The Lowdown, The Hunting Wives, and A Ghost Story For Christmas. With guests Paul Bettany and Will Sharpe

26:46I know about your friends and neighbours. No, no, no. The last two episodes of Hijack. Oh, have they? Last time I checked they weren't there. Okay, that's exciting. Robert Frost has done it. He's finished them. Thanks, Robert. Exactly. That guy always delivers. Yeah, that's exciting. Okay, great. I'm going to watch those later on. That I'm pleased about. That's my evening sorted. So that'll be what I am going to be watching this evening. But yeah, so I finished Pluribus. I'm keeping the finale of Pluribus for some reason. To watch it live? No, no. Christmas Day? No, no, no. I'm going to watch it like.

27:15But did it work? Did it stick the landing? Well, see, the thing is, and I was asked that exact same question when I came to the Empire Office, did it stick the landing? To which I said, no, because there is no landing. Like, it's an ongoing thing. There is no landing. And I think that's important. It's an ongoing concern. So, the flight continues without turbulence, is what I would say. If we're using aviation metaphors. But it did not disappoint? No, it did not disappoint. In fact, I had a big old smile. Didn't crash and burn. Yes, I very much enjoyed it. Pluribus is wonderful. And you can hear more about our thoughts on Pluribus when we talk about it in our Review of the Year special, which will be going out next week.

27:52Roti. Yes, Roti. Yes, Roti. The Roti special. Yeah. But I honestly think I'm starting to realise one of the reasons why I haven't watched more this week, because you, Kay, even though you've watched Absolute Drivel, have watched a heroic amount of it, which is very impressive, is that I got my PlayStation wrapped, was sent to me. And I posted this on my Instagram yesterday, but I am going to read it out here because I'm going to name and shame myself in doing this. I got my PlayStation. And this is just the PlayStation. This is not the only... This is the new section we're incorporating into the podcast.

28:22This is not the only console I own. But my PlayStation wrapped said hours played, PlayStation in 2025. Is this a day? 469 hours. What? A month? No, total, for the year. For the year, not a month. I mean, I'm not that much of a maniac. 469 hours. That's a lot of hours. I mean, given the amount of stuff that I watch. How? Right. I mean, people ask me how I watch so much TV, but you're watching lots of TV and you're doing that. 469 hours. Although, to be fair, he's never going out. This is true. I have no social life. You have to go to screenings and stuff. Maybe I'm playing games and screenings as well.

28:56Oh, my God. Yeah, 469. Specifically, 158 hours playing Elden Ring Night Rain, which was my number one game of the year. And I'm still obsessed with it because the DLC dropped recently. And actually, this wrapped up. I've probably put in another 20 hours since this was done. Claire Obscure Expedition 33, which was my game of the year. I did 82 hours on that. Just note that I'm trying really hard to look interested in this. I did 46 hours in Ghost of Yotei. Yeah. I did 39 hours on Baldur's Gate 3. And I know what you're thinking, that's actually not a lot. But yes, that's in addition to about the 170 I did in that game the year it came out.

29:31This was just replaying Chapter 1. And then 27 hours on Elden Ring, the original Elden Ring, which again, I started again. 469 hours. I mean, it's a lot. So if you ever wonder why... James, I urge you. I haven't watched as much. Let 2026 be the year that you go and get some fresh air. Yeah, I need to get outside more. I think because that in and of itself, 469 hours, is maybe not the end of the world. But then if you add that to the sheer volume of TV that I have watched over the last year, and then the number of films I've watched for the Empire podcast, which admittedly is a lot less than hell.

30:01And also the number of hours of shows that you're re-watching. Like a maniac. I think you overstate that. I don't think I do. I re-watched The West Wing this year, obviously, again. But did I re-watch anything else? Oh, yeah, The Night Manage. but other than that yeah there are others that's about it isn't it well you always throw in you know that is true I'll occasionally go oh I've just rewatched a random show that I pull out yeah that is true can I just correct myself yeah always I said as I was saying I thought this isn't right is it I was talking about the Simon Cowell documentary being made by the people who made the Formula 1 documentary Need for Speed and that's a lie no no no the title is Formula 1 Drive to Survive that's what I thought not Need for Speed you should have corrected me no it wasn't that I thought you'd I just thought oh they've made another show no drive to survive need for speed drive to survive it's much the same thing need for speed of course being a video game franchise and a terrible film yeah exactly so there we go no need to re-edit no need to no no Boyd is having to own his mistake yeah exactly okay professional okay should we have a listener question yes let's it's a message from Lucy who says wishing you all a Merry Christmas my question is what non-Christmas TV shows do you prefer to watch while wrapping your presents Mine has always been Father Ted, but recently it's been superseded by Alan Carr's Changing Ends.

31:15I think it's the mix of feel-good and nostalgia that makes it so good for this. I think your podcast has been even better than ever this year, and I will be listening regularly in 2026. Oh, thank you very much. So it has to be a specifically non-Christmas-themed show. That's what Lucy says, but I think... I mean, I've got an answer ready. Oh, good. Yeah. Because my answer was that we are going to review The Night Manager, the new series, 5th of Jan episode of the pod. And I did a James. I re-watched, because I remembered that I hadn't actually finished. What? I know, insane. Jesus Christ. I know, let's not get into that.

31:50But anyway, let's skip over it. Let's just say I did a re-watch. Wow. But because it's so super-duper dense, the only way I could do it was if I was wrapping presents at the same time. Hang on. That's so counterintuitive. It's so complicated that you have to be doing something else while you're watching it. Well, James, I don't find it complicated. You just said it was really dense. No, tense. Oh, I thought you said dense. Oh, did I say dense? I think you did say dense. Oh, if I did say dense, I was being dense. I meant tense. Yes, it was so extraordinarily tense that I couldn't just... Do you watch it in a tent?

32:23In a tent, yeah. That's exactly what happened. But no, so if I was wrapping and doing something with my hands and looking down occasionally, it just made it easier for me to watch. This is probably how I would get through cringe comedy, by wrapping presents while watching it. Or pruning a tree. or pruning a tree or painting the ceiling I in the past have watched both Supernatural and Gilmore Girls while wrapping presents and the reason is is because they were shows way back when that were on my sofa list and I didn't really care enough about them to focus I imagine with Gilmore Girls that they were scenes where they were wrapping presents almost certainly wrapping presents where they wrap beautiful yeah it's one of those yeah that's probably a good yeah so normally it would be something because I'm going to be doing something else while I'm doing it it'll be something that's on my sofa list that I don't really care about, which I'm like, I can just half watch.

33:09But you just want to tick off your list. I just want to tick off the list. It'll be something like that. Well, listen, I just want to say, I did want to watch The Night Manager and obviously it deserves full attention. It does. It's just that I cannot handle the level of stress in that first series. The tense, dense Night Manager. Yeah. Seen in a tent or a den. That shows you how tired I am. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We should say, we are all three of us absolutely just dead on our feet. I genuinely, this morning... I just don't go on and bang on about it like you two do. No, as I mentioned, this week's been very...

33:34I woke up this morning, I thought, I don't know if I've got the words for the podcast. Yeah. I mean, we will obviously have cut it out, but there was a little bit earlier on in this podcast where you literally lost the ability to form one. Oh my God, yeah. I don't know why we have to drag out this fact. This just won't have heard it. I know, but it was quite funny. No, it was. I came in saying, oh my God, this week, I've done like 30 previews, five podcasts, two interviews, and like script homework, all this stuff. I list all the stuff, and I said, I don't know if I'll be able to talk. And then for the first 10 minutes, we spent us re-recording everything because I literally couldn't get a word out and then got hysterical.

34:06It was pretty entertaining. It was. That's not going on the blooper. I mean, you say that. Hideous. Hideous. Anyway, while I'm wrapping presents, I will be watching Alan Partridge and the most recent one I probably, I think I watched, which I've mentioned another of our like 7 million podcasts that were recorded this week. I can't remember which one. Oh no, it was the review, of the year I talked about how the new most recent Alan Partridge series I've watched like two or three times already maybe even four times I'll watch it again while I'm wrapping presents for sure I thought it would have been Curb interesting well Curb I just watch on I watch that probably as often as he watches Friends and etc but I just don't bang on it I don't mention it I don't need to mention it you don't like to bang on it it's part of the general fabric of my life and in fact I felt very Larry David-esque at the Ivy incident when I had to point out what Reservation was Were you wearing slacks?

34:59I think I probably was wearing slacks, yeah. This is a reservation, and I am Boyd Hilton. What are you doing? No, it wasn't like that. It doesn't sound like Larry David either. I don't know who that sounded like. Lord Grantham, possibly. Oh, yeah, maybe. Maybe that's who you're going for. Okay, well, that's the question answered. Thank you, Lucy, for getting in touch and for listening. Thank you. Yes. Literally, if you paid me£1 ,000, I don't think I could tell you what the question was. Oh, I've remembered. Yeah. Sorry. This pays well for us. I'm not going to pay you a thousand pounds. No, but I mean, if you had, that would be nice.

35:33He could, no. He could just throw it at me from there. I think now it's news. Is it news? Do you know what? I'm actually very pleased that you are here to shepherd me through this because I've lost the ability to do it, however you're wrong, because it's time for this week's guest. Oh, okay. Nice try. Nice try. Even though I was tired, I was trying to be helpful. Yeah, he's corrected me and suddenly come alive through my correcting me. Ooh, one-upmanship. I'm back in the room. I shouldn't do it. Oh, some things never change. We reviewed Amadeus last week. You can catch it now on Sky and Now. Now.

36:04Not just now, but literally now on now. And this is Joe Barton's adaptation of the Peter Schaffer play and depicts one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You may have heard of him. Played by Will Sharp and his rivalry. Rival? Rivalry. I can't even say the word. His rivalry. There we go. Did it. Well done. I'm getting there. Falling apart before our eyes and ears. I'm struggling, but I'm doing my best. What we should do for the rest of the show, there's going to be no outtakes. We're just going to keep on going. There'll be no edits. We're just going to plough through. People will be unsubscribing. They may well do.

36:33But his rivalry with Antonio Salieri, played by Paul Bettany, piano offs abound. And they spoke to Boydie very recently. And this is what occurred. Paul Bettany and Will Shott, welcome to the Pilot TV podcast. Yes, I am an Arsenal fan. You've noticed, Paul. Yes, I have. I'm not wearing a specialty for you now, but I'm going to the match later. Are you going later? I'm not going, but I have packed my kit to wear whilst watching the game. That's good. I haven't washed it. It hasn't been washed since we last lost. Wow. That's a long time ago. That was a long time ago. And my wife is like, you have to wash that goddamn shirt.

37:12And I can't. Because it's got like a sweat in it. Of course, completely. Will, are you a football fan? No, not really so much anymore. I watch like the World Cup or the Euros, but I don't follow the Premier League. fair enough fair enough you should say Joe Barton who wrote Amadeus of course I know he's a friend of the podcast and his love of Spurs often gets in the way of normal relations it's so weird as well because he grew up in Brighton or somewhere it's like you chose that misguided it's not I could totally could have absolutely avoided a lifelong misery exactly have you got a special message for Joe come come to the The dark side.

37:54The bright side. Yeah, the bright side. London's red, I guess. Exactly. Joe's script is, I guess, key to this whole project, right? Because if you're just doing another version of this story that was a play in a film, fine. But he has found something else in the story. So what do you think he has brought to the script for the show? Well, I feel like because it's across five hours, there's necessarily more space to kind of explore. We've talked a bit about the sort of domesticity of these characters. and what are they like at home away from the kind of world of music and also kind of to explore different points of view.

38:31You know, the play, the film, like very much like driven almost entirely by Salieri's perspective and his kind of burning envy. And that's absolutely like a big part of this show, but there are other points of view as well, including Constanzas. And so I found that sort of quite an interesting, you know, part of this new iteration. I think that's the very reason why I took the job. I wanted to, I loved the idea of playing Sally Harry. I was a bit frightened by it because F. Murray Abraham is so great. And then I had the kind of Milos Forman movie as a masterpiece. And then I was like, why do this again?

39:10And then read the script and realized, oh, no, there is,

39:17he's asking the question what does that burden of that genius feel like because it is a very modern perspective in both the film and the play is about what does it feel like to not have that genius and I thought actually that's right there is a good enough reason to have a new version and also So I think that the TV show is, our TV show is quite self-consciously trying to be accessible to a broader audience. And an audience that might normally think, oh, this isn't for me. It's going to make me feel stupid or whatever. And it really doesn't. And sort of to invite a new audience to see something like this.

40:12Yeah, to some extent, there's a kind of bawdiness to it, which I guess was partly in the film and play. But I think you bring that out particularly in your, I mean, if you play this character, I guess you have to have a whale of a time. But is it as much fun to do that role as it is written down, if you like? I mean, it was definitely fun. Like, there were enjoyable aspects to him, like that he's very impulsive and sort of chaotic in his behaviour. He's very, like, appetite driven. I enjoyed that sort of animal part of him. and also you know it's quite funny sometimes that we talked about like is there a sort of neurodiversity to without getting too specific or trying to retro diagnose him like he says what's on his mind if he thinks it's true it comes out of his mouth and that often causes offense or hurts salieri's feelings or you know that was fun like that he doesn't really understand society or how you're supposed to like behave appropriately i mean there were other parts of him that were it was still fun but I would say like there are sort of darker aspects to him as well and that was like as much a part of him I felt like as the kind of like playful frivolous you know boy man child there was also this kind of like you know we talked a bit about how Salieri and Mozart almost feel like two brothers to a common father in God and there was that that sort of like darker as you said like this sort of like what's the cost of carrying the burden of that expectation, whether it be from, you know, Constanzi, you need to use your talent to make money, or his father, like you need to not waste what we've given you, or from God, where it's like, I'm going to speak through you, and that will have a physical and psychological toll, but it's your purpose and duty, you know.

41:53Yeah, that dance really comes out when he goes home, doesn't it, and ceases that. Yeah, there's the beginnings of it, yeah. And then Salieri is driven mad by God's abandonment, his perception that God has abandoned him and chosen Mozart. Yeah, he really goes for the debauched kind of anti-Christian way of life. He embraces that, doesn't he? He sure does. you both get to do scenes of intimacy not with each other but separately how is that you mean you're both experienced actors how is that doing that now that's those kind of scenes yes it's always been dreadful and it's still dreadful and it's embarrassing and and i frankly thought i'd aged out of it but uh apparently not um but um what i do like is i think that they I feel more comfortable if the scene tells a story yeah and what whilst I am in the room with the sex worker even though he's not there Amadeus is is in that room too and it's it's it's it's actually more seen about his relationship with yeah him and Paul asked me to be there yeah of course to help in filming.

43:16Inspiration. It was really inspiring. Good. I agree, I think, so long as you understand what is the story purpose of this scene, that becomes your focus, and the rest of it is basically just making sure everybody is working within the bounds of their comfort, and it's almost like rehearsing, you know, like any choreographed scene, it's just serious. If I understand, for instance, that scene, one of the main reasons for it is to show the audience that Salieri has now chosen a life of transgression. Absolutely. And so then I go, all right, well, I get it then. Damn. Yeah. Because before that, there's a scene of self-pleasure.

44:04Yes. It's supposed to be the most embarrassing thing to have to do. Also embarrassing. I was there for that scene. I knew it. I actually brought him back off holiday most of your time was spent as inspiration sure could you get more in my eye how did you have met before you embarked on this no I was obviously like aware of Paul's work and was a big fan and so I was you know slightly intimidated about the idea of us working together but actually as soon as we met it became clear that you're a very approachable and very generous scene partner and so I was relieved to find And actually, it felt weirdly the more toxic the relationship of our characters got.

44:46The closer we got. The closer we got. That probably says more about you and me. Maybe. I had a similar experience. I had admired Will from afar. And then I foolishly watched his Flowers, which he wrote and directed in Stars. And I was super intimidated. And then met him. and it was just lovely. It was really lovely. And I think we work in very different ways. And I think it really, but those ways really complemented each other. And by the end, I don't know how much of a show you've seen, but by the end of it, the whole thing, okay, by the end of it, there was a scene that was really, I had no idea how you were going to accomplish it.

45:32To accomplish it by, I mean, by telling the story. Forget whether you've done it well. I just didn't know how we were going to tell the story.

45:44And I don't think we would have accomplished it earlier on. I think we just, by that point, I had such trust in him and felt so safe. And he with me, I believe. Yes. We could go to places. I guess it was like those scenes and that scene in particular, it felt like, you know, there were big ideas around what was happening in a sort of stylistic way or sort of like a theoretical way that but actually what was happening on a human level was two men were being vulnerable with each other and honestly with each other. and I felt like it required of us like to take I suppose like what it felt like we needed to sort of take some risks in the playing of it for it to work and also needed to be feel comfortable being vulnerable in each other's company and I agree like that would have been harder to do towards the beginning of the shoot I also felt Alice Seabright who directed that episode handled it really well and that's how it sort of almost like was distilled down in the end from this almost like magical realist concept to something that was just very simple.

46:53Yeah, it gets very daring and kind of bold. The longer it goes on, the more kind of its own thing it is, I think. It was very different to the previous versions, certainly, yeah. In terms of the music, there's various shots where you're playing the piano and the camera pans up to you and you're clearly actually doing it. So is that part of your skill set anyway, or did you hone up on playing the piano? No, I had to practice a lot. Like I could play sort of chordsy. I can Google some chords, some radio head chords and play along to a start, you know, but I couldn't read music very well and I couldn't play anywhere near sort of, I couldn't play a Mozart piece.

47:31But Ben Holder, who supervised the music, started teaching, coaching me on that sort of, I think about six months before we started filming. And so, yeah, the pieces I needed to play, I needed to be confident on. and then sometimes the pieces would change quite soon before we shot them and thankfully by then I was sort of like, had practiced enough that it would go in a bit quicker but then I'd forget all of them immediately after we shot like I couldn't play any of those pieces now Did you delve into the I did, I actually spent about 30 hours learning this Mozart piece and then I sat down and the pianos play it in the scene and Julie and the director went, oh no, you're not actually playing it.

48:19You're imagining it. At which point I went, okay, okay. That's funny. There's a discussion about relatability, I think, particularly with The Marriage of Figaro. I felt Joe Barton was saying something here about, I don't know, the writing of TV and film and characters that, because they're constantly being told that things have to be relatable. Do you think that's true? Was he kind of sneaking in a discussion there about making things relatable? I mean, I think you'd have to ask him. It's possible that there's subconscious dust from script development, but I don't know. No, fair enough. I'll ask Joe when he's not busy supporting the wrong football team.

49:02What was the most fun element of this whole football team? Barely even. Yeah, exactly. He can be really horrible about us, by the way. I should emphasize that. Nasty. Yeah. I hope you didn't have to encounter Dewey. I did, I did, yeah. You worked with him in Giri Hadji, of course. Correct, yeah. He does have a unique kind of dialogue-wise. I felt that this explores different things that possibly couldn't have explored in previous versions. There's quite a lot of swearing, effing and jeffing and C-wording, etc., which I think adds to the texture of the whole thing. Yeah, I guess it's like a sort of hybrid, you know, sort of English that feels slightly period and then English that's very modern.

49:39and I feel like that's your sort of accessibility point like that does sort of let you in I suppose and across all the departments you know Lisa and Vicky I remember Vicky talking about like leaning on sort of period accurate silhouettes in the wigs but also taking influences from like rock and roll or jazz or folk music and sort of trying to just break it in a little bit to make the world feel sort of lived in and you get to call him that foul shit talking bastard which I thought was a great line yes that's actually Schaeffer is it? is it? that whole that whole speech in the church is lifted from the play and it's I was really intimidated by that that's the other thing that was really intimidated by because it's tonally quite different and I don't actually talk out loud to gods how am I going to do it so I didn't really I was really intimidated by that I think you pulled it off thank you very much thank you so much thank you great to see you thank you nice to see you too that was Will Sharp and Paul Bettany and now Yes Kate it is time for news what have you got for me?

50:48okay so I've got news about The Pit which I was reluctant to say because you know I'm bearing a grudge against The Pit because I haven't watched it yet I mean I can tell you all about it if you like but anyways there's been an update with new cast members announced for Series 2 oh tell me Because I haven't seen this. Oh, okay. Well, I will tell you that Luke Tenney is going to be in it, and he's going to be playing a fourth-year resident named Dr. Cruz Henderson. Okay. We have Travis Van Winkle, who will play an aggressive patient named Curtis Larson. Meta Golding is going to play a nurse called Noel.

51:22Noel? Noel? I don't know how to say that. Hastings. Noel. I'm going to say Noel. Okay, fine. And Christopher Thornton will star as Dr. Caleb Jefferson, a psychiatric attending physician. I've just got to tell you, everyone, boys just started yawning. Sorry. That shows how interested he is in that film. I guess I'm not sure. Do we know any of those people? No. No. So I suppose it's just actors joining show. Well, by the way, I wasn't yawning deliberately. No, I know, I know. It wasn't a theatrical yawn. Yeah, but also, Tenny was in Abbott Elementary, so anyone who likes it? Yeah. I'm not familiar with them personally, but I'm very excited about The Pit returning.

51:58Also, we know when it is returning. is returning on the 8th of January in America. I thought you were going to say, yeah, you're just taunt-alising us. Yeah, I am just taunt-alising us. I'm taunt-alising. I'm taunting you. Yeah, so it returns on the 8th in the US on HBO Max. It can help us. But, so last one I think was like 15 episodes. I think it's a 15-week run. So it is one a week for 15 weeks. Stop telling us about a show that we're coming on. I'm coming to it. I'm coming to it. So HBO Max, I believe we now know, launches at the end of March here in the UK. Right? End of March. We haven't got a date, though.

52:27End of March. End of March. There's no date yet. We don't have a date, but it's the end of March, I believe. It's the end of March. So, what will then happen at the end of March? We will get the whole of season one of The Pit in our eyes, in one go, at the end of March. But presumably, now, and this is going to be the question, will they drop everything from season two of The Pit that has aired and then do it in real time? I'm saying, that's a big no. I suspect what will happen is at the end of March, season two of The Pit will start. You'll get the whole of season one, the first episode of season two, and then 15 weeks from then, it will play out.

52:56So we'll be essentially... I'll just be happy to get the first series, to be honest. Yeah, we'll be like three months behind the US. Yeah. Okay. Good news. Yeah. There's a show that's been massively talked about on social media and on the internet called Heated Rivalry, which is a love story. It's a romance between two professional male hockey players. And it's based on a very popular book. And everyone's been talking about it on the socials and saying, when the fuck is it going to come to this country? well Sky have snapped it up good old Sky good old Sky and it's going to be on Sky Atlantic on the 10th of January Saturday the 10th of January and it will be on now as well and I think it will all be available from that date which is very good news because yeah apparently it's really good apparently this is not train viewing no it's raunch described as a steamy six part smash hit it's a raunch fest now is this news is this film news or is it TV news I'm saying it's TV news you know what I'm going to say not a clue the Oscars oh yes are coming to you yes wow now I don't know how I feel about this because you know the Oscars I'm obsessed with the Oscars and you know to the point where you know I've been on I used to be on the Sky coverage back when you were invited back in the day or back when Sky covered it when I was invited yeah thank you I've never been invited then moved to ITV yeah in the UK and still I think with ITV and it's been shown on ABC in America for decades and decades has been part of their deal.

54:28And this is a huge moment, I think, in many ways. A very symbolic moment. Because the Oscars, pretty much, year in, year out, is the second most watched event on American TV after the Super Bowl. So even though ratings fluctuate and have declined, I think last year it was up a bit. Were you on the sister show? I wasn't on the sister show, no. It's a show, Jonathan Ross's coverage, Jonathan Ross hosts the ITV coverage show. Oh yeah, sorry, that show. And he has guests on. I haven't been a guest on. I wondered if that's why the ratings peaked. I see. Obviously. Because I'm not on the ratings peaked.

54:59Anyway, I think this iconic, to use the overused word, but in this case it's obviously true, if TV event moving from a traditional US network to YouTube is huge, really. And it's a very interesting move by them. And I think it speaks of YouTube's desire to be taken seriously or more seriously perhaps by old school old people like me when they've got the whole I mean you know they've got the youth they've got the youth all they don't need to worry about that people flock to YouTube you know in their gazillions to watch you know short film videos of cats etc but to have the Oscars then they're going to have the whole thing the red carpet the governor's ball brilliant I think it's brilliant yeah I think I think it's definitely I think you've got to embrace it and by the way for free but you won't have to pay for it or anything so it'll be for free globally around the world.

55:52Now, I wonder how that affects the... I mean, presumably, the ITV coverage will be null and void by then. I mean, by the way, this isn't happening until 2029. So we've got a while. So we've got a while. Yeah. In 2026, next year. Three years after that, yeah. I mean, the machines will have wiped it out by then, so it really doesn't matter. Oh, great. Thanks for that. Brilliant. And brackets in other awards hosting news, awards coverage news, Alan Cumming is confirmed, again, to host the BAFTAs, the BAFTA Film Awards, next year. This year. When's this going out? Who am I? This year goes out this year.

56:23Right, okay, excellent, yeah. In February next year, a whole year away, Kay. Indeed. I bring you now some Sam Claflin news. In other words, I bring you now some Sam Claflin news. And now we hand over to you. You're not going to able to string a sentence together, frankly. Let's not quibble. Yes, he's in a new mystery thriller called Vanished, and it's got a date. So it's going to be on Prime Video in the US and the other territories. on the 1st of Feb. Did I say Prime Video? You did? Yes. And we will get it on MGM Plus on the 27th of Feb in the UK. It also stars Kayleigh Cuoco and the synopsis reads, when a couple's trip to Paris takes a dark turn with the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Tom, played by Claflin, aboard a train to the south of France, Alice Cuoco is plunged into a web of intrigue and danger, uncovering shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew.

57:20This reminds me of the Butterfly incident. We've lost the name of the live show because that's such a generic plot summary. I know, I know. Yeah, we will still watch. Yeah, we will. Of course. We'll still watch it, it's true. We'll watch the Cloughlin. Can we say Boots has been cancelled on Netflix? Yeah, that's a shame, I think. Which one was that? That's the one about the gay guy in the army in the Marines, actually, based on a true memoir. Do you know what, though? Sentimentality aside, I think it was a really good show. When it got to the end, I didn't feel like the need to, I don't think there's essentially necessarily much more story to tell.

57:55I don't want to sound harsh. But having said that, it was a really good show and any show that good, you know, you'd hope would be recommissioned. But yeah, maybe someone else would snap it out. Maybe. So yeah, that's been cancelled, but Down Cemetery Road is renewed for a second season. Which I think is good news, yeah. Yeah. Did you finish Down Cemetery? I haven't finished it yet, no. Did you? No, I didn't read it. I did. Oh. So there. Captain Smug. It was decent. Three stars. Yeah. Oh, no. So you must be particularly happy about the renewal news. No, I'm happy. It was interesting to me that, because this is obviously Mick Heron who did Slow Horses.

58:29Slow Horses is a superior, I think, book series. And I think in this case, I think it's a very superior TV series. Because the books do revolve around Emma Thompson's character, but I think Ruth Wilson's character persists. I don't think she's a one and done. Oh, good. Good. Down Cemetery Road will return. We'll be back down Cemetery Road. Also a weird one. There is a point break. the 90s Catherine Bigelow film with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze a point break sequel series now in the works. Oh my God. Yeah, indeed, indeed. That's points verdict. And this is the plot. The series is set 35 years after the events of the original film and is focused on a dangerous heist crew with ties to the ex-president's gang.

59:06This is like one of those IP things where, intellectual property things where they could just as easily make a new show about roughly that thing, but they stamp it with an existing IP just to draw attention to it. Yeah. I mean, it's not going to start Keanu Reeves, is it? Or who's the other person in there? Well, Laurie Petty. Well, Patrick Swayze is dead. Patrick Swayze is no longer with us. So, yeah, I mean, I just don't get the point of calling it Point Break apart from to get attention. I'm sure it's going to get this because it's already worked. Yeah. So we're talking about it which we wouldn't have done otherwise.

59:38So clearly, it has paid off for them. What else have we got? Kurt Sutter, who abandoned The Abandons, we may know, has got a new show. So he is developing this at the moment. It is an untitled drama, and it is a noir. It is a noir series he's putting together. Yes, exactly. Unnamed noir. Yeah, an unnamed noir. And all it says here is it's a series. It will transport viewers to 1950s Los Angeles. And there's a private investigator navigating a world of crime and corrupt police officers. Another generic synopsis. But I like 1950s LA. That might be fun. It says LA Confidential, basically. I mean, it does sound a bit like that, doesn't it, yeah?

1:00:17So, yeah, that's that. And the only other thing I would say is there is a title for the... You know, Netflix is... You know Extraction? The Chris Hemsworth Extraction and Extraction 2, the movies? Extraction 2? He plays the brilliantly named Tyler Rake and at one point literally kills someone with a rake. Yeah. Well, there is a TV series obviously coming from that, but it now has a title and it is called Mercenary, colon, an Extraction series. No. And apparently he stars Omar Sy. What's a terrible... Oh, great. Yeah, he's great. No, see, see? Yeah, it could still be a terrible title. Yeah, it's about...

1:00:50In fact, I think it's pronounced C. Is it C? Funnily enough, C, it's Omar Sy. Omar Sy. I think so. Oh. I can remember. I interviewed him and I think I was German. Yes, I think you're right because I think my instinct is to say Sy and you know I'm always wrong. Yeah, it's Omar Sy. We've had that discussion before, I think. Yeah. Okay. Any other news? No. No other news. I mean, honestly, we barely got through that news. It's been... Honestly, listeners, if you had any clue the amount of giggle breaks we've had, complete meltdowns, inability to finish sentences, all coherent thoughts, it's been quite extraordinary.

1:01:19It's been a long old year. We've been in the studio for eight hours recording this episode. And has it been worth it? Not really. Absolutely not. Okay, let's move on to the reviews. If we get through this, it will be a Christmas miracle. First up this week, we have Mark Gatiss' latest festive chiller in A Ghost Story for Christmas. And this year's version, this year's incarnation, is The Room in the Tower, which stars Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley and is the story of a haunted room in a haunted house that appears in a series of haunted dreams as recounted by Tobias Menzies' sort of troubled insomnia whilst sheltering in the underground during the Blitz.

1:01:56Boydie, this haunted mansion, I'm sure, bore a striking resemblance to your own palatial abode. So why don't you tell us why there is indeed no place like home? Yes, so this is, as you said, I think he's done eight now. Because he didn't want it in 2013, but then didn't do another one until I think 2018 or 19, and then he's done them pretty much every year since. I think so. Sure. That sounds right. Sounds like good research to me. This one is adapted from an E.F. Benson story, and it's like a lot of these one-off stories, one-off ghost stories, it kind of has a framing device, and then there's like a story within a story, and this is like a kind of recounted nightmare within a story within a story.

1:02:41And it all kind of, it's basically, it's being told, the main character is telling this story to a woman he meets in the underground bunker during World War II, played by Tobias Menzies. And he's recounting the fact that he keeps having a recurring nightmare in which he's called to this lavish mansion, and there's this kind of foreboding, weird, freaky looking family, he presumes, kind of sitting outside this mansion on the lawn. As he approaches, the matriarch, played by Joanna Lumley, tells him that she's reserved for him the room upstairs in the tower and he finds that chilling and he's reluctant to go up into the tower and stay there.

1:03:27and the kind of story just involves him slowly coming to terms with what on earth is going on in this nightmare and what the significance of the nightmare is, what the significance of Joanna Lumni's character is and what the hell is going on in terms of him telling the story, particularly in the setting of an underground bunker during the war. I love these shows. I'll just put it out there. Some are better than others, though. Some are better than others. I think this is a pretty good one, I would say. It's my favourite. Oh, it's your favourite? Okay. Well, I think, yeah, I think there's enough story in it that it feels like the half hour running time is exactly right for it.

1:04:07But there isn't that much kind of excess stuff going on. It focuses pretty, it hones in pretty carefully on the main story. And there is an absolute creepiness to the whole thing. and Joanna Lumley particularly does she is horrible in it and in a kind of quite subtle way and I think the genius of Mark Gatiss with these shows is that obviously these are kind of fairly low budget you know BBC 2 one-offs for Christmas but he writes the scripts in such a way and they're shot in such a way he directed it as well that you don't even think about for a minute that it's probably a low budget thing because it tells the story it in exactly the way it should.

1:04:51And the effectiveness of the direction and of the script and of the performances make it what it is, which is a brilliantly creepy half hour of ghost story fun. And I think it's brilliant that this even exists. Every year, BBC commissions Mark Gaitis to adapt one of these types of things into a perfect little half hour of creepiness. And sometimes it is, I used to wear perfect loosely and it's always worth watching but I do think this is one of the better ones yeah like was last year the vengeful gargoyles like the statues I think that's right and the year before was the mummy oh I can't remember anyway but this is my favourite because it's lean it's very lean yes that's the word economically put together there's not a lot to it but everything about it works wonderfully from the framing device in the blitz in the underground to to just these this kind of this hazy sort of woozy dreamlike nightmare scenario.

1:05:51And it feels like a dream. And I think they've captured that slightly dissociation that dream narrative. And even it says in that, because no one speaks, like it's silent because people do stand in silence in dreams. It's slightly weird and disjointed and discombobulating. And it really creeped me out. I thought it was really effective in what it did. I really, yeah, really, really, really liked it. I agree with everything you've said. And I think that, like, the listeners should definitely watch it for all the reasons you've outlined. I just, I don't know, I just couldn't get on board with it.

1:06:19Is it because ghosts aren't real? No, do you know what it is? I had the same sort of like, and I can recognise all the things you're saying, and it has got a fantastic cast, and it's well made on the budget, and all these things. Yet for me, I had like, I mean, I enjoyed it at first, and then it sort of had the sedative effect of some, you know, the similar effect of someone telling me their dream. Do you know what I mean? As in my interest waned, you know, and I was... You were just like, all right, wrap it up. I was a little bit... Yeah, I was, but I can see the merit of it. This is a me problem, not...

1:06:46Did you like the previous ones? I like them to a degree but I think it's just not my bag yeah ghost stories you don't like not a big ghost story fan no perhaps not it's the supernatural again isn't it yeah maybe maybe that's my bias playing out yeah yeah apologies well if you unlike Kay enjoy the supernatural then a ghost story for Christmas The Room in the Tower airs on Christmas Eve yeah Christmas Eve not Christmas Day Boyd not Christmas Day no Christmas Eve need to specify that get it right don't get it wrong Christmas Eve BBC 2 10pm 2025 still. Still. Next up, we have The Hunting Wives on ITVX and this is an adaptation of the novel by May Cobb.

1:07:27This stars Brittany Snow, who you may remember from Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 and probably Pitch Perfect 3, Malin Ackerman and Dermot Mulroney, among others, and it's a Boston woman played by Snow who is inducted into a toxic circle of Texan socialite wives known as The Hunting Wives. There is murder, boobage, all manner of sexual deviancy, the looks lifted from someone's Pornhub playlist. In fact, when we said we were reviewing this, our very end Steph Seeland basically said, oh, that's porn. So make of that what you will. To that end, we turn now to notorious Pornhound and NSFW aficionado, Kay Ribeiro.

1:08:04Oh, you doofus. She's not wrong. I mean, like, I would describe this as desperate housewives with guns and raunch. It's, yeah, it's an interesting one. And it starts off in that classic way of, so we see a woman being shot in a forest and then it obviously flashes back three weeks earlier and we get to meet the character of Sophie. She's a PR played by Brittany Snow and she's relocated to Texas from Boston with her husband and kid. And she's a liberal fish out of water, right? So she just thinks this life is not for her. And then she meets Margot played by Maylin Ackman, who I kept on watching and I was like, now who is she?

1:08:45I really recognise her. She's from The Proposal. She's also Silk Spectre in Watchmen, but you wouldn't have seen that. Okay, fine. Yeah, she's from The Proposal. And yeah, her husband's running for governor. And basically, Margot stops her in her tracks. Literally, right? And she's in a bathroom, boobs out, and Sophie's like, what the hell's going on? But in time, she becomes quite intoxicated by Margot's lifestyle. She's surrounded, she's socialite, surrounded by these other housewives who don't, they don't, what's the expression she says? One of them says, we don't have jobs. wife yes and um they stand around drinking and um go out on the boat with guns that's their vibe and um you know sophie initially finds it repellent and then as i said gets seduced by it and gets seduced by margot and um we see how that all sort of like plays out and the whole thing is how far will she go because she's very like sophie as a character she's complete opposite obviously and she's very sensible and her husband sort of like has a tight rein on like what she like her drinking there's stuff that's gone on in the past that we're obviously going to learn more about um and the whole thing is like finding out how far she'll go the other way with margo and um also finding out who the hell this woman is who's been shot in the woods um it is do you know what i would say it's very watchable you're not going in there for the sophisticated storytelling you are watching it if you do watch it because it's daft and as james says you know there's lots of sex.

1:10:09Because of the boobage. There's boobage, there's jacuzzi, wanking, there's other wanking as well. There's a lot going on in this. It is a little bit porny. Oh, yeah. It's a lot porny. It's a lot porny. And there's a lot of sapphic action. Oh, yeah, that too. There were various points that I had to kind of shield my iPad screen while I was travelling on the train while watching this. Stop watching these things on the train, you nutter. You're going to get thrown off. Yeah, people are like, oh, that perv's on here again, watching porn on the train. So, yeah. I mean, like I said, it's not a high-quality prestige drama.

1:10:43Why are we reviewing this, by the way? Well, it kind of is. It's a major American drama. You're saying this is prestige drama? No, I'm about to... Well, I will explain what I think in my review imminently. But it's definitely... I'm sure the makers of the show consider it to be a prestige show. It's actually originally made for stars, right? This is the... People need to know the origins of it. And stars... It used to be called Stars Play Here. Now it no longer exists. but Starz was a in quotes premium cable channel in America that kind of specialised was famous for raunchy nudity swearing and ultraviolence in its show that's where the Spartacus shows began isn't it yeah exactly the Spartacus shows began but certainly I'm sure the people who make this show I'm sure Maylan Ackerman intends it to be a prestige drama oh that's so funny because I think it's quite low rent well is this your ITV bias coming into play is that what's happening here it airs on ITV and if you're like why are we reviewing it because it airs on ITV on Saturday night at 9.30.

1:11:39Also, the only other show to review this week was about witches, and I thought I'd spare you that, Kay. Oh, thank you. As an action of Christmas goodwill. That's true. This is really interesting. Okay, that you... But I know what you mean, because it's got a trashy veneer, right? Because of the subject matter and because of the way it's made. And I don't think it is as cinematic as it could have been. And in fact, I think it's disappointing in a way, because in fact, you know, when we had that message from Steph Zeland, that erstwhile contributor to the podcast saying it was porn, I was like, oh, wow, that's interesting.

1:12:12But the problem with this show is that production values aside, it's not, it is fairly flatly directed, I would say, and shot. It's not particularly visually interesting. It's fine, but it's not particularly... Basic. It's fairly basic. I would say if you compare it to some other, I think it's what you were talking about, you know, in terms of, is it premium, peak TV? I think it's trying to be, but it's is failing. And I think the problem is is that it seems to think that because the subject matter is raunchy and daring in quotes, you know, suddenly there's a shot of the husband in the pool with two naked women, right?

1:12:45And then they think oh, you know, this is daring and edgy and as James has been through the various in quotes, daring and edgy sex moments, but actually it's not as much fun and it's not as daring as it really thinks it is. And actually and I think like stuff like, you know, the Nicole Kidman show on Netflix what was that called tell your pick yeah there's quite a few which one The Perfect Couple oh yes this is nowhere near as good as that I was going to say this feels like if this had had Nicole Kimmon in the Malin Ackerman role and it's a more energetic direction you can kind of see that it kind of would be of a piece with that kind of show exactly 100 % yeah exactly big little lies it's like big little lies this is like but not as good but not as good and it's a bit like real housewives meets desperate housewives I think this is a post Real Housewives is a global TV phenomenon half the people who are in the American Traitors which has celebrities are from various Real Housewives by the way I forgot to mention this in news do you know Kelsey's thing is mom is in the new series of the American Traitors Kelsey who?

1:13:51you know the football player fiance of Taylor Swift oh James should interest should be piqued I do love a football player what's his name Kelsey? Travis Travis his mom is in the next series of the traitors US. Right. Anyway, I've been sidetracked. The point is, in terms of it's daring, it's just not particularly exciting or thrilling, even though there is kind of quite a lot of nudity, which even now in this day and age, it's still a little bit surprising, particularly that it's, by the way, this is directed by a woman, it's written by a woman, but there's definitely more attention paid to female nudity than male nudity, right, in this, from what we've seen so far, in the two episodes that I've watched so far.

1:14:33And it feels quite old-fashioned in a way. It feels almost like something from the 80s that half the female characters get their boobs out, as has been referred to. But the most interesting thing for me about the whole show is that it's quite political. So you've got this... The woman who's been forced to move by her husband, so to speak, and I think there's a little hint of coercive control from him, although they don't seem to be fully going... Well, both of the husbands actually have a nasty side to them. So this poor woman's been forced to move from their Harvard slash Boston home with their kid to this fictional small town in Texas where these women are, where the potential Republican politician is holding a fundraiser for the gun lobby.

1:15:19Yeah, that's Margot's husband. Margot's husband. And they actually explicitly, it's so unsubtle in its kind of political take that, you know, this poor liberal woman now has to survive among these clearly right-wing gun nuts. Not only that, she actually refers to them as Marjorie Taylor Greene's, right? What's interesting is Marjorie Taylor Greene is like the icon of right-wing MAGA, Trump-supporting women. Of course, she's got completely split from him. So this must have been made, though, intriguingly, once she was still a huge MAGA figure. Yeah, before all that happened, because that's for a reason.

1:15:51Yeah, now she's completely split from Trump. So there's a whole political undercurrent, which kind of makes this more interesting than it actually is to me. But it's definitely taking a stance, and I think this will be frowned upon now because they must have commissioned this two years ago, I think it went out about a year ago we've waited quite a while for this to arrive on UK shows but I don't think they'd make I think they would get so much criticism now from a lot of political more right-wing people I'm not sure this would be made because it's definitely taking a start to look at these gun nuts and what they're doing I thought it was interesting in that point of view but just nowhere near as much fun as it could have been or should have been considering it's subject matter I'm still reeling that you think this is prestige.

1:16:32No, it's trying to be. I'm not saying it is. I think it's failing. But I think as with all these things, there's prestige TV that works and prestige TV I think that doesn't work. I think this definitely tries to be prestige TV. It definitely thinks it is. But it's a bit of a noble failure. Or not even so noble. It's just a failure. Oh, yeah, I don't think so. I mean, it was reasonably well-received in the States. Not failure, yes. I think it was reasonably well-received in the US when it aired. It mixed, yeah. But it's one of those shows, I think it summed up for me that there's like at least two scenes where people stumble upon people having sex, right?

1:17:02And then they stand there at the window staring at you. Like, you get away with it once. Twice, come on. The second time was just like, come on. The second time was insane because she's just told the young guy that they've got to be really careful and they immediately then have sex in this room in front of the window with music blaring over it so she can't hear the front doorbell going. I mean, come on. It's ridiculous. The Hunting Wives then, which is on ITVX. No, it's on ITV1. It's on ITV1. That's even more... I was explaining why we're reviewing it. It's ITV1, primetime, Saturday night, 27th of December, 9.30.

1:17:36Oh, all the way through this. I've said it's on ITVX. Oh, yeah, no, no. So I've lied all the way through. You have, yeah. Even in the intro. By the way, everything on ITV1 is also on ITVX, so you're not wrong. So I'm not wrong. I'm 100 % correct. But it's not an ITVX exclusive or anything. This is getting a proper... You've just made his Christmas look. And a lie of omission is what you're saying. I'm saying of more interest, this is a primetime ITV1 show. Yeah, that is interesting. That is interesting. Crazy. So interesting. It is interesting. Finally this week, we have The Lowdown on Disney +, which aired in the US in September, and as we said, shot to the top of a lot of critics' shows of the year list.

1:18:09This is a series by Sterling Hayo, and it stars Ethan Hawke as Oklahoma truth-storian Lee Rayburn, and he's an intrepid digger-up of dirty secrets and inconvenient facts. There are also Nazi bondage suits, actual Nazis, and an awful lot of books. Boydie, books are, of course, food for the style, but what is this food for? Give us a lowdown on the lowdown. Very good. This is very much catnip for me. This is like right in my wheelhouse. Because I remember reading about this when it came out on FX in the States, and I was like, why hasn't it arrived yet? This is classic Disney Plus behavior, by the way.

1:18:49months go by without transferring to the UK to the Disney Plus streaming service and then suddenly it does arrive this arrives on Boxing Day but there was no press release saying it was going to be on Boxing Day there's a list of, to be fair to Disney Plus I'm trying to be fair to the lovely publicity people who work there but they put out a list of all the shows that are coming each month and it is in that list but this is such a great show I've just left it under the tree I've seen this now in two American critics number one slot on their favorite shows of the year. This is the year of Pluribus and blah, blah, blah.

1:19:23Some absolutely brilliant shows. So it's right up there in terms of critical acclaim in America. And as soon as you see it, I can see why. Because you've got Ethan Hawke, the great Ethan Hawke who I absolutely love anyway in everything he does. And he's having a kind of brilliant late career renaissance, being in fantastic films. And this show is like a brilliant showcase for him because he plays this, as you say, this guy who's basically like a kind of a journalist, kind of an investigative journalist who's working for like a freelance guy who intrinsically thinks that the whole system is corrupt that he's living in.

1:19:59He's living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he thinks like the whole, as I say, the fabric of that whole place from the rich people who run it to the people who are exploiting, those rich people who are exploiting black neighborhoods and buying up property in black neighborhoods. which is the thing that happens in actual America. And he's investigating the skinheads and what they're doing to the local community and he's getting beaten up for his... Boy, is he getting beaten up. Boy, really, boys are getting beaten up, exactly. And then he kind of stumbles across this person who's died, played by Tim Blake Nelson, and he's intrigued and he finds their notes, his notes, and there's loads of books in his area which have a clearly kind of liberal left feel to them.

1:20:48So he's immediately attracted to this mystery of what happened to this guy, who's also secretly gay, by the way. And he's drawn to this mystery. And it's kind of like, the whole show, I feel like, is like a tribute to Raymond Chandler type, 40s, 50s... But it's set in the present day. It's set in the present day, but it's got that vibe. Yes. So if he wasn't vaping and whatnot, you actually would probably think it's set in that time period. Yeah, and if you, you know, do you see iPhones and stuff? I can't remember that. I think so, but even just the existence of vapes. And it even gets to the point where he himself talks about the character, Lee Raybon, talks about liking, you know, 40s, 50s mystery novels.

1:21:26And the one it particularly reminded me of, the film that it reminded me of, Raybon Chandler adaptation, is The Long Goodbye, the 70s version with Elliot Gould, which is, what is it, Kay? One of your favourite films of all time. One of your favourite films of all time. I mean, it is absolutely one of my favourite films of all time. Definitely in the top 20. and it's got that film is a brilliantly laid back kind of like woozy you used the word woozy about something earlier and this has got a wooziness to it as well because you're just kind of hanging out with him and there is story as well but I think that combination of hang out with this really interesting character the likes of which you don't see that much on TV now but has clearly got the influence of Raymond Chandler and these other great writers from the 40s and 50s and that film it was in 1973 with a pretty interesting mystery at the heart of it as well and I just think it's fantastic we should mention of course Sterling I think it is Harjo or Harjo rather than Harjo I don't know how to pronounce it that way but this is the showrunner behind Reservation Dogs which we really liked which we really liked and it's critically acclaimed Ethan Hawke guest appeared in that series and that's so they've got this working relationship and I think he's partly created this for Ethan Hawke and he's a great character and he has a fantastic introduction when he goes in a boardroom full of kind of like, well, they're property developers.

1:22:44But he just goes in there with his hat on and describes himself as a truth story and he's obsessed with the truth and he doesn't seem to care how much trouble he gets into. He's perpetually broke. He's generally unemployed. But, you know, the man does love the truth. I love him in this. The underdog taking on the wealthy. Who doesn't want to see that? Who doesn't want to see that? Yeah, it's got a lot, in that sense as well, it's got a lot of Chinatown, a little bit of Chinatown in it, which is very much kind of that kind of what is going on with the corrupt rich people the cast by the way as well I mean Tim Blake Nelson Tracy Letts who I love in everything absolutely brilliant Karl McLaughlin and others Keith David absolutely brilliant he's kind of like I like all the collection of people who are sort of helping him along the way yeah there's a whole gaggle of people he kind of calls upon goes to diners and people you know he's kind of it's just the whole fabric of it is brilliant yeah it's quite I mean it is bold the B word which is bold it doesn't it's absolutely gonzo like it's mad but it's also exactly as you say it feels like a pulp crime paper bat that you find at an airport and it has that whole vibe and that's 100 % deliberate like it's almost an homage to all that stuff but yeah it's really good stuff I'm a big fan yeah so that is The Lowdown on The Lowdown which airs on Disney Plus Boxing Day yeah unheralded Boxing Day not Christmas Day Yes.

1:24:09So, you know, watch it over Christmas. So, you know, watch it. So, you know, watch it. Is that how you're ending? That's a recommendation. You know, watch it. What a way for us to go out. I'm very tired. I know. I'm very, very tired. We all need to have a lie down separately. What else is out this week? Let's have a look. Obviously, there was the witch show that we mentioned, which was Sanctuary colon A Witch's Tale, which airs on Netflix, also on Boxing Day. But as my gift to you, Kay, I didn't make you watch that. Boy, there's a lot of other Christmas stuff on, isn't there? Oh, yeah. I mean, do we have to go through it again?

1:24:42Probably not. Why don't you pick out three great scripted things that are also out this week. Amanda Land, which we're going to be reviewing. Amanda Land, the Christmas show, which we're going to be covering on the final podcast. Well, I guess it's not, because we've also got the review of the year. Is it though? A Christmas Day podcast. We have a Christmas Day Pilot Plus dropping on Christmas morning into your stocking, where we, honestly, if we can barely function today, I do not know what we're going to be like tomorrow when we record that. So, you know, just brace yourself. Oh, God, are we doing that tomorrow?

1:25:10Yes. Christ. Yeah, it's endless, boys. It never ends. It really is endless. Are we stretching into New Year's Eve with this bit? Sure, go for it. Well, the Here We Go special. Yes, I've watched it. We love Here We Go. Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't mention it. I can't believe I forgot. No, because this is Christmas stuff, so I didn't mention it. Right, yeah, I mean, who knows what we should be focusing on. Who knows what's going on? I don't know, it's too confusing. There's a thing called Stuffed on Tuesday the 23rd, which does Giz Khan, and that's like a one-off family romp where he's been laid off, and I think he's supposed to be taking his family to Lapland, and then he has to work out how to fulfil the dream of going to Lapland.

1:25:50But that looks pretty good. So yeah, those would be my picks of the scripted offerings this Christmas. But everyone should sit down and watch Amanda Land, of course. Oh yeah, for sure. So, yeah. Spoiler for tomorrow's recording of Christmas Day's podcast. I'm not saying it's any good. I'm just saying people should think about that. Okay. What is our pick of the week? Oh, absolutely. The hunting wives. Not really. Not really. The lowdown. The lowdown. And that is it for this last regular podcast of 2025. We're all just going to collapse in a heap. Just honestly. My bags are so big now. my eye bags I can barely see through my eyes especially if I smile yeah it's quite extraordinary so apologies if this has been a slightly anarchic slash shambolic episode of the podcast yes please leave us a five present rating or just send us Christmas presents you know either is fine I'm receptive to presents please send them into the office some nice lint for James some lint yes yes a great big dairy milk bar that would be great and we will be back in your ears if you're a Pilot Plus subscriber and you all should be and if you're not why not what a great last minute gift for all the people on the 21st of December thinking oh god I've got to hit the high street get some stuff oh I can't get something posted it's gone the last shopping day for Christmas just go online that's it subscribe to Pilot Plus for your friends families and foes and enemies yeah 100 % so that will be going out on Christmas day then the review of the year podcast will go out on the 29th and then the first podcast back in the new year will be the 5th of January and we've already recorded it good shows so yeah we're ahead of the game We're doing well.

1:27:30We're starting as we mean to go on in 2026. Please follow us on social medias if you'd be so kind. It is at PilotTVPod, at Boyd Hilton, at K.Robero, and at James C. Dyer. We're done. We're finished. That is it. I mean, for today. Well, I mean, yeah, until tomorrow when we record the next podcast. But that is it. What are we doing on that one? That is the Amanda Land Christmas special, Boyd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly. We've taken it all week to try and get to grips with what the hell we're doing each day. It's a struggle. It's the last one. It's Amanda Land. What a way to go out. What a way to go out.

1:27:58What a way to go out. Okay. Happy Christmas one and all. Do you want to wish everyone a happy Christmas? Wish everyone a happy Christmas. Happy Christmas, everyone. Thanks for listening. More importantly, thanks for listening. And I hope you have a very happy and healthy Christmas. Yes. As do I. Pod bless us, everyone. Pilot's out.