Pilot TV

This week's show sees us disappear down the rabbit hole of the BBC’s recently published list of the 100 greatest TV shows of the 21st century, poring over both their rundown (which all three of us contributed to) and each of our individual lists, which the Beeb was good enough to publicly name and shame us with. Not only that, though, but we’re banging on about Squid Game *yet again*, in this instance taking the show’s English dub to task and asking some key questions about its rather baffling age rating. All of that is just the amuse bouche for the main course, however, which sees us experience Apple TV+’s Invasion, ITV’s Devon-set murder mystery The Long Call, and Stephen Merchant’s new comedy The Outlaws on BBC1.

After a two-year break, Succession is finally back on our screens this week and what better way to mark the occasion than with a dedicated Pilot TV Succession special? James, Boyd, Beth and Nick sit down to chew over the phenomenon that is Jesse Armstrong’s backstabbing masterpiece, discussing everything from the secrets of the show’s success, to the writing, the best episodes for newcomers and, naturally, which Roys each of them identify with the most. But that’s not all, because we are joined on the show by no less than five members of the cast — Brian Cox, Matthew Macfadyen, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck, and J. Smith-Cameron — each of whom give their takes on the show and give us a little insight as to what we might expect from them in the future. *Contains discussion of some plot points from Seasons 1 and 2 but no spoilers for Season 3.*

Ben Aldridge, joins us on the show this week (41:52-1:00:00) to talk about having one of the most excellent IMDb credits as Fleabag's 'Arsehole Guy', as well as his new ITV series, The Long Call. We then struggle through the rest of the podcast recording with James in a rather fragile state, as we get down with the Roys in season 3 of Succession on Sky, re-litigate Bill Clinton's extra-marital rumblings along with Ryan Murphy in Impeachment: American Crime Story on BBC2, and try to work out what the hell is going on in the second series of Locke & Key on Netflix. Plus you get to find out what 'Pika-Blinders' is (sort of), hear our pitches for TV show spin-offs, get a blow-by-blow account of the random, Ryan Murphy-inspired hotel James was forced to crash in last night, and learn all about Beth's interpretative Succession dance (TikTok to follow, we very much hope).

There was no getting around it, we needed to talk about Ted this week, prompting a 15 minute discussion of the recent Ted Lasso finale and whether the Season 2 as a whole was full of buttery goodness or just a salty bitch (if you've not yet seen it, avoid 3:45-19:19). Elsewhere, we seek some marital advice from Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac in Scenes From A Marriage on Sky Atlantic, do the absolute opposite with Penn Badgley in Netflix's You, and follow Robert Carlisle as he tries to steer the UK away from disaster in Sky Max's Cobra: Cyberwar. Plus James attempts to lecture Beth on House Of The Dragon (she has none of it), we muse over the prospect of dish-free Sky, and Beth recounts her experience of Squid Game.

It's an ITV double bill this week as we bask in the golden glow of Sunday evening feels with The Larkins, before shifting tonal gears entirely for Joanne Froggatt's domestic abuse thriller, Angela Black. Then we head up into the big black for Disney's astronaut documentary, Among The Stars, and James gets saddled with some extra homework as Boyd and Beth decide he needs to watch something out of his comfort zone as retribution for #StarTrekForBeth. Plus we talk about the wisdom of Steve Coogan playing Jimmy Savile, Larry David's bald head, and the prospect of Babylon 5 getting rebooted.

On this week's show we have a story that slowly unfolds over a thousand years... we also talk about Foundation. While the runtime for this week's episode is undeniably immense (sorry!), we did have good reason because the delightful Sophie Petzal joins us a guest co-host, ostensibly to talk about her new show Hollington Drive but more accurately to debate the merits of Star Trek: Voyager, call out our anti-animation bias, shed light on the secrets of great screenwriting, and speculate about sex with fairies. PLUS, we have Empire himself, Mr Lee Pace, on the show to talk about Apple's new sweeping sci-fi series Foundation and we take a look at sixties fascism in Ridley Road on BBC1. All that and we even recorded an emergency drop-in section so we could dissect all things 'Tadum' and talk about Netflix's big announcements, plus Boyd had FEELINGS about Russell T Davies returning to Doctor Who. It may take you half a day to get through this episode but trust us when we tell you that it's worth listening to every minute.

Y: The Last Man showrunner Eliza Clark and star Ashley Romans join us on this week's show as we enter a world without men in that apocalyptic drama on Star. Plus we get the bejesus scared out of us by horror maestro Mike Flanagan as he returns with Midnight Mass, and finally get to talk about the second season of The Morning Show. Elsewhere in the show, we talk (and occasionally scream and shout) about the winners and losers at last night's Emmys, and reel off our lists of shame by confessing to the various shows we've been meaning to watch since time immemorial but just haven't got around to yet. All that and you also get to find out which Star Treks we plan to inflict upon Beth in #StarTrekForBeth.

The wonderful Julianna Margulies joins the cast of The Morning Show for season 2, and Pilot TV for episode 159, dropping by this week's show to chat all things TMS and how it feels to be reunited with Jennifer Aniston, with whom she exploded onto network television at exactly the same time and on the very same lot. Plus James, Beth and Boyd take to task people who still think films are better than television, try to navigate streaming subscription priorities, and still find the time to review Netflix's Sex Education, Channel 4's Help and Sky's Young Rock. All that and Beth foolishly opens the door to a galaxy of possibilities by teeing herself up for an inaugural Star Trek experience, which YOU can help organise #startrekforbeth.

The entirely fabulous Amanda Abbington joins the team for this week's show as a special guest host, discussing everything from Sherlock and her new show Wolfe to parenting tarantulas and the horrors of forgetting lines on stage. Plus we run through the annals of great televisual wordsmiths to assemble our picks for the greatest living screenwriters, pull on the latex for Ryan Murphy's American Horror Stories, and go whaling with Stephen Graham in The North Water on BBC2.

After 151 episodes, it was the end of an era for the Pilot TV podcast this week, as the third leg in our triumvirate of bellends, the legend that is Terri White, bid the show a fond farewell and signed off for the very last time. To mark the occasion we did make the somewhat dubious decision to stream the episode live online (you can find it on the Empire Magazine YouTube channel) and, miraculously, nothing went wrong! In addition to giving Terri the send off she so richly deserved, we let you, the listeners, bombard her with questions, a few of Boyd's celebrity friends sent in their own parting thoughts, and James gave her one final serenade on the guitar. All that and we still found time to review Stephen on ITV, Series 2 of Back To Life on the BBC and Only Murders In The Building On Star.