Pixar at 40: from Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
Chief creative officer Pete Docter, Pixar's third-ever animator, explains how the company continues to evolve, while keeping its heart.
You wouldn’t know it now, but Pixar Animations Studios began small, so small that its chief creative officer reflects, “I'm not sure exactly why I went to Pixar.” Peter Docter says, “I'd always grown up thinking, ‘I'm going to work at Disney. Someday, I'm going to draw Mickey Mouse.’ Then instead, I went to this place that no one had heard of... literally no one.” The same cannot be said today, of course, as the award-winning company responsible for beloved films including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Cars, A Bug’s Life and Inside Out celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 1979, George Lucas hired Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm’s Computer Division, which in 1982 completed the first fully computer-animated scene in a feature film for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas and officially founded Pixar as an independent company, made up of about 40 employees. In 1988, the short film Tin Toy was released and it became the first computer-animated film to win an Oscar in 1989. Docter joined in 1990 at the age of 21 after graduating from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), where he studied character animation, as Pixar’s third-ever animator. He began animating and directing adverts, including his work on Listerine’s “Boxer”. “Friends of mine from CalArts were working on The Little Mermaid and I was animating happy products bouncing, thinking, ‘This is a waste of time,’” Docter says, but it was good practice for what was to come. “It's actually surprising how much story you can tell in 30 seconds, so it was very instructive. It was also fast, so if you hated one commercial, you’d wait a couple of weeks and be on to the next one.” It wouldn’t be long before he started working on Toy Story (which evolved out of Tin Toy), contributing to story and character development and serving as supervising animator. “Steve [Jobs] put up with us losing basically a million dollars a month before Toy Story. Frankly, I think he was distracted working on [computer company] NeXT, and then ultimately Apple, and he wasn't really paying attention that we were burning through his cash. The fact he stayed with it was pretty monumental.” A lot of studios passed on Toy Story until the Walt Disney Company agreed to produce it. “I never really considered that other people would see it, which sounds absurd, but I remember driving and seeing a billboard for Toy Story and being stunned, like it didn't really compute that it was going to be rolled out to the world,” Docter says. “I was surprised by how many people afterwards said, ‘I thought my toys came to life too when I wasn't in the room.’ I think the reason it worked was probably because it had that central conceit, and then it had fun, entertaining characters. Plus, the voice talent we had and the animators.” Toy Story was the first feature-length computer-animated film, and its fifth instalment will be released on 19 June, where Bonnie’s toys (Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Forky and the gang) are cast off in favour of a tablet called Lilypad. Although in Toy Story 4, Woody became a “lost toy” living with Bo Peep and helping carnival toys find new homes, he’s summoned back for a toys vs tech face-off. Coming up with new ideas for the franchise becomes harder and harder each time, Docter admits. “We want to make sure we're exploring stuff that we haven't already talked about. We've explored different facets of the toy world, including what it’s like to play with a kid and what's it like to be collected and preserved. I'm hoping there's more out there. “It's rare that you get a character like Woody that does seem to unfold and reveal these different layers. Other characters don't seem to have that depth, and I don't know where that comes from.” After Toy Story, Docter recalls Jobs saying, “The thing I'm most worried about is our second movie, because you can do it once, and maybe you're lucky, but to do it twice shows that it's more than luck – you have the skills and the talent to be able to do it.” Pixar’s sophomore effort was 1998’s A Bug’s Life. “The fact that came out and did well is huge.” As well as skills and talent, the success also likely lies in how much heart is put into Pixar’s films in the first place. “As an animator, I was working on this shot of Woody. He's used to being on the bed, which is sort of the throne, and he's dethroned as Buzz is put up there. He comes crawling out from underneath the bed, and he looks around at all the other toys and says, ‘It's nothing, just some cake and ice cream. It's a mistake.’ I was thinking, ‘What's going on in his head?’ “I used to be the star animator, then there were these young guys coming in, dethroning me, so that sense of jealousy I was able to tap into, like, ‘Oh, of course, I'm going to brush it off, pretend like it's no big deal,’ which is what I did. Even if the story is not about you in big or small ways, I think it’s the job of the artist to say, ‘This is coming from a place in my heart,’ and that shows up on the screen.” Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2024), all films that very much contain elements of himself. The character of Riley Anderson from Inside Out was inspired by his own daughter Elie. “Growing up, Elie was goofy, funny, full of life, and then there was a parent-teacher conference at school and they said, ‘Elie’s a quiet child’ and we were like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She had hit that age of being self-aware, and everything changes. I remembered that as myself growing up, and that really became the core of that movie: what happens to that childhood joy?” The origins of Up came from Docter directing Monsters, Inc. “Nobody told me that directors don't actually do anything, they just go around and talk to people. By the end of the day, I'd be curled up in a ball under my desk, wanting to get away from everything, floating away in a house and feeling a little bit like Carl, like, ‘Just go away. I'm gonna slam the door and stay in my house.’ There's a lot of days that I feel like that.” Docter also voices the giant, flightless, quirky bird Kevin. “That was just out of desperation, because we couldn’t find the right sound in the bird library of sound effects, so I would make whatever noises!” Four decades on, how does Pixar strike that balance of returning favourites and new stories? Docter, who has been the chief creative officer of Pixar since 2018, says, “We try to listen to the audience. We're making these movies kind of for ourselves, but of course, for the audience. What's funny is, when you talk to people, they're like, ‘We want new stuff,’ but then their behaviour and the box office sales show that people really want to see movies with characters they know and love. We try to deliver both. “People still want to see characters that seem reflective of their own lives and that experience things that we are all going through as human beings. Even though it's bugs or fish or cars or whatever, it's us up there, and that's continued to be the same.” View Green Video on the source website Docter believes there’s always more to explore. “Working on Inside Out, I said I would love for the movie to end, and for people to say, ‘Wow, that was a huge world and I feel like I only saw this much of it.’ There's amazing worlds that go on for years in there, so there's more to play with there. Monsters, Inc was a great world to play in. What does a monster forest look like, or a mountain? We didn't get to explore any of that. Maybe someday… “On a number of films, we’ve thought, ‘What if?’ Then you go in and you realise you’re retelling the same story or it's leading somewhere that just doesn't feel interesting, so we close the door on it. It's got to earn its keep.” While Toy Story 5 fully engages our nostalgia, new film Hoppers, released on 6 March, ticks the newness box, while maintaining the great characters, story, and emotional depth we’ve come to expect from a Pixar movie. When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, teenager Mabel “mind-hops” into a robotic beaver to protect a threatened wildlife habitat. Interestingly, both Hoppers and Toy Story 5 deal with technology in different ways, and technology has changed drastically since the start of Pixar, even just in how computers have progressed. “We couldn’t have dreamed of doing the hair and the fur from Monsters, Inc, on Toy Story. Then, with Finding Nemo and the water. Today, we don't really consider the technical restrictions. We just know the wizards we work with can do anything we need.” In 1995, it took an average frame of Toy Story seven hours to render, and in 2008, the average time it took to render a frame on faster machines was under one minute. Now, Docter explains that they use AI to complete renders, but it saves time without robbing anyone of their creative abilities. “AI is a prickly topic, even at Pixar, a technology company,” says Docter, “Artists and people are angry, scared, intrigued and very interested – it’s a wide range. We've approached it with curiosity, a sense of play, and what we can use it for. How can we make what we do better, more creative, more deep and more human? Because that's the danger – when you see stuff online, it feels eerily soulless. I don't think people are going to be satisfied and we certainly are not going to be, so we’re looking at it as a new tool to augment the skills of the artist. “AI is going to be disruptive in the way we work. The hope would be we can use it on background characters and sets that don’t matter as much so we can focus on the important stuff in the foreground. We can use it to do the boring stuff, so we can do the exciting stuff – to generate things that visually you've not ever seen before. "Based on how much people are watching and how much is available at any time, there's going to be a great premium placed on new stuff that somehow is unlike anything you've seen.” Pixar did it with Toy Story in 1995, and they’re sure to do it in 2026, and beyond.
Pixar Animation Studios at 40: From Toy Story, to sequels and tackling the AI boom
You wouldn’t know it now, but Pixar Animations Studios began small, so small that its chief creative officer reflects, “I'm not sure exactly why I went to Pixar.” Peter Docter says, “I'd always grown up thinking, ‘I'm going to work at Disney. Someday, I'm going to draw Mickey Mouse.’ Then instead, I went to this place that no one had heard of... literally no one.” The same cannot be said today, of course, as the award-winning company responsible for beloved films including Toy Story, Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Cars, A Bug’s Life and Inside Out celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 1979, George Lucas hired Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm’s Computer Division, which in 1982 completed the first fully computer‑animated scene in a feature film for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas and officially founded Pixar as an independent company, made up of about 40 employees. In 1988, the short film Tin Toy was released and it became the first computer‑animated film to win an Oscar in 1989. Docter joined in 1990 at the age of 21 after graduating from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), where he studied character animation, as Pixar’s third-ever animator. He began animating and directing adverts, including his work on Listerine’s “Boxer”. “Friends of mine from CalArts were working on The Little Mermaid and I was animating happy products bouncing, thinking, ‘This is a waste of time,’” Docter says, but it was good practice for what was to come. “It's actually surprising how much story you can tell in 30 seconds, so it was very instructive. It was also fast, so if you hated one commercial, you’d wait a couple of weeks and be on to the next one.” It wouldn’t be long before he started working on Toy Story (which evolved out of Tin Toy), contributing to story and character development and serving as supervising animator. “Steve [Jobs] put up with us losing basically a million dollars a month before Toy Story. Frankly, I think he was distracted working on [computer company] NeXT, and then ultimately Apple, and he wasn't really paying attention that we were burning through his cash. The fact he stayed with it was pretty monumental.” A lot of studios passed on Toy Story until the Walt Disney Company agreed to produce it. “I never really considered that other people would see it, which sounds absurd, but I remember driving and seeing a billboard for Toy Story and being stunned, like it didn't really compute that it was going to be rolled out to the world,” Docter says. “I was surprised by how many people afterwards said, ‘I thought my toys came to life too when I wasn't in the room.’ I think the reason it worked was probably because it had that central conceit, and then it had fun, entertaining characters. Plus, the voice talent we had and the animators.” Toy Story was the first feature‑length computer‑animated film, and its fifth instalment will be released on 19 June, where Bonnie’s toys (Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Forky and the gang) are cast off in favour of a tablet called Lilypad. Although in Toy Story 4, Woody became a “lost toy” living with Bo Peep and helping carnival toys find new homes, he’s summoned back for a toys vs tech face-off. Coming up with new ideas for the franchise becomes harder and harder each time, Docter admits. “We want to make sure we're exploring stuff that we haven't already talked about. We've explored different facets of the toy world, including what it’s like to play with a kid and what's it like to be collected and preserved. I'm hoping there's more out there. “It's rare that you get a character like Woody that does seem to unfold and reveal these different layers. Other characters don't seem to have that depth, and I don't know where that comes from.” After Toy Story, Docter recalls Jobs saying, “The thing I'm most worried about is our second movie, because you can do it once, and maybe you're lucky, but to do it twice shows that it's more than luck – you have the skills and the talent to be able to do it.” Pixar’s sophomore effort was 1998’s A Bug’s Life. “The fact that came out and did well is huge.” As well as skills and talent, the success also likely lies in how much heart is put into Pixar’s films in the first place. “As an animator, I was working on this shot of Woody. He's used to being on the bed, which is sort of the throne, and he's dethroned as Buzz is put up there. He comes crawling out from underneath the bed, and he looks around at all the other toys and says, ‘It's nothing, just some cake and ice cream. It's a mistake.’ I was thinking, ‘What's going on in his head?’ “I used to be the star animator, then there were these young guys coming in, dethroning me, so that sense of jealousy I was able to tap into, like, ‘Oh, of course, I'm going to brush it off, pretend like it's no big deal,’ which is what I did. Even if the story is not about you in big or small ways, I think it’s the job of the artist to say, ‘This is coming from a place in my heart,’ and that shows up on the screen.” Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2024), all films that very much contain elements of himself. The character of Riley Anderson from Inside Out was inspired by his own daughter Elie. “Growing up, Elie was goofy, funny, full of life, and then there was a parent-teacher conference at school and they said, ‘Elie’s a quiet child’ and we were like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She had hit that age of being self-aware, and everything changes. I remembered that as myself growing up, and that really became the core of that movie: what happens to that childhood joy?” The origins of Up came from Docter directing Monsters, Inc. “Nobody told me that directors don't actually do anything, they just go around and talk to people. By the end of the day, I'd be curled up in a ball under my desk, wanting to get away from everything, floating away in a house and feeling a little bit like Carl, like, ‘Just go away. I'm gonna slam the door and stay in my house.’ There's a lot of days that I feel like that.” Docter also voices the giant, flightless, quirky bird Kevin. “That was just out of desperation, because we couldn’t find the right sound in the bird library of sound effects, so I would make whatever noises!” Four decades on, how does Pixar strike that balance of returning favourites and new stories? Docter, who has been the chief creative officer of Pixar since 2018, says, “We try to listen to the audience. We're making these movies kind of for ourselves, but of course, for the audience. What's funny is, when you talk to people, they're like, ‘We want new stuff,’ but then their behaviour and the box office sales show that people really want to see movies with characters they know and love. We try to deliver both. “People still want to see characters that seem reflective of their own lives and that experience things that we are all going through as human beings. Even though it's bugs or fish or cars or whatever, it's us up there, and that's continued to be the same.” View Green Video on the source website Docter believes there’s always more to explore. “Working on Inside Out, I said I would love for the movie to end, and for people to say, ‘Wow, that was a huge world and I feel like I only saw this much of it.’ There's amazing worlds that go on for years in there, so there's more to play with there. Monsters, Inc was a great world to play in. What does a monster forest look like, or a mountain? We didn't get to explore any of that. Maybe someday… “On a number of films, we’ve thought, ‘What if?’ Then you go in and you realise you’re retelling the same story or it's leading somewhere that just doesn't feel interesting, so we close the door on it. It's got to earn its keep.” While Toy Story 5 fully engages our nostalgia, new film Hoppers, released on 6 March, ticks the newness box, while maintaining the great characters, story, and emotional depth we’ve come to expect from a Pixar movie. When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, teenager Mabel “mind‑hops” into a robotic beaver to protect a threatened wildlife habitat. Interestingly, both Hoppers and Toy Story 5 deal with technology in different ways, and technology has changed drastically since the start of Pixar, even just in how computers have progressed. “We couldn’t have dreamed of doing the hair and the fur from Monsters, Inc, on Toy Story. Then, with Finding Nemo and the water. Today, we don't really consider the technical restrictions. We just know the wizards we work with can do anything we need.” In 1995, it took an average frame of Toy Story seven hours to render, and in 2008, the average time it took to render a frame on faster machines was under one minute. Now, Docter explains that they use AI to complete renders, but it saves time without robbing anyone of their creative abilities. “AI is a prickly topic, even at Pixar, a technology company,” says Docter, “Artists and people are angry, scared, intrigued and very interested – it’s a wide range. We've approached it with curiosity, a sense of play, and what we can use it for. How can we make what we do better, more creative, more deep and more human? Because that's the danger – when you see stuff online, it feels eerily soulless. I don't think people are going to be satisfied and we certainly are not going to be, so we’re looking at it as a new tool to augment the skills of the artist. “AI is going to be disruptive in the way we work. The hope would be we can use it on background characters and sets that don’t matter as much so we can focus on the important stuff in the foreground. We can use it to do the boring stuff, so we can do the exciting stuff – to generate things that visually you've not ever seen before. "Based on how much people are watching and how much is available at any time, there's going to be a great premium placed on new stuff that somehow is unlike anything you've seen.” Pixar did it with Toy Story in 1995, and they’re sure to do it in 2026, and beyond. 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. Read more: Toy Story at 30: John Morris on voicing Andy from aged 7 – and whether he'll appear in the fifth movie Incredibles 3 director revealed – first in franchise not helmed by Brad Bird Hoppers arrives in cinemas on Friday 6 March 2026. Toy Story 5 arrives in cinemas on Friday 19 June 2026. 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.
Elf screenwriter on its lasting legacy: "It's something that's rare and special"
Back in 2022, David Berenbaum spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about writing the script for one of the most enduring Christmas films of the 21st century.
Since its release more than two decades ago, Elf has secured its place as a bonafide Christmas classic. The image of Will Ferrell cheerfully gallivanting around Manhattan in his yellow tights has become iconic, as has the declaration that the "best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear". Given its incredible success, you wouldn't necessarily think it was all the idea of a novice screenwriter – but that was very much the case. The film's origins trace back to the mid-1990s, when young writer David Berenbaum had just moved to LA from America's East Coast. Back in 2022, he spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the film and its lasting legacy. "I was kind of really missing East Coast winters," he recalled over the phone. "I was not used to LA winters at all. I sort of missed the family and everything like that and so I essentially surrounded myself with all sorts of Christmas movies. And then I started writing one." Interestingly, the initial idea he had for a Christmas movie was not Elf but an entirely separate film titled Christmas in New Jersey – a romcom that never went on to be produced. But although that script didn't go anywhere itself, it did open all sorts of doors that would later make Elf possible. "It got me in the door with all sorts of people and they said, 'What's next?'," he explained. "And then I thought of the idea for Elf because I was surrounded by all this Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rankin/Bass stuff. And I sort of thought it would be amusing to put a human into that sort of environment. "Buddy is sort of a misfit, he doesn't fit in – Rudolph is sort of a misfit, he doesn't fit in. And they both go off on quests. So that was sort of the beginning of that – Rudolph mixed with a healthy dose of Big, the Tom Hanks movie." It was Big which ended up serving as "a bit of a template" for Elf's script in the early stages of development, with Berenbaum using Hanks's character Josh Baskin as a "guidepost" for the character of Buddy the Elf, well before Will Ferrell first got involved. Indeed, in those first days of putting pen to paper, Ferrell was hardly on Berenbaum's radar at all – he was only just getting started on Saturday Night Live – but fast forward a few years and it was the star himself who played a key role in getting the film the green light following a number of false starts. As Berenbaum explained: "It had gone out and was optioned once, and they put an actor on it and were looking at directors, and nothing sort of materialised from that. And then right after that the option expired, it was picked up by another company for another year and went down a development road, and nothing happened with that." It was then that Bernabaum's manager had the idea that Ferrell would be perfect for the lead role, and after he'd attached himself things quickly began to gather pace – with Jon Favreau signing on as director and working on a couple of rewrites with Berenbaum (including a change to the ending that brought in the famous Christmas cheer scene). avreau himself has previously stated that he initially wasn't interested in the script, explaining in a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone that the original version was "much darker" – but this isn't how Berenbaum remembers it. "I think it was always sort of lighter in tone," he said. "I don't know about that. It was always sort of light on its feet – it was very much something that Disney was considering making for a while because I was employed at Disney at the time. So it was, I thought, always a very sweet story." Regardless of what the original version of the film might have looked like, it can't be denied that Ferrell put his own distinctive stamp on the script as soon as he got his hands on it. Berenbaum was kept involved by the producers throughout the process – spending a couple of weeks on set – and watching the star take his script and run with it was something he got a great deal of enjoyment out of. "I can't quite frankly think of another actor who would be better playing the role than Will," he said. "I mean, realistically the movie doesn't work at all without Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf. So to see him inhabit that role and really bring it to life was amazing, I mean he would do an ad lib and he would go here and there – he would take it in unexpected directions and he has such an infectious energy that really just brought the entire thing to life." Of course, Ferrell wasn't the only big name in the cast, and Berenbaum was especially delighted about another actor who was brought in to play a key supporting role: the late James Caan, who plays Buddy's biological father Walter. "When I heard that James Caan was going to be playing Walter I thought that was a stroke of genius," he explained. "To have Sonny Corleone playing against this sweet, innocent Elf, I just thought would be incredible. I had grown up watching The Godfather, and to think that James Caan was going to be in this movie was kind of insane to me. And, you know, it could not have worked better!" And there were other actors that he was equally happy to see bringing his characters to life. "I just thought that literally every casting decision was spectacular," he continued. "Bob Newhart as Papa Elf, Ed Asner as a sort of a grumpy but sweet, crusty Santa, and then Zooey Deschanel – it just sort of went straight down the line. And they had character actors filling out the universe of this movie, real sort of independent actors. It made it feel real, these actors really grounded the movie in a way that let Will just kind of run wild. And I think that was sort of the secret sauce that made the movie work." Berenbaum was already "over the moon" when he found out the movie was getting made, and watching the process of it being put together was something he was deeply proud of too – but it wasn't until he watched it in front of an audience for the first time that he realised quite how big a hit he had on his hands. "I mean, clearly, there was an energy and electricity there that you can feel," he recalled. "And you know going through all that was Will's performance and Favreau's direction. It retained its heart – people could really feel the movie from the beginning." From that point onwards, the film hasn't looked back: it's watched more times every December than just about any other 21st-century film, and previously finished fourth in our RadioTimes.com poll to crown the greatest Christmas film ever made. So how often does Berenbaum revisit it? "When it played in theatres out here for the years, I would take my kids to go see it and that was fun to share with them," he responded. "And, you know, as we're decorating the tree, we'll sort of put it on and it's a great thing to have Buddy come back into your life every year, this time of year. It's really quite amazing." The film has also taken on a life of its own when it comes to reimaginings and parodies – from a 2022 Asda Christmas advert to a musical theatre version that opened on Broadway in 2010 – and Berenbaum is very happy to see the film's legacy live on in this way. He's less sure, however, when it comes to talk of a potential sequel. There were reports at one point that Ferrell had turned down a huge offer to reprise the title role in a follow-up, and for now, Berenbaum feels that might just have been the correct decision. "I mean, there have been discussions over the years," he said. "I think Buddy's story had a good beginning, middle and end and I think there are other ways to look into that world and that universe and see if there are other things that can spring out of it. "But I'm very satisfied with the way it is and the way that people have embraced it into their homes – that is something that's rare and special. And I don't know if Will getting back into the tights would be perhaps the best idea at this point!" 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.
"I had no idea who Hugh Grant was": Love Actually child stars talk film's legacy
Child stars Olivia Olson, Will Wadham and Tiffany Boiselle spoke to RadioTimes.com about their experiences filming one of the most popular Christmas romcoms of all-time.
Despite arriving in cinemas more than 20 years ago, Love Actually remains one of the biggest Christmas films (both in popularity and box office numbers) to date. From Hugh Grant's No 10 dance number that he secretly hated filming, to Emma Thompson wiping away tears over Alan Rickman's infidelity, to the stirring sound of Joni Mitchell, it was the Richard Curtis comedy's star-studded cast that initially drew in audiences – and the same big names have kept them talking for two decades. However, as much as Love Actually is all about Keira "I Look Quite Pretty" Knightley, turtleneck king Colin Firth and a consistently semi-naked Billy Nighy, a lot of it actually revolves around children. Whether they're the crustaceans in the school nativity, singing in the concert crashed by the prime minister, or Liam Neeson's stepson who learns the drums to impress his American crush, the Christmas flick features a number of young actors. Back in 2022, three of Love Actually's child stars sat down with RadioTimes.com to chat about the BAFTA-winning festive film all those years later. "When people find out that I was in [Love Actually], the first thing they say is, 'Are you the octopus?' and I go, 'No.' And then they say, 'Are you the lobster?' And I go, 'No,'" says Will Wadham, who played Bernie – the son of Harry (Rickman) and Karen (Thompson). "They just can't quite work out what my part was and then at that stage, I have to explain, 'Well, a lot of it was deleted – but you can see me for a split second under the Christmas tree, or dressed as an angel, I think.'" While the role of Harry and Karen's youngest son Bernie is fairly minor in the film, Wadham – who is now in his thirties and was pursuing a career in film composition at the time of the interview – was originally meant to be the focus of a wider narrative linked to his parents' strained relationship. "I had to be a grumpy teenager which is basically what I was – I guess I didn't struggle too much with that," he says. "There was a whole character to Bernie. He has this moment with his mum where he's written these stupid essays about seeing people's farts because I think he's trying to get the attention of his parents. View Green Video on the source website "He gets in trouble with the headmistress at the school and [Thompson's character] is summoned to the office and sits with him and there's the scene where they read out his essay and instead of scolding him afterwards she says, 'I think it's absolutely brilliant.'" Although the scenes were left on the cutting room floor ("I can completely see why"), Curtis did send Wadham a letter to say sorry. "They were just incredibly apologetic and sweet. They didn't have to do that." Wadham landed the part of Bernie after the casting director for PJ Hogan's Peter Pan visited his school. While he was originally cast as one of the Lost Boys, he was unable to travel to Australia, where the shooting for the film would take place. "I was 11 and doing my common entrance exams and obviously, I was desperate to go but my parents were having none of it. But then the casting director sweetly said, 'Well, there's a final call for a Richard Curtis film and they're looking for the part of Bernie. Do you want to go up for that instead?' I did an audition with Richard and he gave me the job." It was a similar process for Olivia Olson, who played Joanna – the American girl in a crochet beanie who gives Mariah Carey a run for her money towards the end of the film. "Love Actually actually was the first role I ever went out for," she tells RadioTimes.com. "I had just signed with my first agent and this was my first big audition. You hardly ever get lucky like that! My parents weren't sure about the whole showbiz thing, so landing a movie on my first try definitely changed their minds." The audition process went on for several months for Olson, who has gone on to become a successful voice actor with roles on Adventure Time and Phineas and Ferb. She decided to sing Alicia Keys's Fallin' at the audition; unfortunately, so did the three other girls in front of her. "You could hear the other girls singing through the wall [at the open casting] and the three girls in front of me all sang the same song!" The final five girls in the running were flown out to New York, where they read for Curtis and producer Duncan Kenworthy, however, Olson's mum received the good news as they boarded the plane back to LA. "She had to keep quiet as some of the other girls were sitting next to us on the flight. She told me I landed the role in baggage claim. I like to think that's a sweet parallel to the movie plot." While the climactic musical scene, in which Joanna performs, All I Want for Christmas Is You at a school concert, took two days to shoot, filming in London was "like a dream". "Most of my memories from around that age all circle around Love Actually. First time out of the country, first time on a set, in a recording studio, etc," she says. "We recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios, which my Dad was flipping out over." The actor even recorded an extra song for the film, a rendition of The Pointer Sisters' Jump, but it didn't feature in the end. "I think they weren't sure if they'd get clearance of Jump – the infamous Hugh dancing scene – so there's a version I recorded floating somewhere out there in the ether." While her experience on Love Actually was overall positive, Olson remembers a few "awkward" moments as well, particularly the scene in which the adorably precocious Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) catches up with Joanna at Heathrow Airport. "What sticks out is having Billy Mack's guitar strip tease scene blasted across 10 screens in the background while I'm anxiously anticipating my first kiss." As for one of the youngest actors in the film, there's not a huge amount Tiffany Boisselle can remember from filming her scene as the little girl in a feather boa on Harris Street. Although she can recall meeting her scene partner Hugh Grant – and having no clue how famous he was. "My nan always says obviously I had no idea who Hugh Grant was, it just completely went over me. All the adults when we filmed the scene with Hugh Grant were starstruck, like, 'Oh, wow – there he is!' And all of us kids were like, 'It's just a normal person.'" Boisselle auditioned for Love Actually when she was six and while she played an unnamed character, fans will remember her as one-third of the tiny tot trio who convince Grant to sing on their doorstep. "We had to come back another day to record the sound in a studio and I remember I was wearing a really trendy outfit that day because you had to look amazing," she says. "We all got to watch a little preview of our scene, which is really cool, but obviously in the scene straight after, Martine McCutcheon says a swear. They had to warn our parents and be like, 'She's going to swear after this scene – are you all OK with that?'" Although many of Wadham's scenes were cut, he filmed a lot with his on-screen parents, Thompson and Rickman, and "couldn't have asked to spend time with nicer, warmer, more lovely people". Unsurprisingly, Thompson was "really sweet" on set – "it was so nice to have someone effectively hold my hand through it" – although, she wasn't the biggest fan of his mum's cooking. "We were sat in the corridor outside the headmaster's office that we'd done the scene in and she started asking me about myself, what life was like at home. "I told her, 'My mum's quite a good cook,' and she asked, 'What's your favourite thing that she cooks for you.' I proceeded to describe this vegetarian lasagne that's made with grated carrot rather than mince. She said, 'That sounds rather disgusting.'" Outside of filming, Wadham would join Brodie-Sangster in Liam Neeson's trailer ("he was very kind of father-like and fun") to play cards – something the two child actors remembered when reuniting in South London a few years ago. "By the most incredible coincidence, just after I moved (to Camberwell), I was leaving my front door and suddenly saw Tom Brodie-Sangster. He was in the middle of my road. Eventually, I realised he lived two doors down." While the composer didn't initially say anything to Brodie-Sangster, who went on to star in The Queen's Gambit and The Maze Runner, he did eventually get in touch. "I said, 'You probably don't remember me but how are you? Do you remember all those years ago?' And he said, 'Oh my God, I do because there was one stage where we became friends on set.'" Wadham wasn't the only Love Actually star to catch up with Brodie-Sangster, with Olson co-starring with the 32-year-old on the Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb. "It was such a weird coincidence to both be cast on P&F. We only ever got a chance to speak over the studio intercom about it, seeing as he recorded in London and I in Los Angeles. "The writers had their fun with that parallel and I think it's really sweet that in the end, Sam/Ferb got the girl!" On 16th November 2003, Martine McCutcheon, Colin Firth, Laura Linney and a host of the film's stars descended on the red carpet at The Odeon Leicester Square and while Wadham got to attend, Boiselle missed out. "My family went but I couldn't because I was too young to watch it," she says. "I never got to go and see the premiere but my family went and apparently when it came on my scene and I said my line, everyone was like, 'Aww' in the theatre so that's cute." Unfortunately, as the credits rolled, they realised that the six-year-old was listed as 'Tiffany Boysell' instead of 'Tiffany Boiselle' in the credits. "I don't know if you noticed this but they actually spelt my surname wrong in the movie, which is so bizarre." Meanwhile, Wadham showed up on the red carpet in a leather jacket borrowed from his mum's godson. "I got out of the car and I suddenly heard people screaming, 'Will!' and I thought, 'What on earth? Who knows who I am?' I didn't even have a signature at the time. I just sort of went over and scribbled on some paper, I can't even remember." As for life afterwards, the young actor was surprised to learn that he'd picked up some international fans. "I got a letter from a boy in Japan at one stage. It's so crazy how high-profile these things are and how widely shown they are. It's very hard to get used to and I just had a very little taste of it really." Returning to school was "strange and surreal" for Olson, who attended the film's New York premiere. "I suddenly had a lot of attention on me I wasn't prepared for. Mostly positive, like in my career, but definitely some negative from classmates making me an easy target for a laugh." Despite the major role, she's rarely recognised for playing Joanna – aka 'the coolest girl in school and everyone worships her because she's heaven' – however the experience gave her the confidence to pursue her dreams. "My power has always been my voice so falling into voice-over and being a part of iconic cartoons where I get to use not only my singing voice but written as well has been extremely rewarding," she says. "I'm still releasing my own music and am developing an original animated series I can't wait to share more about soon!" However, for Boiselle – who'd previously filmed 2002's Crime and Punishment in Russia and went to Jackie Palmer stage school – her classmates weren't too bothered about the festive romcom. "I think it was just like a cool little fact. All my classmates were just used to me leaving school and doing shows and then coming back a week later because I was always out of school auditioning," she adds. "I think the teachers were probably more impressed than my classmates, to be honest." After Love Actually, the Oxfordshire-based performer continued down the entertainment route and went on to study musical theatre. "I've going to film a short film in January 2023, which I know is going to be pitched to BBC and ITV and all of that, so that's cool. I think [Love Actually] just sort of pushed me in the direction that I'm in now." The only person not to pursue acting was Wadham, who says his heart ultimately wasn't in it. "I had a few auditions, none of which I got and I felt that the writing was on the wall there. I think one of the roles I went up for was Master and Commander. There's the blonde kid who has his arm blown up." At the time interview, he was studying a Master's Degree in Electronic and Computer Music at Guildhall and wants to be a film composer. "I've written for documentary and short film and a lot of advertising but my attachment to film is still strong in the sense that I want to write for film." With Wadham finishing off his Master's portfolio and his album, Fragments of Memory, has he thought about offering to score Curtis's next film? "Sure, I mean why not? I hadn't even thought of that, stupidly." As for Olson and Boiselle, they'd both be up for returning to the world of Love Actually for a long-awaited sequel (if you don't count the one-off Red Nose Day special) – however, Olson has one request. "Richard if you’re reading this. NO MORE SILLY HATS!" Read more: Love Actually soundtrack: Every song featured in the Christmas classic Love Factually: 46 things you may not know about the Christmas classic Love Actually is available to rent or buy now. 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.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show at 50: Richard O'Brien on why the cult classic is more important than ever
The creator of the beloved musical speaks exclusively to RadioTimes.com as the film turns 50.
This year, several iconic films have celebrated 50-year anniversaries – from Jaws and Dog Day Afternoon to Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But as enduring as each of those masterpieces undoubtedly are, none of them continue to maintain a fanbase quite so fervent as another film that's just turned half a century old: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Richard O'Brien's gleefully camp cult classic – which started life as a stage show a couple of years prior to the film adaptation – starred Tim Curry as Dr Frank-N-Furter, an eccentric, cross-dressing scientist from the planet of Transsexual, Transylvania. Frank-N-Furter resides in an American castle with an assortment of equally bizarre companions – including O'Brien's own Riff-Raff – and when newly-engaged couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) stop by seeking refuge on a stormy might, they soon find themselves caught up in a bonkers world of manufactured muscle men, motorcyclist murders and a myriad of magical musical moments. Although not a major hit at the time of release, the film found a devoted audience when it became a fixture on the midnight movie circuit. That audience has continued to grow ever since, with interactive, fancy-dress sing-a-long screenings still occurring on a weekly basis all around the world. Fifty years on, O'Brien remains overwhelmed by the popularity. "It's always been this astonishment, that it just goes on and on and on," he tells RadioTimes.com from his New Zealand home during an exclusive interview. He goes on to outline one particular incident from the last decade that sums up his levels of disbelief at the film's longevity. "I was sitting in Germany in the front row while there was a production on stage in English with the narrator in German," he explains. "And two little girls were sitting at the end of the row... they were 13 years old, something like that. "And they were singing along with all the songs in English! And of course you go, 'But it's 40 years ago and you're only 13! How do you know all the... How does that work?!' And it just keeps surprising you again and again and again this piece." Part of the surprise, O'Brien rather modestly claims, stems from that fact that "when you take it all apart, it's not a great piece of theatrical writing". "It's not Shakespeare, is it?" he says. "It's not Oedipus. It's a very, very slight piece of entertainment. But it keeps ticking boxes, so many boxes that we recognise, even if it's only a bit after the event. It keeps the audience happy. It makes them laugh. "They want to follow along, because it's an easy story to follow, because it's a classic story. It is Adam and Eve and then the serpent is Frank-N-Furter. So we have that basis of everybody's safe going on this journey, because we kind of pick up the basics of it somehow or other deeply, deeply embedded in our psyches." There's another reason, too, why O'Brien thinks it endures. "The naughtiness," he says with a smile. "We all like a little bit of naughty. I remember when Julie Covington, [who] was our very first Janet... we were rehearsing, and she got to the end of the scene that she has with with Rocky... and I thought, 'This is ridiculous. This is Julie Covington. She's a singer, and she doesn't have a song!' "So I went home and wrote Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch Me. I took it in the next day and played it to her and she said to me,' Thank you so much for writing a song where I can sing, I want to be dirty! Thank you so much.'" O'Brien is speaking to us to mark the release of a new documentary, Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, which is being released in select UK cinemas to coincide with the anniversary. The doc charts the journey of the film from its early days as a stage show and its subsequent cinematic release, to its emergence as a cult classic and the particular significance it holds for members of the LGBTQ+ community, with O'Brien's own son Linus O'Brien serving as the director. "I had several overtures from different production companies wanting to document the 50 years," O'Brien Sr explains. "Because it was a 50-year event, the birthday. And when Linus said he wanted to do it, it was just complete relief. "Because, you know, there's a safe pair of hands on the tiller and you know that it's going to be dealt with in a productive manner. It was not going to go down an avenue that you don't particularly want it to go down, is what I'm saying. Because you never know, do you?" As well as speaking at length to his dad – who performs pleasant acoustic covers of several of the film's famous songs throughout the doc – O'Brien Jr also interviewed a number of other contributors, such as long-time fans like Trixie Mattel and Jack Black and several members of the film's cast, including Curry, Sarandon and Bostwick. With the exception of his songwriting partner Richard Hartley, O'Brien doesn't regularly see the collaborators he worked with on the film these days, so he greatly enjoyed the experience of watching them reminisce about the incredible experience they'd all shared. "It was interesting because we were only having three weeks' fun, and it turned into five weeks, and then we got the opportunity to make the movie," he says. "Not only did we get the opportunity to make the movie, but our director, a stage director, was given money by 20th Century Fox and allowed to direct the movie. This is unheard of, really. This is really unusual. "Once a company like Fox buys film rights, they generally want to cast it themselves, because they're in the film business. They know who goes to the cinema. They don't want a cast full of unknowns. They want somebody that's going to be on the ticket that attracts an audience, generally speaking, and we didn't have that either. We were all allowed to play our roles. "It was quite delightful and the fact that Susan and Barry were Americans and unused to this piece coming into our already, you know, affiliated little family was actually rather wonderful, because they really were the outsiders, and that worked terribly well." View oEmbed on the source website One other aspect the documentary touches on – and one which feels especially worth remarking upon – is that more than just being a frivolous bit of fun, the film has emerged as a genuine safe space for people, especially within the LGBTQ+ community, to feel welcome. This, the film states, is especially important now at time in which certain freedoms that might previously have been taken for granted are coming under threat – with a number of US states including Tennessee, Texas and Montana having passed laws in recent years to ban drag artists from performing in certain public spaces. (The laws were later blocked by judges). When asked if he thinks the film has become more important than ever in light of this climate, O'Brien is enthusiastic in his response. "I do, I do," he says. "And the opportunity to talk to you gives me a chance – as we should – to keep raising and flying the rainbow banner and waving the rainbow banner high and speaking out against social injustice and the way this world is going." He adds: "Once upon a time, I would have argued vehemently against Rocky ever being an important piece of work. I'd just say it's a piece of lovely, childish fun, you know. And that's all it is. It's just a musical comedy, little more, little less. "But now it's not, it's a rallying point. It's a rainbow event. And I'm very grateful for that, being a rainbow person myself with children and grandchildren who I want to grow up and be part of a world which is tolerant and kind and gentle and less brutal." It's that significance – along with all the many other joys of the film – that ensures people will, without question, still be doing the time warp again another 50 years from now. Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror is now showing in UK cinemas and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is streaming on Disney+. 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.
“Stan Lee made fun of my writing!” — Spider-Man PS1 boss celebrates 25 years since launch
Believe it or not, the Spider-Man PS1 game landed a whopping 25 years ago today (30th August), meaning Neversoft brought Marvel’s iconic web-slinger to life in a brand new video game form on this exact date. For many, it was a seminal game of that early 3D area, with wall-crawling and web-swinging looking and feeling better than ever before, bolstered by a great story and an impressive cast — the late, great Stan Lee even did the opening narration! To celebrate the anniversary of such an iconic superhero game, Radio Times Gaming jumped on a call with its lead designer, Chad Findley. You can see the full conversation in video form above, or on our YouTube channel, or keep on reading for some choice quotes from the interview. Back in the year 2000, did Findley think that he’d still be talking about his Spider-Man game two and a half decades later? View oEmbed on the source website “Not at all,” he tells us. “So back then, I was so early in my career, I was really happy just to be working on a game like this. I know I've been lucky with a lot of the games I got to work on over the years, but I knew at the time, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, you know? “Bringing Spidey to 3D, like, who gets to do that? 3D games were, in general, kind of new. And, you know, even characters walking around was generally pretty janky. And I think Superman 64 was around the same time. “So, you know, superhero games were getting started. So, I just wanted to make sure we did the source material justice and made a good game. “And so, I was happy that we ended up serving both really well, I think, for the most part, and setting a good baseline for Spidey games and superhero games in general. But I was not expecting it still to be beloved. But I love that. It makes me really happy.” There are so many iconic aspects to the game — from the ‘Kid Mode’ option on the start menu all the way through to the hybrid Doctor Octopus/Carnage that you face in the unforgettable final level. We get into all of that and a whole lot more, including Findley’s work on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater around the same time, in the video version of this interview (which will also be available on our podcast feed next week). So, how did that opening Stan Lee narration come about? “I was a huge Spidey nerd,” Findley recalls. “So Stan used to write these yellow box intros to the issues he would do. And it would be, like, a little ‘wet the palette’, sneak peek into what's about to happen in that issue, or what might have happened a little bit in the past. Findley added: "But it was something to get the reader excited about the issue they're about to read. “And I wanted that for the game, because you know, I wanted the people to really get the feeling of it. And so Activision went after it, and said, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ He said yes. “And man, that dude was fantastic. Like, he was a super fun guy. He knew what we were going for. He made fun of my writing because I stole from him so much in my style. But like, every part of working with that dude was awesome.” It wasn’t a long collaboration. Findley recalls, “It was only a day or two, but it was cherished. Like, I remember those days super fondly. It's one of my best development days.” And what does it mean to the developers that people still look back on this game so fondly? “It makes me happy that people loved what we took from the original books and put out there, and that we did a good enough job with the controls," he told us. “There's definitely issues with it still. But like, that was step one going into a completely new area. We're going blind into this. “And so, I think we did a good job with getting that first step for superhero games, and Spidey in particular, to be accessible to people and enjoy it. “And I just love that people reacted to it so well. And it makes me very happy.” To hear more about the development of Spider-Man PS1, and Findley’s take on the more recent Spidey games out of Insomniac, check out the full interview over on our YouTube channel. Read more Gaming interviews: Pokémon star "would have stayed 'til the bitter end" if they hadn't been recast Battlefield 6 developer reveals "3 and 4 are our biggest influences" Dead Take's Abubakar Salim had just seven months to assemble the hottest cast in gaming Check out more of our Gaming 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 TV classic Poldark paved the way for Bridgerton and Rivals
The Aidan Turner-led series is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Ten years ago, a new adaptation of Winston Graham’s historical Poldark novels arrived on our screens. The books had previously been made into a beloved TV series in the 1970s, but the new version offered more than just dreamy images of the Cornish coastline and the twisting tale of a British army captain who returns home from the American Revolutionary War to find the woman he loves is to marry his cousin, and his father has left the family estate in ruins. As tousle-haired star Aidan Turner skinny-dipped in the second episode and waved around his manly scythe while bare-chested in episode 3, it was clear that the BBC had finally discovered that prime time period dramas didn’t have to be prim and proper literature adaptations — they could be sexy, and just a little bit trashy too. While some viewers’ hearts may have skipped a beat when Colin Firth emerged from a lake in a wet shirt a decade before in 1995’s Pride & Prejudice, prior to Poldark most mainstream period dramas on terrestrial TV were stuffy adaptations in which the only chests on display were the ones spilling out of the heroine’s corsets. (Sorry, Downton Abbey fans - that show, which debuted in 2010, is utterly lovely, but it will never, ever be sexy.) Poldark changed all that. It doesn’t actually have explicit sex scenes — the show was on BBC One on Sunday evenings, and we wouldn’t want granny to pass out from shock in front of the TV — but it does have sexiness at every turn. It’s most obvious in the budding romance between Turner’s Ross Poldark and his kitchen maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), and also in the smouldering looks between Ross and his former love Elizabeth (Heida Reed), but flirtatious plots involving villainous George Warleggan (Jack Farthing), Dr Dwight Enys (Luke Norris) and Caroline Penvenen (Gabriella Wilde) all contribute to the general feeling that the county of Cornwall is far steamier than any travel show would have you believe. Of course, the BBC’s delicious historical romp was made at a time when non-UK TV producers and streaming services had already realised that period dramas could be erotic and irreverent and didn’t have to be based on the classic works of literature you’re made to read for your English GCSE. The Borgias, The Tudors (both very loosely based on historical figures) and the infamously explicit Outlander (based on Diana Gabaldon’s steamy novels) already existed, but the huge success of the British-made Poldark paved the way for even more period dramas that mixed sexiness and silliness with history, including Harlots, The Great and, of course, Bridgerton, based on Julia Quinn’s series of romance novels. (Indeed, Entertainment Weekly’s review of Bridgerton described it as "a wonderful diversion for those who love Pride & Prejudice but wish it had more stairway sex".) Bridgerton’s brooding leading men - from Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony and Rege-Jean Page’s Simon to Luke Newton’s Colin and Luke Thompson’s Benedict - also all owe a debt to Aidan Turner’s Poldark, a fully realised character with flaws, humour and even simmering anger, not just a tanned and muscular man who looks good with his shirt off. It can be argued that last year’s Disney+ hit Rivals should give thanks to Poldark, too. Based on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 ‘bonkbuster’ novel, the raunchy Rivals was promoted as a period drama because it is set in the 1980s, and it also features all the elements that made Poldark such a hit back in 2015 – it’s sexy, it’s got an interesting villain, a flawed hero (Alex Hassell’s Rupert) and plot twists aplenty. (Yes, it does have shirtless men as well.) And let’s not forget that it has another, extra special ingredient borrowed straight from our favourite Cornish drama — Aidan Turner himself. He brings his likeable charm to the role of TV journalist Declan O’Hara in Rivals and, along with Danny Dyer, is one of the high points of the series. Turner described the show to RadioTimes.com last year by saying: "It’s bold and it’s naughty and it’s a lot of fun." A phrase that could describe Poldark, too. Poldark is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Add Poldark 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">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How Batman: Arkham Knight changed my life 10 years ago today
It's been 10 years since Batman: Arkham Knight first released, and I still remember it so vividly. Reflecting on it now, it's safe to say that this game changed my life. In the build-up to the game's launch on 23rd June 2015, I noticed that Arkham Knight was skipping the old consoles and going straight to the new (at the time) PS4 and Xbox One. The problem, at my end, was that I hadn't yet upgraded from my PS3. I wasn't long out of university, and there hadn't been any releases yet since the PS4 came out (in late 2013) to tempt me into buying an expensive new console. As much as I had always loved gaming, I wasn't yet making a super comfortable living after graduating with a second-class Film Studies degree (who could've guessed that wouldn't lead to a high-paying job, honestly). However, the Arkham games up to that point were some of my absolute favourites. I remember playing the first one with my uni housemates, taking turns and passing the controller every time one of us died. So, when I realised that I wouldn't be able to play Arkham Knight on my trusty old PS3, I knew I had to find a way to make it happen. Luckily for me, one of my best friends was travelling to Australia for an extended period that year. And luckily for my bank balance, he wasn't planning to take his PS4 with him. After some fraught negotiations, I had my hands on a machine that could play Arkham Knight. Weirdly, I now see this as a Sliding Doors moment in my life. My girlfriend (now wife) and I had so much fun on PS4 (me with Batman, her with Crash Bandicoot) that I ended up buying a second-hand console after my friend got back from Australia. By that point, it wasn't such a big financial risk. It wasn't long after this that the editor of a website, which I had been freelance-writing for, asked if I was into gaming and set up on the latest generation of consoles. If I was, they could send some more work my way. Being able to truthfully say yes in the moment set my life on a path I'm still on now. A path where gaming was my main focus. One opportunity led to another, and with a few bumps along the way, here I am running the gaming section at RadioTimes.com. There are so many great games I wouldn't have played, cool places I wouldn't have visited, and lovely people I wouldn't have met if Arkham Knight hadn't encouraged me to get a PS4, putting me in a position to start writing about video games in a bigger way. As a way of saying thank you, I'm very tempted to give this game a fresh play for the anniversary. I remember being intrigued by the story, and I'm not sure if it's revisionist history to say that everyone kind of knew what the twist was gonna be. I think there was an element of mystery as to who the 'Arkham Knight', the villain of the game, was. I think it's interesting at this moment in time, as well, with the Switch 2 just coming out, to think about what games are really gonna sell a system and get people motivated to find a way into that ecosystem. I don't think the Switch 2 quite has that yet, although it has obviously sold very, very well. Other than Mario Kart World, what are people gonna buy it specifically to play? I remember playing Arkham Knight, absolutely loving it, racing through it. That being said, there are bits of it that are still somewhat derided in the fan base. I remember the idea that the Riddler had gone away and made a series of go-karting tracks around the city, which Batman had to drive his Batmobile around, and that that maybe slightly stretched the vaguely gritty and 'could happen in real life' vibe that those games were going for. I mean, it's a lot of effort on the Riddler's part! Those bits were quite fun, though. They were more fun than the bomb disposal tasks that you also had to do in the Batmobile. I thought it was a great story, and as my first experience on a new console, I remember being blown away by how big the world was, how kind of dense it was. They still do the thing of, 'There's not that many people running around in the open world,' but it was impressive at the time. They're like, 'Oh, everyone left,' within the first five minutes. But I remember loving it. And that game had some huge story beats towards the end, as well, that the recent Suicide Squad game had to reckon with. It was like, 'Wait, how is Batman alive?' There was a kind of hundred per cent ending that left enough of a breadcrumb for them to bring Batman back, and then kill him again, and then bring him back again. But I've got hope that this franchise will return. It sounds like James Gunn, in his new role over at DC, is talking to the folks at Rocksteady about what to do next. Here's hoping it's something that will scratch that Arkham itch. And hey, maybe it'll change someone else's life for the better. I look forward to reading about it in 10 years' time. View oEmbed on the source website Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Twin Peaks' Mark Frost: 'David Lynch and I had a unique alchemy that's never been duplicated'
As Twin Peaks turns 35, its legendary co-creator Mark Frost speaks exclusively to RadioTimes.com about working with David Lynch and changing the landscape of television.
After the tragic death of visionary filmmaker David Lynch earlier this year, fans around the globe have taken to the internet to share their favourite moments from his extensive body of work. It’s no surprise that a significant number of memories come from the groundbreaking Twin Peaks — a TV show that uniquely blended cosy small-town drama with a surreal murder mystery. Launched 35 years ago in the spring of 1990, the eight-episode first season shook the world of television to its core. Mark Frost and David Lynch were keen to take TV further than it had ever gone before. Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Frost explains: "After World War II, television set up a kind of cosy and warm conformity that was best exemplified in situation comedies. It was always the nuclear family, the dad was a sweet, loveable goofball, the kids were all adorable, and it was utterly predictable. It was all designed to sell products to those people in the audience — television was an advertising medium. "It wasn’t until the ‘60s that I perceived television can do a lot more than that, if you gave it a chance. There were little sparks that would escape every once in a while like Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner, which blew the top of my head off. I didn’t think that sort of storytelling was possible. Believe me, I filed those sorts of things away." Frost spent the early days of his career writing for a variety of shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, and eventually had a three-year stint on Hill Street Blues, after which he decided to turn his attention to writing films. Enter David Lynch. Frost recalls: "Hill Street Blues was tremendous, but three years of 22 episodes a season is exhausting, and I thought movies sounded kind of relaxing by comparison. That was what drew us together; we were paired up on a script that I wrote that David was going to direct, and we got along — as he used to say — ‘like Ike and Mike’." Whilst working on the (ultimately unproduced) film together, Frost and Lynch were approached by ABC over the possibility of creating a series for television. The pair jumped at the opportunity, Frost still feeling dissatisfied by the state of television at the time: "I felt it was underachieving, in terms of what it could possibly do. So, when we got the chance, we took it. We said, ‘What have we got to lose?’ "This was back in the Jurassic period [of TV] where there were three networks," explains Frost, "and ABC were thinking of us as a spring replacement show. In those days, spring meant you came on for a try-out period to see if you stuck to the wall. I’d say we not only stuck to the wall — we blew a hole through it!" The first season of Twin Peaks leapt onto screens in 1990, eerily balancing warm, familiar small-town drama with far darker dream sequences. Frost elaborates: "It all became an organic process. [David and I] had both spent time in small towns, and we knew that when you’ve got less people and more open territory, the ‘weird’ gets in a little easier. "It’s not lost in the tumult of an urban centre where everything’s rushing by so quickly you can hardly notice the strange or macabre when it sneaks up on you. With the woods right there, it insinuates itself a little more subtly, and we thought people would be interested in seeing something like this instead of the usual, antiseptic kind of rigid conformity of most television at the time." Frost goes on to explain that he and Lynch had a lot in common, especially regarding their view of the world: "We’re both people who don’t necessarily have both of our feet planted in mundane reality. There’s a ‘shadow side’ to life that Americans have become adept at papering over — particularly during the Reagan years — and we wanted to let some of that shadow back in. I think that reflects our own experience of reality more faithfully." While Lynch had developed himself within the world of fine art, Frost maintains that his talents are mostly in the written word: "I was a drama major and a playwright, and I’d studied literature and read the classics. Our disciplines were quite different but completely complementary. We were speaking the same language, just using different letters. It isn’t neatly dichotomous — it was really an amalgam. The two of us had a particular kind of alchemy that I’ve never duplicated with anyone else. I’ve never even tried!" While the televised version of Twin Peaks didn’t introduce the surreal dream-world of the Red Room until its third episode, fans have long been aware that the location was created for the internationally-broadcast pilot episode. Frost explains: "The initial dream sequence was born out of the strange necessity that we had with the pilot. The foreign distributor wanted a closed ending of the initial two hours. It opens the door to the dream-world that then became part of the show. All that stuff snuck in through that cracked door for the closed end and we just decided, ‘well, that’s got to be part of the show’. "The dream life of these people, and the mysterious world that’s pressing in around them — you can see what those trees look like — that’s a feel that we wanted to have present in the town at all times." More than 25 years after the first season, the series returned in the aptly named Twin Peaks: The Return, an 18-part epic that continued the series, penned entirely by Frost and Lynch. While the classic characters all returned, Frost explains that the intention was to create something just as groundbreaking as the series had been in 1990: "Nostalgia was the last thing on our mind. The world had changed, and the medium had changed, and so had we. "We wanted the show to be — in its own way — as startling this time around as it was the last time. Everybody in the show had grown older and we had a lot of thoughts about some of the major themes of the third series — mortality, and how much is there to this idea of a spiritual world? Are mortal souls in peril because of moral decisions that we make? These were all things that we were able to put into place more directly and more forcefully now that we had some years under our belts." Finally, Frost reflects on what he thinks it is about Twin Peaks that has given the series such a lasting legacy, 35 years on: "We both were huge fans of classic movies and moviemaking. We wanted every second to count. "Television has a lot of filler — if you watch it a lot, you know [when] they’re just building a bridge between this scene and that scene. We wanted every scene and every moment to count. "Once David started working with that cast, they were able to get invested and give it the same care and attention that we had on the page, so it feels alive. That’s the thing, I think, that people still see in it. It was just a perfect amalgamation of all these different talents coalescing at the right time." All episodes of Twin Peaks launch on MUBI on 13th June in the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Netherlands and India. Twin Peaks' original US pilot episode screens as part of the BFI's Film on Film Festival on 15th June + Q&A with Kyle MacLachlan. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Final Destination at 25: Bloodlines continues a franchise that never dies
On 17th March 2000, flight Volée Airlines Flight 180 crashed onto our screens. Twenty-five years later, the Final Destination franchise continues to terrify audiences with its relentless, iconic legacy. From defective roller coasters to faulty tanning beds, Final Destination has taught us fear in the everyday – turning the most mundane experiences into death traps and making us wonder whether every intrusive thought that passes through our heads could be a premonition. What began as a standalone horror has cascaded into a cinematic phenomenon, spawning five sequels that have collectively grossed over $100 million at the box office. Each instalment has been bloodier and more brutal than the last, finding new, twisted ways to terrify us with every run. And now, Final Destination Bloodlines is set to arrive in cinemas, passing down the terror to a whole new generation of horror fans. Over two decades on, Final Destination’s legacy certainly loomed over the heads of the cast and creators of Bloodlines. Stepping into such a beloved franchise didn’t prove particularly easy, as the cast reveal exclusively to RadioTimes.com. "We tried not to think about it," laughs Rya Kihlstedt, who plays distant mother Darlene in Bloodlines. "It’s been so long since number five that if we leaned into that too much, there would be a lot of pressure, and yet it also allowed us to look at it as a separate film." Such a sentiment is echoed by Teo Briones, who plays Darlene’s son Charlie. "If we thought about it too much, we’d lose our minds," he laughs. For some, stepping into Final Destination was a dream come true. "I was a massive fan of the franchise," says Richard Harmon, who plays Erik. "I watched the first one when I was 11 years old without my parents knowing. I’ve seen them all multiple times, so it was an honour to be part of the franchise. It’s horror greatness." And he’s not wrong. From ladders through eyeballs to dismemberments by fences to nail guns to the head, it is the inventive deaths and terrifying premonitions of Final Destination that make the franchise so brilliantly unique. There is perhaps no scene better to demonstrate how well Final Destination taps into our fears than the opening sequence of Final Destination 2, in which our leading lady Kimberly (AJ Cook) has a vision of a massive highway pile-up, caused when logs detach from the back of a logging truck. It was the scene that traumatised a generation and has left its audiences with a permanent fear of getting behind the wheel. View oEmbed on the source website "The opening premonitions are all so incredible. I mean, the opening pile-up with the logs is, of course, unbeatable," says Adam Stein, co-director of the latest run. Stein also highlights the gymnastic death from Final Destination 5 as another personal favourite: "It’s such masterful filmmaking. You’re just watching close-ups of a screw, and feet missing it. And nothing’s happening, but you’re feeling such tension and suspense. And that definitely inspired us." For Anna Lore, who plays Julia – the sceptical cousin of Kaitlyn Santa Juana’s lead character Stefani – the escalator death in the fourth film stands out as particularly memorable, as does the laser eye surgery debacle in the fifth film. Though, for Lore, it’s the subversion of expectation so present in Final Destination that draws her in. "She goes to get LASIK, and you’re worried about the LASIK the whole time, and then she dies by falling out of a window. It’s the subversion. I like those deaths." Harmon adds another gruesome moment to the list: "The moment in Final Destination 2 where little Timmy runs into the pigeons to scare them off and a pane of glass squishes him. I was in love after that." It’s no wonder that, with so many ways to die playing out on screen, some of the cast went home with death playing on their minds. "There was a lot of conversation on set about ways to die," recalls Kihlstedt. "I’m afraid of electrical cords after this movie," laughs Kaitlyn Santa Juana, who plays protagonist Stefani in Bloodlines. "This movie scarred me for life." And after 25 years, what keeps fans wanting to return to these films, despite the premise remaining largely the same? "In the horror movie realm, there are so many different genres," says Kihlstedt. "I think people really like the scare, the dolls, the killers – this (franchise) really stands on its own because it kind of has all of it. It has body count, and gore and humour." And she’s right – Final Destination stands apart not just for the fact people die, but for how they die. It’s what makes the franchise so compelling. Each scene is so brilliantly coordinated, playing out like a twisted puzzle before the inevitable, gory outcome. We go into every Final Destination film knowing that people (most of the time, everyone) will die. We keep watching to find out exactly how it happens. "The fan base in incredible," adds Santa Juana. "The fans really uphold this franchise. For something so scary and gory, there’s so much love." And it seems Briones agrees: "For me, going into this franchise was making sure we did service to the fans, and that we made a movie that they want to watch." For Santa Juana, stepping into Final Destination was a particularly unique experience, following in the footsteps of the franchise's past leading ladies – Kimberly Corman, Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and, of course, Clear Rivers (who gets a mention, albeit brief, in the latest run). So, what was it like preparing for the final girl – the Final Destination girl, if you will – role? "I got an acting coach," she explains, "I kind of made [Stefani] at first a detective, then in the middle she was a protector, and then at the end, she was a survivor. So, on the days we went to set, I was like, 'Where are we in the story, who am I right now?' And that’s how I found my through-line." As for the future of the franchise, there is currently no word on if it will continue with a seventh run. Santa Juana and Briones, though, have a few interesting ideas. "We need a movie about a movie set. Number seven. Who do I call to make this happen?" Santa Juana jokes. "It should be about filming a Final Destination movie!" Briones laughs. And though their ideas may simply be jokes, it’s not something that seems entirely out of possibility. For what is so superb about Final Destination is its ability to make any moment horrifying. Indeed, from that first flight back in 2000 to the present day, Final Destination has kept audiences on the edge of their seats. You might not be able to cheat death, but the legacy of Final Destination will never die. Final Destination Bloodlines is now showing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Pride & Prejudice at 20: How the Elizabeth-centric version masters the balance of Austen and Hollywood
Joe Wright's stripped-down, riveting adaptation starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet is back in cinemas this weekend.
Sorry, Mr Darcy — in 2005’s Pride & Prejudice, the fuss is all about Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet, a feistier version of the character responsible for the film’s enduring appeal. Joe Wright’s debut feature may divert from Jane Austen’s novel in more ways than one, but it stands out as the most Elizabeth-centric adaptation of the author’s beloved classic. Now marking its 20th anniversary with a re-release in UK cinemas, the movie’s popularity remains unaltered two decades on — the enthusiastic response from viewers when the period drama was added to Netflix last month only confirmed that. Upon its release, however, the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice was criticised in academic milieux for its faithfulness, or lack thereof, to the source material. Deborah Moggach’s initial script was reworked not just to make the constraints posed by the film’s runtime work in its favour, but to enhance a remarkably timeless story with a more contemporary flair. Rather than taking place in the heyday of the Regency era, Wright updated the drama to the late 18th century. This was in line with Austen’s first version of the novel, originally known as First Impressions, written between October 1796 and August 1797 and set around those years. This shift resulted in the movie trading the polished Empire outfits for muddy hems, that were present in the novel nonetheless. "She looked positively medieval," Kelly Reilly’s deliciously vicious Caroline Bingley says with contempt of Elizabeth who, frankly my dear, doesn’t give a damn. Moggach resorted to cutting some characters and subplots so that Roman Osin’s camera could capture more of the dewy landscapes. Meanwhile, some key scenes were moved out of cream-coloured parlours and into the outdoors, maintaining the focus on Elizabeth throughout. Marking her first collaboration with Wright, the movie sees Knightley effortlessly embody Austen’s headstrong heroine, a stellar turn that would earn her an Oscar nomination. Off the back of her roles in big productions like Pirates of the Caribbean and Love Actually, her star power set the film up for commercial success while helping direct the spotlight away from the male hero. Through previous adaptations, Mr Darcy had entered pop culture as the epitome of aloofness and gallantry. The character had captured the fantasy of readers-turned-viewers in swoon-worthy performances from famous stars, from Laurence Olivier to Colin Firth, with some of these male actors being given a prominent position in the promotional material as well as top billing. In Wright’s version, the back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy, involved in the OG enemies-to-lovers dance, is reassessed visually and narratively as a story told from a female perspective. Delivering a brilliantly subtle turn as Darcy, Macfadyen is unafraid to let Knightley take the lead. "They always call it Colin Firth or Olivier's Pride and Prejudice, but I want people to call this Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice. It's Lizzy's story," Wright said in an interview with Yahoo back in 2005. His approach is apparent from the early scenes of Pride & Prejudice, with the camera lingering on Elizabeth as she reads a book and takes a stroll in nature. A long take accompanies her to Longbourn — here a more rundown affair compared to the Bennet’s landed gentry, if modest, estate — introducing her four sisters and bantering parents, played by Brenda Blethyn and late legend Donald Sutherland. For comparison, the 1995 series opens on Bingley and Darcy riding their horses and discussing the beauty of Netherfield. Elizabeth is then presented as she’s watching the two gentlemen from afar, in an addendum that’s not in the novel. Language plays a crucial role in Wright’s adaptation. Much like the performances across the board, the dialogue feels natural and organic without giving in to overly contemporary lingo like Netflix's 2022 take on Persuasion does, missing the mark on Austen. The author has enjoyed renewed, cross-generational popularity thanks to Barbie’s Pride and Prejudice joke, which humorously references the 1995 series as a quick fix for mental health problems. While it's no therapy, Austen’s witty, pragmatic, and acute style makes for observational sketches of human relationships that stand the test of time and have spawned several adaptations. An upcoming Netflix six-part Pride and Prejudice series has just found its two lovers in Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden, with Olivia Colman set to play Mrs Bennet. Written by Dolly Alderton of Everything I Know About Love fame, the drama promises to be the streaming equivalent of the 1990s BBC series, bringing Austen to Gen Z audiences — a feat that recent adaptations haven’t quite managed to pull off. Tending to the modern spark in Austen’s stories and updating them to the point of no recognition is a fine line to tread, and Wright’s Pride & Prejudice does so masterfully. Far from sugarcoating a society in which she was also an outcast, Austen lucidly exposes the sexism of her time with a fascinating exploration of gender roles. Pride & Prejudice follows the same trajectory by giving agency to its women whilst affording some vulnerability to its men. In the 2005 movie, Colin Firth’s wet, white shirt from the 1995 version is sublimated into a nuanced gesture that made Wright’s version a romantic cult for the '00s and beyond. Macfadyen’s improvised hand flex after Darcy helps Lizzy onto a carriage has reached iconic status. It’s a detail that gives a first indication of the film’s erotic subtext, a wordless yearning in which chaste hand touches are a proxy for sexual closeness. View oEmbed on the source website Again, when the couple dances for the first time at Netherfield, Wright creates the illusion of an empty ballroom, a device he went on to reprise in 2012’s Anna Karenina, a theatricalised version starring Knightley as Tolstoy’s tragic protagonist. As Elizabeth and Darcy’s hands touch and eyes lock, their private choreography turns an otherwise trite ritual of polite society into a pivotal, intimate occasion. Finally, after Darcy’s second proposal, it’s Lizzy who initiates contact with her now-fiancé. By kissing his hands, she reclaims her power and gives her consent in their slow-burn romance. Meanwhile, best friends Darcy and Bingley take it upon themselves to flip the expectations of impenetrable masculinity. In a tender scene, Bingley needs help practising his proposal to Jane and Darcy is glad to cast his conceited ways aside and stand in for the eldest Bennet sister. Despite the inevitable edits to the novel, it’s the ending of Pride & Prejudice — the far superior UK finale, particularly — that confirms the film as a compelling adaptation that’s loyal to Austen. Much like Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Wright’s Pride & Prejudice skips the wedding altogether, opting for a tale of two endings. In the US, the drama was released with a "completely, and perfectly, and incandescently" happy ending, giving viewers a sweet-bordering-saccharine peek into Elizabeth and Darcy’s marital bliss. This side of the pond, the finale was tweaked after unfavourable test screenings, ending on a lighthearted jab from Sutherland’s Mr Bennet, more akin to Austen’s matter-of-fact humour. All these exquisite visual details and comedic moments are woven into the very fabric of Austen’s story. Wright and Moggach crafted a film adaption which makes up for its liberties in the editing with great self-awareness and the ability to be in conversation with the present, even 20 years on. Pride & Prejudice is back in UK cinemas from Friday 25th April 2025. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Black Mirror director on the challenge of creating TV's least festive Christmas special
10 years after Black Mirror's first and only festive special, we're still dreaming of a White Christmas.
'Twas the week before Christmas and on British TV, the 2014 schedules were as festive as could be - from Downton Abbey and Doctor Who to Strictly and more, it was fun and festive cheer all across the board. But one Christmas special came to darken the day, to turn our White Christmas Black and send the carollers away. Millions sat down and scooted much nearer to their TV sets for the first and only festive Black Mirror. As White Christmas turns 10, we sat down with director Carl Tibbetts to unpack the least festive Christmas special around. Black Mirror, White Christmas When he was first approached for a Black Mirror Christmas special, director Tibbetts – who had previously helmed the critically-acclaimed episode White Bear – understandably thought it "a bit of an odd choice" but he was quickly won over. White Christmas, broadcast on 16th December 2014, was the final episode of Charlie Brooker's dark sci-fi series to broadcast on Channel 4 before moving to Netflix. It explored three stories told by two men (played by Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall), involving a woman who is digitally cloned, a pickup artist whose night ends in horror, and a man obsessed with his ex-fiancee after their relationship abruptly ends. "I'd done another episode of Black Mirror called White Bear, which was a pretty dark episode - very similar themes to White Christmas, actually, crime and punishment," Tibbetts recalls, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com. "They came to me with another episode, a Christmas episode, which I was really surprised that they were going to do. I was thinking, 'How is Black Mirror going to smash into Christmas?!' But actually, obviously, it does quite well." "It was a great script - [although] it wasn't really a script at the time," he adds. "What it was at the time was four stories that were going to spin off one central idea...I guess [series creator, Charlie Brooker] had lots of other ideas for episodes, lots of other ideas for what could have been full episodes but, I don't know how and why, they ended up being slammed into one episode." Tibbetts adds: "I just thought it was absurd, funny and a great thing to take on because it was a bit of a crazy idea. It was always a no brainer in terms of doing it." A Hamm for Christmas As it approaches season 7, Black Mirror is no stranger to Hollywood stars eyeing up roles. But back in 2014, Jon Hamm was pretty much the first, paving the way for the show to go global. Hamm's character, Matt, is introduced as the leader of an online group of male sexual predators who watch each other seduce women. He also tells Spall's character, Joe, about his former job, training (or torturing) "cookies" – digital clones of people. The final scenes of the episode see a sinister revelation about Matt - although he doesn't exactly go unpunished for his crimes. "Everybody just wanted Jon for that character," Tibbetts recalls. "With people like Jon, you make a straight offer. He was a big fan. We knew he was in the UK and I remember, in the same year, he ended up doing Toast of London as well. "Mad Men was still going, it was coming to the end, and he was still huge. He was a really big coup and he turned out to be brilliant. I was a little bit apprehensive - I didn't know what to expect from someone like that. But he was a lovely, warm, generous, kind, talented, professional actor." He adds: "His character really didn't have the hardest part, I guess. He didn't have to plumb the depths. He plays a slightly shallow grifter, which he is very good at - it's nothing like Jon but he's brilliant at that! He has a lightness of touch throughout, and a bit of sinister-ness." Spall's Joe, meanwhile, is slow to open up in the episode but, soon enough, we discover the horrors of his story - that, after an abrupt breakup and being "blocked" from seeing his ex-fiancee and the child he thinks is his daughter, he bludgeoned his ex-fiancee's father to death. "Rafe had to carry the burden of what [his character] had done and slowly reveal himself, and do that in a subtle way, but obviously be a bit more contained throughout the whole thing," Tibbetts reflects. "So it's Rafe that had... I wouldn't say had the harder job, but he certainly had to carry the broodiness a little bit more than Jon, who could kind of skip around a little bit. He was perfect for for that character at the time." The technical tidbits While the set-up of White Christmas seems quite simple, it was a challenge to pull together, with a limited budget and slightly "rushed" timescale on set. "We were right up to the wire," Tibbetts admits. "I think we were in the sound suite the night before it was due to go because it was a longer episode. "There was so much involved in it, and the post[-production] process was a lot of work around gelling those stories and creating a clear through-story that worked for both their characters, for Jon's character as well because he had to come out of it with his own story as well. "There's a lot of work done in the edit to make these stories coalesce, to bring these disparate things together. There'd been a lot of work in terms of trying to make sure that they felt like a whole piece, as well as individual stories... "It was the cohesiveness, story-wise, and the thread through it of working hard on making sure that Rafe, his slow reveal of himself, worked. Even his body position at the start, he's turned away from Jon, and then he slowly turns around and unfurls and opens up. There were lots of sort of things to taken into consideration at the time – technical things." One chilling element of the episode sees the cabin that Matt and Joe are staying in (which actually turns out to be a cookie), gradually changing to resemble the cabin where Joe murdered his ex-fiancee's father. "As Rafe's character opened up, the whole story opened up and the place they were in, that was actually a cookie, changed over takes," Tibbetts recalls. "We would swap out bits of the scenery, and replace it with other bits in certain tapes. And there was a slow chipping away in the progression of it." View oEmbed on the source website One of the final scenes of the special shows Spall's Joe forced to experience time at 1,000 years per minute in the cabin, with Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday playing on a loop on the radio (the song that was playing when the murder took place). As he smashes the radio on the ground over and over again, a new one appears in its place, playing the song louder. That scene was filmed with no cuts, with Tibbetts explaining: "I thought we could do it all in one go because it was a sort of Michel Gondry-esque way of doing it. We certainly came up with it late in the day. "We tried to keep it in as much Rafe's point of view to begin with as humanly possible, so that there were more questions in the beginning. I came up with a shot where it comes through the window and goes over the snow globe, goes over Rafe, Rafe gets up. He stands at the mirror, he goes over to the door, and we sort of slowly reveal the world and the place as if it's through his eyes and through what he's experiencing... "I remember working quite hard on that to sort of give it a point of view throughout, even though it's jumping between the points of view, it's just making sure it's sort of stuck with them." Ghosts of White Christmas past Like any director, Tibbetts doesn't make a habit of watching his own work back, going years without watching White Christmas. But an accidental recent viewing proved to him that the episode still stands up in various different ways. "I think I saw it about a year ago, for some reason. Maybe my wife was watching it and I sort of thought, 'Oh, it's not as bad as I remember!' - not bad, it wasn't ever bad. But because it was quite a tight shoot, quite a rushed shoot in some respects, there were technical aspects of it that I wasn't particularly happy with. "Part of the challenge was there was a lot of Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall sat down talking which, visually, is quite a challenge. Time-wise, there's not a lot else we could have done with them... [but] that concerned me at the time. I was worried that it was going to not be engaging. "But actually it's the thread of that through it, the sort of telling a tale and a yarn that keeps you really, really engaged, that narrative all the way through. "So it's not particularly, visually, whiz, bang, dynamic, full of action. It's quite a slow-ish, traumatising still piece and I was aware of just making sure that it didn't get too visually repetitive, that things were different enough and that the camera was doing enough of the storytelling as well as the talking. "At the time, I thought maybe it didn't hang together quite as well. But it did. I watched it, and it was good. And it's that thread, it's that dialogue, it's Charlie's voice all the way through that trips you along through these sort of dystopian tales, bleak tales. "We talked a lot about White Bear and the reference of Tales of the Unexpected, Hammer House of Horror, folky dystopian feelings to it that made it feel local in a weird way. There were aspirations, I think, to make [Black Mirror] more international on a bigger scale, as it went on. But I know, particularly for those two stories, they felt quite British in a weird way." One and done? Despite the meteoric success of Black Mirror, White Christmas is still its only Christmas special. But is there scope for another? "They've done one, haven't they?" Tibbetts reflects. "So you'd have to have a reason to do another one. You'd have to have a good story. You'd have to have a good reason to make something Christmas. "I don't know why they did it, I've never asked them. It's fun and silly, but I guess if they've got a good reason, if Charlie has a really good idea to make something Christmas, he'll go for it again. Charlie and Annabel [Jones, Black Mirror producer], they've got some bloody good ideas and they've taken [Black Mirror] in as many directions as it can go... it can kind of do whatever it wants. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did but they'd have to have a really, really good reason to go for Christmas again." Black Mirror is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month (with adverts) or £10.99 a month (ad-free). Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Simpsons, move over – 10 Years on, BoJack Horseman is the best animated show of all time
Funny, silly, experimental, heartbreaking, profound - 10 years since its debut, BoJack Horseman remains an extraordinary televisual accomplishment.
First up, it's important to note that comparing animated shows with one another is largely to miss the point. Animation is a format, not a genre, and it has produced series varying from The Flintstones to Big Mouth, Invincible to Looney Tunes. Still, when most lists of the best animated series of all time are produced, a worthy winner will come out on top - The Simpsons. There's no denying that The Simpsons changed the game for animation, for comedy and for TV as a whole. It should not be understated how strong those early seasons of the show are, or how evolutionary the series has been. In spite of all this, I would argue there is one series which trumps it. The reason I can be so certain that it would top a list of the best animated shows of all time is because it also happens to be one of, if not the best show of all time, full stop. That show, of course, is BoJack Horseman. It's been 10 years since the first season of BoJack Horseman landed on Netflix and, for those who haven't seen it (which is, quite frankly, more people than it should be), it is set in a world filled with anthropomorphised animals. Centring around Hollywood (or Hollywoo or Hollywoob, depending on your preference), it follows the titular BoJack Horseman, a horse and former TV star who led critically reviled yet culturally beloved '90s sitcom Horsin' Around, a fictional show with an unfathomably catchy theme tune. The series follows BoJack years after the cancellation of Horsin' Around, as he strives to find a place in the world, reacquire the stardom he has since lost and, ultimately, achieve that ever-evasive state - happiness. Featuring the voices of Will Arnett as BoJack, Alison Brie as his ghost writer and friend Diane, Amy Sedaris as his agent and ex-girlfriend Princess Carolyn, Paul F Tompkins as his warm-hearted and irritatingly chirpy frenemy and Aaron Paul as his friend and house guest, it ran for six seasons between 2014 and 2020. In its first few episodes, it presented as a knock-about comedy, complete with cutaway gags a la Family Guy. However, what happened around the midway point of that season is what made it the revered quantity it is today. It was always planned, of course, and the show's writers deserve a huge amount of credit for being willing to bury the lede, and trust the audience (and Netflix) to stay with the show to find the real meat on the bone. At that midway point in season 1, the show suddenly changed gears, and while it retained its wacky, comedic sensibilities, it also started to explore topics more seriously and with greater depth, taking the characters to darker places and delivering some real gut-punch moments. Mental health, depression, trauma, addiction, self-acceptance, sexuality, cultural heritage, women's rights, #MeToo, cancel culture, gun violence - all of these and plenty more were explored across the six seasons of BoJack Horseman, all of which with the deft and care required. The brilliance of the show lay in not just addressing these issues, but the ways in which it chose to do so, and the perceptiveness it showed throughout. Profound insights are frequently made with little warning but with a sharpness of mind. Watching it back, it often feels like the show is even learning from itself in real time, as later seasons address contentious decisions made in its earlier seasons, such as the potential glamorisation of BoJack's behaviours and Alison Brie's casting as Diane, a Vietnamese-American character. One of the aspects of the show which I personally have known some to find off-putting is its animation style. In truth, it can be jarring at first - the character designs and the look of the show are both distinct, and therefore may require an adjustment to begin with. However, not only do you soon settle into the style, but you also realise how breathtakingly beautiful this series can be. Every scene is packed with incredible character designs and backdrops, each with such attention to detail. Background gags come thick and fast, so much so that you'll never managed to spot them all on a first watch. This is perhaps no more noticeable than in season 3's acclaimed episode Fish Out of Water, which features almost no dialogue, but still manages to tell a gorgeous story and enhance our understanding of the character, simply through the use of visuals. This episode, one of a number of experimental instalments across the show's run, also cleverly utilises a key aspect of its DNA, which is, of course, its world of anthropomorphised animals. Episodes like this help the world to feel expansive and lived-in, and while the inspiration for the use of animals came from animator Lisa Hanawalt's drawings, the decision also feels inspired on a story level. Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg has explained that the use of animals to explore very human topics allowed the show to go deeper and darker than a series just about humans, or a live-action show, might be able to, particularly while retaining its identity as a comedy. And boy, does BoJack Horseman get dark. Take season 3's storyline which culminates in the death of Sarah Lynn, BoJack's former child co-star from his Horsin' Around days. Not only did he provide her with the drugs and indulge her addictive behaviour after she had gotten sober, but we also learn he was at least partly responsible for her initial addiction in the first place. You may think it can't get darker from there. But how about season 4, which reveals that BoJack's grandmother was lobotimised by her husband, to deal with her "hysteria" over the death of her son? Or season 5, when, while hooked on opioids, BoJack strangles his co-star Gina while in a confused haze? Season 6 arguably takes things to a whole new level, as BoJack's debt comes due and his misdeeds are exposed. It's a sad, sorry end for the character, one with a glimmer of hope on the horizon, but which is, in so many ways, deserved. Coming in an era following Breaking Bad, BoJack Horseman notably became more and more interested in examining, and admonishing, the actions of its anti-heroic protagonist. While other shows seemed more than happy to revel in their central character's immoral behaviour, the writers of BoJack were quick to correct anyone who took pride in feeling like they related in some way to his debauchery and fallibility. It's to the show's credit that it helped people understand themselves and their own behaviours, but, as is made particularly clear in season 5, it never wanted them to believe that because BoJack did bad things, they could also do bad things and be reassured it wasn't their fault, or that they were OK really. The series bravely took on this mindset, while also tackling attitudes surrounding abortion, dementia, battery farming and more. Diane's battle with depression was particularly poignant, and was explored deftly in season 6, when she finally comes to terms with taking anti-depressants. Beyond all of this, one of the main reasons for BoJack's success, and why it is so watchable, is because it is consistently, ridiculously funny. From the silliest of animal gags (like Henry Winkler telling a ferret he'll let them get back to "their business") to a whole subplot dedicated to Princess Carolyn unwittingly dating three boys wearing a trenchcoat and calling themselves "Vincent Adultman", the humour is such a blend of highbrow and lowbrow, in the best possible way, and often gets so much more out-there and niche than you imagine it will. As an example, the season 2 episode Let's Find Out sees Mr Peanutbutter, the show's comedic MVP played perfectly by Paul F Tompkins, hosting a game show, which has been produced by the back-from-having-faked-his-own-death real-life novelist JD Salinger. The show, titled Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things? Let's Find Out!, ends with a face-off between BoJack and Daniel Radcliffe (played by himself), where BoJack's pettiness leads him to purposefully deny a charity of $500,000 by misnaming Radcliffe as Elijah Wood. It's kind of unbelieveable that this episode comes directly after Hank After Dark, an instalment in which Diane tries, and fails, to take down beloved former talk-show host, and alleged sexual predator, Hank Hippopopalous. That the breakneck speed with which the show veers from comedy to tragedy doesn't feel jarring, and in fact becomes a huge part of its appeal, is down to some nuanced voice performances, some quirky animation to take the edge off, and, of course, the incredible work of Bob-Waksberg and his team of writers. They always knew when to play something subtly, and when to get full-throated and hammer home what they were trying to say. They were willing to let things play out in their own time, across multiple episodes and seasons, and knew when to make a joke versus when they should play things straight. Like all of the best series, it also succeeded in both leaving the audience wanting more, while also making them never want to see it return. Sometimes when a series is rebooted or revived, it can be a welcome return to a universe, or reunion with characters, particularly when an ending has either been less than final or less than ideal. But BoJack Horseman stuck the landing so perfectly in its final season that it would be a crying shame to ever see its ending messed with. A two-part masterpiece, the first half of the season saw BoJack finally achieve some sense of stability and peace, if not without prevailing uncertainties, before the second half reminded us that no bad deed should go unpunished. His unravelling in those final episodes is both utterly well-earned but also painful to watch, truly delivering on the "Downer Ending" which was promised in the title of season 1's penultimate instalment. Every loose plot thread you've forgotten about or never thought would amount to anything returns in gloriously destructive form, allowing the series to come full circle and revel in its past, but in a satisfying, cumulative way. Some relationships are never repaired - such as his heartwarming bond with his newly discovered younger sister - but in a way which feels painfully truthful. Fans were quick to herald the devastating and unsettling penultimate episode, which sees a dying BoJack attending a nightmare dinner party in his own mind alongside those he has lost, as a masterpiece, and rightly so. However, in some ways this acclamation has meant that the final instalment hasn't always gotten its due. In truth, there are very few finer finales out there. Taking the form of four duologues with BoJack making peace with each of his friends, it's a perfect last note on which to end things. In particular, the ending sequence with Diane, in which it is made clear this is the last time they will speak, lends the whole thing such finality, and the final lengthy shot, as they struggle to think of what to say to each other and instead look up to the stars, is so beautiful it has no doubt adorned many rooms in poster form. In the end, what fans of the show will likely take away from it, beyond the laughs and the beloved, complicated characters, is its heart, and its messages. Diane's philosophy that there is no "deep-down" resonates on such a fundamental level, while Todd's assertion that "you are all the things that are wrong with you" is both cutting and truthful, managing to see through a tidal wave of excuses. Quotes like, "It gets easier. Every day, it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part," and, "All that exists is what's ahead," may feel as though they should live on a decorative board alongside a "Live, Laugh, Love" mug, but within the context of the scenes in which they are placed they are meaningful gut-punches, getting to the heart of themes the show has been exploring throughout. There are many reasons why, 10 years on, BoJack Horseman is the best animated series of all time. The Simpsons may have had a more lasting impact and a broader appeal, and is a phenomenal show in its own right, but there's no series which is quite as funny as BoJack, while also being quite as devastating or poignant. The voice acting is superb, the characters are richly developed, and visually it's spectacular. We have never seen a series quite like it before, and in truth it seems very unlikely we ever will again. No matter - a 10-year anniversary seems like the perfect time for a rewatch, and to remember the inspiring, motivational words of Mr Peanutbutter: "The universe is a cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn't the search for meaning; it's just to keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you'll be dead." BoJack Horseman is available to stream in full on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd: "I'd definitely go back – it changed my life"
Fifteen years after Ianto Jones's heart-wrenching death aired, actor Gareth David-Lloyd looks back on the beloved character.
When you think of Torchwood's highly acclaimed mini-series Children of Earth, one scene sticks out above them all – Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) dying in the arms of the love of his life, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Not only did it devastate fans at the time, prompting petitions calling for Ianto's return and even a shrine in Cardiff's Mermaid Quay, it's one of the biggest lasting legacies of Torchwood, the Doctor Who spin-off helmed by Russell T Davies. Fifteen years on from the fateful third season of the show, the shrine still exists and is regularly visited by fans, as well as having its own caretaker, Carol-Anne Hillman, who looks after the beautiful monument. Speaking to RadioTimes.com exactly 15 years to the day after Ianto's death aired in Children of Earth: Day Four, David-Lloyd recalls: "Firstly, we didn't know whether we were gonna get the third series. So to have the phone call from my agents to say that we would go again, we've got a third season, was really exciting. "He said that it was only gonna be five episodes and at first, I was a bit disheartened. I thought, 'We were a 10 to 12 episode series.' And then he explained that it was going to be one linear story over the course of five days, and it was going to be one of the first television events where everything was going to be shown over a week. And that was quite exciting. "And then he said, 'And you'll be needed for three or four out of the five episodes,' at which point it sort of clicked and I thought, 'Right, OK. So it is his time.'" He adds: "By the time we got to season 3, I felt lucky to have got that far. So it wasn't a massive shock. Of course I was disappointed. I was going to lose a job and, you know, it created a real sort of a family atmosphere among the cast and obviously it was sad, but I felt lucky to have got that far without being killed off sooner!" View oEmbed on the source website The scene itself remains one of the most heartbreaking in TV history. After a slow-burn flirtation, Ianto and Jack grow into a serious relationship – before the potential of any future together is cut tragically short. Dying in Jack's arms, Ianto begs him not to forget about him and, for David-Lloyd, the emotions were very real. "The way they scheduled it was that it was one of the last scenes we filmed," he recalls. "It wasn't the very last bit but it was my last scene, I think, which obviously helped the emotion of leaving Ianto, leaving the world, leaving the job, leaving friends. So that really sort of helped with the emotion behind that. And we only did it in a few takes, there were a few angles they needed, but yeah, the emotions were pretty raw." Not only was it the end of a beautiful relationship, but also the loss of a character who had a real-life impact on many fans. With bisexuality being almost nowhere to be seen on British TV in 2009, it's no exaggeration to say that Ianto's storyline as a bisexual man changed lives. "I've had a few experiences where fans have come up, and they've been quite emotional," David-Lloyd explains. "And they've said that Jack and Ianto's relationship helped them accept who they were, and come out to their parents or feel that they're given the power to own themselves. I think maybe that has a lot to do with [why Ianto is still so loved], with that sort of relationship being so forefront in a major primetime TV show. "At the time, it was quite a unique relationship to put at the forefront of a primetime show. And I think maybe that had something to do with it, and people felt connected to it on a deeply personal level, because it spoke to them personally. That's my main theory as to the longevity of the shrine and the attention and the love that Ianto still gets." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/07/Ianto-shrine-1-67ed7c6.jpg" width="793" height="1024" alt="Carol-Anne Hillman (caretaker of the Ianto Jones shrine in Mermaid Quay) with Gareth David Lloyd on the 10th anniversary of Ianto's death in 2019" title="Carol-Anne Hillman (caretaker of the Ianto Jones shrine in Mermaid Quay) with Gareth David Lloyd on the 10th anniversary of Ianto's death in 2019" /> As for whether Ianto's bisexuality had any impact on how he approached the character, David-Lloyd adds: "Not at all, actually. I mean, for me, it was a thrill when I found out – it started off as a bit of flirtation between Ianto and Jack in the scripts. It was quite funny and dry and then it sort of turned into a full blown relationship. "And for me, it was like, 'My character's in a relationship with a leading character. I'll never get more lines and better storylines!' That's the way I felt about it. I didn't really think of the impact or the connections that would be made to fans and audiences." For David-Lloyd, Ianto being such a crucial character in Torchwood came as a surprise – after all, it was his first major TV role. "I remember getting the script for [Cyberwoman], which is the Ianto-centric episode, the first episode I got to sort of drive and I wasn't expecting it at all. I was expecting Ianto to be one of those characters that would be a bit like the guy in the red shirt in Star Trek, who was sort of more expendable than the others. So he'd probably be the first to go. So getting that episode, I was bowled over. There was no discussion or warning about it. I just got it and sort of had to do it!" Ianto's death could almost have been very different too – in fact, he almost died in season 2. "In season 2, originally, it was the Ianto storyline that he was going to be sort of the walking dead, the dead character [and] you can only go so far with a walking corpse deteriorating and rotting as he goes along! So I thought season 2 was going to be the end... "It was only a few weeks before we started filming that I got told that was no longer Ianto's storyline, it was going to go to Owen [played by Burn Gorman] because it was something about the doctor, the guy who works in the morgue, the dead tending to the dead that was more interesting, which I completely agree with." Now, Davies has returned to Doctor Who, with David-Lloyd saying: "I haven't watched it really religiously but I caught 73 Yards, which I thought was a great, great episode. I'm just pleased for him that it's going in the direction that it is, that he's got Disney on board and it's getting more of a worldwide exposure." There's also been talk of spin-offs. While there's no sign currently that Torchwood will return, there's no denying the show is still beloved all these years later by fans and its cast alike. "I'd jump at the chance to go back to Torchwood," David-Lloyd says. "I don't know how that would work, but it's sci-fi so anything could happen! "I think I'd owe Torchwood that, to go back to it. It's changed my life, it's a gift that still keeps giving today. I'm still writing stuff for it, it's still very much part of my life and I owe it a lot so yeah, I'd definitely go back." There's also one particular location where Ianto has been immortalised – Mermaid Quay on Cardiff Bay, where Ianto's Shrine is still visited by fans. Weirdly enough though, David-Lloyd never gets recognised at the shrine itself. "I don't get recognised. It's weird – unless they see me having a picture taken. I think a lot of fans are so invested with the fact that they're paying their respects to Ianto, who is no longer with us, that everything in the periphery is missed, they don't really see me!" "I don't go on my own!" David-Lloyd quickly clarifies, adding: "I know I'll always have an opportunity if friends come over from overseas or are visiting Cardiff. They always want to go to the shrine to have a picture taken. So I've been there a few times, it's been a couple of months since I've been there... I went for the 10-year anniversary. I know [caretaker, Carol-Anne Hillman] has put up lots of decorations. "My mind boggles that it's still there and I'm just waiting for Mermaid Quay to say, 'Enough is enough, let's take it down!' So it's very weird but very flattering." All seasons of Torchwood are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Tom Cruise's best film is 10 years old - and broke new ground for sci-fi
Repetition is boring. The same thing over, over, and over. It becomes easy to zone out, it’s difficult to stay engaged. Yet in Edge of Tomorrow - or 'Live Die Repeat', as it was once known for… reasons - repetition is anything but boring. In fact, it provides the basis for Tom Cruise’s best ever film - and one of sci-fi’s highest points in the 21st century. Now, achieving the honour of topping Cruise’s decades-spanning filmography is no mean feat, nor is bestowing that honour an easy decision. After all, in the past few years alone, the Hollywood icon has released several of the big screen’s most exhilarating blockbusters, with Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Fallout chief among them. Cruise has also shown his dramatic chops with Oscar-nominated turns in the likes of Magnolia and Born on the Fourth of July since his screen debut in 1981, and delivered one of cinema’s most iconic lines when he told Rod Tidwell to show him the money in Jerry Maguire. But for all of these highlights, it is Doug Liman’s 2014 movie Edge of Tomorrow - a bit of a sleeper hit that underwhelmed at the box office but has since attracted a mass viewership on streamers - that sits at the summit of his big-screen achievements. On the surface, the blockbuster feels like it could offer a fun couple of hours, a brainless form of escapism that passes the time while you eat some popcorn and slurp down an Ice Blast. It feels akin to a Fast & Furious or later-stage Marvel movie at first glance, an enjoyable but forgettable adventure that likely won’t trouble many people’s Four Favourites on Letterboxd. But what Liman and co deliver is so much more than that - a uniquely thrilling sci-fi adventure that breaks new ground in the genre. Firstly, there’s the premise. The time loop has been done to death in cinema, of course - in comedies both old and new, for the most part, from Groundhog Day to Palm Springs, but also in horrors like Totally Killer and dramas like the Oscar-winning Two Distant Strangers. Yet to see it done - and done well - in a hard sci-fi setting is inspired, with the basis of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need Is Kill providing a core principle around which screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth craft both a gripping narrative and gripping action. In terms of the latter, from the very first battle scene, the viewer is thrown into a chaotic futuristic setting, becoming immersed in a battlefield like no other. By closely following Cruise’s Cage as he works his way through the warzone, as discombobulated as us viewers, Liman keeps the camera close to our hero in every breath, showing every emotion as he witnesses bloodshed and fallen brethren. And as if that’s not enough, the director drops us into that action again, and again, and again, making the torturous time loop as stressful for the audience at home as it is for Cage on the scene. But what makes Edge of Tomorrow so effective overall is that just when that repetition could, in fact, become boring, the film takes its cue and mixes things up, bringing Cage and Emily Blunt’s Rita together - with full awareness of each other and their situation - to evolve the narrative. View oEmbed on the source website What starts as a mystery for Cruise’s character - one based around figuring out how to get to Rita, who appears to be the key to ending the war - develops into something closer to a buddy movie, with this odd couple working to find broader answers to just what’s going on - with twists and turns that elevate the film beyond what could have easily become a gimmicky tale of 'Groundhog Day with guns'. And on the topic of elevating the film, what makes Edge of Tomorrow so special, such a high point in its genre, is that it launches Tom Cruise into the action of hard science fiction - a rarity throughout his career. Sure, the likes of Minority Report and War of the Worlds tick the sci-fi category box on IMDb, but ultimately the former is more a dystopian thriller and the latter more a 'family-friendly' horror. Here, though, Cruise gets the chance to go full sci-fi for near enough the only time outside of Oblivion, which was forgettable at best, and outright painful to watch at worst. The result is certainly impressive. From scene one, Cruise brings weight to what could easily have been a silly concept, giving as much on the dramatic front as if he was back in an introspective Paul Thomas Anderson movie. Ultimately, it can be tough to sell the stakes of events that feel so far-fetched, so far from our reality, but Cruise uses his decades of experience to do exactly that - making this bizarre world seem so real, the struggles so serious, that you can’t help but root for our heroes to succeed. Yet it’s not just the drama where Cruise shines - he gets to lean into his comedic side, too. There are glimpses of his wit in many Cruise movies, but McQuarrie and co really lean into it here, using the trials and tribulations of the time loop to full effect - and having him team up with Blunt’s no-nonsense Rita leads to some memorable moments of amusement. And finally, the notoriously full-blooded action performer goes all-in on the futuristic battles. Getting the chance to essentially see Ethan Hunt kitted out in a Titanfall-esque mech suit, blasting away tentacled aliens, is a sight to behold. Fallout may have leg-breaking rooftop jumps, and Rogue Nation may have him hanging off the side of a plane, but for die-hard sci-fan fanatics, nothing beats that. The aforementioned box office disappointment may have put a stop to an Edge of Tomorrow sequel (Edge of the Day After Tomorrow?), and his turn as Cage may not have led to an Academy Award nod, but when Cruise decided to take over the genre 10 years ago, it was an inspired choice - one that led to his finest ever film. Edge of Tomorrow is available to watch on Netflix. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Sorry Buffy fans, Angel's controversial ending was actually perfect
Twenty years on, Angel's finale still stands up.
Angel often gets overshadowed by the show it was spun off from, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, its controversial ending has sparked much debate over the years — it isn’t a finale; it’s the show’s ever-present, nitty-gritty mission statement. From the pilot’s opening moments to the finale’s closing seconds, a well-thought-out plan seemed consistently in place, although it often felt muddled in the middle. In the debut episode, vampire-with-a-soul Angel (David Boreanaz) moves to LA to start a new life and help those in need. He joins forces with the resourceful Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and the half-demon Doyle (Glenn Quinn) to battle supernatural threats. We should always go back to the beginning, because it skillfully establishes the setting, develops characters, and lays the groundwork for the entire series. It also, almost effortlessly, ties in the last seconds of the finale. In showing Angel’s pain and how troubled Doyle coaxes and persuades him out of the darkness, it does so much work in its stripped-backness. Two troubled men, one-on-one, "'Cause you got potential. And the balance sheet ain’t exactly in your favour." When the final episode aired, I felt ripped off. But decades later, I get it. I have grown into it. It’s now my favourite ending — I have the biggest soft spot for the characters. After all, it’s so painfully, quintessentially Angel to end with the team still fighting, half already dead, and more clearly on their way out. Buffy fans who treat Angel as a continuation, an add-on, do it a disservice. Many popular fandom criticisms focus on comparing it to Buffy’s essence and foundations rather than what its own was meant to be — different. In aesthetics, mission statements, thesis, and the way they pull from various eras of life. Buffy is about growing up — Angel is about being grown. From the first episode, Angel is an intimate, up-close, staring-you-right-in-the-face experience of addiction, the need for redemption, and how a person earns it. Always with the knowledge that if he experiences pure happiness, he will lose what separates him from the inner monster. Those scenes tell us to come and get close. It won’t be pretty; it will get a little gritty and intense, but it’s a conversation we need to have. For all the show’s bravado and charisma, for all its reliance on glamourous grime, chiselled jawlines, murderous stare-offs, artfully swishy leather trench coats, trapped ballerinas, a wee little puppet man, "shiny" demons, dubious Irish accents, and even dodgier wigs, there is always a tightness to Angel, a clawing angst, something burrowing under his skin, throwing him off balance. After all, the character went from being Liam, the young, drunken layabout, to Angelus, a bloodthirsty serial killer lacking a soul, and then having one thrust upon him as a punishment for his crimes. Separate from the otherworldly nature of the show, Angel is a man who has to live with himself. The show ponders the question: What would it do to a man to hear the screams of pain of his victims over and over, to listen to them pleading and begging to carry the knowledge that you were responsible for the most heinous acts imaginable, that your hands had inflicted torture, and that you, in a far-off era of life, relished it? How would that eat at a person? View Green Video on the source website Returning his soul was the ultimate retribution, forcing him to live with and live in his crimes. Angel has hand-me-down pain, self-doubt, and a dose of self-pity. In a famous and oft-quoted stand-off with Spike (James Marsters), that other soul-having vampire, Angel’s voice is laced with resentment and petulance: "You asked for a soul. I didn’t! It almost killed me. I spent a hundred years trying to come to terms with infinite remorse." There are dips, notes and cycles to everything. It never lets up. From the first episode, the first scene, and the ups and downs of five seasons, it all led up — built up, up, and up — to this emotional series finale, punctuated with the ultimate cliffhanger, perhaps more justifiably labelled an unknowable ending. In the finale, Gunn (J August Richards), the long-term human ally, asks, "What if I told you it doesn’t help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it’s all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive, and they will never let it get better down here? What would you do?" In those scenes, those questions, we go back to that earlier up-close, stripped-back simplicity. As they all bow their heads in grief and exhaustion, covered in yet more blood, LA grime and shadows in an alleyway as they are fading, Spike asks, "In terms of a plan?" and Angel responds, "We fight," and, "Let’s go to work." It is fitting that the last image is Angel’s determined face when he was once so unsure, the last sound of his weapon being used as the last of the team confronts a seemingly endless army of foes — and a dragon. Did they live? It hardly matters. All it was ever about was a person, a group, putting everything they had into it — trying. The show fades out and leaves it open for viewers to participate however they want - you can stay in the conversation. It’s still being discussed, dissected and speculated on. For me, it ended in that first second of darkness. I didn’t read about what happened after that in other forms then, and I have consciously chosen not to read about it since. We should be comfortable saying goodbye and thanks for the memories. We can grieve a set of characters — and know their story is done once the screen fades to black. I’ve loved this TV show for most of my life, but it took some growing up and growing into it to really get it. Back in the day, I was scribbling David Boreanaz’s name in hearts all over my school books; there is nothing wrong with that. But, as time has passed, my appreciation has become more nuanced, a more grown-up thing. The ending of the show - particularly the closing moments before it fades to black - stands out as its most poignant lesson and overarching reason for being. It represents the world as it messily is rather than as it neatly could be. It also gives us the possibility — what could’ve been, what might’ve been, and what ought to have been. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Angel is available to watch on Disney Plus. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Why The Phantom Menace isn't as bad as you remember 25 years on
Does it deserve a little more appreciation?
Has any film in history ever been hyped quite as much as the Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace? Released 25 years ago on 19th May 1999, George Lucas's long-awaited return to a galaxy far, far away was the cinematic event of the century. The initial reception upon its release was largely positive. Critics lavished Lucas's prequel with praise while fans lapped up the opportunity to revisit one of the definitive pop culture landscapes of their childhoods. But then came the backlash. Driven by the growing concept of "fandom" and the burgeoning world of online discourse, The Phantom Menace would become a byword for on-screen awfulness, the subject of near-universal disdain from the franchise’s ferociously protective fans. But were they right? Or does Star Wars' Episode I deserve a little more appreciation? Let's take a look. Bright, breezy and bombastic Looking back now, the most startling thing about The Phantom Menace is quite how different it is from any other instalment of the franchise. The original movies had given us a glimpse of a galaxy under the yoke of an evil empire, a grim and grubby world of outlaws and oppression. But The Phantom Menace provides an entirely different take on a galaxy that we all thought we were familiar with. This is an altogether more optimistic setting. Through a journey that takes in a kaleidoscope of colourful civilisations, the sprawling cityscape of Coruscant and the eye-popping panoramas of Naboo, viewers get to experience the Republic in its pomp. Even the spaceships are buffed to a polished chrome, gleaming with the kind of hope and optimism that’s in stark contrast to the darkness of the original instalments or the impending doom that surrounds the rest of the prequel trilogy. It’s not just the world-building that’s on point, either. Against this brightly-coloured backdrop, we’re presented with an equally luminous cast. From Liam Neeson's stoic Qui-Gon Jinn to the understated excellence of Ian McDiarmid’s would-be puppeteer Palpatine, the movie introduces us to characters that have become as much a part of Star Wars canon as any of the original ensemble. And let’s not forget Ewan McGregor, who not only steps out from Alec Guinness's sizeable shadow but ultimately eclipses him as a Star Wars icon. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Incredible action For a franchise that has conflict baked into its title, we can’t discuss The Phantom Menace without considering the action. And though fans may have been fearful when the opening crawl detailed the innermost workings of galactic trade disputes, it’s an area where Episode I undoubtedly delivers. Unlike the subsequent prequels, where Lucas was given free rein of his CGI sandbox, The Phantom Menace combines practical effects with computer wizardry. The end result is nothing short of electric. Whether it’s the adrenaline rush of the Tatooine pod race or the discombobulating din of outer space dogfights, the on-screen action is an assault on the senses that’s unlike anything we saw in the original movies. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/03/EpisodeIPhantomMenace-f39d2e0-e1715942999236.jpg" width="2306" height="1539" alt="Three figures engaged in an intense lightsaber battle in a grand hall, two Jedi - Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi – with green and blue lightsabers against a dark-cloaked figure, Darth Maul, wielding a red double-bladed lightsaber." title="Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Unit Stills" /> Above all, however, it’s the dueling Jedi who elevate the instalment to action excellence. The balletic battle with a dual-blade-wielding Darth Maul is the best lightsaber sequence the franchise has ever committed to screen. It’s a pulsating encounter accentuated by John Williams's incredible score to deliver the kind of thrill that fans have long since been starved of. Even the showdown between the Gungans and battle droids passes muster on repeated viewings, offering an upgrade on the tree-swinging shenanigans with which the Ewoks enchanted younger viewers 16 years earlier. Disney disdain Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that The Phantom Menace is a flawless masterpiece - the Citizen Kane of space operas, it is most certainly not. From the problematic patois of Jar Jar Binks (or his very existence, for that matter) to the clunky disposition and incessant yippee-ing of Jake Lloyd’s school-aged Sith-in-waiting, the film is littered with flaws. But then, so has every other Star Wars movie that has followed in its wake, especially those that have been unfurled during the era of Disney’s ownership. From the damp Womp Rat that is Solo to the pedestrianly plotted sequels, a number of acclaimed directors have tried and failed to breathe new life into a story that cinemagoers have been dipping in and out of for more than five decades now. At least The Phantom Menace attempts to achieve more than another unimaginative retelling. Lucas isn't flogging a dead Bantha here; he’s unapologetically trying to create something different, a jumping-on point for a whole new generation of fans to enjoy. It’s bold, bright and breezy - a fresh narrative thread plucked from the comfort blanket of a big screen universe we’re all happy to cuddle up in. And because of that, it’s far from the affront that many fans paint it out to be. It’s not even the worst movie the franchise has ever spawned. In fact, I’d say it’s not even in the top three. So, if you’ve not revisited it since first exiting the auditorium in 1999, then why not use the 25th anniversary as an opportunity to rediscover The Phantom Menace? You might just be surprised with how much you enjoy it. The Star Wars films are available to watch on Disney Plus. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Bottom director Ed Bye: 'It couldn't be done today'
Producer Ed Bye chats with Paul Tanter ahead of Bottom: Exposed, a new documentary which delves into the history and popularity of the anarchic '90s sitcom.
When Ed Bye took on directing and producing duties for the pilot of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson's Bottom in 1990, then-BBC2 Controller Alan Yentob wasn't convinced he was up to the job. "He said, 'Who's in charge of this?' I said, 'I am.' He said, 'No, who's really in charge?' I said, 'Me,' and he replied, 'Oh s**t,'" laughs Bye, who helmed series 1 and 2 of the groundbreaking sitcom in the early 1990s. Having worked with the pair on seminal '80s smash-hit The Young Ones, Bye had faith in Mayall and Edmondson's abilities, though hesitancy manifested until the first laughs during the studio recording. Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, the director says: "Like all shows that are groundbreaking, there were doubts. Nobody quite knows how it's going to go down or what it's going to be like. So, you just have to have the courage of convictions to go, 'Look, this is going to work. We're going to give it our full blast.' "There were reservations from the BBC, particularly because it was very edgy comedy. But the audience went nuts and it went really, really well. We thought, 'Great. Now we have the confidence.'" From small acorns grow mighty oaks and Bottom was no exception, with audiences loving the exploits of sex-starved Richard Richard (Mayall) and violent drunkard Eddie Hitler (Edmondson), living together in a squalid Hammersmith flat and eking out an existence of petty crime and poverty. The show ran for three series and spawned five sellout live tours and even a feature film spin-off, Guest House Paradiso. More than three decades since that pilot, Bottom's popularity endures as new fans discover its mix of existential angst and cartoon violence, laced with toilet humour. Bye enjoys the continued affection for the show. "It's a huge compliment that people still take an interest in it. Things get very popular when they get repeated. Some of those people taking an interest in it aren't even 30 years old, discovering it through late night repeats and the Talking Bottom podcast. "When you're making something, you hope that it'll be the best you can make, but I would never have expected it to have such a lasting effect that it has done. Although, it's never been bettered, as it's a hard show to copy. It's got a uniqueness to it which is impossible to replicate." Is that uniqueness the key to its longevity, I wonder? Bye agrees. "You've got two really brilliant writer-performers there who work together in a unique way that created Bottom and it came out of their brains. It's that combo; their writing skills that are impossible to repeat. "The scripts were always in really good shape. There was very little that we had to do before we started. We tweaked a bit in rehearsals, the odd line change here or there, and nailed the action, which was an important part of the series. "What was great about that show, more than any other, was that we were left to our own devices and we just got on with it. In those days, there was very little interaction with executive producers or commissioners or anyone else. Not so now. But it was perfect for us." View oEmbed on the source website That uniqueness is being celebrated in a new documentary about Bottom on Gold. Featuring insights from many of the show's cast and crew, plus celebrity fans, Bottom: Exposed dives into the history of the comedy and the work that went into creating it. "They really did their research," muses Bye. "Fans are going to love it." One aspect that sets Bottom apart from other studio sitcoms is the cartoon-levels of violence and physical comedy. Fights involved frying pans, cricket bats and umbrellas, with hair-raising stunts including setting each other on fire, crashing through a ceiling while playing the piano and flying down a set of stairs in a wheelchair. Ade Edmondson was keen to ape Wile E Coyote, admitting: "We were doing a human live-action version of that and I don't think we had seen people do some of those things before." With so many physical aspects written into the script and then performed by Rik and Ade themselves, could Bottom be made today? Ed shakes his head. "Not without massive difficulties. I took huge risks with some of the effects that we did, and I don't think that we would be allowed to do those kinds of things now without stuntmen standing in for them. I wouldn't have been able to get the shots that I got. "The physical violence would be very difficult to do in a studio and in-camera. There would have to be so much done with computers. So no, I don't think we could have done it now. "Rik and Ade understood the parameters of what they could and couldn't do and would write for a television studio. There was never a challenge the BBC visual effects department ever said no to. They made everything work in some form or other. We had that kind of cartoon sensibility about it, which was tied into the practicalities of what you could actually do. So, they wrote it and we did it." Crucial to the live-action representation of cartoon-style violence was the use of sound effects played out live for the studio audience. It was a trick the team had used previously in The Young Ones but Bottom took things to the next level. During one memorable episode, Richie and Eddie take turns attacking a hapless gas man who has come to read their meter. On the night of recording, the scene turned into a competition between the actors and the sound crew playing in the effects live. "The pressure was on," remembers Bye. "The sound guys had to hit the button as close as you can get to the action as they see it. The gas man beating was spectacularly done, with Rick punching him on the ground and then Ade hitting him with a frying pan. "It was all unrehearsed and they just kept going, hitting, punching. It became a battle, to see if they could keep up with Rik and Ade. And it just went on and on, and I just thought, well, we'll just let this run because the audience are screaming and loving it." <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/04/bottom-bbc-gas-episode-9d90831.jpg" width="4950" height="3348" alt="Rik Mayall and Richie, Adrian Edmondson as Eddie and Mark Lambert as the gas man in the Bottom episode Gas. They are stood in the front room and Eddie is raising a cricket bat above his head as if to strike the gas man." title="Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson and Mark Lambert in the Bottom episode Gas." /> With Bottom episodes often repeated, retrospectives such as this documentary and even an upcoming book about Bottom keeping the show firmly in people's minds, Bye expects fresh audiences to keep discovering it. "I get people coming up to me and saying how much their parents loved it. The parents wait for their kids to get old enough and they feel it's acceptable for them to be able to watch it. So, the audience keeps regenerating. Kids watch it today and see something that they've never really seen before." Ten years on from the sad loss of Rik Mayall to a heart attack, Bottom: Exposed reunites Ed Bye and Ade Edmondson with a poignant visit to Hammersmith, where they first shot the show's opening credits and where the Rik Mayall memorial bench sits. "We were sitting there and some people came up to us, assuming we were tourists," laughs Bye. "So, they were waiting for us to go. 'Can you move? We'd like to sit down on Rik's bench!'" In addition to Bottom, Bye has directed a plethora of the nation's favourite comedies, including The Vicar of Dibley, Absolutely Fabulous and 40 episodes of cult favourite Red Dwarf. The sci-fi comedy was a '90s staple on the BBC before disappearing from screens for over a decade, finally returning on UKTV channel Dave. For Bye and for fans, it was a welcome return. Though one he was unable to be a part of due to scheduling issues. "There was a bit of a gap between the end of Red Dwarf on the BBC and it being picked up by UKTV and Dave and I was off doing other things. Also, Doug Naylor wanted to direct them, and he did a very good job, I think. They were annoyingly good. You can quote me on that!" News of a planned Red Dwarf prequel book and TV series announced recently by co-creator Rob Grant had fans excitedly speculating who might be involved in the project called Red Dwarf: Titan. Does space beckon once more? "Yes. I had a discussion with [Rob Grant] and Paul Jackson over some interesting lunches, and it's a really exciting idea. It's ambitious and crazy, which are two things I really like. As a director, I'm going, 'Yeah, let's do this.' I can't wait." Bottom: Exposed airs at 9pm on Gold on Thursday 18th April. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef changed TV cooking forever
Twenty-five years on, Daniel Bettridge looks back at how Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef changed everything when it came to cooking on telly.
Chef, restaurateur, social campaigner and sworn enemy of the Turkey Twizzler - these days Jamie Oliver needs no introduction. But it was an altogether different story when he made his TV debut 25 years ago. On Wednesday 14th April 1999, The Naked Chef exploded onto our screens. The show introduced us to a then-unknown Oliver, a shaggy-haired sous chef from London’s River Cafe who whizzed around London on his Vespa before cooking up a feast for his friends at the swanky Islington apartment where the series was filmed. With a format that was as fresh as his food, The Naked Chef was unlike anything we’d ever seen on TV before. An overnight hit, it didn’t just launch Oliver’s career but changed the face of small-screen cuisine – shaping the way that TV chefs (and indeed an entire nation) cooked forever. "Cooking has got to be a laugh" A quarter of a century ago, the recipe for TV cooking was almost unrecognisable from the kind of shows we see today. Back then the format felt as stiff as the starched white aprons worn by the chefs who stood behind the stove. Pre-measured ingredients in little glass ramekins were put together with almost scientific precision, as impeccably-spoken hosts guided us through elaborate processes used to prepare pretentious dishes that would be out of place in all but a handful of households. Oliver however existed at the opposite end of the chef spectrum. The brand of slapdash simplicity that gave the show its “Naked” moniker stripped food back to basics, delivering big flavour with minimal effort. It was also fun, every bit the laugh that Oliver said it had to be during the show’s opening credits. Gone were the time-consuming techniques and precision measurements – instead Oliver "dolloped", "shoved", "smashed" and "chuffed up" his ingredients, guiding viewers through "pukka" recipes with a distinctive Essex patter that was more Del Boy than Delia Smith. He looked and sounded like someone you might know in real life, which only added to the feeling that these were delicious dishes you actually stood a chance of recreating at home. Fresh format It wasn't just Oliver who was different, The Naked Chef’s format also provided a fresh take on proceedings. Shot in an eye-catching London pad, Oliver bounced around the kitchen, dropping ingredients and slapping pots and pans down on hobs with reckless abandon, before sliding down the bannister of a spiral staircase to open the door to guests. He didn't stare down the barrel of the camera like other TV chefs, instead he chatted with the off-screen figure of Patricia Llewellyn, the late great BBC producer who’d first discovered him. The conversational style was supposedly a tactic used to overcome Oliver’s on-screen nerves, but it had the added effect of enhancing the relaxed informal style that made The Naked Chef so appealing. That wasn’t the only innovation the show served up, however. Handheld camerawork combined with creatively framed close-ups and rapid-fire edits echoed Oliver’s on-screen energy. And as the dishes sizzled and sautéed in front of us, the audio followed suit, setting the show to a soundtrack of late nineties indie hits from the likes of Inspiral Carpets, The Stone Roses and Toploader. This was music to cook to, and proved so popular that it was even released as an accompanying CD. The overriding impact made it feel more like a movie than a cooking show. It was kinetic, it was exciting and above all, it was cool. Cooking became cool Perhaps that’s The Naked Chef’s greatest achievement. Before the show arrived on our screens, cooking was something your mum did or it involved stuffy chefs preparing stuffy dishes for equally stuffy dinner parties. But Oliver and co made food fun. They took home-cooking out of the kitchen and made it a part of the late nineties lifestyle. From hangover breakfasts with your friends to post-gig grub with your beer-drinking bandmates – The Naked Chef made food the fulcrum around which Oliver’s aspirational social circle orbited. Chefs were the new rockstars and Oliver’s overnight stardom would usher in a new generation of celebrity cooks onto our screens. It would also change the way that Britain cooked, how we shopped and how TV was made. Looking back now, it’s clear that The Naked Chef still provides the raw ingredients from which the recipe for TV cooking is constructed, its influence as fresh today as it was when it first hit our screens 25 years ago. Check out more of our Entertainment and Factual coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
How The Matrix created the modern blockbuster
As the action classic turns 25, we look back on its legacy.
Twenty-five years ago, the Wachowskis gave cinemagoers a choice: They could choose the blue pill and stick with the tried and tested film formula that had come to dominate the box office, or take the red pill and follow the filmmakers down a rabbit hole towards a new era of cinema. Inspired by comic books, Japanese anime and French philosophical musings - little was expected from The Matrix when it first hit theatres on 31st March 1999. The movie, however, became a critical darling and a commercial smash hit, scooping four Oscars, hauling $467.2 million at the box office and spawning two sequels (a third would follow 22 years later). Beyond its success, however, the lasting impact of The Matrix was how it sparked a revolution that would ultimately come to shape the modern blockbuster. Before he was 'The One', Keanu Reeves was a far cry from the all-action superstar we’re used to seeing today. Though he’d had some success with 1994’s Speed, the Bill & Ted actor was better known for his air guitar skills than his action chops. He wasn't even the Wachowskis’ first choice for the role of Neo, only landing the part after the likes of Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio had all turned it down. Like those who’d been considered before him, Reeves looked nothing like the leading men who fronted the box office in the '90s. The decade was dominated by the likes of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Con Air and Cliffhanger - muscle-bound movies filled with vest-clad, square-jawed superstars performing physical feats in stories that were more concerned with pyrotechnics than plot devices. Thanks to the gravity-defying physics of The Matrix, however, the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone would soon be obsolete. Borrowing heavily from the choreographed kung-fu and balletic wire-work that was pioneered by Hong Kong action auteurs like John Woo - this was a new breed of film fisticuffs that demanded a new type of action hero. It wasn’t just physiques that changed after The Matrix, though - filmmaking as we know it was forever altered after the Wachowskis' high-concept smash hit. This was on-screen action that was unlike anything audiences had ever seen before. Thanks to technical advancements like "bullet time" - the slow motion effect that became the film’s calling card - The Matrix ushered in a new era of filmmaking where live-action and CGI could be seamlessly interwoven. And audiences lapped it up. So much so that the film’s success opened the floodgates to a new wave of adaptations that studio execs had never been able to bring to the big screen, until now. In many ways, The Matrix was Hollywood’s first successful superhero movie. Hard as it may be to imagine in an era dominated by comic book films, there was once a time when Hollywood had tried (and largely failed) to bring spandex-clad heroes to the silver screen. Films like Richard Donner’s Superman, Tim Burton’s Batman and Sam Raimi’s Darkman had struggled to escape their inherent implausibility, caught between the cartoonish origins of their primary-coloured protagonists and the unrelenting realism of live-action cinema. For all of its cyberpunk aesthetic, The Matrix was every inch a comic book movie. It may have looked cooler, but the film still followed a costumed hero engaging in gravity-defying derring-do. It even ends with Neo taking flight as Rage Against the Machine’s Wake Up roars over the final credits. This was an evolutionary leap that showed Hollywood that cinemagoers could suspend their disbelief and invest as heavily in physics-defying special effects as they would in live-action. Released alongside universe-expanding comic books, animated shorts and subsequent sequels, The Matrix also proved that you could maintain an audience’s attention beyond the auditorium. It was the first step on a road that eventually led us to Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and the birth of Marvel’s all-conquering cinematic universe. Read more: Ghostbusters' Ernie Hudson pitches sequel about Winston’s investigations Benedict Wong says there's scope for MCU return: "Maybe Strange is the sidekick now" The Matrix, however, wasn't just about spectacle - it was also about storyline. It was influenced by everything from the philosophy of Jean Baudrillard and Descartes to the learnings from Buddhism and the Bible. There are even references to Japanese anime, gender identity, self-actualisation and the intricacies of computer programming language. The end result was a collective "whoa" from audiences, who, like Keanu Reeves's hero, had their eyes opened to a whole new world. This was mainstream entertainment that didn't spoon-feed us. Instead, it was complex and challenging, something that could be endlessly dissected and reinterpreted in the growing communities that were using dial-up modems to connect with like-minded fans in early online forums. Without The Matrix, we don’t get cerebral cinema like Christopher Nolan’s Inception or Tenet. We don't get the kind of action that audiences loved in John Wick, or the special effects advancements that directors like Zack Snyder and Michael Bay would later hang their hats on. You could even argue that had it not been for The Matrix, we’d have never got ambitious escapism on the small screen, either. Indeed, it’s impossible to imagine the thought-provoking fantasy served up by shows like Lost, Westworld, Black Mirror and Severance without the Wachowskis' influence. A quarter of a century later, The Matrix’s influence is still being felt. It was a transformational event that, like its on-screen hero, sent ripples through reality. Like Morpheus's pill-based paradox, it offered audiences a choice to free their minds. It showed us a door to a different world and we collectively walked through it. As a result, it didn’t just inspire the next generation of filmmakers, it gave them the blueprint for the modern blockbuster, one that they continue to follow to this day. View Green Video on the source website Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
10 years on, Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains the MCU's greatest movie
Marvel’s fall from grace has been quite spectacular. With the past year bringing poor box office results, middling feedback from audiences and vocal criticism from some of its former stars, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is under pressure to revive the fortunes of the once seemingly indomitable empire. Such is the negativity around the franchise right now, in fact, that it’s easy to forget just how formidable said empire was at the height of its powers. Gripping storytelling, groundbreaking special effects, a line-up of genuinely world class actors fully committed to their roles – as tough as it is to remember right now, the MCU at its peak offered blockbuster filmmaking at its very finest. And no release epitomised this more than Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Somehow, it’s been a decade to the day since HYDRA attempted to topple SHIELD in explosive fashion, meaning it’s been a decade to the day since the best superhero movie of all time hit the big screen. What makes it worthy of this title? Well, the fact that it’s not really a superhero movie – it’s a spy-thriller interspersed with superhero shenanigans. Seeing a suited-up Cap leap off a motorbike to take down a Quinjet using only his shield is undoubtedly cool, as is witnessing a Helicarrier being blown to smithereens above Washington, DC, but extravagant set-pieces like these are few and far between. Instead, The Winter Soldier is a largely grounded, gritty film that puts storytelling first. The action is often breathtaking, but many of the fight scenes could ultimately be found in a Jason Bourne flick or Mission: Impossible movie. Whether it’s the opening sequence, as Captain America and his SHIELD agents infiltrate a warship and stealthily take down a group of mercenaries, or that knife fight between Chris Evans’s Captain America and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier on the busy streets of the US capital, directors Joe and Anthony Russo immerse the viewer in every punch, kick and slash. And the whole time, these scenes move the narrative forward. It’s never action for action’s sake, spectacle without purpose. Instead, it becomes a key part of the storytelling. Battles between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes almost bring an unspoken form of dialogue, each angry jab or lunge of a blade demonstrating just how far gone the former’s friend – his beloved big brother figure from The First Avenger – has been dragged into the darkness. Attempts on the lives of Natasha and Steve hammer home how they can only trust each other, with twists and turns throwing them into disarray and leaving entire rooms of cinemagoers shocked; Evans’s delivery of: "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" has become a Hollywood all-timer for a reason. And the fact that Nick Fury ends up being blindsided, at one point relying on a conveniently powerful pocket tool to burrow an escape route into the ground (don’t question the logic), raises the stakes higher than they had ever been before – if the spy is in genuine danger, you know things are getting serious. All this is to say, the Russo brothers understood that the draw of comic book movies isn’t comic book powers in and of themselves. They can enhance the story, they can enhance the action, but they cannot carry a film alone – and this is something the franchise has seemingly forgotten over time. Take a look at the MCU’s other highlights. The film that kicked it all off, Iron Man, barely had a superhero landing to be seen; the movie’s biggest moment is Tony Stark emerging in a suit that looks like a dodgy Tin Man cosplay. Instead, director Jon Favreau used the blockbuster as a vehicle to explore a billionaire’s fall from grace – a deep-dive into what can happen when a man who previously thought he was invulnerable loses that invulnerability. And throughout most of 2018’s billion-dollar Black Panther, our hero is largely sapped of his strength – with Ryan Coogler more interested in developing a political drama based around two challengers for the same throne than seeing how high T'Challa can jump or how hard he can punch. Would the franchise take this approach now? Are its filmmakers allowed to construct a story first, and inject it with Marvel-ness after? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to say yes to these questions. The Winter Soldier’s action-packed story is also built around a central duo that the audience can really get behind, a pair of characters that fans were given the time to get to know and love – which can’t really be said of recent team-ups in the Marvel sphere (the America Chavez-Doctor Strange combination in Multiverse of Madness particularly springs to mind). Across several films and over several years, viewers had already been introduced to Steve and Natasha, their stories and their personalities, and this allowed Evans and Scarlett Johansson to build an electrifying chemistry that sparks from the second Natasha cracks her first 'old man' joke. This is a dynamic that was largely put aside after 2014 – the pair clearly remain close, sharing brief moments together in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, but by the time of Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame, the focus is more on the reaction of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner than it is on Steve’s. In The Winter Soldier, though, there exists perhaps the most tangible, real connection between two Marvel characters. You instantly get the sense that the pair genuinely care for one another, and Natasha’s playful presence lightens Evans’s largely serious Steve. On his own, Cap can be a bit, well, dull – a little too serious (The Avengers in 2012 is the prime example). But Evans’s straight-laced approach combined with the fizzy energy of Johansson’s wildcard is a match made in heaven, and despite providing great moments like, "That is America’s ass," and, "You get killed... walk it off," in the years that followed, Rogers could never quite emulate the loveable heights that he manages here, with Black Widow by his side. While Infinity War became a cultural phenomenon and Endgame broke box office records, The Winter Soldier remains the MCU’s finest moment even 10 years later. Tony Stark fans, come at me – I’ll defend that take 'til the end of the line. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website Captain America: The Winter Soldier is available to stream on Disney Plus. Check out our list of the best shows on Disney Plus or see what else is on and visit our Sci-fi hub for all the latest news. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – <a id="OWAd6a6c3ba-49f5-0b08-841b-80c9962943d5" title="/magazine-subscription/utm_term=evergreen-article" href="https://www.buysubscriptions.com/print/radio-times-magazine-subscription?promo=RTSG24SP&utm_medium=brandsite&utm_source=radiotimes.com&utm_campaign=sep-generic-2024_rtsg24sp&utm_content=subscribe-page&style=brand&" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0" data-loopstyle="linkonly" data-id="iframe-0-anchor-11">subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wallace & Gromit creators look back on 5 decades of Aardman Animations
Nick Park and Peter Lord discuss the studio's legacy as its latest film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget arrives on Netflix.
'Is Aardman running out of clay?' was the worry on every British person's mind not too long after a Daily Telegraph report came out claiming such a horror – fortunately, the fears of a clay drought weren't entirely founded. "It is true that we heard that production was going to cease so we basically just stockpiled," Peter Lord laughs during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com. "We stockpiled! So wherever you go around the studio, there's piles of modelling clay wherever you look." As Lord explains, the clay houses Aardman are in touch with are developing vats of clay by the 100 kilos, and while they do need some clay, their heroes' pint-sized appearances mean it's much less than you'd expect. "I mean... how many chickens are there in Dawn of the Nugget? I think it's around 300 or something. So it's not a very, very large number." The animation studio was co-founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, with little plasticine bundle of joy Morph bouncing into the world in 1977. When you watch the early one-minute Morph shorts, everything Aardman has come to be known for is right there – its universal, charming humour anchored by a character with such vivid humanity it truly feels alive. In that same year, Aardman created Down and Out for the BBC – its first foray into adult animation, using vox pop recordings and animating them – the Animated Conversations and Conversation Pieces series would lay the groundwork for the iconic Creature Comforts, yet another idea with infinite steam to keep going, as Park agrees: "The joy of Creature Comforts is that it's the sort of thing that can run and run, as we will never run out of people to interview." All of this tinkering with adult animation led Aardman to a most unexpected place: 1980s Yugoslavia. "We visited a festival in Zagreb, and everything [animated] there was designed for an adult audience," says Lord. "That was an absolute revelation for us. From then on, we knew about this world, and it became part of our worldview." This revelation, combined with Channel 4's brief for new programming for new audiences, allowed Aardman to flourish within what Lord describes as an '80s and '90s renaissance of British independent animation. You might be surprised by the naughtier tone of Aardman's adult animations, especially the likes of Angry Kid and Rex the Runt – Lord certainly is self-aware of the company's perception: "I am smart enough to know that most of our audience sees us within a very delightful, colourful fun box." Watching both shows back now, they feel perfectly positioned to fit within 2023's adoration of adult animation – but back in the late '80s, examples of this genre were few and far between. When Lord speaks about this time, there's a clear fondness for it, so why haven't they done more of it? "I am perfectly happy with us doing slightly weird, abrasive stuff – I just think, as a business reality, there's unfortunately not much demand for it," he says. "There's also not much funding for it now either – if we were to make something like Angry Kid again, we'd have to make that very clear to our audiences. We don't want to traumatise families!" If you've ever tried stop motion, it takes a very long time, and an awful lot of patience. So why does Aardman do it? Because the team absolutely love it. "I mean, we love the collaborative hands-on physical nature of stop motion – why wouldn't we? For us as the makers, it's the greatest joy of it." Park has at times spoken about how 'giving a character a soul' is the true art of animation, and while he noted it's tricky to explain, he detailed that process. "Direct contact with the figure allows you to put something of yourself and what you see in others into the puppet. Honest, true observations and flawed, well-observed human traits can be expressed through sculpting." Read more: Chicken Run 2 director says Mrs Tweedy wasn't always returning as villain Chicken Run sequel director on why some roles were recast and not others Park's outlook on animation makes sense when you take a step back and look at his most famous creations, Wallace and Gromit. Much of the world the inventor and his canine apprentice operate in is lifted from Park’s own childhood in Preston. Their house is the old mill house Park's grandmother lived in, with many of their household possessions modelled after items Park would find in both his mother and grandmother's houses throughout the '60s and '70s. Many of Aardman's characters are remarkably expressive despite their muteness – Morph, Shaun the Sheep, and of course Gromit to name a few. While Morph and Shaun were envisioned from the beginning to be voiceless, Gromit's silence comes from a last-minute improvisation. Originally, Peter Hawkins, known for lending his voice to the Daleks in Doctor Who and Captain Pugwash, was signed up to imbue Gromit with his own bravado. However, when it came to filming A Grand Day Out, Park was unable to access Gromit's mouth – thus, Gromit became Wallace's silent companion instead. There's also the endeavour of taking a myriad of influences and distilling them into something uniquely Aardman that the company embarks on every time they approach a new project. For The Wrong Trousers, which celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year, Park and co were inspired by the works of William Heath Robinson, Jesús Blasco's The Wombles and Frank Bellamy's Thunderbirds, alongside the surprisingly adult tales of The Lodger and The Ladykillers for the villainous Feathers McGraw. However, almost all of them have one thing in common – they all seem to be creations inhabited with a certain kind of soul, just as Park animates his own characters. It's creative challenges like these that drive the company's love of stop motion animation – Aardman has staked claim to having created both the smallest stop motion ever, a commercial for Nokia called Dot, and the biggest stop motion ever, Gulp also for Nokia: "The camera was on a cliff looking down at the beach, but then that wasn't big enough so we put the camera on top of a cherry picker crane on top of the cliff." However, that's not to say they're CG-averse – there are the likes of Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas of course, experiments in full CG. Lord noted that the studio’s workflow shifted quite a bit due to the more hands-off nature of CG: "It gets to a similar place, but it doesn't have the warmth, you know? The warmth of human company, of interaction, working and collaborating." You may be surprised to know that even in Aardman's fully stop motion endeavours, there's some sneaky CG you'd probably never spot. "In Dawn of the Nugget, there's a lot of CG, it's almost entirely in the background. There's a lot of it, but it disguises itself." What's clear is that no one at Aardman sees CG as a threat, but instead as a collaborative tool to help accentuate their stop motion efforts further. It has allowed them, if anything, to expand their fingerprint-indented clay worlds even further. "There's nothing that we hate more in stop motion than extras," Lord says. "If we have 50 chickens walking around casually, that's like a month's work! So we're disinclined to do that." The company has worked with the likes of Dreamworks, StudioCanal and Sony in the past to release its films, but this marks the first time it's ever partnered with a streamer – how's it going? "Maybe of all the people we've worked with, they've embraced most simply and clearly the fact that we're a British company making British animated films," Lord mentions. When you look at the last few years of animation, Pinocchio, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Wolfwalker, The Sea Beast – many of the notable ones come from streamers, while theatrical animation appears to be wobbling a little, even at a juggernaut like Disney. Although Aardman is grateful for Dawn of the Nugget's theatrical release, they seem to echo this idea of streamers as a safe haven for animation, as Lord explains: "That's the terrifying thing about the theatrical model, you get this little window and if it doesn't take off instantly in the first weekend, in a weird way it almost disappears immediately, which is heartbreaking. But with the streamers, you know it's there, and it doesn't need to find its audience in the first week." It's clear the partnership affords Aardman not just security, but also a chance to widen their ambition – their partnership together to support and train up to 1,000 emerging animators and UK-wide talent is something woefully missed given the lack of funding not just for developing creatives, but especially developing animators today. We've barely scratched the surface of Aardman – to truly chronicle all of its magnificent efforts would likely take as long as it does to make five minutes of Chicken Run 2. But what does Aardman's legacy mean to Peter Lord and Nick Park? For Lord, he reflects on the very first days of Aardman. "I can remember being 23 when we started out, and you stand there with a vision, I wouldn't even say a dream… to be able to keep going, to have a bit of money at the end of the week, that was the ambition." For Park, whose own life, memories and childhood are so wrapped up in all of his work, Wallace and Gromit especially, it’s a very close-to-home memory that he cherishes most. "The statue of Wallace and Gromit in my hometown, Preston. That is such a treat." The pair of them are resolute on one simple truth – they're absolutely bowled over to this day by the fact that not only do people around the world know Aardman, but they hold their characters very near and dear to their heart. "There are so many [moments], it's incredible that after all this time it hasn't run out of steam, but it hasn't yet!" Park exclaims. Lord takes a moment to reflect, leaning back in his chair – looking around the room at the various Aardman paraphernalia upon the walls. "To build this small, cosy animation empire, I suppose you could call it, to create characters that people love and remember, and will always remember, that's pretty amazing. That is pretty amazing." View Green Video on the source website Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Ghosts stars on Yonderland: 'I can't believe that they put it on TV'
As the Sky comedy turns 10, we asked the creators to look back on their warped fantasy series.
The much-anticipated finale of Ghosts season 5 airs on BBC One tonight – but if you'd switched on the telly a decade ago to this very day, you would have seen the so-called 'Six Idiots' in a rather different series. Yonderland premiered on Sky One on 10th November 2013, and told the story of a stay-at-home mum named Debbie (Martha Howe-Douglas), who discovers she is actually the saviour of a faraway realm. The titular place is utterly unpredictable, governed by a council of dim-witted Elders and populated by a diverse range of species and communities, each one more surreal than the last. To mark the launch of the official Ghosts tie-in book – The Button House Archives – RadioTimes.com asked co-creators Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick and Mathew Baynton to share memories and lessons from their earlier project. Check out the video above for everything they had to say about Yonderland or read on for the highlights. It should come as no surprise to Yonderland fans that Howick's favourite character to play was The Crone, a hilarious figure known for her screeching tone and outlandish statements. "The Crone is probably the standout memory simply because she features in every series, and I think her part sort of grew," he began. "Her part was very much a story beat in episode one, which then became this kind of running joke. "I loved playing her. I absolutely loved it, it was really fun. Of all the characters in Yonderland, her and the Elder were the only two I kept coming back to." Baynton went on to reveal that, in its early stages of development, Ghosts was poised to be a similar show to Yonderland, with each member of the group playing several characters in a far busier Button House. He explained: "I don't think Ghosts could have been written before Yonderland – or certainly it wouldn't have come out the same. "We went into Ghosts having done Yonderland with the same multi-character mindset, thinking, 'We're going to play lots of characters.' "So Ghosts, when we wrote the pilot, was a house full of ghosts [and] we were going to play all of them." The writers later concluded that the premise would work better with a smaller group of characters, who had no choice but to socialise with one another – or else they'd be completely alone. Baynton continued: "We looked at it and we went, 'Hang on: this is about being stuck with people. And if you're in a community of 100, it's like school – you can avoid that clique and hang out with these people that are your like minds.' "And you're not really stuck if there's that many people to kind of choose from. It's a different thing. So we eschewed all of that and stuck to these characters, this small ensemble because that felt right for that show." He continued: "I'm still really fond of Yonderland. I see bits of it now and I cannot believe that they put it on telly. It's so chaotic." Martha Howe-Douglas capped off our retrospective with a surprising revelation – she almost played Alison in Ghosts! "For me, personally, the transition from Yonderland to Ghosts was that I got back into playing 'character' because, obviously, in Yonderland I was the sort of Alison character," she recalled. "And, because we did three years of that, that kind of felt like my natural... that's where I felt most at home at that point, which is crazy because we started on Horrible Histories, where we were playing all these mad characters." Howe-Douglas added: "So when we were doing Ghosts and we were writing it, I was thinking, 'Should I just be the Alison character?' And the guys were like, 'No, you have to be a character, you have to come back and play with us.'" Of course, she went on to portray the legendary Lady Fanny Button – "and we all know how that ended up: ridiculously extreme, but so much fun!" Ghosts seasons 1-5 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who with a special issue of Radio Times. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Charmed was a silly show - and that made it magic
25 years on, we look back at the magic of Charmed.
Sometimes, we all need to experience uninhibited handmade hockiness — with an edge. For 25 years, Charmed, the iconic TV series about three powerful sisters, Prue (played by Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and later, Paige (Rose McGowan), collectively known as The Charmed Ones, fighting demons and navigating love and life, has been providing just that. It’s pop culture comfort food, diamanté-encrusted, rose-tinted villainy, '90s shabby chic — feminism 101. I say that with immense love, admiration and gratitude because, as a disabled child, that attitude and space helped me endure. Even today, at 31, I still revisit — because who doesn’t occasionally crave the comfort and loving embrace of home? The manor, with its mouldings, enormous windows, staircase and stained glass, forms the very foundation of this world. And then there’s the decor—the quilts, the rugs, the lampshades, the dollhouse manor, the family photos, the overstuffed, mismatched, rumpled furniture, and an overall lived-in look which oozed comfort. I still yearn for that warm hug that the Charmed universe exudes. The show has crafted a vivid and enchanting world full of a unique female lineage and mythology, along with relatable growing pains — it has a knack for reminding you that you’re human and letting you lick your wounds about it. Its power also lies in its ability to seamlessly blend the female experience with raw, sincere human emotion and mythic, surreal, and silly. It also delved into important themes such as love, loss, and personal growth. Prue’s sober burden of responsibility as the elder sister after losing both her mother and grandmother, Piper’s desire for a life outside of magic, Phoebe’s relationships and later search for love while balancing her career and studies, and Paige’s introduction and her eventual search for her individual identity. As '90s fashion gave way to tighter clothes and glossier lips, they were transported through time and past lives, alternative universes, underworlds and other worlds often filled with impossibly attractive populations, playing roles such as genies, mermaids, queens of the underworld, and warrior princesses. One moment they were wearing superhero costumes; the next, Uncle Phil was an Elder (James Avery), or there was a witch-Whitelighter affair, and sometimes, they donned full-on leather getups or a Ms Hellfire ensemble. Piper channelled her inner “Coyote Ugly,” and then they became reality TV stars. Paige tapped into her Evil Enchantress past self, and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge was often in view. Interwoven, there were also compelling evildoers. Julian McMahon as Cole Turner/Belthazor/The Source of All Evil /Husband/ Ex-Husband of a Charmed One, and Barbas (played by Billy Drago), the Demon of Fear, who could pop up and mine all their old and developing near-the-knuckle fears — with small moments of sneering that twisted the knife even further. Nowadays, escapism often takes the form of shows that feature more gritty settings and complex narratives with characters and plotlines that make us reflect on complex societal and political issues. However, not every program needs in-depth analysis or a supposed grand purpose to be valuable. Personally, Charmed has provided a distraction from real life and a guide for navigating it. The four women of Charmed have been an ever-present part of my life, accompanying me through every phrase. My relationship with them began when I was eleven, watching reruns after school while living in another country as an outsider with blonde hair and a wheelchair. It was like having older sisters whose clothes I wanted to borrow. I have never felt more confident, more assured, even if the sleeves were too long. View oEmbed on the source website Learning the language was tough, but I stumbled onto an episode of Charmed one day, and slowly, everything changed. I followed the Spanish dubbed version of “Embrujadas” closely, carefully studying the subtitles, which allowed me to piece together words and ideas. Through this process, I started to learn the language and began to settle in. But that feeling of having a lifeline — having something comforting and warm to hold onto — has stayed with me through the years. As a teenager, I underwent around thirteen surgeries on each leg. Desperate to save them, I rebuilt my body from cut muscles and broken bones. But, internally, my body and mind were not connected. The characters, voices, and storylines provided me with a comforting familiarity to rest on — a balm for tattered nerves. When the pandemic first hit, I felt a constant ache of anxiety and found myself, almost overnight, having to shield myself within only a few rooms. I returned to a place I knew so well, within the walls of that grand old house. I have come to realise just how important Charmed was in shaping my understanding of what it is to be a woman. Looking back, what stuck with me was their unwavering dedication to fighting for what’s right and that there is no one 'right way' to be. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/10/GettyImages-908808-2407459-e1696583092360.jpg" width="1501" height="998" alt="Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell, Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell and Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed." title="Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell, Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell and Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed." /> Although the show and the sisters had their flaws — the humanising element of fantastical things — it was a product of its time and still progressive. It provided an essential platform for conversations about gender equality and representation. I still recognise how much my early exposure to Charmed influenced my perceptions and beliefs — we’re too often dismissive of children’s critical first introductions to such complex themes. So much of who I am and who I grew to be stemmed from Charmed. As a young disabled girl, I often felt disconnected from mainstream media. I didn’t see anyone who looked like me or any representation of what I could become. Charmed reassured me by providing me with a flawed — imperfect — relatable blueprint, hazy around the edges, but I knew more about the woman I wanted to be. For 25 years, Charmed has enchanted audiences with its demon-infested storylines and hokey-yet-dark atmosphere and has been an important part of many fans’ lives. We grew up with the Halliwell sisters. As we celebrate the show’s anniversary — we are its living, breathing legacy. Charmed is available to stream on Prime Video - try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days. Plus, read our guides to the best Amazon Prime series and the best movies on Amazon Prime. Find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide, or visit our Sci-fi hub for more news and features. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10, PLUS a £10 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Merlin co-creator looks back, 15 years on: 'We talk a lot about exploring the legend again'
Johnny Capps reflects on the creation of the BBC's popular fantasy hit, its final episodes and whether a revival could be in the offing.
In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. His name... Merlin! "When we made Merlin, we made 13 episodes every year, for five years – we were working round the clock, we never stopped," recalls Johnny Capps, co-creator of the BBC fantasy series originally aired from 2008 to 2012. "The show was commissioned at the beginning of the year and we had to deliver it in September. We were like, 'Yeah, we can do it' – because you're not gonna say you can't do it, but we got to a point where Merlin was transmitting, and we were still filming it. "Julian [Murphy, series co-creator] and I are going, 'My God, do we have to apologise to the nation if we can't get this episode ready in time?' "There was one time where episode 13 failed a technical test. We had to take it back on the Friday evening, sort out the technical problems, and it was almost literally me on a motorbike, holding the tape, rushing into the BBC and putting it into the machine." Though it might have included the odd stressful moment, Capps tells RadioTimes.com that he has "hugely fond memories" of his time spent working on Merlin, which premiered 15 years ago today, transmitting its first episode on BBC One on Saturday, 20th September 2008. Along with Julian Murphy, Capps had previously founded Shine Drama to develop series for television – the pair, along with writer Jake Michie, were big fans of Smallville, the US drama charting Superman's teenage years, and decided to try developing a fantasy show with a similar slant for a family slot. Delving into the various Arthurian legends, Capps says he and his co-writers were "like magpies", picking their favourite parts from Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and Irish traditions. "The myth is so fascinating and so rich, so we looked at all of those things and it was always about subverting expectations, twisting all of those legends." Though Smallville was very much "the blueprint" for the series, another more unlikely source of inspiration also shaped the style and tone of Merlin. "For us, humour was really important, The cheekiness of it. We talked a lot about Shrek and how Shrek worked on lots of different levels, so parents loved it and young people loved it. It was about finding that slightly knowing humour, playing with the legend and having a little bit of fun with it." Read more: Colin Morgan on Merlin revival: "I feel like I've done all I could" The cast of Merlin still meet up as BBC drama gets "new lease of life" thanks to Netflix With a draft script in hand, following a teenage Merlin who resides in a kingdom where magic is outlawed, the team began conversations with Julie Gardner, then Head of Drama for BBC Wales, who in turn encouraged them to speak with Russell T Davies, the once and future showrunner of Doctor Who. "Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies really helped us be bold with our vision of making it [like] Smallville and doing the origin story of not only Merlin, but Arthur, Guinevere and Morgana and all of those legends," Capps recalls. "They really helped us massively to hone the format of the show." The success of Davies's revived Doctor Who also had a significant impact in securing Merlin the green light, Capps believes. "I think it had a huge effect, Russell had turned around the fortunes of Doctor Who, it was doing unbelievably well. At that time, family viewing really worked, something that wrapped round Strictly, and so absolutely the huge success of those two shows gave the BBC the confidence to go for another family show." With the series commissioned, the next major challenge was casting the show's four young leads – a process that Capps describes as "really, really hard but really, really good fun". "We worked with Jill Trevellick, who is the most brilliant casting director. I remember in the first weeks, Jill would say, 'Johnny, I just don't think I can do this. I don't know if I can find these people,' because we had such a specific idea in our head of what we wanted. But, you know, testament to Jill, she found us brilliant people." Bradley James was first choice to play Prince Arthur, having previously worked with Capps and Murphy on the 2008 BBC TV movie Dis/Connected. "He had all the qualities that we wanted in Arthur – Brad is a fantastic actor, but also he's brilliant at comedy, and we wanted a Jeeves and Wooster feel, where Arthur is 'a hero', but he's not really the hero, the hero is the underdog, Merlin. "Magic was banned, so Merlin was the secret hero, and Arthur is the Once and Future King, but he's a bit of an idiot. From that, and the fun of that, hundreds of stories came into our minds." Colin Morgan – a relative newcomer who'd memorably guest-starred in the Doctor Who episode Midnight – was hired to play Merlin, with Angel Coulby cast as Guinevere ("Gwen" to her friends) and Katie McGrath rounding out the regular cast as Morgana. Matt Smith, two years prior to his Doctor Who debut, was also "hugely high up" the list of potential names to play the show's title character, while his future companion Karen Gillan was in the running to play Guinevere. "We met lots of actors – and lots of them are doing unbelievably well now," says Capps. "We were really lucky because we got a fantastic cast. All of them were utterly brilliant." Alongside its fresh talent, Merlin also recruited more seasoned players, including Richard Wilson as Merlin's mentor Gaius and Anthony Head – already a beloved figure in fantasy TV circles after his run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer – as Arthur's ruthless father, King Uther Pendragon. "It's going on a Saturday night with high expectations and we wanted an unknown cast in the leads – the BBC took a massive leap of faith," says Capps. "So it was important to cast them [Wilson and Head], because I think it gave the show gravitas." The BBC's faith in Merlin was well-placed – the series was a significant success, scoring solid audience figures and generally positive reviews, as well as developing a hugely passionate fan following. Its tales of magical creatures, supernatural threats, action, romance and derring-do also evolved across its five seasons, with a frothier tone in early outings gradually maturing as the show continued. "Series one was quite sweet and innocent in the stories we told, but by the last couple of seasons, we were really telling quite dark stories between Merlin and Arthur – quite complex emotional stories, which they [actors Morgan and James] could do," Capps says. "Colin and Bradley had fantastic on-screen chemistry – they just lit the screen up with their fun and their humour and their brotherly love for each other, so that made us able to write really intense emotional stories between the two of them, as the characters got older and as the stakes of the story got higher in each season. Because they were so good, we could write much richer stories for them." Fans latched on to the close bond between Merlin and Arthur, with some calling for the relationship to evolve and go down a romantic route – with the benefit of hindsight, knowing the strength of the reaction to the pairing, does Capps think the series should have explored that dynamic? "No, I don't think so. It was a beautiful friendship and there was a huge amount of love with them, but I don't think you'd want to take that any further. I think there's something very beautiful about a really intense friendship between two people that is non-sexual – that to us was the beauty of it, this extraordinary friendship." The series hinged on Arthur remaining oblivious to Merlin's magic – though other characters would learn the young wizard's secret across the span of the series, the now-King Arthur would not learn the truth about his friend until the very final episode and there was never any discussion about an earlier reveal. "As soon as Arthur knows that Merlin has magic, we felt the format of the show was over," Capps explains. "Because the format of the show was that he had to hide it. It's the end of the story – or the end of this version of the story." Broadcast on Christmas Eve 2012, the final episode of Merlin saw Arthur sustain a fatal wound in battle, the King of Camelot dying in Merlin's arms. But the story of Merlin and Arthur is not quite done – the Great Dragon (voiced by the late John Hurt) tells Merlin that Arthur will rise again in Albion's greatest hour of need. The show's final scenes see a surprise leap into the present day, with an immortal Merlin still waiting for the Once and Future King to rise again. "We'd run out of legend, so you couldn't really take it any further," Capps says of the show's final arc. "It just kind of came to us – there was just something really lovely about... he's waiting for the next incarnation of Arthur, there's something sort of sadly beautiful about that." There was no serious discussion about a sixth season of Merlin – Capps says there was a "roadmap" for the show with the fifth season as its endpoint, while the cast were also only contracted for five years. "Spinning Merlin into modern times was our way of [opening it up] if people after us wanted to do something with it, but for Julian and I and the writers and the actors, we all thought that five series was really good and we were going out on a high note." There were, however, "quite advanced talks" about a series of Merlin movies, planned to be produced after the drama had wrapped but to feature stories set within the timeline of the television show. "But it all got a bit complicated and then, you know, with these things, they fall apart, but we did very seriously talk about it. "The idea was to have a trilogy of movies, and the movies were going to happen in-between the series – that was the idea, in those kinds of timelines. It would have been really good fun to do them." Instead, Capps and Murphy turned their attentions to another fantasy myth – airing in the old Merlin slot, Atlantis was inspired by Greek mythology and lasted for two seasons on BBC One, ending in 2015. It was something of an end of an era, with many other shows produced as part of a post-Doctor Who boom of Saturday night fantasy drama – including the BBC's Robin Hood and ITV's Primeval – having already departed screens. "Merlin ran for five years, Atlantis ran for two years... that's seven years and audiences change," says Capps. "Netflix came in, and people's viewing habits changed. But would we make more shows for that slot? Absolutely. We talk about it a lot." Could one of those shows be a Merlin revival? Never say never, according to Capps. "All of that mythology is utterly superb. Julian and I talk a lot about exploring the legend again." But if we never return to Camelot, or see Merlin and Arthur reunited in the present-day, Capps is satisfied with the show as it stands – though the visual effects might have dated, he believes Merlin's magic has otherwise stood the test of time. "If we did it again, we would be able to do the effects far better. The dragon at the time was really pushing the boundaries of what you could do on television time and money. You'd be able to do that really differently now. "But I genuinely don't think we could have cast it better and I'm very proud of the scripts and what we did. We could make it better now, because technology is much better, but in regards to anything else, I don't think I would change it at all." Read more: Wentworth Prison turns 10: "Bea’s death made the show feel real and dangerous" The Bill at 40: "The show didn't get the recognition it probably deserved" Merlin is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer and is also on BritBox – sign up for a 7-day free trial here. The series is also streaming on Sky and Disney Plus. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10, PLUS a £10 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wentworth Prison turns 10: “Bea’s death made the show feel real and dangerous”
Wentworth’s originating writer, Pete McTighe, looks back at the ground-breaking prison drama, a decade on.
When Australian prison drama Wentworth – a remake of the wildly popular 80s soap opera Prisoner – first aired in 2013, there was scepticism about whether it would suitably honour the legacy of the original. But the contemporary reimagining soon won over diehards of Prisoner (called Prisoner: Cell Block H in the UK) and new fans alike, with the debut episode becoming the most-watched drama premiere in Foxtel history. Taking inspiration from characters and plots from the cult series but never binding itself to earlier incarnations or backstories, Wentworth became an international success in its own right over the course of its 9 seasons, winning over audiences around the globe with its dark and gritty portrayal of women’s prison life. “We looked at the legacy characters of Prisoner and who we wanted to bring back and we spent a lot of time figuring out how to invent them in surprising ways,” Wentworth’s originating writer Pete McTighe tells RadioTimes.com of the show’s beginnings. “I didn’t want to rehash what had come before but I also didn’t want to disrespect those characters in any way; I was a massive Prisoner fan.” McTighe wrote the pilot episode over New Year in 2012, which led to the show being commissioned, before penning most of the first season alongside a few guest writers. “From season 2 we had more of a writers' room setup where there was a core group of 3 of us – me, Marcia Gardner and John Ridley – and we basically were in charge of story for the show from that point and we’d bring in guest writers here and there but mainly it was the core group of the three of us." Season 1 mainly concerned itself with the shifting power dynamics between new arrival Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack), a forty-something-year-old hairdresser convicted of attempting to murder her abusive husband, prison top dog and murderer Jacs Holt (Kris McQuade) and Jacs’ rival, Franky Doyle (Nicole Da Silva). Fans entered the world of Wentworth through the eyes of lead protagonist Bea, and so “she had to be relatable and to kind of be an everywoman." “We knew that we wanted to track her rise to top dog across multiple seasons and how that might play out roughly and then once we cast Danielle she was just a force of nature really and a brilliant actor she just gave Bea such humanity and strength.” Frankie, meanwhile, an angry biker whose soft and sensitive side was soon revealed, was “really fun to write”. “She’s just such a beautiful kind of complex character and her evolution was one of my favourite things about the show. She starts out as a real antagonist; someone who’s incredibly dangerous and hot headed and the way she matured over the course of those first seasons was really brilliant. Nicole did such a great job with that role.” <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2020/10/EMBARGO-15-SEP-WWS8-EP-9-memory-flashbacks-to-her-past-trigger-an-emotional-meltdown-for-Joan-Ferguson-taken-by-Jackson-Finter-4_jpg_ReferenceImage_m6628-bf341ff.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="wentworth season 8" title="EMBARGO 15 SEP WWS8 - EP 9 - memory flashbacks to her past trigger an emotional meltdown for Joan Ferguson (taken by Jackson Finter) 4_jpg_ReferenceImage_m6628" /> Then came season 2. With Jacs dead (thanks to Bea) and Franky having seized the position of top dog, it was time to introduce prison governor Joan (AKA "The Freak”) Ferguson (Pamela Rabe), the show's main antagonist. Maggie Kirkpatrick, who portrayed Ferguson with menace in Prisoner, was certainly a tough act to follow, but Rabe, who was "the first and only choice for that role", put her own spin on the sadistic character – and was transfixing. “She was just so great and committed and so much fun," McTighe recalls. "In the scene directions of her very first episode I wrote for her: ‘she strides down the corridor like Darth Vader’. And then in rehearsals she brought her own lightsaber in and was just kind of mucking about with that. And she’s just that kind of person; she’s the total opposite of that character and she’s the nicest person. But as soon as she got in uniform she was literally terrifying.” While Ferguson soon revealed herself to be a raging psychopath – and actually ended up behind the prison bars after setting the prison on fire at the end of season 3 – at first the character had to be “as grounded as possible.” “She could have been a very over the top villain but that kind of wouldn’t have worked with the tone of the show. Later on she got to do some crazy stuff but early on Pam kept her so grounded and believable.” It wasn’t until the end of season 4 that Ferguson ended up behind bars for good after stabbing Bea Smith to death – a move that sent shockwaves through Wentworth’s fans, many of whom were devastated to see such an abrupt end to the blossoming romance between Bea and Allie. While killing off the show's main character was "a hard decision to make", another season of her and Allie being happy together would, according to McTighe, "have been the death of the show". "I think Bea's death made the show feel real and dangerous because if Bea wasn't safe then no one was. When Danielle left that left a hole in the show, but that was kind of the point. The show needed to recalibrate and refresh and it needed a real shakeup of dynamics at that point. It did so much in terms of ramping up the conflict of the show, which then ran an extra five seasons past that point so I don’t think it was the wrong decision to make.” McTighe also wanted to respect the original show's legacy, in which Bea meets a tragic end, too. “In the original Bea’s arc was a tragedy, and we were kind of emulating that through this show in a different way.” There was one character arc in the original series that the writers didn't emulate, however: that of Franky’s, who is shot pretty early on in the first season of Prisoner. In Wentworth, in contrast, she's last seen as a free and happy woman in season 6, after managing to prove her innocence on murder charges. “And actually changing the story of that character and making her more hopeful was really important. I remember watching the original Prisoner as a kid and feeling really kind of robbed that Franky had left so early, so we wanted to make a lot more of her and give her her own story. And by the time we’d done that we felt there’s no way that we couldn't give her a hopeful ending. She really deserved a happy ending.” Wentworth was initially axed when it reached its seventh season, but Foxtel renewed it for two more seasons following an unprecedented fan campaign, meaning the original ending of season 7 – that offered "really nice closure at the end of an epic season" – never made it onto the screen. “It was a real shame because there was some lovely stuff in there with Franky and Bridget coming back, meeting Vera’s baby. And some original Prisoner actors came back as well – Val Lehman, Colette Mann and Fiona Spence came back doing cameos for us. “We saw Ruby released and Rita out there to greet her and that was kind of a really nice ending for their characters. And then a new group of prisoners arrive who are kind of inducted by Boomer and that was basically saying to the audience the world goes on, Wentworth never stops, the story’s not over, and that felt like really nice closure at the end of an epic season.” But with two more seasons on the horizon, the original ending was cut, and a new cliffhanger added in, which teased the return of Ferguson after she was buried alive at the end of season 5. "All of the extras in that scene are crew so the story wouldn’t leak," says McTighe, who also made a brief appearance in the scene. "We shot it at about 2am near the production office in secret because no one could know and we were smuggling Pam around under a blanket in disguise. It was a lot of fun to do.” View oEmbed on the source website The original season 7 ending might never have made it onto the screen, but forunately Wentworth did eventually go out with a bang (literally) in the season 9 finale as a massive blast went off after Lou Kelly’s (Kate Box) dastardly scheme came to fruition. “We felt like giving the show an explosive definitive ending was always the way to go. And nothing drastic was kind of altered in those final endings – we planned it all and then went ahead and shot it all.” The blast killed off a handful of baddies, including hacker Judy Bryant (Vivienne Awosoga), while the good guys all made it out alive – including Lou, who was arrested outside and forced to await justice. One loose end did, however, remain: Ferguson, who managed to escape after saving Vera’s (Kate Atkinson) life, prompting spinoff rumours amongst fans. However, "none of the ideas that were floated were really strong enough", according to McTighe. "I felt the beauty of the show was the ensemble. It was the magic of those people and those characters together. I think it’d be tricky to isolate one or two of those characters and have a show relying on them; I think it would come off second best to Wentworth." Instead, McTighe would rather bring Wentworth back. "But the time has to be right for that to happen. Maybe one day it’d be a fun thing to do to bring it back." View Green Video on the source website Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Bill at 40: "The show didn't get the recognition it probably deserved"
Jim Carver star Mark Wingett takes us on a trip down memory lane for RadioTimes.com.
Britain is, in many ways, a nation divided: but if you're a millennial or older, there's one thing that unites us - our love of The Bill. The ITV police procedural, which followed the comings and comings at fictional station Sun Hill, ran for a monumental 26 seasons, winning a legion of fans along the way and firmly establishing itself as a British institution. The key to unlocking that status was gripping storylines and characters who we became fiercely invested in, one of whom was Jim Carver, a man who was often in the eye of the storm. "The laughs we had," Mark Wingett reminisced with RadioTimes.com on the show's 40th anniversary. "Because the subject matter was so dark and you work hard on those shows, we made four episodes at a time, we'd often sit around giggling – between takes, during takes, after takes. It was so much fun. "To be served with those extraordinary scripts and a great cast, as an actor you couldn't wish for anything more." Wingett played Jim for 21 years, during which time the probationer-turned-DC suffered from alcoholism and a gambling addiction, was arrested for murder, and had his fair share of romantic turbulence with another iconic character, June (Trudie Goodwin), and his alcoholic wife, Marie. "That was great fun [laughs]," he said of his many dramatic storylines. "That's just my warped, warped mind, but the faults in a character are always the great things to play." And that was just Jim's private life. The job itself threw up an endless conveyor belt of challenges, from kidnappings to violent assaults to the time he survived an attack from masked men wielding an automatic rifle – and often before he'd even had his second cuppa of the day. The Bill wasn't always concerned with its characters' private lives. "When it originally started out, every scene had to have a police officer," explained Wingett. "It was seen through the eyes of the police and personal lives were left out." But following the death of former cast member Kevin Lloyd, who was an alcoholic, he felt there was an opportunity to dive deeper. "Carver was faced with a demotion and I said, 'Well, why don't you give him a few problems?' So I worked very closely with producers Michael Simpson and Richard Hanford, and very closely with the directors, and I'm proud of what we achieved. "There's a series arc of maybe a dozen episodes dealing with that particular subject [of Jim's alcoholism], and that was the start of those types of storylines. It marked a change in direction in the series as a whole. The show started looking at these well-known fictitious characters as human beings." And that wasn't the only shift The Bill underwent. "There were a lot of phases, half a dozen changes in formatting," he said. "There were half-hour formats, hour formats. At one point it was shifting around the schedule, and never really settled until it got the Tuesday and Thursday slots." View Green Video on the source website As its popularity increased, the behind-the-scenes set-up also expanded: "The Bill grew and grew and grew from a tiny little ex-tobacco factory in the East End of London to this huge studio in South West London. "In the early days, the CID officers were actually the production offices which were taken over. All the secretaries and office workers were told to go to the canteen so we could film [laughs]. It was home grown, cottage industry television." "Starting off small", as Wingett puts it, was how so many life-long friendships were formed on the series. "It's like family," he said. "I know lots of shows say that, but we truly were. We were half-improvising the first series, and that way, you get to work very closely with each other. That was probably the most extraordinary thing, making friends like that, and to still have those friends 40 years later, especially Trudie." At its peak, The Bill attracted almost 10 million viewers for a live episode in 2003 – that's a mammoth 40% of UK TV watchers. But despite impressive ratings, Wingett believes "it was never really regarded with any kind of merit", adding: "Other shows won awards, not that I'm bitter about that because I think awards are ridiculous anyway, but The Bill was kind of overlooked. The show didn't get the recognition it probably deserved." During its run through the '80s, '90s and early to mid-2000s, it picked up two National Television accolades for Most Popular Drama, one BAFTA for Best Continuing Drama and one Royal Television Society Award for Best Soap or Continuing Drama. Does he think snobbery from certain quarters prevented it from picking up more? "Maybe," he pondered. "I think it fell between two stools. It was never really taken as a true drama, and it was never really taken as a soap opera until towards the end of the show, so it was in a category of its own." That also applies to the quality of its guest stars, with the show acting as an unofficial training centre for up-and-coming talent. Some were already names when they popped up, such as Ray Winstone and Hugh Laurie, but many were unknowns who would go on to become global stars, from Sean Bean to Keira Knightley, David Tennant to Idris Elba. "I met Idris at a film awards a few years ago," said Wingett. "He looked at me and went, 'Oh you nicked me a couple of times,' which was great [laughs]." Were there any newcomers that made a strong impression on him? "I can think of one immediately and that was Douglas Henshall, who did an episode called Darkness before Dawn. I think he'd thrown his daughter off a balcony of a tower block, or she'd fallen. "We filmed it around Christmas time and it was an interview room scene I did with him and he was outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. Just hit it bang on." He added: "The guest actors who came in, it was extremely rare, if at all, that anybody gave a bad performance, which is testament to the depth of talent we have in this country." While the UK remains fascinated by stories set within the world of the police force, with recent examples including The Responder and Blue Lights, The Bill stands apart in terms of its tone and the number of years it dominated our TV watching habits. Does Wingett think we could see a show like it again? "I hope so," he said. "There's always an interest in it. But the police force has changed so much. Even from when The Bill was first made to when it finished in 2010, it changed, so it would be a very, very different show. "There's no small police stations. It's all divisional headquarters that are run out of these massive centres, and less coppers on the beat. And they're always in Hi Vis, which is horrible [laughs]. We've got a thing about Hi Vis in this country. "It'd be interesting to make the first series and see what happens. There's a place for it. Everything starts with good scripts." But would it be given the time to grow in this current economy? "The Bill didn't really grab the imagination immediately, but Thames Television stuck with it for four years until it became a success," explained Wingett. "Now, that wouldn't happen in the modern era with a TV drama, because as soon as the ratings came in, there would be a meeting in the morning to see whether they were going to continue or not. "I suppose it was the end of the golden age of television when it started, with a very rich TV company who could indulge themselves and make this programme into a success. It was good timing, in many ways." He added: "And it was approaching a tried, proven model in a new way. I remember that first series, in about '83, '84, I was doing a scene at a urinal with Eric Richard. It was the first time you'd actually seen policemen urinating on television [laughs]. "At the time it was groundbreaking because it was made in a documentary style, although that changed later on as the stories got more involved." As our chat wrapped up, I was curious to know what Wingett thinks happened to Jim. "He became a sergeant in Manchester," he asserted. "That was the last episode, when he came to try and win June back. I hope he's found somebody and I hope he's happy, maybe up north with his wife and a Labrador." He paused. "Probably not [laughs]. No, probably not. That's not Jim. He'll be in the middle of some crisis somewhere. There will be a moral dilemma of sorts, or him being bashed up by a drug cartel." That's our Jim. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10, PLUS a £10 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home – subscribe now. 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Steven E de Souza on 35 years of Die Hard: "Bruce broke the steroid ceiling"
The screenwriter talks to RadioTimes.com about the actors who turned down the role, writing for Alan Rickman and coining the iconic "yippee-ki-yay" line.
John McClane was very nearly played by Arnold Schwarzenegger – and that would have made Die Hard a very different action classic. Steven E de Souza, the screenwriter of the iconic movie, is talking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the film's 35th anniversary and has opened up about the road of bringing the film to screen. “Arnold would not have worked because he was such a physical specimen," he says on the prospect of Schwarzenegger potentially playing McClane. "At the time when the Die Hard script went out, we were coming off Commando and Rambo and all these giant guys. "[Casting Bruce Willis] opened the door for a lot more normal looking guys like Keanu Reeves being in action movies. Bruce broke the steroid ceiling.” The number of action stars that turned down Die Hard is now the stuff of Hollywood lore. Virtually every big name in the business said no before TV star Willis was selected off the back of the success of Moonlighting. De Souza thinks he knows why all the big names were not eager to sign on: “James Caan passed on it. He said the first 25 pages were the guy hiding and trying to call for help and that he didn’t get it. And that was probably the reason every other actor turned it down. It was the antithesis of what we had trained audiences to expect from action heroes.” The role was also originally offered to Frank Sinatra, who at that point was in his seventies. The thought still makes de Souza chuckle: “The script had to be offered first to Frank Sinatra because of a contractual thing but fortunately he said he was too rich and too old to do it because, as I always say, the chases through the building would have been on a rascal scooter.” Die Hard, of course, made Willis one of the biggest and most beloved stars on the planet, and he would reprise his role as McClane three more times before his retirement in 2022, but it also ushered the very unusual phrase 'yippee-ki-yay motherf*****' into the popular lexicon. The line was a joint effort between de Souza and Willis - something of a tribute to cowboy TV host Roy Rogers, who was popular in the US in the 1950s. “When I first met Bruce, as soon as I opened my mouth he knew I was from Philadelphia, and we grew up about 30 miles apart and watched all the same TV shows. And one of those shows was the Roy Rogers Show where he would say yippee-ki-yay, so it wasn’t an obscure line. I confess, I don’t think I wrote motherf*****. I think I wrote yippee-ki-yay asshole in the script and Bruce suggested motherf*****.” Read more: Commando screenwriter Steven E de Souza: "I blame Sylvester Stallone for screwing up the ending!" John McTiernan on Die Hard: 'I didn't set out to reinvent the action movie' In addition to boasting arguably the most iconic action hero and the most quoted one-liner in history, the film also includes one of cinema’s most memorable villains in Hans Gruber, played by the late and great Alan Rickman in his first screen role. De Souza reveals that he ended up tailoring the character to Rickman’s abilities: “I met him at a wardrobe fitting and knew that he could do anything I gave him so I wrote for him. I made the character more elegant, educated and with all this bespoke clothing so the opposite to blue collar Bruce.” The writer – who also penned screenplays for Commando, The Running Man and Street Fighter – also admits he tapped into the political atmosphere of the Reaganite '80s: “At that time in America, there was a lot of paranoia about foreign companies buying American companies, and a Japanese company had just bought Columbia Pictures. So the script leans into that. And we leaned into the xenophobia of the time by having the guy mock American culture and things like that.” Die Hard is currently available to watch on Disney Plus. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Jurassic Park at 30: Lex star Ariana Richards breaks down iconic scenes
As Jurassic Park turns 30, Ariana Richards speaks exclusively to RadioTimes.com about one of the most influential films of all time.
Ariana Richards's audition for Jurassic Park was intense to say the least. At the age of 12, when auditioning for the role of Lex Murphy, the granddaughter of park creator John Hammond (played by the late Richard Attenborough), she wasn't asked to read lines - simply to scream at the top of her lungs. As the iconic film turns 30, the actress and artist tells RadioTimes.com: "I had been acting for a few years before Jurassic Park so I was pretty used to the audition process, but this was an unusual one because it was highly top secret. They were keeping everything under wraps so I was not given a script, I wasn't even given a standard section of a script, called sides, to look over before I auditioned, so it was very much a mystery. I was just called in to do an audition and be put on tape screaming." She recalls: "The casting person just said to me, 'So, Ariana, we're going to put you on tape to share with Steven [Spielberg] and you're going to act like a dinosaur is attacking you. You just have to imagine this is happening and we want you to let loose and scream.' That was my entire audition, it was the weirdest audition I've ever done in my life!" Clearly though, she smashed it, as weeks later, while planning a trip to Disney World, she was invited to meet Spielberg, who told her she got the role. Not long afterwards, she was surrounded by a cast of Attenborough (Hammond), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), Sam Neill (Alan Grant) and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm) - and, of course, a set full of dinosaurs. "I enjoy the cast so much," she recalls. "When it comes to dear Richard, I miss him so much. He was so special, just being on set with him. Richard was so grandfatherly as a person as well, just hanging out with him, hearing his stories, hearing what it was like for him directing, he was just happy to regale me with stories in between filming. There was always that time in between takes where we would get to spend time sitting with the other actors and we got to talking. It was really something else to talk with him. I just had such a blast." She adds: "Jeff Goldblum was an absolute hoot. He was so funny, he was always just goofing around, making us laugh. Even just being himself, he was so funny all of the time. I would sit next to him, preparing for a scene, and most actors I would hang out with would read their script silently or practice their lines - but not Jeff. He was just full colour. He was reading his lines, speed-reading them, out loud." As for Spielberg himself? "He's a genius. Steven is so gifted when it comes to working with children - he made it fun, he made it feel like I wasn't being directed." Richards also remembers the legendary director taking charge when the set in Hawaii was catastrophically hit by a hurricane. "[We all] gathered at the ballroom at the bottom of the hotel and we just waited it out - it was literally about 12 hours. I remember the eye of the hurricane going over us. I think that one of the most interesting parts was Steven telling us ghost stories. I think I found the ghost stories more scary than the hurricane, honestly!" The actress's role itself also stands out 30 years later for all the best reasons. In the film, the roles of Lex and her brother Tim (Joseph Mazzello) are reversed from the novel, making Lex the clever older sister who saves the day by hacking into the systems and getting Jurassic Park back online. "I was really touched that Steven gave me that opportunity as a young actor because I don't think it was commonplace at the time for a young female actress to be given that type of role in a movie of this magnitude, and get the chance to show intelligence and technology and computer know-how. To actually be a hacker and be able to put her skills together, to show courage and save the day," Richards points out. View oEmbed on the source website Plus, she had some of the most iconic scenes in the film. "There's this one scene where I'm just about to go over the edge of a precipice and then screaming for my brother Timmy, and there's the T-Rex. I jump onto Sam's back and we're ready to go down the precipice together. Steven had walked us through what was happening with the blocking for that scene prior to filming and I thought we were going to do it a certain way, we'll see what happens. "I hop onto Sam's back, I lean back, and the look on his face in the monitor must have been really funny. We completely fell off the precipice onto this huge mattress below. I like to take credit for the fact that maybe Sam Neill's amazing winery was down to the fact that I drove him to alcohol. In that moment I almost killed Sam Neill!" She adds: "Filming the raptor scene was the best. I absolutely loved filming that scene. It was a long process, we were filming the scene with the raptor for probably a few days at Universal Studios. They were just so chilling to me, and in combination with seeing [special effects artist] John Rosengrant put on this suit and be the raptor sometimes with me and Tim, it was so interesting sometimes and other times you'd just be imagining - okay, the raptors are there and we're hearing what they might be doing around the kitchen. "It was also a challenge for me as an actress just to reach the depths of hysteria I needed to reach for that particular scene where the raptor's about to kill my brother and I have to run at that freezer and save him. I did a couple of takes. Steven came over to me and talked to me about it and just shared ideas and he said, 'You know, Ariana, what I'd love to see you do for this next take is completely let loose. I want to see you literally unhinged, go crazy. I want you to scare us.' And that was nice for me as an actress to see, okay I could reach a new depth and just go for it." While Richards returned for the second Jurassic Park film, The Lost World, she hasn't reprised her role as Lex on screen since - but she's open about supporting the films from afar. Asked if she ever wanted to return, Richards says: "Oh yeah. Jurassic is one of those things that's so fun to be part of, so I would always want to enjoy being part of that as Lex, but it's one of those things that has absolutely grown into a franchise. It's amazing to see how it has affected people through the generations, how the stories have morphed and changed, how the main characters have been brought into the present time. Basically I just support the whole endeavour and I support the artistic vision behind it." View Green Video on the source website As for any potential returns over the years, she explains: "It's really up to the people at the helm when it comes to artistic vision. If they believe Lex and Tim can be part of the story, and they invite us in, but I would always want to be part of it again." More than anything, she's so proud of the legacy of the film. "I am absolutely in shock right now to be thinking we're at 30 years now since the movie. I can't even believe this right now. Looking back, I'm just really blown away to realise, 'Wow, I was part of something so special and right there at the beginning of the whole thing when Jurassic Park was made.'" She reflects: "I think one of the things I would hope is it stays alive in people's imaginations, which it already is - it continues to live on. I think that people are thinking about the characters, and what might the characters be doing? What might these different storylines be rolling out to create? So who knows? The future's not written." Ariana Richards can be found on Instagram at @ArianaRichards and you can check out her gallery at GalleryAriana.com. Check out more of our Film coverage, or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Sonic's 32nd anniversary is here – these fast facts reveal surprising truths
Sonic the Hedgehog reaches his 32nd anniversary today. It's time we really got to know him.
It's been 32 years since Sonic the Hedgehog first sped onto our screens - the original game came to the Sega Mega Drive in western territories on 23rd June 1991, and the blue blur is still an entertainment staple three-and-a-bit decades later! Today (23rd June 2023) is technically the character of Sonic's 47th birthday, according to Eurogamer, who've added the 32 years of pop-culture fun onto Sonic's supposed age in the original game. You could argue, of course, that Sonic is like a cartoon character in that he doesn't really age in real time. He's a perpetual teen with attitude in our eyes, like Bart Simpson but blue and with spikes. Semantics aside, there's no denying that today is the anniversary of the original game. And thanks to the Sonic Superstars trailer, embedded below, we know that the blue blur will be returning to his 2D roots very soon indeed. View Green Video on the source website Furthermore, Sega has plans at 4pm BST today to host a Sonic showcase online, where the speedy hedgehog will be celebrated and his future will be teased. When the clock strikes 4pm in the UK, you should be able to tune in via Sonic's official YouTube channel. You may be here to celebrate his birthday, but how well do you actually know Sonic? Sure, we all love guiding him through colourful levels with such speed that his legs look like a red and white circle, but not many of us have taken the time to really get to know Sonic on a deep and personal level. Now that Sonic is turning 32 (that midlife crisis gets closer by the day), let's give the guy some respect and really listen to all the weird and wonderful things he has to tell us about. Read on, then, as we journey back through 32 years of Sonic with 16 fast facts about the much-loved hedgehog and bonafide gaming icon! 16. A ball in a tube was how it all started Programmer Yuji Naka’s prototype for Sonic was a basic character just rolling through a tube while inside a life-sized ball. This basic system was then used to create the algorithm for the more complex Sonic game. Of course, Sonic would ended up balling himself up to roll through tubes on the regular, so that idea did get used in a sense. 15. Sonic was actually a rabbit before he was a hedgehog When Sonic was being created, Mario was already the talk of the town. The idea was to create a character to compete with Nintendo, but early versions saw Sonic as a rabbit that basically would grab stuff and fight with his ears… Sega realised pretty quickly this wasn’t a good idea, mainly because of the technology behind it, so it switched to the idea of the ball and rolling concept i.e. using the body as a weapon. They eventually got to a battle between a hedgehog and an armadillo and here we are. There were some concerns Americans wouldn’t know what a hedgehog was but it still won out. 14. He wasn’t called Sonic While Sonic was a good call, Sega tried a few other options before settling on that name. Designer Naoto Ohshima has said previously Sega had tried out Mr Needlemouse. Years later, Project Needlemouse was the code name for a later game (Sonic the Hedgehog 4) during its development stage as a nod to the name that never was. 13. Sonic had a whole backstory Every iconic character needs an origin story and Sonic is no exception. A lot was scrapped before the first game was released, but it’s fun to look back at what could have been. Sonic was the frontman of a rock band at one point. Other members included a parakeet, a monkey, a rabbit and a crocodile. Sonic was also a breakdancer, so you could say he was one skilled hedgehog. Slightly more confusingly, he was romantically involved with a human woman rather than a female hedgehog who was called Madonna. Not a reference to the singer. We think. 12. Pop icons influenced Sonic What’s a famous character without famous inspiration? Ohshima looked at Felix the Cat for the head and Mickey Mouse for the body when creating Sonic. His boots were also inspired by Michael Jackson’s boots from the Bad cover album sleeve, and if you’re asking why red? That was inspired by Santa Claus as it was seen as ‘familiar’. Honest. 11. Sonic was blue to match Sega That’s the fact. Sonic’s iconic colour was purely chosen because Sega wanted him to match their logo colour. Sonic himself was picked as Sega’s mascot after the company ran an in-house competition to see who could come up with the best idea. Naoto Ohshima won the competition with his blue hedgehog! 10. Sonic’s first appearance We all have to start somewhere and Sonic started out as an air freshener. Yes, you read that right. The hedgehog made his debut hanging from a mirror in 1991 Rad Mobile arcade game. 9. Sonic’s soundtrack sort of has movie links Kind of. Sonic was scored by Dreams Come True, a Japanese pop group that formed in 1988. They also went on to sing for Sleepless in Seattle and The Swan Princess. While we’re talking music, anonymous sources have reported Michael Jackson worked on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3… 8. Dr Robotnik had a different name Sonic’s archenemy Dr Ivo Robotnik was first known as Dr Eggman in Japan, not a name that strikes fear in you right? Sega US and the Japanese HQ didn’t agree on this, and American developer Dean Sitton came up with a new name for the US market. He took Ivo from his sister’s boyfriend at the time (no comment on that), but other options that were floated were: Badwrench, Bad Year, Bad Vibes and Fatty Lobotnik. Of course, the name Dr Eggman remained in the ether as an alternate name for Robotnik and both monikers were used in the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies. 7. Sonic is pretty fast When Sonic was created he was the fastest-moving video game character at the time - so it’s safe to say he lived up to his reputation. Sonic programmer Yuji Naka told Edge magazine: “Sonic was delivering [the kind of] high speed no other [game] was capable of, and the Mega Drive allowed this stunning demonstration of rotation during the bonus stages. This was said to be impossible on the hardware at the time.” 6. Correction: Sonic isn’t fast, those sneakers are A common misconception is that Sonic is the fast one, when really the player manual for the game says it’s Sonic’s “power sneakers” that should have the credit. Sonic just shops for shoes well, there aren’t any superpowers here. Later, we learn that Sonic’s colour and super speed are the results of a lab accident (yes we know that contradicts the manual). 5. Sonic can’t swim There’s a reason Sonic can’t swim. The developers assumed (wrongly) that hedgehogs couldn’t swim, so they just made it part of the game. In reality, hedgehogs can actually swim, so poor Sonic could have mastered front crawl if he wanted to. 4. Sonic also needs sleep Programmer Yuji Naka has also confirmed that Sonic is an eight hours sleep kind of guy, and not just for beauty reasons - apparently he will slow down if he doesn't get enough rest, the results of which could be disastrous. Nothing has ever been more relatable. 3. There's a hidden message in Sonic We all love to look out for a hidden message, and lucky for us there’s one in the Sonic game. The message wasn’t particularly controversial, but the way it was put in the game did ruffle feathers. Naka, rebelling against Sega saying no to post-game credits, included a list of names of all the parties responsible for creating Sonic making sure they were printed on the screen introducing the Sonic game. As the names were in black text before a black background they were ‘invisible’, so you could only see them using a cheat code. Clever. Read more gaming throwbacks: Runescape producer talks 20 year anniversary: "The scary part for me is what comes next" Star Wars: KotOR remake is delayed indefinitely Mass Effect Legendary Edition review: the Normandy has never looked better 2. Sonic doesn’t seem to age It may be Sonic’s 32nd anniversary, but the character - like a lot of pop culture heroes - does not really age in the traditional sense. Apparently, he’s actually only 15 years old in all of his adventures. We need some of what he’s having. 1. Tails and Knuckles are not the same species It might be easy to assume that Sonic's trusty pals, introduced the second and third games, are from the same species as the main man himself - but that's not right at all! Tails is a fox - and his full name is Miles Tails Prower. But Knuckles? He’s an echidna, that’s an egg-laying mammal. 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