Train Dreams, Daddy Issues, Bunny Munro and A Man on the Inside

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:00

Foreign.

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:05

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 Women and Home magazine.

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:16

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

st November: 2025

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:45

And we'll also be rejoining Amy Lee Wood and David Morrissey for a new run of domestic comedy Daddy Issues on BBC iplayer.

Ian MacEwan: 00:00:53

And.

Hannah Fernando: 00:00:53

And having a man on the inside in the form of Ted Danson as his Netflix comedy also returns. But first, Ian, what is in the news?

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:01

Luke Evans will star in the ITVX drama the Party, about a journalist and a politician who have been lifelong friends through thick and thin. Sounds a bit like State of Play, doesn't it?

Hannah Fernando: 00:01:14

It really is.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:15

What else is in the news, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:01:17

Well, the line up for the Celebrity Apprentice Christmas specials will include Rob Rinder. Yep. And Sarah Hadland.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:25

We've got two returning comedies this week and if I had to choose a theme, it would be Deadbeat Dads. Hannah. Yes. So we're going to start on Netflix with a new feature film called Train Dreams. And here's a clip.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:47

I was thinking that we ought to get married. This is rough work.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:55

Gentleme.

Ian MacEwan: 00:01:56

Not just on the body. We just cut down trees that have been here for 500 years. Upsets man's soul, whether you recognize it or not.

Ian MacEwan: 00:02:10

So this is set in North America in the early 20th century. It's about this chap called Robert Granier, played by Joel Edgerton of Star wars fame. He's an orphan. He lives a very lonely life.

But then he meets Gladys, played by Felicity Jones from the Theory of Everything and gets married and becomes a dad. His work. Oh, yeah, it's set in Idaho, by the way. His work is as a logger, so that means he has to go far from home.

He's often working for the railroad because the railways are racing across North America. And, yeah, so it's quite a lonely, hard life away from his sort of idyllic family life in this cabin he's built by a river. William H Macy from Fargo.

He appears in it as a dynamite specialist. So, yeah, it's very slow, it's very quiet. I mean, Robert himself is extremely taciturn.

He really didn't say much and he suffers a bit like a sort of Thomas Hardy protagonist. He really suffers and I won't say what happens, it's based on a book. But yeah, this tragedy that he has to endure.

There's also some interesting reflections on the fact that they're, you know, they're basically deforesting these vast tracts of land and like, what impact will that have on the landscape and on themselves? And also 20th century technology is also racing ahead, although Robert remains largely untouched by it.

You've also got Kerry Condon, who was brilliant in the Banshees of Inisherin, as the sister of Colin Farrell's character. So she plays Claire, who is a forestry worker who sort of forms a bond with. With Robert later in his life. Yeah, this was very unexpected.

It looks great. I mean, so much of his shot outdoors looks incredible and I just like the fact that it's very slow, it's very quiet, quite kind of elegiac. So.

Yes, recommended. What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:04:39

Yeah, I know exactly.

I mean, I firstly, I love a period drama, so that's really nice, but I think we've become used to period dramas that aren't quite, as is you put it, slow. I mean, they're quite pacy and racy, actually. Some of the recent ones that we've looked at on binge Watch and this does just sort of.

It's lots to get your head around, but essentially quite a simple story too. And I think it's the reflection of losses because there's a loss, isn't there, really?

And also kind of through a man's eyes as well, which you don't always see in period dramas. I think often you see it through a female lens and so I found that quite interesting as well. Really nicely done. I think something that's.

That a lot of people will enjoy, but something's a little bit different and different take on period dramas we've kind of been used to, because although they're period, they're almost made more modern in the sort of brutality and some of it that we see that I suppose plays to modern times, I don't know. But this. This doesn't feel like that. So, yes, it's good.

Ian MacEwan: 00:05:47

We move across to BBC iplayer for the return of comedy Daddy Issues and here's a clip.

Hannah Fernando: 00:05:57

There's this fire inside me now I want to provide a better life for my baby. This is going to be the best day. No, Dear Terror and I like it before the police turn up yeah, I'm sure I can't do this without you, dad. Yes.

So if you haven't seen the first season of this, you'll. You'll catch up with season two pretty easily. You don't. I don't think you need to. Need to see it. You'll catch up, but it's quite good to have that.

And I went back and watched some of those previous episodes just to kind of remind myself what happened.

But essentially that first series sees a single mum to be Gemma, who's played by Amy Louwood and her dad Malcolm, in this kind of like weird father daughter relationship where they're kind of both bumbling through life. She's a single mum to be. Whereas this series, it's three months. You see her have the baby. She's having the baby, baby Sadie.

And then it get moves to three months on and you see a really quite different Gemma. And I actually really enjoyed this because Gemma, as I say, played by Amy Leewood, is really quite a bright character.

You know, she's really articulate. I mean, of course it's scripted, I realize that, but you kind of often have these ideas of somebody.

She's got herself into trouble, you know, she hasn't really got any kind of way of looking after this baby, particularly other than love. This has changed her view on everything. But she's just so sort of. She's bright, she's a bright girl and she's very, very funny in this.

It's a very dry hu. You know, it's sort of.

There are kind of laugh out loud moments, but it's a bit of a. I sort of hear myself chuckling kind of all the way through when I was watching this.

So say this new run begins with baby Sadie has arrived and Gemma is dealing with these, you know, sleepless nights which any, any new mum will totally understand. And someone says to her, you know, aren't you supposed to sleep when the baby sleeps? And that's what people used to say to me, because you don't.

Because the only time you've got to actually catch up on doing anything. So that house doesn't look like it's, you know, been burgled daily. So, you know, that's what you're doing.

And she's absolutely exhausted and the makeup and everything. She just looks really quite run down at times, but it feels so real and genuine and I think that is the point.

But she has a really close relationship with her dad. Her mum comes back on the scene. This time her mum Davina, who's played by Jill Halfpenny, who's replaced Susan Lynch. Now she's.

Yeah, she's out and about, out in the night, you know, having fun, living her best life, you know, having a good drink and all the rest of it. And she's coming home and really her dad's living back in a shared house, but on this sort of the. Just basically the top of the stairs, really.

It's not. It's not a waste lift. So he's exhausted too. And she needs to try and find a way of getting her mum out the house. The mum is really no use. She was.

She was okay in the first few weeks, but literally three months in and she's given up and she's bored of it all and she wants to get her dad to move back in. So that's what this is all about doing. And the relationship that Malcolm has with Sadie, he absolutely adores her.

It's quite different to the relationship that, you know, the grandmother has because she's, you know, she's. She just wants to live her own life, you know, she. She's not got. She doesn't have to do this anymore. She doesn't want to do it. And she's having.

She's having a good time with a sausage man, put it that way. So is this is one of those. I've really. I really enjoyed it, but it's a one that you sort of chuckle throughout rather than massive belly laughs.

What did you think, Ian?

Ian MacEwan: 00:09:39

Well, what a great launching pad sex education was for a number of young stars, wasn't it? And one of those was Amy Lee Wood, and she's just gone from strength to strength.

White Lotus Film Club, which was terrific comedy we've reviewed, and this is great as well. And of course, the idea of, like, the child being more grown up than the parent is fertile comedic ground, isn't it? As we know from AB Fab.

And that's what's happening here. And yeah, go back and watch season one because it's so good.

And I mean, it's bittersweet in a way that it's a comedy, but there is a slight sadness about it in a way.

I mean, David Morrissey is wonderful as Malcolm, who, as you say, he's sleeping on a mattress on a landing in this shared house which is owned by his friend Derek, played by David Finn. And he is very, very funny as well. And, yeah, the mum just kind of going out shagging. Completely useless. So, yeah, it's great.

Yeah, it's kind of quite gentle. Laughs I would say, but it's very, very good. And I mean, Amy Lee Wood can do no wrong.

Over on Now TV and Sky Atlantic, we have a new drama series called the Death of Bunny Munro. And here's a clip.

Hannah Fernando: 00:11:09

Dad, can you teach me how to.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:11

Be a salesman like you? You've got to set yourself apart. You've got to have something they think they need for stamp.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:27

Hope.

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:28

The dream. You've got to sell them the dream. What's the dream?

Ian MacEwan: 00:11:35

Me. Well, this is based by a novel by the multi talented musician Nick Cave and it stars Matt Smith.

I mean, I was pretty much unaware of Matt Smith when he became Doctor who. And a very good doctor he was, I shouldn't say became Doctor who. He played the Doctor in Doctor who.

He was great in that and he's been superb in everything he's done since and he's excellent in this. So he plays Bunny. Yes, another deadbeat dad. He's, he lives in Brighton. He's got a son and a partner.

Well, a wife played by Sarah Green, his wife Libby. And he's just a lothario. He cheats on his wife. He's, he's just, he's just a really flaky character.

We've all met people who are very darkly charismatic but also totally unreliable and he's one of them. Jumping off point. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler, but anyway, he. His wife kills herself. Okay. And so he's left to look after Bunny Jr.

The son. But they live in this flat, which is an absolute mess. And what he wants to do really is offload the kid on the grandparents.

And anyway, social services come round and there's all this drug paraphernalia. There's a naked woman there, like the morning after the wake, which was a really sort of raucous affair.

And so they just, they leg it and we're off on this road trip. And you've got Lindsey Duncan plays his mother in law who absolutely, absolutely hates him. Robert Glenister plays his boss. And David Threlfall, wow.

Plays Bunny's father. And I think we don't see him in episode one, but it's going to be really interesting to see. Okay. What made Bunny the dreadful man? He is Matt Smith.

He looks so cool in this, doesn't he? He looks really handsome and smooth, but yeah, he's just an absolutely dreadful character. And again, it's, I mean, it's quite sad, really.

A bit grim, but great performances, really good story. Like the setting. Recommended. What did you think, Hannah?

Hannah Fernando: 00:14:02

Yeah. Matt Smith is Just super cool, isn't he? I mean, just brings cool to everything he does. You know, what with this.

It's the grief part of it that's really hard to watch, I think, because as you say, his wife commits suicide, he's obviously not particularly likable character and is sort of behaving badly. And then of course there'. There's a little boy thrown into the mix. And you know what I'm like when there's children involved.

I struggle with that anyway. And you know, the wake that we see is just so preposterous and awful.

And you know, social services come and he realizes that he's one step away, if not there, where social services is going to take that child away. And of course he goes on the run. And I can't help but feel that there was a part of him he doesn't want his son to go. That's the point.

You know, if he did, then carry on behaving the way he does and he doesn't want to be around looking after his kid. That's it. But there isn't that at all. You know, he's just making the wrong choices every corner. And that's. Is that fueled by grief?

Is that fueled by the fact that he's not a particularly brilliantly nice person in the first place? You know, all of those things come to mind.

But there's sort of this inner sadness because essentially he loves his son, but love is not enough in this case. Cause he's not actually meeting his required needs, needs on a day to day basis. So.

And I think he plays the part really, really well because you find yourself lunging from one emotion to the other, which is I want him to keep his son, but he can't keep his son because his son is in a terrible state. And he needs a more, you know, consistency and continuity and food on a plate and not being surrounded by drugs.

So I think it's really well done and I think Matt's the perfect person to play this because he has that sort of that cool aura. And as I say, most people playing this part, you just instantly hate them. And I didn't have that feeling, you know?

Ian MacEwan: 00:15:55

Agreed. Well, we're gonna finish with our second returning comedy on Netflix. It's season two of A Man on the Inside. And here's a clip.

Ian MacEwan: 00:16:07

I'm a private investigator. I was hired by your wife to figure out whether you were having an affair. It seems like you are. And he's not a surgeon. He manages a Pep Boys Look, I.

Ian MacEwan: 00:16:19

Don'T Know what she's paying you, but I will double it. Plus free oil changes for life.

Ian MacEwan: 00:16:26

I want a real PI case. Something juicy.

Hannah Fernando: 00:16:31

Oh, the lovely Hollywood star, Ted. Dance on his back. I really love Ted. He's so funny. He's absolutely brilliant.

So season one, we saw him play the part of Charles, this lonely widow lost his wife and he, he's processing his grief and he lands this just one off job as an undercover private investigator. But the jobs are really boring.

I mean, they're just going out and finding out that a man is not, is not being faithful to his wife, essentially is what he's, is what he's doing. And he doesn't want that anymore. He wants to literally be the man on the inside. He wants to be a proper private investigation investigator.

So as the, this, as this new series begins, he carries on working for this company. He says, look, he doesn't want to do anything like that anymore. He wants you something proper.

And this, this opportunity arises to try and find the perpetrator, the person that stole a laptop from a college campus, which is, they say, I think in the, when I was watching, it's worth $4 million or something like that, and it threatens a donation from this billionaire alumni. And he is an ex professor, so it's the perfect place for him to pitch up and, you know, not stand out. And in he goes.

But the trouble is, is that, you know, he's a bit of a rookie sleuth. He kind of does things that he shouldn't be doing.

He's not that brilliant at the job, at the gig, but he meets this eccentric music professor called Mona and it's actually played by his wife Mary, who they've been married together something like 30 years, I think, together. So they, you know, there's a chemistry there. It sort of works.

But he's having this relationship with her or, you know, fraternizing with her, having a bit of a dalliance. And of course she's one of the main suspects. So it's all very, it's all very tongue in cheek. It's really, it's, it's really funny in places.

It's just quite, it's light entertainment is what I'd say. Ian, what did you think?

Ian MacEwan: 00:18:24

I really like it. And I mean, Danson is. He's going to be 78 soon, so it's just good, good to see someone of that age in a leading role.

He looks great and he's kind of, I think he's doing some great work at this stage of his career because of course they were. Both. Him and Mary Steenbergen were both in Curb youb Enthusiasm as themselves and they were. They would. He's good in that. And, yeah, he's just.

He's just got great comic timing and he's just a brilliant performer. So there's a lovely scene at the beginning where he's in a bar and he basically. He's. He's. He's watching this husband who's having an affair.

So that's really funny. And then you got Gary Cole from, Remember Midnight Caller from all those years ago.

He plays this obnoxious billionaire who hopefully is going to give some money to the college. Yeah, the scenes with. With Mary, who plays a sort of eccentric music professor, they're rather sweet. And, yeah, it's got that kind of.

It's that gentle comedy, a bit like Only Murders in the Building, which again, has these sort of veteran American comedians in it or comic actors. So, yeah, I like it. It's just. It's just nice, easy watch. That will make you feel good.

Now, we've got to that time, young Hannah, my lad, where we find out what the hell you've been binge watching.

Hannah Fernando: 00:19:52

Well, of course I've been watching. I'm a celebrity. Get me out of here. Yes, I'm. I'm. I'm invested in. I'm invested. That's all I can say.

Kelly Brook is doing it for the girls like me who are not on the skinny jab. I love it. She is absolutely brilliant and she should be thoroughly embraced because she just. Yeah, she's doing it for the girls. Love her.

Ian MacEwan: 00:20:21

Good stuff.

Well, I find once I've trawled through the very long menu on Netflix and found nothing to watch, I often pop over to iplayer and I'm pleasantly surprised. And that was the case this week. I watched a documentary about Richard Burton called Richard Burton Wild Genius.

And I also watched, I mean, this is quite old, a very good dramatization called the Life and Death of Peter Sellers. The great cast starring Geoffrey Rush and just showing what an absolutely horrible person Peter Sellers was.

But, yeah, it's got Charlize Theron in it. It's got Stanley Tucci. It's. It's.

Remember when they were doing all those dramas, I think it might have been on BBC4 about people like Hattie Jakes and Kenneth Williams and that this is another one of them and it is a one if you didn't see it first time round. Now we've just got time to look ahead to next week's offering. So what is on the agenda, Brenda?

Hannah Fernando: 00:21:20

Well, man of the moment, literally. Alan Carr's autobiographical comedy Changing Ends returns on ITVX with lovely Oliver Saville, who is my friend's son, who plays the young Alan Carr.

Ian MacEwan: 00:21:31

He's very good, that young lads. Excellent. And wow, though this is the big one of the year, I guess.

The eagerly awaited four final season of Sci Fi Stranger Things, although it hasn't been that good a year for David Harbour, lands lands on Netflix. So I cannot wait for that. I would go burn right through that as soon as it arrives. So we look forward to those and much, much more.

But in the meantime, dear listener.

Ian MacEwan: 00:22:04

It.