Unforgiven

So, when 3.10 To Yuma was released, many critics compared it to the 1992 Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven. Mark Kermode felt those comparisons were wide of the mark, but what really irritated him was that they kept calling the film The Unforgiven, which is a different movie altogether. The definite article is always important to Mark - just look at every listener who has unwittingly referred to "The Cornerhouse" - but when Simon Mayo asked what happened in The Unforgiven (as opposed to in Unforgiven), Mark didn't know. He further pondered what Unforgiven would be called in France, because in French the definite article cannot be lost - so would both Unforgiven and The Unforgiven have the same title (L'Unforgiven? La Non Pardon?)

This led to a tense exchange between the Good Doctors (MARK: You're being particularly difficult today / SIMON: You say that every week) and a long sequence of emails. The whole situation was resolved thanks to some swift translation from travel presenter Nick Duncalf. So: Unforgiven is the 1992 Clint Eastwood western, which 3.10 To Yuma is not, and in French is Impitoyable - but not L'impitoyable, which was actually a movie with Jackie Chan (known as Shaolin Wooden Men in the UK).. Meanwhile The Unforgiven - a 1960 John Huston film with Audrey Hepburn - was known in France as Le Vent De La Plaine (The Wind On The Plain).

Facile, non?

Meanwhile, it Mark's prediction that Unforgiven would be successful at the 1993 Oscars that was the cause of his famous bad bet.

One-time stand-in for Simon Fiona Phillips admitted on the show that during her time as a Hollywood reporter for GMTV, she attempted to interview about Unforgiven live on air and blag the fact that she hadn't actually seen it. Harris clocked it immediately in her questioning, stared at her, said "you haven't seen it, have you," and walked off.