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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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29 episodes
weekly
Avg 1 hr 41 min
English

Episodes 29

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Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

S1 · E411
May 18 · 1 hr 57 min
PONIES and Falling, with guests Emilia Clarke, Jon Bernthal & Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Two shows but three guests this week. Emilia Clarke comes into the Pilot studio to chat about her new cold-war espionage show PONIES on Sky (1:06:52-1:25:00). Plus, Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach also jump on to chat their surprise drop from The Bear, ‘Gary’ (38:07-49:32). And if that’s not enough, we also make time for some consecrated canoodling in Channel 4’s Falling, in which Paapa Essiedu’s hot priest falls for Keeley Hawes’ hot nun, and you’ll discover why Steph is talking about having sex dreams about JLS and Dune. Honestly, it’s enough to make you want to find the nearest confessional. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E410
May 11 · 1 hr 48 min
Rivals, Believe Me, Gary, and Off Campus. With guest Steve Coogan
Yes, we’re back in Rutshire this week as the team (well, one of us) gets to dive back into the world of Jilly Cooper’s bucolic shagathon for Rivals series 2 (1:32:54), speaking of which, we also explore the other sexy ice hockey drama with Off Campus on Prime (1:43:52), get surprised by an unexpected new episode of The Bear (1:39:58), and look into the police mishandling of a notorious serial sex offender in Believe Me on ITV (1:17:59). Plus Steve Coogan sits down in the Pilot TV studio to chat Netflix’s Legends (47:39-1:06:22), the team mull over a selection of particularly ill-conceived character arcs, and there’s even more bee chat than last week as our apian allies drop by to make their feelings about the podcast known first-hand. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E409
May 4 · 1 hr 55 min
The Cage, Secret Service, and Amandaland. With guest Jack Thorne
This week’s show sees us pick up some of last week’s biggies with Tony Schumacher’s heist drama The Cage on BBC1 (1:38:54), Gemma Arterton-starring spy show Secret Service on ITV (1:14:57), and the second series of Amandaland, which also lands on the Beeb (1:26:27). Plus uber-screenwriter Jack Thorne chats through his craft with James (43:21-1:06:26), and we take a look at the evolution of small screen storytelling from the episodic shows of yore all the way up to binge-worthy one-drops. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E408
April 27 · 1 hr 41 min
Half Man, Prisoner, and Widow’s Bay. With guest Richard Gadd
Is it us or is it getting hot in here? No, it really is but only because Steph has been messing with the air conditioning in the studio (true). Luckily, this didn’t both Richard Gadd, who joins us on this week’s show to talk becoming a beefcake and scaring the shit out of Jamie Bell in his Baby Reindeer follow-up Half Man on BBC1 (58:36-1:10:02). But that’s not all, because the team also investigate Sky’s new thriller Prisoner (1:28:10), which bears a striking resemblance to Jonathan Ross’ new Handcuffed show, only with more machine guns, and Apple’s quirky supernatural comedy Widow’s Bay (1:35:40). Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to know what each of the team’s most embarrassing celebrity anecdotes were then this is the episode for you! Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E407
April 20 · 1 hr 44 min
Criminal Record, Beef, and Mint. With guests Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo
Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo are on this week’s pod to talk Criminal Record season 2 on Apple TV, which we also review even though James wanted us to wait until he gets back from holiday next week because he’s watched the whole thing already. We also review Beef and Mint. That’s not a new cookery show. They’re two separate programmes, one called Beef and one called Mint.
S1 · E406
April 13 · 1 hr 23 min
Euphoria, Big Mood, and The Miniature Wife
Euphoria makes its long-awaited return to our screens this week, after a four year hiatus. But can it possibly meet Boyd’s lofty expectations when it lands on Sky/HBO Max (47:06)? And speaking of Sky, Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks’ size-shifting comedy The Miniature Wife also lands on that platform (1:01:04), and hit comedy Big Mood returns for another run on Channel 4 (1:11:05). Plus, we bust out our (metaphorical) turntables to thrash out our favourite TV needle drops, there’s a lot of unnecessary watermark chat, and you’re all invited to Steph’s birthday party. Except James. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E405
April 6 · 1 hr 48 min
The Testaments, 2026, and The Copenhagen Test. With guests Noah Wyle & Katherine LaNasa, Hugh Bonneville & Hugh Skinner
Guests abound once more this week as both Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa chat The Pitt with James (1:04:12-1:17:45), while Hughs Bonneville and Skinner recount their experiences making 2026 with Boyd (22:46-23:40). Meanwhile, we’re back in Gilead this week for The Testaments on Disney+ (1:17:45), finding out is Simu Liu can hack it as a spy in The Copenhagen Test on Channel 4 (1:36:53), and reuniting with Hugh Bonneville once again as he does his level best to organise the world cup in 2026 on BBC1 (1:28:09). Plus, Kay interrogates our Easter viewing habits, James recounts a challenging interview with The Sopranos’ David Chase and there’s an inexplicable surprise poetry reading… Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E404
March 30 · 2 hr 7 min
Babies, The ‘Burbs, and Your Friends And Neighbours. With guests Elisabeth Moss, Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King
This weeks show not only sees the wonderful Elisabeth Moss come in to the Pilot studio to natter with James, Boyd and (especially) Steph about Imperfect Women (7:29-33:33), but we also speak to Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King about the triumphant return of The Comeback (1:14:31-1:28:20). Meanwhile, this week’s show include BBC1’s Babies — strap in for this one — (1:37:46) Sky’s The ‘Burbs (in which Jack Whitehall revisits the ‘80s Tom Hanks comedy) (1:28:20), and the second season of Jonathan Tropper’s Your Friends And Neighbours on Apple TV (1:52:40). Do we also chat through UK/US exports, argue about cookie allocation and cancel Boyd for not being able to tell Steph and Kay apart? Yes we do. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot+!
S1 · E403
March 23 · 1 hr 43 min
The Pitt, Bait, and Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole
It’s quite the week this week as we go full Scandi noir with Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole on Netflix (1:10:20), adapting the author’s insanely popular Norwegian crime novels. Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed is exploring the life of a struggling actor in Bait on Prime Video (57:50), and after a year of waiting patiently, we FINALLY get to see The Pitt land on our tellys (1:26:41) as HBO Max makes its UK debut. And if all that isn’t enough, there are extensive discussions on Louis Theroux’s journey Into The Manosphere, Boyd’s take on this year’s Oscars broadcast, and ambient TV soundtracks for public bathrooms. Note: time stamps are approximate as the ads throw them out, so are only meant as a guide. If you want to avoid this and would like the podcast entirely ad-free (as well as 17 hours early, with a second weekly show and spoiler specials) then sign up to Pilot

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