Off The Telly - "She is basically the sister of Dracula"

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

What are we watching? Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things telly.This week they discuss Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey which is right up Nat's street, a true-crime series that Jo recommended called American Nightmare, and Slow Horses, their new favourite drama series starring Gary Oldman.In Off the Telly, Natalie and Jo talk about what they can’t stop watching, what they definitely aren’t going to bother with, and what you’re all watching at home. From new shows to comfort telly to guilty pleasures, there’s no judgement here. What’s kept us all glued to our screens this week?Self-confessed TV addicts and stars of two of the biggest shows on our screens, EastEnders and Gavin & Stacey, Natalie and Joanna are the perfect companions to your weekly viewing habits.Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 03306 784704.Hosts: Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Richard Morris Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Sounds Editor: Arlie Adlington Music by MCassoOff The Telly is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to Off The Telly from BBC Sounds. I'm Natalie Cassidy. And I'm Joanna Page. And this is the podcast where we talk about what we've been watching on the telly this week. Amongst other things. Amongst the cutting parts of our partner's bodies off. So there will be, as you might have realised by now,

a little bit of swearing or maybe a few spoilers. So please be aware and please enjoy. Do you know, I went home after recording the podcast and I said to him, I said I was in hysterics today. I said I couldn't stop laughing and I said, oh God, I've said something and I'm not sure if it's really awful. I said it's about you and it might possibly be one of the worst things I've said about you.

He was like, oh God, what is it now? What have you said? What did he say once he listened? Well, he was quite pleased, to be honest. Not about cutting the hair off, but I think he was quite proud about the whole Willie in a box thing. What have you been up to this week? I've been busy with EastEnders and busy watching lots of television. So we've got a thought here from a listener about Alice and Jack.

Now, we loved it, didn't we? Oh, God, I thought it was wonderful. i loved it so much the acting was incredible i miss it i yeah yeah i don't i don't think i miss it as much as i miss um one day and thinking about what's happened to dexter yeah okay fair enough but listen to this alice and jack is the worst thing i've watched in a long time horrible characters ludicrous plot whole thing an absolute bag of shite don't waste your time with it putting borders on next loving the podcast ladies thank you they've not left a name i'm not surprised isn't it funny though this is why you can chat about television till you're blue in the face. Everybody's got a different opinion and everybody loves different things.

Alright, so we've got another message which says, Natalie and Joanna, loving your new podcast while I clean people's houses. Oh, lovely. Thank you so, so much for putting me onto Alice and Jack. It's brilliant and if it wasn't for you both I would never have looked for it.

Oh, and she's doing a crying emoji. Oh, that's brilliant. And she's put, emoji is how I am at the moment watching it. Oh, that's lovely. Although quite worrying because she's crying over everybody's things then, isn't she? And she's probably not managing to do a very good job because I was distraught and I'd snot go in

everywhere. She's going to be full on upset. Yeah, I think she's probably listening to us whilst cleaning. Yeah. And hopefully sat down watching the telly. Sometimes, I just think, I understand sometimes why my mother says I'm dizzy because, honestly, I didn't even make that connection. I think it's because you have so much going on and you're so intelligent, actually,

that sometimes it all just comes out at once. I think it does. I think that's because you have so much going on and you're so intelligent actually that sometimes it all just comes out at once. I think it does. I think that's what it is. Thank you so much for your message. Thank you very very much. And huge apologies for my judgement slash dizziness. So shows we're talking about today right, something that's right up my street is Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey. We are reviewing a true crime show that Jo recommended.

I know, and I feel a bit like, oh, I'm a bit torn with that now. Torn? Well, we'll get to that. I'm not happy about that one, to be quite honest. And a spy thriller called Slow Horses with Gary Oldman that we can't wait to talk about. It's a good one. Right, let's talk telly, shall we? Let's go for it.

Right, shall we start with the show that a lovely listener recommended last week, Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey, which is on Channel 4, all four, more four, which is Channel 4. Whichever one you're going for, it's on 4. Well, I thought it would be really up my street. And I thought I'd really, really love it.

I don't know whether it's because there's been quite a lot of shows like this, but I sat down and I wasn't pleasantly surprised i'm shocked i know i think it's just that you've got the relaxing music and you've got the cartoon map of where they're gonna go and then you've got you know them eating somewhere or whatever so it's kind of an amalgamation of do you know what i mean cooganogan and Brydon. Yeah. You know, you've got the walking stuff, Julia Bradbury stuff. And I don't know, Bake Off illustrations and the music. And I thought, oh, am I getting a bit bored of this now? Serious?

I can't believe that. I would have thought it was right up your street. I genuinely thought it would be. And I did enjoy it. I watched Shaun Riders. We'll go into what we've watched. And I did, I wouldn't turn it off. And I did enjoy it. I watched Shaun Riders. We'll go into what we've watched. And I did, I wouldn't turn it off. I didn't hate it.

But it didn't bring me as much pleasure as I thought it would. Oh my gosh, I can't believe that. Because when it started, I thought I was going to be the complete opposite way. And I was going to find it just boring. I thought, oh, I don't think it's going to be a bit boring. It's not for me. I'm not going to, I just want to turn this off. And it started't think it's going to be a bit boring it's not not for me i'm not gonna i'm gonna just want to turn this off and and it started and it's bill bailey inviting um

male comedians male friends to go on a walk in different areas with him and so they'll do a huge big walk and then they end up in one pub and then they'll go on another big walk and there's another pub and then another big walk and then he'll end up in a third pub. And I love the... Listen, I love it and I love the fact there's information along the way about where they are. I really like that. I like the wildlife side of it and the nature side. I enjoyed all of it.

I think what the problem is, is you're making me watch things I'm not used to watching. You wouldn't normally have. I've just injected a bit of... You have. You've injected this stuff into me and now i'm finding the things that i really enjoyed a bit boring oh i don't know what to do about it well don't let me recommend anything more from netflix to you then well we're gonna keep we're gonna swap over because you've really enjoyed it so it started and i was just kind of like oh my god it's so heartwarming it's so lovely and I just thought it's so important and so meaningful it is so important it's so lovely the two men are

walking together and it was almost like a therapy session yeah absolutely come on I don't know about you but I go for walks with mates yeah quite often and it is like therapy well I've got to be honest no I don't go for walks with me when I do do go for walks, it's with two mental dogs, her husband, we're probably in the middle of bickering, and four kids. One of them is normally on our back or we're carrying or, you know, walking for a bit and then we've got to carry the rest of the way.

And then the other three go from having fun to, like, full-on fighting, normally end up getting soaking wet. And by the time I come back, I just want to sit down, have a drink and be on my own. But Jo, you need to go out for a walk with a mate. I need to go for a walk with Bill Bailey. That's what I need to do. But yeah, so

I watched the one with Alan Davis. Okay. And I couldn't quite believe that a programme like this had been made and had been allowed to be given so much time and so much gentleness and it started and I just loved the voiceover as well. Yes.

The voiceover was just... You really haven't watched anything like this before, have you? No. It was like, Bill is heading out now. He's going to the Lake District. And when he hears the birds singing, he knows that it's a skylark. And it's just like that calming. Have you not watched Gone Fishing?

No, I haven't. See, I want to because I think I like it, but I think, oh, I can't be bothered. I haven't watched The Detectorists because I think that's going to be a bit too, maybe that's what I've needed all along. I have watched all this stuff. So I kind of feel that this is a bit old hat, I suppose, because I love it all. Yeah. I'm just maybe a bit. Well, I'm new to this. I'm new to this genre of men walking around and just men talking. And it's really quite lovely because you never really hear or see men talking or you don't ever really get to see that.

And Alan was so, he was just so honest and it was just so interesting to listen to him, a man saying about, you know, how his head's sort of all over the place and how life is difficult when you grow up because it's all fun in this career. I mean, he's had a really hard time of it, hasn't he? Well, yeah, he was talking, first of all, about his career and when you're in your 20s and it's all fun, you know, to do everything.

But then you grow up, you get married, you have children. He said, you really like that house in Hampstead, so you want to buy it. So then you go into debt and then you've got to... And there's all this stuff just building up and building up. And he was so incredibly honest when he was talking about his feelings. And then he started talking about his childhood. And it was just so incredibly sad listening to him talk about his mum. And his mum died when he was six years old.

And they visited her in the hospital for a while and then said, you can't visit anymore, she's quite ill. But they didn't say she's dying and you can go and say goodbye or anything. It was just like, just cut off. And she didn't know she was dying either so she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her children. It's quite incredible that because, you know,

Alan Davis, what is he? Mid-50s maybe? I don't know, knocking 60, I'm not quite sure. No, I'd say mid-50s. Yeah. But, you know, that's not an age away. No. And how things have changed.

The hospital made the choice to not tell the children and not even tell the person that was dying. It's just so frightening, isn't it? It is. It's crazy. But it's great how times have changed, that's for sure. Yeah. I mean, Alan Davis is a big Gooner.

Big Arsenal fan. I was going to say then, what's a Gooner? That's an Arsenal fan. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. So it's called a Gooner, big Arsenal fan. I was going to say then, what's a Gooner? That's an Arsenal fan. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So it's called a Gooner because Kit, my son, he's an Arsenal fan. He's a Gooner. So he's a Gooner.

When I go home, I can tell him he's a Gooner. Tell him he's chosen well. He's got a water bottle, an Arsenal water bottle as well. Very good. I'm very pleased and very proud. But what I loved, right, was that suddenly then you get a close-up of a butterfly. But then I liked it that Alan was quite dry all the way through and still cracking his ass.

Well, let me tell you what happened with me. Because now you've told the story, I feel really bad. But I switched on to the Alan Davis episode. And I thought, oh, he's not very pleased to be here. And every time I saw him and Bill, he was kind of taking the piss out of it a bit. And I thought, oh, do you know what? If you're not going to get involved here

and if you're not going to go along with it, I'm going to choose another one. And now you've told me the story, I wish I would have followed through. And I will. I will now watch it again. Well, at the end, he did say, they said, would you do this again?

And he said, yeah, maybe, but not with Bill. And then he said it was sold to me as a pub crawl. And he said something like, we've walked fucking miles for three pints. It was just, I just thought it was sold to me as a pub crawl. And he said something like, we've walked fucking miles for three pints. It was just, I just thought it was just so moving. He's always been lovely. I've done a couple of quiz shows with him. Have you? What ones?

In the past. I did Guessable with Sarah Pascoe. And he was a team captain on that. And I tell you, I've just bumped into him, especially at Arsenal games. But he's always been very, very gentle, very soft. And a really lovely man. So I'm sorry I switched off, Alan. What was Sean Ryder like? What was that one like? It was brilliant. I really

enjoyed it. What was he saying? What was he talking about? He was just talking, again, very openly about the whole of it. So they were in Glastonbury, so they did lots of walks around Glastonbury, and Bill was talking to him about headlining at Glastonbury in the 90s and, you know, just the Happy Mondays and bears and all of that. And he was just like, well, I can't remember any of it.

Oh, my God. He can't remember any of it. I don't remember any of it. He said, you know, he said, I think one of the gigs I ended up just being in the back of the luggage compartment doing heroin. Oh, my God! But he talks so openly. And he just sits and he chats to Bill and he had his first panic attack at 53. But he really opens up, you know, it's very, very special.

He seems like a lovely bloke. And he talks about his wife and they toast their wives and how fantastic their wives are and they have a lovely pub meal. It was, yeah was yeah very very feel good but all i would say is because i've watched so many programs along this line that i don't know maybe i just need a little rest from them yeah maybe because i'm new coming into something just so calm and just and i just thought oh it's just really lovely. I want to watch the Paul Merton one and see what that... Because I just thought, my God,

if you were sitting down to be interviewed by somebody now, you know, the men, I bet they probably wouldn't open up as much. Definitely not. But just the fact that they're just walking and I just found it just so surprising just how they just talked and I just thought, oh, it's lovely. I'd like to watch Trevor MacDonald as well.

Oh, yes. Because there's a clip of him ringing a church bell and he just thought it was lovely. I'd like to watch Trevor MacDonald as well. Oh, yes. Because there's a clip of him ringing a church bell and he goes, news at ten. So that looks really good. So, no, it is. It's for a gentle, lovely watch and to make, you know, men bloody talk because they're useless at it, let's be honest.

It's so good to see that. Yeah, I said to my James, I said, I think you'd really enjoy it it's just just sit down and just watch it he won't because he doesn't watch anything and so he won't but i was just like i think you'd really really enjoy this just sit down and just watch something yeah i'm loving the fact that you're getting into this genre joe i know what what happens if i just suddenly change and i just start talking just slower and just more gentle. Well I don't mind. Maybe we might be able

to understand what the other one is saying then because you know just then when you said about Sean Ryder when he was talking about bears I suddenly, my first thought was Jesus what do you mean about bears? What does he know about bears? And then I thought oh my god no she means bears. As in bears. As in bears. Yeah.

Yeah and I was thinking you were thinking... Bears. You were saying bears. I was like, bears. I think it's being like English and Welsh, isn't it? Matthew Horne was English. You didn't mind that. You got on all right.

Listeners, why don't you tell us what you think about it? Have you watched it? Did you enjoy it? Did you find it boring? Did you think that it was sort of a mixture of all the things that have been done before please let us know your thoughts right on to our next one well we're going to complete opposites here now because i had started watching a show called american nightmare which was on Netflix. It was recommended to me by someone who now I'm looking back, I'm kind of, I think I need to have a word with her because she was like,

oh my God, you've got to watch this. It's just incredible. It starts out as one thing, it begins and this young, I think he's about 29-ish, American boy is sleeping in bed with his girlfriend and then suddenly they're woken up. She gets kidnapped in the middle of the night and what happens from there? And so I was like, oh my gosh, this sounds rather exciting. Let's put it on now and let's start watching. I watched the first episode.

You were full of beans. Yeah, and then I felt ashamed of myself because I watched the first episode and he's talking, so there's three episodes. The first episode is just him just talking with other bits and pieces, but him telling his side of the story.

Right, let's just stop there a minute. Yeah. I put it on. Firstly, I don't watch true crime. Ever? No, ever. And I'm thinking, is he an actor? Is this a storyline?

So I was very confused. Then I got into it and I thought, oh, right, this is his side of the story or whatever. I don't want to watch things where people are kidnapped. I'm not interested. Does that mean we can't do any true crime? I don't mind it. No, I'm happy to do it for you,

but I just want to make it clear that I wasted three hours of my life. Do you really think so? Yes. Well, I gotta be honest, right? I do like true crime stuff and documentaries. But after this one, I felt a bit like, oh, God, the first episode is him telling his side of the story. He wakes up, his girlfriend's been kidnapped. The second episode, and at the end of it, I'm kind of like, he's up his girlfriend's being kidnapped the second episode and at the end of it i'm kind of like he's got to have done it oh my god how's it going to end up and then the second episode goes to her and this american woman is just talking about her experience which is truly awful i mean she's permanently crying she's finding it difficult to speak i don't

understand why you'd want to watch it well Well, I didn't after watching that one. I think on other ones that I've seen before, I think it's happened such a long time ago or you feel so far removed from it or you're not actually listening to the actual victim tell you their story. And I was sitting there listening to her and it was just awful.

And I just started thinking, I don't want to watch this. Well, like you said, you're waiting for some sort of twist. I know it's a true crime and this is no disrespect to the actual story that we're watching, but I'm thinking, well, something's going to happen, there's going to be something unfold and it's going to be ridiculous that they've faked it together or they've done it for some reason and it was all completely real and horrific.

Yeah, the third episode starts and then it is you know spoiler alert you know it is actually just really horrible it's just a horrible man she's had a horrible experience and then the police have been dreadful or not looked after them or even believed them and have threatened to take them to court and you just think you come to the end of it and i I just thought, I feel absolutely awful for watching that. Awful. I mean, the only saving grace, spoiler alert, is I love the fact that at the end, they've got a family. It hasn't ruined them as a couple.

And they bloody, you know... Well, they sued the police, didn't they? Thank goodness. I mean, nothing, no money, no amount of money can take away from what that poor family have been through, what that poor woman went through. But it's just so awful because I thought what a horrible, horrible experience. With other things I've seen on Netflix, it's something that, you know,

people are always talking about or the crime thing is just... So what do they usually do, reenact it? Well, I've seen some pretty good crime documentaries, which I would recommend and which, you know, are really interesting and really good. But I can't say that I would recommend this. No. I just thought, oh, I just, it's so hot.

I just don't think it's, not that any of the crime documentaries are entertainment, but you are sitting there, you know, with a bag of crisps watching something on the telly. And I just kind of felt like, oh, I feel, feel I just I just don't feel I should be watching. I felt like I was intruding. Yeah, me too. And I felt it was it was just too close. All of it was a bit.

I wouldn't recommend it. I'd say if you want to watch a good true crime thing, just go for something else that you can really get into and be like, oh, my God, I can't believe that happened. What's going to happen here? What's going to happen here? What's going to happen there? I just don't think that this is the one because it just felt too close and I just felt like I was intruding. I just felt, no, it's just, I feel wrong watching it. Right, well, thanks for recommending it, Jo.

That might be my mission for our first series. Find a good true crime. And listeners, can you recommend a good one for Nat? Because she's never watched one before. She's not into it. What really good true crime documentaries would you recommend as one for her to watch? As a beginner. As a good beginner.

That would be great. Because it's a really good genre. It's so interesting and so shocking. And some stories are just fascinating. So what is a good one that you recommend? That should be our mission for the first series. Not too violent. Well, we'll see what's recommended.

What they think is good. God help me. So you can find American Nightmare on Netflix if you do want to dig into that. Now, I'm glad that we are on to our third show. Slow now i've seen this right you can get it on apple tv yeah i've seen it advertised everywhere yeah i've heard people talking about it

and i don't know why i didn't dip my toe in earlier for some bizarre reason i'll tell you who made us dip our toe in lovely sar Sarah. Shall we listen to the voice note? Come on, Sarah. Hi, you two. I've never done one of these before, so you're the very first time. Can I recommend Slow Horses? It's got Gary Oldman, Big Mo's brother,

and it's absolutely brilliant. My husband never, ever binge watches, and we binge watched Please Watch. It's so, so good. Oh, by the way, love the podcast. Bye. Oh, I love you, Sarah. Thank you for the recommendation.

We are... It was brilliant. We're loving it, aren't we? I'm not even binging it right because I want it to last. Yeah. I am just... I've done one episode, I'm halfway through the second, and I'm taking my time because I'm flipping loving it.

Well, I've just finished ep three. Oh, God. So we'll just talk up to where you are. Firstly, my lovely friend Mo. Yes. Leila Morse, her brother, is Gary Oldman, which sometimes you forget. You do, don't you?

You just forget. I mean, it is just mad that there are two. Big Mo and EastEnders, Gary Oldman. This is like two amazing actors who are brother and sister. Yeah, because she'll go, you know, in the past, she'll go, you know, yeah, yeah, because I went over and I stayed with Gary. And you're chatting away and you go, oh, you're talking about Gary Oldman. Yeah.

Because it's your brother. So you don't mention it, you know, because she's just talking about her brother, isn't she? Yeah. Because it's your brother. So you don't mention, you know, because she's just talking about her brother, isn't she? She is basically the sister of Dracula. Isn't she? Or Winston Churchill. Yes. Yeah.

It is amazing. The show, I think the big... How brilliant. Guys, you've got to watch this. Please, please watch it. I was gripped. Oh, my God. The sequence before the credits start going in the beginning. Brilliant. Guys, you've got to watch this. Please, please watch it. I was gripped. Oh, my God. The sequence before the credits start going in the beginning.

I was on the edge of my seat. I'd settled down. I thought, all right, I'm going to save this one. So I sat in the window in the living room on the chair and I had my headphones in. I propped up my phone. Why were you in the window? Just because I wanted a bit of the air coming in.

So Slow Horses basically is about, like, spooks and MI5. But it's the ones from MI5 that have been put down to Slough House. Slough House. So you've got Park, the park, which is all the high-flying James Bond types. And then Slough House is where they're fucked up and they get shoved down there. Yeah. And Gary Oldman, how brilliant is he? He's incredible.

So he basically runs Slough House. Yeah. And they call it Slough House because you're so far away from where the full-on amazing spooks are that you may as well be working in Slough. That's why, isn't it? Yeah. But what I loved about it is that it's got this sort of sepia,

dingy quality. Do you remember Killing Eve when they started? Didn't watch it. Oh my God, that hole in itself. I think I've been sick in my mouth. You didn't watch any of Killing Eve. I told you, before this,

I watched what I wanted to watch. So this is why this is brilliant for me. It's opening things up for me. Oh, my God. You have got to watch Killing Eve. Well, in Killing Eve, right, they end up going to, like, an MI5-y type place, you know, where the spies are and stuff.

But you always imagine it to be, like, James Bond and it's all exciting and it's all, you know... Yeah, really technological and really... But I love the bit when it got to Killing Eve where you had Fiona Shaw and she went to some, to some really grubby little office in some side street down in London and she'd go in and she said at one point

that there was a rat drinking from a Coke can and it was actually lifting it up and drinking from it. And they go up and it's really dingy. What, Roland? Not Roland. It might have been Roland. It might have. But apparently it was holding a Coke can with its hands

and drinking from it. But where she's working is just dingy and grubby and not all, you know, glitzy and what you think it would be like. And it reminds me of this because it's just got this sort of, it's all just dirty and everybody just doesn't want to work. And then you've got, wait for it, River Cartwright. What a name. It's a good name. Imagine then you've got, wait for it, River Cartwright. What a name. It's a good name.

Imagine going for that audition, right? Because imagine getting the script and then it's like, who were you going for? River Cartwright. Well, you know you've got to be cool for starters, don't you? Yeah, you do, don't you?

I mean, my characters are never like that. Mine's like Stacey. Yeah, Sonia. Or, you know, Susan. Yeah. Or Lorraine. It's never River. I just don't play characters like that called River or anything.

No, no. But you know that he's going to be cool. And you've got him and he has messed up because in the beginning they're in an airport. Somebody's got a bomb. It's all kicking off. He's getting, you know, messages in his ear, not from like, you know, the afterlife

or as if he's got like somebody talking to him, but he's got his year piece in. Yeah. And they're saying, you've got to get to this person. This is what he's wearing. Blue t-shirt, white shirt. Yeah. And so he finds the fella, but he cocks up

and he gets the wrong fella, pins him to the ground. There's no bomb on him. Then he sees somebody else who has got the description. He's racing for him, you know, and then in the end, I don't want to say that the bomb goes off, but the bomb does go off. but the bomb does go off because i don't want to spoil it for people because it's really good and that's all before the opening credits yeah and he's cocked up and then so he's been put down to slough house but he's only been brought back because his grand grandfather grandfather was very very high up there so that's why they've kept him on and he's good i mean he's just like

he's messed up but by god he's got the skills's messed up, but by God, he's got the skills and he's going to be our hero. I think he has got the skills, but also what I love actually is each character, as it unfolds, you really start caring. Yeah, I like them. About each character, whoever's in it, you start caring and I think that's magical

because if you can do that, not just with two main parts, but everybody in it, there's something very special about that I like them I do like them and Gary Oldman is um an alcoholic he's working with um well his his character what's the name of his character now Jackson Lamb so he plays Jackson Lamb and I'm still in the early stages. I don't know what's happened to Jackson Lamb, but he's in Slough House. He's obviously an alcoholic. He's been through some stuff.

He doesn't want to work anymore. No, but it's very, as it goes on, and I can't tell you, but like I say, each ten minutes, you find something else out about someone. And it's great. They've all got a good history, haven't they? It's really good. Because Catherine, who's played by Saskia Reeves someone. And it's great they've all got a good history, haven't they? It's really good. Because Catherine, who's played by Saskia Reeves.

Yeah, she's great. I mean, something's gone on with her that you're getting little glimpses of. Yeah. You know what you were saying about what grips you for a first episode to make you carry on watching? This just definitely has it.

Jack Loudon, who plays River Cartwright. Yes, he's brilliant. Oh, he's amazing. I've never seen him in anything before. But weirdly, I had seen him on a bit of Graham Norton. Oh, yeah. My neighbour, it's really weird. I think we feel like we've come full circle

and somehow I am there now with River Cartwright because my neighbour said, oh my gosh, this is insane, because he came to our house at Christmas time. Right. And he said, I've just got to say, I was watching an episode of Graham Norton the night before, and there was an actor on it called Jack

talking about how he loves a Christmas village. And isn't he fully Scottish? But he's Scottish. Yeah, he's fully Scottish. He has the most amazing English accent in this. He's brilliant. I He does the most amazing English accent in this. He's brilliant. I would never have known. But he weirdly collects Christmas villages.

And so he does the whole shebang. So you know like little miniature Christmas villages? Do I know? With like the shop and the sleigh. Yes, I do. And Father Christmas and all of that. And our neighbour said, oh my God. He said, I was watching that last night.

And I thought, oh my God. You know, I've never heard of anybody collecting a Christmas village he came around two hours the next day walked into the living room and went oh my god I can't believe it because on the side of our cupboard we had a full on Christmas village I need to see pictures of that I will quite happily show them right thank you because at Christmas time I'd had some new shelves built and a cupboard because it's a new house and I didn't have anything in like the alcove so i'd had a cupboard built new shelving built and i was like oh my god this is amazing i can finally put a nice vase and a massive big candle pictures of the kids jane said we're gonna pop to a farm shop where they have a little beautiful christmas village we're probably just

gonna buy like a little father christmas and some little figures for the kids. They come back two hours later with Father Christmas's sorting post office, a full train set with Father Christmas on the sleigh going round. They also then have this big snow mound with a thing going up, which goes round in a circle. So they've bought the whole village home. They've bought the whole ruddy thing. Me and him have got an affinity with each other now. Well, I think you should message him.

I should. Shall I message him and send him a photo of affinity with each other now. Well, I think you should message him. I should. Shall I message him and send him a photo of my Christmas village? You should say, really enjoying slow horses. Look at my Christmas village. Thought we could go be ours. Perfect. It's made me just think, oh, well, I've now been walking around because I bought this tweed coat at Christmas time.

And I thought, right, I'm just going to get myself one proper nice big winter coat which is going to last me for the rest of my life I'm still going to wear it when I'm an old woman but that's not going to happen probably I'll end up buying a puffer next year or something but I'm walking around in this brown tweed coat a bit like Margaret Rutherford as like Miss Marple but I'm

walking around in that but now I'm walking through the streets and I'm feeling a bit like are there any spooks around would anybody think I was one around in that, but now I'm walking through the streets and I'm feeling a bit like, are there any spooks around? Well, that's so funny you said that. Would anybody think I was one? Coming here today, I've got on the train and then I'm on the escalator in the tube and I'm thinking, oh, I wonder what's going on today in this, you know. Yeah, what's going on? What's going on at Kings Cross Station? I bet there's loads.

And then I saw a cop out and I thought, oh, I wonder what he knows about whatever. So yeah, I got quite excited travelling through London. I bet stuff like that must go on in London. I heard apparently that in London there's like undercover police on motorbikes just sort of waiting and ready to go that if they get the shout, they're like on the bike,

poom, straight there. Yeah. Oh, it's good, isn't it? It is. See, look, it's got us. We're in there. Yeah, no, it's brilliant. Please watch it

and please tell us what you think because Slow Horses this week I think is our fave and our winner definitely our fave and our winner right well that's enough from us this week i'm all talked out now and basically i just want to leave this studio and go and watch the second half of slow horses to be honest absolutely so let us know do you agree with us do you think our taste is weird and what do you recommend let us know yeah do you agree with us? Do you think our taste is weird? And what do you recommend?

Let us know. Yeah, please recommend shows because this week we wouldn't have had Slow Horses if it wasn't for Sarah. So please do that. It'd be brilliant. It's nice having recommendations, isn't it?

Yeah, and I think it's lovely because we're sort of creating a little club. Yeah. And that's really lovely. We're on a little community of telewatchers and we can all be honest

with each other. And, you know, yeah, it's really, really good. And it's nice when you've got something that has meant a lot to you or that you're like, oh my God,

we've got to watch it. It's amazing. Definitely. Definitely. Please send us your messages as well and voice notes are good because then we can play them out, can't we?

Yes, I like getting a voice note. Love a voice note. So send them through on WhatsApp. The number is 033-06-784-704. So this week we've been watching Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey. And that's on Channel 4. We've been watching American Nightmare, which you can see on Netflix if you want to. And also Slow Horses, which you can catch on Apple TV.

And we hugely recommend. Bye, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to us. That whizzed by, didn't it? So fast, so fast. Oh, thank you so much, and we'll see you next Wednesday on BBC Sounds. Off the Telly is hosted by Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page. The producer is Georgia Keating. The commissioning editor is Rhian Roberts. And it's a BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds.

Hi, I'm Izzy Judd and I'm quickly dropping in to let you know of an incredibly calming podcast which I think you'll love. The Music and Meditation Podcast is a place where we press pause and give ourselves some brain space to step back from life a bit with the help of inspirational guests, wonderful guided meditations and stunning music. Honestly, I think you'll really enjoy it. Why not give it a go? Join me, Izzy Judd, for the Music and Meditation Podcast on BBC Sounds now.