Screen Babble podcast: Poker Face, The Mighty Boosh, Local Hero, and Malpractice – episode 27

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, Steven’s been to an anniversary screening of the classic film Local Hero – an early Peter Capaldi role that’s also, it turns out, a favourite of Al Gore’s – while Alex has been consumed by the many ups and downs of The Mindy Project. Kelly, meanwhile, has been watching ITV dramas Maryland and Malpractice, and shares a few predictions ahead of the Succession finale.

Next up, Alex takes a closer look at new murder mystery drama Poker Face. Natasha Lyonne stars in Knives Out director Rian Johnson’s homage to Columbo, and Alex loves it – it’s one of his favourite shows he’s covered on Screen Babble in some time. What’s Natasha Lyonne like as lead? What sets it apart from other detective dramas? And which of Alex’s favourite musicians shows up as a suspect?

Finally, Steven takes us back to the future with a retrospective on The Mighty Boosh, Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett’s surrealist comedy classic. How well has it aged nearly 20 years since it began? Why did Noel Fielding end up its biggest star? What did the show learn from Monty Python’s Flying Circus? And is it still worth watching today?

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 #27 here…

Where can we watch this week’s shows?

• Poker Face will be available to watch on Sky Max and stream via NOW TV from Friday 26 May
• The Mighty Boosh is currently available on BritBox and BBC iPlayer
• Local Hero is currently available to stream on BritBox
• The Mindy Project is currently available to stream on Amazon Freevee, and will be available on ITVX soon
• Maryland and Malpractice are both currently available to stream on ITVX
• Succession is currently available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV, with the series finale set to air on Monday 29 May

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]