Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-12-13T09:01:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: My Hero Academia is ending after more than a decade – here's how it became an anime phenomenon
items: Wake Up Dead Man cast reveal their favourite detectives and whether they’d make good murderers
items: Neighbours legend Lucinda Cowden talks soap spin-off hopes – and her new project with Toadie star Ryan Moloney
items: Neighbours legends tease that beloved soap would be a "completely new show" should it be revived following finale
items: Harry Potter TV series star Johnny Flynn on how his new film role compares to playing Lucius Malfoy
items: Doctor Who favourite Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe spill on Strictly journey and finale return
items: The Archers stars David and William Troughton talk being father and son in iconic radio soap and in real-life
items: Lord Alan Sugar dishes on Celebrity Apprentice and why he allowed Thomas Skinner to return for it
items: David Suchet reveals why Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol remains so prescient – and what he'd say to Agatha Christie
items: Kate Winslet reveals why her film Goodbye June is so personal for her "brilliant, clever" screenwriting son
items: Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan talks season 2: "We're very mindful of the legacy of the books"
items: Amadeus star Paul Bettany reveals how a fan's selfie intruded on a tragic family moment
items: Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock speaks on space travel future and aliens: "I'm not sure about alien abduction"
items: Mishal Husain talks her new chapter, pressing Nigel Farage on Russia and the recent BBC troubles
items: Death in Paradise's Don Warrington teases he doesn't know Christmas 2025 special plot as Selwyn future remains unclear
items: The Night Manager season 2 writer reveals why new episodes are perfect for this Trump era – and talks plans for a trilogy
items: Dame Joanna Lumley reveals her vegetarian Christmas plans: "Wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't kill things at Christmas?"
items: Dame Judi Dench opens up on her declining eyesight, family history, and having a temper: "Oh yes, I’m sometimes very cross"
items: Neighbours producer teases "optimistic" finale and reflects on soap's legacy after 40 years
items: Dreamers director Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor: "In cinema, after you come out, it's like you stop existing"
items: £40,000 costumes and 19 Christmases sacrificed: What it really takes to keep Britain's glitziest tradition alive
items: How Dancing with the Stars plans its themed weeks and beyond – from flying producers to fighting for fairness
items: Eternity stars reveal they're already living in their idea of hell in the afterlife: "America right now"
items: Fallout season 2 will see Lucy's moral compass "eroding" amid surprising choices, reveals Ella Purnell
items: Alan Cumming teases "prescient" new show from Russell T Davies about rage faced by "marginalised people"
items: Jane Austen’s enduring and universal appeal revealed by hit writers, from Pride & Prejudice 1995 screenwriter to David Baddiel
items: Johnny Vaughan explains why Porridge is still the greatest sitcom after his own prison experience
items: Guz Khan reveals why he ended Man Like Mobeen - and how he portrays multi-faith marriages in new Christmas caper
items: Avatar: Fire and Ash director James Cameron shares how this film about loss helped him process his "true grief"
items: Game of Thrones star reveals her Avatar: Fire and Ash villain is a "magnificent beast of a lady"

My Hero Academia is ending after more than a decade – here's how it became an anime phenomenon
type: item
date: 2025-12-13T09:00:50.000Z
creator: David Opie
subject: Anime
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: The beloved cast reflect on the incredible series in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.
encoded: School's out for good with the end of My Hero Academia, but it's not just the end of another academic year. We're talking the end of an era, the end of a franchise that expanded and deconstructed an entire genre. Where else could you see the kind of earnest, hopeful superhero storytelling that came to define Kōhei Horikoshi's decade-long run in his manga and the show that followed? So much more than just another story about super-powered school kids, My Hero Academia introduced us to countless heroes and villains who are just as inspiring as they are "quirky". It's not just their powers or "quirks" that set them apart though (as weird as they often were). No, it was their determination to push through imperfection and fight for what mattered. Izuku Midoriya, especially, represented a new kind of hero in that sense, worlds removed from the dark or quippy protagonists popularised by Marvel and DC. It's not just us who are saying goodbye to Midoriya and the gang though. After 170 episodes and four theatrical film releases, the English dub cast have been forced to reckon with the end of an era for themselves as well, learning to let go of a show that's dominated anime and their own personal lives for the better part of a decade. "I'm definitely in the beginning phases of mourning," says voice actor Ernesto Jason Liebrecht (Dabi) ahead of the final episode: "It is really kind of a crazy thing to live with a character in your head for a decade of your life, to experience the level of character development that the creators so graciously provided to us as actors." Justin Cook (Red Riot) was quick to echo that sentiment: "There's a part where you don't want to say goodbye to these characters, but at the same time, watching the story wrap up on its own terms… It's pretty powerful to be a part of it." Very few titles make it to eight seasons in any medium, so the fact we're now here in the final stretch with some of the show's best reviews yet is nothing short of phenomenal. …

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Wake Up Dead Man cast reveal their favourite detectives and whether they’d make good murderers
type: item
date: 2025-12-11T17:01:22.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: Daniel Craig and the Wake Up Dead Man cast talk perfect murders, imperfect detectives and everything in between.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. “I am hoping to get out of Narnia in time for Christmas,” says Daniel Craig. We’re supposed to be talking about the former James Bond star’s performance as Benoit Blanc, the mannered, sometimes manic, private detective from the Deep South of the US in Rian Johnson’s Netflix Knives Out mysteries. The new film, Wake Up Dead Man, is set in and around a neo-Gothic church in upstate New York where Benoit enlists the help of Josh O’Connor’s Catholic priest Father Jud Duplenticy to solve “a classic impossible crime”. But Craig’s mind is already a movie ahead of me. He’s presently filming The Magician’s Nephew, Greta Gerwig’s take on CS Lewis’s Narnia novel, in which he plays the eponymous magician, Uncle Andrew. It’s a role as un-Bond-like, in its way, as the unhinged gay author he played in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer last year (based on William Burroughs). Or, for that matter, Blanc, the driving intellectual and dramatic force of Johnson’s three Knives Out films. “I suppose I started freeing myself up from any convention,” says the 57-year-old Craig. “I’m not saying no to things that I might have been a little bit wary about before. When the Bond thing was going on in my life, the juxtaposition between that and another role would sometimes feel self-conscious. I’m working harder than I ever have, but I’m also just enjoying it more than I ever have. I get to do really interesting, different stuff.” No Time to Die was in 2021. That’s four years away from Bond now; has it made him happy? “I love my job but does it make me happy? Not always,” he muses. “It’s very complicated. It’s an incredibly tough job. It’s kept me away from my family over the years, and that has its downsides.” View Green Video on the source website Craig is married to the actor Rachel Weisz. They have a daughter, Grace, born in 2018 (Craig has another daughter, 33-year-old actor Ella Loudon, from his previous marriage to actor Fiona Loudon) and homes in n…

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Neighbours legend Lucinda Cowden talks soap spin-off hopes – and her new project with Toadie star Ryan Moloney
type: item
date: 2025-12-10T18:00:33.000Z
creator: Michael Adams
subject: Neighbours
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: News
description: The actress chats to RadioTimes.com ahead of her final return to the axed Australian drama.
encoded: It just wouldn't be right saying goodbye to Neighbours without hearing Melanie Pearson's iconic chuckle one last time. Fortunately, actress Lucinda Cowden is making her way back to Ramsay Street tomorrow for the soap's finale. There's been a Mel-shaped hole in Erinsborough ever since the character decided to start a new life with Vic Stone (Craig Hall) in Gippsland last year and, although we did see her during the 40th anniversary celebrations in March, there's always room for her in Erinsborough. With the cameras primed to shoot the last scenes in July, Cowden began to fear that she hadn't made the shortlist of familiar faces jetting in to view the new Ramsay Hills and Robinson Towers developments. "I have to admit, I may have sent a little email to [executive producer] Jason Herbison saying: 'Put me in it or I shall hurt your... something'", she joked to RadioTimes.com. "Maybe not quite so threatening, maybe a little pleading. I was thinking that surely they must want Mel back. "I tried to sort of give it a humorous tinge, rather than try to sound quite so desperate. He emailed me back, saying: 'Give me a day, I just need to work it out as I've got so many things in my head.' I got a call from my agent on the Monday." The news of the show's cancellation first hit Lucinda at the conclusion of a nationwide UK tour celebrating Neighbours' birthday earlier this year, a moment she says "floored" her. "The tour had been such an incredible success, we received so much love from the fans and they just filled up our cup. The day after it finished, I was still in Manchester and the cast that were still in the show had left really early that morning to get on a plane," she explains. "I got a number of text messages and was totally floored. This show is still so incredibly loved, and yet here they are tossing it in the bin again." But where do we find Melanie upon her comeback? "It seems all is well in the world of Gippsland pubs and for Mel and Vic, apparently. That's a good…

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Neighbours legends tease that beloved soap would be a "completely new show" should it be revived following finale
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T18:00:44.000Z
creator: Michael Adams
subject: Neighbours
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Interview
subject: News
description: The legendary actors speak to RadioTimes.com about their sadness, hopes for the future and gratitude to the show's viewers.
encoded: As one of Australia's biggest media exports, Neighbours has cemented a number of cast members as household names over the last four decades... but few have had quite the same impact as Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne. The duo - who have played the beloved Karl and Susan Kennedy since 1994 - are preparing to say farewell to the cult soap this week, after it failed to be recommissioned by producers Amazon MGM Studios in February. Uniquely, and rather sadly, this is a position they've both been in before. It was just over three years ago that the show wrapped up the Ramsay Street drama with a blaze of highly publicised returns, including Kylie Minogue and Margot Robbie, a wedding party on the infamous cul de sac and a sense of hope for the future. This time, however, things are a little different. A threat to the future of fictional Erinsborough looms large, with redevelopment plans displacing the characters across the state of Victoria. The more finite storyline, while allowing the door to remain open for a potential revival, signifies a change in gear from last time. If Neighbours was to return - and given this is the third time that the series has been pulled since it began - it would be very different. "There was tears, there was sadness, Stefan [Dennis] spoke beautifully on the last day," Fletcher explains to RadioTimes.com. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/11/NBRSS3UT9362250711TRAALL00139-3e490d2.jpg" width="3900" height="2601" alt="A greyscale image of producers Andrew Thompson and Jason Herbison stand beside actors Stefan Dennis (who is raising a glass) and Rebekah Elmaloglou. Seated are Hana Abe-Tucker, Jackie Woodburne and Annie Jones on the set of Neighbours" title="Neighbours" /> "I think there was also a sense of pride. We faced great sadness the first time around. This time we got an extra two years, we got an extra 400 episodes. We proved to the world that Neighbours didn't finish because it lacked an audience.…

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Harry Potter TV series star Johnny Flynn on how his new film role compares to playing Lucius Malfoy
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:55.000Z
creator: Pete Paphides
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: The Goodbye June star has a very different role lined up next.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. On the day we meet, Johnny Flynn confesses to feelings of anxiety about the prospect of his family attending the premiere of Goodbye June, in which the 42-year-old turns in a quietly devastating performance as youngest brother Connor, who simply cannot cope with his mother’s terminal illness. As Flynn sees it, “This is somebody who doesn’t have a mask to put on in those situations. His mum is his guiding star, whereas his sisters have their kids and families.” Which brings us back to Flynn’s anxieties about the premiere. In attendance will be his own mother — “and for anyone of that generation, you know this is something that not far away”. This feels like new territory for Flynn, perhaps best known for his roles as Ian Fleming in Operation Mincemeat and Mr Knightley in the 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, as well as his parallel career as an acclaimed singer/songwriter who’s made six albums. And as he felt his way into the role, he inevitably ended up drawing on memories of the passing of his own father when he was 18. “It totally brought back memories of waiting in hospital corridors and that hushed atmosphere that a family comes to around the death of a loved one. There was also a lot of me in moments when I’m thinking I haven’t got my s**t together. Like many people in my profession, I grapple with imposter syndrome.” And what did starring in a film alongside Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall and Toni Collette do for his imposter syndrome? “Well, it went through the roof, of course,” he says with a sheepish smile. “This is literally a bunch of names who would all be in my top ten favourite actors. But what can you do? You just have to go, ‘If this is it and I mess this up and this is the only chance I get to be with these wonderful people, then so be it.’” All of which couldn’t be more different to the job he’s just finished, playing Lucius Malfoy in the first instalment of th…

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Doctor Who favourite Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe spill on Strictly journey and finale return
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:54.000Z
creator: Huw Fullerton
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Christmas
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From first steps to standing ovations: Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe reflect on dancing, friendship, and their post-Strictly Christmas plans.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. At 62, actor Alex Kingston is only three years younger than the mother of her Strictly Come Dancing partner, 38-year-old professional Johannes Radebe. But in this partnership, she was the one learning from him. Over the past few months, they went from tentative first steps to earning standing ovations. And now, despite their Strictly journey ending, they vow they’ll stay on the dance floor one way or another… Alex, what was it like learning from someone younger? ALEX: Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine anyone else being my dance partner. The problem is, now my Strictly journey has come to an end, I will have to carry on dancing and I don’t know who will ever come close to Johannes. JOHANNES: Oh my goodness, we’ll have to book some lessons. I’ve always said that partnerships are special because they grow, and that I always teach like a marriage – even though I have never been married. ALEX: And I’ve been married three times! Did you have a mentor or someone you looked up to earlier in your careers? JOHANNES: As a boy, there was an Australian dancer I watched from a distance from my township in South Africa. His name is Jason Gilkison. I modelled my career on his, and now I am in the same room as him – he’s the creative director of Strictly Come Dancing. It’s an honour to work with him. Nowadays, I go back home to South Africa and run workshops teaching kids to dance. That’s my way of giving back. ALEX: My English teacher saw that I wasn’t academic in the sciences, but she made sure I had an opportunity to begin acting, devising plays where I was the lead. Her name was Margaret Kirk. She’s no longer with us, but I’m forever thankful to her. Are you looking forward to the final, where every Strictly couple returns for a reunion? ALEX: Oh yes, one hundred per cent. Looking at the opening credits of Strictly, seeing all the contestants, you realise how few are left. The first week does seem a long time ago now. It will be rea…

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The Archers stars David and William Troughton talk being father and son in iconic radio soap and in real-life
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:44.000Z
creator: Libby Purves
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: David and William Troughton on life as father and son – on The Archers and at home.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. David Troughton and his real-life son William have played father and son Tony and Tom in The Archers since 2014. They are the son and grandson of the second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton. As father and son, is it easier to play that relationship? DAVID: At the beginning it felt odd, because Tom and Tony don’t get on! Tony is still hankering after his dead son, John. Tom’s never lived up to John. WILLIAM: Tom’s constantly chasing his father’s praise, wanting him to be proud of him... DAVID: And that is so unlike our real relationship. WILLIAM: It really is. It’s great that I get to spend this time with my dad. And because it’s outside the rest of the family, it’s special. Does that make other family members feel a bit jealous? DAVID: They’re probably thankful not to be part of Tony and Tom! WILLIAM: There’s no competition. My brother Sam is also an actor and the other one, Jim, is a cricketer. DAVID: That’s performing, too. It has to be in the genes. Have any of your storylines made you gasp? DAVID: Not yet… But remember your audition, Will? You came to see me [as Tony] in hospital when I seemed to be dying because I’d been hit by the bull. After the audition, Sean O’Connor, the editor, rang me up and said, “David, how would you feel if a member of your family joined The Archers?” WILLIAM: Growing up watching him onstage, there were quite a few of those moments. I remember watching you get poisoned and die in one production… DAVID: And before that, in 1989 when I played Bottom at the RSC, I stabbed myself fairly dramatically, and all I could hear from the front row was, “Bye bye, Mr Dad.” Isn’t that sweet? WILLIAM: Growing up watching you die – not the most usual of childhoods. David, have you ever given William any acting advice? DAVID: When we started, I gave him a bit of advice about the microphone. On stage you look at each other but in radio you use it as the person. Although I’m always being told [does huge v…

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Lord Alan Sugar dishes on Celebrity Apprentice and why he allowed Thomas Skinner to return for it
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:37.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Christmas
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From Lapland tasks to childhood chestnuts, Lord Sugar reveals what makes a very Apprentice-style Christmas.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Merry Christmas, Sugar Claus! If you were Father Christmas, which public figures would you put on your naughty list? I would have to say no comment on this whatsoever, my friend. As you will know, the BBC has guidelines. I have to keep my big mouth shut and not make personal or political comments like that. In that case, can we assume the contestants in your Celebrity Apprentice Christmas specials went straight on the nice list? Nah! That’s the excitement of it. Most of the time, they’re schmoozed by everybody, told how marvellous they are. Then they get a gig where I’m telling them what a load of rubbish they are. They’re masochists, really. Still, it’s worth remembering they don’t get paid anything at all. They do it for charity and that is very, very commendable. What will you be making the brave contestants do in the two festive episodes? They’re going up to Lapland and meeting Father Christmas. There was snow and ice, as you can imagine, reindeers and sledges. The contestants were split into two teams and each team had to create a special Christmas biscuit. Then they came back to London and presented their biscuits to big supermarkets and the best biscuit won. The interesting thing is, for the first time ever, the products created in the programme are actually going on sale in the supermarkets. All the money is going to Children in Need. Does the show create its own celebrities now? Did you decide whether Thomas Skinner could come back as a “celebrity”? I’m not sure over the 20 years how many people who have appeared on my show have actually made a name for themselves. I can think of maybe three: Saira Khan did quite well, then Katie Hopkins, who everybody loves to hate, and Thomas Skinner, who ended up on Strictly. But I don’t have any input. I’m presented with these celebrities; the BBC seek these people out and find them. And it’s not easy, because you can imagine that some of them are working and can’t ta…

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David Suchet reveals why Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol remains so prescient – and what he'd say to Agatha Christie
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:19.000Z
creator: Anna Jones
subject: audio
subject: Christmas
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As he voices a new Dickens podcast, David Suchet reflects on timeless storytelling and the hope Christmas brings.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Nothing brings us together like a festive ghost story and, since its publication in 1843, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has never been out of print. It is the seasonal chiller. Sir David Suchet is delighted to be narrating it, alongside some of the author’s lesser-known tales, for a new podcast series. “These aren’t merely creepy stories — they’re ghostly reflections of the human soul.” We know about your devotion to Agatha Christie, but how well do you know Dickens? I don’t claim to be a Dickens expert, but he has always held up for me as the master of the English language. Reading these ghost stories has just been one of the most enjoyable and exciting pieces of audio work I’ve done. I’ve been blown away by how he writes. He’s very theatrical. Why do you think Dickens remains so prescient? I would say the same thing about Shakespeare and, if I’m allowed to, Agatha Christie. They all write about the human condition: love, jealousy, greed, hate, envy, crimes. They talk about poverty and society. They have managed to write about various aspects of our lives as human beings and make them into dramatic tales. That’s why they will never date. Why do you think that we enjoy being scared at Christmas? Well, if you go back to when you were a little child and somebody scared you, what was the first thing you did? You screamed and giggled. We love mystery, we love being scared. I mean, look at Doctor Who! We love to be taken outside of ourselves into realms that we don’t quite understand, and being a little bit frightened can be very enjoyable. Is A Christmas Carol the ultimate seasonal ghost story? A Christmas Carol is a work of genius. It’s just got everything. Not only the most extraordinary characters, but Scrooge himself going through that redemption... It’s what Christmas is all about, which is generosity, kindness, family if you have one, friends if you haven’t. Being social, being warm to each other. Ultimate…

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Kate Winslet reveals why her film Goodbye June is so personal for her "brilliant, clever" screenwriting son
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T17:01:17.000Z
creator: Pete Paphides
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: How Kate Winslet turned her son’s script into a moving family drama – and found a new creative calling.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. “I promise you, I didn’t plan it this way,” exclaims Kate Winslet, and for a second, her slightly brisk response leads me to wonder if she has taken umbrage at my suggestion that, as Christmas approaches, she seems to have achieved full omnipresence. As we speak, a TikTok trend to land her the coveted Christmas number one spot is well under way, thanks to hundreds of clips of millennial Winslet fans miming to What If, the ballad featured on the soundtrack of her 2001 animated film Christmas Carol: the Movie. Another milestone from her past that looms large at this time of year is her 2006 romcom The Holiday, whose wholesome succour has turned it into something of a cult classic. Meanwhile, in cinemas from 19 December, you can catch her in the long-awaited third instalment of the Avatar franchise, Fire and Ash. Oh, and if you tune in to Radio 4 as you wrap your presents on 21 December, you can hear her selections on Desert Island Discs. But the reason she’s set aside a chunk of her afternoon to speak with Radio Times is a project that’s clearly closer to her heart. The film Goodbye June marks two significant firsts for Winslet and her family. The script was written by her 22- year-old son Joe Anders. And, as well as producing the film and starring in it, the movie also marks her directorial debut. If you’ve never found yourself blubbing at a film trailer, it might also mark a first for you. The sight of a dying Helen Mirren in a hospital bed, with her screen family – Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall, Johnny Flynn and Toni Collette – all trying to come to terms with their imminent loss should just about do it. Winslet brightens at such an outcome. She’s fine with all of it, of course – even the revival of What If, which her husband, Edward Abel Smith, sometimes plays “for a laugh when we’re on family holidays and I least want him to do it.” She beams. “I’m lucky that I got to be across all of these things.…

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Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan talks season 2: "We're very mindful of the legacy of the books"
type: item
date: 2025-12-09T08:00:58.000Z
creator: Frances Taylor
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Disney Plus
subject: Interview
description: "We all feel a sense of obligation and respect toward the material."
encoded: It’s no secret that when the Percy Jackson films were released in the 2010s, swathes of longtime fans weren’t impressed by how the fantasy novels had been adapted. So it was with some trepidation when Disney announced that they, too, were going to have a go at recreating the mythological Greek world for a new TV series. Thankfully, this time, fans needn’t have worried. Starring Walker Scobell in the eponymous lead role alongside Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth and Aryan Simhadri as Grover, the first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians received warm reviews and in its first week alone, episode 1 notched up over 13 million views. In no small part, its success is undoubtedly due to Rick Riordan – author of the Percy Jackson books who is also credited as a writer and executive producer of the television adaptation. He wasn’t involved in the film franchise. Indeed, when Radio Times visited the set during filming of season 2 (a third season has subsequently been confirmed), Riordan was on hand to answer our pressing Percy questions. How does it feel to be filming a second season and to see the world you imagined springing to life? “Yeah, it's unreal. I can't believe that we're on a second season in some ways, but I know it took us a long time to get here. It's wonderful to see it all come to fruition.” It's been years since you wrote the initial Percy Jackson story. In now making the TV show, have been things you changed that you felt you can improve on? “Yeah, it's a beautiful chance to do over… Because it's now been 20 years since the first book came out, which is mind boggling in itself. But it's true. "I mean, a lot has changed in 20 years, and It's nice to have the chance to keep the story the same, but also refresh it and make sure that it feels relevant and timely for what's going on today. I do think that these stories, the Greek myths, have been with us for centuries because they're timeless. "So there is that element that doesn't change. But at the same tim…

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Amadeus star Paul Bettany reveals how a fan's selfie intruded on a tragic family moment
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:50.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: NOW
subject: Sky
description: Paul Bettany on how he balances Hollywood fame with family fun in Vermont.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Paul Bettany is far from being too cool for Yule. “I love Christmas so much,” he enthuses in advance of the festive celebrations at his home in the USA. “Our Christmas Day is a very English affair with crackers and turkey, and then, when people start showing up after Boxing Day, the party just continues. Last year we had 40 people.” Bettany, co-star of Amadeus, Sky Atlantic’s five-part adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play, lives with his wife, actor Jennifer Connolly, in a timber house in rural Vermont, New England, where “it snows every year”. So, the 54-year-old London-born actor will be having a picturesque Christmas – but also a loud one. “I have a band room with drums and piano and PA system and loads of guitars. Lots of people come up and play. We do a gig on New Year’s Eve.” You might be thinking, rather him than me. But Bettany likes to go at things full throttle, whether that’s entertaining friends at Christmas or in his performance as the scheming court composer Salieri in Amadeus, who dedicates his life to destroying Mozart. It’s one of those roles where Bettany, who has lived in America since 2003, pops back to the UK to remind us just how good he is. He did it before in 2021 when he played the alcoholic Duke of Argyll in the period drama A Very British Scandal. Now he’s facing off with Will Sharpe’s Mozart in 18th-century Vienna; an arrangement Bettany is charmed by. “I have enormous admiration for Will. He’s funny, gentle and kind – an attractive combination and rare. Usually, actors are working out how they can triumph against the opposition rather than how to make each other better.” Bettany is a thoughtful, compelling actor; even as android superhero The Vision in the Marvel universe where, since 2015, he has been wearing a catsuit and firing lasers out of his forehead. He does this so convincingly I ask him to explain what it feels like. “I have no frame of reference for laser beams coming out…

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Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock speaks on space travel future and aliens: "I'm not sure about alien abduction"
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:39.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells us why the future of space exploration matters and how she hopes to inspire the next generation.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been blown off course by cancelled trains. She has finally arrived at the Royal Institution in London to rehearse her Christmas Lectures on the furthest reaches of the known cosmos, but the journey was challenging. She laughs at the irony: “I was stranded. I was like, ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, but no one was listening.” The Sky at Night presenter – whose dream of becoming a space scientist took root after watching an episode of Clangers – has slept for just three hours, but she’s fizzing with the energy that both fuels her insomnia and has made her a household name. “I have dyslexia and ADHD, my head is a-buzz with ideas. Sometimes it’s overwhelming,” she explains. She’ll be pouring a slice of those thoughts into her three-lecture series, entitled Is There Life beyond Earth? and showing on BBC Four, covering Nasa’s plan to return humans to the Moon, potential signs of life on exoplanets, whether future human settlements could survive in space and how the James Webb Space Telescope – on which she worked in the design stages – is rewriting the story of the Big Bang. Dame Maggie’s story is compelling – her parents separated when she was four, she was diagnosed with dyslexia at eight and attended 13 different schools. But she made her name in science because, she says, “I was lucky to have a powerful dream.” She also wants to hammer home the message that space is for everyone. “Growing up, I thought space and astronomy were done by white guys in togas. You hear about the Greeks and Romans, you don’t really hear about everybody else. But every culture has looked up at the night sky. It’s the heritage of all of us,” she says. However, our ancestors could never have imagined this current era of billionaire-fuelled galactic adventure, led by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson. While Dame Maggie is optimistic that “more of us will get out there” despite the eye-popping c…

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Mishal Husain talks her new chapter, pressing Nigel Farage on Russia and the recent BBC troubles
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:36.000Z
creator: Simon Hattenstone
subject: audio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Leaving the BBC has been a challenge for Mishal Husain, but at least she now gets to express her opinions – and have a Christmas lie-in!
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. After 26 years at the BBC, Mishal Husain left in 2025 to join Bloomberg. It’s been the greatest challenge of her career. “I have had to reinvent myself and that’s scary because you wonder, ‘Am I going to make a success of it?’” Husain presented the Today programme on Radio 4 for her final 11 years at the Beeb and was my favourite presenter on the show. While others tried to shout down interviewees, she researched meticulously, listened intensely, probed forensically and got results. Husain exposed inconsistencies, hypocrisies and plain old lies, fairly and without fanfare. But now she’s swapped short-form interviews for a weekly 40-minute podcast called The Mishal Husain Show, which started in October. Husain insists they’re worlds apart. “I’m discovering that doing one deep, really thoughtful interview a week is completely different and harder than being in daily news and getting up at 3am.” Harder? “It really is. But I’m loving it.” Off air, she still speaks with that limpid, head-girl voice, but her tone is a bit more sing-song; a bit more fun. What scared her most? “Starting from scratch. Starting from zero viewers and listeners.” The change in job has also meant a change in lifestyle. Workwise, Husain and her husband Meekal Hashmi (who have three sons born 18 months apart – the youngest two are twins – at university) are now in sync. “My husband’s finding it quite curious that for the first time in our married life I have normal office hours and we both have to share the bathroom in the morning. Suddenly we have parallel routines, which we’ve never had.” Does he like that? “I think he’s probably… we’re probably, adjusting to it.” Husain is a ridiculously youthful 52, and petite. With the familiar big bob, and a slight, strong frame, she’s got something of the superhero about her. Today, she’s racing up and down the extremely challenging stairs at Bloomberg, introducing me to the top floor with its magnificent…

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Death in Paradise's Don Warrington teases he doesn't know Christmas 2025 special plot as Selwyn future remains unclear
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:31.000Z
creator: Kay Ribeiro
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Don Gilet and Don Warrington reveal what fans can expect from Death in Paradise’s festive showdown.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As we prepare to unwrap the eagerly anticipated festive instalment of Death in Paradise — Don Gilet’s second as DI Mervin Wilson following his debut this time last year — fans will be hoping that, by some Christmas miracle, it’s not the last we’ve seen of Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, played by series stalwart Don Warrington. At the end of the last series, the long-serving commissioner was unceremoniously replaced, in a bid to cut costs, by an arrogant young upstart, causing major upset among Honoré’s police officers and locals, not to mention Death in Paradise viewers. RT brought the two Dons together to mull over their time on screen together and their yuletide plans. What were your first impressions of each other? DON WARRINGTON: Well, I knew him before Death in Paradise. DON GILET: Even though he denies remembering working with me. WARRINGTON: I knew he’d bring this up! GILET: He was the lead in a radio show [Deacon, Radio 4] and I was one of the guests. I was so happy at the Death in Paradise audition to say, “I know you – we’ve worked together.” Don said, “Did we?” and I thought, “OK, this is probably not going to go as well as I hoped!” But working with Don – there’s the writing, but there’s also the why. Why are these people together? How do they relate? We can all learn our lines and be good actors, but he pushes me to deep-dive into my character. The Commissioner was a guiding force for Mervin. Did anyone inspire you to become an actor? WARRINGTON: For me, it was Marlon Brando. As a kid living in Trinidad with my grandmother, there was an Asian family who used to put on movies. One day they put on On the Waterfront and I thought, “That’s what I want to do.” The Christmas episode is a festive tradition. Will you be tuning in? WARRINGTON: [with a smile] I’ll be watching to see what the story is… GILET: It’s the payoff, for me, to go, “This is it. It’s the Christmas special and I’m in it.” Not from a vanit…

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The Night Manager season 2 writer reveals why new episodes are perfect for this Trump era – and talks plans for a trilogy
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:29.000Z
creator: Mark Lawson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Screenwriter David Farr tells us how a vivid dream and a decade of global upheaval brought The Night Manager back to life.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. After its huge success, audiences and producers wanted a second series. But despite The Night Manager winning three Emmys, a pair of Baftas and Golden Globes and selling to 180 countries, it will have been almost a decade since the February 2016 UK premiere that the second series arrives on our screens this winter. The main reason for this is that the initial six episodes – featuring the pursuit of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) by reluctant hotelier-turned-spy Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) – were based on a novel by John le Carré, and no second book existed. “No one has ever taken le Carré beyond le Carré source material [on screen] before,” says David Farr, screenwriter of both series. “And so there’s a humility. We finished the first one and no one knew it would be such a big success.” Once it was, there were discussions about a sequel, though not involving Farr. “I was engaged in doing a TV version of Hanna, the film I wrote for Joe Wright. So there were chats about a Night Manager 2 and they came to me about it, but I wasn’t available,” Farr says. The 2022 book A Private Spy: the Letters of John le Carré include a letter in December 2018 to the playwright Sir Tom Stoppard reporting that: “The sequel to The Night Manager is suddenly happening… with the old gang minus Tom Hollander, whose part I so carelessly despatched.” Hollander played “Corky”, Roper’s quirkily vicious sidekick. The novelist killing off such a memorable character might be seen as a clue that he envisaged no continuation. But le Carré, who loved the TV version of The Night Manager, may have also become pernickety about television, telling Stoppard that he was “very disappointed” with the BBC’s 2018 adaptation of his novel The Little Drummer Girl. For whatever reason, the Night Manager sequel went to sleep. As, in late 2020, did Farr, waking early from a vivid dream: “I knew that le Carré and his wife, Jane, were ill, so perhaps they…

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Dame Joanna Lumley reveals her vegetarian Christmas plans: "Wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't kill things at Christmas?"
type: item
date: 2025-12-08T17:01:25.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Christmas
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Two decades after Ella Enchanted, Dame Joanna Lumley and Lucy Punch reflect on festive traditions, family fun and their on-screen reunion.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Joanna Lumley and Lucy Punch first played mother and daughter in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. Some 20 years later, Punch plays social climber Amanda with Lumley her scene-stealing mother Felicity, first in Motherland, and now in its spin-off Amandaland. While filming the festive special, the pair reflected on their reunion, Christmases past and present, and what gift they’d buy for each other… Lucy, what were your first impressions of Joanna? LUCY: In Ella Enchanted, we played a ghastly stepmother and stepsister to the heroine, then we were reunited for Motherland, which was lovely, and now this. All this time later, I’m a very different person, but I believe Joanna’s exactly the same: so smart and funny. She charms everyone. When you’re doing comedy, you need lots of good energy, and hers is infectious. Joanna, what have you learnt working with Lucy? JOANNA: I couldn’t admire Lucy more. I remember her playing my daughter, but I’m not sure they [the Motherland producers] even knew that. She’s blossomed in this. A lot of acting by many of us is interchangeable, but some people stand out, and Lucy’s always been slightly different. She brings something extra. What are your fondest memories of Christmas growing up? JOANNA: We were in hot countries so we never saw snow, but Mummy would get balls of cotton wool to put on the windows like snowflakes. We were out in the Malayan Mari when the Disney film of Alice in Wonderland came out. I was given an Alice doll, and it was as beautiful a thing as I’ve ever seen, with yellow hair and a hair band, a blue dress with a little white apron – thrilling. Isn’t it lovely what we remember visually? What gift would you buy each other for Christmas? LUCY: I’d buy something very little, discreet and lovely, maybe a teeny, tiny book. Joanna likes little things. JOANNA: Lucy lives in California and has two boys, so I think I’d get her something that money can’t buy – an experience of s…

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Dame Judi Dench opens up on her declining eyesight, family history, and having a temper: "Oh yes, I’m sometimes very cross"
type: item
date: 2025-12-07T16:00:29.000Z
creator: Ginny Dougary
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: At 91, acting legend Judi Dench speaks candidly about sight loss, memory worries, her inherited temper, and the comfort of Shakespeare.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The snow is falling sluggishly, barely settling, as we drive down ever-more-winding country lanes and draw up to Dame Judi Dench’s fairy-tale cottage, with its heavy wooden door. It emerges beyond a barn and outbuildings, a lake, swimming pool and six acres of her beloved woodland in which, each time a dear friend dies (and there are a lot of them by now), a tree is planted with their name attached: recent additions being Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg. The grounds are tended by a friendly young man (the son of one of the longstanding group of women who help the actor), dressed in tweeds, a bounding dog at his side. Dench would doubtless demur at "grounds" – being the least given to airs and graces of any interviewee of her stature. Last time we met, in 2017, she told me how much she loathes being called an "icon" and actively despises "national treasure", relishing Tracey Ullman’s hilarious portrayal of her (available to watch on YouTube) as a swearing, boozing, shoplifting, dog-poo-throwing tearaway hiding behind her revered status. Outside is perishing, but inside all is warmth and good cheer. Indeed, it feels Christmassy, down to the glass of champagne from which Dench takes the occasional sip. Age has not withered her. Jude – as she is known to her friends – is so warm and fun (God, is she fun! And so game!), as well as funny, making spontaneous quips that reveal a still-lively mind even if she worries about losing her marbles. But on 9 December she turns 91 and the passing of time has had an impact. Her bright blue eyes, which can turn to steel when playing a part like M in the Bond films, no longer see. Her sight has been declining for some years, due to age-related macular degeneration. When I ask whether she can see my face – we are seated very close to one another, she at the head of her kitchen table – peering intently, she says, "You’re in a fog." She suffers from both eyes being "wet", the worst conditio…

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Neighbours producer teases "optimistic" finale and reflects on soap's legacy after 40 years
type: item
date: 2025-12-07T09:00:13.000Z
creator: Johnathon Hughes
subject: Neighbours
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Jason Herbison exclusively reflects on the end of an era – and what he regrets about the final weeks...
encoded: After more than 40 years on air, the time has come to bid farewell to Neighbours – again. The iconic Australian soap survived the axe from 5 in 2022 and was revived by Amazon a year later, only for the streaming giant to announce in February that it was pulling the plug on the reboot. As the show’s loyal fans commiserate the end of an era, anticipation is high for the Neighbours finale’s release on 11th December. In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, the soap’s executive producer Jason Herbison teases what viewers can expect, and candidly reflects on the challenge of crafting a second swansong, his feelings on the show’s demise and what he would have done differently. Did you approach the 2025 finale differently from the 2022 one? I approached the ending very differently this time. I knew I couldn’t compete with 2022 or do the same thing twice. What can you tell us about the final scene? It’s somewhat of an homage to the finale 2022 scene, however it involves a small cast this time. Jackie Woodburne (aka Susan Kennedy) made me cry in 2022 and she’s done it again in 2025! I was on set when we shot it. How would you describe the atmosphere on the final day of filming? We all hugged and shed a tear – it was very emotional. After the final scene, we gathered in Studio A, exactly as we did in 2022. For those of us present on both occasions, it was incredibly surreal. You can’t go through the same thing twice and feel exactly the same way, I believe. Most of all, this time, we felt a sense of gratitude. We all thought the show ended for good in 2022 and the Amazon era has been a wonderful bonus. Paul and Terese are at the centre of the final week, what makes this couple work so well? The all-important X-factor! Some pairings just have great chemistry, while others don’t. We have tried putting them with other people but they always end up back together. I think these obstacles are what makes them work, too. If they were together and happy all the time, it would be…

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Dreamers director Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor: "In cinema, after you come out, it's like you stop existing"
type: item
date: 2025-12-05T09:00:47.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Movies
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Pass the Mic
description: Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor chats to Pass the Mic about her feature directorial debut Dreamers, the conversations the film prompts about immigration, and the state of Black queer cinema in the UK.
encoded: With her directorial debut Dreamers having premiered at London Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, as well as having spoken at multiple pre-release screenings of the film, you'd think that Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor may have possibly tired a little talking about her movie. Sure, she jokes that she'd love to sleep after its release, but it's abundantly clear that she's beaming with happiness and gratitude at just being able to make a film like this one. Dreamers is Gharoro-Akpojotor's feature film debut, which she has also written, and is a semi-autobiographical story that is underpinned by love. The film follows Isio (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo), a Nigerian woman who is detained after living undocumented in the UK for two years. She is remanded at Hatchworth Removal Centre and there, meets Farah (Ann Akinjirin) who keeps her spirits high as the possibility of her asylum pleas being rejected looms. Isio is seeking asylum in the UK because there is a very real threat of danger if she were to return to Nigeria, something that Gharoro-Akpojotor had similar experiences of. While at the crux of Dreamers is very much a love story, it still must be hard to bare your soul on the big screen like this, I remark. "I watch the film sometimes and I'm very proud and happy because for me, it's a part of my life that made me a whole lot stronger," Gharoro-Akpojotor tells me. "I went through so much therapy in the process, during the filming. Not everything in the film happened to me but some things could've. The scene where Isio's with the case worker talking, it was much longer before, but that scene is verbatim what happened in my session. "When the guy at the end asks, 'How do I know you're gay?', that's the same thing that my guy said to me at the end. Making it and going through the emotions everyday, it becomes different, it reminds you where you've been but also how much I've grown. There were times on set that were very intense and I asked myself, 'Why a…

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£40,000 costumes and 19 Christmases sacrificed: What it really takes to keep Britain's glitziest tradition alive
type: item
date: 2025-12-05T07:00:37.000Z
creator: Olivia Garrett
subject: Going Out
subject: Tickets
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: The London Palladium panto is back for another year, but how exactly do they manage do pull such a show together?
encoded: Speaking to Chariots of Fire actor Nigel Havers over a crackling phone, as he hurriedly drives to pantomime rehearsal in the West End, is not how I imagined our interview going. Over a fuzzy speaker, he cheerily tells me in one breathe that he's flown over the London Palladium more than anyone else in the theatre's history, in the other, that he's not had a proper Christmas for 19 years, all before dashing out the car in under 15 minutes. It was after this hasty chat however, that I learned that this is, in fact, the perfect encapsulation of what life in pantomime is. Great, grand, British tradition... on speed; a multi-million pound industry dating back to the 16th century with a one-week rehearsal period; hundreds of jobs, props and actors, stuffed into a backstage designed for small variety theatre; and thousands of young families piling in only for the highlight to be Julian Clary's excellent innuendo. This year, the venue is set to host a three-week run of Sleeping Beauty, with Havers and Clary returning alongside Doctor Who's own Catherine Tate. The performance is also doubly special as it marks 10 years since panto returned to the Palladium, or as producer Michael Harrison puts it: "10 years of King Julian on the throne." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/12/GettyImages-2188949634-625f687.jpg" width="5000" height="3333" alt="LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 12: Chrissy Brooke and Julian Clary bow at the curtain call during the press night pantomime performance of "Robin Hood," at The London Palladium, on December 12, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images)" title="The London Palladium Pantomime "Robin Hood" - Press Night - Curtain Call" /> Michael Harrison has produced literally hundreds of pantomimes over the past two decades, neatly starting off with Sleeping Beauty at the Kings Theatre Glasgow. At the time, the producer was completely new to professional panto and "blagged" (his words) his way in by te…

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How Dancing with the Stars plans its themed weeks and beyond – from flying producers to fighting for fairness
type: item
date: 2025-12-05T07:00:26.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Inside the well-oiled machine behind the biggest show on television.
encoded: The Strictly Come Dancing format is currently licensed to 61 territories worldwide, and while each is inherently similar, there's something different about all of them – and it's no walk in the park ensuring each and every one of them goes to plan every year. Strictly Come Dancing is the brainchild of the BBC, with the series first beginning in May 2004, before Australia aired its version later that same year. Since then, roughly 20 variations of Strictly are on air every year worldwide. As to be expected, there is an entire team covering all bases ensuring the series go ahead without any hitches – and this is where Sumi Connock, Global Creative Lead at BBC Studios, comes in. Letting us in on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on the shows from scratch, Connock exclusively told RadioTimes.com: "I have a team of flying producers that work with me. So whenever we get a new sale, let's pretend it's Belgium, we've got two flying producers who specifically work across Dancing with the Stars. "So between them, they split all the territories and they will work really closely with that new partner, which could be the producer, and with the broadcaster as well. "And they'll basically work with them from the start to make sure that they fully understand the DNA of the show and how to deliver it, and they'll work with them on sort of creative solutions in terms of they've got to solve challenges. "So it might be budgetary, not everybody has got the budgets of the US or the UK version or even the bigger territories, some of them are working to much tighter budgets. "But I think that when you're pushed into a corner, it can really be inspiring creatively and we've seen so many amazing creatives come out of countries that don't have as big budgets. So they will work really closely with them." Afterwards, their attention is turned to the duration of the show, which can run for either two or three hours, before moving onto which dances to focus on. What makes the Str…

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Eternity stars reveal they're already living in their idea of hell in the afterlife: "America right now"
type: item
date: 2025-12-04T15:01:42.000Z
creator: Jess Bacon
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, John Early and Da'Vine Joy Randolph spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the inventive new romcom.
encoded: David Freyne’s new film Eternity contemplates what heaven (or hell) might feel like if you had to spend an eternity there – and the options are endless. Tired of living with men? 'Men Free World' is a good option. Ready to retreat into a stunning landscape? 'Mountain World' might be a good move for you. Always wanted to go to Paris? Well, how about you spend an eternity there? The Irish writer-director imagines that death is not the end, as after your time in the real world is done, you arrive by a retro-fitted train to the afterlife where you meet your AC (afterlife consultant) who will help you choose how to spend your eternity. Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early play Anna and Ryan, the ACs of Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) and Larry (Miles Teller). Instead of opting for eternal uptopian relaxation, Anna and Ryan have chosen to spend their afterlife in service of everyone else’s happy ever afterlives (if you will). Joy Randolph has already thought about what afterlife she’d choose, if a system like the one in the retro-futuristic world of Eternity exists. "Just luxury," she told RadioTimes.com. "Not super lux, but like when you go on a really nice holiday and you’re like 'You know what? I did the research and I found a great hotel.' You know that feeling when you open the door to the hotel and you’re like, 'Yes.' I want a nice holiday." Early is more influenced by the fact it’s already past lunchtime when we chat. "Mac and Cheese World," he responds. "But that's just because I'm starving right now. There's lots of different kinds of mac and cheese!" Though he doesn’t tend to watch romcoms himself, Early does have one film he could watch for an eternity. "I just rewatched The Way We Were with my mom and seeing the way that it just worked on her, it was so sweet," he says, "She was like, by the end [wipes tear], we were both like [wipes tear]… I’d choose that maybe. I love that." In the film, there are also many discontinued eternities that are either inherently problemati…

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Fallout season 2 will see Lucy's moral compass "eroding" amid surprising choices, reveals Ella Purnell
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:51.000Z
creator: Elle Osili Wood
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: She may be fighting monsters in a post-apocalyptic world in US video-game adaptation Fallout, but all British star Ella Purnell wants is an early night and a cup of tea.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Fallout is one of those shows that lays waste to your sleep schedule; a big-budget, post-apocalyptic adventure that’s far more fun than the end of the world has any right to be, and almost impossible to turn off. But as you’re halfway through a late-night binge, watching Lucy MacLean fight mutants and dodge bullets, the woman who plays her, Ella Purnell, will already be asleep. “I’m like an old lady who’s in bed at nine o’clock every night,” the 29-year-old actor laughs. “If you’d told me that ten years ago, I’d have said, ‘No way.’ But now, it’s a foam roller and a cup of tea. That’s all I need.” It’s a far cry from her on-screen antics, but Purnell could be forgiven for wanting to slow down after filming Amazon’s high-profile adaptation of the video game franchise Fallout. Since 1997, that game has seen more than 50 million players explore a post-nuclear-war America, trading bottle caps for currency, fighting off irradiated monsters and aligning with – or avoiding – the warring factions formed by survivors. But for all its fanfare, the TV version of Fallout landed in Purnell’s inbox like any other role. She’d never wandered its wastelands, strapped on a Pip-Boy computer or even heard of the game. “I really didn’t know much about the project,” she admits. “I was bad, and didn’t even google it, because I was busy filming [the US survival drama] Yellowjackets.” So what convinced her wasn’t Fallout’s mythos or millions of fans, but the human nature of Lucy MacLean, the show’s sheltered yet spirited lead, exploring this wild new world after growing up in an underground bunker (called a Vault). “They said to me she’s the kind of person that could star in a toothpaste commercial, but also could maybe kill you,” says Purnell. “And I was, like, yeah, that sounds like me.” Of course, once she signed on, everything became real. “It wasn’t until I got the job, and I started doing my research and my prep for the character, t…

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Alan Cumming teases "prescient" new show from Russell T Davies about rage faced by "marginalised people"
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:35.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The actor and presenter on The Traitors, speaking out – and being a superhero.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Over an illustrious 40-year career, Alan Cumming, 60, has appeared in an eclectic range of TV shows, films and stage plays — from the Emcee, full of licentious glee, in Sam Mendes’ productions of Cabaret to the weapons-grade camp host of The Traitors USA. Grammy-nominated, he has won Emmy, Tony and Olivier awards and was named by Time magazine as one of the three most fun people in showbusiness (alongside Stanley Tucci and Cher, apparently). He’s played God and the Devil, sold out Carnegie Hall and written seven books. Now, the actor-writer-singer-activist-photographer has added artistic director to his talents, taking charge at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland where he recently announced his inaugural season next year. You have quite a CV – have you ever been presented with an opportunity and thought “I’ll pass”? I believe in saying yes – and why not? If you have the pizazz and passion for it, give it a go. I feel like the most successful things I’ve done are things I haven’t overthought. I’ve just had a funny feeling in my tummy, excited and inspired, which is what I’ve got about Pitlochry. It’s about celebrating Scottish talent and bringing new ideas and international stuff to Scotland. When you were on Desert Island Discs, you said, “I do things I might fail at”. You’re not frightened of failure then? I’m not. I mean, it’s not my favourite thing, but Patti Smith said to me, “Alan, it won’t be a failure if you’ve done your best”. It could be a failure in financial terms, but those things don’t matter to me. The biggest and most important critic to me is myself. I’ve found in my life that if you believe in something, your passion can inspire other people. This is why I think I’d make a good cult leader. It feels harder than ever to be hopeful these days. As someone who lives in America, how do you remain optimistic? Depressed isn’t quite the right word to describe how I feel about American politics. I’m di…

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Jane Austen’s enduring and universal appeal revealed by hit writers, from Pride & Prejudice 1995 screenwriter to David Baddiel
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:35.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Books
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As Radio 4 marks 250 years since Jane Austen’s birth, Philippa Perry explains why the author remains so influential today
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. This year, the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, has seen ample celebration of the life and works of this singular observer of English life in the early 19th century. So far on TV, we’ve had a three-part documentary exploring Austen’s rebel spirit, the drama Miss Austen starring Keeley Hawes, and soon to follow is another version of Pride and Prejudice, this time with some big Netflix bucks and an all-star cast. When it comes to Austen, it seems broadcasters never scrimp, and Radio 4 is proving no exception – celebrating this important anniversary in style, with a dedicated season that has already featured a new take on Northanger Abbey, Radio 4 Extra mining its archive of classic dramas, and newly commissioned radio dramatisations of Pride and Prejudice (see below right) and, next weekend, Sense and Sensibility. The latter is also explored in a special episode of Bookclub on Tuesday (Austen’s 250th birthday) with Emma Thompson. Fans can also feast on a ten-part factual series, When I Met Jane Austen, in which her biographer, Dr Paula Byrne, asks a star line-up of guests – David Baddiel, Katherine Rundell, Val McDermid, Kate Atkinson, Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling, Gurinder Chadha, Marlon James, Colm Tóibín and Philippa Perry – about how Austen’s work has shaped and influenced their lives and own creative efforts. Like so many of Austen’s many millions of fans across the world, psychotherapist and bestselling author Perry can barely remember life without recourse to the wit and wisdom of the author she credits with “changing her life” after she first encountered her work aged 12, and studied Pride and Prejudice for English O-level. So, what is so special about Austen’s small but peerless collection of works that includes six novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion), one novella (Lady Susan) and the tantalisingly unfinished The Watsons and …

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Johnny Vaughan explains why Porridge is still the greatest sitcom after his own prison experience
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:32.000Z
creator: Craig McLean
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Radio X drivetime host is a big fan of Oasis, Horatio Nelson and Ritz Crackers.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? There’s a mantelpiece and a lot of dinosaurs. My son Milton is obsessed with them. They’re meant to be up in his room, but every time I put them there, he brings them all downstairs to create “dino-ramas” on the floor. My partner [Vanessa Howard] and I thought he’d grow out of these a few years ago. He hasn’t, and he’s now five. Who controls the remote at home? Well, because we’re always losing them, I discovered you can buy them easily on Amazon, so there’s loads of remotes just lying around, which means we get into tit-for-tat remote wars. It just goes on and on, but generally, if I’ve cooked dinner, I do. What have you enjoyed watching recently? We’ve just finished The Bear. Sometimes the reason you’re hating something is because it’s emoting precisely what the makers intended, so if The Bear makes you angry and frustrated, it’s because it’s meant to produce that reaction. What does it take to be a good presenter? Someone who realises it’s a craft, and is always chasing that perfect show. You’ve got to keep learning. I came to radio from telly and I was a real snob about it: “Television is bigger profile and now I’m coming to radio – so, boy, am I doing radio a favour!” Then you realise that radio is something you get better at. For me, TV you can either do or you can’t. I did The Big Breakfast, the most lively live show, so anything else in telly was never as enjoyable. Who’s the broadcaster you most admire? Anthony Bourdain. You could see his brilliance and his weaknesses. I interviewed him once and his passion for it was fantastic. He was travelling the world, eating great food, meeting great people – something we’d all love to do. Thanks to social media, now everyone can be a broadcaster, but are they real broadcasters? It’s short-form content, and there’s a bit of wannabe-ness about it. They’re like the local TV news we used to have – it would cut to a reporter dressed in ka…

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Guz Khan reveals why he ended Man Like Mobeen - and how he portrays multi-faith marriages in new Christmas caper
type: item
date: 2025-12-03T17:01:11.000Z
creator: Gabriel Tate
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: High-flying comedian Guz Khan on how family and friends help him keep it real.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Guz Khan has come a long way in ten years. While teaching at a secondary school back then, Khan had been posting online skits as Brummie Muslim “Mobeen”. After a couple went viral, Joe Lycett invited him to be his opening act at a stand-up gig and, before long, Grace Academy was looking for a new humanities teacher. In 2017, Khan turned Mobeen into a layered character for BBC Three comedy-drama series Man like Mobeen, about a drug dealer who, despite being reformed by faith and family, is never quite able to leave his old life behind. Four more series and three Bafta nominations followed, as did supporting gigs in productions by Judd Apatow and Mindy Kaling. Now, projects with Riz Ahmed and Rebel Wilson are in the works, while Khan’s new comedy drama, Stuffed, will be on BBC One over Christmas. In another sense however, the 39-year-old comedian insists he hasn’t gone far at all. “My friendship circle has been the same for decades. Me and my wife have known each other 21 years. I go to work, have a good time, then come home to my gang and no one really talks about it. Everyone’s like, ‘You’re the same prick you’ve always been.’ I don’t think I’m more talented than anybody else, I just never worried if something didn’t work out – it was one more for the memory bank.” Have public attitudes towards him changed with his success? “Not a day goes by where someone doesn’t ask how I’m doing or if they can have a photo. My interactions in person are so varied, but overwhelmingly positive. In my online life, if you look at my X, you’ll see I’m an idiot and respond to things, partly because it’s entertaining and partly because you want to teach those people sitting in their mum’s basement, typing ‘Go home, you ___ b*****d’, that in real life you just wouldn’t say that. I tell my kids to be careful with all this, because online is realer than real life for a lot of people.” Family is everything for Khan. He laments how easily …

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

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

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