It's Bafta Awards weekend, and Benji and Steven are joined by Natalie Dixon, to talk about why everyone was watching Fool Me Once.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to Screen Babble,
00:14 your guide to what to watch.
00:15 We'll be tuning into hours and hours of TV
00:17 so we can tell you what you need to be switching on
00:20 and what's to be avoided.
00:22 I'm not Kelly Crichton again,
00:23 I'm your host Benjamin Jackson,
00:24 and as ever our resident TV critic, Stephen Ross is here.
00:28 And this week we are joined by Natalie Dixon,
00:30 lifestyle writer for National World,
00:32 with a penchant every now and again
00:34 to delve into the world of TV
00:35 that me and Stephen tend to avoid.
00:37 So Natalie, welcome to Screen Babble.
00:40 - Thank you for having me.
00:42 - That's okay.
00:43 Now remember, if you wanna see our lovely faces,
00:45 you can head over to Freeview channel 276 Shots,
00:48 which is brought to you by a network of journalists
00:50 across the country who are transforming stories
00:53 at the heart of your community into great TV.
00:55 You'll find true crime stories, football, news and analysis,
00:59 plus coverage of lifestyle TV film, and so much more.
01:02 Now, if you haven't tuned in,
01:04 each week we'll be chatting about what we're watching,
01:06 as well as looking more closely at a new program
01:09 or something making the headlines in the deep dive.
01:12 This week, Stephen brings us "Constellation,"
01:14 which is the latest Apple TV+ show starring Noomi Rapace.
01:18 And finally, we go back to the future
01:20 to tell you about a program you may have missed
01:22 when it first aired or streamed.
01:24 This week, we've brought Natalie in to talk about
01:27 something that Kelly has spoken about numerous times,
01:29 "Fool Me Once" starring Michelle Keegan.
01:31 And well, Natalie will give us the rundown
01:34 about why me and Stephen should finally sit down
01:37 and watch it, much like yourselves.
01:39 So, now we've gotten all the admin out of the way,
01:42 this is usually the point of the show
01:44 we talk about what we've been watching,
01:46 but because indeed we are coming up to the BAFTAs 2024,
01:52 it'd be remiss if we didn't talk about that.
01:54 So, Stephen, I'm gonna point this one to you.
01:57 Oppenheimer at the BAFTAs, is it gonna sweep everything?
02:01 Or is Saltburn gonna get some flowers
02:03 for that's perceived Oscars snub?
02:05 - I don't think Saltburn will win anything.
02:09 I think Oppenheimer will have the most awards.
02:15 I can't remember off the top of my head
02:17 how many it's nominated for, but it was a lot, wasn't it?
02:20 I don't think it'll take everything.
02:21 - No.
02:22 - But I imagine Killian will get his award,
02:26 though you never know,
02:32 poor things could sort of surprise us and do well.
02:35 I suppose it's more likely to do well at the BAFTAs
02:37 than the Oscars.
02:40 Yeah, I think Oppenheimer definitely deserves
02:46 to get a lot of recognition.
02:47 I mean, it was like a blockbuster film,
02:49 which don't tend to do as well at award ceremonies,
02:51 but then it was also quite artsy as well,
02:54 a little bit art house.
02:56 - Yeah.
02:57 - And just, I mean, generally a fantastic film,
03:00 great screenplay, great performances.
03:02 I think Robert Downey Jr. needs to get some love
03:05 for his supporting role.
03:07 He was fantastic.
03:09 And yeah, I don't think it'll take everything.
03:15 It'll probably get adaptive screenplay.
03:18 I imagine, you never know though.
03:21 I mean, lead actress, it's not even got a nod in,
03:26 I don't think, for the BAFTAs, has it?
03:28 So I think lead actress, we're probably looking
03:31 at maybe a poor things win for Emma Stone.
03:33 - Yeah.
03:34 - I don't think she deserves it, but.
03:36 - Well, it seems like it's a two horse race
03:39 regarding the best actress BAFTA,
03:41 and in fact, the best actress Oscar as well,
03:44 between Lily Gladstone's role in "Killers of the Flower Moon"
03:47 and Emma Stone in "Poor Things".
03:50 So do you think maybe they'll split the difference?
03:52 "Poor Things" ends up getting the BAFTA for best actress,
03:55 but "Killers of the Flower Moon"
03:57 getting that Oscar for best actress?
04:01 - Yeah, I could see that.
04:02 I could see that.
04:03 I mean, I don't think Lily Gladstone was amazing.
04:07 I don't think the script necessarily helped.
04:10 I think Emma Stone definitely got the chance
04:13 to put on a lot more of a performance.
04:17 I think Emma Stone probably deserves it at the Oscars,
04:21 but yeah, I could definitely see,
04:23 especially from the reaction that it's got,
04:24 Lily Gladstone taking the Oscar,
04:26 but Emma Stone's probably walking away
04:29 with the BAFTA this year.
04:30 - Yeah.
04:31 Have you caught, the pair of you,
04:32 any of the presenters that are gonna be on hand
04:35 at the BAFTAs this year?
04:36 David Beckham, for example, is presenting an award.
04:39 - Oh, that's cool.
04:41 - Really?
04:42 - That is very cool.
04:43 I don't know why David Beckham's presenting,
04:44 but fair enough.
04:46 'Cause he stood in line to see the Queen's funeral,
04:49 that's why.
04:50 - Oh, it's awesome.
04:51 - Salt of the earth, that man, salt of the earth.
04:53 It'd be, of course, silly if we didn't talk about
04:57 the big controversy regarding Barbie getting snubbed
05:01 or perceived snubbed.
05:02 That's a bit unfair,
05:03 'cause it is still getting nominations,
05:05 including a BAFTA.
05:05 - Yeah, it's like Green Play,
05:07 third most nominated at the Oscars, I think.
05:10 I don't know where it stands at the BAFTAs,
05:12 but he got, again, I mean, Margot Robbie's nominated
05:15 at the BAFTAs for best actress, isn't she?
05:17 - Yeah.
05:19 - I'm not sure off the top of my head, though.
05:22 Yeah, Greg Eyre didn't get the director nom, did she?
05:27 In BAFTAs or Oscars.
05:28 - No, she didn't.
05:29 I think it was just best film and best adapted screenplay
05:33 that she got at the Oscars.
05:35 But I'm gonna ask Natalie this question,
05:37 because you've done an awful lot
05:39 about the Barb and Hybrid phenomena,
05:41 especially from a lifestyle standpoint.
05:44 Does a movie like "Barbie" really need all the awards
05:48 when it's just affected fashion and culture the way it did?
05:51 - Yeah, absolutely.
05:54 (laughing)
05:56 Of course it does.
05:57 (laughing)
05:58 Yes, it has got loads of recognition
06:01 from breaking records in the cinema and everything.
06:04 But I think the fact that the director
06:08 didn't even get nominated is just ridiculous.
06:11 Like, they're trying to be more diverse
06:14 and get men and women in the nominations.
06:17 But no, I think that that's just ridiculous.
06:20 She should get at least nomination and an award.
06:24 As for Margot Robbie,
06:26 shockingly, I don't actually think
06:30 that she should have won an Oscar anyway.
06:32 So I don't think it was an--
06:34 I know, I know, I'm gonna get hated,
06:36 I'm gonna get trolled.
06:36 - No, it's fine.
06:38 - I don't think it was an Oscar-worthy performance
06:43 as much as it did sort of start "Barbie Corps"
06:47 and all the fashion and everything.
06:48 But yeah, no, I think she should get
06:51 at least a couple of awards 'cause it was a great movie,
06:55 but maybe not Oscar.
06:57 - I mean, if the BAFTAs which you've written about,
07:01 I'll just pause there, Craig, for a minute.
07:03 This is going out tomorrow, Natalie,
07:05 so I know you're writing it today,
07:06 but we have to act like it's Thursday,
07:08 so I'll try that again.
07:09 'Cause I know that you have written
07:12 about the BAFTAs pre-party.
07:15 It would be nice if they got even just a certificate,
07:19 'cause from what I've read, the Oscars luncheon,
07:23 it's not just a hobnobbing schmooze affair of Hollywood,
07:27 it's also actually the fact that they get certificates
07:30 to go, "I, Margot Robbie, have been nominated,"
07:32 well, not in this case, but, you know,
07:34 "I, Cillian Murphy, have been nominated for an award."
07:37 So even just a nomination, you think,
07:40 would have been a positive nod towards what Barbie did
07:42 at the cinema?
07:43 - Yeah, I don't think that I'd want a certificate, though.
07:49 It's like being in a kid's school race, isn't it?
07:52 And being like, "This is for taking part, well done."
07:56 Yeah, I think she might be happy with a certificate
07:59 on a wall, but I don't think I would be.
08:02 - I mean, we talk about all the nominations,
08:04 but let's be honest for a moment.
08:06 Let's talk about what we're really gonna be watching
08:08 the BAFTAs for.
08:10 Is Barry Keegan gonna jump on stage
08:12 and do the salt burn dance
08:13 when Sophie Ellis Baxter does her performance?
08:16 - I mean, I'm watching it more for David Tennant
08:22 than Barry Kern, to be honest.
08:24 It's David Tennant's hosting, isn't it?
08:25 - Yeah, he is indeed.
08:27 So you're not there for Dua Lipa presenting an award,
08:29 you're solely there for David Tennant.
08:31 - No, no, I'm totally behind David Tennant on this.
08:34 I think he's great, so I'm excited to see him.
08:39 - So the BAFTAs will be airing, not live,
08:41 so we've been told it's on air on BBC One
08:44 from seven until nine on Sunday.
08:48 National World TV will be doing a live watch along as well
08:50 from 6.30 onwards, and we're also gonna be having a look
08:54 at the red carpets affair.
08:56 So better go in and just have a quick talk
08:59 about what we've been watching this week.
09:01 Stephen, I've not seen you in a couple of days.
09:03 Has anything caught your eye over the last seven?
09:06 - Yeah, but nothing new, again.
09:09 I've been re-watching "The Young Ones"
09:12 with Rick Mayar-- - Brilliant.
09:16 - Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Playnor,
09:19 and whoever plays Mike the Cool Guy.
09:22 And yeah, it's just fantastic, chaotic British comedy,
09:26 exactly my sort of genre.
09:28 And it's all on iPlayer now as well, which is quite nice,
09:32 'cause it's very easy to watch.
09:33 But yeah, back when they did two seasons,
09:37 six episodes each, and then left.
09:40 And the guy who plays Neil, I think Nigel Playnor
09:43 was talking about it relatively recently,
09:46 and he said that he basically did three months of work
09:50 in the '80s, and that's been his life since.
09:54 Which, that's the really strange thing
09:56 about these cult comedies that came out
09:59 and aired for literally 12 weeks of over two years,
10:03 and then have become a hallmark of British TV.
10:09 But it did leave a huge impact, obviously.
10:13 And you can see how, A, it was inspired by things
10:17 like "Monty Python," and B, how it has gone on
10:20 to inspire other comedy down the line.
10:22 It's probably the sort of best flat-share comedy
10:27 you can find, and yeah, I would highly, highly recommend it.
10:31 - Yeah, it absolutely trumps "Game On,"
10:33 which was kind of like the "Lad Mags" kind of
10:36 flat-share comedy back in the '90s.
10:38 And then quickly, Natalie, apart from "Fool Me Once,"
10:42 is there anything else that has quickly taken your interest
10:46 over the last seven days?
10:47 - No, not recently, just because I'm the same.
10:51 I've re-watched "Friends" again and again and again.
10:54 If I'm not watching "Friends," then it's "Sex and the City."
10:56 So, yeah, but it's funny what you say, Stephen,
11:00 about the whole "Young Ones," because I'm pretty sure,
11:05 I will have to double-check, but I'm pretty sure
11:08 that I saw the other day that Mr. Bean
11:10 only has like 20 episodes.
11:12 - Yeah, it's got way fewer than you would think.
11:15 - Seasons and seasons of it that's just replayed.
11:18 So, yeah, it makes me laugh that it's such
11:20 an iconic thing at the time.
11:23 And yeah, people just watch it forever.
11:26 - Okay, brilliant.
11:27 - Yeah, Mr. Bean ran for 15 episodes in 1990.
11:30 - Oh, wow.
11:31 - And you can swear there was like 100 or so.
11:34 - And on that bombshell, ladies and gentlemen,
11:37 we're gonna take a quick commercial break,
11:39 but when we come back, we'll be having Stephen
11:41 doing a deep dive into "Constellation"
11:43 and Natalie telling us about "Fool Me Once."
11:45 So, stick around.
11:46 (upbeat music)
11:49 (upbeat music)
11:51 (upbeat music)
12:20 - Hello, and welcome back.
12:21 "Constellation," it's the brand new Apple TV+ series
12:26 that is making its debut very shortly.
12:29 Another piece of what Apple TV hopefully
12:32 is gonna be prestige television,
12:33 which they're coming renowned for,
12:35 but don't take my word for it.
12:37 Let's throw it over to Stephen.
12:38 So, Stephen, what is "Constellation" about?
12:41 - Yeah, so "Constellation" is the latest Apple TV
12:46 sort of sci-fi thriller mystery,
12:49 almost a horror, but not quite.
12:52 It's an eight episode series.
12:54 So the first three episodes are out on the 21st,
12:58 and then it's weekly for the last five episodes
13:01 all on Apple TV.
13:02 - I miss you so much.
13:06 - I miss you too, Mama.
13:08 - Will you be careful out there?
13:09 - Always.
13:10 (explosion booms)
13:13 (explosion booms)
13:16 (dramatic music)
13:22 - Mommy!
13:24 - I'm very happy to be back home.
13:25 But things are different.
13:29 I have a piano in my house,
13:34 and I don't play the piano.
13:36 Do you have hallucinations?
13:40 - Mama?
13:42 (gasps)
13:44 - Yeah.
13:45 - Astronauts go through things they don't understand.
13:51 That's when people come unstuck.
13:53 - When I was up there, the only thing I could focus on
13:57 was getting back to my daughter.
13:58 - I miss you, Mommy.
14:00 - Will you be careful out there?
14:01 - Mommy, who was that?
14:03 - That was you and me right before the accident.
14:05 - That was not me.
14:09 (dramatic music)
14:12 - Mama?
14:13 - Where is she?
14:14 - Here.
14:15 - You!
14:21 - I invented a machine we took into space,
14:26 and I saw something,
14:27 but it seems like it doesn't want to be seen.
14:30 (dramatic music)
14:31 - People see things up there,
14:34 and when they get back, they go crazy.
14:38 - This isn't madness.
14:40 - You need to help me.
14:46 I need to go back to her.
14:51 (screams)
14:53 - Do I seem the same to you?
14:58 - I just don't feel like you're my mom.
15:04 (dramatic music)
15:06 - It's almost a one-woman show in a lot of ways.
15:11 It's sort of a bit like "Gravity,"
15:14 where you have a woman trapped in a space shuttle
15:19 trying to make her way safely back to Earth.
15:23 So, Numi Rapace, from the original Swedish
15:28 "Girl with a Giant Tattoo" films,
15:30 plays Jo Eriksson, who is an astronaut
15:33 on the International Space Station,
15:36 and she's there with a very sort of skeleton crew,
15:40 and they're researching some sort of new state of matter
15:45 that they're trying to establish on the space station.
15:49 I'm not sure if the science behind it
15:52 holds up to scrutiny,
15:53 but luckily I don't have a science degree,
15:55 so I wouldn't know either way.
15:56 - Fair enough.
15:58 - And they sort of manage to get this experiment to work,
16:03 and then something goes to pot,
16:06 and the space station hits trouble,
16:09 and the rest of the crew bugger off on their escape pod,
16:15 but there's not space for Jo Eriksson's character,
16:22 so she stays behind with a limited amount
16:26 of oxygen and life support as she sort of figures out
16:29 how to make her own way back on her own.
16:33 But this is where it all gets a little bit space odyssey.
16:38 The sort of other films that you would recognize
16:44 this sort of reality breaking down thing from,
16:49 it's very interesting in that,
16:53 so the astronaut has some sort of like twisted memories
16:58 that seem to have been affected by her time in space.
17:02 We have a dual narrative of her returning
17:05 from the space station,
17:06 even though we're still finding out
17:08 how she actually managed to do that,
17:10 and being reunited with her young daughter,
17:13 and with her, I think, ex-husband,
17:15 or at least sort of partner,
17:16 who she's not really in a stable place.
17:19 - I was gonna say, forgive me for asking,
17:21 but it kind of sounds a little bit like
17:23 that Paul W. Anderson movie, "Event Horizon,"
17:26 that came out in the late '80s.
17:28 Is it a bit of a kind of like psychological edge,
17:32 like "Event Horizon"?
17:33 - Well, I mean, "Event Horizon"
17:36 has more than a psychological edge.
17:37 It's just a horrifying, horrifying film.
17:41 So this is much safer than "Event Horizon" to watch.
17:46 You're not gonna be hiding behind the sofa,
17:48 but it has got that creepy, psychological bent to it,
17:52 where the main character, Jo,
17:56 is filled with just doubt and fear,
18:00 because basically her own mind
18:03 seems to be working against her,
18:04 which I guess is a very scary concept.
18:07 And then you also have, I guess,
18:09 as the main supporting actor in this film, Jonathan Banks,
18:13 so Mike Ehrmantraut from "Breaking Bad,"
18:15 better called "Soul."
18:17 He plays Henry Caldera, who is back at mission control,
18:22 and his job is to,
18:24 his job technically seems to be to get Jo Erikson
18:28 back down to Earth safely,
18:30 but he seems a little bit more concerned
18:32 about getting the experiment
18:33 with the new form of, new state of matter back,
18:36 and he's not really as concerned about the human cost.
18:40 I think he seems to want to get her back as well if he can,
18:43 but that's very much sort of gravy,
18:45 and for him, the main mission
18:47 is getting the experiment back down.
18:49 - Sure.
18:50 So when, go on, Stephen.
18:52 - I was just gonna say, as we go through the series,
18:56 it seems that maybe there's some bad actors involved
19:00 and that what's happening to Jo and her family
19:02 and her memories may have been affected by time and space
19:05 or may have been affected by sort of, yeah,
19:09 bad actors within sort of the team she's working with
19:12 to maybe, for their own sort of unknown ends, I guess.
19:17 - Sure.
19:21 So when is the premiering on Apple TV+?
19:24 - Yeah, so the first three episodes are out on the 21st,
19:29 so that's a Wednesday.
19:32 And then, yeah, five more episodes
19:34 coming out Wednesdays weekly.
19:35 I do think it probably is gonna be
19:37 another well-regarded Apple series.
19:40 I think the TV on Apple, the Apple TV originals,
19:44 are pretty popular and pretty good.
19:47 And then for some reason,
19:48 the films tend to fall a little bit short.
19:50 For instance, "Napoleon"
19:51 was a fairly recent Apple movie, wasn't it?
19:53 - Yeah.
19:54 - Got a lot of fanfare until it was released,
19:57 and then it sort of seemed to not be very good.
20:01 I mean, I've not seen "Napoleon,"
20:02 so I'm only speaking from the reviews,
20:04 but yeah, I've not had much truck with Apple's movies,
20:07 but the TV does seem to be incredibly popular at the minute.
20:11 So hopefully this will carry that trend on.
20:14 - Absolutely.
20:15 We go from outer space to, well, back on Earth
20:19 with "Fool Me Once,"
20:20 which premiered on Netflix a little earlier in the year.
20:24 Did you like that segue, guys?
20:26 Thumbs up.
20:26 So, Natalie, Kelly, who normally hosts the show,
20:31 she has constantly told us
20:33 that she's been briefly catching up watching "Fool Me Once."
20:36 What is it about this Netflix show
20:38 that's got people tuning into it?
20:40 - So the funny thing is,
20:44 I'd heard a lot of good things about it,
20:47 and I know this isn't gonna sell you two on it,
20:49 but the reason why I decided to watch it
20:52 was because I'd heard loads of stuff
20:54 that it was Michelle Keegan, who is the main role,
20:58 her coats and her fashion
21:00 is meant to be amazing in this series.
21:02 So I will admit that that is the main reason
21:05 why I thought, "Do you know what?
21:05 "I'm just gonna give it a go."
21:08 It's eight episodes, so that's fine.
21:10 But, and this will sell it to you,
21:12 what kept me watching was how well it's written,
21:16 how well it's done.
21:17 It's one of those series that,
21:20 because it's only eight episodes,
21:22 you can literally binge watch it in a weekend.
21:25 I'd probably say every episode
21:29 literally leaves you wanting more.
21:30 - Oh, wow.
21:31 - You finish one and you're like,
21:32 "Oh, I'll just watch another one now.
21:34 "I'll get it in."
21:35 So yeah, that definitely kept me in.
21:38 - Would it have been one of those TV shows,
21:40 if it was on say like ITV or something like that,
21:43 that at the end of one episode,
21:46 you're chomping at the bit for the next week
21:48 to arrive to watch it?
21:49 So it's got a little bit of that episodic,
21:52 it just keeps bringing you in, bringing you in,
21:54 bringing you in?
21:55 - 100%.
21:57 I think I would have cried if it was on normal TV
22:01 and I had to wait every single week
22:03 because I think about episode six or seven,
22:08 I was like, "Oh my God, I've got to go to work tomorrow.
22:11 "I cannot not finish this
22:14 "because I can't do a full day at work tomorrow
22:16 "wondering what is going on."
22:18 It's that good.
22:18 - Understandable.
22:19 Seems like it's one of those television shows
22:22 that has that water cooler aspect
22:24 where it's something that people will kind of gossip about
22:26 if it weren't for like working from home, of course.
22:30 But you mentioned about the fashion.
22:32 Is it one of those situations with Michelle Keegan
22:35 where, I don't know, someone would open an Instagram blog
22:39 just to kind of, an Instagram blog?
22:41 An Instagram profile just to dedicate
22:44 an entire kind of series of photos on what she was wearing?
22:49 Are we at that level with Michelle Keegan's fashion?
22:52 - Yeah, definitely for Michelle Keegan.
22:56 I think for, it's more of the coats
22:59 because she's outside a lot, she wears a different coat.
23:02 So I think it would be a very short sort of maybe nine
23:05 images on an Instagram, but definitely a blog
23:09 or a couple of articles about it and pictures
23:11 and more of kind of where you can buy them,
23:13 where you can get them from, definitely.
23:15 - Cool.
23:16 So don't mind me summarizing this Natalie
23:18 before we finish.
23:19 Fool me once, you go there for the fashion
23:21 but you stay for the storyline.
23:23 Would that be a fair summary?
23:24 - Yeah, 100%.
23:26 - And that is available now on Netflix,
23:29 subscription of course required.
23:32 And I believe that brings us to the end
23:33 of this week's Screen Babble.
23:35 So thank you so much for tuning in.
23:37 Stephen will be back later this week for the weekend babble.
23:40 I will be in man in the decks when it comes
23:42 to the BAFTA's watch along.
23:45 And until next week, when Kelly comes back,
23:47 we'll see you later on.
23:49 Say goodbye everybody.
23:50 Bye-bye.
23:51 - Bye. - Bye.
23:52 (upbeat music)
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