Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-02-21T08:02:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Joseph Fiennes talks Young Sherlock origin story and playing his nephew’s on-screen father
items: Silent Witness at 30 - Revisiting our interview with Amanda Burton: 'I don't suffer fools gladly'
items: Comedian Slim on his Guide to Life: "I know how to navigate myself in this industry, that's why I've been in it for so long"
items: The Witcher 3 legends explain their "very experimental" new vampire game, The Blood of Dawnwalker
items: EastEnders' Tracy-Ann Oberman teases potential return for Chrissie Watts wedding: "The opportunities are endless"
items: The Silence of the Lambs at 35 — Revisiting our interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins: 'I wanted to be like Richard Burton – famous as well as different'
items: The Lady writer explains new Sarah Ferguson TV drama and how series handles Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
items: BAFTA nominee Rose Byrne talks unwinding after emotional and demanding new role: "I drink a lot of alcohol"
items: Why Carry On icon Kenneth Williams's legacy in British entertainment continues to endure
items: Gordon Buchanan: "Coming from such a small community, I'm almost embarrassed by my achievements"
items: The Archers favourites star in 75th anniversary photoshoot and talk THAT dramatic George whodunnit reveal
items: Beloved author Marian Keyes reveals why 'chick lit' exposes the "hollowness" of post-feminism
items: Phil Wang transforms into the legendary horror icon Nosferatu - and reveals his top horror picks
items: Under Salt Marsh’s Rafe Spall talks impact of nepotism in his career: "That’s called an advantage"
items: The Silence of the Lambs at 35 - Revisiting our interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins: 'I wanted to be like Richard Burton – famous as well as different'
items: EastEnders star reveals Chrissie Watts's Jasmine Fisher fears ahead of explosive week
items: Rick Astley takes poignant look back on his career, Bond songs and future hopes: "I'm just getting more emotional as I get older"
items: Pixar at 40: from Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
items: Suda51 says Grasshopper staff are "funky in the head," as he explains Romeo Is a Dead Man development
items: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight producer talks Arkham inspiration and Easter eggs
items: Open All Hours creator reveals of his legendary sitcom: "It would never happen again"
items: Felicia Day reveals The Guild movie update, as musical version lands in London
items: Meet the BBC's last reporter remaining in Russia: "It feels like we're in the eye of the storm"
items: The Archers at 75: Reflecting on the British institution with BBC Radio stars and its celebrity fans
items: Derry Girls creator talks new Netflix show How to Get to Heaven from Belfast: "You can't separate us from what's happened here"
items: Blue Lights star argues that there are still so many realistic stories to tell about sex workers
items: Vinnie Jones explains why Clarkson's Farm comparisons are "upsetting" as he returns with In the Country
items: Small Prophets' Pearce Quigley on Mackenzie Crook comedy: 'It's the perfect TV show'
items: Adam Richman's ultimate Italy food guide: From 'tag bol' to chocolate fountains
items: Betrayal's Zahra Ahmadi: "There's a duty of care to communities that haven't been represented enough to do it authentically"

Joseph Fiennes talks Young Sherlock origin story and playing his nephew’s on-screen father
type: item
date: 2026-02-21T08:01:36.000Z
creator: Emma Cox
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: 'Exploring where Sherlock's demons evolved from is really interesting', says the Young Sherlock actor, who plays Holmes's father Silas.
encoded: This article appears in the new issue of Radio Times magazine, out Tuesday 24 February. Joseph, why did you take this role? I love the idea of an origin story, where we see how Sherlock evolves from a misfit to a brilliant mind – and I loved the idea of ripping up a piece. The purists might be anxious, but I think it gives it a great vitality, muscularity, wit and adventure. Were you a Sherlock Holmes fan? I grew up with the Jeremy Brett version [on ITV], he was wonderful. There was a suspicion that Sherlock might be on opioids, but we never knew what led to the solitude and the reclusiveness. Exploring where the demons evolved from is really interesting. What was it like to work with your nephew, Hero? Once you get past the, 'Oh my God, we're relatives in the same scene together', you’re just actors doing a job. Playing father and son, we get the connection for free, which is lovely. And it was sheer joy. He’s a real talent; charismatic, hard working. I’m really proud of his grace on set. He maintains absolute composure, which is adorable. I knew all those qualities were there since I first held him in my arms. Seeing him flourish made me so happy. Aside from being a rollicking adventure, what themes lie at the heart of Young Sherlock? There’s a bit of the underdog about Sherlock. There are so many gifted, brilliant young people out there that don’t get chances in life, and you can see that in him. He could easily have fallen by the wayside. Is it daunting to take on a story about a much-loved character, reimagined for a new audience? There’s a whole spectrum of people who love Sherlock Holmes, from purists to people who like the zany iterations of him. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories will always survive a good reimagining, because their foundation will always remain true. Young Sherlock is available from Wednesday 4 March on Prime Video. The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday 24 February – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit o…

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Silent Witness at 30 - Revisiting our interview with Amanda Burton: 'I don't suffer fools gladly'
type: item
date: 2026-02-21T06:00:48.000Z
creator: Andrew Duncan
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Interview
subject: On demand
description: As Silent Witness celebrates its 30th anniversary, we're looking back on our 1996 interview with the show's first star, Amanda Burton.
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in February 1996, when the first ever run of Silent Witness was released. I am no prude but what, I ask, is a nice, discreet, private, shy, wary actress doing in this film where we see energetic alfresco lovemaking within the first few minutes? It is a far cry from the rural pleasantries of Peak Practice. I play mum and pour the tea - we are in a cosy Chelsea Harbour hotel - while she contemplates her answer. "Mmmm," she says. "This is the first time I’ve been involved in a programme that has nudity and perhaps more lovemaking than usual, and I had to think long and hard about it. Brookside [in which she made her name as the glamorous, twice-married accountant Heather Haversham] was hard hitting, but physically more than sexually. And the sex in Peak Practice was fairly dainty, I agree. But I feel all right about Silent Witness. It’s the style of the show." In it she plays forensic pathologist Dr Sam Ryan, a Belfast born single woman of 37, living and working in Cambridge where her mother moved after her husband, who was in the RUC, was blown up in a booby-trapped car when Sam was 13. In the first episode a seven-year-old girl (whose mother and stepfather do the cavorting) is found drowned in a local river. Sam investigates and suspects a history of child abuse, especially when she discovers the stepfather was previously the partner of a woman in prison for murdering her child. "I find the child abuse shocking and reel from that far more than the nudity and sex. It is stunningly hard to come to terms with the fact that people can abuse and murder children like that." She speaks softly, with an occasional Londonderry lilt – she was brought up there, the youngest of four daughters of a headmaster. Her sisters became nurses or teachers, and she seems to have a certain prim cautiousness within her, unusual for an actress, as well as a toughness behind the porcelain prettiness – a more normal attribute. Perhaps I a…

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Comedian Slim on his Guide to Life: "I know how to navigate myself in this industry, that's why I've been in it for so long"
type: item
date: 2026-02-18T15:00:33.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Pass the Mic
description: Comedian Slim sits down with Pass the Mic to chat about his brand new BBC Radio 4 show and how he's seen the industry evolve over the years.
encoded: It's not often that people sit down and look back on their entire life for the purpose of bringing about laughter, but that's exactly what comedian Slim has done for his latest venture for BBC Radio 4. His new six-part series, Slim's Guide to Life, is just another string to his impressive career bow, having been the first Black British comedian to sell out the London Palladium with a solo show and now widely celebrated as the Godfather of the Black British comedy scene. Having performed to audiences all around the globe, Slim now reflects on his life and career in his trademark comedic way, telling stories about being a teenage father to working as a London bus driver. Chatting to Radio Times for Pass the Mic, he admits that he's "happy and excited with anticipation to see it all come together, to see the final result". He remarks: "It's a nice experience because you're evaluating your life. I think we do it as humans every 10 years anyway. Every 10 years from 30, you look back on the decade before and think, 'How have I done? Have I advanced? Am I any further? My dreams, have they come true?' So, it was nice to go back, especially the early years." But how has it been penning a script based all around your life for a brand new radio audience? As Slim explains below, it's been a cathartic experience and is also an opportunity to expand his fanbase further in an industry that he has grown confident in navigating over his years of experience. How did you go about crafting Slim's Guide to Life – what was the writing process like? I had material that was written anyway but I had to go and write for the first few decades, as I realised I didn't really have any material. All my material's after 20 years old so that was nice revisiting that, sitting down and writing that on top of stuff I already had. I enjoyed happily sitting down and doing the project. Was it cathartic to revisit those early years of your life? Absolutely. We're adults now... I had a happy childhood so i…

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The Witcher 3 legends explain their "very experimental" new vampire game, The Blood of Dawnwalker
type: item
date: 2026-02-18T10:00:38.000Z
creator: Rob Leane
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: “Our game structure is totally different than the games you know.”
encoded: "It's very experimental," creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz revealed, "because not many games do this." Before we go any further, please be aware that you can hear the full version of this conversation on the Radio Times Gaming podcast feed or YouTube channel. Tomaszkiewicz spoke to us at the Gamescom conference about The Blood of Dawnwalker, the upcoming vampire game that he — and many other former Witcher 3 developers — have started their own company to build. He was explaining the game’s time system, which will force players to make tricky decisions. There are a limited number of hours in every in-game day, and you only have a set number of those days to save your character’s abducted wife. Tomaszkiewicz told us: "First of all, we wanted it to feel like the time matters. You know, there is this feeling of urgency to objectives. And we wanted you to actually think, ‘Do I want to do this? Or do I want to do that? How do I want to spend this resource?’ "At the same time, we don't want this artificial pressure that will stop you from exploring the world, for example, right? You do get clear communication from the game at every point." Indeed, we did see this mechanic at play in a hands-off Gamescom demo. We saw that certain actions, like committing to a side quest, will spend a certain amount of your time, which the game flags to you nice and clearly. Tomaszkiewicz said, "As you could have seen in the build, for example, the quest objectives tell you like how many time segments are you gonna spend if you're gonna finish these objectives. Sometimes, specific dialogue options can lead to spending time segments." "We call it ‘time as a resource,’" Tomaszkiewicz added. He also clarified that, "Just standing in one place is not gonna cost you any time. So, the time is kind of waiting for you to perform these actions." If you’re looking for a comparison point to make this system make sense in your mind, Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz mentions Persona, and his colleague/brothe…

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EastEnders' Tracy-Ann Oberman teases potential return for Chrissie Watts wedding: "The opportunities are endless"
type: item
date: 2026-02-17T20:00:25.000Z
creator: Michael Adams
subject: EastEnders
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Tracy-Ann Oberman speaks to Radio Times about Chrissie's shock engagement and her EastEnders exit.
encoded: Tracy-Ann Oberman has had quite the day. The EastEnders actress not only wrapped up her latest stint in Albert Square, but also accepted an MBE from King Charles at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle - something she initially thought was a parking fine. "It comes in a really official looking brown envelope. And I thought, 'Oh God'," the star joked to Radio Times. "My husband said, 'What have you done?', and I thought I hadn't paid something. I opened it, and I was really delighted to find out that I've got an MBE from The King in his Birthday Honour's list." The order of chivalry isn't the only award that Oberman has been bestowed during her career, which spans over three decades. From best actress to best newcomer, she's also won soap bitch of the year twice over for her performance as scheming Chrissie Watts. And, as the last week's worth of episodes have proved, she's still up there with some of the genre's finest antagonists. Chrissie was lured back to Walford by estranged boyfriend Jake Moon (Joel Beckett) in an attempt to get her to confess to the murder of Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey). Of course, as we viewers knew, she wasn't actually responsible. AddRadio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. Troubled teen Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) had smacked him over the head with a salt lamp, and allowed her mother Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) to be sent down for the crime. Chrissie pleaded her case, explaining that she'd already served time for killing husband Den (Leslie Grantham), and wasn't prepared to live the rest of her life behind bars. Kat then came to the realisation that she'd have to call the police on her own granddaughter. In tonight's instalment, Jake tried to prove to Chrissie that he was still committed to their relationship - de…

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The Silence of the Lambs at 35 — Revisiting our interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins: 'I wanted to be like Richard Burton – famous as well as different'
type: item
creator: Andrew Duncan
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As The Silence of the Lambs celebrates its 35th anniversary, we're resurfacing our 1994 interview with Anthony Hopkins — in which he talks about the transformative effect of his Oscar win.
encoded: This article was originally published in Radio Times magazine on 20 October 1994. It was only when he won an Oscar in 1992 for his part as Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer who cooked and ate his victims in The Silence of the Lambs, that Anthony Hopkins was convinced finally he’d become a decent actor. "After the old award came along I said to myself, 'What’s to prove now? I’ve done it'." Until then, he says, he’d wallowed in the troughs of insecurity, self-pity and alcoholism so common among our artistic brethren. Tedious stuff really. "Now I’m happy and at peace, with no axes to grind," he says. Let’s hope that isn t really true. His brilliance is drawn from the furies lurking within him and, although today in Cardiff he is the very image of self-deprecating thespian bonhomie, as well as a mixture of hauteur and vulnerability, he adds: "In a way my parts have been therapy, providing me with a great purging of my emotions. They seem to have paralleled my own development. Maybe Lecter was part of me - aloof, cold, a bit closed off. Being an actor has put some frost on my shoulder, a touch of ice in my veins. I don’t like displays of emotion and don’t trust my own because they’ve got me into trouble in the past. "I’ve become detached from life in the past ten years, which is probably why I look so calm. I don’t like being in crowds. In a strange way I’m free because I have no interests. I don’t care for sports, going to the theatre or cultural events. I don’t have many friends, hate going to dinner in other peoples’ houses, or to parties or restaurants. Food doesn’t interest me, nor does being with people for too long. I have no curiosity about anything, never have had." This makes him sound like a curmudgeonly misanthrope, a morose Celtic bore, but nothing could be further from the truth. He provides wonderful conversational entertainment – some of it true – the beguiling Welsh lilt transforming to mimic whatever actor he happens to be discussing. He says his secon…

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The Lady writer explains new Sarah Ferguson TV drama and how series handles Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:01:58.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Why The Lady, the new drama telling the story of Sarah Ferguson's former dresser Jane Andrews, is a "toxic fairy-tale".
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. “Andrew does not feature,” writer Debbie O’Malley says emphatically of the royal formerly known as Prince and his presence, or lack thereof, in ITV1’s four-parter The Lady. The drama tells the story of Jane Andrews (former dresser to the once Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson), who killed her partner Thomas Cressman in 2000. O’Malley says The Lady isn’t “interested in the royal world because it’s very much about the female, domestic world of Sarah [Natalie Dormer] and Jane’s part in it. We only ever see the Sarah that Jane got to see.” The Lady’s attention to Andrews’s relationship with Ferguson — “a fascinating dynamic as close as friends but with a difference in status that will never go away” — forms part of what O’Malley calls Andrews’s “toxic fairy tale”. “You’ve got this girl who comes from ordinary beginnings and ends up mixing with the greatest in the land at Buckingham Palace – before things take a sad and upsetting turn. It’s an interesting way to explore one woman’s journey as well as British society at the time.” Of course, it’s not a fairy tale, though. It’s a true story, or at least based on one. “If you’re writing true crime, there are things you can never know, and we wanted to be transparent about that. So wherever possible we’ve tried to show key moments of Jane and Tommy’s relationship through the eyes of the friends that were around them. There was no way we could necessarily please everyone, but we weren’t setting out to upset anyone.” O’Malley says she takes the “enormous” responsibility involved seriously. “When you’re trying to understand a complex protagonist, it’s easy to lose sight of the victim. And that was something that was important from the beginning – to remember that a man lost his life and his family and his friends are still grieving that loss. You just have to approach it with integrity.” The Lady will launch on Sunday (22nd February) at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX. The latest issue of …

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BAFTA nominee Rose Byrne talks unwinding after emotional and demanding new role: "I drink a lot of alcohol"
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:01:31.000Z
creator: Adam Tanswell
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As a mother, her latest role really hit home, but a post-filming cocktail — and Bafta and Oscar nominations — make it all worth it
encoded: On the small screen, Rose Byrne has tackled comedy in Platonic and hard-hitting biographical drama in Mrs America. On the big screen, the versatile Australian actress has petrified audiences in the Insidious horror franchise and cracked up crowds with the slapstick humour of Bridesmaids. Later this month, the 46-year-old tackles her most acclaimed role to date in the psychological drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Byrne plays a mother facing an existential crisis in a visceral performance that has earned the star a stack of awards and Bafta and Oscar nominations… It’s the Bafta Film Awards on Sunday, and you’re also nominated for an Oscar. What do you make of all the awards buzz for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You? It’s extraordinary and very surreal. I mean, this is a tiny film and I’m honoured that it’s being acknowledged in this way. In the past, I’ve had more chances to do complex roles on television – but this is by far the most complex role I’ve had on film. This really stretched me and changed me. It’s been a highlight for sure. What does working in television give you that the big screen usually doesn’t? I like the opportunity to develop a relationship with an audience on television. I think that’s wonderful. I love shows that you invest in season after season, shows that you often want to revisit. Whether it’s classics like Seinfeld or The Sopranos, you want to revisit that group of people and see them again. In the film, you play an anxious mother whose world starts to fall apart. How did you find this headspace? I’m a mother, so this role hits home for me. I mean, there’s nothing more confronting than being a parent, because kids see the best of you and the worst of you – and it’s so much about your own limitations. There’s that cliché of your child ending up teaching you more about yourself than anything, but they are the greatest teachers. It’s exactly the same in this film. Your co-star A$AP Rocky’s partner is Rihanna. Did you meet her? When I met Rocky, I …

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Why Carry On icon Kenneth Williams's legacy in British entertainment continues to endure
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:01:04.000Z
creator: David McGillivray
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Radio presenter and dedicated Williams fan Wes Butters spoke to Radio Times about the legendary performer.
encoded: Say the name Kenneth Williams and immediately you’re reminded of a rubber face, elongated vowels, a camp persona and a master of comic timing, as demonstrated in the Carry On films and radio programmes that are still popular today. But for radio presenter and dedicated Williams fan Wes Butters, the comic luminary remains much more than a "cartoon character". Butters says, "He transcended all age groups, all levels of society, all BBC networks." In a book, a radio documentary and now a film to be released later this year, Butters has been at pains to stress the star’s qualities as a person, something Williams would have appreciated, having often referred to the supposed ignominy of the creative artist required to perform low comedy. When Butters was planning a celebration of Williams’s centenary – a whole day of programmes on Radio 4 Extra this Saturday to mark exactly 100 years since Williams’s birth on 22 February 1926 – he had the same aim, to remind us of his idol’s dedication and versatility. Featured highlights include The Streets of London (1980) in which Williams proudly showed off his neighbourhood to Johnny Morris and Percy Edwards, and panel show The Law Game (1988), one of his last appearances. For Butters, this recording is bittersweet: "He’s so buoyant, at his best just months before he died." Butters, 46, was still a boy when Williams died. "He was ubiquitous in my childhood," Butters recalls of a time when Williams’s cross-generational appeal extended to frequent storytelling duties on Jackanory. "Everything about him was amusing to me," says the presenter, who was confused when he read the star’s celebrated Diaries, posthumously revealing a much darker side. "I couldn’t reconcile that happy joyous character with the man who would not allow himself to feel joy." One night in 2005, Butters bought a photo on eBay reportedly once owned by Williams. Butters contacted the seller, Williams’s godson Robert Chidell, who said he was selling everything, a colle…

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Gordon Buchanan: "Coming from such a small community, I'm almost embarrassed by my achievements"
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:41.000Z
creator: Rosie Millard
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Gordon Buchanan’s difficult home life forced him outdoors – and he’s never looked back.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. A pride of lions – two lionesses and six or seven, almost-grown up, cubs – are gorging on a zebra carcass in the Okavango Delta. They have been without food for several days. Astonishing close-ups show the longed-for meat disappearing into the jaws of each lion. Drone shots capture the moment when the pride has had its fill. Tummies full, the big cats roll over, sated. If you want to see lions in a state of bliss, Big Cats 24/7 is for you. Wildlife film-maker Gordon Buchanan, who grew up on the Isle of Mull, is part of the BBC team following lion, leopard and cheetah across Botswana, day and night, as the title promises. The Scottish cameraman is at the top of his game, having shot more than 32 natural-history programmes, a number of which he’s also presented. In 2020 he was appointed MBE for his services to conservation. Is he as satisfied as those lions? “Coming from such a small community, I’m almost embarrassed by my achievements. I never set out to prove anything, bar to myself,” he says. Buchanan didn’t have an easy, or privileged start in life. Born just outside Glasgow, the third of four children, the family moved to Mull when Buchanan was a small child, after his mother separated from his father. They lived in a caravan and money was tight; his mother held down three weekly jobs. “She had no support. There were hugs and we were loved, but the rest… you had to make up for yourself. We had a sort of feral existence.” School was no help. “I think today I would be defined as dyslexic,” he says. “I struggled through school, not grasping things. I could skive my way through it and I wasn’t expected to pass anything, bar woodwork and art.” Buchanan acknowledges that being a natural-history presenter from a working-class background is unusual. “Historically, the only people who were naturalists were the clergy or monied classes,” he says. “There is an assumption that I’m middle-class because in the media, and in …

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The Archers favourites star in 75th anniversary photoshoot and talk THAT dramatic George whodunnit reveal
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:39.000Z
creator: Libby Purves
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: BBC Radio 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: Radio Times heads to Ambridge to take a deep dive into the latest plot twist.
encoded: This article originally appeared in Radio Times magazine. It began in 2024 when Alice Carter, an intermittently recovering alcoholic from the prosperous Aldridge family, fell asleep drunk in the passenger seat of her car. Her nephew-in-law George Grundy, a farmworker’s son, couldn’t resist offering to drive her home (it was a flash car). But Alice half-woke and clawed drunkenly for the door: it made George swerve and knock another car, bearing Mick, Joy and Fallon, from the bridge into the River Am. George dived in for a heroic rescue but afterwards panicked and moved the blotto Alice into the driver’s seat. Fallon lost the baby she didn’t know she was expecting, and everyone’s trauma rolled on for weeks. Alice was riven by guilt, though she couldn’t remember driving. George finally admitted the truth: when his grandparents Neil and Susan reported it, he got sent to prison for eight months. On release, he found most of Ambridge pretty unforgiving. Jobless and barred from the Bull, he ranted at all of them on New Year’s Eve. Following a conversation with the now saintly, forgiving Alice however, he resolved to put the past behind him and make good. Hollie Chapman, who plays Alice, explains, “The tables turned, and when she went from being the drunk to someone giving George wise advice, the scene felt really emotional, and I nearly lost it.” Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. Angus Stobie who voices George and joined Chapman on RT’s photoshoot to mark the dramatic storyline for the soap’s 75th anniversary, agrees that something changed in the characters’ dynamic. “I think George is slightly in awe of Alice and how she handled the whole situation. He also then means to change, family is at the centre of it all, and he wants to work and give back and provide.” …

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Beloved author Marian Keyes reveals why 'chick lit' exposes the "hollowness" of post-feminism
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:38.000Z
creator: Rosie Millard
subject: Books
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Marian Keyes’s novels were seen as fluffy fiction, but a new drama about her Walsh sisters is fun and fearless.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The award-winning Irish author Marian Keyes has sold millions of books in an internationally acclaimed career, but still behaves as if she has everything to prove. A few years back she was invited to be on the BBC arts programme Imagine. Her reaction? “You’ve rung me by mistake, it’s Roddy Doyle you want.” And despite the fact that two of her novels have now been adapted into a six-part series, The Walsh Sisters – a cracking, tragicomic saga of five sisters living it large in Dublin – she still doesn’t think she deserves it. “Well, it’s 30 years since my first book was published, and things have been suggested all the time, and nothing ever gets made, and it’s the hope that kills you,” she says. “So I just never bothered expecting it, because I felt there was no point.” When I ask why she’s so down on herself, she widens her green eyes and looks directly at me. “Because I write popular fiction. People were so keen to tell me that that my voice was worthless and my books were worthless…” she shrugs. Not only does Keyes write popular fiction – albeit peppered with Shakespearean allusions and quotes from the King James Bible – but that fiction often comes with pink covers. “I have stayed the course and I have defended myself for a long time, especially with men. I mean, sexism was so rife. It was OK for men to mock books with pink covers.” The eyes get even wider. “The patriarchy was so confident. One great way of hanging on to the power and the money is to mock the things that women love. A woman might read a book and love it. And a man will say, ‘You’re not reading that pink fluff, are you?’ And immediately a woman feels foolish and embarrassed.” Keyes is charming, but there is anger just under the smiley surface. Take her first novel, Watermelon. It deals with a number of the most urgent of female issues (single parenting, the pay gap, body dysmorphia). Yet, when it was published in 1995, it was put into a pink du…

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Phil Wang transforms into the legendary horror icon Nosferatu - and reveals his top horror picks
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:20.000Z
creator: Paul Kirkley
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Video
description: RT’s vampiric cover star, comedian Phil Wang, explains his new-found love of horror movies, as he gets his fangs into judging Great British Menu.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Don’t let anyone tell you that Phil Wang isn’t a trouper. In a studio in south London, the amiable comedian has submitted, uncomplainingly, to two hours in the make-up chair to be transformed into Count Orlok – bloodsucking antagonist of one of his favourite films, Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror – to help draw together the threads of RT’s horror special and his latest gig as a judge on the new, film-themed series of Great British Menu. Having been fitted with a bald cap (“like a big condom,” according to the make-up artist), slathered in grease paint and accessorised with razor-sharp nails and false teeth – Phil Fang, anyone? – the only thing our easy-going vampire draws the line at is shaving off his moustache. “I’ve got five minutes of material about it in my stand-up show,” he explains, apologetically. That’s OK, we assure him – hipster Orlok is actually quite a strong look. “I feel like I’ve unleashed an inner part of me,” says the 36-year-old, as he vamps it up for the camera. “Also, it’s nice to have a preview of what I look like bald. I think I’ve got quite a good-shaped head.” According to his self-effacing tour blurb, Wang is best known “for one series of Taskmaster, one episode of Would I Lie to You? and one minute of Wonka”. In reality, of course, he’s one of Britain’s most in-demand stand-ups, a regular TV fixture on everything from Graham Norton’s sofa to Have I Got News for You, and the star of two hit Netflix specials, Philly Philly Wang Wang and Wang in There, Baby! He also hosted the 2021 podcast series Phil Wang Hates Horror, in which comedy pals including Ed Gamble, Rose Matafeo and Nish Kumar forced him to overcome his lifelong fear of scary movies. Did it work? Judging by his current get-up, yes – even if, as we talk, he’s slightly ruining the effect by sipping peach water instead of drinking blood… What was your main takeaway from the Phil Wang Hates Horror podcast? That horror can be really…

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Under Salt Marsh’s Rafe Spall talks impact of nepotism in his career: "That’s called an advantage"
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:12.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Balancing fatherhood and a successful screen career is challenging, but he’s trying…
encoded: What’s the view from your sofa? It’s an open-plan TV area that has the TV, obviously, and a record player with lots of records beside it. And lots of baby toys, because we have an 18-month-old. You have four children. Do you enjoy being a dad? Being a father is my proudest achievement. My kids are 14, 13, 10 and 18 months, which is quite a big stretch, and sometimes the sense of responsibility is pretty crushing. But it’s what sustains me; it’s what keeps me going. It’s really defined by what you get wrong. I get a lot wrong and I find it difficult sometimes, but I show up and I try. Looking after these kids and giving them as nice a life as I can is really the only thing of any worth I’ve ever done. Eric Bull, your character in Under Salt Marsh, has entered the pantheon of British detectives. Tell us about him. He’s awkward. Brusque. Into mushrooms. He’s a gay man – or a man who happens to be gay. A lot of that stuff was on the page, but I had free rein to decide where he was from because he needed to be not from there, not Welsh, so I decided to go West Midlands. My partner [and Trying co-star] Esther Smith is from Stourbridge, and I like the idea of the Black Country. It’s geographically close to north Wales and you don’t hear the accent much on television. Given that Bull’s been conducting his murder investigation under the threat of an almighty, evidence-destroying storm that finally hits this week, how was filming Under Salt Marsh? It was one of the most difficult pieces of shooting I’ve ever done. Given that the show is, essentially, about a storm, it meant being under rain machines from November through to March in north Wales and Cardiff – and that’s physically quite demanding. There were a lot of wetsuits involved. But we’re well paid, and it beats digging a hole in the road. Trying, your Apple TV sitcom that’s now being shown on BBC One, must be a cakewalk, comparatively? When I go home after a day of Trying, I’m much more exhausted than I would be after …

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The Silence of the Lambs at 35 - Revisiting our interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins: 'I wanted to be like Richard Burton – famous as well as different'
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T15:55:44.000Z
creator: Andrew Duncan
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As The Silence of the Lambs celebrates its 35th anniversary, we're resurfacing our 1994 interview with Anthony Hopkins – in which he talks about the transformative effect of his Oscar win.
encoded: This article was originally published in Radio Times magazine on 20th October 1994 It was only when he won an Oscar in 1992 for his part as Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer who cooked and ate his victims in The Silence of the Lambs, that Anthony Hopkins was convinced finally he’d become a decent actor. "After the old award came along I said to myself, 'What’s to prove now? I’ve done it'." Until then, he says, he’d wallowed in the troughs of insecurity, self-pity and alcoholism so common among our artistic brethren. Tedious stuff really. "Now I’m happy and at peace, with no axes to grind," he says. Let’s hope that isn t really true. His brilliance is drawn from the furies lurking within him and, although today in Cardiff he is the very image of self-deprecating thespian bonhomie, as well as a mixture of hauteur and vulnerability, he adds: "In a way my parts have been therapy, providing me with a great purging of my emotions. They seem to have paralleled my own development. Maybe Lecter was part of me - aloof, cold, a bit closed off. Being an actor has put some frost on my shoulder, a touch of ice in my veins. I don’t like displays of emotion and don’t trust my own because they’ve got me into trouble in the past. "I’ve become detached from life in the past ten years, which is probably why I look so calm. I don’t like being in crowds. In a strange way I’m free because I have no interests. I don’t care for sports, going to the theatre or cultural events. I don’t have many friends, hate going to dinner in other peoples’ houses, or to parties or restaurants. Food doesn’t interest me, nor does being with people for too long. I have no curiosity about anything, never have had." This makes him sound like a curmudgeonly misanthrope, a morose Celtic bore, but nothing could be further from the truth. He provides wonderful conversational entertainment – some of it true – the beguiling Welsh lilt transforming to mimic whatever actor he happens to be discussing. He says his seco…

EastEnders star reveals Chrissie Watts's Jasmine Fisher fears ahead of explosive week
type: item
date: 2026-02-14T09:00:08.000Z
creator: Michael Adams
subject: EastEnders
subject: Soaps
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: News
description: Tracy-Ann Oberman speaks to Radio Times about her latest stint in the East End.
encoded: Chrissie Watts is a real force to be reckoned with. In just 226 episodes of EastEnders, actress Tracy-Ann Oberman has been afforded some of the finest dialogue in soap history, and the character is responsible for killing off one of the drama's biggest antagonists - 'Dirty' Den (Leslie Grantham). Being the successor to Anita Dobson's Angie as the second Mrs Watts is quite the task, though Oberman went into the audition relatively nerve-free, as she wasn't aware which role she was aiming for. "There was only five names down for this recall [audition], and apart from me, every single one of them was a household name," she recalled to Radio Times this week, just one day after her latest return. "I didn't know what it was for, other than being a regular character's new wife. I think at that time, Ian Beale had just got rid of another wife, and my flatmate at the time was a huge EastEnders fan, so she was really excited. "We just worked out that [Chrissie] must be Ian Beale's wife." She continued: "I was taken into the set and the casting director said, 'Just to let you know, you're going to be doing a screen test with Leslie Grantham'. I was a bit late because I had to come from a voiceover job down to Elstree. As I walked on set, Leslie said, 'Oh, you're the girl that does the voiceovers?', and I batted back, 'Are you the bloke whose character has been dead for 15 years?' AddRadio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. "We had a really good banter between us. Within nine days, I found out that I got the part of his new wife. It was a real whirlwind. The producer at the time said that they felt me and Leslie had real chemistry, and that if Angie and Den were like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, he was like Spencer Tracy, and I was Catherine Hepburn. "I thought, 'I'll take tha…

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Rick Astley takes poignant look back on his career, Bond songs and future hopes: "I'm just getting more emotional as I get older"
type: item
date: 2026-02-12T15:44:10.000Z
creator: Lewis Knight
subject: audio
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Music
description: Performing is "still the most special thing".
encoded: There are a few candidates to be the nicest guy in music, but Rick Astley is surely up there. The Lancashire-born singer-songwriter is a quintessential voice of the 1980s, and the immortality of his biggest song Never Gonna Give You Up will forever guarantee him a place in the annals of pop history. Following years of hiatus, Astley returned for the 21st century with a renewed sparkle, killer vocals and still one fantastic head of hair, winning legions of new fans. Whether it's taking Glastonbury by storm or heading out on acclaimed tours and still producing new records, Astley is now a confirmed national sweetheart. Now, Astley has sat down for an emotional instalment of Dermot O'Leary's Reel Stories, looking back at footage of his career, and it left him feeling sentimental. Speaking with Radio Times for the release of Reel Stories and ahead of his much-anticipated 2026 live tour in the UK and Ireland, Astley discussed his career, aspirations for the future, and, of course, what he's watching on TV. So, Rick, you took part in Dermot O'Leary's Reel Stories. Have you managed to see it yet? "I was there on the day! I don't know whether I want to see it again. It was a really enjoyable thing to do, but it was a bit emotional as well. And I think that didn't completely catch me by surprise. Have you seen George Clooney's new movie [Jay Kelly]? Some similarities with that, where someone plonks you down in a cinema and then just goes like, 'These are some of the best bits of your life.' "So it was pretty emotional. I think I'm more emotional about the last few years than I was when I was young, to be honest; when it was all kind of kicking off. Because it's a long time, for one thing, and my memories of it are pretty strong in certain ways, but they're also probably filtered for the good and the bad. So, whereas the most recent stuff is kind of a bit easier to relate to, I'm just getting more emotional as I get older. It's as simple as that." Do you think that's also bec…

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Pixar at 40: from Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
type: item
creator: Laura Rutkowski
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Chief creative officer Pete Docter, Pixar's third-ever animator, explains how the company continues to evolve, while keeping its heart.
encoded: You wouldn’t know it now, but Pixar Animations Studios began small, so small that its chief creative officer reflects, “I'm not sure exactly why I went to Pixar.” Peter Docter says, “I'd always grown up thinking, ‘I'm going to work at Disney. Someday, I'm going to draw Mickey Mouse.’ Then instead, I went to this place that no one had heard of... literally no one.” The same cannot be said today, of course, as the award-winning company responsible for beloved films including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Cars, A Bug’s Life and Inside Out celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 1979, George Lucas hired Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm’s Computer Division, which in 1982 completed the first fully computer-animated scene in a feature film for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas and officially founded Pixar as an independent company, made up of about 40 employees. In 1988, the short film Tin Toy was released and it became the first computer-animated film to win an Oscar in 1989. Docter joined in 1990 at the age of 21 after graduating from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), where he studied character animation, as Pixar’s third-ever animator. He began animating and directing adverts, including his work on Listerine’s “Boxer”. “Friends of mine from CalArts were working on The Little Mermaid and I was animating happy products bouncing, thinking, ‘This is a waste of time,’” Docter says, but it was good practice for what was to come. “It's actually surprising how much story you can tell in 30 seconds, so it was very instructive. It was also fast, so if you hated one commercial, you’d wait a couple of weeks and be on to the next one.” It wouldn’t be long before he started working on Toy Story (which evolved out of Tin Toy), contributing to story and character development and serving as supervising animator. “Steve [Jobs] put up with us losing basically a million dollars a month before Toy St…

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Suda51 says Grasshopper staff are "funky in the head," as he explains Romeo Is a Dead Man development
type: item
date: 2026-02-11T15:36:16.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Video
description: Suda51 has cultivated a very Suda51 staff under him.
encoded: Anyone who has ever played a Suda51 game knows in their heart that this is a man who operates on another level to most of us. It is, therefore, hardly a surprise that the staff who work under him at Grasshopper Manufacture embody the same guiding principles, according to the man himself. During Romeo Is a Dead Man's recent press tour, we managed to convince Suda to visit our office, whereupon we interviewed him while cooking him a katsu curry, as one does. One prominent aspect of the game that becomes clear early on is the sheer dearth of minigames available, from growing seeds into the zombie-like Bastards and navigating Pac-Man-style mazes to, of course, cooking katsu curry. And the reason behind this is that Suda has seen fit to let loose the Grasshopper team on Romeo – a team that is just as off-kilter as he is. "A lot of the staff at Grasshopper are a bit, kind of funky in the head, I guess you could say," he noted. "Also, a lot of them seem to have this strange sort of motivation, thinking, 'OK, if I don't come up with something really weird, or come up with something kind of out of left field, then Suda's not going to OK it. So, I've got to come up with something just really weird, and something that nobody else would think of.' "One of them came up to me with this idea for, "Hey, let's have katsu curry, and you could actually make it and then when you eat it, Romeo gets powered up,' and I was like, 'Yeah, OK!' That's pretty much how it came to be." Beyond this, the fact that Grasshopper has such a small, but diversely talented team drove Romeo to platform all sorts of different art styles, from realistic combat scenes to a pixel art hub world and comic book exposition. "We're not a huge studio, we're not like a big AAA studio," Suda explained. "We're relatively small. Currently, we only have about 50 people on staff. "To be honest, we can't spend a whole lot of money, and so luckily, I've got a lot of experience in, and I feel I'm pretty good at making games…

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LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight producer talks Arkham inspiration and Easter eggs
type: item
date: 2026-02-10T08:00:19.000Z
creator: Ben Rayner
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Holy creative freedom, Batman!
encoded: "I can't think of anything that was off the table." That's what Matt Ellison told us, when we spoke to the LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight executive producer at the Gamescom conference last year. You can see our whole chat with Ellison in the video player above (or on YouTube) and it’s also available on the Radio Times Gaming podcast feed. Boasting seven playable characters, with over 100 suits between them — including Ellison’s personal favourite, the Rainbow Suit — it certainly doesn’t look like Traveller’s Tales (TT) are holding back with LEGO Batman 4. "We've drawn from so many things," Ellison revealed. "There are so many different Easter eggs and references. I don't think anyone knows all of them. "And yeah, there's been very little that people have said no to. If it exists in DC and is familiar for Batman, I think it was fair game. So we've put in as much as we can, and there are things everywhere as you explore. "Through Gotham, round every corner there's a different billboard or a different shop, and all of these things include references to various different things. Some of them are really subtle, some of them are a bit more obvious, but there's lots of things that fans of Batman will enjoy." View oEmbed on the source website Indeed, fans of Batman have noticed all sorts of things in the trailers, with nods appearing not just to movies and comics, but also previous games starring Gotham’s Caped Crusader. As Ellison admitted, "We very much took inspiration from other games, particularly the Arkham series. "When we were looking at what we wanted to do in this game, we were looking at, 'What can we improve?' And combat is something where… It was an area we thought we could improve. And [Arkham developers Rocksteady] did a fantastic job of what they did [in combat]. "So, we got that as sort of a template, and then, [we looked at] what can we do for this game to make it slightly more accessible, so that younger players can get into it as well. So, there'…

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Open All Hours creator reveals of his legendary sitcom: "It would never happen again"
type: item
date: 2026-02-10T00:01:16.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Sir Roy Clarke on his important lunch with Ronnie Barker, a pairing made in comedy heaven and the gift of an idea.
encoded: Fifty years ago this month, a little corner store opened for business. Quintessentially northern but universally popular, Open All Hours was a hit for its stars and spawned a successful sequel, but in fact the bell above Arkwright’s door first tinkled in a pilot episode three years before in 1973. RT was lucky enough to gain a rare interview with its creator, Sir Roy Clarke... Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances and Open All Hours are just three of the hit shows that have kept Roy Clarke busy over the years. And so beloved are those comedies that he was recently appointed a Knights Bachelor for services to entertainment. Did the recent honour come as a surprise? “You can bet your bottom dollar!” says Clarke, 96. But what of the other birthday boy, Open All Hours: how did that come about? “The BBC put Ronnie and I together for a lunch to see if we could come up with something,” explains Clarke, “and in the course of that, Ronnie said, ‘I’ve always wanted to play one of these small shopkeepers.’ Well that clicked for me because my wife’s father was a grocer, she was raised in the trade, and when we were first married she ran a little shop, so I was comfy with the material and I went away quite happy with working on that.” The show was created specifically for Ronnie Barker for his 1973 comedy anthology series Seven of One, which also gave rise to Porridge. There was a three-year gap between pilot and series, so why the long wait? “Well, it was always Ronnie’s commitments.” As well as The Two Ronnies, Barker was also becoming established as “habitual criminal” Norman Stanley Fletcher in said cell-mate sitcom. So in Open All Hours, his skinflint shopkeeper Albert Arkwright, paired with David Jason as his naive nephew Granville, was a comedy dream come true. “It would never happen again,” says Clarke. “David happened to be just starting in his fame. At no other stage in time would it have been possible to have two stars of that magnitude in one show. So that …

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Felicia Day reveals The Guild movie update, as musical version lands in London
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:28:55.000Z
creator: Rob Leane
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Video
description: "Next year is the 20th anniversary of The Guild."
encoded: Felicia Day’s iconic web series The Guild is transferring to the London stage for one week only, having been transformed into a musical! And beyond that, Day is planning a Guild movie. In our latest Arcade Hang interview, we got the chance to ask Day how exactly The Guild's unlikely transition into musical theatre happened, as well as hearing from her co-star in the musical, Anjali Bhimani. “The Guild: The Musical is so exciting,” Day told us in the interview, which you can watch right now in the video player above (or over on YouTube). Day continued: “I'm just like a girl who works on my instinct, and about six years ago, two playwrights who were in a playwriting workshop were like, 'Hey, we wrote a song for The Guild as part of our workshop. Can we option it?' “And I was like, 'Let me listen to the song.’ Because I grew up on musicals. I was home-schooled, and the reason I'm an actor is because I did musicals across the Southeast, as like, Orphan Number Seven. So I was excited about it, and I loved their song, and I was like, 'Okay, let's do it'. “So I let them option it, and of course, I get sucked in more and more, and I become a producer, and I work with them. They're scrappy, New York actors, and they're so good, and it's taken so long. We did a reading in LA and I was able to get Dean Johnson, this amazing, very established London director on board and now we're doing it.” At the time of writing, there are only a few tickets left for The Guild: The Musical’s week of London shows, and you can find them on The Other Palace website right now. It’s running from Tuesday until Thursday this week, in a work in progress state. View oEmbed on the source website Explaining where The Guild musical fits in the series, Day explained: “The musical kind of takes a lot from the first and second seasons, and exorcises some things that I'm like, ‘Whoa.’ “When I watch my first work, I'm like, ‘That is not a joke I would tell now, thank you very much’. There are some dated thing…

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Meet the BBC's last reporter remaining in Russia: "It feels like we're in the eye of the storm"
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:01:45.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Current Affairs
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg admits the last four years have tested his optimism, but he has no intention of abandoning the country he loves.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Steve Rosenberg is the BBC’s Russia editor, and the broadcaster’s only reporter left in the country. Over more than 30 years of living in Moscow, he has experienced the Communist and Boris Yeltsin eras, Vladimir Putin and now “Z”, the military symbol for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Though journalists are often detained, arrested and tried, he continues to report from the country. You’re currently based in Moscow, but not in your usual office? Our main office flooded, there was a burst pipe in the building, so we’re in an emergency flat. We’ve had to build a temporary voice booth, using blankets and a desk. What were you doing when Russia invaded Ukraine, four years ago? I was woken by a call from the news desk in London. I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and rushed to the office. That was a hell of a day – I was working non-stop, broadcasting live, doing reports for the main TV bulletins. There wasn’t a second to stop. At the end of the day, it hit me – this was a watershed moment, things were never going to be the same. As the only BBC reporter in Russia, what’s a typical day like? Going back 10 years, it would be hard to get on the news; that’s all changed. I sleep for four to five hours, get up at 5am and walk our rescue dog, Laila. After breakfast, I come into the office and review the papers for social media. Even though it’s a very controlled media environment, you find all kinds of nuggets in the Russian press. But the situation is so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen. It feels like we’re in the eye of the storm; it’s disconcerting. Last May, I was completely exhausted. The doctor said, “Eat better, do more exercise!” So I started going to the gym, having a decent breakfast, cutting out the snacks… I’m feeling much better. How is it, in the eye of the storm? We’re in a strange bubble. When you’re in Moscow, everything looks pretty normal. Then you see adverts trying to recruit …

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The Archers at 75: Reflecting on the British institution with BBC Radio stars and its celebrity fans
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:01:09.000Z
creator: Libby Purves
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From cake competitions to coercive control, The Archers has captivated its devoted listeners for 75 years and counting.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. For all the gentle storylines about lemon-drizzle cake and family tiffs, there is something oddly majestic about The Archers and its survival for 75 years. It’s not about thriller events – though there’s a grand shock revelation coming very soon. The more solid pleasure of the radio drama lies in getting to know the characters over years, watching them arrive, reveal themselves, scrape against the others, maybe intermarry and bear children, with all recognisable tensions and worries and rows. And the reason that this tapestry of lives becomes sort of majestic is its sheer longevity: the following of fictional lives in real time. And in a largely urban society, it perhaps helps to remind those in cramped cities that food comes from hard work and green fields. When you meet the long-serving actors they always stress that peculiar sense of living in a parallel reality. Pat Gallimore, who has played Tony Archer’s wife Pat for 52 years, says: “If anyone had told me at that audition in 1974 that I would be around for half a century, it’d be unbelievable. But like your own life it becomes part of you, surviving and thriving. A second life, a second family.” Gallimore’s character Pat is a classic example of a figure listeners have heard evolving over the years: from a Welsh-accented CND firebrand and leftist, who cancelled Tony’s Express for The Guardian, we’ve heard her support the farm going organic “way before it was mainstream”. The Archers was part of that new acceptance just as it reflects today’s rewilding enthusiasm. Her Pat also worked through a delicate handling of grief over her elder son’s death on a tractor. I remind her how furious farming people were when the then-editor giggled in an interview about his departure as a “fun” plot. “Yes,” says Gallimore thoughtfully, “we all know that things can hit people personally. It matters.” Another storyline that hit people personally, making national news, was the “c…

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Derry Girls creator talks new Netflix show How to Get to Heaven from Belfast: "You can't separate us from what's happened here"
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:00:45.000Z
creator: Emma Cox
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Following her BAFTA-winning Derry Girls, Lisa McGee is pivoting to something a bit creepier – but with friends, laughter and fun at its core.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. If you ever catch an Irish brunette staring as you argue with friends, beware: it might be Lisa McGee, and she might write you into her next comedy. McGee’s huge hit Derry Girls, about a group of teenagers growing up during the Troubles, hit the mark with viewers thanks to its precise and hilarious observations about the way family and friends often talk to each other. And while writing her new series, which also follows a group of bickering pals, McGee admits she takes a lot of inspiration from real life. “I love watching people argue,” she says. “I have a group of close friends from school and when we go away together, I just listen. The arguments are unbelievably funny.” While McGee changes and embellishes the real-life stories she hears – and usually asks permission – she admits getting into trouble once when she forgot to tell a friend she was pinching her story about a family feud. “My friend was like, ‘Lisa, what the hell?’ But I just go, ‘Well, you shouldn’t tell me’. Everyone knows it’s all up for grabs, my mum especially. You can see it dawning on her as she’s telling me a story and she’ll go, ‘Don’t you dare’. With my mum – tough. I’ll use it anyway.” Her new series, How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, has the same DNA as Derry Girls but is edgier, according to McGee. And that’s not the only difference – rather than a six-part sitcom this is an eight-part thriller going out on Netflix, which means a bigger budget than Derry Girls had on Channel 4. View oEmbed on the source website The plot revolves around three school friends now in their 30s – Saoirse, Dara and Robyn – who discover their fourth friend has died suddenly. They haven’t seen Greta since school and when they go to her wake, they realise the cause of her death may not be all it seems. Soon, they’ve stumbled into investigating what really happened while facing up to their own past lives – and lies. The idea came to 45-year-old McGee when she v…

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Blue Lights star argues that there are still so many realistic stories to tell about sex workers
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:00:31.000Z
creator: Steve O'Brien
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Despite her BAFTA, the actor says that every role she gets is still like winning the lottery.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? I used to have a small TV because I was against letting it dominate the room, but my partner is a massive film geek and viewing is very important to him. So, I doubled the size of my TV, but it doesn’t dominate the room. We have a corner suite that we watch it from. What have you been watching on your room-appropriate TV recently? I’m drawn to documentaries, and I’ve just watched Sean Combs: the Reckoning on Netflix. I’m also enjoying The Beast in Me. Who controls the remote at home? We share it. If I walk into the room and my partner is watching a programme, he will stop to talk to me. He doesn’t just continue watching, which is incredible, isn’t it? You recently starred as a crime boss in the drama Blue Lights, and you play the head of MI6 in the comedy Black Ops. Which genre do you prefer? I like immersing myself in characters and I’m fascinated by good writing. As long as my mind is engaged, I’m a happy bunny. I just try to make things interesting and bring some humanity to even the baddies I play – they were kids once, too. But being around people who do a lot of comedy is always lovely. Black Ops also makes pertinent points about racism and corruption. Do you think comedy is an effective medium to explore difficult topics? Yes, and I think it gets overlooked. Even though I’m not employed in a lot of comedic roles, I’m still aware of the need. I revere comedy and I don’t think it gets the respect it deserves, budget-wise, as well as the kudos. Your breakout role was as a sex worker, Simone, in the 1986 film Mona Lisa, and you played another one in the 1990s TV drama Band of Gold. What’s your opinion on how TV series and films represent that occupation? In the area of sex workers, there are still loads of stories to be told from a realistic point of view. When Band of Gold came out, hearing and seeing these women at home, it was revolutionary. I let go of my prejudices of sex wo…

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Vinnie Jones explains why Clarkson's Farm comparisons are "upsetting" as he returns with In the Country
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:00:03.000Z
creator: Jonathan Wells
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The footballer turned actor on playing gangsters, the great outdoors and coping with loneliness and grief.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. After a headline-grabbing football career, Vinnie Jones burst onto the big screen in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Since then, he’s played soldiers, supervillains and enough gangsters to fill a crime family. But Vinnie Jones in the Country, now in its third series, follows the actor’s true passion: preserving and exploring the countryside from his 2,000-acre estate in West Sussex. Just don’t compare it to Clarkson’s Farm… When did your love of the outdoors begin? I caught my first trout with my dad when I was seven. He was always a passionate country man – we had fishing rods and guns and bred working dogs. We were in Watford, and I still remember finding my first lapwing nest in a field. If I were on Mastermind, my specialist subject would be British nature – not many people would beat me. You’ve moved from football to acting to country living — is it in your nature to reinvent yourself? I couldn’t just sit on my arse watching daytime TV. I get anxiety attacks if I don’t have plans for every day of the week. Doing all of this is where I’m in my element. For me, it’s 1988 every day: playing Liverpool in front of 100,000 people at Wembley. It’s like reliving my childhood, which was all countryside and football. Now it’s all countryside and acting. You had the idea for Vinnie Jones in the Country before Covid — did the pandemic change your approach to the show? I’d just lost my wife [Tanya died in 2019] going into the pandemic, so I couldn’t have been lonelier. I spent lockdown watching Netflix box sets. When we came out, the first thing I wanted was to dive into the countryside. It felt like being on the top board with the ladder taken away – I had no choice but to jump in. The show was the same: I dived straight in. How would you describe the show? It’s a show without an agenda, and it’s not a farm show – it’s an in-the-country show. Everyone’s tried to hang it on Clarkson’s Farm, w…

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Small Prophets' Pearce Quigley on Mackenzie Crook comedy: 'It's the perfect TV show'
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T12:10:32.000Z
creator: Abby Robinson
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: BBC Two
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
description: Mackenzie Crook reunites with his Detectorists co-star Pearce Quigley for a suburban-set comedy about magical spirits with the power to predict the future.
encoded: Seven years ago, on Christmas Eve, Michael Sleep's girlfriend, Clea, disappeared. He doesn't know why she left, just that she did – and that her car was later found on the Severn Bridge. But there was no trace of her, and Clea's whereabouts remain unknown. Following on from Detectorists and Worzel Gummidge, Mackenzie Crook returns with his third project, Small Prophets, a BBC Two series billed as a comedy – and like both of the aforementioned, there's a healthy dose of silliness and tomfoolery. But also like the aforementioned, there are moments where you find yourself unexpectedly moved, delivered with the lightest of touches – a specialty of Crook's uniquely brilliant writing. It was rumoured that Clea was murdered by Michael. A common assumption in such circumstances, and one that certainly wasn't helped by the police digging up his garden – which Michael has long given up on. The plants and weeds threaten to swallow his house whole, to make it disappear, just as Clea did. But if he was to mow the lawn, or pack away the Christmas decorations that have remained untouched in the living room – a space suspended in time – it might be taken as a sign he's ready to move on, which he's not. Michael's love for Clea has never wavered, not once, and he's never stopped hoping that one day she'll walk through their front door, as if her absence were nothing more than a slight detour. "His life has completely stopped," Pearce Quigley, who plays Michael, told RadioTimes.com. "He's able to function, he's able to keep his job going, but all the joy has gone out of his life. His only joy, I suppose, is seeing his dad, who he goes and visits [in a care home] every day, because he loves his dad very much." Brian is played beautifully by Michael Palin, who's on sparkling form. "That was intimidating, meeting him for the first time, because there's no two ways about it, you can't get it out of your head, that's Michael Palin, Michael Palin's playing my dad... How did that happen?" An…

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Adam Richman's ultimate Italy food guide: From 'tag bol' to chocolate fountains
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T12:00:12.000Z
creator: Laura Rutkowski
subject: Travel
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Swapping New York for Italy, Adam Richman embarks on a city-hopping adventure in search of the country’s best-loved dishes.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. If you weren’t hungry before listening to Adam Richman describe food, you certainly will be after. The presenter of Man v Food, Adam Richman Eats Britain and Adam Richman Eats Football has worked in New York kitchens since he was 13, so the Brooklyn native knows his stuff. For his new series, though, he’s munching his way across 10 Italian cities – and letting RT in on his very best bites from the trip… ROME - Porchetta sandwiches at Er Buchetto “Er Buchetto opened its doors in 1890. The name literally means ‘little hole’, and it’s an itty-bitty restaurant that’s known for serving porchetta sandwiches. Porchetta is pork, and here it’s a deboned suckling pig stuffed with rosemary, spices and olive oil, cooked for three to four hours. It has crispy skin and it’s super juicy inside and they serve it cold on traditional Roman bread, though some people get it with cheese or other condiments. “The owner, Alessandro Fioravanti, is the fifth generation of the family running it; his son is now representing the sixth generation. Get there early though: there’s normally a line out the door and they can sell out by the afternoon.” Browse our holidays to Italy here FLORENCE - Bistecca alla Fiorentina and Brunello at FrancescoVini “I really try to do my homework, but that does not mean I can’t be wrong – there have been times when a chef has corrected me, like at FrancescoVini. The wine cellar there is in the remnants of the fifth largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, and I was talking to the owner, Fabio La Brusco, about Super Tuscans [red wines from Tuscany]. He said, ‘That’s what we make for Americans. If you’re having Bistecca alla Fiorentina [a steak dish], you’re having a Brunello.’ View oEmbed on the source website “Afterwards he apologised to me and said, ‘I know you just spoke about this whole thing, we can cut it,’ and I said, ‘We are not cutting it.’ The showrunner of Man v Food taught me that the worst thing any…

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Betrayal's Zahra Ahmadi: "There's a duty of care to communities that haven't been represented enough to do it authentically"
type: item
date: 2026-02-08T09:00:03.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: ITV
subject: Pass the Mic
description: The Beyond Paradise star takes on a very different role in Betrayal and chats to Pass the Mic about how it taps into her own Persian heritage.
encoded: Zahra Ahmadi is channelling her inner 007 in new ITV thriller, Betrayal, and while it's an action-packed step away from her previous roles, it's also one that has a bit more of a personal connection for the actress. "I've never had a role like it," Ahmadi tells me about her character of Mehreen Askari-Evans, an intelligence operative who is tasked to take over the duties of Shaun Evans's John Hughes after he finds himself under an internal investigation. From their first on-screen meeting, the air is clouded with tension and mystery – plus an awkward grilling (and ace rebuttal from Ahmadi's character) about Mehreen's heritage. The character, like Ahmadi herself, is mixed-race and of Persian descent so when it came to crafting that scene (in which John randomly asks: 'Where are you from?'), that came from Ahmadi's personal experiences. Working with series writer David Eldridge and executive producer Tom Leggett was a collaborative joy, Ahmadi tells me, and came with the acknowledgement from Eldridge that while he "innately understands what it is to be human, he doesn't understand what it is to be every human in those kind of specific moments". In a bid to make all the characters in Betrayal feel real, they chatted through them with the actors in question and actually, that entire encounter between John and Mehreen was born out of a discussion they had with Ahmadi. "I said to them that people always ask me where I'm from. It's a tricky one because in some ways, I don't mind. I'm interested in people, I want to know where they're from and what's your heritage. It's not that I have an issue with that, but it's more when it's used as a measuring tool," the actress tells me. "We can put whatever words we want on it, but it's 'How British are you?'," she says. "I was really grateful that they really listened. To explore that sort of dichotomy of being from a mixed background ... because anyone from a mixed background – we can all connect and relate as humans – it's so spec…

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