Pilot TV Podcast Empire Magazine

Martin Freeman and Tony Schumacher — the star and creator respectively — join us this week to chat The Responder, which returns for its second series. Plus, we investigate some Tudor crimes with Shardlake and some cold war espionage with Spy/Master. None of which can prepare you for what Boyd’s been watching this week, which not only sees a surprise sprint for the finish line with a show he’d been behind on, but a rather unexpected ‘factual’ show, that dovetails with this week’s listener question to see a podcast far more concerned about measurements than it has any right to be.

Big ‘Dris himself joins us on the show this week, talking to Kay about Sonic spin-off Knuckles, which comes to Paramount+. Elsewhere, we’re back on the Baby Reindeer beat again this week, seeing as we made such a shambolic show of reviewing it on last episode (in fairness, it wasn’t entirely our fault), and now that everyone’s talking about it, we though it only fair to give it a proper viewing. Plus we revisit The Big Door Prize on Apple, and head off to hang out with the druids in The Red King on Alibi.

Walton Goggins and Lesley Sharp join us on this week’s show. Not together, of course, because the former is with us to chat Ghoul life in Prime Video’s Fallout and the latter is here in her capacity as head of MI5 in ITV’s Red-Eye. And speaking of Red-Eye, we review that show, which sees Richard Armitage on the flight from hell, as well as Glaswegian BBC comedy Dinosaur and the return of Belfast police drama Blue Lights, also on the Beeb. Plus we record our first proper podcast in the new studio, run through our (somewhat belated) 100 Greatest TV shows list, and dispense with a listener question in record time.

Sometimes we at the Pilot TV podcast are the very embodiment of calm, dignified professionalism. This is not one of those times. An early recording prompts unfettered anarchy this week as the team go full Joanna Page, cover a postbag slot we’ve done before and only half review one of the shows (we had our reasons). But all of that’s okay, becasue Star Trek Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green joins us on the show to talk about her final voyage, plus we watch Kate Winslet become a dictator, Jill Halfpenny turn into the lodger from hell and (almost) see a show about a stalker. Absolute chaos.

Not only do we have a 3 Body Problem Spoiler Special with the showrunners now available over on Pilot TV+, but stars John Bradley and Benedict Wong also drop by this week to chat about the show. Elsewhere, we’re raging over the unjust and unforgivable cancellation of The Lazarus Project (for shame, Sky!), examining this year’s RTS awards, and explore our objects of televisual desire — not to mention reviewing this week’s shows, of which there are FOUR (because who needs to go outside?). Colin Farrell takes the gumshoe beat in Sugar on Apple TV+, Romesh Ranganathan’s back dodging his problems in Avoidance, Star Trek: Discovery takes its final voyage, and Steven Knight’s This Town takes us back to 80s Belfast (and Birmingham).

We’re all about the Bolsheviks this week, as Ewan McGregor returns to our screens for A Gentleman In Moscow on Paramount+ and drops by this podcast to tell us about his Muskovite adventures first hand. Plus, we explore the chaotic life of Nicola Coughlan’s character in Channel 4 comedy Big Mood and catch up with Diane Morgan’s similarly anarchic antics in series 2 of Mandy on BBC2.