Pilot TV

Murder is the name of the game this week, as the gang try to decide which fictional TV detectives they'd like to unpick their own sticky ends, plus there's a disproportionate amount of public transport discussion (sorry). Elsewhere we're in the kitchen for the TV sequel to 2021 movie Boiling Point on BBC1, exploring true crime murders in Yorkshire via The Long Shadow on ITV1, and returning to a life of crime with the latest series of Brassic on Sky.

We bid a fond farewell to Laurie Nunn's Sex Education on Netflix this week as Otis, Maeve, Eric and the gang depart Moordale for good. But as some things go, others arrive and Nabhaan and Mawaan Rizwan's Juice launches on the BBC, and insomniac comedy Still Up makes its debut on Apple TV+.Elsewhere Boyd and James have a screener-off, Kay fails to choose an original song and battle lines are drawn for the next Cultural Exchange.

Emma Appleton joins the show discussing Paramount+'s The Killing Kind. Talks about Wilderness, Welcome to Wrexham, and Domina. Highlights the process of adapting a book to a TV show. Explores gaslighting and unhealthy relationships in a TV show. Discusses the impact of Welcome to Wrexham on the club and community.

Actress Rosamund Pike joins the podcast to talk about The Wheel Of Time Season 2, while Johnny Flynn discusses The Lover. The hosts also rank the best reality shows and discuss Apple's The Changeling. Other topics include masterclasses with top TV creators, reality shows in fictional TV worlds, and the challenges of filming during COVID.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.