Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-04-02T16:17:34.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Race Across the World 2026 line-up: Meet the pairs competing in this breathtaking journey from Europe to Mongolia
items: As Michael Jackson's legacy returns to the limelight, can we truly separate the art from the artist?
items: W1A and Twenty Twelve creator takes us behind the pen on his all-new series Twenty Twenty Six
items: Joel Dommett and Armando Iannucci take on exclusive Taskmaster task – here's Alex Horne's verdict
items: BBC's Pilgrimage star Patsy Kensit: "The treatment I had over the years from the media was pretty awful"
items: Ben Fogle: "I'm reconciled to the fact I might not be returning to China any time soon"
items: W1A icon Ian Fletcher tells Radio Times all about his Twenty Twenty Six role: "This wasn't just any other job"
items: I'm Line of Duty's Vicky McClure, and this is why my husband and I are investigating atrocious historical crime cases
items: Frances Barber talks politics on TV and playing Margaret Thatcher: "I hated her"
items: Taskmaster legend Alex Horne reveals the "jolt" he got from seeing show's A-list Hollywood signing
items: Shrinking's Jason Segel reveals how Michael J Fox joined the show and how they worked on "authentic" Parkinson's storyline
items: Cameron Diaz, Keanu Reeves and Matt Bomer talk new comedy Outcome: "Social media makes everybody famous"
items: Taskmaster legend Alex Horne teases season 23 line-up as an Oscar winner joins cast
items: Doctor Who icon Peter Purves reveals "pleasure" as fans can finally see more of missing companion in newly discovered episodes
items: 12 actors who are the unsung heroes of British TV - from The Night Manager stars to former Coronation Street femme fatale
items: The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
items: How Race Across the World casts its pairings - and the secrets behind the new 2026 civilian series
items: Why my new hopeful BBC drama Babies is the culmination of a decade's exploration into grief
items: I'm Vicky Pattison and this is why we need to stop saying 'geriatric pregnancy' and make egg freezing more affordable
items: The Pitt star Noah Wyle talks his seminal show as UK premiere arrives – and his reaction to Robby and Whitaker fan art
items: Danny Dyer reveals what changed his mind on hit new show: "I couldn’t be f**ked to do it, I'll be honest"
items: Ludwig star talks exit from the show ahead of season 2: "I hope the door is still open"
items: Emma Chapman: "If intelligent life has evolved and wants to send us a message, they'll develop a radio telescope to do that"
items: The Traitors' Harry Clark reveals 6 ways to enjoy Rome - including trying to see the Pope
items: Mock the Week legend Dara Ó Briain: "It's very worrying that the BBC has less money to do things"
items: Jessica Gunning talks magical new role and fielding Baby Reindeer questions: "I do wash a lot!"
items: Ghosts legend Simon Farnaby talks movie spin-off and acting opposite Queen Elizabeth II
items: Peaky Blinders veteran reacts to [SPOILER]'s shocking fate: "You want it to be as explosive as the character has been"
items: Is nothing worth watching without a sprinkling of celebrity stardust?
items: Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is on this week's Radio Times

Race Across the World 2026 line-up: Meet the pairs competing in this breathtaking journey from Europe to Mongolia
type: item
date: 2026-04-02T15:55:45.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The biggest race on telly is back!
encoded: Race Across the World is returning for another thrilling series tonight (2 April) on BBC One, as a new group of duos take on the journey of a lifetime. Each team will be armed with a map, a budget of less than £26 per person per day and the drive to make it to the final checkpoint first. But just who is daring to take on the challenge? Ahead of the series launching, read our exclusive interviews with this year's cast of Race Across the World below. This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Five intrepid duos – best friends, a father and daughter, cousins, siblings and the show's first set of in-laws – set off on a 12,000km journey from Palermo in Italy to Hatgal in Mongolia in the sixth series of Race Across the World. Stripped of their phones, they each have a budget of just £23 a day to survive and make it to the final checkpoint ahead of the other contenders. Puja and Roshni Puja, 31, is a doctor and is racing with her cousin software engineer cousin Roshni, 32. Whose idea was it to sign up? Puja: I applied a few years ago with another friend. I was advised to do it with someone I’ve known for a really long time so I reapplied with Roshni. I’m so glad we did it together. Roshni: We’d both just got married and I was house hunting and trying to be an adult. Leaving work for three months didn’t sound like the smartest idea… Was it hard not being able to contact home? Puja: Definitely. We come from Asian families. We’re both married, but our parents still want to know what we’re doing every day. What were you nervous about? Roshni: For me, it was food. Given we’re vegetarian, I knew we would have to make sacrifices. Puja: Running out of toiletries. Who was better at approaching strangers for help? Roshni: Puja did take the lead at the start and watching her pushed me to do it. Did the race change you? Roshni: Definitely. We found out a lot about each other. Puja: There’s nothing now that we won’t be able to work past. Mark and Margo Mark, 66, a retired arc…

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As Michael Jackson's legacy returns to the limelight, can we truly separate the art from the artist?
type: item
date: 2026-04-01T07:00:43.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Movies
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Magazine
description: With a major film biopic and a new three-part BBC documentary this month, the controversial superstar is back in the spotlight.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It is 40 years since Michael Jackson was at his celestial height and a lot of murky water has passed under the bridge of his legacy since, but it appears he’s back. Next month sees the arrival of the biopic Michael. Made by the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody and supported by the Jackson family with his nephew Jaafar in the title role, it has the rights to all the music and will undoubtedly make millions. Meanwhile, next week you can see the start of a new three-part BBC documentary, Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy, charting the star’s rise, fall and resurrection, another entertainment Icarus who fatally soared too high. First, the film. Fans will get to relive the early years of his evolution from Jackson 5 child prodigy to solo megastar. The biggest peril? Striking out from his family, especially father Joe, to become the biggest artist in music history. If only the story could finish there... oh, it does. The biopic stops conveniently short of the later, less glittering chapters: child abuse allegations in 1993 settled out of court, a brief marriage to Elvis’s daughter, the Martin Bashir doc that led to an abuse trial, and acquittal, finally wandering the world penniless before his death in 2009, an event that saw his doctor jailed. That’s enough for a sequel. View Green Video on the source website In 2019, Wade Robson and James Safechuck spoke in the documentary Leaving Neverland about their years of alleged abuse at Jackson’s hands. Facing backlash from fans, they still pursue their day in court. Their lawyers say they seek justice; the lawyers for the star’s estate say they seek money – because there’s a lot of it. Jackson died $500 million in debt – this, despite owning the Beatles catalogue, as well as creating Thriller, is astonishing in itself – but the coffers were soon refilled. Blurry rehearsal footage covering preparation for Jackson’s 50 planned “This is It” London gigs in 2009 and 2010 was stitc…

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W1A and Twenty Twelve creator takes us behind the pen on his all-new series Twenty Twenty Six
type: item
date: 2026-04-01T07:00:22.000Z
creator: Robin Parker
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
description: John Morton never imagined his creation Ian Fletcher would still be failing upwards, 15 years after making his debut.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. John Morton is musing on Ian Fletcher’s latest career move. “It wasn’t a plan to do W1A when I was doing Twenty Twelve, and I never thought after W1A that I’d be sitting here having written another iteration of it.” Yet here we are in Twenty Twenty Six: 15 years since first gracing our screens, Fletcher – a role so comfortably inhabited by Hugh Bonneville that he’s practically sewn into his suit – is back, and equally baffled at how he’s ended up in Miami as director of integrity in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, leading a new crop of faces in the strategic operations group. “I wanted to show a side of Ian at the beginning of this series that you haven’t seen before – the first day of big school, asking: ‘Where do I sit?’, ‘Who can I trust?’,” says Morton. He’s also keen to show how the escalation of 24-hour social media has transformed Fletcher’s role over the years. “You’re in constant damage-limitation mode and can never stay ahead of the narrative. You see it in any public-facing organisation, in politics, even as a headmaster: something happens, you can’t sleep on it.” Fish out of water he might be, but at his core, Fletcher’s still a man trying to do the right thing. “Planning the World Cup is the most ludicrous setting in which to try to do that, with a much more disparate group of people than we’ve seen him with before.” Morton characterises Fletcher as “a subset of a kind of Britishness – a sort of BBC-ness, funnily enough”. Which begs the question: nine years after W1A, doesn’t Ian – and Morton – have unfinished business with the corporation? In the run-up to licence-fee renewal, as it lumbers from one self-inflicted crisis to another, whether tying itself in knots over Gaza or triggering a lawsuit from the US President, why not just return Fletcher to Broadcasting House for more chaos? “I can’t quite remember why W1A came to an end, but there’s a finite number of shapes you can make with any raw mate…

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Joel Dommett and Armando Iannucci take on exclusive Taskmaster task – here's Alex Horne's verdict
type: item
date: 2026-04-01T07:00:20.000Z
creator: Huw Fullerton
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Magazine
description: Break the boiled egg. You may only break one egg. Two of the eggs are labelled correctly. Fastest wins. Your time starts now!
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s almost April, and “Little” Alex Horne has turned up at the Radio Times office with a wax-sealed task, four gold envelopes and a “special” six-pack of eggs. Happy Easter! To celebrate Taskmaster’s 21st series, which begins on Channel 4 on Thursday 9 April, just a few days after the Easter weekend, Horne has agreed to create an exclusive seasonal task for RT. To make it even more authentic, we’ve invited two of this year’s contestants – satirist/director Armando Iannucci and comedian and presenter Joel Dommett – to try it out. We’ve even managed to bring in an official trophy of Taskmaster Greg Davies wearing bunny ears for the winner. An “Easter Greg”, if you will. How did they do? Read on to find out. Armando Iannucci Within seconds of starting, Armando had accidentally dropped an egg, technically ending the whole task – but he decided to plough on anyway. Despite using one hint, he still failed to locate the boiled egg and broke the second raw egg. Double failure. “Thank you very much... it’s great to be back,” he laughs. This feels a bit like a post-match interview... How do you rate your task performance today? Well, I think I played really well. My fitness is good. My form is good. I just think the big point – you know, choosing the egg – I need to be better than that. I’ve fired my coach… and I’ve hired the coach I’ve fired because he’s still on contract. I still have to pay him. You’re not known for being “yourself” on TV shows, so why do Taskmaster? People have me down as a sort of political, satirical, sweary writer. And, yeah, I do a bit of that, but I also do stupid stuff and silly stuff. I mean, Alan Partridge is stupid, and I did a show on Channel 4, The Armando Iannucci Shows, which was mostly stupid. I seem to do comedy about people who look normal or even respectable acting like idiots. And I thought it was probably about time I fell into that category. Were you a fan before? Oh, it’s a favouri…

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BBC's Pilgrimage star Patsy Kensit: "The treatment I had over the years from the media was pretty awful"
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T23:02:12.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Seven celebrities with diverse beliefs set off on a journey of self-discovery from Whitby to Holy Island.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. On a clifftop outside Whitby, six people gather in the hope of finding spiritual connections and even enlightenment. For now, they have little in common other than a public profile. Ashley Banjo is founder of the dance group Diversity, Hermione Norris is an actor known for Cold Feet and Spooks, Tasha Ghouri is a former Strictly contestant and public advocate for deaf people. Hasan Al-Habib and Ashley Blaker are stand-up comedians and Jayne Middlemiss is a radio presenter. Together they’ll walk a winding route around England’s top right-hand corner, travelling through North Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland before arriving at Holy Island, long known as Lindisfarne, where the seventh-century St Cuthbert was bishop. Eventually a figure in a beanie hat with wind-blown blonde hair comes into view. This, unmistakably, despite her clumpy boots and backpack, is the actor Patsy Kensit, the seventh pilgrim. She approaches tentatively but as Kensit greets the others, she seems to summon up resolve. “I’m a control freak,” she says later, when we gather after a screening of the opening episode. “I like to know exactly what I’m doing and at exactly what time I do it. But you have to surrender to these experiences and that’s what I did. I found that first day hard, but I kept saying to myself, ‘Keep walking.’ And the landscape is just so beautiful.” For some, like Al-Habib, a British Iraqi from Birmingham, the open moorland, deep wooded valleys and cliffs were a revelation. “I was struck by this incredible place. You have an amazing vista in front of you and the thought that the creator that you pray to has created it.” This is the eighth series of Pilgrimage, an achievement which will be marked when Pilgrimage is given a special Trustees’ Award at the Sandford Saint Martin Awards at Lambeth Palace in June. As the freshly installed Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent journey on foot to her new cathedral illustrated, many…

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Ben Fogle: "I'm reconciled to the fact I might not be returning to China any time soon"
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:58.000Z
creator: Ed Grenby
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Whether he was fixing The Great Wall, fulfilling a film-studio dream or going wild, China took Ben Fogle’s breath away.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. “I’m reconciled to the fact I might not be returning to China any time soon,” says Ben Fogle. He’s not being flippant: there’s a real possibility he will be banned from the People’s Republic after his new series about the country starts this week. “We had to think very carefully, because there are a number of things we filmed that the authorities there won’t be happy with,” he explains. “We did have a government-assigned observer with us, but they’d often disappear when the temptation of tea and cakes arose. So our documentary is a pretty accurate insight into our ‘lived experience’ out there. “But I would absolutely say to everyone, ‘Go to China’. It’s probably the most interesting travel journey I’ve done.” Here are his highlights. Jiankou The Great Wall “When I was told that I would be ‘fixing’ a part of the Wall, I thought it would be a typical TV moment of me holding a brick with 20 other people wearing white gloves, gently putting it down and then claiming to have been a part of the Wall-making team. I had no idea that, in China, when they say you’re doing something, you really do it. So I physically lifted and made the cement for dozens of bricks that were hundreds and hundreds of years old. That was really moving, but even just seeing the Wall at the main tourist spots near Beijing is incredible. “Nothing can prepare you for the scale, majesty, magnitude and emotions of the Great Wall as it soars over peaks and down gullies. It took my breath away.” Chengdu A Chinese medicine market “Traditional medicine is huge in China, and the markets themselves are vast. It’s like going to a FTSE 100 company: they’ve got massive boards showing the fluctuating prices of different ingredients, changing in real time, like gold and silver prices. They use a lot of animal parts, of which penises seem to be very common for healing human aliments that involve sexual organs. But we also went to a cockroach farm where they harv…

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W1A icon Ian Fletcher tells Radio Times all about his Twenty Twenty Six role: "This wasn't just any other job"
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:52.000Z
creator: Ian Fletcher
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: From head of deliverance for the 2012 Olympics, to head of values at the BBC, Ian Fletcher is now football’s man in Miami in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. If someone had told me a few years ago that I was going to be living and working in Miami as part of the team delivering one the greatest sporting events the world has ever seen, I’d probably have laughed. I’d been lucky enough to be involved in the widely unforeseen success of the London 2012 Games, and I’d spent six long years at the BBC as head of values, before that came to an end when values were outsourced as part of a financial review. But nothing could have prepared me for what was just around the corner. There’s the sheer scale of it for a start. Sixteen host cities in three countries – the US, Canada and Mexico – across the whole of the North American continent, some of them further apart than you can possibly imagine. And then there was the nature of the role I’d been asked to play at the centre of this huge and ambitious enterprise. This wasn’t just any other job. The idea of putting integrity front and centre in football and in the 2026 tournament could surely not be more timely. Here was a unique opportunity to make a difference on the world stage and in the context of an America where literally anything felt possible from day to day, some of it even probable. It’s sometimes said that great footballers already know where they’re going to pass the ball before it comes to them, or even if it doesn’t come to them at all, as can sometimes happen in life as well as in football. And I wonder if the same isn’t true off the pitch as well, especially in the era of 24-hour social media. In a public-facing management role, you can expect to have all manner of balls coming at you virtually all the time. But with the role of director of integrity comes a sense of responsibility from day one. We live in a complex, often troubled world and perhaps for that reason sport seems to mean more to us now than it has ever meant. In the end this was to be 48 nations from across the globe, united by the power of football and…

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I'm Line of Duty's Vicky McClure, and this is why my husband and I are investigating atrocious historical crime cases
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:50.000Z
creator: Vicky McClure
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Revisiting historic crimes against women, actor Vicky McClure asks why they never got justice.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. This might be surprising coming from me, but I often find myself wondering why crime dramas and documentaries have exploded in popularity, perhaps at the expense of other genres. I’m obviously guilty, as an actor, for my part in this, with roles in Trigger Point and Line of Duty. Why are we so fascinated? Partly, we all want to understand what can make an individual commit such atrocious acts on another human being, often to someone closest to them. Perhaps it’s intoxicating and thrilling to watch detectives go about solving high-profile crimes, and comforting when baddies – fictional or otherwise – are locked up. But with my new Sky History series, Britain’s Murder Map, my husband – historian Jonny Owen – and I hoped to do something different. We wanted to focus on the forgotten victims. You may have heard of Bible John, the name the press gave Scotland’s most notorious serial killer, a man who was never identified following his 1969 killing spree. You may not have heard the names of his three victims, all young women, who were strangled and whose bodies were dumped near their homes in Glasgow. Their own stories have never really emerged. Why is that and why did the women never get the justice they deserved? There are clues in the police reports from the time. All three women were brutally murdered after a night out at Barrowland Ballroom. Patricia Docker, 25, was a loving mother and an auxiliary nurse, who was separated from her husband. The police report commented that “the deceased appears to enjoy the company of men”. Jemima MacDonald, 31, was also a single mother. According to police, “she appeared to be extremely fond of male company and highly promiscuous”. Of Helen Puttock, 29, a mother of two whose marriage had ended, police wrote she was “said to be fond of a good time. She could consume a good amount of liquor without an effect on her”. It’s shocking to read these words, fuelled by misogyny, as part of…

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Frances Barber talks politics on TV and playing Margaret Thatcher: "I hated her"
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:49.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: Movies
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The versatile actor on politics, becoming Thatcher and playing a rock survivor.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? I’ve got a very big television – 65 inches or something – that I’ve had for 20 years and it still works. It’s not HD or anything, but I hate looking at myself anyway, so the idea of myself in HD would just give me a breakdown. Next to that is a painting of my old bulldog Smack, to whom I was devoted, that Sir Ian McKellen gave me. Over your shoulder I can see another beautiful painting... It’s me! Very narcissistic, isn’t it? I was doing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Christian Slater years ago, in the theatre, and an artist asked if he could paint us. Initially, I thought it was a gift, but we had to pay. But I liked it so much and he was young, so I thought that was OK. What telly turns you off? Question Time. I used to be addicted and now I can’t bear it. It’s all soundbites, playing to the crowd and plants in the audience – and every discussion is so binary. Politics is much more complicated and nuanced than that. You played Margaret Thatcher in last year’s award-winning radio play When Maggie Met Larry. Were you a fan of hers? I hated her. I was in my 20s when she was prime minister and I went on demonstrations and protests against her and her policies. For the play, I did hundreds of hours of research to try and get her voice right. I kept thinking, “I still disagree, but I believe she believed in what she was saying and that it was for the good of the country,” even if it patently wasn’t. Are you a political animal? I am, but I don’t know where we go from here because it’s very hard to trust anyone. What we have now, unfortunately, is a set of politicians who do focus groups and tell us what they think we want to hear. No one believes what they say any more and all of it feels like a lie. That’s why we, as the electorate, are very depressed. I think the electorate want to hear something from the politician’s heart. You were raised on a Wolverhampton council estate. What…

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Taskmaster legend Alex Horne reveals the "jolt" he got from seeing show's A-list Hollywood signing
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:43.000Z
creator: Huw Fullerton
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The show creator hints at what's in store for the new episodes – and sets two of the contestants an eggs-tra special task.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s almost April, and "Little" Alex Horne has turned up at the Radio Times office with a wax-sealed task, four gold envelopes and a "special" six-pack of eggs. Happy Easter! To celebrate Taskmaster’s 21st series, which begins on Channel 4 on Thursday 9 April, just a few days after the Easter weekend, Horne has agreed to create an exclusive seasonal task for RT. To make it even more authentic, we’ve invited two of this year’s contestants – satirist/director Armando Iannucci and comedian and presenter Joel Dommett – to try it out. We’ve even managed to bring in an official trophy of Taskmaster Greg Davies wearing bunny ears for the winner. An "Easter Greg", if you will. “This is an Easter task, which I had to come up with very quickly,” Horne tells RT. “I do have to come up with tasks all the time – I get asked quite often by hen nights and stag dos and schoolteachers. I have a little list of things that might work for different occasions.” Essentially, it’s second nature at this point. On-screen, 47-year-old Horne and the Taskmaster team have created hundreds upon hundreds of tasks for more than 100 comedians across 21 series (not including specials), with challenges ranging from painting the best picture of a horse while riding a horse, to successfully running a fictional hotel, all judged by co-host Davies. “I think of it like writing jokes,” Horne explains. “You always panic that you’re going to run out, but they keep on coming to you. You’re just hoping inspiration will strike in a completely different direction. “They’re also not complete until the comedians do them,” he adds. “Often the ones that end up being the most memorable were the least good on paper.” That’s certainly true of today’s task for Iannucci and Dommett. The unlikely duo are asked to find and smash a single boiled egg from a group of three; two are raw. Each egg has descriptions written on it, and the golden envelopes contain extra clues, bu…

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Shrinking's Jason Segel reveals how Michael J Fox joined the show and how they worked on "authentic" Parkinson's storyline
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:42.000Z
creator: Robin Parker
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Shrinking star on getting high-fived by Harrison Ford, and why therapy is a workout for your feelings.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. From Forgetting Sarah Marshall to The Muppets, Jason Segel has played his fair share of wounded males. In Apple’s comedy drama Shrinking, he’s Jimmy Laird, a therapist with more than a few struggles of his own. On-screen, we’ve seen Jimmy befriend the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife (played by co-creator Brett Goldstein) while watching Parkinson’s weaken his colleague Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford). But as series three comes to a close, what do real therapists make of his methods? You’ve said series one of Shrinking was about grief and series two concerned forgiveness. As series three comes to an end, what would you say the theme is? He’s got out of the hole, he’s cleaned up the wreckage and now he’s moving forward, restarting life at 45. In my experience, picking up after a life event is much clumsier than you anticipate. You look in the mirror, you say you’re ready for that first date, then you go out and it’s a disaster. One potential future explored is with Sofi, played by your How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders. What was it like to reunite on screen? We were just kids when we started on that show – she was 23 and I was 25 – and I’d always wanted to do more with her because our storylines didn’t overlap very often. The role wasn’t written with Cobie in mind, but I had a sense that because of our shared history, it would feel that, despite having just met, Jimmy and Sofi could be soulmates. Our scenes were fun and meaningful, too – standing across from her 20 years since we met and thinking, “Hey, we’re still here.” Do you still pinch yourself to be acting opposite Harrison Ford? When you start acting at 16, you learn it’s a pretty emotionally confusing business. When Harrison high-fived me for doing a great job, it felt like I’d exhaled for the first time in 25 years. It’s all worked out! Doing a scene as an equal with someone you’ve always admired – not because you’ve won a contest – you feel v…

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Cameron Diaz, Keanu Reeves and Matt Bomer talk new comedy Outcome: "Social media makes everybody famous"
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T16:00:33.000Z
creator: James Mottram
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: In Jonah Hill’s latest comedy, a Hollywood megastar relies on his friends to help get his life back on track. So, how do Outcome stars Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer balance fame, family and friendship?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In a converted aircraft hangar in Santa Monica, Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer are in front of assembled journalists and influencers. Part of Apple TV’s lavish 2026 showcase, they’re in town to promote Outcome, a scabrous new comedy co-written, co-produced and directed by Jonah Hill. On stage, the trio pretend that Hill – the Oscar-nominated star of The Wolf of Wall Street – has scripted their words, announcing he’s “Meryl Streep versatile” and has “the charisma of Timothée Chalamet”. In truth, it’s hard to imagine Hill penning this softball spiel. On set, “Jonah would love to give everybody lines to say that are quite funny or challenging or ridiculous or extreme,” Reeves tells me the next day, tucked away in a discreet LA hotel. He’s not wrong: Outcome is a prickly Hollywood satire that bites the hand that feeds. Reeves plays Reef Hawk, an Oscar-winning Hollywood megastar, recovering drug addict and all-round douchebag, who ducked out of the business for five years to get clean from heroin – only to return just as a blackmailer threatens to leak a career-crushing video. “I just was like, poor Reef, poor guy,” says Reeves, dressed today in limo-black. “He’s not really a bad guy. But he’s kind of an asshole. F**ked up a lot.” Like his character, Reeves is one of the biggest stars on the planet, thanks to action films like Speed, The Matrix and John Wick. But mellow-voiced and ultra laid-back, Reeves does feel far removed from the anxious, addiction-grappling Reef. “I could understand some of the parameters,” he admits, “but I didn’t really have the experience of that character. I could draw from my life, but it wasn’t biographical.” View Green Video on the source website When we meet, Reeves has just come off a Broadway run of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, co-starring Alex Winter, his cohort from the Bill & Ted’s… comedy films. But more often his comic talents have been overlooked. “Comedy is hard…

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Taskmaster legend Alex Horne teases season 23 line-up as an Oscar winner joins cast
type: item
date: 2026-03-29T09:27:51.000Z
creator: Molly Moss
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Exclusive
subject: Magazine
subject: News
subject: On demand
description: The line-up is about to get even starrier!
encoded: Taskmaster legend Alex Horne has teased the cast for season 23, revealing that there will be an Oscar winner among the line-up. The beloved comedy game show is set to return to our screens with season 21 on Thursday 9 April, with the likes of Silicon Valley and Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani and The Thick of It and The Day Today creator Armando Iannucci joining Greg Davies and his assistant Horne. And there are more starry casts lined up for future episodes, Horne recently revealed in an interview with Huw Fullerton for Radio Times magazine. Horne teased that season 22, filming on which had almost wrapped at the time of interview, has cast a real hero of his. Meanwhile, speaking about Taskmaster season 23, he added: “I could give you a sneaky bit of information for the distant future. We have got an Oscar winner in a future series.” View Green Video on the source website The cast for season 21 was confirmed earlier this year. Alongside Nanjiani and Iannucci, it also features Gavin & Stacey actress Joanna Page, Last One Laughing comedian Amy Gledhill and The Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett. Asked whether there are any moments that could become "classic" Taskmaster moments in the upcoming season, Horne previously told Radio Times: "There is a moment involving Kumail Nanjiani. I don't want to give much away, but he gives a lot away about what he does by himself in his hotel room. So that's what you've got to tune in for." 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. He continued: "He surprised himself by what he revealed, and I was sat next to him, and it's a big moment. It's a never-before-seen Taskmaster moment." The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday – subscribe here. Taskmaster returns on Thursday 9 April at 9pm on Channel 4. Previous seasons are avai…

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Doctor Who icon Peter Purves reveals "pleasure" as fans can finally see more of missing companion in newly discovered episodes
type: item
date: 2026-03-28T08:00:39.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: "I was blown away by both episodes."
encoded: This article appears in the new issue of Radio Times magazine. In thrilling news for Doctor Who fans, two episodes once thought lost for ever have been returned to the BBC Archives. Starring William Hartnell as the first Doctor – and last seen in 1965 – these are the first and third instalments of a gritty 12-part epic, The Daleks’ Master Plan. The original videotapes were erased long ago by the BBC, but film copies were preserved by a private collector, who died recently. His estate has requested anonymity, while generously passing his collection to Film Is Fabulous, a charitable trust run by cinema lovers and vintage-TV enthusiasts. “We’re lucky these 16mm films are in excellent condition,” Peter Purves tells Radio Times. Two years before joining Blue Peter, he co-starred as the Doctor’s travelling companion, Steven Taylor. Now 87, and one of the few surviving cast members of this story, he was invited to a surprise screening in Leicester a few weeks ago. “I was blown away by both episodes, not only because they’d been found, but because it was good to see how well they had been directed. Douglas Camfield was one of the finest BBC directors. His camerawork was superb. “It was also great to be able to see a little more of my own acting work, and mates like Brian Cant performing.” Already known for hosting Play School, Cant appears as a space security agent who has a nasty encounter with a Dalek. These episodes also feature the Doctor Who debut of Nicholas Courtney as agent Bret Vyon – three years before he became the long-running Brigadier. Someone who vividly recalls watching The Daleks’ Master Plan in the 60s is Jan Vincent-Rudzki, who founded the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in 1976. He was 10 when it aired on BBC One. “This is certainly my all-time favourite story. It ran across 12 weeks, and for a child that was like two summer holidays. It seemed to go on and on, but it was riveting all the way through.” Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep…

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12 actors who are the unsung heroes of British TV - from The Night Manager stars to former Coronation Street femme fatale
type: item
date: 2026-03-25T08:00:21.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: My hymn to the unsung heroes (and heroines) of British TV.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Whenever the board game Guess Who? came out of the cupboard on a rainy Sunday afternoon, my heart sank. Somehow, I always got Claire and often, after a single question – “Does your character wear glasses and a hat with a flower?” – the game was lost (Eric with his sailor’s hat was another non-starter). Lucky was the player who got Herman – often overlooked, but invariably still standing long after others had gone by the wayside. Sometimes, looking ordinary is extraordinarily effective. With this in mind, I invite you to cast your eye over the 12 actors pictured on this page; I bet you recognise them all, but how many can you name? They’re the Hermans of British TV: familiar faces, not household names. The list could be a lot longer, and excludes those who have deservedly graduated to the Premier League: Siobhan Finneran, Indira Varma, Mark Bonnar and the always wonderful Victoria Hamilton, who takes the title role in the new series of The Teacher this week on 5. For now, I salute this deserving dozen… Patrick Baladi is probably best known as David Brent’s leather-jacketed nemesis, Neil. Amelia Bullmore has been everything from Alan Partridge’s Ukrainian girlfriend Sonja to Sherlock’s dodgy scientist. A relatively recent entry, Amir El-Masry broke through on TV in The Night Manager, before roles in McMafia, Industry and The Crown. The Missing actor Anastasia Hille’s TV career began in 1992 with Red Dwarf; she now also runs a ceramics studio. Another Night Manager alumnus is Sex Education’s Alistair Petrie. Some have cornered the market in a particular kind of British bloke. For a ruffled Army colonel, look no further than Rupert Vansittart. If you’re after a dodgy geezer, Danny Webb is your man. For someone whose posh affability ill-hides a lack of moral compass, there’s Doctor Foster’s Adam James. Three longtime favourites include Sylvestra Le Touzel, who made her debut, aged 10, in Doctor Who, and specialises in …

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The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
type: item
date: 2026-03-25T08:00:11.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: "It's our responsibility as grown-ups to hold that buzzing imagination as long as possible."
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. You play evil headmistress Dame Snap in The Magic Faraway Tree. Was it fun to be mean? She’s this incredible character with a little dodgy tooth and her hair defies gravity! Being a children’s film, we had to lean into the stereotypical idea of what it is to be mean, but I played a lot with the idea of a teacher who is lonely and has turned rotten. You have a 19-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter. Did she factor into your decision to do a children’s film? What’s so funny is that last year I walked into my daughter’s bedroom and she said, “I’ve just finished reading The Magic Faraway Tree. And I was like, “How was it?” She said it was amazing. Two hours later, I had the offer to be in the film. It was unreal! You do a lot of serious, grown-up roles. Is it a thrill to do a film that she can watch? She has loved it! It was a treat for her to see me on the big screen because she hasn’t really watched my films. She’s seen bits of The Greatest Showman but I’ve kept her away from my world. View Green Video on the source website What films do you watch with your kids? My mother was snobby with what she showed me. I watched The Third Man as a child! So when I had kids I was like, “We’re doing Shrek.” What’s interesting is that when I show my daughter old-school Disney it messes with her mind. She’ll go, “Why does Ariel sell her voice for a boy?” ‘Why do the girls have to wear dresses and the boys wear trousers?” Her questions are so fascinating. Do you think there’s a future for children’s films, or have we lost kids to TikTok? It terrifies me! All I can do is look at my own children. My daughter doesn’t have a laptop or iPad. We watch films together. The other day we watched The Parent Trap and had a conversation about it afterwards. When I go to a restaurant and kids are sitting on iPads I think, “Why didn’t you bring a game of cards or Snakes and Ladders?” I think it’s our responsibility as grown-ups to hold tha…

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How Race Across the World casts its pairings - and the secrets behind the new 2026 civilian series
type: item
date: 2026-03-24T00:01:39.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: BBC One
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Here's what goes into casting the fast-paced show.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As Race Across the World is under starter's orders for another global runaround, Radio Times found out how the show casts its pairings. We spoke to casting and welfare executive Zyreeta Abadji and series producer Michael Perry to get the inside track. Zyreeta Abadji, casting and welfare executive Describe the casting process Race across the World lives and dies by its cast. We’re looking for authentic personalities, people who wouldn’t normally apply to be on TV shows. So, the process is quite extensive — in the interviews we learn about their stories and motivation, and make sure they’re robust enough, physically and mentally, to do the show. How do you assess a duo’s relationship when they apply? They submit a video. We look at their rapport and if we like what we see, we’ll invite them in and interview them together. We also speak to them separately to see if they’re on the same page. We’re trying to see if they remain consistent or whether what they’re telling us isn’t as it appears. And we pick up on those nuances — do they complement each other? Do they have humorous anecdotes? Do you also set them a practical challenge? We want to see how people react under pressure without their phone or money. Do they throw themselves into it? Are they comfortable approaching and relying on strangers? Can they think on their feet? So, when they come to the audition (in London), we set a task. “You’ve got an hour to get from point A to point B without the use of your phone or money. Go!” We film that and see how they get on. How many applications do you receive? When I joined, on the back of Covid (in 2021), everyone was at home, watching TV. We had more than 100,000 applications that year. We’ve never seen those numbers since. It’s roughly around 40,000 or 50,000. It’s steadily climbing. What dream contestant has proved elusive? A grandfather/grandchild duo. We’d love it: There’s something about that relationship that’s u…

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Why my new hopeful BBC drama Babies is the culmination of a decade's exploration into grief
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:01:51.000Z
creator: Stefan Golaszewski
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: The writer behind Him & Her, Mum and Marriage, Stefan Golaszewski reveals how his difficult journey to parenthood, loss, grief and hope inspired his new drama, Babies
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Between 2012 and 2015, my wife and I experienced a long series of traumas around pregnancy that changed everything. I had, till then, lived a kind of Googie life. I’d been writing a sitcom called Him & Her (BBC Three), starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani, about a carefree, cloudless couple, and while I was glad to be coming to the end, I’d imagined I might return every so often for specials, at Christmas, for ever perhaps. That would no longer be possible. I was unable to write with the same abandon. I would spend the next ten years, and three TV shows, dealing with what had happened. It was only recently I realised my second show, Mum (BBC Two), starring Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan, about a woman rebuilding her life after loss, was really about me. I had no idea at the time. I thought I was cleverly using the sitcom in the classic mode and its iterative form as a Trojan horse to explore all kinds of important things. I had no sense it was therapy. We’d had a son at last, which felt biblical, and a mortgage, and then more trauma, and then against all the odds a daughter, and when life throws things at you, you don’t have time to stop and turn them in your hands and notice what they are. I don’t choose what I write. The ideas appear at the windows and thump till I let them in. I’d love to give it all up. Imagine the peace. But then a new thought arrives, and with it an itch, and there I go again, awake at three in the morning, putting fires out in my brain. Next came a drama called Marriage (BBC One), starring Sean Bean and Nicola Walker, a study of togetherness in mid-life. My purpose, formally, was to bend the norms of a drama like a ruler. At times I let it snap. I needed a harder, cleaner truth. I’d tell anyone who’d listen, and some who wouldn’t, “Plot is to life as burger is to cow!” I was thirsty for austerity, railing against the need for easy answers. It had been a complicated lockdown. My purpo…

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I'm Vicky Pattison and this is why we need to stop saying 'geriatric pregnancy' and make egg freezing more affordable
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:01:46.000Z
creator: Vicky Pattison
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: The reality star says it’s misogynistic to judge women who choose to have children later in life.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In my 20s, I was very ambitious. Having babies wasn’t a priority. What’s more, I wasn’t the person I am now. I’m the daughter of an alcoholic and you can’t discount the impact an unstable childhood – the years of chaos – has on your life. As a young adult, I had toxic relationships and my heart broken several times. I’ve spent many years in therapy to be the person I am today. I wasn’t ready to be a mother, even in my early 30s. Biologically that’s unfair, and that isn’t going to go away without medical advances. But we can do something about the judgement surrounding women who choose to become mothers later in life. When Hilary Swank had twins at the age of 48 she was deemed irresponsible and people questioned how much time the Oscar-winning actor would be able to spend with her children. I felt furious on her behalf because when Robert De Niro became a father again at 79, and Al Pacino at 83, their situation was normalised, even though they have more than 30 years on Swank. We need to stop criticising and undermining women and, instead, celebrate their choices, whether that’s having children at 20, waiting until later in life, finding alternative routes to motherhood or remaining child-free. Last year, in the UK, 19 per cent of births were to women aged 35 to 39. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise: as well as the challenge of building a career and a stable relationship, many women come out of university with crippling loans, while housing costs are phenomenal. There’s a long tail to having a baby – we’re closing gender pay gaps but the invisible workload for women when it comes to domestic life remains outrageous. Three years ago, with the support of my husband, Ercan Ramadan, I decided to be proactive and freeze my eggs for when the time was right. At 35, biologically, I still felt like I was in my prime. That was the first time I heard “geriatric” – the term for a pregnancy occurring any time after a woman i…

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The Pitt star Noah Wyle talks his seminal show as UK premiere arrives – and his reaction to Robby and Whitaker fan art
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:01:43.000Z
creator: Pete Paphides
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: HBO Max
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: After 254 episodes of treating patients on ER, Noah Wyle scrubs up again for HBO Max’s Emmy-winning drama The Pitt – a show so realistic, it’s certified by medical professionals, including his mum.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. It’s perhaps unprecedented for a Golden Globe-nominated actor to travel to the ceremony with the award already in his luggage. However, such was the concern of Noah Wyle’s 10-year-old daughter Frances that she took matters into her own hands. In January, with her father’s limo waiting outside their Los Angeles home, she handed him a tin foil and sticky tape replica of the prestigious prize. At its base, it read, “Noah Wyle: Best Dad”. Wyle’s features soften at the recollection: “She’s an empath and the prospect of me not winning was… Well, it was something she felt she could do something about.” The Golden Globes doesn’t do a Best Dad Award, so 54-year-old Wyle had to make do with winning the award for best actor in a TV drama, to sit alongside his tin-foil trophy on the shelf. Here in the UK, Wyle (pronounced “Wy-Lee”) is still best-known for his portrayal of Dr John Carter in the long-running medical drama ER. However, that’s set to change when we finally get to see his return to the emergency room in the medical drama The Pitt – which parachutes viewers in real time, hour by hour, into a single day at the (barely) fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre. It came out in the States last year, and now comes to the UK as the launch title for new streaming service HBO Max (all episodes of series one are available from Thursday 26 March, with episodes of the second series released week-to-week). It’s not a usual release model – you know you’ve landed a hit when the network that makes your show decides to build its entire European launch around it. Which explains why, this afternoon, we find the rangy Wyle in his Berlin hotel room in an armchair that seems slightly too small for him, attempting to make sense of how he got here. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2026/01/er-season-1-cast-clooney-9d15b54.jpg" width="3000" height="2001" alt="(L-R) Anthony Edwards as Doctor Mark Greene…

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Danny Dyer reveals what changed his mind on hit new show: "I couldn’t be f**ked to do it, I'll be honest"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:01:33.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Danny Dyer and his daughter Dani on their reality-show hit, working-class voices and family holidays.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Father-and-daughter duo Danny and Dani Dyer – of acting and reality-show fame, respectively – have been on a mission to save the great British holiday and set their sights on restoring a caravan park in Leysdown-on-Sea, Kent. But were the 48- and 29-year-old up to the challenge? And do they really never argue despite their close relationship on and off screen? Over six episodes of The Dyers’ Caravan Park – which has just been renewed for a second series – viewers have a chance to find out… Danny, I read that you were hesitant when you were approached about the series. What changed your mind? Danny: I couldn’t be f**ked to do it, I’ll be honest. Have I got time to be running a caravan park? Not really. Plus I’m an actor, and it’s a very different discipline having three cameras follow you all the time, waiting for you to make mistakes. So, I didn’t know how comfortable I was with that. That’s why I needed Dani. What do caravan holidays mean to both of you? Danny: They mean lots to me, not so much to Dani. She’s been there back in the day, but my holiday every year was Canvey Island, Thorney Bay Beach Camp [Essex]. Very much a working-class holiday. My nan and grandad had a caravan, my aunts and uncles, my cousins. It was a family affair, and everyone going there together and hanging out was just the most exciting thing for me. Dani: I think with caravans, if it’s like going down with your family, like your mum and aunt, your nan, then it’s in you. I think people either love them or they don’t. They’re like Marmite. The series has been a big hit for Sky, and a second series is coming. Do you hope it’ll shine a light on the caravan site and save the great British holiday? Danny: That’s the intention. Whether it works or not, I don’t know. A British holiday doesn’t necessarily mean just the caravan. There are other things to do, and there’s a lot of these Airbnb b******s going on at the moment. And you know, if you’re…

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Ludwig star talks exit from the show ahead of season 2: "I hope the door is still open"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:01:04.000Z
creator: Pete Paphides
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: HBO Max
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Why George Clooney referred Gerran Howell to The Pitt.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The Pitt has gripped America. Does it feel to you that there will be a similar reaction here? We’ll see! Right now it’s comforting to come back to the UK and not really have to think about The Pitt and everything that goes with it. Over here, I’m obviously more associated with Ludwig. The Pitt has taken over your life, so you’re not doing any more Ludwig? Unfortunately not, no. I hope the door is still open, because I really love that show. Noah Wyle told us that one of the reasons you got the part in The Pitt was that George Clooney recommended you. Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard about that. That’s very cool if that’s the case. I sometimes wonder if he still remembers my name! Would you agree that The Pitt is an emotional watch? A hundred per cent! I can tell when people have binged it. You can see the weight of it on their faces. The medical student you play, Whitaker, is very relatable. In season one, it’s his first day in the emergency room. As a British actor trying to retain a fair amount of medical information yourself, how much acting was involved? It was nice to be able to let some of those fears and insecurities come out in the character. I remember my head being full of medical terms, because we had to go through this boot camp process which lasted a week. Some people must have thrived in that situation… Supriya Ganesh [who plays Dr Samira Mohan] did. Before she went into acting, she was thinking of going into the medical profession. She was the most knowledgeable. Noah was also with us during the medical boot camp. So he was eager to be the first to put his hand up. What real-life medical things are you able to do? Can you intubate someone? Or do CPR? I can do a lot. I dread the day someone says, “Is there a doctor present?” when I’m in the room and there are no actual doctors. But going from season one to season two, I was surprised by the things that did stick. View Green Video on the source …

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Emma Chapman: "If intelligent life has evolved and wants to send us a message, they'll develop a radio telescope to do that"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:49.000Z
creator: Ed Grenby
subject: Books
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The signals that bring us radio and TV could also let us talk to extraterrestrial life, says Emma Chapman.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When humans eventually make contact with aliens, we’ll be able talk to them about sitcoms. “There’s something called the I Love Lucy Radius,” explains author and astrophysicist Emma Chapman, referencing the long-running US comedy series of the 1950s. Thanks to its massive popularity, “its broadcast caused significant emissions of radio waves [used in early TVs as well as radios] into space. We were very loud to the universe at that point. And the I Love Lucy Radius is how far those radio waves have travelled in the 75 years since they were broadcast – which now encapsulates a few planets beyond our solar system. If there is life on those worlds, they’ll have seen I Love Lucy.” Chapman’s new book, Radio Universe, is full of fantastic little fact-blasts like that, but there’s something especially delicious about listening to them on Radio 4, where the work is this week’s Book of the Week, because the technology you’re utilising is the very same as that Chapman uses to listen in to the echoes of the Big Bang in her day job as a Royal Society research fellow at Nottingham University. “When you extend the antenna on your radio – or switch on your mobile phone, which also has miniaturised antennas in it – you’ll be receiving radio waves from big stations like London’s BT Tower,” she explains, “and that’s how The Archers arrives safely to you. Radio astronomy is just using a different size or shape of antenna, and pointing them upwards to receive waves from solar flares or space weather or pulses from a spinning pulsar star or matter actually swirling and falling into a black hole.” She’s not wrong about using a different size of antenna: if you’ve seen GoldenEye or Contact, you’ve seen Puerto Rico’s 1,000-foot Arecibo radio telescope. But just as impressive, apparently – and Chapman has worked at both – is the Square Kilometre Array Telescope currently being built in the Western Australian desert, which will consist of …

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The Traitors' Harry Clark reveals 6 ways to enjoy Rome - including trying to see the Pope
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:36.000Z
creator: Lucy Thackray
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Traitors winner Harry Clark went to Rome to seek an audience with the Pope – and discover the city’s many other glories.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When 25-year-olds go to Rome, their checklist usually runs to the Trevi Fountain, a gelato and a Colosseum selfie. But the winner of series two of The Traitors, Harry Clark, is no ordinary 25-year-old. An ex-Army engineer and devout Catholic, Clark travelled to the city with just one goal: meeting the new Pope. He even had a bespoke “Leo 14” football shirt made for the Holy Father. “As a Catholic, Rome is the hub; it’s the centre-point of your religion,” he tells us. Following a previous documentary, Pilgrimage, Clark had joked to his producer that next he wanted to go to Rome and meet the Pope, “and ask him all the hard questions”. From that first thought came Harry Clark Goes to Rome, which sees him charm Vatican guards, secretaries and cardinals in an audacious bid to meet Leo XIV. Was Harry (a Traitor in the reality show) granted an audience? You’ll have to watch to find out. But his mind was blown by visits to the Vatican, St Peter’s tomb and churches filled with saints’ relics. “When I walk around places like that, I think about all the ideas these people had, and what their world was like. And now Harry Clark from Slough is walking along, having a look.” Here he shares six ways to enjoy Rome if you can’t get a powwow with the Pontiff. Confess your sins I didn’t know before I went, but anyone can go to confession in Rome. You can do it at certain churches – I went to St Patrick’s Catholic American Church, and it was an amazing experience. I was nervous at first because I hadn’t confessed for nearly a decade, since I was about 16. I had built up all these sins! I was there for a long old time. Confession was great for me because I’m one of those people who’s like, “Therapy? Nah, I won’t do therapy. What do these people know about me?” But when I went to confession, it really felt like therapy. Eat all the pizza I’m a fussy eater – usually I survive on chicken nuggets and chips. My mum, who came with me to Rom…

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Mock the Week legend Dara Ó Briain: "It's very worrying that the BBC has less money to do things"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:22.000Z
creator: Huw Fullerton
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The comedian doesn’t do reality TV – but he’d make an exception for The Traitors.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? In the room where we all sit around and watch The Traitors or whatever, there are two fairly comfy couches, but side on. It gives the illusion that they’re there for conversation, but actually we just sit like emperors and watch the television off the two sides. We’re nominally facing each other, but very much looking to the side, and going, “Shush, Claudia’s talking.” You’re clearly a fan – would you do The Celebrity Traitors? Yeah! And I don’t do shows like that, as a rule. It’s kind of known that I’m not planning on going into the jungle, or dancing. It’s just not my thing. But for The Traitors, I would probably make an exception because my family would be furious if I didn’t. Because of my persona – the science shows – there’s a perception that I would somehow be very good at it, but I’d be awful! Still, it didn’t stop Alan Carr… After four years away from Mock the Week, did you have any doubts about returning as host? No. It would have been a weird stance of “Surely it’s time for another generation” – screw that. There’s no element of me going, “Do you know what? Maybe it’s time for the baton to be passed.” No. You’ll have to take the buzzer out of my cold, dead hands. Has making the show for TLC, rather than the impartial BBC, given you more freedom? I mean, obviously that stuff was kind of overstated a bit. I sometimes made a joke at the time imagining how the BBC would bring me into a room and sit us down, and go, “OK, Dara, Fiona Bruce, and Mr Turnbull – this is our stance on things this week.” Which obviously, they never did. The people you talk about changes, because a different government is in charge – like Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves. But that isn’t because we’re not on the BBC. It’s because they’re the ones in power now. Do you think the initial cancellation of the show was premature? On TLC, it’s already been renewed for a second series… Yes. Rather than presume that…

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Jessica Gunning talks magical new role and fielding Baby Reindeer questions: "I do wash a lot!"
type: item
date: 2026-03-23T17:00:12.000Z
creator: Stephen Kelly
subject: Movies
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: ‘It changed my view of washing,’ says the Magic Faraway Tree star.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The clue is in the name, but what can you tell us about Dame Washalot? She really is what she says on the tin! She washes all of the inhabitants of The Faraway Tree’s clothes. It’s a big performance! But you don’t want to go too big. I had to root it in the reality of a magical tree… Do kids change the energy on set? Yeah! Me and Dustin Demri-Burns, who plays Saucepan Man, would improvise a bit of flirting. He had this thing where one of the saucepans on his head spun around and I was like, “Hello, saucy!” and then you realise, “Oh hold on, this might not work because this is a kids movie!” The children were around and they were like, ‘Ew, gross!’ How did you find going from Baby Reindeer to a big colourful film like this? I went from doing all of the Baby Reindeer promotion into this, so there was a bit of whiplash, but it was also magical. I had to do some interviews and the first question was, “Has playing this role changed how you feel about washing clothes?” I was like, “Wow, deep questions!” View Green Video on the source website Has Baby Reindeer’s success changed you? I don’t think it’s changed me as a person. But it’s meant that I’m meeting more people and having opportunities like this come along that perhaps wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had Baby Reindeer. A theme of this film is the impact screens have on kids. What are your thoughts? It’s so easy to be like, “Oh, I wouldn’t give my kids screens” but I’ve looked after my friends’ kids who were having a meltdown and I’ve literally got my phone out straight away! Every child is different. And finally… do you wash a lot? I do wash a lot! It did change my view of washing clothes! Because on set, there were these soap flakes and you can use them in real life. So now I’ll pop some in the wash if I’m feeling daring. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find ou…

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Ghosts legend Simon Farnaby talks movie spin-off and acting opposite Queen Elizabeth II
type: item
date: 2026-03-22T11:55:09.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: Movies
subject: Exclusive
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: The Ghosts movie is coming to cinemas later this year.
encoded: Ghosts fans have been rejoicing ever since the news that everyone's favourite supernatural and often sassy beings would be returning to Button House once more. Ghosts: The Possession of Button House will make its silver screen debut later this year, three years after the show's creators confirmed it'd be coming to an end - a conclusion that was watched by 7.2 million viewers. While the shenanigans of Button House seemed well and truly over, co-writer Simon Farnaby recently opened up on the decision to return to the beloved characters. Speaking to Radio Times in an upcoming interview with Stephen Kelly, Farnanby said: "We knocked it on the head at its height. But I think we were just not finished with Ghosts. We thought about a stage show for a bit and then eventually had a great idea for a movie. It’s the right sort of different flavour to the TV show." Details on the plot are currently under wraps, but it has been teased that it's an exciting one, with the creators/writers behind Ghosts previously saying in a statement: "We thought we had said goodbye to Button House at the end of the final series. We never planned to come back. But when we had the idea for this story, we all got so excited that we couldn’t resist returning to our haunted home for one more adventure. "We can’t wait to be together and to welcome some brilliant new faces, to tell this soul-stirring tale of life and death." But it's not just Ghosts Farnaby is busy with, as the writer's adaptation of The Magic Faraway Tree is coming to cinemas soon. The movie has been adapted from the Enid Blyton book series, though this wouldn't be Farnaby's first outing in a beloved children's classic, having appeared in a Paddington-themed sketch to celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. It was during that sketch that Farnaby got to share a screen with the Queen, as he recalled to Radio Times: "I told her, 'You’re a good actress, ma’am'. And she said, 'I do it all the time, you see.'" Farnaby had assumed she was being…

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Peaky Blinders veteran reacts to [SPOILER]'s shocking fate: "You want it to be as explosive as the character has been"
type: item
date: 2026-03-20T19:00:09.000Z
creator: Lewis Knight
subject: Movies
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
subject: News
description: "You want it to be as explosive as the character has been."
encoded: *Spoiler warning for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man* Now that Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is finally out widely on Netflix, we can dig into some pretty big spoilers. Of course, we always expected some major deaths in the film, but one that came as a gruesome surprise occurred pretty much halfway through the film. Having been ordered by Nazi villain John Beckett (played by Tim Roth) to assassinate his aunt Ada Thorne MP (Sophie Rundle), Erasmus "Duke" Shelby (Barry Keoghan) stalked her as she walked through a blitzed Birmingham on her way to hand over evidence against Duke and the Peaky Blinders. Set against the tense track Puppet by Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten, Duke couldn't go through with killing his aunt, but followed after her regardless. View oEmbed on the source website However, despite Duke's inability to murder Ada and attempt to warn her, Beckett himself emerged from a car and shot Ada at point-blank range in the head before admonishing Duke for his failure and fleeing. Ada's corpse was held by her distraught son, Karl Thorne (Kasper Hilton-Hille). In the aftermath, Tommy swears vengeance against Beckett – but not until after he sees the spectre of Ada on his journey to Birmingham, meaning he's aware of her passing even before he is told. Read More: Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man ending explained – does Tommy Shelby die? Speaking to Michael Hodges for Radio Times, actress Sophie Rundle avoided too explicitly spoiling the film, but did discuss Ada's fate. "I was pleased, that’s what you want to happen in these big mythic pieces," revealed Rundle. "You want it to be as explosive as the character has been. "I’m trying to speak in code, but it’s a fitting punctuation to the past 14 years of my life." She added: "I do kind of wish I could go back and start from the beginning now, with all that I am and all that I know now and do it again. But then it wouldn’t be what it became. So maybe that ignorance and that “Let’s just f**king do it” energy i…

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Is nothing worth watching without a sprinkling of celebrity stardust?
type: item
date: 2026-03-18T08:00:08.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Not all celebs are born the same, but you would never know it from the schedules.
encoded: Two quick stories: once, in a London hotel, a film publicist came to find me. Bursting with the pride of a tigress with a newborn cub, she shouted down the corridor: "I've got you four minutes with Orlando!" The other took place in a Soho café, when two TV agents pressed me to consider championing their beloved clients' move from magic to cookery. I nearly choked on my macaroon. This was proper "youth hostelling with Chris Eubank" territory, as proffered by Alan Partridge. It turned out, in the world of televisual evolution, monkey tennis is very real. I mention these two incidents to shed some light on twin beliefs that threaten to consume our entire entertainment ecosystem: the first, that any time spent in the company of a famous face, on screen or off, is superior to that spent with what Liz Hurley helpfully calls "civilians"; the second, that celebrities will do anything, from boiling an egg to being taken hostage, if it means staying under the warm spotlight of another TV commission. The result? As pointed out in Ms Shearer's recent letter to RT’s Feedback (thank you!), a schedule that includes Jules and Greg’s Wild Swim, Bear Grylls – Wild Reckoning, Dickinson’s Real Deal, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Hippo Watch with Steve Backshall… all of them on TV on a single random Friday. This week sees the arrival of Celebrity Sabotage, in which a gaggle of familiar faces set out to hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public who think they are taking part in brand-new ITV shows. How did we get here? 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. In 1997, the BBC One series Driving School simply followed learner drivers around Bristol and South Wales. What they hadn’t planned for was one Maureen Rees. By the time the cleaner from Cardiff had passed her test at the sevent…

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Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is on this week's Radio Times
type: item
date: 2026-03-17T09:44:52.000Z
creator: Shem Law
subject: Movies
subject: Magazine
description: Tommy Shelby is back to face his most explosive reckoning yet. Steven Knight and Cillian Murphy reveal why the film is a warning from history.
encoded: For 13 years, the name Tommy Shelby has echoed through British television, ever since audiences first met the razor-sharp gangster riding a black stallion through the streets of Birmingham in the opening scenes of Peaky Blinders. When the series started on BBC Two in 2013, few could have predicted that Steven Knight's crime saga would grow into a global phenomenon. Yet that's exactly what happened. Now the story takes a bold step forward with the film The Immortal Man, arriving on Netflix this week. The film transports the Shelby saga into the early days of the Second World War and at the centre of it all is Cillian Murphy, an actor who has lived with Shelby for over a decade. In our interview, Murphy explains how he prepares for the role and how playing Shelby is unlike anything he's experienced in his career – "Tommy is driving the motorbike and I'm in the sidecar". Knight has described Shelby as "a good man doing bad things to a good end", and the story now places him in a moment of historical reckoning, which Knight sees as a timely warning for us now. Whether it truly marks the end of the Shelby story remains to be seen, but it feels like a fitting chapter in a saga that began quietly on BBC Two and grew into a worldwide obsession. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Also in this week's Radio Times: Martin Clunes brings depth and charm to a drama about the downfall of Huw Edwards. Dougray Scott portrays an enigmatic headmaster in a new teen drama set in a school for scoundrels. Bestselling author Jo Nesbø introduces his new Scandi noir crime series. 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. Did you know you can now order a previous edition of Radio Times magazine with our new back issues service? Add Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man t…

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