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 19, 2024 • 1h 56min
#300 Sherwood, Pachinko, The Walking Dead: Dead City, and We Might Regret This. With guest James Graham
We made it! 300 episodes (not counting the many episodes of Pilot+ or the spoiler specials) feels like quite the milestone, even if we weren’t able to do a live show because James has tickets to see Taylor Swift. He did manage to drag himself away from Eras Tour prep (those friendship bracelets don’t make themselves) to drop in and join Boyd and Kay for the 300th show, though, despite being on holiday. Could it be because Boyd and Kay both refused to watch yet another Walking Dead show? No comment. We do, however, get a run down of Dead City on Sky, as well as round two of Pachinko on Apple TV+, We Might Regret This on BBC2, and the return of Sherwood on BBC1, and on the subject of Sherwood, the creator and writer of the show, James Graham, is this week’s guest. Plus we have a few of you on as Well, leaving us testimonials to mark our threehundredieth birthday. Hooray!
Aug 12, 2024 • 1h 32min
#299 Bad Monkey, Daddy Issues, and The Twelve. With guest Nico Mirallegro
We can’t review Paramount+’s Stags this week as it’s embargoed, but that didnt’ stop star Nico Mirallegro dropping by the pod to talk about the stag do from hell. Elsewhere, we can’t lie, this week is somewhat anarchic. Kay and James are sleep deprived to the point of delirium and even a well-rested and thoroughly perky Boyd can’t stop the good ship Pilot from taking on water and coming perilously close to capsizing completely. Still, between bickering about the olympics, exploring the etymology of Strictly Come Dancing and some minor controversy about how to pronounce a rather important name, we still manage (somehow) to review Vince Vaughn’s crime adventure Bad Monkey on Apple, Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey’s dysfunctional family drama Daddy issues on BBC3, and Sam Neill’s Aussie legal drama The Twelve on ITVX. Frankly, it’s a miracle we got through it all!
Aug 5, 2024 • 1h 1min
#298 Slip, Company You Keep, and Irvine Welsh’s Crime
Like an episode of 24, we’re racing against the clock on this week’s show. But the imminent threat of being thrown from the studio by Jack Bauer didn’t stop us from dimension hopping with ITVX’s Slip, digging up a relic with Company You Keep on Alibi and heading up to Scotland for some criminal shenanigans with Irvine Welsh’s Crime, now on ITV1. Plus Boyd waxes lyrical about the Olympics, Kay asks about Summer shows and the practice of ‘raw dogging’ gets a full examination — not the kind you think!
Jul 29, 2024 • 1h 22min
#297 Totally Completely Fine, Interview With The Vampire, and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
We have vampires AND zombies this week in an undead double bill (Kay was thrilled) as well as people hurling themselves to a watery doom. More specifically, we tackle the second season of Interview With The Vampire on BBC2, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon on Sky Max, and Totally Completely Fine on ITVX. But that’s not all, because we pull out some Paramount+ recommendations for those looking to drop into that streaming service (assuming you’ve forgiven them for cancelling Halo!), reel off some comfort watches for maternity leave and crunch some stats over recent streaming figures. All that while Boyd beams in from his holiday in NYC. Now that’s dedication.
Jul 22, 2024 • 1h 28min
#296 Time Bandits, Piglets, and Elspeth. With guest Freddie Fox
Freddie Fox, an actor known for his role as Ser Gwayne Hightower in House Of The Dragon, joins for a lively discussion. They dive into the latest Emmy nominations, highlighting the quirky classification of 'The Bear' as a comedy. The conversation also explores Apple’s whimsical take on Time Bandits and ITV's Piglets, alongside the new legal drama spin-off featuring Elspeth. Expect a mix of humor and insight as they navigate the complexities of character portrayals and the evolving landscape of television!
Jul 15, 2024 • 1h 27min
#295 The Jetty, Mr. Bigstuff, and Those About To Die. With guests Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram
Stars of Apple’s Lady In The Lake Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram join us on this week’s show despite a few technical hiccups. Plus we end up unearthing a cold case in BBC1’s very pointed Jenna Coleman police drama The Jetty, welcoming Danny Dyer back into the family with Mr. Bigstuff on Sky Max and getting our sandals on for some gladiatorial action in Those About To Die on Prime Video. All this despite Kay being stuck at home and having to beam into the studio via the wonder of modern technology, braving the sweltering heat of her office to do so (there’s a whole window drama, you have no idea).
Jul 8, 2024 • 1h 15min
#294 Sunny, Spent, and The Turkish Detective
Most films and TV shows are shot entirely out of sequence, so we went full Method on this week’s podcast and decided to record the entire show out of sequence to see what it’s like (and because we had an appointment with Rapman, but that’s another story). The result? Anarchy. And possibly madness. Still, amidst the carnage, the discussion of a Pilot OnlyFans, and the cancellation of another of James’ beloved shows, we still found time to tackle Apple’s darkly comedic robot drama Sunny, and two BBC2 shows: Michelle de Swarte’s Spent and Istanbul set police drama The Turkish Detective.
Jul 1, 2024 • 1h 30min
#293 My Lady Jane, The Bear, and A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. With guests Rob Brydon and Anna Chancellor
We may not have been able to cover The Bear last week but fear not, because our food order arrived in time for this week’s show and our take on The Bear’s third season is finally ready to go. Plus, not only do we fall under the spell of Prime Video’s My Lady Jane, but stars Rob Brydon and Anna Chancellor stop by to share parenting tips from this anachronistic alternate history. Not enough? A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder lands on iPlayer and speaking of murder, we manage to do exactly that to this week’s listener question.
Jun 24, 2024 • 1h 25min
#292 Douglas Is Cancelled, and Land Of Women. With guest Rapman
We may not be able to review Netflix’s Supacell until the next Pilot+ but that didn’t stop the show’s creator, Rapman, from dropping by to talk all about his Black superhero saga. And while we’re talking about things we couldn’t review, there’s a whole debacle about The Bear (a Bearbacle?) that plays out this week, so if you’re joining us to find out what Carmy and the gang have been up to, you may be disappointed. We do join Hugh Bonneville for Douglas Is Cancelled, however, and head off to Spain with Eva Longoria for Land Of Women. So there’s that, at least.
Jun 17, 2024 • 1h 23min
#291 We Were The Lucky Ones, Peacock, and Beacon 23. With guests Matt Smith and Fabien Frankel
We’re dancing with dragons on this weeks shows as two of the stars of House Of The Dragon join us on the show: Matt Smith and Fabien Frankel. Plus, we take a look at WWII family drama We Were The Lucky Ones on Disney+, renew our gym membership with the second series of Peacock on BBC3, and head out into space with Lena Headey for the arrival of space lighthouse sci-fi series Beacon 23, which arrives on Disney+. All that and Boydy, who hosted the screening of the Inside No.9 finale (he may have mentioned it) provides his definitive list of the best nine episodes of the show.
