Pluribus, All Her Fault, and Wild Cherry. With guest Jack Whitehall

33:13Of course, he's also clearly game for life because in his first scene he gets his bum out. Yes, exactly. Something for the mums. buns for the mums dads as well yeah and the dads yeah i think my bits for the dads but yeah no he's um he's great and really game and and it was great seeing him you know do this and and play this play this type of part and he's um he you know i think it it's so much better for his his presence in it because as well he has this like this this this natural undeniable charisma and charm and aura about him that really helps with making that Jamie character feel multi-dimensional and someone that can be a bit boorish but is also really appealing as well.

34:06So I think it helps with this constant balancing act of whose side you're on. does this represent I mean you're great in it I thought you did such a good job in this character I totally went with it is this the future would you like to do more kind of challenging acting roles or are you going to carry on doing the stand up and you can't abandon your comedy career no no I definitely won't abandon the comedy career and you know I love doing comedy and I love the you know getting to do shows where I turn up to set and play and improvise and fool around and they're great but it's really nice to be able to do something like this and have these challenges and have these jobs where you turn up to set every day and you're kind of terrified in a good way because you're really pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and being challenged by the material.

34:54So hopefully there'll be more of this. I mean, maybe I'll now just get typecast as psychopaths and long may it continue. Great future ahead. Yeah, exactly. We'll see how it goes down. I may be here in a couple of years' time promoting the reboot of Celebrity Juice and telling you it was all a disaster. That'll be fun as well. It'll be fun, yeah. Great to see you. Thanks, Jack. Thank you. That was Jack Whitehall. Time now for this week's news. Now, Boydie. Yes. I hear you may have some news for us. I think so because, yeah, the night manager, they've revealed, as they call them, the first look images.

35:30And they've also revealed a lot about the story and the cast, which I think is new news. Remember, the original night manager was a massive phenomenon, a huge success, adapted from the John le Carre book. And it's going to be back with kind of using those characters that were in the first series. But obviously John le Carre is now no longer with us and didn't write an actual sequel to the original book. So they've kind of created a new story featuring those characters. And the pictures look really interesting. There's one picture of Tom Hiddleston. Obviously he's back in the role of British Interjector's operative Jonathan Pyne.

36:07And there's one shot of him canoodling with another couple in a kind of up-close-in-person dirty-dancing type situation. I'm like, oh, what's going on there, Mr. Hiddleston? You may ask. Olivia Colman is back. Do you remember Olivia Colman's in it? I think that's a pretty good coup. Since Colman can do anything these days, she's in a kind of supporting role in this series. It's good to see her back. And the storyline is Jonathan Pine, Tom Hiddleston, thought he'd buried his past, now living as Alex Goodwin, a low-level MI6 officer, running a quiet surveillance unit in London. His life is comfortably uneventful.

36:42Then one night, a chance sighting of an old mercenary prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player, Colombian businessman, Teddy Dos Santos, played by Diego Calva. And, yeah. But it looks great from the pictures. They've done a good job because I am now fully excited about the whole thing. What they don't say is when it is arriving. I think it's not going to be until next year. It won't be until next year, yeah. I reckon Jan. Do you? Yeah. Have you got inside information? Absolutely not. I just plucked a month from the calendar. But no, it feels like it's a Jan.

37:13It feels like, well, it does feel like, I agree with you, it does feel January. If it actually feels like the big January the 1st, you know, they usually have a huge big, like Happy Valley, the final series started on New Year's Day on BBC One, the second series of The Tourists, similarly. So they usually have a big drama offering on New Year's Day. I hope this will be that, but I'm not sure if it is, that hasn't been confirmed to me, certainly, or anyone I know. Well, you would be the person who would know, boys. You'd think, wouldn't you? Yeah. Soon you'll get a call, I'm sure. Yeah, but I hope it's them, but it might not be.

37:44Something I was excited about was a press release. I just got this morning, actually, and it was about the fact that ITV has commissioned The Party. Yes, I saw this. Which is going to star Luke Evans. It's written by Sarah Soleimani, and it's based on Elizabeth Day's book, her novel. It's going to be produced by World Productions, so it sounds really exciting. A line of duty, fine. Yes, of course. Luca Evans will play Martin Gilmore, who's a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with the wealthy and charismatic politician Ben Fitzmaurice, played by Tom Cullen. Tom Cullen again. Yeah, he's everywhere.

38:20Apparently he was raised alone by his working-class mum, Sylvia, played by Joanna Scanlon, and he wins a scholarship to an elite boarding school where he first meets Ben. They forge an unbreakable bond as Ben and the Fitzmaurices give Martin the sense of belonging he has always craved and in turn Martin remains unflinchingly loyal to Ben through even the greatest crises. Have you read that book? No. Oh? I'm currently weirdly look how weird is this? You let me down because I was expecting you would have done. No but I'm currently reading her first I think it's her first book here look How to Fail.

38:53Yes you are. How weird is that actually? That is quite weird. That is weird. But that's like a non-fiction self-help book isn't it? No it's non-fiction but yeah this is from a novel obviously. Of course, yeah. Of course. As stated prior. Yeah, so I'm really excited about that. Yeah, Sarah Soleimani is a legend and a friend of the podcast, I'm saying. A close personal friend of boys. They all are. Kurt Sutter is not a close personal friend of mine, but I do very much like his work. And I was very excited to see the trailer for his new show dropped this week, which is The Abandons on Netflix. It's a Western with Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson.

39:31And Lena Headey seems to be like a homesteader a sort of group of, lead some sort of settlers. And Gillian Anderson is like a, I don't know, like a wicked rancher who's trying to drive her off her land and take her land from her. It's all very sinister. But Kurt Sutter is a big one for ultra-violence and sadistic shit. Like, he's the man behind. He worked on The Shield. He did Sons of Anarchy. He worked, briefly, on Mayans MC. But yes, he does have a look. How come you like him then? Do you know what? You hate that stuff. It's a good point. And I must admit, like Sons of Anarchy, he used to start pretty much every season with an incredibly graphic and hugely upsetting bit of violence.

40:06And when I did my rewatch of Sons of Anarchy, I struggled with each and every one of those, which is kind of the beginning of each season. There was always a thing, and it was always horrible. And I never liked that. I really liked the show, but I could have done without that. But yeah, he puts his characters through a lot. He plays, he's actually stars in The Shield as well, as a serial killer. Is it an Albanian, not really a serial killer, is now Balian sort of like criminal who runs an organised crime organisation and he likes cutting off people's feet. Oh, that's not... It's not... All right.

40:37Not as killery as... Yeah. Oh, fun with that. Someone should have told him that... Let's just make it clear. It's fine. It's fine. It's not full on serial killing. He just lops off bits. I mean, it's like taking Feet Finder really literally. Oh my God. Serial dismemberment is okay. The Abandoned, then, which lands on Netflix on the 4th of December. So excited about that new cut started to show. But that wasn't the only trailer that dropped this week. we also had Chex Notes trailer for Wonder Man which Kay you will have limited interest in but this is a new sort of MCU superhero TV show starring Yaya Abdul-Mateen II it's quite meta it's a superhero who wants to get a role playing a superhero in a TV show but it's a TV show about a superhero who wants to play a superhero in a TV show sounds quite interesting yeah and the fact that he is a superhero has powers I guess is like the big secret he keeps from people Yaya Abdul-Mateen was brilliant in Watchmen.

41:30Watchmen. Naked, wasn't he? He was very naked in Watchmen, yes. Blue and naked, yes. So, I don't know what to make of Wonder Man. It looks interesting. I haven't really heard of this. No, it's not been particularly well publicised, but it's an interesting project. It's a Marvel show. It's an MCU show, yeah. It'll be on Disney+. Interesting. Yeah, Wonder Man drops on Disney +, on January the 27th. Oh. Yeah. Excellent. Did you see the glorious news after all the acclaim that we particularly you two have given not to Nobody Wants This Season 2 that Nobody Wants This has been renewed for season three by Netflix.

42:07It has been renewed for third season. It's a no-brainer. It is but equally part of me is just like meh. Yeah. I'm a bit. I agree. Because it's funny I enjoyed the second season and I did watch it all and I was like yeah it's not as good as the first one but the more I've thought about it the less I've liked it and it's like I'm thinking back on it there was almost nothing memorable about it like it was perfectly pleasant watch but there was nothing that stuck in my mind about it see I would be tuning in to season 3 solely for Saoirse and the sister to see what's happening with their relationships yeah harsh yeah I know but it's true it is true like they had the most interesting I agree with you but I still enjoyed it did you watch all of season 2?

42:45no aha j 'accuse mon petit frange god but I will no I want to carry on watching I enjoy it I do enjoy it yeah okay well come back to us when you have Don't enjoy it enough to finish watching it though, do you? Well, you know. He's a busy man. He's a busy void. Fucking busy man, yeah. Look, obviously, it's going to be a tonal segue here because, you know, hilarity. But I was genuinely upset to hear this week that Chekikario has died. Yes, that is absolutely... Which was really sad. Chekikario is 72. I interviewed him just last year for Boat Story. Yeah, he was great. Yeah, I just had a couple of Q &As to them.

43:23It's all about us, obviously. No, of course it's not. It is about Chekikario. He was absolutely brilliant. Baptiste. Yeah, Baptiste. He was so good, they made that spin-off. That's right. Baptiste. Yes, Baptiste. Yes. He was obviously, the character appeared in The Missing, didn't he? And then they spun off Baptiste. Yeah, he was fantastic. And he was a really, really good guy. Yeah, great French actor. He was in the original Bad Boys. Wow. If you can believe that. That was a long time ago. But yeah, great. Great actor. Really lovely man as well. Really interesting interview. But yeah, died at the age of 72.

43:52Very sad. Very sad. Do you have any happier news? Okay, I've got some news to end on, which is that Paramount Plus has announced that they are going to be releasing The Revenge Club on the 12th of December. So this is a six-part series starring Martin Compton, Amy Fjorn Edwards and Mira Sayal. And the synopsis reads, it follows six lonely, hapless strangers brought together by a divorce support group, each reeling from betrayal and heartbreak. With little in common beyond their emotional baggage, they form an unlikely bond and come up with a wildly misguided idea to take revenge on the people who broke their hearts.

44:29Sounds fantastic. Look, James' interest is piqued. What starts as a cathartic outlet quickly spirals into something far more chaotic as their retribution escalates from petty pranks, forged exam papers, tarot cons, and rat invasions, to deadly accidents. Dun-dun-dun! Sounds good. well it's good to have Martin Constance back listen it is good to have Martin Constance back and he's going to be back also in Red Eye Series 2 by the way yes Reder Eye or Red Eyes even more Red Eye which I think that is coming very soon that might be a New Year's treat as well from ITV perhaps perhaps indeed I really like Red Eye as we know I'm a big fan of aeroplane base anything on a plane anything on a plane preferably upper class for boy day yes short veil over that but yeah Yeah, I'm very excited to see Compton back.

45:20Okay. Yeah. Can I give you my showbiz headline of the week? This is about film, but it just amused me. You know, it's one of my offshoot. Yeah, a little franchise that I created that no one cares about apart from me. Boyd's headline corner. My headline corner is, this is from Variety, Jennifer Lawrence did not use an intimacy coordinator with Robert Pattinson because, quotes, he's not pervy. Yeah, this went absolutely everywhere, this particular story. Yeah. The point was, in fact, what I thought was quite interesting was actually what they haven't quoted there, because I guess it's not as headline worthy, is she says something along the lines of, she says, a lot of male actors you work with gets offended when you don't want to fuck them, and then the punishment begins.

46:02And I was like, that's a very, you know, that's very Jennifer Lawrence, and it's very obviously funny her saying it, but it is quite, I would say, revealing about the culture on sets of things, especially among, you know, how female actors are treated. Yeah, don't let the humour of that expression take away from the actual facts. There's a lot under the surface there to unpack. That's pretty sinister. Yeah, it's on the surface. It's there. It's what she's dealing with. Well, exactly. So I thought that was interesting. Sorry, the next bit of the forehead line is she also refused to let Die My Love, which is the film, edit her cellulite in quotes, no, that's an ass.

46:37There you go. Good one. I genuinely love Jennifer Lawrence. I think she's wonderful. And she's been doing all the chat shows recently. She was on Jimmy Fallon, I think, recently. and she was saying about how annoying she is, and she knows she's annoying. It's like, you're not annoying. You're just, A, very funny, but also just very unfiltered and honest, and it's just great. I don't think she's annoying at all. I saw her do a Q &A recently for this film, and she was interviewed by someone, Edith Bowman, maybe? And she and the director, Lynn Ramsey, were there, and she, not in a diva way, in a funny way, they sat down, she was wearing this kind of dress, it was like a slit along the side, so kind of, you know, revealing quite a lot of her leg, and she said no no no I can't sit here because you can all see my slit and I've got to change places with it she had to go up and change places because she was revealing too much yeah she's brilliant that's very funny well yeah so headline wise I was just I must admit I found it a bit wearisome that that pretty much that exact headline was used by so many outlets like it was always just like okay but I get I understand why because the internet but it was just like I mean it's a brilliant headline it is it's not going to be buried anywhere is it yeah no exactly yeah time now for this week's reviews and we begin with All Her Faults, which is on Sky Atlantic.

47:48And this is Megan Gallagher's show based on the book of the same name by Andrea Mara, and it stars Sarah Snook as a busy mother who encounters what can only be described as the Playdate from Hell because when she comes up to pick up her son, he isn't where she thought he'd be. As mentioned last week, this is basically the exact same setup of the show Playdate, which was, I want to say, earlier this year, but time has no meaning to me, so it might have been the year before. I think it was this year. And by the way, it wasn't actually called Playdate. Was it not called Playdate? No. I think it was.

48:15That was the original. Oh, it was originally called Playdate, and then they changed the title to The Stolen Girl. Yes. The Stolen Girl. So it's actually, it's the same setup as The Stolen Girl, though I'm assuming slightly less batshit than that show ultimately turned out to be. Maybe. How many episodes? Three, to be fair. Okay, fine. Yeah. It is incredibly similar. So the initial premise that Sarah Snook's character has arranged a playdate for her boy with another boy from the same school. And she arrives, I'm just repeating what you said. So that element of it is almost exactly the same as the aforementioned show that you mentioned.

48:53But from then on, it is different. Because in that case, there was like, it was a complete mystery as to who had taken the kid and why. And they would edit in kind of elements of the side story to explain the background of exactly what happened. But they still kept it mysterious pretty much all the way through. whereas in this it is as they say in the trade as we say in the trade it's more of a why done it than a who done it oh god so you know you know who has taken the kid and what's happened to the kid essentially very early on I would say kind of end of the first episode into the second episode but you then meet the mothers all the mothers friends and relatives and a husband's family and kind of they extended their friendship group the other women particularly in the neighbourhood it's set in a suburban area of Chicago a kind of to-do, well-to-do area of lavish houses in that place and so you amass a kind of gaggle of suspects who would have worked with the one we do know is involved somehow so somehow there's a connection between the character we know is up to no good and all these other characters who've all got secrets and lies swirling round in a suburban melange of, you know, scandal basically Sarah Snook is absolutely brilliant right, she's, I mean, obviously she was phenomenal in Succession and she's really good in this, she again is one of those roles which demands a lot of crying because, you know, she's in a state of distress but the best thing about it in a way is, I mean, it's an intrinsically gripping storyline it's a mystery and you do, you know, and it cleverly sets up all kinds of characters and you do want to know how it all plays out and I will absolutely finish it as soon as I get time but almost the most interesting thing about it is they really go there with how would the mother how would the media and the fellow community react to a mother who's a middle class middle stashed upper class privileged woman has in quotes that's why it's called all her fault because everyone assumes it's her fault for not digging deeper into whoever was the nanny who was looking after her kid or the parents of the kids especially having the boys having a play date with so there's a lot of blame going around I think they do that really well.

51:11Yeah, that's the most interesting element of it. There's a press conference scene. How many episodes have you seen? I've only watched one. There's a press conference scene in episode two where the police and the parents address the media and they're pleading for help. And that goes spectacularly pear-shaped. And it's almost like comical how terrible it goes within seconds of it beginning. But it does comment on, and there's a lot of stuff about, you know, people looking on Instagram to see what their social media profile is and people saying the whole thing could be a scam arranged via social media.

51:43And so it is interesting. I mean, it does stretch credulity. There's a red herring in episode two. There's like a little thing that happens where you know, oh, that's suspicious. And you think, oh, this is a big secret that is going to come tumbling out. And then they resolve that within about 10 minutes and it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous, the whole little thing that happens. And there's lots of moments that are preposterous and, you know, it doesn't really, things that just don't make sense. They may make more sense when you watch the whole thing and they explain what the hell's going on.

52:14But I am enjoying it. It's got a really good cast. Jake Lacey from season one, I want to say, of The White Lotus. You know The White Lotus essentially had a series of privileged white guys, privileged buff white guys who are kind of borderline obnoxious. He was the first one in series one of The White Lotus. He's now doing a very similar routine. He's just got that face. He's got that kind of like privileged, kind of like, yeah, like strapping. I know exactly what you mean. American football playing. Condescending. Jock. Definitely the jock at university. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now he's like, you know, running a huge business.

52:46He's making loads of money. Investments of some kind. He's really good. Michael Peña is good as the detective. Dakota Fanning is great as the friend slash possible, you know, like everyone involved is possible. She's basically the mother who is supposedly the mother who's organised this play date. Exactly. that Sarah Snook believes has organised the play. Exactly, yes. You have mentioned also the sister of... Abby Elliott from The Bear. Yeah. Yeah, she's great. She's playing a really spoiled, annoying brat in it, and she's very good. So it's not, I would say, I don't feel it's like, it's not in the upper echelons of peak TV.

53:22It's pretty compelling, and I do want to know how it plays out. But it's not like, you know, it's not brilliant, I would say. It's fine. It has a couple of clumsy moments, I would say as well. There's one bit. where a character kind of looks at the boy who's going to be kidnapped. It's like a flashback, has an evil glare. There are ominous chords. Oh, yeah. Chords like playing on the soundtrack. And she says something like, he's perfect. And you're like, oh my God, this is embarrassing. But that's the only bum note, I would say, from the episode that I saw. I was like, that was horribly cumbersome.

53:55I think it does a really, like, you know, the lesson of get straight into it. It does that brilliantly. Right. Because it begins with the, with the quote unquote pick up from the play date so you are right in it she rings the doorbell and this older woman like says yeah I don't know who you are who you're talking about and then from that moment onwards Sarah Snook is fantastic in this from that moment onwards the drama escalates at such a rapid rate because you are following her on this journey of realising that oh my god her kid's been taken she doesn't know who the hell the woman was everything has gone wrong in this scenario and she is going to get blamed she blames herself a little bit but more importantly I think what's really interesting about this is the commentary on how, as Boyd said, how everyone in the community sees her, how her own husband looks at her and it clearly eludes the fact that, oh, you should have double checked this.

54:45But I think what's really good is this whole exploration of the difference between the roles of the mothers and the fathers. And that is particularly apparent with the character of Jenny, played by Dakota Fanning, who is a mother in that little group and is on a business meeting in the evening. and she's constantly getting calls from the husband just asking, oh, you know, where's such and such water bottle, where's this? And it's something that is obviously, most mothers will probably relate to in some way of like, you know, the pressures that are put on them as opposed to the husbands who and one little detail I really loved, okay, so she gets Shiv, I'm calling her Sarah Snook Sarah Snook's character, the whole thing is she's received this text from this Jenny character and she's believed it to be true, etc, and then it's pointed out to her oh, there's a class list of phone numbers, and did you tally it with the number that came through?

55:33And she's like, oh, no, I didn't. I was so busy. You can see how it would happen, right? And there's just this one line where she says, because he said, you know, did you check? And she goes, no, that list of numbers is on my bedside table, my side, but I just didn't get around to it because of this. And it's such a good thing because it just outlines the fact that everything is down to her to sort out. And I don't know. It is an interesting commentary on emotional labour and the pressures and the judgement put on working mothers and whatnot. But also, sorry, one more thing. It's like with Jenny, she's got one kid and she's expected to help at the fundraiser because there's an expectation that if you've just got one kid, you should be just kind of helping out for those who have two.

56:15And you're like, what? It's outrageous. So yeah. I thought it was really good. And unlike you, I don't know, I feel like it's... I really wanted to continue to see how it panned out. I do as well. and I thought it was well done I'm not saying it's like peak prestige TV of course but I think it's like it's mid-table it's mid-table but you know there's also there's quite a few moments that you talked about that reaction shot and there are lots of little quite cheesy moments like that and particularly almost like the soundtrack doesn't help it's almost like dun dun dun it's very heavy handed yeah it's quite heavy handed like the bit I'm talking about you sit with a mobile phone is what I'll say about this red herring moment it's like dun you're like oh blah blah blah that explains it and then there's a scene there's another scene in episode 2 where the character you're talking about, Dakota Fang is character Jenny, is kind of, she's at the school with these other mums, and she tells them that she went to see Sarah Snook's character, Marissa, because everyone's blaming her as well, Dakota Fang is character.

57:11And they literally launched this diatribe, three of them, at her, to her face. And I thought, that just wouldn't happen. Have the dignity to do it behind her back. Well, right, absolutely. And I actually sat there thinking, if I'd have been a TV executive responsible, I would have put a note saying surely they can talk about her behind her back like this but they wouldn't and it's needed it's kind of a little bit of storytelling as well but I just thought that was like I think some people would like that one the one that you're probably talking about one of the three is the one who said the thing about the fundraiser and I think she's that kind of person who feels like she is yeah but it's more that these three women all have something to say to her in a row there's always one who's braver and then the other two are just like I thought that there are just too many moments where it gets a bit ridiculous for it to be top-level A-grade...

57:59Gourmet. Gourmet burger. Yeah, I agree. However, it lands on Sky and Now. When, Boydie? I think it's Friday the 7th of November. So last Friday. No, last Friday. Sorry, it's not already. This was heavily... Going into time machines, guys. Yes. And it was all their fault? And steady. And it's all... I think the whole thing is available to stream now on Sky Atlantic. Oh, brilliant. Yeah. All her fault then. Okay. next up we have Wild Cherry on BBC One and this is a six part series revolving around two mothers and their frankly dreadful teenage daughters who live in a very wealthy community attend a very exclusive school there are scandals there is sexting there's an illicit social media app and there's also a call to the head teacher's office which is nice lots going on there so Kay please tell us of all the people in this show why is Eve Best?

58:50Oh god terrible terrible Eve Best does play one of the mothers Juliet yeah listen Listen, we're kind of like in the same arena as all her four. You know, these middle class mothers, very privileged backgrounds. And these two women, they live very pampered lives. It's in a rich part of Surrey, right? And there's a whole thing about like the people who live on the island and people who are across the water and everything like this. Anyway, these two mothers are very different. So Eve Best's character, Juliet, she's an author. She's a real feminist mother. Very defensive of her, frankly, uber bitch daughter, Allegra.

59:25She is hideous and is very dismissive of her mother who she perceives to be an alcoholic and yeah it's a very dysfunctional family the husband is sort of like here and there and everywhere and Eve Best is doing her best to try and lure him back Eve Best is doing her best God awful and yeah Juliet is trying to rekindle the romance but it's unlikely to happen and his character is Rafe and he's played by James Murray. Other mother is Lorna. She's Carmen Ejogo and she's a businesswoman and she's less vocal than Juliet. And when the headteacher calls them in, whereas Juliet instantly is like, oh, you know, accusing this man of being a misogynist and like, you know, why are you saying they've made this video and it's not possibly true.

1:00:14If she says it's not true and you're kind of like... And we bought the science wing. Yeah, I mean, that kind of vibe. Whereas Lorna is, you know, she's concerned. She's concerned that has this happened? Has her prefect daughter, Grace, like gone down this road because she doesn't want that video to be on the online forever? So, I mean, it's it's saying is commentary about like kids, you know, these this group of kids and their dynamic is quite interesting in terms of the peer pressure, the bullying that goes on. It reminded me a bit of Borders in that way and how the parents deal with it and the commentary on like online videos being made and whatever.

1:00:49Crucially, what I haven't said is it starts, in a way, it feels very influenced by Big Little Lies in that we see these group of women, the two mothers, two daughters, I think they've got blood on their hands or they're dishevelled. You can tell something big has happened. And so then it's obviously going to flash back and then we see what leads up to that event. It's got a narrator that I could have lived without, frankly. I don't know how you felt about it. I felt like the narration wasn't necessary and kind of was a bit overblown. it made it more you know added a sense of drama that didn't need to be had if you like it was just yeah i'd felt unnecessary and overall like what i thought it was interesting in terms of what it's saying about this culture that exists in these uh affluent boarding schools and the the parents and stuff i didn't emotionally connect to the characters um per se so even though i know there's this mystery at the center of it i don't know that i need to find out what happened yeah It reminded me, yeah, it is Big Little Lies.

1:01:50It's also like that one, especially Nicole Kidman. It's like Eve Best is doing the Nicole Kidman role in this. It feels like a British version of that kind of show, where, as you say, something has happened in this community. In fact, there's kind of more than one thing, because you have got the thing, as you say, the kind of thing that implies some kind of crime or whatever, at the beginning, which is left very vague, even through, I mean, I watched two, maybe even three episodes, It's kind of still vague. And then you've got the accusation that there's a video going round, a naughty video, and they deny that there is, but the headmaster of the poncy, posh public school says there is.

1:02:32And so there's a whole kind of slight mystery about that. And a catalogue. Catalogue. Yeah, there's mystery, part of a mystery, because there's this rapper character called K-Ribs, who I have to say... Not K-Ribs. No, Kay Riz. Who runs this kind of like mansion house thing for influencers. Some sort of sex party. And yeah, it's not as much of a sex party as you think it might be. Initially, it was like, oh, what's happening here? But then it's just kind of them kind of in stripping to their bras and doing bad raps. And then a whole thing kicks off. Yeah. Which is mystifying. And then someone goes missing, right?

1:03:06And there's another mystery. Well, you think the person going missing is probably tied to the initial mystery. Anyway, there's a lot going on. you mentioned about the whole thing is created by Nicole Leckie who's in it as well Nicole Leckie who did Moo which was good very original in 2022 and she's written that and she my favourite thing about this is her role so she plays this kind of American wellness influencer and writer in fact who is like a guru who's also like a shrink and so like one of the girls is seeing her for therapy if you like but she also has this grand opening in her massive house that she's got.

1:03:45Oh, in fact, is she the narrator then? Yeah, she's the narrator as well, yeah. So that's why she's narrating, yeah, absolutely. And that character I really like, because as you know, I do have issues with wellness, screws. And she kind of like, there's a kind of satirical element to that whole story. And the wealth that they film it in, you know, I don't know where they found these places, but the actual, I think they did film them in actual huge big houses that you find in Surrey, wherever it's set in a fictional bit of Surrey, isn't it? Like a gated community kind of thing. But the houses are spectacular, you have to say.

1:04:16And the one that Nicole Lekker's character is in has this thing, I think you've seen it in episode two, where she's suddenly standing there in her front room and suddenly the floor sinks and it becomes a swimming pool. No. Yes. Oh, I'm going to have to watch episode two now. Which apparently is a real thing. It's a real thing that is in this house. Yeah, I was really interviewed with her. She was saying, yeah, it's incredible they found this house. Oh, wow. So they used it and they took to the scene where suddenly she's in the middle of a swimming pool in her front room, basically. So there's also kind of, I enjoyed the whole kind of...

1:04:46The grandeur. Yeah, the grandeur of it and the fact that it is a British version of that kind of thing. I think it's a little bit messy. It's a little bit... Because there's so much going on. It's almost like too much. I wanted to know, what is your central mystery here? And in a way, she's kind of saying everyone's got something to hide. I mean, a bit similar, actually, to All I've Thought. It's another show about rich, privileged people in which everyone's got things in their closet. I mean, people... Not just glorious, glamorous clothes. Yeah, exactly. People are literally covering up and not talking about stuff, dark stuff that's happened in the past, which is a very common trope, shall we say, in this kind of show.

1:05:21But I enjoy it. I think it gets better as it goes along. So I watched kind of up to episode three, and the messiness kind of is ironed out more. But I think it's a bit, if I'd have been, again, I'm just imagining myself as a TV executive in this episode, I would have been like, can we just focus more on one thing in that first episode? because it's a bit all over the place. But I do think it's well worth watching. I enjoyed it. What about you, James? Initially, I thought, oh, this is English Gossip Girl, like when it begins. And they're talking about this app. What's the app called? This sort of app that they've got.

1:05:53The catalogue thing. The catalogue, yeah. It seems to be some kind of, they've somehow created this. It's like Facebook. Do you remember? Facebook started it as judging who's good looking or not. It's that. It's that, okay. And if they've created this thing. That TV show, Your Face or Mine. Yeah, and that as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. it's in the social network if you watch the film on social network it's very similar yeah exactly that so that whole thing and as you write there I got to the end of the first episode and I was genuinely struggling to say what the show was about because there were so many different strands that seemed to go in completely separate directions and I don't think that's necessarily the worst thing in the world in the first episode if it's compelling but I guess I wasn't really seized by any of them partly because I didn't particularly gravitate towards any of the characters and the girls especially Allegra is so irritating.

1:06:40The teenage girls are a fucking nightmare. Well, they're deliberately awful. They are deliberately awful. And there are levels of awfulness, as you say. One of them is much, much worse than the others. Yeah. But yeah, she's so awful, it's quite painful. I remember there was a bit where a girl in a panda mask is stripped to her bra and gyrating in front of her like a camera. Oh, yeah. And I literally said out loud, what is going on? what is happening like I don't know what is going on this is the life these days James now you're a committed influencer as we know on TikTok well clearly yeah maybe there's some inspiration my panda mask is at home so I didn't bring it in with me I don't know about that but yeah so I don't know like it's not terrible I don't really feel like I'm sufficiently invested to continue watching it yeah I feel the same which is this is my kind of territory but yeah yeah interestingly it is it's got a really big like Saturday night BBC One slot 9 o 'clock which is like a big prime time push for it so it's quite a bold decision because the most previous thing was the nine bodies in the Mexican Morgue is that what it's called?

1:07:44Yeah Mexican Morgue which is like quite a big plane crash whodunit thing that did well I think recently so it's you know it's a good slot I hope it does well Finally this week we have Pluribus on Apple TV and you know I miss the plus like every time I say Apple TV I want to say the plus Yeah you forgot to say something I'll tell you another thing about that is that they do, in press releases, they still use the plus sometimes. This is mystifying. Yeah, I don't know what's going on. They've got a new ident with all sorts of colours on it as well. Guys, you say this, but actually I forgot to say, we had a message in the post back from someone who said, now recently I think I've heard James doing some adverts for Pilot.

1:08:21I was like, okay. And then he said, yes, and I thought he'd dropped TV. No, no, podcast from the title, but apparently you're saying on the adverts Pilot TV podcast after declaring you were dropping it. Oh, yeah, but I dropped, so the reason for that is, we've completely gone off track now, It's because if I'm advertising something and it's on the radio, I probably need to say it's a podcast because no one's going to know what it is. But if you're literally listening to the podcast, you don't need me to tell you that it's a podcast. Like, you know it's a podcast. You're listening to it. It's a podcast.

1:08:49Fine. But if I'm doing an advert, I feel the need to say, yes, it is a podcast. That is what I'm advertising. Fine. That's okay. I thought we were being inconsistent. No, no, no. Which is unlike us. It's tailored to the medium. Got it. Got it. On behalf of the listener. Got it. Finally this week, we're going to talk about Bluribus, which is created by Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan, and once again takes that showrunner back to Albuquerque in New Mexico, but not, not crucially, to chart the rise and fall of a meth lord, but rather a romantic author called Carol Serka. And she's played by Ray Seathorn from Better Call Saul, and she in this is one of the only people immune to a virus that quite literally brings the rest of the world together in complete harmony.

1:09:30And as the tagline for this show goes, the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness, which is a really kind of cool little, you know, logline. Yeah. Boydie, this all sounds a little bit like the Borg from Star Trek, if I'm honest with you, but tell us, was resistance futile? Yes. This is, at least initially, it's like contact meets the leftovers meets severance. It is, isn't it? A little bit, yeah. It's got a brilliant, I think the premise is so clever, though, the high concept premise. Apple initially were trying to keep it a secret, weren't they? They were very vague about it, but now I think they've been very upfront about what it's about.

1:10:12So I think we can discuss the fact that the genius of it is that it works as, even though you don't really know, the contact bit is kind of explaining something's going on somewhere in the universe that means that humanity suddenly comes together via a virus as like one entity, right? Yeah, like a collective, like the Borg. Like the Borg, but that doesn't mean much to, it doesn't mean anything to Kay, it doesn't mean slightly more to me, but it's a Star Trek reference, I mean, who needs that? Got it. Right? So, yeah, so humanity kind of becomes this collective entity, except for 12 people in the world of 13.

1:10:51Initially she thinks it's 11, then she thinks it's 12. Yeah, the number changes. Yeah, literally a handful of people, if you like, two handfuls of people around the world have not been, for some reason, embroiled in this new one singular entity version of humanity where everyone on the planet can speak to everyone else and knows what everyone's doing all at the same time. It's ridiculous. Everyone on the planet has a shared consciousness. So it's like we are all one person. Can you imagine if we were all one person? Good God, no. Now, this is the big thing. It's like, would you rebel? If you thought that, you know, because essentially that consciousness, is having a great time, mostly, right?

1:11:26Genuinely very happy. Like, no inhibitions, is having a fun, you know, it's all... Carefree. Carefree, they're eating great food, they're... Oh, yeah, I'm down for it. Yeah, it's all great. Hook me up, inject me now. But everyone's working together to achieve common goals. Yeah. Now, what's fascinating about this is, like, and I've used the Borg analogy, the Borg analogy in Star Trek were an alien race of kind of cybernetic organisms. The point was, they would assimilate life forms into their collective, and they were the same, they were a single hive mind. There was a queen later on, but that's a whole other thing, that was retconned.

1:11:52but it was basically an analogy for communism back in the time because it came out it was in the 80s it was the whole thing it was all about oh look at this this is what communism is it's his hive mind and we're all about our individuality and I thought that was quite an interesting thing whereas this is a different spin on that well but what I was going to say was it still has it still works as an analogy and it still works as a metaphor for political issues it does and that because the whole question is would you as an individual you'll just go for the quite happy life and be fine with that?

1:12:26Or would you rebel against it as Ray Sehorne's character does brilliantly and is essentially the whole point of the series? She rebels kind of intrinsically. It feels wrong to her to have her individuality and to have all of our individualities removed so that we can all be part of this mass Borg slash entity, as I'm calling it. And it's fascinating how it plays out because, you know, when she meets the other people in episode two, for example, I'm trying not to spoil anything, I'm sure, yeah. Like the other, is that a spoiler? Well, I will say, if we were exposed to this virus, then you'd be spoiling the show for everyone instantly because we would all be privy to your thoughts.

1:13:07That's true. So all that's true, there's a scene in episode two where, you know, she's confronted with the fact that this is her thing, this is her reaction to it, visceral reaction to it, which is also influenced by something that happens very early on in episode one, by the way, which is a traumatic thing and so she is in a state of mind but it's not necessarily the state of mind of people in a similar situation to her and that makes the whole thing so intriguing and just the way it's done and the genius of Vince Gilligan for me, and he did this throughout Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad he's made two of the greatest TV dramas ever made, let's face it, those two shows but at this height both of those shows, he shows you what's going on if you like from kind of from the very subjective perspective of a character particularly Ray C.

1:13:54One's character in this case and it's kind of like there's something incredibly clever and smart about just the way he places the camera sometimes you know what I mean like and she's staring and she's looking at something astonishing going on throughout particularly the first episode which is like a relentless almost real time experience of what would it be like for you if you were to experience this thing where suddenly everyone first of all everyone almost drops dead seemingly they're not dead some of them are um and then they kind of wake up and they're part of this whole thing and her almost firsthand subjective experience of that is filmed in such a clever way that it totally immerses you in this what would happen if you were confronted by this insane development in the universe and for humanity and it's just brilliantly brilliantly done on a filmmaking level i think it feels like he's flexing his muscles and making something so cinematic and bold, to use the B word, and convincing, even though it's such a far-fetched, mad idea, but he makes it seem real because of the relentless brilliance of his filmmaking.

1:14:56He's very, very good, and it has that Breaking Bad pacing to it, you know, where it's almost mindful, like it has a weird, almost meditative feel, like it just lets you marinate in this situation and just like absorb it through osmosis. He'll show you something, you don't really know what's going on, and he will show you extensively, but because of the way, because of the editing and the thing that he is showing you, even though you don't know what the fuck is happening, and it's quite slowly burning in a way, but it's still incredibly compelling because you want to know what the fuck this thing is that you're watching.

1:15:25Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Anyway. It's one of the things, it is not a plotty show. I think that's fair to say. Like, it is, it's vibes. A lot of this is like, it's a mood piece, but it's a really interesting character study. And one thing we should say is Ray Sehorne is absolutely incredible in this. Because it is, for all intents and purposes, not entirely, but it is largely a one-hander. It is basically her, a lot of the time, on her own, doing things. There are literal episodes, I've seen seven of the eight. Of course I have. Where she's, it's just her, just doing stuff, silently a lot of the time, and it's just, it's so compelling.

1:16:00And there are episodes of Breaking Bad like that, where it's just very quiet and you're just watching things, and it's like, but it's so brilliantly put together, and it explores themes like loneliness and individuality and togetherness and selfishness and selflessness. And as you say, there are kind of political undertones to it all. And, you know, what does socialism look like when everyone is essentially the same person? And there's also, you know, she's looking at like what is happiness? What is happiness for her versus what is happiness for them? And part of this that we kind of haven't really addressed is that the whole of the world is this sort of hive mind, but they're also really benevolent.

1:16:36Like they want nothing but good things for her and will pretty much do anything she asks because they just want to make her happy. And that's such a wild setup. And she's so misanthropic. Right. But she's really grumpy and miserable and just angry at the world anyway. And she finds it all deeply irritating. But also that anger has huge ramifications. Right. It does have huge ramifications. And also the cause of that anger comes from somewhere as well. I mean, to be fair, she is quite crabby full stop, but she has good reason to be in a bad mood when the show kind of probably kicks off. But it's fascinating looking at her kind of wrestling with her own personality and her own psyche and what the future looks like for her.

1:17:15It's the weirdest kind of, I almost hesitate to call it post-apocalyptic, but it has elements of that to it. But it's a completely, it's a unique vision of the apocalypse. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's magnificent. I mentioned the political thing. I was going to expand on that a little bit because it's not, it doesn't, you don't know what its politics are, if you like. It could be, you could have a political, this could be a political analogy for kinds of different politics. So, for example, I was reminded of, and this was, I'm sure this was filmed ages ago, so it's not conscious at all, but there's a scene where everyone sat around a table and they were debating something.

1:17:52And I was reminded of Donald Trump when he gathered all of these, like, tech giants. He had the Apple boss. He had a thingy from Facebook. What's his name? And he had all of these, like, you know, genius, tech geniuses, and they're all in thrall. They've all decided. and in fact you could include Keir Starmer in this they've all decided that the easiest thing to do is keep him happy keep Donald Trump happy keep complimenting him keep boosting his ego then he'll be okay and it's like they become this one entity where they're all enthralled to this one man I'm trying not to be too political this one fucking man you're not doing a great job but carry on let's face it this one let's face it crazy man but in Pluribus I feel like she's watching all these people just deciding this for an easier life, just go along with the whole thing and it's brilliantly provocative and intriguing to see her rebelling against it and what happens subsequently and the decisions she has to face minute by minute, hour by hour a day, but there's literally a clock countdown initially and that's really interesting because I think it's just showing you that her life is just now a constant series of decisions sometimes micro, sometimes macro that are going to affect the world in an incredibly powerful way.

1:19:08You could bang on about this. And we will, of course, because on next week's show, we are, with any luck, going to have Vince Gilligan, Ray Sehorne, and Carolina Widerer in this studio to talk about the show. Incredible. Which is going to be very exciting. Very exciting. Yeah. Yeah. We will all be one hive mind together discussing the show. It's going to be very exciting. Yeah, this is really, really good. It is not Breaking Bad. It's a very different thing. I didn't get screeners in time, but I want to watch this. Yeah, it's wild. I've never seen anything like it. No, it is fascinating. It's a complete original.

1:19:37He worked on the X-Files. That was the thing he was most famous for before Breaking Bad and the Petsicle Assault. So it has got that, you know. I feel like it's got a lot of that DNA in it. It's not, by the way, because you could, you know, it's science fiction in a way, fundamentally, but not in an annoying way. Yeah, so when I didn't get screeners, I wasn't sad about it. No, you weren't. Now that I've heard you talk about it, I'm like, okay, I need to see this. Yeah, it's really good. It is really good. Okay. When is that on, Boyd? I think it started yeah it started didn't it on Friday yes on Apple TV non plus exactly pluribus non plus pluribus non plus what else is out this week loads of stuff that we couldn't do because tons of stuff was embargoed this week the aforementioned Malice with Jack Whitehall that starts on Friday on Prime Video yeah Death by Lightning as we mentioned was already on that was on Netflix that started on the 6th Trespasses started on Sunday just started that was the yeah Janine Anderson and Tom Cullen, your dude that you mentioned, of course.

1:20:38Maxton Hall started on Prime, also last week. Yeah. Palm Royale, season two on Apple TV. Yeah. Wednesday that arrived, remember that? Ricky Martin, Kristen Wiig, kind of, you know. It's very star-studded. Very star-studded. The play for today started on, you know, Channel 5, all hell Channel 5 for commissioning one-off plays. It's a revival. Yeah. A revival of the BBC play for today and the first one goes out on Thursday at 9 o 'clock and it stars Anita Jobson thank you and Tracey Ann Oberman and others Nina Wadia and others you've seen it yeah Nigel Havers there you go good yeah enjoyable sweet it's like yeah The Beast in Me did you mention that you said just now I didn't but you mentioned it earlier on yes that's the Claire Danes thing Matthew Rhys I didn't mention is in it who's fantastic yeah that's on Netflix and that starts on the 13th which is Thursday I can't say that it's fantastic because it's heavily embargoed do you know what that's a full circle moment because you know the Richard Burton show I was talking about Matthew Rhys actually reads out parts of Burton's Diaries there you go a thing called Allegiance starts on Ewan Alibi on Thursday at 9 o 'clock call it a channel by it's proper name Boyd Ewan Alibi yes that is a police procedural so I mean we've already dismissed that yeah Landman returns for a second season on Paramount Plus that's on Sunday and also Summer Water starring Dew Gray Scott lands on Channel 4 also on Sunday correct one of these things or more who knows something we will tackle on Pilot Plus because there's a lot going on.

1:22:02There's a lot, yeah. But the crucial question, of course, is what is our pick of the week? Oh, Pluribus. Yes, it is Pluribus. I imagine it would have been for me if I'd watched it, so I'm just going to say all her thought because that's what I've seen. Yeah, because that's what you've seen, yeah. But yeah, Pluribus is magnificent. Okay, fabulous. That is it for this week's show. Thank you very, very much for listening. Please do leave us a five-star rating on every single platform known to humanity. So literally everything. I want you to go on a TripAdvisor and leave us a five-star rating. Anything you want.

1:22:29Or just think it in your mind because our hive mind will get it. Yeah, that's it. Just think five stars and it will happen. But actually, make an effort and do it anyway. Please follow us on social media at PilotTVPod and if you so choose at Boyd Hilton, at Carrie Barrett, at James C. Dyer. We will be back in your ears as is our proclivity on Thursday. As is our threat. On Thursday for Pilot Plus. Should I not say the word won't? One of these, won't. With one of these particular shows. But also next week, what's happening next week? Well, we've already mentioned and we've got some very special guests in the studio next week, so that will be very exciting.

1:23:02But we will probably do, I don't know, some water, malice stuff, possibly. Because you've seen it. And there's a bunch of other stuff coming out as well. That's comprehensive, isn't it? Death of Bunny on Row is next week. Daddy Issues is next week. Man on the Inside returns to Netflix next week. Mighty Nein, which is, you won't want to watch that. What is that? It's a critical role animation show. I saw that and I thought, I haven't heard of that. There's a reason for that. there is a reason you just explained all yeah that's it but we'll do some of those so this is very exciting yeah resistance is futile you will all become one with the pod pilots out