Screen Babble podcast: Rain Dogs, Derry Girls, Party Down, and Operation Fortune – episode 20

Screen Babble is your essential guide to everything on television, from the mainstream to the marginal. NationalWorld’s podcast producer Kelly Crichton, our much-missed news and trends expert Steven Ross, and critic Alex Moreland discuss what is – and what isn’t – worth watching. This week, Kelly is off sick, and Alex has kindly stepped in to demonstrate just how capable and effective a host Kelly really is. (In a sense, our 20th episode is a little bit like Doctor Who’s 20th anniversary special, where they replaced Tom Baker with a waxwork figure.)

As ever, we begin by discussing what we’ve been watching recently. Alex has finally signed up to that Lionsgate+ free trial and started watching Party Down, a workplace sitcom about a group of unemployed actors taking catering jobs between auditions. Steven, meanwhile, has seen an advance screening of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, the new Guy Ritchie film with Jason Statham and Hugh Grant. He's also finally acted on Kelly’s recommendation to watch Happy Valley – he’s picked a good week for it, clearly – and shares his thoughts on the first series of the Sally Wainwright drama. We also spend a moment guessing what Kelly has probably been watching – we’re thinking Succession, Blue Lights, and Rise and Fall, probably.

Next, Alex takes a closer look at Rain Dogs, a new BBC One dramedy starring Daisy May Cooper and written by Skint Estate author Cash Carraway. How effectively does it balance comedy and drama? What do we think of Daisy May Cooper’s post-This Country career choices? And is Rain Dogs worth tuning into?

Finally, Steven brings us back to the future with a look at Derry Girls, tying into the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Which of the cast has broken out big since the end of the show – and which deserved to? Which series of Derry Girls was best? Why did it prove so popular in America? And just what were they thinking with the final scene of the show?

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for Steven’s Weekend Watch Mini-Babble, previewing all the best TV to watch over the next few days.

Listen to Screen Babble #20 here…

Where can we watch this week’s shows?

• Rain Dogs and Happy Valley are available to stream on BBC iPlayer
• Derry Girls is available to stream on All4 (every episode) and Netflix (S1-2 only)
• Party Down is available to stream on Lionsgate+ via Amazon Prime Video
• Succession is available to stream on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV

Screen Babble: how to follow the show

• Screen Babble is available to download on all podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify
• You can join the conversation on our Screen Babble Facebook group
• If you’ve enjoyed the show or found it useful, we’d love you to give us a rating and review, as it helps us to reach more listeners.
• You can also follow our TV coverage on Twitter @NationalWorldTV - as well as @morelandwriter and @steven_jross and @kelc100
• Do you have a TV question you’d like the Screen Babble team to answer on a future episode, or a recommendation of your own? Send it to [email protected] or [email protected]