Radio Times

Happily ever after?

Luke Thompson & Yerin Ha share their Cinderella love story*

FURY UNLEASHED!

RT reveals the women and men behind the god-like egos and mammoth muscles

From the Editor

2025 was a fine year for drama, with some bold new series and familiar favourites. And if the first part of 2026 is anything to go by, there’s plenty more to look forward to. In this issue, we preview the best new shows heading our way, from the return...

From the Editor

Happy New Year! Welcome to an issue that starts 2026 exactly as we mean to go on, packed with five terrific dramas guaranteed to banish any post-festive gloom. Sitting at the top of the bill is the return of The Night Manager. Tom Hiddleston is back...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

M E R R CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From the Editor

When it comes to taking risks, film director James Cameron is in a league of his own. He currently has three of the top five highest-grossing films of all time under his belt, and now he’s back with the third instalment of his Avatar saga – Avatar:...

YOUR QUALITY GUIDE TO WHAT’S WORTH WATCHING

HEAVENLY OFFERINGS!

From Call the Midwife to new drama Amadeus, and from Dame Judi Dench to Sir David Attenborough, we reveal the festive season’s most exciting treats*

From the Editor

Many years ago, I was working at a now-defunct music magazine and I still remember the buzz in the office when news broke that the Beatles were releasing Anthology. It wasn’t just a greatest hits album, it was a full-blown media event: the three...

From the Editor

I was too young in 1967 to watch the BBC’s original TV drama The Forsyte Saga. It was famously the last major series to be made in black and white and thanks to its stellar cast it quickly became a landmark in television history. The latest version...

READY, SET, GO

Sara’s Great Northern Marathon Challenge Monday–Friday Radio 2 Children in Need Friday BBC One

From the Editor

Hello! Yes, I’m back after eight weeks on the missing list. (And to respond to one reader’s frightening theory, no, I wasn’t lifted by the Park). For those who have been playing along, turn to page 59 to see how you can enter the Sky/Netflix...

From the Editor Deputy editor

When Dame Emma Thompson agreed to write an exclusive piece for us about her new series Down Cemetery Road, based on the novel by Mick Herron, I was thrilled. I devoured the first few episodes of the drama and requested more. (This is rare because, as...

From the Editor Deputy editor

Growing up with Greek parents, I spent much of my childhood begging my mum to cook what my friends ate. She’s a brilliant cook but youvarlakia and pastitsio… boring! What really opened my eyes to Britain’s culinary delights was Hamlyn’s All Colour Cook...

AUTUMN DRAMA

Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood and Tamsin Greig reveal the joy behind the hottest TV this autumn PLUS Sally Wainwright on her new series Riot Women

From the Editor

From Traitors, fraudsters and murder-steeped vicars to killer protein bars – this issue has it all! The Celebrity Traitors has finally arrived and with a line-up including Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie and Nick Mohammed (see p12) it promises to be even...

Marisa Abela

What’s the view from your sofa? My telly is in a bookshelf. I usually have my legs stretched out on an ottoman, and there’s a fireplace. What have you been watching? I’m in training for a film right now and I’m also planning my wedding [to actor and...

Fawlty Towers: the Play

John Cleese’s comedy is as popular as ever – so why is he so angry with the BBC?

Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robin Wright & Shirley Ballas*

LAUGH A MINUTE!

Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping Friday C4*

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

Richard Osman reveals how Steven Spielberg turned his cosy crime bestseller into a killer film.

KICK OFF!

Move over Gary... Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman have signed up to Match of the Day. But why will you never see them together?

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Available from Wednesday Netflix*

10 ways to get the most from your

1 1 JUST TAP FOR MORE... Wherever you see a “tap for more” button, on a feature or one of our experts’ Choices, just tap on it for more exclusive content, a picture gallery or a video. 2 2 WATCH NOW! Streaming Just go to our pages, tap on any of the...

From the Editor

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the irrepressible Mr Danny Dyer. And can I stop you there? Anyone who watched the episode of ITV1’s The Assembly that featured neurodiverse people asking him difficult and challenging questions will know that...

BY THE BOOK!

Mick Herron on SLOW HORSES • Val McDermid on KAREN PIRIE PLUS Mark Gatiss swaps Sherlock for a brand-new detective

From the Editor

With Wimbledon still hogging the schedules when this issue goes “live”, we thought it would be a great idea to find out what it takes to be a British number one. It must be strange to spend most weeks of your playing year as a “plucky Brit” who is...

Money

Expert advice from Paul Lewis

How to make The Bear sandwich

THE END GAME

Squid Game Friday 27 June Netflix

From the Editor

Our writer Pete Paphides describes this week’s cover star, Lee Mack, as “the wittiest man in Britain” and Mack’s co-star on the panel show Would I Lie to You, Rob Brydon, says that he has the “quickest mind of anybody – and I mean anybody – I have ever...

20GREAT DRAMAS TO BINGE RIGHT NOW!

PLUS Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan on the love, death and humour in Guy Ritchie’s gangster hit

From the Editor

It was over a quarter of a century ago that the first series of Walking with Dinosaurs aired on BBC1. In 1999 the computer-generated imagery used to bring the creatures to life was unknown outside of Hollywood movies and was a wonder to behold on the...

Rose Ayling-Ellis

Few viewers could have failed to be moved – many to tears – by the “silent dance” performed by Rose Ayling-Ellis in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Hailed as the show’s “greatest ever performance”, when the music stopped and she continued to...

BAFTA’S Leading Ladies

Also starring MONICA DOLAN JESSICA GUNNING SOPHIE WILLAN MARISA ABELA LOLLY ADEFOPE KATHERINE PARKINSON ANJANA VASAN KATE O’FLYNN

VE DAY at 80

VE Day 80 BBC TV, radio and iPlayer*

From the Editor

As I remember things, Star Wars, if not an outright children’s movie, was certainly pitched at teenagers. Nearly 50 years and many films and TV shows later, the franchise (now owned by Disney) has finally grown up. The second series of Andor is more...

From the Editor

Welcome to the Easter Issue! We hope you like our colourful, joyous cover as much as we do – an illustration by the very talented Lucy Rose. We have plenty inside to see you through the long weekend and beyond. Our family Streaming guide is there in...

THE LAST OF US

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal star in The Last of Us Monday Sky Atlantic*

From the Editor

We have a terrific mix of stories for you this week. You can meet the latest companion to board the Tardis. Varada Sethu joins an illustrious list of actors to travel with the Doctor, from Peter Purves to Billie Piper. She plays Belinda who, in her...

From the Editor

When we were told that Sean Bean had agreed to be our cover star, we were all amazed. He is not an actor who normally gives interviews – perhaps he likes to let his work do the talking. But here he comes across as a modest man who in recent years has...

THE 20 MUST-SEE EPISODES TO WATCH NOW!

+ exclusive new series preview

From the Editor

Stacey Dooley is a remarkable woman. In just a few years she has gone from a job selling cosmetics in an airport duty free to creating hard-hitting documentaries for the BBC, via winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2018. She doesn’t often do interviews,...

From the Editor

On Wednesday 13 July 1955, Ruth Ellis became the last woman in Britain to be hanged after being found guilty of killing her lover, David Blakely. For the majority of us, that’s the sum total of what we know about this notorious case. But in a new ITV...

Agatha Christie WHO DUNNIT?

Mimi Keene, Matthew Rhys and Ella Lily Hyland star in Towards Zero Sunday BBC1

From the Editor

Steven Knight is fast becoming a byword for exhilarating (and fairly brutal) TV dramas that deal with the frailties of violent but deeply complex and driven men, who usually find themselves in difficult circumstances. From Peaky Blinders to SAS Rogue...

FEATURING

MICHELLE COLLINS LETITIA DEAN KELLIE BRIGHT JESSIE WALLACE BALVINDER SOPAL GILLIAN TAYLFORTH

From the Editor

Our cover story this week is about Miss Austen – not the celebrated Jane, but her older sister, Cassandra. Any TV or film adaptation of one of Jane Austen’s six novels will always attract a huge audience. However, this BBC1 series is based on a book by...

ENGLAND’S SIX NATIONS STARTS HERE

Scotland v Italy Saturday BBC1, 5 Sports Extra Ireland v England Saturday ITV1, Radio 5 Live

From the Editor

This week there are two coverworthy programmes on TV. The first is the new Channel 4 drama Brian and Maggie, in which Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter re-create the 1989 TV interview between Brian Walden and Margaret Thatcher that took place at the end...

THE TRAITORS

The Traitors Wednesday, Thursday and Friday BBC1

From the Editor

With Christmas fast disappearing in the rearview mirror, the business of getting through the winter becomes the priority. And the team at Radio Times has been busy finding the best dramas to help us get through the cold and dark days ahead. A really...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Christmas Day BBC1

Doctor Who

Nicola Coughlan and Ncuti Gatwa star in Christmas Day BBC1

SPIES LIKE US

PLUS John Lithgow, Sir Elton John, Andy Serkis and Alan Bennett

Outnumbered, Strictly, Wallace & Gromit, Death in Paradise and Doctor Who!

BAND AID AT 40

The Making of Do They Know It’s Christmas? Friday BBC4

Bad Sisters

Bad Sisters new series available from Wednesday 13 November on Apple TV+

From the Editor

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost ten years since Wolf Hall arrived on TV. The Bafta-winning drama was adapted from the first two books in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy (Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bodies) based on the court of Henry VIII. It starred...

From the Editor

For a certain generation The Day of the Jackal conjures up visions of Edward Fox outwitting the authorities in his attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle. It’s a great film and as Eddie Redmayne, who steps into the role of the gun...

PADDINGTON RETURNS…

…to Peru! Everybody’s favourite bear heads home for his greatest adventure

From the Editor

Who doesn’t like exercising their little grey cells with a puzzle or two? In this issue we present a terrific selection of challenges to test yourself. We have some fiendish brainteasers set by Alan Connor, the puzzle setter on David Mitchell’s...

From the Editor

I would hazard a guess that many people reading this will remember the 1980s. Whether they remember them as they are portrayed in Jilly Cooper’s bestseller Rivals, I have no idea. The ITV franchise wars of the early part of that decade are probably...

From the Editor

During the summer of sport, many readers felt they’d been deprived of good TV drama (above and beyond the live drama of the Paris Olympics). I’m pleased to say that we can now bring you everything the broadcasters and streamers have up their sleeves...

From the Editor

Our cover star this week, David Mitchell, is a man of many talents. Whether crossing comedy swords with Lee Mack on Would I Lie to You?, bringing Ben Elton’s world-weary Shakespeare to life in Upstart Crow or voicing Police Officer Panda in Peppa Pig,...