Comfort Blanket

In a special bonus episode, recorded one week before the finale of the show, writer Will Maclean (The Apparition Phase) talks about Breaking Bad prequel 'Better Call Saul' and asks what comfort we find in the suspense of a long-form premium drama, and whether we can ever revisit it for the same comfort again.PSA: Obviously this episode is about a six-season storyline and though we’ve edited out as many “spoilers” as possible (and a prequel is technically hard to spoil) there are references to plot. You may prefer not to listen if you’re saving Better Call Saul to watch later.

Writer and comedian Sarah Kendall (Frayed, Australian Trilogy, Taskmaster) talks about the comforts of PJ Hogan's smash hit 1994 comedy film Muriel's Wedding and the art of telling authentic, affecting stories using big, stupid jokes.

Author and journalist Marianne Levy talks about the warm-stone-and-fine-cheese comforts of Peter Mayle's 1989 travel writing blockbuster A Year In Provence.

Novelist Jenny Colgan talks about the killer-robot comforts of The Terminator, the original and best, and how underneath its kick-ass action movie surface, there are some surprising mechanisms at work.

Artist Zarah Hussain talks about finding comfort for herself (and her kids) in sophisticated 90s sitcom Frasier, and the universal lessons that lurk beneath the surface Seattle snobbery.

Comedian and writer Paul Litchfield (The Trap, Smershpod) brings in a magical tome filled with comforting charts and tables and goblins: Gary Gygax's Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, the classic gateway drug for tabletop role-playing games.

Illustrator and writer Nadia Shireen (Bumblebear, Barbara Throws A Wobbler, Grimwood) grasps the Pet Shop Boys tight, and talks about the comforts of their 1990 album Behaviour, the autumnal record that marked a departure from the synth duo's Imperial Chart Domination Phase.

Comedy writer and performer Tom Neenan (The Hauntening, The Mash Report) takes off his sunglasses slowly, and stares in awe at the Most Comforting Monster Movie Ever Made... Steven Spielberg's original 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park.

Actor Youssef Kerkour (Home, Dracula, House of Gucci) talks about the comforts of the quintessential single-location action movie, Die Hard, and how deliberate limitations and putting the audience first can combine to make a popcorn-guzzling classic.