Jingle Bells, Prison Cells, Alan Carr Returns

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:00

Foreign.

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:06

Hello, and welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast, where we take a look at the hottest new TV and film releases on streaming television platforms. I'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor of Woman and Womanhome magazine.

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:17

And I'm Ian McKeown, writer on what's On TV, TV Times and TV and Satellite Week magazines.

th, November: 2025

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:45

And we'll also be looking at the brilliant Changing ends with Oliver Savile playing Alan Carr, of course. And also Prisoner 951. BBC1 documentary or drama? I should say there was a documentary running alongside as well. But first, Ian, what is in the news?

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:07

Well, Hannah, Stranger Things is back on Netflix this week for an epic final showdown for the telekinetic Teen 11, played by Millie Bobby Brown and her young Hawkins pals. And we were hoping to preview that, but they're very much keeping the screeners under wraps, which I do get, but I cannot wait to get stuck into it.

What else is in the news, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:01:32

Well, Jason Momoa is in line to lead the cast of Apple TV's New Zealand set drama Nomad, a man who is part of an outlaw biker group and has to choose between the gang and his family.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:45

It's the old, old story. Well, Christmas is coming and so of course, we're starting the Christmas viewing here with a new film on Netflix called Jingle Bell Heist.

And here's a clip. Sterling hired me to upgrade the security system and he didn't pay me. I put on a nice face for.

Hannah Fernando: 00:02:04

The public, but the man's a.

Ian MacEwan: 00:02:08

Do it feel good to stick it to him?

Hannah Fernando: 00:02:09

I have no idea. Sterling has about £500,000 in his office. I can get us into the store and avoid the security guards.

Ian MacEwan: 00:02:20

How are we gonna break into Sterling's penthouse?

Hannah Fernando: 00:02:22

His wife has been known to bring home a young man on occasion. You just gotta get an invite up to the penthouse, get the bob and then leave. I'm gonna need a tux.

Ian MacEwan: 00:02:32

Well, this is a strange one, Hannah. I mean, there's a lot of bad Christmas films, aren't there? It's a thing. It. Well, it's got some of my favorite people in it.

Let's start by saying that. So you've got Peter Serafinovich plays this wealthy owner of a department store, Maxwell Sterling.

You've got Lucy Punch from Amanda Land as his wife, Cynthia the two stars are Connor Swindell's, yet another graduate of sex education who's been doing very well for himself. And Olivia Holt plays Sophia, who is a shop worker. Okay, so it's all shot in, in my manner in South London, Hannah. So it's quite nice.

I enjoyed looking out for the locations. Anyway, the gist of it is Sophia is she's a bit light fingered, she's good at stealing things.

And Nick, for reasons that become apparent, he's a phone, mobile phone repair guy. Long story short, they team up to try and pull a heist. Yes, that's right, on Christmas Eve. What could possibly go wrong?

So I really like the way Connor Swindell's plays this because he's, it's just he's very good at looking really kind of confused and nonplussed and just he's really underplaying it. It doesn't feel very rom comy at all in a way. Whereas she's very kind of bright, breezy American Peter Serafinovich, who is hugely talented.

I kind of feel he's wasted in the rather thinly sketched baddie roll. I wanted to like it. I did like some things about just looks a bit weird. Like the interior of the department store, it looked so like a set. It's.

It's not like any department store I've ever been inside, I must say. And yeah, there were at times some of the dialogue was, yeah, bit dodge. But yeah, there was plenty in it that I did enjoy.

And seeing as it's filmed in South London, I want to get behind it. So yeah, I think it got me in the Christmas mood. It's just good fun.

You do have to suspend your disbelief of course, because it's a sort of Christmas caper heist movie. But yeah, there's lots to enjoy, even though I had a few reservations. But I don't want to be the Grinch. So I'm going to say yes, I liked it.

What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:05:23

To be honest with you, Ian, I absolutely love Christmas movies and I don't really care. I'm a bit like Amanda Holden. I absolutely do not care. How rubbish. Well, only, perhaps only in this way.

Ian MacEwan: 00:05:35

So many ways.

Hannah Fernando: 00:05:37

But no, actually I don't have such a good body as her and I'm not always in a bikini on holiday actually, which I'd like to be. I'd like to be more like Amanda Holden. No, because she loves any Christmas movie because she loves Christmas and I'm exactly the same.

So, you know, they, they started a while ago, actually. And they're all, you know, pretty, pretty dreadful, to be honest with you, but they're so dreadful, they're brilliant.

So you won't find me being the Grinch around something like this because I just like it. So the fact that it's Christmas, the fact that it's, you know, got all the, all the ingredients, means that this is a.

This is a recipe for success in my eyes. So to your point, the actual film, as I say, is kind of irrelevant to me because I was always going to love it, but it is a bit. It is a. Odd.

If I'm really going to kind of, you know, look at it and be constructive of my criticism, it is a bit odd.

The thing that I, that I do find interesting with these kind of things, though, is that when someone does something they shouldn't do, but in this situation, you know, she's cash strapped. She. She wants to do this heist. It's where she works, the person that owns it's not particularly likable.

You kind of almost want her to get away with it, don't you? Because actually the, the reason for the heist is to pay for her mother cancer treatment. So that it's sort of a. Although it's wrong thieving.

There's parties. Like, I really want you to get away with this because you, you know, I just want you to. But it's, it is. It's obviously very festive.

Big superstores like that always go to town with all their decorations. So I, I think if you love a Christmas movie, you just don't need to look at it too seriously. It's a Christmas movie.

It does what it says on the tin, it's new, rather than watching some reruns. So let's get excited about that. Keep making it netfl. So, yeah, go for it. Watch it. Fill your boots.

Ian MacEwan: 00:07:27

. Right? It's. You gotta say,: 2025

And it's ending on a high note because his autobiographical comedy Changing Ends is back on ITV1 and ITVX. And here is a clip.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:51

So this was it.

Ian MacEwan: 00:07:53

My libido had gone full throttle.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:55

Oh, who was kidding?

Ian MacEwan: 00:07:57

I was there for Jake.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:58

You're funny.

Ian MacEwan: 00:07:59

Oh, Alan.

Hannah Fernando: 00:08:04

How was the rest of your weekend? We're playing Never have I ever. Oh, God, he's elegant, isn't he? Like a Gaza. I've really noticed. I can't believe this is the third series. I remember.

I think I said to you last week that I know Oliver Savile. He went to school with my daughter and I know the family, and he's just done so incredibly well.

And I remember all this starting and the press release coming and me thinking, oh, my goodness me. He's got this amazing part. He was always really very good at what he does. But this. This has just taken him to another level, of course.

And the way he portrays Alan Carr is just so incredible. But of course, he's grown up, hasn't he? He's 16 next year, and this is the third series, as I say.

So you're now seeing young Alan, played by Oliver, in this kind of teen turmoil, and you're seeing those teenage years. I was reading an interview with him and he was talking about the fact that his voice is breaking in this one. So because things change as you.

As you get older, you know, you're gonna become more like the character. Are you gonna be able to still do the same voice, I suppose, portray Alan Carr? Of course. Alan Carr's fresh in our minds, isn't he?

Because he's one of the traitors. Everybody's been kind of, you know, you feel like you know him, I suppose. What's that word that went into the dictionary last week? Parasocial.

Even if you don't know him, you feel like you do know him. And that's kind of what you've got with. With Alan Carr. So this is that. This is the teenage years we see.

We see the love life, we see a different side of Alan Carr, all the clashes that we're all dealing with. If you've got teenagers, you'll know all about it. And yet again, just does it so well.

And I think, in actual fact, this third series, Oliver portrays Alan Kaur better than ever. And the Voice and absolutely everything, I mean, the research and the practice that must go into this is absolutely phenomenal.

And, of course, he picked up a Royal Television Society Award, didn't he, in March, for playing Alan in Changing Ends. And he. He. You can just see that he absolutely loves it and has completely embraced this character and it's. It won't let you down.

What do you think, Ian?

Ian MacEwan: 00:10:19

I love Alan Carr and I love this. And I mean, he does appear in it, doesn't he, from time to time. But it wouldn't work if Oliver wasn't so brilliant as young Alan.

So, yeah, he's dealing with his first crush. We see him at a school swimming lesson, we see him going shopping. It's all good stuff.

And as with Stranger Things, of course, it's very Interesting watching child actors because they change so dramatically in appearance within a few years. And the same things happen to the kids from Hawkins. You'll see with this final series of Stranger Things. And, yeah, he's taller.

Yeah, his voice is broken. He's still playing it absolutely perfectly. So it is rather sweet, I think. And you know, Alan, Cara just naturally is very amusing.

So it's great to see it back. And long live Alan. Over on BBC2 and BBC iPlayer, we have a new documentary series called Civilizations Rise and Fall. And here's a clip.

Hannah Fernando: 00:11:32

They were some of history's greatest civilizations, but they spectacularly fell.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:39

No civilization ever thinks it's gonna fall.

Hannah Fernando: 00:11:42

Discover how and why through treasures left.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:46

Behind, our world order will change.

Hannah Fernando: 00:11:49

I don't think we should ever say that we're immune.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:53

This is the kind of thing that the Beeb, which has been taking quite a bashing recently. It's one of the many things it does superbly well. And, yeah, so what they've done is they've chosen four empires that crumbled.

But we start with Cleopatra. And I mean, I'm sure I don't know that much about Cleopatra. Obviously, I know about Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, her involvement with them.

Bathing in asses, milk, killed by a snake bite. Elizabeth Taylor. That's about it. So this goes into a lot more detail about sort of the. The dynasty that Cleopatra came from and its history.

I mean, it lasted for thousands of years. And she. She kind of spelled the end of it. She was beset by all these kind of calamities, okay, A threat from her brother, Ptolemy viii.

And there was a civil war. There was a great big volcanic eruption which ruined the economy because it all depended on the River Nile and its flood cycle.

Tried to create this alliance first with Julius Caesar and then with Mark Antony. And yes, ended up taking her own life, of course, rather than being taken prisoner because she lost a war with the Roman Empire.

And interesting approach, because what they've done is to tell the story. They've chosen all these artifacts throughout the series that are from the British Museum. And of course, there are experts.

And in episode one, they include a statue of Ramses ii, some coins, the Rosetta Stone, which is a famous slab which helped us discover how to decipher hieroglyphics. So, yeah, you will learn a lot. Often dramatic reconstructions in documentaries, historical documentaries. They can be a bit ropey, can't they?

But these are good. It's great. So, yeah, I learned a lot. And I will watch the other three. What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:13:59

Exactly. That you learn a lot. That's the whole point, isn't it?

Ian MacEwan: 00:14:02

I didn't.

Hannah Fernando: 00:14:03

I don't. I think I. Kind of very unimpressive, my historical knowledge of these things.

It turns out when I watch things like this and I realize how many huge gaps there are, we kind of just know the things we know, I suppose the things that are sort of heavily publicized. But as you say, the experts involved in this, the things you see really kind of tell the story. And also quite a sad story, really, isn't it?

I mean, it's really sort of turbulent, that rain. And again, I don't really think I saw it like that, but it was really, really, really tough and hard.

So you, if you like sort of history, but you kind of what, feel like you've got a potted knowledge, like I do. In fact, I feel like I really didn't know an awful lot at all. This will, this will really help you out and really interesting.

Ian MacEwan: 00:14:49

Okay, we're going to Finish on the BBC iPlayer once more. So we have a new drama called Prisoner 951, which I'm going to play a clip of, and an accompanying documentary. So, yes, here's a clip from the drama.

Hannah Fernando: 00:15:11

Hello, my love.

Ian MacEwan: 00:15:13

Can't wait to see you. Both of you. Well, Izumi's not very nice, Steve. We've been told there's a problem with her passport.

Hannah Fernando: 00:15:20

I think you need to view this as an abduction. Foreign Office has advised me to do nothing.

Ian MacEwan: 00:15:28

Not a lie, another game and now she's got no sway. Did she get inside the car? Did she travel to the airport?

Hannah Fernando: 00:15:38

Yes, as you say, there's two, isn't there? There's the drama and then there's the documentary.

Now this, this feels like a while ago now, but once you start to watch this, if you watch both of them, I think you'll find it fascinating. When Nazanin Sagari Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran, she was over there with her daughter Gabriella.

I think she was under two years old, the daughter, and she was going to visit her family and she was at the airport to come back to Britain to see her husband, who was in the uk. And as she was returning home from this family holiday, she was arrested.

Now, in the documentary, there's actually an awful lot of footage which you can see it in sort of real time, this happening and just her being, oh, you've got the wrong person, as we all would be in a situation like that. I'm sure that you've got the wrong person. It can't be me. What are you talking about? They promised that she'd be released the next morning.

Well, of course she wasn't. And in fact, she was put on trial and sentenced to prison. And it was these trumped up charges of plotting to topple the Iranian regime.

Now, when you watch the documentary, or in this case the drama, where they talk you through the whole thing and show you exactly what happened, the reality of this seems to be the British government owed the Iranian government some money. Now they use footage from the news at the time when Boris Johnson was spoken to about it and he uttered the words, she was just. This is ridiculous.

You know, she's just something about. She's just teaching journalism. Of course, that caused a huge, huge issue as well.

And whether you watch the documentary or the drama or both, I suggest you watch both. You can see the emotion in every part of this. It's absolutely. You are in it immediately.

So with the drama, obviously there are actors playing and telling the story of. Whereas. And then the dreadful tale of her, her ordeal and her struggle of her husband Richard to bring her home.

It's a four parter, the BBC One drama, and it's. Every scene is just emotionally loaded. I think even for the actors playing it, it must have been really, really hard to do it.

She was put in solitary confinement for nine months and her daughters growing up without her. Her husband went on a hunger strike. I mean, this made headlines all the time. And yet I kind of had to be reminded of what happened.

And then, of course, where they are now and what's happening now. It's an incredible tale. You learn an awful lot. It's incredibly sad.

The families complete disgust and disbelief at the British government who felt they didn't have their back and didn't do enough for them and want to kind of speak the truth. And the idea that freedom is being able to speak out and say what actually happened. So this is incredibly interesting.

I say, I think you should watch both of them because they're brilliant in their own way. And for those actors in the drama, I think it must have absolutely taken out of them.

I would think they slept for a week after doing that because it's just so, so highly loaded emotionally. What do you think, Ian?

Ian MacEwan: 00:19:22

Well, I just watched an episode of the drama. It's a hard watch, I've got to say.

I mean, Joseph Fiennes and Nargis Rashidi are excellent, but it's just, it's a story that will make you so angry because, I mean, it's. For starters, it's like a Kafkaesque kind of nightmare because she's being held in Iran.

But everybody knows, Everybody knows she hasn't done anything wrong, but there's nothing she can do to convince. Well, to. To, you know, to gain her freedom. She's just completely at the mercy of this regime.

And, of course, I mean, it's never been officially confirmed, but what had happened was Britain owed lots of money to Iran for this arms deal and had just refused to pay it. A lot of money. And that was the reason she was being held. And the British government just drags their feet.

You see Boris Johnson in it, you see Liz Truss. I mean, they, as much as Iran, are to blame for what happened to this poor, poor family.

And yes, by coincidence, on the day she was released, the debt was repaid. So, yeah, I just found it infuriating to watch these. This poor family went through absolute hell and it was as if just no one would help them.

Everyone was dragging their feet, everyone was denying everything. Just horrific. So, yeah, I mean, amazing that they came through it. And of course, she writes a book about her experiences, which this is based on.

But, yeah, it's. Again, this is something that the Beeb does superbly. It's.

It's a fascinating history lesson and also a cautionary tale about, you know, you cannot rely on the government to get you out of trouble, you know, or even to own up to what's really going on. So, yeah, a drama for our times. Well, we've got to that stage, Hannah, where Bob has lost his chew, so he's chewing my jacket. Hold on a second.

Hannah Fernando: 00:21:42

Bob is part of the pod.

Ian MacEwan: 00:21:43

Don't worry, we've got to that time, Hannah, which everyone looks forward to every week. We find out what the hell you've been binge watching.

Hannah Fernando: 00:21:53

Well, I think I'm marginally predictable at the moment because, of course, it started off being strictly Although Lavoie's now gone, of course, but I'm a celebrity. That's just keeping me very, very busy at the moment. I'm enjoying that.

I mean, also enjoying the headlines of, you know, Kelly Brooke bullying Jack Osborne. And then you watch it and you're like, well, not so much, really, is it? No, no. Think that was a bit of clickbait. But anyway, I'm enjoying that.

How about you?

Ian MacEwan: 00:22:19

I'm continuing with the comedy. Nobody wants this on Netflix. And it's quite an interesting Ghislaine Maxwell documentary series on Channel 4 as well, which is grim but gripping.

Well, we've just got time to look ahead to next week's offering. So what is on the agenda, Brenda?

Hannah Fernando: 00:22:43

Well, a group of divorcees set out to get some payback. Of course they do in the Netflix series the Revenge Club, which stars Martin.

Ian MacEwan: 00:22:51

Compston and Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch team up for the black comedy the Roses, about a marriage on the rocks on Disney plus. So we look forward to those and much, much more and hopefully less barking as well. But in the meantime, see you, listeners.

Hannah Fernando: 00:23:12

Watch.

Ian MacEwan: 00:23:14

Sam.