Don't call it a comeback. This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Pamela Anderson, star of Baywatch and Barb Wire, sit down with Alex Godfrey to tell him about how Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl has given her a second chance in Hollywood. [23:46 - 38:29 approx] Our other interview sees Mickey 17 (out next Friday, fact fans!) star Naomi Ackie talk to Helen O'Hara about working with Bong Joon Ho and multiple Robert Pattinsons, and coming to terms with fame. [1:05:30 - 1:19:50 approx] And both Alex and Helen are also in the podbooth this week, joining Chris Hewitt and James Dyer to talk about the greatest movie monkeys, take an impromptu Kathy Kennedy quiz, and review The Last Showgirl and Sky Cinema Original, Fight Or Flight. And the team also bid a sad farewell to some souls who left us far too soon this week — Michelle Trachtenberg, Roberto Orci, and the great Gene Hackman, who passed away along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa. A full Hackman tribute will appear in next week's podcast, but for now, the team recommend the movies they would watch as a tribute to his Gene-ius. [Episode 657]

After the guestapaloozas of recent weeks, we're back to just one guest on this week's Empire Podcast. But what a guest it is, as the great Tatiana Maslany, star of the new Stephen King adaptation The Monkey, pops up on Zoom to talk with Chris Hewitt about death and Comedy Bang Bang. [25:00 - 43:07 approx] In the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss their favourite Stephen King movies, review The Monkey, The Order, and I'm Still Here, while the movie news section is rudely interrupted by some actual movie news, prompting a deep dive into the revelation about the future of the James Bond movies. That can be found, roughly, from 50:04 - 1:04:12, if you're not into all things 007. Enjoy.

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight heads to the mean streets of Victorian London for A Thousand Blows on Disney+, and what better way to celebrate than with a special Pilot TV/Empire crossover podcast? Chris Hewitt, James Dyer and Kay Ribeiro get under the skin of Knight’s latest period piece, which combines bare-knuckle boxing with organised crime as all-female gang The Forty Elephants rampage through the East End. Plus, Kay speaks to Knight himself about the origins of the series and to stars Stephen Graham and Malachi Kirby about squaring off in the ring.