Matthew Perry, Hostage, Tommy Fury, and 007

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:00

Foreign.

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:06

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 Woman and Home magazine.

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:16

August: 2025

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:45

And we'll also be checking out the return of Brian Cox in 007, Road to a Million on Prime Video. And new reality series Tommy the Good, the Bad, the Fury. See what they did there on BBC3. But first, Ian, what is in the news?

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:00

John McEnroe. You cannot be serious. I am. He will appear in the Dink, which is a new Apple TV plus sports comedy starring Ed Harris and Mary Steenbergen.

What else is in the news, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:01:14

Well, Netflix crime drama Department Q starring Matthew Good as an Edinburgh detective. Walk return for a second series.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:23

Yes, we liked that one. So that is good news. Well, we're going to kick off this week's offerings on Netflix with a new drama series called Hostage. And here's a clip.

Speaker C: 00:01:37

These people will stop at nothing.

Hannah Fernando: 00:01:41

But.

Speaker C: 00:01:41

I cannot give in to them. They are targeting me. They have weaponized my family. I will not be threatened. I will not negotiate.

Ian MacEwan: 00:02:00

Well, this is already being called the New Bodyguard, that series that Keely Hawes was in. And yes, it's a political thriller. And you've got the fabulous Saran Jones playing the British Prime Minister, Abigail Dalton. Okay.

She's happily married to Alex, who is a doctor working for Medecin Sans Frontier, but he is abducted while he's working overseas. Meanwhile, you've got Julie Delpy. Wow. Who is a very accomplished actor and director.

She's playing the French president, Vivienne Toussaint, who is visiting Downing street for a meeting, a summit meeting. And the backdrop is very topical. The backdrop is the immigration crisis. Really? And how are Britain and France going to deal with that?

And anyway, so it's quite an interesting backdrop. I liked a lot about it. So it's created by screenwriter Matt Sharman, who worked on coverage of Spies. I like the fact that it's two female leads.

I like the fact that this is a prime minister who is very relatable, you know, very human. And, yeah, it's just good to see Two women sort of power broking in politics.

So it's quite an interesting setup because, yes, the kidnappers, it happens in episode one, so it's not a big spoiler. Their demand is that Abigail should resign. Her line is very much, you know, we do not give in to terrorists.

And she's relying on the French to sort of mobilize some kind of SWAT team. And it's in a. It's in a sort of French speaking, I think, former colony and go and rescue these doctors. However, I'm not gonna.

I don't want to spoil the surprise, but there's. There's another twist involving the French presidents which kind of turns everything on its head. So I think it's really nicely done.

I mean, I've only seen episode one, but I really liked what I've seen and I just think Jones is. She's terrific in this and so is Delpy. And they're a really good contrast of personalities in this as well. They're both great.

You also have Lucien Mazamati from Gangs of London who is playing Prime Minister's Chief of staff. So, yeah, I think, I mean, you'll certainly watch this if you like Saran Jones and who doesn't?

And if you enjoyed series like the Bodyguard, I think this is recommended. Don't be put off by the kind of political backdrop because it's.

Yeah, it's just besides all that and the topicality, it's just a great thriller, really, really well acted with some interesting characters. What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:05:00

Huge fan of Saran Jones. Whatever she turns her hand to, she. It works, doesn't it, for her.

And a lot of the stuff we've seen in recent times with prime ministers, we've seen actors who try and be like prime ministers that we've had. You know, they're portraying prime ministers we have had. You think of Gillian Anderson, Margaret Thatcher, you. She doesn't hear.

And so quite quickly when I first started watching, I thought, oh, this is kind of weird. She doesn't really look like one of our prime ministers. Of course she's not. This is a whole new. This is a drama. This isn't real.

Hannah, you know, check yourself and suddenly you're just. But because it's so topical, as you say, it's really interesting because it's. It's a divisive topic anyway.

So people will come to this with their own agenda, their own thoughts, and it kind of makes you question a lot of that. Whilst the backdrop of having, as you say, it's a thriller and the storyline that goes on through this.

And I love having this very powerful kind of female driven cast and they're really, really strong. There's no chinks in the armor here at all.

And I think Saran Jones played a big part in creating this and I think you can see that she's at one with the, with the narrative completely and she feels very comfortable in that. So I also like the relationship that she has with her husband too because it's, it's a level playing field, isn't it?

It feels very equal and building each other up at a time when we see so many relationships where people aren't building each other up and you know, one's, you know, an out performer and, or a high performer and the other one isn't or whatever and these two people come together and it's really natural and lovely. So I think there's so many different things to love actually about this.

I think it's really fascinating and as you say, don't be put off by the political part of this because it's not everything by any stretch, but it's an interesting part of it. So, yeah, thumbs up from me.

Ian MacEwan: 00:07:04

Over on ITV and itvx we have a one off documentary called Matthew Perry A Hollywood Tragedy. And here's a clip.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:15

Friends was such a global phenomenon.

Speaker C: 00:07:17

He really touched people's lives.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:19

I genuinely don't think a lot of people realize what fame really is. All of your worst instincts are going to be catered to. His life was overtaken by addictions.

Speaker C: 00:07:33

Hollywood is full of enablers.

Hannah Fernando: 00:07:35

They'd really preyed on somebody vulnerable. Yes, well, you'd have to be living under a rock, wouldn't you, to not remember those headlines.

When Matthew Perry was of course found dead, he drowned and he, I mean the primary issue was ketamine that was found.

And this is a documentary which is kind of different to other documentaries because it's, it doesn't get as close to him as perhaps, you know, some documentaries might and perhaps might in the future.

And in fact, Jennifer Aniston's recently done a cover of a magazine where she's talked about how he's at peace now and that he was, you know, fighting his demons for so long. And so that kind of stuff, when you hear from people that are really close to them and it's really heartfelt, means loads.

This is, has got sort of celebrity journalists. It draws on kind of all corners of his life, I suppose, to look at how he ended up here at this point.

And the truth is it's, it's Fame, we talk about this all the time, don't we? Fame and what it does to people.

And for me, having the wrong people around you, you know, I, I see this time and again, having the right people around you, protecting you is so important. And there's lots of interviews, as I say, with various different people in the know.

And the key messaging here is about the enablers, the people that are allowing him or were allowing him to do what he was having, you know, needing to do. And, and we're talking about doctors here.

You know, there were people, there are arrests made, and it's just a loss of a life that wasn't necessary when actually it didn't need to be doing. Money was involved and they were doing it, they shouldn't been doing it. You know, it wasn't.

It's morally corrupt, arguably, to be doing this kind of thing. And it was incredibly tragic.

And you also see the flashbacks to the kind of, the headlines and, and what was being said at that time and, you know, the money being made out, these drugs. And he's just one of many, many people. And I guess it kind of shines a spotlight on that.

And you'll want to watch it because, you know, even my kids, generations on, are love friends. They love friends. That's the point. And he was the funny one, right? He was absolutely brilliant and it was just incredibly sad.

And, and I, I wish there could be something good that comes from this in terms of stopping this enabling behavior by people around them. You know, suddenly when you become rich and famous, people start to see, say yes, people start to be badly behaved. There's no need for it.

You are still a human being with a life. And he's left lots of people behind that absolutely adored him.

But as I say, reading Jennifer Aniston's interview recently where she just said, do you know what? He's at peace now. Essentially. This is, you know, in a way, he was suffering for so long and, and he was. And this kind of tells the story of that.

So I, I thought it was really quite interesting. What did you think, Ian?

Ian MacEwan: 00:10:48

Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Found it interesting. I read his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the big terrible Thing. And the big terrible thing, of course, is the addiction.

It's a really good read. I mean, strangely, it's actually quite funny, although it's tackling a lot of it is really personal, difficult stuff about his addiction.

And the real tragedy is, I mean, apart from everything else, I think he. I think he had like a jet ski accident or something and he took opioids and became addicted to them.

And I always used to think, you know, why do these people get addicted to opioids, especially rock stars? It seems to happen to a lot. And then I took a tramadol when I had a really bad back and I was like, oh, that's why.

Because it just makes everything feel great. So, yeah, I get it.

And he ends up, yeah, just, just getting far too much ketamine off these dodgy doctors who are like injecting him in the back of a car and in a car park. You know, it's terrible, really.

And what is such a shame is, you know, he wrote that book and, and he kind of was writing about how he overcame the addiction and there were kind of several false dawns.

Like you see him appearing on one of the late night chat shows the first time he's kind of got clean and looking really good and you know, it seems like, oh, this is it.

But, but as they say, someone says in the, in the, in the film, you know, all the time that you're clean and sober, your addiction is like doing one arm press ups in the background, just waiting, waiting, waiting. So, yeah, it is a terrible tragedy and I, I'd quite like to have heard more of his life story.

And it very much is convicted concentrating on the death, naturally, and the circumstances of the death and the people who are being prosecuted for their role in it. Some of them have already sort of put in a guilty plea for what they did.

Yeah, it's just a terrible, terrible shame because he's such a charismatic guy and also he really wanted to help people who were going through similar things.

You got people like Hank Azaria being interviewed, talking about, you know, how, how much Matthew helped him and yeah, you've got the fans, of course. Yeah, he was my favorite and I'm sure as many people's favorite in Friends who. He just absolutely made that character child of being. He was fabulous.

But you can see at one point during the filming of Friends, and I mean, they were getting paid phenomenal sums, weren't they? He suddenly looks very different, his weight is very different and you can, something's going on, you can tell.

So yeah, it's, it's a really good watch.

But yeah, you just come away with, with that feeling of, you know, it's such a waste, but hopefully the fact that these people are being, you know, prosecuted, whereas you often in the past it was like, oh, that's just, you know, that's the fault of the celebrity. It's a celebrity excess. These people who are acting illegally, are being brought to book and hopefully that will prevent future tragedies.

Over on Prime Video we have season two of 007, Road to a Million. And here's a clip I'm sending you.

Speaker D: 00:14:11

Around the world on a series of missions. You will be competing against each other for the chance to win a million.

Hannah Fernando: 00:14:19

Pounds.

Speaker D: 00:14:21

Eliminate the competition, master the gadgets and find your inner Bond.

Ian MacEwan: 00:14:31

So, yes, it's a James Bond themed reality show presented by Brian Cox. Not Brian Cox the physicist, Brian Cox the succession actor who is playing sort of a Bond villain type in this, I guess. I don't know.

Is he a Bond villain or is he supposed to be m? I don't know. Anyway, I think, I think it's good the first series got very mixed reviews.

I think we might have covered it and I seem to remember that the first episode is supposed to be like the sort of challenges that and skills that James Bond would. Would need to have and overcome.

I seem to remember the first episode of season one, they just had to go and retrieve a suitcase out of some bracken in Scotland. I thought, don't think James Bond would struggle with that.

Anyway, I didn't watch any more of it, but I've watched episode one of the second season and I gotta say, it's good, it's exciting, it looks exotic. They're going some amazing locations. The things they get them to do, like bungee jumping off a massive dam. They have to like pick up scorpions.

It's quite good stuff. And I mean, everyone's looking for, you know, what's the next race across the world and Destination X thought it was going to be.

I didn't particularly rate that, but that's very much what this is. You've got these pairs of contestants.

They could be friends, they could be siblings, could be light partners, father and daughter, whatever, but they don't really go along.

I hate it when they have kind of almost forced the backstory of like, this is an important journey in my personal development because xyz, it's just quite good fun. And you know, some are better at the challenges than others, let's put it that way. But yeah, I really enjoyed episode one.

And yeah, it's just, it's just fun. Easy viewing some interesting challenges.

You know, they're driving Aston Martins, they're in Thailand for the first challenge where they have to kind of make it out to a boat where these scorpions are in a tank. They're going to retrieve something out of the tank. There's a lot of bickering and there's a lot of confusion, but yeah, it's good stuff.

I would say I prefer this to Destination X. There, I've said it. What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:17:05

Well, this in some ways kind of reminded me of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me out of Here. With the kind of trials that they're doing.

I mean, of course, you know, we can't fail to mention the 1 million pound cash prize here, which is $1 million, which is rather a large amount, as you say.

I mean, the backdrop of I'm A Celebrity is pretty lovely in the jungle, but it's, it's sort of had, for me it had a more perhaps a classier vibe to it, maybe.

I don't know, because it's Bond and, and I, I suppose cleverly appealing to a different viewer perhaps, or, or them and some others, which I think is quite interesting because as you say, that sort of, I mean, the Bond genre is just. I mean, it's a phenomenon, isn't it?

And people will flock because it's, you know, because this is, that's kind of the part of it, you know, and, and that will interest people. It is, it is good, it's dramatic, it's not for the faint hearted at times. I'd say it's pretty scary at times.

I certainly wouldn't be bungee jumping like them, but it's. Each couple has got to overcome their fears and do this to stay in the show, really, which is exactly. It's a reality show, isn't it?

On steroids, really. It's absolutely. It's on fire.

It's a bit different and I always think with reality shows, I just don't know what else they can do, but they can do this. And I think, I think people will like it.

Ian MacEwan: 00:18:35

Agreed. And Brian Cox is hamming it up a treat. Let's get him into a Bond film.

Well, we're going to finish on BBC3 and BBC iPlayer with a rather different reality show called Tommy the Good, the Bad, the Fury. And here's a clip.

Speaker E: 00:18:56

Went through the worst year of my life because I couldn't fox in this big house that I bought. I find myself just sat alone. I just want to show Bambi and Molly I'm back.

Ian MacEwan: 00:19:06

He owes it to everybody around him.

Speaker E: 00:19:08

I need to get back to me. That's the big thing about being a Fury fight until our last breath.

Hannah Fernando: 00:19:16

Yes. So I must admit I'm not completely. I'm not one of the top fans of Tommy Fury and his partner Molly May.

Although of course there's been plenty of reality shows and plenty of color minches on the two of them. They met on Love island, for anybody that doesn't know. So this is a documentary about him after what he calls his worst year ever. And it.

And it is pretty.

It is quite interesting because even though, you know, we don't particularly write about their love life, which does make no bones about it, is a big part of this, actually. It is a running theme throughout it, although it centres around him.

And I do remember when that statement was put out by her that they were splitting up and they. And they do look at that.

And people will find that interesting because I think everybody was accusing him of doing things that he shouldn't have been doing. And he talks in this about the fact that he. No, it was nothing to do with any of that. It was alcohol.

So we see how somebody essentially falls off the rails. This is somebody who wants to be a boxer from a very young age. Obviously, Tyson Fury's in his family. You know, what, what a.

What, what a person to look up to, certainly somebody who could get him into the ring. And he did. And his. His dad taught him. His dad was. Is a big part of this. And. But Love island was what really changed his life.

Suddenly he met a woman and they became a phenomenon, the two of them. They made an absolute fortune. And you can see the money that they've got. You can see the house they're living in.

They went on to have a baby, a baby girl called Bambi. And you see, you see that too. It's. I must admit it, of course, it's all about him. And it's his version of events, dare I say it.

I felt parts were incredibly sycophantic. I did really feel like this was indulgence to another level. There was no real.

I mean, the person questioning him questioned him a little bit and pushed him on a couple of things, but not really. And I suppose that is the point. This is his story and his version of how he felt. And you follow him through the journey.

He had a hand injury, see how that affected him. And not being able to train, doing all the things that he was able to do previously.

And again, you know, we spoke earlier in the POD about fame and what it can do to you and how it can change you. And that fundamentally has a massive part in him sort of hitting rock bottom, if you like, and it all going wrong now.

They are back together now and, you know, it's all happy between the two of them. But this kind of feature is. It's very carefully edited, as you'd imagine. It's very carefully crafted. I, I don't think, you know, you.

You'd be surprised at that.

I think Molly comes over, she's quite strong in it as a character, and the warmth comes really between him and his daughter, certainly in the first episode more than anything. And there's one thing I did notice. Ian. He eats a lot, doesn't he? I know he's training a lot, but he eats the whole time in this documentary.

I kept noticing. And his phone rings a lot. But I suppose it would when you're that, when you're that famous. But it, it's, it's in. I think it's interesting.

If you don't know him and you don't know his success story and how he's got there and the, the ups and downs and the bumps in the road, it's pretty interesting. I mean, I've got to be honest with you, it's a binge watch because you kind of. You're watching it and already you're an episode in it.

It's just easy, really quite easy viewing. And as I say, it's one dimensional, it's one person's view of things. But of course that would always be the way. What are you thinking?

Ian MacEwan: 00:23:19

Well, I don't watch Love Islands and I don't like boxing. And I got quite a long interview with Tommy Fury, who was really nice, but it kind of seemed like he'd really been media coached.

And it was, as with the series, this is all about controlling the narrative, which kind of like started with the Beckhams, didn't it? Like you control the narrative of your celebrity. So I did enjoy At Home with the Furies about Tyson Fury's home life.

That was almost like the Osbournes. It was just chaos. But it was very funny and he was very charismatic as well. It was good. I'm not. I don't know how much.

Well, obviously there's a lot of interest, you know, in a certain generation in Tommy and Molly May. But personally, I don't really get it. But that's, you know, really, that's my problem.

What I do like about it is, yeah, he's kind of owning to an extent, his problems with drink. And we see him, you know, he's, he's lovely as a dad to little Bambi. He's an absolutely doting dad.

There's a bit of kind of behind the scenes stuff with the boxing. So you see him training with his father, who, you know is as People will know a pretty strong personality. And his.

His father actually advised Molly Mae just to walk away from the relationship when.

When his son started drinking, you know, so we see them training, we see a sort of press conference for a comeback fight with the usual rubbish kind of handbags at dawn. You know, all this kind of posing and preening and, you know, slagging each other off. I found that all quite boring.

But, yeah, I think he comes across well, though. It, it's very much, yeah, his version of the whole story.

But just for me, I'm not really that interested, I guess, because I don't live in that world, you know, in that kind of social media world. That's not something that kind of. I follow, so. But I'm sure Fury fans, we'll get a lot out of it now.

We finally got to that time, Hannah, where we find out what the heck you've been binge watching.

Hannah Fernando: 00:25:41

Well, do you know what, what I've been watching, similar to you, I think, Master Chef, because it's quite the series, isn't it, this year? It's quite the series. Lots of color minches, shall we say?

Ian MacEwan: 00:25:55

Yes, I have been watching it and I, I. Because I find my. I find myself, as a joke, constantly saying, greg, please don't get your blank out. Which amuses me. No ends.

Yeah, so Greg and John are still there. I think one person was edited out. So I've been having an interesting time trying to figure out which episode did they edit the person out of.

And I noticed one time when they're lining up, it seems to be really cropped on one side the shot. Anyway, I don't know at the end of the day, But I love MasterChef watching that. And Sewing Bee is back and just as good as ever.

Well, we've just got time to look ahead to next week. And what a week it is. What are we going to be talking about, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:26:40

Well, I cannot wait for this. I'm so excited because Richard Osmond's crime novel Thursday Murder Club, arrives on Netflix. Oh, yes, does.

Ian MacEwan: 00:26:51

Wow. And what a fine podcaster he is as well. Meanwhile, James Norton plays King Harold as he takes on William the Conqueror.

Remember, do you remember way back when the French invaded Osana? Do you remember that?

Hannah Fernando: 00:27:07

Outrageous.

Ian MacEwan: 00:27:08

In an epic historical drama, King and Conqueror Player. So we look forward to those and much, much more. But in the meantime, dear listeners.