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
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Episodes426

Newest first

Dec 4, 2023 · 1 hr 49 min
#265 Mayfair Witches, Smothered, and Platform 7. With guest Lizze Broadway
We're all about witches on this week's show as the very VERY belated Interview With The Vampire companion show Mayfair Witches makes its tardy arrival on the Beeb. Plus, Kay finally gets to wax lyrical about Smothered on Sky Comedy and we explore the spooky goings on over at Platform 7 on ITV. Plus we thrash out some of the most iconic scenes in all of TV, Boyd tells the tale of how he lost twenty grand to his local charity shop, Kay causes a seating kerfuffle and Gen V breakout star Lizze Broadway stops by for a spoiler chat about her role in Prime Video's The Boys spinoff.
Nov 27, 2023 · 1 hr 52 min
#264 Slow Horses, The Couple Next Door, and The Doll Factory. With guests Keanu Reeves & Jenson Button, and Jodie Whittaker
Yes, the much anticipated Keanu Reeves interview lands this week as the man himself chats F1 along with racing legend Jenson Button. Plus former Doctor Jodie Whittaker joins us, though not for Tardis talk, but rather to chat all about One Night on Paramount+. Elsewhere, Chris Hewitt drops by to mourn the cancellation of Blue Bloods, we ponder the question of whether adverts in shows add to the experience, and we review The Couple Next Door on Channel 4, The Doll Factory on Paramount+ and the triumphant return of Slow Horses on Apple TV+.
Nov 20, 2023 · 1 hr 58 min
#263 Archie, One Night, and Such Brave Girls. With guests Jason Isaacs, Laura Aikman, and Russell T Davies
We have a veritable cornucopia of guests this week as Jason Isaacs and Laura Aikman join us to talk ITVX's Cary Grant series Archie, plus we give you a little snippet of our Doctor Who special as Russell T Davies stops by to talk the time lord's return. Elsewhere, we uncover hidden secrets with Jodie Whitaker in One Night on Paramount+, and check out Kat Sadler's sitcom Such Brave Girls on BBC3. Plus we mull over some of the most distinctive voices in all of broadcast television.
Nov 13, 2023 · 2 hr 39 min
#262 A Murder At The End Of The World, Boat Story, The Lazarus Project, and Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters. With guest Brit Marling and special guest host Joe Barton
It's a BUMPER show this week so you might want to block out a good chunk of time for this one (sorry!). Because to celebrate the return of The Lazarus Project on Sky, Joe Barton dropped by the studio to join James, Boyd and Kay as a special guest host. But that's not all, because Brit Marling also pops up, talking to Boydy about her new whodunnit, Disney+'s A Murder At The End Of The World. Plus we get our kaiju on with Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters on Apple TV+ and find a shitload of cocaine on a beach with Daisy Haggard and Patterson Joseph in Boat Story on the BBC.
Nov 6, 2023 · 1 hr 34 min
#261 Culprits, The Newsreader, and The Buccaneers. With guest BenDavid Grabinski
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off co-showrunner BenDavid Grabinsi joins us this week to chat resurrecting Canada’s favourite son for an all new anime series. Plus we tear it up in 19th Century London with The Buccaneers on Apple, join the network wars in eighties Australia for The Newsreader on BBC2, and go on the lamb in an attempt to leave a life of crime behind with Culprits on Disney+. Plus, we say our proper goodbyes to Matthew Perry, do our best to mine some news despite a ridiculously early recording, and take a look at TV stars before they were famous.
Oct 30, 2023 · 1 hr 40 min
#260 All The Light We Cannot See, Invincible, and Shetland
This week the team travel back to WWII for Steven Knight's latest series, an adaptation of Pulitzer-winning novel All The Light We Cannot See on Netflix, plus we find out how Shetland fares with a brand new lead on BBC1. Finally, our long-standing inability to understand adult animation is put to the test when we tackle Invincible Season 2 on Prime Video, there's much discussion of the healing power of silence, and the team wrangle over their favourite Friend (in a segment recorded before the very sad news of Matthew Perry's death over the weekend).
Oct 23, 2023 · 1 hr 29 min
#259 Fellow Travelers, The Enfield Poltergeist, and Three Little Birds. With guest Jacob Anderson
Grey Worm himself aka Interview With The Vampire’s Louis de Pointe du Lac joins us on the show to chat all things undead now that the show has arrived in its entirety on BBC iPlayer. Elsewhere on the pod, there’s an unusual amount to toe-sucking discussion as we review Fellow Travelers on Paramount+. Kay gets the willies from spooktacular documentary The Enfield Poltergeist on Apple, and we take a trip down Lenny Henry’s memory lane in Three Little Birds on ITV. Elsewhere, Boyd works his way through the alphabet of shows (slowly), James bangs on about Bosch (you thought you’d dodged this last week - you were wrong), and all three muse on a conundrum that would see them forsake their favourite shows for good.
Oct 16, 2023 · 1 hr 23 min
#258 Bodies, Dark Winds, and Breeders
James and Boyd prepare to sacrifice their friendship on the altar of Peak TV this week as the pair attempt to review the final series of Breeders on Sky without killing each other. Meanwhile, Kay gets sucked in by a stealth sci-fi via Bodies on Netflix, and we investigate murder on the reservation in Dark Winds on Alibi. Plus the team play a little postbag roulette to keep things interesting and a challenge is set to find a horror show that Kay might deign to sit through.
Oct 9, 2023 · 1 hr 56 min
#257 The Fall Of The House Of Usher, Interview With The Vampire, and Lessons In Chemistry. With guest Philip Barantini
We reach Boiling Point this week with Philip Barantini, who joins us to talk about his chaos in the kitchen series of the same name. Plus, after a year of waiting, Interview With The Vampire finally makes its way to British screens on BBC1, letting us take our first steps into Anne Rice's Immortal Universe. Brie Larson takes a stand against institutional sexism in academia in Lessons In Chemistry on Apple TV+, and Mike Flanagan returns with his final Netflix show in Edgar Allen Poe love letter The Fall Of The House Of Usher. All that and we take The Hollywood Reporter's top 50 TV Shows Of The 21st Century list to task and Boyd finally gets the respect he deserves.
Oct 2, 2023 · 1 hr 56 min
#256 Payback, Everything Now, and Mrs Sidhu Investigates. With guest Morven Christie
Crime is in the air this week, so who better to draft in than the queen of crime, Steph Seelan? Steph holds down the fort for Kay (on holiday, typical) as we find trouble at the gym with Mrs Sidhu Investigates on Drama, a villainous Peter Mullen after his money in Payback on ITV, and a teen drama about reintegrating into secondary school life with Everything Now on Netflix. Plus Morven Christie drops by to talk to Boydy, and we mull over the most magnetic actors on screen (who are then placed into a bucket, for reasons).
Sep 25, 2023 · 1 hr 25 min
#255 Boiling Point, The Long Shadow, and Brassic
Murder is the name of the game this week, as the gang try to decide which fictional TV detectives they'd like to unpick their own sticky ends, plus there's a disproportionate amount of public transport discussion (sorry). Elsewhere we're in the kitchen for the TV sequel to 2021 movie Boiling Point on BBC1, exploring true crime murders in Yorkshire via The Long Shadow on ITV1, and returning to a life of crime with the latest series of Brassic on Sky.
Sep 18, 2023 · 1 hr 20 min
#254 Sex Education, Juice, and Still Up
We bid a fond farewell to Laurie Nunn's Sex Education on Netflix this week as Otis, Maeve, Eric and the gang depart Moordale for good. But as some things go, others arrive and Nabhaan and Mawaan Rizwan's Juice launches on the BBC, and insomniac comedy Still Up makes its debut on Apple TV+. Elsewhere Boyd and James have a screener-off, Kay fails to choose an original song and battle lines are drawn for the next Cultural Exchange.
Sep 11, 2023 · 1 hr 37 min
#253 Wilderness, Domina, and Welcome To Wrexham. With Guest Emma Appleton
Emma Appleton joins us on this week's show to talk all about Paramount+'s The Killing Kind, and James gets a potted football primer from Boydy as we dive into the second season of Welcome To Wrexham (though the revelation that it's fine to be offside as long as you're not actually doing anything might have broken him). We also join Jenna Coleman on a homicidal/romantic road trip in Prime Video's Wilderness, and catch up with Domina on Sky. All in an episode that proves to be rather more boob-oriented than you might expect...
Sep 4, 2023 · 1 hr 55 min
#252 The Changeling, The Lovers, and Love & Death. With Rosamund Pike and Johnny Flynn
Rosamund Pike joins us this week (well, several weeks ago in reality, as the interview took place before the strike - but you get the point) to talk The Wheel Of Time Season 2, and Johnny Flynn jumps aboard to discuss The Lover. Meanwhile, Love & Death sees Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons embark upon the most well-planned affair in history (with mixed results) in Love & Death, and we go full banana crackers with Apple’s The Changeling. Plus Boyd and Kay once again attempt to induct James into the ways of reality TV by ranking the best reality shows of all time (and outlining how a Pilot TV Race Across The World would play out). It didn’t work, but you have to admire their persistence.
Aug 28, 2023 · 1 hr 50 min
#251 The Tower, Starstruck, and The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies. With guests Ruth Wilson and Jonathan Tropper
Ruth Wilson is our guest this week, chatting to Boyd about The Woman In The Wall. Plus James gets to geek out to spectacular effect when he talks to Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper, who not only created the show Banshee but does a little 'Banshee' for us as well. The team also takes a look at the BBC's new off-beat series The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies, as well as tackling a couple of returning series in the form of ITV's The Tower and BBC3's Starstruck. Plus we mull over the best single seasons of television and ruminate on the enduring appeal of Friends.
Aug 21, 2023 · 3 hr 5 min
#250 (LIVE) The Woman In The Wall, Invasion, and Who Is Erin Carter? With guests Ricky Gervais, Tom Davis, and Mawaan & Nabhaan Rizwan.
For our 250th episode we had a big old party at Kings Place in London, joined by special guests Ricky Gervais, Big Tom Davis and Mawaan and Nabhaan Rizwan, not to mention about 400 of you, our brilliant listeners. The Great Pilot TV Bake-Off saw Boyd, Kay and James go head-to-head in a duel to the death with assorted baked goods, plus we found time to answer questions from the audience and review Invasion's return on Apple TV+, The Woman In The Wall on BBC1, and Who Is Erin Carter? On Netflix. Here's to 250 more!
Aug 14, 2023 · 1 hr 42 min
#249 Henpocalypse, Sanditon, and... Running Wild With Bear Grylls. With Guest Krish Majumdar
Award-winning TV producer and until recently Chair of BAFTA, Krish Majumdar joins us to look back on his eventful reign at the British Academy, and working with the likes of Kate Winslet and Elliot Page. It’s also our last pod before the live 250th episode and James is off, apparently sunning himself at his Tuscan retreat, so Basic Bingers legend and editor of Crime Monthly magazine, Steph Seelan is back, joining Boyd and Kay to discuss dystopian comedy Henpocalypse, the return of ITV’s Jane Austen-ish period drama Sanditon, and, in a bold departure from the stuff we usually review, Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge on National Geographic, which does at least feature Benedict Cumberbatch being very brave.
Aug 7, 2023 · 1 hr 38 min
#248 Only Murders In The Building, Annika, and Cruel Summer. With Guest Tiffany Haddish
We're celebrating the after-Afterparty this week as Tiffany Haddish joins us (in a pre-strike interview) to chat all things murder as we reach the tail end of Season 2 (don't watch it until you've seen this week's episode, if not, you can skip past it at 52:43). Plus we rejoin Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short in the latest pod-sleuthing series of Only Murders in The Building, Nicola Walker is back to addressing us all directly in Annika Series 2, and Cruel Summer returns with an entirely new time-hopping mystery. Also, the team reveal the will-they/won't-theys that definitely should have kept it in their pants.
Jul 31, 2023 · 1 hr 38 min
#247 Heartstopper, Wolf, and Vanishing Act. With guest Michael Sheen
The great Michael Sheen joins us on this week's show (recorded prior to the actors’ strike) to discuss Jon Hamm’s bum, forming a double act with David Tennant and the new season of epic fantasy Good Omens. The other big news of the week is that James is off so no extended stories about buying tickets for Tay-Swif, sorry, and instead Boyd is in charge and wittering on about Dating Naked Germany. The third mic is given to onetime Basic Bingers legend and editor of Crime Monthly magazine, Steph Seelan. Alongside Kay, they review the new series of Netflix phenom Heartstopper, BBC1’s twisted thriller Wolf, and an unusual true-crime series from Australia called Vanishing Act.
Jul 24, 2023 · 1 hr 37 min
#246 Ghosts Of Beirut, Dreaming Whilst Black, and The Power Of Parker. With guest Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Saldaña joins us on this week's show (fear not, the interview was recorded prior to the strike) to discuss Taylor Sheridan, assigning animals to all her characters, and Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+. Meanwhile, you all have to sit through an extended dramatisation of James' Odyssey to secure Taylor Swift tickets (we're so sorry, please don't unsubscribe - if it all gets too much you can skip the whole of this shaggy dog story by jumping to 14:14), as well as a potted history of door sound effects in cinema (again, we can only apologise). Elsewhere, we watch Dreaming Whilst Black on BBC1, Ghosts Of Beirut on Paramount+ and The Power Of Parker, also on the Beeb.