ROGUE COMMENTARY

In this episode of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes, we’re uncovering the story of 1986 conspiracy thriller Defence of the Realm with the film’s screenwriter, Martin Stellman – perhaps best known for the stone cold classic Quadrophenia. When I came to choose my contributions to the forthcoming book The Great Unwatched: 200 Must-See Movies You May Have Missed, Defence of the Realm was one of the first films that came to mind, not only because it’s should be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, but mainly because nobody seems to talk about it any more. It’s a pity, because aside from its superb cast – Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott, David Calder, Bill Paterson, Frederick Treves, Fulton Mackay and Robbie Coltraine – not to mention cinematography by Roger Deakins – it’s a cracking conspiracy thriller about the British state’s cover-up of a nuclear accident. Perhaps the film was eclipsed by Troy Kennedy Martin’s brilliant television series Edge of Darkness, which aired just two months before Defence of the Realm went on general release, but it holds up fantastically well as a worm’s eye view of the state’s suppression of the press by any means necessary. The worm in question being shoe leather tabloid journalist Nick Mullen, who breaks a big story about a former left-wing MP with alleged links to the KGB, only to suspect that he’s been played, and that there’s more to the matter than meets the eye.Huge thanks to Martin for rewatching the film for the first time in decades, and walking us through the development of the story with director David Drury and producer David Puttnam. Thanks also to the National Film and Television School for hosting the recording.Oh, and you can find Defence of the Realm and 199 other must-see movies you may have missed by pre-ordering The Great Unwatched which is due to be published on November 2. All of the films have been chosen by some of the best critics in the business, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed by their choices.Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠tweet⁠.We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠Twitter⁠, Bluesky and/or ⁠Instagram⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.Thanks for listening!Rogue Commentary was conceived, written and presented by David Hughes and produced by Sam Ibrahim with music by Olli Oja.© 2026 Plumeria Pictures Ltd.  All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.  On this episode, we’re delighted to bring you David Stenn’s commentary for his 2007 documentary Girl 27. I only recently came across this film, in which David, in the course of researching his biography of Jean Harlow, stumbled across the story of the 1937 MGM scandal, in which rising starlet Patricia Douglas accused the film studio into tricking her into attending a stag party, during which she was raped. Incredibly, David discovered that Douglas was still alive, and tracked her down to her Las Vegas home, where he conducted extraordinary interviews with her, around which the film is constructed. You won’t need to cue this one up to the film, but needless to say, the commentary works best if you’ve seen Girl 27, which I would encourage  you to track down on YouTube or on DVD.Thanks to David for the opportunity to bring this commentary – and hopefully the film – to a wider audience.Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.Thanks for listening!A ⁠⁠Plumeria⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.All content © 2026 Plumeria Pictures Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.  On this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by my former Empire magazine colleague Ian Nathan, writer and director of The Thing Expanded, a brand new five-hour documentary about John Carpenter’s The Thing that’s as packed as the ice around Outpost 31. A follow-up to Ian’s definitive documentary Aliens Expanded, The Thing Expanded boasts interviews with John Carpenter, Kurt Russell and many other members of the cast and crew, as well as superfans Guillermo del Toro and Frank Darabont. Naturally we decided to peg our conversation to The Thing itself, so feel free to watch along or enjoy it by itself if you know the film well. I learned quite a lot from this, and I'm sure you will too, but not as much as you will by getting the full picture with The Thing Expanded, available at TheThingExpanded.com Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.Thanks for listening!A ⁠Plumeria⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.All content © 2026 Plumeria Pictures Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.  We don’t normally do audio commentaries for documentaries, because they often don’t need that extra metatextual level of commentary, as they’re kind of self-explanatory. But as soon as I’d finished watching Homegrown, I was eager to speak with Michael Premo to discover more of the story behindit, because although Michael himself is right in the thick of the film’s action, he lets the subjects of the film speak for themselves. No documentary can be fully objective, and few films are likely to inspire subjectivity more than a documentary like Homegrown, but I’m really grateful to Michael for coming on to talk about the film, especially at this particularly volatile and febrile moment in U.S. history.Special thanks to Marie Moore for setting up the interview.Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com or send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.Thanks for listening!A Plumeria⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.All content © 2026 Plumeria Pictures Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the exclusive audio commentary podcast hosted by me, David Hughes.  For this episode, I’m thrilled to have reunited the brilliant British actor Paul McGann with author and screenwriter John Collee, 35 years after Paul starred in Christopher Morahan’s perfect/no notes adaptation of John’s novel A Paper Mask. I’ll bet there is no bigger fan of 1990’s Paper Mask than me. Paul is sensational as the hospital porter who steals the identity of a doctor and begins practicing medicine at a big hospital, with inevitable, tragic and yet still shocking consequences. The source novel is terrific, the film is note perfect with a superb supporting cast, including Amanda Donohoe and the late great Tom Wilkinson, and although it’s hard to find these days – it’s been a dream of mine to nab the physical media rights for my Blu-ray label Plumeria – Paul and John’s walk down memory lane is a great way to kick off our new season, even if you haven’t seen the film – especially as we recorded the commentary ‘wild’, rather than to picture.Huge thanks to Paul and John for agreeing to do this. Hopefully Paul will finally pluck up the courage to watch the film for the first time in 35 years, and come back to tell us what he thought of it.Comments? Feedback? Suggestions? Email David *at * Rogue-Commentary *dot* com We have lots of exciting episodes in the works, so if you like what you hear – or just the idea – please subscribe, and remember to rate us wherever you hear this podcast – it'll really help us to keep going. Oh, and follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and/or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to stay up-to-date on our forthcoming releases.Thanks for listening!A Plumeria ⁠⁠⁠production, conceived and presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠David Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Produced by Sam Ibrahim. Music by Olli Oja.All content © 2025 Plumeria Pictures Ltd. All rights reserved.