Tabla de contenidos para 18-24th October 2025 en Radio Times

Mary at 90: a Lifetime of Cooking Begins Tuesday 28 Oct 7.30pm BBC Two/iPlayer ‘I had one aim. To get people to cook and enjoy it as much as I did’MARY BERRY HOW TO SUMMARISE Mary Berry? National treasure, inspirational cook. Yes, of course. But there’s more. Dame Mary is as strategically driven as any business tycoon. It’s just that we don’t consider white-haired ladies who love to cook in this sort of way, especially one who was paid a mere £4.75 for one of her very first TV appearances, demonstrating the principles of a freezer. We’re at a riverside club near her Oxfordshire home for our photoshoot and interview and it’s nice to be greeted by a woman with perfect manners, who looks as pleased to see you as she…

SUE JOHNSTON played Sheila Grant 1982–1990 How did you react when you were asked to play Sheila again? I thought it would be rather interesting. Sheila was huge for me. I’d worked in theatre for 20 years and the only TV work I’d done was in three episodes of Coronation Street playing Mrs Chadwick. I was a single parent worrying about what I was going to do when my little boy started school, as I wouldn’t be able to do theatre in the evenings. I’d started applying to teacher training college when someone suggested I get an agent. That’s how I got Corrie and then Brookside, and it saved my life. I owe Brookside a lot. What was the secret to Brookside’s success? It was different, and relevant to people’s…

MEN’S T20 CRICKET New Zealand v England Sat, Mon, Thu 7am TNT Sports 1/Discovery+, Talksport 2 England begin another campaign in a southern hemisphere summer as they take on New Zealand in a three-match T20 series this week. Test opener Zak Crawley has been called up to the T20 squad for the first time following a blistering summer in the Hundred. Harry Brook (above) captains the side, though fellow Test stars Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith and Jofra Archer are rested. Two matches at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch, are followed by the third and final T20 at Eden Park in Auckland. SNOOKER Northern Ireland Open Sunday TNT Sports/Discovery+ Kyren Wilson (above) enters the Northern Ireland Open as defending champion, but he knows his form has to improve in the big events if he’s…

DRAMA Riot Women 9.00pm BBC One Full series available via iPlayer Ever since Beth (Joanna Scanlan) heard Kitty (Rosalie Craig) belting out a song in a local pub, her life has taken a turn for the better in Sally Wainwright’s drama. “She’s rough and ready, but I like her… she’s cheered me up!” she tells her friend Jess (Lorraine Ashbourne) excitedly after she introduces Kitty to the rest of the menopausal wannabe punk band. None of them can play their instruments very well yet, but then that never stopped Sid Vicious, did it? Sadly, they’re all still having a tough time with their elderly parents, thoughtless offspring and dismissive colleagues. However, Kitty has written a song with powerful and raw lyrics that strike a chord with them all. “And you thought the Clash were…

SOAP Hollyoaks 7.00pm E4 Catch up via C4 streaming In 1995, Brookside was at the peak of its popularity. Channel 4’s flagship soap opera’s sensational “body under the patio” plot was a national talking point, eerily running in parallel with gruesome discoveries in Fred West’s garden, silencing critics who claimed soaps were becoming unrealistic. Basking in Brookside’s success, it’s creator Phil Redmond launched Hollyoaks, a companion show aimed at an adolescent audience. Brookie bowed out in 2003 and passed its taboo-breaking mantle to its sassy spin-off. To celebrate Hollyoaks’s 30th anniversary, there’s a nostalgic nod to its beginnings in this crossover. Yes, we’re back on Brookside Close, as Hollyoaks’s Donny Clark — who’s striking resemblance to Brookie’s Mick Johnson will no doubt be addressed — is strangely drawn to the…

Book of the Week Monday–Friday 11.45am Radio 4 Author Sarah Perry’s new book is quite the departure. After a string of award-winning novels including The Essex Serpent (memorably adapted by Apple TV+ and starring Tom Hiddleston), her latest is an at-times harrowingly close-to-home piece of non-fiction… So, what’s Death of an Ordinary Man about, Sarah? It’s an account of the death of my father-in-law, David, who died nine days after a cancer diagnosis, having previously been in what looked like perfectly good health. Because the cancer moved so fast, nobody could put any care in place quickly enough for him, so my husband and I just nursed him at home until his death. It struck me that nobody had ever spoken to me about death before. So I’ve written this book…

Citrus plants produce fragrance and delicious fruit, make excellent conservatory or indoor plants in winter, and can be placed outdoors in summer. THE BIG FOUR: ■ TAHITI LIME It’s the one we’re most familiar with, and is sold in the shops and garden centres. Seedless fruit, prolific flower and easy to grow. ■ CALAMONDIN A good beginner’s choice. It can fruit and flower almost non-stop year-round. The bitter orange fruit makes fine marmalade. ■ KUMQUAT Although quite hardy, best left indoors all year round as it needs plenty of heat to produce flowers. ■ LEMON Gin and tonic, anyone? The trick with lemons is not to leave too many fruits on the plant at one time. WHAT TO DO WHEN: ■ SUMMER Place outside after the last frosts in spring.…

PRIZE CROSSWORD One winner will receive a free six-month subscription to Radio Times (£132.50 basic annual rate), plus an exclusive Radio Times leather cover. Already a subscriber? You are still eligible — an extra six months will be added to your current subscription. For more information on subscriptions go to buysubscriptions.com/radiotimes. To enter, fill in and post the coupon below, or email your answers to xword43@radiotimescomps.co.uk WORDFINDER Find the name of the show in the shaded squares to win the prize below. EASY CLUES Just for fun! PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 7 Block part of Mexican village (5) 8 Landlady booked for tearing up shrouds in empty mansion (3,6) 10 Listen to snail-like fruit (4) 11 Aunt opting out if faced with a firearm (2,8) 12 Reptiles go hot, worried by…

1 TV The Forsytes Monday 9.00pm 5 Debbie Horsfield’s sumptuous version of John Galsworthy’s family saga starts earlier than the novels with June’s (Justine Moore) coming-of-age ball. A star-studded cast and gorgeous styling make this as much of a treat as the 1967 original and the 2002 reboot. FEATURE P18 ▶ 2 TV Hollyoaks Wednesday 7.00pm E4 Phil Redmond’s teen soap celebrates its 30th anniversary by bringing back Brookside in a special crossover of his groundbreaking creations. Sue Johnston (above), Ricky Tomlinson and Paul Usher are among the familiar faces providing the nostalgia. INTERVIEW P23 ▶ 3 FILM A House of Dynamite ★★★★15 Available Friday Netflix The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow returns with another politically charged thriller that cuts to the bone. In a film that shows events from…

Supernatural movie Good Boy is a horror story told from the perspective of a dog. For director Ben Leonberg, it meant directing his eight-year-old Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, Indy… DOG’S EYE VIEW The horror movie Poltergeist opens with a golden retriever wandering through the house, clearly aware of something supernatural. I was watching it for the millionth time and thought, “Hey, someone should tell a story from that dog’s perspective!” My wife [producer Kari Fischer] and I didn’t plan on using our own dog, but I made proof-of-concept short films with Indy and he developed into the best actor for the role. OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS Indy doesn’t know he’s in a movie, so he can’t follow direction the way a person can. It was difficult to control his…

The Forsytes Monday 9.00pm 5 IT BEGAN, as epic journeys often do, with a single step. It was the summer of 2021 and on Hampstead Heath – 800 acres of greenery and wild woodland in north London – writer Debbie Horsfield and producer Damien Timmer went on a walk to discuss what they might do next. Their last collaboration, Poldark, had ended two years earlier after five series and, as Timmer puts it, “Having had a rest after Poldark, we were trying to find a slab of story that Debbie could really enjoy getting her teeth into.” “I think it was Damien who first mentioned The Forsyte Saga,” says Horsfield. “I mean, I’m all for anything with ‘saga’ in the title.” Horsfield and Timmer were of course familiar with the previous…

DRAMA The Forsytes 9.00pm 5 Catch up via 5 streaming NEW SERIES The word “Saga” may have been dropped from the title, and it certainly doesn’t follow John Galsworthy’s novels to the letter, but Debbie Horsfield has given us a version of the wealthy Victorian family’s story to match the acclaimed TV epics of 1967 and 2002. This one is sumptuous to look at — both the styling and the starry cast (which includes Tuppence Middleton, Jack Davenport, Francesca Annis, Eleanor Tomlinson and Susan Hampshire) are glorious. Clearly no expense has been spared bringing it to the screen. It starts with the coming-of-age of June (Justine Moore), the stepdaughter of Jolyon Forsyte (Danny Griffin), a kind and artistic man with rumours of racy escapades while travelling Europe. Meanwhile, his ambitious and ruthless cousin Soames (Joshua…

DRAMA The Ridge 9.00pm BBC Two Full series available from today on iPlayer NEW SERIES Doing a crime drama differently isn’t easy. And, on the face of it, this Scot-Kiwi collaboration is much like many other stories, as it contrives a reason for its Scottish main character to be investigating a murder in rural New Zealand. That protagonist is a typically compelling Lauren Lyle (Karen Pirie) as Mia, a drug-addict doctor who leaves her job behind, because her sister is getting married on the other side of the world. However, by the time Mia’s flight touches down the bride is missing and soon found dead. The Ridge’s tone sets it apart, and it will require some acclimatising: the flashing memories of the girls’ horrible childhood are offset by how everyone including Mia reacts…

LIFESTYLE The Woman’s Hour Guide to Life “Your toolkit for the juggle, the struggle and everything in between,” says host Nuala McGovern as she introduces this new six-part companion to Woman’s Hour, which drops every Sunday on BBC Sounds. Do we need another version? Not really, but such is the BBC’s drive to attract a younger audience. More mature listeners may well utter a deep sigh when, in an episode on avoiding workplace burnout, one of the chirpy top tips is “connecting with your values makes you feel more energised”. But a future episode is on the superpowers of ageing, so let’s give this a chance. The opening show, on maintaining female friendships, does include the wise words of psychotherapist Julia Samuel, who’s always worth a listen. ANNA JONES PICK…

The Last Frontier New episodes Fridays Apple TV+ THIS IS ALASKA,” says local lawman Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke) to his CIA counterpart as they consider the diffculties of rounding up 18 convicts on the loose across the state’s frozen wastes in Apple TV+’s The Last Frontier. Daunting, sure, but “This is Alaska, too,” I think to myself as I accept some champagne and nibble a Princess Love Boat Dream – a “heart-shaped dessert with layers of chocolate-raspberry mousse and vanilla-raspberry cream on a shortbread cookie base” – on board the Grand Princess, where I’m experiencing Alaska in rather more comfort than Remnick or his 18 unwelcome guests. While The Last Frontier’s frostbitten felons check in (and, in some cases, promptly check out) when their prisoner transport plane crashlands in the middle…

SHE’S A MONSTER but very goodhearted,” was Patricia Routledge’s summing up of her most celebrated TV character Hyacinth Bucket, indomitable social climber and resident of 22 Blossom Avenue – “the Bou-quet residence”. Keeping Up Appearances drew audiences of up to 15 million during its five-year run, which finished in 1995. The following year, when viewers voted Routledge their favourite TV actress at the BBC’s 60th anniversary awards, she spoke to Radio Times about the enduring appeal of Hyacinth and her aspirations: “We’re always pretending to be what we’re not. But Hyacinth does care. She cares about standards. Whether they’re the right standards is another matter.” It was Routledge’s most famous role in a long, versatile career that also saw her triumph in theatre here and America. Following her training at…

I REMEMBER MY FIRST editor, almost 35 years ago when I worked on BBC’s News-round, explaining our mission and responsibility as journalists for the programme: “We sandwich the stories we believe the audience should be told about, but wouldn’t necessarily choose to watch on first glance, in between the things they’re naturally attracted to.” Our job was to keep the news agenda as broad as possible and hope viewers stuck with the unfamiliar, to inform and explain, not just give people what they know about. In 2025 that’s almost a quaint notion. Viewers are very much in control of what they watch; so much of what we put into a crafted programme is consumed individually on social media feeds or falls victim to the fast-forward button. Far from broadening or…

Hollyoaks Monday–Wednesday 7.00pm E4 EVERYBODY SAYS, ‘I don’t watch soaps,’” observes Sir Phil Redmond, whose career in television spans more than 50 years. “That’s because it’s working-class telly. Yet within 15 minutes, they’re telling you the intricacies of all the plotlines.” In a year in which EastEnders celebrated its 40th anniversary, and Coronation Street reaches the grand old age of 65, this week sees Hollyoaks, the enfant terrible of soaps devised by Redmond, mark 30 years on air. Soaps, it seems, are weathering the stormy TV landscape and managing to stay afloat. To mark the coming-of-age of Redmond’s heightened saga of suburban adolescence, Hollyoaks is acknowledging its roots with a tribute to another of his creations, Brookside. Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston are returning as Bobby and Sheila Grant (see page…

FILM P The Menu ★★★ 15 9.00pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming Foodie Nicholas Hoult and his last-minute guest Anya Taylor-Joy take their seats at maverick chef Ralph Fiennes’s exclusive island restaurant ant in this stylish, satirical horror comedy from 2022. Director Mark Mylod is better known for TV, with Succession and Game of Thrones on his CV, and he brings elements of both to this off-beat film, including razor-sharp dialogue and shocking violence. The dishes were created ed by Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, who gave Fiennes valuable insight into her philosophy and method. Mylod declares himself as a massive fan of Robert Altman, and Gosford Park — with its ensemble cast and overlapping dialogue — was a big influence on The Menu, helping Seth Reiss and Will Tracy’s screenplay come…

PANEL SHOW QI XL 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer John Lloyd, QI’s inspired creator — or “Welder”, as he’s listed in the credits — says that when he runs out of letters of the alphabet, he’ll have to start naming the series with numbers. This is series W so that day isn’t so far off. And somehow, after 320 odd episodes (no hyphen needed), the show still has a spring in its step. Tonight’s edition hits the sweet spot of making us feel as if we’re eavesdropping on a handful of Britain’s most amusing people as they goof around and discuss trivia. Or maybe not trivia: the stuff Sandi Toksvig probes can be far from trivial, such as the reason Welsh farmers dressed as women during the so-called Rebecca Riots.…

GARDENING Gardeners’ World 8.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Pumpkins were once a niche product. Now they’re a huge business — and more and more of us are growing them on our own plots, including Monty Don, whose harvesting them tonight in time for the spookiest night of the year. He’ll also be planting out strawberries and adding a berberis — an ornamental shrub with thorny branches — to his orchard border. Frances Tophill — who lately became a panellist on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time — shows how her garden in Devon, now in its third year, has been developing. Like all of us, she’s taking stock and preparing for winter. There’s a growing awareness in gardening circles of the hidden world of soil — there was an entire exhibition…

Sixty years ago on Saturday, a “film series from France” arrived on BBC One with little fanfare. In the first episode, sad Mr Rusty lamented a lack of magic, and an absence of visitors to his roundabout. But within five minutes, jack-in-the-box Zebedee predicted a change in fortunes — and The Magic Roundabout soon had a massive following! Its pre-News slot, and clever, two-tier script by narrator Eric Thompson, made it a huge hit with children and adults alike. To celebrate the anniversary, RT spoke to Josiane Wood, who worked on the French original — Le Manège enchanté — and later projects with her animator husband Ivor… “We got married in Lyon,” says Josiane. “We moved to Paris and Ivor at the time was working at La Comète, which was…