Julian Barratt is the latest guest on Adam Buxton’s podcast.

In the new episode, Julian Barratt joins Adam Buxton to discuss Mindhorn, which is out in UK cinemas from 5th May and will be available to watch on Netflix for those of you who live elsewhere.

For anyone unfamiliar with Mindhorn (who clearly haven’t visited The Velvet Onion recently!) here’s the synopsis:

Richard Thorncroft (Barratt) is a washed-up actor who found fame on TV in the 1980s playing Mindhorn – a detective from the Isle of Man with a robotic eye. He is now well past his heyday and struggling to get acting work. However, when a delusional killer phones the Isle of Man police saying “I’ll call the police station tomorrow at 4pm and if I’m not speaking to Detective Mindhorn in person, more people are going to die,” the actor is enlisted to take the killer’s next call and lure him into custody. Thorncroft of course sees the potential for publicity and sets off in the hope of using the situation to launch a comeback. The film was written by Julian Barratt and Simon Farnaby.

On the podcast, Julian talks to Adam about how the film progressed from the original idea several years ago (at one point, they considered giving Mindhorn a nose that could smell the truth, rather than an eye that could see the truth!) and about the sometimes brutal process of screening the film with test audiences. He also mentions the Boosh origins of the Mindhorn name.

The episode features another guest too – director Garth Jennings, who talks about his most recent film Sing.

Listen to the podcast here.

Past TVO-related guests on Adam Buxton’s podcast have included Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade. Adam seems to have a knack for ensnaring people who usually shy away from interviews!

Read our feature on the making of Mindhorn here and keep an eye out for more about the film over the next few weeks on TVO.