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
Aug 28, 2023 • 1h 51min
#251 The Tower, Starstruck, and The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies. With guests Ruth Wilson and Jonathan Tropper
Ruth Wilson is our guest this week, chatting to Boyd about The Woman In The Wall. Plus James gets to geek out to spectacular effect when he talks to Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper, who not only created the show Banshee but does a little 'Banshee' for us as well. The team also takes a look at the BBC's new off-beat series The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies, as well as tackling a couple of returning series in the form of ITV's The Tower and BBC3's Starstruck. Plus we mull over the best single seasons of television and ruminate on the enduring appeal of Friends.
Aug 21, 2023 • 3h 6min
#250 (LIVE) The Woman In The Wall, Invasion, and Who Is Erin Carter? With guests Ricky Gervais, Tom Davis, and Mawaan & Nabhaan Rizwan.
For our 250th episode we had a big old party at Kings Place in London, joined by special guests Ricky Gervais, Big Tom Davis and Mawaan and Nabhaan Rizwan, not to mention about 400 of you, our brilliant listeners. The Great Pilot TV Bake-Off saw Boyd, Kay and James go head-to-head in a duel to the death with assorted baked goods, plus we found time to answer questions from the audience and review Invasion's return on Apple TV+, The Woman In The Wall on BBC1, and Who Is Erin Carter? On Netflix. Here's to 250 more!
Aug 14, 2023 • 1h 42min
#249 Henpocalypse, Sanditon, and... Running Wild With Bear Grylls. With Guest Krish Majumdar
Award-winning TV producer and until recently Chair of BAFTA, Krish Majumdar joins us to look back on his eventful reign at the British Academy, and working with the likes of Kate Winslet and Elliot Page. It’s also our last pod before the live 250th episode and James is off, apparently sunning himself at his Tuscan retreat, so Basic Bingers legend and editor of Crime Monthly magazine, Steph Seelan is back, joining Boyd and Kay to discuss dystopian comedy Henpocalypse, the return of ITV’s Jane Austen-ish period drama Sanditon, and, in a bold departure from the stuff we usually review, Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge on National Geographic, which does at least feature Benedict Cumberbatch being very brave.
Aug 7, 2023 • 1h 38min
#248 Only Murders In The Building, Annika, and Cruel Summer. With Guest Tiffany Haddish
We're celebrating the after-Afterparty this week as Tiffany Haddish joins us (in a pre-strike interview) to chat all things murder as we reach the tail end of Season 2 (don't watch it until you've seen this week's episode, if not, you can skip past it at 52:43). Plus we rejoin Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short in the latest pod-sleuthing series of Only Murders in The Building, Nicola Walker is back to addressing us all directly in Annika Series 2, and Cruel Summer returns with an entirely new time-hopping mystery. Also, the team reveal the will-they/won't-theys that definitely should have kept it in their pants.
Jul 31, 2023 • 1h 39min
#247 Heartstopper, Wolf, and Vanishing Act. With guest Michael Sheen
Actor Michael Sheen joins the podcast to discuss Jon Hamm's bum, forming a double act with David Tennant, and the new season of Good Omens. The hosts review Netflix's Heartstopper, BBC1's Wolf, and an unusual true-crime series from Australia called Vanishing Act.
Jul 24, 2023 • 1h 38min
#246 Ghosts Of Beirut, Dreaming Whilst Black, and The Power Of Parker. With guest Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Saldaña joins us on this week's show (fear not, the interview was recorded prior to the strike) to discuss Taylor Sheridan, assigning animals to all her characters, and Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+. Meanwhile, you all have to sit through an extended dramatisation of James' Odyssey to secure Taylor Swift tickets (we're so sorry, please don't unsubscribe - if it all gets too much you can skip the whole of this shaggy dog story by jumping to 14:14), as well as a potted history of door sound effects in cinema (again, we can only apologise). Elsewhere, we watch Dreaming Whilst Black on BBC1, Ghosts Of Beirut on Paramount+ and The Power Of Parker, also on the Beeb.
Jul 19, 2023 • 44min
Previewing FX's The Bear S2: An Empire Podcast Special, In Association With Disney+
HANDS! CORNER! BEHIND! Those three words can mean only one thing: one of our favourite shows, FX's The Bear, is back for its second season, and that's an occasion so momentous that the Empire Podcast and Pilot TV Podcast teams have once again joined forces to wax lyrical about it (in association with Disney+). Join Chris Hewitt, James Dyer, and Kay 'The Bear' Ribeiro as they talk about what they loved about the first season of Christopher Storer's Emmy-nominated comedy-drama, look ahead to season 2 (all episodes are now streaming on Disney+, fact fans), and talk about food, music, and Taylor Swift tickets. Enjoy!
Jul 17, 2023 • 1h 22min
#245 The Bear, The Sixth Commandment, and Fifteen-Love
On this week's show we not only see the whole of Hollywood shut down for the SAG strike but also sift through the detritus of this week's Emmy nominations and get into a fight over what constitutes a comedy. And speaking of things that are dramas and not comedies... we head back to Chicago for the return of The Bear on Disney+, investigate a little true crime with Sarah Phelps in The Sixth Commandment on BBC1 and hit centre court with Aidan Turner for tennis drama Fifteen-Love.
Jul 10, 2023 • 1h 42min
#244 The Afterparty, Heat, and Quantum Leap. With guests Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan
Kay gets a much needed Witcher hit this week as we’re joined by stars Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra (although it was quite touch and go for a while), plus we head over to Apple for the after-after party of The Afterparty season 2 (which you must watch form the very beginning, NO EXCUSES), hit the outback with Danny Dyer in Channel 5’s Heat, and head back to set right that one went wrong in the reboot of Quantum Leap on Paramount+.
Jul 3, 2023 • 1h 42min
#243 Then You Run, A Thin Line, and Blindspot. With guest Wendell Pierce
We're in the company of The Bunk this week as Wendell Pierce aka Jack Ryan's James Greer, joins us on the podcast to talk that show's final season. Plus, we go on the run in Rotterdam with Then You Run on Sky, hang out with eco hacktivists in A Thin Line on Paramount+ and hit the beat with Ross Kemp in Blindspot on Channel 5. All that and the team puts to the test how well they truly know each other when forced to programme each other's desert island box sets.
