

Pilot TV
Empire Magazine
From the creators of The Empire Film Podcast, Pilot TV is your essential guide to every TV show that matters, providing a weekly rundown of all the new must-see TV shows dropping across streaming, terrestrial, satellite, cable, and beyond. Join Empire's James Dyer, Heat's Boyd Hilton, and Kay Ribeiro as they bring you breaking TV news, reviews of the week's major shows, and interviews with some of the biggest names in TV.Pilot TV is here to make sure every minute you spend in front of the box is a minute worth spending. Served with a heavy helping of insider knowledge, irreverence and humour, Pilot TV won't just keep you informed, amused and entertained, but is guaranteed to save countless hours of your life. Because you can’t watch *everything*.Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to Pilot+ for a bonus episode every Thursday, in-depth spoiler specials, and early, ad-free access to the regular show! Find out more at www.empireonline.com/pilottv
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 6, 2025 • 1h 59min
Film Club, Dreaming Whilst Black, and Murder Before Evensong. With Guests Aimee Lou Wood & Suranne Jones, and Jodie Whittaker
We’re legitimately chatting all things movies on the (TV) podcast this week as Aimee Lou Wood and Suranne Jones join us to chat Film Club on BBC3 (37:11-53:10), Plus Jodie Whittaker (sans Suranne) pops by to talk all things Frauds on ITV (1:04:03-1:23:34). Meanwhile, we catch up with Adjani Salmon for the second series of Dreaming Whilst Black on BBC3 (1:38:38), and delve into ecclesiastical crime solving with Murder Before Evensong on Channel 5 (1:48:45). All that, and a labyrinthine discussion fo Boydy’s bedtime habits, as well as a new foray into the world of Steph’s true crime watchlist as we prepare for Kay’s return later this week. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Sep 29, 2025 • 2h 4min
Chad Powers, Frauds, and How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge). With Guests Jessica Chastain & Nnamdi Asomugha and Tom Blyth
Jessica Chastain and Nnamdi Asomugha are our guests on this week’s show, chatting The Savant on Apple TV+ (47:34-57:53) — a show that unfortunately you can’t watch, the reasons for which we get into in some detail elsewhere on the podcast. Meanwhile, Tom Blyth stops by to talk Billy The Kid (1:14:38-1:28:46), which you CAN see on MGM+. Also, we try to discover why people want to hide GLen Powell’s face in Chad Powers on Disney+ (1:28:46), see what Jodie Whittaker and Suranne Jones are up to over on ITV with Frauds (1:37:32), and get mental health advice from an unlikely source on BBC1 with How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) (1:47:29. In tonight’s production of Pilot TV, the role of Kay Ribeiro will be played by Stephanie Seelan.Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Sep 22, 2025 • 1h 54min
Slow Horses, Wayward, and The Hack. With guests Ruth Bradley and Christopher Chung
It’s a Slow Horses special (kind of) this week as not only do we review the show’s fifth series but both Christopher Chung (Roddy Ho) and Ruth Bradley (Emma Flyte) are guests, with Ruth dropping into the studio mid-record almost as if she’d just been sent over from The Park by Taverner. Meanwhile, we take a look at the phone hacking scandal along with David Tennant in The Hack on ITV, and let Toni Colette scare the willies out of us in Wayward on Netflix.

Sep 15, 2025 • 1h 20min
Black Rabbit, Gen V, and Juice. With guests Andrew Lincoln and David Ireland
We’re in Coldwater this week as Andrew Lincoln and writer David Ireland discuss the new ITV thriller (23:55-44:34). Plus Kay asks the question as to whether we take TV (or film, or book) recommendations from other people. And then there’s this week’s crop of shows, which includes Netflix’s brotherly strife miniseries Black Rabbit (53:45), Prime’s second series of The Boys spinoff Gen V (1:03:08), and the second series of Mawaan Rizwan’s Juice on BBC3 (1:10:25).(Episode 354)Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Sep 8, 2025 • 1h 24min
Task, The Girlfriend, and Only Murders In The Building. With guests Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke
We are nominally back to normal this week, meaning we’re all in the studio and the YouTube cameras are back on. And a good thing too as we take on HBO crime thriller Task (55:00), the fifth season of Only Murders In The Building on Disney+ (1:12:15) and Prime Video’s domestic thriller The Girlfriend (1:03:39), for which both Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke join us on the show (27:28-43:32). Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Sep 1, 2025 • 1h 12min
The Guest, I Fought The Law, and The Runarounds. With Guest Domhnall Gleeson
We’re back to a semblance of normality this week, except for James being in Florida and having to dial in remotely, but that doesn’t stop us taking on the police with Sheridan Smith in I Fought The Law on ITV1, exploring upstairs/downstairs relationships with Eve Myles in The Guest on BBC1, and rocking out with The Runarounds on Prime Video. Plus Domhnall Gleeson stops by to chat with us about The Office (US) spinoff The Paper on Sky.(Episdoe 352)

Aug 25, 2025 • 1h 40min
Atomic, King & Conqueror, and Invasion. With guests Suranne Jones and Matt Charman, Alfie Allen and Shazad Latif
It’s a bumper, star-studded week for guests with two glorious duos discussing their shows - Hostage and Atomic, while we’re still missing our leader James so it’s another “Dot and Ethel” two hander with Boyd, live from the Edinburgh TV festival, and Kay, live from her living room. They review the aforementioned Atomic on Sky, plus King & Conqueror and season 3 of invasion. Yes, season 3. But all the other brand new shows are embargoed.

Aug 18, 2025 • 1h 41min
Peacemaker, The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox, and Mudtown. With guest Alex Lawther
The excellent Alex Lawther is our guest this week. You’ll know him from The End Of The F****ing World among other fine shows, and now he is one of the shining lights in the ensemble cast of Alien: Earth. Lazy James is still away so Boyd and Kay are joined by Crime Queen Steph, and it just so happens there’s a lot of crime shows for us to discuss, including Disney+’s controversial Amanda Knox drama, Mudtown on U&Alibi, not to be confused with Mudbath, and Peacemaker which features an orgy of course.(Episode 350 — yes, the REAL Episode 350)

Aug 11, 2025 • 2h 25min
LIVE: Alien: Earth, In Flight, and Butterfly. With special guest co-host Russell T. Davies
Our Live 350th episode turned out to be a live 349th episode (because maths) but that didn’t stop it from being a storming night at Kings Place in London. Why? Because on this episode our trio became a quartet and we were joined by the magnificent Russell T Davies, who was anointed as an official Co-Pilot. Much hilarity ensued (just wait till you get to Boyd’s review of Butterfly) as we tackled everything from AI to Masterchef and everything in between. Audience questions were answered, cake was eaten and a good time was had by all. (Episode 349)Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Aug 4, 2025 • 1h 56min
Outlander: Blood Of My Blood, Platonic, and Ridley. With Guests Adrian Dunbar and Paul Wesley
We have a double whammy of guests this week as Adrian Dunbar joins us to chat Ridley on ITV. Plus Paul Wesley chats to us about returning to the bridge as Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Meanwhile, Scottish shagfest Outlander gets a spinoff series with highland origin story Blood Of My Blood on MGM+, and Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne return for another round of Platonic on Apple TV+. And, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, we open the Pilot TV agony aunt column.