Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2023-07-20T20:15:27.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Meet the cast of Happy Valley season 2
items: Olivia Cooke: I'm a working class northern actress – before Hollywood, Vanity Fair would never have happened for me
items: "Shakespeare is so Bollywood": Anita Rani shares her love for India's cinema classics
items: Cuckoo's Helen Baxendale on her TV tastes: ‘Reality television is drivel – but First Dates gives me hope for humanity’
items: European Championships 2018: GB swimming star Adam Peaty reveals the secrets to his incredible success
items: Trauma star Lyndsey Marshal: "Playing a mother who's lost her son, I feel so lucky to have my own"
items: Springwatch 2018: Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan return for a new series
items: Meet the winner of our competition to design the Radio Times Royal Wedding cover
items: Masterchef's Gregg Wallace and John Torode on why the Bake Off judges have an easier job
items: Mum star Lesley Manville reveals her West End dressing room secrets
items: Alan Carr: I'd love a role in The Crown – and I know exactly who I'd play
items: The Pilgrimage: Follow Neil Morrissey and Debbie McGee on the road to Santiago
items: How This Country stars Daisy May and Charlie Cooper created the comedy hit of the year
items: Mum series 2 preview: Lesley Manville returns in BBC2's quietly brilliant family comedy
items: Back in Time for Tea: How to take an ordinary living room back to the 1970s
items: Welcome back to This Country: Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s sublime mockumentary is as hilarious and heartbreaking as ever
items: Joanna Lumley and the cast of Finding Your Feet talk dancing on the big screen
items: Shetland star Mark Bonnar: "Strictly often reduces me to tears"
items: How to choose the perfect specialist subject on Mastermind
items: The Last Leg's presenting trio reveal what goes on behind the scenes
items: The 10 best celebrity facts to come out of Would I Lie to You
items: Things I Know to Be True review: A devastating drama about a seemingly perfect family ★★★★
items: The Gruffalo writer Julia Donaldson on her new creation, The Highway Rat
items: Harry Potter star Rupert Grint on fame, fans and new show Sick Note
items: Blue Planet II has inspired a group of young artists who want to save the oceans
items: Lenny Henry: "I was the unhippest comedian in the universe"
items: How well do Alfie Boe and Michael Ball really know each other?
items: Eleanor Tomlinson and the stars of Loving Vincent reveal their own painting talents
items: Stanley Tucci: "British news channels are a 1000 times better than US ones"
items: The Big Family Cooking Showdown hosts and judges share their favourite home recipes

Meet the cast of Happy Valley season 2
type: item
date: 2022-01-21T12:30:00.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Sarah Lancashire, James Norton and Siobhan Finneran are reprising their roles for the third and final season.
encoded: With production having finally begun on the third and final season of BBC drama Happy Valley, it shouldn’t be too long before the long-awaited instalment lands on our screens. The BBC drama once again features a star-studded cast, with Sarah Lancashire reprising her role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood. Siobhan Finneran and James Norton will also be returning as Catherine's sister Clare Cartwright and Tommy Lee Royce respectively. And that's not all. BBC One has revealed some exciting new additions to the Happy Valley cast, including Amit Shah (The Other One, The Long Call), Mollie Winnard (All Creatures Great and Small, Four Lives) and Mark Stanley (The Girl Before, White House Farm) in roles as yet undisclosed. Read on for everything you need to know about the cast ahead of Happy Valley season 3. Happy Valley season 2 cast Sarah Lancashire plays Catherine Cawood Who is Catherine Cawood? Eighteen months ago Catherine was savagely beaten by vicious Tommy Lee Royce, the rapist she held responsible for the death of her beloved daughter. But Catherine emerged from crushing depression to gather the strands of her life — she’s back at work and once again is at the heart of her home and her town. But though Royce is in prison, he is never far away. What else has Sarah Lancashire been in? Sarah Lancashire made her name on Coronation Street before quitting in 1996 and going on to find success with Where the Heart Is, Clocking Off and Seeing Red. In recent years she's also appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford, The Paradise and Last Tango in Halifax James Norton as Tommy Lee Royce A terrifying sociopath, Tommy has been in prison for eighteen months for the atrocities he committed in series one. On the surface, Catherine has won their battle with Tommy behind bars and left powerless... or so it seems. Another twist in their tale soon drags the pair back together and, like the slippery snake that he is, murderous Tommy focuses his mind on one goal: revenge. What else has James Nort…

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Olivia Cooke: I'm a working class northern actress – before Hollywood, Vanity Fair would never have happened for me
type: item
date: 2018-09-28T12:44:46.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: As the Ready Player One actress plays ultimate social climber Becky Sharp in ITV's Vanity Fair, she recalls her own swift rise
encoded: Olivia Cooke is beautiful, with eyes so enormous and intense you’re reluctant to look away from them . But it’s her broad, rich, Lancashire accent you notice first, and Cooke is aware that from the moment she opens her mouth, she’s labelled. “It’s such an identifiable factor. I come into a room, ‘Oh. She’s northern. She’s from the North West somewhere. She’s working class.” And when it comes to auditions? She mimics a casting director: “‘If she sounds like that, make her Maid Number Two.’” Happily for Cooke, the Oldham-born daughter of a police officer dad and sales rep mum, those doing the hiring for Vanity Fair saw beyond that lazy stereotype and gave her the role of the industrious, manipulative social-climbing orphan Becky Sharp in ITV’s lavish adaptation of the Thackeray classic. Meet the cast of Vanity Fair Isobel Waller-Bridge on the 'dream' of composing for Vanity Fair – and its 'weird similarities' to sister Phoebe's Fleabag When is Vanity Fair on TV? Everything you need to know Unrefined candour is part of Cooke’s immense appeal. She admits, for instance, that not only had she never read the book before landing the part, she hadn’t even heard of it. And – whisper it – she’s not much of a fan of costume dramas. “I’ve found in the past that they can be quite dreary,” she says. “They tend to marinate in their sophistication a little bit too much. Often it looks pretty but the drama is lacking. The substance isn’t actually there for me.” View oEmbed on the source website With Becky Sharp, substance is not in short supply, and Cooke is sympathetic about the orphan’s selfish, scheming climb to the top of early-19th-century society. “She’s hungry for a better life, she chases status, she weaponises her sexuality, and she wants celebrity and wealth. She’s bound by society and her place as a woman.” All of which, Cooke thinks, will be very familiar to a modern audience. When we meet on location in Surrey on a freezing day in January, the 24-year-old is sinking into…

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"Shakespeare is so Bollywood": Anita Rani shares her love for India's cinema classics
type: item
date: 2018-08-13T14:11:33.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Documentaries
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The TV presenter discusses her latest BBC2 documentary, Bollywood: the World’s Biggest Film Industry
encoded: Countryfile's Anita Rani discusses her latest BBC2 documentary Bollywood: the World’s Biggest Film Industry – and why she still holds a candle for India's cinema classics... Your new show is all about Bollywood. I’m picturing all-singing, all-dancing movie marathons at your house... No! I don’t actually watch all that much Bollywood – they churn out films, and I’ve got family members who’ll watch everything going. But I’m very selective and will wait till something’s highly recommended. They’re all very long – you’ve really got to invest time! Any recommendations? Lunchbox is a beautiful Indian film that came out last year – but there’s no singing or dancing, so it’s not strictly Bollywood. There are some classics you need to watch: Sholay, an early Indian western, is epic. Love, friendship, comedy, a great villain. Everybody knows every lyric to every song – they get played at every wedding! And Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is really cheesy, but it’s a big hit for the diaspora in Britain. Omkara is the Indian version of Othello, set in the Rajasthani desert. Shakespeare is so Bollywood. Doctor Who Bollywood style is brilliantly bizarre Sign up for the free RadioTimes.com newsletter View oEmbed on the source website Back to the small screen… Being Indians, we can’t actually just have a small screen at home. Our telly is decent-sized and we’ve got surround-sound. I’ve got my own swivelly Bond villain chair, but my husband and I sometimes sit together on the sofa. I like to get cosy, make popcorn, eat expensive chocolate and have a nice bottle of red wine. I’m often distracted by my phone, though, or have a book or magazine I’m flicking through. What are you watching? Atlanta. I’m obsessed with Donald Glover [who writes and stars in the show] – and I’ve been a huge fan of his music as Childish Gambino [his rapper alias] for ages. He’s a clever dude. Atlanta is very subtle, with such an interesting insight into the lives of his characters, especially how they’re viewed by …

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Cuckoo's Helen Baxendale on her TV tastes: ‘Reality television is drivel – but First Dates gives me hope for humanity’
type: item
date: 2018-08-02T09:01:06.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The star of Cold Feet, Friends and BBC3's Cuckoo talks TV, current affairs – and why First Dates gives her hope for humanity
encoded: Helen Baxendale, who played Emily in Friends and who now stars in BBC3's Cuckoo, talks reality TV and why she can never watch herself onscreen... How do you watch TV? We’ve still got a cathode ray TV with a big back. An ancient, massive thing. All our teenagers’ friends come round and say the TV’s really cool. The picture is so much better than HD TVs – everything looks like film. It’s not digital, and we still haven’t got Netflix. It’s too confusing. So we can’t pause anything. We can turn it off… Do you watch TV with your teenagers? Yes, I like to make it sociable. When I was growing up, we used to be like the Royle family, sitting around watching lots of TV and commenting on it. It was our focal point. I have vivid memories of my dad watching Not the Nine o’Clock News. I didn’t really get it but I thought it was hilarious because he was laughing. TV seemed really good back then – watching Swap Shop on a Saturday with my sister. It’s easy not to be sociable nowadays and just sit alone and watch it on your iPad. So no iPlayer binges? Oh yes – iPlayer’s great! We love box sets on there. You can look forward to it, like Dickens. It’s nice to be able to say to each other, “Ooh, you know what night it is tonight?!” Recently we’ve loved A Very English Scandal, The Bridge, The Handmaid’s Tale and a French show called Missions on BBC4. It’s surprisingly easy to get teenagers to watch subtitles. I don’t think they balk at it if you just say, “This is what we’re watching.” Where is First Dates Hotel filmed? Is the First Dates restaurant real? How to be on First Dates View oEmbed on the source website Sounds like a lot of drama series… I actually used to be really into current affairs, but I find everything so depressing these days that I just scream at the TV or radio. I always watched Newsnight, but it’s so miserable now. There’s a lot of non-depressing things if you look up, away from the TV, and I can often go weeks without watching! Although I was really enjoying the Wo…

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European Championships 2018: GB swimming star Adam Peaty reveals the secrets to his incredible success
type: item
date: 2018-08-02T08:53:05.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: News
subject: Sport
subject: TV
description: The world's fastest breaststroke swimmer says he can pick up a European Championship medal with only 80 per cent effort
encoded: Adam Peaty is one of the fastest swimmers the world has ever known. An Olympic and world champion, he holds the ten best times on record for the 100m breaststroke, remains the only person ever to dip inside 58 seconds for the same event and also holds the world record for the 50m. You hold your own breath when you watch him in the pool, so rapid and superhuman are his movements. Which makes it all the more surreal to meet the 23-year-old on land, going nowhere fast, all 6ft 2 and 15 stones of him shoved into the back of a taxi outside an airport in Rome, sitting on the motorway in rush-hour traffic. European Championships 2018 live on TV: how to watch the all-new sports tournament Premier League 2018/19 TV fixtures and coverage guide RadioTimes.com newsletter: get the latest TV and entertainment news direct to your inbox Peaty, from Uttoxeter, has been a star since splashing into the spotlight when he won Team GB’s first gold medal at the Rio Olympics. That triumph – in which he broke his own world record – opened a glorious summer of British sport, in which he’d go on to win a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay, too. “I’m still on a high now!” he says of the 100m breaststroke gold. “Thinking about it gives me goosebumps. I thought, ‘If I can get this first gold medal for Britain, the whole mood is going to be lifted.’ It was a relief. You can’t think of anything that has more pressure, or is as prestigious as that.” Rio is the crowning glory of his career so far. As well as being the first swimmer to hold Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth gold in the same event at once, he has now been nominated for Sports Personality of the Year and has an MBE, an achievement he values just below the Olympic gold: “It’s something you can’t win.” Now, he’s gearing up to win again at the European Championships in Glasgow. After suffering a rare setback when he missed out on the gold in the 50m at the Commonwealth Games in April, victory in Glasgow is part of a carefully…

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Trauma star Lyndsey Marshal: "Playing a mother who's lost her son, I feel so lucky to have my own"
type: item
date: 2018-06-22T13:07:31.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The actress explains why the storyline in ITV's new drama will particularly hit home with parents: "When you have children, your whole life and priorities change"
encoded: ITV's new drama Trauma sees actress Lyndsey Marshal play the mother of a boy who is stabbed and subsequently dies in hospital. Here she explains why the plot hit particularly close to home while she was filming... When you first meet my character Susie, her son is in the trauma unit and she has to stay strong for her family while her husband spirals out of control. I have two young sons — one is five years old, the other is one and a half. This was one of my first jobs after having my second child, so it was easy to access the emotions Susie might feel and put myself in her position. I live in Tufnell Park, which is a nice area of north London, but there were five stabbings there over Christmas. You can’t help but think: “Oh God, should I bring my family up outside London? Or is that running away?” Meet the cast of Trauma From Doctor Who to Doctor Foster: Trauma writer Mike Bartlett reveals his TV influences Call the Midwife’s Helen George on pregnancy, childbirth and women being shamed for choosing to have C-sections Having boys rather than girls, too, makes it more of a worry. People’s sons are always getting mugged — and anyone can pick up a knife and leave the house. When I was growing up in Manchester there were gangs, and there was a big gun problem, but now it’s all about knives, which weirdly, I find more frightening. I first worked with Mike Bartlett on a radio play about 15 years ago and one of the things he explores in Trauma is the crisis point we are at with our NHS. Every part of you wants to believe that a doctor is giving everything to your child, but how many trauma cases have they seen that day? The stress they’re under means some doctors haven’t had a break for 14 hours. It also explores the relationship you have with the person looking after you, which is total pot luck. When I had my first child, the experience with my midwife was awful, but the second time I had a much better connection with the man who delivered my child. When you have childre…

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Springwatch 2018: Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan return for a new series
type: item
date: 2018-05-28T09:18:47.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Documentaries
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The BBC's Springwatch team hopes to showcase the best of British wildlife - following a gruelling winter
encoded: After a winter that felt like it might never end, spring has finally sprung, and the Springwatch team are getting ready to decamp for the second year to the National Trust’s Sherborne Park Estate in the Cotswolds, to spend another three weeks among the wildlife. The British weather this year hasn’t been forgiving. The “Beast from the East”, Storm Emma and the recent heatwaves have taken a toll on animals and their habitats, but Chris Packham is as optimistic as ever about animals’ ability to adapt, and says the mix of weather this year will keep things interesting. Autumnwatch can't all be white and middle-class Springwatch presenter Chris Packham explores his Aspergers in new BBC documentary RadioTimes.com newsletter: get the latest TV and entertainment news direct to your inbox View oEmbed on the source website “We’ll see some things we normally miss because usually, they’ve already happened by the time we get there,” he says. Michaela Strachan is excited, too. “I love the surprises. We usually go with a plan and it completely changes – you get such interesting stories out of the most standard stuff. We all sigh at the blue tit box every year, but one year, the blue tit was bringing up great tit chicks. That’s the wildlife writing the story.” Packham agrees. “It’s not prescriptive, it’s always reactive: the opportunity to see stuff you’d never imagine to see in a lifetime of watching by yourself, because you couldn’t physically be there – or be awake for all those hours. The things we’ve seen on Springwatch have transformed the way we think about animal behaviour." Packham and Strachan will be joined at Sherborne by guest presenters including Steve Backshall, Iolo Williams, Lucy Cooke and Patrick Aryee, while Gillian Burke is on the road, travelling from Shetland to Cornwall. They’re looking forward to seeing raptors, gannets, barn owls, and badgers, but one sight they won’t see is former presenter Martin Hughes-Games, who has left, having had a precarious on-off …

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Meet the winner of our competition to design the Radio Times Royal Wedding cover
type: item
date: 2018-05-14T11:00:43.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Over 8,000 children applied and children's authors David Walliams and Lauren Child picked a design fit for a prince and his bride
encoded: The finest florists, dressmakers and chefs in the land have spent months preparing for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – but no one, surely, has been working harder than our nation’s budding artists. The search has been on to find the Radio Times cover to celebrate the occasion in style, and when a staggering 8,000-plus children across the country entered their wonderful creations to our competition, our judging panel had a tough job. And what a panel it was. Joining RT’s art director Shem Law were children’s authors David Walliams and Lauren Child, who, after much deliberation, settled on a cover that’s fit for a prince and his bride. The best royal TV specials marking Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding How to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle RadioTimes.com newsletter: get the latest TV and entertainment news direct to your inbox View oEmbed on the source website The winning entry was drawn by six-year-old Archie Lovett. Radio Times travelled to Scargill Infant School in Rainham in Essex to break the good news, and found that the whole school was waiting to congratulate him. The Radio Times Royal Wedding issue is on sale now – in shops and on the newsstand “I feel great,” Archie told us. “I was shocked when I saw my mum at school today! “I used felt-tip pens and looked at pictures of Harry and Meghan for the idea – Harry’s my favourite, because I’d like to be a prince! If I was a prince for the day, I’d tell everyone what to do. “It’s fantastic that people will buy my cover in the shops. I like art – I like copying pictures of Peter Rabbit and drawing football, my favourite team is Tottenham.” It was a lovely surprise, too, for his mum Carley, who had no idea he’d entered the competition. “It’s been hard to keep it a secret, I can’t believe it,” she says. “I’m off-the-scale proud of Archie – when he draws, he takes his time over it and puts his all in. Archie was born the year William and Kate got married, so I remember …

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Masterchef's Gregg Wallace and John Torode on why the Bake Off judges have an easier job
type: item
date: 2018-04-09T10:19:35.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
description: The presenting duo also talk why they'd do I'm a Celebrity and what Bear Grylls is forgetting
encoded: You’ve been one of TV’s biggest double acts for nearly 15 years. But do you ever watch TV together? GREGG: Never. We hardly spend any time together outside work, but we text and call all the time. JOHN: I live in Muswell Hill in London and he lives in Kent, but we spend more time together than most married couples. I see inside his ear, I know what aftershave he wears! We respect each other, and we have completely different opinions about politics, literature, art, music, food… G: That’s why it works. John wants me to have my own opinion – once he’s given it to me! What do you enjoy watching? G: I don’t have sofa time like everyone else. If I want to watch TV – and I try to watch two hours a week – I diarise it. I’m up at 6am and my bedtime is 8pm – I diarise everything. I like documentaries and rugby repeats. J: You can see how much fun he is! I grew up with rubbish television in Australia, so I’m good on junk. I love things like Border Control, Ice Road Truckers or, “He was obese once and it’s taken him 12 months to lose weight…” TV’s there to entertain, and I like weird stuff when I’m trying to switch off. Or comedy, like Live at the Apollo. Do you like dramas? J: Lisa [Faulkner, his partner] loves them. But I watch the first one and then I’m done – I want something new! Except for Orange Is the New Black and Breaking Bad. I do love Netflix. G: I’m not even sure what Netflix is. If there were no young people in my house, I wouldn’t be able to turn things on! I did download the box set of Wolf Hall recently, though. What makes you turn off? J: People trying to sell their house, or what’s in their attic. Who gives a damn? They’re just boring! G: I hate all the history channels that only show Hitler. Do you watch food channels? G: Is there a food channel? J: We’re on them all the time, Gregg! Do you ever think you could do a show better? G: History programmes. I don’t like academics doing them – it’s like they’re doing adverts for their book. History is only stories…

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Mum star Lesley Manville reveals her West End dressing room secrets
type: item
date: 2018-04-08T07:16:40.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The Olivier Awards nominee on the creature comforts that got her through a 10-week stint starring in theatre production Long Day's Journey into Night
encoded: As London dressing rooms go, this one – at Wyndham’s Theatre – is really good. It’s decorated in a classic, old-fashioned style, and it’s got some wonderful pieces of furniture that I moved around a bit – Jeremy Irons, my co-star in Long Day’s Journey into Night [Lesley Manville is nominated for an Olivier Award for best actress], is quite jealous. It’s also got a modern shower that they put in a few years ago. I use it when I’m off stage between acts – I get quite hot because of a little fat suit I wear in the show. Lesley Manville on a life on-screen, awards season and being an older woman in Hollywood Meet the cast of Mum I don’t do anything to prepare before I walk out on stage and I don’t get nervous, but putting on my make-up, wig and costume is part of the process. I’m very good at getting in and out of character quickly: when the lights go down, I’m in it, I’m Mary Tyrone. There’s an excitement when you look out and all the layers of the theatre are full – thank God, we’ve played to really big houses. A performance is never the same as the one you did before – there’s real spontaneity each time. View oEmbed on the source website I think this will go down as the most challenging ten weeks of my career. There’s been press for Phantom Thread, press for this play, press for Mum, awards season with the Baftas and the Oscars (lucky me, I know – but it wasn’t easy!) and I’ve been on stage in the evening, and up at 5am and filming a new series of Harlots at the same time. I don’t have a day off either, because of the Sunday matinée! It’s been intense – there’s a lot of make-up removal in cars. I think a lot of 20-year-olds would balk at my schedule. I don’t feel tired, but I’ve been saved by naps here on my sofa in the corner! It’s really important to me to make a dressing room homey. My cushions always come with me from home. They’re pale and creamy and old, and give the room a shabby chic look, which I like. I bring in a nice throw for the sofa, a blanket so I ca…

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Alan Carr: I'd love a role in The Crown – and I know exactly who I'd play
type: item
date: 2018-04-06T08:58:12.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Netflix
subject: On demand
description: "I want to play Paul Burrell when they finally get to the Diana years," he says of his favourite Netflix drama. "Wouldn’t it just be perfect?"
encoded: Your new game show, I Don’t Like Mondays, sees people trying to win a year’s salary. What’s the worst job you ever had? You name it, I’ve done it. Pet shampooing, call centres, flyering… the worst one was at a CD factory. Somebody would hold my ankles and swing me under a machine that made CDs – cash in hand, typical Northampton – and I’d scoop up all the bits of plastic that had fallen on the floor and put them in the bin. I was 12! Only joking. What would be your dream job? An old-school detective in the 1920s. Somebody’s been poisoned in a stately home! Some jewels have gone missing in the south of France. I’m fascinated by this Russian spy stuff – it’s proper Agatha Christie! I don’t want to slag off Russia too much, they’re probably listening in, but the world’s gone bonkers and the news is addictive stuff! Hollyoaks: Alan Carr films cameo – with his dogs! Alan Carr on why the time is right to bring back The Price Is Right View oEmbed on the source website Have you always been a news junkie? God no, when I was a teenager I’d have said, “BORING! Put Neighbours on.” But it’s scary times now. Trump, Russia, Kim Jong Un: I love Daniel Craig but real life is more dramatic than the last James Bond film I watched. What else do you watch apart from the news? My Sky planner is eclectic. I love Civilisations, where you’ve got Mary Beard walking round the pharaohs’ tombs, then Five Star Hotel and Spencer Matthews bathing with young girls on a Greek island, then someone having their microwave and deep-fat fryer confiscated by heavies on Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away. I love real life. It’s the rich tapestry that makes this world such a beautiful place. When Russia’s not involved. I like a lot of stuff on Netflix. The Crown’s fantastic; I’ve put a call in to my agent, I want to play Paul Burrell when they finally get to the Diana years. Wouldn’t it just be perfect? What about comedy? I don’t watch any comedy. Not because I think, “Oh, I can do it better,” but I just don’t f…

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The Pilgrimage: Follow Neil Morrissey and Debbie McGee on the road to Santiago
type: item
date: 2018-03-30T18:10:37.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: The rewards of the Camino de Santiago far outweigh the pain - even if you're not a believer
encoded: A fierce sun beats down against your back. Your bag is heavy, your feet are sore and you’ve walked for two weeks through northern Spain, with two more to go before you reach Santiago de Compostela. You tread the same route that Christian pilgrims have taken for more than a millennium. Once, it was only the truly pious who set off on the holy route, but now the Camino de Santiago has become a spiritual journey that transcends religion, attracting more than 250,000 pilgrims each year. The Camino de Santiago – or the Way of St James – was first taken in the Middle Ages, when King Alfonso II heard that the holy remains of the apostle St James had been discovered, and travelled west from his court in Oviedo to Galicia to confirm it. He ordered a basilica to be built to house the remains in Santiago de Compostela, and that cathedral became a shrine, with Catholics flocking from across Europe to pay their respects – and to cut down on the time they’d spend in purgatory after death. For believers and non-believers alike, it’s a contemplative journey. Some choose to travel traditionally by walking the whole way (you can cycle or go on horseback, too) and find cheap shelter in refugios and albergues – hostels for pilgrims – run by churches and local councils. At each point on the trail there’s a stamp for your pilgrim passport, and when you reach the end – provided you’ve walked the last 100km – there’s a certificate to prove it. Others take the Camino to discover a Spain of aqueducts, castles, cathedrals and monasteries – many transformed into luxurious hotels. This week a group of celebrities – including Neil Morrissey, Debbie McGee, the Reverend Kate Bottley and Ed Byrne – will set out on the Camino to reflect on their own relationship with spirituality and faith in The Pilgrimage on BBC2. Cheap flights to Santiago de Compostela Compare top hotels in Santiago There are hundreds of routes, but the most popular is the Camino Francés – the French Way. It starts in the idyllic…

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How This Country stars Daisy May and Charlie Cooper created the comedy hit of the year
type: item
date: 2018-03-21T15:44:20.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The siblings behind the BBC3 Cotswolds mockumentary reveal how the series came to life
encoded: It wasn’t a promising start for the surprise comedy hit of 2017. Daisy May and Charlie Cooper were sharing a bedroom in their parents’ house in Cirencester, with no money and nothing to do but ponder the ridiculous side of their lives in the Cotswolds. He was an Exeter University dropout; she was struggling to find acting work after graduating from Rada. Instead, with almost no writing experience – but two lifetimes’ worth of inspiration – they created what became This Country. A BBC3 mockumentary about cousins Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe, played by Daisy May (31) and Charlie (28), it was the cult hit of last year. The second series is on iPlayer and airs every Tuesday on BBC1. Not since William Blake’s Jerusalem has such evocative tribute been paid to the English countryside. Welcome back to This Country: Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s sublime mockumentary is as hilarious and heartbreaking as ever There are so many funny women in this amazing promo for Amy Poehler’s directorial debut View oEmbed on the source website The Coopers’ green and pleasant land is one of pebbledashed council houses and scarecrow competitions, fights over oven space, boredom-induced shoplifting, peeping Toms, and the search for a lost primary school classmate immortalised on a tea towel. The show is so funny that comparisons have been made to The Office, The Inbetweeners and The Royle Family; so realistic some have mistaken it for a real documentary. Halfway through our interview in Daisy’s cottage – “A bit Cotswold Life, this, she’s betrayed us,” Charlie whispers to me – their mother, Gill, bursts in to tell us that she’s just been chased through the woods by two enormous feral pigs on her way back from the corner shop. Kerry and Kurtan are the perfect double act. She is a daft, would-be hard-nut who surrounds herself with a gang of Year Seven schoolkids for protection; he, “very much too obsessive with things”, has halfconcealed ambitions to break free from the village. Series two looks les…

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Mum series 2 preview: Lesley Manville returns in BBC2's quietly brilliant family comedy
type: item
date: 2018-03-16T10:27:20.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: "Mum's emotional moments are as powerful as anything on television," says Sarah Carson as series two of the acclaimed BBC sitcom begins
encoded: The first series of Mum, two years ago, was a slow-burning grower of a sitcom: Lesley Manville was the patient, obliging widow Cathy, the centrepoint of her small family, as they moved through the months following the death of their father, husband, best friend, and son. For a series that used grief as its jumping point, there were no dramatic displays of emotion. Instead, this was a simple, subtle comedy about the ways we navigate the quiet tragedies we all know might hit us, but which still shake our worlds upside down. What time is Mum series two on TV? Lesley Manville on a life on screen, awards season and being an older woman in Hollywood BBC commissions third series of Mum before the second has even aired It was, too, about the people we do not choose to be close to us but must tolerate – sisters-in-law, parents-in-law, and – most jolting for Cathy – her son Jason’s loquacious but charming new girlfriend Kelly. Never straying far from the patio in front of Cathy’s three-bedroom semi, it was superb. Each episode marked a few more months of distance from their loss and brought the characters closer to each other; creator Stefan Golaszewski’s scripts brimmed with fantastically sharp observances and subtle family dynamics and he was awarded with a Bafta Craft Award for Best Comedy Writer. In the series two opener it is Cathy’s 60th birthday, and Kelly, guileless as ever, can’t believe it. “If I met you for the first time I’d be like, ‘That woman is no older than 58!’” Cathy, bent over the sink: “Thanks love.” She can’t believe it either. It feels like only yesterday she was 18 – but Kelly’s done the maths. “It wasn’t yesterday though was it Cathy? It was 42 years ago.” She’s designed a banner so the whole street can see how old she is. Cathy, as one would expect, is thrilled. And so the series continues in much the same vein as the first; the passage of time marked by quiet milestones and events that come round each year sooner than you’ve had time to clear up aft…

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Back in Time for Tea: How to take an ordinary living room back to the 1970s
type: item
date: 2018-02-27T16:49:32.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Documentaries
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Interiors expert Lizzie Chambers takes us back to when kitsch was king
encoded: “Everybody knows the 70s when they see it,” says Lizzie Chambers, art director for Back in Time for Tea, which this week takes the Ellis family back to the decade by transforming their home and dinner table to reflect the country’s changing tastes and trends. “Visually, it was my favourite period to work on. There’s still lots of material you can find in prop stores and on eBay. We had seven days and £8,000 to transform the house for each show. “For this room, I took inspiration from books and the internet, but the best thing you can do is talk to people who remember how it would have been. You don’t want it to look like too much of a pastiche or stereotype. You also can’t make it too luxurious – this is the home of a working-class family in Bradford, so they wouldn’t have been able to afford all mod cons. What it’s like to go 100 years back in time for dinner Mary Berry’s 7 lessons in dining “Trying to find authentic pieces was hard, and you want to make sure you don’t do a disservice to the period. The other tricky thing is that everything has to work. Whether it’s a record player, the kitchen utensils, a sandwich toaster or a pogo stick, it’s got to function properly. This family have to live in the house, and have to believe that they’re in that period. If it feels like a set, the magic’s gone.” New colours “Every time we redecorated, we had to move away from the colours we’d used in the previous decade,” says Lizzie Chambers. “This is original vintage wallpaper that cost £30 a roll from a prop shop in London. The print isn’t iconic, but the colourway is. Lots of people would have kept their old wallpaper or wood chip and painted over it in these colours.” Party time “In the 70s, people started to furnish their houses a bit more and, as they spent more time socialising at home, cocktail cabinets were all the rage. We hired the pineapple ice cube bucket from a prop house — it represented what people could afford, without being too elitist. Exotic fruit and veg ha…

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Welcome back to This Country: Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s sublime mockumentary is as hilarious and heartbreaking as ever
type: item
date: 2018-02-26T18:45:48.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Sarah Carson previews series two of the break-out BBC3 hit and talks to the brother and sister team behind it about the secrets of their success
encoded: Was there a funnier programme than This Country on television last year? Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s sublime mockumentary about life for young people in the Cotswolds combined, with perfect precision, the familiarity and the cartoonish in ordinary life, with rich detail, hilarious dialogue, and heartbreaking pathos in its two heroes, the meandering cousins Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe. For them – played by the Cooper siblings – idle entertainment is all they have to escape the tedium of the village. Pursuits chronicled in the first series included the chaos of a scarecrow festival, the ill-fated homecoming of an incarcerated uncle, and the search for a boy they bullied in their Year Six woodwork class. That first series was six years in the making, and evolved from an impression by Daisy of a local girl from the Coopers’ much-missed hometown Cirencester back when Charlie was a dropout of Sports Science Exeter University and sleeping on his older sister’s floor and Daisy was a student at Rada in London, and “so f***ing miserable.” It finally reached iPlayer in 2017, and became a word-of-mouth hit and a critical triumph. When we left them, the Mucklowe cousins were roaming the fields of Gloucestershire in exaltation. Kurtan had just postponed his GNVQ at Swindon College to stay at home with Kerry – much to her relief, because she had founded a new posse the Dump Gang, and wanted him beside her to smash some ceramic ceiling tiles by the side of the road. Series two of This Country arrives on BBC3 on Monday 26th February and will air on BBC1 the following week. With only five months to write it, the Coopers have been nervous. “It’s that second album thing – are people going to say they’ve lost their way?” Daisy wonders to me. They haven’t. Their storytelling is well-honed; their characters reveal what’s shaped them and their deepest desires become clear. Brilliantly chosen cultural references – TK Maxx, Compare the Meerkat, Sodastreams, S Club 7, Screwfix– still adorn l…

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Joanna Lumley and the cast of Finding Your Feet talk dancing on the big screen
type: item
date: 2018-02-23T16:35:35.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: 'It's definitely not Strictly Come Dancing!' Lumley, Imelda Staunton, Celia Imrie, John Sessions and David Hayman reveal their triumphs and struggles on their new movie
encoded: Joanna Lumley I am hooked on tea dances! When I was younger, I never really went to dances. I’m too old for discos… they didn’t really exist when I was the right age, but at school I learnt the waltz, the quickstep, the foxtrot. Trying to remember those when we went to tea dances put on by Age UK in preparation for Finding Your Feet (in cinemas from Friday 23 February) was really special. You can have tea – or champagne – and cake, a big band plays, and you get up and dance with total strangers in the afternoon. Older people can get quite lonely and these events give everybody a chance to meet new people, dress up a bit, and exercise their body and their minds. Remembering the steps is good for the brain and the feeling of achievement is wonderful. The human touch of old-fashioned dancing is also good for us – we’ve been guided away from ever touching anybody unless it’s a kind of sexual embrace. View oEmbed on the source website My character in the film, Jackie, has been a divorce lawyer for 30 years – and married five times – and she’s joined the dance group to meet new people. It’s so inspiring! I’ve travelled a lot, and I’ll always remember in areas of China, every night on the local games field, everything is cleared away, music blares out and everybody is expected to go and dance – old and young, in groups, pairs or alone – all together. Those two hours make you feel fit, they make you friendly with people, and they make you make an effort, which is wonderful. We should do that here! Imelda Staunton Getting together to learn the dances for this film, taking those first steps, was like a breath of fresh air. I thought, “God, I love doing this.” It’s so nice to make a film about people who aren’t 22 years old and that shows that we still have lives, feelings and emotions when we get older. Often, the message in films today is that it’s only worth having a go – or trying to change – when you’re young, but this one is all about older people coping with and embraci…

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Shetland star Mark Bonnar: "Strictly often reduces me to tears"
type: item
date: 2018-02-16T12:44:29.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The Catastrophe actor on breaking into spontaneous dance routines on set
encoded: You’re in Shetland – so what are you watching on TV up there? I live in Hertfordshire! But I’d love to live in Shetland. It’s the most breath-taking place, and people are so friendly, which makes up for any sense of isolation. But I don’t mind my own company. I’d buy a bike. Mark Bonnar: “I’ve always been attracted to the weird” 12 killer crime dramas coming to TV in 2018 What TV have you liked lately? Time is precious, with two young children [Martha, six, and Samuel, two]. I used to channel-flick, but now it’s Blue Planet II and The League of Gentlemen. Or sport – I love boxing and football, but I’ll easily sit and watch kayaking. What’s your TV room like? We [he and his wife, Cutting It actor Lucy Gaskell] have a green sofa, a purple sofa and a yellow chair – but I’m a floor dweller. Years of wine-drinking have made the rug the safest place to be, so I don’t fall off anything! Any must-see programmes? I’ll watch anything, if I’m grabbed in the first ten minutes. I have quite a low attention span. I keep a wee list on my phone of things that people recommend. Stranger Things [on Netflix] was on it and that was incredible. But I feel guilty that I haven’t finished Breaking Bad. I used to watch it on my iPad when I was doing the dishes – it wouldnae have been Lucy’s kind of thing – so I’d have it up on the windowsill and do the pots and pans. Is there anything you turn off? I hate my children watching adverts. On some kids’ channels, the ad breaks are longer than the cartoons. But CBeebies is absolutely fantastic – it’s the go-to in our house. I find myself getting drawn in because it’s so good. My wee boy and I absolutely love Peter Rabbit. What about grown-up telly? I loved Motherland. Everybody in it is amazing, but Anna Maxwell Martin, wow. As parents, we all have that anxiety and tension. It’s hilarious but quite a hard watch because it’s so close to the bone. Have you told its co-writer, Sharon Horgan? You were in Catastrophe with her. I’ve got two more episod…

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How to choose the perfect specialist subject on Mastermind
type: item
date: 2018-02-09T16:04:25.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Producer Mark Helsby reveals what the most popular choice is – and the kind of subjects you should avoid
encoded: Can contestants choose any topic as their specialist subject? You can do any subject you want – within reason. They have to be suitable for broadcast on BBC2 on a Friday night, but pretty much everything is do-able, provided there’s sufficient source material to refer to. As a minimum, we would want there to be at least two good quality books on a biographical or historical subject. TV, film and literary subjects are a bit more subjective, but we would never allow just one book or one film. Can you answer the toughest questions from your favourite quiz shows? Pointless star Richard Osman explains why he and Alexander Armstrong work so well together How many subjects do contestants have to pick? Every contender has to agree three different specialist subjects with me before I confirm their place in the heats and commission the writers to come up with the questions. We don’t repeat subjects from one series to the next so that we can give the writers a break from doing the same material. What’s the most popular subject? Harry Potter! Last year 262 people wanted to take that as one of their three specialist subjects – only one of them could. Have any subjects been over-done? Some of the shorter sitcom series – Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Father Ted for example – have been exhausted for new questions. Thirty-two people wanted to do Fawlty Towers last year, 19 wanted Blackadder and 22 wanted Father Ted. Some of the very popular literary subjects such as the Chronicles of Narnia or Roald Dahl probably wouldn’t be agreed to for the same reason. What subjects do you reject? Some subjects are very broad and need to be tightened up; or they might be too tight and need to be opened out to make them a fair contest compared to the other people they’re competing against. One applicant wanted to do “meat” and narrowed it down to “pork”. Unfortunately, we still said no. I try very hard not to reject any subject out of hand. I’d rather work with the contender to find some common gr…

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The Last Leg's presenting trio reveal what goes on behind the scenes
type: item
date: 2018-01-26T08:45:38.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Political guests like Jeremy Corbyn, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are treated like “rock stars” and stay to hang out until 3am
encoded: Josh Widdicombe, Alex Brooker and Adam Hills created what began as an irreverent comedy about disability - five years later it's a political big hitter... The Last Leg started in 2012 as a spin-off show from Channel 4’s Paralympics coverage. How would you describe it now? Adam Hills My manager once said, “The beauty of your show is that you can grill Nick Clegg about tuition fees one minute, and then you can throw fruit at Alex’s prosthetic the next.” Early on we’d use the phrase “three blokes with four legs talk about the news” as a joke, but that’s probably the best description. It’s like TFI Friday, but in a lot darker times. Josh Widdicombe If you took the show to a channel in its present form, it would never get commissioned. Ed Balls teaching Michael Gove how to dance Gangnam Style is as awkward as it sounds Taskmaster Champion of Champions: Alex Horne rates the contenders It’s a good balance of serious and daft. Adam The Paralympics was good training, dealing with something a bit awkward that can be a little bit sad or tragic and finding the joy in it. I think that’s still what we’re doing today. View oEmbed on the source website Adam, you once described your trio as the “three-part harmony of comedy”… Alex Brooker Blimey, was that when you were still drinking? Adam That was in the early days when it was all new. Our voices come together well – I’m the crotchety, old, but slightly positive responsible one, and Josh is the more cynical one. Alex is puppylike and enthusiastic. Do you think it’s changed the way people discuss disability in Britain? Alex When I was 14 and coming to terms with my disability, I’d have loved to have seen another fella with one leg talking and joking about stuff like that, making it feel like there aren’t two worlds, an able-bodied world and a disabled one. One of the things I’m proudest of is that we’ve blurred it all into one. Adam It was never really the intention, but it’s a lovely side effect of what we’ve done. Alex Do you reme…

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The 10 best celebrity facts to come out of Would I Lie to You
type: item
date: 2018-01-24T16:51:39.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Which star was listed as a missing person by Interpol? And who broke into their ex-boyfriend’s house through the dog flap in order to steal his pants?
encoded: 1. Danny Dyer once wore a zebra mask around a zoo so that he wouldn’t be recognised View oEmbed on the source website People were driving him mad, his child was “getting the hump”, so he bought a mask at the zoo shop. The zoo itself didn’t actually have any zebras, just “a couple of rabbits and a moody giraffe”. 2. Bob Mortimer burnt his house down with a box of fireworks View oEmbed on the source website Around the age of seven, Mortimer set a box of fireworks alight, which he threw into the kitchen where it scorched the floor. But he didn’t notice that he’d dropped one in the living room, and the whole house burned down. 3. Mel Giedroyc snogged one of the other panellists on the show. It was Dermot O’Leary View oEmbed on the source website In the late 1990s, the pair kissed at the “end of term” party for her daytime series, Light Lunch . 4. Katherine Parkinson used a Womble as an example of a mammal in her GCSE biology exam View oEmbed on the source website Parkinson gave three examples: bear, whale and Womble. She was awarded an A grade. 5. Miranda Hart had a trial for QPR football team View oEmbed on the source website In their early 20s, the comedian and a friend turned up at the trial, having “mucked about” with a football at university and fancied themselves to be pretty good. They were unsuccessful. 6. For three weeks, Henning Wehn was listed as a missing person by Interpol View oEmbed on the source website In the mid-1990s, Wehn met a man on a train in Spain and was invited to join him in Morocco. He sent a postcard to a friend at home, joking that he had joined the Foreign Legion, who showed it to Wehn’s parents for a laugh. They were horrified and rang the German consulate to report him missing. 7. Kirsty Young named her chickens after her favourite newsreaders View oEmbed on the source website At the time, her five hens were called Anna Ford, Jan Leeming, Selina Scott, Viv Lumsden and Mary Marquis. She also had Moira Stuart, but that chicken died. 8. Jo …

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Things I Know to Be True review: A devastating drama about a seemingly perfect family ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-01-12T23:45:00.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Four siblings and their parents all have something to hide in this brilliant British-Australian co-production
encoded: It is a rare thing for a suburban family drama to resonate quite as acutely and uncomfortably as Things I Know to Be True. A co-production between Frantic Assembly and State Theatre Company South Australia, it first played at London's Lyric Hammersmith and toured the UK in 2016. The fact that it's back so soon is testament to writer Andrew Bovell's powerful script and how beautifully it's been staged. All the action takes place in the back garden of the Price family – mum, dad and four grownup children – who appear conventional and convivial, until their long-harboured resentments and shortcomings are laid bare. The play is driven by the youngest daughter, Rosie, who returns home to Australia heartbroken after an ill-fated backpacking trip around Europe. Desperate for the comfort and peace of home, Rosie is resistant to change, but truths begin to out and she is forced to recognise the imperfections in the people she loves, and let go of her childhood along the way. Kirsty Oswald is impressive as the naive Rosie, whose monologues open and close the play and pack an emotional clout. But it's the scenes between hardened eldest daughter Pip (Seline Hizli) and her punitive mother Fran (Cate Hamer) that sting of the hottest, burning suffering. Bovell reveals the fervent hatreds even in the most intimate relationships, and in the most ordinary lives. Ewan Stewart's Bob Price is devastating, too. In the first half of the play his grief and disappointments are the usual fare of a retired working class father-of-four; in the second they become more unexpected. Bovell's dialogue isn't subtle, but it packs a hefty emotional punch. Frantic Assembly's trademark physical drama is woven into the narrative sparingly, but to powerful effect, as the family members lift each other up and lean on one another. Their slow dance illustrates their co-dependency, the tenderness beneath the tense arguments. This production's searing honesty about family relationships stays with you long afte…

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The Gruffalo writer Julia Donaldson on her new creation, The Highway Rat
type: item
date: 2017-12-25T10:00:07.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Family
description: The children's author shares the pleasures and pains of the writing process
encoded: Where do your characters come from? Most of my storylines come from traditional tales, especially trickster tales. The Highway Rat came from a poem I love called The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. Of all my villains, I especially enjoyed writing him. Where do you write? In my study, which looks out on a busy street. All life is there and I get easily distracted, but I’m good at shutting it out if I’m on a roll. I like to use a pen and paper; I feel like I’m plugged in and ideas can flow from my head to my hand like an electrical current. I’ll start in the study and then I’ll keep thinking about how to solve a rhyme or plot problem in the bath, or while walking on the South Downs. Each couplet might take two days. What time is David Walliams’ Ratburger on TV this Christmas? What is on TV this Christmas? What time is The Highway Rat on TV this Christmas? Do you think about how a character will look when it’s illustrated? No, I have problems enough dreaming up a storyline; I can’t be thinking about what they look like. They’re Axel Scheffler’s vision, not mine. I trust him. What did you read as a child? I remember my granny reading me Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Then I grew into an avid reader — I collected all the Just William books by Richmal Crompton. Did you always have a vivid imagination? Always — as a child I liked making up plays. I liked writing, but doing it in a sociable way. I’d write a version of Cinderella with a twist or choreograph a ballet to Chopin and try to get my friends to do Les Sylphides. How do you feel when you’re writing? It’s horrible! But I always forget; it’s like having a baby. Every book feels impossible and I’ll say to my husband, Malcolm, “I can’t do this any more. This is rubbish compared to my other books!” And he’ll say, “You always say that,” which is reassuring. The Highway Rat is on Christmas Day, 4.45pm BBC1

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Harry Potter star Rupert Grint on fame, fans and new show Sick Note
type: item
date: 2017-12-12T09:00:13.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The actor also reveals that he "can’t enjoy Harry Potter any more"
encoded: How much TV do you watch? I’ve always got the TV on. I can’t sleep without it, actually – at night I’ll put on something really obscure, like a documentary about pelicans. That usually does the job. So do you mainly watch in bed? And the kitchen. I don’t cook a lot, I just feel comfortable in there. I’m picturing the cosy Weasley farmhouse from Harry Potter... No! Mine’s quite modern – and my design tastes are quite “interesting”. I’ve got a portrait of Colonel Sanders above my oven. So it’s pelicans in bed – what’s on TV in the kitchen? I like comedies like Brass Eye and Alan Partridge – stuff that pushes the limit and is a bit bold, which I think my current series Sick Note is. But I also love game shows like Tipping Point and Pointless, and the classic game shows, which you find on Challenge. I went through a phase where I was watching really old ones like 3-2-1 and Family Fortunes with Les Dennis. And Supermarket Sweep is a favourite. I’d love to go on that. Well, I’d love to host it. I’d rather go on The Crystal Maze. Are you at home a lot during the day, Rupert? It sounds like it, doesn’t it… What else are you into? I loved The Great Pottery Throw Down – that professional potter, Keith Brymer Jones, the judge who cried all the time, was great. I was late to Bake Off, but I really got into that. And I think I’m the last person in the world to watch Lost, but it’s grabbed me. I also like RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watched every single season, back to back. It’s really, really funny. Do you play on your phone while you’re watching? No, I used to play games, but my phone ran out of space so I had to delete them. I’m a bit of an outcast, I don’t use Twitter or social media. I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of crochet or knitting. What I do like is to carve things into crayons. Come again? It’s like making micro-sculptures. I promise, it’s a thing. I get a wax crayon and I can just about shape anything into the end of it. It’s very tiny and very fiddly. I once made a bust of …

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Blue Planet II has inspired a group of young artists who want to save the oceans
type: item
date: 2017-11-26T08:00:40.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Documentaries
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Meet the climate-conscious youngsters of Lionel Primary School in Brentford
encoded: Inspired by David Attenborough and Blue Planet II, children at Lionel Primary School in Brentford, west London have been creating some of their own special works of art. Find out more about how young viewers have responded to the BBC1 series below. Hanan, 9 I like the more ferocious animals like the sixgill shark, which fights for food and its family. When I first saw the scabbard fish, I thought it was really eye-catching. It’s silver like metal, and glistening. It swims upright, so if a predator comes from underneath, it’s just gone! I thought, “How fascinating!” I never knew about those before. I’d like to know more about the deep sea near the North Pole. Are the creatures there hot or cold? Something that made me sad was seeing a sea turtle get stuck in a net — I don’t like people throwing litter in the sea. From now on I’ll make sure I walk to school and I’m going to make a sign about not putting litter on the ground. How Blue Planet II filmed the gorgeous light show with rays and luminous plankton How Blue Planet II filmed the incredible fish vs bird sequence in episode one The “giant carnivorous” bobbit worm turns Blue Planet II into an actual horror movie Ginevra, 8 I really like all the different kinds of fish and colours, but my favourite kind of animal in the sea is the dolphin. It was really interesting to see how they jump for fun — I just thought they did that because they needed to. Also, how they rub against coral to protect themselves from diseases, and the way the adults were showing their little kids how to do it. The sixgill shark looked really scary, and when one found food, it was really disgusting the way the blood came out! Sea creatures are amazing, and that’s why I’d never pollute the ocean — it’s my favourite place to be. I’m worried that some animals are going to die before I even see them. Lucy, 8 When you watch Blue Planet II, it feels like it’s not in this world — but another planet or universe. It’s amazing that it’s just the sea, not…

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Lenny Henry: "I was the unhippest comedian in the universe"
type: item
date: 2017-11-15T11:41:17.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: audio
subject: Comedy
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: Radio
subject: TV
description: The comic turned actor explains why radio gives him more creative freedom than TV – and why comedy's ready for a revolution
encoded: “Douglas Adams said that on the radio, you build the sets,” Lenny Henry is telling me. “You do all the special effects. You close your eyes and it’s your canvas, and you can do anything you want on that canvas. It’s a workout for your mind.” We’re talking ahead of a new run of Rogue’s Gallery, Henry’s Radio 4 series of short comic monologues with twists in the tale, the subjects of which last time ranged from American GIs in Cornwall during the Second World War to aliens on Earth – the kind of zany freedom for imagination that only radio really allows. Jim Broadbent, Lenny Henry and Ed Byrne cast in new The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series Lenny Henry says Ofcom is creating “fake diversity” by focusing on actors and not those behind the camera Lenny Henry: Scheduled TV could feel quaint in 10 years He recalls an old Goon Show script that said “a sock full of custard explodes”, and believes television budgets can’t make that happen in the same way. “When you write for telly, they say, ‘I don’t know about that, we’ve only got £5 and a toffee apple.’ When I write for radio, I don’t feel like I’m limited. You can stretch out, you can do anything you want.” This series opens with a story about Stan Clayton, a butcher who hopes his sons will follow in his footsteps and take up the family business – but his dreams are dashed when one of the boys comes home with a bright red Stratocaster. Short stories, for Henry, are a natural fit. “Growing up, I was a devourer of Stephen King short stories and Marvel comics, the Fontana sci-fi books, Weird Tales, Tales to Astonish… There was something quite horrific and naughty and forbidden about them. When you’re a kid you like that ‘DUN DUN DUN – oh my God, she was a werewolf!’ stuff. They had a big effect on me, and that’s the reason I want to write them.” Another of the stories in the new series is inspired by radio itself – an episode of John Peel’s Saturday morning show Home Truths. “People would talk about their lives…

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How well do Alfie Boe and Michael Ball really know each other?
type: item
date: 2017-10-29T13:54:21.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: TV
description: They’re inseparable off stage and on screen, but just how strong is their bromance? We put the two to the test – with some surprising results
encoded: They've been singing together for years and fronting an ITV special Ball and Boe: Back Together this Sunday. But are they really best friends? There's only one way to find out: subject the pair to an in-depth quiz on each other... Ball on Boe So, Michael, what’s Alfie’s eye colour? [Laughing] A green that you can sink into. Alfie’s answer: Green. ✅ His favourite musical? Les Mis. Alfie’s answer: Les Misérables. It changed my career.✅ First musical he starred in? When he was a kid he played Tony in West Side Story. Alfie’s answer: Tony in West Side Story.✅ His favourite role ever? Jean Valjean in Les Mis — it changed his life completely. Alfie’s answer: I’ve loved playing Jimmy in Quadrophenia recently.❌ View oEmbed on the source website First album he ever bought? Something by the Who. Quadrophenia or Tommy . Alfie’s answer: 12 Gold Bars by Status Quo.❌ Karaoke song? A Led Zeppelin classic. Alfie’s answer: New York, New York — I won a karaoke competition and £1,000 in a pub in Shepherd’s Bush when I was a student singing that. West London Karaoke Champion 1994. Still proud.❌ Favourite TV programme? He loves things about motorbikes and sharks. No cooking. I don’t know. Top Gear? Alfie’s answer: South Park. Or Family Guy. Or Ghost Adventures. I bet he said Dad’s Army? I travel with the box set…❌ Favourite TV show growing up? Knight Rider? Alfie’s answer: I loved Happy Days, I’d tune in every Friday to watch it.❌ Perfect holiday? He’d love a road trip around America. Alfie’s answer: I love just being at home in Utah. If I’ve got to go away it’d be Italy or Hawaii.❌ His last supper? Roast beef. Or a pie. Whatever it is, it’s got to have gravy. Alfie’s answer: Steak and chips. Simple.❌ Superpower? The ability to smile. Or superstrength. Alfie’s answer: Flight.❌ Newspaper he reads? The Beano. Alfie’s answer: Is it bad to say that I’m not a big newspaper reader?❌ Favourite TV double act? Morecambe and Wise. Alfie’s answer: Morecambe and Wise ✅ Final Score: 4/13 Boe on Ball…

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Eleanor Tomlinson and the stars of Loving Vincent reveal their own painting talents
type: item
date: 2017-10-13T16:21:15.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Movies
description: The Poldark actor stars alongside Jerome Flynn and Douglas Booth in the painted movie – but how do they like their art?
encoded: Loving Vincent brings Van Gogh’s art to life frame by hand-painted frame… RT quizzes the film’s stars about their own creative talents Eleanor Tomlinson (plays Van Gogh’s muse Adeline Ravoux) I like to think that I’m quite artistic – I like pencil drawing more than actually painting and love sculpting and silhouettes. I got bored recently on a job and started making papier-mâché heads, which was great fun. I grew up seeing the Peak District on Pride and Prejudice, so if I could, I’d paint a landscape of somewhere around Matlock in Derbyshire. It’s a beautiful part of the world. But if you’re asking me if I’d ever be the next Van Gogh, the answer is absolutely not! I express my creativity in other ways – like decorating my house. It’s a mismatch of different vintage things from the 1930s. View oEmbed on the source website If I saw a piece of art that I really liked, I’d look into buying it, but art is so expensive and there’s always the debate of “What is art?”. I think it’s something that inspires you, that you get joy from seeing, that makes you feel a certain way. At home, I’ve got a drawing that Josh Whitehouse [Hugh Armitage in Poldark] did of me as Demelza, which is a really lovely memento of working with him. And I bought one of the paintings that was left over at the end of filming Loving Vincent as a reminder of how special it was working on such a unique film. I’d love to own one of Sally Mann’s photos, or one of Simon Annand’s – he does incredible portraits. I saw a Damien Hirst exhibition recently and thought it was absolutely phenomenal. That bizarre artform is so brilliant – the cow sawed in half, it’s barbaric but very interesting. When I travel for work, I try to go to art galleries, but my favourite museum is still the V&A. I’d love to get locked in there for a night. The Hollywood Costume exhibition was the best I’ve ever seen – they had Scarlett O'Hara's dresses from Gone with the Wind – I was beside myself with glee! Douglas Booth (plays local pos…

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Stanley Tucci: "British news channels are a 1000 times better than US ones"
type: item
date: 2017-08-18T09:00:42.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: The Hunger Games star also reveals his favourite TV and why he doesn't watch Bake Off
encoded: Your wife is the literary agent Felicity Blunt, who’s the sister of actor Emily, and you have two teenagers and a young child. Do you argue about what to watch? No, with all the computers and having Netflix on your iPad, everyone can watch what they want. But we do still watch things together – we’ll all sit down and watch a movie or a football match. What’s your living room like? Our house is in Barnes in southwest London and it once had two parlours; it’s an older building, but modern inside. There’s a fireplace and an L-shaped couch, and everything’s in a palette of greys. What do you watch? Cooking shows are my favourite thing. Saturday Kitchen, Rick Stein, Heston Blumenthal, Mark Hix, Giorgio Locatelli… There are so many great chefs in Britain. I’m less of a fan of American cookery programmes. They’re kind of brash and showy. Do you watch Bake Off? I’m getting a little tired of those competition shows. I just like to watch somebody cook. Sometimes it’s nicer to have somebody come in and cook a chicken! What else do you like to watch? I watched The Handmaid’s Tale, which was just amazing. I love the way it was shot. It was so incredibly cinematic, and the acting was very good, Elisabeth Moss in particular. When you’re an actor or director, you can’t help but notice those things. I also love historical documentaries – Time Team is fascinating! Are you a binge-watcher? No, I never watch anything hour after hour, unless I have to for work. Felicity and I watched the original series of The Killing when we first met and were living in the States. That was very hard to tear yourself away from. How do you relax? I go to the gym five or six times a week. I go crazy if I miss a day. I always watch BBC News in the morning while I’m there. British news channels are a thousand times better than American ones. There’s so much happening now, so swiftly – it’s fascinating, it’s making it slightly addictive. Have you always been engaged with world events? No, it’s probably over…

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The Big Family Cooking Showdown hosts and judges share their favourite home recipes
type: item
date: 2017-08-15T06:00:00.000Z
creator: Sarah Carson
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The BBC’s new cookery contest is for family cooks – but what do the team behind it cook for their nearest and dearest?
encoded: Last year, when Channel 4 poached The Great British Bake Off from the BBC, the nation mourned, before fretting where its next family-friendly foodie fix would now come from. But our hunger is about to be satisfied. The Beeb’s answer to Bake Off arrives on BBC2 this week, as The Big Family Cooking Showdown (Tuesday at 8pm, BBC2) takes us into the kitchens of Britain’s best home cooks. View oEmbed on the source website Bake Off’s favourite champion Nadiya Hussain shares presenting duties with Zoë Ball, while veteran chefs Rosemary Shrager and Giorgio Locatelli will judge 16 families from across Britain as they take on three main rounds, which include creating a meal for four for £10, sharing their foodie traditions in their own homes and whipping up their favourite family dinners in the studio – which is now a barn, as quaint as (but cosier than) the Bake Off tent. But what about the hosts and judges' own traditions? What's their favourite family grub? We found out... Nadiya Hussain My favourite family meal: Cod & clementine (serves 2) My kids, my brothers, my sisters — everyone in the family loves this recipe. When we were really young and eating clementines, my mum would say, “Save the peel!” We never really questioned it, until one day we put two and two together and realised she was putting it in the curry. That was the moment I realised that cooking is almost magical. It’s the first time I remember really understanding flavour. My mum normally cooks it with river fish, which is slightly difficult to eat because of the bones, but my dad maintains that you’re not Bangladeshi unless you’ve got some bones stuck in your throat! Mum still doesn’t fully approve of the cod element, but I like to make my life simple. My grandma cooked it one way, my mother another and me another. Some things are sacred, but as generations go by and life changes, recipes evolve, too. On Saturdays, my sons Musa (10) and Dawud (9) cook; they go off and do the shopping and come back and will …

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