After checking his calendar a couple of times, Ali is pretty sure that 2024 is finally, definitely, absolutely here, and with it some very exciting films for us to all look forward to. But with Screen Time being a film *and* TV podcast, joining the party this week is TV expert (and BBC 5 Live's very own) Scott Bryan, who stopped by to talk about some of the big small screen releases - if that makes sense - that are on their way this particular 12 months. Plus, a reminder of Poor Things' arrival ...
Jan 12, 2024•48 min
Radio 1’s Screen Time welcomes in 2024 with a truly lovely interview with Dan Levy: writer, director, producer and star of Good Grief, a comedy-drama motion picture you can watch on Netflix, well, right about now. Chances are, you know Dan from playing David Rose on a certain Canadian sitcom megahit by the name of Schitt's Creek (which he also co-created and wrote) - so that does come up a little bit - as does professional people-pleasing anxiety (in a fun way!) and the fine art of taking a comp...
Jan 05, 2024•39 min
Is Die Hard a Christmas film? It's a question seemingly as old as the movie itself - first came out in 1988, fact fans - but whatever your thoughts on that controversial pub conversation question, December seemed like the perfect time to bring friend of the podcast (and Empire Magazine editor, as it goes) Nick de Semlyen on to chat about just why we love John McClane so much - and how the film changed the landscape of action cinema forever. A word to the wise, by the way: as you might imagine wi...
Dec 29, 2023•46 min
There’s something very very exciting going on on your televisions this Christmas time - and that’s Ncuti Gatwa’s first fully-fledged standalone outing as The Doctor, Doctor Who, on BBC One. The Christmas special is called 'The Church On Ruby Road' and you can watch it on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK from 5.55pm on December 25th. To celebrate that fact, here's an interview with Ncuti where Ali tries to talk about the character of The Doctor, about how he got the role, about what it all means...
Dec 22, 2023•25 min
Friends of the show Clarisse Loughrey (The Independent's chief film critic) and Dan Layton (film and TV reviewer extraordinaire) join Ali once again to try and do justice to the year that was/is 2023, discussing their five favourite films and trying to wrap their heads around what's been "slept on" in the past 12 months. Colin From Accounts? Slow Horses? Rye Lane? The list goes on and on - you may want to whip out your notepad, a lot of possible new favourites are going to be coming your way. Pl...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr
If you were to cast a young Willy Wonka, who'd be your first choice for the role? Why it'd have to be Timothée Chalamet - but of course - just the sort of person who can sing and dance and charm his way around a delightful musical confection from the mind of Paddington(s) director Paul King. In this interview special podcast, Ali talks to pretty much the whole cast of the film, including the likes of Olivia Colman, Tom Davis, Keegan-Michael Key (to name but a few), but the emphasis is very much ...
Dec 08, 2023•42 min
It's beginning to look a lot like... December! Because, well, it is December - which means you can now officially (according to Ali, anyway) watch as many Christmas films, Christmas TV specials, Christmas musical extravaganzas as you jolly well wish. To celebrate this joyous occasion, Ali has spoken to two human beings who know a thing or two about the festive spirit, namely Hannah Waddingham (of Ted Lasso and now 'Home For Christmas' fame) and Otis Milburn himself, Asa Butterfield, the star of ...
Dec 01, 2023•36 min
Vanessa Kirby plays Josephine in Ridley Scott’s latest, Napoleon, finally out in cinemas this weekend, and, well, what do you know, with the strikes lifted she was able to join Ali for a conversation all about it which you’ll be able to listen to on this here podcast. Plus! Ali offers up a quick recap of some of the biggest releases in cinemas this weekend, including Disney’s 100th birthday animation, Wish.
Nov 24, 2023•34 min
Have you heard? The SAG AFTRA actors strikes are over, which means there be actors in these here podcasts: namely Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer and Josh Andrés Rivera, the stars of the new Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Joining them is their director, Panem veteran Francis Lawrence, as they talk about returning to The Capitol and what makes their take different to what we've seen before with that Jennifer Lawrence character.
Nov 17, 2023•41 min
So this is an unusual episode of Radio 1's Screen Time - sort of - in so far as there are not one but TWO interviews to enjoy, namely Saltburn's Emerald Fennell and The Marvels' Nia DaCosta. Plus, as a bonus, we've also got a brief review of Nic Cage's Dream Scenario in the middle, making this one heck of a cinematic sandwich.
Nov 10, 2023•38 min
Friend of the show and Independent film critic Clarisse Loughrey joins newcomer Dan Layton and good 'ol Ali Plumb this week for a triple-headed review-a-palooza tackling all of the big releases of that past few weeks, including Scorsese's latest, and, well, Trolls 3 - not forgetting 91-minute fight club high school comedy Bottoms, David Fincher's Michael Fassbender assassin thriller The Killer and more than a few more...
Nov 03, 2023•49 min
With Ali only just back from his trip to the USA, we've been digging through the back catalogue for a throwback interview special, and look who popped up! Twice! Some handsome chap known as Tom Hiddleston, and with Loki back on Disney+ for a second series, it made perfect sense to put together the TWO 'Becoming... Loki' interviews he's done over the years, once as Infinity War came out (2018) and another when Loki came to town first time around (2021). So join Ali has we go back through the sacr...
Oct 27, 2023•39 min
Ali is still in California, no doubt trying to visit as many filming locations as possible, you know what he's like - and in that particular US state, there are more than a few filming locations worth visiting, that's for sure - but fret not, there's still a podcast for you this week in the form of this Ali Plumb's Film Club. BBC podcasting compadre Greg Jenner stopped by recently to speak to fellow backflipping-whilst-singing fan Ali as they discuss what could well be the greatest movie musical...
Oct 20, 2023•41 min
After last week's gaming special, here's a bonus interview for anyone who's just as excited as Ali about the imminent arrival of Insomniac Games' new Spider-Man outing. Bryan Intihar and Jon Paquette, two of the creative team behind the series that's also given us the original Spider-Man game in 2018 and the Miles Morales follow-up in 2020, spoke to Radio 1's in-house nerd before he jetted off on holiday. And on that note! As well as this bonus podcast, we'll also have an Ali Plumb's Film Club t...
Oct 13, 2023•29 min
Yes, Screen Time is primarily a film 'n' TV podcast but Ali really does love his gaming, and let's be honest, chances are you do too. So joining him for a rambling journey around the best and biggest games of 2023 - so far - are gaming journalists (and friends of the podcast) Aoife Wilson and Steffan Powell to talk about the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo 4 and much, much, much more. Needless to say, plenty of conversation also featuring what's still ...
Oct 06, 2023•42 min
Gareth Edwards - the director who gave us Godzilla and Rogue One - has a new film out in cinemas this weekend and its name is The Creator. Amazingly, it's not based on any intellectual property you might know, making it (can you imagine?) a blockbuster sci-fi that could be described as, well, original. Incredible. Truly. Hear him talk to Ali about his near future world of AI, "simulants", robot wars (kinda), Rain Man, the magic of CGI, John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney and much m...
Sep 29, 2023•28 min
Dumb Money is in cinemas this week, telling the real-life story of the incredible GameSpot short squeeze of early 2021, centring around cat-obsessed, investing-obsessed real-life YouTuber RoaringKitty (aka Keith Gill, played in the film by Paul Dano). Yes, it's a film about the stock market, and you might be thinking that if you're not interested in that world then it's not for you... but maybe think again. As you'll hear in this interview with its director, Craig Gillespie, it's a fascinating, ...
Sep 22, 2023•25 min
There's a whole lot going on in this week's podcast. In a good way! Ali and his new best friend - he likes to think, anyway - Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane, Class, Then You Run) chat about their new favourite film, the heartbreaking Korean romance Past Lives, as well as Vivian herself, before opening up the film club to talk about the wonders of Jordan Peele, concentrating on 2019's Us but touching on Nope and, of course, Get Out.
Sep 15, 2023•46 min
As it's somehow September and summer blockbuster season winds up for another year, Ali invited fellow film critic Clarisse Loughrey into the Radio 1 studios to try to do justice to the biggest movies of the past few months - including Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 and maybe a few more. Warning: there are some spoilery mentions here, particularly when it comes to The Flash, but generally you should be okay.
Sep 08, 2023•49 min
Yes, you're absolutely right: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse hit cinemas early June, but with summer wrapping up - how is it September already? - and the animated Spider-Sequel now on digital download, Ali and Ace thought it would be a good time to sit down for about an hour's worth of spoilerific, high geeky arachno-chat. A lot is discussed, but fair warning: A 'n' A don't get into the 'different versions of the films released' side of things, but loads of other stuff is, don't you worry!...
Sep 01, 2023•53 min
Ali's ol' buddy ol' pal Nikesh Patel - who just so happens to be a very successful actor, off of Amazon's horror sci-fi The Devil's Hour and the BBC's Rose Matafeo rom-com series Starstruck - stopped by the BBC Radio 1 Screen Time studio to catch up recently, and here's the podcast to prove it. So as well as talking about how Starstruck is back on our screens on the 28th August, Nikesh also was generous enough to join an 'Ali Plumb's Film Club', where the pair chatted about recent feature length...
Aug 25, 2023•49 min
Earlier this month Cillian Murphy appeared on Radio 1's Screen Time talking about Oppenheimer, his latest with the one and only Christopher Nolan, an epic biopic that is still doing incredibly well in cinemas across the world. But that conversation was part of a bigger Movies That Made Me chat from mid-July, and this here podcast is the second half of that, a hop skip and a jump through Cillian's big screen work (with a little on Peaky Blinders), touching on the likes of Sunshine, 28 Days Later,...
Aug 18, 2023•27 min
You might know him best as Jim Hopper from Stranger Things, but this weekend David Harbour is petrolhead Jack Salter in Gran Turismo, one of those films where the plot is nigh-on unbelievable but somehow based on a true story. You know, the sort of tale where a die-hard gamer (guess which one Jann Mardenborough liked to play...) becomes an actual professional racer. As you do. But as this is a 'Story So Far' interview, David kindly talks through his whole career (more or less), from Law And Orde...
Aug 11, 2023•21 min
Zoe Saldaña is an incredible actress and one we've long wanted to speak to for a 'Movies That Made Me' here at Radio 1's Screen Time - that said, the reason she was in town early in July talking to Ali was for a TV show, Taylor Sheridan and Paramount+'s action thriller Special Ops: Lioness, one so cinematic that it slots right in next to the likes of the Star Trek series, her MCU entries as Gamora, not forgetting the Avatars, Pirates Of The Caribbean and so on and so on. She's truly awe-inspirin...
Aug 04, 2023•28 min
Speaking with Ali in back early July, David Tennant and Michael Sheen were on fine, fine form talking about the second series of Amazon Prime Video's heavenly / devilish show Good Omens - based on the book by Neil Gaiman and the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett - indulging in a nerdy request for some autographs and generally being upstanding and accommodating in a way they truly excel. Warning: contains dad jokes. Because of course it does.
Jul 28, 2023•18 min
Christopher Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer is finally in cinemas, a three-hour treat-yourself-to-IMAX thriller featuring an absolutely incredible cast, including Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek and two of our guests on this here podcast, Robert Downey Jr. and The Man Who Would Be Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy. Christopher Nolan also makes a brief appearance, and Ali sort of embarrasses himself in front of him with a QI-like fact that could well blow your mind.
Jul 21, 2023•19 min
Hey Barbie! Hey Ken! Margot Robbie (Barbie herself) and Ryan Gosling (just Ken) speak to Ali Plumb about Greta Gerwig's Barbie, touching on such hot button topics as the Barbie slide, the Barbie wave, Barbie memes, Ken's rollerskates, Ken's tricky-to-say fashion pieces and Ken's totally unimportant t-shirts. Oh, and those times Margot and Ryan dressed up as a cigarette and a hamster (respectively). And that's not forgetting Greta herself, as well as America Ferrera, Simu Liu and Issa Rae, who ar...
Jul 21, 2023•31 min
Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Cary Elwes, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby... the cast of the latest Mission: Impossible is actually truly ridiculously charming, and this podcast proves that and then some. So imagine you're balancing on top of a high speed train (with joy!) and enjoy this thrill ride of an episode (kind of).
Jul 14, 2023•34 min
The Witcher has returned to Netflix for a third series, but in two parts: one already up (from June 29) and the second still to come (July 27). What's more, this is the final season with Henry Cavill as Geralt Of Rivia, the White Wolf himself, as Liam Hemsworth is on his way for the next installment. Not going anywhere, however, are the three lovely people on Screen Time this week, namely Freya Allen, Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra, who enjoy a thoroughly anarchic chat with Ali about all sorts of ...
Jul 07, 2023•20 min
Black Mirror, everyone's favourite dystopian sci-fi anthology series from the twisted mind - in a good way! - of Charlie Brooker, has come back after a lengthy break with a new series, four episodes of small screen panic attacks that are seemingly designed to be discussed at length in the pub. Here, trying admirably not to give too many spoilers away, we have Charlie himself, alongside co-executive producer Jessica Rhoades, as well as some of our stars, including Kate Mara, Josh Hartnett, Salma ...
Jun 30, 2023•27 min
