In the first in a short series of very special episodes of Spoiler, Andy attempts to demonstrate how underrated animation is by interviewing some of the brightest talents associated with the medium. In this extraordinary feature-length episode Andy talks to American writer, director and animator Jerry Rees. Jerry joined Disney at a key transitional time and worked as a character animator on the 1981 classic ‘The Fox and the Hound’. Jerry shares tales of his immense good luck in finding a...

“A man becomes a critic when he cannot be an artist” It’s the end of series 5 and the Spoiler team celebrate this momentous landmark by returning to our very first episode in which Paul, in a fit of pique over Alejandro Iñárritu’s ‘Birdman’ beating ‘Whiplash’ to the Best Picture Oscar, hinted at his dislike for the film, Rachael defended it and Andy declared himself undecided. Nearly two years down the line, how have the team’s opinions changed? Despite still feeling that it’s “too...

“If love be rough with you, be rough with love” Three reviewers, alike in temperament (if not always in opinion), sit down this week to talk some serious culture as the Spoiler team take a look at Baz Luhrmann’s Shakespeare adaptation ‘Romeo + Juliet’. Paul wonders just how many meads he must have had when he suggested we tackle the Bard, while Andy shares his concerns that talking Shakespeare could expose the fact he’s not as clever as he’s often credited with being. Self-proclaimed...

“Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices” This week we’re watching Alfonso Cuaron’s dystopian thriller ‘Children of Men’, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Pam Ferris and not all the team are entirely convinced. While Rachael is “saturated” in the film and Paul wonders how this hidden gem passed him by, Andy finds it impossible to connect with ‘Children of Men’ on an emotional level and would rather spend the show discussing daytime quiz show...

“I just want to cry… all the time” This week we’re watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s dark comedy ‘Fleabag’, starring Waller-Bridge herself, Sian Clifford, Bill Paterson, Olivia Colman and Hugh Dennis. Both Rachael and Andy share stories of how their own mental health issues affected their first viewings of the series, which the whole team concur is an astounding piece of television. While Paul wonders if the play from which the series originated might cure his aversion to the theatre,...

“You never had a camera in my head” Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched? The Spoiler team certainly have and we share those experiences as we take a look at Peter Weir’s comedy-drama ‘The Truman Show’, starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone. While Andy calls ‘The Truman Show’ “one of the defining films of the 90s", Paul wonders whether his problem with Ed Harris extends beyond the hat he wears in this film and Rachael recounts how she came to...

“Now I know what a TV dinner feels like” The Spoiler team are back and we’re kicking off series 5 with a listener choice, John McTiernan’s action-thriller ‘Die Hard’, starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia and Alan Rickman. Despite Paul stating emphatically in his introduction that ‘Die Hard’ is not a Christmas film, Andy and Rachael set about trying to convince him that it is by employing tenuous links and obscure lines of dialogue. As Rachael and Paul struggle to remember if this is...

In a prestigious special episode of Spoiler, the rest of the team stand down to allow Rachael a whole show in which to explore her passion for the composers without whom the films and TV shows we love so much would not be half as effective. Having made her point by imagining a world in which Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ was scored by Vangelis, Rachael probes further into the world of score composition in interviews with Classic FM composer in residence Debbie Wiseman (‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Dickensian’),...

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible”  It’s the end of series 4 and love is in the air in this bumper length show as the team discuss Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy ‘When Harry Met Sally...’ As Rachael and Paul tussle with the distinction between rom-coms and chick-flicks, Andy slightly flusters the rest of the team by declaring his love for them, before unleashing a five minute diatribe on the...

“I don’t work for you. I work for the building” This week we’re watching Ben Wheatley’s film adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s supposedly "unfilmable" dystopian thriller ‘High-Rise’ and the team are at odds again, though not about Tom “so handsome it hurts” Hiddleston. With Andy occupying Paul’s usual spot on the fence, Paul wonders how anyone could possibly put themselves through this film more than once, while Rachael advocates reading the original novel as a possible way to unlock the film’s...

“Just when you think life can’t possibly get any worse it suddenly does” This week we’re reading Douglas Adams’ cult sci-fi comedy novel ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. While Paul wonders if anyone anywhere dislikes this book, Rachael tries her best to cast a critical eye over this beloved work by comparing it to the original radio series, while Andy shares his favourite joke of all time with the team (it involves hippos). Paul describes the difficulty of trying to simultaneously...

“I hope that I never see that face ever, outside of a dream” In a first for Spoiler, this week we’re tackling a listener request by watching David Lynch’s neo-noir mystery ‘Mulholland Drive’. In an attempt to disprove his former woodwork teacher’s accusations that he is “easily distracted”, Paul keeps a tight grip on the reins as he leads the team into the labyrinthine world of Lynch’s Los Angeles. Lucid dreamer Rachael ponders whether her connection with the film indicates that she is...

“I’m watching you” This week we’re watching series one of Channel 4 and AMC’s sci-fi drama ‘Humans’ and for the first time in months the Spoiler team are a house divided. While Rachael finds the series gripping and thought-provoking to the extent that she spends entire evenings mulling it over, Andy arrives with a laundry list of pernickety issues which he wants to go through “systematically”.  Meanwhile, Paul is still enjoying that marvellous view from the fence. While the team manage...

“I’m in a park and I’m practically dead” The Spoiler team are back from holiday but we’re off on holiday again… by mistake. This week we’re watching Bruce Robinson’s “plotless” black comedy ‘Withnail and I’, starring Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths. While Paul reluctantly recalls his own experiences of squalid living conditions in the 90s, the “far-from-teetotal” Andy confesses his initial confusion with his subsequently beloved home video edition of the film....

"Screws fall out all the time. The world is an imperfect place" This week we join the brat pack in John Hughes' 1985 coming of age comedy drama The Breakfast Club. We discover that this movie is more than just daft haircuts and angry power chords as Paul, who loved The Breakfast Club as a teenager, finds watching it again all these years later a therapeutic experience and he finally accepts he WAS Brian.  Meanwhile, Rachael reveals she was a straight A student and Andy discusses his...

"When I was small, I only knew small things" This week we're watching and reading "Room" by Emma Donoghue as we take a look at both the original 2010 book and the 2015 film adaptation starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. The team approach this powerful story with trepidation, especially Paul who was unable to bear the tension of watching the film from start to finish. Andy and Rachael find themselves feeling so protective towards Jack and Ma that they didn't want to close the book and...

"I'm not gonna crack up" This week we're watching Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo starring Kim Novak and James Stewart. Hitchcock virgin Paul is confused by the appearance of Gavin Estler from BBC News 24, Andy reveals that Hitchcock was forced to shoot a rubbish alternate ending which thankfully was never used, and the team consider whether the whole thing could have been avoided if the creepy Nuns had just kept the bell tower door locked. Meanwhile, Rachael lasts a...

"At my signal, unleash hell" The keyword this week is EPIC as we watch Ridley Scott's Gladiator, and we quickly discover that our very own Rachael actually worked on this movie!  She lets us in on the experience of making a wig for the modest and self-effacing Russell Crowe and decries the lack of credit given to wig makers in movies.  Paul has been working on his best Maximus Decimus Meridius impression, eulogising Oliver Reed and spotting "The Voice of Iggle Piggle", and the team are...

"I’m not a dwarf!" This week we're watching Series 2 of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's dark comedy anthology Inside No. 9, concentrating first on the wet-your-pants-scary "Séance Time" which had the emotionally available Rachael slamming her laptop shut in terror. In the second half of the show we move on to discuss perhaps the most talked-about episode of series 2, "The 12 Days of Christine", which has the team waxing lyrical about the outstanding class Sheriden...

"You look like a radioactive tampon" This week we're watching Duncan Jones' 2009 British sci-fi drama Moon starring Sam Rockwell. Paul thanks his drink-ravaged brain for the opportunity to enjoy this film’s twists all over again, while Rachael enjoys the “juicy” soundtrack of this little masterpiece.  Meanwhile, Negative Nancy Andy nearly falls out with Paul over his tiny niggles about this “too blinkin’ good" movie. Later, inspired by Sam Rockwell’s long career as a supporting actor...

"Have you ever slept with a dwarf?" This week we step back into 1930s Berlin with Bob Fosse's 1972 musical Cabaret, and Paul finds increasingly elaborate ways to describe his dislike of the lead character Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) while Rachael and Andy try valiantly to argue the film's merits.  Meanwhile, Rachael takes a look at some musicals which may just win over Paul and his fellow musicals haters,and we round off the series with another of our hotly contested Music Quizzes,this...

"It got serious" This week we step into the relatively unexplored and perhaps underappreciated world of Iranian Cinema as we watch Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation", and it's fair to say it's an all-round love-in as the team struggle to fault this powerful and complex drama.  Meanwhile, Andy takes a look at the thriving Iranian sub-genre of movies featuring a child's-eye view of the world dubbed The Cinema of Childhood. This week's scale: No scale

“Going outside is highly overrated”  This week we're reading Ernest Kline's "nerdgasm" of a book, Ready Player One.  As Rachael and Andy get in touch with their inner geek, Paul has been frittering away more of his short time on this earth collating every pop culture reference in the book and putting them into another of his legendary remixes (see video version below…). Meanwhile, the dystopian setting of Ready Player One leads Rachael to consider the popularity of...

"He's a crazy smeg who eats schlanger!" This week we're enjoying/enduring George Miller's 2015 action movie Mad Max: Fury Road, and it turns out to be one of our most divisive subjects yet as Rachael catches her breath long enough to expresses disbelief at its Best Picture Oscar nomination and Andy tries to shake the image of the so-called feminist movie's "hosing down" scene.  Meanwhile, Paul ponders who exactly the Organic Mechanic was. Later, inspired by George Miller's...

"Aw, c'mon. Elephants ain't got no feelings" This week we’re watching the 1941 Disney classic Dumbo.  This “kids film” is one of fully-grown man Andy’s all-time favourites, but will it win over a sceptical Paul and “emotionally available” Racheal? Meanwhile, Andy takes a look at some of Walt Disney’s most pant-wettingly scary moments, and Racheal sets a Disney music quiz, pitting Andy, who has a large collection of Disney DVDs in numbered order, against Paul who “doesn’t...