“Hello and welcome to the first ever Spoiler awards” In this special lockdown edition of Spoiler, an isolated and delusional Andy fantasises that he is the host of a large scale awards ceremony, The Spoilers, celebrating the cream of the talent involved in the films, TV shows and novels we’ve discussed in our previous fifty-five episodes. Created in conjunction with a feature we ran on our Facebook and Twitter pages in which listeners were asked to vote on nominees in various categories, The...

“When you're in a battle against an enemy so much bigger, so much stronger than you, to find out you had a friend you never knew existed, that's the best feeling in the world.” Fans of fun, come on in! In our series 8 finale, the Spoiler team are watching Matthew Warchus’s biographical comedy-drama ‘Pride’ and there’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind that the whole team are going to love it. A traditional Spoiler love-in becomes a full-on celebration of love as the team share the moments that...

“What if everything that came from the past was influenced by the future.” This week we’re heading to Winden for the time-travelling Netflix drama ‘Dark’ and not everyone is overly impressed with this cult phenomenon. While Rachael is a dedicated fan immersed in the twists and turns of the show’s convoluted family tree, Andy is completely baffled, bored and ultimately bedraggled by his attempts to wade through all ten episodes. And while Paul is on the fence once again, he is disappointed by...

“You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead.” This week we’re watching Tony Scott’s action drama ‘Top Gun’ and, while the whole team is in agreement that Tom Cruise is a classic movie star, not everyone thinks this is a classic movie. Surprisingly, it's Andy who enjoyed it the most, leaving Rachael and Paul agog at his enthusiasm. Rachael recalls her old headmaster’s love of the film, while Paul relates his bizarre experience at a Tom Cruise lookalike competition....

“Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!” This week we’re reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and in a strange twist of events Rachael arrives underprepared while Paul has conducted extensive research! Rachael confesses that she left it until the last minute to read the book but attributes her mixed reaction to years of watching film and TV adaptations of this story which have drained away the element of surprise. Andy, a...

“It goes on forever, six bloody minutes!” This week we’re watching Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher’s Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Not every member of the Spoiler team is a Queen fan and not everyone is a fan of this film either. While Rachael knows she’s being manipulated by the film but is happy to enjoy the experience, Andy unleashes a tirade against bad writing, overrated acting and cheap tactics. Paul, meanwhile, is on the fence but a wobblier fence that usual, with a dodgy...

“The sun’s in my heart and I’m ready for love” The Spoiler team are back for series 8 and what better way to celebrate our 50th episode than by finally acknowledging the elephant in the recording studio that’s been hanging over Paul since series 1; Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s definitive film musical ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. It’s no secret that Andy and Rachael both adore this eternal classic but a self-sabotaging Paul is having none of it, putting off watching it until the first day back at...

“We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.” It’s the end of series 7 and the Spoiler team have finally got round to a Steven Spielberg film. So which classic have we gone for? ‘Jaws’? ‘Jurassic Park’? ‘Schindler’s List’ perhaps? No, we’ve opted for probably the most reviled film in this great director’s canon; the 2008 Indiana Jones revival ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. With the intention of giving this fan-lambasted underdog a fair...

“Is it not better some things remain hidden from our minds?” This week, against Paul’s express wishes, the Spoiler team have accepted a listener request and are reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s philosophical fantasy novel ‘The Buried Giant’. This dense meditation on collective memory pretty much splits the team three ways, with professed fantasy fan Rachael wishing for more fantastical elements and Andy, who is ambivalent at best about the fantasy genre, pleased to find the emphasis more on themes...

“Wasting my time, employers' time, your time. And all it does is humiliate me, grind me down. Or is that the point?” This week, in a very special bumper episode of Spoiler, we’re watching Ken Loach’s 2016 drama ‘I, Daniel Blake’ and the team are all in agreement that it is one of the most important films of its era. With strong opinions coming from all sides, emotions run high as we discuss the benefits system, food banks, homelessness and dignity. Paul asks whether the depiction of job...

“Isn't it strange, to create something that hates you?” This week the Spoiler team are trying to get to grips with the intricacies of Alex Garland’s psychological sci-fi thriller ‘Ex Machina’ starring Domnhall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. A film that has long been on the Spoiler back-burner, ‘Ex Machina’ ultimately proves divisive among the team with Rachael and Paul enjoying it more than Andy, whom Paul declares has “lost it” after he declares that he doesn’t like ‘Black Mirror’...

“Tea without sugar is just vegetable soup” This week we’re watching the first series of Mackenzie Crook’s 2014 sitcom ‘Detectorists’ and, perhaps predictably, it’s a complete love-in. With no-one willing to criticise such a brilliant series just for the sake of it, Andy talks about how the show made him almost glad to have a cold, Rachael tells of how she overcame her initial misgivings about where the romantic subplot was heading and Paul once again proves that his aversion to...

“If she ever kisses you, I'll turn you into a prince. Prince of the Land of Stench!" The Spoiler team are back for series 7 and we’re kicking off by watching Jim Henson’s 1986 fantasy adventure ‘Labyrinth’ starring David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly and an array of fantastic puppets. As lifelong Jim Henson devotees, Rachael and Andy are suckers for this film, but due to a childhood trauma involving basketball and ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, Paul needs a little more convincing. Andy relates how...

In the run up to our series 7 première episode on Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’, the Spoiler team are proud to present a very special episode on the art of puppetry in which Andy talks to British puppeteer, actor, producer and director Nigel Plaskitt about his long and varied career. Nigel discusses his work on the sophisticated pre-school series ‘Pipkins’ in which he played the iconic character Hartley Hare, including the pioneering approach the series took to the death of its presenter and the...

"I just thought there would be more than this..."  It’s the end of series six and the Spoiler team are going out on a high by looking at Richard Linklater’s experimental coming-of-age drama ‘Boyhood’. With a two hour plus film covering a twelve year timespan to get through, Andy and Rachael try desperately to make Paul come to terms with the fact that Linklater chose to open the soundtrack with Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’. With this stumbling block successfully traversed, the team get to grips with...

"At least you'll never be a vegetable. Even artichokes have hearts!”  The Spoiler team are dusting off their best GCSE French as this week we take a look at Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s quirky romantic comedy ‘Amelie’ starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. While this is one of Rachael’s favourite films of all time, the rest of the team might take a little more convincing. With Paul on the fence once more, whose side will he ultimately come down upon? Will it be Rachael’s side, where the...

"He's a natural born world-shaker"  This week we’re watching Stuart Rosenberg’s classic prison drama ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and the team are all getting steamed up over how devastatingly attractive Paul Newman is. But while Paul is happy to ogle him online and try to emulate his lean, he is not totally convinced by a film that seems like a badly stitched together set of sketches. In an attempt to get to the bottom of exactly why he didn’t connect with ‘Cool Hand Luke’, Paul asks Andy and Rachael...

“The D is silent” This week we’re watching Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist western ‘Django Unchained’ starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio and the team are in two minds about its uncomfortable mixture of tones. While Paul wonders if presenting Spoiler has made him extra-sensitive, Rachael discusses her differing reactions to cartoonish splatter and realistic brutality, while Andy feels that the film merely uses slavery as a catalyst to stoke the flames of the...

“There should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives” This week the Spoiler team are feeling inspired as we read R.J. Palacio’s children’s novel ‘Wonder’. Paul predicts that Andy, given his favourite film is ‘Dumbo’, will enjoy this (for the record, Paul’s favourite film is ‘Paddington’) and its themes of kindness make Rachael a shoo-in but Paul teases the group by managing to spin out his opinion for as long as possible. Still, all...

"What is so special about Josh Baskin?” “He’s a grown up!” The Spoiler team are back and we all reckoned it was criminal that we still hadn’t looked at a Tom Hanks film yet. We’re rectifying this by kicking off series 6 with Penny Marshall’s 1988 fantasy comedy ‘Big’. While Andy and Rachael both grew up with ‘Big’, Paul lives up to his reputation for procrastination by only having seen it for the first time a couple of days ago. While this precludes Paul from joining in with the rest of...

In the final in a short series of very special episodes of Spoiler, Andy continues his quest to convince people that animation is more than just ‘kid’s stuff’ by talking to some of the medium’s greatest names. In this episode Andy talks to Canadian animator and artist Sheldon Cohen about his long and distinguished career. Best known for the Canadian institution that is ‘The Sweater’, Sheldon provides insights into the making of this beautiful and consistently popular film, recalls his...

In the fourth in a short series of very special episodes of Spoiler, Andy continues to sing the praises of animation as an overlooked medium and illustrates the point by interviewing some of animation’s brightest talents. In this episode Andy talks to Canadian animator John Weldon, who provides fascinating insights into a career spanning over four decades. John discusses the wide range of styles in which he has worked, including hand-drawn, computer and stop-motion animation. He talks about...

In the third in a short series of very special episodes of Spoiler, Andy pushes on with his mission to convince the world that animation is an under appreciated, magical medium by interviewing some of his favourite animators. In this episode Andy talks to Canadian animation team Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, creators of the Oscar-nominated shorts ‘When the Day Breaks’ and ‘Wild Life’. Wendy and Amanda offer insights into their unique animation techniques, their fondness for the collaborative...

In the second in a short series of very special episodes of Spoiler, Andy is given free rein to wax rhapsodic about the medium of animation and interview some of his heroes from the animation community. In this episode Andy talks to British animator Joanna Quinn, creator of the formidable Welsh housewife Beryl and director of Channel 4’s Oscar-nominated Christmas classic ‘Famous Fred’. Joanna share her experiences of the differences between commercial and personal animation and between...