Pilot TV

Empire Magazine

From the creators of The Empire Film Podcast, Pilot TV is your essential guide to every TV show that matters, providing a weekly rundown of all the new must-see TV shows dropping across streaming, terrestrial, satellite, cable, and beyond. Join Empire's James Dyer, Heat's Boyd Hilton, Steph Seelan, and Kay Ribeiro as they bring you breaking TV news, reviews of the week's major shows, and interviews with some of the biggest names in TV.

Pilot TV is here to make sure every minute you spend in front of the box is a minute worth spending. Served with a heavy helping of insider knowledge, irreverence and humour, Pilot TV won't just keep you informed, amused and entertained, but is guaranteed to save countless hours of your life. Because you can’t watch *everything*.

Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to Pilot+ for a bonus episode every Thursday, in-depth spoiler specials, and early, ad-free access to the regular show! Find out more at www.empireonline.com/pilottv

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426 episodes
Updated Yesterday
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Newest first

Aug 31, 2020 · 1 hr 25 min
#101 - Young Wallander, Away, and Two Weeks To Live
Beth is back and mercifully audible this week as we dive into Netflix's Young Wallander, take a trip to Mars with Hillary Swank in Away, and see Maisie Williams turn into (another) pint-sized assassin in Sky's hitgirl comedy, Two Weeks To Live. Plus we unearth some classic British shows that might appeal to our American listeners and there's a perhaps a brief mention of Battlestar Galactica coming to iPlayer.
Aug 24, 2020 · 1 hr 41 min
#100 - The Boys, Strike, and I Hate Suzie. With guest host Tom Ellis
Lucifer himself, Mr Tom Ellis, joins us as guest host for our 100th episode! We chat about everything from playing the lord of hell to his love for Battlestar Galactica, as well as running down each of our top five TV shows of all time. Plus we review the latest series of Strike, watch Billie Piper's life implode in I Hate Suzie and get a head start on the long-awaited second season of Amazon's The Boys. All that and Tom even breaks out his guitar. What's not to love?
Aug 16, 2020 · 1 hr 23 min
#99 - Lovecraft Country, Teenage Bounty Hunters, and Famalam
James is off this week so in comes Beth Webb who delights us with her axe wielding (she plays guitar), as we review the monstrously exciting Lovecraft Country, the edgy Teen Bounty Hunters on Netflix and BBC3’s comedy sketch show Famalam. We also take the opportunity to reboot some classic sitcoms as TV dramas.
Aug 10, 2020 · 1 hr 25 min
#98 - Ted Lasso, Dirty John, and Mandy
We're returning to Dirty John this week with a second series of that anthology show, which no longer features anyone named John, and returning to The First Team (kind of) in Apple's similarly-themed football comedy, Ted Lasso. Plus we take in some bite-sized comedy in Diane Morgan's Mandy and it all kicks off over this year's TV BAFTAs, in which Fleabag and Derry Girls were defeated by Stath Lets Flats.
Aug 3, 2020 · 1 hr 37 min
#97 - The Deceived, Harlots, and Little Birds. Featuring Lisa McGee
Get those headphones on and send the kids to bed for this special illicit sex-themed episode of the Pilot TV podcast where we not only visit Samantha Morton's house of ill-repute in Harlots and delve into the adaptation of Anaïs Nin's Little Birds, but see an affair take a distinctly supernatural turn in Lisa McGee's The Deceived as well. And speaking of The Deceived, Lisa herself is a guest on this week's show, dropping by to talk us through her Donegal-set psychological thriller and what we can expect from the next series of Derry Girls.
Jul 26, 2020 · 1 hr 29 min
#96 - The Umbrella Academy, Prodigal Son, Anthony, and Muppets Now
It's umbrellas at the ready this week as we dive headfirst into Season 2 of Netflix's batty superhero series, The Umbrella Academy. And speaking of demented television concepts, serial killer procedural Prodigal son (which stars The Walking Dead's Tom 'Jesus' Payne and Michael Shane as a father-and-son sociopathic crime-solving duo) certainly fits the bill. Elsewhere, we tackle Jimmy McGovern's harrowing one-off drama, Anthony, and the rather less serious return of Kermit and the gang in Muppets Now.
Jul 20, 2020 · 1 hr 15 min
#95 - Cursed, A Suitable Boy, and Fort Salem
We're all about the witches this week as we unearth our belated review of Netflix's Arthurian epic, Cursed, and then sign up for Wiccan boot camp and the arrival of BBC3's army witch series, Fort Salem. Plus we're heading off to post-partition India for the adaptation of Vikram Seth's mammoth tome, A Suitable Boy. All the and a lot more discussion of fingering than you'll generally find on an average episode of the Pilot podcast, but you can all blame Terri for that.
Jul 13, 2020 · 1 hr 13 min
#94 - The Plot Against America and Condor
We are cursed by embargoes this week as Netflix's latest show, Cursed, demands our lips stay sealed for another week, however we are able to talk about David Simon and Ed Burns' new show, The Plot Against America, and discover Condor, a show we didn't know existed until season 2 dropped in our laps. All that plus lots of discussion around restaurant scenes and Boyd's recollections of having to talk to famouses at after parties.
Jul 5, 2020 · 1 hr 46 min
#93 - P-Valley, Mrs America, Little Voice, and... Warrior Nun!
It's the episode you've all been waiting for - the show in which we *finally* review Warrior Nun, AKA the greatest TV show ever made. We also delve into the world of Mississippi strip clubs in P-Valley, join Cate Blanchett in some seventies political turmoil in Mrs America, and try to hit the big time with Apple's Little Voice. All that and we run through the 20 best TV shows of the year so far and find out what James has learned on the guitar this week.
Jun 28, 2020 · 1 hr 14 min
#92 - Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Hanna, and The Kemps: All True
Malevolent demons, pint-sized assassins and Spandau Ballet are the topics on this week's show as we review Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, Season 2 of Amazon's Hanna, and The Kemps: All True (yes really). Plus the team speculate on which supporting characters should get their own spinoffs, Terri and Boyd continue with I May Destroy You, and James subjects everyone to some of the worst guitar playing since Dave Lister performed 'She's Out Of My Life' in series three of Red Dwarf.
Jun 21, 2020 · 1 hr 42 min
#91 - Perry Mason, Insecure, and Talking Heads. Featuring Natalie Dormer
Natalie Dormer is our guest on this week's show, chatting about her new series, Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, and reminiscing about Game Of Thrones. Meanwhile, we resurrect a courtroom legend in HBO's Perry Mason, jump into the fourth season of Issa Rae's Insecure and dabble in a little lockdown monologuing with Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. Plus we celebrate Terri's birthday while casting aspersions over the veracity of her Northernness, she drinks an endless amount of Bucks Fizz, and there's a whole to-do about whether or not James should be allowed to play the guitar (categorically not).
Jun 14, 2020 · 1 hr 14 min
#90 - The Sinner, The Great, and The Luminaries
This week's show is brought to you in association with the definite article as we catch up with Bill Pullman in season 3 of The Sinner, head off to 18th century Russia with Elle Fanning in The Great, and to 19th century New Zealand with Eva Green and Eve Hewson in The Luminaries. All that plus a squabble over whether or not you should skip TV show credits, the indignity of unrealistic threesomes and the question of whether the 'astrolabe' is a hitherto undiscovered part of female anatomy.
Jun 7, 2020 · 1 hr 39 min
#89 - I May Destroy You, Betty, Hillary, and The Salisbury Poisonings
On this week's show we’re breaking out the skateboards and pulling off some righteous grinds with HBO’s Betty, heading to Wiltshire and being incredibly careful what we touch for BBC1’s The Salisbury Poisonings, exploring sexual consent with Michaela Cole in I May Destroy You, and we get into a big old political scuffle while reviewing Sky Documentaries’ Hillary. Plus a complete deconstruction of last week's TV BAFTA nominations (Years And Years was robbed), plus Boyd and Terri do their best to educate James on the storied history of reality TV, and the team reminisce about Neighbours, Home & Away and... um, Eldorado.
May 31, 2020 · 2 hr 1 min
#88 - Alex Rider, The First Team, Cardinal, and The Other One. Featuring Vicky McClure
Vicky McClure joins us this week to talk about Amazon's Alex Rider, which we also review. Plus you get a (slightly belated) review of The First Team, our introduction to Canadian noir thriller Cardinal, and BBC2's mix-matched family comedy The Other One. All that and an interminable Banshee of Babylon 5, plus we philosophise for nearly ten minutes on the origins and usage of profanity, just for the listeners who complain we swear too much. Because of course we do.
May 25, 2020 · 1 hr 48 min
#87 - Snowpiercer, Space Force, and We Hunt Together. Featuring Will Arnett
Will Arnett joins us on the podcast this week as we lace up and hit the pitch for The First Team: his new comedy from the creators of The Inbetweeners. We also get our tickets punched for the long delayed TV adaptation of Bong Joon-Ho's Snowpiercer, which arrives on Netflix this week, and head into the stratosphere with Steve Carell in Space Force. And if that wasn't enough, we go searching for a pair of killers in We Hunt Together, James takes the Gogglebox challenge, Terri endures an episode of See (masturbating prayer sequences and all!), and James undertakes an excruciatingly long Banshee that seems to encompass every Stargate show ever made.
May 17, 2020 · 1 hr 14 min
#86 - Little Fires Everywhere, Homecoming, and Pandora
We didn't start the fire... but we're pretty sure we know who did in Amazon's Little Fires Everywhere. Plus we try desperately to figure out what in creation is going on in Season 2 of Homecoming (it helps if you've seen Season 1, trust us), and we strap Terri down and force her to sit through SyFy's new budget outing, Pandora. It goes about as well as you'd imagine. All that and we manage to not only sum up the best series you can watch in a single day but James (reluctantly) agrees to take on the Gogglebox challenge, which is destined to end badly for everyone.
May 10, 2020 · 1 hr 23 min
#85 - I Know This Much Is True, Hightown, and Dave
It's a double dose of Mark Ruffalo this week as he takes on twin duties in HBO’s preternaturally depressing adaptation of Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True. Plus we head out to Cape Cod with Monica Raymund in cop drama Hightown and rap along with Dave Burd (who seems unhealthily obsessed with his own genitals) in FX comedy Dave. Plus there's some fun with names in this week's listener question, we engage in some spoiler-free discussion of the Homeland (Woo!) and Westworld (Boo!) finales, and James makes a rather disturbing revelation about Gloria Estefan...
May 3, 2020 · 1 hr 19 min
#84 - Hollywood, The Eddy, and Brassic
All three of us take the opportunity this week to gush liberally over our experiences watching the rest of Normal People (Marianne! Connell! All the feels!). After that, we finally manage to bring your our review of Ryan Murphy's Tinseltown fairytale, Hollywood; take a look at Jack Thorne and Damien Chazelle's Parisian jazz series, The Eddy; and witness the triumphant return of Joe Gilgun's Brassic. Plus we entirely fail to come up with an agreed set of rules for naming our favourite shows on each streaming service.
Apr 26, 2020 · 1 hr 38 min
#83 - Trying, Upload, Stumptown, Code 404, and Blood
On this week's show, Empire's Chris Hewitt parachutes in to join Boyd in giving Better Call Saul some long overdue love. Plus we look at parenting with Rafe Spall and Esther Smith in Apple's Trying, sample a technological afterlife in Amazon’s Upload, see Danny Mays brought back to life in Sky’s Code 404, investigate a kidnapping with Cobie Smulders in Stumptown, and find out what's going on behind the curtains in series 2 of Channel 5's Blood. All that and James bangs on about season 4 of The Last Kingdom. Because of course he does.
Apr 19, 2020 · 2 hr 12 min
#82 - After Life, Gangs Of London, Normal People, and Defending Jacob. Featuring Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais is our guest on this week's show in a truly mammoth interview with Boyd about series 2 of After Life. As well as reviewing that show, we also tackle the heroically violent Gangs Of London from the director of The Raid, Gareth Evans, get into some courtroom drama with Chris Evans in Defending Jacob and feast our eyes on the Beeb's adaptation of Normal People. Plus a discussion (with photographic proof) of our three hosts' youth, back in the days when Boyd and James had hair and Terri was... well, still Terri.