Pilot TV

Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard join us this week (26:02-41:16) to talk about feeling their way through Apple's post-apocalyptic epic, See. Plus we get into a trio of sequels including Sky's Britannia and Channel 4's The End Of The F****** World. We also fall out completely over The Young Offenders and Empire's Chris Hewitt drops by for an impromptu Banshee about Blue Bloods.

Hailee Steinfeld joins us this week, bringing some Big Dickinson Energy to the podcast as she tells us all about her new show on Apple TV+. Speaking of which, we attempt to review all of the shows dropping on the new streaming service this Friday (The Morning Show, See, Dickinson, For All Mankind), while still finding time to wax lyrical about His Dark Materials and Season 2 of Jack Ryan. Brace yourselves, this may take a while.

Damon Lindelof's Watchmen is the main course on this week's menu, with Jack Thorne's The Accident serving as a tasty (if slightly bitter) starter and Ryan Murphy's Pose perfectly capping it off as the fizzy dessert. All that and Terri finally watches an episode of 'Fire Escape', which goes about as well as you'd expect.

Aisling Bea joins us on this week's podcast to talk about her new show with Paul Rudd, Living With Yourself, which we also review! Not only that but we delve into the mystery of Sarah Phelps' Dublin Murders, discover the meaning of romance in Amazon's Modern Love, and span continents with English/Japanese gangster drama Giri/Haji. All that and an utterly incoherent Banshee featuring nineties German porn game shows, plus some (blissfully short) Picard-splaining and the joy of Aisling Bea schooling James on why he doesn't understand comedy.

It's murder at the school gates this week (not literally) in BBC2's Motherland, more creepy shenanigans from anthology series The Terror, and The Walking Dead returns for its tenth season - yes, that's right, you've been watching these zombies for a full decade now. Plus Terri makes her triumphant return after a week off and James finally gets to put his oar in concerning Amazon's Carnival Row. Oh and it's worth mentioning that this podcast was recorded *before* the new Picard trailer dropped, making this at least three hours shorter than it otherwise would have been and marking a very lucky escape for all of you.

With Terri across the Atlantic, Beth Webb joins James and Boyd as the team dives into Swamp Thing, peers up at Goliath and kneels down before Catherine The Great. We also take a detour via Stars Hollow for a brief reappreciation of Gilmore Girls, jump back to the early nineties to recount the story of a little known James Earl Jones series that was subjected to a baffling makeover, and get into the weeds over last week's Emmy results.

On this week's show we hurl ourselves into the Beeb's lavish WWII series World On Fire, delve into the world of Machiavellian high school politics in Netflix's The Politician, and put on our dancing shoes for the musical finale of Amazon's Transparent. All that and the staggering revelation that James was in an early nineties sitcom starring Nigel Planer.

A very special episode this week, specifically our first ever live show! Recorded at the London Podcast Festival on Friday 13th September, the show saw Russell Tovey join James, Terri and Boyd as part of the Pilot team, waxing lyrical about Netflix's interrogation procedural Criminal, Boston-set crime drama City On A Hill and baby barrister comedy Defending The Guilty, plus much, much more besides. Come for the lowdown on the latest telly, stay for Russell's brilliantly X-rated anecdotes.

This week we take a look at Mark Strong's mob doctor drama Temple, join Toni Collette for true-crime drama Unbelievable, and get in touch with our inner East End gangsters for Netflix's Drake-starring thriller Top Boy. Also on the podcast this week we've been beset by gremlins! Not literally, of course, but rather the technical kind that meant guest presenter Amon's microphone decided to misbehave. Thanks to some postproduction tinkering, though, we've managed to make him audible but apologies for the fact that one member of our trio does sound like he's at the bottom of a fish tank.

Cara Delevingne and Orlando Bloom join us on the podcast this week for a bit of fairy chat (31:00-38:31), plus we get stuck into no less than *four* new shows. Specifically, CCTV thriller The Capture, Roger Ailes/Fox News origin story The Loudest Voice, ITV's A Confession, and bite-sized marital strife comedy State Of The Union. Plus we reveal the fate of Funny Or Dyer and Terri goes off on one about the ubiquity of Delbert Wilkins.

With James Dyer off in America (you might have read about his adventures in Newsweek, or The Daily Mail), Ben Travis slides smoothly into James' vacant seat for this week's episode, joining regular incumbents Terri White and Boyd Hilton for an episode that tackles Orlando Bloom-Cara Delevingne fantasy show, Carnival Row; the Ruth Wilson and Joshua Jackson-free fifth season of The Affair; and the return of the dread Skeksis in puppet-based prequel, The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance. They also talk about all the TV news that came out of Disney's D23 convention and, weakened by James' absence, fail to prevent an invasion of the podbooth by an interloper who shall remain nameless, but who wants just one thing: to talk about Blue Bloods. Will this interloper succeed? Find out in this week's episode. Enjoy.

The dream team is back together this week as Terri returns from her travels just in time to wax lyrical about Joe Gilgun's Lancashire-set comedy, Brassic. We also delve into the world of Jane Austen with Sanditon and entirely fail to watch the third season of 13 Reasons Why as Netflix didn't show it to us in time. None of that matters, though, as the BBC came through and let us catch up with Tommy Shelby's latest escapades in series 5 of Peaky Blinders.

With Terri on holiday this week, we're thrilled to welcome comedian Roisin Conaty as our guest co-host. The GameFace creator, writer and star joins James and Boyd to chew over everything from Netflix's cancellation of The OA to the twisted genius of The Boys and why This Life was one of the most important shows ever made. Roisin schools James soundly on the essence of comedy during a particularly in-depth Funny Or Dyer, Banshees Blossom and is generally delightful. In addition to upping the star power this week, we dive into the new season of Succession, ITV's Deep Water and the grammatically problematic NOS4A2.

Gemma Chan and Dominic Savage stop by the podcast this week to chat about I Am Hannah (26:56 - 49:23), which airs on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, we feast our eyes upon Aisling Bea's new comedy This Way Up, and get in the ring with the final season of GLOW. Plus, we finally come face-to-face with HBO's Euphoria and its vast collection of erect penises. Enjoy!

On the podcast this week we're playing catch-up with our American cousins as we finally get the chance to watch three shows that have already debuted across the pond. Specifically, True crime adaptation I Am The Night, plane-orientated supernatural mystery series Manifest and Emmy-nominated danceathon Fosse/Verdon. Plus we finally get a chance to dissect the Comic-Con reveals (don't panic, James mercifully keeps the Picardsplaining to a minimum) and we get into some spirited (spoiler-free) discussion about the Big Little Lies finale.

On this week's podcast we not only get bowled over by Dominic Savage's I Am series but also take a look beneath the capes of seedy superheroes in Amazon's The Boys and bid adieu to Orange Is The New Black. And yes, Terri finally watched Downton Abbey. The results may well surprise you... Note: This episode was recorded before San Diego Comic-Con, which is why you'll notice a conspicuous lack of related Picard and Marvel chat. Apologies.

On the podcast this week find out if Terri did indeed complete the Downton challenge, why James is apparently some kind of smug podcast giraffe, which famousness Boyd had tea with and, lest we forget, what the team thought of this week's trio of (spoiler: very good) shows, specifically: Deadly Class, Better Things and GameFace.

It's all floppy hair and bare chests this week as we catch up with the latest goings on in 18th century Cornwall in the new series of Poldark. Plus there's marital strife from HBO's Divorce and a look at the more sinister side of Hollywood in the BBC's Dark Money. Plus we have another Banshee face-off and Terri - against her better judgement - makes a binding commitment to watch Downton Abbey.

Stranger Things is back! And we are *so* here for it. Not only do we spend a goodly portion of this week's podcast banging on about the return of Mike, Dustin, Eleven and the gang in the summer of '85, we also take a look at the third and final season of Noah Hawley's Legion and the long-delayed UK airing of Michael Shannon/Taylor Kitsch miniseries, Waco. All that and someone gets *very* excited about Picard.... and it isn't James.

We have a very special Pilot TV podcast this week as we celebrate Terri's birthday with a Bumper Birthday Banshee Bonanza! Where James breaks out two whole carrier bags of 'classic' box sets and talks through the contents in excruciating detail. In other Banshee news, the creator of said show, Jonathan Tropper, has a new series out this week in the form of period kung fu action drama Warrior, which gets reviewed alongside the new seasons of S.W.A.T. and How To Get Away With Murder. NOTE: If you want to avoid Terri and Boyd's discussion of the Years And Years finale (you'll hear a warning first) skip everything between 04:47 and 08:56.

The star-studded new adaptation of Catch-22 leads the charge in this week's show, ably backed up by series 2 of Dark and series 4 of Gomorrah (which show newbie James could make neither head nor tail of). We also manage to dissect the comedy credentials of Modern Family, play out yet another Banshee segment for your entertainment, and hear all about Terri's past as one of the lesser-known members of the Tattaglia crime family. Plus we reveal the details of our upcoming live show - EXCITING!

What lies in wait for the future of the Banshee segment? Find out this week as the #SaveBanshee and #BollocksToBanshee campaigns go head-to-head and a winner is finally announced. More pertinently, though, we lay on some truth about Big Little Lies Season 2, get thoroughly disturbed by The Act and listen to an extended Terri rant about ITV's Wild Bill. Plus a bonus literature lesson as James tries to Shakespearsplain poetry.

Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones stop by the podcast this week to talk about the new series of Black Mirror. Plus we get into the happy-go-lucky third seadon of The Handmaid's Tale, the long-delayed second season of Killing Eve, and the even more belated continuation of Armistead Maupin's Tales Of The City. All that and flying chcolate, James failing to grasp the genius of Rick And Morty, and a fight for the very soul of the Banshee segment.

Reviewed this week: harrowing drama from Netflix in When They See Us, absurd intellectual comedy from Amazon in Good Omens and capitalist woes on Wall Street in Sky's Black Monday. Some shout-outs for Marcella and Red Riding, as well as a show we can't remember the name of. Plus you'll hear what it means to watch a show 'on tick' and learn far more about Terri's lunch order than you ever really needed to.

We have a dragon-sized episode for you this week (hope you didn't have plans today) as we say our final farewell to Game Of Thrones with a monster discussion of the show's finale (if you haven't seen it then for the love of R'hllor avoid everything between 1:19:11 and 2:07:05). In addition to our final Thronesplaining we welcome Jared Harris to the podcast for some Chernobyl chat (30:48 to 50:43) and turn our critical gaze upon Netflix's What/If, the BBC's Summer Of Rocket's and Sky's Riviera Season 2.

It's all go this week as we marvel at Shane Meadows' The Virtues, delight in Russell T Davies' Year's And Years, delight in Sally Wainwright's Gentleman Jack and chuckle through Jemaine Clement's What We Do In The Shadows. *Plus* Russell T. Davies himself pops by with some friends for a chat (16:50 to 35:22). *And* the Thronesplaining reaches fever pitch as we bathe in the flames of the show's penultimate episode, The Bells (if you haven't seen it, then skip everything from 1:05:47 to 1:39:29).

Right you are, fella. Sunday saw the last episode of Line Of Duty's fifth series and we couldn't let such a monumental event pass uncommented. And so, with our best Hastings hats on, we dropped into the interrogation room to drag the final episodes over the coals and investigate the evidence. We even served a Reg 15 to series creator Jed Mercurio to hear about his storytelling process as well.

Everything's in meltdown this week as we immerse ourselves in Sky Atlantic's gruellingly excellent Chernobyl, delve into the Deep State for Season 2 of Fox's espionage thriller, and do away with all the adults in Netflix's The Society. Plus we get into a big old fight about the fourth episode of Game Of Thrones, which once again gets the Thronesplaining spoiler treatment at the end of the episode. Not seen it? Then skip everything between 01:12:02 and 01:47:56.

It's wall-to-wall politics this week as we tackle the Tudors in The Spanish Princess and worship at the altar of AOC in Knock Down The House. Plus we manage some spoiler-free chat about the latest Line Of Duty and some massively spoiler-heavy dissection of Game of Thrones. If you'd rather avoid our breakdown of GoT Episode 3: The Long Night because you haven't seen it - or the thought of us banging on about it for a full 30 minutes makes you want to join the Night's Watch - then feel free to skip everything between 01:07:14 and 01:40:15.

We have some post-Easter horror for you this week, thanks to Netflix's excellent new haunted heart thriller, Chambers, some pre-millennial spycraft thanks to The Looming Tower on BBC2, plus we fail to watch Jamestown entirely and have to rely on Boyd to explain it all. All that and another bumper dragoncast, getting deep into the Godswood for episode 2 of Game Of Thrones' final season. If you're still trying to avoid Westerosi spoilers for that particular episode then don't worry, it's clearly signposted and at the very end of the show between 01:19:50 and 01:49:50. Apologies for the runtime - we got a bit carried away!

Podcast is coming! That's right, the final season of Game Of Thrones landed this week and, like the Night King himself, we tore down The Wall and stormed forth to tackle it. In keeping with this theme, Terri seized control of the Seven Kingdoms, taking advantage of James' absence to install herself upon the Iron Throne as Queen Terri, Mother of podcasts, breaker of science-fiction and ruler of true crime documentaries. Despite this, We found time to dive into bleak BBC comedy Back To Life (don't call it the new Fleabag!) and Channel 4's culture-mashing four-part miniseries Chimerica. Plus a few tantalising breaking news tidbits and we make the bold choice to continue trying to make James laugh, even in his absence. NOTE: If you've not yet had a chance to watch the Game Of Thrones season opener then don't worry, you can still listen to the podcast as we've saved all the dragon chat for the end of the reviews section. Just skip everything between 41:38 and 51:37 and you'll be fine.

In this special episode of the podcast we delve deep into the plot developments of The OA's incredible second season, speaking to creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, who throw caution the wind and open up about everything from the Tree Internet and Old Night to the house on Nob Hill and those sex-powered dancing robots. WARNING: spoilers abound throughout so only listen once you've watched all of Season 2.

This week we get definitive with the definite article for The Widow (Kate Beckinsale) and The Victim (Kelly MacDonald), then go full Brexit with Toby Jones in Don't Forget The Driver. All that and Boyd still finds time to sit down and chat UFOs (and Queer As Folk) with Aidan Gillen, plus we wax lyrical about both the Fleabag finale and Line Of Duty's unswerving commitment to impenetrable acronyms.

Hanna and The Killing stars Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman stop by the podcast for a chat this week. Meanwhile, Veep returns to our screens this week for its seventh and final season, and we delve into the world of true crime for HBO's Serial follow-up, The Case Against Adnan Syed. To help us recover, Bill Hader's hitman comedy Barry is also back, bringing with it all the NoHo Hank our hearts could desire. All that and we still find time to discuss the humorous merits of The Thick Of It, and cast our minds back to the days of Party Of Five, Aquarius and Dead Like Me.

Line Of Duty is back! And to celebrate, we invited stars Vicky McClure and Martin Compston onto the pod to tell us what's going down at AC-12 this series. As well as reviewing the show, we go full MMORPG for E4's Dead Pixels, welcome surrealist legal show The Good Fight back to our screens and check out Amazon Prime's espionage drama Hanna. All that and more on an episode that's at least 90% more anarchic than usual as Terri seemed determined to make up for her absence last week by being a complete lunatic (her Martin Brennan impression has to be heard to be believed). Oh and James goes full Farscape - you have been warned.

In a surprising twist this week, Terri has been transmogrified into a middle-aged man as we traverse dimensions to discuss The OA Season 2, Cash-in for Billions Season 4 and lay out our best china for the third series of Victoria. Not to mention finally getting our hands on Ryan Murphy's Pose and hearing all about The Cops AKA Britain's answer to The Shield.

This week we've been subjected to a torrent of animated shorts thanks to David Fincher's Love, Death And Robots, plus we got a chance to spin up the decks for Idris Elba's new DJ/nannying comedy Turn Up Charlie. Last but by no means least we witness Bryan Fuller's American Gods return for its belated second season, except without Bryan Fuller or, sadly, any of its original charm. All that plus a bunch of must-see classic show recommendations and an outraged diatribe from Terri about the latest Louis Theroux documentary (you might want to be sitting down for that one).

So many shows, so little time. We have an unprecedented *five* new shows to rundown for you this week, including the triumphant return of Derry Girls. Joining Lisa McGee's outstanding comedy is Ricky Gervais' After Life and Rufus Jones' Home, not to mention the decidedly non-comedic Leaving Neverland and MotherFatherSon. Plus all the usual nonsense, including a re-examining of Community and some retro love for Sharon Horgan's Pulling, Chris O'Dowd's Moone Boy and gone-too-soon police drama Southland.

This week we have a double bill of BBC comedy gold as Fleabag and Alan Partridge go head-to-head for our amusement. To balance the unfettered mirth, though, we also dive in to Sky Italia's The Miracle, which is not only in Italian but officially featured the most unpleasant masturbation scene we've seen in a good long while. All that and James finally hands in his badge and stops banging on about The Shield, but does find time to proselytise about Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom instead. Meanwhile Terri goes to the mat for Father Dowling Mysteries and Boyd bigs up Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Crashing.

This week we enter the world of treason and espionage for Channel 4's WWII spy thriller Traitors, join Anna Paquin as she heads to the front lines in a very different kind of war as a celebrity publicist in Flack, plus Curfew sees Sean Bean do The Fast And The Furious in London... with zombies. All that and we come up with a new regular (involving James and comedies), lay some love upon Band Of Gold and Family Tree, plus resurrect Jack Thorne's supernatural drama The Fades.

We have a Valentine's double bill this week to get you all in the mood for love. There's much knob-lopping talk as we delve into the world of Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt for Amazon's documentary series about the famous dismemberment. And if that hasn't done the trick, we also fire up online dating horror story Dirty John, based on the LA Times true crime podcast about a woman who ends up entangled with a dissembling sociopath. Meanwhile, Boyd and Terri fail to fall in love with The Umbrella Academy and James takes a knee in honour of Friday Night Lights.

This week we're delving into the world of dark and sordid documentaries in Surviving R Kelly, getting down with the Deutsch for the sequel to Wolfgang Peterson's 1981 film Das Boot, and going Dutch with soapy hospital drama New Amsterdam. But none of that matters because the first three seasons of The Expanse are landing on Amazon Prime, which Boyd and Terri hear about in forensic detail - much to their eternal delight.

We have a bumper crop of reviews this week, with no less than *five* shows under the magnifying glass. George R.R. Martin's Nightflyers takes us into deep space, Camping shows us the great outdoors, Pure fills our heads with sordid sexual fantasies, Mayans M.C. brings the motorbikes and Russian Doll takes us through it all over and over again. We also give a little love to The Unit and Cold Case, Boyd discovers something called Future Man, plus Terri and Boyd wax lyrical about the Fyre Festival documentary, which James still refuses to watch.

This week we have our very first guest as Stephen Dorff stops by the pod booth to talk about the new season of True Detective. We also delve deep into the violent world of Sky's Tin Star, take a trip to 15th century Florence for Medici The Magnificent and set phasers to *fun* for the new Season of Star Trek: Discovery, which we're delighted to say we've now seen. Listen now to hear how Terri's very first Star Trek experience unfolded (it didn't go the way you might expect).

This week James is sulking as we weren't able to see Star Trek Discovery in time for the podcast. On the plus side, it does give us the opportunity to bust out some Klingon swear words and we *were* able to watch a trio of excellent other shows to make up for it. Namely, the third season of True Detective (all is forgiven), the second season of The Punisher (gone too soon) and the first season of The Passage, based on the book of the same name, which gets Jamesplained in excruciating detail. Plus Terri recommends a show that doesn't involve prison and we pick through the dumpster fire that was the Golden Globes.

No fewer than *four* shows get the review treatment this week - partially making up for the appalling lack of post-Christmas news. Gorge yourselves on Netflix's Sex Education, the triumphant return of Catastrophe and the reboot of Charmed. Oh and we get all political with a look at Brexit: The Uncivil War - because that's a subject you don't hear enough about at the moment. Plus reminiscences about Christmas TV, an appraisal of Bandersnatch and a some love for Rome, Broad City and... er, Wentworth.

What kind of year has it been? We find out in the very first Pilot TV Podcast Special. Flicking through the last twelve months, we pick out the very best (and some of the worst) things to have graced our sets this year, pulling out all the memorable moments and going through Pilot's definitive top 10 shows of the year. Frankly, it's worth listening to for Terri's explanation of what a 'chufty badge' is alone.

There's a statue of Columbo in Budapest (it's true, look it up) so why isn't there one of John Luther in Hackney? Someone needs to sort that out because LOOFAH is back! On the new Pilot Pod we get into the long-awaited fifth series of Neil Cross' gritty crime show, catch up with a very different kind of detective in John Malkovich's Hercule Poirot via The ABC Murders, and track down Netflix's stalker thriller, You. Not to to mention getting a sneak preview of the Doctor Who New Year's Special. It's a Christmas miracle!

Dead rabbits are order of the day on this week's Pilot TV podcast, with the Beeb's Watership Down getting the review treatment. Also in the line-up is colonial era Jamaican drama The Long Song and Channel 5's pseudo fictional Agatha & The Truth Of Murder which contains both Agatha (Christie) and murder but little in the way of actual truth. All this and a celebration of Hell On Wheels, Oz and Terri banging on about The Apprentice, which is entirely against Pilot T&Cs.

This week we talk Christmas Specials (one of which Boyd is actually in, albeit doing unspeakable things with women's underwear), Golden Globes and Season 2 of American Gods. The team defuses some of the latest TV bombs to drop, including Stephen King chillfest Castle Rock, comedy-gold sitcom The Good Place and choc-full-of-murder doc The Innocent Man. Plus you get to hear what our Viking names would be, hear James Jamesplain The Picard Manoeuvre to Terri and discover why Jamie Dornan is now a massive fan of the podcast (Jamie mate, this one's for you). PS. Apologies for the slightly mixed audio quality on this one - we basically recorded it in a broom cupboard.