On this week’s show we weigh in on Prime Video’s eighties teen time travel drama Paper Girls, watch Neil Patrick Harris enjoy no sex in his city as the star of Netflix’s Uncoupled, and join Alicia Vikanda in HBO’s meta-Hollywood satire Irma Vep. Plus James, who definitely hasn’t been on holiday this week, reveals his true identity as a West Country millennial with a love of workplace comedies.

#197 Paper Girls, Uncoupled, and Irma Vep

From the creators of The Empire Film Podcast, The Pilot TV Podcast is your (spoiler free) guide to the essential new shows dropping each week across terrestrial, satellite, streaming and beyond. Bringing you the latest news and reviews, as well as interviews with the biggest names in TV, we're here to cut through the rubbish and make sure every minute you spend in front of the box is a minute worth spending. Served with a heavy helping of insider knowledge, irreverence and humour, the Pilot TV Podcast won't just keep you informed, amused and entertained, but is guaranteed to save countless hours of your life. Because you can’t watch *everything*.

TV & Film

Eric star Benedict Cumberbatch and creator Abi Morgan both stop by this week to chat all things Eric, which recently debuted on Netflix. Plus, this week’s slate includes Channel 4’s adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams’ novel Queenie, BBC1’s drama about a gay couple navigating the adoption system in Lost Boys And Fairies, and another jaunt into biographical fashionista territory with Becoming Karl Lagerfeld on Disney+. And the team put their heads together to figure out who their ideal timelord companions would b

#289 Queenie, Lost Boys And Fairies, and Becoming Karl Lagerfeld. With guests Benedict Cumberbatch and Abi Morgan

We Are Lady Parts is back, back back! And to celebrate, writer and creator Nida Manzoor is on the show talking to Helen O’Hara. Plus Vicky McClure is also with us this week, chatting Insomnia on Paramount+. Meanwhile, James gets to zombiesplain his little socks off as we tackle the latest Walking Dead spinoff, The Ones Who Live, which brings Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira back into the fold, and Steven Knight’s The Veil comes to Disney+, putting Elisabeth Moss on mission as an MI6 agent trying to crack a possible terrorist. 

#288 - We Are Lady Parts, The Veil, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. With guests Vicky McClure and Nida Manzoor

Trying returns to Apple this week and not only are we reviewing it but Rafe Spall and Esther Smith are with us on the show to talk all about it. Plus we’re up all night with Vicky McClure in Paramount+’s adaptation of Sarah Pinborough novel Insomnia, and ITV gives us a dose of witness protection Tasmania style in Bay Of Fires. Elsewhere we unpick the recent TV BAFTAs and have a little fun with Spotify’s AI chapter headings. 

#287 Insomnia, Trying, and Bay Of Fires. With guests Rafe Spall and Esther Smith

This episode marks the Pilot TV debut of Empire’s very own Sophie Butcher, filling in for work-shy slacker Kay who’s STILL on holiday. Sophie shares with us some of her favourite shows, plus we finally pin Boydy down on a definitive (laminated!) list of his favourite films so he can’t keep attaching that label to every one he talks about. Elsewhere, we’re delving into competitive teenage athletics in The Gathering on Channel 4, seeing Ian Rankin’s Rebus get reborn on BBC1, and seeing if there’s still some life in the clone saga in Orphan Black: Echoes, which finally lands in the UK on ITVX. 

#286 The Gathering, Rebus, and Orphan Black: Echoes

We have TWO special guest this week. The first is the star of Dark Matter and all-round screen legend Jennifer Connelly, who joins us to discuss that series. The second is Swindon native all-round Pilot legend Beth Webb, who jumps back in to the show to cover for Kay, who’s  on holiday. As well as getting ourselves back into quantum superposition for Dark Matter on Apple, we also tackle the final series of Inside No. 9, the fourth series of The Young Offenders and the new RTD era of Doctor Who, plus James has a lot to say about a certain kissing scene that appears to have traumatised him since last week.

#197 Paper Girls, Uncoupled, and Irma Vep

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