Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore a once-popular genre of cinema which flourished in the mid-20th Century with films like Now Voyager, Mildred Pierce and All That Heaven Allows, and is still alive and kicking today - albeit often in unexpected ways.

Ellen speaks to film critic Pamela Hutchinson about the melodramatic women's pictures of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and about why the melodrama genre may be thriving in the current day, in the form of the male melodrama.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to two directors from either side of the Atlantic, both well acquainted with the 21st century melodrama.

British-Moroccan director Fyzal Boulifa talks about the influence of a 1950s Joan Crawford melodrama noir on his 2022 indie film The Damned Don't Cry, and about the post-revolutionary roots of the melodrama form.

And American indie darling Todd Haynes discusses how melodrama runs through his filmography, from 2002's Far From Heaven, which reimagined the world of director Douglas Sirk for a 21st Century audience, to the ‘queer-melodrama’ classic Carol.

Producer: Jane Long

Ellen and Mark explore the enduring appeal of Frankenstein.

Mark speaks to director Guillermo Del Toro on his new adaptation of the classic novel and why the Frankenstein story has had such an influence on his career.

Ellen then talks to critic Anne Billson about the history of Frankenstein throughout cinema history as well as speaking to director Bomani J. Story on his interpretation in his film, The Angry Black Girl and her Monster.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales

Mark and Ellen celebrate 50 years of the ground breaking TV drama, The Naked Civil Servant.

Mark speaks to Rob Halford of Judas Priest about how The Naked Civil Servant changed his life. Mark then talks to filmmaker and drag queen Amrou Al-Kadhi about how forward thinking the show was and its influence on their own work.

Ellen talks to historian Stephen Bourne about the impact of The Naked Civil Servant on British television.

Producer: Jane Long

This week, Ellen and Mark read between the lines, and find out what can get lost in translation.

Mark speaks to the film critic, Manuela Lazic, who discusses the impossibility of translation, and her experiences of watching films and television across languages. Next, the translator and film critic, Irina Margareta Nistor details her role in overdubbing bootlegged VHS tapes during the Ceaușescu dictatorship in Romania. During the 1980s, her work allowed local audiences an escape from the regime through the medium of foreign cinema.

Meanwhile, Ellen discusses the poetry of translation with Darcy Paquet. The translator has produced subtitles with collaborators including the South Korean film director, Bong Joon Ho, on the Oscar award winning film, Parasite. Darcy shares the challenges found in a set character count, and some of the cultural specificities he's noted along the way.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans

Viewers are so used to seeing death and dying on screen, often in dramatic or unrealistic ways. Ellen and Mark explore how films and TV are drawn to personifications of death, why we need more realistic depictions and who is making them. 

Mark speaks to film critic Kim Newman about the way in which personifications of death have been portrayed throughout cinema history, from The Seventh Seal to the Final Destination series. Mark then talks to director Kristen Johnson about her film, Dick Johnson is Dead.

Ellen talks to academic Michele Aaron about how death and dying has been depicted in film and if we need more realistic depictions.

Producer: Hester Cant

2025 marks 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner - the great 19th century landscape artist, whose expressive, atmospheric paintings transformed British art. His life and genius was also unforgettably brought to the screen in Mike Leigh’s 2014 film Mr Turner, starring Timothy Spall. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the long relationship between cinema and painting.

Mark speaks to cultural historian Professor Sir Christopher Frayling on Hollywood's approach to the history of art, from Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh to Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo. He then talks to actor Timothy Spall on how playing JMW Turner led to a parallel career as a painter.

Ellen explores the relationship between painting and cinematography with cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins. She also speaks to artist Cathy Lomax on the painterly in cinema - and the cinematic in painting.

Producer: Jane Long

As cult classic American Psycho turns 25 this year, Ellen and Mark investigate the world of yuppies on screen and ask, are yuppies a thing of the past or more prevalent than ever? They talk to director of American Psycho Mary Harron, co creators of BBC/HBO drama Industry and indie film director Whit Stillman.

Ellen speaks to director Whit Stillman, whose ‘doomed bourgeois in love’ trilogy chronicles the lives of yuppies in the late 80’s. Ellen talks to him about his affectionate take on the era and whether his aunt really did invent the phrase ‘yuppie’.

Mark speaks to Mary Harron, director of American Psycho. They discuss the film's surprising legacy and the casting of Christian Bale in his now iconic role as product-obsessed super-yuppie Patrick Bateman.

Ellen then speaks to Konrad Kay and Mickey Down, co creators of finance-world drama, Industry. They discuss their love of American Psycho and the way in which wealth is portrayed on screen.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales

For a very special 100th episode of Screenshot, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the cult classic TV show.

The great surrealist American filmmaker David Lynch died in January 2025 at the age of 78. Lynch's films spanned the underground midnight movie Eraserhead, the black and white heartbreaker The Elephant Man and the critically beloved Mulholland Drive. Yet the director was perhaps most appreciated for the TV show he co-created with screenwriter Mark Frost - Twin Peaks.

Mark speaks to Mark Frost about his relationship with Lynch, and about the impact and legacy of their ground-breaking series. The pair discuss how pressure to solve the central murder of high school student Laura Palmer impacted Twin Peaks, and how the revival of the series in 2017 - after a 25 year hiatus - now seems fated.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to critic and die-hard Twin Peaks fan Jourdain Searles about the series' dedicated cult following.

And she speaks to actor Tim Roth, star of Reservoir Dogs and Rob Roy, who got a chance to work with his hero David Lynch in 2017 on Twin Peaks: The Return.

Producer: Jane Long

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode are on patrol, investigating why the police procedural continues to be so arresting for audiences.

Mark meets the film writer and critic Kim Newman who charts the beginnings of the genre and some of its tropes. Next, he talks to the director and documentarian Sandhya Suri, to discuss her feature film debut, Santosh, that follows the journey of a widow turned police constable.

Meanwhile, Ellen discusses how fiction aimed to mimic reality in 90s TV series, Homicide: Life on the Street, with actor from the show, Kyle Secor. She also speaks to Simon Ford, executive producer of the documentary series, 24 Hours in Police Custody, who explains how dramatic structure borrowed from fiction has helped the award-winning programme tell wider stories about the world around us.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans

Remakes continue to proliferate on our screens. Over the last few months, we’ve had live action remakes in cinemas of classic animations Snow White, Lilo And Stitch, and How To Train Your Dragon, along with legacy reboots of the horror hit I Know What You Did Last Summer and DC’s Superman, and - coming soon - a new spin on the 1980s comedy The Naked Gun.

So is this all just evidence of a dearth of creativity in Hollywood? Or are there some artistically valid reasons to re-make existing films? And can a remake ever be better than the original? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the past, present and future of the remake.

Mark speaks to critic Anne Billson about the remakes she considers worthy of our attention, from Brian De Palma’s Scarface to John Carpenter’s The Thing. And he also talks with Jim McBride who, in 1983, directed Breathless - a remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic A Bout de Souffle, which Mark has long considered superior to the original.

Ellen talks to TV critic Roxana Hadadi about what television can bring to the remake party - and about the TV series that managed to improve on their source material. And Ellen also speaks to Noah Hawley, showrunner of the multi-Emmy winning Fargo and upcoming Alien: Earth TV series, about the creative possibilities of TV reboots.

Producer: Jane Long