Pilot TV

TV legend Russell T. Davies joins us on the show this week to talk Nolly, his new three-part drama, which stars Helena Bonham Carter as Crossroads star Noelle Gordon (and there may be a few Doctor Who nuggets in that conversation as well). Plus Joe Cornish is here to chat all things Lockwood & Co, his new supernatural series on Netflix (which we reviewed on Pilot+ last week). All that and we look at Apple's interconnected drama Dear Edward, watch the second series of Paramount's Your Honor, and Empire's Chris Hewitt crashes the studio and manages to derail the first 20 minutes of the show. Sorry.

Welcome, folks, to a most extraordinary podcast (in association with Disney+). A podcast in which Team Empire and Team Pilot TV get together to discuss the extraordinary Extraordinary, the brand-new sitcom that is now streaming on Disney+. Created and written by Emma Moran, Extraordinary is set in a world where everyone develops a superpower after they turn 18. Everyone, that is, except for Jen (Mairead Tyers), who is approaching 25 and is still fumbling for direction and meaning and purpose. Beautifully observed and very, very funny, it's already been renewed for a second season, and in this very special crossover event, Chris Hewitt, James Dyer and Kay Ribeiro (pronounced Ru-bear-oh) get together to wax lyrical about the show, discuss which superpowers they'd like to have, and much more. But that's not all! (Told you this was an extraordinary podcast...) There are also two interviews with the show's star players -- first, an uproarious, hilarious and frankly chaotic interview in which Chris sits down with the show's stars, Mairead Tyers, Sofia Oxenham, Bilal Hasna, and Luke Rollason; and then a more considered chat with Emma Moran. Do please extra-enjoy.

This week Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence deliver the anti-Ted Lasso in Apple's Shrinking (which stars actual Harrison Ford), plus we find ourselves pleasantly surprised by new Disney+ original series Extraordinary, and swap Lupin for lupine in Paramount+ supernatural series Wolf Pack. Plus the team tackle questions around the tragic demise of physical media and there's a surprising amount of chat about '90s Europopsters Snap

Kumail Nanjiani joins us on this week's show to explain the nature of comedy to James, plus Parminder Nagra stops by to discuss ITV's now back-to-work series, Maternity with Kay. Elsewhere, we go traipsing through the woods with Harry Treadaway in Chemistry Of Death, and are FINALLY able to talk about The Last Of Us, which James has already declared to be the show of 2023. There's also some Golden Globes chat, some musings on shows we'd like to have our memories erased to re-watch and much excitement that it all appears to be kicking off in Carnival Row season 2.

It may be January but we're stripping off alongside Kumail Nanjiani this week in Welcome To Chippendales on Disney+, watching an early contender for most utterly batshit show of the year with The Reunion on ITVX, and finding the lighter side of undeath with Reginald The Vampire on Sky Sci-Fi. Plus, we talk about some of TV's best character actors, bemoan Netflix's axe-swinging killing spree, and announce the launch of our all-new, very exciting SECOND podcast: the imaginatively named, Pilot TV+.

2022 is DONE! Well, nearly. And, in place of our regular show this week we bring you our official postmortem of the year that was, packed with our personal picks, our favourite episodes, a look at what we're excited about in 2023 and a bunch of year-related questions from you, our long-suffering listeners. But that's not all, because we also run though our final, canonical, completely unanimous and in no way divisive list of Pilot TV's best shows of 2022, and welcome a pair of very special guests from two of those shows, specifically The White Lotus' Will Sharpe and Andor's Denise Gough. Happy New Year one and all! See you in 2023.

Merry Christmas one and all! It's our last (regular) show of 2022 and, to celebrate, we have our very own Christmas elf on the show — specifically Fjall from The Witcher: Blood Origin aka Laurence O'Fuarain. And not only do we find said Witcher spinoff in our Christmas stockings this year, but we're also going full Wagatha Christie with Channel 4's Hardy v Rooney, and getting the greatest gift of all: the return of Sally Wainwright's Happy Valley, which comes back after a SEVEN year absence. But it's not all celebration on this week's show, for we are compelled to bid a fond farewell to one of our own as one member of the team heads off to pastures new (with arms full of presents, naturally).

It's been two years since His Dark Materials last graced our screens but the Philip Pullman adaptation returns this week with the third and final instalment, and we have star Amir Wilson on the show to talk Daemons, dimension-hopping and waging war on heaven. Plus, we see if National Treasure: Edge of History can live up to the movies’ legacy, and watch David Tenant re-enact a political assassination in Litvinenko on ITVX. Oh and it’s Boyd’s birthday as well. All together now: “For he’s a jolly good fellow…”

Strike is Back! Which is excellent news, but more excellent by far is that both Strike and Robin (street names Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger) are on the show this week to talk about it. Plus Guy Pearce is also around to chat A Spy Among Friends, which marks the launch of ITVX, a streaming service that also brings us Tell Me Everything, enabling us to get in touch with our inner Gen Z. Plus we delight in (or endure) a little country music (depending on taste) in George & Tammy on Paramount+, and we get back in touch with our European brethren as the Dutch take our pronunciation to task, and the Spanish take issue with us perpetuating falsehoods about their accent. It's been quite a week!

You've got to give Apple's Slow Horses one thing, it's anything but slow. The brilliant espionage drama returns for its second season in one year this week and we have stars Gary Oldman and Saskia Reeves on hand to talk all about it. Elsewhere, we're undertaking some unconventional therapy with Steve Carrel in The Patient, experiencing some even more unconventional living arrangements with Jessica Brown Findlay in The Flatshare, and solving snowy crimes in Canada with Alfred Molina in Three Pines. All that and Beth's toothbrush issue is vindicated, we take a detour on accents and there's even more Andor appreciation (sorry).