Matt and Dawn return for their first podcast of 2026, reviewing four shows available this week. They are joined by site contributor Ruthie Nugent to review, the return of The Traitors on BBC One as well as the strange return of The Night Manager after nearly ten years away. The new shows this week are, the baffling remake of the Inspector Lynley mysteries in Lynely, which is all available on the iPlayer. Lastly, and spoiler alert, brilliantly, the team gush about the intimate, funny and life-affirming, new prison set drama Waiting For The Out, which stars The Responder's Josh Finan, as Dan, a man, tortured by his past, starts work at a prison, teaching prisoners philosophy.  Lastly, Matt challenges Dawn and Ruthie to name as many winners of the Best Supporting Actresses as they can.  

It's that time of year again as Luke joins Matt and Dawn to count down the top 10 shows of 2025. Expect discussion on Hacks, Big Boys, Pluribus, Task, Dying for Sex and more.

Our final TV Time Machine of 2000 is also our first of 2001. Christmas of 2000 saw sketch show The Fast Show bowed out with a trio of farewell episodes. Victoria Wood had the prime-time slot on Christmas day with her 'All The Trimming's' special.  Whilst in early January, Michelle Collins and Paul Kaye starred in gentle family drama 2000 Acres of Sky and on BBC Two, there's zany comedy, Fun at the Funeral Parlour. There is also a quiz on the charts of the time. 

With the festive season upon us, Luke, Matt and Dawn and various other members of the wider Custard TV team reflect on the year in television, get merry, and in the case of Dawn, recite poetry to top off the year on the podcast.

Matt and Dawn are joined by Mo Walker for their last proper podcast of 2025. They review the return of Stranger Things on Netflix, the latest Doctor Who project The War Between The Land and The Sea on the BBC and Sky's upcoming take on Amadeus starring former White Lotus star Will Sharpe. Lastly, they look at Simon Cowell's new Netflix series, which follows the former X Factor judge as he attempts to form a new boyband in a new age of music.  

To mark 500 episodes of the podcast we get the old band back together. Matt, Luke and Gary reunite with the newest member Dawn to count down their favourite shows that have debuted over the course of the 14 years of the custard TV Podcast. Thank you all for your tremendous support over the years and here's to the next 500 episodes!!

Matt and Dawn are joined by TV fan Tyler to review four brand new shows available this week. Matt Smith stars in Sky's new drama Bunny Monroe which really surprises the team. Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys join forces in Netflix's pulpy drama The Beast in Me, Channel 5 revive TV tradition in their take on Play For Today. Lastly, Nicole Lecky brings her new series Wild Cherry to BBC One. Even if it doesn't feel quite right for a BBC One audience. Finally, how many new era Doctor Who characters can Dawn and Whovian Tyler name?

Luke, Dawn and Matt are back to review four shows available this week. Beginning with Vince Gilligan's sci-fi genre-bending new series Pluribus which is now available on Apple TV. After a long time in his own Breaking Bad Universe, the acclaimed showrunner is back with a completely original idea, which is best seen without knowing anything about. The trio discuss the first two episodes, which are available on Apple TV now.  Succession's Sarah Snook stars in a surprisingly effective new thriller All Her Fault, which sees Snook's working mother discover her son has been kidnapped. Next, from Channel 4 there's period drama Trespasses which looks at a dangerous love affair during the troubles. Lastly, more celebrities are abroad in a new series of Celebrity Race Across The World. For the quiz, how many nominees of Best Drama Series at the Emmy's can Matt and Dawn name?

Matt and Luke fire up their TV Time Machine to travel to November 2000 to revisit the final episode of iconic BBC comedy One Foot in the Grave. As well as Rob Brydon and Julia Davies' mostly forgotten but still a little gem relationship comedy Human Remains. Also, John Simm and Sophie Okenado star in surprising two-part drama Never Never, whilst BBC Two try and be contemporary in website drama Attachments.

Fellow podcaster Mo Walker joins Matt and Dawn to review four new shows available this week. Slow Horses is a massive hit for Apple TV, so now the streamer is banking on another series of novels from author Mick Herron in the hopes of lightning strikes twice. Dame Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson lead an impressive British cast of familiar faces in thriller Down Cemetery Road. Next, and perhaps less successful, after a major run on Netflix, author Harlan Coben comes to Prime Video with ghostly new drama Lazarus. On the BBC, there's the thriller The Ridge, which stars Karen Pire's Lauren Lyle. Lastly, comedian of the moment, Tim Robbins, best known for his fast-paced Netflix sketch series, I Think You Should Leave, leads his first sitcom in HBO's The Chair Company, which is available in the UK on Sky Boxsets or NOW. Lastly, in our three strikes quiz, Matt and Mo compete to name as many dead EastEnders characters as they can. How well would you do?

Matt is joined by both Maids from Maid for TV in Sarah and Dawn. The trio reviews Sally Wainwright's new drama Riot Women, which sees women of a certain age form a rock band, initially to enter a school talent show, but eventually as a way to channel their frustrations with life and to be seen by those who have taken them for granted. Next, the creator of Luther has a confusing and mysterious for mysterious sake 'thriller' called The Iris Affair. Next, a gentle and sweet romantic comedy from BBC Two, which is likely to fly under the radar, but that is well worth a watch in Leonard and Hungry Paul. Lastly, the trio look at every episode of Celebrity Traitors to air so far and picks apart what has made it such a hit. Finally, in our quiz, Matt challenges the Maids to name actors who have appeared in Sally Wainwright shows.

Luke and Matt are back aboard their TV Time Machine. This time, they are looking at four shows which aired in October 2000. Made for the Millennium Dome, Sky airs Blackadder: Back and Forth, which sees the iconic cast reunite for what is a strange beast. Ross Kemp is back in ITV's crime drama Without Motive. Rupert Penry-Jones and Phil Davies lead Channel 4's legal drama North Square. Lastly, they watch the first episode of Kay Mellor's comedy drama Fat Friends, which is relevant because it's the show where Ruth Jones met James Corden and also because it made the top 10 of Netflix's weekly charts for several weeks when it turned up on the streaming giant late last year.  

Matt and Dawn are joined by Sophie Davies to review four new shows available this week. First, Mae Martin's mysterious new Netflix series Wayward. Next, Suranne Jones and Jodie Whitaker play a pair of conwomen in ITV's six-part drama Frauds. Then, continuing her domination of 2025 ater Toxic Town on Netflix and HBO's The White Lotus, Aimee Lou Wood is back with her own comedy Film Club. Lastly, (and the reason Sophie is joining) Alan Partridge is back on the BBC with, How Are You? It's Alan Partridge where the iconic broadcaster looks into mental health. Lastly, how many BBC Three originals can the team name in our quiz?.

Matt, Luke and Dawn are back to celebrate the return of the best British drama series, Slow Horses as well as Jack Thorne's take on the hacking scandal in the form of ITV's The Hack. Netflix has Jude Law and Jason Bateman as a pair of unconvincing brothers. And from Apple, but now on BBC One and iPlayer comes adoption comedy, Trying.  There's also a quiz naming as many BAFTA drama series nominees. How would you do?

Luke and Matt are back aboard their TV Time Machine, heading to September 2000. FOX has a new anarchic family sitcom in Malcolm in the Middle, which is hugely significant as it gives us Bryan Cranston. Rob Brydon makes his debut as a taxi driver recalling the breakup of his marriage in the truly superb short-form comedy Marion & Geoff.  On Channel 4, a fresh-faced comic, Ricky Gervais, gets his own chat show, Meet Ricky Gervais which feels like an awkward hybrid between So Graham Norton and The Larry Sanders Show which sadly doesn't work. Also on Channel 4, Dylan Moran's cult comedy Black Books, which brought together Bill Bailey and Tamsin Grieg as a strange found family. Lastly, Channel 4 also has Faking it, which takes a Yorkshire women and attempts to turn into a posh girl.    

Matt and Dawn are joined by CustardTV Editor Luke to review four shows available this week. Firstly, Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby has a new show in the brilliantly tense and human Task available weekly on NOW, Sky and HBO. Next, there's another murder in the building so Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are back recording their podcast for the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building on Dinsey+ and Hulu. Next, the creative team behind the US Office is back with an official spin-off in The Paper. But does it stand up? Finally, the trio watch what might be the first sketch shows we've covered in 5 years. Channel 4 are putting a lot behind, Mitchell and Webb aren't Helping but can it revive a long lost type of television? Lastly, Dawn quizzes the boys on British sketch shows. How many could you name?

TV is finally back in a normal rhythm, and that means the podcast is back! Matt and Dawn are joined by Dawn's podcast co-host Lucy from The Shipyard to review four shows available this week. It's September, and it's ITV, so by law, Sheridan Smith must portray a real person in a true crime drama. Sticking to tradition, she stars as Anne Ming, in, I Fought the Law, the story of a mother's fight for justice when her daughter's body is found in her own home. Next, the BBC has a crazy thriller inspired by The Hand That Rock The Cradle and others of that ilk. Eve Myles and the brilliant Gabrielle Creevy star in in The Guest. Already on Netflix, Surrane Jones stars in a crazy pollicital thriller that sees her husband kidnapped and become a 'Hostage' Lastly, and perhaps the most important show of the week, Channel 4's fixed-rig cameras return to Thornhill Academy for a second series of the probably brilliant Educating Yorkshire, over 10 years since the first. Then, Dawn and Lucy test their knowledge of TV's biggest slow burn relationships for our quiz.    

Matt and Luke hop abroad the TV Time Machine to look at the TV landscape of August 2000. He will soon have so many TV shows to his name and swimming pools full of money, but in August of 2000, Ryan Murphy debuted his first show on the teen skewing network The WB. The show, Popular, is a teen comedy with a strange mix of tones but some DNA of Glee, the show that made him a household name and a titan in the industry. Next, sketch comedy TV to Go, a sketch series billed as a show 'to skewer the annoyances of everyday life.' The forgotten series, featured Martin Freeman and Hugh Dennis, but unsurprisingly, the standouts are Sean Lock and Bill Bailey. Then, a show that would become a megahit, as Anne Robinson dons a cape for a new quiz show that would become a global hit in The Weakest Link. Finally, there's Scottish drama Tinsel Town, which is a hard show to pin down.  

Matt and Dawn welcome a new voice to the show, site contributor Ruthie Nugent, to review 4 brand new shows. First up, Jimmy McGovern's hard hitting single drama Unforgivable. Prime Video's The Assassin, which sees Keeley Hawes as a retired Assassin forced out of retirement just as her son arrives to visit. Next, Lena Dunham's first new project in years, this time for Netflix and London set RomCom homage Too Much. Lastly, the BBC are hoping they can continue their streak of popular reality series with Destination X, which, in theory, could be a Traitors and Race Across the World hybrid. That's the theory, anyway. Finally, Dawn challenges Matt and Ruthie to name as finalists of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here as they can.

In the summer of 2000, Channel 4 took a gamble. They devoted 7 weeks of their schedule (albeit, at 11pm) to a brand new show branded as a 'social experiment' which placed strangers in a house. Locked away from the public for 7 weeks, voted off by members of the group, Big Brother launched to little fanfare or expectation but slowly morphed into one of Channel 4's landmark series of the period and a huge word of mouth hit at the dawn of livestreaming and the rise of the celebrity magazine.   For this special episode of their TV Time Machine, Custard TV podcasters, Luke and Matt rewatch the key episodes of the very first Big Brother, looking at what makes it so compelling. What worked from the start and what didn't. 25 years on, the show seems quaint and gentle when compared to the show it would become, where fame hungry contestants would apply and launch careers off the back of their time in the house. The 'Nasty Nick' cheating scandal cemented the show as a must watch, with conversation reaching parliament, but looking back, was it really that much of a scandal?    There's also discussion on where Big Brother went wrong, the raft of programming that came after it and why it just doesn't have the same appeal in 2025 despite ITV flogging it.