Atomic, King & Conqueror, and Invasion. With guests Suranne Jones and Matt Charman, Alfie Allen and Shazad Latif

31:17Yeah, of course you can. Well, that's how I felt. But yeah, going from work to home is... It's like two flights of stairs. That's it. That's it. And your entire world is in this house, this kind of old house, you know? Yeah. It's claustrophobic. First of all, it's tiny, right? So I was also like, oh my gosh, I didn't realise how small it was. But it's claustrophobic in terms of even though it's apart from the office, you're still, you know, you've still got people around you. and I think that yeah Aisha in and out yeah like checking like bringing things things being left like if you go to the bathroom and then you might come back and there'd be a new stack of stuff like where yeah the TV stuff to read stuff to read the TV which never goes on and except for the news and yeah I think that was the other thing of like the lack of sleep the amount of work the whenever you do get to rest there's there's always new information that's coming in different people with you know different kind of different advisors.

32:16Saran spoke to a lot of different people who are politicians and former leaders and truthfully prime ministers as well. And I think the one thing that was kept coming back again and again is there's always something to read. You can never be, you can never not be reading. Yeah. So whenever you leave a meeting, someone hands you an iPad and it's like, here's the five documents you need to read before the next meeting. One of the people we spoke to, she got over car sickness. Yeah, that's right. because she couldn't allow herself to have, so she used to be read, get in the car, feel sick. So she had to push through that because that was like...

32:53Because otherwise she couldn't use the time, right? Such precious time. Yeah, she'd just be sat there. Otherwise it's dead time. You can't ever switch off. Saran, if you would still wield the power of PM, what boring everyday job would you love to delegate? Ooh. I think that's a good... I was excited about that because I was like, God, yeah, if you had the power just to get rid of... Oh, just get rid of one thing. Something mundane. Yeah, something really mundane. Well, I mean, but then you can't. Oh, like I can make a new rule. Yeah, you don't have to do it. Or you just get someone else in your life to do it for you because you're willing to get my nine-year-old to do.

33:29Okay, oh, well, yeah, all children have to make their beds and their parents' beds. Oh, that's nice. That's a perfect one. And their parents' beds. And their parents' beds. I like to get out of my bed and make the beds, but then you've got to go make their bed and da-da-da. so they have to do it it should definitely be the other way around well done that that's a good rule new rule yeah um and finally we'll be tuning into hostage but currently what are you guys both uh loving right now tv wise oh that's a good question it's summer holidays so i've got three children so i'm watching nothing that i want to watch and mainly what they want to watch right so it's a lot of wednesday if you had a chance to what's on the what's on the locked and loaded list that you're excited to catch up on oh my goodness i love wednesday by the way yeah right good yeah it's good for it's pretty good everybody um oh my goodness i find this question really tough we've we've been going through the marvel films at the minute so um and there's a timeline have you seen that where they've put it in the timeline oh wow to watch it in order and so that's what we've been doing like every night there's a there's a marvel film that goes in the house.

34:35I'm learning a lot that I never knew before. Isn't it? Every day is education. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Brilliant. Well, listen, so ends Prime Minister's Questions. Thank you for joining me and your honest and straightforward answers. I appreciate it. That's a pleasure. Lovely to meet you. Yeah. And we look forward to watching Hostage on Netflix. Thank you so much. That was Kay talking to the legendary Suran Jones. Suran? God. Suran. Suran Rap. You're like, you've rebranded her. I quite like it. Saran Jones and Matt Charman talking about Hostage, which we reviewed, listeners, on Pilot Plus, if you want to hear our verdict on it.

35:13But I think we both enjoyed it. It's a gourmet burger. It's fun, yeah. It's entertaining, thrilling, a little bit crazy in parts, but, yeah, enjoyable. Yeah, exactly. I say a little bit crazy. It's very crazy. Cooker ball. Mm-hmm. In fact, let's move on to news. Yeah, the first thing I want to mention is the title of the new Alan Partridge project has been announced and we're going to a screening, I believe, in the beginning of September and it's going to be on later in the autumn on BBC and it's called, How Are You? It's Alan, brackets Partridge. I mentioned this on the Pilot Plus because someone sent us a question, didn't they, about Alan Partridge?

35:55I'm very excited. I think this is like a spoof travelogue docuseries in which Alan kind of travels around the country, I believe, kind of talking to people and generally trying to be a respected, famous person. I really want him to go to Stonehenge. I just feel like that's something I need to see. I feel like he probably will. I don't know. None of this is all conjecture on my part. All we really know is that it's a Pairchew production by his own production company, obviously, and that's what it's called. How are you? It's Alan Brackets-Partridge. So, yeah, very, very exciting. What else, Kay, would you like to throw into the news bucket?

36:36Also in exciting news, Stephen Moffat's new show has been revealed. Number 10. So when I was at the Italian Global Series Festival and I watched him do a masterclass with Sue Virtue, he had alluded to the fact that his next project was going to be, you know, something that he was really excited about. It was behind a door that hadn't been gone behind, you know, for a TV show before, or at least, you know, something he was excited about. He mentioned the door. He mentioned the door. Yeah. He mentioned it was an institution or a very famous location that hadn't, yeah, unexplored really. And it is in fact number 10, Downing Street.

37:13So he is going to be going behind the doors of Downing Street, but it won't just be focusing on the prime minister or the, you know, the fictional government. It's going to be everyone who works there. So from the advisors trying to climb the career ladder, the overworked repair staff, people who run the cafe, who also then have conspiracy theories. He basically tweeted, number 10, it's basically press gang in Downing Street or Doctor Who with funnier monsters or Sherlock with a fairly similar door. But really it's press gang in Downing Street shooting fairly soon. I'm excited. That is very exciting, yeah.

37:48Because if anyone can pull that off, it's a big ambitious idea, isn't it? And Moffat excels in doing bigness in general, like his Doctor Who stuff, his Sherlock, et cetera. I think he's perfect for it. So, yeah, I think that's really exciting. That's two Downing Street shows we all have talked about. Hostage. Hostage. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Correct. Yeah, very true. This is just hot off the press, Kay, as we speak, this announcement. I think it's going to be mentioned. so as I've said as aforementioned in my Sky focus session tomorrow I interviewed the big wigs at Sky they've just announced that Dominic West and Sienna Miller are starring together in a Sky HBO co-production original thriller called War as in W-A-R War yeah as opposed to what well um yeah that's a good point no yeah I'm trying to help you out I can't but anyway yes it's exciting It could have been a biopic of Evil in War.

38:51Okay. In my face. In my face. In your face. No, Partridge. Go on. It's a bold new legal thriller from the creator of Lupin and Hijack. Hijack. Yes, now you're talking, right? Oh, gourmet burger territory. Yeah, George K. Absolutely gourmet burger territory. Starring Dominic West, as I just said, as tech titan Morgan Henderson and Sienna Milas' estranged wife, international film star, Carla Duval. Duval. I'm sorry. Carla Duval. Set in the elite world of London lore, the series has been greenlit with a two-series commitment from Sky and HBI. It's that good. Following a deal broken by Sky, it debuts with a scandalous divorce case that sends shockwaves through boardrooms, bedrooms, and courts alike.

39:39Yes, please. Courtrooms alike. Yes. That does sound literally, well, literally, it's a misuse of the word. it sounds metaphorically like a gourmet burger yeah it's right up our streets actually funny you should bring up lupan because i've got a nice link to a different story which involves a lupan cast member so um following the success of the two films with chris hemsworth extraction is getting its own tv series now i didn't watch the film so i don't know if this is exciting but what is exciting is that it will feature lupan star omar sai um he'll be in the lead role also Nathalie Dormer and Boyd Holbrook not Boyd Hilton unfortunately.

40:22Omar is going to play a mercenary apparently who's on a mission to save a group of hostages in Libya. It won't be easy though because he finds himself stuck in the middle of warring factions and ruthless killers. Dormer is going to play a private military contractor called Clayton Whisper and at the moment it's TBC who Holbrook would play. I liked Omar Sy and Lupin I'm excited about that as well do you know what I don't like you know I don't like to pick you up on your pronunciations but I do believe having interviewed him myself damn it yeah I think it's C Omar Sy is it I believe I do believe in the back of my mind I haven't even double checked but I'm pretty sure that when I interviewed him for this very podcast a couple years ago and what a lovely guy he is by the way is he and we still need more Lupin which is phenomenal one of my favourite shows on Netflix Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

41:13I remember being told, oh, by the way, it's C, OMRC. Yeah, I think. Do you know what the irony of that is? This is a rare time that I didn't check and I thought to myself, hey, just say it with confidence. Yeah, well, it backfired. Yeah, it backfired massively. Apologies, OMRC. That's okay. What are the news do you have, Boydo? Well, this is also just broken. I use the word loosely. BBC has revealed a picture, which actually is very exciting, of the, you know Richard Gad of Baby Reindeer fame? Baby Reindeer, yeah. His next project is for the BBC and it's called Half Man. So this was announced a while ago and it co-stoss Jamie Bell, no less, you know, of all of the strangers.

41:56Billy Elliot, Rocketman, etc. And it's the two of them and they've released a first look picture as they say in the trade. And I tell you what, what I've deduced from that, I don't know if you've been sent this email, Kay, I'm sure you have been because you're on the same email list as me, surely. Yeah. But Richard Gad's looking hench, I think is the word. Yeah, all like muscly biceps and looks very different to the character he played in Baby Ranger. He's done a Sasha Baron Cohen. He's done a bit of Baron Cohen, yeah. Anyway, so it's a six-episode drama that Richard Gad has created. Filming recently wrapped, took place in and around Glasgow.

42:36Jamie Bell and him start as brothers and they have a surprise reunion after years of estrangement to an explosion of violence that catapults them back through their lives over the course of the series. There you go. But yeah, it's interesting to see how that will turn out. Because obviously Baby Randi was a gigantic phenomenon. Monster hit. Now in huge Hollywood actor arriving on the small screen news. Have you got your window open, Kay? No, my window is shut. And this is the thing. I'm so hot. And yet, despite that and double blazing, you can still hear the traffic outside. There was a car. I mean, that's fine.

43:16You know, I mean, James will probably berate you. But I'm just, you know. Listen, we can't all live in mansions with different wings, Boydo. This is a very small place. I'm in my hotel room in Edinburgh, remember. I'm not at home. Oh, yeah, sorry. My heart is bleeding for you. I have to say, the glazing works very well in this hotel. Oh, really? Yeah. It's a weird thing to boast about, but. No, no, I'm just, you know, I'm just saying. Your double glazing is better than mine. Yeah, at the moment, in this hotel. It's a humble brag. Anyway, back to the Hollywood news. Sorry. So, Glenn Close. She is going to be the lead in Channel 4's new drama called Maud.

43:58that's a working title written by Nina Raine and Moses Raine and it's going to be a six part series based on a couple of short story collections and sees close play Maud Oldcastle a hilariously brusque and cantankerous and ruthless older woman and those are her nicer qualities she's also a killer with a tortured past determined to break from a lifetime spent caring for her sister Maud sets out to claim a long overdue second act but a suspicious detective and an unrelenting world built for youth may soon discover just how far she'll go to protect her freedom. Sounds good. Yeah, it does sound good.

44:35Yeah, no, I love getting close. She's an absolute legend. And that is, yeah, that is exciting. I'm getting so many emails. You know why? Because basically, because of the TV festival. Oh, because everyone's in it, yeah. So what happens is, the Edinburgh TV Festival, I should have said this earlier to explain, in case people don't know, it's like the annual get-together of the whole TV industry. Festival is almost like a misleading word because they don't have screenings, really. They just have discussions and announcements and debates and stuff. But they all do store up all the kind of outlets, the streamers and the channels store up their announcements.

45:13So there's stuff to talk about at these sessions, basically. And so Netflix, for example, I've just had this email announcing the first look, a new location reveal of Emily in Paris, so Emily in Paris, season five, coming up on Netflix. Do you know about this, Kate? Is it Emily in Spain? Close, close. Emily in Venice, Italy. Oh, yeah. Yes. You can imagine that, can't you? It's very beautiful. You very much can. Oh, in fact, it's more than that. It's Rome. She goes to Rome and then she goes back to Paris. So she starts off in Venice, Italy, and she goes to Rome and then back to Paris. Do you know what it is?

45:52Emily on tour. It's Emily on tour, yeah. I don't know whether they're officially renaming the series in honour of that. But that, of course, is written by Darren Star, who created Sex and City in the first place. Do you remember? All roads lead back to your favourite show. All roads lead back to the unimpeachable Sex and City slash and just like that. Anyway, that's, yeah, that's Emily and Parry fans can lap that up, so to speak. I just quickly want to do a shout out to Channel 5. I can't call it Five, who a while ago we'd mentioned that they were reviving the Play for Today format and commissioning new shows.

46:30And we got an email yesterday with a quote from Paul Tester, who's the commissioning editor, who said, basically, Play for Today is synonymous with high quality standalone TV dramas. And we're incredibly excited to be reviving it with a new slate of single films on Five. what makes it particularly important for us as a public service broadcaster is the opportunity to support emerging talent behind the scenes from writers and directors to production teams especially those from lower income backgrounds who haven't always had a clear pathway into the industry which i think is really important and i'm going to go on to tell you about the shows that they've announced but one thing i've only been to edinburgh festival once right and i really enjoyed it had a brilliant time mikaela colt yeah tv festival sorry yeah that's um i just want to make clear you're not just going to the fringe or you know i would like to go to the fringe festival um and it was brilliant because i saw mikaela colt give her um target talk historic but the thing that struck me on that first day when i walked into the um opening that welcome drinks is how white a male it is and i probably i'm not probably i'm not going to say that loud but it's true i walked in i was like you can say what the hell you like you i was literally take it was the first time i sort of like the scales dropped falling from my eyes i don't know what i guess i think it's because i've never been to it before and uh it's not just the edinburgh tv festival this is like tv across the board and then i just noticed it more and more every time i went to any event but i was so shocked and i and i'm coming from a position of being very privileged of working in the media um middle class etc but still i was like god this is like the gatekeepers in one room and this is who controls the power in tv anyway so the reason why i bring that up is because i think this is brilliant what five are doing um and you know providing opportunities for dip for people from different backgrounds anyways that's a long way of saying they've announced their slate and they've got four new titles so um quickly special measures it's been written by um lee thompson and it's gonna start jessica plumber and basically it's a state of the nation drama looking at the growing pressures facing schools in the uk then there is never too late which is written by i think simon warne and lydia marchand and um it is about uh it's a reverent take on aging apparently following a rebellious woman forced to start over in a retirement village, which sounds fun, and stars your favourite and mine, Boyd, Anita Dobson.

49:01Dobbo. Yeah, Dobbo. Tracey Ann Oberman, another favourite of yours. Reunited from EastEnders. Exactly. The Havers, Nigel Havers and Nina Wadia amongst other people. And then last two are Big Winners, which is a story about Edith and Arthur Thistle, who for 53 years, rather, have managed to get by, never rich, never extravagant, and then they win£14 million in the lottery. And that is written by Martha Watson, All Press, and star Sue Johnston. And finally, we have Intruder, which is a real-time, single-location psychological thriller with the tension of a ticking bomb. And that is written by David Whitehouse.

49:46Oh, my God, David Whitehouse. What? Ready? Shut up. Is that our colleague, our former colleague, David Whitehouse? Of course it is. It must be, yeah. Yeah. I like the fact you, live, on air, you made that revelation. Listeners, we worked with David White. He worked at Heat years ago. That is amazing. I hadn't read all of the synopsis. Yeah, he's a novelist slash writer. I knew he was a novelist. Anyway, but that's going to be starring Alan Davies, Nika Muka Bird, who's brilliant. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I'm very excited about that. I'm going to have to get in touch with him. But anyway, bravo to five.

50:19Get him on now. Get him on. Call him on. Speed dial. Yeah, get him on the pod. Can I tell you the most exciting thing about that Channel 5 Play for Today announcement? Go on. Well, it is that it's going to be another example of the fact that one-off single dramas on TV are not films. Oh, God. For me, the whole thing is a celebration of the fact that these are one-off single dramas and not films. But the thing is, the single drama can be an hour long, right? We don't know. We don't know how long it will be. But generally, I mean, I think the argument was that when it's feature length, is it a film and if it's a one-off?

50:55Well, some of these could well be feature length. I believe we don't know. Well, listen, don't show you the message. Do we know the duration of them all, Kate? Boyd, as you can tell, I hadn't even read the full thing before I brought this breaking news to you. So I don't know. But I will investigate and come back. Well, my guess is they will be of varying lengths, and I think some of them will be feature length because the original Play for Today, Plays for Today, were of different lengths, I do believe. And some of them were feature length, and they will thus go on to continue to prove me right.

51:20And this whole debate, by the way, was won by a landslide when we put it to the audience vote at the live show, wasn't it? So, you know, it's... Listen, I'm all for it. I like this initiative. I think it's brilliant. I will watch it and I hope we will review it. Oh, I'm sure we will review it. Yeah, it's very exciting. But it's genuinely brilliant. In fact, I just saw Ben Frow, who is the boss of Channel 5, at the TV... Of course you did. Hobnobbing in Edinburgh. You know, he's just there, yeah. everyone's here. We're all hobnobbing, Kate. As you, as you look out your double glaze window, you just saw all these big wigs walking past.

51:53Pretty much. Pretty much. Anyway, I think that's enough news, don't you? Yeah. Lazy news. They put out a, um, images of Fallout 2 on Prime Video, but that's James territory, isn't it? Like we don't need to, yeah, he's not, if, look, if he can't be asked to turn up to this, he doesn't get to have his, his favorite news read out. Yeah, exactly. Lazy, lazy. Let's welcome our second batch of guests. Um, I had the joy of speaking in person to person with Alfie Allen and Shahzad Latif, who are the absolutely... Oh, no, we're doing the review in a minute. I was about to do a spoiler there for the review.

52:29Don't run at the mouth. They are absolutely the stars of Atomic on Sky Atlantic slash Now, which we're going to review in a minute after this, after we hear from them. I met them in a lavish London hotel room, and I had to very much stop myself from talking to them about Arsenal because they're both Arsenal fans and I've met and interviewed Alfie before and I feel like I did Shahzad as well before. But they actually did, this is true, Kate, it made me asking them about Arsenal legit because in the promotional tour they've done for Atomic, which we're about to review, they actually did a watch-along of the Arsenal Man U game last weekend on a YouTube show together.

53:13And I watched it back. Okay, so you're basically, I mean, that is tenured. You're sneaking that in, but I suppose I'll let it go. I thought it was very much legitimate. And so you will hear a little bit of Arsenal chat, a little bit of football chat, but a lot of Atomic chat in this very interview now. Well, Alfie Allen and Shahzad Latif, welcome to the Pilot TV podcast. How are you both doing? Good. Very good. Yeah, very good. Do you enjoy the promotional duty part of bringing a big new show? Is that kind of fun? Depends who you're with. And you know what? This is fun. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's been fun.

53:46And it's going great. This is like a buddy kind of movie style series, isn't it? Like reminds me of, you know, Midnight Run, Bad Boys, Turner and Hooch. That kind of show. Is that kind of what, partly what appealed to you? The idea of these two guys kind of bonding in extreme circumstances? I've always used Midnight Run and Sicario as like Western, desert stuff. And then like my character's very silent, like Benicio's in it. and then Midnight Run was definitely a reference in my head. Yeah, Midnight Run's like one of the best films ever. Alfie? Yeah, no, just the idea of it being a two-hander was something that really attracted me towards it.

54:21And yeah, shooting in Morocco as well is something that I really, I've done before and I loved doing it. But yeah, the story and the idea of these kind of morally ambiguous characters and in other stories told they could be villains, you know? So it's kind of asking the question of the audience of are these guys good, are these guys bad? and who are the good and bad guys in real life. Absolutely. And they face kind of moral dilemmas as it goes on. Obviously, the two is such a kind of doubleheader with the two of you. The chemistry is key and there's a brilliant repartee between the two of you.

54:53Is that all in the script or did you bring your own stuff to it as well? Well, we get a script and it's sort of there that one, they're very different and then I think the magic is putting them together and seeing what happens on the day. And I suppose it's just different energies and different... And yeah, you don't plan the chemistry. No, exactly. Yeah, it just happens. But even, you know, you've seen stuff before where you've heard that certain people might not get along, but then that actually works out okay. It kind of adds to it a little bit, the tension. But with, I'd say, yeah, in this instance, it was, it just didn't feel forced.

55:27It felt quite easy. You know, me and Shehzad have got similar interests, football. I know you're a big football guy as well. Yeah, so we've come to that. I've got a whole section about that. lovely yeah i'm gonna decide 10 minutes right nice love that um and you're a liverpool fan

55:45so we're both after we're all awesome fans in this room right now um so that was something yeah that we uh had the euros to watch while we were shooting in morocco so that was something that was was cool to do together when had you met before you no no no we had a couple of mutual friends that went to the same college as sort of near where i grew up but um yeah we never met so what was your first impressions of each other? Well, we ate, we ate, we ate out in a restaurant and we were just getting to know each other. Yeah, I was like, let's have to be yelling. I didn't know, I mean, I didn't know, yeah, I didn't know.

56:15That's Shazade Lateef. I didn't have any preconceived notions that maybe our characters would have, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it was, yeah, I just remember we had good chats that first dinner. Yeah. And it was, it's more about our lives and about ourselves, do you know what I mean? And then, and then yeah just many many more dinners after that then we went and watched Usyk Fury together we went and watched that box of lines together yeah and so yeah it was just actually live there no no no you're in a door venue but inside outside a casino it was a weird venue yeah it was it was good though we met some cool people there as well yeah that couple yeah yeah the Welsh couple the Welsh couple he was Asian she was yeah yeah that was great I'm intrigued about the Welsh couple.

57:03I swear they were from Barry Island, weren't they? Yeah, I think they were. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had like a fish and gas gas gas on the Stacey. Yeah, exactly. It was funny. I dated an ice cream shop or something. Oh, that was it. An ice cream shop. That was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, these are the things that I had. Wow, the story is from Morocco. And obviously, you bonded over your love of Arsenal. Now, I noticed in the promotional duties you had, you did a whole kind of watch along for the Arsenal Man U game at the weekend. How was that for you? Yeah, was it Front Three podcast? Yeah, Front 3 podcast.

57:35Which was great. We get to sit down and watch the Arsenal game. Yeah, it was great. They were really nice lads. It was good. Because I know Alfie's very knowledgeable about Arsenal. I discussed it years ago with you in that GQ interview. I remember, yeah. Over jelly deals. Exactly. My general knowledge of football was good. I don't have super crazy knowledge about the history of Arsenal, but I know enough. I think I know enough. And just general football in general. So when you're on the set and you're kind of, you know, and cut is yelled and you're kind of, you know, back, is Arsenal the first topic of conversation?

58:11Where? I mean, Euros is on. To be honest, we were talking about Euros a lot. Euros, music as well. Yeah, music, film and other things. And when you start shooting, you said that you love Morocco and everything. but it looks extremely hot from just been watching it how how hot was it and how did you cope with that level of heat uh well the hottest day we had was 45 degrees celsius which wasn't bad compared to my last stint out in morocco which i had 53 degrees celsius one day that was that was just um insane but uh you know it was it was all right once i kind of acclimatized i think the hottest day we had or for me anyway because it was towards the beginning of the shoot so i was only kind of just getting used to it it was that day where the they had the whole setup with the pillars and the columns i don't want to say what the location is but um but they had that that was when i was like whoa this is a lot and then the next day was uh when all the cartel members uh are around us yes there could be a number of different occasions yeah exactly um so that was a very hot day and i had this jacket that was very very heavy we went the jacket throughout the whole it's like or uniform well I guess you would wouldn't you because you haven't got changed clothes for much of a time one outfit it kind of had a story behind it but sadly didn't make the cut it still works no exactly it still works and how was it for you look because not only is it hot but there's a lot of running around I'd say before you just sort of buy into it when you land in Morocco like alright I'm going to be running around getting dirty getting dusty getting sandy getting sweaty just this is what the character does this is what it is because if you don't buy into that you're just going to be annoyed every day so yeah You just got to do it.

59:58Yeah. Did you both kind of Tom Cruise it? Did you do your own stunts at all? Did you, you know, the majority of our own stunts other than the crazy, crazy insurance stuff where they say, don't jump over that, you could die. You know, like, only Tom Cruise gets to do those. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, we did all the fights that people, yeah, most of the stuff. Yeah, I mean, whenever they would let me do my own driving bits, I would always do it. There was a bit at the end where the stunt drivers, the Moroccan stunt drivers had brought a guy in to do it because he looked more like myself um and uh and they they just wanted me to do it um which was great um and it i hope it made the car because it was a it was dicey it was like that kind of like mad uh i can't give away too much but it was a it was a it was a thin track and there was a big drop off to each side and um and i was just sort of swinging the back out of the car.

1:00:52It was great. There was one bit where my brilliant stunt guy, Escu, who was a wonderful stunt guy, but there was, we did about five takes of me sprinting and I was worried about, I was like, oh, I feel like I'm going to pull my, so he did one, but he's wedge. He's so much more, much bigger than me. So you can, and I think they use that one where I was like, oh, that's not my ass. He still looks like me. And I was like, you can see Escu's bum. I'm going to watch that back and still frame it. Yeah, you'll see. Yeah, you'll see. Okay, good, good when you're on a show like this and you're so much it's all about the interrelation between the two of you do you like watch each other's stuff like if you may you know catch up with each other's career I mean you may have watched you may have watched Game of Thrones before we meet yeah yeah I'll be honest I'm not really I don't really do that even when I meet somebody I'm not the type of person to then google them or even friend request them on Instagram it's just not in mind also I think that clouds what you're about to do as characters yeah I don't really want to yeah probably do that after years down the line yeah for sure yeah but how do you have you a big Game of Thrones fan you've got Toast of London very similar shows obviously so similar I watched Toast of London recently after yeah and I knew about it and I loved it I thought it was brilliant so good so good yeah I didn't watch I'm not I didn't watch when it was happening that wasn't part of the whole Game of Thrones but yeah I haven't really caught up along the way but not yeah I'm not like it it didn't happen at the time.

1:02:19Did you do any time make any jokes about Clown Fandango then? Oh, other people, when Shazard came very kindly came to see my play at the Donmar, other people who I was doing the play with were like, oh my God, that's, you know, so that was kind of cool. You're fine with that, Shazard? Yeah. In general, this show, it looks, right from the, I thought the title sequence is fantastic, beautiful and stylish and as soon as the whole thing starts, you're aware you're in a big, it feels like a big budget, big ambitious show do you feel like TV is the place now for that kind of thing or are you still happy to do films and TV or do you have a preference, do you excited about this kind of TV?

1:02:59I'm very excited about this kind of TV, it's a great time you can explore characters in long form stay with characters longer but I'm a big film lover and I want that to survive it's a very strange time for all of that but I'm definitely going to be supporting film as well even though there seems to be a gap between the big big budget films and all the other stuff and AI is there and all of this stuff is happening. But I hope that we can keep that much like vinyl stayed alive, you know, if we, those film lovers stick there. But yeah, both is great. You want to just keep, keep being able to do both.

1:03:30I would definitely agree with that. I think it's, you know, been the golden age of television for quite a bit, but I'd say, I'd say, yeah, film is, I mean, it just depends what kind of a viewer you are, whether you can emotionally invest in characters in a shorter period of time. but I think everybody's attention spans are just getting so much shorter because of social media. Force it backwards. Force it. Yeah, totally. I made my nephew watch, and we watched Back to the Future 1, 2 and 3, and I was just like, we're watching it back to back, let's go. And he was like, yeah. Do you watch, and do you watch stuff yourself, this kind of peak TV stuff, you know, what kind of things have you enjoyed recently?

1:04:09The last great thing I watched on TV was Say Nothing, and that was incredible. the Irish yes that was amazing that was incredible yeah I really enjoyed it I've just been doing a little 80s rewind because my nephew was staying with me I did a Karate Kid 1, 2, 3 Back to the Future 1, 2, 3 and Golden Child wow that's my most recent ones wow so look kind of trilogy fantasy trilogies I did do Perfect Murder with Michael Douglas and Gareth Patrick again actually Vigo that's a good time I just mean I watch about two movies a night so yeah there's too many do you I do watch a lot that's intense got nothing else to do single have you got what have you got coming up I know you've got three body problem haven't you yes yeah three probably first season was incredible yeah yeah it was uh yeah it's been green lit by netflix for a second season and it's been great shooting it i've done the first two days um and working with dave and dan again who david benioff and dan weiss who did game of thrones so it's nice to be uh working with them on this kind of huge uh uh mega budget thing which is great so yes it's um they know what they're doing they do i mean yeah you know aside D &D yeah but there's other writers on it Alexander Wu and Rachel Cartwright who are brilliant and yeah the character's really great and it's just shooting out in Hungary at the moment so yeah just in the middle of that and Shazard for you what's up next we've got Weathering Heights Emerald Fennell's new movie Warner Bros Lucky Char MRC with Margot Robbie and Jacob Lordy and Hong Chao and Alison Oliver so that's coming out I think early next year.

1:05:46That's exciting, isn't it? That's very exciting. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you so much. Thanks, boy. Thank you. Thanks, mate. And that was me talking to the delightful Alfie Allen and Shehzad Latif about Arsenal and Atomic. Talking of Atomic, Kay, why the hell don't we review it right now? I am obviously in the pocket of Big Atomic, so I cannot start the review. Why don't we turn to you and let us know what Atomic's all about and what you thought of it now. Okay. Well, I'm going to instantly turn back to you just because I will need some assistance because this is based, or inspired at least, by the non-fiction book Atomic Bazaar by William...

1:06:28Oh, wow. Yes, come on. Okay, you'd have to say it. So I don't know what... Okay, it's Langavischa. Okay. Langavischa. William Langavischa. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it follows Alfie Allen, who is Max, a drug trafficker. And it's a different location. So he starts in the Sahara Desert in Algeria, and he's making his way with a cargo. And then it also cuts to Russia in the mountains as we follow the smuggling route, basically. And he's having a bad day, suffice to say, because his car gets hijacked by a bunch of, what do we call them, mercenaries who set fire, you know, to his gut. The official description of them in the Sky information is rebel militants.

1:07:20Just FYI. Yeah, sure. Let's always be accurate. And yeah, and so they destroy his cargo and he actually gets taken hostage by a fellow Brit who won't reveal his name. What's enjoyable about this is that obviously he's got, Alfie's got a gun to his head. They're driving along. He wants to be dropped off. um en route and he's not keen on making chit chat shahzad latif but alfie is trying to bond with him as a fellow brit desperate to find out his name where he's from a bit like cilla black and um it it just like you just won't reveal anything so there's this little push and pull scenario with those two and scenario scenario and ultimately it's about their journey it's about what happens when the drug cartel that Max works for finds out that he doesn't have the cargo.

1:08:11And then these two, they take possession of something else, which ultimately they don't want to have. I think you're allowed to say. It's called Atomic. The hint's in the title. Uranium. They take hold of some uranium, less than ideal, and then they are on the run. And I absolutely love this. I thought it was brilliant. Alfie Allen and Shahzad, They're so immensely watchable. And as soon as he comes on screen, he's in a desert. And instantly I'm taken back to Jock in SAS Rogue Heroes. And I think actually this has a lot of similar qualities in terms of how it portrays that environment, the way they've shot it.

1:08:53It's very cinematic and portrays the vastness of the Sahara. And also just in terms of the tone, I thought, there is the humour of it and also the signposting, literal signposting which i know they do in sas rogue heroes so i just thought this was great i thought it was tense it was thrilling i really really like the dynamic and chemistry between these two because as i said they kind of like it's an uncomfortable situation you know at any given moment um shazad latif's character who by the way max calls jj short for jihadi john um inappropriate which he doesn't actually like um and at any given moment he could shoot him you know he could turn on him so there's this uneasiness in the friendship but also there's some moments that are really like quite tender and poignant they pick up someone on the route and actually there's this really heartbreaking heart-stopping moment um so yeah i think it's really well written and i think those two in the lead roles are are really good yes i agree um i think this is one of those shows like the title sequence is a really good i mentioned this to than when I interviewed them.

1:10:02Do you remember? I've got this really stylish, kind of like almost slightly, like almost animated title sequence that is absolutely beautiful. And I think, so as a little aside, I think the importance of title sequences cannot be underestimated because, or can be underestimated. It should not be overestimated. I think that's what I mean, because it really sets the tone for a show and it makes you think, oh, this is a big, ambitious, bold show because the title sequence itself is laying the groundwork. And then you actually watch the show and it feels very much like, you know, it's properly shot on location in Morocco.

1:10:37It looks and feels hot and, you know, dusty and all of that. As you say, similar kind of visually to S.A.S. Rogue Heroes. But it's really a buddy. It's a buddy comedy drama, you know, in which these two guys, very different personalities, Bond eventually. Actually, I found various things refreshing about it. One is they didn't take too long to bond. Often in these things, like the whole story with great buddy movies gone by, it almost takes the whole film to get to the point where you go from strangers with nothing in common who slightly resent each other to buddies by the end. Or this, they kind of become buddies quite quickly in this, which I thought was very, quite refreshing.

1:11:14I think it's because Max is just so disarming, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Can I just tell you one thing that my only like small, it's not even a criticism, it's just an observation, is like, it's such a tell, right? that as soon as someone is staring lovingly at a photo of a loved one, which is what Max does about his girlfriend who's living in Europe somewhere, you know things are not going to go well, right? You know something's going to happen and then instantly the car gets ambushed. And there are twists and turns. People are not who they seem necessarily. They're being chased by everyone, by the way.

1:11:47They're being chased by the CIA, led by Samira Wiley plays CIA officer Cassie Elliott. There's also like the FBI and MI6, various global criminal forces and gangs and traffickers and this, that and the other. And they kind of face the dilemma also of, you know, what are they going to, is the uranium they're carrying effectively is going to lead to the creation of an atomic bomb, hence the title. And, you know, are they really going to go through with providing that, you know, leading to possible... Also, what we haven't said, sorry to interrupt, the added stress that it can't be too close to each other.

1:12:22these two boxes of uranium. Yeah, it's brilliant, yeah. And it is, because the novel, as we mentioned, the non-fiction book by William Langavischa, I've been pronouncing that, it's called Atomic Bazaar, and it's all about how terrifyingly, you know, in various parts of the world, you know, dodgy characters are basically getting hold of the material to build nuclear bombs. It's really quite disturbing. But they've turned that, you know, disturbing thing fact into a really entertaining fun kind of very well made beautifully shot and acted series I think it is really really good yeah I was well impressed and great to see I also mentioned in the interview of course that Lateef plays Clem Fandango in Toast of London an absolute legend and you know I will watch anything he's in and Alpha Yellen this is one of Alpha Yellen's best roles he was brilliant in Game of Thrones as the show Obviously, he's most famous for.

1:13:21Also, he's excellent in SAS. Oh, he's good in everything. But what he had to do in Game of Thrones was absolutely extraordinary. You know, he had to be – I know you haven't watched it. You say you might watch it at some point in the future. That conversation is constantly going with you and James. I can't remember where we are now. But honestly, his character, Kay, he basically goes from being destroyed as a being, being turned into nothing. He ends up being called Reek, slight spoiler alert, by the person who I won't name, the character who kind of tries to destroy him. And what he has to go through in that role is extraordinary.

1:13:56So he's brilliant, always brilliant. But this is like a more fun role for him. I could sense the kind of relief that he had and the enjoyment he had making this show. So it's really, really good. Yeah, absolutely. Is there something about his past roles when, you know, budding around and handling uranium? Yeah, right. It's more fun. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it has got the tone, as I also mentioned in the interview, of Midnight Run, and there is no greater compliment from me than to say something is even vaguely in the wheelhouse of Midnight Run, which is, Kay, what is Midnight Run? Is it one of your favourite films?

1:14:31It's one of my favourite films of all time. In the top 30, along with Alien from the other show. You are a ridiculous human being. Steady. Thank you very much. Anyway, Atomic is on Sky Atlantic, the posh Sky Channel, as I like to call it. It is. Prestige drama. Prestige drama. The home of Prestige drama. Sky Atlantic slash now from Tuesday the 28th of August 9 o 'clock 2025. And next we have Invasion. The third season. Yes, Kay was alarmed and not to say a little disturbed by the fact we were doing season three but it's all due to the fact that... Usually illegal. Usually illegal on this podcast.

1:15:09We try and go for brand new stuff but this was one of those weeks where all the brand new stuff is embargoed um so we couldn't review it but we but this actually started last friday on apple tv plus the third season of invasion and it's a big one of their big huge budget shows um and um at this point normally you know james would like pick up the cudgel is that the word maybe let's use it yeah and he would drone on and on about this uh epic sci-fi thing and explain it in a torturously detailed way. But instead, it's left to me to say, I actually did watch the first, I would say, first half of season one of Invasion, and then a few episodes of season two of Invasion.

1:15:52But each time, to be honest with you, I trailed off. Season one was very much set the outlet stall, and it followed different groups of people, different characters from different parts of the world, as they had to deal with the impending attack of an alien force. And it didn't have, until the latter episode, this is my memory of it, I haven't even double-checked, and by the way, there was no recap for me to turn to to summarise what happened in the previous two series. So from memory, my memory of season one was that you met lots of different characters around the world as they were all facing an imminent alien invasion.

1:16:30Then season two was about that alien invasion actually happening and it was more focused on fewer characters, but how the world was being saved by a couple of characters in particular from this alien invasion. But you met the aliens in full. You saw inside the big mothership. Did they look good? Yeah, I think they looked fairly interesting. Yeah, fairly decent. Okay. Were they handsome aliens? Is that what you're asking? No, I was like, can you obviously tell it's someone in a costume? No, no, no, no. Well, they're CGI. It was all CGI-based aliens. But I thought as aliens go, as TV film aliens go, they were pretty convincing.

1:17:06Now this third season picks up a few years later when the world has been saved, spoiler alert, by a couple of characters from season two. This sounds like a bit of a spoiler, but this is right at the beginning of this new season. So, you know, I think it has to be considered okay. One of those characters who helped save the world from the aliens, apparently the aliens got destroyed, the mothership got destroyed, and that was the last we heard of them. He comes back, even though everyone assumed he was dead. And now he's back. And he suspects that the aliens haven't all gone forever. And he's worried about an imminent return of the aliens.

1:17:45And I think considering there are, like, what, nine more episodes in this season, I think we can safely say, okay, the aliens are definitely back. Oh, and there's a prologue scene involving a dog, which is what I'm saying freaky. And I'll just leave it there. I'll leave it there. Freaky-dicky. Freaky-dicky. leave it there for people to discover for themselves I this is one of the interesting very Apple TV kind of thing they do which is that it's like absolutely beautifully shot incredibly cinematic looks great and it's basically shot on a kind of widescreen like it is a movie like it's a big budget movie like an Independence Day type of thing it's not a million miles away tonally from Independence Day as well which is one of the classic alien invasion films of all time not in my not one of my favourite films of all time not in the top 30 just to underline that not every film is in one of my favourite but it's decent fun so it's a bit like that and it's compelling enough and I did I have to say actually I thought this opening episode of season 3 was probably the most compelling opening episodes of all the ones I've watched so far of this show and I am tempted to carry on watching it but in the what starts out as being quite kind of what does, how does James refer to it as like big heavy sci-fi or whatever or you know, deep, what's the phrase he uses for big?

1:19:09I don't know. Yeah, anyway. Deep sci-fi maybe? Deep sci-fi whatever, whatever the phrase is. This starts off a bit like that, like it's quite, but it's not, but it's much simpler to understand, shall we say, than certain other shows that James has access to. I got it, which is the benchmark. Yeah, right. I mean, it's not that complicated. I think they've decomplicated it, this series. And it's more straightforward, and it is more like an Independence Day type of story. And I was quite compelled by it. This has got a moment where someone grabs someone else's train and throws it off the car. And we talked on the last Pilot Plus about tropes.

1:19:43That is a real trope. Horeal tropes. Horeal trope. That is an H-O-T, right? Because I just don't think he needs to do that anyway. But I was compelled. As I say, it's brilliantly. Technically, it looks great. But there's something a little bit missing for me. that it's not going to be the top of my list to carry on watching but I will I reserve the right to carry on watching it and I think I probably will eventually but there's other stuff that I'll probably finish watching first that's the way I see it generally what did you think? So for me the thing that is missing from this is quality to the writing and some of the performances actually I have to say look I appreciated the fact that I could understand it and usually as you know with sci-fi sometimes it goes over my head I would love to know what James thinks of this because he'll give you know a well-rounded opinion.

1:20:31Yeah I don't think it's not like Foundation which is his favourite. I think he'd consider this a little bit silly. I'm guessing. That's my guess. Yeah we'll find out. Well the thing for me is just like it's I do feel like it is compelling in terms of like this lead guy the guy who saved the planet along with Billy Barrett so that's Shamir Anderson. He's the one who is alive still and everyone is wants to celebrate him but he's adamant that the aliens still exist and the generals are sort of like shutting him down because they're like, no, no, we've had two years of peace, forget about it kind of thing.

1:21:06I think the fact that he is so convinced of, he's got this feeling that, no, they very much are still here. We need to, we're under threat. I think that is really interesting and that might make someone who's more invested in the story, you know, they would want to see what happens, right? But for me, it's like it's peppered throughout with like exposition, which is helpful to me, obviously, because it explains what's happening. but that just feels sort of you know unnecessary you know in the authenticity of the dialogue the cheat is cheesy like there's a there's the um press conference that he attends you know for everyone to kind of like talk about the fact that he's actually not dead he's here and um there's this one moment where he meets uh the girl the yeah the girlfriend of casper morrow who um was the other person who helped save the world from the aliens, played by Billy Barrett.

1:21:57And that one moment I was just like, no, I'm out. This is just, this is too much. So, yeah, I would just say that it's, this isn't prestige drama, I would say, in terms of the dialogue and some of the acting, actually. Yeah. Which actors are you going to slack off? I'm not going to name anyone. Okay. I don't think you're going to bump into them anytime soon, but you know no I know but I would just say it's not like top level Apple I'd say yeah top level Apple you mean Apple top level Apple TV plus yeah I think yeah I think it is on a in terms of how it's I think it's really well made as I mentioned a few times already but I know what you mean yeah it's slightly yeah the dialogue is fairly sometimes fairly basic it's not exactly got like a wit to it also there's a cheesiness to it okay and like I mean there's a line for example the ex girl well the girlfriend of Casper Morrow who's moved on with her life right and she's got this new partner and he's like listen I don't think you can be fully present till you finish whatever's back there first I mean what who talks like that yeah yeah no you've got you've got a you've got a point fair enough I quite enjoyed it despite all that yeah it's a bit similar to Three Body Problem as I'll compare it to as well which is which funny enough Alfie Allen's in season two of that he's filming that at the moment oh right yeah which was see that's a quality right yeah I mean three body problems skirted with cheesiness at various moments but it was much more original not like this no no no I'm about to yeah it's much more original and much bolder than this yeah and I think from memory I think the dialogue was more interesting and heightened than it is in this yeah no I think you're probably right yeah I'm giving it too much credit for it's not that great anyway Invasion is now streaming already on the Apple TV Plus.

1:23:55I think the first, by the time this comes out, I think the first couple of episodes will be there, and then it'll be one a week from then on. Streaming as we speak. Finally, in the review section, we come to King and Conqueror, which is a big budget, ambitious, historical epic set in 1066. You may have heard of it. The Battle of Hastings and all that. and it stars James Norton and Nicolai Costa Valdau, as you pronounce it, as I think you pronounce it, but no one else does. And I hosted, as I've mentioned already, the screening of this and I interviewed them on stage. So I am in the pocket of Big...

1:24:40Conqueror. Conqueror. So I'm turning to Kay Ribeiro to tell us what she thinks about this show. Take it away, Kay. I really enjoyed this you know I like a historical drama and I'm a big fan of James Norton so this is great now what I would just say from the start is that if depending on your knowledge your level of knowledge about the battle of Hastings so I had have I had a rudimentary knowledge right so I knew about William of Normandy what I would say in this first episode what I would have loved is a web diagram of who the hell everyone was because I got lost quite a lot and then i was like okay so that is okay harold of wessex and then do you know what i mean so a lot of brain power you must need a family tree yeah family tree that's exactly it yes in fact boyd in my notes i said family tree would be handy the main people the big players in this as boyd said is william played by nicolai let's start with him so he is william of normandy they have civil wars going on in France the king of France advises him not to take the invitation to go to England because he's been invited to go to his cousin's coronation so his cousin is Edward King Edward played by Eddie Marsan yeah despite the king of France saying he shouldn't go he goes because he is um he doesn't want to offend King Edward's mother Lady Emma played brilliantly by Juliette Stevenson who is so harsh and so he goes along to that so that's William Then you have Harold of Wessex played by James Norton.

1:26:14Now, James Norton's character, Harold, is the son of the Earl of Wessex. So in England, there's also civil war between the earls. So they're all fighting. What are you holding up? Listeners, I'm holding up. In any magazine, I shall not name, there is a family tree. That's so useful. Yes, yes. There you go. Just showing. Damn it. I needed that. Yeah, sorry. I would suggest everyone gets a copy of that magazine because it would be really helpful. Yeah, so in the Civil War in England, there are all these earls, I think three or four earls who are at war, and they come to an uneasy truce, and one of them, was it Edward an earl?

1:26:53He's basically made king. Edward the Confessor, as he was known. Oh, fine. Okay. and Edward is married to the daughter of the Earl of Wessex, who is the sister of James Norton's Harold. See what I mean? It's complicated. She's young as well. She's a big age gap. Yes. Oh, yeah. It's unsavoury. It's unsavoury. But the Earl of Wessex, crucially, is very happy about it, this union, because it's a power play. Because now he, you know, especially if they have an heir, then he's got power on the throne. So Harold, James Norton, is wary of the uneasy truce between the elves because he thinks that actually there's some double crossing going on, but his father will not hear of it and dismisses him out of hand.

1:27:37And that proves to be a mistake because things unfold at the coronation of Edward, which prove him right. And so this is at the beginning of this opening episode, we see snippets of the Battle of Hastings, and then it goes back in time to set the scene of how the key players came to know each other and then were at odds, i.e. William and Harold. I really enjoyed it. I really liked it. Once I got to grips with who they are, that's the thing. So I think the second episode onwards, I'm going to get even more into it. It's very atmospheric. I think it's got a great cast as well. All of them are brilliant.

1:28:15But particularly I want to shout out Juliet Stevenson as Lady Emma, who is this awful, awful woman, the mother of King Edward, who treats him abominably. She's ultimately the real person who holds the power in that dynamic, but he is slowly trying to grapple with it. I mean, he is the King of England, but she is hideous to him. Oh, but he's a freak, right? Oh, yeah, he is. He is. Yeah, and actually Eddie plays that very well. Oh, 100%. But, yeah, I mean, their dynamics. and the thing I think it's going to do really well obviously I mean first of all I don't think has it ever been subject of a TV series maybe it has well they say not I mean very much the claim is that this is the first dramatisation in film on TV of the whole I think there have been films at least and maybe some TV dramas that have dealt with the Battle of Hastings itself but in terms of the build up and the background and you know everything surrounding it they say the producers of this show James Norton's production company James you know made it that it is the first time that that's been attempted.

1:29:18So, yeah, which is incredible. Well, I just think people, you know, backstabbing, warring families, love, hatred. I mean, it's just like people are in that. You know what it is? You know what it is? It's a Game of Thrones game. It is, indeed. That is what it is. Last thing I have to say is that the fight scenes, because there's obviously, like, outbreaks of civil war and there's, like, all this discontent, it is well done. And there's impressive arrow action, I'd say, and also of note is Harold because he is a badass fighter and he plays dirty. I mean, like, he's the kid at nursery who's a little bit bitey.

1:29:57Yeah, there's a moment, Kay is alluding to a moment which we discussed in the panel Q &A that I hosted. And that was, that moment, and we won't spoil it, but you know it when you see it. That was improvised on the day. Really? Yeah. That was suddenly, I think it was James himself no no maybe it was Nikolai I think it was Nikolai suggested it yeah it's so primal yeah and it is really it is shocking it's a shocking moment and it's because we should say that it's directed by Balthazar Kumaka directed the first episode who's on the panel and he said he admitted that it wasn't it was like something yeah they were like let's try this and it works really well just to emphasize listen it's great to see where everyone's mind's at so that's improv yeah absolutely yeah the other incredible revelation from that I'm sorry to keep banging on about this Q &A that I hosted but the other incredible revelation of it's halfway through filming James Norton fell off a horse and broke his collarbone oh my god no that's so painful absolutely painful ended up in hospital and I know that sounds like a ridiculous thing to say by the way but I've heard that's excruciating a collarbone it's famously one of the most painful painful exactly one of those painful things that can happen to you um in terms of breaking bones etc and he carried on carried on making the rest of the series and like literally he was like he had said to the doctor something like you know can i go back on set and ride more horses and fight more people like he's not really i mean listen that is a professionalism b that is a man who owns a production company who's behind us right he's on a schedule you're absolutely right I really enjoyed it as well and two main reasons I think it's really interesting, one of the key revelations of it is that when you're taught at school about 1066 and what happened you're just taught like every other conflict, it's two opposing forces and you're kind of like, that's the way it's explained in quite simplistic terms, or at least it was when I went to school but these guys were actually like friends and they knew each other and then they end up on in a huge big battle and you know it kind of explores really the amorality of war and conflict you know which kind of carries on to this day there's a topicality to it that it's not you know they don't they're not overselling it or they don't kind of belabor the point but there's definitely saying something about how people end up doing stuff in conflict.

1:32:32It's not black and white, is it? Yeah, which they wouldn't normally do in the scheme of things, and how it tests people's morals. And even though, obviously, I mean, this is definitely told through the lens. There's one moment where one of the female characters talks about how no one pays any attention to the women. And I thought, oh, you know. Oh, hey there. Yeah, but I thought, right. I thought, you know, dead to all that. But I was like, that is obviously a feminist message that's being imposed from, you know, the modern day but actually when you think about it there have been women even going back that far you know in medieval you know figures who were women who were powerful but it was all about they really had to insert themselves and in this the women that who are you know on one level the wives and girlfriends of these main characters but they get to do a lot of stuff and i thought that was very well handled it didn't feel like he was being shoehorned in you know i thought it was interesting.

1:33:25Clemence Poesy. I think that's how you pronounce it. Oh yeah, Clemence Poesy. She's great in this. She plays William's wife and she is a piece of work. On top of what she does with William, she's also capable herself of being pretty, shall we say, nasty. Oh, she's a nasty bastard for sure. Yeah, she's a nasty bastard. I was holding back. And Emily Beecham as Edith, who is Harold's wife, is also very interesting as well. She's not quite, you know, she's not a nasty bastard. She's a decent human being. but the way she gets treated is really interesting as well. But the two things I really admired about it were the battles, as you mentioned, are so visceral, and you really get the sense that there's no rules to these battles.

1:34:07No, they play dirty. They play dirty. They're like, if they need to pick up a fucking rock and smash it into someone's head, they will. Whatever it takes, they might shove a sword into someone's heart. They may behead them. They may hack off a limb. It's all like improvised. And I thought that was quite – I may be wrong, but I don't remember seeing it like that, that vividly shown before, how you just do anything, whatever the fuck it takes, in the midst of battle. That was really interesting. And I really thought the whole – I mean, I liked it as it was going along, but I think it lights up when Eddie Marsan and Juliet Stevenson are together on the screen as these demented mother and son.

1:34:44Because, as you said, she's brilliant, but he was on the panel, by the way. He's very entertaining about how much he loved playing this complete, like, mummy's boy, demented, ludicrous, bonkers, fantastical idiot, basically. The psychology behind their relationship is very interesting. Twisted completely. And he thinks there's voices of God that are speaking to him, you know, and all this stuff. He's the expressions on Eddie Marsan's face. I mean, he's just brilliant. Eddie Marsan is brilliant in everything. but he loves relishes this role and he's so funny and it's such a they're like a comedy double act to me you know it's like suddenly in the middle of this whole very you know kind of gritty earthy bloody gory historical drama suddenly you've got like a double act wandering like Lauren Harley suddenly appear you know without putting too far to point on it and it works brilliantly and the tone I thought they do the writer does very well in going from one minute you know intense battle scenes and, you know, ruminations on who's got the power within a family to complete, like, hysterical nonsense with Eddie Malsan and Julia Stevenson.

1:35:54So I really enjoyed it. Yeah. I'm glad you liked it too, Kay, because I am in the pocket of big King of Conqueror. No, I am endorsing it. It starts on Sunday. Actually, it would have just started on Sunday as we come out on Monday, and it carries on on Monday, the 25th of August, 2025, at nine o 'clock. And it'll all be on the iPlayer, all the episodes will be on the iPlayer. I think there are eight. How many episodes is it? Six? Oh, okay. I think it might be eight. Oh, God. Now you've said that. I'm not sure. Anyway. Wade, you're in the pocket. Come on. I know, I know. But however many episodes there are, we'll all be on the iPlayer from now.

1:36:32That's all there now as we speak. Yeah, it's eight episodes. I thought so. It's eight episodes. You can hear the rustling in my magazine. And what week is a good week. But what is our pick of the week, Kay? There's only two of us to decide what the pick of the week is. So, you know. So mine is Atomic. Yeah, I think I might agree with you there. Yeah, I think Atomic's brilliant. But King and Conqueror is great. Yeah, King and Conqueror is great. Fantastic as well. Absolutely fantastic. Two really good shows and Invasion. Not so much. What else is on, Kay, you're asking? I'll tell you. Yeah, go on.

1:37:02First of all, there is the I Thought the Law, which is that Sheridan Smith drama I was telling you about earlier. That's going to be a big deal. That's going to do very, very well. ITV won Sunday, the 31st of August, 2025, and carries on on the Monday. Then I'm now going to flick, as I traditionally do, through my copy of Heat Magazine to tell you what else is on. And I can reveal that Dating Naked UK is back on Friday the 29th. I gratuitously mentioned that. Yeah, you're just mentioning it because James is not here. Yeah, James isn't here. The jury murder trial is on Channel 4 from Tuesday Friday.

1:37:36This is a brilliant format. Oh, my gosh. I've started watching it. Yeah, right. They recreate an actual trial that took place. They changed the names and everything to protect the people involved. But then, so they kind of, they use all the verbatim, what happened in a murder case, and a jury is gathered of members of the public. And it's like, are they going to agree to the actual jury that decided the verdict in the actual case? It's a really interesting format. It's the second series. I'm going to talk about it next week. It's fascinating. Me too, I think. Yeah, it's a really clever, interesting format.

1:38:08The terminal list colon dark wolf is on Prime Video. Prime Video, Wednesday, the 27th of August, 2025. This is like star-studded show. Taylor Kitsch is in it. Chris Pratt is in it. It's very Prime Video, though. If we were reviewing this on the live show, this would be another show. I feel the Russell T. Davis would intervene in. And yes, and shall we say ruin the review. Give it the BuzzFly treatment. Give it the BuzzFly treatment. But it's heavily embargoed. So maybe we'll do that next week. James might insist on it. We'll see. and there's a Mark Maron comedy special on Sky Comedy Slash Now that's available now actually called Panicked and Mark Maron's given up his podcast for WTF soon.

1:38:52He's winding it down and this is his return to stand-up comedy which is what he's known for before he started doing the podcast and I think he's a brilliant stand-up and I'm very excited to see that. And that, Kay, is your lot. Yeah. What an epic journey it's been. You and me together, Dot and Ethel, Pilot TV podcast. I think James is back, isn't he, next week? Yeah, Dad's back next week. We better tidy up the house. Yeah, we will. We'll do that later. Yeah. Thank you very much for all your hard work, Kay, in the middle of the 50 million things you're hosting at Carfest. And have a good time. Thank you.

1:39:27Yeah, we'll be back same time next week. Well, have fun in Edinburgh. We look forward to hearing all about it next week. And I'll drone on about it next week. Pilot out.

1:39:45order to drink water and then hit the Sara