Radio 1's Screen Time

WandaVision, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first foray into the world of movie-stars-in-their-own-Disney+-TV-show, stars Paul Bettany as Vision and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, and it's finally - finally! - here. In this Sunday interview special of Screen Time we have Paul and his director, Matt Shakman, talking about the origins of the show as well as the character of Vision himself in all his purple, cowled, flying, phasing, superintelligent glory.

Confession time: Ali Plumb's Film Club is, for one week only, a TV club. About a TV show that's based on a film series, sure - that's The Mandalorian, in case you were wondering - but it's worth admitting the discrepancy early doors. We've also got the news section, discussing tonnes of MCU news, as well as release date changes and what is going on (ish) over in New Zealand for that Lord Of The Rings show.

Dickinson, the historical comedy-drama based around the life and times of the beloved 19th century American poet, returns for a second season on AppleTV+, and with it - of course - Hailee Steinfeld, its star. In this interview you'll hear about some of the more surreal moments from the show - dancing with bees and so on - as Ali and Hailee discuss a comedy-drama that is truly like no other. Oh, and they ever find time to explain exactly who Emily Dickinson is, just in case you missed that lesson in English class.

Radio 1's Screen Time is back back back for 2021 and you'll be pleased to hear that Ali Plumb's Film Club is going nowhere, no sir or madam. This week friend of the podcast Arielle Free returns to talk about Pixar's latest, Soul, and as it's about, well, the meaning of existence, there's SO MUCH TO SAY - so this film club could well be a record-breaking length. Then there's a very brief news section, as well as a whole bunch of different movie and TV recommendations on top of the answer to the question you've only now started wondering: what film franchise would take the longest to watch, if you watched all the movies back-to-back? Yep. The research was done, and it was exhausting.

Jenna Coleman is best known for her work on Emmerdale, Doctor Who and Victoria but she's soon to be seen in something distinctly different: BBC One's serial killer true-crime drama The Serpent, where she plays the seemingly complicit other half to the infamous 'Bikini Killer' Charles Sobhraj (played by A Prophet's Tahar Rahim) in the 1970s. In this audio version of her Story So Far interview, she talks about shooting in Thailand, mastering the Quebecois accent and what mementos she managed to sneak home from inside the TARDIS...

After two seasons on YouTube, Karate Kid TV follow-up Cobra Kai was snapped up by Netflix and now, at long last, a third instalment is here. It tells the continuing stories of one-time teenage rivals Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and well as a host of their young students, including Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and Hawk himself, played by Jacob Bertrand. They all spoke to Ali through the magic of the internet to talk about the show's sudden huge success and what it's like to have strangers in the street wanting to show off their karate moves.

Ali has his feet up watching a Christmas Movie (who woulda guessed!) So no news or reviews this week. However look out for some great interview special podcasts coming up in the next week, including the cast of Cobra Kai and the brilliant Jenna Coleman talking about her role in the upcoming BBC drama The Serpent.

This year, we've had two Pixar movies. One was Onward, which came out in cinemas back in March and the second is Soul, which is forgoing cinemas and instead opting for a Disney+ release on Christmas day. Talking us through how they made this incredible music-cum-meaning-of-life movie about a middle school band teacher (Jamie Foxx), his unfortunate accident and trip to "the great before" (where he meets lsot soul Tina Fey) are producer Dana Murray, director Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) and the fantastic Mr. Foxx himself.

So here it is, merry Christmas - nearly, anyway - and everybody's watching tonnes of festive films. One on everyone's list is Love Actually, 2003's star-studded Christmassy chocolate box movie from Richard Curtis. In this very special episode, the man himself, the writer-director behind it all, drops by to talk about the movie and a new Comic Relief quiz they've put together. Plus Lucy Ford's back for bonus Love Actually fun, and there's the news section as well, which while not quite as whopping as last week's still has plenty of treats in store.

Wonder Woman 1984 finally hits cinemas here in the UK on the 16th of December, significantly earlier than in the US, where it'll land over Christmas. Here in this interview special all about the DC Comics sequel, you'll hear from its lead, Gal Gadot, about her brand new golden set of winged armour, shooting some extraordinary action set-pieces (in London, some of the time) and - believe it or not - what her favourite British food is. Plus, there's the amazing Pedro Pascal and director Patty Jenkins also on board, so there's loads to enjoy on this Sunday interview special, promise.