Joplin Sibtain appreciation blog

Maybe you just watched Andor and had to know more about Brasso; maybe you've been a fan since The Sarah Jane Adventures or EastEnders; maybe you're more of a theatre afficionado, or knowledgeable in the ways of video game voice work. All appreciators of the actor also known as Chook Sibtain are welcome here. Fan run blog, in no way affiliated with the big man himself, this is the accidental research output of @notasapleasure, who never meant to end up this deep.

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Welcome! Care to avail yourselves of some screencaps? Please help yourselves to the contents of the Drive.

I'll update with any new material as and when I can get my hands on it. Drop me a message if you have any requests for more detail or better images from any of the shows or movies and I'll do what I can.

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WE'RE BACK BABY

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Happy 2026 we look forward to what we look forward to

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ANDOR Cast Discussion MEGASODE // #318 - Star Wars Sessions

We recently had the incredible opportunity to host two panels featuring cast members from Andor seasons one and two at the Smugglers Surrey

I'm not normally a podcast listener, and this one is two hours long, but for the sake of fellow Joplin enjoyers I have done a rushed job of transcribing his sections, and those about him.

tl;dr: ‘Joplin dropped some absolute tyrannosaurus sized filth there’

In which the podcasters are appropriately enamoured with Brasso and Joplin, while Joplin is very blasé about Star Wars, Rogue One, and Rory McCann's name.

It's another interesting perspective from someone who gets by on smaller roles, but still has to navigate what jobs are actually worth his while taking - and it's good to have him on a panel like this, though at some point I will have to gather up a bunch of my own questions and make it to a con he's at.

‘our boy, Joplin Sibtain, who plays Brasso, big old bear!’

7.30 –

When did you find out how you got your roles in Andor?

13.26

So. I was – I got offered a job, in The Last Kingdom, which was filming in Hungary, but my wife was pregnant, it was the kind of one episode, in each episode one scene [inaudible] it was a bit of a non-part, but it was good money, but it meant I could never come back and see the missus while the whole pregnancy [inaudible] so I thought well I’m not gonna do it.

Then I got a call, asking me to play a character called, uh, Rashi, in Andor. Who’s uh, a kind of glorified extra, I’d already auditioned for it and they put me on file, and said they liked me, they were gonna use me, and then I said nah I don’t wanna do that, and they said fair enough. So then I got a call, I did a voice, uh, Zoom thing, with um, with Tony Gilroy. [inaudible] (It’s the wrong, it’s the wrong thing! Imperial backing track! It’s the wrong thing.)

So I had, I had a Zoom call with Tony, saying, [inaudible] take this part, it’s another character, […] which I didn’t go up for, ‘coz I did another self take – anyway. Uh he said, I’d really like you to do it, and I said… it’s nothing, about four episodes, but he’s one of the um, the grapplers, and he said do it for the money, and I thought, well it’s good money, my wife is pregnant, and I could be down and y’know, be at home every night, so I took the job, to go in and film this character, Rashi.

Day one of filming, and, um, the guy playing Brasso, is an actor – no one knows this story, so y’know (Ooh!) I’ve never told anyone this – […] no mention to the public, it’s not a secret either, […] I went in […] the first day of filming, the guy playing Brasso, is the guy who played the Hound in Game of Thrones, what’s his name? (collective umming, Ewan…? Rory, Rory McCann.) You’re joking! And he’s just been cast in the new Star Wars… And he’s just been cast as […] but he was originally meant to play Brasso, and they’d shot some of his scenes, and he’s six foot six, and I’m six foot three… um, but he did his knee in, he was on his way to work and he slipped, and it was very icy at the time and he slipped up and he did his knee in, and he went to work, ‘coz he’s a bit of a hero, he’s kind of […] the outback […] (The Hound, innit!) and he had a limp and he went to work and he had a scan on it and the surgeon said, the consultant said, uh if you keep, if you don’t have this operation on it, you’ll not be able to walk…or something. Um, and so Tony Gilroy called me, and he said, Joplin, want to read for Brasso? And I said sure (Did you push him over on the ice?) Right it’s an even longer story, ‘coz the guy who played Rashi, the first character, had a brain haemorrhage, so I went in first to play Rashi, and then this guy, who was meant to play Brasso, did his knee in, so I ended up auditioning for Brasso, and did this self take, and then Tony Gilroy called my agent, said look, here’s some notes, that’s not how you do it, not like that, he wants to do it like this, so I got all these notes, and did it again, and it was all set up with the camera in my bedroom, and my wife had helped me, and I was lying in bed that night, I was like ‘Ach, I don’t wanna do it like that!’ Y’know? So I had three takes, the first one, the second with all the notes Tony gave me, and then there was, I did ‘v3’ I wrote, and I got my wife up in the morning like, ah, not again, and we did this self take again, as how I wanted to play Brasso, with Tony’s thoughts in mind, and I wrote ‘v3’ and Tony called me up and said you’ve got the job, and he said ‘v3, that’s the take that got you the job’.

(Cooing, wows) Nice, nice. And it’s changed your life, right?

And they reshot it, they did a lot with um, that guy, with the Hound’s face, they had to superimpose my face on this guy… (Oh really?! Wow! Are you kidding?) Yeah, ‘coz he’s shot the […].

Alastair MacKenzie: I worked with him years ago, that guy Rory, he used to be the Quaker Oats guy, you know in those Quaker Oats adverts, yeah?

That’s more of a scoop than the Brasso thing! [17.30]

-

Expectations of being in Star Wars? [27.00]

Yeah, I mean I’m not a big fan of the franchise, so um… (boooo!) hate it…(laughter) I’m, it’s not part of my life, I like, I like Star Trek (louder laughter. Out! Get out!) [inaudible] I fell asleep twice in Rogue One! (hysteria. You’re joking!) I don’t know what to say… (it’s because you ain’t in it) Because I wasn’t in it! But I’ll tell you what, in casting, I was doing a play with a massive cast, and everyone was getting an audition for Rogue One, and I remember at the time thinking ‘why can’t I get an audition?’* (you’d fallen asleep?) So…um, but yeah it was, it was really quite an extraordinary experience, being on the set, I mean, it really does wow me, I can tell you [in the volume?] that everything is on location, all the sets were built, every set I was on, the only, uh, green screen was when they needed uh, spaceships to take off and land, that was on a crane in the background, but the rest of it, nothing was left to the imagination. Sometimes you’re on a set somewhere, and um, you just, you get a bit that’s not even gonna be in shot, you know, they’re not even gonna use any of the set that you’re not…and you’ll open a door and all these sort of alien artefacts will fall out, these props (the detail!) that you’ll pick up, and you’ll go the de – the attention, someone must have taken months to make something that’s in a cupboard, that’s not gonna be a prop…(Pierro: And it works! It’s like, functional.) It’s extraordinary! And then you’re doing your scene and you’re walking down a kind of normal street and there’ll be someone dressed as an alien [cooking for?] a baby alien, you know, and then you’re kind of like, it’s just…so, so magical. (Where do they shoot? The fields?) Uh, just outside of Pinewood, in…Marlow? (Berkshire way, is it?) uh, somewhere between Reading and… (‘coz they build a town? [speculation about various places] Don’t know if any of you guys filmed there?) Nope! I was on [inaudible] I’d never worked in Pinewood […] thinking I’ve arrived! Finally, I’m going to Pinewood! I never got anything there. I was always on location in Marlow. Still haven’t worked in Pinewood!

Just quickly, you did mention, you do have a background in theatre…do you think you brought a lot of that energy to your role in Andor on screen? Like, what’s the difference?

…Let me think. You’re asking now. I don’t know. I mean, as soon as you ask these questions, you start talking… (someone else – Jonathan? – steps in to answer, ‘the troupe is the same’) I think you answered it perfectly, it’s about the troupe (But it is, it’s all about the troupe) But you have an audience of a thousand people, or sometimes two thousand people, so you have to turn it up a notch, if you’re doing it on a screen, […] to one person, you’re in a room full of people doing it on telly, or you know, cinema auditorium […] it’s just you have a screen which is the size of a cinema, and they’ve got a camera there, then you’re gonna be doing it slightly differently to how you’d be doing it on the Olivier stage, for example. ‘Coz that’s all it is, it’s about like, [inaudible] [30.30]

*truly aggrieved, it’s adorable.

[34.36] Alistair: Hadn’t you guys grown like a crop for your…?

Yeah, all that was grown, that wheat, and they couldn’t use it, they couldn’t use it all (you’re kidding.) It died. (Alastair seems to know more about the wheat – ‘jiggery pokery had to be used’, because ‘that was the window where we went on strike’)

I was been told they had some, uh, rush weed, put in a bit of swamp land at the end, of the farming, and it was always a pain to the farmers to get rid of it all, and they said they wanted to use it, ‘coz you know the effect, in [gladiators?] they did all of that, and there was always two people standing by with these [bush weed killers?] going like this, like a camera, and just […] across, and they, the production gave them thousands, to use this stuff, bit of swamp land…

(Brasso’s body’s still in that field, I imagine).I don’tknow what happened, because I know they had a contract with Ryvita, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that. (you’re joking! He’s got all the scoops, ain’t he!) The farmer was gonna get his, make, make the money by, you know, harvesting this crop and turning it into Ryvita, so I’m not sure that, it went over slightly, but I’m not sure if they didn’t make some, monetized it somehow… [36.00]

Someone asks about props, and when they’ll be on ebay.

Joplin, right in there, deadpan: I got cavity searched every time I went… You don’t get anything out of that place… […]

(to Alistair) Did you get the big Andor bag, the one with Andor written on it? When I got it, my wife said when I got it, worth doing the job just for the bag. [North Face bag, with Andor written on it]

Did you get a brick, Joplin? [39.00]

No, I was asked to, so recently when I was meant to open something and show my surprise at seeing the brick, and it was a live sting, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it… (you’re gonna be typecast as the brick guy)

[/41.10]

In this section the podcasters wax lyrical about Joplin

‘Joplin dropped some absolute tyrannosaurus sized filth there’

‘Rory McCann. Obviously a really big guy. And Joplin’s a really big guy. Just like. Being in the same room as him, you know, oh yeah, this is a dude who can, like – i…if there were a pub fight, and and he was involved (cracks up) I’m not saying he would, but if he was involved, I would be like…no, you just wanna hit that bloke with a brick, mate at Maava’s funeral…but it goes to show kinda the physicality that went into that role, and that was always kind of the plan, because Rory McCann as well, big guy. Like rea – but also, Matt, (go into talking about Rory McCann replacing Ray Stevenson in Ahsoka S2)’ ‘I mean it makes sense, right, it makes sense that they would be in contention for a kind of physical, big guy sort of role, and yet, kind of by accident, dare I say, Joplin got promoted, not just once, but twice, into this – and not only that mate, but he did a wonderful job.’

M: ‘Well that’s it, because when you hear, oh, the Hound, Rory McCann, was gonna be originally playing the role of Brasso, you think wow, that’s a great actor to be playing that part, but then you take a step back, and before we even knew that, since season 1, you and I, and I know a lot of our listeners, we love Brasso, and why do we love Brasso? Because of the humanity and the warmth that Joplin Sibtain brought to the character, like Brasso on paper is one thing, but Joplin made that character who we love because of who he is and how he played that character, now, how Rory McCann’s version would have been, I don’t know. I only know, based on what the Hound was like, man[mad?] I don’t know how warm he would have been, but Mr McCann has played many more roles than the Hound in Game of Thrones, but it is interesting to think, because Joplin also says that Rory shot scenes, they filmed scenes with Rory McCann as the character of Brasso, and they were later altered, and they just digitally overlaid Joplin’s features on him, so I guess, we can go and find those, ‘coz there’s a three inch height gap, uh, difference, he said, so if we can see a little moment where Brasso looks a little bit taller, he’s in there somewhere. I reckon it’s in the first three episodes.’

‘Well it makes sense, because he said - in an ideal world, I would have said let’s just talk about this for the rest of the panel, I mean, obviously we can’t, can’t do that, there’s multiple people there, and people are there to see and hear experiences from multiple people and contributors, to the show, and just as well, because they all had phenomenal stories and perspectives to share, but it must, I think yeah, outdoors makes sense, because he said like Rory slipped on ice or something like that and did his knee in. And when you think of Ferrix and the outdoor, like the city set, it was the little town that was built in the middle of Berkshire.’

‘Well he says that, Rory, his exact words were ‘Rory’s a bit of a hero, and he lives in the middle of the woods’ and that’s kind of it, and so my, id – I think he may have actually slipped whilst doing his kind of, huntsman life, and then when he came into production they said, I think he said he had a limp, that’s when they were like let’s just test you over, and they were like your leg’s about to fall off, you can’t do this. And then Joplin, ‘coz he was originally playing a smaller role, he was gonna be playing that role of Rashi, but then the actor, as he said, who was playing Rashi had to pull out as well, so he ended up kind of getting promoted because of other people’s misfortune, which is never a good thing, but Joplin did such a good job with the character of Brasso, and he’s so loved, and the reason why I was so devastated that that Stormtrooper took him out was because of how good Joplin was.’ [/47.40]

[colleybri]

Six months on and we’re still getting tasty Andor nuggets like from this podcast interview with some of the Smugglers Surrey con.

So Partagaz originally had a big monologue in his final scene but it got the chop, and Joplin Sibtain replaced Rory McCann as Brasso after that original actor did his knee in when slipping on ice. They had to do digital face replacement as they had already shot some scenes! 👀

ANDOR Cast Discussion MEGASODE // #318

Podcast Episode · Star Wars Sessions · 12/11/2025 · 1h 58m

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Amazing what news you come across when you remember to go looking for it:

Welcome in the festive season at the Barbican with Shakespeare’s spellbinding masterpiece Twelfth Night, following a 5 star, sold-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Washed up on an unknown shore, a woman embarks on a secret new life but discovers she's not the only one hiding something...

Another chance to see the RSC production from last winter, presumably with a mostly unaltered cast, though there are only a few names on the page for now (Freema Agyeman, Samuel West, and Michael Grady-Hall returning as key players).

It will be at the Barbican, London from 8 December 2025 - 17 January 2026

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Yep! Confirmation Joplin Sibtain will be returning to the stage this winter!

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"Have you ever made a bad move?" "Yeah, I have."

Joplin Sibtain as 'Charlie' in Beck, #1.4 (1996) - with Amanda Redman as Beck and Caroline Loncq as Therese

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The Strangers: Chapter 2 (2025)

"I am here because of the lack of response by the sheriff's department to all the murders in the area."

A very special group viewing with my fellow appreciators (feel free to out yourselves) for chapter 2 of this deeply unimaginitive slasher series (or, in the words of one august viewer: 'American home invader paranoia security theatre stranger danger shit').

At least I knew what I was letting myself (and others) in for this time: I got my stupid ass spoiled reading the Wikipedia summary. In the meantime, many friends make light work of interminably slow horror with added extra dull lore!

Join us, for a viewing of The Strangers: Chapter 2, aka 'when will Joplin turn up and will he already be dead?'

My truncated write-up of Chapter 1 is here, if you feel the need to catch up. Maya and her fiancé went to an airbnb in the woods, and only Maya got out. Now the creepy masked murderers have realised she's still alive they're determined to track her down and finish the job.

She's in hospital and doesn't know who to trust (probably not the sheriff with the southern drawl who doubts her witness statement). Later, she's in hospital and the masked fam are trying to kill her again. Off she runs into the night!

She ends up in the woods via an irresponsible horse farmer (dead) and a ride in a truck with assigned lesbians (nice nurse from the hospital and ex-military woman who gives Maya her warm military jacket), who pick up their house-mates along the way, just standing in the middle of the road in a rain storm:

One of these housemates, not Wayne, but Gregory of the smiley face neck tattoo, is so deeply creepy and Maya is already in a pretty paranoid state, and the radio is blaring out some fire and brimstone preaching (seemingly lifted from a TV broadcast for the film), so Maya does the only logical thing and steals some shoes and medicine before throwing herself out of a moving car.

The woods seems like a perfectly good place to do a little impromptu auto-surgery on your bleeding gut wound, so Maya rips open her hospital gown, stitches herself up and is surprised to find that pouring rubbing alcohol on the wound hurts like a bitch.

The masks are hunting for her in the woods, and, litter bug that she is, she leaves her bloody wound dressings on the riverbank.

And of course something DOES track her down, maybe because of the fire she's lighting rather than the trail of bloody gauze though. I think it's fair to say it might have been the highlight (other than Joplin) for all of us? The introduction left it very ambiguous as to what it was, there was grunting and growling and feet pounding the earth, and Maya ran for an abandoned car and looked appropriately frightened when whatever it was started jumping up and down on the roof (Joplin, is it you?). Then, when she decided to get out of the car before it was crushed and run for her fire full of burning logs, we saw what it was:

So the absurdity just escalates: she manages to fend off the hog for long enough to grab a knife and stab it. By all rights her foot should be dangling off her leg, but she gets up and gets limping.

Meanwhile, we get a flashback about one of the masked killers, showing her playing with baby hogs, and proudly getting a boy to pay attention to her and the hogs - until a blonde girl falls off her bike nearby and he leaves her. So she goes and kills a mouse about it.

The Green Mile being by far the more apt comparison (though it's Doug Hutchison who stomps the mouse), because she then stares Straight Into The Camera so you know she enjoyed it.

By now we're getting desperate. It's been an hour - AN HOUR - and while the hog and the hog lore were diverting what scenario is Maya going to stumble into next and where is Joplin?

Oh look, the airbnb she stayed at that was the original site of all this trouble.....

You can't accuse us of not being clear-eyed about what to expect here - BUT! He's alive! There's a Joplin in the house and he's alive and well and friendly, even! One might dare to say trustworthy!

Cue much screaming of words in the chat, such as 'BEARS' 'BEARD' 'HIIII' 'accent!!!!!'

The subtitles had shifted by this point, but please meet Billy Bufford, Oregon State Police Internal Affairs. He keeps his ID on his phone :')

He's very sweet, he asks Maya if she's ok and when she returns 'Do I look ok?' he's honest enough to say no. He has a car! Maybe we're getting out of here!

Maybe there's about to be an event that will wake three sleeping greyhounds across the globe as the chat explodes into incredulous laughter.

That IS an arrow in his eye. Bow down to the fastest screenshotting fingers in the west.

Obligatory corpse shot:

50 seconds of screentime and you got credited for two movies, well done Joplin! Once again I salute your agent.

Maya drives off, but the car is shit (thanks for nothing Billy!) (or maybe it took an arrow to the...knee...engine?) and she drifts off behind the wheel.

Wakes up round at the lesbians' house, unfortunately the creepy roommates are there too.

In no time at all the lesbians are dead (off screen! so quietly!) and the masks are back. The EMT from Portland who's been sent to find Maya is also dead, so Maya grabs the ambulance and manages to stab one of the masks in the ear in it before driving off. Of course, masks don't stay dead, so she's up and strangling Maya in no time. Car crash solve your problems! This time Maya gets away to hide, mask is definitely dead, other masks Sad and we have a flashback about her killing Tamara as a child because she was the brother/boyfriend stealing blonde.

Verdict?

Dead? Very much so, very quickly

Evil? Not at all! Far too good to survive a film like this

Affects the plot? Are you kidding WHAT plot

Words from the chat: 'atrocious' 'the first was not good but the step down was huge somehow?' 'what if act ii had a final girl who was just so boring ... and it was three times longer' 'the more lore we learn the less interesting they get' 'it felt SO long'

But also, crucially 'joplin was cute'. 2/5 he looked lovely for 50 seconds and gave us all a good laugh.

Even Maya managed a smile!

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The Strangers: Chapter 1

Joplin Sibtain is Not In This Film!

Here's the write-up I managed when I watched it last year, sharing now as myself and a few select appreciators are about to dive into Chapter 2 (having confirmed this is the chapter he is actually in).

Wish us luck.

A new item on the imdb page appeared! Rating: 4.5. Nasty rural American horror that wants me to think about how many violent crimes have been committed in the states since I even started watching the opening credits :((

Bill Bufford comes a loooooooong way down the cast list, but he does have a full name, so let's see!

He's not the introductory guy being hunted for sport anyway! That was 'corporate finance guy' who passed through Venus, Oregon with all its stereotypically sinister and judgey locals and then disappeared ooooo

Oh my gosh we're just getting allll the stereotypes - creepy god-bothering children, sinister mechanic and suspicious break-down, the man who likes to hunt but probably isn't here, the vegetarian haters, the waitress who can't imagine why these city kids aren't married....oy. I'm sure having sex in the creepy cabin in the woods will go fine though, kids, get right to it!

Listening to a warped Joanna Newsom record while smoking strong weed alone in said creepy cabin also seems like a solid way to calm down. Play some piano, have a shower....girl. I can't work out if you're a genius for making a bunch of noise so you aren't freaked out by Other Sounds or if you're mad because you're doing a bunch of stuff that will hide the approach of murderous locals.

Powercut...check!

Meanwhile asthmatic boyfriend is being harassed by god-bothering, vegetarian-hating locals. But it's ok he's back in time to tell his girlfriend she definitely didn't see the creepy mask guy she saw!

Blah blah horrible creepy mask people tormenting you, killing animals, exploderising your only means of escape etc etc

Everyone has a bad time, ok, stabby stabby...

My guess is Billy Bufford is going to be the next unfortunate to be travelling through Venus and about to have a bad time.

Wow, even the hospitals are creepy here.

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Beck, #1.4 (1996)

‘You’re not a stalker, are you?’ ‘No, I just know how to write academic-sounding applications.’

I am long overdue a post about a little adventure in appreciation that I had back in May this year.

Perhaps you recall my travails in finding any hint of a whiff of a copy of the Amanda Redman vehicle from 1996 that goes by the same name as a popular Scandi drama: Beck, about a missing-persons agency and a ~sexually liberated~ woman running it (“It’s the ‘90s!”). The episode Joplin was in also had early cameos by a young Jason Flemyng and James D’Arcy, and I found no evidence that fans of them had managed to track it down either.

Ultimately after asking around in forums and getting no reply I came to the conclusion that the only way I was going to get to see the one episode Joplin was in was if I went to the BFI archive myself. So, uh, I filled out their application form, paid the small fee, and went along on a rainy May morning.

It was bizarre and glorious and I highly recommend the experience. Let’s make Beck (1996) episode 4 the Alice’s Restaurant of BFI viewings requests!

Anyway I felt like I got VIP treatment and had the most wonderful chat with the man who works there, who did ask if I was a stalker, but I think was mostly endeared by my persistence. He brought me tea and biscuits and left me in a cramped cupboard with the digital copy to watch as many times as I wanted.

Beck 1.4

All I knew was I was waiting for ‘Charlie’ to turn up, and I feared it might not be for more than a couple of minutes, but I was determined to watch the whole episode anyway.

Full disclosure: this is an extremely of its time episode of TV. However, that does also mean it’s actually quite well written, and to be honest I enjoyed it enough that if I had access to all six episodes I would certainly watch the entire series. I am not, however, in London often enough for that, and don’t fancy paying £13 a pop.

The first familiar face to pop up was Jason Flemyng – with a lustrous head of ginger hair and a pouty expression. He gave the impression of being a returning character who was close with (a friend of?) Beck herself, and that she seemed more worried about him and his small baby than about the partner, Karen, who had gone missing and was now being (reluctantly, seemingly) returned home.

Beck’s agency is made up of her, a female partner called Therese, a sensible black colleague, and a wide-eyed innocent white boy intern. Iirc Beck and Therese are meant to be having a girls’ night out, or a break from work at least, but their office is suddenly overrun by private school boys.

Well, they look like school boys, but are apparently a ‘bloody mobile stag party’ and they’re loud, pissed, waving round huge amounts of cash, and the leader, who ‘looks like a head boy’, is a very baby James D’Arcy. Per my notes: ‘SO fey SO floppy hair’.

I scoured the background, dreading that Joplin would be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him member of this troupe of idiots, but then it emerged why they were in the missing-persons agency:

Their good friend Charlie (“a brother!”) has gone missing! And they’d been out on Charlie’s stag do! He’s meant to be marrying James D’Arcy’s terrifying sister Isolde and he’s missing!

No one has told the bride her fiancé is missing yet, because of the aforementioned terrifyingness (she’s “a very fine shot”). Her ex, another of the obnoxious poshos, doesn’t think Charlie’s worth finding, and there are some choice sentiments shared from various lads: he’s not a bad bloke “for a w*g” [me – sorry WHAT the fuck did you say? “It’s the ‘90s!”] and “I don’t mind if you don’t find him … [he’s] a little shit, no style, clothes didn’t fit.” James D’Arcy is very scared of his sister though, so they’re here to get him found.

Luckily they brought the stripper, Charity, with them, and she’s still wearing Charlie’s jacket, with his wallet in it. Cue tart with a heart sub-plot between intern and stripper.

The raucous lads deposit a wadge of cash with Beck and Therese, and a taxi is summoned. Now we will meet the best character in the whole episodes, hands down. My notes read: ‘Even lady taxi drivers can be weird gobshites’. Bernice the taxi driver, I would die for you.

The ladies have helped themselves to a pizza voucher from Charlie’s wallet and find out his full name is Charlie Khan.

Meanwhile we get a sinister interlude at Jason Flemyng’s house, where Karen has locked herself in a room with the baby.

Now the ladies learn that Charlie is often seen wearing a crash-helmet at an address that isn’t his home…

Therese and Beck: “West Ham in 10 minutes, is it possible?”

Bernice the taxi driver: “Is Jodie Foster gorgeous? Get in.”

They have tracked Charlie to a video rental place and a dry cleaner a long way from the other address and there’s another branch of the same pizza place nearby… he must live in West Ham, not Wapping, like his mates think…

I had a wee panic that it would be another 'dead before he does anything' Joplin character when we saw a body with ‘long black hair, big nostrils’, but it’s quickly clear this is a woman who’s been beaten up – it’s Karen. Jason Flemyng is being incredibly shifty.

Beck and Therese (and Bernice) have been told by their contact at the morgue, and, per my notes 'Beck having an Emotion about this & her friend doesn’t even have a fag :('.

Bernice: “I’d offer you a drink, but I’ve only got pure alcohol.” (lady you are a TAXI DRIVER. “It’s the ‘90s!”)

Beck picks up on a sus line JF gave about his mum looking after the baby while he’s at the morgue – he’d said his mum was away earlier.

Oooooh he’s so evil :( his mum isn’t there when Beck pays him a visit at home. Beck had said in the earlier scene with him that she usually doesn’t help men looking for women like Karen when they run off, because there’s generally a good reason for them leaving and the man shouldn’t be helped to bring her back…

JF (evilly): “You were very rigorous with me.”

Beck: “You won us all over.”

He says some extra egregiously evil things about how Karen’s post-partum depression was a ‘negative atmosphere’ for the baby and how she wasn’t hot after giving birth. Bleurgh. Beck is determined she’ll get the baby off him, but the script wants to drive home very badly that it is aware that ‘driving someone to suicide’ isn’t a crime (surely beating the shit out of Karen was though??) and JF thinks he’s untouchable.

Anyway, the girls bundle in the taxi again (Bernice really wants them to adopt her). They’re doing a stake out and it’s morning now, they’ve been out all night (in the dresses they were meant to be out dancing in), and Bernice pulls out her ancient phone (low battery, pull-out aerial) and they order pizza to the taxi using Charlie’s voucher.

I am not making this up for clout (can you imagine), but I had very much guessed Charlie was going to be delivering the pizza by this point.

A veritable CASCADE of luscious black locks emerge from the crash helmet. Ohhh he’s a charmer with a cheeky smile!! But looks a bit alarmed when everyone coos “Charlie!”

“You got me mixed up, my name’s Prakash.”

He guesses Isolde sent them - "Yeah, I've seen you in movies - hit men-women!"

Turns out he just doesn’t want to marry Isolde. Because she’s terrifying.

Beck: “So why’d you ask her?”

Charlie: “She asked me!”

Girl Power! “It’s the ‘90s!”

Anyway, he borrowed his mum's boss's identity to have a bit of fun in the city, but the game got old and now he wants out. He’s fucking adorable and Beck and Therese agree.

Look at this disney prince nonsence!

Bernice also thinks Therese is adorable and propositions her, plus she doesn’t want to lose her new friends. Unfortunately Therese has a boyfriend already, so Bernice must remain lovelorn in her taxi. I'll love you Bernice!! Also I'm heartbroken all over again because I thought I had notes on Bernice's proposition to Therese but I can't find them, alas!

Rating

Dead? No!!! Alive and with such beautiful hair, such a cheeky smile!!

Evil? Not at all! Tricking your way into the racist posh boys’ club and leaving when you’re sick of them is very valid.

Affects the plot? He IS the plot! As an excuse for the ladies to have taxi adventures all night you couldn’t get much better than this.

I’m going with a big fat 4.5/5. Half a point docked for having to go all the way to London to see it. Yes, he only has one scene, but it’s a corker, and I think it's the only pre-cricket-ball-to-the-face footage I'm at all likely to get my hands on.

Sadly, it seems Jason Flemyng's character was never brought to justice - or maybe it happened off-screen or was tabled for the season 2 that never was - as he's only credited with a single episode on imdb. As to whether Beck made a choice between her Irishman or her artsy boyfriend, or the guy at her salsa lessons, I suppose I'll never find out without going back to the BFI...

---

Transcript of his scene:

Beck: Hello Charlie.

Therese (was sleeping): What?

Prakash: Nah, nah, nah, you got me mixed up. My name's Prakash.

Beck: You're supposed to be getting married today, aren't you?

Prakash: Look…I don't wanna marry her.

Beck: Then why'd you ask her?

Prakash: She asked me!

Beck: You said yes.

Prakash: Have you ever made a bad move?

Beck: Yeah I have. So who is this 'Charlie'?

Prakash: Oh (laughs) my mum's his secretary. He wants someone to flat sit while he's in New York. I met Isolde down the Blue Beat club… Oh, it was just a joke, I'd had a few beers…and then…

Therese: Then you paddled your way up shit creek.

Prakash: Isolde sent you, didn't she? Yeah, I - I've seen it in films. Hit men-women.

Beck: Ooh she wants you alive.

Prakash: Gotta face up to my responsibilities. Right I'm gonna go round there and I'm gonna tell her the truth. If she loves me, she'll accept me for what I am.

Therese: Oh grow up! She'll tear your tonsils out.

Prakash: I'm not good enough for her.

Beck: Charlie? Prakash, or whatever your bloody name is. I've got this fear that you're too good for her.

Therese: Yeah she's not gonna want to go to Upton Park on a Saturday afternoon.

Prakash: West Ham is a good team this year.

Therese: If you like netball.

Beck (handing him £20): Why don't you go and love someone a bit more honestly.

Therese: I wouldn't wanna get mixed up with them dickheads.

Beck (accepting pizza boxes): Thanks, you can keep the change. And - um, that's yours. (hands him bag with his jacket in) Bye!

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

Amazing what news you come across when you remember to go looking for it:

Welcome in the festive season at the Barbican with Shakespeare’s spellbinding masterpiece Twelfth Night, following a 5 star, sold-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Washed up on an unknown shore, a woman embarks on a secret new life but discovers she's not the only one hiding something...

Another chance to see the RSC production from last winter, presumably with a mostly unaltered cast, though there are only a few names on the page for now (Freema Agyeman, Samuel West, and Michael Grady-Hall returning as key players).

It will be at the Barbican, London from 8 December 2025 - 17 January 2026

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

Christ can a girl not stan a character actor without getting spoiled about a minor character's fate in a wikipedia summary

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

Opportunities to Appreciate: updates

It's been a while since I've had much to post* but there's a few Joplin vehicles to keep an eye on that I'm just going to bring together here as a reminder to myself as much as anything, because I no longer live in the land of multiple cinematic options, so unfortunately am unlikely to catch a limited release when it comes out...

Heavyweight: premiered at Raindance this year, but if it's had a wider release I haven't noticed. imdb giving it 7.5, which is a promising sounding number! Plenty of Joplin in the trailer too, so this one's going to be an actual treat to watch.

American Sweatshop: had a limited release earlier this year, didn't make it to any cinemas near me. Despite some good buzz, imdb's giving 5.3. Joplin makes the trailer as an ineffective cop, so we can expect him to pop up and shrug as things inevitably go wrong for the mc.

The Strangers: Chapter 2: out in cinemas the other week, although it looks like another limited release. Available to pre-order on Amazon for £19.99(!) - and allegedly due to drop for streaming tomorrow, October 14, though there's no sign of Joplin in the trailer (that I could make out. imdb still claims he's in Chapter 1 and I still dispute this). An aggregate of 4.8 is a little better than Chapter 1, but lbr, I'm not watching this for cinematic excellence.

House of the Dragon season 3: at present due out as an 8 episode season in June 2026. You will find my opinions on Dragon Show obnixious, but I can't wait for some chainmail and sword action...

Twelfth Night (2024): I'm hoping this will come to NTatHome or another theatre streaming platform sometime this winter!

-

*This is a lie. I have a long overdue blog post about a missing TV episode to make :)

Has anyone managed to catch any of the limited releases here? If you've seen The Strangers Chapter 2, did you spot Joplin? 👀 Appreciative minds wish to know...

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

I forgot a crucial, Star Wars flavoured update!

https://www.fanthatracks.com/news/conventions-events/smugglers-surrey-star-wars-weekend-joplin-sibtain-attending/

Smugglers Surrey Star Wars Weekend

South east's longest running star wars event has moved to a new town - Bigger and Better

Joplin will be at Smugglers Surrey Star Wars Weekend on Saturday 8 November! If you're planning on going please give him a fist bump from me and ask when the Naachle London DVD is coming out.

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

Opportunities to Appreciate: updates

It's been a while since I've had much to post* but there's a few Joplin vehicles to keep an eye on that I'm just going to bring together here as a reminder to myself as much as anything, because I no longer live in the land of multiple cinematic options, so unfortunately am unlikely to catch a limited release when it comes out...

Heavyweight: premiered at Raindance this year, but if it's had a wider release I haven't noticed. imdb giving it 7.5, which is a promising sounding number! Plenty of Joplin in the trailer too, so this one's going to be an actual treat to watch.

American Sweatshop: had a limited release earlier this year, didn't make it to any cinemas near me. Despite some good buzz, imdb's giving 5.3. Joplin makes the trailer as an ineffective cop, so we can expect him to pop up and shrug as things inevitably go wrong for the mc.

The Strangers: Chapter 2: out in cinemas the other week, although it looks like another limited release. Available to pre-order on Amazon for £19.99(!) - and allegedly due to drop for streaming tomorrow, October 14, though there's no sign of Joplin in the trailer (that I could make out. imdb still claims he's in Chapter 1 and I still dispute this). An aggregate of 4.8 is a little better than Chapter 1, but lbr, I'm not watching this for cinematic excellence.

House of the Dragon season 3: at present due out as an 8 episode season in June 2026. You will find my opinions on Dragon Show obnixious, but I can't wait for some chainmail and sword action...

Twelfth Night (2024): I'm hoping this will come to NTatHome or another theatre streaming platform sometime this winter!

-

*This is a lie. I have a long overdue blog post about a missing TV episode to make :)

Has anyone managed to catch any of the limited releases here? If you've seen The Strangers Chapter 2, did you spot Joplin? 👀 Appreciative minds wish to know...

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

Well look at this! Our lad's released a new version of Your Mind (formerly Your Mind Will Set You Free) on Buckled records

There are a couple of other O.P.H. EPs out there - another familiar track (You're Everything), and Polymath, which came out in 2022 and I'm now somewhat ashamed not to have been able to dig up sooner!

It's all on Spotify too for your playlist needs, but of course you should go and buy a copy from Bandcamp (ideally on a bandcamp Friday, but the next best time is right now)

[joplinsibtainappreciation]

American Sweatshop trailer dropped!

[ambiguousdisorderken]

support graphic content creators, do you know how long it takes for photoshop to even open ?