Pilot TV

This week’s show sees us pick up some of last week’s biggies with Tony Schumacher’s heist drama The Cage on BBC1 (1:38:54), Gemma Arterton-starring spy show Secret Service on ITV (1:14:57), and the second series of Amandaland, which also lands on the Beeb (1:26:27). Plus uber-screenwriter Jack Thorne chats through his craft with James (43:21-1:06:26), and we take a look at the evolution of small s...

Is it us or is it getting hot in here? No, it really is but only because Steph has been messing with the air conditioning in the studio (true). Luckily, this didn’t both Richard Gadd, who joins us on this week’s show to talk becoming a beefcake and scaring the shit out of Jamie Bell in his Baby Reindeer follow-up Half Man on BBC1 (58:36-1:10:02). But that’s not all, because the team also investiga...

Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo are on this week’s pod to talk Criminal Record season 2 on Apple TV, which we also review even though James wanted us to wait until he gets back from holiday next week because he’s watched the whole thing already. We also review Beef and Mint. That’s not a new cookery show. They’re two separate programmes, one called Beef and one called Mint.

Euphoria makes its long-awaited return to our screens this week, after a four year hiatus. But can it possibly meet Boyd’s lofty expectations when it lands on Sky/HBO Max (47:06)? And speaking of Sky, Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks’ size-shifting comedy The Miniature Wife also lands on that platform (1:01:04), and hit comedy Big Mood returns for another run on Channel 4 (1:11:05). Plus, we...

Guests abound once more this week as both Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa chat The Pitt with James (1:04:12-1:17:45), while Hughs Bonneville and Skinner recount their experiences making 2026 with Boyd (22:46-23:40). Meanwhile, we’re back in Gilead this week for The Testaments on Disney+ (1:17:45), finding out is Simu Liu can hack it as a spy in The Copenhagen Test on Channel 4 (1:36:53), and reunit...

This weeks show not only sees the wonderful Elisabeth Moss come in to the Pilot studio to natter with James, Boyd and (especially) Steph about Imperfect Women (7:29-33:33), but we also speak to Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King about the triumphant return of The Comeback (1:14:31-1:28:20). Meanwhile, this week’s show include BBC1’s Babies — strap in for this one — (1:37:46) Sky’s The ‘Burb...

It’s quite the week this week as we go full Scandi noir with Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole on Netflix (1:10:20), adapting the author’s insanely popular Norwegian crime novels. Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed is exploring the life of a struggling actor in Bait on Prime Video (57:50), and after a year of waiting patiently, we FINALLY get to see The Pitt land on our tellys (1:26:41) as HBO Max makes its UK debut. A...

It’s our (belated) International Women’s Day episode this week, with a trio of female fronted shows to tackle, from Imperfect Women on Apple (1:13:41), to A Woman Of Substance on Channel 4 (1:27:20), and The Other Bennet Sister on BBC1 (1:41:16) — for which we also speak to Ruth Jones and Ella Bruccoleri (39:58-58:06). Plus last week’s bum banter is swapped out for an array of dog discussion as we...

We have a Russell double bill this week as both Kurt and Wyatt join us on the pod to chat Monarch season 2 on Apple TV (33:38-54:47). Elsewhere, we’re getting in trouble on campus both with Steve Carrell in Rooster on Sky Comedy (1:03:47) and with David Morrissey in Gone on ITV1 (1:28:19). All that and BBC1’s The Capture makes a triumphant return to our screens for series 3 (1:17:41), plus we asse...

Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin are our guests this week (42:50-55:12), chatting all things Vanished on Prime video. Plus, Steph gives her crime show recommendations for all you sofa sleuths, and we tackle this week’s trio of new (unembargoed) shows. Specifically… the latest addition to the Yellowstoniverse, Marshals, on Paramount+ (1:05:24), teenage Holmes saga Young Sherlock on Prime (1:15:31), and...

We may not have been able to review The Last Thing He Told Me last week but to address that injustice, Jennifer Garner popped into the Pilot TV studio this week to talk all about that show’s second season with Boydy (30:07-40:17). Elsewhere, we catch up with the latest events in Paradise on Disney+ (51:22), find out why Sam Claflin has gone missing, along with Kaley Cuoco in Vanished on Prime Vide...

Kay returns to the regular pod this week and (purely by coincidence) Nothing goes quite to plan as our intent to review The Last Thing He Told Me is thwarted by an inconvenient embargo. However, that’s okay because we manage to sub Bridgerton season 4 in as a last minute replacement. Elsewhere, we take a look at BBC1’s Marian Keyes adaptation The Walsh Sisters, and see what Gabriel Basso is up to...

Dad core reigns this week as we head over to Prime video for season 2 of Cross (55:24), then pivot to ITV for MI5 thriller Betrayal (1:06:55). Plus we peer into the psyche of Mackenzie Crook for his quirky new homunculus comedy Small Prophets (1:17:49). Meanwhile, Boyd beams in live from Santa Monica to give us a full rundown of Apple’s 2026 slate. And, if you’ve ever wondered where a good place t...

It’s a slow week on the box but don’t let that put you off as we take the opportunity to fill some important gaps in our 2026 watch list, finally reviewing Waiting For The Out on BBC1 (55:16), catching up with batty crime thriller His And Hers on Netflix (1:07:12) and exploring just why Silent Witness has become such a phenomenon as it launches into its 29th year (1:19:53). Plus, if you didn’t thi...

We have ALL the guests on this week’s show, including [deep breath] Ashton Kutcher, Jeremy Pope, Anthony Ramos, Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall, Kelly Reilly and Rafe Spall (31:40-50:19 and 1:23:58-1:36:53). But not all at once. Elsewhere, we come to the rescue of new Pilot listener Mel and do a deep dive on lesser-known TV comedies (or not, the jury’s still out on a lot of them), plus we get fully supe...

Hijack star and showrunner Idris Elba and Jim Field Smith are our guests this week, but they’re only the second most exciting additions to our line-up as this marks Steph’s debut as an official co-Pilot (if you don’t count last week’s Pilot+!). We try to ease her in gently with the latest Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms on Sky Atlantic (1:10:55), the latest season of Apple’...

We kick off the new year (for us, that is, you of course had a podcast last week) with a bevvy of guests on the show, corralling Industry showrunners Konrad Kay and Mickey Down (28:09-43:56) as well as Dawn French and Mark Heap (57:57-1:09:30), whose show Can You Keep A Secret is now showing on BBC1. Hijack gets its second outing on Apple TV this week (1:09:30), while Industry returns to the Beeb...

Merry New Year! Yes, it’s 2026 and — after years of hectoring from Boyd — we have a New Year episode of Pilot TV for your listening pleasure (one that may or may not have been recorded before we broke for Christmas). We tackle all the big New Year’s Day shows this episode, from Tom Hiddleston’s return (10 years later) to the role of Jonathan Pine in The Night Manager’s long awaited secon...

That’s all folks, 2025 is done and dusted. But you didn’t think we’d leave you all to see in the new year without a big old Pilot TV retrospective, did you? James, Boyd and Kay unveil the official Pilot TV Best Shows of 2025 list and go through it in forensic detail here, while also flagging any number of other shows you might have missed over the course of the past 12 months. We even open a speci...

Paul Bettany and Will Sharpe don their frock coats for Amadeus on Sky and we speak to both of them on this week’s show as they chat all things Mozart with Boyd. Plus we wrap up a festive haul of shows for under your Christmas tree, taking a look at Mart Gatiss’ latest Ghost Story For Christmas, The Room in The Tower on BBC2, getting drawn into the sweedy underbelly of Texan high society in The Hun...

They all float down here. Now that It: Welcome To Derry, the prequel to Andy Muschietti's It Chapter One and It Chapter Two, has finished its eight-episode run, the Empire Podcast has teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring you a special episode in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer conquer their fears of clowns, spiders, and spider-clowns just long enough to talk about the Andy Muschie...

We’re exacting righteous vengeance on love rat exes (not that Love Rat) in The Revenge Club on Paramount+ this week, and star Martin Compston joins us on the show for a chat about it as well. Elsewhere, Amadeus makes its debut on Sky Atlantic, pitting Mozart vs Salieri in a piano-off for the ages. Plus we cover Imposter (possibly THE Imposter, it’s still unclear) on Channel 5. James was thrilled....

On this week’s podcast you’ll be devastated to hear that we are unable to review Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era, however don’t switch off, because we do manage to rustle up some alternatives. Dark Winds makes its return to U&Alibi (43:45)and includes what is arguably the best meta joke of the year, Percy Jackson is back, causing trouble for the gods once again in Percy Jackson And The Olympia...

The wait is over! Well, sort of, because Stranger Things returns to Netflix this week for the first part of its final season to whet our collective appetites for the final assault on the Upside Down at the end of the year (44:50). Plus the Notorious RTD is back with his latest spin-off to the Whoiverse, setting Russell Tovey on a collision course with Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Sea Devil spectacular The W...

There are chocolates in the studio this week — albeit ones that were initially destined for our editor Darren, but let’s gloss over that, shall we? In addition to raising our blood sugar levels while doing this week’s show, we take a look at the harrowing true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in Iran with Prisoner 951 on BBC1 (43:45), see if Sherlock’s assistant can make it w...