Helen O'Hara

Shows

Episodes

  1. Bobby Omelettes And The Dolby Rumbler (ft. guests Alex Cox and Ralph Ineson)

    07/18/2025

    Bobby Omelettes And The Dolby Rumbler (ft. guests Alex Cox and Ralph Ineson)

    Do not adjust your speakers, or your headphones. Yes, Ralph Ineson's voice really is that deep and sonorous. And in this week's Empire Podcast, Chris Hewitt sits down with the actor who plays the planet-eating entity, Galactus, in next week's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and talks about how his voice is his passport. [1:04:38 - 1:20:16 approx] Elsewhere, Chris also has an engrossing chat with Repo Man and Walker director Alex Cox about his days hosting BBC 2's much-missed cinematic gateway, Moviedrome. [30:44 - 44:01 approx] And then Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and John Nugent to discuss Rachel Zegler in Evita at the London Palladium, chat about the week's movie news, review Friendship, Smurfs, and Four Letters Of Love and, in a lengthier than usual listener question section, programme their ultimate music festival of fictional movie bands. Oh, and Chris coins a nickname for a highly-respected and beloved director. Enjoy.

    1h 44m
  2. #465 — Chris Rock, Sigourney Weaver

    05/20/2021

    #465 — Chris Rock, Sigourney Weaver

    Two ruddy legends pay a visit to the good ship HMS Empire Podcast this week, both having a good old natter with Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHewitt) about their new movies. First, Chris Rock talks about switching from comedy to horror with Spiral: From The Book Of Saw, how it was his brainchild, his desire to direct again, and what classic film he'd love to try his hand at next. Then Sigourney Weaver logs onto her iPad and tells Chris all about My New York Year, in which she plays a formidable publisher who forms a touching relationship with a new young staff member, played by Margaret Qualley, her experiences on the forthcoming Avatar sequels, and what it was that compelled her to visit Greenwich back in the day. Meantime, Chris is joined in the virtual booth by Helen O'Hara (@HelenLOHara), James Dyer (@jamescdyer), and Ben Travis (@benstravis) for an episode that takes in a fun bout of The Three Fact Structure, sees them discuss the greatest characters to join a franchise after the first instalment, talk about the week's movie news, from Attack The Block 2 to the latest Knives Out 2 casting announcements, and review Zack Snyder's Army Of The Dead, Spiral: From The Book Of Saw, Billie Piper's Rare Beasts, and My New York Year. They also apologise profusely to Michael Palin. Enjoy. And if you do enjoy, do try to leave us a lovely review and five star rating. Thanks!

    1h 49m
  3. #440 — Lee Child & Andrew Child

    11/13/2020

    #440 — Lee Child & Andrew Child

    This week's Empire Podcast sees one of Chris Hewitt's favourite writers, Lee Child, the man who created Jack Reacher, drop by the virtual podbooth to talk about the 25th Reacher novel, The Sentinel. But he also brings his younger brother, Andrew Grant (now Child), who co-wrote the book, to talk about handing over the reins of Reacher, the Amazon Prime show that's in the works, and much, much more. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, Amon Warmann, and Ben Travis to talk about terrible Irish accents, famous film types with whom the podteam share birthdays, rank the Friday The 13th series in unusual fashion, discuss the week's movie news, and review Steve McQueen's Mangrove, Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy, and the Netflix movies Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story and The Life Ahead. Enjoy.

    1h 58m
  4. #603 — Jeffrey Wright, Sean Durkin & Zac Efron

    02/09/2024

    #603 — Jeffrey Wright, Sean Durkin & Zac Efron

    Another week, another packed episode of the Empire Podcast, and once again we're joined by some cracking guests. First, Jeffrey Wright, the freshly Oscar-nominated star of American Fiction, joins Chris Hewitt to talk about that movie, his working practices, the film's unusual original title, and more. (30:37 - 48:53)Then Alex Godfrey sits down on Zoom with The Iron Claw director, Sean Durkin, and his star Zac Efron, for a chat about wrestling, big arms, and big hearts. (1:08:47 - 1:22:35, approx) And either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent to discuss a whole host of stuff. They talk about the upcoming Empire Podcast tour (Birmingham! Norwich! Sheffield! Dublin! Manchester!), which has just gone on sale now, right some Oscar wrongs for the third and final time, this time tackling Best Director, discuss the week's movie news, including the sad death of Carl Weathers, and review The Iron Claw, Steve McQueen's Occupied City, and Orion And The Dark. Hope to see some of you at our live shows in March. In the meantime, enjoy!

    1h 48m
  5. #480 — Lisa Joy, Simu Liu

    09/02/2021

    #480 — Lisa Joy, Simu Liu

    This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with Simu Liu, the title star of the latest MCU film, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, for a wide-ranging chat (1:18:17.675 - 1:36:05.820) that takes in Liu's time in London as a teen, his prediction for Avengers 20, and a heartfelt tribute to the late Brad Allan, the film's second unit director, who passed away recently. Also this week, we bring you an excerpt (34:12.487 - 48.32.970) from James Dyer's epic spoiler-filled interview with Lisa Joy, the writer-director of Reminiscence. This, you'll be glad to know, is completely spoiler-free. The rest is available only to spoiler special subscribers shameless plug shameless plug. And in the virtual podbooth, Chris and James are joined by Helen O'Hara and, making her full debut on the podcast, Katie Smith-Wong to discuss the greatest movie scenes involving snakes (involuntary shudder), talk about the week's movie news including yet another delay for Top Gun: Maverick, and review Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Annette, and the latest Cinderella. Oh, and with four people in the booth, The Three Fact Structure makes another welcome return. And we ask the biggest question of them all: what are the bottom five MCU films? The answers may shock you. Enjoy.

    2h 1m
  6. #461 — Aubrey Plaza

    04/22/2021

    #461 — Aubrey Plaza

    Aubrey Plaza, arguably the owner of the best deadpan delivery in the business, gets to put her skills to the test on this week's episode of the Empire Podcast, talking to Chris Hewitt about her new film Black Bear, about being interviewed by Adam Sandler, life after Parks And Recreation, and much, much more. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and -- occupying the revolving fourth chair for the first time -- Vanity Fair's Joanna Robinson for a fun episode in which The Three Fact Structure throws up some surprises. They also discuss the greatest spoilers they ever saw whilst visiting the set of a movie, talk about the week's movie news including the trailer for Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, and review Black Bear, Run, and Antebellum. Enjoy.

    1h 56m
  7. #433 — Henry Cavill, Henry Golding

    09/24/2020

    #433 — Henry Cavill, Henry Golding

    We hope you like Henrys, because this week's Empire Podcast brings you not one, but two actors of that name. Hooray! First there's Henry Cavill, who tells Chris Hewitt all about becoming Sherlock Holmes for the fun Netflix caper Enola Holmes, and they talk about some other stuff as well (but not, probably, the stuff you'd expect us to ask him about... oops!). And then, just for good measure, another impossibly charming, improbably handsome British Henry pops onto SquadCast for a chat with Chris. This time it's Henry Golding, star of Monsoon, who has a natter with Chris about vinyl collections, finding your identity, asking your parents uncomfortable truths, and how he'd fare against other contenders for Bond. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, John Nugent, and Amon Warmann for a rambling (even more so than usual) episode that takes in unexpected revelations about the podteam's past lives, discussion of the week's news (including the WandaVision trailer, and the Tom Hardy as Bond rumours), reviews of Enola Holmes, Miss Juneteenth, and Monsoon. And there's much discussion of the perfect egg. Unctuous. Enjoy.

    2h 10m
  8. #425 — Gemma Arterton

    07/30/2020

    #425 — Gemma Arterton

    One of our favourite actors and people, Gemma Arterton, is our guest on the Empire Podcast this week, talking with Chris Hewitt about her new movie, Summerland; how she never fully understands her characters; and her great new working relationship with Summerland writer/director, Jessica Swale, which now has both of them around a virtual keyboard, beavering away on a new script. That's from 31:33.483. Sorry we can't be more precise. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, returning to the rotating fourth chair, Empire's Editor-in-Chief, Terri White, as they exchange film facts that might not even be film facts, discuss the week's movie news including the return of (many) UK cinemas, speculate on the rollercoasters you might find in a theme park dedicated to British cinema, and review Proxima, Summerland, The Fight, The Vigil, and Unhinged. Blimey. It's, as ever, a madhouse. Enter with caution. But once you're inside, do please enjoy.

    1h 44m
  9. #471 — Vince Vaughn & Kathryn Newton

    07/01/2021

    #471 — Vince Vaughn & Kathryn Newton

    On this week's Empire Podcast, it's finally time to get freaky as Christopher Landon's excellent body-swap slasher movie, Freaky, hits UK cinemas. And what better way to celebrate than by listening to Chris Hewitt's chat with that movie's stars, Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, in which they come up with other horror movie mash-ups? Annie Halloween, anyone? Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they talk about their favourite performances in legacy sequels, discuss the week's movie news, from Transformers casting to the start of shooting on the Black Panther sequel, and review Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, Freaky, and The Tomorrow War. And you won't be surprised to learn that they lose the run of themselves over Timothy Olyphant. Again. Enjoy.

    1h 33m
  10. #464 — Mike Rianda, Alexandre Aja, Darius Marder

    05/14/2021

    #464 — Mike Rianda, Alexandre Aja, Darius Marder

    This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is one of those jam-packed, bumper-sized affairs. Largely because we have three incredible directors guesting on the show. First up is Mike Rianda, whose animated marvel The Mitchells Vs The Machines, is one of our favourite movies of the year thus far. He talks to Chris Hewitt and Ben Travis about his experiences making the movie, providing a few voices along the way, and even reveals that he listens to the pod. We're so sorry, Mike. Then, Chris has a chat with the French filmmaker Alexandre Aja about his new sci-fi thriller, Oxygen, a high-concept flick in which Melanie Laurent wakes up in a futuristic pod with no memory of how she got there. And last but not least, Chris has a slightly spoilerific chat with Sound Of Metal's brilliant director, Darius Marder, ahead of that film's release into UK cinemas next week. This is also a preview of their spoiler special interview, which will soon be available to subscribers. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they discuss the week's movie news, from an unrecognisable Leonardo DiCaprio to the latest casting news for Knives Out 2; review Oxygen, Those Who Wish Me Dead, and Fried Barry; and in a listener question inspired by The Mitchells Vs The Machines, discuss which directors would become giant faces on their own personal Mount Rushmore. Enjoy.

    2h 12m
  11. #593 — Richard Curtis, William Oldroyd & Thomasin McKenzie, Riz Ahmed & Jessie Buckley

    12/01/2023

    #593 — Richard Curtis, William Oldroyd & Thomasin McKenzie, Riz Ahmed & Jessie Buckley

    It's another guest-packed jamboree on this week's Empire Podcast, folks. First, Chris Hewitt asks Richard Curtis about revisiting his BBC Christmas classic, Bernard & The Genie, as the new Sky Cinema film, Genie. Chris also chats with William Oldroyd, director of the new thriller Eileen, and his star, Thomasin McKenzie. And then Amon Warmann Zooms in for a lovely natter with Fingernails stars, Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley. We really do spoil you lot. And either side of all those is another fun episode as Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to talk about the forthcoming live show to mark our 600th episode (on sale now -- be quick! They're going fast!), discuss which villains could stand to receive the prequel treatment, discuss the week's movie news, including good news for the Stephen King clan, and review Eileen, Genie, Candy Cane Lane, and Fallen Leaves. Oh, and Chris overshares. Shocker. Enjoy, as we begin the countdown to Christmas! TIMESTAMPS! (timings approx)Intro/Listener Question: 0:00.00 - 22:52.00Richard CurtisMovie News: 37:06.00 - 51:24.00William Oldroyd and Thomasin McKenzieReviews: 1:09:07.00 - 1:27:36.00Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley/Outro

    1h 44m
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