Was I having a laugh with a couple of those clues? You be the judge. Anyway, here is the solution image. The theme is explained after this clue-explainer video:
I wrote this puzzle in April 2021. The title alludes to the time in June 2020 when Jo Caulfield posted a lovely picture on Twitter of her holding a glass of wine, captioned “Wine is fucking great …try some”. Some pillock then reported her for “encouraging underage drinking”, and Jo got banned. (What is this, C4thBCE Athens?) After a hash tag campaign Jo was freed from Twitter-jail, and continues to be hilarious on a regular basis. Do follow her.
And so, this crossword’s hidden theme was JO CAULFIELD, since it also included the names of five of her shows: CRUEL TO BE KIND, EMOTIONAL WARFARE, KILLING TIME, ROLE MODEL and VOODOO DOLL. I didn’t really expect anyone to notice it, but hey, you’ve been told now. π
(Couldn’t find pics of the other two!)
Re 15a:
Oh, so that awkward collection of letters I've been trying to clue turns out to be… a word? Yeah, that helps.
— The Void γΆγ»γ΄γ©γ€γ #PR! #CovidIsAirborne π (@TheVoidTLMB) April 18, 2021