Screen Babble podcast: the World Cup, Bad Education, Schitt’s Creek, and Henpocalypse! - episode 39

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. This week, we’re also (finally) joined by our latest special guest, everyone’s favourite sports writer Susanna Sealy.

As ever, we begin by discussing what we’ve been watching recently. Steven has started watching Rowan Atkinson’s police comedy The Thin Blue Line, while Blackadder fan Susanna has been watching American and/or Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek. Elsewhere, Alex has finally watched Gregg Wallace’s recent mystery miracle meat documentary, and Kelly tells us all about Taboo, Henpocalypse!, and Grey’s Anatomy. We’ve all also been to see Barbie, and debate the merits of dressing up (it is, to no one’s surprise, exactly the two of us you’d have expected to dress up that did).

For our closer look this week, Susanna explains everything about the World Cup. Will England beat Australia in the semi-finals match? Will the eventual final be played between Spain and England? Why has football been so popular recently? And why are the Australian team called the Matildas?

Finally, Steven brings us back to the future by revisiting the BBC Three comedy Bad Education, hot on the heels of the news that it’ll be returning for a fifth series. How does Bad Education fare without Jack Whitehall? How does it compare to the likes of Fresh Meat? And what is it about PE teachers?

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. Plus, join us again next week for a very special episode #40…

Listen to Screen Babble #38 here

Where can we watch this week’s shows?

The Thin Blue Line is available on Amazon Prime Video

Schitt’s Creek is currently available on Netflix, and is airing on Monday nights on Dave

Bad Education, Taboo, and Henpocalypse! are all available on BBC iPlayer

Gregg Wallace: British Miracle Meat is currently available to stream on Channel 4 online

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

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We’re also on Instagram and threads as @alexmorelandwriter and @steven_jrossnationalworld

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]