Radio Times Sample Issue

Page 1

RICHARD ARMITAGE

‘I’d rather be a Bond villain than 007’

7—13 OCTOBER 2023

JULIAN CLARY

‘I miss Paul O’Grady — but I’ll still talk to him’

STEPHEN MANGAN

‘Joan Bakewell has the best gossip’

Helen Mirren stars in Golda, which is released in cinemas on Friday 6 October ‘We can only kick down the patriarchy one brick at a time’
TV DRAMA EVER? Helen irren HER NEW FILM — EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!
THE RECKONING THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL

From the Editors

Dame Helen Mirren is without question one of the greatest actors this country has ever produced. Even at a still-youthful 78, the parts she is offered seem to get better and better. Following the success of the film Barbie, which she narrated, we talk to her about her latest movie, Golda, playing Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister during the Yom Kippur War.

It’s a role that she said yes to immediately because, as she explains, she had fallen in love with the country as a young woman when she lived and worked on a kibbutz. There have of course been many questions raised about why Mirren is playing such a high-profile Jewish woman as Golda Meir. Questions that she and Meir’s grandson answer in an interview on page 12.

The subject of controversy brings us to The Reckoning, which for many reasons is possibly the most challenging drama ever to be shown on the BBC. Its subject is the downfall of serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile, which isn’t a name we expected to be printing in RT again. On page 16 we talk to Jeff Pope and Neil McKay, the drama’s producer and writer respectively, to find out from them how and why they have brought this story to our screens. The Reckoning will doubtless raise many questions among viewers and the press – read what they have to say and make up your own minds.

On a much lighter note, we also hear from Julian Clary about his touching friendship with the late Paul O’Grady and how he misses their regular phone calls. And on page 7, read our tribute to one of our most stylish actors, the great David McCallum.

Tom Loxley & Shem Law Editors, Radio Times

Contact Radio Times by email on RTeditor@radiotimes.com

THIS WEEK

David McCallum 7

A tribute to the star of The Man from UNCLE and much, much more

Stephen Mangan 8

The actor thrives on variety — and gossiping with Joan Bakewell

Sakari Oramo 9

What’s it like to be the conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra?

Viewpoint 11

An update on the health of Radio 4 favourite Susan Rae, by her son Rory

FEATURES

Helen Mirren 12

She jumped at the chance to play Golda Meir — but does she now regret saying yes?

The Reckoning 16

Jeff Pope and Neil McKay explain why they’ve made a drama about Jimmy Savile

The Full Scottish 20

Meet Morven Christie and Peter Mullan, stars of the ITV thriller Payback

Big Little Journeys 22

Take a close-up view of six tiny creatures’ battles for survival

The RT quiz 25

How well do you recall the 1960s?

Richard Armitage

Big Little Journeys

Cricket World Cup 27

Simon Barnes looks forward to 46 days of white-ball action

Caroline Frost 29

There are two problems with the return of Big Brother in 2023…

Any Questions? 108

Celebrating 75 years of fierce political debate on Radio 4

David Hepworth 111

Never get rid of your CDs and DVDs

View from my sofa 146

Julian Clary

Books 130

Actor Richard Armitage has a new addition to his CV — thriller writer

Gardening 132

Plant rose hips for autumn colour, says Joe Swift

Travel 134

Take a trip to Boston, home of the new Frasier reboot

Money 136

Financial advice from RT’s expert, Paul Lewis

Puzzles 137

Your favourite brainteasers

Feedback 142

You have your say — plus all the answers to our special centenary picture quiz

Streaming 30

Your guide to on-demand TV

Television 38 The week’s programmes

Podcasts 110

Listen to the latest releases

Radio 112

Our unbeatable daily guide

Dreaming of an Italian getaway? Save £50 on Italian lake destinations with Travel Department — see p143 for details.

7—13 OCTOBER 2023 Follow @radiotimes on More news, features, interviews & previews at RadioTimes.com RT
TRAVEL
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YOUR
YOUR RT
GUIDE…
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David McCallum
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RadioTimes 7–13 October 2023 3
Helen Mirren

TV

Big Little Journeys

Sunday 8.00pm BBC2

A new nature series that focuses on the worlds of six small animals. In Canada, a turtle hatchling struggles to find suitable wetland, while in South Africa an abandoned bushbaby is looking for a new home.

FEATURE P22

TV

The Reckoning

Monday and Tuesday 9.00pm BBC1

Controversial doesn’t feel strong enough a word for the problematic nature of this four-part drama. Steve Coogan portrays Jimmy Savile in a docu-drama that features testimony from four of his victims.

FEATURE P16

p Licorice Pizza 1111 j Sunday

10.30pm BBC2 (11.20pm in N Ireland)

Musician Alana Haim makes a mighty impressive acting debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Bafta-winning yarn. She stars as an aimless young woman in 1970s LA who runs into all sorts of kooks — including Sean Penn’s boozy actor.

RADIO

Poet Laureate in the Arctic

Tuesday 11.30am Radio 4

A lyrical documentary in which Simon Armitage travels to the Arctic to capture the majesty and vulnerability of the area in a series of new poems.

7—13 OCTOBER 2023
FILM
4

TV

Portrait Artist of the Year

Wednesday 8.00pm Sky Arts

Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan present the first in a new series of the art competition. The three sitters are Richard Curtis and Emma Freud (have there ever before been co-habitee subjects?) and singer Fleur East.

FEATURE P8

TV

Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico

Sunday 7.20pm BBC2

The Desperate Housewives star throws herself into her exploration of Mexican food with surprising gusto. She’s charming, fun and even laughs when she drips salsa everywhere.

RADIO

Any Questions On…

Thursday 4.00pm Radio4

Alex Forsyth marks the 75th anniversary of Any Questions with a series in which she and expert guests — including former hosts Jonathan Dimbleby and Chris Mason — delve into the show’s archive.

FEATURE P108

STREAMING

Frasier Eps 1 and 2 available from Friday Paramount+ Dr Frasier Crane is back in the building. After two decades away, the sitcom has been rebooted with Kelsey Grammer and new sidekck Alan, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst, above right. The psychiatrist faces his trickiest case yet — trying to forge a relationship with his adult son, Freddy.

STREAMING

Lessons in Chemistry

Eps 1 and 2 from Friday Apple TV+

A sharp new period drama adapted from Bonnie Garmus’s novel. Brie Larson is superb as a scientist in the sexist 1950s who won’t allow men to keep her down… and is secretly a worldbeating cook.

TV

Barbara Knox at 90 Friday 9.00pm ITV1

The world’s longest-serving female TV soap star opens up to Bradley Walsh about a career spent on the cobbles of Coronation Street.

THE TEN BEST SHOWS TO WATCH, LISTEN TO & STREAM 5

THE BRIDGERTON EFFECT E B

n v e i e

R DGE E ECT

In a post-Bridgerton world, every channel and streaming service is looking for a steamy, corset-busting period drama, but Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers, adapted from an unfinished novel by Edith Wharton, has a loftier pedigree than some.

“It’s about a group of young, excitable American girls who come over to England from New York in the 1880s,” explains Katherine Jakeways, who has adapted the book for the screen. “In their parents’ eyes, they’re looking for aristocratic husbands

but, in actual fact — like all young girls — they’re seeking laughs and adventures with their friends.”

Imogen Waterhouse, Alisha Boe, Josie Totah and Kristine Froseth lead the pack as the debutantes, watched over by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks. Josh Dylan, Matthew Broome, Simone Kirby and Mia Threapleton make up the home contingent for the series that was filmed largely in Scotland to simulate 19th-century England, with Glasgow filling in for New York.

If any of this sounds familiar,

you might be remembering the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of the book, a series Jakeways tells RT she deliberately didn’t watch.

“It was important to me to do my own version and not have other interpretations in my head. Ours is inspired by Wharton’s characters and stories, but we wanted to expand her world and explore themes that resonate with more contemporary audiences.”

HUW FULLERTON

ON LOCATION

FIRST
LOOK
6
The Buccaneers premieres on Apple TV+ on 8 November The eight-part series stars Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia Threapleton (left) as Honoria Marable and Imogen Waterhouse as Jinny St George

DAVID McCALLUM 1933—2023

SPIES, POWs AND TIME AGENTS

The TV and film legend on The Man from

UNCLE, The Great Escape and Sapphire and Steel

David McCallum was in reflective mood last November, when he gave his last interview to RT. “I have so many memories, so many people and places,” he said from his home in New York, looking back on his 70-year career (including NCIS, the show he was still working on).

Of course, a big part of that career was the spy series The Man from UNCLE (1964–8), playing Illya Kuryakin, a Russian agent alongside Robert Vaughn’s American, Napoleon Solo.

Kuryakin and Solo were markedly different characters who blended well – but that wasn’t always the case off screen with Vaughn. “We worked together and went to our separate lives and that was it,” McCallum recalled. “I think I went out to dinner once with Robert. He invited me to a very early health food restaurant, and I was dreadfully sick the next day. I thought, ‘Health food is not for me, I’m going to eat my bacon and eggs!’”

Still, they were the perfect TV double act, and the show was a massive hit. Asked about the fan mail, McCallum remembered “huge sacks of it. Obviously, we couldn’t possibly deal with it ourselves, there was a whole department back then.”

On the big screen, the Glasgow-born actor memorably played “dispersal” expert Eric Ashley-Pitt in the classic war film The Great

‘I said the scripts have to be Puttock-proof’

Escape, whose premiere he recounted fondly. “I remember the Odeon Leicester Square… we sat there, that enormous red curtain parted, with Elmer Bernstein’s music playing… it’s a moment I can remember as if it was ten minutes ago,” he said. “Imagine you’re in a film like that and you’re seeing it – and everybody else is seeing it – for the first time. It was quite amazing.”

McCallum went back inside as RAF officer Simon Carter in the BBC series Colditz (1972–4) – “a wonderful thing to play; it was all very hail-

fellow-well-met” – and another winner was the supernatural series Sapphire and Steel (1979–82), co-starring Joanna Lumley. Was that an enjoyable experience? “Enormously, because I got to meet Jo and she’s now a good friend.”

Initially, he admitted, the show left some viewers baffled, until he took the writer and director to task. “I said, ‘My mother’s cleaning lady, Mrs Puttock, used to say she loved watching Sapphire and Steel but she didn’t understand a word of it.’ I said the scripts from now on have to be made Puttock-proof!”

When we spoke, McCallum and his wife, model and actor-turned-interior designer Katherine, were both still busy – “Retirement is a work in progress, shall we say!” With continuous employment from his teens to his 90th year, it was that tireless drive that landed him so many famous roles. But did he have a favourite? “Too many!” was all he could say. MARK BRAXTON

Sapphire and Steel is now streaming: see page 32 COURTESY OF APPLE; SHUTTERSTOCK; RADIO TIMES ARCHIVE
FRONT MAN Starring in The Man from UNCLE (on the RT cover in 1966) and six years later for Colditz in 1972
7
MAKING A SPLASH From left: Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse), Mabel (Josie Totah) and Conchita (Alisha Boe) turn heads

TEN QUESTIONS WITH STEPHEN MANGAN

From TheSplitto Pointless… the actor and presenter on the art of versatility

Stephen Mangan, 55, may claim that he has a “negative talent” for art, but clearly he’s a man of many other skills. He’s a familiar face in dramas and comedies including The Split, I’m Alan Partridge and Episodes, a writer, a documentary narrator and a regular guest host on Have I Got News for You? and Pointless. And, for the past five years, he has co-presented the Sky Arts series Portrait Artist of the Year with Dame Joan Bakewell. Series ten starts this week on Sky Arts and the celebrity sitters range from former MP Rory Stewart to Sue Barker and Alan Titchmarsh. Before that, on Wednesday 5 October, a special edition saw previous Portrait Artist of the Year winners aim to capture the essence of Dame Judi Dench.

We know you as an actor, presenter, panel-show guest, screenwriter and children’s author… Will the real Stephen Mangan please stand up?

I thrive on variety. I can be in a recording studio one day doing the voice of a horse, the next I’m at my laptop trying to work out how to adapt a book into a movie, then off to meet the artists. When I started in theatre, I did foreign ads to pay the bills. The industry doesn’t owe me anything – any part of the work could dry up and I’ve got three kids to feed! I’m not strategic about it, I’m just grateful that the phone keeps ringing.

‘I’m not strategic about my career – I’ve got three kids to feed!’

What was it like to step into Richard Osman’s giant shoes as a guest co-host of Pointless last year?

It was daunting because Richard had done thousands of episodes, but I was at university with co-host Alexander Armstrong, so we didn’t have to fake any chemistry. And, like Portrait Artist, the contestants are half-excited and half-terrified, and my role was to be warm and encouraging – while looking much cleverer than I am.

Your last TV acting role was in BBC1 drama

The Split, which finished a year ago. Is that a tough one to follow?

Yes, I was slightly spoilt by The Split, like Episodes before it. I’m picky and nothing’s come along since that’s made me want to commit.

The Split really hit a nerve with viewers

CHRIS MCANDREW; CAMERA PRESS; BBC; ANDY PARADISE
8
MARRIAGE STORY Mangan with Nicola Walker in The Split

– anyone who has been in a relationship could relate to it, and people still tell me how they cried watching it. It’s a shame it had to end, but you can only do the “will they, won’t they divorce?” story for so long.

You’ve played fictional characters like Adrian Mole and real-life figures like Tony Blair (in The Comic Strip Presents). Which is harder to pull off?

With someone like Blair, there’s a bit of leeway – I can’t look any more like him than I do, but I can try to capture his essence. I’ve met Alastair Campbell a few times, and didn’t dare ask if I got it right! But everyone has their own image of what their favourite character from a book looks like, which makes it much harder.

Portrait Artist of the Decade featured previous Portrait Artist of the Year winners painting Dame Judi Dench. What was it like to see them return? It’s actually quite moving to see how we’ve launched the careers of so many great artists. It can be difficult for an artist to get their work seen and this programme gives them a platform. It was a real treat to have them back. Then there was Dame Judi, who has those incredible blue eyes and a youthful face, with an energy that belies her age. She sparkles.

What do you think celebrities get out of being sitters?

They’re very used to being photographed, sometimes on a daily basis, and they’re used to being the centre of attention. A good portrait artist sees the person slightly differently and will

touch on something a photo can’t capture. It’s interesting how much sitters engage with the process and how they want to be portrayed.

How did this year’s subjects approach the challenge?

Rory Stewart wanted to be painted standing up; I think he imagined himself looking across the Scottish Highlands. He was really disciplined, standing for four hours in what was probably not a comfortable position. Lenny Rush was a joy – it’s a challenge to paint someone that young because they don’t have the wrinkles and lines that give us character.

Would you like to sit for a portrait? Absolutely! I’d be quite nervous, though. As an actor, your image is important: you may have the soul of a poet, but if you look like a bruiser, you’ll play bruisers. I don’t know if I could handle a portrait of myself in my own house; maybe an unfortunate relative would get it.

Speaking of family, what’s it been like working with your sister on your children’s books and Celebrity Gogglebox? I cannot draw and my sister has no desire to write. I’ll send her the full script and she’ll send back the pictures, so we don’t have much chance to get into a sibling fight. Gogglebox is a throwback to us as kids sitting around watching telly – we very much regress to our childhood roles. At one book reading, a kid asked, “How horrendous was it having Stephen as an elder brother?” As a trained TV lawyer, I have to say that is a leading question…

What’s the best thing about working with Joan Bakewell? Her House of Lords gossip! She’s got the inside track on the entire calamitous political soap opera of the past few years. We actually live about 100 yards away from each other and she tells me stories of when Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath lived in the neighbourhood. Though before we did the show together, I wouldn’t have dared approach her. ROBIN PARKER

Portrait Artist of the Year is on Wednesday 8.00pm Sky Arts

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO…

conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra

IN HIS ELEMENT

Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo in action

After a hugely successful Proms, Sakari Oramo leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra into a new season of broadcast performances.

THE CONDUCTOR IS KING Conductors reign over the entire work, bringing the music to the orchestra and chorus and, through them, to the audience. It’s all about preparation, getting to know absolutely everything that’s in the piece, then being able to convey what you think the work is about. Waving your arms is just a small part. You’ve got to immerse yourself in the composer’s world.

NO BOOZE ALLOWED I start a concert day slowly. I’ll take a walk in the park, then have a hefty lunch — absolutely no wine, as it affects the physical performance. I won’t look at the score any more, I’ll just let my thoughts revolve around the concert.

THANKS, BRUM

When I was younger, I hovered between being a violinist and a conductor. The manager of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra saw a video of me conducting and decided maybe I was worth inviting. I have about 20 batons. I don’t have a

preferred one; I choose them according to weight, and if they give me a good feeling.

UNDER THE BRIGHT LIGHTS

TV lights are very hot, but being recorded for broadcast doesn’t really affect the performance. We try to do our best, whether being watched by 3,000 or three million people. But anything can happen, from a key player falling ill to the realisation that, “I’ve got this piece all wrong. I can’t stand behind my own interpretation!” I’ll change it instantly, and try to get the musicians to follow me, or go with it and feel terrible. But a brilliant orchestra like the BBC Symphony has a capacity for self-repair as they are playing.

TÁR ISN’T TRUE The film Tár wasn’t all bad for the profession if you don’t take it too seriously — it can pique interest in conducting. But the way the main character lives is nothing like anyone I know. You have to respect your musicians, and be aware of the mental and physical strain of the profession.

MICHAEL HODGES

Sakari Oramo opens the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s new season at the Barbican Centre, London, on Friday 6 October at 7.30pm. barbican.org.uk

9 RadioTimes 7–13 October 2023
EGO TRIP Cate Blanchett played a conductor in Tár TALENT SHOW Judi Dench admires her likeness on Portrait Artist of the Decade

MUM’S LIFE IS A TRIUMPH

Don’t write her off, says Rory Cargill, the son of BBC presenter Susan Rae

It was one year between my mother, broadcaster Susan Rae, being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease at 65, and the moment that the cause of her sudden absence from the airwaves was splashed across the news.

That was in April, and I had written in these pages about how the state can fail people with Alzheimer’s. In general, the theme of the chapter leading up to Mum’s diagnosis was confusion. For her bosses, and herself, it was over why she could no longer work the faders at the BBC. For me and my brother, it was over why she had uncharacteristically forgotten our birthdays. As for the GPs, their initial results didn’t pick up on Alzheimer’s, as is often the case with younger patients, and Radio 4 fans went to Twitter after she stopped reading the news and asked, “Where did Susan Rae go?”

“Time heals all,” you might tell yourself in times of stress. It’s an expression that doesn’t quite apply to terminal illness; there is currently no cure for dementia. The words of Mum’s memory doctor as he broke the news to me will always echo in my head: “It will not get better, it will get worse.”

But dementia isn’t a full stop. Mum is now at mid-stage and if you didn’t know about her condition, you probably wouldn’t know anything was wrong. She continues to learn new things, has deep conversations, laughs heartily at episodes of Frasier, and goes to the cinema to see Barbie

Banal moments are now filled with gratitude, like when Mum remembers something I wouldn’t

expect her to. After I recently performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I called Mum and said I had been ill while I was there. “Remember to steam, it’s good for your throat,” she said. I had missed being mothered.

Although there is an acute awareness of the finitude of time left with someone who is ill, in April it was a year after the diagnosis and Mum was now safe and cared for. We’d all had time to adjust and process, so we decided to go public.

Although infamously underfunded and under-mentioned compared to cancer, dementia is increasingly in the spotlight these days. This could be down to other recent high-profile cases like Bruce Willis, Ken Livingstone, Fiona Phillips and Alastair Stewart, or breakthroughs in treatment with drugs like Donanemab. Or perhaps the rise in cases is simply becoming too hard to ignore. We don’t yet know the effect that modern lifestyles, with increased air pollution and diets full of ultra-processed foods, will have on us decades down the line. Society needs to start dealing with this as though it isn’t rare, because with 900,000 UK cases, it isn’t.

The news cycle that followed our going public ran with sensationalist headlines using words like “tragedy”, “downfall” or “suffering”. These words didn’t reflect the full spectrum of our experience, naturally focusing only on the darkness. And there is plenty of darkness; I don’t mean to suggest that there isn’t. But those words felt like Mum was being written off. They imply a detachment; look at this horrible thing that happened, but it didn’t happen to you. But it will happen to you. If not exactly this, then something like it. Illness, or some adjacent bumpy ride, is in store for all of us. Should we be defining the inevitabilities in life as “tragic”? Author Wendy Mitchell has written about moving forward in life with positivity despite her early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Whether that’s skydiving, as in Mitchell’s case, or rekindling treasured friendships as with my mum, life goes on and you find new purpose. Mum’s life is not a tragedy, but a continuing triumph.

GRAPEVINE

The TV stories that are getting us talking…

SQUIDS IN

Netflix has set a date for Squid Game: the Challenge, its epic game show that re-creates the dark challenges from the hit Korean drama. Coming to the streaming platform on 22 November, the show will put 456 contestants through a series of intense games at a former RAF base in Bedfordshire. A whopping $4.56m — £3.7m — is up for grabs.

PRIME CUTS

Despite already operating the ad-supported Freevee, Amazon is now adding adverts to Amazon Prime too. From early next year, ads will feature so that the service can, it says, “continue investing in compelling content”. Subscriptions will be locked at £8.99 per month, or £95 a year — although Amazon will be hoping to tempt users to upgrade to a more expensive ad-free option, at a price yet to be revealed. ROBIN PARKER

STOP PRESS! THE SCREEN TEST RESULTS

As we went to press the results of the UK’s largest study of television viewers were being unveiled at the BFI on London’s Southbank. More than 21,000 people completed our survey, run by our partners at Sussex University, and the findings show the positive impact of television on our lives today. Please see next week’s issue for a full report.

We continue to celebrate the centenary year of Radio Times with a sprinkling of magic and memories from the magazine archives

THIS WEEK IN RT… 7—13 OCTOBER 1989

“I’ve always found travel puts your life into context,” Michael Palin told RT. As pictured by Clive Arrowsmith, the intrepid ex-Python was following in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg with a mission to travel Around the World in 80 Days, albeit by land and sea. Palin lost sleep as he travelled by train from Bombay

to Madras, Canton to Shanghai, and by dhow from Dubai. And there were the hours worrying over what excuse he could use for being late. Once home, however, people didn’t seem interested: “Going round the world is a real conversation killer. They can cope if you’ve just got back from King’s Lynn!” MARK BRAXTON

TIMES CENTENARY MUG — £25 INCL P&P Celebrate 100 years of Radio Times with this collectable Emma Bridgewater mug for just £25. To order, visit radiotimes.com/ shop41 or call 03302 232 639

COURTESY OF RORY CARGILL; SHUTTERSTOCK; RADIO TIMES ARCHIVE VIEWPOINT
RADIO
BY HER SIDE Rory and Susan pictured this year
RT SHOP SPECIAL 11
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