Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-04-02T11:14:20.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: If Russia had taken the Moon
items: Meet the cast of The Magic Faraway Tree
items: In a magical land far far away
items: The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
items: The Magic Faraway Tree film writer: “The problem for kids now is that they don’t know how to be bored”
items: Jessica Gunning talks magical new role and fielding Baby Reindeer questions: "I do wash a lot!"
items: For All Mankind aged its 46-year-old star up by 40 years with a painstaking process – here's how they did it
items: 10 Questions with Claire Foy
items: Claire Foy talks "emotionally exhausting" H Is for Hawk role, playing queens, and why she must be in a "grief phase"
items: 10 Questions with Brendan Fraser
items: Brendan Fraser reveals impact of his years away from the spotlight: "There always was a light"
items: 10 Questions with Paul Giamatti
items: Paul Giamatti reveals how Star Trek role as villainous Nus Braka is a dream come true: "It is Shakespearean!"
items: Sam Worthington on returning to Avatar
items: Oona Chaplin joins the Avatar saga
items: The stakes are higher than ever
items: Avatar: Fire and Ash director James Cameron shares how this film about loss helped him process his "true grief"
items: Game of Thrones star reveals her Avatar: Fire and Ash villain is a "magnificent beast of a lady"
items: Avatar star Sam Worthington reveals why he didn't interact with one key cast member during sequel filming
items: 10 Questions with Lennie James
items: BAFTA winner Lennie James calls out issues of the current Trump era and why we need working class voices
items: View from my sofa: Maisie Adam
items: Taskmaster's Maisie Adam: "You look at early series of Mock the Week and it was all the same kind of male"
items: Ten Questions with Jared Harris
items: Jared Harris reveals one of his biggest regrets – never working with his screen icon father
items: Star Wars grows up
items: Andor creator: 'We try to be more serious about Star Wars – we shot a cop in the face in the opening scene'
items: Ten Questions with Chris O'Dowd
items: Chris O'Dowd on returning to his roots for Small Town, Big Story: "I'd been looking for a reason"
items: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creator says he'll "protect" young cast as they opt to "stay off social media"

If Russia had taken the Moon
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: An upcoming thriller starring Rhys Ifans and Anna Maxwell Martin imagines an alternative history of space
encoded: Star City will be available on Apple TV from 29 May. What if the United States hadn’t won the Space Race in 1969? What if the first flag planted on the Moon had been the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle instead of the Stars and Stripes? Across five seasons, science-fiction drama For All Mankind has explored that alternative history, imagining a world shaped by decades of escalating space rivalry that ultimately propels humanity towards Mars. Now, in spin-off Star City, showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi go back to the 1960s to revisit the premise from the Soviet side, offering a fresh perspective on a familiar “What if?”. “The real Soviet space programme was shrouded in secrecy,” explains Wolpert, “but the more we learnt about it while writing For All Mankind, the more we became fascinated by the potential to do a completely different show. It is much more of a 1970s Cold War spy thriller. As dangerous as it is in space, it’s more dangerous on the ground.” This suffocating Cold War secrecy is best illustrated by the Chief Designer, the enigmatic head of the Soviet space programme played by Rhys Ifans. “He is based on a real scientist who was so successful and important that the Soviets kept him anonymous,” says Nedivi. “They wouldn’t even allow his name to be spoken out loud.” Beyond the challenges of putting a man on the Moon, the Chief Designer must contend with Anna Maxwell Martin’s terrifying KGB agent Lyudmilla Raskova, who spies on everyone at Star City (the name of Russia’s cosmonaut training centre near Moscow). “She is the leading cause of paranoia,” says Nedivi. “What I love about Anna’s performance, though, is that she isn’t just a villain. Lyudmilla has so much humour, depth and texture.” Wolpert and Nedivi describe the choice to eschew Russian accents in favour of British actors speaking in their native accent as one of their most difficult decisions. “We talked extensively about different versions,” says Wolpert. The pair even consulted TV supremo…

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Meet the cast of The Magic Faraway Tree
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Jessica Gunning and Rebecca Ferguson on bringing The Magic Faraway Tree to life
encoded: Add The Magic Faraway Tree to your watchlist 'It changed my view of washing' Jessica Gunning plays Dame Washalot The clue is in the name, but what can you tell us about Dame Washalot? She really is what she says on the tin! She washes all of the inhabitants of The Faraway Tree’s clothes. It’s a big performance! But you don’t want to go too big. I had to root it in the reality of a magical tree… Do kids change the energy on set? Yeah! Me and Dustin Demri-Burns, who plays Saucepan Man, would improvise a bit of flirting. He had this thing where one of the saucepans on his head spun around and I was like, “Hello, saucy!” and then you realise, “Oh hold on, this might not work because this is a kids movie!” The children were around and they were like, ‘Ew, gross!’ How did you find going from Baby Reindeer to a big colourful film like this? I went from doing all of the Baby Reindeer promotion into this, so there was a bit of whiplash, but it was also magical. I had to do some interviews and the first question was, “Has playing this role changed how you feel about washing clothes?” I was like, “Wow, deep questions!” Has Baby Reindeer’s success changed you? I don’t think it’s changed me as a person. But it’s meant that I’m meeting more people and having opportunities like this come along that perhaps wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had Baby Reindeer. A theme of this film is the impact screens have on kids. What are your thoughts? It’s so easy to be like, “Oh, I wouldn’t give my kids screens” but I’ve looked after my friends’ kids who were having a meltdown and I’ve literally got my phone out straight away! Every child is different. And finally… do you wash a lot? I do wash a lot! It did change my view of washing clothes! Because on set, there were these soap flakes and you can use them in real life. So now I’ll pop some in the wash if I’m feeling daring. 'My daughter has loved it' Rebecca Ferguson plays Dame Snap You play evil headmistress Dame Snap in the film. Was it fun to be m…

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In a magical land far far away
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: After helping bring Paddington to life on screen, writer Simon Farnaby has re-imagined one of Enid Blyton’s most popular chidren’s tales
encoded: The Magic Faraway Tree is in cinemas from Friday 27 March. Add it to your watchlist Simon Farnaby has a story about the time his work on the Paddington films led to him sharing a scene with the Queen. “I told her, ‘You’re a good actress, ma’am,’” recalls Farnaby, who played a palace footman in the Paddington-themed sketch to celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. “And she said, ‘I do it all the time, you see.’” Farnaby, assuming that she was being metaphorical, replied, “‘Oh, you mean playing the part of the Queen?’ She went, ‘No, I am the Queen’. Then she looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed at where Paddington was supposed to be sitting and said, ‘He’s not real, but I am. I’m the Queen!’” There is a chance that you may not recognise Simon Farnaby with his trousers on. The writer and actor is best known for his role in the BBC sitcom Ghosts, in which he played the spirit of a Conservative MP doomed to haunt the afterlife in his pants. The comedy ended in 2023 after five series, but it was recently announced that it is being revived as a movie. “We knocked it on the head at its height,” says Farnaby. “But I think we were just not finished with Ghosts. We thought about a stage show for a bit and then eventually had a great idea for a movie. It’s the right sort of different flavour to the TV show.” Crowd-pleasing family films are familiar territory for Farnaby. Over the past decade he has carved out a niche for the silly cinema that delights kids and entertains adults. There was his work co-writing Paddington 2, which briefly toppled Citizen Kane as the best reviewed movie of all time. But there’s also Roald Dahl prequel Wonka, the sugary box-office smash starring Timothée Chalamet (Farnaby co-wrote with Paddington director Paul King). Now Farnaby is climbing The Magic Faraway Tree, another charming screen adaptation of a cherished childhood classic. Published in 1939, Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books are short, whimsical tales about three children whose discove…

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The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
type: item
date: 2026-03-25T08:00:11.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: "It's our responsibility as grown-ups to hold that buzzing imagination as long as possible."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. You play evil headmistress Dame Snap in The Magic Faraway Tree. Was it fun to be mean? She’s this incredible character with a little dodgy tooth and her hair defies gravity! Being a children’s film, we had to lean into the stereotypical idea of what it is to be mean, but I played a lot with the idea of a teacher who is lonely and has turned rotten. You have a 19-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter. Did she factor into your decision to do a children’s film? What’s so funny is that last year I walked into my daughter’s bedroom and she said, “I’ve just finished reading The Magic Faraway Tree. And I was like, “How was it?” She said it was amazing. Two hours later, I had the offer to be in the film. It was unreal! You do a lot of serious, grown-up roles. Is it a thrill to do a film that she can watch? She has loved it! It was a treat for her to see me on the big screen because she hasn’t really watched my films. She’s seen bits of The Greatest Showman but I’ve kept her away from my world. View Green Video on the source website What films do you watch with your kids? My mother was snobby with what she showed me. I watched The Third Man as a child! So when I had kids I was like, “We’re doing Shrek.” What’s interesting is that when I show my daughter old-school Disney it messes with her mind. She’ll go, “Why does Ariel sell her voice for a boy?” ‘Why do the girls have to wear dresses and the boys wear trousers?” Her questions are so fascinating. Do you think there’s a future for children’s films, or have we lost kids to TikTok? It terrifies me! All I can do is look at my own children. My daughter doesn’t have a laptop or iPad. We watch films together. The other day we watched The Parent Trap and had a conversation about it afterwards. When I go to a restaurant and kids are sitting on iPads I think, “Why didn’t you bring a game of cards or Snakes and Ladders?” I think it’s our responsibility as grown-ups to hold tha…

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The Magic Faraway Tree film writer: “The problem for kids now is that they don’t know how to be bored”
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:50.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Comedy
subject: Movies
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: "We were just not finished with Ghosts. We thought about a stage show for a bit and then eventually had a great idea for a movie. It’s the right sort of different flavour to the TV show."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Simon Farnaby has a story about the time his work on the Paddington films led to him sharing a scene with the Queen. “I told her, ‘You’re a good actress, ma’am,’” recalls Farnaby, who played a palace footman in the Paddington-themed sketch to celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. “And she said, ‘I do it all the time, you see.’” Farnaby, assuming that she was being metaphorical, replied, “‘Oh, you mean playing the part of the Queen?’ She went, ‘No, I am the Queen’. Then she looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed at where Paddington was supposed to be sitting and said, ‘He’s not real, but I am. I’m the Queen!’” There is a chance that you may not recognise Simon Farnaby with his trousers on. The writer and actor is best known for his role in the BBC sitcom Ghosts, in which he played the spirit of a Conservative MP doomed to haunt the afterlife in his pants. The comedy ended in 2023 after five series, but it was recently announced that it is being revived as a movie. “We knocked it on the head at its height,” says Farnaby. “But I think we were just not finished with Ghosts. We thought about a stage show for a bit and then eventually had a great idea for a movie. It’s the right sort of different flavour to the TV show.” Crowd-pleasing family films are familiar territory for Farnaby. Over the past decade he has carved out a niche for the silly cinema that delights kids and entertains adults. There was his work co-writing Paddington 2, which briefly toppled Citizen Kane as the best reviewed movie of all time. But there’s also Roald Dahl prequel Wonka, the sugary box-office smash starring Timothée Chalamet (Farnaby co-wrote with Paddington director Paul King). Now Farnaby is climbing The Magic Faraway Tree, another charming screen adaptation of a cherished childhood classic. Published in 1939, Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books are short, whimsical tales about three children whose discovery of an enchanted tree leads t…

Jessica Gunning talks magical new role and fielding Baby Reindeer questions: "I do wash a lot!"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:12.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: ‘It changed my view of washing,’ says the Magic Faraway Tree star.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The clue is in the name, but what can you tell us about Dame Washalot? She really is what she says on the tin! She washes all of the inhabitants of The Faraway Tree’s clothes. It’s a big performance! But you don’t want to go too big. I had to root it in the reality of a magical tree… Do kids change the energy on set? Yeah! Me and Dustin Demri-Burns, who plays Saucepan Man, would improvise a bit of flirting. He had this thing where one of the saucepans on his head spun around and I was like, “Hello, saucy!” and then you realise, “Oh hold on, this might not work because this is a kids movie!” The children were around and they were like, ‘Ew, gross!’ How did you find going from Baby Reindeer to a big colourful film like this? I went from doing all of the Baby Reindeer promotion into this, so there was a bit of whiplash, but it was also magical. I had to do some interviews and the first question was, “Has playing this role changed how you feel about washing clothes?” I was like, “Wow, deep questions!” View Green Video on the source website Has Baby Reindeer’s success changed you? I don’t think it’s changed me as a person. But it’s meant that I’m meeting more people and having opportunities like this come along that perhaps wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had Baby Reindeer. A theme of this film is the impact screens have on kids. What are your thoughts? It’s so easy to be like, “Oh, I wouldn’t give my kids screens” but I’ve looked after my friends’ kids who were having a meltdown and I’ve literally got my phone out straight away! Every child is different. And finally… do you wash a lot? I do wash a lot! It did change my view of washing clothes! Because on set, there were these soap flakes and you can use them in real life. So now I’ll pop some in the wash if I’m feeling daring. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find ou…

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height: 1716

For All Mankind aged its 46-year-old star up by 40 years with a painstaking process – here's how they did it
type: item
date: 2026-03-16T15:00:30.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Exclusive
description: Makeup and prosthetics artist Jason Collins reveals how he transformed 46-year-old Joel Kinnaman into a convincing 80-year-old.
encoded: Physical transformations for film and TV are becoming increasingly impressive, but ageing an actor to look decades older is still one of the trickiest feats to pull off convincingly. While some productions turn to CGI, others rely on incredibly talented make-up artists and prosthetics experts to work their magic and add on the decades. Now, one of the most impressive transformations in TV has seen 46-year-old Joel Kinnaman aged up to play 80-year-old veteran astronaut Ed Baldwin in the upcoming fifth season of Apple TV sci-fi For All Mankind. Here, Jason Collins, head of make-up effects company Autonomous FX, explains the painstaking process behind ageing up an actor. Making magic When I was 12 my mother took me to a magic store in Los Angeles where I found a book about make-up effects. It felt like actual magic! That led to me setting up my own company, Autonomous FX, 20 years ago. Now I perform magic tricks every day. Such as making Joel Kinnaman look 80 years old! One small step for man One of the big challenges on For All Mankind is that the story jumps forward 10 to 12 years every season, so the characters have to age gradually across decades. The key was not pushing the aging too far too quickly. Otherwise you leave yourself nowhere to go in later seasons. In season 3 we started introducing subtle aging across the cast — wrinkles, thinning hair, small prosthetic pieces. Interestingly, some viewers thought the characters weren’t aging enough, even though many of them were already wearing several prosthetic appliances! By the time we reached the latest season, Joel Kinnaman’s astronaut character Ed had to be in his early eighties, which meant a much bigger transformation. Ageing-up To make an actor look elderly, you have to study the ageing process. With Joel, we started by looking at his facial features and seeing where he was ageing. I looked at his nasolabial folds (smile lines), which are pronounced already. Joel is never going to be the guy that's going to …

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10 Questions with Claire Foy
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The star of The Crown and Wolf Hall on being pigeonholed — and acting opposite Britain’s meanest birds of prey
encoded: Add H is for Hawk to your watchlist Few actors capture the British “stiff upper lip” like Claire Foy. Many first discovered her quiet steel as Anne Boleyn in the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall, but it was playing a young Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown that propelled her to stardom. Now, in new film H Is for Hawk (an adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s 2014 memoir of the same name), Foy plays a reserved Cambridge academic who adopts a goshawk following the death of her father. You spend much of H Is for Hawk with a goshawk on your arm. Was that a daunting prospect? I was nervous! Goshawks are the most difficult birds to handle. Our bird trainers [married couple] Rose and Lloyd Buck said, “Claire will get footed,” which is basically when the bird claws you, “because a goshawk has never not footed a falconer.” And our director [Philippa Lowthorpe] had to say, “No, she won’t!” because otherwise we wouldn’t get insured. I did get footed, but only in the last shot of the whole thing. We used five birds and it was by Jess, the least likely one. It was her little “see you later”. What was it like acting with the goshawks? Every scene with the birds was improvised. There are a couple where I’m talking to the bird and it does a poo. So you have to respond to it, which I found incredibly freeing. In a way it’s much easier than improvising with an actor. The film is a study of grief and depression. Was it challenging? It was emotionally exhausting, but being close to that emotion makes you feel very alive. I think that can be very true of real grief. It can make you live a little bit larger, a bit louder, in response to it. I never saw it as a burden. I never saw it like, “Oh, it’s terrible that I have to feel all these feelings.” Helen actually hardly cries. Did that feel more authentic? Yeah, and I found it an appealing thing to try to communicate: it’s an interior battle. We often presume that what’s happening on the outside is happening on the inside, and it’s just the opposite…

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Claire Foy talks "emotionally exhausting" H Is for Hawk role, playing queens, and why she must be in a "grief phase"
type: item
date: 2026-01-19T17:01:26.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: The star of The Crown and Wolf Hall on being pigeonholed – and acting opposite Britain’s meanest birds of prey.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Few actors capture the British “stiff upper lip” like Claire Foy. Many first discovered her quiet steel as Anne Boleyn in the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall, but it was playing a young Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown that propelled her to stardom. Now, in new film H Is for Hawk (an adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s 2014 memoir of the same name), Foy plays a reserved Cambridge academic who adopts a goshawk following the death of her father. You spend much of H Is for Hawk with a goshawk on your arm. Was that a daunting prospect? I was nervous! Goshawks are the most difficult birds to handle. Our bird trainers [married couple] Rose and Lloyd Buck said, “Claire will get footed,” which is basically when the bird claws you, “because a goshawk has never not footed a falconer.” And our director [Philippa Lowthorpe] had to say, “No, she won’t!” because otherwise we wouldn’t get insured. I did get footed, but only in the last shot of the whole thing. We used five birds and it was by Jess, the least likely one. It was her little “see you later”. What was it like acting with the goshawks? Every scene with the birds was improvised. There are a couple where I’m talking to the bird and it does a poo. So you have to respond to it, which I found incredibly freeing. In a way it’s much easier than improvising with an actor. The film is a study of grief and depression. Was it challenging? It was emotionally exhausting, but being close to that emotion makes you feel very alive. I think that can be very true of real grief. It can make you live a little bit larger, a bit louder, in response to it. I never saw it as a burden. I never saw it like, “Oh, it’s terrible that I have to feel all these feelings.” View Green Video on the source website Helen actually hardly cries. Did that feel more authentic? Yeah, and I found it an appealing thing to try to communicate: it’s an interior battle. We often presume that what’s happening on the outsid…

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10 Questions with Brendan Fraser
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The Oscar winner is now playing a dad for hire in Japan, but could he soon be back in another Mummy movie?
encoded: Add Rental Family to your watchlist Brendan Fraser is enjoying what his fans have called a “Brendanaissance”. The doe-eyed American-Canadian actor rose to fame in the early 2000s thanks to his part as a swashbuckling archaeologist in The Mummy movies, but he retreated from Hollywood in the 2010s owing to physical and personal problems. That changed in 2022, however, when he won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a morbidly obese English teacher in The Whale. In his latest role in the playful drama Rental Family, he portrays an American actor struggling to find work in Japan… Rental Family is based around a real Japanese service where people can hire actors to be their friends and family. What do you make of that concept? It’s existed since the 1980s. There are some 300 businesses that operate. It made me think, “Where does the make-believe and reality end?” That’s the point of the film. It’s awkward and a bit prickly, and it should be. In the end, what people want is a sense of authentic connection in an increasingly divided and synthetic world. Your character, Phillip, takes on a role that involves convincing a little girl that he’s her father. Do you think he did the right thing? It’s a tricky one! I have three sons and we’re lying to them constantly. So what truths do we give children anyway? But I can see that there would be damage done to a child’s trust in that scenario. The point of that relationship is how stigmatised being a single mother is in Japan. I have empathy with that girl’s mother because she’s trying to do the best she can. What would you use a rental family agency for? I would hire a sister. I’m the fourth of four sons and I’ve always wanted that kind of sister relationship where you give each other advice on life and tease each other. I love the fantasy of being the guy who sticks up for his sister and beats up the jock. “Hey, that’s my sister. Back off!” You speak Japanese in this film. Did you learn the language or was it more of a case…

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Brendan Fraser reveals impact of his years away from the spotlight: "There always was a light"
type: item
date: 2026-01-12T17:00:51.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Oscar winner is now playing a dad for hire in Japan, but could he soon be back in another Mummy movie?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Brendan Fraser is enjoying what his fans have called a “Brendanaissance”. The doe-eyed American-Canadian actor rose to fame in the early 2000s thanks to his part as a swashbuckling archaeologist in The Mummy movies, but he retreated from Hollywood in the 2010s owing to physical and personal problems. That changed in 2022, however, when he won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a morbidly obese English teacher in The Whale. In his latest role in the playful drama Rental Family, he portrays an American actor struggling to find work in Japan… Rental Family is based around a real Japanese service where people can hire actors to be their friends and family. What do you make of that concept? It’s existed since the 1980s. There are some 300 businesses that operate. It made me think, “Where does the make-believe and reality end?” That’s the point of the film. It’s awkward and a bit prickly, and it should be. In the end, what people want is a sense of authentic connection in an increasingly divided and synthetic world. View Green Video on the source website Your character, Phillip, takes on a role that involves convincing a little girl that he’s her father. Do you think he did the right thing? It’s a tricky one! I have three sons and we’re lying to them constantly. So what truths do we give children anyway? But I can see that there would be damage done to a child’s trust in that scenario. The point of that relationship is how stigmatised being a single mother is in Japan. I have empathy with that girl’s mother because she’s trying to do the best she can. What would you use a rental family agency for? I would hire a sister. I’m the fourth of four sons and I’ve always wanted that kind of sister relationship where you give each other advice on life and tease each other. I love the fantasy of being the guy who sticks up for his sister and beats up the jock. “Hey, that’s my sister. Back off!” You speak Japanese in this f…

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height: 3378

10 Questions with Paul Giamatti
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: From Trek fan to Trek star, the acclaimed actor of indie projects is living the dream as an alien pirate
encoded: Add Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to your watchlist Paul Giamatti is the patron saint of passive-aggressive sad men — from 2004 breakout film Sideways, where he played a depressed failed novelist, to 2023 festive hit The Holdovers, which won him a Golden Globe for his role as a cantankerous professor. But his next part couldn’t be more different. Now, the 58-year-old Oscar nominee plays the snarling half-Klingon space pirate Nas Braka, the villain of new Star Trek show Starfleet Academy. A surprising departure, perhaps? You’re a respected indie film darling — how did you come to beam aboard Starfleet Academy? I have made my interest in Star Trek known over the years. I probably said stuff while promoting The Holdovers about how all I’ve ever wanted to do is play a Klingon! I didn’t think it would lead to anything. But somebody caught wind of it and brought me a script and they had a couple of parts to offer. I said, “Oh, the bad guy looks interesting.” As you’re such a Trek fan, how big an ambition was it for you to be in the series? It was a fantasy. I never thought it was ever going to happen. I have been watching Star Trek since I was about seven years old. My father was a fan in the late 60s, and we watched together. I do keep pinching myself that I got to do this. Your character, Nas Braka, is a deranged half-Klingon space pirate. What drew you to him? Just the fact that he was a villain! A lot of the Star Trek parts that were attractive to me growing up were bad guys. He’s a low-life. He’s playing the clown but he’s not a fancy, high-end criminal. He’s drunk most of the time. I’m surprised you didn’t choose a captain role. Surely you want to wear the uniform? No! That’s like when I did Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes movie. They said they had an ape part and my agent goes, “Oh, but surely you should play a human so people can see your face?” I’m like, “Are you crazy? Who wants to be a human in Planet of the Apes?!” I’m like that about Star Trek. I wanna be an a…

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Paul Giamatti reveals how Star Trek role as villainous Nus Braka is a dream come true: "It is Shakespearean!"
type: item
date: 2026-01-05T17:00:07.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From Trek fan to Trek star, the acclaimed actor of indie projects is living the dream as an alien pirate.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Paul Giamatti is the patron saint of passive-aggressive sad men — from 2004 breakout film Sideways, where he played a depressed failed novelist, to 2023 festive hit The Holdovers, which won him a Golden Globe for his role as a cantankerous professor. But his next part couldn’t be more different. Now, the 58-year-old Oscar nominee plays the snarling half-Klingon space pirate Nus Braka, the villain of new Star Trek show Starfleet Academy. A surprising departure, perhaps? You’re a respected indie film darling — how did you come to beam aboard Starfleet Academy? I have made my interest in Star Trek known over the years. I probably said stuff while promoting The Holdovers about how all I’ve ever wanted to do is play a Klingon! I didn’t think it would lead to anything. But somebody caught wind of it and brought me a script and they had a couple of parts to offer. I said, “Oh, the bad guy looks interesting.” As you’re such a Trek fan, how big an ambition was it for you to be in the series? It was a fantasy. I never thought it was ever going to happen. I have been watching Star Trek since I was about seven years old. My father was a fan in the late 60s, and we watched together. I do keep pinching myself that I got to do this. View oEmbed on the source website Your character, Nus Braka, is a deranged half-Klingon space pirate. What drew you to him? Just the fact that he was a villain! A lot of the Star Trek parts that were attractive to me growing up were bad guys. He’s a low-life. He’s playing the clown but he’s not a fancy, high-end criminal. He’s drunk most of the time. I’m surprised you didn’t choose a captain role. Surely you want to wear the uniform? No! That’s like when I did Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes movie. They said they had an ape part and my agent goes, “Oh, but surely you should play a human so people can see your face?” I’m like, “Are you crazy? Who wants to be a human in Planet of the Apes?!” I’m like t…

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Sam Worthington on returning to Avatar
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor reprises his role as human-turned Na'vi Jake Sully
encoded: Add Avatar: Fire and Ash to your watchlist The first Avatar movie was released 16 years ago. How would you describe its impact on your life? When we started, I was 31 – I’m 49 now. Avatar made my whole world do a 180. You can’t prepare for the Hollywood industry, you’ve just got to survive the turbulence. And then you learn as you’re doing it. Unfortunately, you have to do it under a spotlight. James Cameron has a reputation for being demanding. What’s he like to work with? Jim is the best acting director I’ve ever met! He’s so detailed. It really helps. His movies are acknowledged for their spectacle, but these movies don’t work unless they have a soul and that’s what you get from the performances. I’m humbled to have Jim as my friend and mentor. When I go to other jobs, that bar is very high once you’ve worked with Jim. Before the release of The Way of Water there were doubts whether audiences still had the appetite for Avatar. Were you worried? I don’t doubt my boss, man! People thought Aliens wouldn’t match Alien. People thought Terminator 2: Judgment Day wouldn’t be as good as The Terminator. The thing about Jim is he always gives you the unexpected. Jake’s eldest son Neteyam died at the end of The Way of Water. How does that grief affect him in Fire and Ash? They’re still in a state of shock over what happened. The movie explores the struggle to hold together the things that you love. Jake goes back to his touchstone, which is soldiering. He doesn’t want violence to come, but soldiering is what he knows, and that helps him navigate these harsh emotions. You’re the father of three boys. Was it a challenge to tap into every parent’s worst nightmare? The great thing was that we filmed the two sequels simultaneously. So Neteyam’s death came early on and I knew we could use the emotion of that scene and carry it into Fire and Ash. You can’t “play” grief, otherwise the movie becomes bogged in this mire of pain and sadness. It’s more about how you resurrect out of th…

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height: 1035

Oona Chaplin joins the Avatar saga
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor joins the cast as the fearsome Varang, leader of the Ash clan of Na'vi
encoded: Add Avatar: Fire and Ash to your watchlist Tell us about Varang, the leader of the antagonistic Ash people, who you play in Fire and Ash. She is spicy! A magnificent beast of a lady. She is the leader of the Ash clan, who are very different to the other Na’vi clans. They live in a place where there was a huge natural disaster so their connection to [Pandora’s spiritual nature entity] Eywa was severed. They have this huge trauma and pain and the smart, brilliant Varang has figured out a way to harness that despair. Sam Worthington mentioned that you went “Method” for the role of Varang. What did you do to get into character? I plastered very traumatic images all over my trailer, which I don’t think I’ll do again! Also, before scenes I would do these chants and stomps to get myself into Varang’s headspace. Looking back on it now I am a little bit embarrassed… but at the time it seemed the right thing to do. Going from being the kind of person who is like, “Oh no, don’t worry about me!” to being like, “Do exactly as I say or you shall die!” – it was a big leap! What was your audition for Varang like? At the time, I had built myself a treehouse and I was determined to live in there and start a permaculture project [for sustainable land use]. And then there was this opportunity to audition for Avatar and I was like, “That’s a good reason to come out of my treehouse!” James Cameron is a hero for me. But then I met him and he’s so playful and curious. We ended up stopping the audition and talking about agriculture and biodynamics. It sounds like you were at an interesting point in your life at that time? A huge crossroads. I was in a place of really feeling the injustices of the world. I spent a lot of time in Calais building shacks in the Jungle [the refugee camp in France]. And I was very conflicted, because then I’d be going on to set and wearing a £9,000 dress. There was a lot of inner turmoil in that. The performance-capture process used in Fire and Ash meant you had …

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height: 836

The stakes are higher than ever
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: As the Avatar saga’s latest chapter hits cinemas, can director James Cameron replicate the mind-blowing success of its predecessors? No pressure…
encoded: Add Avatar: Fire and Ash to your watchlist James Cameron operates at the kind of scale usually reserved for plagues and empires. For instance, for his latest “very expensive” Avatar sequel, Fire and Ash, to be considered successful, “I don’t have to affect every single person on the planet,” he says, modestly. “I only need about 3 per cent.” If you’re wondering, that equates to about 240 million people: over three times the population of the UK. And if they all buy a ticket for $10 each, then that translates to a gross of $2.4 billion: placing it in the top three highest-grossing films of all time. “It is the stupidest business model in the world,” he laughs. “We’ve made a movie that fails if it’s not in the top ten in history. That’s ludicrous, right?” Ludicrous for most directors, perhaps. But not James Cameron. This is the man who directed the 1997 phenomenon Titanic, a blockbuster so over budget that at one point it looked as though it would sink his career. Instead, it became the highest-grossing film of all time. And then there’s 2009’s Avatar. Back then, it was a baffling prospect: a surreal 3D science-fiction extravaganza made almost entirely on a virtual soundstage, about a distant planet of blue aliens called the Na’vi. It overtook Titanic to became the highest-grossing film of all time. And yet, even by Cameron’s standards, the 71-year-old director admits that he has played a “dangerous game” with his two Avatar sequels, which were filmed back to back in New Zealand. “That was a big bet,” he says. “Because we had to assume that the second film would be successful enough to warrant the finishing of the third.” The first sequel, The Way of Water, was released in 2022 amidst scepticism as to whether audiences still cared about Avatar. It grossed $2.3 billion: placing it in the top three highest-grossing films of all time. More than enough to justify this third instalment, Fire and Ash. Avatar’s status as a worldwide phenomenon is often attributed to its spec…

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height: 995

Avatar: Fire and Ash director James Cameron shares how this film about loss helped him process his "true grief"
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:10.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As the Avatar saga’s latest chapter hits cinemas, can director James Cameron replicate the mind-blowing success of its predecessors? No pressure…
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. James Cameron operates at the kind of scale usually reserved for plagues and empires. For instance, for his latest “very expensive” Avatar sequel, Fire and Ash, to be considered successful, “I don’t have to affect every single person on the planet,” he says, modestly. “I only need about 3 per cent.” If you’re wondering, that equates to about 240 million people: over three times the population of the UK. And if they all buy a ticket for $10 each, then that translates to a gross of $2.4 billion: placing it in the top three highest-grossing films of all time. “It is the stupidest business model in the world,” he laughs. “We’ve made a movie that fails if it’s not in the top ten in history. That’s ludicrous, right?” Ludicrous for most directors, perhaps. But not James Cameron. This is the man who directed the 1997 phenomenon Titanic, a blockbuster so over budget that at one point it looked as though it would sink his career. Instead, it became the highest-grossing film of all time. And then there’s 2009’s Avatar. Back then, it was a baffling prospect: a surreal 3D science-fiction extravaganza made almost entirely on a virtual soundstage, about a distant planet of blue aliens called the Na’vi. It overtook Titanic to became the highest-grossing film of all time. And yet, even by Cameron’s standards, the 71-year-old director admits that he has played a “dangerous game” with his two Avatar sequels, which were filmed back to back in New Zealand. “That was a big bet,” he says. “Because we had to assume that the second film would be successful enough to warrant the finishing of the third.” The first sequel, The Way of Water, was released in 2022 amidst scepticism as to whether audiences still cared about Avatar. It grossed $2.3 billion: placing it in the top three highest-grossing films of all time. More than enough to justify this third instalment, Fire and Ash. Avatar’s status as a worldwide phenomenon is often attributed t…

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width: 5768
height: 3846

Game of Thrones star reveals her Avatar: Fire and Ash villain is a "magnificent beast of a lady"
type: item
date: 2025-12-02T19:01:02.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Oona Chaplin tells us how she brought Varang to life with intense Method prep, ritual stomps, and unflinching authority.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Tell us about Varang, the leader of the antagonistic Ash people, who you play in Fire and Ash. She is spicy! A magnificent beast of a lady. She is the leader of the Ash clan, who are very different to the other Na’vi clans. They live in a place where there was a huge natural disaster so their connection to [Pandora’s spiritual nature entity] Eywa was severed. They have this huge trauma and pain and the smart, brilliant Varang has figured out a way to harness that despair. Sam Worthington mentioned that you went “Method” for the role of Varang. What did you do to get into character? I plastered very traumatic images all over my trailer, which I don’t think I’ll do again! Also, before scenes I would do these chants and stomps to get myself into Varang’s headspace. Looking back on it now I am a little bit embarrassed… but at the time it seemed the right thing to do. Going from being the kind of person who is like, “Oh no, don’t worry about me!” to being like, “Do exactly as I say or you shall die!” – it was a big leap! What was your audition for Varang like? At the time, I had built myself a treehouse and I was determined to live in there and start a permaculture project [for sustainable land use]. And then there was this opportunity to audition for Avatar and I was like, “That’s a good reason to come out of my treehouse!” James Cameron is a hero for me. But then I met him and he’s so playful and curious. We ended up stopping the audition and talking about agriculture and biodynamics. It sounds like you were at an interesting point in your life at that time? A huge crossroads. I was in a place of really feeling the injustices of the world. I spent a lot of time in Calais building shacks in the Jungle [the refugee camp in France]. And I was very conflicted, because then I’d be going on to set and wearing a £9,000 dress. There was a lot of inner turmoil in that. The performance-capture process used in Fire and Ash mean…

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width: 2413
height: 1608

Avatar star Sam Worthington reveals why he didn't interact with one key cast member during sequel filming
type: item
date: 2025-12-01T14:01:48.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From the first Avatar to Fire and Ash, Sam Worthington talks 16 years of filmmaking, fatherhood, and working with Jim Cameron.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The first Avatar movie was released 16 years ago. How would you describe its impact on your life? When we started, I was 31 – I’m 49 now. Avatar made my whole world do a 180. You can’t prepare for the Hollywood industry, you’ve just got to survive the turbulence. And then you learn as you’re doing it. Unfortunately, you have to do it under a spotlight. James Cameron has a reputation for being demanding. What’s he like to work with? Jim is the best acting director I’ve ever met! He’s so detailed. It really helps. His movies are acknowledged for their spectacle, but these movies don’t work unless they have a soul and that’s what you get from the performances. I’m humbled to have Jim as my friend and mentor. When I go to other jobs, that bar is very high once you’ve worked with Jim. Before the release of The Way of Water there were doubts whether audiences still had the appetite for Avatar. Were you worried? I don’t doubt my boss, man! People thought Aliens wouldn’t match Alien. People thought Terminator 2: Judgment Day wouldn’t be as good as The Terminator. The thing about Jim is he always gives you the unexpected. Jake’s eldest son Neteyam died at the end of The Way of Water. How does that grief affect him in Fire and Ash? They’re still in a state of shock over what happened. The movie explores the struggle to hold together the things that you love. Jake goes back to his touchstone, which is soldiering. He doesn’t want violence to come, but soldiering is what he knows, and that helps him navigate these harsh emotions. You’re the father of three boys. Was it a challenge to tap into every parent’s worst nightmare? The great thing was that we filmed the two sequels simultaneously. So Neteyam’s death came early on and I knew we could use the emotion of that scene and carry it into Fire and Ash. You can’t “play” grief, otherwise the movie becomes bogged in this mire of pain and sadness. It’s more about how you resurrect…

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width: 3240
height: 2160

10 Questions with Lennie James
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: He’s a major star on both sides of the pond and has won awards for writing and acting — so what’s next?
encoded: Add Mayor of Kingstown to your watchlist British writer, actor and director Lennie James has just turned 60 and splits his life between the UK and the USA. He wrote and starred in the dramas Save Me and Save Me Too, he was corrupt DCI Tony Gates in Line of Duty and in May this year he won a Bafta for his performance as Barry Walker in Mr Loverman. In the USA he was Morgan Jones in The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, and in his latest role he is crime lord Frank Moses in Mayor of Kingstown, an American drama set in a community whose fortunes are entwined with those of the prisons that surround it. So what’s it like living the American dream? You have lived in America for a while now. What do you find are the cultural differences between the USA and the UK? We are two countries separated by a common language. There are similarities between Britain and America, but to almost every situation add race, add guns. Those two things define the cultural differences between our two countries. That, and size! Mayor of Kingstown is about private prisons. Was that a concept strange to wrap your head around as a Brit? It’s one that’s scary. Prisons can be big business. That means that they need prisoners. And in order to have prisoners, that affects the way that people are sentenced, and it affects who is being sentenced. Under this current administration, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out who is going to be populating the prisons and feeding that particular industry. Have you felt the difference in the past few years since Donald Trump became president again? It’s noticeable, particularly if you’re a black or brown person, a member of the LGBTQ+ community or a woman. It’s noticeable how quickly and systematically the advances that have been made are being eradicated. It’s obvious what’s going on and how someone who looks like me would feel about it. In Mayor of Kingstown you play erudite gangster Frank Moses. What attracted you to the role? I’m now looking for…

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height: 1307

BAFTA winner Lennie James calls out issues of the current Trump era and why we need working class voices
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T00:01:36.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Paramount Plus
description: He’s a major star on both sides of the pond and has won awards for writing and acting – so what’s next?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. British writer, actor and director Lennie James has just turned 60 and splits his life between the UK and the USA. He wrote and starred in the dramas Save Me and Save Me Too, he was corrupt DCI Tony Gates in Line of Duty and in May this year he won a Bafta for his performance as Barry Walker in Mr Loverman. In the USA he was Morgan Jones in The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, and in his latest role he is crime lord Frank Moses in Mayor of Kingstown, an American drama set in a community whose fortunes are entwined with those of the prisons that surround it. So what’s it like living the American dream? You have lived in America for a while now. What do you find are the cultural differences between the USA and the UK? We are two countries separated by a common language. There are similarities between Britain and America, but to almost every situation add race, add guns. Those two things define the cultural differences between our two countries. That, and size! Mayor of Kingstown is about private prisons. Was that a strange concept to wrap your head around as a Brit? It’s one that’s scary. Prisons can be big business. That means that they need prisoners. And in order to have prisoners, that affects the way that people are sentenced, and it affects who is being sentenced. Under this current administration, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out who is going to be populating the prisons and feeding that particular industry. Have you felt the difference in the past few years since Donald Trump became president again? It’s noticeable, particularly if you’re a black or brown person, a member of the LGBTQ+ community or a woman. It’s noticeable how quickly and systematically the advances that have been made are being eradicated. It’s obvious what’s going on and how someone who looks like me would feel about it. In Mayor of Kingstown you play erudite gangster Frank Moses. What attracted you to the role? I’m now…

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width: 2000
height: 1333

View from my sofa: Maisie Adam
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Joining Taskmaster was like winning the lottery, says the comedian — but appearing on it really tested her temper
encoded: Add Taskmaster to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? My husband [businessman Mike Dobinson] and I live in a small flat in Brighton, so we’ve got the telly in the corner and then we’ve got our little sofa on the opposite side. I got a sore neck last night because there’s a good and a bad seat on it and I was in the bad seat… but it’s lovely and it’s ours, so it’s all right! What have you been watching? We’re bingeing The White Lotus, which is so good. It seems like the best job ever: to be taken to these gorgeous destinations and deliver great dialogue about being the worst people in the world. Who controls the TV remote? Me! I’m terrible for chipping in with my own personal thoughts about what we would do in that scenario. I do my husband’s head in by constantly pressing pause and going, “Can you imagine if I did that?” And he’s always like, “Yeah... Should we carry on watching?” How big a deal was it when you got the call from Taskmaster? It’s the show that everybody wants to do. When the offer came in, I felt like I’d won the lottery! I’ve been waiting and hoping that I might get asked. It’s a bit like when your parents go, “Why don’t you just hand in a CV and ask if they’re hiring?” It’s not for lack of wanting, believe me! I haven’t turned it down these past five years. Did anything surprise you about being on the show? My temper! I’ve watched the show so many times and thought, “You just need to stay calm and think laterally; take a step back.” When you’re there, you’re filming back-to-back tasks from early in the morning to late at night and it’s filmed in real time. You’re also not given any information, so you do feel quite exposed. I’ve learnt that I’m not great under pressure! What have you learnt from being on panel shows? When I started doing them, there was definitely a style that was very “elbows out”. Five people would start talking at once and whoever kept talking would get the gag in the edit, and that is tiring across a three-hour recor…

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width: 1359
height: 907

Taskmaster's Maisie Adam: "You look at early series of Mock the Week and it was all the same kind of male"
type: item
date: 2025-10-13T23:01:23.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Joining Taskmaster was like winning the lottery, says the comedian – but appearing on it really tested her temper.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? My husband [businessman Mike Dobinson] and I live in a small flat in Brighton, so we’ve got the telly in the corner and then we’ve got our little sofa on the opposite side. I got a sore neck last night because there’s a good and a bad seat on it and I was in the bad seat… but it’s lovely and it’s ours, so it’s all right! What have you been watching? We’re bingeing The White Lotus, which is so good. It seems like the best job ever: to be taken to these gorgeous destinations and deliver great dialogue about being the worst people in the world. Who controls the TV remote? Me! I’m terrible for chipping in with my own personal thoughts about what we would do in that scenario. I do my husband’s head in by constantly pressing pause and going, “Can you imagine if I did that?” And he’s always like, “Yeah... Should we carry on watching?” How big a deal was it when you got the call from Taskmaster? It’s the show that everybody wants to do. When the offer came in, I felt like I’d won the lottery! I’ve been waiting and hoping that I might get asked. It’s a bit like when your parents go, “Why don’t you just hand in a CV and ask if they’re hiring?” It’s not for lack of wanting, believe me! I haven’t turned it down these past five years. Did anything surprise you about being on the show? My temper! I’ve watched the show so many times and thought, “You just need to stay calm and think laterally; take a step back.” When you’re there, you’re filming back-to-back tasks from early in the morning to late at night and it’s filmed in real time. You’re also not given any information, so you do feel quite exposed. I’ve learnt that I’m not great under pressure! What have you learnt from being on panel shows? When I started doing them, there was definitely a style that was very “elbows out”. Five people would start talking at once and whoever kept talking would get the gag in the edit, and that is tiring acros…

taskmaster-3-e5304ba.jpg
width: 3000
height: 2000

Ten Questions with Jared Harris
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The acclaimed actor on how to cheat death, fame’s “hall of mirrors” — and one small misstep for Harriskind
encoded: Add Foundation to your watchlist. Series 3 is available to stream on Apple TV+ from Friday 11 July. British actor Jared Harris has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of the 21st century. He played tragic Englishman Lane Pryce in Mad Men, Soviet scientist Valery Legasov in Chernobyl and King George VI in The Crown. But for now the 63-year-old has left period drama behind, playing prophetic genius Hari Seldon in Apple TV+ sci-fi epic Foundation. About to kick off its third series, the show is based around a science capable of mapping out the future… One of Foundation’s core themes is how seemingly tiny events can have profound consequences for the future. Has that made you think about our own future as a society? There are all sorts of crossroads. If the US Supreme Court had made a different decision in 2000, Al Gore would have been the president. Maybe then we would have a completely different attitude towards climate change. We’d probably be in a different situation now. In Foundation, those tiny events snowball into huge inflection points called Seldon Crises. Are we nearing our own Seldon Crisis? I think we’re constantly going through those. When I was younger we were living under the fear of nuclear armageddon. The Cold War was something that would keep you up at night. Now we face different sorts of existential crises. You wanted to go into space as a child, so is Foundation the next best thing? Of course! The Apollo programme was such a big thing when I was young. Unfortunately I missed the Moon landing because my older brother had discovered a bottle of cider and persuaded eight-year-old me to drink some. Only it wasn’t cider, it was paraffin! So we were having our stomachs pumped when Neil Armstrong was walking on the Moon. Your TV CV is impressive. What do you look for in a script? You’re looking for something that is a story that you’re interested in telling. If you’re struggling to turn the pages and get to the end, that’s probably s…

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width: 1536
height: 1024

Jared Harris reveals one of his biggest regrets – never working with his screen icon father
type: item
date: 2025-07-07T23:01:52.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The acclaimed actor on how to cheat death, fame’s “hall of mirrors” — and one small misstep for Harriskind.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. British actor Jared Harris has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of the 21st century. He played tragic Englishman Lane Pryce in Mad Men, Soviet scientist Valery Legasov in Chernobyl and King George VI in The Crown. But for now the 63-year-old has left period drama behind, playing prophetic genius Hari Seldon in Apple TV+ sci-fi epic Foundation. About to kick off its third series, the show is based around a science capable of mapping out the future… One of Foundation’s core themes is how seemingly tiny events can have profound consequences for the future. Has that made you think about our own future as a society? There are all sorts of crossroads. If the US Supreme Court had made a different decision in 2000, Al Gore would have been the president. Maybe then we would have a completely different attitude towards climate change. We’d probably be in a different situation now. In Foundation, those tiny events snowball into huge inflection points called Seldon Crises. Are we nearing our own Seldon Crisis? I think we’re constantly going through those. When I was younger we were living under the fear of nuclear armageddon. The Cold War was something that would keep you up at night. Now we face different sorts of existential crises. You wanted to go into space as a child, so is Foundation the next best thing? Of course! The Apollo programme was such a big thing when I was young. Unfortunately I missed the Moon landing because my older brother had discovered a bottle of cider and persuaded eight-year-old me to drink some. Only it wasn’t cider, it was paraffin! So we were having our stomachs pumped when Neil Armstrong was walking on the Moon. Your TV CV is impressive. What do you look for in a script? You’re looking for something that is a story that you’re interested in telling. If you’re struggling to turn the pages and get to the end, that’s probably something you should let somebody else do, who’s…

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width: 2928
height: 1952

Star Wars grows up
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: As Star Wars origin series Andor returns, creator Tony Gilroy reveals why he insisted on turning his back on the Skywalkers and embracing the dark side
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in May 2025. Add Andor to your watchlist The American screenwriter Tony Gilroy, a cerebral man best known for making the gritty Bourne action movies, had one condition before signing on to create a Star Wars TV show. “I was just not interested in the Skywalkers,” he tells RT. “I said to Disney, ‘You’ve made all these films about one group of people.’ There are billions of creatures in the galaxy and most have never heard of Jedis or the Force. Let’s get out of the front of the restaurant and go into the kitchen. That’s where I’ll be.” George Lucas’s Star Wars is, at heart, a space opera for children; morality tales about light versus dark, good versus evil. But Andor is something different. Indeed, there are no Skywalkers here. No lightsabers. No cute little Ewoks or Baby Yodas. In fact, the series – which has become the most critically acclaimed Star Wars story of the past decade – hardly feels like Star Wars at all. Instead, it’s a moody spy thriller in the mould of John le Carré, set during the height of the Galactic Empire, told in the serious, sophisticated style of prestige television. It doesn’t exactly scream “Disney”. “I mean, my God,” says Gilroy, “in series one we shoot a cop in the face in the opening scene – outside a brothel!” Andor is something extraordinary – Star Wars for adults. Ask a fan of the show what it’s about, and they might tell you different things. The scrappy rise of the Rebel Alliance. The suffocating oppression of the Empire. But primarily, it’s about Cassian Andor – played by Mexican actor Diego Luna – who was first introduced in 2016 Star Wars spin-off movie Rogue One. That film told the story of how seasoned spy Andor sacrificed himself to steal the plans for the Death Star; the planet-destroying superweapon introduced in 1977’s original Star Wars movie (and later blown up by Luke Skywalker). Andor rewinds the timeline back a further five years. It is, in the words of Luna, a …

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Andor creator: 'We try to be more serious about Star Wars – we shot a cop in the face in the opening scene'
type: item
date: 2025-04-22T13:48:56.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: The spin-off's creator reveals why he insisted on turning his back on the Skywalkers and embracing the dark side.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The American screenwriter Tony Gilroy, a cerebral man best known for making the gritty Bourne action movies, had one condition before signing on to create a Star Wars TV show. “I was just not interested in the Skywalkers,” he tells Radio Times magazine. “I said to Disney, ‘You’ve made all these films about one group of people.’ There are billions of creatures in the galaxy and most have never heard of Jedis or the Force. Let’s get out of the front of the restaurant and go into the kitchen. That’s where I’ll be.” George Lucas’s Star Wars is, at heart, a space opera for children; morality tales about light versus dark, good versus evil. But Andor is something different. Indeed, there are no Skywalkers here. No lightsabers. No cute little Ewoks or Baby Yodas. In fact, the series – which has become the most critically acclaimed Star Wars story of the past decade – hardly feels like Star Wars at all. Instead, it’s a moody spy thriller in the mould of John le Carré, set during the height of the Galactic Empire, told in the serious, sophisticated style of prestige television. It doesn’t exactly scream “Disney”. “I mean, my God,” says Gilroy, “in series one we shoot a cop in the face in the opening scene – outside a brothel!” Andor is something extraordinary – Star Wars for adults. Ask a fan of the show what it’s about, and they might tell you different things. The scrappy rise of the Rebel Alliance. The suffocating oppression of the Empire. But primarily, it’s about Cassian Andor – played by Mexican actor Diego Luna – who was first introduced in 2016 Star Wars spin-off movie Rogue One. That film told the story of how seasoned spy Andor sacrificed himself to steal the plans for the Death Star; the planet-destroying superweapon introduced in 1977’s original Star Wars movie (and later blown up by Luke Skywalker). View Green Video on the source website Andor rewinds the timeline back a further five years. It is, in the words…

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Ten Questions with Chris O'Dowd
type: item
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The IT Crowd star is back on home turf in his culture-clash comedy drama where Hollywood meets small-town Ireland
encoded: Add Small Town, Big Story to your watchlist Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is known for the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd and the hit American romcom Bridesmaids, but it was the experience of shooting his 2012 coming-of-age Sky comedy Moone Boy, filmed in Boyle, where he grew up, that inspired him to write and direct his new show, Small Town, Big Story. Set in the fictional rural town of Drumbán, it follows a community that’s taken over by a huge Hollywood production. And for O’Dowd — who recently moved from Los Angeles to London with his wife, writer Dawn O’Porter, and their two sons, aged ten and seven — it was a chance to return to his roots. Small Town, Big Story took you back home to Boyle. What made you want to film there again? I’d been looking for a reason to go back and film close to home. I was stuck in Los Angeles during lockdown in 2021 and we were living by a ravine. I’d walk the dog near it for two hours a day and it was the closest I had felt to home – the scenery reminded me of the forests where I grew up. It gave me a feeling of being far away. And this show is how that feeling manifested itself. How did the experience of making Moone Boy a decade ago inspire your new story about a small town swallowed up by Hollywood? It’s not a coincidence! The locals love you at first and then eventually it’s like, “Oh my God, my driveway is blocked again!” You get into the practicalities of life and the novelty wears off. It’s interesting how unnatural it all feels. People that you’ve known all your life come up to you wearing a little bit more make-up than they usually would! Was there anything in particular you wanted to capture about small-town Irish life? I like that nobody has moved on from the dynamics that they had at school! That happens in small towns more than people realise. You see it in the bar scenes where these middle-aged men are still ribbing each other. It’s so juvenile and silly, although it has its own kind of intimacy to it. Christina Hendricks pl…

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Chris O'Dowd on returning to his roots for Small Town, Big Story: "I'd been looking for a reason"
type: item
date: 2025-02-18T00:01:49.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: The IT Crowd star and Moone Boy creator speaks to Radio Times about his new Sky series.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is known for the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd and the hit American romcom Bridesmaids, but it was the experience of shooting his 2012 coming-of-age Sky comedy Moone Boy, filmed in Boyle, where he grew up, that inspired him to write and direct his new show, Small Town, Big Story. Set in the fictional rural town of Drumbán, it follows a community that’s taken over by a huge Hollywood production. And for O’Dowd — who recently moved from Los Angeles to London with his wife, writer Dawn O’Porter, and their two sons, aged 10 and seven — it was a chance to return to his roots. Small Town, Big Story took you back home to Boyle. What made you want to film there again? I’d been looking for a reason to go back and film close to home. I was stuck in Los Angeles during lockdown in 2021 and we were living by a ravine. I’d walk the dog near it for two hours a day and it was the closest I had felt to home – the scenery reminded me of the forests where I grew up. It gave me a feeling of being far away. And this show is how that feeling manifested itself. How did the experience of making Moone Boy a decade ago inspire your new story about a small town swallowed up by Hollywood? It’s not a coincidence! The locals love you at first and then eventually it’s like: "Oh my God, my driveway is blocked again!" You get into the practicalities of life and the novelty wears off. It’s interesting how unnatural it all feels. People that you’ve known all your life come up to you wearing a little bit more make-up than they usually would! Was there anything in particular you wanted to capture about small-town Irish life? I like that nobody has moved on from the dynamics that they had at school! That happens in small towns more than people realise. You see it in the bar scenes where these middle-aged men are still ribbing each other. It’s so juvenile and silly, although it has its own kind of intimacy to it. Christina Hend…

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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creator says he'll "protect" young cast as they opt to "stay off social media"
type: item
date: 2024-12-05T00:01:37.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Disney Plus
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: On demand
description: The cast and creators of Skeleton Crew, including Jude Law, spoke with Radio Times magazine.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When Jude Law was seven years old, he would run around his playground at school in Blackheath, London, pretending to be Luke Skywalker. “We had those really early, fat, chunky lightsabers,” he says, reflecting on the years in the late '70s when Star Wars mania first swept the UK. “They didn’t make any noises. They barely lit up. But we would go ‘pew-pew!’ and bash them about!” There is a fitting symmetry, of course, in the child who once pretended to be in Star Wars growing up to be in it for real. Yet for Law, now 51 and the star of the new Disney Plus series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, it means more than that. “That leap of the imagination,” he says. “Play-acting as a kid, having that connection with roles that you want to recreate – it’s probably the reason I’m an actor.” That sense of childhood wonder – the generations of kids transfixed by starships, Jedi and adventure – is writ large in Skeleton Crew, the Star Wars story that puts the kids in charge. It follows four pre-teen protagonists who stumble upon a mysterious spaceship in the suburbs of their seemingly mundane, Earth-like planet. The wide-eyed Wim, played by 13-year-old American Ravi Cabot-Conyers, believes the ship leads to a Jedi temple. Instead, inside is the wreck of an old pirate ship – one that maroons them in space with no way back home. Law plays the enigmatic rogue Jod Na Nawood, a swashbuckling space pirate who tags along with the kids in the hope that they will lead him to long-lost treasure, entering the story properly in the third episode of the series. “I took a little bit of Han Solo as inspiration,” he explains. “I adore that slightly cynical, world-weary swagger.” Jude Law is no stranger to big, family-friendly franchises. In recent years he has popped up as villain Yon-Rogg in comic book movie Captain Marvel, and as the young Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts films. Law is the father of seven children, most recently with psycho…

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