Screenshot

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode consider the role of natural history film and TV today. 

Ellen speaks to the wildlife cinematographer, Sophie Darlington ASC who has spent decades recording wildlife for primetime documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic, Netflix and beyond.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to Ed Sayers, director of recent feature film Super Nature, a global love letter to the natural world, filmed on Super 8. Mark also speaks to the Oscar-winning director of My Octopus Teacher, James Reed.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From Butch and Sundance to Maverick and Goose, Woody and Buzz to Frodo and Sam, male friendships have long been at the heart of many of our favourite screen stories. 

But in recent years, stories about male friendship seem to have taken on new significance. They’ve become a way of exploring emotional vulnerability and what it means to be a man in an era shaped by debates around the manosphere, toxic masculinity and the male loneliness epidemic.

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode revisit some of film and TV’s most memorable male pairings, and ask how today’s filmmakers are responding to what many describe as a crisis of masculinity. Ellen speaks to critic Matt Schimkowitz, staff writer at US website The AV Club, about how male friendships have featured in Hollywood movies, from classic comedy double acts like Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello, to the chaotic camaraderie of the Jackass movies.

Mark speaks to writer-director Bruce Robinson, who mined his own very personal experiences of male friendship to create the cult 1987 film Withnail & I, about two out-of-work actors living in Camden Town at the end of the 1960s.

And Mark also speaks to Jack Rooke, creator of the Channel 4 comedy-drama Big Boys, which found fresh emotional depth in the familiar male ‘odd-couple’ dynamic. Drawing on Jack’s own time at university in the early 2010s, the series concluded in 2025 with a highly-acclaimed episode sensitively exploring the long shadow cast by suicide.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Screenshot makes contact with film and TV’s enduring fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial life, from the Cold War paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the quietly unsettling recent TV series Pluribus.

Mark speaks to film critic Kim Newman about the history of aliens onscreen, from their arrival in 50s B Movies to The X-Files.

Ellen then talks to director John Sayles about his 80s film, Brother From Another Planet, and how the idea came to him in a dream. Ellen then talks to musician and alien movie obsessive, Mike Skinner, about his favourite alien films.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

On the 40th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at films that confine their action to a single day (and occasionally, night).

From the high-stakes urban odyssey of Martin Scorsese's After Hours to the quiet contemplation of Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7, what difference does a day make to cinema?

Ellen talks to screenwriter and novelist David Nicholls, whose international bestseller One Day followed a couple who meet on 15th July 1988, revisiting their lives on the same date every year for the next two decades.

She also talks to creative writing professor and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Kim Krizan, who co-wrote Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, the first two films in director Richard Linklater's time-constrained romantic drama trilogy.

Meanwhile, Mark speaks to writer-director and Ferris Bueller superfan Emma Seligman, whose breakthrough feature Shiva Baby wrought extraordinary tension and comedy from the course of a single afternoon.

And Mark also speaks to Danish-Norwegian director Joachim Trier. Now perhaps best known for Oscar nominees Sentimental Value and The Worst Person In The World, Trier made one of modern cinema's finest single-day films with 2011's Oslo, August 31st, which follows recovering heroin addict Anders over the course of a day and night.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode revisit the decade that transformed Britain’s image around the world, focusing on how film and TV captured - and helped shape - the spirit of Swinging London, from Blow-Up to Alfie.

Mark speaks to the "Face of 1966", model and fashion icon Twiggy, about what she was watching as the sixties started to swing - and how closely the films of the era reflected the world she experienced.

Meanwhile, Ellen speaks to cultural historian Matthew Sweet about why Richard Lester and The Beatles proved such a turning point, and how films including The Sorcerers and Two Gentlemen Sharing offer a different perspective on the Swinging Sixties story.

And Mark also talks to the iconic actress Rita Tushingham, whose remarkable run of 1960s films - including The Knack... and How to Get It, A Taste of Honey and Smashing Time - mirrored British cinema's shift from gritty black-and-white social realism to vibrant pop culture.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As the world’s longest-running prime time TV medical drama Casualty turns 40, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the small screen’s long love affair with hospitals.

Mark speaks to media academic Dr Hannah Hamad about the evolution of the hospital drama, from the reassuring bedside manner of 1950s and 60s series like Dr Kildare and Emergency Ward 10, to the relentless intensity of American hits ER and The Pitt.

Ellen talks to psychiatrist-turned-screenwriter Dr Grace Ofori-Attah about Malpractice, the ITV drama she began writing while still working as a junior doctor, and about the relationship between the realities of modern medicine and the stories we see on screen.

And to mark Casualty's 40th anniversary, Ellen also speaks to the series creators, Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock, about its origins, the controversies it has weathered, and why it continues to stay relevant four decades on.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From Disney classics such as Cinderella and Snow White, to the fantastical The Red Shoes, darker tales from European cinema like Bluebeard or Pan's Labyrinth, or stories within stories such as The Princess Bride or The Fall - Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the magical spell fairy tales have continued to cast over cinema history.

Featuring interviews with director Julia Jackman, Tarsem Singh and cultural historian, Sir Christopher Frayling.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The anarchic comedian, writer and filmmaker Mel Brooks turns 100 years old this June. Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Brooks has turned cinematic satire into an art form, through razor-sharp spoofs like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs.

But while these films are now acclaimed as all-time comedy classics, the broader genre of the spoof has often struggled for respectability. Not least Scary Movie - one of the most commercially successful film franchises of recent years, despite widespread critical panning.

With Scary Movie 6 on the horizon, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode ask - what makes for a truly great movie spoof?

Critic and Screenshot regular Anne Billson talks Ellen through a selection of spoofs, from classic Hollywood-era films from the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope, to the parody boom of the 2000s, including films like Date Movie and Epic Movie.

Mark talks to David Zucker - one third of the filmmaking trio Zucker Abrahams Zucker -about the landmark disaster spoof Airplane!, and why he believes the recent attempt to revive the team’s hit The Naked Gun series missed the mark.

And Ellen speaks to Keenen Ivory Wayans, the creative force behind the Wayans entertainment dynasty, and the director of a string of spoofs, including I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Scary Movie - about why he feels his films have been misunderstood.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Screenshot marks the 25th anniversary of the whimsical romantic comedy about a shy Parisian waitress trying very hard to improve the lives of those around her. Why does Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film continue to enchant audiences a quarter of a century on? And how did Amélie embody the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’?

Mark speaks to the director himself, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, to explore the films legacy and revisit how it was received at the time.

Ellen talks to comedian Susan Wokoma and film critic Hannah Strong on how the film embodied the twee era and indie film-making and whether Amélie was ever a manic pixie dream girl.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode head back to class to learn how teachers have been depicted on screen, from Goodbye, Mr Chips to Adolescence. What can film and television teach us, if anything, about what it takes to be a good teacher?

Mark speaks to east London-based teacher and film critic Charlotte Harrison about the enduring appeal of inspirational mentor figures in cinema, from Sidney Poitier in To Sir, with Love to Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, and how far these stories reflect - or distort - the realities of life in the classroom. She also highlights the films and TV series that come closest to capturing the day-to-day experience of teaching.

Ellen talks to Guz Khan, star of Man Like Mobeen, who first honed his crowd-control skills in a Coventry classroom before turning to stand-up comedy and acting, about how screen depictions compare with his own experience as a teacher.

She also speaks to British television legend Sir Philip Redmond about Grange Hill, the groundbreaking, long-running school drama he created in 1978, whose characters - from Mr Bronson to Mrs McClusky - became as familiar to generations of British pupils as their real-life teachers.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4.

Screenshot lays bare the long, often controversial history of nakedness in film and TV, from shocking and titillating moments, to those that reveal deeper truths about our bodies, vulnerabilities and desires.

Mark speaks to film critic Pamela Hutchinson about the history of nudity throughout film history. They discuss some of cinema's most notable and shocking films as well as how changing attitudes are effecting what we see on screen.

Ellen then speaks to writer and film director Bridgett M. Davis, about her 1996 film, Naked Acts. A film ahead of its time, it explores the nuances of nudity on screen for women, and Black women in particular.

Mark then talks to director Tim Mielants about his existential comedy, Patrick, which takes place in a nudist camp.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark step into the ring to explore cinema's most heavyweight genre, fifty years on from Sylvester Stallone's smash-hit film Rocky. What is it about the boxing movie that makes it not just a sports movie, but a genre of its very own?

Critic Christina Newland gives Mark a punchy rundown of how boxing movies throughout history - from Body And Soul to Raging Bull - have tackled themes of race, class and identity.

Ellen speaks to former world cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, who moved from the ring to the big screen in 2016, acting in the Creed films.

And Ellen also talks to actor Amir-El Masry, who played the Yemeni-heritage, Yorkshire-born maverick boxing champion Prince Naseem Hamid in the electrifying 2026 biopic Giant.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Alexander Graham Bell made the first ever telephone call 150 years ago this spring. That single moment of connection would transform communication - and provide storytellers with a rich device for drama, comedy, intimacy and tension. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode trace the history of the phone on screen, and examine how the movies have handled the thorny problem of the smartphone.

Mark speaks to author and critic Kim Newman about some of the most iconic telephone calls in cinema, from Dr Strangelove to Scream.

Meanwhile, Ellen delves into how film and TV are responding to the smartphone age, with the help of critic Kayleigh Donaldson. And she speaks to American filmmaker Janicza Bravo, whose 2015 film Zola made inventive use of the cellphone.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode swap film reels for fishing reels, to ponder why fishing onscreen has got us hooked. The net is cast wide to consider everything from industrial scale fleets showcased in films like The Perfect Storm and long running series, Deadliest Catch, to more leisurely endeavours like The River Runs Through It, and the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

With guests, Mark Jenkin, John Lurie and Gagga Jónsdóttir.

Mark speaks to Cornish film director Mark Jenkin about why fishing has continued to have such a strong presence in his films, and how the industry has often been romanticised onscreen. Jenkins 2019 feature debut Bait dramatised clashes between tourists and locals in a once flourishing fishing village, and in his newest film, Rose of Nevada, a fishing vessel lost for 30 years mysteriously reappears in a derelict harbour.

The actor, painter and frequent Jim Jarmusch collaborator, John Lurie, shares with Ellen how his 90s cult TV show, Fishing With John, hauled away the conventions of late night cable fishing shows, and what it was like onboard with the actors, Dennis Hopper and Willem Defoe.

Ellen also talks to the Icelandic writer-director, Gagga Jónsdóttir, about her documentary, Strengur, and some of her unexpected cinematic sources of inspiration. The film follows the journey of four teenage girls challenging traditional gender roles on the River Laxá, as seventh generation angling guides.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As a new adaptation of Emily Bronte's Yorkshire-set novel Wuthering Heights hits cinemas, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at how the area known as God's Own Country has been depicted in film and television.

Mark speaks to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker about his love for the 1969 Ken Loach film Kes, and about why the city of Sheffield was the perfect setting for the post-apocalyptic TV drama Threads.

And Mark also speaks to Clio Barnard - the writer-director behind such acclaimed films as The Arbor, The Selfish Giant and Ali & Ava - about why she is repeatedly drawn to Yorkshire in her film-making.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Sally Wainwright, the prolific TV writer who has made her name with a series of insightful, essential television dramas set in Yorkshire, from At Home with the Braithwaites to Riot Women.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

For more than six decades, in the face of censorship and even imprisonment, Iranian filmmakers have produced some of the world’s best-loved cinema. And now, with the legendary Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s latest film It Was Just An Accident up for Oscar and BAFTA Awards, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode review this extraordinarily rich and unique cinema history.

Mark speaks to the British-Iranian director Babak Anvari about his supernatural-thriller film Under the Shadow, inspired by his experiences growing up during the Iran-Iraq War, and how and why Iranian cinema has had such a huge impact on film culture.

Ellen talks to Sepideh Farsi, who was forced to leave Iran for Paris as a teenager, about her 2009 documentary, Tehran Without Permission, which she made entirely independently on a Nokia cameraphone.

And Ellen also meets Hassan Nazer, an Aberdeen-based Iranian director who came to the UK as a refugee and whose 2022 film Winners is a love-letter to his country’s film-making tradition.

Producer: Artemis Irvine A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From Norma Desmond to Mrs Robinson, the older woman has long been a provocative icon of cinema. And older woman-younger man relationships are still raising eyebrows and garnering headlines, thanks to recent films like Babygirl, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Marty Supreme.

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at what happens when the woman is older in an age gap relationship, and ask - why is the older woman still such a provocative proposition?

Ellen speaks to critic and cosmopolitan older woman Anne Billson about the evolution of the older woman through film history, from Sunset Boulevard to Something's Gotta Give.

Mark talks to actor Anne Reid about her controversial first lead film role, in 2003's The Mother - about a sexagenarian grandmother who starts a relationship with her daughter's boyfriend, played by Daniel Craig.

And Mark also talks to Matt Greenhalgh, the screenwriter behind Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, which told the story of Hollywood star Gloria Grahame's real late-in-life romance with the 28-year-old Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Whether marooned on a desert island or stranded by a plane crash, countless stories of survival are found onscreen. In both dramatic reimagining and reality television formats, these narratives showcase ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. But why are these feats of human endurance so compelling to watch?

Ellen E Jones speaks to Ray Mears, wilderness guide, bushcraft expert, and broadcaster who has spent his life teaching people how to stay alive in some of the most remote parts of the world. He shares what film and television gets wrong about survival - and why the witchetty grub deserves more reverence.

Debra Granik, director of the 2018 film Leave No Trace, reflects on how sessions with a primitive skills instructor and Youtube shelter building tutorials informed her approach to filming. She also describes why survival can often include economic survival in some regions of the USA, and why a certain skillset is vital for everyday living, as evidenced in her 2010 film Winter's Bone.

Mark talks to the daring wanderer and survivor Werner Herzog, a filmmaker with decades of experience in perilous scenarios. Werner details his fascination with the survival narratives found in his documentaries, Wings of Hope and Little Dieter Needs to Fly - and why finding yourself back from the brink of existence can lead to a greater appreciation of life.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Fifty years on from the release of the film Carrie, directed by Brian DePalma and based on the first novel by Stephen King, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at King adaptations on screen, from The Shawshank Redemption to The Shining. Why is the work of the modern horror maestro so often adapted? And what is the best ever Stephen King adaptation?

Ellen hears from US critic and writer Maitland McDonagh, who has been a front-row witness to King on screen for five decades, about her favourite adaptations of his work - from Misery to The Monkey.

And Ellen speaks to Edgar Wright - the director of Shaun Of The Dead, Baby Driver and the most recent King adaptation to reach cinema screens - The Running Man.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to Mike Flanagan - the filmmaker who, perhaps more than any other in recent years, has helped keep King's work vividly alive on screen, with adaptations of Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, The Life of Chuck and a forthcoming new take on Carrie.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at one of the most beloved screen genres of them all - the courtroom drama. From classics like 12 Angry Men and A Few Good Men, to modern examples such as Saint Omer and Anatomy Of A Fall  - what are the tricks and tropes of trials in cinema and TV?

Mark speaks to film critic and programmer, Christina Newland, about the history of the genre. They discuss everything from To Kill a Mockingbird to Legally Blonde as they examine how the genre has evolved.

Ellen then speaks to critic Kim Newman about how TV courtroom dramas and reality TV turn audiences into jurors themselves. Ellen also speaks to Ronald Gladden, the star of the TV show, Jury Duty. 

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

2025 marks 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, the English writer whose finely tuned observations of Regency life shaped the modern novel. But perhaps more notably for Screenshot, it’s also 30 years since Colin Firth walked out of a lake and straight into the nation’s hearts, in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice miniseries.

Three decades on from the ‘Austenmania’ of 1995, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore Jane Austen adaptations past and present. Do screen versions of novels like Emma and Sense and Sensibility offer a cosy retreat from the modern world - or do they still have something to say in the present moment?

Mark speaks to film writer and researcher Lillian Crawford about various Austen triumphs and missteps on screen, from numerous incarnations of Emma, to Netflix’s recent update on her last novel, Persuasion. He also speaks to playwright Nick Dear about an adaptation many Austen experts consider a high-water mark - the 1995 version of Persuasion, written by Dear and directed by Roger Michell for the BBC’s Screen Two strand.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Amy Heckerling, writer and director of the classic 1995 comedy Clueless, which transplants Austen’s novel Emma to a Beverly Hills high school. And she also speaks to writer-director Celine Song, whose recent film Materialists stars Dakota Johnson as a professional matchmaker - and unmistakably bears the influence of Austen.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore a once-popular genre of cinema which flourished in the mid-20th Century with films like Now Voyager, Mildred Pierce and All That Heaven Allows, and is still alive and kicking today - albeit often in unexpected ways.

Ellen speaks to film critic Pamela Hutchinson about the melodramatic women's pictures of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and about why the melodrama genre may be thriving in the current day, in the form of the male melodrama.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to two directors from either side of the Atlantic, both well acquainted with the 21st century melodrama.

British-Moroccan director Fyzal Boulifa talks about the influence of a 1950s Joan Crawford melodrama noir on his 2022 indie film The Damned Don't Cry, and about the post-revolutionary roots of the melodrama form.

And American indie darling Todd Haynes discusses how melodrama runs through his filmography, from 2002's Far From Heaven, which reimagined the world of director Douglas Sirk for a 21st Century audience, to the ‘queer-melodrama’ classic Carol.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen and Mark explore the enduring appeal of Frankenstein.

Mark speaks to director Guillermo Del Toro on his new adaptation of the classic novel and why the Frankenstein story has had such an influence on his career.

Ellen then talks to critic Anne Billson about the history of Frankenstein throughout cinema history as well as speaking to director Bomani J. Story on his interpretation in his film, The Angry Black Girl and her Monster.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Mark and Ellen celebrate 50 years of the ground breaking TV drama, The Naked Civil Servant.

Mark speaks to Rob Halford of Judas Priest about how The Naked Civil Servant changed his life. Mark then talks to filmmaker and drag queen Amrou Al-Kadhi about how forward thinking the show was and its influence on their own work.

Ellen talks to historian Stephen Bourne about the impact of The Naked Civil Servant on British television.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

This week, Ellen and Mark read between the lines, and find out what can get lost in translation.

Mark speaks to the film critic, Manuela Lazic, who discusses the impossibility of translation, and her experiences of watching films and television across languages. Next, the translator and film critic, Irina Margareta Nistor details her role in overdubbing bootlegged VHS tapes during the Ceaușescu dictatorship in Romania. During the 1980s, her work allowed local audiences an escape from the regime through the medium of foreign cinema.

Meanwhile, Ellen discusses the poetry of translation with Darcy Paquet. The translator has produced subtitles with collaborators including the South Korean film director, Bong Joon Ho, on the Oscar award winning film, Parasite. Darcy shares the challenges found in a set character count, and some of the cultural specificities he's noted along the way.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Viewers are so used to seeing death and dying on screen, often in dramatic or unrealistic ways. Ellen and Mark explore how films and TV are drawn to personifications of death, why we need more realistic depictions and who is making them. 

Mark speaks to film critic Kim Newman about the way in which personifications of death have been portrayed throughout cinema history, from The Seventh Seal to the Final Destination series. Mark then talks to director Kristen Johnson about her film, Dick Johnson is Dead.

Ellen talks to academic Michele Aaron about how death and dying has been depicted in film and if we need more realistic depictions.

Producer: Hester Cant A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

2025 marks 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner - the great 19th century landscape artist, whose expressive, atmospheric paintings transformed British art. His life and genius was also unforgettably brought to the screen in Mike Leigh’s 2014 film Mr Turner, starring Timothy Spall. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the long relationship between cinema and painting.

Mark speaks to cultural historian Professor Sir Christopher Frayling on Hollywood's approach to the history of art, from Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh to Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo. He then talks to actor Timothy Spall on how playing JMW Turner led to a parallel career as a painter.

Ellen explores the relationship between painting and cinematography with cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins. She also speaks to artist Cathy Lomax on the painterly in cinema - and the cinematic in painting.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As cult classic American Psycho turns 25 this year, Ellen and Mark investigate the world of yuppies on screen and ask, are yuppies a thing of the past or more prevalent than ever? They talk to director of American Psycho Mary Harron, co creators of BBC/HBO drama Industry and indie film director Whit Stillman.

Ellen speaks to director Whit Stillman, whose ‘doomed bourgeois in love’ trilogy chronicles the lives of yuppies in the late 80’s. Ellen talks to him about his affectionate take on the era and whether his aunt really did invent the phrase ‘yuppie’.

Mark speaks to Mary Harron, director of American Psycho. They discuss the film's surprising legacy and the casting of Christian Bale in his now iconic role as product-obsessed super-yuppie Patrick Bateman.

Ellen then speaks to Konrad Kay and Mickey Down, co creators of finance-world drama, Industry. They discuss their love of American Psycho and the way in which wealth is portrayed on screen.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

For a very special 100th episode of Screenshot, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the cult classic TV show.

The great surrealist American filmmaker David Lynch died in January 2025 at the age of 78. Lynch's films spanned the underground midnight movie Eraserhead, the black and white heartbreaker The Elephant Man and the critically beloved Mulholland Drive. Yet the director was perhaps most appreciated for the TV show he co-created with screenwriter Mark Frost - Twin Peaks.

Mark speaks to Mark Frost about his relationship with Lynch, and about the impact and legacy of their ground-breaking series. The pair discuss how pressure to solve the central murder of high school student Laura Palmer impacted Twin Peaks, and how the revival of the series in 2017 - after a 25 year hiatus - now seems fated.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to critic and die-hard Twin Peaks fan Jourdain Searles about the series' dedicated cult following.

And she speaks to actor Tim Roth, star of Reservoir Dogs and Rob Roy, who got a chance to work with his hero David Lynch in 2017 on Twin Peaks: The Return.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode are on patrol, investigating why the police procedural continues to be so arresting for audiences.

Mark meets the film writer and critic Kim Newman who charts the beginnings of the genre and some of its tropes. Next, he talks to the director and documentarian Sandhya Suri, to discuss her feature film debut, Santosh, that follows the journey of a widow turned police constable.

Meanwhile, Ellen discusses how fiction aimed to mimic reality in 90s TV series, Homicide: Life on the Street, with actor from the show, Kyle Secor. She also speaks to Simon Ford, executive producer of the documentary series, 24 Hours in Police Custody, who explains how dramatic structure borrowed from fiction has helped the award-winning programme tell wider stories about the world around us.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Remakes continue to proliferate on our screens. Over the last few months, we’ve had live action remakes in cinemas of classic animations Snow White, Lilo And Stitch, and How To Train Your Dragon, along with legacy reboots of the horror hit I Know What You Did Last Summer and DC’s Superman, and - coming soon - a new spin on the 1980s comedy The Naked Gun.

So is this all just evidence of a dearth of creativity in Hollywood? Or are there some artistically valid reasons to re-make existing films? And can a remake ever be better than the original? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the past, present and future of the remake.

Mark speaks to critic Anne Billson about the remakes she considers worthy of our attention, from Brian De Palma’s Scarface to John Carpenter’s The Thing. And he also talks with Jim McBride who, in 1983, directed Breathless - a remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic A Bout de Souffle, which Mark has long considered superior to the original.

Ellen talks to TV critic Roxana Hadadi about what television can bring to the remake party - and about the TV series that managed to improve on their source material. And Ellen also speaks to Noah Hawley, showrunner of the multi-Emmy winning Fargo and upcoming Alien: Earth TV series, about the creative possibilities of TV reboots.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

30 years after Mel Gibson's Braveheart cloaked Hollywood in fake tartan, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take the high roads and the low roads to look for the real Scotland on screen.

Ellen talks with Tayside journalist Kayleigh Donaldson about the trouble with Braveheart, why veteran Scottish director Bill Forsyth's hyper local comedy dramas Local Hero, Gregory's Girl, and That Sinking Feeling have such international appeal, and why movies such as Ben Sharrock's Limbo tell a different kind of story about Scotland.

Comedian and writer Frankie Boyle tells Ellen why Gregory's Girl is one of Scotland's most beloved films, why Lynne Ramsay's New York City based thriller You Were Never Really Here starring Joaquin Phoenix as a violent mercenary feels so Scottish, and his reservations about Danny Boyle's Trainspotting.

Mark reconnects with legendary Scottish actor and star of Succession Brian Cox who has returned to Scotland to make his directorial debut Glenrothan. They discuss Brigadoon, Braveheart (which starred Brian Cox), cultural neglect, and the Powell & Pressburger classic movie set on the Isle of Mull, I Know Where I'm Going.

Producer: Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate 25 years of In The Mood For Love - director Wong Kar Wai's acclaimed romantic drama starring Maggie Cheung as Mrs Chan and Tony Leung as Mr Chow - two neighbours in 1960s Hong Kong, bonded by a revelation about their respective spouses.

Critically beloved on its first release back in 2000, the film is now reaching an entirely new generation of young film fans, thanks in part to its popularity on social media sites like Letterboxd and TikTok.

Mark speaks to critic and sometime filmmaker Tony Rayns, who was a key part of Wong Kar-Wai's team for many years, working closely with the director on the English subtitles for his films. Tony gives Mark the inside story of the production of In The Mood For Love, as well as some insight into the enigmatic director's sometimes chaotic working methods.

Ellen takes a trip to The Prince Charles Cinema in London's Leicester Square - where film fans in their early 20s have been packing screenings of In The Mood For Love - to try to get a sense of why Wong Kar Wai's modern masterpiece has developed such a devoted fanbase. And she speaks to Paul Vickery - Head of Programming at the Prince Charles - about the film's continuing popularity with audiences.

And Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young tells Mark how he fell in love with the work of Wong Kar-Wai - and why he thinks In The Mood For Love is still resonating with young viewers a quarter century on.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As music festival season takes hold of the summer, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at festival films from Woodstock to Summer of Soul. Can you really capture the spirit of a music festival on screen?

Mark speaks to legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker about her era-defining, Academy Award-nominated work on the documentary film Woodstock. He then talks to maverick British director Julien Temple about filming Glastonbury - his very personal film about the history of the English music festival.

Ellen talks to music journalist Shaad D’Souza about the relationship between festivals and screen culture in the 21st century, from Bridget Jones to Beyonce at Coachella. And she also speaks to director Jamie Crawford, whose 2022 documentary series Trainwreck: Woodstock 99 showed - in some detail - what can happen when the festival dream gets torn down and trampled underfoot.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Fifty years ago this summer, Jaws was released in the US. Directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the bestselling novel by Peter Benchley, the film - about a coastal resort town threatened by a great white stark at the busiest time of the year - was a groundbreaking box office phenomenon.

Jaws changed the industry overnight - pioneering new marketing and release patterns, and altering the focus and mix of movies that Hollywood made - some say for the worse.

From Jaws and Star Wars through to the double whammy of Barbenheimer, summer blockbusters have dominated cinemas. But is this changing? And is there more to the summer blockbuster than big box office and a summer release date? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode join the queue for popcorn to explore the genre.

Mark speaks to critic and author Tim Robey about how Jaws went from potential disaster to record-breaking hit, and about the summer blockbusters that followed. And he also speaks to Jenny He, senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, about the museum’s forthcoming ‘Jaws: The Exhibition’ and the marketing techniques that helped make the 1975 film such a success.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to pop culture critic Kayleigh Donaldson about box office mega-hits for the modern age - and how the inescapable megalith of Marvel has impacted the summer film landscape.

And Ellen also speaks to Canadian filmmaker Nyla Innuksuk about her 2022 film Slash/Back - a Spielberg-influenced summer-blockbuster-in-spirit sci-fi adventure movie set in the remote Arctic fishing town of Pangnirtung.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The Brutalist has been one of the most talked about films of the year and taps into a rich vein of films and television that dramatise the immigrant experience.

From The Godfather Part 2 to Small Axe, The Emigrants to Home and Away and An American Tail - Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode examine how filmmakers have investigated and portrayed the perils, patterns and adventure of human movement across the globe.

Mark speaks to film critic Christina Newland about the history of immigrant epics in Hollywood - from Once Upon a Time in America to The Brutalist.

Ellen then speaks to writer and creator of the tv series Get Millie Black, Marlon James, about his experience watching Small Axe for the first time. Ellen also talks to director Sir Steve McQueen about his anthology series Small Axe and how the films act as their own immigrant epic for the Windrush generation.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Pretty Woman was released in 1990. One of the most beloved and successful romantic comedies of all time, the film tells the Cinderella story of a sex worker, played by Julia Roberts, who finds love with a slick businessman - Richard Gere - after he picks her up on Hollywood Boulevard.

Fast forward to 2025 and the astonishing Oscar success of Anora - director Sean Baker’s tale of a young sex worker whose whirlwind affair with a Russian billionaire’s son turns bad, fast.

So how has the way we treat sex work on screen changed? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the long and thorny relationship between cinema and sex work.

Mark speaks to film historian and critic Pamela Hutchinson about how sex work has been tackled in over a hundred years of movies - from early silent films like Pandora’s Box, to the work of Sean Baker. They discuss Jane Fonda’s Oscar-winning turn as a ‘call girl’ in Klute, and look at how male sex worker films like Midnight Cowboy might approach the subject differently.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Andrea Werhun, the writer, performer and real-life sex worker who served as a consultant on Anora - about her work on the film, and her love for another Richard Gere sex work film, American Gigolo.

And Ellen also speaks to Kristen Lovell and Zachary Drucker, whose 2023 documentary The Stroll traced the history of trans sex workers in New York City’s Meatpacking District. Kristen and Zachary discuss why sex work has been a key part of trans history - and what they think Anora’s success means for sex workers.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

*** Broadcast as part 4 Extra's The Stories of Studio Ghibli season.

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode waltz into the magical world of Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985, as the animation giant celebrates its 40th birthday.

Ellen speaks to the film, TV and video game critic Kambole Campbell about Studio Ghibli's origin story and key aspects of visual style.

And the animator and co-founder of Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, Nora Twomey discusses the emotional impact of films like My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies.

Mark meets actor Emily Mortimer, who discusses the process of re-dubbing for the film, Howl's Moving Castle.

And the animator and director, Michaël Dudok de Wit discusses the collaborative relationship forged with Studio Ghibli while working on his feature length production The Red Turtle.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans

A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2025.

With the latest series of the much-discussed drama The White Lotus recently wrapped up, Screenshot asks why cinema and TV make so many return visits to hotels as a setting.

Whether sinister and scary like in The Shining or Psycho, fabulous but faded like The Grand Budapest Hotel, or comically chaotic like in Fawlty Towers, hotels offer a myriad of possible opportunities for drama. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode check in to check out their rich history on screen.

Ellen talks to film critic Hannah Strong about the timeless appeal of screen stays from the 1932 classic Grand Hotel to The White Lotus - and about how directors Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola have made hotels the focus of some of their most famous films.

Ellen also speaks to Sean MacPherson, hotelier, cinephile and co-owner of the storied Hotel Chelsea in New York City, about the glamorous allure of historic hotels - and the impact of the movies on hotel design.

Mark speaks to writer and critic Anne Billson about the seedier - and scarier - side of hotels on screen, from the Coen Brothers' 1991 cult classic Barton Fink, to the 1990 Roald Dahl fantasy The Witches.

And Mark also talks to director Rodney Ascher, whose 2012 documentary Room 237 explored Stanley Kubrick's The Shining from the unusual points of view of a number of theorists - all of whom seem to have checked into the film's Overlook hotel and never been able to leave.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

With the Robert Pattinson starring film Mickey 17 fresh out in the cinema, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the world of doppelgangers and doubles on screen.

Ellen speaks to academic and doppelganger scholar Adam Golub about the difference between clones and doppelgangers and what the doppelganger tells us about life in 2025. Ellen then talks to an actress about what its like playing a clone.

Mark speaks to director Richard Ayoade about his 2013 film The Double. It stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska and is an adaptation of the classic Fyodor Dostoevsky novel from 1866. Mark and Richard discuss adapting such a classic novel, the distinct look of the film and the idea of Jung's 'shadow self' and its influence on doubles on screen.

Produced by Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate weddings in film and TV, from Muriel's Wedding to Married at First Sight.

Mark speaks to Richard Curtis about the inspiration behind the classic British wedding film, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and about Curtis' own recent wedding to long-term partner Emma Freud. And he gets critic Manuela Lazic's rundown of some of the most memorable cinematic weddings, from The Godfather to The Graduate.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to actor Susan Wokoma about her favourite wedding romcoms - including the Julia Roberts-starring My Best Friend's Wedding. And she attempts to get to grips with the world of wedding reality TV with comedian Ashley Ray.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

With physical media sales on the rise and streaming fatigue setting in, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the life, death and rebirth of the video shop.

Ellen takes a trip to one of the UK's few remaining stores, 20th Century Flicks in Bristol, which has a strong claim to being the longest-running video shop in the world, first opening in 1982. She speaks to manager Dave Taylor about the evolution of the shop over the last 43 years, and finds out how he feels about how video shop clerks have been depicted on screen.

Mark talks to American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry about his new essay film Videoheaven, which explores the history of videotape as a medium and video stores as physical locations, told entirely through their depiction in film and TV shows.

And Mark also speaks to writer and producer Kate Hagen about her search for the world's last great video stores.

Produced by Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The last few years have seen a number of new entries on the cinematic hit list, from David Fincher’s The Killer to Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. TV has also seen its fair share of hitmen in the last year; the reboot of the 2005 Brad and Angelina film Mr and Mrs Smith; Eddie Redmayne donning various elaborate disguises in a Day of the Jackal update, as well as Black Doves. It seems these days hitmen are among TV and film’s most wanted.

Mark talks to critic Christina Newland about the history of crime cinema's enigmatic icon, exploring everything from cult oddities such as Branded to Kill to the female assassin of the 90's such as Nikita and The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Ellen goes deep on cult classic Le Samouraï with Kill List and A Field in England director Ben Wheatley and academic Ginette Vincendeau; they discuss the relationship between hitmen and samurai in cinema.

Produced by Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the visionary world of veteran British filmmaker Mike Leigh, as he returns with Hard Truths - his first film in six years.

Born in 1943 and raised in Salford, Leigh started his career in the theatre, before moving to TV in the 1970s, making a string of plays and films for the BBC. 

Since his very first film Bleak Moments in 1971, Mike Leigh has been at the cutting edge of British screen culture, creating a diverse body of work which ranges from the exquisitely excruciating 1970s comedy of manners Abigail’s Party, to his epic biopic of the 19th century painter Mr Turner. 

Ellen attempts to get to grips with Leigh’s singular creative process - which involves assembling a group of actors and getting them to research and develop their characters in detail. She speaks to Mike Leigh himself about how he approaches each of his films, and about the unmade big budget project he’d still like to see realised.

Mark learns about an actor’s role on a Mike Leigh project - speaking to Hard Truths lead actor Marianne Jean Baptiste, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets & Lies.

And Mark also speaks to American independent filmmaker Sean Baker - whose latest film Anora is shaping up as a major Oscar contender - about the profound impact Leigh's 1993 film Naked had on his career.

Produced by Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

How does film and TV make time travel real? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a quantum leap into the world of time travel and time loops on screen, from Back To The Future to Groundhog Day.

Mark speaks to theoretical physicist Sean Carroll about how movies like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Interstellar have handled the science of time travel - and whether it really is just the stuff of fantasy. And he talks to Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out director Rian Johnson about the dramatic allure of playing with time, and about Rian's 2012 film Looper, which starred Bruce Willis as a criminal sent back to the past to be eliminated by his younger self.

Meanwhile, Ellen explores a sub-genre less concerned with mechanics and physics, and more with emotion and moral dilemmas - the time loop story. She speaks to Black Doves screenwriter Joe Barton about his time loop TV series The Lazarus Project. And film critic Anne Billson runs her through some examples of the genre she finds most - and least - captivating, from Palm Springs to About Time.

Produced by Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore how therapists have been portrayed on screen throughout cinema and television history. From the benign care of Claude Rains’ Dr Jaquith in Now, Voyager (1942), and the neuroses of Woody Allen, to the deadly Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991), they survey the archetypes, the foibles, and the dramatic potential of the psychotherapist - both fictional and real.

Mark speaks with Richard Hughes, the TV producer and director turned psychotherapist, about his favourite screen therapists. And actor and writer Brett Goldstein talks about his Emmy nominated TV show, Shrinking, which features a therapist going off the rails.

Ellen speaks to Dr Orna Guralnik from the TV show Couples Therapy about what it's like conducting real therapy sessions on screen and what film and TV gets wrong about its depiction of therapy. ‘Therapy Speak’ is everywhere on social media, but it’s also present in many film and TV shows - Ellen discusses its rise with journalist Billie Walker.

Produced by Freya Hellier A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

In the year that Jacques Demy’s beloved Umbrellas of Cherbourg turns 60, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones reflect on their favourite aspects of the screen musical.

According to some, we’re currently in the midst of a movie musicals revival, with Jon M Chu’s Wicked hot on the heels of Emila Perez and Joker: Folie à Deux, but will any of them match what Ellen considers to be the pinnacle of the form, the 1950s Hollywood musical?

Her love of the classic MGM musicals primed Ellen to be a huge fan of the TV show Crazy Ex Girlfriend when it came along. This is the musical sitcom that took all of these essential elements of the 1950s Hollywood musical, then recombined them with a very 21st Century approach to relationships and mental health. Ellen speaks with Crazy Ex Girlfriend creator and star Rachel Bloom about Disney, writing jokes for the screen, and spontaneous singing.

But it’s essential to pay proper tribute to the classics, and in particular the work of American lyricist and producer Arthur Freed. Ellen sat down with writer, filmmaker and actor Manuela Lazic to talk about Freed’s masterpiece, 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain which stars Gene Kelly, who also co-directed with Stanley Donen.

And Mark meets Janis Pugh, director of Chuck Chuck Baby, a low budget, British indie charmer set in a chicken processing factory that is deeply influenced by Jacques Demy’s 1964 French hit The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Janis Pugh is not alone in her love of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It follows the story of two young lovers whose future together is interrupted by the Algerian war, with the French dialogue entirely sung and set perfectly to the music of Michel Le Grand. Writer and editor of Little White Lies, David Jenkins, is a huge fan of Jacques Demy, and he speaks with Mark about the film’s influences and legacy.

Produced by Freya Hellier. A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora is the latest in a long line of movies to use Las Vegas as a setting. So why is the desert gambling city such catnip for filmmakers? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore Vegas on screen.

Ellen speaks to author Shawn Levy about the unparalleled showbiz glamour of midcentury Las Vegas and the quintessential Rat Pack Vegas movie - Ocean’s 11. And she talks to DJ and producer David Holmes about his work on the soundtrack for director Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 Ocean’s Eleven remake, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Meanwhile, Mark looks at how the dark underbelly of the gambling city has been captured on screen by filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to Paul Verhoeven, with critic Christina Newland. And he talks to Mike Figgis about directing Nicolas Cage to Oscar glory in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas - the tale of an alcoholic who goes to the city to drink himself to death.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As November marks the TV premiere on BBC 2 of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, as well as a season of films on the BBC and iPlayer, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the films of these two titans of British Cinema.

Film and culture writer, Lilian Crawford shares with Mark why the works of Powell and Pressburger are a matter of life and death, and how the duo's technicolour films took their cue from the worlds of ballet and opera.

Mark also speaks to British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay, for whom Powell and Pressburger’s films hold a strong personal allure. She discusses the technical wizardry and in-camera magic found across their productions, and how that has inspired her own image-making.

Meanwhile, Kevin Macdonald, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker and grandson of Emeric Pressburger, shares with Ellen how some Powell and Pressburger films are nuanced examples of wartime propaganda, and why some still resonate and remain relevant to Britain today.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

With Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu - a remake of the 1922 adaptation of Dracula - hitting UK cinemas in the new year, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones take a look at one of cinema's most enduring monsters, the vampire.

Mark talks to friend of the show and vampire expert, Kim Newman, about the evolution of vampires over the last century. They discuss everything from Bela Lugosi’s career defining performance as Count Dracula to the Twilight series.

Meanwhile, Ellen meets host and producer of The Evolution of Horror podcast, Mike Muncer. They go deep on teen vampire films and the everlasting appeal of cult classic The Lost Boys.

Ellen also speaks to Jane Schoenbrun, director of the new film, I Saw the TV Glow. They discuss their shared love of TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its influence on Jane’s film about outsider teens who are obsessed with a fantasy TV show.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

To mark the tenth anniversary of BBC sitcom Detectorists, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones dig into archaeologists and treasure hunters on screen.

Mark speaks first to stand-up comedian and actor Alexei Sayle about his small, but pivotal, role in the third Indiana Jones film The Last Crusade.

Mark then talks to Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, whose recent film La Chimera is the story of a down-at-heel tomb raider, played by Josh O’Connor, looting Etruscan artefacts in 1980s Italy.

Meanwhile, Ellen speaks to French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop about her new film Dahomey - a docudrama that follows 26 looted treasures from the 19th century Kingdom of Dahomey, as they make their return trip from Paris to present-day Benin.

And she talks to Mackenzie Crook, creator and star of Detectorists, about how an episode of Time Team inspired the series - about a pair of Essex metal detectorists hunting for long-buried treasures from the past.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the impact of Saturday Night Live, or SNL, as the long-running US sketch show prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Just how important is SNL in the history of American comedy? And why have we never quite understood it over here?

Ellen speaks to actor and former SNL writer Paula Pell about how it felt to get a job on the show after growing up as an obsessed fan - and whether the hectic schedule of Saturday Night Live is always conducive to the best comedy. And she talks to US comedian and podcaster Ashley Ray about SNL's enduring influence on American humour, and its relevance for audiences as it enters its 50th season.

Meanwhile, Mark discusses the cinema that has emerged from the series - from big hitters like The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World to box office flops MacGruber and A Night at the Roxbury - with author and Empire magazine editor Nick de Semlyen. And he gets the inside track on working with SNL's legendary super-producer Lorne Michaels - and on bringing the music of Queen to a whole new generation - from Wayne's World's director Penelope Spheeris.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As The Shawshank Redemption turns 30, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore life behind bars as seen on screen, investigating how film and TV have shaped our ideas about the prison system. Why do prisons make such good settings for cinema?

Ellen investigates the relationship between prison exploitation and prison reform, talking to director S Craig Zahler about his ultra-violent 2017 film Brawl In Cell Block 99 and the movies that inspired it, from Birdman of Alcatraz to Riot in Cell Block 11. And she speaks to Dr Kalima Young about the impact of Netflix's hit series about a women's prison, Orange Is The New Black.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to writer and broadcast Richard Weight about the enduring relevance of the classic British sitcom Porridge. And he speaks to 'the daddy' of prison dramas - Ray Winstone - about the impact of his breakout role as a borstal boy in the controversial, banned TV play Scum.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones ask if we still go to the movies to be shocked.

As Caligula: The Ultimate Cut hits cinemas, Mark talks to stars of the notorious cult classic, Dame Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell. They discuss the film's long journey to the new version, and what it was really like on set of one of independent cinemas most controversial productions.

Ellen examines what shock value means in the digital age and how shocking cinema has evolved over cinema's history. She speaks to film critic Virginie Selavy about how critical and audience perception of 'shocking' content has evolved from Tod Browning's Freaks to the cinema of Lar Von Trier, and if audiences really are harder to shock. Ellen then talks to comedian and director Bobcat Goldthwait about his transgressive films, which are favourites of John Waters, and how an increasingly bizarre political landscape has affected his filmmaking.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a deep ‘dive' into the world of water to mark the 40th anniversary this summer of the joyous romantic comedy Splash hitting our screens. Splash features Tom Hanks' leading man debut as he meets and falls for mermaid Daryl Hannah in New York, before they finally swim off into the sunset together.

From The Little Mermaid through Miranda to The Lure, mermaids have a long rich history in the movies.

Mark talks to director Agnieszka Smoczyńska about her 1980s set Polish mermaid musical The Lure. They discuss cinema's fascination with the mermaid myth.

Ellen looks back into cinema history to explore the films of Esther Williams - nicknamed the Million Dollar Mermaid - a swimmer turned actress whose ‘aquamusicals' in the 40s and 50s featured elaborate synchronised swimming sequences and made waves at the box office. She speaks to synchronised swimming choreographer Mēsha Kussman and friend of the show Lillian Crawford about the enduring appeal and surprising legacy of the aquamusical.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at how popstars - and their fans - have been depicted in film and TV over the years.

Mark speaks to record producer and documentary director Jeremy Dylan about some of the most memorable pop idols on screen, from A Hard Day’s Night to Spice World.

And he talks to legendary songwriter Paul Williams about his dual role as both star actor and music composer on Brian DePalma’s prescient 1974 pop fable Phantom of the Paradise.

Meanwhile, Ellen looks at portrayals of pop fans on screen with critic Kayleigh Donaldson, and screenwriter Janine Nabers, who co-created the recent Beyonce-inspired satirical comedy-horror TV miniseries Swarm.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a deep dive into Spike Lee’s incendiary 1989 drama about simmering racial tension in and around a Brooklyn pizzeria.

We celebrate 35 years of a film that announced itself like a beat box on full blast. Set within a single inner city block in Brooklyn, New York City on the hottest day of the summer, the movie depicts racial tensions that simmer, as things look set to explode.

Ellen speaks to the film's director Spike Lee to find out how this extraordinary, legacy-defining film originated, and his reaction to its initial mixed reception. And we hear from film critic and Spike Lee biographer, Kaleem Aftab - to discuss the impact of the film, and the United States that it depicts.

Meanwhile, Mark meets upcoming film director, Dionne Edwards to find out how the title sequence of Do the Right Thing inspired her own opening scene in the movie, Pretty Red Dress.

Long time Spike Lee collaborator and cinematographer on Do The Right Thing, Ernest Dickerson, joins Mark to share his classical and dramatic visual influences, and how his use of colour palette and lighting rigs created such a scorching viewing experience.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

The Great American Western is having a resurgence - from Yellowstone and Bass Reeves on TV, to Beyoncé's acclaimed country album Cowboy Carter. Kevin Costner is back in the director’s saddle too, with his Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 - the first in a planned series of epic Westerns - recently riding into cinemas.

But has the cinematic Western adapted to the modern age or is it trapped in a one-sided history of the past? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode examine the enduring popularity of a genre that refuses to die.

Mark speaks to cultural historian and Spaghetti Western obsessive Christopher Frayling about the genre’s 19th century roots, and about the impact of films like The Searchers and The Wild Bunch. And he talks to prolific independent director John Sayles, whose 1996 film Lone Star was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of the Fifty Best Westerns of all time.

Meanwhile, Ellen explores the history of Black cowboys on screen with Mia Mask, author of Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western. And she speaks to Jeymes Samuel - the galvanising force behind films like recent biblical epic The Book Of Clarence and 2021’s all-Black, all-star Western, The Harder They Fall. Jeymes tells Ellen why he was drawn to the genre - and why Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained might be due a reassessment.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

In the past year, triangular love stories have loomed large in cinema - Past Lives, Challengers and Passages all had different angles on the spiky geometry of three-cornered relationships.

Since Casablanca, these complicated love affairs have fascinated filmmakers and audiences alike. They can be the subject of romantic comedies, at the centre of a melodrama or the motive for murder in a thriller - the relationships can be gay or straight and the budgets big or small.

Jean Luc Godard’s iconic new wave robbery tale Bande à part is 60 this year. It seems that each generation has its iconic love triangle movie - The Philadelphia Story, Sabrina, The Graduate, Blood Simple, Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Notebook and My Best Friend’s Wedding - the films could not be more different but the dynamics are always rich and provocative.

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones ask where love triangles have taken us over the years and how they reflect the sexual politics of the times.

Guest interviews include Ira Sachs, director of the acclaimed Passages, and writer and critic Anne Billson.

Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

From early, Oscar-winning roles in The Deer Hunter and Sophie's Choice, through to Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep has earned a reputation as the greatest actress of our times. As the star receives an honorary Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode discuss the remarkable depth, breadth and legacy of her career.

Ellen speaks to writer Michael Schulman, author of Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, about the actor's beginnings in the 1970s, and the power of a Meryl acceptance speech. And she discusses the actress' breakout comedic role alongside Roseanne Barr in 1989's She-Devil, with the film's director Susan Seidelman.

And Mark speaks to actor Kate Winslet about her decades-long love for Meryl's work, from Angels In America to Death Becomes Her, and about how it felt to beat her heroine to a Best Actress Oscar.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore whether films and TV can change the world.

First up, Ellen talks to the award-winning independent filmmaker Eliza Hittman, whose critically acclaimed 2020 drama, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, charts the odyssey of 17 year-old Autumn, played by newcomer Sidney Flanigan from her home town in rural Pennsylvania, to her nearest accessible abortion clinic in New York City. Ellen also meets Caren Spruch, National Director for Arts and Entertainment Engagement at US-based organisation Planned Parenthood. They discuss her activism towards shaping TV and film storylines around abortion.

Mark ponders how two film makers have addressed homelessness in their work - rising star Lorna Tucker who's deeply personal documentary Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son has recently brought homelessness back into the spotlight, and film legend Ken Loach who shares how his 1966 BBC TV play Cathy Come Home came to be and alerted the public and politicians alike to the country’s growing housing crisis.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

In 1974, Chinatown - now widely considered to be among the greatest films ever made - was nominated for 11 Oscars. Despite the creative confidence and freedom of the era, the 1970s were a time of tolerance for the morally questionable, or even downright illegal, behaviour of some of the powerful men creating these movies.

Chinatown’s director, Roman Polanski, is the most totemic of those figures. His 1977 indictment for drugging and raping a 13 year-old led the director to flee the United States and seek legal and creative sanctuary in France, where he has remained and continued to make celebrated movies such at The Pianist, for which he won the Best Director Academy Award in 2003.

Fifty years on from Chinatown's release, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones ask how we can appreciate cinematic masterpieces like Chinatown which have been made by very problematic people?

Ellen gets about as close as it’s possible to get to the creators of Chinatown - Hawk Koch worked with Roman Polanski on the set of Rosemary’s Baby and, as the First Assistant Director on Chinatown, he was deeply connected with the movie and its director. In a wide ranging interview, he shares his memories from the set, discusses his friendship with Polanski and reflects on remaining in love with a movie despite its troubled past.

Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma is a highly personal account of her own relationship with the works of film-makers like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, and the questions of how knowledge of an artist’s personal life does or doesn’t change the way we feel about their art. Mark talks to Claire about the ethical and emotional issues of separating the art from the artist.

Produced by Freya Hellier. A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4

Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones examine the rich history of style and the moving image, from Pret A Porter to The Devil Wears Prada.

Ellen talks to fashion historian and curator Amber Butchart about the close relationship between couture and cinema. They discuss the timeless influence on high fashion of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, and the movies that inspire what we all wear in real life.

Mark enlists the help of a Screenshot regular, critic Christina Newland, to explore how the fashion industry has been depicted on screen, from the fashion editors of Funny Face and The Devil Wears Prada to the male models of Zoolander.

And Mark talks to director Kevin Macdonald about his new documentary, High & Low: John Galliano, which follows the disgraced British fashion designer.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

As rising British director Rose Glass (St Maud) brings us Love Lies Bleeding - a film about female bodybuilders - Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones examine the precedents, including the action stars of the 80s like Schwarzenegger who broke out of the gym and into the mainstream, as well as how gyms make a rich setting for drama and action.

Mark explores what bodybuilders have brought to the screen over the years. He talks to editor of Empire magazine and author of The Last Action Heroes, Nick de Semlyen, about the history of muscles and bodybuilders on screen. Mark then speaks to rising star Katy O’Brian about her breakout role in Love Lies Bleeding and her own background in bodybuilding. Ellen looks at how the gym and fitness culture are rich settings for drama. She speaks to film writer Brandon Streussnig about how the gym is portrayed on screen and his favourite gym movies. She then talks to Annie Weisman, the creator of Apple TV’s Physical, about fitness culture in the 80s and its relationship to women's empowerment.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Andrew Scott is the latest in a long line of actors to play Thomas Ripley - the seductive, sociopathic conman created by American crime writer Patricia Highsmith, and immortalised in films from Plein Soleil to The Talented Mr Ripley.

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at Ripley and other social strivers on screen, asking how these interlopers have insinuated themselves into our hearts and minds.

Ellen explores what makes Patricia Highsmith’s work so cinematic, with a lifelong Highsmith fan – critic and novelist Kim Newman. And she speaks to Swiss documentary filmmaker Eva Vitija about her 2022 film Loving Highsmith – a fascinating look at the author’s life and artistry, told through her unpublished diaries, and interviews with her friends and former lovers.

Mark Kermode looks beyond Highsmith’s work, to explore how the 'Ripleyesque' figure has endured. He discusses cinema’s most notorious interlopers, from The Great Gatsby to Saltburn, with Manuela Lazic, a French critic, writer and filmmaker.

Mark also talks to two of his favourite filmmakers, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. Christine and Joe’s newest film Baltimore – about the debutante turned IRA member Rose Dugdale – is just one of many stories about interloping and identity that they’ve brought to the screen over the years. They tell Mark why the theme fascinates them.

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As the British Board of Film Classification publishes its new guidelines, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the long, chequered history of film censorship and classification in the UK.

Mark speaks to BBFC President (and original Strictly Come Dancing winner) Natasha Kaplinsky about her role, and about her reaction to the new guidelines. And he discusses the Board's controversial history, and some of its most notorious decisions, with ex-BBFC Head of Compliance Craig Lapper.

Ellen talks to director Prano Bailey-Bond about her debut film Censor, which was inspired by the 'video nasty' moral panic of the 1980s. And pop culture critic Kayleigh Donaldson talks her through some of the differences between the BBFC and its US equivalent, the MPA Ratings Board.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at divorce in film and TV, from His Girl Friday to The Split.

Ellen looks at comedic takes on divorce, first discussing marriage, divorce and remarriage in the 1930s screwball comedy genre with critic Pamela Hutchinson.

She then speaks to comedian Rob Brydon, who made what she considers to be the greatest TV programme about divorce - the BBC2 sitcom Marion and Geoff.

Meanwhile, Mark talks to screenwriter Abi Morgan about her BBC1 series The Split, which follows a family of high-end divorce lawyers working in London.

He also talks to Los Angeles family law attorney and chief of divorce evolution at Divorce.com, Laura Wasser about how accurate or misleading Hollywood depictions of breakups really are.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a deep dive into the cinematic subconscious to explore dreams in film and television.

Mark talks to Sandra Hebron, psychotherapist and head of screen arts at the National Film and Television School, about the origins and history of dreams in film.

He also speaks to director Bernard Rose, best known for his 1992 film, Candyman. They discuss his debut film, Paperhouse, and how it portrays the blurred lines between reality and dreams.

Taking a look at everything from The Sopranos to The Big Lebowski, Ellen investigates some of film and TV's most memorable dream sequences with help from film critic, Anne Billson.

Ellen then speaks to independent film director, Tom DeCillo, whose 1995 film, Living in Oblivion sought to subvert the clichés of the cinematic dream sequence.

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Forty years on from 1984 and the release of the John Hurt-starring big screen adaptation of George Orwell’s novel, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore dystopian visions from British film and TV.

Mark speaks to film critic Kim Newman about the literary roots of the dystopia, from 1984 to A Clockwork Orange. And he talks to actor Brian Cox about how, in a career that has included roles as Dr Hannibal Lecter and Logan Roy, the prophetic 1968 TV play The Year of The Sex Olympics remains one of the projects he is most proud of.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Ngozi Onwurah, the director of landmark film Welcome II The Terrordome. Released in 1995, the radical British dystopian tale was the first feature directed by a black woman to get a UK cinema release. Ellen and Ngozi discuss why Welcome II The Terrordome was so prescient.

And Ellen also speaks to Kibwe Tavares, who co-directed new film The Kitchen, about a dilapidated housing estate in a near-future London, with Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya.

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In the year of a Presidential election, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode investigate the murky world of American Elections on screen.

Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 Presidential election, inspired many film lovers to reconnect with two films - John Frankenheimer’s 1962 political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, and David Cronenburg’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s sci-fi horror The Dead Zone. Both films are steeped in subterfuge, conspiracy and corruption.

Mark speaks with politically engaged comedian Greg Proops to ask why two movies from the 20th century seem so relevant to 21st century politics. Former Obama speech writer turned podcaster Tommy Vietor talks with Mark about the relationship between fictional presidents and real life PR.

Ellen takes a look at the iconic and beloved drama The West Wing, and how it affects real world opinions on American politics and presidents. She speaks with West Wing writer Paul Redford to talk about what this portrayal of the perfect President does to real life democracy and the mindset of the electorate. Does it give us something to aim for? Or might it distract us from what’s really going on?

And Professor Kristina Riegert talks about the wealth of academic research that The West Wing has been the focus of - political compromise is just as essential on screen as it is in real life.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore depictions of alcohol in film and television over the years, from the hilarity of Dudley Moore in Arthur, to the tragedy of Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.

Mark is joined by Little White Lies magazine's Hannah Strong to celebrate some of the most iconic drinkers in cinema, from Bridesmaids to Jaws. And he speaks to actor Richard E Grant about playing one of the definitive screen drunks in Withnail And I, despite famously not drinking himself.

And Ellen looks at Hollywood's changing attitudes to booze, starting with the most sober time in history - in theory - Prohibition-era America. She speaks to critic Christina Newland and to writer Simone Finch, whose TV show Single Drunk Female offers a refreshingly modern depiction of sobriety.

Details of organisations offering information and support with alcohol and addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

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As Bristol claymation legends Aardman's new film hits screens, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the enduring appeal of the most painstaking and time-consuming art form conceivable - stop motion animation.

Ellen talks to director Guillermo del Toro about his 2022 Oscar winner Pinocchio, as well as some of his favourite stop motion films, from Jason And The Argonauts to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

And Mark speaks to animation professor Maureen Furniss and up-and-coming animator Joseph Wallace about why stop motion is so subversive - and so cool.

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At this festive time of year it’s hard to escape those classic double acts and their equally classic Christmas specials, think Morecambe & Wise, the Two Ronnies, French & Saunders. In this episode, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the origins, legacy and evolution of the double act across film and TV, both in front of and behind the camera.

Guests include one half of a very famous double act, whose members have both gone on to have incredibly successful careers beyond the partnership but in very different ways. He is the Fry in Fry & Laurie, a genuine national treasure - Stephen Fry.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate the life and career of the much-loved Liverpudlian screenwriter and director Terence Davies, who died earlier in 2023 at the age of 77.

From an astonishing trilogy of early short films, to his final feature, 2021’s Benediction, Terence Davies seamlessly blended personal recollections with wider essential truths. His subjects ranged from autobiographically inspired portraits of postwar working-class life in Liverpool in films like Distant Voices Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, to intimate portraits of real-life authors, most remarkably the American poet Emily Dickinson in A Quiet Passion.

Mark speaks to Scottish actor Jack Lowden, who played poet Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction, about his relationship with Davies. He also talks to critic and historian Lillian Crawford about why the director's work resonates so deeply for so many.

And Ellen discusses Davies' relationship to his hometown with two fellow Scousers - author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and actor Tina Malone, who starred in The Long Day Closes.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode don their red raincoats to celebrate the 50th anniversary of haunting British thriller Don't Look Now.

Originally released in 1973, Don't Look Now is a spine-tingling psychodrama in which Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a married couple grieving the death of their young daughter in Venice. Adapted from a story by Daphne du Maurier and directed by Nicolas Roeg, the film manages to be an eerie occult chiller, a heart breaking meditation upon love and grief, and a shaggy dog story with a grisly sting in its tail.

Ellen speaks to Allan Scott, who co-wrote the screenplay for Don’t Look Now with his partner Chris Bryant, about his memories of the film, including its notorious sex scene, and about his long working relationship with Nicolas Roeg.

And Mark talks to two filmmakers for whom Don't Look Now has been a touchstone. Writer, actor and director Alice Lowe reveals how the film, and an encounter with Nicolas Roeg, influenced her black comedy thriller Prevenge.

And the director of Another Round, Thomas Vinterberg discusses the impact Don't Look Now has had on his work, and the new resonance he finds in the film following the tragic death of his own daughter.

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To celebrate 50 years of the Bruce Lee classic, Enter the Dragon, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the unsung heroes of cinema, stunt artists.

Mark talks to stunt choreographer on the Oscar winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Mah, and stunt historian Scott McGee about the history of stunts in Hollywood and how the Hong Kong style influenced cinema.

Ellen then speaks to journalist Brandon Streussnig and veteran stunt woman La Faye Baker about why stunt performers deserve awards recognition for their contributions to film.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look to the silver screen to finally answer a big question. Cats or dogs - which are best?

In the cat camp, Ellen enlists the help of film critic and author of the definitive book Cats On Film, Anne Billson. They discuss their favourite film felines, from Alien to Catwoman.

Ellen also speaks to director Ceyda Torun and cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann, who are the married couple behind Kedi, an acclaimed documentary looking at street cats in Istanbul from the cats' own perspective.

And in the canine corner, Mark talks to second generation animal trainer and co-ordinator Teresa Ann Miller about her career and unique upbringing surrounded by some of Hollywood's most famous animals. They discuss Teresa's work on 2014 Hungarian drama White God, which included a memorable and moving scene featuring 200 real dogs, as well as what it's like to grow up with Cujo in your backyard.

Mark also speaks to Toby Rose, who is the creator of the Palm Dog - an award given every year to the best dog performance in a film at the Cannes film festival. They discuss why dogs deserve more acclaim and what exactly makes for a Palm Dog-winning performance.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the relationship between gaming and the movies, with help from a crack squad of video game experts.

Mark is joined by pop culture critic Kayleigh Donaldson, who helps guide him through the messy and complicated history of game adaptations on the big screen, from Super Mario Bros to Doom. He also speaks to Duncan Jones, director of the first video game film to cross $400m at the international box office - 2016's Warcraft. They discuss the challenges of adapting the cult role-playing game for a cinema audience.

And Ellen asks the big question of whether video games can be considered an art form on the same level as film. To help her on her quest, she first speaks to critic Kambole Campell about why games get called 'cinematic' and whether the gaming world has auteurs.

Ellen then talks to cinephile and game director Sam Barlow, about his highly successful - and highly innovative - video games Her Story, Telling Lies and Immortality. Sam explains how experimental directors like Nicolas Roeg and Peter Greenaway have influenced his work, which employs live footage of actors, rather than motion capture or graphics.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode hit the road to explore the lovers on the run genre, and celebrate 50 years of Terrence Malick's film debut, Badlands. Since the film’s arrival in 1973, this dreamy and twisted fairy tale has inspired countless tales of lovers escaping dead end towns for the endless road - but it wasn't the first time this story had graced the silver screen.

Mark enlists the help of a friend of the show, film critic Christina Newland. They discuss the hallmarks of the genre, its film noir beginnings, and why cinema is obsessed with tales of lawless lovers.

Ellen then speaks to New Queer Cinema icon, Gregg Araki, who shares his subversive and anarchic take on the genre - and his theory as to why it is a staple of American cinema. Ellen also chats to director,Jonathan Entwistle to discuss relocating his TV show End of The F***ing World to this side of the Atlantic, and whether the genre is intrinsically American.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take a look at offices and office politics on screen.

Mark is joined by director Terry Gilliam who, back in 1985, created one of the most influential and iconic depictions of an on-screen office - Brazil. They discuss the Stanley Kubrick film which inspired Brazil's set design, Terry's own experience as an office drone and why his cult classic film still resonates today.

And Ellen investigates office politics in two very different comedy films, made nearly four decades apart - 1980's 9 to 5 and 2018's Sorry To Bother You.

First, she speaks to legendary screenwriter Patricia Resnick, who co-wrote 9 to 5 in her mid-20s. Patricia discusses how she came to work on the seminal satire of sexism at work, and reveals the real-life stories that influenced her script.

Ellen then talks to musician, activist and filmmaker Boots Riley, whose visionary debut film Sorry To Bother You focuses on a black telemarketer who achieves success when he discovers he can use his 'white voice' on sales calls. They discuss how the film was inspired by Boots' own successful stint in telesales, and why absurdist humour is so well suited for office-set stories.

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Ellen and Mark explore Brits abroad in the movies, taking a look at everything from 1972's Carry on Abroad to 2023's Cannes prize-winner How To Have Sex.

Mark talks to Steve Chibnall, Professor of British Cinema at De Montfort University, about some of the most notable examples of Brits on holiday in 20th century cinema. They discuss the mid-century travelogue trend, what British holiday films can tell us about national identity and class, and how 1989's Shirley Valentine stands apart from other films in the genre.

Ellen looks at two more recent examples of the British holiday film, speaking first to director Molly Manning Walker about her debut feature How To Have Sex. Molly reveals how the resort of Malia proved the perfect setting for the film, which follows three teenage girls navigating the complexities of sex and consent on a rite of passage clubbing holiday.

And Ellen then speaks to actor Samantha Morton about her starring role in director Lynne Ramsay's 2002 cult classic Morvern Callar. They discuss Samantha's own experiences as a Brit abroad, her close working relationship with Ramsay, and why Morvern Callar remains so influential two decades on from its first release.

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Latitude Festival boasts the biggest comedy lineup in the UK, so Ellen and Mark take a visit to discuss the best and worst of stand-up comedy on screen.

Ellen and Mark and joined by three of the UK's biggest and brightest comedy stars from Latitude’s 2023 comedy line-up - Ania Magliano, Olga Koch and Romesh Ranganathan.

Ania Magliano is an up and coming talent in the British comedy scene who, aside from selling out shows at Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre, writes for the viral YouTube hit Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and Newsjack on Radio 4. She shares with Ellen and Mark the fictional comic who makes her feel most seen.

Olga Koch is another rising star in the UK comedy scene who has appeared on Mock the Week, Pls Like, Pointless Celebrities and QI. She's written and starred in several award winning Radio 4 shows, including last year’s Olga Koch: Fight and Olga Koch: OK Computer. She tells Ellen and Mark which stand-up comedy scenes make her cringe the most.

Romesh Ranganathan is a familiar face on British television, as host of shows like The Ranganation and The Weakest Link, and as a regular panellist on A League of Their Own. He hosts For The Love of Hip Hop on Radio 2 and co-hosts the hit podcast The Wolf And Owl with fellow comedian Tom Davis. Romesh explains to Ellen and Mark why stand-up on screen can go out of fashion fast.

Finally, comedian Greg Proops joins us for a viewing note, revealing his favourite stand-up scene.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate the power of pop music on screen, 50 years on from the release of George Lucas' American Graffiti, with its hits-packed soundtrack.

First opening on 11 August 1973, coming of age classic American Graffiti was arguably the original ‘jukebox movie’. The film plays out over a single night in 1962, in a town where everyone is listening to the radio, and pop music of the era provides an almost unbroken accompaniment to the action.

Mark looks back on how American Graffiti revolutionised the use of music in movies, speaking to legendary film-maker Walter Murch, who was responsible for the unique sound of the film.

Meanwhile, Ellen delves into the relationship between pop music and the screen, with the help of music supervisor Jen Malone - the woman responsible for a resurgence in the career of The Cramps after including them on the soundtrack of Netflix hit Wednesday. And she talks to DJ, record producer and creator of original soundtracks David Holmes about the intrinsic connection he feels between pop music and cinema.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode devote the final episode of the current series of Screenshot to the world’s most famous doll, ahead of the release of director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. 

Ellen is joined by critic Christina Newland for a look at how movies like Legally Blonde, Clueless and The House Bunny brought 'Barbiecore' to the screen, decades before the new live action film about the Mattel doll.

And Mark speaks to comic and culture critic Ashley Ray about some of the most fascinating uses of the Barbie figure in film and TV, from Toy Story to The Simpsons to Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - director Todd Haynes' biopic of the Carpenters' singer, told using Barbie dolls.

Mark also talks to Film Threat magazine founder Chris Gore about his memories of Todd Haynes' Superstar, which became a cult, underground classic when it was refused a commercial release.

This week's Viewing Note comes from actor and comedian Harry Trevaldwyn, who has a role in Greta Gerwig's Barbie film.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore sport on screen, from Field of Dreams to Ted Lasso.

Ellen looks at the life lessons to be gleaned from baseball movies such as Field of Dreams, The Natural and A League of Their Own, with the help of film critic Simon Brew and the first woman to coach men's baseball in the US - trailblazer Justine Siegal.

And Mark focuses on football in film and TV, speaking to Ted Lasso co-creator and star Brendan Hunt about the inspirations for the sitcom about an American football manager hired to manage a fictional Premier League team. He also talks to critic and programmer Ashley Clark about his favourite screen depictions of the beautiful game, from Escape to Victory to Sunderland 'Til I Die.

Pioneering BBC Sport broadcaster and journalist Eleanor Oldroyd shares her Viewing Notes.

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With its outrageous audience, pioneering programme, all night film marathons and a particularly vicious house cat, The Scala cinema in London’s King’s Cross blazed a flamboyant trail across the repertory cinema scene of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

As Jane Giles recounts in her book on The Scala, director John Waters describes it as “a country club for criminals and lunatics and people that were high... which is a good way to see movies..." Among that membership were the burgeoning creative filmmakers of the 21st century - Christopher Nolan, Peter Strickland, Joanna Hogg and Ben Wheatley to name a few.

Ellen E Jones separates truth from legend with the man who started it all - film producer and director Stephen Woolley. They discuss the infamous screenings, the intersection of music, politics and film, and the ‘collective of lost souls’ who came together over a shared love of film.

Mark Kermode discusses the age of cinema before video and streaming with film writer and curator Anne Bilson. They remember trekking across London by bus to hunt down one-off screenings, and staying up all night for kung fu specials. Mark then talks to film programmer Andrew Woodyatt about invoking the spirit of The Scala for today’s audiences at his weekly Queer Cinema club, the Pink Palace at the Rio Cinema.

And in this week’s Viewing Note, filmmaker Carol Morley remembers a Scala moment which has haunted her dreams ever since.

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As Judy Blume’s classic YA novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is adapted for the big screen, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore how a recent wave of coming of age films have looked at the subject from a teenage girl’s perspective.

Ellen speaks to critic Hannah Strong about the coming of age films that made her feel seen as a teen, from The Virgin Suicides to Welcome To The Dollhouse. She also talks to director Domee Shi about the inspiration for her 2022 Pixar film Turning Red.

And Mark talks to filmmaker and actor Marielle Heller about her directorial debut The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and why making a coming of age film can be a coming of age experience in itself.

Plus Nida Manzoor, director of teen comedy-drama Polite Society, shares her favourite teen girls on screen in Viewing Notes.

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In May 1983, Sony released the first camcorder for domestic consumers, the Betamovie. This milestone in amateur filmmaking, 40 years on, prompts Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode to explore how home movies are depicted and used in feature film.

Ellen meets academic Liz Czach to find out about the history of home movies, amateur filmmaking and and how its role has shifted in today's world of the internet and Tik Tok.

John Wilson, creator of the hit docufiction show How To... With John Wilson, also joins Ellen to discuss how his early experiences with found footage, and the documentaries of Bruce Brown, impacted his approach to film.

Mark talks to Canadian auteur, Atom Egoyan, about how the advent of the digital camcorder and our changing relationship to video technology influenced his early films.

This week's viewing note is from the director of Skate Kitchen and The Wolfpack, Crystal Moselle, who recommends a film that utilises home movie footage.

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Ahead of International Workers' Day, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore how the struggle for workers' rights and other movements for change have been depicted on screen.

Ellen speaks to artist Jeremy Deller, who in 2001 restaged and filmed perhaps the most pivotal and violent event of the 1984/85 miners' strike - the confrontation between police and picketing miners in South Yorkshire, which has come to be known as the Battle of Orgreave. She also talks to cultural historian Christopher Frayling about some of the most interesting films about the labour movement to emerge in the UK, from The Proud Valley to It's All Right, Jack.

And Mark investigates how activism is depicted on screen in the present day, speaking to How To Blow Up A Pipeline director Daniel Goldhaber, and activist Megan Kapler, whose work with advocacy group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now was recently portrayed in documentary All The Beauty And The Bloodshed.

This week's Viewing Note comes from film director Lizzie Borden, who shares her favourite recent activist documentaries.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode discuss how restaurants are portrayed throughout cinema and the small screen, from Big Night to Ratatouille.

Mark is joined by film and TV journalist Roxana Hadadi to discuss an overview of the best depictions of restaurants on the silver screen and to define which ingredients make for a good restaurant movie.

And Ellen talks to Philip Barantini, the director of one-take restaurant film Boiling Point, about how his experience as a head chef has made him the director he is today. Ellen also speaks to restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa about how and why restaurants are the perfect setting for TV and film.

This week’s viewing note is courtesy of food critic and broadcaster Jay Rayner.

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Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones take the scenic route through slow cinema - a genre of film that might challenge your attention span, but is almost guaranteed to change the way you watch.

There is one particular film that’s inspired this week’s show, Chantal Akerman’s 3-and-a-half hour, slow moving masterpiece from 1975 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080, Brussels

In December 2022, Jeanne Dielman topped Sight and Sound magazine’s Greatest Film of All Time poll. That caused quite a fuss because, for the last few decades, the poll has been dominated by Citizen Kane and Vertigo.

Ellen speaks with critic Wendy Ide and film academic Dr Tiago de Luca to get deeper into the genre of slow cinema and explore this sea change in critics' tastes.

One reason for Jeanne Dielman’s new found popularity is down to access. A film that was once almost impossible to see is now enjoying sell out runs in art house cinemas. In an extended interview, Mark talks with writer and filmmaker Adam Roberts who, along with director Joanna Hogg, has long been at the centre of the quest to take Chantal Akerman’s filmography from the underground into the spotlight. They discuss Akerman’s life, work and her unique creative vision.

And in this week’s Viewing Note, friend of the show and director of the Cornish folk horror Enys Men, Mark Jenkin, shares his slow cinema recommendations.

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The Long Good Friday elevated the British gangster film to a level not seen for a decade since Get Carter, and sees London gangster Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) and his girlfriend Victoria (Helen Mirren) embroiled in a scheme to redevelop parts of London’s Docklands with finance from a New York mafia boss.

The film features some prophetic scenes in which Harold espouses a new future for London, a London at the centre of Europe, with opportunity to create incredible wealth - a wealth he would most likely have made had the IRA not started interfering in his affairs.

In this episode of Screenshot, Mark Kermode speaks to Dame Helen Mirren about the changes she made to the script and to her character's role, and also about how her uncle’s connections to the London underworld helped her in the part. Mark also talks to tour guide Rob Smith, who leads a tour of the film’s locations around London’s Docklands.

Exploring the world of the British gangster film further, Ellen E Jones meets author Kim Newman who talks us through the changing nature of these films from the 1930s to the present day, and Louis Mellis who, alongside David Scinto, wrote a triptych of British gangster films including 2000’s Sexy Beast.

Lynda La Plante, creator of the seminal British gangster crime drama Widows, drops in with a Viewing Note in which she makes an offer you can’t refuse.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the dark arts of the film trailer, 110 years on from the first ever trailer, for Broadway musical The Pleasure Seekers.

Ellen talks to writer and trailer aficionado Matt Schimkowitz about the origins of the trailer, its development since the early days of cinema, and the Christopher Nolan film that totally changed the landscape.

And Mark speaks to director Edgar Wright about the film trailers that left the biggest impression on him growing up, as well as about his experience making a parody trailer - Don’t - for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse project.

Mark also speaks to actor-turned-director Elizabeth Banks about the trailer for her forthcoming film Cocaine Bear, which has proved a huge viral hit.

This week's Viewing Note is from Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro.

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Brendan Fraser has been garnering standing ovations and awards nominations for his moving performance as a reclusive, morbidly obese teacher in Darren Aronofsky’s film The Whale.

His physical transformation into the 600lb Charlie, who is fighting for his life and his relationship with his daughter, required Fraser to gain weight and wear gruelling, high tech prosthetics. But in the 21st century, is it still ok to wear a fat suit?

In this week’s Screenshot, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones explore the history, ethics and changing landscape of fat representation on screen.

Mark talks with writers Kayleigh Donaldson and Guy Lodge about the use of fat suits from Orson Welles to Friends, and The Whale. And they discuss why Hollywood rewards actors who undergo extreme physical transformations for their roles.

And Ellen discusses fat icons, the roles available to fat actors and the politics of the F word with podcaster Annie Rose Malamet, and comedian, actor and star of Strictly, Jayde Adams.

Also, writer, artist and broadcaster, Scottee picks his favourite viewing moments, in Viewing Notes

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As director Damien Chazelle's sprawling period epic Babylon hits UK cinemas, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode travel back to the Wild West of Hollywood's early years. 

Mark tries to sort fact from fiction with author Shawn Levy and critic Christina Newland, as they discuss Kenneth Anger's notorious gossip bible Hollywood Babylon, and explore some of the most progressive and scandalous movies being made in the 1920s and 30s.

And Ellen talks to critic Pamela Hutchinson and historian Shirley Jennifer Lim about the trailblazing career of Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong.

Also, director Todd Field tells us about the Hollywood history TV series he's been rewatching, in Viewing Notes.

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As new film Tar hits UK cinemas, starring Cate Blanchett as a brilliant, highly-celebrated and highly-problematic conductor, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore how genius is portrayed on-screen - and celebrated off-screen.

Mark speaks to director Nick Moran about his 2008 film Telstar: The Joe Meek Story, which focused on another problematic musical genius, and to journalist Jon Ronson about 2014's Frank, co-written by Jon and inspired by his time working with comic musician Chris Sievey, aka Frank Sidebottom.

And Ellen looks at EGOTs - the extraordinary performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony - speaking to film star, TV host and EGOT Whoopi Goldberg.

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar shares his favourite genius on screen in Viewing Notes.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore folk horror on screen. The genre is commonly associated with British film from the 70s, but Ellen and Mark investigate how it resonates across the globe and its resurgence over the last decade.

Ellen speaks to the author and director of the folk horror documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Kier-La Janisse about the first folk horror films, the hallmarks of the genre and folk horror's depiction of pastoral and urban settings.

Ellen then talks to director Nikyatu Jusu about her recent film Nanny which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance last year. They discuss how she uses West African folklore in the film and why she thinks folk horror is culturally specific.

Mark talks to director Mark Jenkin about his upcoming film, Enys Men. They consider the film's relationship to Cornish identity and the landscape as well as why he prefers to call Enys Men a folk film rather than a folk horror film.

And the director of some modern takes on folk horror such as The Witch and The Northman, Robert Eggers, recommends a couple of underseen folk horror gems.

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Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the legacy of Rashomon, directed by Japanese cinematic master Akira Kurosawa.

Mark examines Kurosawa's enduring screen legacy and why he is one of the most influential directors in film history. He talks to director Asif Kapadia, who is co-programmer of the BFI's upcoming Kurosawa retrospective. They discuss Kurosawa's filmography and what makes him one of the greatest directors of all time as well as Kurosawa's influence on his own work. Mark then speaks to author Kazuo Ishiguro, screenwriter of the recent film, Living, a remake of Kurosawa's 1952 film, Ikiru. They discuss how Rashomon became one of Kurosawa's and Japan's most iconic films as well as debating how successful cinema is at depicting memory.

Ellen investigates the longlasting impact of Kurosawa's 1950 film on the small screen. The film inspired the term 'the Rashomon effect' which is used to describe a narrative technique where different characters offer differing opinions and perspectives on the same event. Ellen talks to TV and film critic Roxana Hadadi about how this has become a staple of television storytelling. She then speaks to Chris Lang, creator of the TV series Unforgotten, who explains how Rashomon has influenced his work and why exactly it's so well suited to the crime genre.

And director and Kurosawa super fan Alex Cox tells us his favourite Kurosawa film.

Producer: Tom Whalley A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore how a couple of Christmas TV traditions have developed over the years - the made-for-TV Christmas romcom and the festive ghost story.

Inspired by The Hallmark Channel's first ever gay Christmas film, Ellen speaks to made-for-TV film aficionado Linda Holmes. They discuss what The Hallmark Channel is and why it has taken until 2022 for the channel to feature a gay lead in one of its films. Ellen also speaks to critic Caspar Salmon about what the recent increase in queer Christmas romcoms might mean for LGBT+ audiences.

And Mark explores how the ghost story became a British TV Christmas staple, talking to writer and director Mark Gatiss about the 1968 film Whistle and I'll Come to You, which inspired the A Ghost Story for Christmas series, continued by Gatiss to this day. Mark then speaks to composer Rachel Portman about her score for the chilling 1989 ITV adaptation of Dame Susan Hill's The Women in Black.

And Tangerine and Red Rocket director Sean Baker shares what he'll be watching this festive season.

Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4