Pilot TV

Hijack star and showrunner Idris Elba and Jim Field Smith are our guests this week, but they’re only the second most exciting additions to our line-up as this marks Steph’s debut as an official co-Pilot (if you don’t count last week’s Pilot+!). We try to ease her in gently with the latest Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms on Sky Atlantic (1:10:55), the latest season of Apple’s wine-related drama Drops Of God (1:34:12) and the continuation of After The Flood on ITV (1:24:57), which really is after the flood this time as it’s more concerned with brushfires. Find out why Boydy still made it his show of the week by listening to that particular strain of madness now!

Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

We kick off the new year (for us, that is, you of course had a podcast last week) with a bevvy of guests on the show, corralling Industry showrunners Konrad Kay and Mickey Down (28:09-43:56) as well as Dawn French and Mark Heap (57:57-1:09:30), whose show Can You Keep A Secret is now showing on BBC1. Hijack gets its second outing on Apple TV this week (1:09:30), while Industry returns to the Beeb (1:24:19) and we take a trip to school among the stars with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1:33:37). Meanwhile, not only do the team catch up on their Christmas escapades but Kay has an announcement to make…

Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

Merry New Year! Yes, it’s 2026 and — after years of hectoring from Boyd — we have a New Year episode of Pilot TV for your listening pleasure (one that may or may not have been recorded before we broke for Christmas). We tackle all the big New Year’s Day shows this episode, from Tom Hiddleston’s return (10 years later) to the role of Jonathan Pine in The Night Manager’s long awaited second series on BBC1, Harlan Coben’s latest mystery Run Away on Netflix, and the return of Red Eye on ITV. Plus Erin Doherty and Malachi Kirby drop by to talk A Thousand Blows Season 2. What more could you possibly ask?

(Episode 369)

That’s all folks, 2025 is done and dusted. But you didn’t think we’d leave you all to see in the new year without a big old Pilot TV retrospective, did you? James, Boyd and Kay unveil the official Pilot TV Best Shows of 2025 list and go through it in forensic detail here, while also flagging any number of other shows you might have missed over the course of the past 12 months. We even open a special 2025 postbag so you can have your say on the year that was as well. And yes, Darren’s famous blooper reel of the year makes its triumphant return.

Paul Bettany and Will Sharpe don their frock coats for Amadeus on Sky and we speak to both of them on this week’s show as they chat all things Mozart with Boyd. Plus we wrap up a festive haul of shows for under your Christmas tree, taking a look at Mart Gatiss’ latest Ghost Story For Christmas, The Room in The Tower on BBC2, getting drawn into the sweedy underbelly of Texan high society in The Hunting Wives on ITV, and finally getting to take a ride with Ethan Hawke’s ‘truthstorian’ as The Lowdown finally splashes down here in the UK on Disney+. All that and Kay loses the power of speech, Boyd recounts a harrowing experience at The Ivy where the doorman didn’t know who he was, and James reveals the embarrassing truth of how he spent 469 hours this year.

(Episode 368)

They all float down here. Now that It: Welcome To Derry, the prequel to Andy Muschietti's It Chapter One and It Chapter Two, has finished its eight-episode run, the Empire Podcast has teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring you a special episode in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer conquer their fears of clowns, spiders, and spider-clowns just long enough to talk about the Andy Muschietti/Barbara Muschietti/Jason Fuchs-created show, its Stephen King connections, its brand new characters, its setting (1962 Derry, Maine), and, of course, Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, The Dancing Clown, who's back for another bout of bloody mayhem. While not a spoiler special, our very own Losers Club do delve into the show's major twists and turns, so if you haven't seen all eight episodes, they're available to buy now on digital platforms, or you can pre-order them on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD or steelbook from warnerbros.co.uk

We’re exacting righteous vengeance on love rat exes (not that Love Rat) in The Revenge Club on Paramount+ this week, and star Martin Compston joins us on the show for a chat about it as well. Elsewhere, Amadeus makes its debut on Sky Atlantic, pitting Mozart vs Salieri in a piano-off for the ages. Plus we cover Imposter (possibly THE Imposter, it’s still unclear) on Channel 5. James was thrilled.

(Episode 367)

On this week’s podcast you’ll be devastated to hear that we are unable to review Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era, however don’t switch off, because we do manage to rustle up some alternatives. Dark Winds makes its return to U&Alibi (43:45)and includes what is arguably the best meta joke of the year, Percy Jackson is back, causing trouble for the gods once again in Percy Jackson And The Olympians season 2 (59:00), and Alicia Silverstone takes a jaunt to the Emerald Isle in Irish Blood on Sky Witness (50:47).

(Episode 366)

Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

The wait is over! Well, sort of, because Stranger Things returns to Netflix this week for the first part of its final season to whet our collective appetites for the final assault on the Upside Down at the end of the year (44:50). Plus the Notorious RTD is back with his latest spin-off to the Whoiverse, setting Russell Tovey on a collision course with Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Sea Devil spectacular The War Between The Land And The Sea on BBC1 (1:02:31). And finally, we’re up to our ears in blood, balls and boobs as we return to ancient Rome for a sequel/reboot/retcon of Starz swords-and-sandals franchise in Spartacus: House Of Ashur on MGM+ (1:20:45).

(Episode 365)

Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!

There are chocolates in the studio this week — albeit ones that were initially destined for our editor Darren, but let’s gloss over that, shall we? In addition to raising our blood sugar levels while doing this week’s show, we take a look at the harrowing true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in Iran with Prisoner 951 on BBC1 (43:45), see if Sherlock’s assistant can make it without the man himself in Watson on Sky Witness (54:35), and catch up with newly minted national treasure Alan Carr in the third series of Changing Ends on ITV (1:03:59).

(Episode 364)

Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!