PLUS Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials

0:07Welcome to Pilot Plus, your extended guide to every show that matters, and we are gathered here today to solve a mystery. In part, it is of course an Agatha Christie mystery, specifically the mystery of the seven dials, but it is also a mystery as to where, oh where, is Kay Ribeiro, because this is the inaugural Pilot Plus podcast of one Steph Sealand. Well, I mean, it isn't because you've been on before, but as part of the core team, as part of the Kay Ribeiro job share deal. Yeah. AKA Kexit, as we have dubbed it. There was a custody battle and I clearly lost. And now I have you two. And she has a lot more free time.

0:47She has more free time and you have us part of the time. Yes. Yes. Indeed. I've taken the job that literally thousands of people turned down. That's right. Literally that. but don't worry like you know k's not gone forever she will like james bond and indeed the avengers return uh but for now we have steph and it is actually appropriate that you have you steph because we are solving a crime specifically the seven dials mystery now this is of course netflix's just to give it its proper title is netflix's agatha christie's seven dials which is of course based on the seven dials mystery which was published in 1929 to critical dismay it was not at all well received when it first landed so the question is have netflix managed to give it a little bit of zhuzh and i don't just mean in the fact that they have cast a mere mechanic bruce helena bonham carter martin freeman and a whole bunch of other good people in this show who wants to talk about agatha christie steph should we start with you given that this is your inaugural pilot plus yes please do um right okay i am a big agatha christie fan so i was very interested to see what the Netflix take on this is was I was not disappointed in any way shape or form mostly because I thought that Mia McKenna Bruce who plays Bundle Brent great name was so sensational as the lead role she is the plucky she takes over the role of the plucky detective in this I just want to point out guys I don't know whether you've got it by the side of you when we got this preview right there was a list which was about 14 points long of things that you cannot mention okay which i'm going to adhere to right well i didn't read it because i assumed it would just be spoilers and it would spoil it for me it actually is all spoilers it's all things that you it's all things that you absolutely cannot mention so i'm going to adhere to that okay so yes so we've got bundle brent and she lives in this house with her mum played by helena Bonham Carter and they live in this huge house but they they haven't got loads of money so they have to kind of rent their house up to big parties and it starts off in a huge big party and then somebody dies okay again I'm looking at this list can't tell you who dies what the victim is a spoiler is it yeah you can't say anything you can't say anything in this you can't reveal any murders these days no no somebody dies okay and in the room there is something that alludes there are seven clocks and it alludes to the whole seven dials thing right bundle over the course of time takes on the role of plucky female detective and she is absolutely sensational can i just mention as well that i was very very pleased to see my beloved was back and who is my beloved do you remember from film club um oh yes this is nabon rizwan nabon rizwan i was so excited where i saw his beautiful face so he is also in this as well as his stellar class obviously um yeah i thought it was absolutely brilliant she reminds me of uh young florence pew did any of you get those vibes she yeah sort of little little drummer girl era florence pew yes yeah yeah um Yeah, so as I said, she plays the plucky Lady Eileen Brent.

4:04She is sensational in the role. She kind of immediately takes on all the males in this and the idea that she's just some small little girl who needs to just go off and get married and just live in a nice country house. And she's like, no, no, no. And there's scenes where she's driving her car around the countryside discovering things, which I won't mention because I'm not really allowed to mention anything that happens in this show according to my list, as I said. But yeah, I absolutely loved it. I've seen, I think, one and a half episodes. I think one and a half episodes, right? Because I'm not sure.

4:39Because you know the way it goes on Netflix and it goes, oh, it's going on to the next one and then it does the countdown. Anyway, I've got to a very good bit and I will just say some more people have died. It does have that thing where you're like, oh my God, every time you walk into another room, someone else dies, which you'd expect from Agatha Christie because that's what happens. but it is also it's done very well because it's comedy as well as dramatic times it's kind of it's a very easy watch is it an essential watch? I don't think so but it is it's good What you haven't mentioned is that it's created and written by Chris Chibnall No, I didn't mention that No of Doctor Who but more pertinently to this show Broadchurch of course so he he has shown I think pretty effectively with Broadchurch that he can handle a murder mystery for sure.

5:32And I do believe, I don't think this is a spoiler, I think he's changed the ending of the Agatha Christie original. Yeah, quite significantly, I would say. I haven't read the original. I mean, I did all my Agatha Christie reading when I was about 15, 16. I can't remember whether I read this book. But apparently, I was looking it all up, all the details, and I'm pretty sure, because the ending is bonkers, by the way. the whole thing I think he's done a great job it's it is it's kind of it's kind of luxurious Agatha Christie it really feels like they've spent a huge amount of money on this version like it's lush there's lush settings the settings are very lush yeah the opening is like it's set in a a a bullfighting arena in Spain and you know it's like a this is Ian Glenn Ian Glenn appears in this kind of like weird slightly surreal prologue yeah but even that like lushly filmed the just the way it's directed by Chris Sweeney and the and the cast I think it's you know the fact they've got I think Mia McKenna Bruce as you say is brilliant not only is she just really really good in this role she's got a face that looks like it's in 1920s 1920s she looks like she's from another era from that era and you get Helena Bonham Carter having a whale of the time and you get Martin Freeman Martin Freeman doesn't do any old shit and I think he gets to do a really fun version of what his character has to do which apparently is a spoiler according to Steph.

7:04I'm going to read you the list after this is. I'm going to read you the list of things that you cannot mention. I believe you. But he's having a great time as well. You know who stills the show? Alex McQueen, who you may recognise from Julia Davis' shows. He's a hilarious actor and he gets to do really funny stuff, particularly in episodes two and three Steph of a three part series which this is speaking of people who steal the show I was very pleased to see that the guy who plays Treadwell who's a guy I don't know how you pronounce his name Siner Siner Siner who is actually Lieutenant Hubert Gruber in L.O.L.O.

7:43that's the person I was most excited to see that's a good fact that's a very good fact so the cast is like Rolls Royce the production values are kind of pretty exceptional. Even for a big budget Netflix show, this is just a mere three-parter, by the way. And I think I see it as being, I think it's no accident that it's scheduled now in early January. I think this is a kind of like palette cleanser for TV. I think it's like a bit of fun. It's an engaging romp. It's over and done within three hours. Although the ending, interestingly, it leaves things I don't know it leaves the possibility for more not everyone dies put it that way right and I really enjoyed it as well I really really I really enjoyed it yeah this took some shit when it was first published in 1929 because it felt like a deviation from the Agatha Christie formula so the Times Literary Supplement said it had deserted the methodical procedure of inquiry into a single and circumscribed crime for the romance of universal conspiracy and international rogues so that's why they didn't like him.

8:50I would like to interject here, as I have said, I already said I love Agatha Christie. Another woman I love is Lucy Worsley, because she is wonderful. And if you haven't watched Lucy Worsley's three-parter on Agatha Christie, then you absolutely should. Because one of the reasons why I think this book is a deviation is it came three years, it was published three years after Agatha Christie's disappearance. Do you guys know anything about this so in 1926 agatha christie mysteriously disappeared for 11 days okay if you want to know any more about that you need to watch lucy worsley on the mystery queen three episodes on iplayer okay so the film agatha starring vanessa redgrave which is very good as well all along yeah okay what i would say is definitely watch lucy worsley's ones because it's even it's e it's absolutely brilliant don't you worry don't isn't isn't that brilliant i love agatha christy but do you think that the reason that this is a bit of a deviation is because she was having a bit you know she just suffered a mental breakdown and i don't know i think she's just trying something a bit different i don't i don't even see why it's that different either because it's not like we haven't got an amateur sleuth who she does like an amateur sleuth doesn't she right i i didn't see it as being that big the series by the i'm talking about so i think maybe the book which as I say I haven't I haven't read if I did read it was 30 years ago um I think I think what I think Chris Chibnall has kind of like tightened it up into more of a traditional whodunit type thing with a with a with an amateur sleuth than maybe it was in the actual book I think it's the the detail of the book for me comes seems to what I've read seems to be what was criticized in that art in that article that you read James yeah well indeed and the New York Times says that she's carefully avoided leaving any clues pointing to the real criminal.

10:36Worst of all, the solution itself is utterly preposterous. I mean, that's true. Yeah, that is definitely true. James, I feel like you hated it. I was, I was, I was, I would say likely bored for the, for the one episode that I watched. Yeah, but I kind of agree. I think it's like, like, it's good, but it's like, is, like I say, is it a must watch? I don't think it is. But then I will caveat this with i have you know i don't mind a good whodunit i quite like you know a ryan johnson-esque whodunit um classic akatha christie they're a little bit twee for me sometimes but they are you know they're normally very well engineered uh i don't have k's you know undying love of christy especially like she's obsessed with this stuff i think something like the i think the cozy kind of like um periodness of it is part of the appeal for her as well which i think it is much less so for me With Kay, right, so Kay, obviously we know she does well.

11:28Kay has got this, like, respect for Poirot, and I think you have a respect for his detective abilities, and I think probably, like, while she's amazing, and I really love seeing Bundle, it's like she's a great little detective. She's not kind of, you know, she doesn't command respect in the way that Poirot does. It's a completely different kind of thing. Well, she's an amateur sleuth. He's a professional. Yeah, she's an amateur sleuth. Yeah, because that's what I'm saying. So I think that's why as well, you're kind of like, oh, you know, she's romping through the country trying to find out who's killed all these people.

12:02Whereas with Poirot, you're like, oh, I know he's going to get to the bottom of this and everybody's going to be like, you know. It doesn't, it's not that must watch. You don't, you think, this is a hobby for her. That is his life. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but no, I totally disagree. I think, I think, I think the best, almost the best thing about the whole thing is that they, is the fun of having her as an amateur and that she, and what she brings to the role. I think that's the best almost one of the yeah the best thing about the whole thing for me yeah but what I'm saying is I think that's why Kay wouldn't I don't think Kay would love this well yeah I'm just saying I don't think she would yeah we will after I think we're talking about two different things here because I think they're two different genres if you will so on the one hand you've got this which as you say is the amateur sleuth where she is out of her depth the odds are stacked against her you feel that she's very much the underdog in this story the other thing you're talking about is competence porn which is very much what Poirot is because there is no no doubt that Poirot is going to get to the bottom of it because he always does same with benoit blanc like he they're so clever they're so insightful they're so adept on picking these mysteries it's not a case of will they get it it's a question of just how and you know when uh and so it's i think that they have different appeals and i think you know the appeal of competence porn is not to be underestimated whereas this little underdog story actually and i should say me and mechanic bruce who is great in how to have sex and is really really good in this as well she's a great actor and i think she with pure charisma actually carries a lot of this and she makes it very very watchable uh nabahn rizwan it has to be said i really enjoyed as well because he has he has an inherently you know on point comic timing physically all the scenes that he's in i think work very well for that reason he gives a levity to it he brings a certain sense of fun to the scenes with him which i'm you know which i really enjoyed and obviously helena bonham carter gives it some gravitas as well so i didn't hate it I didn't hate it I just wasn't compelled did you think Helena Bonham Carter was just being Helena Bonham Carter yes she seemed yeah I mean I just didn't oh yeah but what else do you want her to do I don't necessarily I just felt like you know there's a couple of scenes like there's a scene where she's in the conservatory and she's just you know cut slipping some roses and it's just it's as if she's just there to just for that gravitas just for the name for this rather than for her acting abilities would you say that's fair No.

14:15No? You wouldn't say that's fair. No, I think she's a key to the, she's a key figure, a character in the narrative. And more than that, she gets all the best lines. I mean, she gets all that, she gets, she, you know, kind of makes fun of everyone around her. From right from the beginning, that first scene in the party where she's reluctant, she's pissed off that she has to go and mingle with all the twats at the party, which we could all relax at that. Yeah, exactly. So I thought she was, again, I loved her. I thought she's always she's always doing Helena Bonacartie shtick but I mean what's not to love about that I mean that's that's for me it's welcome in any show I can't believe I'm so I'm so in agreement with James on this I know but what you say you seem to have changed your mind because you started off by being quite complimentary about it and then you've ended up kind of like within the space of I don't know 10-20 minutes totally doing a reverse ferret I really like Mia McKenna I think she's really good I like the idea I think do you know what it is I think I really want to really like this and I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

15:17I didn't really like it as much as I thought I would. I would recommend you carry on watching the whole thing. Watch the third episode and it's all great fun and japes and it's worth the ride in the end, I think. Apparently the third episode is a laugh riot, Steph. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Agatha Christie's Seven Dials then, which has landed on Netflix, I want to say today. Yes, Thursday, the 15th of January, 2026. There we go. Who done it? Netflix done it. Okay, right. Now would be the time when I would normally usher in Kay's postbag, except we are missing two key components. One is Kay.

15:53Two is her postbag. So, you know, we are now forced to regress ever so slightly to what I'm going to call a streamlined version of the old triage system. So the triage system, if you will, was me combining things from lots of different platforms that I may or may not have remembered to save on my phone and may or may not have read before the podcast. We're going to try and eject that and impose a degree of order into this. So we are still using the mailbox, which is pilotTV at empiremagazine.com, and I'm going to delve into it in Kay's stead. Now, the only thing I haven't done is pre-screened any of this, so do bear with me a little bit on this.

16:29It might go horribly wrong. So let's see where we are with this. I'm going to start with this one, Boyd, and the main reason I'm going to start with it is because it starts with a compelling title, as all great things should do, and it is props to Boyd. Go ahead. This comes from Sam, and Sam says, Hello Pilot TV Podcast, long-time listener and Pilot Plus subscriber, first-time emailer. I would like to congratulate Boyd, this is a very bad start, Sam, I've got to be honest with you, on his brilliant hosting duties for the Ruth Jones and James Corden evening in Cardiff on Sunday the 11th. It was a great night and was a double whammy for me is both a fan of gavin and stacy and pilot there was an opportunity to send in questions and i did try to get a plug in for pilot with my question but unfortunately it was not picked boydy oh my god what are you like literally you know what guys trying to promote guy i'm assuming it's a guy maybe girl we don't know sam sam them is trying to promote our podcast and you were not letting them oh my god do you know what though this is absolutely this isn't how mad the event was.

17:33Did it go really well? It went very well, yeah. Not down to me, but it just went very well. There was an audience of 5 ,000 people. Four in our 5 ,000 people. It was a big room, shall we say. We put the call out. There's like a VR code which you click on with your phone to ask a question. And then in the second half, after the interview, I ask as many questions as I can. But we got 1 ,600 questions. 1 ,600 people in the audience. In that audience. Isn't that amazing? You put out a call for questions, and you might get three or four, a handful. So I had to look through on an iPad. Oh, my God. 1 ,600.

18:18The reason I didn't get to, was it Sam's? Yeah, Sam's. I probably did not see it among thousands. So what you're saying, Boyd, is you employed your own version of the vaunted triage system on stage. Yes, I had to. and I had to sift through the 1600. It was insane. It was quite stressful. In fact, that was the most stressful thing of the whole event is that I had so many questions I had to like try and yeah. And then in the end, we had time for a few. But thank you so much, Sam. And if you took any photos, by the way, of me interviewing on stage, please do let me know. Oh my God. Oh my God. Boyd, if you had let me come to that event, like I had asked to come, like I had requested to come, I could have sorted through those questions for you as well and taken photos.

18:59Been your assistant. yeah that's true well well next time next time okay sam has one other thing to say about this which is i wonder if boyd noticed a little scoop of sorts from ruth in that we both knew they were working on a show for apple tv but they revealed a few details on the project it being based around a choir group that both jones and cordon will feature as siblings exciting stuff anyway i love the show you all make navigating this era of peak tv way more manageable and entertaining at the same time yes i think there was a scoop exclusive and i was and i um and i don't think anyone's picked up on it because i don't think there are any journalists there either it's night because we did a couple of nights at the palladium earlier uh late last year but yeah i think that is that's absolutely true yeah the detail of the choir their next project um is fascinating yeah and the fact they're playing siblings is is is interesting yeah shall we say when is that what where is that in the that is not i mean they're writing at the moment they'll be filming it i think probably early next year.

19:55I think we're looking at 2027 on Apple TV for the arrival of the choir. It's an Apple TV show, by the way, which means big budget. Ooh. Yeah. Okay, that's exciting. Yeah, they're doing it right now. Working on it right now. Are you going to feature in it in any way, Boyd? That'd be nice. Who knows? Maybe. Will you be stocking underwear in like B &H again? It could feasibly do that considering it's all about an amateur choir. People would. Yeah, absolutely good. Okay. well let's just let's put it out there now yeah okay this message comes from amy and amy says hello pod being cheeky for a minute who do i pay slash petition to get genevieve o'reilly elizabeth du lau and denise goff those bafta nominations for and or series two those were some genuinely astonishing performances and barely any awards love boy i can't help feeling this is aimed at you uh to be honest i'm still not over charles edwards snub for the rings of power series too and yes it was a snub i will die on this hill but there is still a chance for baffet for to redeem itself in my eyes sorry for being unhinged but that's what great tv does to me boydy defend yourself funnily enough the first round of voting for baffet tv awards uh starts today uh i got an email telling me so i will um i mean they were all good performances in absolutely and um you'd hope yeah that one or more of them would be nominated it was a show full of incredible performances but Denise Goff was absolutely brilliant wasn't she she was but I mean to be fair all three of them magnificent yeah so I agree um yeah go on Seth Boyd how much power do you wield with BAFTA how much do you have really well it's complicated with the tv awards because you get these long lists so that's what the first phase is like the long list and then you narrow them down to a kind of manageable amount.

21:43And then you have juries mostly. And I have been on BAFTA juries most years of the last, I would say, 10, 15 years. So, but you get specific categories. So I might get, actually, I think last year I did do Best Actor or Supporting Actor or whatever. So you do get an acting jury every now and then. Question for you, Boydie, and we may have covered this before, so forgive me if I just, you know, wasn't listening. But say, for example, they were saying they nominate Charles Edwards for the Rings of Power. do they give you do the people to the studio to the network to Amazon when they nominate him when they ask you to consider him do they suggest the one episode that you're going to watch yes so they get to choose they say they said Charles Edwards is our pick for best actor and this is the episode you need to see not only do they get to choose they have to choose one episode they must and they can only give you one they can't say oh the body of work is extraordinary across the season they say this one episode you will judge him exclusively on this yeah I mean there's nothing they can't stop us from watching the whole thing if you want to but the thing you must do is watch the single episode that we're discussing and what you're not allowed to do is discuss any other episodes or whatever oh my god it's like a proper jury it's like an actual criminal jury it's so deranged it is so absolutely and on the one hand I kind of get it because it's perhaps a little bit unreasonable to expect BAFTA jury members to watch entire seasons or indeed show runs you know to judge a performance I do get that because you know you have jobs and stuff but equally it's mad that you can't even like consider slash discuss the breadth of their performance in a season but has it ever happened that you think to yourself oh my god in this series this one actor was just incredible in one episode and then they would absolutely dog shit in every other episode like that doesn't happen does it no it's like that was your that was your high point and everything else it's like this is genuinely like like when someone gets like they're in the dock for like stealing a car and they're not allowed to disclose so they've got like 15 other motoring convictions for stealing cars like do you know what that would have been useful information to know yeah this is a serial killer but on this particular tuesday they didn't kill anyone and this is the tuesday we're looking at so wow uh well needless to say amy if none of those people win it is entirely boydys fault and you should direct all of your ire to him on whatever social media platform you desire wow thank you if a message here from gary and gary says i may be going a bit early with this take but if i see a better a tv show than waiting for the out this year i will be happy because this show is brilliant first of it is not your usual prison show all the prisoners are shown to be rounded characters especially keith played by alex ferns but josh finan who plays dan is just outstanding and has as the philosophy teacher who is our introduction into this world i don't think i've seen a performance from an actor who says so much with no words just watch him with his gas stove i can't recommend this show enough but i think the bbc have made a mistake sticking it on prime time saturday night yes boy i agree this is a show that started in the week uh after new year that we couldn't review because we were doing you know all the big shows that came out on new year's day effectively and this has got a weird saturday night slot and it's only with that they have they have started showing dramas on saturday nights on bbc one but they're usually like quite kind of mainstream, like thrillers or whodunits or, you know, crime dramas, stuff like that.

25:08Genre stuff, really, I guess is what I'm saying. But this is a proper kind of deep, challenging, thought-provoking drama. And I was going to talk about it on the pod that we're recording tomorrow. But it's very interesting. It's a really quality piece. It just feels weird on a Saturday night after, you know, like The Weakest Link, basically, or Casualty or whatever, you know. That Saturday night shiny floor stuff, it is an odd bit of scheduling by the BBC, I think. But the show itself is becoming a phenomenon. I think everyone has got really, really strong reviews. So this is based on a memoir.

25:48This is a true story. This six-part is a true story, yeah? Okay. Wow. Absolutely. Based on the memoir The Life Inside by Andy West. You're going to talk about this more tomorrow, but this looks amazing. and I hadn't even heard of this. It's incredible. It's really good, yeah. Okay. And there's been a few shows that obviously we weren't able to cover that we probably should like. So on Netflix, His and Hers, which is another limited series which has dropped in, which again feels like something that we should have reviewed but weren't able to. We might have to fill in the blanks at some point and cover some of these things.

26:18But yes, okay, Gary, that is a good tip for anyone who hasn't seen Waiting for the Out on BBC. Worth your time. And Boydie, we'll talk about it more on Monday's show. yeah you need to do like an in case we missed it episode which is not an in case we missed it it is we missed it episode where you fill in all those things yeah then more things for us to watch you know joy yeah uh okay let's see what we've got here so we have a big thank you from darren not that one not you darren another darren and darren says to the foreign language advocating animation loving cinephiles i'm assuming that's us this is a double thank you first a general one for the excellent podcasting over 2025 this remains the only podcast i pay for and is worth every penny thank you very much darren second thank you is for your top 20 i had watched 19 of the 20 shows but gave up on task halfway through the second episode in keeping with your new year's resolution i've gone back and watched it through and loved it good final point is where i have unusually deviated from your views as i really struggle with the second series of severance and i finally figured out why i love the elements related to the actual severance procedure mark having a camcorder discussion with himself etc the parts i am frustrated with relate to the cult organization of lumen which i have no confidence will resolve satisfactorily it just feels like the lost cul-de-sac which gets madder and madder and becomes more and more difficult to explain i'm interested in why you guys loved it so much i know what was what was the name of that uh darren i know darren yeah darren I know what Darren means.

27:53I have a bit of a lost fear about it as well. And I do feel that, much as I love it, I do think you can almost sense their reluctance to give you any information so they can stretch it out, you know, the nature of Lumen, I guess. So I kind of agree a bit, yeah. And in fact, thinking about it now, I was thinking about this when we put our list together of our favourite shows of last year. It feels like it slipped. I can't even remember where I put it in my list eventually. But it feels it slipped down a little bit for me because I can remember amazing moments, but I can also remember a lot of times when...

28:35Confusion. Oh, yeah. And they're kind of like holding back deliberately. They're kind of toying with us. You can sense they're toying with us a bit when it comes to the kind of underlying what the fuck is going on thing. So I kind of agree with our correspondent there. Steph you're a fan of The Severed? I am I would say I haven't watched season 2 I would also say I think I found bits of it a little bit confusing and also I would agree with that I do think that's a bit of a polar bear a lost polar bear do you know would you agree as well James? I know I know what you're saying and while I think lost is much maligned and actually has a lot to recommend it I think the one part of it that does bug me a little bit is that very much that sense that they are freewheeling a little bit making up as they go along but that's you know that's the nature of network television many many many shows have gone down that same path bath star galactica one of my favorites being one of them uh but with this i think is certainly more structured and more planned out weirdly what i thought was so good about the second season of severance is that it managed a very rare trick in these kind of puzzle box genre in that the puzzle box remains intact we are still hooked we still don't know what's happening but they actually delivered an extraordinary amount of information in that second season specifically the chick-eye bardo episode which is fantastic but by the end of that season you know loads about what's going on like not enough you don't see the big picture but you see a lot more than maybe you would traditionally expect to in a second season of a box show so actually i feel i felt really satisfied by that second season i felt like it really really sort of like moved things on and actually i i mean look it's going to be slightly polarizing because the the lumen part of it is not just a little bit opaque but it's also very quirky and deliberately overtly weird but for me that is the charm of the show and i quite like that it's part corporation part cult you know you know i really enjoy that so no i don't think it's going to go quite down the lost route whereby you know they're literally just going to be you know having a little trawling reddit to try and find an idea of how to finish the show i don't think it'll quite go there i think it definitely has a goal in mind uh but i mean i'm i'm very much enjoying the journey so Yeah, I loved, I really did love season two of Severance.

30:46Okay, I'm going to watch season two then, because I think maybe that will make me, you know, sometimes when you watch season two or something, it makes you like the first season even more. Yes. Yeah, maybe that's what it's going to do. But I think a lot of people did what you did, Steph. And I think partly the reason for that was because there was such a long wait between seasons one and two. And because season one is quite, maybe dense isn't the word, but there's a lot going on and it is quite weird. And it's very easy to forget everything about it other than the vibes. And so then you think, well, I'm not going to watch season two because I don't remember what happened in season one.

31:13and I'm not re-watching it. Yeah, and you think, I have to watch the whole thing again so I know where I am. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or just read the Wikipedia summaries. But yes, I do sympathise. But if anyone did watch season one and didn't go back to season two, I would personally recommend it. I should mention, Adam Hemming also sent us a message about Waiting for the Out, basically saying the same thing. Wanted to drop a recommendation for Waiting for the Out, which dropped without much fanfare on the BBC and is beautifully made and loves it. uh but uh adam follows up that by saying question what young up-and-coming actors would you like to see given more opportunities which is a very open-ended question which neither of you have had any chance to prepare for but you know i just read it as i see it boydy i don't know what to tell yeah yeah um well mia mckenna bruce we've just we've just spent i mean she is an absolute star um and deserves to get lots of opportunities coming up she could be in loads of good stuff and I have no doubt she will be yeah because she has that star power and she has that that charisma so I was I was writing a review body must never read it I was writing a review of hijacked for empire magazine uh and uh one of the things I was mentioning was like Idris Elba is so charismatic there is almost no role he cannot make watchable because he has this natural magnetic charisma and I think you know it's it's what we call star power right it's when some people they just they're so watchable you can't take your eyes off them and I think Mia McKenna Bruce actually has an element of that where you just she makes any scene just inherently watchable so yeah she has a very open face doesn't she i think just just she she's beautiful to look at and she feels like she can exactly as to repeat what you're saying she feels like she can encompass any role doesn't she she does her yeah yeah i think um would nabarn count as a young and upcoming actor he's he's great he is really great especially like film club was he was fantastic I would say I'd like to see more of him.

33:08And his brother Mawon as well, who's brilliant talent. Yes, Boydie, I will not obviously, I will not have Rizwan favouritism. No, yes. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, from a purely comedic point of view, Nabhan has it for me. I don't know what to tell you. Okay, let's see if we can have another question before we go. And it is, this is from Marcus. And Marcus says, Hi, James Boyden K. I'm going to add slash Steph. Oh, I'm sorry, guys. I'm so sorry. Oh, you and Kay are basically interchangeable. It's absolutely fine. That's true. I just wanted to get your thoughts on Malice, if anyone here finished it.

33:47I saw it had a number of bad reviews and seem to remember you guys being a bit unsure on it when reviewing it. But as I had some spare time during the merineum, I thought I'd give it a go. By the way, I'm going to do a little, ironically, a little interlude here. You know, we've talked about this period between Christmas and New Year, and some people call it Twixmas and we perhaps ill-advisedly called it the merineum as other people have done. A new version, a new word for that was given to me over Christmas. Winterlude. Oh, I love winter. And that is my new favourite. I actually, I thought it was called Betwixmas.

34:21Betwixmas. Yeah, that's good, yeah. I think it's gone shortened to Twixmas. Betwixmas is a bit twee though, isn't it? Yeah. Is it? Twixmas. Twixmas. It's not just eating Twix. I am Betwixmas. Winterlude is a great name. Yeah, Winterlude. it's good yeah winter ludes good but it just sounds a lot like lube which i don't think yeah no that's just you steph yeah okay all right winter lude yeah absolute filth you've just ruined this whole thing i'm so sorry lowering the tone as ever right sorry sorry apologies marcus let's go back to his but as i had some spare time during the winter lude i thought i'd give it a go and actually really enjoyed it i found it to be thrilling and somewhat different story compared to the usual rich family bad psycho gets revenge style drama i thought jack whitehall played against type really well and found him to be a compelling bad guy with the rest of the cast also doing a great job it kept me gripped throughout and had a satisfying shock ending spoiler uh just wondering your thoughts on this show and also what are your favorite against type roles from actors in recent years another that springs to mind is steve carell in the patient p.s any news on arrival date for the pit uh well i can answer the last one i think we're looking at March so you know you don't have that long to wait here in the UK that's really exciting that is not a date by the way that's that's a month yeah well basically the launch of HBO Max is what we're talking about that's when it will arrive so yes in America you're watching season two at the moment I haven't watched the malice is it that David the malice the malice the malice is yes the malice or a malice whatever you want to call it is uh Jack Whitehall David Duchovny uh Carice Van Hooten it's i really liked it as well and um i thought the ending was great i really really liked the ending it's it's uh yeah i forgot about that i forgot to yeah i watched it all when it kind of came out in one go interesting because i found it a bit mid and didn't really bother pursuing it yeah no i really enjoyed it i think i mean i know because i interviewed jack for the podcast and i've known him for years is one of my name drop main name drops um boy he's in the pocket of Big Malice.

36:21I am in the pocket of Big Malice and I really enjoyed watching him sinking his teeth into that character. There's a brilliant bit where I think I mentioned when we reviewed it where he goes down into the seat really. Yes, the sex club. If you think the club in Seven Dials is seen, you wait till you see the club in Malice. It is extraordinary. And I thought, oh wow, it's really going there. And it doesn't pull its punches. It's quite extreme, the whole series and the ending. Yeah, I liked it a lot. Yeah, I liked it a lot less. I'm sorry I can't say whether I liked it, but I would just say, as a rule, I don't watch David Duchovny in anything other than The X-Files.

36:55Really? Why? Did you never watch Californication? Yeah, Californication. No, I didn't. What about, oh my God, you're denying yourself, Steph, the right to watch his brilliant guest appearances as himself in the Larry Sanders show. Legendary. Legendary TV. Okay, that, yeah, that might be an exception, but just generally, he lives there. He lives in The X-Files for me, and he always will. That is a weird, a classic weird stepism. I know, I'm sorry. I do have these viewing rules. I just can't. He lives there. That's who he is. David Duchovny in a post-apocalyptic. Oh, Jesus. That would be your nightmare.

37:30Absolute hell. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let's see if we can have one. It says, this is from Laura. And Laura says, Thank you for all the wonderful content over Christmas. I appreciated the coverage of New Year's Day telly. Speaking of things that aired over the holidays, I wondered if James has had a chance to see the Taylor Swift Era's tour docuseries on Disney Plus. Oh. I know you joke that you should have reviewed it, but I'm genuinely keen to hear your thoughts on it. Also, Kate and Boyd, I would love it if you watched at least one episode and could share what you think too. It's such an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the biggest tour in history and has backstories of many of her dancers, band, family members, etc.

38:06I watched the whole thing with my dad, who is very much not a Swifty, when I was home for Christmas and he loved it too. Please give it a go. From Laura. I haven't. I actually have yet to watch it. Oh my God. James, you need to watch it. You know what, to that point, I'm sorry, what was the lady's name? Laura. Laura, to Laura's point, you know what, that she said her dad watched it. I think that is the mark of a really well put together kind of behind the scenes documentary that even if it's not a subject you're interested in, it's so well put together, this documentary, that is just really interesting from the point of view of how this tour went and all the people that are involved.

38:44no spoilers but it is an interesting look at everybody's life because if you are part of a tour you basically giving up your life to this pop star for you know everybody else in your life just gets put to the wayside for this committing to this huge amount of time and it's really interesting listening to those people's stories so it's just kind of an interesting real life take on it when you say no spoilers does people get killed in it as well or something you see no you know listen yes there's a murder and then me and mckenna bruce turns up and has to find out who did it well you know i just don't want to like you know i just don't want to like just just watch it and enjoy it but you know things like well it's not as funny but you know like things like um you know how it was in the press how she gave these life-changing bonuses to all the people on her tour yeah so stuff like that and you get to see some of those people no i'm just saying you get to see some of those people my point is that it's interesting and a well put together the documentary even if you're not a swifty which is exactly what this dear listener is saying and you have seen it all it's brilliant it's absolutely you've put me to shame there no oh my god boy you're doing an absolute james he literally just said he hadn't watched it he listens to like 20 of what i say it's absolutely fine that bit passed me by i was quite i i didn't really i thought i didn't compute did it boy you you heard it but then you just couldn't couldn't possibly computer it no i genuinely haven't i meant to watch it over christmas and i didn't no no okay he has not watched it which is why i stepped in to say you should definitely watch it because i have watched it and it's amazing yeah i will i will 100 watch it it is definitely on the older on the old list it's funny i'd actually forgotten i added it to the sofa list and then forgot all about it and i've been watching other things what do you mean yeah i'm going to have your swifty privileges revoked your membership badge is going to be taken away yeah okay right uh i think we've got time for one more question so better make it a good one you said that about 10 minutes ago yeah i know i'm unpredictable what can i tell you uh i've landed on michael michael this is your question i hope it's good okay hi team i listened to the review of 2025 and noticed silo season two didn't feature in the top 20 or in the very extensive honorable mentions list was my mind playing tricks double checking the season ran from november 24th to january 25th i then listened back to the review of 2024 and it wasn't in the top 20 either i did listen at one and a half speed so apologies if i missed it just got a mention read james's set visit does the team and specifically james not think silo season two was worthy of a place or mention surely this heinous error will mean season 3 will take its place as best of 2026 yeah i was surprised you didn't mention it actually i think i in my head i had it as a 2024 series because it started in 2024 and i think that's the reason why just it didn't i assumed we'd covered it the previous year so i didn't didn't mention it because i go through when i'm preparing for the review of the year i go through a lot of the the podcast episode titles and obviously silo didn't appear among them because it had been the it started the previous year so I didn't see it but yeah that 100 % would have been on my list because I love Silo and I really enjoyed season 2 and as was pointed out I was on set of season 3 and ran around the Silo where you accosted the head of Apple the most powerful man yeah that's right where I met my close personal friend Tim Cook yeah oh my god that's two strikes Silo not in your review of the year and you haven't watched the Taylor Swift thing wow I know it's who are you who even are you I don't know I don't know what's happening I've dropped the ball spectacularly but yeah Silo's a great show I enjoyed an awful lot but there's more there's more from Mike there's more from Mike oh okay Mike says two quick things are you allowed to call him Mike?

42:28I think he said his name was Michael no no please don't be over familiar okay fine well it says Michael at the top and Mike at the bottom so I feel like I've got choices okay all right did Boyd enjoy the Christmas Netflix trailer which gave away the twists of their most popular shows of 2025 surely no need to avoid spoilers for any of these shows now did it? no I haven't seen that This must have been the, they must have done like a Netflix Christmas sizzle, showing all their shows for the year and apparently giving away the endings of the war. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah, they just do loads of little clips.

43:00And yeah, it is like a sizzle reel. Oh my God. I'm going to have to watch that again. Do you know what's funny? Those sizzle reels, I would be fascinated to know. And if anyone knows and is listening to this and has a part in this, I'd be fascinated to know how those things are put together. and i don't want to use the phrase ai but i remember talking to someone from one of the streamers once about how they pull together their previously on so when they do the beginning of next season how they do a little sizzle which encapsulates the previous season and they did mention there is an algorithm that goes through the footage of the previous and pulls out bits to form a coherent narrative i'm sure so that is obviously you know so and now that ai has kind of moved on quite a lot i do wonder how involved people are in this or whether you know ai just assembles the clips and then the human kind of assembles them i'd be fascinated to know because obviously very labor intensive doing something like that requires an awful lot of just randomly watching back episodes so who knows god yeah if you know write us tell us tell us we want to know mike has one other thing to say okay mike go on last one mike would recommend boyd avoid trattoria zaza if he ever visits florence it's an enormous restaurant with over 30 000 google reviews when you arrive there are two queues one for disgruntled people with a booking and the other for people to just pitch up hey ho good food though that's brilliant a separate queue for disgruntled people who have actually booked is hilarious by the way that is fantastic i saw the episode of seinfeld where he complains about not having a reservation with the car company and he goes you you know how to take a reservation you just don't know how to keep the reservation and And that's what happened at the IV, at the bloody IV.

44:41They took my reservation. They just didn't know how to keep it. So, Steph, just to fill you in, this is because Boyd, he went to the IV, he booked and then still had to queue. Half an hour, 45 minutes I was supposed to wait, Steph, and I booked. What kind of fucking system is that? Do you know what, right? I went to the breakfast club in St Pancras, right? Which is like just a normal, it's not the IV, obviously. And they also had a system, but the system was one long queue and a lady going along going, have you booked? Or have you just turned up? Like as if like, are you just scum? Right. And then pulling out the people that are taking the time to book and moving them along.

45:17It was awful. The breakfast club always has massive cues. Yeah. I mean, it's mystifying. But anyway. It is mystifying. It is a bit mystifying. It's a bit mystifying. It's the breakfast club, the one that has the secret wine bar in the basement. Oh. There's a few breakfast clubs. Because there's one. There is one. I have been to one breakfast club where if you say a special passcode, they go this is absolutely true if you say special password there is a fridge door they lead you to a fridge they open the fridge door and behind the fridge there are stairs which go down into a speakeasy bar in the basement I think that's probably the one in Soho it's actually not it's the one in I want to say it's Liverpool Street it's around Liverpool Streetway but if you've learned the passcode you can get to the speakeasy I want to go to I don't even drink and I want to go there I want to go to a secret room if I recall you have to ask someone to see the mayor of Scaredy Cat Town so you're there to see the mayor and then they'll take you down to the little bar.

46:08There was one of those in New York. There's a restaurant called La Esquina which is one of my favourite restaurants in New York actually and you can just sit outside and have your corn, your Mexican corn. We went there, Boyd. I took you there, didn't I? You took me there. They've got a downstairs secret entire restaurant underneath. Where they keep the good corn? And you have to book it about three months in advance even to get in there. No. what is in the secret room though because I mean it's just just a lavish restaurant in itself like a different menu and everything I know I said that was the last question but there is one that I've just seen which is more a thought not a question but it's a parting thought that I'm going to leave you with Boydie and this comes from Rian and Rian says oh Boyd you sweet summer child to only just be learning that straight women can't get enough of male male romances straight women have always thirsted after homoerotic stories it was straight women who invented the original gay fan fiction pairing more than 50 years ago.