Pilot TV

Russell Tovey makes his triumphant return to the podcast this week, taking about Neil Cross' new show, The Sister on ITV. Plus we find out if Nick Frost is afraid of ghosts in Amazon's Truth Seekers and get an eyeful of Sky's The Undoing, which features Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman and a surprising amount of full frontal nudity. Plus Terri updates us on her West Wing progress and the team has an alternate universe conversation about TV castings that could have been.

It's a momentous episode this week as, after 107 episodes of James banging on about it, Terri finally watched The West Wing. What's more, she reviews the show for us at the top of this week's show (well, the episodes she's seen, anyway). That alone should be more than enough to warrant a download, but there's more! Nick Frost drops by the pod to talk about his new show, Truth Seekers, plus we review Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, get a glimpse inside Sara Pascoe's brain in the bonkers Out Of Her Mind, and a peek inside Lena Waithe's in her semi-autobiographical comedy Twenties.

James discovers the joy of Cobra Kai this week, having finally accepted Netflix's glorious Karate Kid spinoff series into his heart, meanwhile Terri anoints herself 'the reality sponge' and Boyd maintains that he still hasn't watched the Little Mix reality show. In more serious business, though, we finally get to talk about The Right Stuff on Disney+, not to mention Hugh Laurie's political shenanigans in the BBC's Roadkill, and the glorious return of Warrior on Sky. Plus there's a minor free-for-all as we debate the merits of week-by-week vs bingeable TV shows.

Zombies! Ghosts! Porn stars! We've got a little something for everyone on this week's show as we tackle The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Netflix's The Haunting Of Bly Manor, and Channel 4's Adult Material. Plus a little more musing on Netflix's cancellation formula (less boring than it sounds!) and some disagreement as to how many syllables are in the name Conan.

It's a Brave New World this week as we immerse ourselves in the new adaptation of Aldous Huxley's dystopian sci-fi novel, plus we get a Life with the BBC's new Doctor Foster Spinoff, and strap in for three hours of Trump getting elected in the HBO adaptation of former FBI director James Comey's memoir, The Comey Rule.

Gillian Flynn's long-awaited remake of Dennis Kelly's Utopia lands with us this week, along with the second series of the Horrible History crew's spirited comedy, Ghosts. Plus Terri gets to geek out about Mike Coulter-starring supernatural procedural Evil, and Boyd and Terri's ongoing mission to make James like Doctor Who steps up a notch as finally watches Blink from series 3.

Dennis Kelly joins us on the show this week to talk about his audacious new multi-part drama (with a live event, no less) The Third Day, plus we get back into the interrogation room for Season 2 of Netflix's Criminal, strap in for the most Ryan Murphy show of all time with Ratched, and witness David Tennant at his most terrifying in ITV's Des. And that's not all, because we also take a look back at TV's most heart-warming (and teeth-gnashingly frustrating) slow-burn romances and get borderline hysterical in a discussion about time travel.

David Morrissey is our guest on this week's show, talking about his new series, The Singapore Grip, which we also review. What's more, after an eternity's wait, Hulu's High Fidelity finally arrives on British screens, much to our delight, while Netflix's The Duchess pits Katherine Ryan against modern life and Awkwafina gets her own slacker comedy in the rather confusingly titled Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens. Plus Terri finally gets a chance to share her top 5 shows - no prizes for guessing number one.

Beth is back and mercifully audible this week as we dive into Netflix's Young Wallander, take a trip to Mars with Hillary Swank in Away, and see Maisie Williams turn into (another) pint-sized assassin in Sky's hitgirl comedy, Two Weeks To Live. Plus we unearth some classic British shows that might appeal to our American listeners and there's a perhaps a brief mention of Battlestar Galactica coming to iPlayer.

Lucifer himself, Mr Tom Ellis, joins us as guest host for our 100th episode! We chat about everything from playing the lord of hell to his love for Battlestar Galactica, as well as running down each of our top five TV shows of all time. Plus we review the latest series of Strike, watch Billie Piper's life implode in I Hate Suzie and get a head start on the long-awaited second season of Amazon's The Boys. All that and Tom even breaks out his guitar. What's not to love?

James is off this week so in comes Beth Webb who delights us with her axe wielding (she plays guitar), as we review the monstrously exciting Lovecraft Country, the edgy Teen Bounty Hunters on Netflix and BBC3’s comedy sketch show Famalam. We also take the opportunity to reboot some classic sitcoms as TV dramas.

We're returning to Dirty John this week with a second series of that anthology show, which no longer features anyone named John, and returning to The First Team (kind of) in Apple's similarly-themed football comedy, Ted Lasso. Plus we take in some bite-sized comedy in Diane Morgan's Mandy and it all kicks off over this year's TV BAFTAs, in which Fleabag and Derry Girls were defeated by Stath Lets Flats.

Get those headphones on and send the kids to bed for this special illicit sex-themed episode of the Pilot TV podcast where we not only visit Samantha Morton's house of ill-repute in Harlots and delve into the adaptation of Anaïs Nin's Little Birds, but see an affair take a distinctly supernatural turn in Lisa McGee's The Deceived as well. And speaking of The Deceived, Lisa herself is a guest on this week's show, dropping by to talk us through her Donegal-set psychological thriller and what we can expect from the next series of Derry Girls.

It's umbrellas at the ready this week as we dive headfirst into Season 2 of Netflix's batty superhero series, The Umbrella Academy. And speaking of demented television concepts, serial killer procedural Prodigal son (which stars The Walking Dead's Tom 'Jesus' Payne and Michael Shane as a father-and-son sociopathic crime-solving duo) certainly fits the bill. Elsewhere, we tackle Jimmy McGovern's harrowing one-off drama, Anthony, and the rather less serious return of Kermit and the gang in Muppets Now.

We're all about the witches this week as we unearth our belated review of Netflix's Arthurian epic, Cursed, and then sign up for Wiccan boot camp and the arrival of BBC3's army witch series, Fort Salem. Plus we're heading off to post-partition India for the adaptation of Vikram Seth's mammoth tome, A Suitable Boy. All the and a lot more discussion of fingering than you'll generally find on an average episode of the Pilot podcast, but you can all blame Terri for that.

We are cursed by embargoes this week as Netflix's latest show, Cursed, demands our lips stay sealed for another week, however we are able to talk about David Simon and Ed Burns' new show, The Plot Against America, and discover Condor, a show we didn't know existed until season 2 dropped in our laps. All that plus lots of discussion around restaurant scenes and Boyd's recollections of having to talk to famouses at after parties.

It's the episode you've all been waiting for - the show in which we *finally* review Warrior Nun, AKA the greatest TV show ever made. We also delve into the world of Mississippi strip clubs in P-Valley, join Cate Blanchett in some seventies political turmoil in Mrs America, and try to hit the big time with Apple's Little Voice. All that and we run through the 20 best TV shows of the year so far and find out what James has learned on the guitar this week.

Malevolent demons, pint-sized assassins and Spandau Ballet are the topics on this week's show as we review Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, Season 2 of Amazon's Hanna, and The Kemps: All True (yes really). Plus the team speculate on which supporting characters should get their own spinoffs, Terri and Boyd continue with I May Destroy You, and James subjects everyone to some of the worst guitar playing since Dave Lister performed 'She's Out Of My Life' in series three of Red Dwarf.

Natalie Dormer is our guest on this week's show, chatting about her new series, Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, and reminiscing about Game Of Thrones. Meanwhile, we resurrect a courtroom legend in HBO's Perry Mason, jump into the fourth season of Issa Rae's Insecure and dabble in a little lockdown monologuing with Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. Plus we celebrate Terri's birthday while casting aspersions over the veracity of her Northernness, she drinks an endless amount of Bucks Fizz, and there's a whole to-do about whether or not James should be allowed to play the guitar (categorically not).

This week's show is brought to you in association with the definite article as we catch up with Bill Pullman in season 3 of The Sinner, head off to 18th century Russia with Elle Fanning in The Great, and to 19th century New Zealand with Eva Green and Eve Hewson in The Luminaries. All that plus a squabble over whether or not you should skip TV show credits, the indignity of unrealistic threesomes and the question of whether the 'astrolabe' is a hitherto undiscovered part of female anatomy.

On this week's show we’re breaking out the skateboards and pulling off some righteous grinds with HBO’s Betty, heading to Wiltshire and being incredibly careful what we touch for BBC1’s The Salisbury Poisonings, exploring sexual consent with Michaela Cole in I May Destroy You, and we get into a big old political scuffle while reviewing Sky Documentaries’ Hillary. Plus a complete deconstruction of last week's TV BAFTA nominations (Years And Years was robbed), plus Boyd and Terri do their best to educate James on the storied history of reality TV, and the team reminisce about Neighbours, Home & Away and... um, Eldorado.

Vicky McClure joins us this week to talk about Amazon's Alex Rider, which we also review. Plus you get a (slightly belated) review of The First Team, our introduction to Canadian noir thriller Cardinal, and BBC2's mix-matched family comedy The Other One. All that and an interminable Banshee of Babylon 5, plus we philosophise for nearly ten minutes on the origins and usage of profanity, just for the listeners who complain we swear too much. Because of course we do.

Will Arnett joins us on the podcast this week as we lace up and hit the pitch for The First Team: his new comedy from the creators of The Inbetweeners. We also get our tickets punched for the long delayed TV adaptation of Bong Joon-Ho's Snowpiercer, which arrives on Netflix this week, and head into the stratosphere with Steve Carell in Space Force. And if that wasn't enough, we go searching for a pair of killers in We Hunt Together, James takes the Gogglebox challenge, Terri endures an episode of See (masturbating prayer sequences and all!), and James undertakes an excruciatingly long Banshee that seems to encompass every Stargate show ever made.

We didn't start the fire... but we're pretty sure we know who did in Amazon's Little Fires Everywhere. Plus we try desperately to figure out what in creation is going on in Season 2 of Homecoming (it helps if you've seen Season 1, trust us), and we strap Terri down and force her to sit through SyFy's new budget outing, Pandora. It goes about as well as you'd imagine. All that and we manage to not only sum up the best series you can watch in a single day but James (reluctantly) agrees to take on the Gogglebox challenge, which is destined to end badly for everyone.

It's a double dose of Mark Ruffalo this week as he takes on twin duties in HBO’s preternaturally depressing adaptation of Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True. Plus we head out to Cape Cod with Monica Raymund in cop drama Hightown and rap along with Dave Burd (who seems unhealthily obsessed with his own genitals) in FX comedy Dave. Plus there's some fun with names in this week's listener question, we engage in some spoiler-free discussion of the Homeland (Woo!) and Westworld (Boo!) finales, and James makes a rather disturbing revelation about Gloria Estefan...

All three of us take the opportunity this week to gush liberally over our experiences watching the rest of Normal People (Marianne! Connell! All the feels!). After that, we finally manage to bring your our review of Ryan Murphy's Tinseltown fairytale, Hollywood; take a look at Jack Thorne and Damien Chazelle's Parisian jazz series, The Eddy; and witness the triumphant return of Joe Gilgun's Brassic. Plus we entirely fail to come up with an agreed set of rules for naming our favourite shows on each streaming service.

On this week's show, Empire's Chris Hewitt parachutes in to join Boyd in giving Better Call Saul some long overdue love. Plus we look at parenting with Rafe Spall and Esther Smith in Apple's Trying, sample a technological afterlife in Amazon’s Upload, see Danny Mays brought back to life in Sky’s Code 404, investigate a kidnapping with Cobie Smulders in Stumptown, and find out what's going on behind the curtains in series 2 of Channel 5's Blood. All that and James bangs on about season 4 of The Last Kingdom. Because of course he does.

Ricky Gervais is our guest on this week's show in a truly mammoth interview with Boyd about series 2 of After Life. As well as reviewing that show, we also tackle the heroically violent Gangs Of London from the director of The Raid, Gareth Evans, get into some courtroom drama with Chris Evans in Defending Jacob and feast our eyes on the Beeb's adaptation of Normal People. Plus a discussion (with photographic proof) of our three hosts' youth, back in the days when Boyd and James had hair and Terri was... well, still Terri.

Matthew Macfadyen & Sian Clifford stop by the pod this week to discuss ITV's Quiz. Plus it's wall-to-wall reviews as we make up for last week's leaner slate with out takes on Season 3 of Killing Eve (finally!), Alex Garland's twisted mystery Devs, HBO comedy/thriller Run, the aforementioned Quiz and the latest season of Bosch. Plus we take a dive into the world of book series we'd like to see adapted to the small screen and reel off about fifteen bits of different Tiger King news.

It's only smegging Red Dwarf on the podcast this week — a show that Terri had never seen before this *feature-length* episode, much to James and Boyd's collective enjoyment. Plus we review Alma's Not Normal (a sitcom Terri enjoyed far more, but mainly as it appears to have been based upon her life) but sadly *not* Killing Eve Season 3 as, while we've seen it, apparently the embargo doesn't lift until Tuesday. Sorry. On the plus side, there's a trio of Banshees for your enjoyment and a misty-eyed discussion of the best TV theme tunes — including The Raccoons, for some reason. Cyril Sneer would not approve.

The magnificent Lennie James returns to our screens (in a bright yellow puffer jacket, naturally) having written a follow-up to 2018's brilliant Save Me. And that's not all, because this week we're also wrangling with the very fabric of existence with Amazon's Tales From The Loop, and keeping print journalism alive with a tween reporter in Apple's Home Before Dark. Plus the team take the current lockdown to heart, prompting an in-depth discussion of TV's best bottle episodes.

It's here! The first socially distanced Pilot TV podcast is live, and not only is it business as usual for Pilot TV during the current pandemic but we also see the triumphant return of Terri White as it turns out that isolation and maternity leave are actually quite compatible. On this week's show we *finally* get to review The Mandalorian as Disney + launches here in the UK, and we *at last* get to see the return of Veronica Mars as it makes a belated appearance here as well. Plus we go murderising with Mel and Sue in Sky's Hitmen and catch up with Jason Bateman in Ozark Season 3. All that and enough banter, random police sirens and general nonsense to keep your minds off all things virus-related for an hour and a half. Enjoy!

It's a Julian Fellowes double-bill this week as we sit down to high tea with some posh socialites in Belgravia and then set about scoring goals against posh footballers in The English Game. And that's all prior to being thoroughly charmed by Mae Martin and Charlotte Ritchie in Feel Good. Don't worry, though, there's plenty of conflict to balance it all out as Boyd goes all Season 8 Daenerys on James over what they've been watching this week and we talk about the best in apocalyptic TV.

Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard are our guests this week, stopping by to talk about their parenting comedy Breeders, which features Freeman hurling obscenities at a toddler and calling an alarm clock a c***. We also tackle Sky’s Mrs Fletcher, in which empty nest syndrome collides with hardcore pornography — an incident that unexpectedly spiced up James' commute. And last but by no means least we return to HBO’s Westworld to see whether Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s show survives its transition to the real world. If all that wasn’t enough, this week’s listener question leads to a frankly shocking confession from Pilot’s very own Beth Webb.

This week's show sees us suiting up for yet another War Of The Worlds, this time in a more contemporary London with Gabriel Byrne on the run from Martian marauders. Plus we explore racial tensions in an alternate reality England with BBC1's Noughts + Crosses, seek nuggets of truth in return of ITV's Liar, and accompany Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan on their latest holiday abroad in The Trip To Greece. Plus we get to hear about Beth's new sideline as a documentarian as she unearths the darker side of streaming services, and Boyd catches us up on what he's been watching, which is apparently everything.

The star and creator of Channel 4's Home, Rufus Jones joins us on the podcast this week, stepping in for James while he's on holiday. And speaking of body swaps, this week sees us review Season 2 of Netflix's now Joel Kinnaman-less sci-fi Altered Carbon, along with John Hughes-inspired high school superhero series I'm Not Okay With This and ITV thriller Flesh & Blood.

We’re on the lookout for Nazis with Al Pacino this week with Amazon’s Hunters, plus studying the art of incompetent spycraft with David Schwimmer in Intelligence, and taking a break from the bustle of London for a tongue-in-cheek look at Cotswolds life in BBC mockumentary This Country. All that and you can discover the assortment of shows Boyd's recently been on set of, learn why Beth loves Pontypandy, and find out why James' mum once complained to the BBC about a certain children's show.

Join us for a very special podcast this week — Terri's last before heading off on maternity leave. To celebrate the occasion Boyd and James provide some recommendations for post partum viewing, plus we dive head first into the eighth season of Homeland, the second season of Castle Rock and the beginning of Australian euthanasia drama, The End.

Sarah Phelps joins us as a special celebrity co-host on this week's show to talk everything from her latest Agatha Christie adaptation, The Pale Horse to the joys of Mrs Brown's Boys, by way of Baby Yoda sex toys and the logistics of stormtrooper wanking. Meanwhile, we get stuck into *four* other new shows this week, including Netflix's latest spooky old house series, and the delightful second series of Rufus Jones' immigrant comedy, Home.

Armando Iannucci is our guest on the podcast this week, telling us about his love of Star Trek, the fundamental flaw in Virgin Atlantic, and why he chose to break with terrestrial affairs and write a show set in a flying dildo (35:44-49:17). Also this week, Boyd explains the secret behind Larry David’s comedy genius as we review Season 10 of Curb Your Enthusiasm and we take a trip to heaven with Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi in Miracle Workers. Finally, after about 18 months of build-up, James *finally* gets to talk about Star Trek: Picard. Apologies in advance: that bit goes on for a while! 🖖

Beth Webb stands in for Terri this week as we are prevented from talking about Star Trek: Picard thanks to an inconvenient embargo that we in no way attempt to circumvent by nefarious means. Instead, we hop aboard Armando Iannucci’s new sci-fi show, Avenue 5, embrace the comedy charms of Shrill Season 2 and find out what’s been happening on Netflix’s Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Plus you can hear all about how Boyd turned up on Skins and Beth’s attempts to justify her aversion to science fiction.

Happy new year! Pilot TV’s first show of 2020 marks the triumphant return of Netflix’s Sex Education, the declaration of a national emergency in Sky’s Cobra, and a supernatural twist on the modern crime drama with the HBO adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider. Plus James, Terri and Boyd thrash out the various shows they managed to cram into the Christmas Break, not least of all the Derry Girls edition of Bake Off.

Another year, another raft of exceptional TV shows. If you were wondering what shows you should be watching over the holiday break, curious as to what you missed over the past 12 months or just looking for the single, definitive checklist of everything that should be on your playlist then look no further. James, Terri and Boyd mull over all the best shows of the past 12 months, running down the official Pilot TV Top 20 shows of the year. Plus, make some extra recommendations and take a look at some of the shows that fell through the cracks over the course of the year. Not only that but Brian Cox stops by to talk Logan Roy and all things Succession Season 2. If you only listen to one TV podcast episode this year, make it this one!

In our final regular show of the year we get bloody with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s Sherlockian take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, get caught up with Season 2 of Netflix’s stalker series You, and are finally allowed to talk about The Witcher. Plus we fill you in on the Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who Christmas specials.

This week we’re tapping into that Big Dickens Energy with Steven Knight's take on A Christmas Carol, and continuing in the festive spirit with the Christmas special of Idris Elba’s In The Long Run. Plus, we debate the difference between a comedy and a psychological thriller in our review of ITV's Sticks And Stones. Terri's off on holiday this week but Beth Webb bravely attempts to fill her sweary shoes and keep both James and Boyd in line.

Rupert Grint makes his Pilot TV Podcast debut this week, stopping by to talk all things Servant. Plus we *finally* get the chance to review The Expanse and you won't want to miss Terri's assessment of that one. As counter programming to that, we get into a protracted and somewhat heated argument, debating the merits of the new season of Law & Order: SVU. Plus Alibi's Traces gets a look in as well.

On the podcast this week we're heavy on the Norse as Terri and Boyd try (and fail) to make sense of Vikings Season 5, Apple's latest drops in the form of Octavia Spencer's podcast-themed Truth Be Told, and we enjoy a 90-minute one-off TV drama (not a film) in BBC1's Elizabeth Is Missing. Plus James prepares everyone for next week's return of The Expanse in *excruciating* detail (01:00:14 - 01:04:42).

It's all creepy nannies with M. Night Shyamalan's Servant this week, then a Teutonic apocalypse in Sky's 8 Days and finally a road trip across Australia with Tim Minchin and a suerprisingly sweary 16 year-old in Upright. Plus Boyd shows off his newfound swearing powers, Terri teaches us some Northern slang and James finally gets to Banshee Utopia. (Note: The Servant review takes place between 36:02 and 45:54 and is clearly signposted, just in case you want to watch that without knowing what it's about).

After weeks of broken promises, Terri *finally* watches that long-awaited second episode of Farscape this week. And as if that weren't enough, we also sink our teeth into period procedural Vienna Blood, explore the perils of answering the phone in Channel 5's Cold Call, enthuse about the ongoing charms of Gold Digger, and talk all things Maclunkey. Plus you'll get to hear Terri's Nadine Coyle impression, which is not to be missed.

It's Crown time again on the podcast this week as Olivia Colman joins Monarchy: The Next Generation. Plus we see how the Martians are faring in the Beebs new adaptation of The War Of The Worlds, strap in for the final season of The Man In The High Castle, and find out if we're on board with the BBC's new 'family noir', Gold Digger.