View oEmbed on the source website During his next incarnation, keeping his name out of the headlines was virtually a full-time job: according to Dorium Maldovar, the riddle ‘Doctor Who?’ was “The question that must never be answered”. The Great Intelligence was desperate to get its hands on the information (in so much as a formless entity can get its hands on anything), while, on the opposite side, The Silence was an entire religion/spooky monster club founded on stopping the Doctor from ever blabbing it. In Eleven’s dying moments, we learned that the Doctor’s real name was the signal chosen by the Time Lords to return to our universe – kicking off a massive galactic bunfight in the process – until Clara persuaded them that the only name that reall…

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