Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-11-18T14:01:03.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: If Donald Trump destroys the BBC, there would be a horrible historical logic – so here's who I would pick as Tim Davie's replacement
items: How anime has led the way in the battle against climate change
items: It: Welcome to Derry risks ruining Pennywise for good with one fatal mistake
items: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond preview – worth the wait?
items: V for Vendetta isn't just another cash-grab remake – it could be the most important
items: I’m the new MasterChef judge and I was utterly surprised to be asked to take over
items: Get rid of the BBC? Careful what you wish for…
items: Pluribus season 1 review: Vince Gilligan's sci-fi masterpiece will take you to your happy place
items: These are the 10 stars who should be on a potential Celebrity Traitors season 2
items: Kim Kardashian's All's Fair performance is indeed shocking – but the show's biggest problem lies elsewhere
items: Squid Game: The Challenge has upped the ante in season 2 and is all the better for it
items: Liverpool fans booing Trent Alexander-Arnold is a raw, emotional reaction – don't police the pain
items: My daughter Caroline Flack died without a voice - and this is my biggest regret about her difficult final days
items: Why ‘hellraisers’ like Richard Burton, Oliver Reed and Peter O’Toole will always bewitch us
items: Ncuti Gatwa was the perfect ambassador for Doctor Who – his early exit changes nothing
items: The Witcher season 4's Liam Hemsworth recast makes complete sense for one key reason
items: John Lewis Christmas adverts ranked – and the winner is not who you'd expect
items: I'm an expert historian and here's how accurate Robin Hood on MGM+ is to real events
items: The Witcher season 4 review: Liam Hemsworth's Geralt falls flat as Netflix flagship fantasy loses its magic
items: How It: Welcome to Derry's genius Pennywise risk pays off – and makes it scarier than the films
items: Sophy Ridge argues why breakfast television is still the pinnacle of broadcasting
items: Alan Carr is the perfect star of Celebrity Traitors – and not for the reason you might think
items: Doctor Who's best guest star isn't who you'd expect
items: Strictly reaches end of an era as Claudia and Tess depart – so what now for the BBC's most glittering jewel?
items: Morgan's messy journey in Nobody Wants This season 2 delivers the show’s most powerful message
items: Are soaps letting down their power couples as Robron, Swarla and more face giant obstacles?
items: Returning to Brookside is the perfect way to honour Hollyoaks' heritage
items: Ronni Ancona: The Big Impression aired 25 years ago – it would never get on TV today
items: Has the rise of the "sad-com" killed studio sitcoms with a live audience?
items: Emma Thompson: The spy thrillers I read as a teenager told me women should fall in love and get killed

If Donald Trump destroys the BBC, there would be a horrible historical logic – so here's who I would pick as Tim Davie's replacement
type: item
date: 2025-11-18T14:00:32.000Z
creator: Mark Lawson
subject: Current Affairs
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: With editorial failures and resignations at the top of the BBC, as well as the threat of an American takeover at ITV, broadcasting as we know it is facing the greatest challenge it has ever seen, writes Mark Lawson.
encoded: Historians may cite last week as the beginning of the end for British broadcasting. On Remembrance Sunday, 9 November, both the BBC and ITV faced threats to their existence as we know them. As the corporation lost its two most senior editorial figures at once – director-general Tim Davie and chief executive of news Deborah Turness resigned over the handling of complaints about an episode of Panorama that misleadingly edited a speech by President Trump – ITV was considering a reported bid of £1.6 billion from Comcast (the American owners of Sky) for all of its on-air networks and the ITVX streaming site. The ITV story is simply financial. Television advertising and sponsorship are collapsing and so ITV’s shareholders perhaps hope to release the value in the broadcast business before it falls further. The logic for Comcast is presumably the possibility of selling advertising and subscriptions across a super suite of digital and terrestrial channels. However, as ITV Studios, which provides most of ITV’s content, would now be separately owned, it’s unclear how the supply line of shows such as Coronation Street and I’m a Celebrity… might be affected in future. The BBC situation is also financial, though complicatedly and now doubly so. It is massively funded (and its pension scheme underwritten) by £3.66 billion of licence-fee income. But support for what some see as a legally enforced broadcasting tax has reduced during a series of scandals – and dissent will surely have been accelerated by recent events. Negotiation with the Government of a new BBC Charter (from 2027) – including funding methods – starts next month, though with the BBC currently lacking a team to attend and a Trump lawsuit still hanging over them. Having threatened to sue for $1 billion unless he received an apology and compensation he regarded as adequate, last week Trump got a qualified “sorry” (though the BBC still claims the speech tampering was accidental) and no money. Trump has not publicly acce…

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How anime has led the way in the battle against climate change
type: item
date: 2025-11-18T12:00:12.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Anime
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: Tackling environmental topics is in the very DNA of the medium.
encoded: Storytelling naturally reflects the culture and climate it's produced in – yet few films and shows appear to be tackling the biggest threat to both. According to Climate.gov, 2024 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850 (by a wide margin) and the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred in the past decade. Floods and heatwaves are increasing as the climate crisis grows, yet Western takes on this issue remain few and far between, especially when it comes to children's fare where they could make the most impact. Since Ferngully left a lasting impression on millennials in the early '90s, not many animated films have continued where it left off. Just The Lorax and Pixar's Wall-E stand out as two notable exceptions when it comes to tackling environmental issues in animation. It's a different story in Japan, however. Anime has long incorporated themes of this nature, tapping into traditional Taoist and Shintoist beliefs that prioritise ecological harmony and respect for the natural world. The Godfather of Anime, Tezuka Osamu, did so as far back as the '60s with Kimba the White Lion, and more adult stories like the Black Jack manga, where an unlicensed surgeon used his money to fund environmental projects. It's Studio Ghibli that often comes to mind first, however. Even before the studio was named as such, co-founder Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a post-apocalyptic saga where the key to surviving a polluted world came from understanding the resilience of nature and the interconnectedness of all living things. View oEmbed on the source website Plenty of other Miyazaki films continued this outlook further including Spirited Away, where the cleansing of a polluted river spirit is vital to the story and My Neighbor Totoro, which celebrates the beauty of rural life and preserving natural spaces. Aside from Nausicaä, however, it's Princess Mononoke which comes up most regularly in these conversations, thanks to the cent…

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It: Welcome to Derry risks ruining Pennywise for good with one fatal mistake
type: item
date: 2025-11-17T08:00:43.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: HBO
subject: NOW
subject: Sky
description: Welcome to Derry dares to hold Pennywise back – only to reveal far too much.
encoded: Eddie who? Richie whatshisname? As strong as the cast were in Andy Muschietti's IT, Pennywise is always the first name that comes to mind when you think of his twofold adaptation. As such, it didn't take long for Bill Skarsgård's deranged clown to dance its way into our hearts and nightmares alike (while showing up occasionally in my therapy sessions too). It's safe to say then that if there's one thing we'd want to see more of in the prequel series Welcome To Derry, it's Pennywise, even if it was reduced to a weird gross baby puddle by the end of IT: Chapter Two. The show is set 27 years before the events of the first film, making it easy to bring Pennywise back in its full splendour. Yet for the first few episodes, Skarsgård doesn't show up at all. IT is there, of course. It's in every nook and cranny of Derry, its evil seeping into every brick and the mind of every resident. Stephen King's most recognisable antagonist even shows up to terrify a new batch of kids each week, but not in his most recognisable form. Instead, IT appears as various nightmares made flesh, from Lilly's pickled father to a baby-faced demon in the premiere. It would have been easy to simply rely on the iconography of Pennywise, maximising the show's scares by giving viewers what they came for. But what you want isn't always best for you. Muschietti and his team smartly recognised that in writing this show, choosing to hold back on revealing Pennywise in full until five episodes in. Risky? Yes, but this was actually the best way to reintroduce a once-terrifying character who audiences have grown somewhat desensitised to. How could you not after Pennywise was meme'd into oblivion back when the films first came out? Building on the tension that comes with waiting to see it, this idea that Pennywise could leap out at any moment, helped remind us how scary IT really is while erasing those dancing memes from our minds completely. It's unfortunate then that Welcome To Derry risks undoing all this,…

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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond preview – worth the wait?
type: item
date: 2025-11-14T14:00:56.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Comment
subject: Nintendo
subject: Nintendo Switch
description: After eight years of development, Prime is back with a bang.
encoded: It's been eight years since Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was first announced. Eighteen years since Metroid Prime 3. Over such lengthy waits, you could forgive fans for losing hope in the game – that it was doomed to development hell, that it may not even arrive, or simply losing interest in it. But for the most part, Metroid fans are as excited for Metroid Prime 4 than they ever have been (if not more so), and following a hands-on preview, I can say that they are certainly right to be. Metroid Prime 4 opens up with a short, tutorial-like level that explains the basics of the game to you. After taking down a rather simple boss at the end, a mysterious explosion of energy ripples across the planet, and Samus awakes moments later in the jungle of an unknown world. Viewros is, or rather was, home to the Lamorn, a once-highly advanced but long since dead civilisation. Samus, lucky her, is the chosen one, selected by the last of the Lamorn to take their knowledge off-planet to spread their story with the universe. Unfortunately, she'll first have to find three keys to get the teleport working – thus begins our story proper. For anyone that has played previous Metroid Prime titles, Metroid Prime 4 doesn't massively shake things up, but polishes them to a mirror sheen. Gunplay is fantastic, and as someone that typically only plays shooters on PC and therefore cannot aim with a controller to save his life, I am exceedingly thankful for the Switch 2's new mouse functionality. At first, your weaponry is very bare bones, limited to just your most basic blaster shots. As you proceed, Samus will begin to restore her suit's capabilities, adding missiles and the like back into her arsenal. The jungles of Lamorn look fantastic, and are a joy to explore. As you proceed through, you're encouraged to make heavy use of Samus's visor to scan anything and everything you see. Beyond interesting factoids about the flora and fauna, this does deliver some very helpful information about how best to…

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V for Vendetta isn't just another cash-grab remake – it could be the most important
type: item
date: 2025-11-12T16:08:30.000Z
creator: Louise Griffin
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: HBO
description: Could it be the exception to the rule?
encoded: I'm officially done with cash grab remakes. That's not a particularly hot take. In fact, I think it's how a lot of TV audiences have been feeling over the past few years. Particularly within the sci-fi and fantasy genres, finding a new, original series to watch instead of a sequel, prequel or, most dreaded of all, a remake, has been like finding a needle in a haystack. The reasons for that are pretty clear. The TV industry as a whole has been facing a funding crisis, making commissioners less likely to take a gamble on something new, and more likely to rely on an IP that's already proven itself worthy. It's a sad state of affairs but probably inevitable. But, while we've been bombarded with remakes, there are still some that are worth getting on board with, and a TV adaptation of V for Vendetta could very well be one of them. It's been reported that DC is developing a V for Vendetta TV series on HBO, with Pete Jackson penning the show and James Gunn and Peter Safran on board as executive producers. Based on Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel of the same name and released in 2005, the original movie followed Natalie Portman's Evey as she encountered masked freedom fighter V, an anarchist attempting to ignite a revolution against a fascist totalitarian regime. For the past 20 years, the film has stayed in the cultural and political zeitgeist in more ways than we could have predicted – particularly with the Guy Fawkes mask used as a symbol of anti-establishment rebellion (perhaps most recognisably by the hacktivist group Anonymous). So, if the movie is still culturally relevant, why do we need a remake? Well, it's the type of story we need to hear again and again, especially in the midst of the current political climate. Across the globe, we're currently facing the rise of the far right – and we have been for some time. To speak specifically of the UK, it's clear to me that a culture of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and sexism has become normalised, with 'deb…

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I’m the new MasterChef judge and I was utterly surprised to be asked to take over
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T00:01:56.000Z
creator: Grace Dent
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Comment
description: Celebrity MasterChef returns next week.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. I'm over the moon about presenting the new series of Celebrity MasterChef. I was utterly surprised to be asked. For me, this was taking on the mantle of a show that I've watched religiously from the moment it began in 1990. In this country, we treat food very seriously. Yes, it's an entertainment show but, at the heart of it, it's about the joy of food, the science of food, the precision of food… I think when you ask people who work in television what it's like, they always say the same things about how thrilled they are, but I genuinely am – I've lived and breathed this show for ever, and now I’m front and centre! I'm reminded of home by… corned beef hash Specifically corned beef hash made in a pressure cooker. I remember standing in our kitchen on Harold Street in Currock, Carlisle, in the north west of England in 1978 and my mother opening up the pressure cooker and spooning this corned beef hash with carrots, onions, peas and potatoes into bowls. If it wasn’t runny enough, we’d have it with ketchup. Now, when I'm with Anna Haugh [Dent is presenting this series with JohnTorode, but from next year Haugh will be her MasterChef co-host], every time someone uses a pressure cooker, I turn to her and say, "1970s childhood"! The first dish I learnt to cook was… asparagus risotto I've cooked since I was a child, but the first fancy thing I learnt to cook was an asparagus champagne risotto with aged Parmesan — which was very, very glamorous in 1998. Back then I was living in Camden, in a big, shared house with five incredibly ambitious women who all worked in the media. Whenever I had a date night, I would try to woo whoever was coming round for dinner with my risotto. When I cooked on the MasterChef Battle of the Critics Christmas special in 2023, I made this dish. I knew two things – firstly, that if you can master that risotto with depth and manage to get it out on the plate, people are always impressed. And secondly…

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Get rid of the BBC? Careful what you wish for…
type: item
date: 2025-11-10T15:09:57.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Current Affairs
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Comment
description: Once the pride of Britain, the BBC now faces its biggest crisis yet – but would we really be better off without it?
encoded: Decades ago, I joined a cruise in blue waters off the southern coast of Turkey, where our captain spoke no words of English except "tips here" – until somehow, through the usual blustering British-person-meets-rest-of-world chats, he established where I worked. For the next three days, I was summoned to mealtimes with a shout of "BBC" that echoed across the Med. It was a different time: when our national broadcaster’s brand was considered up there with Coca-Cola for global recognition, and the NHS for trustworthiness. 30 years later, and mentions of "the BBC" once again abound, but this time to a collective eye-roll at yesterday’s headlines that a catalogue of controversies has culminated in both the director-general and the CEO of BBC News falling on their swords over the editing of a 2021 Donald Trump speech. Monday saw the BBC Chair Samir Shah add his apology for the "error of judgement" that caused the furore. Tim Davie’s resignation speech included reference to the intense personal and professional demands that have punctuated his five years in British media’s top job – those years have seen a roll-call of on-air talent disappearing from screen after a litany of behaviour variously criminal (Huw Edwards), allegedly bad (Gregg Wallace) or political (Carol Vorderman, Gary Lineker). The departures of Davie and his news chief Deborah Furness are more redolent of 2004. I was among those queuing up, some in tears, to bid a fond farewell to Greg Dyke after he quit as D-G, as did his Board Chairman, after the government complained about the news coverage of the dossier – "sexed up" as alleged by reporter Andrew Gilligan – putting the case for Iraq’s nuclear weapons and justifying invasion. We know the rest. Possibly apart from some of those involved in that debacle, there were no calls then for the binning of the BBC – this week’s episode feels more rotten and existentially threatening. We learned through a memorandum leaked to The Telegraph that the BBC desperately tr…

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Pluribus season 1 review: Vince Gilligan's sci-fi masterpiece will take you to your happy place
type: item
date: 2025-11-07T10:03:47.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: Rhea Seehorn is magnificent in this unique sci-fi masterpiece.
encoded: TV titan Vince Gilligan is known for writing bad guys. Think Walter White in Breaking Bad or Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. But for his highly anticipated follow-up, Gilligan dares to imagine a world where there are no bad guys, where evil has been eradicated in its entirety. And therein lies a very different kind of horror. Pluribus begins with a scientific discovery gone awry, as is often the case with post-apocalyptic stories of this nature. One simple mistake breaks the world as we know it, unleashing a virus that melds the globe into one collective group mind. The horrific imagery that follows evokes everything from the devastating stillness of 28 Days Later to the chilling paranoia embedded throughout Invasion of the Body Snatchers (in all its incarnations). So why was Pluribus surrounded by so much secrecy prior to its release? We've seen this all before, right? Well no, it turns out that Gilligan's twist on the genre quickly takes these familiar tropes in wildly unexpected directions that intrigue, unsettle, and might occasionally test your patience at points. Without spoiling too much, this global shift in thinking isn't hellbent on domination. The virus has essentially won already, yet that was never its goal. Melding the world's population into one singular mind was just necessary, a biological imperative akin to breathing. The result is a happy one, creating a utopia on earth where there is no more crime. Discrimination is a thing of the past and every caged animal has been set free. At its core, this apocalypse brings peace and happiness to everyone on earth except the one woman who can't stand it. Carol Sturka, an unhappy romance novelist who peddles "mindless crap" numbers among the very few people on earth who have retained their minds still, somehow immune to the virus. As such, the collective is keen to draw Carol into their embrace, quite happily informing her that they're working on ways to push through and infect her somehow. It's in this ten…

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These are the 10 stars who should be on a potential Celebrity Traitors season 2
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T22:10:32.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Comment
description: It's a need more than a want.
encoded: The Celebrity Traitors has only just ended and has undoubtedly shot to the top of many people's best TV shows of the year lists. Whether it was Alan Carr getting the giggles, Celia Imrie's flatulence or Joe Marler's angelic walk down across a rickety bridge, The Celebrity Traitors has proven to be a must watch. With 11.7 million (and growing!) people tuning into the first episode alone, it's no surprise that audiences have been keen for yet another season with even more beloved famous faces taking part. The best thing about The Celebrity Traitors is its all-star cast, who have left all egos at the door and excelled in the game, and I reckon these 10 celebrities listed below could do the very same... Celebrities who should appear on a potential Celebrity Traitors season 2 Bob Mortimer Daisy May Cooper Charlie Cooper Nicola Walker Alison Hammond Olivia Colman Rob Beckett Chunkz Greg Davies Diane Parish If you need furthering reasoning as to why, scroll on. Bob Mortimer Bob Mortimer has been making audiences laugh for almost four decades and admittedly and ashamedly so, I only really got into his work in 2022 amid the release of The Satsuma Complex. But it was seeing him in Last One Laughing: UK that truly made me want to see every single TV show he'd been in, thus signalling a binge watch of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The comedian was heavily rumoured for The Celebrity Traitors, but that sadly never came into fruition. However, with show execs reportedly wanting him for another season should the BBC re-commission, I have high hopes. Daisy May and Charlie Cooper The brother and sibling duo have been entertaining the nation since 2017 and were both reportedly set to take part in the series before dropping out due to timing constraints. But with their TV reunion on BBC Three's NightWatch, in which they sleep over at the UK's spookiest places, and their subsequent hilarious press tour that followed, has only cemented their need to be in the Traitors castle. Al…

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Kim Kardashian's All's Fair performance is indeed shocking – but the show's biggest problem lies elsewhere
type: item
date: 2025-11-05T15:28:07.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Disney Plus
subject: On demand
description: The reviews of All's Fair are rightfully bad – but we need to point the finger of blame elsewhere.
encoded: *Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first 3 episodes of All's Fair, which are now available to stream on Disney Plus.* You may be sat wondering if all the negative reviews, the fanfare and the resulting memes are all true. Is All's Fair really that bad? It is – let's get that out of the way first and foremost – but nothing can quite prepare any viewer for the overwhelming onslaught of just how bad it is, that will leave many cringing for their favourite actresses. A lot of the reaction has, rightfully, been pointing its finger at reality star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, who has been part of the cultural zeitgeist for decades now. Having had various small-time cameos in films nobody talks about over the years, her big acting break came in 2023 by way of American Horror Story and its series creator, Ryan Murphy. At the time of that show's release, reception to Kardashian's acting was a mixed bag. Some thought her lack of acting prowess left the general performance feeling flat, while others thought that Kardashian only dialled up the camp factor of the show. Some would take heed of that feedback and perhaps not initiate Kardashian into leading lady stardom – but not Ryan Murphy, oh no. Instead, he's put her front and centre in All's Fair as successful legal partner Allura Grant. We're introduced to her new life almost like an episode of The Kardashians or MTV Cribs, getting a walkthrough of her luxury wardrobe, her staff, and house that anybody would be envious of. However, by the end of the first episode, we quickly find out that not everything is a bed of roses in Allura's life, as her younger husband Chase (Matthew Noszka) admits to having an affair and wants a divorce. Heartbreaking stuff, right? Expect you wouldn't quite know it, as the archetypal girls debrief chat that we're thrown into after Chase's admission sees Kardashian looking as polished and straight-faced as ever, changing into a fur coat and kitten heels as her unlikely comfort outf…

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Squid Game: The Challenge has upped the ante in season 2 and is all the better for it
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T20:00:03.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
subject: On demand
description: In this season of Squid Game: The Challenge, the stakes are higher than ever before.
encoded: *WARNING: Contains spoilers for Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 episodes 1-4* If, like me, you're often the cynic among TV watchers, especially when it comes to spin-offs, you may have been equally as hesitant about Squid Game: The Challenge. Though upon its initial release almost two years ago the series proved to be a popular hit among viewers on Netflix, with the series going on to win a BAFTA and 1.42 billion minutes of viewings in the US, for me, something was still missing. Sure, it had all the same games known from the drama series and a few new ones thrown into the mix, but it admittedly left me thinking: Is that all? Aside from the obvious, and legal, factor that no deaths occur in the reality series, it felt very much the same. So when season 2 rolled around, I was dubious – but I was immediately proven wrong. The second season opens to an immediate test of character, something which the contestants are tried on quite a lot throughout the episodes, and sees the 456 contestants split in half, with twin brothers Raul and Jacob going head-to-head as leaders of each group and split into two rooms. In each room is a podium, and the leader must press the button when the team believe 456 seconds have elapsed. The scenes are completely anxiety-inducing, as you soon realise 228 players will be wiped from the game and the brothers split up, ramping up the cash prize to extraordinary amounts. With so many programmes, particularly those made by Studio Lambert, excelling at leaving audiences at the edge of their seats, it's impressive that the series didn't fatigue me with its multiple twists and turns. Upon realising the brothers are safe, despite being on the losing team, you soon realise there are plenty more tricks up the producer's sleeves, ensuring no one can guess what's about to happen next – not even the players. Similarly to Studio Lambert's latest Traitors outing, audiences and players alike may think they know what's to come, but a spanner is thrown in t…

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Liverpool fans booing Trent Alexander-Arnold is a raw, emotional reaction – don't police the pain
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T15:45:00.000Z
creator: Michael Potts
subject: Football
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Premier League
description: Who are we to tell hurt Liverpool fans how to feel betrayed?
encoded: First published on 12th May 2025, updated ahead of Liverpool v Real Madrid on 4th November 2025. "Liverpool fans are being told their reaction to Alexander-Arnold leaving is emotional more than sensible." On Monday 5th May, Jamie Carragher led a chorus of hot takes following the Liverpool club statement confirming Trent Alexander-Arnold would depart at the end of his contract. Real Madrid awaited. Several months later, the inevitable has happened, Liverpool welcome Real Madrid to Merseyside, Alexander-Arnold is back at Anfield. And he's wearing white. 'Football fans may or may not boo an opposing football player' is a tepid story at best. We'll wake up to highlights of the, err, team sheet being read out on BBC Breakfast over our cornflakes in the morning. It is boring – really boring. And yet, so long as the highest-profile football personalities and outlets continue to stoke the story with their scorching takes, the story will continue to burn. But this is why most of those prominent voices have completely missed the mark. They've fallen foul of the first rule of football punditry: don't tell football fans what they should feel. Back in May, during his piece for The Telegraph quoted above, Carragher wrote: "My response to that is who is really the naive and deluded one when analysing how fans feel about such transfers?" and questioning whether Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal fans would be happy to see one of their favoured sons departing for a European heavyweight. He continued: "If that image of the homegrown talent living the dream is an illusion, people feel let down ... Fans are obviously going to be upset ... By leaving Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is making it harder for his own club to win their 21st league title and seventh European Cup. That is bound to stir emotions ... With Monday’s statement, the unconditional support Alexander-Arnold enjoyed from the Kop when he was fully committed to Liverpool has gone." Carragher, a one-club Liverpool legend, spoke with …

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My daughter Caroline Flack died without a voice - and this is my biggest regret about her difficult final days
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T00:01:12.000Z
creator: Christine Flack
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: We mustn’t forget the woman behind the headlines, says her mother, Christine Flack.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. We found a handwritten note from Caroline the other day. Caroline’s twin sister, Jody, discovered it while packing up boxes of her things. Caroline loved leaving me notes, but this one was written for herself and was a list of all the things she loved, everything that made her happy. She’d included her job – hosting Love Island, the ITV dating show that she’d made her own – her close family and the beautiful London home that she had worked so hard to buy. Caroline had made a brilliant life for herself and most of the time she was happy. She loved musicals – we’d seen Hamilton and Waitress. She laughed a lot, loved dancing and was always singing in the car. Five years on from her death, these are the moments I try to remember. But Caroline was also vulnerable and suffered highs and lows, even while growing up. She was in hospital in her late teens after a relationship ended and feared talking openly about her mental health. I did my best to protect her as a child. Now I must protect her in a different way. Caroline died, aged 40, without a voice and with the world believing that she was a domestic abuser. I want the real Caroline to be remembered – not the Caroline that was portrayed in the press in the weeks before her death. Which is why I have made Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth, a two-part documentary for Disney+. View oEmbed on the source website It’s my biggest regret that I wasn’t shouting about the injustice before Caroline took her own life on Valentine’s Day in 2020, while facing prosecution for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton. Now I have nothing to lose. The worst thing in the world has already happened. I need to get the truth out there. I’m not here to defend domestic violence. Caroline hit Lewis with a mobile phone after becoming concerned he was cheating. But the facts are that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recommended Caroline receive a caution. She had no previous convi…

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Why ‘hellraisers’ like Richard Burton, Oliver Reed and Peter O’Toole will always bewitch us
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T00:01:05.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Why did some great postwar actors become better known for their hellraising than their performances?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As Richard Burton appears on screen in kaleidoscopic colour, dressed in full armour and atop a horse, he is applauded by the adoring masses. The narrator proclaims, “In ten short years, he has conquered the world.” As it happens, he’s talking about Burton’s character, Alexander the Great, in the eponymous movie, but the words could apply to the actor himself. It was 1956, by when the young Welshman had already embarked on an extraordinary ascent, from the mining village of Pontrhydyfen, to Oxford University, to the London stage and Hollywood. Actor Siân Phillips remembers his West End debut – “he walked on and the whole theatre went cold” – while his first Hollywood role brought him an Oscar nomination, the first of seven. His voice, his presence, his love for poetry were all among his many splendid gifts, and he in turn offered them up to us. Why then, if you say the name “Richard Burton”, does a life of drama and diamonds immediately come to mind, one spent jumping between yachts and private jets in the glare of the paparazzi lens and, of course, a double marriage to Elizabeth Taylor? Because that’s all true, too. Burton was the primus inter pares of Britain’s still beloved mid-century stars, alongside the likes of Peter O’Toole, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed and co – a group of talented actors for whom the term “hellraiser” became a shorthand, as famous for their reckless real-life behaviour as for their undoubted dramatic talents. What was the unifying element, and why do they still bewitch us? For a start, they were all preternaturally gifted. Peter O’Toole “appeared on stage like an electric light,” is how he’s remembered by Anthony Hopkins, while Richard Harris brought us the tenderest of Camelots and even MacArthur Park (a 60s anthem I didn’t even realise for years was the same Richard Harris!). And they all arrived in London during an era of still unresolved postwar trauma, class collision and hedonistic fr…

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Ncuti Gatwa was the perfect ambassador for Doctor Who – his early exit changes nothing
type: item
date: 2025-10-31T15:00:05.000Z
creator: Louise Griffin
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: Gatwa beautifully embodied the Time Lord's values.
encoded: Disney's deal with Doctor Who is officially over and everyone is trying to answer one question: why? No one, other than the higher-ups at Disney, really know the answer to this. Of course, there have been theories, that Deadline has attributed to sources at the House of Mouse, ranging from the show's apparent 'wokeness' to the series being too quintessentially British to translate to audiences across the pond. I've got my doubts about each of those theories. I'd be disgusted if Disney's departure ultimately boiled down to [checks notes] one gay kiss and the casting of trans actress Yasmin Finney and drag artist Jinkx Monsoon. Also, Doctor Who has broken America before – and already has a decent amount of fans across the globe. But one point has left me flabbergasted. One of Deadline's sources is quoted as suggesting Ncuti Gatwa hasn't been a good ambassador for Doctor Who, saying: “There is more to that role than performing. You have got to be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that generation’s Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully understood the responsibility it carried.” I have to ask – at what point has Ncuti Gatwa not understood the responsibility of being an ambassador for Doctor Who? After being announced as the Fifteenth Doctor, Gatwa has dedicated a solid three years of his life to the role. While facing down a slew of racism and homophobia, that no one should ever endure after announcing a new chapter in their career, Gatwa quickly and convincingly offered up a genuinely new and fresh incarnation of the Time Lord – something that is no mean feat 15 actors in. His range as a performer has been beautiful to watch, as he brought us everything from unfiltered joy to unadulterated rage and everything in between. He seamlessly slipped into the role, following on from none other than fan favourite Tennant, and absolutely running with it. He had countless impressive moments over the course of his run, but perhaps no more so than the final scenes o…

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The Witcher season 4's Liam Hemsworth recast makes complete sense for one key reason
type: item
date: 2025-10-31T12:15:49.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
description: Geralt's had quite the makeover in season 4.
encoded: The Witcher has fought all manner of monsters in his time, but four seasons in, the biggest threat to Geralt's existence might just be himself. Or at least, the new version of him that's been introduced in Netflix's latest season. Whatever your thoughts on The Witcher might be, fans and detractors alike usually agree that Henry Cavill has been pivotal to the show's success. Whether he was drawing his sword or drawing a bath, Cavill's take on Geralt felt intrinsic to the story being told. It's as if he was born to play The Witcher. So when Cavill suddenly left the show three seasons in, his exit understandably came as quite a shock. It was impossible for fans to imagine what The Witcher might look like without him, yet that's exactly what showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich was forced to do for the series to continue. Enter Liam Hemsworth, another statuesque bulk of a man who was asked to step in and take Cavill's place. Long before pics of him donning the wig surfaced online, fans were already quick to denounce Hemsworth as being unfit for the task at hand. These were big shoes to fill, after all. Never mind that Liam is 6cm taller than Henry. It didn't help that when trailers for season 4 did finally arrive, they included a scene where Hemsworth's Geralt rallies his friends by crying: "Let's f**king move." For fans still invested in the show, this felt like a betrayal of sorts, a sign that The Witcher had lost its way. "Geralt would never say such a thing," they claimed, with others criticising Hemsworth's delivery of the line as well. To be fair, Liam was going to be criticised regardless, no matter how good or bad he was in the role. Copy Cavill too closely and you're just a pale imitation of the real deal. Put your own stamp on the character and you risk losing Geralt's essence entirely. This was always going to be a lose-lose situation for Hemsworth, at least at the beginning when fans would be most resistant to change. Plus, it's not exactly easy to pull off a …

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John Lewis Christmas adverts ranked – and the winner is not who you'd expect
type: item
date: 2025-10-31T07:00:32.000Z
creator: Helen Daly
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Christmas
subject: Christmas adverts
subject: Comment
subject: Evergreen
description: It's the most John Lewis-y time of the year, but which is its best advert of all time?
encoded: The nights are closing in and it's safe to say we're going to be spending a lot more time in front of the television, wrapped under a blanket. That also means we're about to watch a lot more advertisements from our favourite retailers as they vie for our custom over the busy festive period. One brand that always delivers a memorable advert is John Lewis, and the retailer pulls out all the stops every year to ensure customers remember their shop when it comes to buying presents for their loved ones. There's been 18 (yes, 18) adverts to date, ranging from the cute and cuddly to powerful tear-jerkers, and we at RadioTimes.com have taken it upon ourselves to rank them. So, while we wait for the next John Lewis Christmas advert, check out our ranking of all the previous entries below. Do you agree? 18. Shadows (2007) Cast your minds back 14 years and you might just remember Shadows. A sweet and snappy advert which showcased plenty of John Lewis's gift range in the form of silhouetting. Who would have thought a coffee machine and a feather boa could make a pretty convincing dog? Well, maybe Britain's Got Talent winners, Attraction... A far cry from the tear-jerking emotion-fests we're used to, but pretty punchy nevertheless. 17. The Feeling (2009) In at number 13, this is really the advert that started them all. This was the first to feature a dramatic cover while a cute sentimental scene played out on screen. This time, to the tune of Sweet Child o' Mine, kids open presents typically given to adults, prompting us all to "remember how Christmas used to feel". Ahh. 16. Clues (2008) Another one from the-before-times in at 12, with Clues, a cutesy advert with puns at the heart of it. With a cover of The Beatles' From Me to You at the heart of the advert, we met different characters and got a snapshot of their perfect presents – a tired man wanted a coffee machine, and so on. If only gifting really was that simple, eh? 15. Unexpected Guest (2021) During another difficult year…

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I'm an expert historian and here's how accurate Robin Hood on MGM+ is to real events
type: item
date: 2025-10-31T07:00:02.000Z
creator: Sean McGlynn
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: On demand
description: Dr Sean McGlynn is a university lecturer and author of Robin Hood: A True Legend. He writes extensively on Robin Hood and medieval history.
encoded: The new Robin Hood series from MGM+, starring Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham and newcomer Jack Patten as Robin "Rob" Hood, offers a gritty version of the medieval legend for a 21st-century audience. How much of it is inspired by real events, and how much is fabrication? Amid the facts, it is riddled with historical inaccuracies and invention. But does this matter? Surprisingly, no. Indeed, in this regard, it is true to the spirit of the Robin Hood legend and its evolution. It will surprise no one that the TV series is set in Sherwood Forest and Nottingham. Where else would it be? While these places cannot be proven definitively as the settings for the origins of Robin Hood, they are named in the earliest surviving texts of the story from the mid-fifteenth century and have stuck ever since. More original for this series is the timing. Here, the story begins with Robin in 1186 during the reign of King Henry II. Historians tend to place Robin Hood (or at least his legend) between the early 1200s and early 1300s, with more consensus for the earlier period. Film and TV settings have long settled on the reign of King Richard the Lionheart (1189–1199): Robin of Sherwood, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the Robin Hood films of 2010 and 2018. The 2025 version moves to 1189, the last year of Henry’s reign. The youngsters from 1186 must have been on some form of medieval growth hormones, as they now all appear 10 years older, not three. What of the characters? In 1189, it is indeed the case that Henry is king, Eleanor of Aquitaine is queen, and John and Richard are the royal princes vying to inherit the crown. The matter of Robin Hood is more problematic, and here we start finding historical errors. If Robin actually existed, it is highly unlikely that he was surnamed Loxley, as in the programme – a speculative association that came centuries later. Nor was he the rightful Earl of Huntingdon, a title bestowed only in 1598, when the Tudor nobility tried to recast the…

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The Witcher season 4 review: Liam Hemsworth's Geralt falls flat as Netflix flagship fantasy loses its magic
type: item
date: 2025-10-30T08:01:48.000Z
creator: Nicola Austin
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
subject: Review
description: Will Henry Cavill’s departure prove the final nail in the coffin for the "Witcherverse"?
encoded: Following the shock news that leading man – and self-confessed Witcher fan – Henry Cavill was hanging up Geralt’s swords and wolf medallion back in 2022, fans of Netflix’s flagship fantasy series were understandably left reeling. The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth was shortly announced as the new the White Wolf for the final two seasons. But with huge shoes to fill, as many considered Cavill’s portrayal of the beloved monster hunter definitive, the controversial announcement certainly left a dark cloud over the project. Casting concerns aside, there’s no denying that the writers have long played fast and loose with the source material in season 4, taking plenty of creative liberties with certain character arcs and events – much to the frustration of those who love Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and the CD Projekt games. While the third outing attempted to right the ship with a more faithful adaptation, season 4 faces even bigger challenges. Can Netflix win over returning viewers with the introduction of fan favourite characters such as Regis (Laurence Fishburne) and Leo Bonhart – or Cavill’s departure prove the final nail in the coffin for the "Witcherverse"? Picking up after the devastating (and Continent-altering) events of the Thanedd Coup, season 4 sees Geralt (Hemsworth), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri (Freya Allan) once again scattered across the war-ravaged Continent. The former lion cub of Cintra embraces her “Falka” persona among the rebel gang of outlaws known as the Rats, while Geralt embarks on yet another (!) rescue quest, forming a new found fellowship of misfits along the way. Meanwhile, Yennefer seeks to unite the remaining sorceresses for a final showdown with Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), the mage who's secretly been pulling the strings all along. View Green Video on the source website Thankfully, the latest instalment isn’t split into multiple parts – as that month-long gap between volumes last season certainly hurt the pacing. Netflix has instead op…

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How It: Welcome to Derry's genius Pennywise risk pays off – and makes it scarier than the films
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T16:22:44.000Z
creator: Louise Griffin
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: HBO
subject: Sky
description: The Dancing Clown is nowhere to be seen in Welcome to Derry's first episode.
encoded: **Warning – It: Welcome to Derry spoilers ahead.** If the opening episode of It: Welcome to Derry didn't leave you reeling, you might be dead inside. I'm not being dramatic. The opening episode of the long-awaited prequel doesn't just throw us in at the deep end, but holds us under the water until we're gasping for breath. The gory first instalment introduces viewers to the ill-fated Matty, who's trying to escape an abusive home environment. But, after he's picked up from the side of the road by a strange family, the showrunners hold nothing back as they force Matty (and us!) to witness the birth of a demonic baby, amping up the body horror as Matty is snatched before our very eyes. After Matty's classmates (AKA the current Losers Club) witness strange and nightmarish happenings, things go from bad to worse with the movie theatre scene – a brutal sequence that sees most of our new Losers Club toyed with and murdered, as our good friend, the demon baby, makes its gruesome return. Of course, we know whose handiwork this is. Despite manifesting in a different form, we know exactly who feeds on fear in this way. But, then, why don't we ever see the dread creature that haunts Derry, Pennywise? In fact, the showrunners have confirmed that we won't see Pennywise as we know and hate him for some time. Of course, his presence is felt all over the first episode, but for those hoping to get a glimpse of the Dancing Clown this early on, you might be disappointed. In my book, though, that's the best decision that could have been made. In hiding Pennywise from us, the showrunners master an age-old rule of horror movie magic: hiding the monster. Any horror fan will be familiar with the rule, which has been used in thrillers and horrors across the ages, from Jaws to Jurassic Park to the Blair Witch Project to Paranormal Activity to A Quiet Place and beyond. In short, hiding the monster allows our imaginations to run free. Nothing the filmmaker could ultimately show us on screen cou…

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Sophy Ridge argues why breakfast television is still the pinnacle of broadcasting
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T00:01:33.000Z
creator: Sophy Ridge
subject: Current Affairs
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Breakfast TV needs an overhaul to make it fit for the digital age, says presenter Sophy Ridge.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When it comes to broadcasting, breakfast television is the premier slot, the pinnacle. It’s a privilege when people decide to start their day with you and it should never be taken for granted. The giants of breakfast television – Frank Bough and Selina Scott, David Frost, Angela Rippon, Michael Parkinson and more recently, Eamonn Holmes, Susanna Reid and Kay Burley – knew that. They somehow transcended the role of television presenter, becoming something much more intimate: almost an extension of the family, there in the background while you have your cereal, pester the kids to find their shoes or search for your house keys. But I’m going to be blunt: morning broadcasting needs an overhaul. The media landscape is going through an unprecedented change. I’m 40 years old and my peers almost exclusively get their news through their mobile phones. According to Ofcom, 52 per cent of adults now use social media as a news source and 71 per cent get their news online. It was a different world when Bough and Scott launched Breakfast Time in 1983 when there were only four television channels (Channel 4 having launched a year earlier). But “traditional broadcasters” shouldn’t fear change – it brings challenges, but far more opportunities. I’m optimistic about what it means. We have an audience that is more interested in the news than ever. A decade ago, I vox-popped people outside a Labour conference who couldn’t even tell me that the party leader was Ed Miliband. That would never happen today. People are hyper engaged in politics and international affairs – they have opinions and are more informed than at any time I can remember. Rather than turning away from the news, the audience is turning towards it. And in a world where it can feel like truth is under attack, we shouldn’t underestimate the public. Our audiences are discerning, informed and engaged and they want trustworthy and impartial journalism. As broadcasters, we n…

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Alan Carr is the perfect star of Celebrity Traitors – and not for the reason you might think
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T00:01:04.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Effervescent, clownish and clever — Alan Carr has played the Celebrity Traitors game to perfection.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Need a birthday card? You can now buy one that has Alan Carr on the front saying, “How old? I’m flabbergasted!” A canny publisher has swiftly responded to the buzz around the comedian’s antics in The Celebrity Traitors and proved what we suspected – banishment and victory aside, the show already has a winner. Carr’s stand-out role was clear from the off, the moment his selection as a Traitor proved the counterintuitive punchline of a gift that producers picked up and ran with. Even his two fellow Traitors laughed out loud when they first saw their co-conspirator, and it meant from day one, the comedian has been central to events – his “can’t keep a secret for toffee” schtick weaponised to clownish, thrilling effect. His effervescence meant he was the only player capable of murdering his close pal Paloma Faith in full view of everyone else, while his “hiding in plain sight” modus operandi successfully shielded him from almost all suspicion. You get the impression that his housemates would be reluctant to banish him even if they had their doubts. As Lucy Beaumont reflected, “It wouldn’t be Carry On Traitors without Alan.” Indeed, who else would punctuate a tense Trojan War challenge by shouting out to Clare Balding, “You’re going to love this, there’s a horse”? Or recruiting Celia Imrie to play badminton – “We need a bit of wind”? Gimlet-eyed Celia was one of the few to consider his possible treachery – “It would be remarkably clever” – but he escaped even her Round Table vote, and he’s proved just as irresistible to viewers. What’s his secret? Well, the list of players in this ratings juggernaut is a snapshot of the spectrum of British celebrity. There are the newbies on the rise – from now-banished content creator Niko Omilana and actor Ruth Codd to singer-songwriter Cat Burns, but their focus on the game, and relative youth, means they present as blanker canvases. So, too, do the other actors, including Nick Moha…

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Doctor Who's best guest star isn't who you'd expect
type: item
date: 2025-10-24T06:00:18.000Z
creator: Louise Griffin
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: 60 Days of Doctor Who
subject: Comment
description: Plenty of big names have guest starred in Doctor Who – but one outshone them all.
encoded: From Kylie Minogue and Andrew Garfield to Carey Mulligan, Simon Pegg, and the late, great Sir Michael Gambon, Doctor Who is in a league of its own when it comes to guest stars. Some of the biggest names on the planet have lent their talents to Doctor Who, and there's no doubting that their performances have gone down in the show's history. Blink, starring Mulligan and introducing the world to the terrifying Weeping Angels, is widely regarded as one of the best episodes in the sci-fi's history. Similarly, is there a single Christmas episode that could rival Voyage of the Damned, starring the iconic Kylie Minogue as Astrid Perth? But, while big names are a huge draw for Doctor Who fans, there's one guest star who overshadowed all of the others with his understated, heartwarming, and fiercely lovable portrayal of a historical figure – Tony Curran as Vincent Van Gogh. Of course, Curran had had an incredible career before guest starring in Doctor Who, which has continued since. Most recently, he's appeared in Marvel's Secret Invasion, the series Your Honor, and gave a devastating performance in Mayflies. But, from my very biased point of view, Doctor Who showed him at his best. View oEmbed on the source website Vincent and the Doctor could have been one of those episodes to have passed us by. In the midst of season 5, it sees the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to Provence after seeing an ominous figure in one of Van Gogh's paintings. It was a risky move. Van Gogh's history has been told plenty of times before, so viewers would need to get something new out of that story. Plus, Doctor Who has to have a monster, and while the Krafayis fit into the story nicely, it didn't exactly prove to be a stand-out part of the show, instead becoming pretty forgettable among other season 5 villains. But, in the end, none of that mattered, because Richard Curtis's direction combined with Curran's performance gave us some of the most beautiful and…

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Strictly reaches end of an era as Claudia and Tess depart – so what now for the BBC's most glittering jewel?
type: item
date: 2025-10-23T14:12:05.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Comment
description: Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s Strictly exit marks more than a hosting change – it’s the end of an era for British Saturday night TV.
encoded: Another day, another Strictly headline that contains no mention of dancing. This time it was the announcement that hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have decided “the time is right” to step away from the show they have co-presented since 2014. My journalist pal reports a collective gasp in the newsroom when the news broke this morning. For sure, it doesn’t compete with some of the news headlines from recent weeks (and months, and years) for global significance – nevertheless, for the fragile and precious eco-system that is British entertainment, it is, indisputably, a big deal. The pair have for a decade presented the last remaining Saturday night ratings juggernaut. With a suitable nod to original Bake Off’s Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, we can’t overlook the importance of them as two women in this high-profile primetime role. Daly and Winkleman stepped into shoes previously worn by Bruce Forsyth (and before him Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, etc) and have made the show comprehensively their own. And what a show it is. In its 21st year, Strictly continues to defy viewing trends that saw off all competitors from around the time it started – Fame Academy, Pop Idol, X Factor, even Saturday Night Takeaway - its simple formula of 'celeb meets professional, learns to ballroom dance, wows audience, wins glitterball' is something familiar, glittery, yet endlessly novel with the new pairings and stories. And it transcends borders, cultures and languages. Shown around the world in more than 60 overseas territories, it remains one of the BBC’s finest (and most lucrative) crown jewels. And yet… like other shows, its dancefloor has shown cracks. Years after we enjoyed the efforts of John Sergeant, Anne Widdecombe and Nancy Del’Olio, the dancers have become increasingly high-profile, the celebrities increasingly competitive. With that has come scrutiny and pressure, culminating in last year’s unedifying catalogue of behind-the-scenes allegations of bullying and worse. …

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Morgan's messy journey in Nobody Wants This season 2 delivers the show’s most powerful message
type: item
date: 2025-10-23T09:22:05.000Z
creator: Abby Robinson
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
subject: On demand
description: In the Netflix romcom's sophomore season, Morgan steals the spotlight once again.
encoded: **Warning: contains spoilers for Nobody Wants This season 2.** When the first season of Netflix romcom Nobody Wants This wrapped up, it wasn’t the relationship between agnostic sex-and-relationships podcaster Joanne and rabbi Noah that I couldn’t stop thinking about, but another duo entirely. The dynamic between Joanne's chaotic-good sister and podcast co-host Morgan, and Noah's outlandish brother Sasha, quickly became the most compelling part of Erin Foster's series – not only because it defied categorisation, but because of its delicious potential for naughtiness. Were they into each other – and en route to doing something very reckless? Or are they just two playful people tuned into their own weird frequency that no one else can access? Either way, it was deeply entertaining. While Joanne and Noah were undoubtedly the main course – and we devoured every crumb with relish – Morgan and Sasha were the perfect wine pairing, elevating Nobody Wants This from "should watch" to "must watch". And the 4.9 billion viewing minutes it pulled in after its debut attest to that. After initially being completely repulsed by him (she described him as "brutal" in a text to Joanne, followed by the ogre and vomit emojis – all of which played out on loudspeaker in front of Sasha himself), something inexplicable began to happen – from Morgan's perspective, at least. Their interactions became comfortable, teasing, and undeniably charged. Before long, they were secretly texting – messages Sasha kept from his wife – and then came Morgan's sex dream, though countless psychologists have since debunked the idea that such things signal attraction. Yet nothing ever actually happened. There was no messy drunken kiss à la Scrubs' JD and Carla; no text that crossed a line. Still, their dynamic was confusingly intimate. "Stop saying that it's not weird when we both know that it kind of is," Morgan tells him at his daughter's bat mitzvah – as Esther watches on, muttering to her mother-in-law Bina t…

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Are soaps letting down their power couples as Robron, Swarla and more face giant obstacles?
type: item
date: 2025-10-22T16:44:41.000Z
creator: Laura Denby
subject: Coronation Street
subject: EastEnders
subject: Emmerdale
subject: Hollyoaks
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Channel 4
subject: Comment
subject: ITV
subject: ITVX
description: So much couple conflict across the board!
encoded: Soap couples have the strongest fanbases across the genre, with popular on-screen partnerships so beloved that they even have their own special names. But the likes of Emmerdale's 'Robron,' Coronation Street's 'Swarla' and more are all facing major obstacles, posing the question: are these serial dramas letting down their power pairings? Let's start with 'Robron'. Of course, we're talking about Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) and Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller), who recently reunited after almost 6 years apart. Their renewed relationship was never going to last at this point, due to the small matter of Robert's "unhinged but lovable" secret prison husband Kev Townsend (Chris Coghill)! There are also plenty of unresolved issues between Aaron and Robert, stemming from the latter's decision to cut off and divorce the former back in 2019. Given this, plus whatever Robert is concealing about his time behind bars and Aaron's role in the murder of Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day), these two already had enough to wade through on the road to getting back together long-term. Hawley has assured us that throwing Kev into the mix is rather different to the troubles 'Robron' have previously endured, and made a good point when he told RadioTimes.com and other press that "it would be pretty boring if it was just plain sailing. "There has to be some kind of conflict and obstacles for the characters to overcome to test their relationship and see them triumph against adversity." The promise of a special episode next month, due to shed light on both the Kev conundrum and Robert's prison trauma, may give this story the lift it needs. But at the time of writing, it's hard to understand why we needed to see Robert having "deep feelings" for someone other than Aaron, mere weeks after the character insisted he was all he wanted. Moving onto 'Swarla', and poor Carla Connor (Alison King) is still reeling after her fiancée Lisa Swain's (Vicky Myers) wife Becky (Amy Cudden) pitched up alive, four years after…

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Returning to Brookside is the perfect way to honour Hollyoaks' heritage
type: item
date: 2025-10-22T11:01:08.000Z
creator: Johnathon Hughes
subject: Hollyoaks
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: The crossover is a tribute to both groundbreaking soaps.
encoded: Soaps love to mark a significant anniversary by going back in time. Returning characters and knowing nods to the past are a reward for loyal viewers, and a way of reminding us of the show’s roots and the reasons we’ve watched it for so long. Hollyoaks is going bigger and shouting louder, as it does with most things, when it comes to the celebrations for its 30th birthday. In a gift to soap fans, Channel 4’s cheeky, rebellious flagship continuing drama is acknowledging the history of two shows – itself, and the programme it sprang from. In an audacious soap crossover, months before ITV’s much-anticipated Corriedale weaves together the worlds of Weatherfield and the Yorkshire Dales, Hollyoaks is mashing up with Brookside. This goes right back to the origin story for Hollyoaks, launched in 1995 as a sister show to Brookside by Sir Phil Redmond, who created them both. Forget the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is the Redmond shared soap universe. It’s been 22 years since Channel 4’s iconic continuing drama was cancelled, leaving behind a legacy of breaking boundaries and highlighting the taboo topics other dramas, not just soaps, were too scared to touch. Part of the epic storylines for Hollyoaks’ anniversary week takes detective Donny Clark to Brookside Close, the humble Liverpool cul-de-sac on an unassuming housing estate that was the scene of some of TV’s most groundbreaking drama. For reasons that will become clear when he interacts with some familiar Brookie faces, some of whom we haven’t seen on screen since the '80s, it turns out there’s a strong link between Donny and the Close. But the connections between Hollyoaks and Brookside run much deeper. Brookie’s mini-return has generated a wave of nostalgia and confirmed the respectful position it holds in TV history as the first truly daring continuing drama, which Hollyoaks inherited and continues to keep alive. Starting in 1995 as a shiny teen show about a gang of good-looking friends in their late teens from an or…

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Ronni Ancona: The Big Impression aired 25 years ago – it would never get on TV today
type: item
date: 2025-10-20T23:01:20.000Z
creator: Ronni Ancona
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: With celebrities oversharing their lives, it’s hard to make a big impression, writes Ronni Ancona.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. So much comedy has moved online in the past decade and in some ways that’s liberating. Short sketches flourish on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Comics can experiment without worrying about whether they’re perceived as past their sell-by date or still in favour with a TV commissioner. Podcasts have created another outlet for comedy. In the podcast studio, you can jam together like musicians would. It can be more difficult to do that when creating a TV comedy because, in that arena, agents want to know, “Who wrote this?” and “Who has the intellectual property on that?” In my new podcast, Hal & Ronni in Pieces, comedian Hal Cruttenden and I seek advice from comics like Jo Brand, Omid Djalili and Sally Phillips on how to cope with stress. It’s also a parody, at our expense, about two idiots attempting to make a podcast 10 years too late. There’s much to celebrate. But the digital era has also been a challenge for comedy impressionism. In The Big Impression (which ran from 1999–2005), Alistair McGowan and I parodied the lives of David and Victoria Beckham, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Jerry Hall, Nigella Lawson, Gary Lineker and the royals. With far fewer channels and no streaming platforms, we notched up millions of viewers on BBC One. We could imagine what the stars we played were like with a fly on the wall-style set-up, because their lives were shrouded in mystery. Before social media, we had no idea what their lifestyles were like, what they ate or where they went on holiday. Take the late England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and his partner Nancy Dell’Olio. We could imagine a world where Nancy was a footballing genius and Sven didn’t understand football. We’d have him sweating over his homework, trying to understand the offside rule and what a holding midfielder is. Today, any celebrity popular enough for us to satirise would already be on Instagram, showing us what they eat for breakfast, t…

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Has the rise of the "sad-com" killed studio sitcoms with a live audience?
type: item
date: 2025-10-20T23:01:10.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Traditional sitcoms have made way for a quieter type of comedy.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Fifty years ago, the stars of the new BBC comedy The Good Life took to the floor of Studio 8 in Television Centre and played to its live audience. Producer John Howard Davies remembers: “It went quite well, but it wasn’t a rousing success. I went home and thought, ‘I hope it’s going to be all right.’” He needn’t have worried. By the time the show finished four series later, it had an average weekly audience of 17 million and the cast were household names. A year later, in 1978, a final one-off special was filmed with Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in attendance. The Good Life still tops TV sitcom popularity lists. But at the time, how did viewers know that Margo slipping in the mud in her yellow sou’wester and wellies was side-rippingly funny? Because 320 audience members laughed loud and long, and told us so. A laughter track formed a vital part of that era’s most popular comedies: think of Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Fawlty Towers – what comes to mind is physical, highly visual gags, invariably at the expense of the protagonist, from Hyacinth to Basil, with a beat for other characters to react, and a collective burst of laughter from somewhere in acknowledgement. It was comforting, infectiously upbeat stuff, enjoyed by huge TV audiences, so when and why did it change? I would say July 2001, when The Office took British comedy in a completely different direction. With the tiniest of eye-rolls, David Brent’s needy glances to camera and scene edits left deliberately hanging and awkward – including Keith’s solemn devouring of a Scotch egg – Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant perfected the mockumentary, and a vital part of the genre’s success was the brooding silence that studio (or canned) laughter had once filled. Did this fresh quietness open the door to a whole new way of creating, and defining, comedy? Certainly, with a couple of notable, crowd-pleasing exceptions (a pal report…

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Emma Thompson: The spy thrillers I read as a teenager told me women should fall in love and get killed
type: item
date: 2025-10-20T20:00:41.000Z
creator: Emma Thompson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: As a life-long fan of the thriller and Mick Herron enthusiast, the actor couldn’t resist the offer to star in the adaptation of Down Cemetery Road.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. There’s something a bit Jane Austen about Mick Herron... Before the admirable Jane Austen Societies on both sides of the pond club together and take out a hit on me (they tend to the purist), let me explain. Like Austen, he doesn’t suffer fools, can skewer their folly with the flick of an adjective but also deeply enjoys them. He will keep coming back to them, keep giving them more to do. His world is as darkly witty and as drily unsentimental as hers. His monsters, like hers, are all too human. He confines himself to very specific social territory. If Austen described herself as working on two inches of ivory, Herron works on two inches of knackered linoleum: people trying to be as decent or as contemptuous as they can within sadly beaten-down or absurdly over-blown institutions. His streets are paved with gum. Neither he nor Austen ever gets “above themselves” either in style or content, which is how they would probably both put it. They are both incorruptibly humble. You can argue with me, but I fell in love with Herron quite as deeply as Austen when I first read her. I found Down Cemetery Road in 2016 It was under the “staff recommends” in my local bookshop and I read most of the book standing in the shop, sniggering and snorting to myself. I was thinking as I read – much in the way of those oft-repeated scenes in thrillers when someone (generally a man) does something unexpectedly violent in a brilliant way and someone else (generally a man but sometimes women are allowed to say it, too) says: “Who IS this guy?” Which segues uncannily into my next best thrill – women get to do stuff and say stuff. His books pass the Bechdel test (they have at least two women characters who talk to each other about something other than men) with lots of room to spare, you get the feeling he knows what we are capable of, and there were precious few thriller or spy writers doing that while I was growing up. I read and re-read al…

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