Ponies Brings Cold War Intrigue to Sky This May

Image: Sky TV Press

By Jon Donnis

A sharp chill runs through Sky’s May line up with the arrival of Ponies, a new espionage thriller that leans into paranoia, grief, and quiet reinvention. Set against the tense backdrop of 1970s Moscow, the series lands in full on 22 May, with every episode available at once on Sky and NOW across the UK and Ireland. At its centre are two women who begin as invisible figures in the machinery of diplomacy, only to find themselves pulled into something far more dangerous.

Emilia Clarke plays Bea, a highly educated Russian speaker shaped by her family’s Soviet roots, while Haley Lu Richardson takes on Twila, a blunt and fearless outsider with little patience for niceties. Both start as secretaries in the American Embassy, dismissed as what intelligence circles call ‘persons of no interest’. That label does not last. When their husbands are killed under murky circumstances, the pair are drawn into the world of CIA operations, forced to navigate a system that never expected them to matter.

The show leans into that shift in identity. What begins as quiet administrative work turns into something far more precarious, with Bea and Twila stepping into roles that demand instinct, resilience, and a willingness to question everything around them. Their partnership sits at the heart of the story, a clash of backgrounds and temperaments that gradually hardens into something dependable, if never entirely comfortable.

There is a wider conspiracy lurking beneath their personal loss, rooted firmly in the anxieties of the Cold War. Moscow in 1977 is not just a setting but a pressure cooker, where suspicion hangs in the air and every move carries weight. The series promises a slow uncovering of truths, as the two women try to piece together not just who killed their husbands, but why.

Supporting performances come from Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi and Vic Michaelis, each adding to a cast that reflects the layered, international nature of the story. Together, they help build a world where allegiances are never clear and trust is always in short supply.

Ponies looks set to balance personal drama with the mechanics of espionage, grounding its story in character as much as in conspiracy. It is a tale of people overlooked, then forced into the spotlight, and what happens when they realise just how much they are capable of.

The Cage Preview - Get ready for a high-stakes, high energy crime story set within the world of a Liverpool casino

Image: BBC Press

By Jon Donnis

A new crime drama is arriving with serious pedigree behind it. The Cage comes from BAFTA-nominated writer Tony Schumacher, known for The Responder, and is produced by the Academy Award-winning Element Pictures, the team linked to Poor Things and Normal People. It is set to land on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, bringing a tense, character-driven story straight into the heart of Liverpool.

The premise wastes no time in setting up conflict. Leanne, played by Sheridan Smith, and Matty, played by Michael Socha, both work at an inner-city casino. What they do not realise at first is that they are each secretly stealing from the same safe. Once that truth comes out, everything begins to spiral. Their actions tie them not just to each other, but to a local gangster whose money they have taken, and to the police closing in.

The story is built as a high-stakes, high-energy crime drama, but its real focus sits with the two central characters. Leanne and Matty are pushed into a situation neither can easily escape, and the tension comes from watching how their choices collide. It is less about a single crime and more about the consequences that ripple out from it.

Set against the backdrop of a Liverpool casino, the setting adds a constant sense of pressure. Money, risk, and secrecy all feel part of the same world, and that environment feeds directly into the unfolding drama. Every decision carries weight, and the stakes only rise as the story moves forward.

The Cage begins on Sunday 26 April, launching from 6am on BBC iPlayer before airing at 9pm on BBC One.

The Sentinels: The BBC’s new French sci-fi thriller brings super soldiers to the Great War

Louis Peres plays Gabriel Ferraud (Image: Caroline Dubois / Federation Studio France / Esprits Frappeurs / CANAL+)

By Jon Donnis

The BBC is bringing a gritty new French drama to iPlayer and BBC Four called The Sentinels. It is an eight part series that takes the First World War and flips it on its head by mixing historical espionage with heavy sci-fi elements. The show is based on the graphic novels by Xavier Dorison and Enrique Breccia.

The story follows a soldier named Gabriel Ferraud who gets badly injured during the early days of the war. Instead of being sent home, he is pulled into a clandestine military experiment. They inject him with a serum that turns him into a super soldier with massive strength and speed. He becomes part of an elite squad known as the Sentinels, but as he fights on the front lines, he starts to realise the program has some dark secrets that might change the course of the war entirely.

The series was directed by Thierry Poiraud and Édouard Salier, with a cast featuring Louis Peres as Gabriel. Other actors like Thibaut Evrard and Kacey Mottet-Klein also star in the production.

Nick Lee, who handles acquisitions for the BBC, described the show as an adrenaline-fueled experience. He mentioned that it feels like a mix of steampunk and something more modern like RoboCop, but it still has the emotional depth of a story like Frankenstein. It sounds like it will be quite a visceral and unique watch for British audiences.

The show was produced by Federation Studio France and Esprits Frappeurs for CANAL+. STUDIOCANAL is managing the international distribution for the series.

The Fortress - Starring Russell Tovey & Tobias Santelmann available to stream from 18 April 2026

Image: Viaplay

By Jon Donnis

A high wall cuts Norway off from the rest of the world, and for a while, it works. In 2037, the country has reshaped itself into a self-sustaining state, powered by clean energy and supported by local food production. Borders are sealed, movement is controlled, and the outside world feels distant, almost irrelevant. Inside, life appears stable. Safe, even. That illusion does not last.

When a deadly virus begins to spread, the very barrier designed to protect the population turns into something far more sinister. Isolation becomes confinement. With no way out and no clear solution, fear takes hold quickly. The government responds with tightening control, expanding surveillance, and increasingly harsh measures that begin to reshape daily life. Supplies begin to strain, trust breaks down, and the sense of unity that once defined this controlled utopia starts to fracture.

At the centre of the story are two families, separated by the wall and driven by the same desperate goal. One is trapped inside the sealed nation, dealing with the growing pressure of a society turning inward. The other remains on the outside, fighting against distance, restrictions, and time itself. Their struggle to reunite cuts through the wider chaos, grounding the series in something deeply human.

Led by Tobias Santelmann, Russell Tovey, Selome Emnetu and Eili Harboe, the series brings together an international cast that adds weight and texture to the unfolding crisis. Performances lean into the tension, balancing personal stakes with the broader collapse of order.

The Fortress is not just about a virus or a sealed border. It looks closely at isolationism, the cost of control, and the fragile nature of trust in a system built on restriction. The premise feels uncomfortably close to real-world anxieties, which only sharpens its impact. There is a cinematic quality throughout, with stark visuals that reinforce both the scale of the wall and the emotional distance it creates.

This seven part sci-fi drama thriller, each episode running 45 minutes, unfolds in both Norwegian and English, with subtitles available. It is a series that takes its time, allowing tension to build steadily rather than relying on spectacle alone.

The Fortress Series 1 arrives on Viaplay UK from Saturday 18 April, offering a tense and thought-provoking watch that lingers long after the final episode.

Watch on Viaplay on Amazon - https://amzn.to/4tMdSPE

Gangs of London Series Four Begins Filming with New Cast and Creative Team

Image: Sky TV Press

By Jon Donnis

Filming is now underway on the fourth series of Gangs of London, with Sky confirming the return of the drama in partnership with AMC+. Produced by VICE Studios, the new series brings back a number of familiar faces while introducing new cast members and a fresh creative team.

Returning cast members include Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Michelle Fairley, Narges Rashidi and Andrew Koji, alongside Brian Vernel, Orli Shuka, T’Nia Miller, Valene Kane and Pippa Bennett-Warner. Their return continues the story within London’s criminal underworld.

Jack Lothian joins the series as lead writer and executive producer, with Jean Luc Herbulot taking on the role of lead director. Herbulot’s film Saloum premiered in the Midnight Madness strand at the Toronto International Film Festival, the same programme that previously featured The Raid from co creator Gareth Evans and Project Wolf Hunting from earlier series director Kim Hong-sun.

New additions to the cast include Tamara Lawrance as Jo Malik, Luna Fujimoto as Hanaka, Eugene Nomura as Takeshi Kimura and Melika Foroutan as Zerin. The new series will explore shifting alliances and emerging threats within the criminal landscape.

Gangs of London series four is now in production.

Synopsis

As the looming threat of legalisation and government crackdowns tightens its grip on London’s criminal underworld, the gangs are forced into an increasingly volatile fight for survival. Exiled from London, Elliot Carter is on a bloodied path to redemption that draws him back to the capital, where shifting alliances and rising tensions threaten to upend the balance of power. When Zeek Kimura reemerges, backed by a ruthless syndicate from abroad, the stakes escalate and the future of everyone involved, from the Wallaces to Luan, Lale and Elliot himself, is thrown into question.

The series will air on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK and Ireland, and in the US on AMC+, AMC Global Media’s premium streaming bundle, with NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution handling international sales.

TFI Friday Unplugged Returns to Channel 4

Image: Ch4

By Jon Donnis

Channel 4 has confirmed it will bring TFI Friday back to its original home, acquiring six episodes of Virgin Radio UK’s YouTube series TFI Friday Unplugged, hosted by Chris Evans. It marks a return for a format that once defined a certain strain of late night British entertainment.

The weekly show is set to debut at 11pm on Friday 17th April, with episodes also available to stream free via Channel 4 and its YouTube channel. The late slot feels intentional, keeping the spirit of the original while placing it into a modern viewing schedule.

The opening episode features a broad mix of guests, including Sam Ryder, Shreya Ghoshal and Jack Savoretti, alongside Sindhu Vee and actors Gemma Arterton, Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo. It is a varied line up that reflects the show’s long standing mix of music, comedy and conversation.

Back in the 1990s, TFI Friday became known for live performances, loose interviews and a sense that anything could happen. That unpredictability helped define it. This Unplugged version keeps that core identity but shifts towards a more intimate and contemporary feel.

The series was acquired by Cimran Shah, Commissioning Editor for Reality Entertainment at Channel 4, signalling a clear push to revive a familiar name with a slightly different tone.

TFI Friday Unplugged begins on Channel 4 on Friday 17th April.

Chernobyl at 40 Revisited Through New BBC Documentary

Jordan Dunbar (Image: Jack Garland)

By Jon Donnis

As the world reflects on four decades since the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the BBC World Service brings the story back into focus with a new documentary, What Happened at Chernobyl. Set to air on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer, the film follows journalist Jordan Dunbar as he travels to the site of the explosion that triggered a public health crisis across Europe. The fallout from that night on April 26, 1986 spread across Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, leaving lasting scars and contributing to the eventual collapse of the USSR. Today, the same location carries renewed tension due to its position within the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Dunbar’s investigation brings forward voices that have rarely been heard, including eyewitnesses who were present on the day and two of the so called liquidators tasked with the dangerous clean-up effort. Their accounts shed light on both the scale of the disaster and the secrecy that surrounded it, raising questions about why so much of the truth was concealed at the time. Running alongside this is The Last Dancefloor in Chernobyl, a radio documentary that shifts the focus to personal lives interrupted by catastrophe. It tells the story of Serhiy and Iryna, whose relationship began in the vibrant nightlife of Pripyat, where DJ Alexander Demidov played smuggled Western records to eager crowds.

On the eve of their wedding, the explosion changed everything. Despite the looming crisis, the ceremony went ahead, even as emergency workers battled the unfolding disaster nearby. Soon after, evacuation orders forced Iryna to flee still in her wedding dress, leaving behind the life they had built together. Through their story, and that of DJ Alex, the programme captures the human cost of the disaster, tracing a path from youthful optimism to the struggle of rebuilding after sudden loss. What Happened at Chernobyl will air in the UK on Monday 20 April, with availability on BBC platforms both domestically and internationally.