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The writer-director Billy Wilder was responsible for some of the most unforgettable stories in cinema history, from Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, to Some Like It Hot and The Apartment. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate his extraordinary career and ask - what was the Wilder touch? Born in Sucha, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1906, Wilder began his career as a jour...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the ubiquity of the care-experienced person (someone fostered, adopted, or in a children's home) on screen, from Superman to Annie. What can we learn from film and TV about the experience of care and the care system for young people? Ellen speaks to poet, broadcaster and lifelong film fan Lemn Sissay, who grew up in the care system, about some of his favou...

Ellen and Mark investigate the relationship between graphic novels and film, asking if the graphic novel is an inherently cinematic artform. Mark talks to critic and lifelong comics fan, Kambole Campbell about the history of comics and graphic novels on the silver screen. Mark then speaks to graphic novelist, Joff Winterhart, about his 2012 graphic novel Days of The Bagnold Summer, and its 2019 fi...

As movie megastar Tom Cruise returns to our screens, and the world awaits the revelation of the next James Bond, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode examine the evolution of the leading man. Critic and broadcaster Christina Newland talks to Mark about the changing face of the Hollywood heartthrob, from the silent era's 'Latin lover’, Rudolph Valentino, to contemporary stars Timothée Chalamet, Michael B...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode consider the role of natural history film and TV today.  Ellen speaks to the wildlife cinematographer, Sophie Darlington ASC who has spent decades recording wildlife for primetime documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic, Netflix and beyond. Meanwhile, Mark talks to Ed Sayers, director of recent feature film Super Nature, a global love letter to the natural wor...

From Butch and Sundance to Maverick and Goose, Woody and Buzz to Frodo and Sam, male friendships have long been at the heart of many of our favourite screen stories.  But in recent years, stories about male friendship seem to have taken on new significance. They’ve become a way of exploring emotional vulnerability and what it means to be a man in an era shaped by debates around the manosphere, tox...

Screenshot makes contact with film and TV’s enduring fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial life, from the Cold War paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the quietly unsettling recent TV series Pluribus. Mark speaks to film critic Kim Newman about the history of aliens onscreen, from their arrival in 50s B Movies to The X-Files. Ellen then talks to director John Sayles about his 80s fi...

On the 40th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at films that confine their action to a single day (and occasionally, night). From the high-stakes urban odyssey of Martin Scorsese's After Hours to the quiet contemplation of Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7, what difference does a day make to cinema? Ellen talks to screenwriter and novelist David Nicholls, who...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode revisit the decade that transformed Britain’s image around the world, focusing on how film and TV captured - and helped shape - the spirit of Swinging London, from Blow-Up to Alfie. Mark speaks to the "Face of 1966", model and fashion icon Twiggy, about what she was watching as the sixties started to swing - and how closely the films of the era reflected the world sh...

As the world’s longest-running prime time TV medical drama Casualty turns 40, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the small screen’s long love affair with hospitals. Mark speaks to media academic Dr Hannah Hamad about the evolution of the hospital drama, from the reassuring bedside manner of 1950s and 60s series like Dr Kildare and Emergency Ward 10, to the relentless intensity of American hits...

From Disney classics such as Cinderella and Snow White, to the fantastical The Red Shoes, darker tales from European cinema like Bluebeard or Pan's Labyrinth, or stories within stories such as The Princess Bride or The Fall - Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the magical spell fairy tales have continued to cast over cinema history. Featuring interviews with director Julia Jackman, Tarsem Sing...

The anarchic comedian, writer and filmmaker Mel Brooks turns 100 years old this June. Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Brooks has turned cinematic satire into an art form, through razor-sharp spoofs like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs. But while these films are now acclaimed as all-time comedy classics, the broader genre of the spoof has often struggled for res...

Screenshot marks the 25th anniversary of the whimsical romantic comedy about a shy Parisian waitress trying very hard to improve the lives of those around her. Why does Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film continue to enchant audiences a quarter of a century on? And how did Amélie embody the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’? Mark speaks to the director himself, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, to explore the films legacy and rev...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode head back to class to learn how teachers have been depicted on screen, from Goodbye, Mr Chips to Adolescence. What can film and television teach us, if anything, about what it takes to be a good teacher? Mark speaks to east London-based teacher and film critic Charlotte Harrison about the enduring appeal of inspirational mentor figures in cinema, from Sidney Poitier...

Screenshot lays bare the long, often controversial history of nakedness in film and TV, from shocking and titillating moments, to those that reveal deeper truths about our bodies, vulnerabilities and desires. Mark speaks to film critic Pamela Hutchinson about the history of nudity throughout film history. They discuss some of cinema's most notable and shocking films as well as how changing attitud...

Ellen and Mark step into the ring to explore cinema's most heavyweight genre, fifty years on from Sylvester Stallone's smash-hit film Rocky. What is it about the boxing movie that makes it not just a sports movie, but a genre of its very own? Critic Christina Newland gives Mark a punchy rundown of how boxing movies throughout history - from Body And Soul to Raging Bull - have tackled themes of rac...

Alexander Graham Bell made the first ever telephone call 150 years ago this spring. That single moment of connection would transform communication - and provide storytellers with a rich device for drama, comedy, intimacy and tension. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode trace the history of the phone on screen, and examine how the movies have handled the thorny problem of the smartphone. Mark speaks to...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode swap film reels for fishing reels, to ponder why fishing onscreen has got us hooked. The net is cast wide to consider everything from industrial scale fleets showcased in films like The Perfect Storm and long running series, Deadliest Catch, to more leisurely endeavours like The River Runs Through It, and the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. With guests,...

As a new adaptation of Emily Bronte's Yorkshire-set novel Wuthering Heights hits cinemas, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at how the area known as God's Own Country has been depicted in film and television. Mark speaks to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker about his love for the 1969 Ken Loach film Kes, and about why the city of Sheffield was the perfect setting for the post-apocalyptic TV drama Thre...

For more than six decades, in the face of censorship and even imprisonment, Iranian filmmakers have produced some of the world’s best-loved cinema. And now, with the legendary Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s latest film It Was Just An Accident up for Oscar and BAFTA Awards, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode review this extraordinarily rich and unique cinema history. Mark speaks to the British-Iranian...

From Norma Desmond to Mrs Robinson, the older woman has long been a provocative icon of cinema. And older woman-younger man relationships are still raising eyebrows and garnering headlines, thanks to recent films like Babygirl, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Marty Supreme. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at what happens when the woman is older in an age gap relationship, and ask - why is...

Whether marooned on a desert island or stranded by a plane crash, countless stories of survival are found onscreen. In both dramatic reimagining and reality television formats, these narratives showcase ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. But why are these feats of human endurance so compelling to watch? Ellen E Jones speaks to Ray Mears, wilderness guide, bushcraft expert, and broadca...

Fifty years on from the release of the film Carrie, directed by Brian DePalma and based on the first novel by Stephen King, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at King adaptations on screen, from The Shawshank Redemption to The Shining. Why is the work of the modern horror maestro so often adapted? And what is the best ever Stephen King adaptation? Ellen hears from US critic and writer Maitland Mc...

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at one of the most beloved screen genres of them all - the courtroom drama. From classics like 12 Angry Men and A Few Good Men, to modern examples such as Saint Omer and Anatomy Of A Fall  - what are the tricks and tropes of trials in cinema and TV? Mark speaks to film critic and programmer, Christina Newland, about the history of the genre. They discuss everyth...

2025 marks 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, the English writer whose finely tuned observations of Regency life shaped the modern novel. But perhaps more notably for Screenshot, it’s also 30 years since Colin Firth walked out of a lake and straight into the nation’s hearts, in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice miniseries. Three decades on from the ‘Austenmania’ of 1995, Ellen E Jones and Mark...