Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-02-18T12:37:53.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Hugh Dennis reveals how Outnumbered could return following his big Mock the Week comeback
items: View from Our Sofa: Bradley and Barney Walsh
items: Bradley Walsh: "If I were to host Strictly, it would absolutely ruin my weekend"
items: Ten Questions with Jim Sturgess
items: Dangerous liaisons
items: Sam Palladio admits Sam Heughan’s “incredible body” gave him “hesitation” over Couple Next Door role
items: Annabel Scholey on The Couple Next Door: ‘Sex scenes are embarrassing – I warn my family to skip them’
items: Our Great British Menu
items: Lorna McNee
items: Tom Kerridge
items: Ed Gamble
items: Andi Oliver
items: Great British Menu judges reveal which Great Britons they'd dedicate a meal to
items: View from my sofa: Susan Wokoma
items: The Odd Couple
items: MasterChef's John Torode and Gregg Wallace on bad habits and the joy of tinned food
items: Sir Tony Robinson on reviving Blackadder's Baldrick for Comic Relief
items: Industry season 2 writers discuss the finance drama's "sensory overload"
items: Slow Horses writer Mick Herron teases "big changes" in season 2

Hugh Dennis reveals how Outnumbered could return following his big Mock the Week comeback
type: item
date: 2026-02-18T11:10:31.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: Mock the Week is back!
encoded: Comedian and actor Hugh Dennis made his return to Mock the Week last weekend and has also teased how hit sitcom Outnumbered could return. Dennis, who also returned to Channel 4's thriller The Couple Next Door last year, starred in every episode of Mock the Week when it aired on the BBC between 2005 and 2022. The satirical panel show was revived earlier this year by TLC, with Dara Ó Briain resuming his role as host, but without Dennis. Radio Times spoke exclusively to Dennis backstage after he filmed his first episode since 2022, and asked how his return felt. "It felt weird for the first five minutes and then I thought, 'No, this is good. I like this.' I've always enjoyed it," said the Not Going Out star. "The show has had this evolution over the years, where it’s gone from a sort of bear pit to actually a very nice show where everybody listens and nobody's trying to jump in." Despite starring in almost 200 episodes of the topical news comedy, Dennis did admit to pre-recording nerves: "Before I went on, I was nervous, but I think I'm always nervous. I never understand people who aren’t nervous, because you think, ‘That's mad’. There are people out there and they might not laugh. It's very exposing. You'd be mad not to be nervous." Since the show’s return on TLC, fans have asked why Dennis was no longer a series regular. "Essentially, when the last series ended, you say to yourself, ‘Okay, so that’s that done’, and you start doing lots of other things. "I said I was only going to do a couple, because I'm doing lots of other stuff. Three weeks ago I finished five months in the West End and I'm writing something, so I said I could only do two episodes." However, post-filming, Dennis admitted he was rethinking that decision: "But now, I'm clearly thinking I should probably have said I could do more." When asked if he missed the show more than he expected, Dennis shared how intense the show can be: "Possibly, but there’s also a lot of stress involved because you have to …

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View from Our Sofa: Bradley and Barney Walsh
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Watching TV as a family has always been key for the father-and-son duo
encoded: Add Gladiators and Casualty to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? Bradley There’s a plain wall with a telly fixed to it, with lamps on either side. Seriously, it’s very traditional. Barney When I’m in Cardiff filming Casualty, the TV’s on a free-standing unit, there’s an Ikea fake plant in the corner, and a little painting on the wall. What have you enjoyed watching on TV recently? Bradley Barney’s my oracle. Originally he said we had to watch Breaking Bad, then he said we had to watch Better Call Saul, and now we’re watching Vince Gilligan’s new series… Barney …Pluribus. There’s also a comedy series I love called The Studio starring Seth Rogen, which is in my top five series of all time. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Gladiators is such a huge show, especially for family viewing. What did you watch together as a family? Barney When I was a kid there was nothing I loved more than sitting with Mum and Dad watching the telly. Over the years that way of watching TV has been eroded by social media, streaming, and on-demand TV. But when we’re in the arena, we see young kids cheering for their Gladiators heroes, so we know they’re at home watching with their family, which is lovely. Bradley When I worked in pantomime we always used to say we had to make the show feel special, because it was the kids’ first introduction to theatre. That’s been transposed onto Gladiators, which is, to me, a massive panto and ostensibly a kids’ show. When kids from the audience meet the Gladiators, they have an extraordinary look of wonder on their faces. We’re very proud and privileged to be part of the magic. How important is watercooler TV that brings families together? Bradley I had my first job in television in 1986 so, for me, it’s key to maintain terrestrial television and to maintain family viewing. We are losing it and it is diminishing. There’s no question about that, but that’s evolution. I see great event telly – like Strictly, I’m a Celebrity and …

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Bradley Walsh: "If I were to host Strictly, it would absolutely ruin my weekend"
type: item
date: 2026-01-12T17:00:38.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Watching TV as a family has always been key for the father-and-son duo.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Gladiators presenters – and father and son duo – Bradley and Barney Walsh talk to Radio Times about what they've been watching, bringing families together and whether there's any truth to those rumours that Bradley could be in line for a certain Strictly Come Dancing job. What’s the view from your sofa? Bradley: There’s a plain wall with a telly fixed to it, with lamps on either side. Seriously, it’s very traditional. Barney: When I’m in Cardiff filming Casualty, the TV’s on a free-standing unit, there’s an Ikea fake plant in the corner, and a little painting on the wall. What have you enjoyed watching on TV recently? Bradley: Barney’s my oracle. Originally he said we had to watch Breaking Bad, then he said we had to watch Better Call Saul, and now we’re watching Vince Gilligan’s new series… Barney: ... Pluribus. There’s also a comedy series I love called The Studio starring Seth Rogen, which is in my top five series of all time. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Gladiators is such a huge show, especially for family viewing. What did you watch together as a family? Barney: When I was a kid there was nothing I loved more than sitting with Mum and Dad watching the telly. Over the years that way of watching TV has been eroded by social media, streaming, and on-demand TV. But when we’re in the arena, we see young kids cheering for their Gladiators heroes, so we know they’re at home watching with their family, which is lovely. Bradley: When I worked in pantomime we always used to say we had to make the show feel special, because it was the kids’ first introduction to theatre. That’s been transposed onto Gladiators, which is, to me, a massive panto and ostensibly a kids’ show. When kids from the audience meet the Gladiators, they have an extraordinary look of wonder on their faces. We’re very proud and privileged to be part of the magic. How important is watercooler TV that brings families together? Bra…

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Ten Questions with Jim Sturgess
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor and musician on the power of song and wooing his wife with the ultimate romantic gesture — a mix tape
encoded: Add Mix Tape to your watchlist Despite his sideline making music, actor Jim Sturgess avoids any digs at the cruelty of critics in the romantic drama Mix Tape, where he plays a music journalist. “I could have had some fun with that,” laughs the 47-year-old Londoner, who recently released his debut album under the moniker King Curious. “It didn’t even cross my mind!” The star of 2011 movie One Day is clearly a lover, not a fighter, so it’s no surprise to find him in another star-crossed romance about teenage lovers Daniel and Alison (played by Sturgess and Teresa Palmer) reunited decades later by the power of song. But what’s on his mix tape? This is a series about mix tapes. Have you made them in real life? A mix tape was always a romantic tool, just like in the show. I remember making them at 15 or 16 and you’d work hard on your track listings, making sure you had some obscure ones, showing off your knowledge a bit. I’d often draw artwork on the front cover. There was something magical about making them. What was on my tapes was very similar to the ones Daniel makes for Alison – Manchester bands of the late 1980s. I was also into 1990s hip-hop. View Green Video on the source website Do you remember the last mix tape you made? Yes – I made one as a gesture to my now wife. My new computer didn’t burn CDs so I ended up loading songs onto a USB stick and taping that inside a card, which I also illustrated. Your wife, actress and presenter Dina Mousawi, was born in Yorkshire — did she help you find your Sheffield accent for Mix Tape? That actually made learning the accent more intimidating and harder because I had her entire family saying, “Come on, let’s hear your Yorkshire accent. Let’s hear what you sound like!” I listened to Richard Hawley, Sean Bean, Jarvis Cocker and Alex Turner. To practise, I read stories to my kid in a Yorkshire accent but he kept telling me, “Just talk normally, Daddy. Speak normally.” Daniel and Alison reconnect over a song by the Jesus and Ma…

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Dangerous liaisons
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Steamy Channel 4 drama The Couple Next Door is back and new stars Annabel Scholey and Sam Palladio are ready for action…
encoded: Add The Couple Next Door to your watchlist ANNABEL SCHOLEY ...plays Charlotte Last year, Annabel Scholey joined the Mile High Club in Rivals by breaking the sound barrier (and the soundproofing) in Concorde’s loo. This summer she shares an urgent cubicle quickie at a posh do in the sultry thriller The Couple Next Door. Is it becoming a habit? “We joked about this when we were filming – ‘Oh, here she is again in the toilet.’ I really hope I’ve had my last encounter in a bathroom. I’ve done my fair share,” laughs the new co-lead of Channel 4’s hit drama. “It’s definitely not in my contract to have one of those scenes in the toilet, but this celebrates older women and that’s great. I’m 41 and it’s no longer the case that you’re sexually washed up at 25 or 30. Women don’t die at 40.” The first series of the sexually charged drama, set in an upmarket Leeds cul-de-sac, was a huge hit for Channel 4 and in the second series, Scholey plays surgeon Charlotte Roberts, one half of a respected medical couple whose work and home life are inextricably intertwined. The arrival of Mia (Aggy K Adams), a nurse who moves next door to Charlotte and her anaesthetist husband Jacob (Sam Palladio) and starts work at their hospital, ensures no inch of the couples’s life – and bodies – remains untouched. “I actually read for Evie, the part Eleanor Tomlinson played in series one,” reveals the Wakefield-born actor. “I really liked the script and the character. Then I read the second series and thought I’m like Charlotte in so many ways; not necessarily what she gets up to, but her type. She’s very focused, quite serious. We’re the same age and from the same place – it’s fairly perfect casting for me. “She’s a West Yorkshire girl and I haven’t played many of those because people don’t realise I’m from there. I wanted to be reclaimed by the North,” laughs the actor, who now lives on the border of Wiltshire and Somerset. “My parents, sister and nephew still live in Yorkshire, so I go there a lot.”…

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Sam Palladio admits Sam Heughan’s “incredible body” gave him “hesitation” over Couple Next Door role
type: item
date: 2025-07-07T23:01:54.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Steamy Channel 4 drama The Couple Next Door is back and new star Sam Palladio is ready for action…
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Intimate sex scenes are what you might assume would cause an actor to consider if they were right for The Couple Next Door — those scenes that linger in the imagination long after the TV is turned off. But what gave Sam Palladio pause for thought was the thought of following in the footsteps of Sam Heughan. “The only hesitation was seeing Sam Heughan’s incredible body in season one and thinking, ‘Goddamn it, how do I compete with that?’” laughs the British actor and musician, speaking from his Nashville home. “He set a very high standard of toned abs. I got as close as I could in a few weeks.” Joking and gym regime aside, auditioning for Jacob, an outwardly successful anaesthetist who’s riven with status issues, was a “no-brainer” for Palladio. “I was looking for something grounded and natural and I was looking forward to using my own accent. I’m not playing a prince charming or a guitar-toting Southern songwriter,” says the co-lead, touching on why he’s called Nashville home for the last 13 years. In 2012, Palladio moved to Tennessee for six months to play songwriter Gunnar Scott in a new TV series; that show was Nashville, a glitzy depiction of rivalry between country and western singers. Six months stretched to over a decade. A pop-culture phenomenon, the series spawned multiple albums and live tours that continue to attract thousands of fans, with Palladio and other Nashville stars touring the UK next February. Over the last couple of years, the 38-year-old has focused on his own material and last autumn released his debut album, The Perfect Summer’s Day, Before We Lost the Light. This has been a creatively rich period, but a combination of an inner yearning and life experiences made this project impossible to ignore. “I’m from Penzance and I still very much love the UK and its arts, so there was a huge part of my soul which couldn’t wait to return to the UK for work,” says the Cornishman, who also had a lead …

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Annabel Scholey on The Couple Next Door: ‘Sex scenes are embarrassing – I warn my family to skip them’
type: item
date: 2025-07-07T23:01:32.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Steamy Channel 4 drama The Couple Next Door is back and new star Annabel Scholey is ready for action…
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Last year, Annabel Scholey joined the Mile High Club in Rivals by breaking the sound barrier (and the soundproofing) in Concorde’s loo. This summer she shares an urgent cubicle quickie at a posh do in the sultry thriller The Couple Next Door. Is it becoming a habit? “We joked about this when we were filming – ‘Oh, here she is again in the toilet.’ I really hope I’ve had my last encounter in a bathroom. I’ve done my fair share,” laughs the new co-lead of Channel 4’s hit drama. “It’s definitely not in my contract to have one of those scenes in the toilet, but this celebrates older women and that’s great. I’m 41 and it’s no longer the case that you’re sexually washed up at 25 or 30. Women don’t die at 40.” The first series of the sexually charged drama, set in an upmarket Leeds cul-de-sac, was a huge hit for Channel 4 and in the second series, Scholey plays surgeon Charlotte Roberts, one half of a respected medical couple whose work and home life are inextricably intertwined. The arrival of Mia (Aggy K Adams), a nurse who moves next door to Charlotte and her anaesthetist husband Jacob (Sam Palladio) and starts work at their hospital, ensures no inch of the couples’s life – and bodies – remains untouched. “I actually read for Evie, the part Eleanor Tomlinson played in series one,” reveals the Wakefield-born actor. “I really liked the script and the character. Then I read the second series and thought I’m like Charlotte in so many ways; not necessarily what she gets up to, but her type. She’s very focused, quite serious. We’re the same age and from the same place – it’s fairly perfect casting for me. “She’s a West Yorkshire girl and I haven’t played many of those because people don’t realise I’m from there. I wanted to be reclaimed by the North,” laughs the actor, who now lives on the border of Wiltshire and Somerset. “My parents, sister and nephew still live in Yorkshire, so I go there a lot.” To prepare for filming, …

Our Great British Menu
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The final banquet of the series honours British heroes – but what dish would the judges make to celebrate theirs?

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Lorna McNee
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: My dessert: Address to a Cranachan My Great Briton: Robert Burns
encoded: Add Great British Menu: the Finals/Banquet Special to your watchlist The Great Briton I’d choose is the formidable Rabbie Burns, the famous Scottish poet, who’s celebrated with haggis, neeps, and tatties every Burns Night. He came from humble beginnings, this small-town poet who became famous all over the world, which makes him a real Scottish hero. Haggis, neeps, and tatties wouldn’t quite work as a dessert; I’m sure I could try to make them work as one, but I’m not going to! Cranachan is the most famous Scottish dessert but, to me, it’s boring as it is – it’s just cream, berries and oats, which isn’t very exciting. Instead, I’d create a Burns Night take on it, called Address to a Cranachan, a Scottish dessert for a Scottish hero. This one would incorporate the haggis theme, because when you walk into the banquet room, you want to see some theatre. I would build a dessert with flavours all the way through the layers. Usually cranachan is made with raspberries, but I’d have a rhubarb centre in this dessert, because rhubarb comes into season around the same time as Burns Night. I’d encase the rhubarb centre with a cheesecake mousse to give it a bit more body and depth of flavour. For a whipped cream to spiral around the outside of the dessert, I’d make a vanilla diplomat cream, which would almost make the dessert into a dome with a pretty spire and a crunchy base. I’ve made a similar dessert before in terms of structure, but not in flavour. To add the oats, I’d have a piper enter the room, followed by others who would approach the table with what looks like a filled sheep’s stomach. They’d be reciting Burns’s Address to a Haggis and would then cut into the haggis, but what would fall out of the stomach would be lots of different oats and puffed rice – no sheep would be harmed in the making of this dessert! You’d sprinkle the sweet contents on top of the dessert to add a nice texture. You could make this pretty quickly using a blast freezer, which the chefs have in Gr…

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Tom Kerridge
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: My main course: Rags and Riches My Great Briton: Sir Bobby Charlton
encoded: Add Great British Menu: the Finals/Banquet Special to your watchlist Sir Bobby Charlton, the brilliant Manchester United and England footballer, is the Great Briton who has inspired my main course. He was a World Cup winner, one of the Busby Babes, a prolific goal scorer, and probably one of the most well-known footballers in the world. The way he conducted himself makes him a brilliant and great Briton. There is so much about him that is inspirational, even if you’re not necessarily a follower of football, and he was a real advocate for the game and for gentlemanly and sporting conduct. I’m very fortunate to have cooked for Sir Bobby several times in the directors’ box at Old Trafford and there was an aura about this great man who had achieved so much. To celebrate his life, my dish would be called Rags and Riches, based on a rag pudding, a well-known Manchester and Lancashire dish. It’s a steamed suet pastry, wrapped in cheesecloth or muslin, and the filling is roasted and minced beef with onions. Inside my pudding would be braised shin of beef, oxtail and roasted mince, running through an incredibly rich gravy made from the braising liquor. Whole silverskin onions would be mixed throughout, with great big pieces of roasted bacon and Lancashire’s famous black pudding. I’d then wrap this in a suet pudding pastry, which is in turn wrapped in the rag – a cheesecloth – and then steamed so the pastry puffs up. I’d add a number nine on the pastry, in honour of Sir Bobby’s number at Manchester United. We’d leave it to cool a little, before brushing the pudding with melted butter and crispy black pudding crumbs. I’d then bake the pudding in a very hot oven so the dish almost has a crisp bread crust. There would also be a serving of parched peas, which are a little bit like mushy peas, but you use black peas, with loads of butter. They are very famous over Oldham and Lancashire way and they are absolutely delicious. Squares of set mint jelly would top them off. For the gre…

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Ed Gamble
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: My starter: Two Meats, To You My Great Briton(s): The Chuckle Brothers
encoded: Add Great British Menu: the Finals/Banquet Special to your watchlist I’m approaching my dish as a comedian, writer and podcaster, not as a chef, so I thought of the title of the dish before I thought of the contents of the dish. I can exclusively reveal the great Britons I’ve chosen to celebrate were not mentioned in the series. All the chefs in this series, which is dedicated to Great Britons, went down the road of honouring people who have achieved great feats, contributed to the country or helped others through charity work. Classic heroes. Whereas I believe the Chuckle Brothers should have had at least one shout-out. My starter is inspired by the brothers Chuckle and is called Two Meats, To You. For someone my age, the pair were hilarious and perfectly represent Great Britain – they’re constantly failing but always getting back up and trying again. That, to me, represents the resilience of all great Britons. To meet the series’ theme, Two Meats, To You will be a little kebab with a toasted flatbread carrying a silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers. I know what the judges are like and they are very specific about a dish and how it’s linked to the theme. The two meats of Two Meats, To You are lamb shoulder and pork tenderloin; I haven’t chosen pork belly because sometimes it can be overly fatty and ruin everything else in a dish. Barbecued and grilled meat is almost magic to me, because when you put meat on hot coals, all you need is a bit of salt, pepper, and, occasionally, spice mix. Alongside the meats, we’ll have some pickled red onion, pickled cauliflower and toum – a very garlicky whipped dip. I recently had some very nice toum in Bubala, a restaurant in Soho, and it’s knock-your-head-off garlicky, so you only need a tiny serving. On the side, for those who prefer a moister meat, we’ll have a small jus dip made from the lamb and pork bones we’ve cooked down. To present Two Meats, To You, the flatbread would lie on the plate so you can see the silhouette of the …

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Andi Oliver
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: My fish course: Everybody Everywhere All at Once My Great Briton: Dame Floella Benjamin
encoded: Add Great British Menu: the Finals/Banquet Special to your watchlist The Great Briton who has inspired my life is the incredible Floella Benjamin, who was one of the few women I saw on television when I was a little kid who looked like me. Here was a young black woman, fully herself with beads in her hair, who was all those things you look up to when you’re a kid: hilarious, kind, sweet, smart and beautiful. Floella has the same Antiguan heritage as me, so there’s a reflection of my own family as well. My dish, inspired by Floella and a recent trip to Sri Lanka, would be called Everybody Everywhere All at Once. What I believe is most important for us in this country is to remember that all the things that make us different are the most exciting, beautiful, and brilliant things about us as a nation. Everything I’m trying to do at the moment is to step towards unity because so much right now is about division and I find that incredibly depressing. I’d love to make a dish that explores the beauty of multiculturalism. So I’d brine mackerel, a beautiful and very sustainable fish, in Caribbean rum, sugar and vinegars, before torching it. On the side, I’d have a little shot using Caribbean and British ingredients that reflect Floella and me. I’d make a fish broth with the bones from the mackerel, and a juice with all the greens and herbs I could lay my hands on – I’d blitz callaloo, spinach, cucumber, spring onions, kale, chervil, parsley, chives, mint, roasted garlic and thyme. I love green food, and I don’t really understand people who don’t like vegetables – I find that very weird. I’d pour the fish broth through the juice to make iced fish shots. To balance the sweetness and acidity of the shots, I’d add honey and lime, then I’d stick them in the freezer. For a garnish, I’d add a bit of pickled gooseberry and cucumber. Flavour-wise, this is a very refreshing dish, because the vivid green shot is icy and all the ingredients are invigorating while the mackerel has a robu…

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Great British Menu judges reveal which Great Britons they'd dedicate a meal to
type: item
date: 2025-03-18T13:32:05.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC Two
subject: Magazine
description: From the Chuckle Brothers to Floella Benjamin.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The final banquet of this year's Great British Menu honours British heroes – but what dish would the judges make to celebrate theirs? Ed Gamble My starter: Two Meats, To You My great Briton(s): The Chuckle Brothers I’m approaching my dish as a comedian, writer and podcaster, not as a chef, so I thought of the title of the dish before I thought of the contents of the dish. I can exclusively reveal the great Britons I’ve chosen to celebrate were not mentioned in the series. All the chefs in this series, which is dedicated to Great Britons, went down the road of honouring people who have achieved great feats, contributed to the country or helped others through charity work. Classic heroes. Whereas I believe the Chuckle Brothers should have had at least one shout-out. My starter is inspired by the brothers Chuckle and is called Two Meats, To You. For someone my age, the pair were hilarious and perfectly represent Great Britain – they’re constantly failing but always getting back up and trying again. That, to me, represents the resilience of all great Britons. To meet the series’ theme, Two Meats, To You will be a little kebab with a toasted flatbread carrying a silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers. I know what the judges are like and they are very specific about a dish and how it’s linked to the theme. The two meats of Two Meats, To You are lamb shoulder and pork tenderloin; I haven’t chosen pork belly because sometimes it can be overly fatty and ruin everything else in a dish. Barbecued and grilled meat is almost magic to me, because when you put meat on hot coals, all you need is a bit of salt, pepper, and, occasionally, spice mix. Alongside the meats, we’ll have some pickled red onion, pickled cauliflower and toum – a very garlicky whipped dip. I recently had some very nice toum in Bubala, a restaurant in Soho, and it’s knock-your-head-off garlicky, so you only need a tiny serving. On the side, for those who prefer a…

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View from my sofa: Susan Wokoma
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The Rada and Taskmaster alumnus on the scary side of television
encoded: Add Cheaters to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? The telly, because I’m old school. Underneath is a massive All about Eve poster, which is one of my favourite films. To the right I have a neon light in the outline of a woman with a big afro and sunglasses. I like the ceremony of turning off the lights and having a bit of neon to make it feel like a cinema. What have you been enjoying watching recently? I’m sad to say Kaos on Netflix. I worry, like a lot of people, about becoming invested in a TV show in case it’s cancelled, like Kaos was! I’ve also been watching Agatha All Along. Who controls the remote? Me! I grew up in a very big household with no power, so what I say goes. In my house it’s a dictatorship. On Taskmaster last year, you often mentioned that you trained at Rada — did they thank you for the advertising? Not once, and they should be deeply ashamed. Taskmaster was the best advertising they could ever have and I didn’t hear a word! So they can go f*** themselves. Perhaps more relevant training came in 2002 in a CBBC series called Serious Jungle… I thought it would be fun to go to Borneo, but it was also a reality TV show. The situation was like, “You’re making a conservation show but, also, do you fancy that boy?” I didn’t indulge in that because I was a 14-year-old girl who fancied Orlando Bloom as Legolas. My experience of filming was glorious, but that’s not reflective of the show. That was very hard, because you think, “Did I do something wrong?” I’m unable to watch reality shows now, specifically jungle-based ones. I know there’s a story being crafted as it’s being made, and that side of TV scares me. I learnt a lot about how television works. So you wouldn’t take part in I’m a Celebrity… or Race across the World? Oh, I’d do Race across the World! I’ll just say this to any producer who wants to approach me for that sort of show: I will not be crying, I will not be telling you who I do and don’t love, so you have to be fine with me just…

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The Odd Couple
type: item
creator: Toby Earle
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Jason Watkins and Tala Gouveia explore the similarities that underpin their sparky on-screen chemistry
encoded: Add McDonald and Dodds to your watchlist. The fourth series of McDonald and Dodds features a new set of perplexing cases to solve for Bath’s finest, played by Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins. In a trio of feature-length episodes, the pair come face-to-face with the mystery of a 1930s blues legend, a kingpin of organised crime, and a series of weddings where the best man’s speech is the least of the happy couples’ problems. But aside from a talent for cracking cases, DCI McDonald and DS Dodds are so dissimilar they make chalk and cheese look like identical twins. Unlike their mismatched characters, however, Gouveia and Watkins have much in common, sometimes spookily so. They share how their lives and careers brought them together in similar ways, to play opposites. CHILDHOOD You both grew up in the Midlands, didn’t you? Gouveia: Yes, I’m from Nottingham. We forget all these things we have in common! Watkins: I’m from a village called Albrighton, just outside Wolverhampton. When did you move to London? Gouveia: When I was eight [Jason nods his head slowly in agreement]. Weird. Do you remember your first impressions of London? Gouveia: I wasn’t allowed to play on the street any more and I don’t know if that’s because London’s more dangerous. I’d had loads of freedom to hang out with my friends, so I wasn’t overly impressed. We moved to Willesden Green, then Ealing, which is near where Jason grew up. Watkins: [As a child] we moved to Isleworth because my dad had a job in Hammersmith. I remember coming down Archway Road, the hill with the great view of London, and it was one of those times of the year when the moon turns red in the evenings. It was like a sci-fi horror! Was it tricky, settling into new schools, being “northerners”? Gouveia: I didn’t like my first school. The kids would all have a go at me for saying “bath” and “path”, so I changed my accent to assimilate myself. Then I’d see my mates in Nottingham and they’d say, “It’s not ‘barth’. There’s no r.” Watkins:…

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MasterChef's John Torode and Gregg Wallace on bad habits and the joy of tinned food
type: item
date: 2023-04-10T07:00:32.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
description: The presenting duo have been working together for almost two decades – but how well do they truly know each other?
encoded: John Torode and Gregg Wallace have been putting wannabe chefs through their paces since 2005. But as their 19th series of MasterChef dawns, after all these years, how well do they truly know each other? Who cries over trifle? Who is obsessed with the Moon? And who drives miles for a sausage roll? As the pair might say, interviews don’t get any tougher than this… MasterChef has been going for a long time. What’s new this series? John In this year’s semi-finals, we ask people to make dishes that are so wrong they’re right. For instance, fried chicken on a waffle with maple syrup. So wrong, but it’s pretty well right. Gregg Super-delicious. That sweetness over crispy and salty chicken skin, with a soft and crispy waffle underneath… Outside the MasterChef kitchen, there’s recently been a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables. Are there alternatives for shoppers? Gregg We’re part of a global food market and as much as people say "we should use British this and British that", we haven’t been in that situation for hundreds of years. With that said, I'm a big fan of preserved foods and I don't consider them to be secondary to fresh – tinned, frozen, dried, bottled, pickled, air-dried, salted, I love them all. In fact, "fresh" bothers me a lot; I’d worry about how long so-called fresh produce has taken to travel from ground to mouth. John We’re used to fresh produce, but there are alternatives. A tin of tomatoes is a wonderful thing. TV double acts often project an image that they’re the very best of friends, always round at each other’s houses, but not in your case. How does your double act work? Gregg As far as I know, nobody’s written a bestselling pamphlet on how to be a successful TV couple, which is what we are. People are amazed we can be close and not be round at each other’s houses. We’ve found a way for it to work for us. Well, let’s see how well you know each other… John, what’s Gregg’s favourite dish? John Roast lamb and mint sauce, butterscotch Angel Delight, o…

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Sir Tony Robinson on reviving Blackadder's Baldrick for Comic Relief
type: item
date: 2023-03-17T09:00:15.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
description: Sir Tony Robinson tells Radio Times magazine about his delight when Richard Curtis asked him to grab his turnip to become Blackadder's Baldrick one more time.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. Legend says King Arthur will return in this country’s hour of need; instead, we have Baldrick, the turnip king of Blackadder, awoken just as the root vegetable has entered the national conversation. Because this Red Nose Day, for the first time since 1999’s Blackadder: Back & Forth, Baldrick and his alter ego Sir Tony Robinson will again concoct a supremely cunning plan. And, as it turns out, the quarter-witted lackey’s resurrection for a forthcoming Comic Relief sketch was inspired by a meeting at this year’s Radio Times Covers Party. Or, to be more precise, a meeting that didn’t take place. A trio of Blackadder alumni – Robinson, and co-writers Ben Elton and Richard Curtis – were present to collect commemorative covers for Blackadder Goes Forth, Friday Night Live and Comic Relief respectively. For the 76-year-old actor, presenter and author, the night was both an opportunity to celebrate Blackadder and catch up with his old friends. “The party was at Claridge’s hotel and it was rammed. I could see Richard on the other side of the ballroom and planned to meet him after the formal part of the evening. But when I later went to where he’d been, I couldn’t see him anywhere.” Curtis, it turned out, had literally chickened out. “The next morning, I had a fulsomely apologetic email from Richard saying, ‘Sorry I couldn’t stay. I had a text from Emma [Freud, his partner] saying there was a chicken in the oven.’” But there was more to the email than a dinner update; attached was what Robinson calls “a lovely present”. “He said, ‘I’ve just written a story for Baldrick – how would you feel about performing this on Comic Relief?’ I read it and texted him straight back – ‘Try and stop me.’ What’s remarkable is the way Richard was able to pick up the voice and rhythms of Baldrick straight away, having not written him for practically 25 years.” I ask if Curtis felt so bad about racing home for dinner that he’d writte…

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Industry season 2 writers discuss the finance drama's "sensory overload"
type: item
date: 2022-10-11T12:23:59.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: On demand
description: Speaking to Toby Earle in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay discuss their own careers in the financial world and how the drama's new season addresses COVID and Brexit.
encoded: This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. Over an intense first season, Industry gained a splash of notoriety for scenes of sex and drug-taking with its portrayal of a group of graduates’ hard-working and hard-partying City life. These paled in comparison with the drama’s most shocking moment yet in the new season – on the trading room floor, at his desk and in full view of all, managing director Eric (Ken Leung) clips his toenails. When I suggest to Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, the show’s writers, that this is their most outrageous scene to date, they laugh. "That’s a power move by a senior person to tell everyone they’re the most senior," explains Down. "You would never be able to do that as a junior." Power is the commodity chased by every floor at investment bank Pierpoint & Co in Industry. Made by the BBC/HBO and set in the City of London, the show’s toxic cocktail of financial jargon, scathing repartee and youth-centric soap-opera office dynamics has made it one of HBO’s most-watched shows in the US, and the first season a niche hit on BBC Two in the UK. The show has jumped channels to BBC One for the second season, and the graduates, now over a year into their careers, have a similar amount to prove - but it seems these fictional characters might stay longer in their job than their creators. 12 months was how long Down lasted in the City as an intern on a mergers and acquisitions team, while Kay managed three years as an equity salesman at Morgan Stanley. "There’s a certain level at which you can’t bulls**t your way to competency. People just see through you. I was three years in when my boss said, 'You’re s**t at your job,'" admits Kay. "And he was right. There was no dressing it up." Down agrees he also reached his natural ceiling. "I had to work really hard to be average. Maybe decades ago you could be average in the job and make some money, but it’s a very technical and intellectually driven job now. You have to actually be smart. I …

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Slow Horses writer Mick Herron teases "big changes" in season 2
type: item
date: 2022-07-12T09:44:54.000Z
creator: Toby Earle
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
subject: On demand
description: "I certainly don't require the plotting to be step-to-step in line with the book."
encoded: Mick Herron, author of Slow Horses, has told RadioTimes.com about the plans for the future seasons of the hit Apple TV+ series. The first season of the spy drama, starring Gary Oldman as the unorthodox MI5 officer Jackson Lamb, arrived on Apple TV+ in April to widespread acclaim. The second season is due to arrive later this year and filming is about to start on the new run. It was announced at the start of June the third and fourth books in Herron’s Slough House series – Real Tigers and Spook Street – would comprise the third and fourth seasons of the espionage series. In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Herron has outlined how the adaptations are taking shape. “Slow Horses was very faithful to the plot of the original book. That's probably less true in the next one for a variety of reasons,” he shares. “All the big changes to plots have been made with either my happy agreement or, sometimes, at my suggestion.” Herron is even keen for the adaptation to diverge from the source material, provided two important elements continue to be preserved. “There will be changes, but for me the important things are the characters and the tone, which elides between comedy and sometimes tragedy. “I've been very happy with the approach they're taking, and I certainly don't require the plotting to be step-to-step in line with the book, because what would be the point of that in the long run? We want to be more creative and carry on being creative with the adaptation.” Changes to the source material, says Herron, will sit alongside scenes straight from his books. “There are scenes in Slow Horses, and in all the other ones that are coming up, which are matched pretty much beat-for-beat for scenes I wrote in the book. Then there are other scenes which are going to be different. It'll be a mish-mash, which is how it's always going to be.” The Slough House series currently stands at eight books, but as yet Herron is unaware of any long term plans to develop the whole run, alth…

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