David Attenborough's 10 best series from Planet Earth to Dynasties
Across the course of over 70 years, Sir David Attenborough has done more than anyone to open our eyes to the beauty and savagery of the natural world – and to bring into stark relief the human race’s responsibility to address the environmental impact of its collective activity. To mark the great naturalist's 100th birthday, we look back on ten of his best TV series since we first saw him on air in 1954. 1. Zoo Quest - 1954 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer "Not to be used again as an interviewer – his teeth are too big." Thank goodness no-one heeded the notes of an anonymous BBC executive following David Attenborough’s on-screen breakthrough in Zoo Quest, which ran for nine years. The format took natural history out of the studio and into the wilds of Borneo, Madagascar and beyond to find Komodo dragons, lemurs and other exotic creatures to bring to London Zoo. Already attached to produce, it was a trick of fate that ignited his screen career: he’d stepped in when presenter Jack Lester, curator of the zoo’s reptile house, was struck ill. Setting a precedent for Attenborough’s shows, Zoo Quest was a trailblazer in TV technology too – though aired in black and white, it was shot in colour some 13 years before this became standard at the BBC. 2. Life on Earth - 1979 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer The subject of a ‘making of’ special marking Attenborough’s centenary (BBC1, 8pm, 8 May), this milestone set the template for the set piece-rich continent-spanning epics we know and love today. A decade on from commissioning Kenneth Clarke’s Civilisations as controller of BBC2, Sir David had similarly lofty aims with this million-mile globe-trotting trip: to trace the story of evolution. Applying Charles Darwin’s theories to 600 species in habitats from South American rainforests to Australian caves, it’s best remembered for Sir David’s delightful encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Having perched on all-fours to debunk myths about their aggressive behaviour, he became a welcome plaything for a female and two youngsters. 3. Life in the Freezer - 1993 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Less than half a century since humans first set foot in Antarctica, Sir David and crew braved three years of blizzards to capture the lifecycle of the desolate and remote region. Working with scientists based in the area, it surveyed the endurance of humpback whales and many varieties of penguins and seals over the seasons. Memorable moments included camera operators swimming with dangerous leopard seals - one of which presents them with body of a penguin - and tracking a grey-headed albatross that has travelled several hundred miles to bring food to its hungry chick. 4. The Life of Mammals – 2002 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer From delivering a piece to camera with a Kalahari meerkat keeping watch on his shoulder to witnessing the teeth-flashing mating of Sri Lankan macaques, the nut-cracking techniques of Congolese chimps, bison rutting at 30mph and orangutans washing socks, this is practically an Attenborough greatest hits package. Through emerging infrared technology, audiences glimpsed big cats’ nocturnal hunts for the first time, while explicitly environmental messaging came to the fore at the climax of the series, in which Sir David questioned humans’ overreach and raised population control as a potential saviour of the planet’s ecosystem. 5. Life in the Undergrowth – 2005 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Taking advantage of advances in microscopic cameras, the BBC Natural History Unit team broke new ground with this intimate look at invertebrates from the common housefly to Amazonian venomous centipedes. Sir David told the story of how invertebrates became colonial pioneers of the land 400 million years ago and narrated a string of standout scenes, including a scorpion’s desert courting dance, a bumblebee colony stinging the queen to death, the mass emergence of winged cicadas after 17 years underground, and a caterpillar emerging as a wasp after the latter lays its eggs into the pupating insect’s body. 6. Attenborough’s Paradise Birds - 2015 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer "A film I have wanted to make for 40 years," declared Attenborough of this particularly personal documentary, in which he shares his lifelong passion for “"he most romantic and glamorous birds in the world", which he’d first encountered in picture books aged nine. Amid discoveries about how the birds learn their distinctive performative dance displays, he debunks some of the myths that have surrounded them since their discovery 500 years ago. Most moving is watching him look on in wonder during a close encounter with a bird in Qatar, where a sheik’s personal collection represents the largest breeding group of the species in the world. 7. Dynasties (plus Dynasties II) - 2018, 2022 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Chimps, emperor penguins, lions, tigers and painted wolves are regular stars of Attenborough’s series, but this series dug deeper into these animals’ stories. Each of the five animals got their own episode in this look at the survival strategies of endangered species, which pulled few punches in depicting nature’s brutal savagery. Attenborough was outshined momentarily, as another David was the star of the series: a plucky young chimpanzee who staged a winning comeback to his troop after a brutal fight. Elsewhere, cattle farmers’ fatal poisoning of a lion and her cub laid bare the series’ core conservation message: how humans’ encroachment into animal habitats is threatening their survival. 8. Planet Earth (plus Planet Earth II and III) - 2006, 2016, 2023 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Arguably Attenborough’s magnum opus, the original globe-spanning series was the BBC’s first high-definition showcase and captured the very first filmed footage of snow leopards, plus a piranha feeding frenzy and a wild camel chase. Series two upped the ante even further, capturing legendary sequences of racer snakes chasing baby iguanas to their grisly end, a giraffe shrugging off a leaping lion, and the sneaky shoplifting macaques of Jaipur, in stunning 4K. Seven years on, the trilogy wrapped up with Sir David returning to Raine Island in the Great Barrier Reef almost 70 years on from his first visit, to starkly conclude that the green turtle-populated territory could be gone within 30 years. 9. Seven Worlds, One Planet – 2019 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Albatrosses desperately trying to save chicks blown out of their nests by violent storms, penguins outmanoeuvring orcas, Sumatran rhinos finding sanctuary in deep jungles, anacondas stalking Capuchin monkeys, hamsters living in Vienna’s graveyards… this whirlwind tour of the seven continents (one per episode) threw up multiple jaw-dropping moments. But it’s the surreal underwater world, featuring pink and purple starfish, urchins, anemones and - gulp - giant spiders, filmed by divers drilling through deep layers of ice, that lingers in the memory. 10. Ocean with David Attenborough - 2025 Where to watch: Disney+ In recent years, streamers like Netflix and Disney+ have occasionally wooed Sir David away from the BBC with big budgets and simultaneous global releases in return for his expert eye and dulcet tones. Released in cinemas for his 99th birthday, this unflinching film exposed the violent impact of industrial bottom trawling of Earth’s lowest depths and offered glimmers of hope for protecting ocean life, from kelp forests to vast marine reserves. "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea," concluded Attenborough. Though the film carries his warning "we are almost out of time," he remains cautiously optimistic: "The ocean can recover faster than we had ever imagined." View Green Video on the source website More David Attenborough documentaries available to stream Secret Garden - 2026 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough takes audiences into the hidden wild world of Britain's backyards, travelling to Oxfordshire, Bristol, The Lake District, The Wye Valley and The Western Highlands. The Blue Planet (and Blue Planet II) - 2001 and 2017 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Described as the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans, audiences are submerged underwater as Attenborough examines a different aspect of marine life across eight episodes. The original series was followed up 16 years later, after filming over four years in 39 countries, in more than 125 international trips. Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough - 2022 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer In a story told with astonishing detail, Attenborough reveals the last day of the dinosaurs, using new evidence from a prehistoric graveyard dating to the day an asteroid devastated our planet. Wild Isles - 2023 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Celebrating the wonders of British and Irish wildlife, the series investigates how woodland, grassland, freshwater and ocean habitats support all kinds of wildlife. Climate Change: The Facts - 2019 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: 2019 Following one of the hottest years on record, Attenborough takes a closer look at the science of climate change and potential solutions. The hour-long special features interviews with some of the world's leading climate scientists and explores recent extreme weather conditions, such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. Attenborough and the Sea Dragon - 2018 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer In this standalone episode, David Attenborough investigates the discovery of a 200 million year old Ichthyosaur fossil on the Jurassic Coast in southern England. Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster - 2024 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Follow David Attenborough on yet another investigation: the giant skull of a prehistoric sea monster - often referred to as the Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas. Attenborough's Ark - 2012 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer All aboard! David Attenborough picks 10 animals he would most like to save from extinction, explaining just why they are so important before outlining the work of biologists who are helping to keep them alive. Attenborough and the Giant Egg - 2011 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough returns to the island of Madagascar where he filmed one of his first ever wildlife series, Zoo Quest. This time, he's on a very personal quest as he explores the history of the elephant bird and what led to his extinction. Attenborough's Wonder of Eggs - 2018 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough has always had a passion for bird eggs. But how is an egg made? Why are they that shape? Why lay an egg at all? Tune in as Attenborough reveals the wonder behind miracles of nature. Attenborough's Passion Projects - 2016 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer In celebration of David Attenborough's 90th birthday, the BBC brought together four of his favourite films: A Blank on the Map, Lost Gods of Easter Island, Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives and Darwin's Tree of Life. Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard - 2021 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough joins archaeologists excavating mammoth remains, uncovering Britain's biggest mammoth discovery in almost 20 years. Attenborough's Wonder of Song - 2022 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough chooses seven of the most remarkable animal songs and explores the significance of each in the lives of their species. Wild London - 2026 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer After a life spent travelling the globe, the world’s most famous naturalist turned his attention closer to home to explore the wildlife of England’s iconic capital in his most recent documentary. Making Life on Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure - 2026 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer To celebrate 50 years since David Attenborough's most ambitious project ever, 1976's Life on Earth, the remarkable story behind the BBC’s most famous wildlife blockbuster is told in this behind-the-scenes documentary. Frozen Planet (plus Frozen Planet II) - 2011, 2022 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Frozen Planet, released in 2011, examined life in the Arctic and the Antarctic following the likes of Polar Bears and Penguins. 11 years later, the second installment was released which which explored all of Earth's frozen habitats. Kingdom - 2025 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Narrated by David Attenborough, Kingdom follows four rival families, leopards, hyena, wild dogs and lions, all trying to claim a rich corner of Zambian paradise as their home. Who will succeed in ruling this precious kingdom? Deep Ocean: Kingdom of the Coelacanth - 2025 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Attenborough looks into the ocean's depths to discuss the coelacanth, a primeval fish hidden for 400 million years. A Perfect Planet - 2021 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough looks at how without volcanoes, there would be no life on Earth. Although destructive, magma from the planet’s molten core builds land, and mineral-rich ash from eruptions fertilises the surface. Parenthood - 2025 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Attenborough looks at animal parents in the wild and their unique strategies to overcome the challenges presented by their habitats. The stakes are high, since their success ensures the future of life on Earth. Asia - 2024 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Join Sir David Attenborough as he takes you across our planet's largest continent. Mammals - 2024 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Found on every continent, and in every ocean, Mammals are some of the most adaptable animals on our planet. Join David Attenborough as he follows the journeys of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Africa - 2013 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer This five-part BBC natural history series explores the stunning landscapes and undiscovered creatures of Africa's five major regions. Life - 2009 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer The iconic documentarian looks at the extraordinary ends to which animals and plants go in order to survive. Featuring epic spectacles, amazing TV firsts and examples of new wildlife behaviour. Attenborough's Life in Colour - 2021 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour: to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies. The Life of Birds - 1998 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer A natural history of bird life narrated by David Attenborough. The Green Planet - 2022 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Dive into a world where a single life can last a thousand years, with David Attenborough. See things no eye has ever seen, and discover the dramatic, beautiful plant life of Earth. Life Story - 2014 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough brings us the universal story that unites each of us with every animal on the planet, the story of the greatest of all adventures - the journey through life. The Mating Game - 2021 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Finding a mate isn't just about love - the survival of an entire species could depend on it. Sir David Attenborough reveals spectacular scenes of courting and companionship. The Private Life of Plants - 1995 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough documentary series exploring the life cycle of plants. Attenborough at 90 - 2016 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer In celebration of his 90th birthday, Sir David Attenborough shares extraordinary highlights of his life and career with broadcaster Kirsty Young, including the inspiring people he has met, the extraordinary journeys he has made and the remarkable animal encounters he has had across the globe. Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur - 2016 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Going beyond the remits of our contemporary natural world, Attenborough tells the story of the discovery and reconstruction in Argentina of the world's largest-known dinosaur, a brand new species of titanosaur. Measuring 37m long - close to four London buses put end to end - and weighing 70 metric tons, it now holds the record as the biggest animal ever to walk the earth. The Trials of Life - 1990 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer A nature documentary series, presented by David Attenborough, exploring why animals behave the way they do. Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives - 1989 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough unearths secrets of fossils, breathing life into Earth's distant past. Extinction: The Facts - 2020 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer With a million species at risk of extinction, David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, including putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases. Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild - 2012 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Here, the veteran documentarian reflects on how the planet has changed during his career. David Attenborough - The Early Years - 2013 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Sir David Attenborough recalls key moments from his early broadcasting career and shares the stories behind them. The Miracle of Bali - 1969 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough gives an introduction to Bali, its people and their varied arts, with the main focus on Peliatan village. Elsa the Lioness - 1961 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Visiting Joy and George Adamson in Kenya, Attenborough meets Elsa the lioness and her cubs shortly before Elsa's death. The People of Paradise - 1960 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Attenborough discusses his journey through the South West Pacific in search of vanishing south sea rituals and customs. Adventure - 1965 Where to watch: BBC iPlayer David Attenborough follows the River Zambezi from its source in the centre of Africa, 2,000 miles to the Indian Ocean. David Attenborough: A Life on Air - 2002 View oEmbed on the source website Where to watch: BBC iPlayer Michael Palin presents a profile of the television career of David Attenborough, from controller of BBC Two to his wildlife programmes such as Life on Earth and The Blue Planet. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
BBC legend Fiona Bruce reveals the story behind private and personal items of the late Queen Elizabeth II
Fiona Bruce gives viewers a look inside the Royal Collection.
To mark 100 years since the birth of Queen Elizabeth II, a special edition of Antiques Roadshow, filmed at Windsor Castle, takes a peek inside the Royal Collection. Here, presenter Fiona Bruce picks her favourite items from the show – which also features mementos from members of the public - and considers what they tell us about key moments of the monarch’s life. As told to Robin Parker. Coronation dress (1953) "It's stupendous - there's no other way of putting it. The dress is a remarkable witness to an incredible point in our history. Designer Norman Hartnell came up with nine ideas and she picked this one, the ninth. Its design tells us so much about her and about us as a nation at the time, and where she saw our place in the world, in terms of the different things she chose to have embroidered on that dress. "In addition to the traditional gold and white, she wanted colour, and alongside the thistle for Scotland, shamrock for Ireland, rose for England and leek for Wales, she wanted it to include the emblems of the dominions. There’s a lotus, representing India and Sri Lanka (at the time called Ceylon), yellow wattle for Australia, silver fern for New Zealand), a maple leaf for Canada, cotton and jute (Pakistan) and a pink protea flower for South Africa. "Among the three leaf clovers, Hartnell made a special addition: one four leaf clover, positioned to be just over the Queen’s hand so she could touch it for good luck when she walked down the nave of Westminster Abbey. "What struck me very forcefully was how young and slight she was when she was crowned. This dress would have been extremely heavy and she's carrying that, but it signified the weight of all our hopes and expectations at the time. That must have been on her mind when she put it on." Stamp (1967) "The profile image of Her Majesty on designer Arnold Machin’s stamp is one of the most reproduced images of all time. It’s something we all know, and we've seen more times than we could possibly count. But it never occurred to me that these might not be the Queen’s shoulders! "Machin’s first design stopped at the neck, but the Palace said they wanted her shoulders in it too. But rather than make her sit for it again, Angela Hewins, a family friend, modelled at her mum’s house with a pair of old curtains round her shoulders. What I love about that is that it's something entirely unexpected from something so utterly familiar." Infant dress (1927) "This beautiful fine cotton dress was made by Smith & Co of Sloane Street and worn by the Queen as a one-year-old. It has some beautiful detail around the waist, originally threaded by silk ribbon, and has repeated flounces of pleats around the sleeves. "It made me think about my own toddlers’ clothes, most of which were stained with carrot puree! Not this one – it remains pristine, almost a century on. There’s no remnant of mashed banana on it. I'm sure Her Majesty behaved like any other toddler, but these clothes were looked after, washed, pressed and cared for with an eye to the future as well – it’s inconceivable that any other family that would have clothes that pristine from that period of their life." Pantomime costumes from royal dressing up box (1943) "These costumes, worn by the Queen and her sister Margaret, are just extraordinary. It’s incredible that their sisters’ pantomimes only came to light when the paintings were taken down in the restoration of the Palace’s Waterloo Chamber in 2022. The conservators saw these murals behind which were the backdrop for the stage productions. "They’re two of seven surviving pantomime costumes – one from when she played Aladdin in 1943 and the other from their final performance, Old Mother Red Riding Boots. "They’re so beautifully made, and they must have had such fun wearing them. Who didn’t like dressing up when they were young? Again, these have been immaculately kept and preserved. It's a story of Palace life and life in Britain during wartime, when the paintings were taken down. Children wanted their space. They wanted their fun. And they found a way in that very special room to turn that into a children's playground. "People in the local community could buy tickets and the proceeds went towards raising funds for the war effort. They had the most extraordinary people designing the costumes and the backdrops and everything else and doing the stage production. It wasn't just the kind of thing someone might put on a village hall. It was something really special." Royal gifts "The Palace’s collection of gifts, in a rotating exhibition at Windsor Palace, says so much about the givers. In the programme, we see Barbara Hepworth’s first work in gold, presented in Truro in 1966, and a Maori Nephrite club sent as a symbol of peace and reconciliation in the Commonwealth in 1964. "There’s also this magnificent silk scarf based on a cave painting, presented to the Queen by Nelson Mandela during his state visit to the UK in 1996, not long after his release from prison. It was well reported at the time how famously they got on. "But one of the stories that sticks in my mind – and we can't say if it's absolutely true, but it's a great story – is that she was once given a crocodile that was put in a bath at the Palace while they worked out where on earth it was going to end up. It was safely dispatched to a zoo in the end!" State occasion dresses (1970s, 1980s) "These were both made by Ian Thomas, who had trained with Norman Hartnell. There’s an elegant dress worn on evening occasions on foreign tours on the royal yacht Britannia and the pink one was worn in 1986 during her historic state visit to China. "They emanate diplomacy through the embroidery and the material. As with the Coronation dress, she's trying to merge both the woman who was wearing it and had to be comfortable in it while sending a message about being a head of state just by her very presence. "There was a lot of soft power in the way she dressed; she reflected and flattered the country she was visiting. You can't fail to be struck by that. They are constructed so meticulously – the 1986 dress has a spray of Chinese tree peony, a national symbol and a symbol of long life and prosperity." Rocking horse, 2016 "Burmese, the Queen’s favourite horse, was given to her by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1969. This wooden replica was made for her 90th birthday and has this delightful secret compartment hidden in its bottom. A drawer pops out with a maple leaf on it to symbolise Canada, and inside there was originally a bottle of maple syrup. "A rocking horse is just a small token, reflecting how important horses were to the Queen. When I was covering her funeral for the BBC, the man who was responsible for her horses came past where we were and said that he was going to take a black pony that she rode right up to the end of her life down Windsor, past Green Park and stand there as a funeral procession passed, and sure enough, that's exactly what he did. It was an incredibly moving moment. As someone who loves horses myself, I totally get that." Antiques Roadshow special Remembering Queen Elizabeth II airs on Sunday 19 April at 8pm on BBC One. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s adorable orange dragon takes flight in a new series.
The animated adaptations of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s children’s books by Magic Light Pictures for the BBC have become a Christmas institution, with 13 to date and at least two more due over the next two years. But one in particular holds a special place in producer Vici King’s affections. “My middle son was nervous starting school and would bring Zog home with him each week,” she recalls. “The book spoke directly to him. Like Zog, he wasn’t necessarily the best at things, but he kept trying. Zog gave him confidence to be braver, to be himself.” Now, the orange dragon is the first of Donaldson and Scheffler’s characters to land its own spin-off series, alongside friends Pearl and Gadabout. Donaldson was initially reluctant but gave her blessing after sensing a particularly emotional response to the second Zog special, 2020’s Zog and the Flying Doctors. “We felt it had an important place in children’s lives during the pandemic, with this trio of misfits caring for one another,” says King. With a 52-episode order from CBeebies, the team expanded Zog’s world with a mix of comedic, dramatic, domestic and adventurous stories, guided by Donaldson’s request that it should not shy away from the fact that the world can sometimes be a risky place. “These books don’t speak down to children – they look directly into their eyes,” says King. “Axel’s artwork has bright colours, but it’s not sanitised. You have to sit with difficult feelings. Our series deals with things going wrong in that same joyful way.” The 10-minute episodes are faster paced than the lushly languorous specials, but still slower than a typical pre-school animated series. “It’s about finding the space to watch the characters thinking things through or feeling something.” Animators make the characters “sing”, King says. “It’s an extremely technical job, but they’re also making us believe these models are real. Zog feels like a complete person to me: he’s empathetic and lets his emotions be seen and felt. It’s our motto: ‘Be more Zog!’” Zog begins on CBeebies next month
The Shrinking star on getting high-fived by Harrison Ford, and why therapy is a workout for your feelings
Add Shrinking to your watchlist From Forgetting Sarah Marshall to The Muppets, Jason Segel has played his fair share of wounded males. In Apple’s comedy drama Shrinking, he’s Jimmy Laird, a therapist with more than a few struggles of his own. On-screen, we’ve seen Jimmy befriend the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife (played by co-creator Brett Goldstein) while watching Parkinson’s weaken his colleague Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford). But as series three comes to a close, what do real therapists make of his methods? You’ve said series one of Shrinking was about grief and series two concerned forgiveness. As series three comes to an end, what would you say the theme is? He’s got out of the hole, he’s cleaned up the wreckage and now he’s moving forward, restarting life at 45. In my experience, picking up after a life event is much clumsier than you anticipate. You look in the mirror, you say you’re ready for that first date, then you go out and it’s a disaster. One potential future explored is with Sofi, played by your How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders. What was it like to reunite on screen? We were just kids when we started on that show – she was 23 and I was 25 – and I’d always wanted to do more with her because our storylines didn’t overlap very often. The role wasn’t written with Cobie in mind, but I had a sense that because of our shared history, it would feel that, despite having just met, Jimmy and Sofi could be soulmates. Our scenes were fun and meaningful, too – standing across from her 20 years since we met and thinking, “Hey, we’re still here.” Do you still pinch yourself to be acting opposite Harrison Ford? When you start acting at 16, you learn it’s a pretty emotionally confusing business. When Harrison high-fived me for doing a great job, it felt like I’d exhaled for the first time in 25 years. It’s all worked out! Doing a scene as an equal with someone you’ve always admired – not because you’ve won a contest – you feel very lucky. And now you’ve also had Michael J Fox on the show, his first acting role in five years. How did that come about? Michael and Bill Lawrence [Shrinking’s co-creator] are old friends since they made Spin City in the 90s. Bill’s watched Michael go through his Parkinson’s journey and Michael, who’s been really generous in advising on the storyline, said he was ready to do a part on-screen. I only got to do one scene with him but it was an honour to act alongside another idol of mine. How important was it to incorporate Michael’s authentic experience into the Parkinson’s storyline? When you’re tackling real issues, you have a responsibility to do it well; we also have therapist advisers on the show. To have someone on-screen who’s going through what Harrison’s character Paul is going through feels like a nod of approval that we’re handling it well. Jimmy gets quite direct with his patients. What do therapists say to you about how you present their profession? They always say it’s wish-fulfilment! You’re sitting there knowing exactly what the person should do but you’re advised not to tell them. If you were their friend, you would. I think it’s been liberating for them to see a therapist tell someone to end their misery. Why do you think the UK’s traditionally had a bit of a stigma about therapy, seeing it as quite an American thing? I can imagine some Brits thinking it’s a self-indulgent endeavour – which it is, you’re literally talking about yourself! But a personal trainer isn’t seen as self-indulgent and I don’t see the difference between what they do. Perhaps it’s just a mentality shift. All of us need help. Do you feel it’s important to depict men’s vulnerabilities on TV? Throughout your life, you’ll be presented with a bunch of s**t that you don’t know how to handle. Art is designed to help you make sense of love, grief, ageing, all these things. The only way you make sense of it is to talk about it. Dealing with it alone makes life so much harder than it has to be. The second I started talking to my friends, especially male friends, about how tricky life can be, I realised it’s like that for everyone. How much of you is Jimmy and vice versa? My characters are all me but with Jimmy, the Venn diagram overlaps a lot, partly because I created him from scratch. The parts I tend to play are a surrogate for the viewer. That’s the role I tend to get. As a writer and actor with a hit show on a big streamer, how much attention do you pay to shifts in the industry like Paramount buying Warner Bros? The more I try to be strategic, the worse my writing is. I’ve learnt to be as unsavvy as I can about what might sell, what’s happening in the industry, what is or isn’t working. I live on farmland and I try to try to write something good enough that someone wants to make. You’ll always be behind if you’re just paying attention to what’s working. I’d rather be the person who has to convince someone it’ll work. Robin Parker
John Morton never imagined his creation Ian Fletcher would still be failing upwards, 15 years after making his debut
Add Twenty Twenty Six to your watchlist John Morton is musing on Ian Fletcher’s latest career move. “It wasn’t a plan to do W1A when I was doing Twenty Twelve, and I never thought after W1A that I’d be sitting here having written another iteration of it.” Yet here we are in Twenty Twenty Six: 15 years since first gracing our screens, Fletcher – a role so comfortably inhabited by Hugh Bonneville that he’s practically sewn into his suit – is back, and equally baffled at how he’s ended up in Miami as director of integrity in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, leading a new crop of faces in the strategic operations group. “I wanted to show a side of Ian at the beginning of this series that you haven’t seen before – the first day of big school, asking: ‘Where do I sit?’, ‘Who can I trust?’,” says Morton. He’s also keen to show how the escalation of 24-hour social media has transformed Fletcher’s role over the years. “You’re in constant damage-limitation mode and can never stay ahead of the narrative. You see it in any public-facing organisation, in politics, even as a headmaster: something happens, you can’t sleep on it.” Fish out of water he might be, but at his core, Fletcher’s still a man trying to do the right thing. “Planning the World Cup is the most ludicrous setting in which to try to do that, with a much more disparate group of people than we’ve seen him with before.” Morton characterises Fletcher as “a subset of a kind of Britishness – a sort of BBC-ness, funnily enough”. Which begs the question: nine years after W1A, doesn’t Ian – and Morton – have unfinished business with the corporation? In the run-up to licence-fee renewal, as it lumbers from one self-inflicted crisis to another, whether tying itself in knots over Gaza or triggering a lawsuit from the US President, why not just return Fletcher to Broadcasting House for more chaos? “I can’t quite remember why W1A came to an end, but there’s a finite number of shapes you can make with any raw materials,” he reflects, stressing that none of his series are constructed as a takedown of any institution. He wants to shine a light on flawed people trying to do their best – which is an apt description of the BBC, particularly when it becomes the story. “Every institution has its faults, and one thing I admire about the BBC is that it airs its faults better than anybody else, and continues to do so. They’re one of the best things about us as a nation.” Whatever the setting, human foibles and the “small p” politics of the workplace are Morton’s thing. He admits he’s “not temperamentally suited” to savage satire: for example, President Trump barely warrants a mention in Twenty Twenty Six. “This is, for better or worse, kinder than that. It sits in a very close parallel universe to the real world.” His golden rule for mentioning real-world figures is that nothing his characters say about them can be true, leading to deliciously absurd lines in David Tennant’s narration – such as Selena Gomez attending a photoshoot “for the launch of her new range of opinions”. Similarly, while Morton spent a couple of weeks in Chicago and Miami talking to people involved in US soccer, he declined to use any of their stories to avoid inviting direct comparisons. He has harboured a great many trade secrets and insights over the years, but only one detail consciously made its way into his work. When he learned that Olympics executives arrived at work on folding bikes but couldn’t fold them up, it was too irresistible not to use for Fletcher. “I like listening to people, but I hardly ever write a phrase down,” he says. “I prefer to immerse myself. I might watch five minutes of a Miami news channel to get into the zone, but I wouldn’t dignify that by calling it research.” It’s inescapable that in tying the series to a single event that takes place weeks after it airs, Morton’s created a premise that can’t sustain a second series. Where could Fletcher end up next? “People keep pointing out that the Olympics go to Los Angeles in 2028,” he says. “I’m loyal to the characters and the actors, but this has been two and a half years of my life, flat out, absolutely pedal to the metal. I’m so slow as a writer. Olympic rower Steve Redgrave once said after winning a gold medal, ‘If anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you’ve got my permission to shoot me’. That’s currently, how I feel.”
Tim Peake and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock argue Artemis II launch to the Moon is "stepping stone to Mars"
As NASA returns humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972, experts say Artemis II could mark the beginning of long-term life beyond Earth.
The prospect of a permanent lunar base comes one step closer today, with NASA launching the first manned Moon mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. For Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock – a self-confessed 'lunatic' born a year before Neil Armstrong made history – Artemis II’s voyage to the far side of the Moon can’t come soon enough. "My retirement plan is to have an optical telescope on the lunar surface," says the space scientist and Sky at Night presenter. "We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, and now there’s talk of a lunar gateway, the capability of refuelling vessels in orbit around the Moon; it feels as if it’s coming together." British astronaut Tim Peake is similarly excited: "This is the start of the human journey to spend extended periods of time on another celestial body, and a stepping stone to Mars." The pair, with US journalist Kristin Fisher, are tracking Artemis II’s ten-day mission in live daily dispatches of their BBC World Service space history podcast 13 Minutes. The latest series, which kicked off on Monday and is due to wrap up the day after the crew returns, digs deep into the science behind the mission to understand its role in paving the way for a lunar base. "Having looked retrospectively at key events in space history, it’s exciting to be doing something in real time," says Dame Maggie. While the crew won’t set foot on the surface, they will travel several thousand miles beyond the Moon – further than anyone before them. But technical difficulties have forced NASA to postpone Artemis II twice from its original February launch. Now it’s added an extra mission next year, to practise docking with a lunar lander, before humans next step onto the Moon with potentially two landings in 2028. Irrespective of the stress of the delays, can anything really prepare the crews of this and subsequent missions for the experience? "You can learn the nuts and bolts, but nothing can prepare you for the view or the weightlessness,” says Peake. “Burning those engines and heading off to the Moon, watching Earth disappear to a thumbnail in the window, is mentally another order of magnitude." Among Artemis II’s crew are the first lunar non-white astronaut, the first woman and the first non-American (a Canadian, at a time when the distinction between the neighbouring nations feels wider than ever). "The 12 people who’ve landed on the Moon have all been white American guys, which seems like a very narrow band of people," says Dame Maggie. "As a child, I thought I had to become a fighter pilot to stand a chance, but the younger generation can see this is potentially for everyone. "I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere, but when you see our planet from space, you don’t see borders. The world feels fractured right now, and it’s lovely to see the European Space Agency collaborating with the US and Canada. The images of our planet will reflect the work that’s been done to get people out there." From impact craters to solar flares and ancient lava flows, we’ve learnt a lot more about the Moon in the past half-century. The surface is essentially "a four-billion-year-old museum, a pristine repository of what Earth used to be like," says Peake. Artemis represents the most sustained approach yet to establishing a staging post to the solar system, a world away from what Dame Maggie calls the “sabre-rattling” one-upmanship of the early space race. Yet its journey over the past quarter-century, through successive US presidents with wildly contrasting agendas, has not been plain sailing. Peake highlights that around 0.5% of US GDP goes into space research, down from 5% in the Apollo era, while Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have skewed the public’s perception of space exploration as a “billionaires’ playground” rather than a scientific endeavour. "The involvement of commercial companies is nothing new, but there haven’t always been such large personalities attached to them," he notes. Dame Maggie, meanwhile, confesses she’s "a little scared" about the risks involved. "As we take these first wobbly steps into space and further into the solar system, we must get it right, in the name of all humanity. It’s not just for the great and the good, it’s for everybody. The wrong mindset could lead to disaster later." For Musk in particular, Mars is the prize. While Peake predicts crews will routinely spend six months on the Moon within a decade, he reckons that once the red planet becomes a viable destination, it will forever change how humans deal with the psychological impact of space. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2026/04/artemis-launchpad-380254a.jpg" width="4000" height="1789" alt="NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen as it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B, Friday, March 20, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida." title="NASA Rolls Out Artemis II Rocket To Its Launchpad" /> "When you watch Earth disappear until it's no brighter than an ordinary star in the night sky, and you're committed to a three-year mission, that's a quantum leap." A decade on from his spacewalk, Peake is technically a retired astronaut, though a return to the International Space Station could be on the cards. Could he see himself working on the Moon? "I’d love to – I don't think it will be too challenging: the Earth is still there in your view, which would ground you while you’re living on another celestial spot." So, as he watches the flight from his home, is he not a tiny bit... jealous? He laughs. "I guarantee that every single astronaut who isn’t on that rocket envies that crew. A lunar mission is the highlight of any astronaut’s mission. It’s what we live and work for – and dream about." Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Tim Peake feature in the BBC World Service 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II podcast, available every day throughout the mission. To find out what's on TV visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
W1A and Twenty Twelve creator takes us behind the pen on his all-new series Twenty Twenty Six
John Morton never imagined his creation Ian Fletcher would still be failing upwards, 15 years after making his debut.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. John Morton is musing on Ian Fletcher’s latest career move. “It wasn’t a plan to do W1A when I was doing Twenty Twelve, and I never thought after W1A that I’d be sitting here having written another iteration of it.” Yet here we are in Twenty Twenty Six: 15 years since first gracing our screens, Fletcher – a role so comfortably inhabited by Hugh Bonneville that he’s practically sewn into his suit – is back, and equally baffled at how he’s ended up in Miami as director of integrity in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, leading a new crop of faces in the strategic operations group. “I wanted to show a side of Ian at the beginning of this series that you haven’t seen before – the first day of big school, asking: ‘Where do I sit?’, ‘Who can I trust?’,” says Morton. He’s also keen to show how the escalation of 24-hour social media has transformed Fletcher’s role over the years. “You’re in constant damage-limitation mode and can never stay ahead of the narrative. You see it in any public-facing organisation, in politics, even as a headmaster: something happens, you can’t sleep on it.” Fish out of water he might be, but at his core, Fletcher’s still a man trying to do the right thing. “Planning the World Cup is the most ludicrous setting in which to try to do that, with a much more disparate group of people than we’ve seen him with before.” Morton characterises Fletcher as “a subset of a kind of Britishness – a sort of BBC-ness, funnily enough”. Which begs the question: nine years after W1A, doesn’t Ian – and Morton – have unfinished business with the corporation? In the run-up to licence-fee renewal, as it lumbers from one self-inflicted crisis to another, whether tying itself in knots over Gaza or triggering a lawsuit from the US President, why not just return Fletcher to Broadcasting House for more chaos? “I can’t quite remember why W1A came to an end, but there’s a finite number of shapes you can make with any raw materials,” he reflects, stressing that none of his series are constructed as a takedown of any institution. He wants to shine a light on flawed people trying to do their best – which is an apt description of the BBC, particularly when it becomes the story. “Every institution has its faults, and one thing I admire about the BBC is that it airs its faults better than anybody else, and continues to do so. They’re one of the best things about us as a nation.” Whatever the setting, human foibles and the “small p” politics of the workplace are Morton’s thing. He admits he’s “not temperamentally suited” to savage satire: for example, President Trump barely warrants a mention in Twenty Twenty Six. “This is, for better or worse, kinder than that. It sits in a very close parallel universe to the real world.” His golden rule for mentioning real-world figures is that nothing his characters say about them can be true, leading to deliciously absurd lines in David Tennant’s narration – such as Selena Gomez attending a photoshoot “for the launch of her new range of opinions”. Similarly, while Morton spent a couple of weeks in Chicago and Miami talking to people involved in US soccer, he declined to use any of their stories to avoid inviting direct comparisons. He has harboured a great many trade secrets and insights over the years, but only one detail consciously made its way into his work. When he learned that Olympics executives arrived at work on folding bikes but couldn’t fold them up, it was too irresistible not to use for Fletcher. “I like listening to people, but I hardly ever write a phrase down,” he says. “I prefer to immerse myself. I might watch five minutes of a Miami news channel to get into the zone, but I wouldn’t dignify that by calling it research.” It’s inescapable that in tying the series to a single event that takes place weeks after it airs, Morton’s created a premise that can’t sustain a second series. Where could Fletcher end up next? “People keep pointing out that the Olympics go to Los Angeles in 2028,” he says. “I’m loyal to the characters and the actors, but this has been two and a half years of my life, flat out, absolutely pedal to the metal. I’m so slow as a writer. Olympic rower Steve Redgrave once said after winning a gold medal, ‘If anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you’ve got my permission to shoot me’. That’s currently, how I feel.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Twenty Twenty Six begins on Wednesday 8 April at 10pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. Add Twenty Twenty Six to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Shrinking's Jason Segel reveals how Michael J Fox joined the show and how they worked on "authentic" Parkinson's storyline
The Shrinking star on getting high-fived by Harrison Ford, and why therapy is a workout for your feelings.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. From Forgetting Sarah Marshall to The Muppets, Jason Segel has played his fair share of wounded males. In Apple’s comedy drama Shrinking, he’s Jimmy Laird, a therapist with more than a few struggles of his own. On-screen, we’ve seen Jimmy befriend the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife (played by co-creator Brett Goldstein) while watching Parkinson’s weaken his colleague Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford). But as series three comes to a close, what do real therapists make of his methods? You’ve said series one of Shrinking was about grief and series two concerned forgiveness. As series three comes to an end, what would you say the theme is? He’s got out of the hole, he’s cleaned up the wreckage and now he’s moving forward, restarting life at 45. In my experience, picking up after a life event is much clumsier than you anticipate. You look in the mirror, you say you’re ready for that first date, then you go out and it’s a disaster. One potential future explored is with Sofi, played by your How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders. What was it like to reunite on screen? We were just kids when we started on that show – she was 23 and I was 25 – and I’d always wanted to do more with her because our storylines didn’t overlap very often. The role wasn’t written with Cobie in mind, but I had a sense that because of our shared history, it would feel that, despite having just met, Jimmy and Sofi could be soulmates. Our scenes were fun and meaningful, too – standing across from her 20 years since we met and thinking, “Hey, we’re still here.” Do you still pinch yourself to be acting opposite Harrison Ford? When you start acting at 16, you learn it’s a pretty emotionally confusing business. When Harrison high-fived me for doing a great job, it felt like I’d exhaled for the first time in 25 years. It’s all worked out! Doing a scene as an equal with someone you’ve always admired – not because you’ve won a contest – you feel very lucky. And now you’ve also had Michael J Fox on the show, his first acting role in five years. How did that come about? Michael and Bill Lawrence [Shrinking’s co-creator] are old friends since they made Spin City in the 90s. Bill’s watched Michael go through his Parkinson’s journey and Michael, who’s been really generous in advising on the storyline, said he was ready to do a part on-screen. I only got to do one scene with him but it was an honour to act alongside another idol of mine. How important was it to incorporate Michael’s authentic experience into the Parkinson’s storyline? When you’re tackling real issues, you have a responsibility to do it well; we also have therapist advisers on the show. To have someone on-screen who’s going through what Harrison’s character Paul is going through feels like a nod of approval that we’re handling it well. Jimmy gets quite direct with his patients. What do therapists say to you about how you present their profession? They always say it’s wish-fulfilment! You’re sitting there knowing exactly what the person should do but you’re advised not to tell them. If you were their friend, you would. I think it’s been liberating for them to see a therapist tell someone to end their misery. Why do you think the UK’s traditionally had a bit of a stigma about therapy, seeing it as quite an American thing? I can imagine some Brits thinking it’s a self-indulgent endeavour – which it is, you’re literally talking about yourself! But a personal trainer isn’t seen as self-indulgent and I don’t see the difference between what they do. Perhaps it’s just a mentality shift. All of us need help. Do you feel it’s important to depict men’s vulnerabilities on TV? Throughout your life, you’ll be presented with a bunch of s**t that you don’t know how to handle. Art is designed to help you make sense of love, grief, ageing, all these things. The only way you make sense of it is to talk about it. Dealing with it alone makes life so much harder than it has to be. The second I started talking to my friends, especially male friends, about how tricky life can be, I realised it’s like that for everyone. How much of you is Jimmy and vice versa? My characters are all me but with Jimmy, the Venn diagram overlaps a lot, partly because I created him from scratch. The parts I tend to play are a surrogate for the viewer. That’s the role I tend to get. As a writer and actor with a hit show on a big streamer, how much attention do you pay to shifts in the industry like Paramount buying Warner Bros? The more I try to be strategic, the worse my writing is. I’ve learnt to be as unsavvy as I can about what might sell, what’s happening in the industry, what is or isn’t working. I live on farmland and I try to try to write something good enough that someone wants to make. You’ll always be behind if you’re just paying attention to what’s working. I’d rather be the person who has to convince someone it’ll work. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The actor/writer on turning detective — and where Daisy from Spaced is now
Add Patience to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? Just a TV on a table in the corner of our pretty standard front room. My husband [sculptor Adam Hynes] and I watch together – our tastes are similar – and our dog often comes in for a snuggle. What have you enjoyed watching lately? Down Cemetery Road, Hacks and Pluribus. I’ll give anything a chance – I love the TV medium and every genre. But if I get bored, I’ll just turn off and read a book instead. Do you like the fact that all those shows are released weekly, or do you crave a binge? With Pluribus, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about where [writer] Vince Gilligan is taking us. Every time we watch a new episode, we’re like, “Oh, is it about this now?” To be watching a series from someone who’s made arguably some of the best TV ever, episodically, every week, is a treat. They’re all scripted shows — as a writer as well as an actor, do you find yourself assessing the script as you watch it? That’s part of the fun! Even as a child, I was interested in how a story was constructed, then I’d deconstruct it in my head and put it back together again. It’s how Spaced came about – that urge to understand how it’s all put together. This year marks 25 years since we last saw you and Simon Pegg in Spaced. Do you ever imagine what your characters, Daisy and Tim, would be up to now? Oh, yes. Daisy published a book, Meet Me, Don’t Tweet Me, which failed because it came out just before Twitter became X, and she recently joined YouTube with 432 followers. Tim’s comic-book series nearly made it to the big screen but failed as he refused to compromise on his central character’s atheism. They share one child, Petunia, who’s awaiting trial for assaulting a police officer. What comedy are you enjoying now? A lot of my comedy appetite is satisfied through podcasts and stand-up. I’m a big fan of Bob Mortimer’s podcast Athletico Mince. I’d certainly watch that if it was a TV show. I love to watch old comedy online and then find suggestions for new comics that way. I’ll definitely be watching Jayde Adams’s new special. You’re playing DI Frankie Monroe in Patience. There’s a lot of crime drama on TV. What makes this one stand out? [Autistic police archivist] Patience Evans is a unique central character – and Ella Maisy Purvis, who plays her, is a brilliant young woman. The show has a strong sense of style. I like the way the puzzle is a big part of the show – it’s as much about the audience trying to solve it before we do. It emphasises being fun and entertaining while delivering a satisfying case. Are you a fan of the genre? I’m a longstanding fan of Law & Order and my favourite detective is Columbo: flawed, but with an unwavering moral compass. How does DI Monroe compare? Unlike her predecessor [DI Bea Metcalf, played by Laura Fraser], Frankie isn’t instantly OK with Patience helping on the cases. She’s concerned for her safety and keen to follow protocol. Patience just wants to help but Frankie firmly lets her know that she’s not happy about it. What’s it like playing your first copper? It’s not like anything I’ve done before. I’ve never done any procedural crime drama, I’ve never played a detective. I don’t think I’ve ever played a stern, grumpy character! It was a bit overwhelming, but that’s part of the appeal. I also loved filming in York. I did Blithe Spirit at the West Yorkshire Playhouse a long time ago, living in digs for six months. I love the city. When this case is closed, what’s next? Miss Austen Returns for the BBC. I also did a short film after someone sent me a script for it, so I’m waiting to find out when that’s coming out. I’m always thinking about finding something else to write, too.
Patience star Jessica Hynes reveals what she thinks to Daisy and Tim from Spaced 25 years on – and why DI Monroe is nothing like DI Metcalf
The actor/writer on turning detective – and where Daisy from Spaced is now.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? Just a TV on a table in the corner of our pretty standard front room. My husband [sculptor Adam Hynes] and I watch together – our tastes are similar – and our dog often comes in for a snuggle. What have you enjoyed watching lately? Down Cemetery Road, Hacks and Pluribus. I’ll give anything a chance – I love the TV medium and every genre. But if I get bored, I’ll just turn off and read a book instead. Do you like the fact that all those shows are released weekly, or do you crave a binge? With Pluribus, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about where [writer] Vince Gilligan is taking us. Every time we watch a new episode, we’re like, “Oh, is it about this now?” To be watching a series from someone who’s made arguably some of the best TV ever, episodically, every week, is a treat. They’re all scripted shows – as a writer as well as an actor, do you find yourself assessing the script as you watch it? That’s part of the fun! Even as a child, I was interested in how a story was constructed, then I’d deconstruct it in my head and put it back together again. It’s how Spaced came about – that urge to understand how it’s all put together. This year marks 25 years since we last saw you and Simon Pegg in Spaced. Do you ever imagine what your characters, Daisy and Tim, would be up to now? Oh, yes. Daisy published a book, Meet Me, Don’t Tweet Me, which failed because it came out just before Twitter became X, and she recently joined YouTube with 432 followers. Tim’s comic-book series nearly made it to the big screen but failed as he refused to compromise on his central character’s atheism. They share one child, Petunia, who’s awaiting trial for assaulting a police officer. What comedy are you enjoying now? A lot of my comedy appetite is satisfied through podcasts and stand-up. I’m a big fan of Bob Mortimer’s podcast Athletico Mince. I’d certainly watch that if it was a TV show. I love to watch old comedy online and then find suggestions for new comics that way. I’ll definitely be watching Jayde Adams’s new special. You’re playing DI Frankie Monroe in Patience. There’s a lot of crime drama on TV. What makes this one stand out? [Autistic police archivist] Patience Evans is a unique central character – and Ella Maisy Purvis, who plays her, is a brilliant young woman. The show has a strong sense of style. I like the way the puzzle is a big part of the show – it’s as much about the audience trying to solve it before we do. It emphasises being fun and entertaining while delivering a satisfying case. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/78256S2-Embargoed-0001-Tuesday-25th-November-Patience-Series-2-First-Look-3-eb455c6.jpg" width="7681" height="5095" alt="Detective Frankie Monroe (Jessica Hynes) and Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis); they are photographed standing against a red brick wall, with York Minster in the distance behind them" title="Patience - Series 2" /> Are you a fan of the genre? I’m a longstanding fan of Law & Order and my favourite detective is Columbo: flawed, but with an unwavering moral compass. How does DI Monroe compare? Unlike her predecessor [DI Bea Metcalf, played by Laura Fraser], Frankie isn’t instantly OK with Patience helping on the cases. She’s concerned for her safety and keen to follow protocol. Patience just wants to help but Frankie firmly lets her know that she’s not happy about it. What’s it like playing your first copper? It’s not like anything I’ve done before. I’ve never done any procedural crime drama, I’ve never played a detective. I don’t think I’ve ever played a stern, grumpy character! It was a bit overwhelming, but that’s part of the appeal. I also loved filming in York. I did Blithe Spirit at the West Yorkshire Playhouse a long time ago, living in digs for six months. I love the city. When this case is closed, what’s next? Miss Austen Returns for the BBC. I also did a short film after someone sent me a script for it, so I’m waiting to find out when that’s coming out. I’m always thinking about finding something else to write, too. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now - subscribe here. Patience season 2 is available now on Channel 4. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan has always dreamt of living among wild horses. Three decades into his film-making career, he’s finally seized the chance in Canada’s Rocky Mountains.
Wild Horses, the Rockies and Me is on 21 December 7.00pm BBC Tw0. Add it to your watchlist What first sparked your interest in horses? They were my life from age 11 to 16. I struggled at school — I’m fairly sure I’m dyslexic — and home life was difficult, as my stepfather was violent. When I started going pony trekking, and then on to bigger horses, it gave me a sense of confidence. It’s a more straightforward relationship than with humans: horses can sense joy and sadness in each other and in people. That’s why they’re used as therapy animals. This was your first time with wild horses — did they surpass your expectations? Yes. The adversity of the Rockies has shaped them into the most explosively dynamic species I’ve spent time with — they’re robust, strong and fast. What did you have to do in order to gain the herd’s acceptance? It was hard to build harmony. The first time they laid eyes on me, they ran away! I found I was trying to perceive myself as they would see me, and to mimic their behaviour. From watching at a distance to gradually being circled at the heart of the family group is magical. At the start, I’d thought that to get within 20 metres would be a reasonable climax to the film; to be able to touch one was extraordinary. How did the experience change you? Being with horses reminds you of the importance of empathy. They were the first animals that taught me how to trust, and it recaptured something I hadn’t felt since I was a child. Often when I finish a project, I think I’d like to go back; never has this been more the case. I’ll have to come up with an excuse to return.
Helen Mirren has a very special musical request for the Repair Shop team
The Repair Shop at Christmas is on Boxing Day 7.30pm BBC One. Add it to your watchlust Dame Helen Mirren is a huge fan of The Repair Shop. “It’s heart-warming and brings such positivity in what sometimes is a very negative world,” she says before arriving at the barn with a cello that had belonged to her late friend, the theatre impresario Martin Landau. It was broken by Nazi guards when he fled to Britain, aged 14, on the Kindertransport. Even though its neck had been snapped in two, Landau looked after the cello before gifting it to Denville Hall, a care home Dame Helen supports, for those who worked in the entertainment industries. Luthier Becky Houghton explains how she got the instrument singing again. How was the cello when you received it? My heart sank. It’s a beautiful piece of wood, made in the early 1800s, but it had no neck and everything was coming apart. It was paint- and plaster-splattered, dry and brittle. I opened up the front and there were cracks everywhere, and everything needed glueing. The button connecting the neck to the back had snapped off. It was a scary repair. Did you feel emotional repairing it? Wood is such a tactile material, it seems to soak up things. I could feel that it needed some TLC to bring it back again. It’s the hardest repair I’ve done. I ate, slept, lived, breathed the cello, staying up until 2am. There was no way I wasn’t going to fix it. What was Dame Helen’s reaction when she came to collect it? She was amazed at how beautiful the barn looks and she greeted this cello like it was an old friend. It was so emotional. It was lovely to surprise her by having cellist Raphael Wallfisch come to the barn to play it. How did it feel to hear it played? I was nervous, but it just sang. You don’t know if you’ve done the job right until the instrument is played — and I can’t play cello. If I hadn’t repaired every crack properly, it would have buzzed. I looked at it not only with a sense of relief, but absolute achievement — and joy.
The Repair Shop star reveals what happened when Helen Mirren stepped into the show for a heartwarming reason
Dame Helen Mirren’s treasured cello, damaged during the Kindertransport, is lovingly restored by The Repair Shop's Becky Houghton.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Dame Helen Mirren is a huge fan of The Repair Shop. “It’s heart-warming and brings such positivity in what sometimes is a very negative world,” she says before arriving at the barn with a cello that had belonged to her late friend, the theatre impresario Martin Landau. It was broken by Nazi guards when he fled to Britain, aged 14, on the Kindertransport. Even though its neck had been snapped in two, Landau looked after the cello before gifting it to Denville Hall, a care home Dame Helen supports, for those who worked in the entertainment industries. Luthier Becky Houghton explains how she got the instrument singing again. How was the cello when you received it? My heart sank. It’s a beautiful piece of wood, made in the early 1800s, but it had no neck and everything was coming apart. It was paint- and plaster-splattered, dry and brittle. I opened up the front and there were cracks everywhere, and everything needed glueing. The button connecting the neck to the back had snapped off. It was a scary repair. Did you feel emotional repairing it? Wood is such a tactile material, it seems to soak up things. I could feel that it needed some TLC to bring it back again. It’s the hardest repair I’ve done. I ate, slept, lived, breathed the cello, staying up until 2am. There was no way I wasn’t going to fix it. What was Dame Helen’s reaction when she came to collect it? She was amazed at how beautiful the barn looks and she greeted this cello like it was an old friend. It was so emotional. It was lovely to surprise her by having cellist Raphael Wallfisch come to the barn to play it. How did it feel to hear it played? I was nervous, but it just sang. You don’t know if you’ve done the job right until the instrument is played — and I can’t play cello. If I hadn’t repaired every crack properly, it would have buzzed. I looked at it not only with a sense of relief, but absolute achievement — and joy. Read our guide to the best Christmas TV for 2025 The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. The Repair Shop at Christmas will air on BBC One and iPlayer on Boxing Day at 7:30pm. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
From the comedy circuit to the wrestling ring – Phil Wang takes on Ed Gamble in a fight for glory. But how do the two stages compare?
Add Clash of the Comics to your watchlist For comedy fans, it was the grudge match they’d been waiting for as two titans of the UK scene faced off in front of a 3,000-strong crowd at the Hammersmith Apollo in London last month. But the night, billed Clash of the Comics, was not the verbal jousting of a stand-up roast battle: the usually mild-mannered Phil “Kill” Wang was defending his title as British comedy’s top wrestler against Ed “the Gambler” Gamble. “It was my lifelong dream to be a professional wrestler,” says 35-year-old Wang, who grew up in Borneo watching international stars of the sport like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, “The Rock” and Japan’s “Último Dragón”, and then imitating their moves in the school playground. “I never liked boxing, but this sort of performative fighting, where each character has their own special moves, was like playing the video game Street Fighter.” Out of fashion with mainstream broadcasters, wrestling’s golden era might be a distant memory for fans of 80s colossi like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, but there remains a thriving scene on both sides of the Atlantic with millions of ardent fans, Wang among them. As well as the main event, contemporary wrestlers like “Bullit” and Nina Samuels rub up against the likes of Maisie Adam, Rosie Jones and Max Fosh in the show, while James Acaster takes on The Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler. Wrestler-turned-comedian Max Olesker and his double-act partner Ivan Gonzalez first persuaded pals to enter the ring at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011. While he and Gamble are huge wrestling fans, Wang’s not surprised that their peers have taken to it so readily. “It’s basically a violent panto,” he explains. “Wrestlers and comics have strikingly similar lives, touring our respective circuits with our own routines. They call their moves ‘spots’, which we’d call ‘bits’. They’ll run through a sequence of spots that make up a match, saving the biggest ones to the end, just like we might do with our biggest jokes. You’re building the audience up to hopefully some big, cathartic, explosive moments.” The difference being that unlike in his debut fight against Gamble back in 2023, Wang probably wouldn’t crash through a table in the middle of his touring show. But did he worry that the professionals might object to a bunch of clowns muscling in on their turf? “It’s a learnt craft but it’s not taken very seriously,” says Wang, who adds he’s learnt a lot about the art of public performance from trying to deliver fourth wall-breaking, self-referential humour while landing the perfect move. “Everyone’s in on the joke.” For all the tongue-in-cheek bravado on display, it’s not about being competitive. “It’s not up to you whether you win or not. We want to put on the best show and pull off the coolest moves.” Wang remembers learning a move called a hurricanerana, which involves getting up on your rival’s shoulders with your legs, flipping backwards and throwing them down. “I suggested that as a joke, because I’m such a big guy, and Max said, ‘Right, you’re doing it!’” After being put through their paces by pros at a wrestling school in south London, Wang and Gamble built up their routine with Max and Ivan: “They’d ask what moves we’ve always liked, what the set pieces would be and how we’d get there. We’d get on our feet in the ring and mess about – ‘Maybe it’d be good if you chop me here?’; ‘Here, I’m going to twist your nipples…’” On the night, there are no rehearsals. “The professionals told us there’s no point practising, because you’ll just use up what’s in the tank.” Wang says the nerves were overwhelming, closer to the high wire of improvisation than traditional stand-up. “As an experienced comedian, you still get butterflies before a show, but you don’t get that adrenaline-pumping fear of your first gigs. Here you have that, with the added bonus of thinking in the back of your mind: ‘I hope I don’t break my arm.’” The comics inevitably took the odd bump – but, he says, the pain never strikes where you’d expect it to. “The previous show, I was practising a drop kick and whacked a bone in my foot, and that hurt for months. Run up against a rope too hard and you can have bruised vertebrae for weeks, but going through a table feels fantastic.” (Don’t try this at home, kids.) But Wang almost came a cropper, thanks to his costume, a remodelled version of the notoriously tight Bruce Lee tribute yellow jumpsuit he wore on Taskmaster, which left little to the imagination. “It turns out having frills down the side of the arms isn’t practical when you’re fighting, because you keep getting caught on them, kneeling on them and stumbling over them.” Would he bring it out of the wardrobe for a rematch with Gamble? “I’m always up for another wrestling show, though recovery takes longer as I get older. I hope this finds an audience on TV – it’s a big, fun format, and an all-star comedy thing feels quite special. You don’t often get this number of people in one place.” And the rivalry with Ed? “It’s friendly – but it will continue, always. In and out of the ring.”
A new series of Civilisations opens the doors of the British Museum to explore epochal society change, seen through its finest objects
Add Civilisations to your watchlist Almost 60 years on from Kenneth Clark’s landmark series, and seven years since its follow-up, the BBC returns to Civilisations with a plethora of academics on hand to chart the rise and fall of Ancient Rome, Cleopatra’s Egypt, the samurai of Japan and the lost world of the Aztecs. A wealth of treasures from the British Museum, some not on display but conserved behind the scenes, bring the stories to life, along with dramatic reconstructions. RT asked four of the series’ contributors to explain what some of the collection’s most striking items tell us about shifting powers in these ancient civilisations. JAPAN Suit of armour, Katna swords - 19th century Iszi Lawrence, broadcaster and host of the British Museum's membership podcast “This suit of armour, dating from the mid-19th century, is incredibly beautiful and intricate. The mask, with its dragon motif, is designed to be intimidating on the battlefield. Too heavy to be functional, it symbolised honour and family pride. Samurai would have commissioned and conserved armour like this because they wanted to stay connected to their warrior past. “The US Navy expedition of 1853, led by Matthew Perry, effectively forced Japan to trade with America, leading to the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate, the military government that had kept the population isolated. “Samurai, who were high up in the social strata, lost their identity, effectively becoming heavily armed bureaucrats. They could still carry a long-blade katana for training and a shorter piece for indoor use, but these beautifully and individually decorated swords became status symbols. Work would have dried up for the armourers, too, who depended on active samurai for their trade.” AZTECS Turquoise mosaic mask - 15th century The Aubin Codex - 1576 Professor Caroline Dodds Pennock, University of Sheffield “The turquoise mask is thought to represent Xiuhtecuhtli — the Aztec god of fire, time and the year, who was known as the ‘Turquoise Lord’. It was probably ceremonial, worn as part of a ritual as a death mask or by ixiptla — impersonators of the gods who were sacrificed in rituals. This mythical replaying of history would happen repeatedly in a temple, in full view of the populace. The jade and turquoise would have been imported — being able to command these luxury goods symbolised the empire’s strength. “The Aubin Codex is an 81-page painted pictorial history of more than 400 years leading to the fall of the Aztec empire at the hands of the Spanish army, led by Hernán Cortés, from 1519–1521. The Aztecs had readers of days, known as tonalpouhque, who would study the cycles of the Aztec calendar to forecast the future. “The Codex represents the indigenous peoples’ efforts to come to terms with their histories, adapting how they told them into European alphabetic forms while still preserving their own pictographic forms.” EGYPT Colossal statue of Ramses II - c.1270 BC Mummified crocodile - c.650-550 BC Professor Islam Issa, Birmingham City University “Ramses II looms large in Room 4 of the British Museum. In this granite statue, acquired in 1817, the pharaoh’s looking down at you rather than straight in front of him. Ramses was very good at creating iconographies out of himself during his lifetime so that he could be revered and remembered. A full 11m-tall statue of the pharoah stands in the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which fully opened this month. “Crocodiles were kept in temple enclosures and treated like gods. Mummification was intended to project pharaohs’ power and this one, believed to be a manifestation of the god Sobek, the ancient crocodile god of fertility and military power, is remarkable for its sheer size — close to 4m long and weighing 100kg. It’s well preserved and has about 20 infant mummified crocodiles on top. “When Alexander the Great arrived in Egypt, one of his men wanted to kill some of the crocodiles, which caused a big issue with local priests; crocodiles were sacred, and were in the Nile, the source for life for Egypt.” ROME Terracotta theatre mask - 2nd century AD Lycurgus cup - 4th century AD Alice Poletto, British School of Rome “The terracotta mask is the face of a German warrior — Romans would never have styled their hair with a ponytail above the right ear! Terracotta was too heavy for traditional theatrical use, though the sealed mouth suggests it was used for some sort of pantomime acting of a stereotyped ‘foreigner’. Ridiculing outsiders cemented one’s own position in society at a time of mass migration of people who wanted to flee invading forces and enjoy the protection of the Roman empire. “We’re frequently inclined to believe that late antiquity was a period of decay, but there were objects made with extraordinary craftsmanship and technology. Scholars recently discovered that this cup features microscopic chips of gold and silver, which help illuminate it in different ways. The relief is believed to illustrate Dionysus and Bacchus — even at a time when Christianity was taking over, paganist iconography remained popular.”
Sir David Attenborough lends his voice to Kingdom, a new six-part documentary that follows four African animal families across five years, in a remote river valley in Zambia. Meet the stars of the show…
Add Kingdom to your watchlist Lions: Rita and Cubs Simon Blakeney, series editor “We follow the pride as it coheres, and they collectively become an increasingly powerful force. But the moment lions have cubs, they suddenly become incredibly vulnerable. As the mothers go off elsewhere to look after their offspring, the pride loses its protection. And while Rita’s off hunting, something terrible happens. “This to and fro is the truth of the natural world. They’re big powerful predators but, like all the animals, they have their areas of weakness.” Leopards: Olimba, Moyo and Mutima Felicity Lanchester, series producer “Early on in the shoot, we were filming a pair of hippos when the leopard family we’d been searching for all day emerged from the bush. One of the cubs, Moyo, creeps closer and closer as the hippo gets grumpier and grumpier, while the other cub, Mutima, relaxes in a hippo’s footprint! “Olimba has been in the area for more than ten years and is a wonderful mother who has successfully raised cubs before. Chaos happens around her. Over five years, we see the mother/daughter relationship between Olimba and Mutima break down and the physical battle between them. It’s a succession story as the initially shy Mutima becomes as wise and strong as her mother.” Wild dogs: Led by Storm Anna Place, producer “We’re used to seeing wild dogs fall in line to chase prey. But with this pack, if one of them spots something, 20 of them will run off in different directions at 40mph. It’s chaos — one chases a baboon up a tree, others go after an antelope. I love their persistence; they just keep going! We see them swim across a river, which I don’t think has been shown before. “Every dog counts. They can’t survive alone, or in small packs. You see how social they are, how they look after and care for each other — as soon as they wake up they’re playing, wagging their tails. They were fabulous to film. I loved being an honorary wild dog!” Hyenas: Tandala and family Felicity Lanchester, series producer “Hyena clans have looser bonds than wild dogs — they opt in and out. When we meet Tandala, she’s pregnant and alone, hiding her food from predators; later, the hyenas group together to eat a buffalo carcass. At their communal den, cubs play with young baboons. But the parents don’t look after each other’s cubs; when one cub loses its mother, the others ignore it. We were surprised by how much non-predators — baboons, mongooses, warthogs — adored the hyenas. You’d expect a ricochet of alarm calls, but they were relaxed in their company.”
10 Questions with Felicity Jones and Joel Edgerton
They’re swapping Star Wars ships for life on the American railroad in a drama with an environmental punch.
Add Train Dreams to your watchlist Australian actor and writer Joel Edgerton, 51, and Birmingham-born Felicity Jones, 42, take us back to the railroad frontiers of early 20th-century America in their new film Train Dreams. Adapted from US author Denis Johnson’s novella, it charts the joy and pain endured by Robert Grainier (Edgerton), a logger and railroad worker in the Pacific Northwest, with his wife Gladys. The film celebrates quiet stoicism in a swiftly changing world. As actors who’ve played in the Star Wars universe (Joel in a film and TV show, and Felicity in spinoff movie Rogue One), was the prospect of a grounded film that puts an “average” couple centrestage particularly appealing? JOEL EDGERTON I think people like to see ordinary lives reflected on screen. Why not celebrate the heroic nature of an ordinary life? Is falling in love not a big event? FELICITY JONES In today’s world, it’s particularly important to celebrate the value of being thoughtful and considered. JOEL Probably 99 per cent of us will never be written into the history books. Like George Bailey discovered in It’s a Wonderful Life, if we’re lucky enough to live a long life, the journey is worth it. What can a film set in the early 1900s teach us about life today? FELICITY You’re at the mercy of whatever time you’re in. We feel we have so much control, but actually we have very little, and it depends on the technological shifts we experience. JOEL Robert feels the same existential threat from the introduction of the chainsaw as we feel today with AI. If you were transported to that time, what would you miss from today’s world? FELICITY Washing machines and dishwashers. Love those! JOEL Having access to every single piece of music at all times. But if some world event caused the internet to crash, I’d adapt quickly. I hate being spoiled for choice. I get intimidated when I walk into a bookstore. I read Train Dreams because someone handed it to me and I trusted them. Joel, since you first read the book in 2014, you’ve become a father to four-year-old twin boys. How has that changed your perspective on its themes of protecting your family? JOEL The book’s a very human exploration of violence. This man is a good person who stumbled into a difficult situation and wore the guilt of his experience. But rereading it after becoming a father, I connected in a whole different bunch of ways. I feel like I’m more equipped to do it, but it’s a little scarier to put my greatest fears on screen. I’ve played so many fathers and now I want to see if I can get it right! Robert is a man of few words. Was that a challenge to convey? JOEL I discovered in the Covid lockdowns I was really comfortable being at home, not interacting with anyone other than my partner. I’d always defined myself as an extrovert, then I realised it was all smoke and mirrors to parade myself and play a character in public. I’m actually a bit of a hermit. If allowed to, I’d happily spend the whole day at home. Felicity, how did it feel to move from filming the four-hour epic The Brutalist to this more intimate and low-key film? FELICITY In a strange way, they’re similar in that they’re both exploring the American dream, but from very different angles. I think what’s so exciting at the moment is that audiences seem to want these really idiosyncratic, distinctive films. Your roles look quite physically demanding — was that intimidating at all? FELICITY Exploring the outdoor way of life was a big draw for me, and the physicality is a huge part of that. Gladys moves in a really direct way. She’s not overthinking everything like we do today when we’re in ten places in our heads all the time. She is wise but pragmatic. JOEL Growing up, I lived on the edge of a national park in Australia. I collected tadpoles, and I was always building weapons. Now I live a much more cerebral life – I was building a volcano kit for my kids the other day, and even following the instruction manual, I forgot a key stage. Does living among nature appeal to you? FELICITY There’s something about living in nature and realising how changeable everything is – you get hardened to the cycles of life and death on a daily basis. JOEL I like meeting rural people. You can almost tell straightaway, even if you meet them in the middle of the city – they’re capable, they don’t fuss, and they’re often blunt. Do you feel that there’s an environmental message about humanity’s impact on nature in this film? JOEL There is, but it’s quite gentle; this isn’t a film trying to push one message. We have to remind ourselves that, although we’re capable of pretending we’re the rulers of this world, we are just one of the animals on it. FELICITY We have a reciprocal relationship with nature, and we have to respect it, otherwise it will show us the destruction it can cause. After a cinema release, Train Dreams will be on Netflix — do you mind people dual-screening or even just watching it on their phones? JOEL I’ve even seen people dual-screening in the cinema – who dares do that? Dude in row D, seat 11: you’re dead to me! I hope that in the sanctuary of their homes, people will allow themselves to stay with the film from start to finish. FELICITY I believe in “best story wins”. If the story works, you don’t want to look at your phone. I feel that with this, it’s testament to the storytelling – you get hooked into these characters, you want to keep watching.
Felicity Jones and Joel Edgerton talk AI, dual screen watching, and their film’s environmental message
Climate - Sustainable contributions within wider content
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Australian actor and writer Joel Edgerton, 51, and Birmingham-born Felicity Jones, 42, take us back to the railroad frontiers of early 20th-century America in their new film Train Dreams. Adapted from US author Denis Johnson’s novella, it charts the joy and pain endured by Robert Grainier (Edgerton), a logger and railroad worker in the Pacific Northwest, with his wife Gladys. The film celebrates quiet stoicism in a swiftly changing world. As actors who’ve played in the Star Wars universe (Joel in a film and TV show, and Felicity in spin-off movie Rogue One), was the prospect of a grounded film that puts an “average” couple centre-stage particularly appealing? JOEL EDGERTON I think people like to see ordinary lives reflected on screen. Why not celebrate the heroic nature of an ordinary life? Is falling in love not a big event? FELICITY JONES In today’s world, it’s particularly important to celebrate the value of being thoughtful and considered. JOEL Probably 99 per cent of us will never be written into the history books. Like George Bailey discovered in It’s a Wonderful Life, if we’re lucky enough to live a long life, the journey is worth it. View oEmbed on the source website What can a film set in the early 1900s teach us about life today? FELICITY You’re at the mercy of whatever time you’re in. We feel we have so much control, but actually we have very little, and it depends on the technological shifts we experience. JOEL Robert feels the same existential threat from the introduction of the chainsaw as we feel today with AI. If you were transported to that time, what would you miss from today’s world? FELICITY Washing machines and dishwashers. Love those! JOEL Having access to every single piece of music at all times. But if some world event caused the internet to crash, I’d adapt quickly. I hate being spoiled for choice. I get intimidated when I walk into a bookstore. I read Train Dreams because someone handed it to me and I trusted them. Joel, since you first read the book in 2014, you’ve become a father to four-year-old twin boys. How has that changed your perspective on its themes of protecting your family? JOEL The book’s a very human exploration of violence. This man is a good person who stumbled into a difficult situation and wore the guilt of his experience. But rereading it after becoming a father, I connected in a whole different bunch of ways. I feel like I’m more equipped to do it, but it’s a little scarier to put my greatest fears on screen. I’ve played so many fathers and now I want to see if I can get it right! Robert is a man of few words. Was that a challenge to convey? JOEL I discovered in the Covid lockdowns I was really comfortable being at home, not interacting with anyone other than my partner. I’d always defined myself as an extrovert, then I realised it was all smoke and mirrors to parade myself and play a character in public. I’m actually a bit of a hermit. If allowed to, I’d happily spend the whole day at home. Felicity, how did it feel to move from filming the four-hour epic The Brutalist to this more intimate and low-key film? FELICITY In a strange way, they’re similar in that they’re both exploring the American dream, but from very different angles. I think what’s so exciting at the moment is that audiences seem to want these really idiosyncratic, distinctive films. Your roles look quite physically demanding — was that intimidating at all? FELICITY Exploring the outdoor way of life was a big draw for me, and the physicality is a huge part of that. Gladys moves in a really direct way. She’s not overthinking everything like we do today when we’re in ten places in our heads all the time. She is wise but pragmatic. JOEL Growing up, I lived on the edge of a national park in Australia. I collected tadpoles, and I was always building weapons. Now I live a much more cerebral life – I was building a volcano kit for my kids the other day, and even following the instruction manual, I forgot a key stage. Does living among nature appeal to you? FELICITY There’s something about living in nature and realising how changeable everything is – you get hardened to the cycles of life and death on a daily basis. JOEL I like meeting rural people. You can almost tell straightaway, even if you meet them in the middle of the city – they’re capable, they don’t fuss, and they’re often blunt. Do you feel that there’s an environmental message about humanity’s impact on nature in this film? JOEL There is, but it’s quite gentle; this isn’t a film trying to push one message. We have to remind ourselves that, although we’re capable of pretending we’re the rulers of this world, we are just one of the animals on it. FELICITY We have a reciprocal relationship with nature, and we have to respect it, otherwise it will show us the destruction it can cause. After a cinema release, Train Dreams will be on Netflix — do you mind people dual-screening or even just watching it on their phones? JOEL I’ve even seen people dual-screening in the cinema – who dares do that? Dude in row D, seat 11: you’re dead to me! I hope that in the sanctuary of their homes, people will allow themselves to stay with the film from start to finish. FELICITY I believe in “best story wins”. If the story works, you don’t want to look at your phone. I feel that with this, it’s testament to the storytelling – you get hooked into these characters, you want to keep watching. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Train Dreams is released in cinemas on Friday 7th November 2025. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
To mark VJ Day 80, Fiona Bruce focuses on some touching family treasures
Add Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special to your watchlist For Fiona Bruce, who is presenting an Antiques Roadshow VJ Day special on BBC1 (Sunday), the personal artefacts on display are “like a lightning bolt through to the past”. They include a baby shoe carried as a good luck charm by a soldier through the jungle, and a chess set made by a prisoner of war. It follows several AR war specials, including a VE Day edition in May. Why are these objects — belonging to the families of those who served in the Second World War — so poignant? As well as reminders of individual bravery, the items are often “humble and personal”, says Bruce. “When we think of conflict, it’s about hardware, death and destruction; you don’t think of a soldier carrying around one of his baby’s shoes in his ammunition pouch.” Soldier Jack Jennings made a chess set from balsa wood while a PoW on the Thai-Burma Railway (known as “the Death Railway”). “Somewhere in all the cruelty and starvation, someone was trying to reclaim some of their individuality and humanity,” says Bruce. “We know what desperate privations those men suffered.” She ends the programme with a moving message: “To all those who endured years of suffering and captivity, soldiers and civilians, and those who gave their lives — you are not forgotten.” It’s a powerful statement: “This is a period of the war many people know very little about. I hope this is our small way of paying tribute and sharing what we know about that time, so we don’t forget.” SHERNA NOAH Chindit bush hat, training manuals and medals Ernie Wainwright. Contributor: Anthony Wainwright (son) The Chindits (a unit of British, Indian, Nepalese and Burmese troops in the Burmese jungle) endured what’s been described as some of the most intensive hand-to-hand combat ever faced by the British military. A gruelling six months left Ernie Wainwright three stone lighter, toothless, and with typhus. Whenever his son Anthony asked about the war, Ernie would get out his bush hat — a sweat-stained memento more prized than any medal. “Dad was incredibly proud of the unit, and the hat had strong significance,” says Anthony. Ernie’s experiences had long-term effects, too. “He’d had to be very quiet in the jungle, so he crept around everywhere. He’d wake up at the click of a finger — if you overslept, the column would move on without you.” Baby shoes Stanley Spriggs. Contributor: James Spriggs (son) In pride of place in the family museum in James Spriggs’s shed, assembled after the death of his father Stanley in 2002, sits a pair of baby shoes — one significantly more discoloured than the other. James wasn’t even born when his dad went off to fight; while Stanley was waiting to go into Burma in 1944, his wife sent him one of their son’s shoes as a lucky charm. Miraculously intact, after surviving in an ammunitions bag through months of monsoons, the shoe was reunited with its partner when Stanley returned home in January 1946. This is James’s earliest memory: “I was three, in a dingy blacked-out station full of steam engines and soldiers, and suddenly told, ‘This is your dad’. I later saw in a family photo that he’d lost five stone due to malaria and, unlike me and my mum, he had a suntan.” Chess set Made by Jack Jennings. Contributors: Carol and Paul Barrett (daughter and son-in-law) Jack Jennings taught his daughter Carol to play chess using a set he’d crafted himself while he was a PoW in Thailand; their final game together was three years ago, when he was 102. “He loved to play — and he loved to win,” she says. But Jack was plagued by nightmares all his life and only began to confront his past after attending reunions and publishing his memoirs. “When my sister and I were growing up, he hid it all from us. We’d rifle through his drawers and read his wartime letters to Mum.” When Jack died at 104, he was believed to be the last surviving PoW who’d worked on the Thai- Burma Railway. The previous year, BBC News reported from his 103rd party. Carol says: “By then, he’d got a lot of pleasure from being a bit of a celebrity!” Rangoon gazette Thomas Ruddle. Contributors: Pete and Andy Ruddle (sons) When Pete and Andy Ruddle found a 1941 copy of the Rangoon Gazette among their late father Thomas’s belongings, they were struck by its bold declaration: “Japan at War with Britain & US”. Pete had it framed and hung it up. But the significance of its date, 8 December 1941 (one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor), eluded them until they brought it to Antiques Roadshow. Thomas was based in Burma with the RAF Signal Corps and, as far as the brothers can piece together, was a wireless operator. “He was a 19-year-old boy in the middle of the war, then he came back and carried on as if nothing had happened,” says Andy. “He never spoke about the war at all. I wish I’d been able to talk to him about it.” Japanese flag Walter Taylor. Contributor: Mark Taylor (son) On the advance into Burma and Mandalay, Walter Taylor, a gunner with the 19th Infantry Division — the “Dagger Division” — saw this Japanese flag tucked into the tunic of a dead soldier. Adorned with messages in Japanese by the village priest, including what are thought to be words of goodwill, to Walter the flag was poignant. After he returned to civilian life, it became “a vehicle to express his feelings about the war, which he wouldn’t otherwise easily divulge”, says his son Mark, who treasures an account his father wrote about his time in Burma for his family. Walter joined the Army at 17 and wrote that he had seen “man’s actions at their worst and best”, and said, “My profound hope is that in your lifetime you may never know total war." Interviews by ROBIN PARKER
If you thought raising kids was tricky, spare a thought for the mother eaten by her own spiderlings…
Add Parenthood to your watchlist Babies are often the stars of natural history programmes, leaving their parents as bystanders. But the mums and dads of the animal kingdom finally have their moment in the spotlight in a new BBC series. Looking at how different creatures, from insects to big cats and great apes, nurture their young – or, in some cases, don’t – and the brutal sacrifices they have to make, Parenthood casts an eye over family units across land and sea in 23 countries. “The world is changing incredibly fast and it’s making a parent’s job increasingly challenging, both for humans and animals, who have so many different ways of doing it,” says the series executive producer Keith Scholey. Fittingly, his own son Olly, who’s also an experienced wildlife film-maker, produced and directed the episode focusing on ocean creatures. Scholey’s collaborations with Sir David Attenborough over the past 42 years have created some of TV’s most beloved programmes, and Parenthood expands on themes previously touched on in 1990’s The Trials of Life. Sir David is our guide in voice only for this series and Scholey still marvels at his deceptively simple scripts. “He’s leaps and bounds ahead of other narration writers, and he pores over every word a long way in advance,” Scholey says. “He’s so precise and, behind that simple style, he’s really animated in the voice booth, bringing out every phrase and emphasis in a brilliant way.” As we’ve come to expect, man’s activities and their impact on habitats, food and the wider environment are never far from the surface. But for Scholey, there’s one truth that dictates how animals raise their young: “The chances of survival of not only an individual animal’s family, but also their species, depends on how well their parenting strategy works.” HANUMAN LANGURS Jodhpur, India “You often think that every parent of a species will be landed with the same tasks, but this isn’t true of langurs, who live in a hierarchy. Who you are born to really matters in this monkey troop. If you’re born into royalty, there will be a lot of other langurs who can help out, but if you’re low down and stay that way, your baby will inevitably starve and die. These monkeys evolved into a strict order of dominance with a head [of the hierarchy] and royalty. We filmed a female lower down the food chain who has a baby and has to try and climb the ladder, or at least work as a more lowly langur and try to rise up.” – Keith Scholey KILLER WHALES Bremer Bay, Australia “Killer whales have unquestionably the most impressive parenting strategy of any ocean creature. They live in a matriarchal society led by the grandmother, who’s the most experienced hunter, and they have been proven to be able to teach one another. We saw a glimpse of this when we saw a mass of them thrashing around and thought it was a hunt — but a drone camera filming overhead revealed there was no prey. Instead, one killer whale was in the middle and the others were practising hunting it. We also capture for the first time a group of them hunting a blue whale — a seemingly impossible feat of predation, but one achieved by their ability to teach and strategise how to take down big prey.” – Olly Scholey CAPE GANNET AND CHICK Malgas Island, South Africa “Once common across South Africa, cape gannets are now an endangered species. Their main food source — sardines and anchovies — are also disappearing due to over-fishing, so they’ve taken to scavenging hake from trawlers, which can give an adult all the food it needs but doesn’t have enough nutrients for a chick. We came across a spectacular scene where the adults find a big ball of sardines that has been used for bait, and fed on by dolphins, sharks and other marine creatures. Once the chicks are ready to leave the island to live their own lives, they first have to run a gauntlet of cape fur seals who hunt the fledglings in huge waves. These seals also feed on the dwindling sardine supply — and will take down the chicks just to get at the food that’s inside them.” – Olly Scholey AFRICAN SOCIAL SPIDER Namibia “This is the one that’s going to be fast-tracked to Gogglebox! It’s a scene simultaneously of horror and awe: more than a thousand newborn spiderlings, who are born with the ability to hunt as a pack, kill and eat their mother and then go after other adults in the colony one by one. What I find amazing, though, is that they approach her in a synchronised movement — they move forward and then they all freeze to listen out for the vibrations of the mother’s final struggle, which mimics the vibrations of their insect prey. I’m glad humans haven’t adopted this strategy!” – Keith Scholey BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS Indonesian Coral Reef “A bottlenose dolphin calf will usually stay with its mum for three years, learning from her and other dolphin adults that she socialises with. We watched one mum demonstrating how to play a game where you pick up a piece of coral, balance it on your nose and swim up to the surface, before dropping it and racing back to catch it just before it hits the bottom of the sea. We’re not sure exactly why they play it, but it’s clear that it’s essential to this particular group and it has specific rules. We watched this calf do it repeatedly, then decide it’d rather have fun on the surface — it swims off and drops the rock while doing cartwheels. All the while, mum’s watching it, clearly asking it to play the game properly.” – Olly Scholey LIONS AND CUBS Botswana “What lions go through to raise a cub is really counterintuitive to us: they have to risk their life every day. We filmed a pride that specialised in hunting buffalo, which are great because they provide a lot of food, but are hugely risky to attack. There is a very moving scene of a pride’s reaction after their mother is gored and dies. For some big cats, like cheetahs, once mum’s gone, everybody’s done for, but lions have a social structure where other lionesses will suckle the cubs and they’ll get absorbed into this bigger family. Their social parenting structure is very effective.” – Keith Scholey
The Bookish actor loves reading — and watching TV with her dog
Add Bookish to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? We’ve got a big telly and a big sofa. I like to lie down on it when I watch TV, generally with my dog or my husband [actor Laurence Penry-Jones]. What programmes do you like to watch? I was brought up not to turn on the TV until after 6pm because you had to be productive in the day. We’ll watch all the dramas everyone’s talking about, like The White Lotus, but left to my own devices, I like documentaries, most recently a fascinating one about the Titan submersible disaster. I’m tempted – especially when I’m away filming – to get ahead of Laurence on series, but generally I wait. It’s more fun watching with other people. When you’re watching murder mysteries, do you always try to guess whodunnit? Yes, I always think I know, and I make a big statement about my suspicions at the beginning. I’ve read so many scripts that I know the formula at some level. My hit rate’s about 50/50! Did you try to solve the case when you read the scripts for Bookish? Not at all! I read them initially as a story, with an eye on the character, and I really enjoyed it. Mark Gatiss’s writing is clever, like him, and it’s tight, fast, funny and astute. He’s got a great eye for the absurd. I asked Laurence to read it to give his take on it, but he stopped after ten pages and went, “I don’t want to ruin it for myself.” View Green Video on the source website Gabriel Book [Mark Gatiss] and your character Trottie are in a “lavender marriage” of convenience — he’s gay at a time when it was illegal. What do you make of their relationship? It’s unconventional, but as she says, it works. It’s mutually beneficial, supportive and based on genuine friendship and love between two people who’ve known each other since they were kids. It protects them both. There are a lot of sexless marriages, and I just see it like that: she’s open, non-judgemental, and wants him to be happy. He wants that for her, too, and doesn’t give her a hard time about what she gets up to. Bookish is set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Did you know much about the period? No, I wasn’t taught about it at school – I don’t know if I even passed my history GCSE! But I became obsessed with documentaries about the Nuremberg trials and it brought home to me the seriousness of it all. It was a remarkable time. Men came back incredibly damaged by the war, the women had been on their own for years, having had all these amazing jobs, and had to go back into the housewife role. Some of them said the war was the time of their lives. But there had to be a basis within Trottie of how serious it was, and that’s why she embraces colour, going out, getting drunk, having boyfriends… Books play a central role in the drama. Are you a book lover? Yes, but I’m not a great reader. I was always jealous of those kids who’d read all of The Lord of the Rings, aged ten, when I was reading the Mandy annual. I have a lot of books by the side of the bed – at the top of the pile is The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I also buy a lot of cookery books. You also appear in Bridgerton — has its huge success helped you get the pick of the best roles? Bridgerton’s definitely made things easier, but I try not to engage too much with the politics of being an actor. My family and my life at home is just as important to me, if not more.
Bookish star Polly Walker on show’s 'lavender marriage': "There are a lot of sexless marriages"
The Bookish actor loves reading — and watching TV with her dog.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? We’ve got a big telly and a big sofa. I like to lie down on it when I watch TV, generally with my dog or my husband [actor Laurence Penry-Jones]. What programmes do you like to watch? I was brought up not to turn on the TV until after 6pm because you had to be productive in the day. We’ll watch all the dramas everyone’s talking about, like The White Lotus, but left to my own devices, I like documentaries, most recently a fascinating one about the Titan submersible disaster. I’m tempted – especially when I’m away filming –to get ahead of Laurence on series, but generally I wait. It’s more fun watching with other people. When you’re watching murder mysteries, do you always try to guess whodunnit? Yes, I always think I know, and I make a big statement about my suspicions at the beginning. I’ve read so many scripts that I know the formula at some level. My hit rate’s about 50/50! Did you try to solve the case when you read the scripts for Bookish? Not at all! I read them initially as a story, with an eye on the character, and I really enjoyed it. Mark Gatiss’s writing is clever, like him, and it’s tight, fast, funny and astute. He’s got a great eye for the absurd. I asked Laurence to read it to give his take on it, but he stopped after ten pages and went, “I don’t want to ruin it for myself.” Gabriel Book [Mark Gatiss] and your character Trottie are in a “lavender marriage” of convenience – he’s gay at a time when it was illegal. What do you make of their relationship? It’s unconventional, but as she says, it works. It’s mutually beneficial, supportive and based on genuine friendship and love between two people who’ve known each other since they were kids. It protects them both. There are a lot of sexless marriages, and I just see it like that: she’s open, non-judgemental, and wants him to be happy. He wants that for her, too, and doesn’t give her a hard time about what she gets up to. Bookish is set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Did you know much about the period? No, I wasn’t taught about it at school – I don’t know if I even passed my history GCSE! But I became obsessed with documentaries about the Nuremberg trials and it brought home to me the seriousness of it all. It was a remarkable time. Men came back incredibly damaged by the war, the women had been on their own for years, having had all these amazing jobs, and had to go back into the housewife role. Some of them said the war was the time of their lives. But there had to be a basis within Trottie of how serious it was, and that’s why she embraces colour, going out, getting drunk, having boyfriends… Books play a central role in the drama. Are you a book lover? Yes, but I’m not a great reader. I was always jealous of those kids who’d read all of The Lord of the Rings, aged ten, when I was reading the Mandy annual. I have a lot of books by the side of the bed – at the top of the pile is The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I also buy a lot of cookery books. You also appear in Bridgerton – has its huge success helped you get the pick of the best roles? Bridgerton’s definitely made things easier, but I try not to engage too much with the politics of being an actor. My family and my life at home is just as important to me, if not more. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Crime fiction and screen adaptations have long gone hand in hand, from Slow Horses to Karen Pirie – now Mark Gatiss and Matthew Sweet are flipping the script and turning their new murder mystery, Bookish, into a novel
Add Bookish to your watchlist As a lifelong devotee of murder mysteries – and a screenwriter for acclaimed Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle adaptations – Mark Gatiss knows all too well that every detective needs to have their quirk, their schtick, a secret weapon that’s key to their sleuthing skills. And for his new crime-solving creation, it wasn’t a stretch for the writer and actor to settle on books. From Beatrix Potter to his favourite pulp fiction, a literary reference is never far from his grasp. View Green Video on the source website Gatiss presents Bookish, a series that follows Gabriel Book, a man who runs a bookshop – a trove of knowledge that he can call upon to crack the crimes that are stumping the local police. The character of Book sprung from an idea that had been buzzing around the Sherlock writer’s brain for eight years: a gay detective hiding his sexuality in a “lavender marriage” of convenience to Trottie (Polly Walker) in the late 1940s. After an aborted attempt at a novel, Gatiss bashed out a script during lockdown. And curiously, RT plays a small role here. When producer Walter Iuzzolino told Gatiss at the 2022 Radio Times covers party that he was looking for a period detective drama for his production company Eagle Eye, things quickly kicked into gear: cameras rolled last summer with contemporary Antwerp doubling for post-war London and a second series has been commissioned before the first has even aired. Gatiss’s partner in crime on Bookish is writer, historian and broadcaster Matthew Sweet, whom he met at the launch of the rebooted Doctor Who in 2005. The pair quickly bonded over a shared love of Victoriana, crime fiction and classic movies, and now Sweet is performing an unusual task for this new collaboration – as well as writing on the new series, he’s turning the murder mysteries back into novels, as Gatiss had originally intended. A reverse adaptation? Not exactly by the book… A LIFE OF CRIME MARK GATISS Murder mysteries are going through a purple patch. They’ve always been popular, but suddenly they’re everywhere. For me, it began by reading a lot of Agatha Christie on holiday as a kid. I remember picking up Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, from a newsagent in 1975. I knew very little about it, but I knew it was important. The cover – a bowler hat and an umbrella – felt like a statement. MATTHEW SWEET The cover of N or M? with a bloody telephone receiver really worried me. I thought of it every time I picked up the phone. MARK I’ve got a lot of the Christie paperbacks framed on my toilet wall. They’re great pop art. They’re so strange – The Murder at the Vicarage riffs on [Belgian surrealist artist] Magritte: a man in a dog collar with a tennis racket for a head rather than an apple. It’s creepy as hell. MATTHEW The TV adaptations were very important, too. The BBC’s Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson treated Christie with the same deference as Brideshead Revisited. Christie understood class better than her contemporaries, some of whom perhaps were too comfortable, or too barmy. MARK In its quintessential form, the British detective story combines the joy of crosswords with the puzzle of a dead body. But they offer lot of different pleasures. One of my favourites is The Beast Must Die by Cecil Day-Lewis, writing as Nicholas Blake: the first half is from the point of view of a man trying to track down the hit and run driver who killed his child. When the detective finally comes in and it becomes more of a whodunnit, it’s a bit disappointing… MATTHEW The detective is a good observer of the world around them – even if the plot doesn’t make sense. A really good description of the inside of a tobacconists in 1926 will do it for me. It puts you into that world, and that can be pleasure enough. MARK I collect Golden Age murder mysteries with the most boring titles. They’re so charming! Murder in Hospital… He Could Not Have Slipped…and the best one: They Rang Up the Police. A friend sent me a photo from his holiday cottage of Case for Sergeant Beef. I said: steal it! THE RULES OF THE GAME MARK John Dickson Carr, master of the “locked room” mystery, had a wonderful phrase: “Blood on the bandage”. He will put a big clue followed immediately by an act of extreme violence, which hides it. Isn’t that great? The trick is to present clues that play fair, without being too obvious. At the cast screening of Bookish, I found myself watching an innocent character thinking, “he looks suspicious…” You’ve sweat blood writing it, worrying it’s too obvious, then you realise there’s a red herring that you didn’t even realise was a red herring. MATTHEW The characters don’t change, but because they all have well-defined motivations, they don’t always react in the way you thought they would. You can fight against it, but the story demands it, moves in another direction. MARK Genuinely, the murderer does change as you write it. You can plot it and stress test it all you like, but once you start, you realise it makes no sense. You can change it quite a lot. MATTHEW It’s a machine with complicated moving parts. Like a mechanic, when you remove a component, you think, “Well, that’s going to create a funny knocking noise in the back now”. You might have to address that problem elsewhere. MARK You also have to accept you’ll be leaning into cliché. Episode six has a big denouement in a hotel. Book says, “I’m not usually a fan of this sort of thing, it’s redolent of the kind of thriller you find in WHSmith.” THE PERFECT MURDER MATTHEW After working on this, we both know a lot more about poisons – what leeway you’ve got, how quickly they act. You realise the liberties writers have taken! And how many murders, that’s an important question… MARK If the story propels you along, you don’t need multiple murders, but equally, you can totally embrace that depending on the style of the episode. MATTHEW There’s a kind of rhythm, a music to a murder. MARK Music to a Murder – there’s a good title! It’s always a balance between the puzzle and reality. As a reader or viewer, you accept the rules: Poirot turns up, there’s a murder, he solves it. As a writer, you have to accept you’re working within the genre’s trappings. Otherwise, you start to ask: why are there so many murders in Midsomer county? Is Marple cursed? Arcadia Lane and Book’s shop is our precinct, but you can’t have a murder in every shop, otherwise it’s death row. Another good title! I had this idea that the shopkeepers would all be famous people like in Murder on the Orient Express, but we couldn’t afford that… A DANGEROUS WORLD MARK I wanted to explore a gay detective in a lavender marriage. We talked a lot on Doctor Who about how you mustn’t put your 21st century goggles on the past and judge people. Book and Trottie get married for mutual convenience – as a lot of people did. In a lot of lavender marriages, both people were gay, but Trottie is a liberated woman who’s had an extraordinary war. They’re devoted to each other, as a lot of those couples were. But it’s not a world of easy answers, nor should it be. MATTHEW It’s a world of liars! People coming back from war and perhaps not being totally truthful about what they did during it. MARK It’s a double life in the context of this swirling world of crime, an era that’s often brushed aside as a time of drab austerity. It was radical: the world’s upside down, there are the foundations of the welfare state, and a lot of people who don’t know where they fit any more. When his authority is questioned, Book whips out his “letter from Churchill” – which is absolutely, explicitly Doctor Who’s “psychic paper”! I hate it when plots get bogged down in bureaucracy: if your detective isn’t a police officer, you’ve got to have an excuse, but the easier you can make it, the better. A LIFE LESS COSY MARK “Cosy crime” is a bit pejorative, isn’t it? It brings to mind being spoon-fed. I want Bookish to be the sort of thing you want to watch on a Sunday night, but that doesn’t mean bland and inoffensive. It wears the costume of golden detective fiction but it’s not a pastiche. It tackles issues that remain relevant. MATTHEW To me, “cosy crime” means recoiling from a different sort of crime writing, that all happens in blue light with psychopaths, sadists and the destruction of bodies, which does nothing for me. Perhaps audiences are turning away from that. MARK You have to acknowledge the reason why we’re here – that “bank holiday-ness”. Peter Ustinov’s Poirot films are more camp than Orient Express, but the plots remain very dark. You don’t want to feel you’re watching some actors on holiday. We’ve ended up with some quite sad motives for the crimes. BROUGHT TO BOOK MATTHEW Writing the tie-in novel, I put back in the shots that were too expensive to film! MARK It’s like you’ve written another draft – there are things we definitely should have done in the show but didn’t have time. MATTHEW I’ve imagined these books being written in the early 60s by Nora, a young woman who’s established in the series as the crime fiction fan. She’s writing them up as crime novellas that she’s adapting for the movies. So you’re still in the world and the story, but there’s a reason for them to exist. MARK It’s in the tradition of the Reminiscences of John H Watson (part one of the first Sherlock Holmes book A Study in Scarlet). Nora says this isn’t exactly what happened, it’s how she’s remembers it. Some characters may be invented. MATTHEW Books are so important in the series, and she makes it into a book. The story has acquired a history and a bit of dust. My fantasy is that in many years’ time, the TV series will conclude with a flash-forward to the 60s, with Nora doing a signing of these books of all the stories you’ve been watching. MARK It would be odd, given the show, if there wasn’t a tie-in book! It’s a pleasing artefact. It feels like it should be in Book’s shop! Bookish begins on U&Alibi on Wednesday 16 July, and Matthew Sweet’s tie-in novel (which is also called Bookish) is on sale from Thursday 17 July
Mark Gatiss reveals how his new series Bookish is “explicitly” inspired by Doctor Who
Crime fiction and screen adaptations have long gone hand in hand, from Slow Horses to Karen Pirie – now Mark Gatiss and Matthew Sweet are flipping the script and turning their new murder mystery, Bookish, into a novel.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As a lifelong devotee of murder mysteries – and a screenwriter for acclaimed Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle adaptations – Mark Gatiss knows all too well that every detective needs to have their quirk, their schtick, a secret weapon that’s key to their sleuthing skills. And for his new crime-solving creation, it wasn’t a stretch for the writer and actor to settle on books. From Beatrix Potter to his favourite pulp fiction, a literary reference is never far from his grasp. Gatiss presents Bookish, a series that follows Gabriel Book, a man who runs a bookshop – a trove of knowledge that he can call upon to crack the crimes that are stumping the local police. The character of Book sprung from an idea that had been buzzing around the Sherlock writer’s brain for eight years: a gay detective hiding his sexuality in a “lavender marriage” of convenience to Trottie (Polly Walker) in the late 1940s. After an aborted attempt at a novel, Gatiss bashed out a script during lockdown. And curiously, RT plays a small role here. When producer Walter Iuzzolino told Gatiss at the 2022 Radio Times covers party that he was looking for a period detective drama for his production company Eagle Eye, things quickly kicked into gear: cameras rolled last summer with contemporary Antwerp doubling for post-war London and a second series has been commissioned before the first has even aired. Gatiss’s partner in crime on Bookish is writer, historian and broadcaster Matthew Sweet, whom he met at the launch of the rebooted Doctor Who in 2005. The pair quickly bonded over a shared love of Victoriana, crime fiction and classic movies, and now Sweet is performing an unusual task for this new collaboration – as well as writing on the new series, he’s turning the murder mysteries back into novels, as Gatiss had originally intended. A reverse adaptation? Not exactly by the book… A LIFE OF CRIME Mark Gatiss: Murder mysteries are going through a purple patch. They’ve always been popular, but suddenly they’re everywhere. For me, it began by reading a lot of Agatha Christie on holiday as a kid. I remember picking up Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, from a newsagent in 1975. I knew very little about it, but I knew it was important. The cover – a bowler hat and an umbrella – felt like a statement. Matthew Sweet: The cover of N or M? with a bloody telephone receiver really worried me. I thought of it every time I picked up the phone. Mark: I’ve got a lot of the Christie paperbacks framed on my toilet wall. They’re great pop art. They’re so strange – The Murder at the Vicarage riffs on [Belgian surrealist artist] Magritte: a man in a dog collar with a tennis racket for a head rather than an apple. It’s creepy as hell. Matthew: The TV adaptations were very important, too. The BBC’s Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson treated Christie with the same deference as Brideshead Revisited. Christie understood class better than her contemporaries, some of whom perhaps were too comfortable, or too barmy. Mark: In its quintessential form, the British detective story combines the joy of crosswords with the puzzle of a dead body. But they offer lot of different pleasures. One of my favourites is The Beast Must Die by Cecil Day-Lewis, writing as Nicholas Blake: the first half is from the point of view of a man trying to track down the hit and run driver who killed his child. When the detective finally comes in and it becomes more of a whodunnit, it’s a bit disappointing… Matthew: The detective is a good observer of the world around them – even if the plot doesn’t make sense. A really good description of the inside of a tobacconists in 1926 will do it for me. It puts you into that world, and that can be pleasure enough. Mark: I collect Golden Age murder mysteries with the most boring titles. They’re so charming! Murder in Hospital… He Could Not Have Slipped…and the best one: They Rang Up the Police. A friend sent me a photo from his holiday cottage of Case for Sergeant Beef. I said: steal it! THE RULES OF THE GAME Mark: John Dickson Carr, master of the “locked room” mystery, had a wonderful phrase: “Blood on the bandage”. He will put a big clue followed immediately by an act of extreme violence, which hides it. Isn’t that great? The trick is to present clues that play fair, without being too obvious. At the cast screening of Bookish, I found myself watching an innocent character thinking, “he looks suspicious…” You’ve sweat blood writing it, worrying it’s too obvious, then you realise there’s a red herring that you didn’t even realise was a red herring. Matthew: The characters don’t change, but because they all have well-defined motivations, they don’t always react in the way you thought they would. You can fight against it, but the story demands it, moves in another direction. Mark: Genuinely, the murderer does change as you write it. You can plot it and stress test it all you like, but once you start, you realise it makes no sense. You can change it quite a lot. Matthew: It’s a machine with complicated moving parts. Like a mechanic, when you remove a component, you think, “Well, that’s going to create a funny knocking noise in the back now”. You might have to address that problem elsewhere. Mark: You also have to accept you’ll be leaning into cliché. Episode six has a big denouement in a hotel. Book says, “I’m not usually a fan of this sort of thing, it’s redolent of the kind of thriller you find in WHSmith.” THE PERFECT MURDER Matthew: After working on this, we both know a lot more about poisons – what leeway you’ve got, how quickly they act. You realise the liberties writers have taken! And how many murders, that’s an important question… Mark: If the story propels you along, you don’t need multiple murders, but equally, you can totally embrace that depending on the style of the episode. Matthew: There’s a kind of rhythm, a music to a murder. Mark: Music to a Murder – there’s a good title! It’s always a balance between the puzzle and reality. As a reader or viewer, you accept the rules: Poirot turns up, there’s a murder, he solves it. As a writer, you have to accept you’re working within the genre’s trappings. Otherwise, you start to ask: why are there so many murders in Midsomer county? Is Marple cursed? Arcadia Lane and Book’s shop is our precinct, but you can’t have a murder in every shop, otherwise it’s death row. Another good title! I had this idea that the shopkeepers would all be famous people like in Murder on the Orient Express, but we couldn’t afford that… A DANGEROUS WORLD Mark: I wanted to explore a gay detective in a lavender marriage. We talked a lot on Doctor Who about how you mustn’t put your 21st century goggles on the past and judge people. Book and Trottie get married for mutual convenience – as a lot of people did. In a lot of lavender marriages, both people were gay, but Trottie is a liberated woman who’s had an extraordinary war. They’re devoted to each other, as a lot of those couples were. But it’s not a world of easy answers, nor should it be. Matthew: It’s a world of liars! People coming back from war and perhaps not being totally truthful about what they did during it. Mark: It’s a double life in the context of this swirling world of crime, an era that’s often brushed aside as a time of drab austerity. It was radical: the world’s upside down, there are the foundations of the welfare state, and a lot of people who don’t know where they fit any more. When his authority is questioned, Book whips out his “letter from Churchill” – which is absolutely, explicitly Doctor Who’s “psychic paper”! I hate it when plots get bogged down in bureaucracy: if your detective isn’t a police officer, you’ve got to have an excuse, but the easier you can make it, the better. A LIFE LESS COSY Mark: “Cosy crime” is a bit pejorative, isn’t it? It brings to mind being spoon-fed. I want Bookish to be the sort of thing you want to watch on a Sunday night, but that doesn’t mean bland and inoffensive. It wears the costume of golden detective fiction but it’s not a pastiche. It tackles issues that remain relevant. Matthew: To me, “cosy crime” means recoiling from a different sort of crime writing, that all happens in blue light with psychopaths, sadists and the destruction of bodies, which does nothing for me. Perhaps audiences are turning away from that. Mark: You have to acknowledge the reason why we’re here – that “bank holiday-ness”. Peter Ustinov’s Poirot films are more camp than Orient Express, but the plots remain very dark. You don’t want to feel you’re watching some actors on holiday. We’ve ended up with some quite sad motives for the crimes. BROUGHT TO BOOK Matthew: Writing the tie-in novel, I put back in the shots that were too expensive to film! Mark: It’s like you’ve written another draft – there are things we definitely should have done in the show but didn’t have time. Matthew: I’ve imagined these books being written in the early 60s by Nora, a young woman who’s established in the series as the crime fiction fan. She’s writing them up as crime novellas that she’s adapting for the movies. So you’re still in the world and the story, but there’s a reason for them to exist. Mark: It’s in the tradition of the Reminiscences of John H Watson (part one of the first Sherlock Holmes book A Study in Scarlet). Nora says this isn’t exactly what happened, it’s how she’s remembers it. Some characters may be invented. Matthew: Books are so important in the series, and she makes it into a book. The story has acquired a history and a bit of dust. My fantasy is that in many years’ time, the TV series will conclude with a flash-forward to the 60s, with Nora doing a signing of these books of all the stories you’ve been watching. Mark: It would be odd, given the show, if there wasn’t a tie-in book! It’s a pleasing artefact. It feels like it should be in Book’s shop! Photography – Adam Lawrence @adamlawrencephotographer Grooming – Rebecca Richards @rebeccarichardsmakeup The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Bookish begins on U&Alibi on Wednesday 16th July at 8pm. Add Bookish to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what else is on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
He’s a big cheese in Hollywood now, but making his dream roles a reality has taken patience and faith
Add Government Cheese to your watchlist From Martin Luther King to Coriolanus and gunslinger Bass Reeves, 49-year-old Brit David Oyelowo has become synonymous with some pretty tough dramatic parts on stage and screen. So, his latest role, in Apple TV+’s quirky comedy drama Government Cheese, marks a significant gear change. He plays Hampton Chambers, a family man in the late 1960s, who’s done time in prison for forging cheques but is now determined to go straight, chasing the American dream with his invention — a self-sharpening drill. It’s a deadpan, bizarre story that Oyelowo says is unlike anything he’s done before… Government Cheese is lighter in tone than we often see from you. Was that a conscious decision? Many of the projects I’ve worked on deal with the racial struggle or civil rights. All of that is very much part of what it is to be African- American in America, but that’s not the totality of the experience. Given how much the 1960s were steeped in civil rights, it felt almost radical to put a black family at the centre of a comedy set in that time without bogging it down with those elements. It’s an unusual show in its mix of genres and styles. How would you describe it? It’s a parabolic, surrealist family comedy. I don’t know many shows you could describe as that! It has a whimsical, romantic nostalgia. It might not be for everyone in terms of how it changes gears, but for me, it’s a pretty honest way to look at things that may have occurred in the past. How did you get on board? In 2018, [co-creator] Paul Hunter approached me with the idea for a short film. I’m basically playing a version of Paul’s father. It felt unique, fresh and surreal – I hadn’t read anything quite like it. We shot it for four days in Paul’s mother’s house and felt there was more we could do with it. A TV show felt like the natural progression. What do you think Paul’s family and friends thought of immortalising this period? Paul’s mother was very enamoured with the process, and proud of Paul, who’s been trying to make this for a long time. The production design is very evocative of life in California’s San Fernando Valley back then, and when Paul’s friends visited the set – some of whom appear in the series played by actors – they all felt like they’d stepped into a time machine. You also get to wear some sharp 60s suits. Did you enjoy that? We wanted to tip the hat to folks who have a sense of aspiration but not much by way of resources. Hampton only has two suits, but you still feel he’s a bit of a dandy. You see this a lot with immigrants: they’ll have two or three outfits and they’re good at mixing it up. That’s where the title comes from. Government Cheese? How do you mean? Government cheese is government-subsidised food that’s quite basic, but people would turn it into these amazing grilled cheese sandwiches or macaroni cheese, and these became beloved dishes. It symbolises making something out of nothing. Hampton looks for assurance from God that he’s forging a righteous path. Did you relate to that? Faith is a huge part of my life, but what I like about this is that it’s not proselytising – almost everyone can relate to having a difficult circumstance and wanting a sign they’re on the right track. Hampton has his epiphany after starting a conversation with God, but that doesn’t mean his day-to-day or spiritual challenges go away. As an actor, can you relate to that idea of pushing for a project, hanging on to a dream? Enormously! Many of my projects have required immense tenacity to get them made. I literally felt a spiritual calling to play Martin Luther King, but the initial director of Selma rejected me. Then, seven years later, I brought on the director who eventually made it [Ava DuVernay]. Lawman: Bass Reeves took nine years. This was a six-year journey. I’ve definitely been guilty of trying to force something when it’s not the right time. My own faith has been a huge component in helping me let go when it’s the healthy thing to do. It must be nice shooting this so close to your own LA home. How important is it for you to be near your family when working? I’d just spent six months in Texas doing Bass Reeves. I told Apple: these are the circumstances under which I can and will do it. Two of my kids are still quite young, and I know that too much time away is not healthy. Often things are filmed somewhere that’s advantageous for tax breaks. But as it was set where I live, there was an excuse to take that position. We see the difficulties Hampton faces in slotting back into his children’s lives after his stint in prison. As a father of four — what do you think of him as a parent? I find him incredibly relatable – he might be equal parts selfish and selfless, but he’s not been absent or irresponsible by choice. He’s trying to do the right thing – and failing consistently. I don’t know a father for whom that is not the case. Certainly, that’s been my experience! New episodes of Government Cheese are released on Wednesdays on Apple TV+
David Oyelowo felt a calling to play Martin Luther King – but Selma's original director rejected him
The actor speaks to Radio Times magazine about his role in Apple TV+ comedy series Government Cheese.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. From Martin Luther King to Coriolanus and gunslinger Bass Reeves, 49-year-old Brit David Oyelowo has become synonymous with some pretty tough dramatic parts on stage and screen. So, his latest role, in Apple TV+’s quirky comedy drama Government Cheese, marks a significant gear change. He plays Hampton Chambers, a family man in the late 1960s, who’s done time in prison for forging cheques but is now determined to go straight, chasing the American dream with his invention — a self-sharpening drill. It’s a deadpan, bizarre story that Oyelowo says is unlike anything he’s done before… Government Cheese is lighter in tone than we often see from you. Was that a conscious decision? Many of the projects I’ve worked on deal with the racial struggle or civil rights. All of that is very much part of what it is to be African- American in America, but that’s not the totality of the experience. Given how much the 1960s were steeped in civil rights, it felt almost radical to put a black family at the centre of a comedy set in that time without bogging it down with those elements. It’s an unusual show in its mix of genres and styles. How would you describe it? It’s a parabolic, surrealist family comedy. I don’t know many shows you could describe as that! It has a whimsical, romantic nostalgia. It might not be for everyone in terms of how it changes gears, but for me, it’s a pretty honest way to look at things that may have occurred in the past. How did you get on board? In 2018, [co-creator] Paul Hunter approached me with the idea for a short film. I’m basically playing a version of Paul’s father. It felt unique, fresh and surreal – I hadn’t read anything quite like it. We shot it for four days in Paul’s mother’s house and felt there was more we could do with it. A TV show felt like the natural progression. What do you think Paul’s family and friends thought of immortalising this period? Paul’s mother was very enamoured with the process, and proud of Paul, who’s been trying to make this for a long time. The production design is very evocative of life in California’s San Fernando Valley back then, and when Paul’s friends visited the set – some of whom appear in the series played by actors – they all felt like they’d stepped into a time machine. You also get to wear some sharp '60s suits. Did you enjoy that? We wanted to tip the hat to folks who have a sense of aspiration but not much by way of resources. Hampton only has two suits, but you still feel he’s a bit of a dandy. You see this a lot with immigrants: they’ll have two or three outfits and they’re good at mixing it up. That’s where the title comes from. Government Cheese? How do you mean? Government cheese is government-subsidised food that’s quite basic, but people would turn it into these amazing grilled cheese sandwiches or macaroni cheese, and these became beloved dishes. It symbolises making something out of nothing. Hampton looks for assurance from God that he’s forging a righteous path. Did you relate to that? Faith is a huge part of my life, but what I like about this is that it’s not proselytising – almost everyone can relate to having a difficult circumstance and wanting a sign they’re on the right track. Hampton has his epiphany after starting a conversation with God, but that doesn’t mean his day-to-day or spiritual challenges go away. As an actor, can you relate to that idea of pushing for a project, hanging on to a dream? Enormously! Many of my projects have required immense tenacity to get them made. I literally felt a spiritual calling to play Martin Luther King, but the initial director of Selma rejected me. Then, seven years later, I brought on the director who eventually made it [Ava DuVernay]. Lawman: Bass Reeves took nine years. This was a six-year journey. I’ve definitely been guilty of trying to force something when it’s not the right time. My own faith has been a huge component in helping me let go when it’s the healthy thing to do. It must be nice shooting this so close to your own LA home. How important is it for you to be near your family when working? I’d just spent six months in Texas doing Bass Reeves. I told Apple: these are the circumstances under which I can and will do it. Two of my kids are still quite young, and I know that too much time away is not healthy. Often things are filmed somewhere that’s advantageous for tax breaks. But as it was set where I live, there was an excuse to take that position. We see the difficulties Hampton faces in slotting back into his children’s lives after his stint in prison. As a father of four — what do you think of him as a parent? I find him incredibly relatable – he might be equal parts selfish and selfless, but he’s not been absent or irresponsible by choice. He’s trying to do the right thing – and failing consistently. I don’t know a father for whom that is not the case. Certainly, that’s been my experience! The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Government Cheese is streaming on Apple TV+. 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.
Chris Packham: 'The vile suggestion that ADHD is a fad needs countering in this time of division'
Inside our ADHD Minds comes to BBC Two next week.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. For nearly two years, on an almost daily basis, strangers have politely stopped me to say, "Thank you". The focus of their quiet but almost boundless gratitude was, and still is, the two-part BBC2 series Inside Our Minds from 2023, which gave viewers a greater insight into the daily lived experience of autistic people. Whether I'm on the train or in an art gallery, I'm told by everyone from teenagers to grandparents that the series gave them a better understanding of themselves, or one of their relatives or colleagues, to the extent that it precipitated diagnoses, positive changes in their lives or a better societal understanding of the condition. Healthcare professionals frequently assert that the programmes have become an invaluable asset in their work because they articulate, in real terms, things that otherwise have been so difficult to see, describe or feel. So, although we still struggle to be heard and understood, I think the programmes made a difference to the autistic community. Applying the format – in which contributors work with film-makers, designers and animators to bring their internal worlds to life – to other neurodiverse conditions was the logical next step. As someone who once hid my autistic traits and struggled with my condition in my youth before being diagnosed in my 40s, it’s perhaps easier to see that progress is being made communicating our thoughts and needs to society, but I fear that same ongoing success has not been forthcoming for ADHD and dyslexic communities. Indeed, there has been some vile and misplaced prejudice prominently voiced recently about ADHD – suggesting that it’s a fad and has been wrongly or over-diagnosed. That very urgently needs countering in this time of divisive culture wars, with assaults on inclusivity and diversity. My stepdaughter Megan is dyslexic, so I have experience of the positive and challenging impacts of that, and thinking about ADHD is a bit like holding a misty mirror up to myself, because there is often an overlap between the traits of autism and ADHD – "double-diagnosis" is far from uncommon, so I was very keen to learn more and do what I could to help. Except that in this series, as with our last, it wasn’t just me. I was part of an exceptional team, many of whom are neurodiverse themselves. They, our four new contributors and their friends and families, will, I’m sure, make the new series of Inside Our Minds a success, allowing a more empathetic understanding of those remarkable people who struggle and succeed with these simply different but equally wonderful minds. Prof Amanda Kirby chair, the ADHD Foundation What exactly is ADHD and how does it present itself in the brain? Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a misnomer: it’s a surfeit of attention, not a deficit. You may have difficulty in focusing and maintaining interest in things that don’t interest you, while hyper-focusing on things that do. Switching from one task to another can be hard. People talk about ADHD as “time-blindness”: you might not understand how long something’s going to take, so you prevaricate. What’s the biggest misconception about ADHD? That we over-diagnose it. We’ve actually been under-diagnosing. Until relatively recently, it was thought to be a childhood condition, blamed on bad parenting. But it’s not something that disappears in adulthood. We’re now catching up with undiagnosed adults, particularly women and other marginalised groups. In your experience, how do people respond when they learn they have ADHD later in life? With mixed feelings of joy and disappointment. And sometimes grief: 'What did I lose in not knowing earlier?' But putting in strategies to help can bring relief by acknowledging things were hard, but there is now a reason. Some people are still sceptical — Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently said diagnosis was creating a "class of victims". Talking of people with ADHD as “victims” is damaging and misinformed, and dismisses the real challenges faced by individuals and their families. No doctor is going to just diagnose you randomly – it’s a rigorous assessment process. Henry, 23 You were diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager – what effect did that have on you? Before being diagnosed, I was close to dropping out of my A-levels. I thought I was a bit stupid. The diagnosis gave me an understanding that I’m not broken. But it was so intense that I never really had a chance to digest it at the time. Did taking part in this programme help your family understand you? After getting my diagnosis, it was Project Henry: let’s get Henry through school and university. I’m so grateful for their support, but what they didn’t comprehend was that ADHD wasn’t just about academia for me, it was omnipotent. Making my film was cathartic – my family have a deeper understanding now. I feel I can tell them when I need a bit of space, or ask them to explain something to me differently. There’s less of the frustration that led us to butt heads. It’s given me a new language. How would you describe your ADHD? My ADHD feels like a tombola: my body will spit a random ball out and it feels unfeasible to reach for anything. Tombola Man’s the one picking them out, but he’s not really picking the balls that matter. It’ll be stuff that I don’t need to think about, projects that I want to start but haven’t – and then I haven’t eaten… How would you like viewers to respond to the programme? I hope people will feel less afraid and alone, because there are many of us out there. What Chris Packham has done in talking about ADHD, taking the stigma away, is just beautiful. Prof Joel Talcott, neuroscientist What's unique about dyslexia? Dyslexia is a hereditary condition rooted in neurobiology. It emerges from underlying difficulties in cognitive ability, language processing, visual spatial processing and working memory. It’s not just about difficulty in reading – in evolutionary terms, humans haven’t been reading for that long – it can also include remembering simple verbal navigation instructions. What do you hope programmes like this will achieve? In certain political circles, we seem to be questioning whether these things exist. Establishing them as real can help us view them more holistically, as individual experiences with their own strengths and weaknesses rather than just limitations. Suiki, 35 When were you diagnosed and what has it meant to you? In lockdown in 2020 I started a Masters degree in psychotherapy. I had this inkling that I might be dyslexic: I was a bit clumsy with my words, my spelling and my memory, and I had low self-esteem. I got an assessment from the university’s dedicated disability team, and it brought a lot of clarity. How has making the programme affected your relationship with your family? They’ve accepted that some things aren’t straightforward for me. They understand that if I’m responding in a way that seems harsh, it’s just because it can be tricky for me to communicate. Generally, I’m more assured to say it’s because I’m dyslexic. What positive impact does your dyslexia have in your daily life? When I’m counselling someone, I often see a picture when they talk about their feelings. Describing these metaphorical pictures to them can then help us talk about their emotions and implement a plan. What do you hope viewers will take away from the programme? That dyslexia’s not something you have to hide. If you have a loved one, or someone you work with, who’s dyslexic, I hope it gives some insight into what they’re going through – and that you can talk about it confidently. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Inside our ADHD Minds begins Monday 12th May at 9pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
After three action-packed series as showrunner, Chris Chibnall is preparing to hand back the keys to the Tardis. Robin Parker asks, will he miss it?
This article was published in RT in April 2022 and is part of our digital Doctor Who anniversary bookazine — click here to download it for free. Nobody in TV cuts a more relaxed figure than a demob-happy Doctor Who showrunner. The heavy toll of years spent configuring their galaxy-spinning imagination with the hard reality of budgets and maintaining their role as custodian of secrets in the face of teaser-hungry fans dissipates as they hit the home straight. As Chris Chibnall prepares for his swansong specials to air (one this week and another later this year to mark the BBC’s 100th anniversary), he has more reason than most to celebrate: producing the behemoth during the pandemic nearly curtailed his and Jodie Whittaker’s three-series-and-out plan. “That we made Doctor Who at all during the past two years is a miracle,” admits Chibnall, hitherto far less of a public face of the programme than his predecessors Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat. “There was a point around April/May 2020 where it looked like we’d have to call it a day after two series. If we hadn’t already planned to leave after series three, there’s no way I’d be staying on now after going through that experience.” Looking back on the time-and-space hopping adventure, he says he’s “flabbergasted” at the team’s efforts to tell a story of scale. This being Doctor Who, of course, there was no let-up and a planned final trio of epic specials, culminating in the Doctor’s regeneration this autumn, nearly fell at the first fence, with production and budget pressures forcing Chibnall to pare down Eve of the Daleks, which aired on New Year’s Day. “We had to ditch our original idea and I had to write a new script in just over a week,” he reveals. “You can’t just go, ‘Right, we’ve got the series and then we’ll do the specials.’ You’re constantly on this treadmill.” It’s that treadmill that he’ll miss the least: simultaneously writing, filming and in post-production on multiple episodes as well as planning the next season. When he pressed Moffat on how he managed to juggle working on Who and Sherlock, Moffat said he didn’t know, but somehow Who still took up all the time. “Steven told me, ‘I miss the work, but I don’t miss the workload.’ That’s where I’m heading towards.” Chibnall, 52, wrote five episodes under Davies and Moffat before becoming showrunner, and was lead writer on spin-off Torchwood for its first two series from 2006. Did he know what he was letting himself in for? Is that why he imposed his own exit plan? Partly, he admits. “Having observed Russell and Steven at work, I knew how exhausting the show was, and Jodie and I both have families. I didn’t want to be showrunning Doctor Who in the year my children were doing their A-level and GCSE exams, which they are now. I owed it to my family – I hadn’t seen much of them in recent years.” The Chibnalls still watch Doctor Who as a family and he treasures a visual bookmark of his tenure: a photo of his eldest, aged five, in David Tennant’s Tardis and another photo of him, now aged 18, on the set of Whittaker’s ship. “It’s been woven into our lives – probably a bit too much to be honest!” It’s been woven into his life since Tom Baker played the Doc. I feel the need to check: you have had fun in your dream job, haven’t you? “Everything on Doctor Who is exciting!” he says. “You have to live in the moment and enjoy it, because you know you’re never going to do anything like it ever again, whatever you do.” Nevertheless, the convoluted dovetailing plotlines of a few of his episodes took some effort to follow and that cost him some of the goodwill from casual viewers that greeted Whittaker’s arrival: even the New Year special mustered fewer than five million within a week of its broadcast, a far cry from the 13.3m who tuned in to David Tennant’s biggest Christmas special in 2007, at the peak of Davies’s imperial phase. If these figures, and the more vocal fan reactions, bother him, he’s not showing it. Asked how much consideration he gives to fandom, he is blunt: “Absolute zero. That was the advice from both Russell and Steven.” He had a vision for a three-series arc and delivered it – any other worries, such as whether Who’s weekly release pattern is an “outlier” in the streaming age – is above his pay grade. Landing a cliffhanger or teaser that encourages a return the following week is, he says, tricky to navigate in the streaming era and he is personally “all for the box set” as a viewer. He also acknowledges that the competition in sci-fi and fantasy has never been greater. But Doctor Who still has an ace up its sleeve: “Unlike all those Marvel shows and films, Doctor Who never ends with a punch. That’s still an incredible thing.” Of his alien creations, he’s proud of Swarm, Azure and Karvanista from last year’s six-parter Flux, as well as his debut season’s baddie “Tim Shaw”, and relished placing old favourites the Sontarans in the Crimean War. There’s something of the old-fashioned repertory theatre that appeals to him in making the show. “It takes three weeks to film a standard episode and then you’re onto the next, and we’ve kept pretty much the same team throughout. You can go from a huge pirate ship to a space station or a cabin in the Crimea. What I’ll miss most is the constant delight at other crafts-people’s brilliant work.” For someone who wrote all 24 episodes of ITV’s Broadchurch, Chibnall’s collegiate approach is striking, and his democratising of the writing team is one of his most significant legacies. Where Moffat anchored his series to veteran writers like Richard Curtis, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Luther creator Neil Cross and Chibnall himself, this most recent era has been full of new, diverse voices, from Murdered by My Father writer Vinay Patel to Sea Devils co-writer, playwright Ella Road. “There’s a swathe of amazing writers out there and it felt like I’d be doing the show a disservice if I didn’t bring them in,” he says. Some of the stories he wanted to tell – the Partition of India, the protest of Rosa Parks – demanded an authenticity, and a writers’ room shaped ideas, with Chibnall having final pass on each script. Stories emerged both organically from a shared interest and from serendipity in fusing loose threads from different story ideas. “David Lynch has a great quote: ‘Plan vigorously and allow for the happy accidents.’ Everything on this show is that, times a thousand.” He’s also taken the elasticity of the format further than most, layering in a Doctor origin story as audacious as it is divisive – a badge of honour for any Who showrunner, it seems – you’re not doing your job if fans all agree. “You’re not carrying a vase across a room – you’ve got to get in there and say what you want about the show, the character and the world,” he says. “It’s one of the few drama series without a written bible, and every era contains a contradiction or left-turn from what has come before. Any future showrunner will ignore it or run with it.” Davies is returning in time for the 60th anniversary. Which will he do, does he reckon? “Oh, I fully expect Russell to ignore it!” he belly laughs. Before we come to his successor, it’s worth remembering that Chibnall’s desire to shake things up kicked in with his casting of the first female Doctor. Having worked with Jodie on Broadchurch, what planted the seed? “First, she’s one of the greatest actors of her generation,” he declares. “But I thought – and I’d been guilty of this – the parts she’d taken didn’t necessarily demonstrate her energy and physicality, her humour and her clownlike qualities.” In her audition, he recalls, she “brought the Doctor in with her straightaway”. Her idea of the Doctor fused Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown in Back to the Future with Madonna in a trouser suit. Having spent most of Broadchurch sobbing on screen, she pleaded: “Can I please not cry?” Chibnall says, “I promised her she wouldn’t be crying for a long time.” His writing leaned into a childlike quality shared by actor and character – “like she’s in a cave and the lights come on, at every moment” – plus a pragmatism and love of engineering and science that have inspired young female fans. Having planned an emotional journey of discovery for Jodie’s Doctor over three series, he promises her story will wrap up “in a really huge, fun, action-y, mad, heartbreaking way. There’ll be a lot of laughs and tears in that final episode. You want to do everything.” That final special is also part of the BBC’s centenary plans, so expect a “celebration” of the broadcaster within the story, he teases. “There are some treats – Easter eggs and kisses to the past.” (What can he mean? The Daleks blowing up Alexandra Palace? The Master posing as Mary Whitehouse? Start formulating your theories now…) After all, he says, the BBC is something worth celebrating. “I have no idea why you would want to bash the BBC,” he says. “Look at the amazing drama and entertainment they still pump out – The Tourist, Time, Strictly… Everybody likes to attack it until we have a pandemic or a massive war and then everyone asks, ‘Can you tell us the truth, please?’ and the BBC does that. We should never take it for granted.” He is eager to see how Davies remodels the show, and some of his production team are staying on for the 60th anniversary. “Everybody should have a big smile on their face. Russell is one of the elite showrunners and Who is very lucky to have him, especially off the back of It’s a Sin, one of the greatest shows of all time. For him to have incredible ideas and passion for it, to want to take it forward again – that’s fab. Nobody has a greater love for Doctor Who.” What did he learn from Davies? Launching into a passable impression of Russell’s jaunty Welsh lilt, he recalls being told of a Torchwood ensemble cast scene, “I just want to know what everybody in this scene thinks.” Chibnall elaborates: “Everybody in that room needs to have a distinct point of view and it needs to be there in that scene. For Russell, as a humanist and a character writer, nobody’s ever neglected, nobody’s ever denied their moment. A tiny note opens up everything.” Would he dare impart any new-found wisdom to Davies? “The same as he gave me: enjoy it. I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s such a privilege. Few people have done it and you’re standing in the footsteps of those people across 60 years now.” So you’ll be pitching him Who stories then? He laughs, a hoot as garrulous as the best of Davies’s. “Absolutely never again! Clear red line, final script. I never expected to come back after working with Steven, really, and I’d turned it down a couple of times after that. I never thought I’d be offered the job and built into that is why I wanted to keep it to a very specific three-series thing. “Supervising teenagers’ revision is taking up my time now and there’s lots of other things to write! I will happily sit back and watch. For all that it’s been gorgeous all along, now it’s like, ‘Oh I remember this. This is what real life is like!’ ”
He loves a big night out in Vegas, but playing golf with Jed Mercurio? Not so much…
Add Fear to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? We’re at the stage of life where everything revolves around the kid, so I’m rarely on it! Usually, I do the mornings and my wife does night-times. If I’m not working, I’m in bed by half eight and up at six with the wee fella. Do you and your wife ever get to spend time as a couple? We try to get out of the house – we like to go for dinner and see a show. If ever you’re in Vegas [Compston lives there with his wife, American actor Tianna Chanel Flynn and their four-year-old son] see Absinthe, which is phenomenal – it’s like an adult Cirque du Soleil. And The Years, which has just transferred to London’s West End, is the best show I’ve seen in a long time. Anything you’ve liked on TV recently? I was intrigued by The Penguin. I’m not a superhero guy but I’ve followed Colin Farrell through In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, so I gave it a try. It wasn’t at all what I expected! I loved Colin’s mannerisms – his walk, the blinking of his eye. He’s an evil b*****d, but he has you rooting for him! You’ve spent a lot of time back in Scotland recently filming The Rig and your new Amazon Prime Video thriller Fear. Is it good to be home? Wild Mercury, which produces both shows, has pretty much kept me in work over the past couple of years. They’ve made a huge investment in Scotland and I’m chuffed to be part of it. Fear was filmed in the West End of Glasgow, which is a beautiful area. The house where we filmed overlooks Kelvingrove Park and I got quite giddy, because a lot of Celtic players live around there and I’d see them walking their dogs. The house is a character in itself. Would you like to live there? Running up those stairs, at times they felt endless… There’s all these secret rooms to explore over five levels. But at night, it’d be a lonely place if you had to get up to go to the bathroom. It’s cold and dark and would be hell to heat! Fear taps into a current trend for dramas that depict parental nightmares. As a father, did that resonate with you? As you get older, you become a bit less selfish and try to do what’s best for your family. I think everyone can relate to wanting to give your kids a better life – and the fear of them being taken away. My character Martyn and his wife, Rebecca, are accused of the most horrible things you could level at a parent. These days, it seems that if somebody calls you something, it sticks without any evidence or recourse. Anjli Mohindra plays your wife and Daniel Portman is also in Fear — all three of you were in Vigil. Did it feel like a reunion? Well, I died before the credits in that one! But I saw Dan across the room at one point and Anjli’s character tried to resuscitate me. We’ve all become pretty tight since this and try to meet up when we’re in London. You also still keep in regular touch with the Line of Duty gang, don’t you? Jed [Mercurio] is coming to see me in Vegas – he’s determined to get a round of golf, which is not my forte. I’ll probably go slash a few balls and get some dinner. And I speak to Vicky [McClure] and Adrian [Dunbar] pretty much every day – we’re all in a WhatsApp group. Do you get tired of being asked about when it might be coming back? No, it’ll be a sad day when people stop asking! I’m really proud of it and I’m happy it’s made such an impact. So… any update? I’m aware of not getting people’s hopes up. At the moment, there’s nothing to share. When there’s something to tell, you’ll hear it first from us. We’ll be delighted to share it!
Martin Compston on new series Fear and 'not getting hopes up' for Line of Duty season 7
Compston spoke with Radio Times magazine about his Prime Video thriller co-starring Anjli Mohindra.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What's the view from your sofa? We’re at the stage of life where everything revolves around the kid, so I’m rarely on it! Usually, I do the mornings and my wife does night-times. If I’m not working, I’m in bed by half eight and up at six with the wee fella. Do you and your wife ever get to spend time as a couple? We try to get out of the house – we like to go for dinner and see a show. If ever you’re in Vegas [Compston lives there with his wife, American actor Tianna Chanel Flynn, and their four-year-old son] see Absinthe, which is phenomenal – it’s like an adult Cirque du Soleil. And The Years, which has just transferred to London’s West End, is the best show I’ve seen in a long time. Anything you've liked on TV recently? I was intrigued by The Penguin. I’m not a superhero guy but I’ve followed Colin Farrell through In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, so I gave it a try. It wasn’t at all what I expected! I loved Colin’s mannerisms – his walk, the blinking of his eye. He’s an evil b*****d, but he has you rooting for him! You’ve spent a lot of time back in Scotland recently filming The Rig and your new Amazon Prime Video thriller Fear. Is it good to be home? Wild Mercury, which produces both shows, has pretty much kept me in work over the past couple of years. They’ve made a huge investment in Scotland and I’m chuffed to be part of it. Fear was filmed in the West End of Glasgow, which is a beautiful area. The house where we filmed overlooks Kelvingrove Park and I got quite giddy, because a lot of Celtic players live around there and I’d see them walking their dogs. The house is a character in itself. Would you like to live there? Running up those stairs, at times they felt endless… There’s all these secret rooms to explore over five levels. But at night, it’d be a lonely place if you had to get up to go to the bathroom. It’s cold and dark and would be hell to heat! Fear taps into a current trend for dramas that depict parental nightmares. As a father, did that resonate with you? As you get older, you become a bit less selfish and try to do what’s best for your family. I think everyone can relate to wanting to give your kids a better life – and the fear of them being taken away. My character Martyn and his wife, Rebecca, are accused of the most horrible things you could level at a parent. These days, it seems that if somebody calls you something, it sticks without any evidence or recourse. Anjli Mohindra plays your wife and Daniel Portman is also in Fear — all three of you were in Vigil. Did it feel like a reunion? Well, I died before the credits in that one! But I saw Dan across the room at one point and Anjli’s character tried to resuscitate me. We’ve all become pretty tight since this and try to meet up when we’re in London. You also still keep in regular touch with the Line of Duty gang, don't you? Jed [Mercurio] is coming to see me in Vegas – he’s determined to get a round of golf, which is not my forte. I’ll probably go slash a few balls and get some dinner. And I speak to Vicky [McClure] and Adrian [Dunbar] pretty much every day – we’re all in a WhatsApp group. Do you get tired of being asked about when it might be coming back? No, it’ll be a sad day when people stop asking! I’m really proud of it and I’m happy it’s made such an impact. So… any update? I’m aware of not getting people’s hopes up. At the moment, there’s nothing to share. When there’s something to tell, you’ll hear it first from us. We’ll be delighted to share it! The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Fear premieres on Prime Video on Tuesday 4th March - you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial. 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.