Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-12-08T15:57:14.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Why everyone's talking about Heated Rivalry
items: Top 100 of 2025: The best TV shows and movies of the year – ranked
items: The Abandons isn't the mess it could have been – but there's a bigger problem with this Western misfire
items: How I discovered The Real Salt Path from my investigation into Raynor Winn's hit memoir – and it started on Instagram
items: I’m This Is Going to Hurt writer Adam Kay, and this is my honest letter to my 10-year-old self
items: Escape to the Country newcomer Richie Anderson: "I’m not just there to be the brown guy with an accent"
items: As All's Fair season 2 beckons, critical contempt for the hit Kim Kardashian show misses the point entirely
items: Paddington The Musical review: London needs this musical now more than ever
items: David Dimbleby reveals why he’s investigating the monarchy as royal institution must "adapt or die"
items: I have one message for you: Please watch Stand Up to Cancer because it saves lives
items: What are embarrassing TV moments in an age where nobody actually gets cancelled and there's no such thing as bad publicity?
items: Down Cemetery Road is stellar TV – but the real scene-stealer isn't who you think
items: Has the new Robin Hood gone "woke"? A Robin Hood expert weighs in on the debate
items: Subtle, soul-searching dramas tackling Northern Ireland’s Troubles are proving that few escaped this era unscathed
items: Line of Duty could be entering its #MeToo era – but let's hope it doesn't waste the opportunity
items: 5 things Stargate needs to learn for a successful revival as '90s phenomenon returns to screens
items: Malice ending explained: Adam's big reveal is a big anti-climax – but maybe that's the point
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

Why everyone's talking about Heated Rivalry
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T15:56:22.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: On demand
description: The Canadian sports romance series, based on Rachel Reid's novels, is the show of the moment.
encoded: When it comes to sport, hockey might be a big player on the international stage, but it's not exactly a huge draw when it comes to storytelling on screen. Not since the Mighty Ducks, anyway. That's all changed now though thanks to a pair of gay hockey players who develop the hots for each other while they puck their way to the top. Based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series, Heated Rivalry follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they compete on the ice and get steamy in the bedroom. Along the way, they struggle with the toll that comes with keeping their love secret while training to be the very best at what they do. Throw in a whole lot of butts and it's easy to see the immediate appeal of this story. But even so, it's hard to fathom just how quickly Heated Rivalry took the world by storm. Jacob Tierney's adaptation started out as a Crave original, which probably doesn't mean a whole lot to people who live outside of Canada. But just a week before the premiere launched, Heated Rivalry picked up an international distribution deal, expanding the show's reach to millions more via HBO Max (you know, the streamer that won't arrive on our shores until March 2026). Even so, Heated Rivalry didn't receive the same kind of big marketing push that HBO originals like House of the Dragon take for granted. Not from the network anyway. Instead, promotion fell to the fans. Specifically, horny fans of Reid's original book who pored through every moment in the first trailer, creating countless edits and screaming reaction videos using just 90 seconds of material. View Green Video on the source website Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Brendan Brady revealed it was this fan buzz that directly led to HBO Max's involvement, thereby securing the show's international success. But distribution alone could never guarantee such a rabid response, especially for a show that has no recognisable IP outside of the book fanbase. T…

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Top 100 of 2025: The best TV shows and movies of the year – ranked
type: item
date: 2025-12-05T07:00:54.000Z
creator: Radio Times Staff
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Apple TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
subject: NOW
description: Your definitive guide to the best TV and movies of 2025 is right here! Get ready to dive into the top shows and films of the year.
encoded: It's been a stellar year for fans of top-tier TV and movies and, as 2025 draws to a close, it's time to look back on the best of the best. One of, if not the most talked about show of the year came back in March with the release of Jack Thorne's powerful drama Adolescence on Netflix. The series, starring Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters alongside breakout young star Owen Cooper, made ratings history and had a profound impact outside of the world of TV too. More highlights from the past year included the Oscar-nominated film Nickel Boys, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan's hotly anticipated return to television with Pluribus and the deeply affecting documentary Brianna: A Mother's Story. So whether you're rewatch-ready or looking to catch up on the finest fare you missed this year (it's easy to do, there's been a busy schedule of first-class releases!), delve into our definitive ranking: the top 100 TV shows and movies of 2025. To cater to all kinds of fans, we've broken it down into Dramas (from Untamed to Down Cemetery Road), Sci-Fi and Fantasy series (not just Pluribus but much, much more), Documentaries (including Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth and Grenfell: Uncovered) and, finally, Films. Here are the best 25 of each category over the past 12 months – ensuring there's something for everyone this holiday season. The best Dramas of 2025 From an award-winning exploration of teen disaffection to the harrowing story of a shooting, these dramas had everyone talking this year. 25. Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes Where to watch: Disney+ Electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was making his way to work in the wake of the 7/7 terrorist attacks when he was shot and killed by Metropolitan Police officers. The catalogue of failings that led up to the events of 22 July 2005 (covered brilliantly by BBC Two documentary 7/7: the London Bombings, still available on iPlayer) is dramatised in this unflinching four-part drama, including the actions of key figu…

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The Abandons isn't the mess it could have been – but there's a bigger problem with this Western misfire
type: item
date: 2025-12-04T08:01:17.000Z
creator: James Hibbs
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
description: The Abandons fails to stand-out amidst a glut of Western series.
encoded: As the so-called 'streaming wars' march on, it seems some of the participants are in a bind. Do they double down on the areas in which they have become successful and for which they are known, or branch out and try and take one another on at their own games? When it comes to Netflix, at least when it was in the stage of commissioning a few years ago, it seems they opted for the latter. While Paramount+ may have become known as the home of Westerns thanks to Taylor Sheridan's hugely popular Yellowstone, the original streamer clearly wanted a piece of the pie. In fact, it didn't just want one piece, but multiple. In just the past 14 months, we have seen the debuts of Territory, American Primeval and Ransom Canyon – to varying success. Now, it's the turn of The Abandons, a seven-part series which was first ordered in 2022 and which, according to reports, has had quite the troubled path to the screen. We know for sure that this first season was originally meant to be made up of 10 episodes, but the number has shifted repeatedly over the years, now coming in at an irregular seven. We also know that its creator Kurt Sutter, who had been thinking about the series before his previous show Sons of Anarchy even began, left it entirely just three weeks before shooting was set to wrap. When this news broke, Deadline reported that it was due to creative differences. That report also noted that the first episode had to be cut in two and a new cliffhanger created in the middle, due to it originally running for 1 hours and 40 minutes, and that Netflix bosses felt the episodes were "disjointed and not propulsive enough". Naturally, although I attempted to put this history out of my mind when viewing the episodes, there is a part of me which was looking for signs of this apparent dysfunction in the final product, expecting one almighty mess to have been birthed. Thankfully, on that front, I have some good news. While there are elements of this on display, with strange episode lengths…

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How I discovered The Real Salt Path from my investigation into Raynor Winn's hit memoir – and it started on Instagram
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:25.000Z
creator: Chloe Hadjimatheou
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Raynor Winn’s memoir The Salt Path sold millions of copies, but how “true” is her story, asks journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Earlier this year I received a message from a stranger on Instagram. They knew Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path and they had a tip off: her husband, Moth, the subject of her book, didn’t seem to be as ill as she claimed. Since its publication in 2018, The Salt Path has sold more than two million copies, making it one of the most successful memoirs in decades. In 2024, it was adapted into a film, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. Raynor Winn seemed to be everywhere – on TV chat show sofas and on the stage of literary festivals up and down the country. Readers had opened their hearts to this woman and her true story of how her husband Moth had received a terminal neurological diagnosis just days after they had been conned out of their home and left destitute. The couple had then made a radical decision: to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path of England, rough camping and surviving on a pittance. They told how the physical exertion of the hike, and the beauty of nature, helped to reverse many of Moth’s symptoms. The message of hope and redemption proved a bestselling formula, repeated in two sequels with publisher Penguin calling Raynor Winn’s books “unflinchingly honest”. But my source believed the couple were covering things up. Looking into Moth’s neurological condition, I saw immediate red flags. Corticobasal degeneration (CBD), a rare disease with similar symptoms to Parkinson’s, usually kills sufferers within six to eight years of diagnosis. They can experience muscle stiffness and shaking, have issues with balance and eventually lose the use of their hands and legs, often slipping into dementia, before they lose the ability to swallow. Moth, 65, claims to have had the condition for more than 18 years and has no visible symptoms. He has put this down to the challenging walks described in the books. But neurologists told me it was impossible for the damage done to the brain to be reversed. …

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I’m This Is Going to Hurt writer Adam Kay, and this is my honest letter to my 10-year-old self
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:23.000Z
creator: Adam Kay
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Working for the NHS inspired Adam Kay to write his memoir This Is Going to Hurt. Now he’s penned a BBC series for kids about 10-year-old doctor Dexter Procter – and he has some important tips for his younger self…
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Finger out of your nose, please. First of all, don’t panic about a 45-year-old man randomly writing to you – this is you from the future. I just wanted to tell you a few things before you tear this letter in half and feed it to the class hamster. (Don’t get too attached to that hamster, by the way. There’s an… incident next year.) You can be a writer! Yeah, I know you’ve been told you’re going to be a doctor since you were four, but other jobs are available. Even ones your parents tell you aren’t “proper” jobs, so just follow your heart and your actual interests. Although I would say that if you do stick with the doctor route for a bit, remember to write some diaries. Don’t be ashamed to be smart Look, you’re no Albert Einstein, but you enjoy learning and there are a bunch of subjects you’re quarter-decent at. But at school you’ll pretend you’re no good at them and stay quiet in class when your teachers ask questions, in case other pupils pick on you. Knowing the capital of Belize is nothing to be ashamed of (Belmopan, as you know), and you need to embrace your inner nerd. Talking of which… You’re not cool You’re going to spend the next decade agonising over how to be cool. Sadly, whatever you wear or however you style your hair isn’t going to convince anyone. (Those frosted tips at university are a catastrophic mistake, by the way – you’ll look like a melted waxwork of Justin Timberlake. You’ll hear about him in about six years.) Eventually, you’ll wake up and realise that it doesn’t matter in the slightest what other people think of you, and it’s OK to be different – the people who actually matter in your life won’t care about anything like that. One day you’ll write a TV show called Dexter Procter: the 10-Year-Old Doctor (see, you can be a writer!) all about the fact it’s fine to be different. Don’t worry, it’s funny too – give it a watch in December 2025. (The series will also be on BBC One over Christmas.) Ad…

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Escape to the Country newcomer Richie Anderson: "I’m not just there to be the brown guy with an accent"
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:08.000Z
creator: Richie Anderson
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: BBC One
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: The host reveals he was inspired to leave city life behind by the TV series he now presents.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As you can tell from my accent, which I like to say is as broad as my shoulders, I’m from the Black Country – not the countryside. I grew up on a council estate in Smethwick that had the nickname Concrete Jungle. I’m very proud of where I come from, but I didn’t encounter much green as a child and the only rural scenes I knew were the views from the train on football trips, following West Bromwich Albion for away games. That and a yearly holiday to Devon. After Smethwick I studied journalism in Leeds, and then, when I got a job on Zoe Ball’s breakfast show at Radio 2, I moved to London. I could hardly have had a more urban start to life. But now when we wake up in the mornings, my partner Dean and I can hear the cows mooing. Draw back the curtains and we see green fields and trees. Open the window and we can smell the muck being spread by the farmer. So, how did I get here? You could say my life’s been changed by a television programme. When I first moved down south, I was very excited. I had a dream job and the big city was all mine. But in reality, I struggled with life in London. Away from my other half, I was living on my own and finding the truth in that old cliché – big cities can be lonely places. Not just that; working in the TV and radio industry in London can feel like living at 100 miles an hour and I found it impossible to switch off. Life in the capital was making me unhappy. One thing kept my spirits up. When I returned home, I’d have a nap in the afternoon and would often wake up in time for Escape to the Country on BBC One. I found I was increasingly looking forward to a show that offered a glimpse of a better, calmer life away from the city. I began to realise that I needed my own escape to the country. One episode in particular convinced me to take the plunge. It came from Northamptonshire, which was described as “like the Cotswolds without the crowds”. It was also perfectly positioned between th…

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As All's Fair season 2 beckons, critical contempt for the hit Kim Kardashian show misses the point entirely
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T11:59:58.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Disney Plus
subject: Magazine
description: All's Fair is returning to our screens, showing that even zero-star reviews can’t stop a determined TV drama.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s important to say from the off that no one sets out to make bad TV; also that any self-professed expert should think long and hard before pouring scorn on anyone else’s creative enterprise. As Theodore Roosevelt opined, “The credit belongs to the man [or woman!] in the arena, who… fails while daring greatly.” Teddy’s words come to mind with the news that season two of All’s Fair is on its way – despite critics’ valiant attempts to bury it at sea. This is Disney’s all-female legal drama that cost a whopping $69.7million, with a hefty proportion going on the salary of real-life law student Kim Kardashian in her first acting role. The rest of it has gone on clothes, cars, Oscar-nominated co-stars, but perhaps not the script, hence its rare 0% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Equally rare, The Guardian and The Times both gave it zero stars – which turned out to be generous, after the Daily Mail dug in and awarded it minus three stars. Ouch! Why so harsh? Well, you could point to the barn-door acting, the bling, the mixed message of sisters doing it for themselves, as long as “it” involves roasting their rich husbands for every last dollar. You could be generous and say the fighting over jewellery is a metaphor for autonomy and emancipation – although I fear it’s really just about the jewellery. If there’s another drama to be made about women’s righteous anger (and after Riot Women I’m not sure there is), this isn’t it. This comes hot on the heels of Robin Hood, which The Guardian called “the most gloriously bad TV of the year”. Indeed, its Star Wars-esque opening caption hints at what’s to come; no need to film all those wars when they can be explained away. Instead, MGM+’s purse has stretched to casting Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham, who brings us his meting out of medieval justice as perfected in Game of Thrones, very possibly wearing the same cloak. Young Robin endures his own version of Ba…

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Paddington The Musical review: London needs this musical now more than ever
type: item
date: 2025-12-01T05:00:25.000Z
creator: Olivia Garrett
subject: Going Out
subject: Reviews
subject: Tickets
subject: Comment
description: Michael Bond's beloved bear is being very well looked after at Savoy Theatre.
encoded: On his journey to becoming a national symbol it has become abundantly clear, a hundred times over, that everything Paddington Bear touches turns sticky, orange, marmalade-scented gold. From record-breaking films, to being a part of the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee, to appearing on every postcard in London, it's almost unfair on other famous characters that Michael Bond's Peruvian Bear should add 'West End star' to his CV – while poor Winnie the Pooh became a horror movie. When seeing Paddington the Musical this weekend I was almost expecting to see a chink in the blue duffle coat armour at last – thinking the pressure of bringing this British icon to life would be too much. How glad I am to be wrong, because this show is simply wonderful. From the minute Paddington enters the stage, the ensemble belting out his name in a pleasingly Hamilton-esque introduction, I sat with an ever-present pool of tears lining my eyes because he is so. Damn. Cute. For those wondering, the role is a combination of on-stage performer Arti Shah and the off-stage voice of James Hameed, who also pilots the puppetry of Paddington's face. Their partnership, with Shah's excitable movements and Hameed's light, innocent voice, give off a palpable magic for kids and adults alike. Not since Les Misérables have I heard so many gasps and sniffles coming from a theatre crowd. The story follows the same plot as the 2014 movie; A young bear migrates from the Peruvian jungle in search of a home in London, only to be found and taken in by the kind Brown family. While Paddington causes havoc at their home in Windsor Gardens, a troubled taxidermist is desperate to get her hands on him and finish her collection. With music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, the songs definitely carry McFly's brand of universal appeal, blending orchestral layers with fluffy pop and few healthy belters for good measure. The ubiquity of the score means it could happily slot into many a musical, however, the songs are then elevated t…

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David Dimbleby reveals why he’s investigating the monarchy as royal institution must "adapt or die"
type: item
date: 2025-11-29T00:01:56.000Z
creator: David Dimbleby
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Exclusive
subject: Magazine
description: The veteran broadcaster on the monarchy's power, wealth and public role and how it may evolve ahead of his new BBC series, What's the Monarchy For?
encoded: Over the years, I’ve broadcast on many royal events –jubilees and weddings, state occasions and funerals. In my BBC series, What’s the Monarchy For?, I’m doing something quite different – looking in depth at the institution, how it works, its power, its privileges and how it tries to retain public support. The late Queen, in a famous speech, once said that no institution – including the monarchy – should expect to be free from scrutiny. I am taking her at her word. I have always been curious about the role of the monarchy in Britain’s public life. My father, Richard Dimbleby, who provided the commentary on the Queen’s coronation in 1953, was both an admirer of the Queen and an ardent monarchist. He called it, “the enduring strength of Britain and the wonder and envy of a large part of the world”. His passion was founded on the belief that the monarchy was a powerful force in keeping Britain united against the misery and chaos he had witnessed as a reporter during the Second World War. I came to monarchy from a different angle. I did not revere it in the way he did and I never understood the bowing and scraping that seemed to accompany the Queen wherever she went. That said, I followed in my father’s footsteps by accepting the job of commentator on a variety of formal state occasions, all of which provided fascinating challenges as a broadcaster – how much information to give, when to speak and when to stay silent. You could say I accepted the idea of monarchy without endorsing the flattery and flummery that went along with it. So, my enquiry into the nature of monarchy is not into whether Britain should be a monarchy or a republic, though inevitably I touch on that. It is a look at the institution itself, the powers and influence it wields, the inordinate wealth it has accumulated and the way it goes about creating an acceptable public image. This last being crucial, since only by retaining the support of a sufficient number of its citizens can it ensure its surviva…

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I have one message for you: Please watch Stand Up to Cancer because it saves lives
type: item
date: 2025-11-28T17:01:13.000Z
creator: Adam Hills
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Nobody is immune from cancer, so don't delay screenings, writes The Last Leg host Adam Hills.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. My dad had stomach cancer when he was 55 and leukaemia when he was 69. Just before he died he told me, “Good luck with everything in London.” When I was asked, two years later, to host Stand Up to Cancer, his words had even more resonance. I felt like he’d been saying, “Do this for me.” My dad died at the end of 2012. It’s 13 years down the track, but I still feel like I’m doing this for him. My co-presenter and friend Davina McCall’s connection to cancer has become even more personal over the last couple of weeks, having revealed she’s undergone surgery for breast cancer. She’s said it was caught “very, very early, which is incredibly lucky”. When I saw the news, I sent her a message saying, “I’m always amazed by the amount of preparation you do for Stand Up to Cancer, but you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty this year!” Her response? Well, she wrote back, “This is why I f**king love you!” I’ve said this many times: the best way to make brilliant live TV is to stand next to Davina McCall. Her message is to get checked, don’t delay. That sums up exactly what we want to say with Stand Up to Cancer. We need to get that message out there. According to figures from Cancer Research UK, at least nine million people in the UK aren’t up to date with their cancer screening. I admit that I’ve also, in the past, felt a fear of screening. In Australia, you have a bowel cancer test when you’re 50. [Bowel cancer screenings are offered to people over 50 in England, Scotland and Wales and those over 60 in Northern Ireland]. I didn’t do mine until I was 54. I feared the worst and was squeamish about posting an envelope with my poo in it. Now I understand the importance of not delaying and of getting checked early. It can literally save your life. In 2024, the Princess of Wales and the King both announced their cancer diagnoses. That is a reminder that anyone can get it. Nobody is immune because of rank, privilege or wealt…

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What are embarrassing TV moments in an age where nobody actually gets cancelled and there's no such thing as bad publicity?
type: item
date: 2025-11-28T17:01:07.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: We used to enjoy watching celebrities go off-piste – but now those moments are called "content" and have lost their frisson.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s not often you feel sorry for Tom Cruise. Whether he’s diving headfirst into Paris’s Olympic stadium, defying gravity perched aloft Dubai’s Burj Khalifa or just donning a pair of Ray-bans to ride a motorbike along an ocean-front, he invariably epitomises cool, as if he were the love child of The Fonz and Huggy Bear – that is, with one exception. In 2005, he turned up on Oprah Winfrey’s chat show, ostensibly to promote his latest film. Instead, intent on expressing his love for future wife Katie Holmes, he variously shook his host’s shoulders, fist-pumped the floor and finally leapt onto the couch. Were we all having what he was having? Not so much. Instead, Winfrey spoke for everyone when she pointed out, “We’ve never seen you behave this way before.” In that brief, shining moment, Cruise “went viral” before it was a thing and proved he shares hallowed turf with Noel Edmonds (solemnly addressing his own Guardian statue in his recent documentary), Holly Willoughby (asking This Morning viewers, “Are you OK?” We’re fine!), Guy Goma (who went for a job interview at the BBC and ended up live on News 24) and Judy Finnigan (jaw-droppingly top-dropping at the NTA Awards). All have given us TV moments to watch through our fingers but never fully turn away from. Now they’re among those featured in an irresistible 5 documentary series (most embarrassing of all, it includes your friendly columnist as a nodding head, but don’t let that put you off). But why can’t we get enough of such clips? What puts the “fest” in “cringe”? View oEmbed on the source website It ill becomes us to dwell on the most obvious answer, everyone’s favourite German word schadenfreude, that is, pleasure derived from another’s misfortune, but it’s clearly a factor. Specifically, though, TV aims to offer us a world shinier, blander and more scripted than our real lives, so when humanity in all its foibles succeeds in breaking through, it’s both immens…

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Down Cemetery Road is stellar TV – but the real scene-stealer isn't who you think
type: item
date: 2025-11-26T16:36:18.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Apple TV
subject: Comment
description: Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson are great in the series but it's time we talk about Fehinti Balogun.
encoded: *Warning: This article contains spoilers for Down Cemetery Road episode 6.* We already knew Zoë was in a precarious situation going into the sixth episode of Down Cemetery Road, but nothing could quite prepare us for the sheer amount of tension that built throughout the latest episode of the series. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear phrases such as "Oh, TV is so back!" or "This is bloody brilliant" ringing out in the distance. Well, those are being cried out by me. That's because episode 6 of the (already) stellar drama is, quite simply, excellent – and really, it's all down to the star that is Fehinti Balogun. Captivating from the very first episode, Balogun has brought the character of Amos to life in such a way that you can't help but want more of him on our screens. There's absolutely no doubt about it: Amos is the antagonist of the series. Whether he's the main one is something to be disputed the closer we inch to the finale and come to understand the powers-that-be a bit better. What we do know, though, is that Sarah (Ruth Wilson) and Zoë (Emma Thompson) are the thorns in his side that he's intent on removing. For all intents and purposes, we're supposed to side with them and not Amos. And while I'm not saying that I side with a serial-killing hitman, it's hard not to absolutely love what the character brings to the dynamic and feel of Down Cemetery Road. Hell, I'd even go so far as saying that the series wouldn't be as great as it is without both Amos and Balogun. In the show's latest instalment, entitled Neglected Waters, the drama comes into its own. While some of the previous episodes may be seen as slightly slower in pace, episode 6 is a lesson for any screenwriter or director in how to build up tension perfectly. Trains have been used time and time again throughout TV and film as apt locations for the most twisted of tales. From Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, to The Girl on the Train, Murder on the Orient Express or the more recent…

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Has the new Robin Hood gone "woke"? A Robin Hood expert weighs in on the debate
type: item
date: 2025-11-25T13:00:12.000Z
creator: Sean McGlynn
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
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+ has produced an arrow storm of criticism from viewers who dislike its historical inaccuracy, with accusations of "wokery" unsurprisingly making their way into the discourse. Others, at the same time, are enjoying its modern updating and creative invention. Both sides have a point. Viewers who do not approve of the dramatic licence taken by the series’ makers draw attention to a number of issues that are modern-day interventions rather than being true to medieval England. One insertion is that Robin Hood’s closest ally, Little John, is a black man with dreadlocks. The chances of this bearing any resemblance to reality in late 12th-century England are almost zero. If Little John was of African descent, then something extraordinary would be happening today – instead of the Robin Hood legend we would be talking of the Little John one, so exceptional would be the scenario. We would not be watching films and TV series on Robin Hood, but on Little John. It is inconceivable to have such a character not being one of the most famous people of the Middle Ages, comparable to that of Joan of Arc in France. In the early stories of Robin Hood, Little John is a figure of almost equal importance and heroism to Robin, featuring in all the ballads and tellings of the legend. He also appears as a named companion of Robin in Scottish chronicles from the early 15th century. As one would expect, at no point is any reference ever made to his racial ethnicity. The extreme rarity of people of colour in 12th-century England would have immediately drawn the overwhelming attention of writers had Little John been black. The makers of the new Robin Hood also distort historical reality by making the “Saxons” (i.e., the English) as worshippers of a female goddess, Godda. By the time in which the series is set, England had been Christianised for 500 years. Pockets of paganism and folk religion would have survived, but any found by the church or monarch would have …

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Subtle, soul-searching dramas tackling Northern Ireland’s Troubles are proving that few escaped this era unscathed
type: item
date: 2025-11-25T09:34:36.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Writers are starting to explore Northern Ireland’s violent history to create soul-searching TV.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In the very first reel, we’re reminded that “the Irish have been arguing over the same sh*te for 800 years”. So it comes as no surprise that the drama Say Nothing – about the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the toll they took, including a burden of silence carried by many to this day – has already drawn as much criticism as praise from all sides. Adapted from Patrick Radden Keefe’s non-fiction bestseller, it stars Maxine Peake as the former paramilitary Dolours Price, narrating and reflecting on her violent past – as the real Price and others did for Boston College’s “Belfast Project”, an oral history of the Troubles – before the drama flashes back to chart how Price and her sister Marian evolved from peaceful protestors into key members of the IRA unit that carried out the 1973 Old Bailey bombing. True, there’s a caperish quality to some of their “fundraising” antics – the sisters dress up as nuns to rob a bank at gunpoint – that presumably won’t sit well with victims of such violence. There’s nothing about loyalist paramilitaries’ equal and opposite activities, and the Republican mission is positioned as one of ideological zeal, with no account of the economic disparity suffered by Catholics. And Gerry Adams has, of course, denied ever being part of the IRA or its activities, the disclaimer after every episode providing a wry counterpoint to his vivid depiction on screen. Whatever it gets wrong, Say Nothing succeeds in bringing home the cost wrought to so many by virtue of era and circumstance – when living in a particular street, or drinking in a particular pub, construed a political act. Equally evocative is Trespasses, also adapted from a bestselling book and set at the height of the Troubles. The best TV drama I’ve seen this year, it depicts the forbidden love affair between teacher Cushla (Catholic) and lawyer Michael (married, Protestant), and delicately weaves the personal with the political. The stakes …

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Line of Duty could be entering its #MeToo era – but let's hope it doesn't waste the opportunity
type: item
date: 2025-11-21T13:35:58.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Comment
description: Shining a light on sexual predators within positions of power is eerily topical for Line of Duty. Will the BBC drama pull it off?
encoded: This article contains mentions of sexual assault, which some readers may find distressing. After months (well really, years now) of speculation about the future of Line of Duty, fans were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief this week when season 7 was finally announced. It was the jewel in the BBC drama crown after all, so why wouldn't we be seeing more of AC-12? Not only were we all treated to the confirmation of the series return and leading cast news, we were also given an insight into what twisted road of corruption we'll all be going down. The BBC's description for season 7 teases a rebrand for AC-12, with anti-corruption work having "never been more difficult". Nevertheless, we're set to see Steve (Martin Compston), Kate (Vicky McClure) and Ted (Adrian Dunbar) tackle "their most sensitive case so far". The synopsis states that the season will be concerned with "charismatic" new character Detective Inspector Dominic Gough, who has won plaudits for multiple takedowns of organised crime, but stands "accused of abusing his position of trust to act as a sexual predator." It adds: "But is Gough’s case a deliberate distraction from a bigger threat still operating in the shadows?" While the nation attempts to remember their shared season 6 finale disappointment, wonders just how Jed Mercurio will rectify the H anticlimax, and speculates about which starry name may or may not step into the role as Gough, my mind couldn't help but turn to recent headlines. With Line of Duty seemingly stepping into its #MeToo era, we could be getting a season of television that is not only as gripping as its previous instalments – but could be its most topical yet, if it knows what to do with such sensitive subject matter. Equally, it could be the season that may be the most difficult to watch for many survivors at home. You don't have to scroll far to find a news report about a police officer abusing their position of power – and when it comes to doing so for sexual gain, there …

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5 things Stargate needs to learn for a successful revival as '90s phenomenon returns to screens
type: item
date: 2025-11-21T11:35:41.000Z
creator: Nicola Austin
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Comment
description: The revival could be a hit – if it follows our simple five rules.
encoded: Stargate is officially coming back to screens and, having franchise veteran Martin Gero on board is an excellent start for the new series – but there are other things it needs to get right. After over thirty years of storytelling, spanning multiple mediums including films, television series, books and games, the iconic '90s sci-fi franchise Stargate is officially set to return. The news was confirmed this week by Prime Video after an announcement video confirmed that a revival series has been greenlit by Amazon MGM Studios – excitingly with franchise stalwart Martin Gero on board as creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner. It was also confirmed that Dean Devlin and "master of disaster" Roland Emmerich, who were the major players behind the original 1994 Stargate movie, are also on board as executive producers. This is undoubtedly fantastic news for Stargate fans who have missed the many adventures through time and space since the final episode of Stargate Universe aired back in 2011(!), but we can’t help but wonder just where the wormhole will take viewers next. Described as a “bold new chapter” in the ​​iconic science fiction franchise, not much else has been revealed about the upcoming series. But we have five initial suggestions that we think could help turn this revival into a hit. Read on for our full list of things the Stargate revival show should do in order to succeed. 5 things Stargate needs to learn as '90s phenomenon returns to screens 1. Balance accessibility for new viewers with meaningful nods for long-time fans One of the major factors that will surely make or break the new series is satisfying both Gaters (die-hard fans) and new – or more casual – viewers who will be delving into the franchise for the first time, with the show acting as a clear jumping-on point. Striking this balance is undoubtedly one of the hardest elements to get right in a revival, reboot, or any new series set within an established universe. You don’t have to look far…

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Malice ending explained: Adam's big reveal is a big anti-climax – but maybe that's the point
type: item
date: 2025-11-21T11:17:36.000Z
creator: Abby Robinson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Comment
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: On demand
description: We've seen it all before, but does that really matter?
encoded: *Warning: Contains major spoilers for all six episodes of Malice.* Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the release of Prime Video's Malice, comedian Jack Whitehall, who plays a man hellbent on revenge, said that viewers might experience a complicated emotional response to its antagonist when all is revealed. "You're left with a very strange feeling as to what you feel about Adam," he said of his character, who pretends to be a tutor-cum-"manny" in a bid to take down David Duchovny's wealthy venture capitalist – and alpha-male douche – Jamie Tanner. "And I think that's quite important, to have those moments of feeling almost sympathetic. Through the back half of the series, you really see him as a true villain, and you're really wanting him to get caught, and really praying for the safety of the family. But then at the end, there's just this... I don't know how to describe it. "It's just this strange note that it's left on with him, where maybe you do [feel sorry for him]. I think some people will feel sorry for him." Killing a kitten and a dog (you b**tard!) certainly doesn't help Adam's case. And there's also the double murder (maybe I should have started with that) – first Damien, whom he thwacks over the head with a cricket bat before dumping his body in the Thames – and finally Jamie, whom he shoots point-blank in the head in Greece, shortly after shooting another man dead. All horrible, obviously. Details of another murder – the death of a kid in Bangkok – are also touched upon briefly. Then there's the plethora of other non-murderous but still terrible acts Adam commits, from poisoning the Tanners' old nanny to his decision not to call off the burglary after learning that the daughter, April, was going to be at the Tanner house when it happened. But his white-hot hatred of Jamie burned too bright to ignore – the reason for which was naturally held back until the finale for maximum impact. Yet the big reveal ended up being a big anti-climax. Malice ending expla…

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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: Climate - Intentional focused content
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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