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From the melodramatic gestures of silent movies to the immersive, intricate performances made possible by 21st century technology, acting styles have gone in and out of fashion.But no acting technique is more mythologised or misunderstood than The Method.Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones are getting under the skin of method acting to find out what it is, how it changed the face of American cinema, and why it’s not to blame for some truly weird on set behaviour.Ellen talks to writer and historian Isaac Butler to trace The Method’s roots back to the Russian actor, director and theorist Konstantin Stanislavski. They discuss The Method’s founding father in America Lee Strasberg, some key Method performances, and how acting is changing today. To learn what it’s like to study The Method, Ellen talks to British actor and writer Louise Brealey about her time at the Lee Strasberg institute, learning to laugh at yourself, and never giving in to bad behaviour.Mark talks to British actor Adeel Akhtar about how an opportunity to study method acting changed the course of his life, and not taking your character home at the end of the day.And in a moving discussion, Mark realises a long held ambition to interview Ellen Burstyn, who played - in a long and glittering career - Chris MacNeil in his favourite film, The Exorcist. Ellen studied The Method with Lee Strasberg himself and now, at the age of 89, she is co-President of the institution he led, The Actors Studio. Ellen shares her memories of Lee and brings his creative exercises back to life.In this week’s Viewing Notes, actor Jason Isaacs shares his favourite method performance.Produced by Freya HellierA Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Inspired by the record-breaking success of huge action epic RRR, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the global popularity of contemporary Indian cinema, with the help of some of its key players. Ellen takes a closer look at the box office smash that is RRR. She talks to the film's director SS Rajamouli, who is responsible for three of the top five highest-grossing Indian films of all time. They discuss Rajamouli's role in the Pan-Indian Cinema movement and why he thinks RRR has become such a hit across the world. And Mark, with the help of British-Tamil film critic Ashanti Omkar and superstar composer AR Rahman, investigates how Indian cinema has gone global over the last two decades and asks whether it might be time to retire the term 'Bollywood'.Also, actor Nikesh Patel, star of hit romcom Starstruck, shares what he's been watching recently. Producer: Jane Long Editorial Consultant: Ashanti Omkar A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark take a turn into the exclusive gated community of housewives in cinema and television, ahead of the release of new film Don't Worry Darling. Ellen investigates why we're so drawn to housewives on screen, from original housewife satire The Stepford Wives to global reality TV phenomenon The Real Housewives, with the help of critic Anna Bogutskaya and Real Housewives exec producer Andy Cohen.And Mark celebrates director Todd Haynes' cult 1995 film Safe, starring Julianne Moore in her first lead role, as a housewife suffering from a mysterious ailment. He speaks to pioneering independent film producer and long-time Haynes collaborator Christine Vachon about the making of Safe, and hears from composer Gazelle Twin and director Desiree Akhavan about the personal and emotional responses both had to the film. This week's Viewing Note is courtesy of Olivier-nominated Home, I'm Darling star Katherine Parkinson.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark examine the legacy of the quintessential blonde bombshell ahead of the release of Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde.Mark speaks to Blonde’s director Andrew Dominik and US pop culture critic Angelica Jade Bastien about the very different personal connections both feel to Monroe and the reasons for her enduring star power. Meanwhile, Ellen explores some of the bombshells compared to Monroe on this side of the Atlantic. She speaks to Diana Dors biographer Anna Cale about how the label of 'the British Marilyn' affected Dors' varied and colourful time in the spotlight. And she learns about the elusive and often tragic careers of British starlets including Belinda Lee and Sabrina, with the help of Professor of British Cinema Steve Chibnall. Also, musician Warren Ellis talks about what he was watching while composing the score for Blonde with Nick Cave.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate 40 years of Film4 with a quartet of famous film-makers who have been part of its rich history and legacy.Founded in 1982, Film4 soon became an iconic and vital voice in British film. It has fostered a reputation for producing gritty, diverse stories from unheard voices as well as championing the more leftfield and experimental side of British cinema.Ellen looks at Film4's origins in conversation with Stephen Frears who directed the very first Film4 film, Walter. Walter stars Sir Ian McKellen as a young man with learning difficulties and the film documents his struggles in Margaret Thatcher's Britain. Frears continued to explore life in 80's Britain in the now iconic and still ground-breaking My Beautiful Laundrette. Stephen and Ellen discuss what the film meant at the time and why it remains relevant.Mark talks to Gurinder Chadha. In 1993 her Film4 produced debut, Bhaji on the Beach, became the first full-length feature film made by a British Asian Woman. Gurinder and Mark discuss the importance of Film4 in championing minorities and what the British film industry was like before and after Film4's emergence.Ellen chats with Ben Wheatley about Film4's response to his irreverent 2011 folk horror film Kill List as well as the multi-platform release of 2013's A Field in England. They talk about how Film4 has always made space for the more uncommercial and experimental side of British cinema.Finally, Mark talks to Clio Barnard about her 2013 Film4 debut, The Selfish Giant. A social realist adaptation of an Oscar Wilde story, Clio discusses how Film4 supported her as an artist and allowed her to share her unique and touching tale.This week's Viewing Note is courtesy of former Film4 head and veteran producer, Paul Webster.Producer: Hester Cant A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

To mark the 80th birthday of one of cinema’s most enigmatic and polarising characters, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore the work, myth and legacy of Werner Herzog.An encounter with Herzog is always compelling, and sometimes risky. When Mark interviewed him in the Hollywood Hills in 2006, the director was shot - an incident he dismissed as ‘not significant’.From the safe distance of a few thousand miles away, Mark and Werner reconnect (over Zoom) to address the conspiracy theory that the shooting was staged. Herzog also looks back at the enduring appeal of Fitzcarraldo, how his world view informs his work, and why there’s a lesson to be learned in keeping up with the Kardashians.To separate fact from fiction, Ellen E Jones talks to volcanologist and co-director of two Herzog documentaries, Professor Clive Oppenheimer. They discuss Herzog’s scientific mind and why Clive kept quiet about a near miss with a lava bomb as they filmed Into the Inferno.Writer and director Zak Penn used the Herzog legend as the inspiration for his mockumentary Incident at Loch Ness, which starred Herr Herzog as himself. Ellen and Zak discuss the tricks he played on his leading man, how he’s easy to surprise but impossible to shock, and why Werner Herzog is such a beloved and supportive collaborator.And DJ and broadcaster Edith Bowman gives her Viewing Notes.Producer: Freya HellierA Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From the Old Testament to Captain Underpants, via Jane Austen and pulp fiction, the relationship between the page and the screen is unbreakable. But the journey from book to screenplay can be a long and winding road that is sometimes paved with gold, and often filled with detours and potholes.To get under the skin of literary adaptations, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones decamped to the Hay literary festival where the book world’s biggest names gather to enjoy discussion and sharing ideas.Cressida Cowell, author of the popular How To Train Your Dragon series, talks about the joyful process of seeing her characters come alive in a huge franchise comprising animated movies, TV series and a video game.When her first novel Brick Lane was turned into a film in 2007, Monica Ali was not involved in the adaptation. Now, 15 years later, Monica is writing the screenplay of her latest novel Love Marriage and she talks to Mark and Ellen about the new skills she has learned along the way.After many close calls with producers, Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Candy House) knows about the mercurial nature of having work ‘optioned’. She discusses her favourite literary adaptations and shares a cinematic piece of writing by Arthur Conan Doyle.Also, broadcaster and writer Jeffrey Boakye takes a spin with an 80s classic movie to reveal the deeper issues at play in Dirty Dancing.Producer: Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Fifty years ago a break-in at the Watergate complex in Washington DC caused a cover-up that ultimately cost Richard Nixon the presidency. From the moment the hearings into the scandal were televised, there has been a massive audience for all things Watergate. There have been feature films, plays, podcasts, online comedy series, documentaries and TV dramas. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode investigate the lasting legacy of Watergate on screen. Actor and comedian Harry Shearer has been playing Tricky Dicky since the very start of his career. He tells Mark about turning the president's tape recordings into verbatim comedy-drama Nixon's The One. Over a series of TV interviews the late Sir David Frost got President Nixon to admit that he had acted illegally and let the American people down. Mark talks to Michael Sheen who played the British broadcaster on both stage and screen in Frost/Nixon. Meanwhile, Ellen explores politically focused TV and film with the creator of The Thick of It and Veep, Armando Iannucci and screenwriter Liz Hannah, whose films The Post and Long Shot focus on journalism and politics.And journalist and broadcaster Martha Kearney gives her Viewing Notes.Producer: Marilyn RustA Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ahead of Jamaican Independence Day, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode immerse themselves in one of the island’s greatest exports, The Harder They Come, marking the film’s 50th anniversary.The Harder They Come was a sensation, but it took a while for its vibrations to be heard around the world. In 1972, the premiere in Kingston brought the area to a complete standstill. Outside of Jamaica, the film helped introduce reggae music to millions, thanks to its Jimmy Cliff-driven soundtrack.Exploring the film’s continuing legacy, Ellen hears from one of its stars, Carl Bradshaw, and the film’s publicist Barbara Blake-Hannah, for whom the movie was so life-changing that she left the UK and moved to Jamaica where she later became a Member of Parliament. Mark speaks to DJ, broadcaster, musician and filmmaker Don Letts, whose film Dancehall Queen is a homage to The Harder They Come. Mark also talks to music supervisor Ed Bailie who worked closely with Steve McQueen on his Small Axe films, including Lovers Rock which also owes a great debt to this cult classic.Ellen and Mark also look at what The Harder They Come did, or did not do, for the Jamaican film industry, and the films that followed it - including Rockers, Countryman, and Babylon.Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark discuss the enduring screen presence of Elvis Presley, from Love Me Tender to Wild at Heart. One of the most hotly anticipated films this summer is Elvis - director Baz Luhrmann’s biopic chronicling the singer’s career and complicated relationship with manager Colonel Tom Parker. Committed Presley fan Mark discusses Elvis’ prolific acting career with a couple of fellow obsessives - the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, and journalist and screenwriter Ray Connolly.And Ellen explores how The King has lived on via film and TV in the 45 years since his death. She’s joined by comedian and pop culture devotee Greg Proops and filmmaker Jeanie Finlay, whose 2015 documentary Orion: The Man Who Would Be King told the bizarre story of a masked Elvis soundalike.Also, movement director Polly Bennett talks about what she watched to help prepare actor Austin Butler for his starring role as Elvis in Luhrmann's film.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore big budget flops, from Ishtar to Cats.Ishtar – writer and director Elaine May's huge budget comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman – was released in May 1987. The film, about a pair of incompetent singer-songwriters who become entangled in a CIA plot in north Africa, tanked at the box office and ultimately put paid to May's directing career. In the process the word Ishtar became a joke - that title alone symbolising Hollywood hubris at its worst. But, as May put it, "If all the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman."Thirty five years on, Mark asks culture critic Lindsay Zoladz and comedian and director Richard Ayoade whether Ishtar is ripe for reappraisal. And Ellen draws up a set of rules to help Hollywood studio bosses avoid box office bombs in 2022, running them past Film Stories founder Simon Brew and Hollywood super-producer Lynda Obst. Also, controversial director Gaspar Noe shares his Viewing Notes. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate one of the great doyennes of Hollywood in what would have been her centenary year. Cultural historian Christopher Frayling joins Mark to revisit the rare career retrospective interview he conducted with Day in 1989. And Ellen speaks to Queer cinema expert Emma Smart and singer Rufus Wainwright about the importance of both Doris Day and Judy Garland, who would also have turned 100 in 2022, to LGBTQIA+ communities.Plus actor and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman shares her favourite Doris Day film in Viewing Notes. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Hester Cant A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the history of indigenous and native people on screen.In 1922, silent film Nanook of the North was released. Written, directed and filmed by a white man, the docudrama claimed to show the daily life of an Inuit hunter and his family in the Canadian Arctic - but all wasn't quite as it seemed. A century on, Screenshot explores the representation of indigenous people on screen, and who gets to tell their stories, with film critic Jesse Wente who founded the Indigenous Screen Office. Ellen also talks to director Leah Purcell about reimagining the Australian classic, The Drover's Wife, as an Indigenous, feminist Western. And Mark speaks to the producers of Waru, Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton, about their quest to bring Maori and Pasifika stories to a wider audience. Producer: Marilyn Rust A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore cinema's steamiest genre - the erotic thriller - 30 years on from the release of Basic Instinct. Mark reappraises recent best director Oscar-winner Jane Campion's oft-overlooked 2003 erotic thriller In The Cut, with the help of the film's author and co-screenwriter Susanna Moore and the film critic Maria San Filippo. And Ellen speaks to film historian Karina Longworth and intimacy coordinator Ita O'Brien about the highs and lows of the erotic thriller, and how we're dealing with sex on screen in the 21st century. Also, Basic Instinct 2 star David Morrissey shares his Viewing Notes.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the influence of David Simon and The Wire, as the Baltimore-set opus celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.Beginning his career as a police reporter for the much respected Baltimore Sun, David Simon eventually became disillusioned with changes being made at the paper and spent a year embedded with the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. That resulted in the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, which became the basis for the TV show Homicide: Life On The Street. Simon followed that with another book, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, which was adapted for TV as The Corner, and then created The Wire, which changed television forever. Simon has since been behind the shows Generation Kill, Treme, The Deuce and The Plot Against America. His latest project We Own This City sees him return to Baltimore, this time to tell the true story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it.Ellen looks at the influence of David Simon’s work with a focus on unconventional casting - Simon repeatedly casts non-actors, and people with first hand experience of the subjects he explores. She speaks with casting director Pat Moran, who has worked alongside Simon on several projects. She also talks to Ronan Bennett and Gerry Jackson. Ronan is the creator and writer of Top Boy and Gerry is the series’ story consultant. Gerry is a fitness trainer but his knowledge of Hackney and connection to the local community helped Ronan to write Top Boy, and to find local talent to feature in the show, in an echo of The Wire. And Mark goes back 20 years to speak to someone who was there when The Wire began. Actor Clarke Peters was on the show for all five seasons, playing fan favourite Detective Lester Freamon and delivering some of the show’s greatest lines. Mark also talks to Professor Liam Kennedy, editor of The Wire: Race, Class, and Genre - a series of essays exploring the show's portrayals of race, drug war policing, deindustrialisation, and the inadequacies of America’s civic, educational, and political institutions.Also, Top Boy star Ashley Walters shares what he’s been watching. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore Christianity on screen, from faith films to nunsploitation.Mark speaks to priest Father Peter Malone and controversial director Paul Verhoeven about two very different cinematic depictions of the crucifixion - Pasolini's Gospel According to Matthew and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. And Ellen takes a look at nuns in the movies, from The Bells of St Mary's to The Devils, with the help of film critics Sister Rose Pacatte and Pamela Hutchinson. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode jump on board to explore the role of trains on our screens.This week sees the release of Compartment No 6 - a strange and touching romance set on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Trains have played a recurring role in film, right from the inception of the genre. Mark is joined by silent film specialist Bryony Dixon and composer Neil Brand to talk about the appeal of the railway for the pioneers of cinema.And Ellen talks to Compartment No 6 director Juho Kuosmanen and critic Anna Smith about the cinematic opportunities for connection, contemplation and romance while riding the rails. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore hoaxes, fakes and pranks on screen for April Fool's Day.Mark is joined by documentarian Morgan Neville and Anna Bogutskaya for a deep dive into Orson Welles’ 1973 docudrama about forgers and fakery, F for Fake.And Ellen looks back at small screen hoaxes, from the 1970s sci-fi mockumentary Alternative 3 to the terrifying BBC1 Halloween drama Ghostwatch via a sprinkling of Noel's House Party, with the help of writers David Ambrose and Mark Gatiss.Also, critic and filmmaker Mark Cousins shares his Viewing Notes. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is released in the UK on 31 January. This feature length documentary provides a rare window into the first years of the ground-breaking children’s TV show. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode embrace the nostalgia of the television that shaped their childhoods. Mark explores the impact of Sesame Street with Street Gang’s director, Marilyn Agrelo. He also reflects on one of the UK’s most popular children’s TV programmes, Play School, with one of its beloved presenters, Baroness Floella Benjamin. And Ellen tests her theory concerning a unique connection between the world’s most popular children’s Youtube channels and early cinema with film historian, Pamela Hutchinson. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years. Producer: Hester Cant A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The adrenaline-inducing film Boiling Point is out in cinemas and online. Shot in a single take on a single night at a London restaurant, the movie has inspired Ellen and Mark to take a closer look at one-shot films and those that appear to be. What does the one-shot do for a movie? Is it any more than showing off?Boiling Point stars Stephen Graham as an under-pressure chef whose life is unravelling over a busy night in the restaurant. Ellen talks to director Philip Barantini, himself a former chef, about his decision to film the feature as a “oner” and the pressures that caused. On the front page of the script for 1917 Sam Mendes had written, "This is envisioned as a single shot,". Mark speaks to legendary cinematographer Roger Deakin about how he realised the director's vision for the First World War epic.And, fresh from her victory at the British Independent Film Awards, Boiling Point star Vinette Robinson shares what she’s been watching in Viewing Notes.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Marilyn Rust A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Film noir Nightmare Alley is released next week. It's director Guillermo del Toro's remake of the 1947 film - a baroque tale of carnival hucksters, psychiatrists and betrayal.Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the connections sparked by Nightmare Alley and film noir. Mark speaks to Guillermo del Toro about his five favourite classic noir films, including Fallen Angel and Born to Kill. And Ellen looks at how neo-noir movies subverted and reframed the genre from the 1970s onwards, with the help of critics Imogen Sara Smith and Amon Warmann.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore David Bowie's impact on cinema.Musician, actor, performer and all-round icon David Bowie would have turned 75 on Saturday 8th January. To mark the occasion, the British Film Institute have launched a month-long season celebrating his work in film and television, from The Man Who Fell To Earth to Labyrinth.Ellen talks to V&A curator Victoria Broackes and BFI programmer Rhidian Davis about Bowie's love of cinema and his performances on screen.And Mark speaks to Bowie collaborator and long-time friend Tilda Swinton about her memories of working with the star and his impact on her own career. Also, Bowie's The Man Who Fell to Earth co-star Candy Clark shares what she's been watching recently. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide to the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore New Year’s Eve on film and TV, peering into the dark and the dawn either side of the stroke of midnight.Mark looks back at director Kathryn Bigelow’s controversial 1995 film Strange Days, a dark tech-thriller set on New Year’s Eve 1999, and coursing with millennial anxieties. He revisits an interview with Bigelow recorded on the film’s release, and speaks to Strange Days star Ralph Fiennes about how it resonates over 25 years on. And on a lighter note, Ellen investigates New Year's Eve tropes on screen, from The Poseidon Adventure to When Harry Met Sally. She’s joined by comedian Rose Matafeo, creator of hit BBC series Starstruck, and director Reggie Yates, whose recent movie Pirates is also set on Millennium Eve.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore festive screen favourites for Christmas Eve.It’s the 75th anniversary of a beloved film that has come to dominate our screens over the holiday period - director Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. Like James Stewart’s George Bailey, who is shown what the world would look like without him by guardian angel Clarence, Ellen learns what subsequent screen culture would look like without It’s A Wonderful Life. Cultural historian and fellow fan Christopher Frayling - who is the same age as the film - takes the role of a cinematic Clarence, guiding her through It's A Wonderful Life’s lasting impact on movies and TV.Meanwhile, Mark talks to Olivier award-winning playwright turned filmmaker debbie tucker green about her haunting alternative nativity story, 2014’s Second Coming starring Nadine Marshall and Idris Elba.And throughout the show, Ellen and Mark are joined by guests, including Gillian Anderson and Greg Proops, who share their all-time favourite Christmas movies and TV.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide to the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Crowd pleasers Squid Game and Bridgerton could not be further apart in subject matter, but they are currently the two most streamed programmes in Netflix’s history. We get under the bonnet and behind the mask of these phenomena by examining their precedents on both the big and small screen, tracing how previous works have covered similar themes in so many different ways.Ellen looks at the death-match films from cinema history that form the DNA of Squid Game, with the help of The Purge creator James DeMonaco, critic Anna Bogutskaya and academic Dr Jinhee Choi.And Mark is joined by screenwriter Andrew Davies and historical consultant Hannah Greig to investigate Bridgerton’s self-consciously modern style influences in historical drama, from The Draughtsman's Contract to Sofia Coppola’s derided but influential 2006 picture Marie Antoinette.Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

France’s entry for this year's Oscars is the extraordinary Titane. Beginning as a Cronenbergian body horror movie, Titane constantly plays with genre, while simultaneously dealing with themes of grief, gender identity, and queerness. The film also features scenes depicting mechanophilia - a sexual attraction to machines. Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore the multiple cinematic connections and influences that make up Titane’s DNA.Mark speaks to the film’s director Julia Ducournau, whose previous feature was 2016’s Raw - the story of a young vegetarian who develops a taste for human flesh.And Ellen investigates the phenomenon of mechanophilia on screen, with the help of film academic Christine Cornea. Psychotherapist Professor Brett Kahr tells her about the condition and why relationships with machines or objects may develop. And she also hears from director Zoe Wittock, whose recent film Jumbo explored mechanophilia in its depiction of a female protagonist falling in love with Jumbo, a fairground ride. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is released on 10 December - the director’s long-delayed, big-budget remake of the influential screen classic, first released 60 years ago. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the cinematic connections sparked by this ground breaking musical film.West Side Story transplants Romeo & Juliet’s star-crossed lovers and warring tribes from Renaissance Italy to mid-20th century Manhattan. Mark looks back at a couple of other movie takes on Shakespeare’s love story with the help of their directors - Abel Ferrara on lost genre gem China Girl and Baz Luhrmann on his iconic 90s Romeo +Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.And Ellen investigates the authenticity of the gritty street musical, from West Side Story to YouTube hit Shiro's Story, with the help of actors Rita Moreno and Joivan Wade, and film historian Martha Shearer. We also hear what Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and national treasure Miriam Margolyes have been watching, as they share their Viewing Notes. Screenshot is Radio 4’s guide through the ever-expanding universe of the moving image. Every episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode journey through the main streets and back roads connecting film, television and streaming over the last hundred years.Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode guide us through the expanding universe of the moving image revealing fascinating links and hidden gems from cinema and TV to streaming and beyond.