Screen Babble podcast: No Escape, Rome, Queen Cleopatra, Mood, and a post-BAFTAs debrief – episode 26

Screen Babble is your essential guide to everything on television, from the mainstream to the marginal. NationalWorld’s podcast producer Kelly Crichton, news and trends expert Steven Ross, and critic Alex Moreland discuss what is – and what isn’t – worth watching.

As ever, we begin by discussing what we’ve been watching. This week, that means a post-BAFTAs and post-Eurovision debrief – who gave the best speeches? Which winners were most deserving? What were the biggest faux pas? Elsewhere, we’ve also got history expert Steven’s insights into Netflix’s new documentary Queen Cleopatra, a strange coincidence Alex noticed in the shows he’s been watching this week, and Kelly’s thoughts on BAFTA winner Mood.

For our closer look this week, Alex reviews new Paramount+ thriller No Escape, an adaptation of Lucy Clarke’s The Blue starring Rhianne Barreto and Abigail Lawrie. How effectively does it build suspense? Does it make good use of its scenery? And is it worth signing up for Paramount+ just to watch it?

Finally, Steven brings us back to the future with a look at the BBC/HBO co-production Rome. How influential was this sword and sandals epic? Would we have Game of Thrones without it? And what happened to the mysterious missing episodes? 

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 #26 here…

Where can we watch this week’s shows?

• Mood and Colin From Accounts are available on BBC iPlayer
• Halt and Catch Fire is available on Channel 4 online (the new name for All4)
• Rome is available on Britbox
• No Escape is available on Paramount+
• Queen Cleopatra is available on Netflix

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]