Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-02-10T00:02:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Open All Hours creator talks making legendary sitcom: "It would never happen again"
items: Meet the BBC's last reporter remaining in Russia: "It feels like we're in the eye of the storm"
items: 5 everyday household items that are toxic for you – from dishwasher tablets to air fresheners
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: I'm a documentary filmmaker and have met Tony Blair, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – this is what they all had in common
items: Vinnie Jones explains why Clarkson's Farm comparisons are "upsetting" as he returns with In the Country
items: What is the greatest modern British TV comedy? Vote in Radio Times's poll
items: Adam Richman's ultimate Italy food guide: From 'tag bol' to chocolate fountains
items: Susie Dent: In the age of AI, I believe being a geek may never have been so important
items: I'm Susie Dent and in the age of AI I believe being a geek may never have been so important
items: Endeavour legend Shaun Evans talks saying goodbye to Morse and why he kept his Liverpudlian accent for ITV's Betrayal
items: Michael Palin talks returning to acting in new comedy from The Office legend – and how he approaches old age
items: This Morning star Ben Shephard: "I am happy to take pride in how I look"
items: Adolescence writer Jack Thorne reveals why BBC's new Lord of the Flies sticks to an all-male cast – and explains his "sensitive" adaptation of classic
items: I'm Mackenzie Crook, and this is the 16th-century inspiration for my new comedy Small Prophets – and how we brought it to life
items: Six Nations podcasters James Haskell and Mike Tindall talk landing Prince William and Princess Kate as guests on their show
items: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's The Rip proves the upsides and downsides of using real-life Hollywood friends
items: Ben Kingsley talks returning to the MCU with Wonder Man, his connection to the Beatles and revering Queen Elizabeth II
items: After the Flood's Lorraine Ashbourne talks Sherwood twist, Riot Women season 2 and living at home with her adult children
items: Scottish curler Bruce Mouat reveals experience of coming out and why one needs a burner phone during the Winter Olympics
items: Skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker reveals the impact of opinions she has encountered around race and culture: "It would shock me"
items: Emilia Fox marks 30 years of Silent Witness and talks finding the positives after a big break-up
items: Snowboarder Charlotte Bankes reveals why she doesn't need to diet and worry about what she eats
items: I'm Clive Myrie, and my new BBC ancestry series left me angry about history – but with a constructive way to use it
items: Alpine ski racer Dave Ryding talks mental health journey: "I really don't think UK Sport understands"
items: Bridgerton legends explain "juvenile" season 4 feud for Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury
items: When did TV documentaries become all about celebrities and 'being' and stop being about people actually doing something?
items: Death in Paradise legend Don Warrington talks "outcry" to Selwyn's departure – and whether he'll leave the show

Open All Hours creator talks making 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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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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5 everyday household items that are toxic for you – from dishwasher tablets to air fresheners
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:01:44.000Z
creator: Mark Miodownik
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Magazine
description: Scientist and broadcaster Mark Miodownik reveals the toxins that lurk in our homes.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Modern technology has allowed us to create homes of unparalleled comfort and convenience, but in doing so we have unwittingly exposed ourselves to invisible dangers through some of the products we buy. These dangers originate from the chemicals created by talented scientists trying to solve human problems and deliver miracle materials, some of which have been shown to be dangerous to human health and the biodiversity of the planet. Here are five everyday household items to look out for: Dishwasher tablets Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are chemicals with carbon–fluorine bonds, which give them properties such as non-stick, water-proofing and stain resistance in products like cookware, clothing, packaging and even dishwasher tablets. They gain these properties because the carbon-fluorine bonds are so strong that they do not chemically react with almost anything. But they are so stable and inert it’s hard to get rid of them as there are few micro-organisms that can break them down – hence why they are called forever chemicals. Their prevalence means they end up in our food and water. Evidence is mounting that as the concentration in our organs increases, they can cause illnesses and even cancers. Plastic food containers Plastics are wonderful and versatile materials. In the form of packaging they make food last longer and so prevent food waste and reduce prices. However, during the manufacturing of plastics, additives are added to give them strength and durability. Many of these chemicals have been shown to have a detrimental impact on human health. These include Bisphenol A (BPA), which interferes with the body’s hormones, affecting reproductive and metabolic systems. BPA acts like the hormone oestrogen, affecting the immune system – it’s also been linked to many other disorders. The EU has now banned BPA in all food-contact plastics, but in the UK it has only been banned for use in babies’ bottles. Avoi…

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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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I'm a documentary filmmaker and have met Tony Blair, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – this is what they all had in common
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:00:25.000Z
creator: Michael Waldman
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Michael Waldman reveals what he’s learnt from interviewing our global leaders.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Over three decades as a documentary-maker, I’ve been able to get up close to – and even under the skin of – some of the most powerful figures of our time, from President Zelensky and Donald Trump to, most recently, Sir Tony Blair. Power is irresistibly fascinating for those of us who don’t possess it. But what have I learnt from interviewing some of the most powerful people in the world? Tony Blair, who I interviewed for the three-part Channel 4 series The Tony Blair Story, kept me on my toes. His self-assurance rarely cracks, even when interrogated about what many view as his gravest mistake, the invasion of Iraq. Despite this conviction, what emerges is a level of emotion and psychological introspection that’s rarely been seen on camera. I was also able to speak with his wife Cherie, and – unprecedentedly – three of their grown-up children, Euan, Kathryn and Leo, which added a more intimate perspective on a man whose decade in power has shaped Britain and the world. It was evident, power can be a solitary business. “One of the things you learn,” he told me, “is that ultimately you sit in the seat. You’ve got to take the decision.” His former spin doctor Alastair Campbell recalls how, late into the night after the invasion of Iraq, he found Blair at his desk in Number 10: “It was one of those moments when I wished I could paint. It was an absolute portrait in the isolation of power.” President Zelensky, who I interviewed in 2023 for BBC Two series The Zelensky Story, presented a different challenge. Head of state of a country at war, it was a tall order to get him to give an interview and then open up about himself. It required two trips to Kyiv to secure, with sleep interrupted by descents into the air-raid shelter as sirens blared. Despite unimaginable pressures, Zelensky proved to be engaging, thoughtful, touching and funny. My encounter with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 – after the end of his first pres…

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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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What is the greatest modern British TV comedy? Vote in Radio Times's poll
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T16:00:05.000Z
creator: David Craig
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: Don't miss the chance to have your say.
encoded: Radio Times is hosting a landmark poll to decide which British TV comedies are destined to become the next generation's classics – and you can make your voice heard right now. The British sense of humour is world-renowned and, contrary to what some might say, it hasn’t gone anywhere. But it's getting tougher to show it off on TV, with shrinking budgets and fragmenting audiences making it tricky to raise the funds to raise a chuckle. But that doesn't mean that broadcasters haven't been creating great sitcoms and comedy shows in the last few years, with new classics emerging to take their place alongside Fawlty Towers, The Office and Only Fools and Horses. RT is looking to shine a spotlight on the newer shows worthy of becoming part of that comedy canon, from the funniest talents working today. With your help, we're looking to crown the best 'modern' comedy of recent years. Of course, what one defines as 'modern' may vary – for the purpose of this poll, we've drawn a line at the start of the 2010s. After all, only one show from that entire decade (Detectorists) ranked in our previous comedy poll in 2019, which saw Fawlty Towers voted the all-time greatest sitcom. Seven years later, this vote is not a replacement for that result, but rather a companion to it – your winning shows will sit beside earlier classics to form a snapshot of British comedy's past and present, which could also help point the way towards a bright future. We’ve curated a shortlist of 25 newer comedies based on the picks of more than a dozen industry experts, including the BBC's director of comedy Jon Petrie, Ghosts co-creator Laurence Rickard, stand-up comic Phil Wang and actor/Taskmaster survivor Emma Sidi (find the full list beneath the poll). But it’s up to you to make the final call – which one deserves to be known as our best modern comedy? Find more details on each shortlisted show below, including reactions from the creators themselves, and vote for your favourite here: View Riddle on the s…

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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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Susie Dent: In the age of AI, I believe being a geek may never have been so important
type: item
creator: Susie Dent
subject: App
subject: App features
description: We need to encourage our kids to celebrate, not mock, their intelligence, says Susie Dent.
encoded: Add Secret Genius to your watchlist As someone who has spent decades charting language, I’ve learnt to push aside any personal bugbears when it comes to the evolution of our words. English has always been a democracy, going its own merry way without government from above. But one recent development has found its way under my skin, for very personal reasons. It is the appearance of the word “neek”, a blend of “nerd” and “geek” that describes someone with a strong – and, by extension, “uncool” – interest in a particular subject. It takes me back to my childhood, when I discovered that a love of learning was something to hide rather than celebrate, for fear of being labelled a swot. For a long time, I hid it away as something shameful, despite the pleasure it gave me and the encouragement of my teachers. Decades later, while filming our new series Secret Genius, Alan Carr and I discovered that not a lot has changed when it comes to the desire to fit in. The aim of our show was simple: to illustrate how genius can be found in any walk of life. Mensa estimates that there are over a million secret geniuses walking among us, which means most of us will know one of them: the friend who gets to the punchline of a joke way before the rest of us; the colleague who can make complicated calculations at the drop of a hat; or the partner who spots a pattern in an apparently random sequence. They might be a stay-at-home parent or a bus driver, pharmacist, paramedic, carpenter, train guard or singer – all professions represented in Secret Genius by people who have little idea just how brilliant they are. We are not talking about academic cleverness here, but rather an innate intelligence that sets someone apart from the crowd. Time and time again, the individuals (ranging in age from 20 to 63) we invited onto the show to participate in fiendishly clever and immersive puzzles told us of their struggles at school, of how they wanted desperately to fit in and so suppressed their natura…

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I'm Susie Dent and in the age of AI I believe being a geek may never have been so important
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:47.000Z
creator: Susie Dent
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: We need to encourage our kids to celebrate, not mock, their intelligence, says Susie Dent.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As someone who has spent decades charting language, I’ve learnt to push aside any personal bugbears when it comes to the evolution of our words. English has always been a democracy, going its own merry way without government from above. But one recent development has found its way under my skin, for very personal reasons. It is the appearance of the word “neek”, a blend of “nerd” and “geek” that describes someone with a strong – and, by extension, “uncool” – interest in a particular subject. It takes me back to my childhood, when I discovered that a love of learning was something to hide rather than celebrate, for fear of being labelled a swot. For a long time, I hid it away as something shameful, despite the pleasure it gave me and the encouragement of my teachers. Decades later, while filming our new series Secret Genius, Alan Carr and I discovered that not a lot has changed when it comes to the desire to fit in. The aim of our show was simple: to illustrate how genius can be found in any walk of life. Mensa estimates that there are over a million secret geniuses walking among us, which means most of us will know one of them: the friend who gets to the punchline of a joke way before the rest of us; the colleague who can make complicated calculations at the drop of a hat; or the partner who spots a pattern in an apparently random sequence. They might be a stay-at-home parent or a bus driver, pharmacist, paramedic, carpenter, train guard or singer – all professions represented in Secret Genius by people who have little idea just how brilliant they are. We are not talking about academic cleverness here, but rather an innate intelligence that sets someone apart from the crowd. Time and time again, the individuals (ranging in age from 20 to 63) we invited onto the show to participate in fiendishly clever and immersive puzzles told us of their struggles at school, of how they wanted desperately to fit in and so suppre…

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Endeavour legend Shaun Evans talks saying goodbye to Morse and why he kept his Liverpudlian accent for ITV's Betrayal
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:40.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: ITV
subject: Magazine
description: Shaun Evans moves on from Endeavour with a spy thriller – and a fresh sense of freedom.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The last time I interviewed Shaun Evans, we both had a little cry. Me, because I'd been poorly and watching every episode of his peerless Endeavour had sustained me through three bedbound months. Him… well, because he's a very nice man, and also because he recognised the import of saying goodbye to young Morse after nine series. We signed off saying, "We will speak again." And now we do, three years later, when the first thing Evans does is enquire after my health. Like I said, he's a nice man. But we're here to talk about Betrayal, an espionage thriller/marital drama he has both produced and stars in. Evans's character John Hughes, an MI5 agent battling on many fronts – fighting "voluntary" redundancy requests, struggling to save his marriage, all the while investigating a national security threat – has the same solitude and righteousness of his Endeavour, but in a very different, contemporary setting. John is often at home with his children and troubled wife Clare, where we see the pressures on an ordinary man of an extraordinary job. "I was interested in playing a man having a midlife crisis," says Evans. "Plus, there's always an appetite for the spy genre, so I was curious to see if we could mix together those two. At work, he follows his instincts and it ends in catastrophe. His marriage is on the rocks. The four episodes trace his attempts to solve these seemingly intractable problems." The two key themes in the show are the world of espionage, and the act of betrayal. For the first, producers recruited former BBC security correspondent- turned-podcaster Gordon Corera as production adviser. For the second? "I always think imagination is more important than knowledge," says Evans. "It's interesting to play these characters who are different from you, and find the reason for why they behave as they do. That's the job, making the imaginative leap." It's a full and considered answer that gives nothing away. He'd…

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Michael Palin talks returning to acting in new comedy from The Office legend – and how he approaches old age
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:37.000Z
creator: Emma Cox
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Sir Michael Palin couldn’t resist Small Prophets.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. You don’t act much these days. What made you want to play Michael’s dad Brian in Small Prophets? Travelling and writing books take up most of my time. I really enjoy acting. I’ve done A Fish Called Wanda, The Death of Stalin and GBH, which were wonderful, but they don’t come along often. What Mackenzie writes is very special. I enjoy his humour, his understanding of people. There was no question of saying, “No, I can’t do this, I’m busy travelling.” Brian lives in a care home and is the first elderly person you’ve played. Did you have any reservations? I found playing this part fine. He’s old and forgetful but able to interpret extraordinary text and put old bits of machinery together again. He’s definitely not the archetype in a care home. I wouldn’t like to just be in a chair, dribbling away, and then you die. As you get older, you do forget the most obvious things — names, places — I sometimes find that tricky. But if I’m going filming in Venezuela, say, I’ll know everything about Venezuela for a bit. My children keep saying, “Careful, careful,” but they’re being overcautious. In the show, Brian is not cautious and likes doing mad things, like trying to ride a motorbike aged nearly 90. Do you think that’s quite true for a lot of people of your generation? I was lucky to grow up in a period where being young was great — which my parents’ generation couldn’t because they’d been embroiled in two world wars. After university in the 60s, it was the Beatles, Mary Quant, Pete and Dud, and Spike Milligan. You could do anything. There was no real censorship, not to the degree there is now. In Monty Python we could write what we wanted. Now you’d have to be more careful. We just thought, let’s be silly. The way that Mackenzie writes is quite Pythonic because it’s understated. The best humour is done without a smile. When people take themselves absolutely seriously, that makes me laugh more. That’s what Python was all abo…

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This Morning star Ben Shephard: "I am happy to take pride in how I look"
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:29.000Z
creator: James Mannion
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The host of This Morning on looking good, keeping fit and loving big-screen telly.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? We have a pretty average-sized TV – I had to leave my massive 75in telly behind when we moved house as we didn’t have space for it. That was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever had to do. What have you enjoyed watching recently? Landman is incredible. Normally I’ve got four or five episodes waiting so I can watch a few at a time, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the work of Taylor Sheridan. From Landman to Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown, there is nothing he’s doing that isn’t extraordinary. Who controls the remote at home? I like to have it close at hand at all times. My boys [20-year-old Sam and 19-year-old Jack] tend to watch their iPads, as does my wife [Annie]. She likes cosy crime shows like Poirot, but I need the big cinematic experience. What was your first job on TV? Andi Peters gave me my first job in telly on T4, but I also screen-tested alongside Fearne Cotton for GMTV’s kids’ weekend show, Diggit. She was only 16 and I was 21. I didn’t get it, but we became mates and still talk about how hilarious that was. Which TV presenters do you admire? I loved Terry Wogan for his eloquence. Chris Evans is unquestionably one of my broadcasting idols: I just love his energy, enthusiasm and passion. In sport, it has to be Jeff Stelling, and Davina McCall just makes me smile and is incredible at what she does. What makes a good presenter? Someone who’s authentic and is no different off screen as on. If you’re not being your true self, I think people can tell. Also, someone who’s curious and constantly looking to improve. What’s been the biggest highlight of your presenting career so far? Being given the responsibility to front a news programme during important historical moments, like an election or the Queen’s funeral. Fortunately, I got to do it alongside the best in the business with Susanna Reid – we had such implicit trust in one a…

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Adolescence writer Jack Thorne reveals why BBC's new Lord of the Flies sticks to an all-male cast – and explains his "sensitive" adaptation of classic
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:29.000Z
creator: Mark Lawson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From Skins to Adolescence, Jack Thorne is a master of telling gritty teenage stories. Now he’s tackling the big one – Lord of the Flies.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. During the summer of 2024, Jack Thorne was commuting between the sets of two drama series he had written – one on a tropical island off Malaysia and one in Yorkshire. At the risk of upsetting one tourist board, which location did he prefer? “Glamour on both sides,” laughs Thorne. “I love both my children equally.” The locations seem distinct, but the subject matter overlapped: the potential psychopathy of prepubescent boys. The English project was Adolescence, the Netflix drama that won eight Emmy awards, while the series that was filmed in South East Asia was Lord of the Flies, a new four-part BBC adaptation of the 1954 novel – instrumental in winning William Golding the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature. “Toxic masculinity” – a term widely applied to the 13-year-old murderer Jamie Miller played by Owen Cooper in Adolescence – might also be applied retrospectively to intellectual Piggy, arrogant Ralph, charismatic Jack, shy Simon and ominous Roger who, in Lord of the Flies, contest control of a group of schoolboys marooned on an island after the crash of a plane evacuating them from a threatened nuclear attack on Britain. “It’s a funny old term, toxic masculinity,” Thorne reflects. “I think just masculinity is better. And Golding writes about that so acutely.” Thorne first read the novel while still at school: “The edition was orange and on the inside cover it had a stamp saying Portway English Department because my mum was a substitute teacher and she kept the copy. So, I first read Lord of the Flies in a stolen edition! I’ve reread it many times as an adult and felt totally different about the characters. “When I was a kid, I felt like a Simon. But, as an adult, you realise that the way you dismissed Jack as totally unfeeling is unfair. You realise Golding cares for all these kids. Lord of the Flies is used as shorthand for all sorts of things – the source of evil, society’s division – but it’s actually more subtl…

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I'm Mackenzie Crook, and this is the 16th-century inspiration for my new comedy Small Prophets – and how we brought it to life
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:05.000Z
creator: Mackenzie Crook
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Supernatural homunculi grown in jars… Crook reveals the recipe behind his quirky new comedy.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When I wrote the first series of Detectorists in 2013, I was unaware I had been sitting on the idea for the show for years, until I discovered an outline written in an old notebook from 1998. For all that time it had been slowly percolating in the back of my mind until it was ready to bubble up to the surface. My new six-part series on BBC Two had been about the same length of time in the procrastination phase, until I finally realised what the story was and how to tell it. Small Prophets is the tale of a suburban alchemist who attempts to grow supernatural beings in his shed from instructions given to him by his elderly father. It’s a strange idea, but let me try to break down how several elements eventually came together to provide the recipe… The Ingredients: 1. An ancient text The seed of the idea came from a footnote in an old book about Paracelsus, a 16th-century Swiss philosopher and alchemist. Why I was reading this book I can’t really remember or explain, but I’m glad I did. The passage intrigued me and I squirrelled it away for future use. It told of a mystic who had grown eight homunculi, magical spirits able to predict the future, in glass jars full of water. It described the process of how these creatures were generated (including a step where the jars were buried in a steaming heap of horse manure) and went into such precise detail that you could start to believe it might actually be true. 2. A comic master I first met Pearce Quigley when we were both cast in a play at the Royal Court Theatre in London, which then transferred to Broadway. You might recognise Pearce as the slightly creepy, bearded Russell from Detectorists. He is about the funniest person I know but I’d never seen him in a lead role, and it was when I realised this that the whole story started to crystallise in my mind. Pearce plays Michael Sleep, the central character in Small Prophets, who I think audiences will fall instantly in lo…

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Six Nations podcasters James Haskell and Mike Tindall talk landing Prince William and Princess Kate as guests on their show
type: item
date: 2026-02-02T17:00:04.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: audio
subject: Rugby Union
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Six Nations
description: Radio Times talks to the stars of The Good, the Bad & the Rugby.
encoded: It’s hardly enough for a line-out, and certainly not a scrum. But two big men joined by one smaller man is just the right amount for a very successful podcast. First broadcast in 2020, The Good, the Bad & the Rugby features former England rugby union internationals Mike Tindall and James Haskell, and journalist Alex Payne. Tindall, 47, a centre, was part of the 2003 World Cup-winning team. Haskell, 40, a flanker, famously played with a back injury in England’s 2016 Six Nations grand slam victory against France. Payne, 45, the smaller one, adeptly holds things together. It’s one of the world’s biggest rugby podcasts – the trio now sell out live tours and received the royal seal of approval when they recorded an episode with Princess Anne and the Prince and Princess of Wales at Windsor Castle; something Tindall, who is married to the Princess Royal’s daughter Zara Phillips, called upon family connections to get. “That was special,” he says, when we talk. “Everything I hoped it would be.” Counterintuitively, the show’s success might be down to its comparative lack of rugby minutiae. “We’re not really interested in ruck laws and scrum laws,” says Tindall, “We’re interested in the people. This is a very masculine sport. "You have to be a warrior on the field, but you can’t ever show your pain. What we’re trying to do is show that people do have emotions, to peel back a few layers.” They do this by mixing emotional openness with dressing-room banter. “Some of us are more bombastic than others,” says Tindall, possibly thinking of Haskell, who arrives late as he has been at a “diversity and inclusion” session. “I learnt workplace banter is absolutely fine,” Haskell says. “As long as it’s not funny, directed at anybody, or says anything of any remote interest.” He’s jesting, I think, and so is Payne when he says, “Working with James for eight years has driven me to a therapist.” As Tindall points out: “James has seen a therapist since he was 17 years old, to try and maximise…

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Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's The Rip proves the upsides and downsides of using real-life Hollywood friends
type: item
date: 2026-01-28T08:00:24.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Movies
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: When real-life bromance meets movie rivalry, the stars’ off-screen friendships become the real story we’re watching.
encoded: It may come as a shock to learn that, despite playing the "it’s for work" card, I occasionally lose control of the TV remote, which is how I ended up sitting through The Rip, a heist-based, gun-heavy, F-bomb-flooded thriller that I will describe, without apology, as "probably a film for boys". On the plus side, it starred – nay, was almost rescued by – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and when I wasn't watching another shootout through my eyelids, it got me thinking about them and how we feel when film-star friends appear together on-screen. It’s almost 30 years since this golden pair arrived in our lives. The story of how two longtime friends co-wrote Good Will Hunting, defying all their Hollywood doubters and going on to score box-office millions and an Oscar each for best screenplay, has become as rich in mythology and inspiration as the film itself. The film’s most moving moment comes when Affleck's blue-collar loyal friend Chuckie tells Damon’s maths genius Will he's worth more than the life he’s settling for: "You’re my best friend. I call for you every day. The best part is when I knock on your door and I think maybe you won’t be there." Cut to 2026, and The Rip proves that day has not yet come – the Affleck-Damon alliance still tight in life as on screen. View Green Video on the source website A similar challenge is posed by the George Clooney-Brad Pitt pairing in Wolfs. As in The Rip, the film sets two solitary operators in competition and seemingly reluctant comradeship. Except, of course, they’re played by two of the world’s most recognisable men, famous for being handsome, successful and, most pertinently, great friends ever since they dazzled together in Ocean’s Eleven. Studios have long used the same trick to seduce audiences, repeatedly pairing equal and sort-of opposites like Paul Newman and Robert Redford, or channelling the unstoppable-force-meets-unmovable-object charisma of Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. We happily sit through hours of fictional …

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Ben Kingsley talks returning to the MCU with Wonder Man, his connection to the Beatles and revering Queen Elizabeth II
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:01:56.000Z
creator: Sarfraz Manzoor
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Disney Plus
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Marvel Cinematic Universe (franchise)
description: Despite the awards and success, the actor values his knighthood from the late Queen above all.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Sir Ben Kingsley is one of the most garlanded actors of his generation. An Academy Award winner for Gandhi, he has also received Bafta, Golden Globe and Olivier awards, and worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Among his most famous roles are Itzhak Stern in Schindler’s List and Don Logan in Sexy Beast, but now he’s back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Hollywood satire Wonder Man, in which he plays Trevor Slattery. So, who is Trevor Slattery? Trevor is an aspiring actor who never quite hit the spotlight. After falling among thieves and posing as a murderous terrorist [in 2013’s Iron Man 3], he is imprisoned, then broken out of prison, and so returns to Los Angeles to try to recreate himself as a serious actor. This is my fourth visit to Trevor. He is a character that I would never have dreamt would span 15 years of my career. You were born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in 1943. Your father was a doctor of Gujarati Indian descent and your mum was an English actress and model – how did they meet? I believe my mother attended a Guy’s Hospital dance, where my dad was training. You changed your name to Ben Kingsley; how did you decide on that? My dad’s nickname was Ben and Kingsley is derived from his father; he was a spice trader on Zanzibar and his nickname was King Clove. As a youngster, you were taken to see the Italian film Never Take No for an Answer, and you were mistaken for one of the young actors in it. This inspired you to pursue acting – how different would your life be if you hadn’t been to the cinema that day? Oh, golly… I’m eternally grateful to the universe for placing me for those two hours in front of that flickering black-and-white screen, because it was an absolutely fundamental, primal moment. And when one looks back and thinks, what if that hadn’t happened – the whole of my life would be different. Absolutely. Without question. In another Sliding Doors moment, John Lenno…

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After the Flood's Lorraine Ashbourne talks Sherwood twist, Riot Women season 2 and living at home with her adult children
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:01:27.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Climate - Sustainable contributions within wider content
subject: Interview
subject: ITV
subject: Magazine
description: In her mid-60s, Lorraine Ashbourne is one of our most in-demand actors and busier than ever – and she’s relishing every moment.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As an interview icebreaker, I wish Lorraine Ashbourne a happy birthday for the previous day. She frowns and peers into her computer screen at her home in north London. I panic – was it a faux pas to mention her age? “Fake news!” she declares, before bursting into laughter. “I’ve had quite a few birthday messages, but I’m an Aries. I’m not 65 until April.” As it turns out, Ashbourne is perfectly happy to be hitting her mid-60s. She is, after all, in her prime – in the past 18 months or so she has been in four huge TV shows. In After the Flood, the ITV murder-mystery set against a backdrop of environmental breakdown, she plays a widowed mother with a can-do attitude. She stunned us all in the second series of Sherwood with the big reveal that her character Daphne Sparrow was a former covert spy cop; she didn’t tell a soul about the twist and relished keeping the secret. “It was delightful! The hard part was the intensity of the role, playing a character trapped with a past she can’t escape. But I never take my work home; I’m very in the moment, very practical.” Across two series of Alma’s Not Normal, Ashbourne played a grandmother in leopard print for whom we care so deeply that her diagnosis of lung cancer was utterly heartbreaking. In true Ashbourne style, she ended last year with a bang as Jess in Sally Wainwright’s smash-hit BBC series Riot Women, playing the drums in the eponymous punk band of menopausal women. All of which suggests that there’s been a shift in terms of casting older women in interesting parts. Just over a decade ago, Meryl Streep revealed that she had been offered three roles as a witch in the year she turned 40. “My mid-life years have been very kind to me, and I’ve grown into myself,” says Ashbourne. “I agree that there’s been some kind of shift, with writers realising there is value in older people. We are interesting. We are fabulous. We are brilliant. I’ve been saying for years that older…

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Scottish curler Bruce Mouat reveals experience of coming out and why one needs a burner phone during the Winter Olympics
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:01:05.000Z
creator: Kate Battersby
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: After winning silver in 2022, Bruce Mouat led the men’s curling team to two world championships. Now he’s on target for Olympic glory…
encoded: Bruce Mouat doesn’t like to remember how it felt to miss out on curling gold by the narrowest possible margin at the Winter Olympics four years ago. Deadlocked against Sweden after three hours, amid unbearable tension, the men’s team final went to sudden death – only for Great Britain to be edged out. For the skip (captain) of the men’s quartet, the sting of defeat – despite coming away with a silver medal – was enduring. “Until we competed again seven months later, I dwelt on the fact we didn’t win it,” says Mouat, curled up in a chair at home in the town of Bannockburn near Stirling. “It was so bitterly disappointing.” Yet Mouat’s rink, as a skip’s team is called in curling (where players slide 18kg granite stones on the ice), found the way to motivate themselves once more. “I tell kids in my sport not to be scared of the losses, because you learn much more from them than the wins,” he says. Then he grins on hearing the motto of tennis world number one Carlos Alcaraz: “I don’t win or I lose; I win or I learn.” “Ooh, that’s good,” smiles the Scot. “I might steal it.” Download our free Winter Olympics viewing guide, with a day-by-day TV planner to help you follow every winning moment Mouat, 31, goes into the 2026 Games vying for two golds. Now world champions, the line-up – Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan – is unchanged from the Beijing defeat, the better to focus on gold in Milano Cortina. In the mixed doubles, he and Jen Dodds will repeat their Beijing partnership, where they finished fourth. It makes for a daunting 16-day schedule. “We actually start the mixed two days before the Opening Ceremony, and go right through to the last day – it’s intense,” says Mouat, who spent a total of almost 40 hours on the ice in Beijing. “I slept for three days after the 2022 Olympics.” Growing up in a Cairngorms village, Mouat was not steeped in curling. “No one in my family played it until my dad saw a newspaper article about a local club. I was too young t…

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Skeleton racer Tabby Stoecker reveals the impact of opinions she has encountered around race and culture: "It would shock me"
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:54.000Z
creator: Sherna Noah
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Swapping the trapeze at circus school to train for the skeleton at the Olympics was a brave move. Now, after a bumpy start, Tabby Stoecker’s courage is paying off.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As a teenage student at circus school with a flair for flying trapeze, Tabby Stoecker learnt how to handle danger. On the skeleton track in the Dolomite Mountains, those years of training are sure to come in handy. Stoecker will hurtle headfirst down the winding course at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, her face just centimetres from the ice. “I’ve had experiences when it hasn’t gone right, and I’ve hit the wall hard, skidded, or flipped on to my back,” says Stoecker, who will be competing at her first Winter Olympics after winning World Cup and European Championship medals. But when it goes to plan, she adds, sliding the corners of the frozen course while experiencing extreme G-force is “an absolute state of flow”. “You can’t remember what’s happened because you are so present. You’re in tune with your breath, the track and sled. You can feel, see and hear everything but also nothing at all. You’re at one with what you’re doing.” Stoecker, 25, is the first British woman in more than a decade to win an overall skeleton World Cup medal. Yet just seven years ago, she hadn’t even heard of the sport that she excels in. That changed in the summer of 2018 when, aged 17, she spotted an advert on Instagram seeking young people who, with support, could become future Olympian or Paralympians across a range of disciplines. At the time, she was living with her mother in London, combining flying trapeze, clowning and juggling alongside her A-levels. She dreamt of joining the entertainment troupe Cirque du Soleil but doubted she would ever make it. Stoecker’s application to the talent programme was accepted, though her start was far from smooth. “I hadn’t even heard of skeleton when I signed up,” she admits. “I told my mum about the sports in the talent ID. She knew about skeleton – she’d watched Lizzy Yarnold win in Pyeongchang on the telly. “I was just bad. I was thrown in at the deep end. I didn’t really grow up doing win…

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Emilia Fox marks 30 years of Silent Witness and talks finding the positives after a big break-up
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:45.000Z
creator: Vicki Power
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The Silent Witness star on her famous family and mischievous mutts.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? The sofa faces the television, but when my daughter [15-year-old Rose, with ex-partner Jeremy Gilley] and I try to watch something, mostly the view is of our dogs Dolly and Clive, who climb on top of us. Dolly likes to be held like a baby and Clive sausages himself between us. What are you watching at the moment? I have a rule that I don’t watch television or read while I’m working, because I always think I should be studying my script. Rose said, “Mum, you’ve got to watch The Traitors, Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity,” So, I caught up on those. Now I’m watching The Hack. Who controls the remote, you or Rose? Rose, hands down. For starters, she knows how to use it. I only have it when I’m switching the TV off to say, “OK, that’s enough.” It’s the 30th anniversary of Silent Witness this year. When it debuted in 1996 starring Amanda Burton, it was still unusual having a female lead. Has that situation improved? There was also Helen Mirren playing Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect – but it was such a big thing at that time for Amanda to play Sam Ryan and to portray the difficulties of women working in pathology or forensic science. Now I see such great parts for women who are older and I think good drama should reflect the experiences of people of all ages. And it gives me hope, personally, as an actress in her 50s! What’s informed how you play forensic pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander? What impacted me most was going to see real postmortems before I started Silent Witness. For me, so much of the job is about the respect for the deceased and how they are treated within a mortuary, and the interest in finding clues through someone’s body about how they’ve died. The show moved from London to Birmingham in 2024. How did you manage the commute from London? It wouldn’t have worked if Rose hadn’t started weekly boarding school. She wanted to be with her contemporaries, which I really un…

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Snowboarder Charlotte Bankes reveals why she doesn't need to diet and worry about what she eats
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:36.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: "Wherever I am in the race at the Olympics, I won’t give up until I cross that finish line."
encoded: Great Britain’s 30-year-old Charlotte Bankes is among the favourites for the snowboard cross event at the Winter Olympics. One of the most exciting alpine sports, Olympic snowboard cross features four riders battling for position on a course between 1,000 and 1,500m long with curved banks (berms), humps and waves that help to launch riders into the air. The current World Cup mixed snowboard cross champion, Bankes’s career is laden with victories but no Olympic title yet. Is this her time? Your family moved from Britain to the French Alps when you were a child, so you initially represented France, until 2018… We didn’t move for snowboarding so much as the possibility of living a more outdoors life, but I feel fortunate they made that decision. Although I’ve grown up in France, I still feel British and feel proud to represent Great Britain. But the local community in France still supports me, so I’ve found the right balance. So, French coffee or British tea bags? I’m fuelled on tea; I probably drink two litres of tea a day. I take a flask with me on the hill so I can have a cup of tea before the start of a race. I’ve also got a kettle for the hotels so I can make a proper cup of tea. I take my own bags of Yorkshire Tea with me. Do you have a special diet, plenty of protein shakes? No, I don’t like any of that stuff! Riders don’t have to be that careful with what we eat, it’s more about getting a balanced diet that fuels the body properly. I really like a curry. There are certain mornings before races where you’re not that hungry and my go-to is toast and Marmite. Riders can reach speeds of 70km an hour, are you scared of crashes? Fear is there but it makes you concentrate. If you’re riding in a pack with people around, then you really have to focus on your own moves before wondering what the others are doing. You damaged your pelvis in 2011 and then, in 2025, crashed in training — how has that affected you going into these Olympics? My preparation hasn’t been the same…

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I'm Clive Myrie, and my new BBC ancestry series left me angry about history – but with a constructive way to use it
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:29.000Z
creator: Clive Myrie
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: Use your identity as a positive force, writes Clive Myrie, who has embraced his African roots.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In a confusing world, we search for our origins. Within many of us there is a deep yearning to find our roots, to discover where our own unique stories begin. This yearning is behind the remarkable popularity of ancestry DNA tests and the success of television shows like Who Do You Think You Are? In making my series African Adventure, I’ve fed penguins in South Africa and explored the wonderful and chaotic exuberance of Lagos in Nigeria. But I’ve also experienced a traditional naming ceremony in Ghana, where I was metaphorically welcomed back into the African fold and given an African name – an origin. As well as this new name, I had a flag made by a craftsman of the Fante people, who still practice this ancient folk-art in Ghana. It’s beautiful, vibrant with colour and designs that include symbols representing my Jamaican history. It’s hanging above my desk at home and I take pleasure in this layer being added to my identity. You might think I have enough identity already. I was born in Bolton in Lancashire, so I’m a Northerner and proud of it. But I’m also very proud of being British and then there are my Caribbean roots, that come courtesy of my Jamaican parents. Thanks to them I remain Caribbean in my bones; I love West Indian food and Jamaican culture. So, do I have room for another Clive Myrie? My answer is yes, for if you want to be true to who you are, then you really do need to know who you are. In my case, I have parents from Jamaica but before them my ancestors were African. I’m not sure exactly where from, but a DNA test suggests somewhere on what was once called the Gold Coast, most likely modern Ghana or Nigeria. Whichever it was, they were sent across the Atlantic as slaves on the terrible Middle Passage journey to the Caribbean. In my new series, I’ve visited the slave fort in Ghana where my ancestors could well have been kept in appalling conditions before they were taken through the “Gate of No R…

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Alpine ski racer Dave Ryding talks mental health journey: "I really don't think UK Sport understands"
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:00:21.000Z
creator: Michael Hodges
subject: Sport
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: With an Olympic medal having eluded him in his career, Dave Ryding is determined to go out on a high.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. High in the Italian Alps, a 39-year-old Englishman is preparing to race. Soon he will lock into his skis, take a deep breath of sharp mountain air and then throw himself down the compacted frozen snow of the Winter Olympics slalom course beneath Monte Vallecetta. When he hurtles towards the finish-line, Dave Ryding will zigzag and turn through a series of gates marked by polymer poles, subjecting his knees and ankles to immense forces, while reaching speeds of 80km an hour. With some understatement Ryding, known as The Rocket, describes this as “quite stressful”. Downhill racing is faster, but slalom is the more technical event where competitors are more likely to make a mistake and crash – with hundreds of cowbell-clanging spectators waiting for him to do just that. “It’s an amazing experience in front of a big crowd,” he says. And frightening? “You learn to perform under pressure, to take the energy from the crowd and not have nerves about it.” Download our free Winter Olympics viewing guide, with a day-by-day TV planner to help you follow every winning moment When we talk, Ryding has just breakfasted on Greek yoghurt, oats “and blueberries from Aldi”. In summer he grows his own blackcurrants in the Lancashire home he shares with his wife, Dutch skier Mandy Dirkzwager, and their three-year-old daughter, Nina. Ryding, it’s clear, is emphatically not someone who spent months in the Alps every winter. He was brought up near Pendle in Lancashire and, rather than Courchevel, the first time Ryding encountered winter sports it was on the local artificial ski slope – taken there by his father Carl, a ski-mad visionary who sensed, rightly, that his six-year-old son might be good. Carl coached his son on the plastic slope and worked on a market stall in the nearby town of Leyland. “He sold women’s underwear,” says Ryding. “Then he became an industrial cleaner.” When it became increasingly apparent that both Ryding and his…

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Bridgerton legends explain "juvenile" season 4 feud for Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury
type: item
date: 2026-01-21T08:00:47.000Z
creator: Benji Wilson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Contains Trailer
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: Netflix
description: There's trouble afoot for the two Bridgerton friends.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. “There’s a little bit of an upset with our best mate, Lady Danbury,” is Golda Rosheuvel’s description of the trouble at the top in Bridgerton series four. (And note the appropriate use of the regal plural – Rosheuvel has been playing a Queen for six years now and speaks fluent majesty). “She comes into the season thinking that she has a lovely new toy in Whistledown (Nicola Coughlan), that they’re going to be best mates and she’s going to be able to control the gossip. And then she’s wrong-footed by Danbury asking to leave.” “Danbury’s hit that time in her life,” explains Adjoa Andoh, “where she wants to know all of who she is. We have to remember that Danbury was sent over from Sierra Leone to the UK to marry an old git. As we saw from the Queen Charlotte series, she had a loveless marriage, four children and then he dies. Phew, thank goodness. Now I’m independent.” In series three, her brother Marcus returned and the issue of her family and background re-emerges. “And at a certain point she realises there’s a piece of the jigsaw in her life that she doesn’t have available to her, and that is: ‘Who was I in Sierra Leone?’ I know from friends who have been fostered or adopted that there’s something about filling in a gap that – at a time in your life – becomes more necessary.” Danbury’s announcement that she is off to find herself forces a schism at the top. “The Queen is lonely,” says Rosheuvel. “She needs her best friend by her side. She’s terrified of what the outcome will be for their friendship.” Predictably, the Queen doesn’t take it well. “She says, ‘I’m the Queen, so you have to do what I say,’” say Andoh. “And Danbury goes, ‘Well, if I have to do what you say, I won’t be your friend.’” Cue juvenile squabbling. “How they’re going to resolve that in a satisfactory way is their story arc throughout the season.” It’s a tale of significant friendships and how they mature – and sometimes falter – over time. Som…

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When did TV documentaries become all about celebrities and 'being' and stop being about people actually doing something?
type: item
date: 2026-01-21T08:00:46.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Comment
subject: Magazine
description: The good news is that there are green shoots of fresh geek-dom on our screens.
encoded: My friend and I used to be fans of a big documentary festival until about a decade ago. After yet more films about a boy wearing mascara, or a girl holding a Kalashnikov, we walked out after a screening and she said, "It’s all about being. When did people stop doing stuff?" To be fair, documentaries remain a crucial platform for investigative journalism, but when it comes to our TV screens, my friend was right. We aren’t short of what TV commissioners call "factual entertainment", but it feels like a million variations on a single premise: two celebrities in a car swapping their "stories", between stops where they buy a house and a surprisingly valuable bit of art. Or, if it's Channel 4, an intentionally provocative session with some kind of sex practitioner. If an expert is called upon, it’s to answer the questions of yet another celebrity. Where are the people doing stuff? It wasn’t always this way. I grew up watching people like Keith Floyd, Ann Ladbury and Fred Dibnah and their infectious enthusiasms for, respectively, cooking without a recipe (but with a glass of red), cutting sewing patterns and demolishing chimneys. They were all doing it anyway; fame came through their passions, not the other way round. The word "geek" – which just means a deep, tireless interest in a subject, often niche – has been given a bad rap, associated with a bad haircut and passion for planes over personal grooming. Well, give me an unsmoothed expert enthused to share over a slick celebrity paid to learn any day of the week. The good news is that there are green shoots of fresh geek-dom on our screens. With a doffed cap to the storytelling talents of scientist Dr Hannah Fry, the numero uno of nerds is Guy Martin. First spotted by TV producers on his bike in a 2009 TT race, the Grimsby-born presenter brings his love for all things mechanical to TV, from building a boat to breaking the world record for the fastest toboggan. Refreshingly averse to celebrity over substance (he said no t…

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Death in Paradise legend Don Warrington talks "outcry" to Selwyn's departure – and whether he'll leave the show
type: item
date: 2026-01-19T17:01:51.000Z
creator: Mark Lawson
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: After much speculation, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson is back on Saint Marie – but Don Warrington is making no promises on his Death in Paradise future.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Having starred in 14 seasons of the BBC One peak-time drama Death in Paradise, Don Warrington is often recognised in streets or shops by fans of his character, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson. But since March last year – when the latest series ended with Patterson moving to London for “family reasons” – viewers have had one question: had Warrington left the series? “What I’d say to them was, ‘Wait and see’,” says Warrington, who is 74. “That was all I was allowed to say because ‘Has he?/Hasn’t he?’ was part of the story.” Having waited, viewers were rewarded with Patterson making cameos in last month’s Christmas specials of both Death in Paradise and its spin-off Beyond Paradise. And now, any concerns are laid to rest with the opening episode of the 15th series starting with Selwyn flying into the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie to resume his duties. Was that story arc always planned or does it reflect frantic background negotiations between actor and producers? Had Warrington ever at any point actually left the series? “No, I hadn’t,” he insists. “They came to me and told me the plan for the character and it seemed to me a good way to expand the series. Because Commissioner Patterson comes back with a different energy. But I love speculation. It’s such fun. Rumour is wonderful.” The reaction to his possible departure must have been flattering – especially from a series that has been written to accommodate cast rotation with Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O’Hanlon, Ralf Little and Don Gilet having now played the lead role of a British cop seconded from London. “Well, it came as a shock to me, I have to say,” admits Warrington. “I thought it would just pass by under the radar and we’d carry on. But, apparently, there has been an outcry. It’s flattering and I would be dishonest if I said it wasn’t. But it came as a surprise to realise how deeply the characters had got into the consciousness of the public.”…

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