Race Across the World 2026 line-up: Meet the pairs competing in this breathtaking journey from Europe to Mongolia
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 architect from London is racing with his sister-in-law Margo, 59, a hypnotherapist from Liverpool. You’re in-laws, who at one point didn't get on and yet you took on this journey — why? Mark: My late wife Julia was a big fan of the show but she would never have done it, she liked five-star hotels! One of Julia’s last wishes [before she died in July 2022] was that Margo and I continue the friendship we’d been building while caring for her. This was a way of doing that. What was your reaction when you learnt the final checkpoint was in Mongolia? Margo: I don’t do cold! Mark: I had an inkling it could be Mongolia. Very few people go, so I was thrilled. What were you most nervous about? Margo: We probably weren’t as nervous as we should’ve been! We had a little bit of chutzpah. We’re used to travelling, we’re grown-ups and we were a little bit gung-ho. Did you agree to prioritise sightseeing or the race? Margo: We thought that it would be nice to see things but how we got along was my priority. Mark: Our intention was to be the oldest couple to win. What did you learn about yourselves along the way? Mark: It was a turning point in my life. I’m quite shy and introverted. But on one particular leg of the race, I had an out-of-body experience in a way and it changed my view of life. Margo: We were both surprised at how much we were there for each other. We read the world in different ways, our brains work completely differently but we found common ground and connected. Would you go on another adventure together? Margo: Absolutely! Mark: It was great fun being with Margo and we work well together and enjoy each other’s company. I could see us doing something again. Looking to plan your next holiday? Request brochures for European and worldwide escorted tours, plus ocean and river cruises from our travel partners Katie and Harrison Account manager Katie, 21, is racing with her brother Harrison, 23, a finance assistant from Manchester. Whose idea was it to sign up? Harrison: It was my idea. Our mum sent us the link. It’s a show I’ve always watched. I just needed to convince Katie because she was scared of doing it until we got there. Katie: I was excited for the race, but nervous about the TV aspect. What was your reaction when you learnt that the final checkpoint was in Mongolia? Katie: I was stressed because I’d packed for Brazil, I really thought we were going there so I was worried about my clothes! What made you most nervous about the task? Harrison: I was concerned about being hungry. Did the race test your relationship? Katie: It strengthened it. Our race relationship was slightly different to our home relationship because we were nice to each other. At home, it’s constant banter and taking the mick out of each other. Harrison: We do everything together, so we had a strong relationship and foundation going into the race, but we made a conscious effort to not wind each other up. Was there an item you were happy you packed? Katie: My face masks, especially because your skin gets so dry. It was a nice luxury. Harrison: I was pretty practical. My calculator and my notebook made me feel better. What did you learn about yourselves on the race? Katie: To be a bit more confident in myself. It made me view the world differently. Harrison: I live quite a regimented life so I think I discovered a different side to me that maybe I didn’t know existed. Would you go on another adventure together? Harrison: We’ve been waiting to finish my exams, then maybe South America. Katie: You keep saying maybe, but it’s a definitely! Andrew and Molly Geography teacher Andrew, 54, is racing with his daughter Molly, 23, a junior doctor from Northern Ireland. Whose idea was it to sign up? Andrew: I decided to fill out the form. Molly was sitting her finals. Never in a million years did we think we’d be picked. What were you most nervous about? Andrew: Would we fall out? That was my biggest fear. Molly: Just doing well. I thought we’d get there eventually, but how was that going to happen? Did the experience change you? Andrew: It gave me confidence and courage. To stop overthinking and seize the moment. Molly: For me, it was realising you can’t plan the future. Stop worrying about it because you’ll get through it and it’ll be OK. Was there a luxury you wish you’d taken with you? Andrew: A spare razor! Molly: A nice outfit. Who was better at approaching strangers to ask for help? Molly: There was a strategy. Daddy went to older people and I approached young people. Did you agree to prioritise sightseeing or the race? Molly: We said that we live and die by whatever call we make at that moment. There’s no “You said that” or “That was a bad idea”. Andrew: We just wanted to enjoy it. Kush and Jo Kush, 19, a gap-year student is racing with best fried Jo, a 19-year-old college student from Liverpool. Whose idea was it to apply? Kush: It was mine! I was on Instagram and saw the advert. I called Jo and said, “Do you want to sign up for this?” and he was like, “Yeah, sound.” Jo: We felt like we didn’t have anything to lose! Were you worried your friendship would be tested? Kush: We were confident it was strong enough to overcome any sort of challenges. Was it difficult to live without your phones? Kush: It was a blessing in disguise. The worst part was not being able to contact my mum and family. Jo: In the first week I was craving it quite a lot, but the race requires so much attention. Did you agree to prioritise sightseeing or the race? Kush: We decided to compromise. When we applied, I was more “Let’s just experience everything”. But Jo was very determined and said, “We’ve got to win.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday 24 March – subscribe here. Race Across the World returns on Thursday 2 April at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Seasons 1-5 are available to watch on iPlayer. Add Race Across the World to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
As Michael Jackson's legacy returns to the limelight, can we truly separate the art from the artist?
With a major film biopic and a new three-part BBC documentary this month, the controversial superstar is back in the spotlight.
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 stitched together and became the biggest “concert movie” ever, just four months after its frontman had perished. MJ: The Musical plus continuing royalties make for an estate that’s now worth over $2 billion. What should we take from all of this? That, unlike, say Gary Glitter, there is just enough of a whiff of doubt about Jackson’s crimes for us to hold our noses and take to the dancefloor at the first beats of Billie Jean? Or that his gift of music is too good for us to deprive ourselves with any ethical concerns? But then we remember that that gift was what prosecutors say gave him opportunity and means to transgress. While moral mazers and die-hard fans continue to scratch their chins about loving the art while deriding the artist, the only certainty that pervades every scene of the BBC doc is just how weird Jackson’s life was at every stage: his fans’ enchantment nothing short of cultish, and the contradiction between this and his clear self-loathing; and self-worship; and self-sabotage. The best bits are watching the craftsman at work – footage of Jackson developing the moonwalk on his own at home is still thrilling. The most significant contributor is a Rabbi who remembers telling the star, “You’re addicted to fame, and you’ve substituted it for this cheap forgery called attention.” Michael will draw hordes of fans, desperate to relive the early years of Jackson’s flight to the sun, while Robson and Safechuck have been given a trial date for November 2026. For them, as for the rest of us, the jury remains out. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy airs at 9pm on Wednesday 8 April on BBC Two and iPlayer. Michael is in cinemas from 22 April Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
W1A and Twenty Twelve creator takes us behind the pen on his all-new series Twenty Twenty Six
John Morton never imagined his creation Ian Fletcher would still be failing upwards, 15 years after making his debut.
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 materials,” he reflects, stressing that none of his series are constructed as a takedown of any institution. He wants to shine a light on flawed people trying to do their best – which is an apt description of the BBC, particularly when it becomes the story. “Every institution has its faults, and one thing I admire about the BBC is that it airs its faults better than anybody else, and continues to do so. They’re one of the best things about us as a nation.” Whatever the setting, human foibles and the “small p” politics of the workplace are Morton’s thing. He admits he’s “not temperamentally suited” to savage satire: for example, President Trump barely warrants a mention in Twenty Twenty Six. “This is, for better or worse, kinder than that. It sits in a very close parallel universe to the real world.” His golden rule for mentioning real-world figures is that nothing his characters say about them can be true, leading to deliciously absurd lines in David Tennant’s narration – such as Selena Gomez attending a photoshoot “for the launch of her new range of opinions”. Similarly, while Morton spent a couple of weeks in Chicago and Miami talking to people involved in US soccer, he declined to use any of their stories to avoid inviting direct comparisons. He has harboured a great many trade secrets and insights over the years, but only one detail consciously made its way into his work. When he learned that Olympics executives arrived at work on folding bikes but couldn’t fold them up, it was too irresistible not to use for Fletcher. “I like listening to people, but I hardly ever write a phrase down,” he says. “I prefer to immerse myself. I might watch five minutes of a Miami news channel to get into the zone, but I wouldn’t dignify that by calling it research.” It’s inescapable that in tying the series to a single event that takes place weeks after it airs, Morton’s created a premise that can’t sustain a second series. Where could Fletcher end up next? “People keep pointing out that the Olympics go to Los Angeles in 2028,” he says. “I’m loyal to the characters and the actors, but this has been two and a half years of my life, flat out, absolutely pedal to the metal. I’m so slow as a writer. Olympic rower Steve Redgrave once said after winning a gold medal, ‘If anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you’ve got my permission to shoot me’. That’s currently, how I feel.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Twenty Twenty Six begins on Wednesday 8 April at 10pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. Add Twenty Twenty Six to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Joel Dommett and Armando Iannucci take on exclusive Taskmaster task – here's Alex Horne's verdict
Break the boiled egg. You may only break one egg. Two of the eggs are labelled correctly. Fastest wins. Your time starts now!
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 favourite! My family and I watched it right from the start. I was slightly trepidatious to be asked on to it, but also within a nanosecond, I said yes, because it’s such a friendly, kind show. You can bowl things up and make a complete arse of the task and of yourself, and it doesn’t matter. You’re surrounded by Easter paraphernalia, but do you celebrate Easter? We used to do Easter egg hunts and all that sort of thing, but my kids are grown up now. I will say, when you reach a certain age – and I don’t want to plough this elderly man theme for much longer – but you can have chocolate whenever you like! You don’t need to wait until Easter. Joel Dommett Joel took his time trying to crack the clues – “Egg a’boiled?” he mused, before being told it read “Egg A: boiled” – and also sacrificed a minute of time for a hint. Unfortunately, that “mystery envelope” only contained a free photo of Greg Davies and Alex Horne. Checking under the egg cups revealed a secret message: Manufactured in Denmark. Giving up, Joel went on instinct and confidently smashed a raw egg on his head. Followed by the other raw egg. Good for the hair, we’re told... Without giving too much away, you have trouble with an egg-based task in the new series... You don’t seem to have a lot of luck with eggs on Taskmaster! No, I really don’t. I like to eat eggs because they are a very good protein source. But now they sort of have a sheen of PTSD. How did you find our task today? I loved it – I know there’s probably a clever way of doing it and I do always try my best to work out what that is, but it actually kind of confuses me and then I just go a bit gung-ho. And smash an egg on my head. Two eggs. Why not? If you’ve done one, you might as well do another. Were you a fan of the show before you joined? A massive fan, as I think a lot of comedians are. It’s just one of those brilliant shows in which you get to see the mind of a comedian and the different ways they figure something out. Potentially in the wrong way, very much like today! It’s very festive in here – do you celebrate Easter? I sometimes forget Easter, but I have a two-and-a-half year-old, so I should probably start embracing it! Actually, people think I’m maybe not a controversial comedian, but I’m about to say something really controversial… I don’t eat chocolate. In the shoot, I enjoyed punching an Easter egg more than I enjoyed eating it. That says it all about me. 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. Alex Horne's verdict This was easy to score. They both failed – zero points. This is a little logic task. It’s very easy: you’ve just got to open the hint envelope that is going to cost you the most time. But I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t do that – and they didn’t do that, so that’s good. I did feel very smug, which often happens in the show. I tested this one on my kids at home and two of them found the correct egg, one of them did a Joel and just smashed the wrong one. These two did predictably badly, but they also did it predictably entertainingly. There’s always a balance in the show. You could just come in and do the task. And that’s fine if one person does that, but if all five did it in a very dry way, it wouldn’t be entertaining. So, they didn’t disappoint. This task may return in the TV show. So if you’re a future contestant watching this, you’ve got an advantage. I try to test tasks out wherever I can because life’s short. Photographer: Rob Parfitt <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/rob_parfitt_photography/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/rob_parfitt_photography/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@rob_parfitt_photography HMU: Bryony Blake <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/bryony_blake/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/bryony_blake/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@bryony_blake HMU: Holly Davies <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/hollylouisehmua/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/hollylouisehmua/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@hollylouisehmua Set Dressing: Propped Up <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/propped_up_ltd/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/propped_up_ltd/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@propped_up_ltd The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Taskmaster returns on Thursday 9 April at 9pm on Channel 4. Previous seasons are available to watch on catch-up on Channel 4. Add Taskmaster to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
BBC's Pilgrimage star Patsy Kensit: "The treatment I had over the years from the media was pretty awful"
Seven celebrities with diverse beliefs set off on a journey of self-discovery from Whitby to Holy Island.
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 of us desire a different, more contemplative, way of travelling. The paths Kensit and her fellow walkers tread combine the pilgrimage routes for three saints: Cuthbert, Hild and Oswald. Perhaps it lacks the glamour of the Camino de Santiago, the famous route across Spain the series has previously travelled, but this is also a land with a centuries-old heritage of religious belief. Every step taken is through what was once the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Whitby Abbey, the romantic gothic ruin where the party make their first stop, was home in the seventh century to a monastic community under the rule of St Hild. She established Whitby as a seat of Christian learning, and is said to have turned snakes to stone, which is why local ammonite fossils are called snake stones. “I find Hild and those times fascinating,” says Norris. “And you can still feel it in that part of the world; the power is there.” The BBC pilgrims set off in different states of belief. Kensit says she is an “à la carte Catholic”; picking the parts of her childhood faith that bring her most comfort. Norris, brought up in the Church of England, finds the divine in the things around her. Al-Habib is an observant Muslim and Banjo a committed Christian. Ghouri describes herself as atheist, Middlemiss has sought prayer retreats in Indian ashrams, and Blaker performs funny sketches about his fixation with becoming the perfect Orthodox Jew. Several pilgrims carry baggage other than backpacks. Kensit has endured intrusive interest in her private life since the 1980s; her four husbands included Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher from Oasis. “The treatment I had over the years from the media was pretty awful. My life was plucked out and this character was invented that was meant to be me. Actually, it was nothing like me and never was.” Kensit has learnt certain truths the hard way. “You don’t have to marry all your boyfriends,” she says. It’s advice she also offers to Ghouri in the show. Norris travels with her own burden. In the first episode it’s revealed she experienced a tragedy early in life. “Somebody very close to me took their own life when I was younger. It had a profound effect on me.” Did it affect her faith? “Everyone says when somebody dies, ‘Time is a great healer’ or ‘They’re at peace now.’ Culturally, I was raised a Christian, but back then suicide was taboo. If you’d taken your own life, Christianity’s response was, ‘You’re going down there.’” Norris drifted away from Anglicanism but retained her spiritual curiosity. Kensit stayed with her church, and believes it got her through the years in the spotlight. “I would go to mass regularly and it really did help me,” she explains, though she retains the right to define her own faith. “There is so much in the Catholic Church that I believe in but also aspects I didn’t agree with. So, I opened up to other things like meditation. You hear that word and think, ‘Ohm, ohm,’ and that you have to do yoga and be able to put your legs behind your head. But prayer can be mediation.” In that way, Kensit is like Cuthbert, who was noted for his meditative prayer on Lindisfarne and is buried in Durham’s Unesco-listed Norman cathedral. When they enter the building, the walkers will be discovering new things about this region’s past but also about each other including, in Al-Habib’s case, that he prays five times a day. “It was a blessing to be with these people that are so open-minded and eager to learn,” he says, and in turn, he learnt about his fellow pilgrims. One morning in the Durham hills he took a picture of the Jewish Blaker quietly considering a religious text. “Ashley was reading it but he was also, I thought, centring himself; saying this is who I am, this is what I believe in.” Al-Habib is still near the start of his career, while Kensit and Norris are veterans, but, for all of them, the appeal of the series has not only been discovering this other England of holy kings and venerated saints but each other. “I do put walls up around to protect myself,” says Kensit. “I tend to isolate and I lost a lot of that. For the first time in a long time, I really became part of the group. That’s huge for me.” Norris agrees. “Being with these people was a unique experience. They are my pilgrimage. I will treasure that.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Ben Fogle: "I'm reconciled to the fact I might not be returning to China any time soon"
Whether he was fixing The Great Wall, fulfilling a film-studio dream or going wild, China took Ben Fogle’s breath away.
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 harvest billions of cockroaches in one big room. They’re then crunched and mulched down into toothpaste and shampoo and moisturisers. I’m not sure why they’re used for toothpaste. Perhaps, in the same way a deer penis is supposed to enhance your sexual prowess, cockroaches have really shiny teeth… I’ve now got a mental image of a billion cockroaches all with Rylan’s teeth.” Hengdian World Studios Playing a ‘Chinawood’ extra “Hengdian is the world’s largest outdoor film studio: it’s where the micro-drama began – those short, vertical-format films for watching on mobiles that are taking over the world. It’s a multibillion-pound market, with literally 100 different micro-drama sets, every one of them being used and rotated around 24 hours a day. “You can visit lots of the sets – there’s a full-size replica of the Forbidden City, they’ve got Shanghai built along the banks of a river – and I got to be an extra in one of the films, indulging my childhood aspirations to be an actor. My character saves a Chinese damsel in distress from some wicked thieves – or do I? There’s a bit of a twist at the end and I suspect an Oscar is on its way!” Longji Getting down and dirty on the rice terraces “The rice terraces at Longji are stunning. They’re ethereal, otherworldly, timeless – and I was lucky enough to be there for the annual planting festival. That’s the opening of the rice season, when they irrigate all the terraces, so you watch the water flood into tens of thousands of terraces, and you’ve got the reflection of the sun, and all the colour starts to return to what up until that stage of the year is quite a barren winter landscape. “It’s not just a ceremony, though: everyone gets out there and mucks in. They have to catch all the fish that are in the terraces, use animals – and humans – to pull the ploughs, everyone gets muddy to get the terraces all working. It’s an extraordinary spectacle of community, and of practices that have gone unchanged for millennia. Beautiful.” Sichuan Pretending to be a panda “We went to a centre that was preparing giant pandas for reintegration into the wilderness, and in order to ensure that they’re not habituated to humans, you have to dress as a panda – which, honestly, was completely unexpected. “The slightly comedic element is that these are pretty basic panda costumes – this is not Aardman Animations quality – but the result was that we were able to get very close to these semi-wild creatures, and it was the first time I’d ever seen a panda in my life, either wild or in captivity. “Were the pandas fooled by the costumes? I think the jury’s out. It’s quite possible that if you watch the programme, you’ll see one roll its eyes.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. China with Ben Fogle begins on Monday 6 April at 9pm on 5. heck out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
W1A icon Ian Fletcher tells Radio Times all about his Twenty Twenty Six role: "This wasn't just any other job"
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.
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 brought together in one really big place to compete against one another until eventually there would be one winner and the other 47 would be defeated. That’s surely a story we all need to hear today, whether we want to or not, and it’s certainly been one of my own goals to try to tell it. Written exclusively for Radio Times by Twenty Twenty Six, W1A and Twenty Twelve creator John Morton. Twenty Twenty Six begins on Wednesday 8 April at 10pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
I'm Line of Duty's Vicky McClure, and this is why my husband and I are investigating atrocious historical crime cases
Revisiting historic crimes against women, actor Vicky McClure asks why they never got justice.
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 the police investigation. I wanted to get closer to the women and find out what they were really like. I met their families to get a truer picture and now I’ll never get the women’s faces and stories out of my mind. Another episode in our series, this time focusing on London in the Edwardian era, concerns Dr Crippen. Hanged in 1910 for the murder of his actress wife, you may well have heard the name Dr Crippen. Jonny remembers seeing his waxwork in the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tussauds as a child. But do you know the story of his victim? His wife, music hall singer Cora Crippen, has been relegated to a footnote in the history books. Police believed Dr Crippen, who by that point was sharing his home with his mistress, when he said his wife had simply left and disappeared. They initially dismissed Cora’s friends, who knew something was wrong. Without their efforts, Dr Crippen would never have been caught. A book on the case, The Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen by Filson Young, published in 1920, shaped how it has been viewed for a century. Seeing how Cora is portrayed makes for a difficult read. She’s said to be “filthy,” does not quite keep up with the housework and, he says, doesn’t have a scrap of ability as a performer. Cora’s murder is almost excused by focusing on what was supposedly wrong with her. It’s a form of victim blaming that, along with misogyny and violence against women, still plagues society. My husband Jonny often says, “the past is a different country”. And he’s right. It was, thankfully and in so many ways, a very different place. But all the cases we investigate – the unsolved murders, miscarriages of justice and culturally significant crimes – sadly, they’ve left a lasting impact on their communities – and their legacy remains today. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Britain's Murder Map with Vicky McClure and Jonny Owen starts Tuesday 7 April 9pm on Sky History and History Play. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Frances Barber talks politics on TV and playing Margaret Thatcher: "I hated her"
The versatile actor on politics, becoming Thatcher and playing a rock survivor.
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 was your childhood like? I had a happy childhood. My mum was a great singer – we used to sing around the house to Shirley Bassey together – but she had six kids. Very generously if you think about it, she wanted me to have the life she never had, so was always incredibly supportive, as was my dad. When I went to university, there was never a sense of me running away from anything. Actually, I took it all with me. How would you describe yourself as an actor? I was once described as mercurial, and I like that because I’ve never fitted into any box. More often, I’ve been called “sexy and unhinged”. Which I don’t mind. In your film MUSIK, written by Jonathan Harvey with music by Pet Shop Boys, you play Billie Trix, who first appeared in their 2001 musical Closer to Heaven. I’ve never been in a show that got such shockingly bad reviews, but I loved it and I love her. She’s one of those great survivors – like Marianne Faithfull – who went through it all, bought the T-shirt and is still standing. It took more than 20 years but she’s back, deliciously delusional, with six new songs by Pet Shop Boys. It’s a recording of your one-woman show – was that a big responsibility? There was never a night I wasn’t terrified. And as much as I relished it, it’s also quite lonely. The producer, director Terry Johnson and the Pet Shop Boys would pop in, but apart from my dresser, who was wonderful, you’re there on your own. To me, the whole point of being an actor is the camaraderie – working out stuff in the rehearsal room, playing off each other on the actual stage – so I’m not going to lie, I found it very difficult. 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 out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Taskmaster legend Alex Horne reveals the "jolt" he got from seeing show's A-list Hollywood signing
The show creator hints at what's in store for the new episodes – and sets two of the contestants an eggs-tra special task.
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, but may also include red herrings. It’s hard to say what cracks quicker under the pressure – the celebrities or the eggs. “Like most of the series, with this task I’ve finished it and still don’t really understand what happened,” Dommett says shortly after his attempt. Still, the eggy chaos reflects the new series, the 11th on Channel 4 (previously it aired on Dave). Alongside Iannucci and Dommett, the new cast includes comedian Amy Gledhill and actor Joanna Page, best known for one of the titular roles in Gavin & Stacey. “Most people only know her from Gavin & Stacey and haven’t seen the real Joanna, and it’s remarkable,” Horne says. But perhaps the most impressive signing is Hollywood actor Kumail Nanjiani, a former Marvel superhero with an impressive TV and film CV that includes Ghostbusters, Men in Black and Star Wars roles. A few days before our shoot, he presented an award at the Oscars and was cast in the next series of The White Lotus. “I did get a jolt when I watched the Oscars and Kumail walked on, because I know what he’s like in real life,” Horne laughs. “But it just shows that people are just people. I think Taskmaster works because it doesn’t matter who you are. It still comes unstuck when you’ve got three eggs and a task. “We started in 2015, and I don’t think it’s changed much,” he adds. “The tasks have to change a little bit. Even today, there’s a few more rules because we’ve done a lot of the most basic things. And also, contestants do come in with a little bit more knowledge about the show. “But equally we still put stuff under the table and no one looks there. Greg’s still as wayward with his judging as ever. I think that, at its core, it’s still just making funny people do stupid things.” View Green Video on the source website Looking ahead, viewers can expect those “funny people” to get even starrier. According to Horne, series 22 – which has almost concluded studio filming as we go to press – has cast a real hero of his, while series 23 goes even bigger. “I could give you a sneaky bit of information for the distant future,” he says. “We have got an Oscar winner in a future series.” Robert De Niro throwing a potato into a hole? Meryl Streep eating an entire watermelon in three minutes? Take a guess... the clock’s ticking! You can find out how the task went and read more from Alex Horne, Joel Dommett and Armando Iannucci in the new issue of Radio Times magazine, out on Tuesday – subscribe here. Photographer: Rob Parfitt <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/rob_parfitt_photography/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/rob_parfitt_photography/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@rob_parfitt_photography HMU: Bryony Blake <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/bryony_blake/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/bryony_blake/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@bryony_blake HMU: Holly Davies <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/hollylouisehmua/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/hollylouisehmua/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@hollylouisehmua Set Dressing: Propped Up <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.instagram.com/propped_up_ltd/#" href="https://www.instagram.com/propped_up_ltd/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">@propped_up_ltd Taskmaster returns on Thursday 9 April at 9pm on Channel 4. Previous seasons are available to watch on catch-up on Channel4.com. Add Taskmaster to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Shrinking's Jason Segel reveals how Michael J Fox joined the show and how they worked on "authentic" Parkinson's storyline
The Shrinking star on getting high-fived by Harrison Ford, and why therapy is a workout for your feelings.
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 very lucky. And now you’ve also had Michael J Fox on the show, his first acting role in five years. How did that come about? Michael and Bill Lawrence [Shrinking’s co-creator] are old friends since they made Spin City in the 90s. Bill’s watched Michael go through his Parkinson’s journey and Michael, who’s been really generous in advising on the storyline, said he was ready to do a part on-screen. I only got to do one scene with him but it was an honour to act alongside another idol of mine. How important was it to incorporate Michael’s authentic experience into the Parkinson’s storyline? When you’re tackling real issues, you have a responsibility to do it well; we also have therapist advisers on the show. To have someone on-screen who’s going through what Harrison’s character Paul is going through feels like a nod of approval that we’re handling it well. Jimmy gets quite direct with his patients. What do therapists say to you about how you present their profession? They always say it’s wish-fulfilment! You’re sitting there knowing exactly what the person should do but you’re advised not to tell them. If you were their friend, you would. I think it’s been liberating for them to see a therapist tell someone to end their misery. Why do you think the UK’s traditionally had a bit of a stigma about therapy, seeing it as quite an American thing? I can imagine some Brits thinking it’s a self-indulgent endeavour – which it is, you’re literally talking about yourself! But a personal trainer isn’t seen as self-indulgent and I don’t see the difference between what they do. Perhaps it’s just a mentality shift. All of us need help. Do you feel it’s important to depict men’s vulnerabilities on TV? Throughout your life, you’ll be presented with a bunch of s**t that you don’t know how to handle. Art is designed to help you make sense of love, grief, ageing, all these things. The only way you make sense of it is to talk about it. Dealing with it alone makes life so much harder than it has to be. The second I started talking to my friends, especially male friends, about how tricky life can be, I realised it’s like that for everyone. How much of you is Jimmy and vice versa? My characters are all me but with Jimmy, the Venn diagram overlaps a lot, partly because I created him from scratch. The parts I tend to play are a surrogate for the viewer. That’s the role I tend to get. As a writer and actor with a hit show on a big streamer, how much attention do you pay to shifts in the industry like Paramount buying Warner Bros? The more I try to be strategic, the worse my writing is. I’ve learnt to be as unsavvy as I can about what might sell, what’s happening in the industry, what is or isn’t working. I live on farmland and I try to try to write something good enough that someone wants to make. You’ll always be behind if you’re just paying attention to what’s working. I’d rather be the person who has to convince someone it’ll work. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Cameron Diaz, Keanu Reeves and Matt Bomer talk new comedy Outcome: "Social media makes everybody famous"
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?
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!” he exclaims, “especially when you’re not trying to be funny.” Was it a case of, at 61, turning to the lighter side of the film industry because his knees could no longer take the impact of a gruelling action shoot? “I don’t know if it was a reaction to anything,” he says. “I mean, I do love being in comedies.” Despite being a comedy, Outcome shows how lonely it can be at the top. As Reef reunites with people from his past amid his search for the blackmailer, the film is really asking: how can facing who we were, shape who we are today? “I guess it depends on what you’re looking at and what you can see and can’t see, right?” says Reeves. Born in Beirut, Reeves’s school years were in Toronto, a “down-to-earth” environment to grow up in. “The grade school that I went to… I always look back fondly on my earlier childhood there,” he says. “It was multiracial. People with money, people without money – there was a real mix of people and it was great. I wasn’t exposed to racism or anything like that. If there were fights, it’s because you didn’t get along. It wasn’t because of where you came from or who you were.And I think in this film, part of it is getting a reflection of self through your friendships – people who’ve known you for a while.” The people Reef has in his court are best friends Kyle (Diaz) and Xander (Bomer), and Ira (Hill) an unctuous, fast-talking crisis lawyer who firefights high-profile scandals (“Tom Hanks body-slammed his housekeeper,” he yells at one point). Diaz has known fame for almost as long as Reeves, debuting in 1994’s The Mask opposite Jim Carrey when she was 21 – and turning into one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, thanks to films like Charlie’s Angels, Vanilla Sky and Gangs of New York. Then, in 2015, she took a step back, marrying musician Benji Madden, becoming a mother and investing in everything from organic wine to wellness (she wrote The Longevity Book, about the art of growing older). A year ago, she returned from her Hollywood hiatus with the Netflix comedy Back in Action. “You just do what you love and prioritise,” she says, fizzing with energy. “A friend of mine said many years ago, you only have 100 per cent in life to give, and you have to figure out how you’re going to divide up that 100 per cent and what percentage you’re going to put in each bucket of your life. And I think at best, you try to split it as evenly as possible. But there’s always a priority. And for me, it’s my family. So even when I’m doing all these other things, my family is first and foremost.” Outcome is a sharp reminder of the perils of success. “For me, it was about understanding proximity to fame and public notoriety,” says Bomer, 48 – a Golden Globe winner for his role in Ryan Murphy’s TV drama The Normal Heart, who has yet to achieve the levels of fame that Diaz or Reeves has. “For better or worse, I had a lot of friends who achieved a certain level of success long before I did. So I understood what it was like to watch a friend go through that, and all the trials and errors that we all make when that happens. And so, I think I tried to draw from that.” Hill has claimed Outcome “uses fame as a metaphor for what we all go through on social media”. Diaz – who has over 12 million followers on Instagram – elaborates. “Social media makes everybody famous,” she says. “Depending on how many likes you have, you can be famous wherever you go. Everybody thinks they are reaching for it. But maybe this reveals a little bit what it feels like on the inside of the extreme circumstance.” Just as Reef has support from his oldest friends, keeping in contact with those you met before you were famous is crucial. “Childhood friends... I’m still close with a lot of them,” nods Bomer, who grew up in Missouri (and is a distant cousin of Justin Timberlake). The San Diego-born Diaz is another who makes it a point to keep in touch. “I don’t talk to my friends all the time, but we connect when we can,” she says. “[I’ll often say], ‘I’m sorry I didn’t text you for two weeks. I meant to write you back!’” But perhaps the most wince-inducing moment in Outcome is when Reef confronts his mother (All My Children soap star Susan Lucci), finally realising that she’s a person herself as well as the woman that raised him. “That’s one of the journeys of life, isn’t it?” says Reeves, whose own mother Patricia, a costume designer, raised him after divorcing his father. “You start off screaming for air. Maybe you don’t scream, but as a child you can’t see.” Since becoming a mother – to daughter Raddix, six, and son, Cardinal, two – Diaz has been struck by this. “As a parent, you go, ‘Oh, I have to wait until they’re 40 for them to see I’m a human being!’” Whatever the outcome – Hollywood star or not – success can’t be a person’s sole pursuit. “It’s about growth, it’s about self-awareness,” says Diaz. “It’s about going, ‘Who am I and what do I want out of life? What do I have to do? What do I have to give up?’” 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 out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Taskmaster legend Alex Horne teases season 23 line-up as an Oscar winner joins cast
The line-up is about to get even starrier!
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 available to watch on catch-up on Channel 4. Add Taskmaster to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Doctor Who icon Peter Purves reveals "pleasure" as fans can finally see more of missing companion in newly discovered episodes
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 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 recorded the soundtrack from his TV set during the broadcast, so the serial has remained fresh in his mind. “The Daleks are at their most devious and intelligent, and it’s quite a vicious storyline because for the first time the Doctor’s companions die.” One of the intriguing aspects of these two episodes will be a chance to see more of Katarina, a Trojan handmaiden who had just been introduced as a new, short-lived friend for the Doctor. In April 1986, almost exactly 40 years ago, the actor Adrienne Hill gave me a rare interview for Doctor Who Magazine and revealed she’d been “over the moon” to land the role in 1965. “It was a super show and something we all watched avidly. I phoned people up and said, ‘Guess what I’ve got a part in…’ I was delighted.” By the 1980s, she’d paused her acting career to raise a family and teach drama in schools. “I’d forgotten all about Doctor Who. I never realised it was so big! I must admit I feel a bit of a fraud, having only been in five episodes. Now of course it’s all been wiped. It’s a tragedy!” Since Hill’s death in 1997, three of her episodes have been recovered. However, the dramatic fourth part of Master Plan, in which Katarina suffocates in the vacuum of space, is still missing from the archives. While aficionados live in hope of that being found one day, Purves says, “It’s a pleasure to see more of Adrienne’s excellent performance. I’m thrilled that these episodes have now seen the light of day, and I know they’ll be watched by huge numbers of fans.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday – subscribe here. The recovered episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan will be available on BBC iPlayer soon. To find out more about Film Is Fabulous, visit filmisfabulous.org.uk. Dive into our Doctor Who story guide: reviews of every episode since 1963, plus cast & crew listings, production trivia, and exclusive material from the Radio Times archive. Missing Doctor Who? Register now for Radio Times' Doctor Who Insiders club for exclusive interviews with Doctor Who legends every month. Add Doctor Who to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" class="x_OWAAutoLink" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
12 actors who are the unsung heroes of British TV - from The Night Manager stars to former Coronation Street femme fatale
My hymn to the unsung heroes (and heroines) of British TV.
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 establishment figures like The Crown’s Lady Macmillan. Adrian Lukis has popped up in everything from Prime Suspect to Poldark, although he’ll never fully escape the shadow of the bounder Mr Wickham in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. Over a 50-year career, Angela Bruce has moved from Angels to Casualty to Doctors with dozens of roles besides, although, for some, she’ll always be Janice Stubbs, the Corrie femme fatale who broke up Deirdre Barlow’s first marriage. Finally, Pip Torrens. At an awards lunch, I elbowed Oscar winners out of the way to get a selfie with the man who stole the first two series of The Crown, but could still walk into his local Sainsbury’s without causing a ripple. It’s a quality shared by all those on this list. Unlike the superstars who stand apart, bathed but also bordered in a spotlight of scrutiny, these actors are our representatives on screen. One well-known TV actor reports fellow supermarket-shoppers regularly greeting her, thinking she must be a neighbour or a school mum. Who would you rather be? We all know the tragic tales of what havoc fame can cause; equally, a reported 90 per cent of UK actors are out of work at any given time. What a sweet spot then, to be constantly employed, having people smile at you in shops but without someone bumping into you on the Tube and shouting, “I can’t believe it’s Ross Kemp.” They can stay under the radar – that is, they could until I wrote this piece, my hymn to unsung heroes of the small screen, aka TV’s hopefully happy Hermans. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
"It's our responsibility as grown-ups to hold that buzzing imagination as long as possible."
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 that buzzing imagination as long as possible. 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 out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How Race Across the World casts its pairings - and the secrets behind the new 2026 civilian series
Here's what goes into casting the fast-paced show.
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 unique and wonderful. Help us out, if you can! We’re casting for the next series! And are you looking for a range of ages and backgrounds? We want to appeal to everyone watching as much as possible. In the past, we’ve been criticised for casting middle-class contributors. We’ve done lots of work to broaden the appeal. It must be tough telling some applicants they haven’t made it. That’s difficult, because people jump through many hoops, but only five pairs can compete. When they do get through, the experience can be transformative. It sounds cheesy, but it does change lives. For Brian and Melvyn — brothers on the last series — their trip was the launchpad to come back together. They discovered things about each other that they never knew before. Do you have any big travel dreams on the back of your job? I’d love to do South America. I’m not sure if I’m brave enough. I talk the talk, but whether I can do what these brave people have signed up to do — I’m not so sure! Michael Perry, series producer You were an assistant producer on the first series and did the initial recce from London to Singapore — what was that like? It was an exciting concept, but we had no idea whether it would work as a programme. You do the journey for real, with the same budget, to make sure that the challenge is realistic. Quite quickly, we all realised that this was more than just a travel show and a race. It was about the people you meet along the way. What was it like being the producer/director on the ground for four series, filming the duos on their journeys? You live and breathe it. You don’t leave their side. You do whatever they do. But you can’t interfere. I’ve seen people leave notepads, or you might notice out of the corner of your eye that there’s a better option. You have to bite your lip. What causes you the most anxiety now? Usually, each couple’s assistant producer will give us updates over the day. But when they’re in such remote places, we don’t hear from them. You just don’t know what they’re up to. That’s anxiety-inducing. The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday 24 March – subscribe here. Race Across the World returns on Thursday 2 April at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Seasons 1-5 are available to watch on iPlayer. Add Race Across the World to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Why my new hopeful BBC drama Babies is the culmination of a decade's exploration into grief
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
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 purpose emotionally was to speak, again, of life as it is, not as the commercial demands of television need it to be, of words as they are spoken, of spaces as they are felt, of the incommunicability of emotions, and to do that without having to tickle the audience or feed them sweets. Grief lay at its centre like a sleeping lion. Writing perhaps is like beating a sofa to get rid of the dust. But there’s so much dust. There’s nothing cool about what I do. I write nakedly in the arms of love. Because look at us all on the bus, in the pub, with our families and friends in the park, seeking joy, togetherness, tonality, stability, love, clarity, beauty, kindness, chasing the chance to be happy like a boy at a bag in the wind. By now my youngest son was born, and I guess somewhere among the giddy chaos of three young kids I was ready to translate those earlier traumas more explicitly into a story. My new series, Babies (BBC One), starring Paapa Essiedu and Siobhán Cullen, arrived. While not autobiographical, it is a love story about a couple going through repeated pregnancy loss. It sounds miserable but it’s not. It has at its heart hope. There’s a happy ending. It’s an attempt to speak truthfully about an experience that remains unspeakable, that is treated as an illness and not grief, and find a way for those who have been through loss to feel less alone. I pulled the show like a worm from the ground. It just kept coming. The writing is a lonely, endless process. Apart from an initial concept script, I show no one anything till it’s all been done. Then a team of kind, clever people point out my millions of mistakes and help the thing to actually work. By the time I come to shoot, the scripts are set in stone. I’ve never used improvisation. It’s far too imprecise. I’m careful of every word, every sound, every move, every beat. I give the actors the branches, they provide the swing. The actors tend to be terrifically patient with me and together we go on a journey of, shall we say, unusual specificity to find the absolute truth of each tiny moment. It takes actors of great skill, humanity, intelligence and courage to achieve what Paapa, Siobhán, Jack [Bannon] and Charlotte [Riley] have in Babies. I’ve been so lucky over the years to get to work with many such brilliant people. Babies felt to me as I wrote it the culmination of a decade’s exploration into grief. Perhaps more will come. It’s a waveform. But as I shot the show, as I watched Paapa and Siobhán crackle into life on my monitor, as they revealed themselves to be two of the greatest actors of their generation, it dawned on me I’d actually written once again a love story. Babies, I discovered, is at its core about something that powers all of my writing and always emerges from my stories eventually, like spring. It’s about the beauty and joy and complexity of sharing your life with someone you love. While Him & Her was a response to the wonder I felt at falling in love with the person who would become my wife, everything since has been a variation on that wonder, at my luck, at her sparkling mind, at what it is to sit beside her on a sofa, at how she always finds a way to make me laugh, and here now with Babies at the way we dragged each other across the wastelands of the apocalypse, the person who from the moment I met her has run through every word I write like electricity down a wire. Babies begins Monday 30 March on BBC One and the whole series will be available on iPlayer that day. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
I'm Vicky Pattison and this is why we need to stop saying 'geriatric pregnancy' and make egg freezing more affordable
The reality star says it’s misogynistic to judge women who choose to have children later in life.
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 is 35. Being told I had geriatric eggs made me imagine my little eggs swimming around my fallopian tubes with walkers, doing bingo. Having them referred to as geriatric is heartbreaking. It’s misogynistic language and I think it’s deliberate, adding to the hysteria and fear. It’s more difficult to have a baby at 40 than 30, but that irresponsible language doesn’t help anyone. The term is just one aspect of the medical misogyny that plagues the NHS. I’ve struggled for decades with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), which manifests itself in different ways but, for me, it’s debilitating, causing exhaustion, lethargy, anxiety, brain fog, hopelessness and dark thoughts. Yet I was dismissed and told I was overreacting before I was finally diagnosed five years ago. I hope that by using my platform – I’ve met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting on the issue – we will be able to improve resources and funding, and encourage people to foster empathy and understanding for women. I feel passionately that egg freezing should be more affordable and we should be more open about the process. Women deserve to have security and a back-up plan. But I received an awful lot of judgement for my decision, with comments online like, “Just get on with it!” or, “If he doesn’t want to have a kid with you now, he’s never going to want to”. In my new E4 documentary, Vicky Pattison: Maybe, Baby?, Ercan and I consider our future and explore different routes to parenthood. We speak to a woman who had children via a surrogate and another who chose to adopt. It’s lovely to see these alternative routes celebrated, rather than hidden in the shadows. Ultimately, we need more compassion for women, whatever they choose to do and at whatever stage they choose to do it. We need more understanding, empathy and honest conversations. Vicky Pattison: Maybe, Baby? is on Tuesday 31 March at 9pm and Wednesday 1 April at 9:10pm on E4. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Pitt star Noah Wyle talks his seminal show as UK premiere arrives – and his reaction to Robby and Whitaker fan art
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.
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; George Clooney as Doctor Doug Ross; Sherry Stringfield as Doctor Susan Lewis; Noah Wyle as Doctor John Carter; Eriq La Salle as Doctor Peter Benton in ER – in this image, the shot is slightly blurry as the group of doctors hurriedly wheel a patient into the hospital" title="er-season-1-cast-clooney" /> Back in 2009, when he finished work on his 254th and final episode of ER, he had no reason to imagine he’d ever don scrubs again. So what changed? “Good question,” replies Wyle, who also doubles up as the show’s executive producer. Quite a lot, is the answer. In the ensuing years, he separated from his first wife, make-up artist Tracy Warbin, with whom he has two children, Owen and Auden. In 2015, a year after he married his current wife, actor Sara Wells, along came Frances. And although film and TV work kept him busy throughout that time, none of it quite managed to push him beyond the shadow of John Carter. It was the Covid pandemic that prompted him to re-examine the psychological havoc that the emergency room wreaks on the staff who work there. In other words, the setting is familiar but, as Wyle, who plays Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, puts it, very little else is. “The opening premise of The Pitt is that the doctor is the patient,” he says. “Dr Robby is someone who probably should have retired in 2020. His mentor died four years to the day depicted in season one and he simply hasn’t dealt with that. And so here he is, experiencing both burnout and PTSD while not recognising any of the obvious signs.” With Dr Robby having to negotiate such a difficult anniversary, one imagines he would want this day to pass relatively uneventfully – not least because this is also the first day on the job for this year’s intake of postgraduate “resident doctors”, young men and women looking to learn from him. In the early episodes, glimpses of complex backstories are dangled before us almost like flash-frames, all the better to give a sense of what Dr Robby’s team are dealing with on top of the near and actual fatalities that require instant attention. View Green Video on the source website We meet diligent Dr Mel King (Taylor Dearden), who is doing everything she can to mask the neurodivergence that may yet turn out to be her superpower; Dr Heather Collins (Tracy Ifeachor), who has to endure her own medical emergency during that day’s shift; recklessly pugnacious intern Dr Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) and her nemesis Dr Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball). And what’s with the police tag around the ankle of single mother Dr Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif)? In episode three of the first season, when new resident Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell) loses a patient for the first time, Dr Robby advises that, “you learn to accept it as much as your own mortality and find balance if you can”. Whitaker replies, “You found balance?” To which Robby responds, “No, not even close”. Ten hours later – and remember, every episode of The Pitt is in more-or-less real time, the whole series one long shift from hell – we’ve already seen what that amounts to, and just why the only way to deal with what you see during an average day in a trauma medical centre is to compartmentalise it. As the first casualties of a mass shooting at a local music festival emerge, it’s left to the callow Whitaker to try and find words that might bring the rapidly crumbling Robby back in the room. Wyle says it’s “one of many sources of delight to me” that Welsh actor Howell – best known here for his role alongside David Mitchell as DC Simon Evans in Ludwig – has been such a hit with US viewers. “If you give Gerran a nugget of something, he’ll turn it into a rose garden.” It was Wyle’s ER former co-star George Clooney who alerted him to Howell after casting him in Hulu series Catch-22. “I vetted him before we hired him and he’s become a dear friend.” Well, quite. Such is the on-screen chemistry between the two, that some fans have clearly let their imagination run away… “Oh!” smiles Wyle, “The online fan art? Yeah, we’ve been depicted numerous times together in romantic settings. I’m amused by it – but what I’m mostly amused by is that I get to send it to him and just tell him I’m thinking about him!” At whatever level you choose to engage, it seems there’s something for everyone in The Pitt. In America, actual doctors have declared it the most realistic on-screen depiction of an emergency room. “I’ve met a lot of veteran doctors and this show hits hard – too hard – with some of them,” says Wyle. “It’s a rare thing for a doctor to have the courage to be self-analytical and really take stock of the toll their career has taken on them.” Asked when he knew that The Pitt had made a profound emotional impact on its audience, Wyle’s thoughts turn to his 80-year-old mother Marjorie, a former nurse at a hospital in East Hollywood with whom he and his two siblings lived after their parents’ divorce in 1977. “After watching one of the mass casualty episodes, she came to my house for breakfast and she was very agitated,” he tells me. “She said, ‘I keep thinking about that episode. I started remembering all these things, all these cases. I remembered this six-year-old kid that I put into a morgue drawer and also this gang member I tried to save, squeezing two litres of blood while we tried to keep him alive…’ You know, she’s listing all these people she’d attended at the end of their life. “And I said, ‘Mom, I was on a medical show for 15 years and you never told me any of these stories! And she goes, ‘Well, that wasn’t real.’ I said, ‘This one’s not real, either.’ And she said, ‘Well, it sure felt real.’” Wyle momentarily stops to compose himself. “After she put that poor kid in the drawer, she came home that night and helped us with our homework and made us dinner and she didn’t talk about it until 42 years later. And if that’s happening to her, I mean, extrapolate that across America…” In a country where healthcare access remains a political hot potato, Wyle is visibly proud that The Pitt is helping to keep the topic on the agenda. Also a source of palpable pride is the simple fact that this almighty risk – to reunite with ER writer R Scott Gemmill and its showrunner John Wells and create something that might eclipse ER in the public’s affections – has paid off. Season two has been a similar monster hit to the first run in the USA. Wyle says that his wife has derived considerable amusement watching him trying to take ownership of this wave of acclaim. “She calls me ‘The Awfuliser’. I go in with the expectation that everything’s going to be awful, and then I’m always pleasantly surprised when it’s not.” I tell him that I noticed a similar reserve when I saw him on the chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live! following his Golden Globes victory. Perhaps a sense of not wanting to wholly give in to the emotion of the moment, lest he miss it too much when it’s gone. Wyle nods in recognition. “I understand the quality you’re referring to. It’s to do with the finite nature of precious moments – and also the reason I don’t like birthdays. I don’t like to get to feel special for one day and then have it end. Winning an award is like a birthday. It’s so powerful and it’s almost like if you bought into it, it’s then shameful to admit that you love to feel special every day. “But now, everybody’s looking at you – all these people whose work you’ve enjoyed! – and there’s Leonardo DiCaprio beaming at you and making you feel special. Why would you want that to end?” The good news for Noah Wyle – and whoever’s job it is to keep his house stocked with tin foil and sticky tape – is that it’s not ending any time soon. The Pitt season 1 is available on HBO Max in the UK from Thursday 26 March. Season 2 begins on 2 April The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Danny Dyer reveals what changed his mind on hit new show: "I couldn’t be f**ked to do it, I'll be honest"
Danny Dyer and his daughter Dani on their reality-show hit, working-class voices and family holidays.
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 going to choose a coastal town you probably wouldn’t choose Leysdown. You’ve got Devon and Cornwall and all these sexier places. But I suppose for me, it’s about getting working-class voices back on the telly and that charisma that comes with it. This show… I’ll tell you what it’s got, it’s funny, and that wasn’t our intention, but it’s also got heart and soul. It will make you cry at some point. Have you always been close, or has that changed over the years? Dani: We never argue – if we’ve ever argued it’s serious, but we don’t. Maybe only over a boyfriend. That’s probably the only arguments we’ve ever had. Danny: I don’t know what we’d fall out over, I really don’t. I’d back her on anything, and all my kids really. Filming this series, did you learn anything new about each other that genuinely surprised you? Danny: We dealt with the stress well. When one was down, the other one would lift them up. Luckily we were never both down. Dani: We’d have a little moan in the car sometimes. How similar are you as people? Danny: Well, we’re both called Danny/Dani Dyer. Although you are now Dani Dyer-Bowen. [She is married to West Ham footballer Jarrod Bowen.] Dani: I’ve kept the Dani Dyer because it just makes more sense, that’s how people know me. Danny: I want to change my name to Danny Bowen but apparently, it’s a bit weird. What’s something you admire about each other that you don’t say out loud enough? Danny: Well, I think our relationship is that we do say it out loud, and that’s what’s important. Dani: How kind he is. You’re just so lovable and so kind and if I feel sad, I’ll have a phone call off you and you just brighten my mood. Over the course of your careers, what’s one thing that you’ve taught each other? Danny: There are certain things when you put yourself in the public eye. Don’t start looking for comments and scrolling – stay away from that. I suppose I’m a lot longer down the line to be able to just take that on the chin now. Dani: When I went into this industry, he’d already been in it. So [the advice] was very much having the right people around you, having the right circle. Whenever we’re worrying about something, we lean on each other, don’t we? Speaking of which, was there anything that truly worried you while filming this series? Danny: I think it was the amount of things the caravan park wanted done. They wanted an outside swimming pool, which is about half a million pounds at least. Not enough stuff for kids was another thing. The staff do an amazing job, but they came back going, “Well, we can’t have this because of that reason…” So we had to get a balance of keeping the older lot happy, your Pats, your Lynns, and also the youngsters. Danny, I heard you didn’t take to the bingo calling very well? Dani: You didn’t like bingo, did you? I love a bingo night. Danny: It was harder than [Harold] Pinter, honestly. I had more nerves doing the bingo than doing a f**king 12-week run in the West End. All episodes of The Dyers’ Caravan Park are available to stream on NOW The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Ludwig star talks exit from the show ahead of season 2: "I hope the door is still open"
Why George Clooney referred Gerran Howell to The Pitt.
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 website In the show, there’s this mentor/mentee dynamic between Whitaker and Dr Robby. Did that carry over into real-life? Noah would never say he’s a mentor figure, but you do look up to him. He’s been around for so long, and he’s so connected to the arts. With people like that, you just hope that by being in their presence, some of it might rub off on you. You and Noah seem to be the main subject of the romantic fan art and fanfiction surrounding The Pitt. Noah says he’s even sent you some of it? I don’t go searching for it, but in a strange way, it’s flattering that people see something else in our characters’ dynamic — something that allows people to create this alternative reality. Your family are all still back in south Wales. What do they make of your new role and fame? I think my mum was worried by the amount of different bodily fluids that were thrown at me in the show! The Pitt season 1 is available now on HBO Max. Season 2 begins 2 April. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Emma Chapman: "If intelligent life has evolved and wants to send us a message, they'll develop a radio telescope to do that"
The signals that bring us radio and TV could also let us talk to extraterrestrial life, says Emma Chapman.
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 more than a million connected antennas when finished. Even more mind-blowing is the revelation that radio waves are actually a kind of light. “Optical light – that’s the light humans have evolved to be able to see – is only a tiny sliver of the spectrum,” says Chapman. “In fact, most animals on Earth can also see in UV, which we can’t. But radio waves have the longest wavelength and lowest energy of the whole spectrum, so can travel really long distances.” Which is why we can use them to eavesdrop on what Chapman calls “the cosmic dawn”, and why she describes herself as a “stellar archaeologist” (it’s not, she insists, because it makes her sound like a cross between Princess Leia and Lara Croft). But is any of this useful at all? “Absolutely! Just a few weeks ago, scientists on the International Space Station were looking at a Petri dish of bacteriophages. These are viruses that can kill bacteria, and they were found to have much stronger abilities to do that in space. Then there are the asteroids up there worth a trillion dollars each because they have all the rare metals we could need and that countries are fighting over here on Earth. “Nasa has already sent probes, scooped up parts of asteroids and brought them back – with radio astronomy helping to map them, work out where they’re travelling and how they’re spinning, so the probes could land. We could be dragging those asteroids into Mars orbit and mining them, and we’re close to that. The physics is there, and there’s enough money down here to do it; it’s just that governments aren’t paying enough attention.” Then there’s the small matter of black holes. “Every spiral galaxy in our universe, including our own, has what’s called a supermassive black hole at its centre – and we’re comfortable with that because it’s all the way over there. But what’s quite horrifying, when you think about it, is that there are loads of little wandering black holes just roaming around the galaxy.” Fortunately, while conventional optical telescopes can’t see black holes (“because they’re, well, black”), they can show up on radio telescopes (“because there’s so much stuff falling into them, and so much friction between those particles and gas and dust, that it emits radio waves”). Perhaps of greater significance still is radio astronomy’s role in the search for extraterrestrial life. Which brings us back to telly. “The physics that makes radio waves so good for communications on Earth will be the same on planets around Alpha Centauri or wherever,” says Chapman, “so if intelligent life has evolved and wants to send us a message, they’ll develop a radio telescope to do that. But it’s just as likely they’ll do it by accident, through their TV broadcasts or whatever.” Maybe we’ll also be talking to them about I Love Xjgrfnujzjdtk. Radio Universe by Emma Chapman is available now The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Books coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Traitors' Harry Clark reveals 6 ways to enjoy Rome - including trying to see the Pope
Traitors winner Harry Clark went to Rome to seek an audience with the Pope – and discover the city’s many other glories.
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 Rome, was worried about how I’d cope. But thefood was actually perfect for me: I just lived on pizzas, focaccia and ham and cheese toasties. I’m a pepperoni guy. And luckily, I’m a big coffee drinker. The coffee is so good there – though it’s really strong. I learnt that the name “Americano” comes from when American soldiers were there during World War Two, and they needed the espresso watered down. Pack in for the Pope My absolute highlight was going to St Peter’s Square to receive a blessing from the Pope. You go on a Sunday at noon and the streets are packed – you stand there with thousands of other people just to see him in this small window, and he blesses you all. How crazy is that, starting your week like that? Around 40,000 people turn up for it, so it’s an incredible experience. Even though the Pope spoke in Latin, my mum and I knew exactly what was going on – you still understand every word and feel that energy. Climb a hill Go up one of Rome’s Seven Hills to get the best view. I went up to the top of Janiculum Hill [considered the eighth hill] to watch the sunset – you see it fall across the whole of the city. There were these huge black birds flying over the rooftops, and there’s a small church on the hillside. Unless you know the city, you wouldn’t even know it was there. There were couples queuing up to get a photo with the view – it would be a great place to propose to your partner. See the countryside I would recommend getting the train out of Rome – we did a trip to Assisi in Umbria. It’s a couple of hours, but worth it. Assisi is somewhere I can picture myself retiring when I’m 60 – a town on a hillside, looking out over these beautiful views. I wanted to visit the tomb of Saint Carlo Acutis [the British-born “God’s Influencer”, who died in 2006, aged 15]. He was a modern saint who created a website documenting miracles around the world, and was canonised in 2025. It’s a story that really resonates with me – usually you hear about saints from AD 500, and it’s harder to connect with that. But he was just a teenage boy. Take a Traitor test One thing I had to do in Rome was visit the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità). It’s this huge stone face outside a church [Santa Maria in Cosmedin], and you’re supposed to put your hand in its mouth. The legend goes that the mouth will clamp shut on your hand if you’re a liar, but if it stays open, you’re a truthful guy. So that was fun, to get to prove I’m not a traitor in real life. And no, it didn’t close! Harry Clark Goes to Rome airs at 10:40pm on Thursday 2 April on BBC One and iPlayer. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Mock the Week legend Dara Ó Briain: "It's very worrying that the BBC has less money to do things"
The comedian doesn’t do reality TV – but he’d make an exception for The Traitors.
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 there was some sort of political reason for it – and I understand the case that can be made for, “Oh, that’s weird, that it was The Mash Report, us, and Frankie Boyle’s show that got cancelled” – the truth is they just didn’t have the money to make it any more. It’s very worrying that the BBC has less money to do things, and is supplying less of a service than it did, because we’ve let it be depleted of cash. You work a lot back home in Ireland, too. How different is Irish TV to British TV? Irish TV famously has to do English TV on a much smaller budget because it’s a much smaller market. There was Irish Apprentice for a while, which was quite hilariously low-rent in places. There was an episode where the winning team’s prize was dinner in a warehouse of a stationery company, because they’d sponsored it. It was just plastic boxes and lever arch files, and they’re in the middle, going, “Bravo, we have won the task this week.” That’s amazing... I genuinely think people in the UK have no sense of how we have a total, actual culture in Ireland, which is not in any way dependent on the UK. All news is local in Ireland. There’s a sense of intimacy to Irish TV. We feel like we know every one of the people on it, even if we don’t. I’ve gone, “Oh, hiya” to Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, even though we’ve never met. We just do that, all the time. And we have our own heroes. An Irish version of Celebrity Traitors would, to your eyes, be: “Who are these people?” But in Ireland, some of them are gods. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Jessica Gunning talks magical new role and fielding Baby Reindeer questions: "I do wash a lot!"
‘It changed my view of washing,’ says the Magic Faraway Tree star.
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 out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Ghosts legend Simon Farnaby talks movie spin-off and acting opposite Queen Elizabeth II
The Ghosts movie is coming to cinemas later this year.
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 metaphorical and replied: "'Oh, you mean playing the part of the Queen?' She went, 'No, I am the Queen'. Then she looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed at where Paddington was supposed to be sitting and said, 'He’s not real, but I am. I’m the Queen!'" The latest issue of Radio Times is out on Tuesday 24 March – subscribe here. Ghosts: The Possession of Button House will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Friday 23 October 2026. Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Add Ghosts to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Peaky Blinders veteran reacts to [SPOILER]'s shocking fate: "You want it to be as explosive as the character has been"
"You want it to be as explosive as the character has been."
*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 is what is powerful". Read more: Peaky Blinders creator talks contemporary importance of Tommy Shelby fighting fascism: "Look what happened last time" Of course, Ada isn't the only Shelby sibling to be killed off in the film, with Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) killed before the events of The Immortal Man, and Tommy himself perishing following his revenge against Beckett. So, the story leaves us in a place where we will follow the next generation of Shelbys in the upcoming sequel seasons. Read more: Peaky Blinders creator talks contemporary importance of Tommy Shelby fighting fascism: "Look what happened last time" Rebecca Ferguson reveals why she studied Cillian Murphy’s sex scenes and how intimacy coordinators were used for Peaky Blinders film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man review – Big screen spin-off keeps a firm red right hand on proceedings Steven Knight explains how Peaky Blinders film ended up quite different from his initial plans Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is out now on Netflix. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Is nothing worth watching without a sprinkling of celebrity stardust?
Not all celebs are born the same, but you would never know it from the schedules.
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 seventh attempt, 12 million people had tuned in. An appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the release of her version of Madness’s Driving in My Car followed. An unlikely sensation had become a star. Two decades later, Paul Whitehouse invited his real-life pal Bob Mortimer to go fishing. So serene was their day out, Whitehouse invited the cameras to watch "two old blokes doing very little". Eight series later, Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing enjoys the highest score of any show on the BBC’s audience appreciation index. Pretty much every factual entertainment show in today’s schedule is an attempt to emulate the success of one of these two models, either a) normal people becoming celebrities, or b) celebrities doing the most normal of things. Clive Myrie revealed that the BBC basically asked him, "What would you like to do?" Sensibly, he opted for a drive through Tuscany and a lesson in making pasta. Entertaining enough, but it does seem to be a case of tail wagging dog, person before idea, Fiat 500 before horse. What’s the problem? Diminishing returns in a culture built on the belief that nothing’s worth watching without a sprinkling of celebrity stardust – because I’m not sure TV bosses have thought it through. They can fish in a familiar pool, leading to cries of "Not her again!", or they can delve into the industrial pipeline of "talent" – Strictly dancers, Love Island alumni – in the hope that one of these becomes the new Bob Monkhouse, or at least a This Morning presenter. Not all celebs are born the same, but you would never know it from the schedules. Did I really see Michael Ball presenting The One Show the day after he guested on it? Maybe it was a dream. News just in: a new series coming soon to 5, Sam and Ade Go Birding. Samuel West and Adrian Edmondson, two familiar, popular people, doing a thing. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll go in with an open mind – maybe for a full four minutes. Read more: Jeremy Vine reveals why his game show is a new joy amid the 'death' of the quiz in the modern age The Claudia Winkleman Show review: Was there any doubt we'd be in good hands? The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Celebrity Sabotage begins at 8pm on Saturday 21 March on ITV1 and ITVX. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is on this week's Radio Times
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.
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 to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.