Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-01-30T15:15:46.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: 'I just wish there were more hours in the day'
items: After the Flood's Lorraine Ashbourne talks Sherwood twist, Riot Women season 2 and living at home with her adult children
items: If looks could kill
items: The Traitors' fabulous icons Amanda, Diane and Linda glam up for Claudia-inspired shoot – and talk being underestimated as older women
items: Byrne on Burton
items: Revisiting Doc Martin's global adaptations – remakes from Spain to Russia
items: Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 cast: Meet the duos taking part
items: ¡Vamos a Mexico!
items: Seeing red
items: Meet the cast of Riot Women
items: Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright divulges emotional personal inspiration behind Riot Women - as cast of characters explained
items: 'No girl is ever going to be good enough'
items: House of Cards’ Robin Wright explains why she had to play her controlling character in new thriller The Girlfriend
items: 'This can't happen again'
items: View from my sofa: Vanessa Feltz
items: Vanessa Feltz: 'My parents told me I was lacking in every way that matters'
items: Nicholas Pinnock on being a Mind ambassador and six-week stay in mental-health facility: "I was suicidal"
items: Ten Questions with Nicholas Pinnock
items: Wild at heart
items: Springwatch hosts hope the show "can cut through all the mistruths" about climate change
items: The race is for the swift
items: Mother and son
items: Sisters
items: Boyfriend and girlfriend
items: Ex-spouses
items: Brothers
items: Harry Lawtey: 'I became obsessed'
items: 'I'm sick of Dada's reputation'
items: Kate Burton is "so sick" of father Richard Burton being labelled a hellraiser
items: Ten Questions with Joe Cole

'I just wish there were more hours in the day'
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: In her mid-60s, Lorraine Ashbourne is one of our most in-demand actors and busier than ever – and she’s relishing every moment
encoded: Add After the Flood to your watchlist As an interview icebreaker, I wish Lorraine Ashbourne a happy birthday for the previous day. She frowns and peers into her computer screen at her home in north London. I panic – was it a faux pas to mention her age? “Fake news!” she declares, before bursting into laughter. “I’ve had quite a few birthday messages, but I’m an Aries. I’m not 65 until April.” As it turns out, Ashbourne is perfectly happy to be hitting her mid-60s. She is, after all, in her prime – in the past 18 months or so she has been in four huge TV shows. In After the Flood, the ITV murder-mystery set against a backdrop of environmental breakdown, she plays a widowed mother with a can-do attitude. She stunned us all in the second series of Sherwood with the big reveal that her character Daphne Sparrow was a former covert spy cop; she didn’t tell a soul about the twist and relished keeping the secret. “It was delightful! The hard part was the intensity of the role, playing a character trapped with a past she can’t escape. But I never take my work home; I’m very in the moment, very practical.” View Green Video on the source website Across two series of Alma’s Not Normal, Ashbourne played a grandmother in leopard print for whom we care so deeply that her diagnosis of lung cancer was utterly heartbreaking. In true Ashbourne style, she ended last year with a bang as Jess in Sally Wainwright’s smash-hit BBC series Riot Women, playing the drums in the eponymous punk band of menopausal women. All of which suggests that there’s been a shift in terms of casting older women in interesting parts. Just over a decade ago, Meryl Streep revealed that she had been offered three roles as a witch in the year she turned 40. “My mid-life years have been very kind to me, and I’ve grown into myself,” says Ashbourne. “I agree that there’s been some kind of shift, with writers realising there is value in older people. We are interesting. We are fabulous. We are brilliant. I’ve been say…

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After the Flood's Lorraine Ashbourne talks Sherwood twist, Riot Women season 2 and living at home with her adult children
type: item
date: 2026-01-26T17:01:27.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Climate - Sustainable contributions within wider content
subject: Interview
subject: ITV
subject: Magazine
description: In her mid-60s, Lorraine Ashbourne is one of our most in-demand actors and busier than ever – and she’s relishing every moment.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. As an interview icebreaker, I wish Lorraine Ashbourne a happy birthday for the previous day. She frowns and peers into her computer screen at her home in north London. I panic – was it a faux pas to mention her age? “Fake news!” she declares, before bursting into laughter. “I’ve had quite a few birthday messages, but I’m an Aries. I’m not 65 until April.” As it turns out, Ashbourne is perfectly happy to be hitting her mid-60s. She is, after all, in her prime – in the past 18 months or so she has been in four huge TV shows. In After the Flood, the ITV murder-mystery set against a backdrop of environmental breakdown, she plays a widowed mother with a can-do attitude. She stunned us all in the second series of Sherwood with the big reveal that her character Daphne Sparrow was a former covert spy cop; she didn’t tell a soul about the twist and relished keeping the secret. “It was delightful! The hard part was the intensity of the role, playing a character trapped with a past she can’t escape. But I never take my work home; I’m very in the moment, very practical.” Across two series of Alma’s Not Normal, Ashbourne played a grandmother in leopard print for whom we care so deeply that her diagnosis of lung cancer was utterly heartbreaking. In true Ashbourne style, she ended last year with a bang as Jess in Sally Wainwright’s smash-hit BBC series Riot Women, playing the drums in the eponymous punk band of menopausal women. All of which suggests that there’s been a shift in terms of casting older women in interesting parts. Just over a decade ago, Meryl Streep revealed that she had been offered three roles as a witch in the year she turned 40. “My mid-life years have been very kind to me, and I’ve grown into myself,” says Ashbourne. “I agree that there’s been some kind of shift, with writers realising there is value in older people. We are interesting. We are fabulous. We are brilliant. I’ve been saying for years that older…

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If looks could kill
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Women of a certain age are not to be underestimated, say The Traitors fan favourites Linda, Amanda and Diane
encoded: Add The Traitors to your watchlist Perhaps it’s a coincidence, perhaps it’s clever casting – or perhaps it says something about how, as a society, we underestimate certain types of people. But every year on The Traitors, amidst the backstabbings, round tables and snazzy cloaks there’s always one breakout star who defies convention, trends and ideas of what sells on TV. They’re always a woman, always over 50, and always a fan favourite across generations, no matter how good they are at the game. It started with Amanda Lovett in the first series in 2022, when the 54-year-old estate agent entered the castle and was chosen as a Traitor. She made it to episode 10 before being banished, but had already won the social media war with her ruthless personality, hidden behind a mumsy demeanour. In series two, which aired in 2024, it was Diane Carson. The retired teacher from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, was 63 when chosen as a Faithful. In episode six, she was handed a poisoned chalice; the following day she was shut in a coffin in a moment of brilliant high camp. Diane of course took a sacred secret to the grave – fellow contestant Ross was her son. The internet exploded. In the third series, which aired in 2025, 70-year-old Linda Rands was chosen as a Traitor. The retired opera singer from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, was banished in episode seven. Linda’s hammy, unconvincing performance as a Traitor was so celebrated, a billboard was erected in her honour in Leicester Square – for “Best Actress”. Perhaps future series of The Traitors will go even further in rejecting the median age of women on reality TV and choose an octogenarian to join its ranks – Celia Imrie was 73 when she appeared in The Celebrity Traitors and defied potential “old fart” jokes by gleefully owning up to her own during a mission. In the current series, 62-year-old Fiona (left) summed it up well as she went about her duties as the ruthless Secret Traitor: “Never underestimate a woman of a certain age…” And no…

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The Traitors' fabulous icons Amanda, Diane and Linda glam up for Claudia-inspired shoot – and talk being underestimated as older women
type: item
date: 2026-01-12T17:00:43.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Amanda Lovett, Diane Carson and Linda Rands talk being Traitors fan favourites.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, perhaps it’s clever casting – or perhaps it says something about how, as a society, we underestimate certain types of people. But every year on The Traitors, amidst the backstabbings, round tables and snazzy cloaks there’s always one breakout star who defies convention, trends and ideas of what sells on TV. They’re always a woman, always over 50, and always a fan favourite across generations, no matter how good they are at the game. It started with Amanda Lovett in the first series in 2022, when the 54-year-old estate agent entered the castle and was chosen as a Traitor. She made it to episode 10 before being banished, but had already won the social media war with her ruthless personality, hidden behind a mumsy demeanour. In series two, which aired in 2024, it was Diane Carson. The retired teacher from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, was 63 when chosen as a Faithful. In episode six, she was handed a poisoned chalice; the following day she was shut in a coffin in a moment of brilliant high camp. Diane of course took a sacred secret to the grave – fellow contestant Ross was her son. The internet exploded. In the third series, which aired in 2025, 70-year-old Linda Rands was chosen as a Traitor. The retired opera singer from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, was banished in episode seven. Linda’s hammy, unconvincing performance as a Traitor was so celebrated, a billboard was erected in her honour in Leicester Square – for “Best Actress”. Perhaps future series of The Traitors will go even further in rejecting the median age of women on reality TV and choose an octogenarian to join its ranks – Celia Imrie was 73 when she appeared in The Celebrity Traitors and defied potential “old fart” jokes by gleefully owning up to her own during a mission. In the current series, 62-year-old Fiona summed it up well as she went about her duties as the ruthless Secret Traitor: “Never underestimate a woman of a certain a…

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Byrne on Burton
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: A century after his birth, Richard Burton is remembered by fellow actor Gabriel Byrne
encoded: Add Richard Burton: Wild Genius to your watchlist When Richard Burton arrived on the set of the mini-series Wagner in the early 1980s, the actor’s two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor had made him one of the biggest stars on the planet. The working-class boy from a south-Wales mining village had enjoyed a glittering career on stage and screen, earning seven Oscar nominations for celebrated films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Equus. Yet when Gabriel Byrne, who had just landed one of his first jobs outside his native Ireland as composer Richard Wagner’s patron Karl Ritter, met the actor with the famously mellifluous voice, he was shocked. “I remember walking on set and thinking he must be well into his 70s, but he was, in fact, only in his mid-50s,” the actor recalls. “He was dissipated by drink and years of heavy smoking. He had a horrendous back problem that limited his mobility. I’d seen him in all these films about masculine energy and here he was on set, looking frail.” It was, it would later turn out, the coda to Burton’s life. Byrne, who went on to enjoy a successful career with films including Miller’s Crossing and The Usual Suspects and the TV series In Treatment, found Burton, despite his diminished physicality, to be bright, engaged and kind. “He read novels translated from Russian and Japanese and his knowledge of poetry was encyclopaedic. Once I got over the fact that he was one of my favourite actors, I would sit around talking to him as he smoked a steady stream of Marlboro Reds. I think he was quite sick at the time because he’d undergone treatment for alcohol misuse in the States, but he was trying to stay sober for the eight-month Wagner shoot.” Byrne recalls a particular day filming Wagner in Austria that, for him, epitomises Burton’s later life. “There were 50 to 100 photographers at 5am all yelling, ‘Are you and Liz going to get back together?’ He was divorced from Elizabeth Taylor for the second time in 1976, and in 1983 had new partner S…

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Revisiting Doc Martin's global adaptations – remakes from Spain to Russia
type: item
date: 2025-11-04T17:19:20.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
description: Two decades after Doc Martin first charmed viewers in Cornwall, the grumpy GP is going global once again.
encoded: When Doc Martin first aired on ITV in 2004, few could have predicted its global staying power. By 2017, the drama was not only averaging millions of viewers in the UK but had also inspired international remakes from Spain to Russia – proof that Martin Clunes's gruff GP had struck a universal chord. Eight years on, that reach is expanding once again. Fox has unveiled the first trailer for Best Medicine, a new US adaptation starring The Good Wife’s Josh Charles as Dr Martin Best – a brilliant but socially awkward surgeon who swaps Boston for a small East Coast fishing village. Billed as a "charmingly complicated one-hour comedy", Best Medicine features a cast including Abigail Spencer, Annie Potts, and Josh Segarra, with Clunes himself making a cameo as Dr Best’s father. The series will premiere in January 2026, two decades after the original show first introduced audiences to the prickly doctor whose bedside manner was as sharp as his medical skills. Below, revisit our 2017 look at Doc Martin’s extraordinary worldwide success – and the devoted fans who helped turn a sleepy Cornish village into a global TV landmark. The below was first published in Radio Times magazine in September 2017. The ITV drama is enduringly popular in the UK, averaging 9 million viewers per episode since it started in 2004 — but its global reach is staggering. It is screened in more than a dozen countries, including the USA, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico and Uruguay. It is also remade with an entirely different cast in half a dozen more, from Russia to Spain. The Spanish Doc Martin is reborn as Doctor Mateo and set in Lastres, a fishing village on the north coast of Spain, cleverly renamed San Martin del Sella for the drama. For a long time, there was even serious talk of Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of Friends, remaking Doc Martin in America. "She was very keen," says Mark Crowdy, the show’s executive producer. "But they couldn’t find a way of making it commercially viable because we’ve already…

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Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 cast: Meet the duos taking part
type: item
date: 2025-11-01T21:12:19.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Entertainment
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
subject: BBC One
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: As Celebrity Race Across the World returns, meet the duos racing 5,900km across central America on just £30 each a day
encoded: Move over, Scott Mills and Sam Vaughan – the third season of Celebrity Race Across the World is almost upon us, bringing a whole new set of celebs and family members on a continent-spanning adventure. This season's odyssey will see our contestants starting off on a Caribbean island before making their way through a series of checkpoints on their way to the finish live in Colombia's Peninsula de La Guajira – the gateway to South America. Naturally, they will have to survive this journey without the luxury of smartphones and internet to help them navigate, making do with just their wits and one of the smallest budgets we've ever seen in the series. So, who are the famous faces setting off on Celebrity Race Across the World 2025? This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Roman and Harleymoon Kemp The broadcaster, 32, is racing with his singer/songwriter sister, 36. Why did you sign up to take part in Race Across the World? Roman: I came off all medication [antidepressants] over a year ago and the race was a good test for my anxiety. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done on television, but doing the race itself was hell! I used to watch it and wonder why a contestant was crying – well, that was me. Harleymoon: My mum [Shirlie Kemp, a former backing singer for Wham! and half of Pepsi & Shirlie] was asked to be in the first celebrity Race across the World and was going to take me, but thought it sounded too hard. I was glad to have another chance to go. What was the worst part of the trip? Harleymoon: The feeling of being constantly lost! Roman: Mistakenly telling everyone Harley was "my beautiful" – mi hermosa – instead of "my sister" – mi hermana – for at least a week. What non-essential items did you pack? Harleymoon: Sachets of instant coffee, but we had limited access to boiling water. Roman: When I did I’m a Celebrity…, I put tissue paper in my ears and covered my eyes with a bandana each night. During RATW, I had a fluffy lavender eye mask and befo…

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¡Vamos a Mexico!
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: As Celebrity Race Across the World returns, meet the duos racing 5,900km across central America on just £30 each a day
encoded: Add Celebrity Race Across the World to your watchlist ROMAN & HARLEYMOON KEMP The broadcaster, 32, is racing with his singer/songwriter sister, 36 Why did you sign up to take part in Race across the World? Roman I came off all medication [antidepressants] over a year ago and the race was a good test for my anxiety. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done on television, but doing the race itself was hell! I used to watch it and wonder why a contestant was crying – well, that was me. Harleymoon My mum [Shirlie Kemp, a former backing singer for Wham! and half of Pepsi & Shirlie] was asked to be in the first celebrity Race across the World and was going to take me, but thought it sounded too hard. I was glad to have another chance to go. What was the worst part of the trip? Harleymoon The feeling of being constantly lost! Roman Mistakenly telling everyone Harley was “my beautiful” – mi hermosa – instead of “my sister” – mi hermana – for at least a week. What non-essential items did you pack? Harleymoon Sachets of instant coffee, but we had limited access to boiling water. Roman When I did I’m a Celebrity…, I put tissue paper in my ears and covered my eyes with a bandana each night. During RATW, I had a fluffy lavender eye mask and before bed I’d inhale the smell, put my ear plugs in and pass out. What was it like getting “zero VIP treatment”, as Roman wrote on Instagram? Roman Really nice! Getting local buses gave us a grasp of the countries we were in. People think we are nepo kids with no idea of the value of money, but we wanted that taste of reality more than anyone. Roman, did you consider taking your dad, [Spandau Ballet star and actor] Martin? Roman No way! I had to get a connecting flight with him once and he couldn’t get his head around it. Harleymoon I don’t think he’s taken the Tube in 35 years! What aspect of your character was least helpful in the race? Roman My anxiety. I was on high alert about everything… Will we be able to cross the border? Have we …

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Seeing red
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: What’s the best way to deal with middle-aged menopausal rage? Form a punk band, says Sally Wainwright
encoded: Add Riot Women to your watchlist Towards the end of 2022, I interviewed Sally Wainwright for Radio Times ahead of the final series of Happy Valley. As a fan of everything she’d written, I was nervous as hell. I’d listened to The Archers, which Wainwright wrote for in her mid-20s after ditching her job as a bus driver. I was an avid fan of Coronation Street in the mid- to late 90s, when she was in the writers’ room. I loved Scott & Bailey, the 2011 cop show that Wainwright co-created and co-wrote, starring Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharp and Amelia Bullmore. Then there was Last Tango in Halifax, based on Wainwright’s widowed mother finding love again in her 70s, starring the dazzling Nicola Walker and Sarah Lancashire. Two years later Lancashire eclipsed herself in 2014’s Happy Valley, then Suranne Jones made top hats sexy in 2019’s Gentleman Jack. For my money, there is no better curator of women’s lives, past and present, and no more gifted television writer. During that chat, Wainwright told me that she was working on a new BBC series about five menopausal women in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, who form a makeshift punk band to enter a talent contest and in the process vent their emotions. When she said in passing that she knew very little about music, I told her I’d written two books about women in rock. She asked for copies, and I was just thrilled at the idea that Sally Wainwright might have one of my books on her shelf. When she asked if I’d be music consultant on what would become Riot Women, it was the kind of job that dreams are made of. As part of my remit, I found ARXX [Arrows in Action], the Brighton band who ended up writing the original music for the series, and suggested that Kitty, the lead vocalist of Riot Women, performs Hole’s Violet when she does drunken karaoke (it’s tough to replicate Courtney Love’s ragged, impassioned lyrics, but Rosalie Craig – a real find – does it perfectly). The idea for Riot Women had been on Wainwright’s mind for a long ti…

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Meet the cast of Riot Women
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Tamsin Greig, Rosalie Craig, Joanna Scanlan, Lorraine Ashbourne and Amelia Bullmore are the Riot Women
encoded: Add Riot Women to your watchlist Tamsin Grieg plays Holly (bass) When Greig got the email asking if she was interested in doing Riot Women, she was so thrilled she threw her phone across the room. Her character Holly is a divorced police officer leaving the force who’s having a go at dating. There’s a scene in episode three that may well become a watercooler moment: after a few dates with the charming, considerably younger Jojo (Richard Fleeshman), Holly goes back to his flat. She is surprised by his sexual predilection (no spoilers!), but walks away with her head held high. “Sally could write anything for me and I’d do it,” says Greig. “Plus Richard is such a great actor that the terrible awkwardness was hilarious. Sally understands the female brain so well that she knew Holly would be wondering if she should just go through with [the sexual act] because it’d be rude to say no. Women have this desire to please.” Greig says she can sing, but wasn’t in a band at school because she was “an awkward kid on the outskirts of things”. Learning the bass was tough. “It’s a heavy instrument and the strings hurt the ends of my fingers. I ended up playing with a glove on one hand and then I found these silicon finger tops like tiny condom hats. My bass teacher had never seen anything like it.” Was it worth it? “Yes! I was in a band with these amazing women, and we weren’t completely s**t! We still WhatsApp each other all the time.” Rosalie Craig plays Kitty (vocals, guitar) Rosalie Craig, who has an award-winning background in musical theatre as well as TV roles in Moonflower Murders and The Serpent Queen, did a “breathtaking” amount of homework to win her role. “Rosalie nailed the character,” recalls Wainwright. “It’s the best audition I’ve ever seen. I’m hoping that Riot Women does for Rosalie what Happy Valley did for James Norton — makes her famous overnight.” “I took it really seriously because I’ve never played a lead in a TV drama,” Craig explains. “And how often do you …

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Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright divulges emotional personal inspiration behind Riot Women - as cast of characters explained
type: item
date: 2025-10-06T23:01:41.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: What’s the best way to deal with middle-aged menopausal rage? Form a punk band, says Sally Wainwright.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Towards the end of 2022, I interviewed Sally Wainwright for Radio Times ahead of the final series of Happy Valley. As a fan of everything she’d written, I was nervous as hell. I’d listened to The Archers, which Wainwright wrote for in her mid-20s after ditching her job as a bus driver. I was an avid fan of Coronation Street in the mid- to late 90s, when she was in the writers’ room. I loved Scott & Bailey, the 2011 cop show that Wainwright co-created and co-wrote, starring Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharp and Amelia Bullmore. Then there was Last Tango in Halifax, based on Wainwright’s widowed mother finding love again in her 70s, starring the dazzling Nicola Walker and Sarah Lancashire. Two years later Lancashire eclipsed herself in 2014’s Happy Valley, then Suranne Jones made top hats sexy in 2019’s Gentleman Jack. For my money, there is no better curator of women’s lives, past and present, and no more gifted television writer. During that chat, Wainwright told me that she was working on a new BBC series about five menopausal women in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, who form a makeshift punk band to enter a talent contest and in the process vent their emotions. When she said in passing that she knew very little about music, I told her I’d written two books about women in rock. She asked for copies, and I was just thrilled at the idea that Sally Wainwright might have one of my books on her shelf. When she asked if I’d be music consultant on what would become Riot Women, it was the kind of job that dreams are made of. As part of my remit, I found ARXX [Arrows in Action], the Brighton band who ended up writing the original music for the series, and suggested that Kitty, the lead vocalist of Riot Women, performs Hole’s Violet when she does drunken karaoke (it’s tough to replicate Courtney Love’s ragged, impassioned lyrics, but Rosalie Craig – a real find – does it perfectly). The idea for Riot Women had been on Wainwright’…

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'No girl is ever going to be good enough'
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: From The Princess Bride to Forrest Gump and House of Cards, Robin Wright has played strong women – but is she now mining her own life to play a jealous mother?
encoded: Add The Girlfriend to your watchlist In 2018, Robin Wright became the lead in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s political thriller House of Cards. Although she was already an established player in the political drama, this was nonetheless a rather unexpected turn of events. Her co-star Kevin Spacey had been fired following allegations of sexual assault (of which he was later cleared) and both fans and critics openly wondered how the hugely successful Netflix show could continue without its Oscar-winning star. In hindsight, such doubts seem absurd. After all, this is the actress who had played Buttercup in the cult hit, The Princess Bride in her early 20s and within ten years had become a global star thanks to her role as Jenny in Forrest Gump. Wright, and her House of Cards character Claire Underwood, blew all expectations out of the water. Underwood’s Machiavellian former lobbyist finally became president and appointed an all-female cabinet – and Wright, who had fought long and hard for equal pay with Spacey, basked in glowing reviews. Yet, journalists kept focusing on Spacey – she told NBC news in 2018 that “we were all surprised, of course, and ultimately saddened” – while fans stopped her in the street to ask how she could “play someone as venal as Claire Underwood”. What they really wanted to know, of course, was if she was like Underwood in real life. To which she emphatically replies, “Not in any shape or form! Apart from the Altuzarra dresses and Louboutin shoes. My job is to portray characters that have nothing to do with me. Acting is a switch that you turn on and off.” We are talking over video call, Wright sitting in a room with wooden beams and tasteful furniture somewhere in the English countryside. She’s “taking a little breather after three years grinding away” at her new Amazon Prime Video series, The Girlfriend. She doesn’t mean to sound jaded – it’s just that TV takes so long to get made, and then there’s the agonising wait to see if it hits…

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House of Cards’ Robin Wright explains why she had to play her controlling character in new thriller The Girlfriend
type: item
date: 2025-09-01T23:01:42.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Magazine
description: From The Princess Bride to Forrest Gump and House of Cards, Robin Wright has played strong women – but is she now mining her own life to play a jealous mother?
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. In 2018, Robin Wright became the lead in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s political thriller House of Cards. Although she was already an established player in the political drama, this was nonetheless a rather unexpected turn of events. Her co-star Kevin Spacey had been fired following allegations of sexual assault (of which he was later cleared) and both fans and critics openly wondered how the hugely successful Netflix show could continue without its Oscar-winning star. In hindsight, such doubts seem absurd. After all, this is the actress who had played Buttercup in the cult hit, The Princess Bride in her early 20s and within ten years had become a global star thanks to her role as Jenny in Forrest Gump. Wright, and her House of Cards character Claire Underwood, blew all expectations out of the water. Underwood’s Machiavellian former lobbyist finally became president and appointed an all-female cabinet – and Wright, who had fought long and hard for equal pay with Spacey, basked in glowing reviews. Yet, journalists kept focusing on Spacey – she told NBC news in 2018 that “we were all surprised, of course, and ultimately saddened” – while fans stopped her in the street to ask how she could “play someone as venal as Claire Underwood”. What they really wanted to know, of course, was if she was like Underwood in real life. To which she emphatically replies, “Not in any shape or form! Apart from the Altuzarra dresses and Louboutin shoes. My job is to portray characters that have nothing to do with me. Acting is a switch that you turn on and off.” We are talking over video call, Wright sitting in a room with wooden beams and tasteful furniture somewhere in the English countryside. She’s “taking a little breather after three years grinding away” at her new Amazon Prime Video series, The Girlfriend. She doesn’t mean to sound jaded – it’s just that TV takes so long to get made, and then there’s the agonising wait t…

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'This can't happen again'
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Cult survivor Magsy reveals the abuse and humiliation she endured in the Jesus Army
encoded: Add Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army to your watchlist In the opening scenes of Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army, a group of angry and frustrated adults are talking to a psychotherapist about their lives inside a cult. We then see footage of the community to which they once belonged: a rabble-rousing pastor with wildly unruly hair and spit on his chin whispers to a church full of devoted followers, “I want you. I want you to be mine. Surrender the middle part of you… sin lurks there.” The congregation talk in tongues, their arms in the air, their faces beatific. It’s like something from a horror movie. Firebrand preacher Noel Stanton set up an evangelical church in a small Northamptonshire chapel in the early 1970s, offering the promise of a “new creation”. The reality was a sinister cult where children were beaten and, according to a report published last year, one in six children were sexually abused. The religious sect, originally known as the Jesus Fellowship Church and later the Jesus Army, had more than 2,000 members at its peak, many of whom lived in large communal houses across central England. The abuse was finally uncovered, following a BBC investigation in 2019, with former members revealing that the adults would watch them undress or take a bath when they were young. The BBC also exposed allegations of abuse on a “prolific scale”, including rapes and “brainwashing”. The Jesus Army closed shortly afterwards, a decade after Stanton’s death and following around 200 complaints of abuse, with most claims relating to incidents in the 80s and 90s. Jesus Army survivor Magsy, 48, was born into the community and lived in one of their houses, in Sheepfold in Northamptonshire. Her mother, a graphic designer, joined the community having struggled to raise her two young daughters alone. Sheepfold was initially “amazing”; there were fields to play in, gooseberries to be picked with other kids. But, like many of the children, she was separated from her mother and the …

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View from my sofa: Vanessa Feltz
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The broadcaster on being an anxious child — and an indulgent grandmother
encoded: What’s the view from your sofa? My living room is lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling with Penguin and Virago Classics and the books I read while studying English at Cambridge. There’s a battered sofa. I keep thinking of replacing it, but I can’t be bothered. Did getting a first at Cambridge open any doors in broadcasting? No one at work has ever asked me about my degree. I wrote two articles that provoked attention. I appeared once on TV and once on the radio and made waves. One story was about the death of a Jewish mother, the other about undiscovered erogenous zones in response to Sarah Ferguson and the toe sucking, which I discussed on Richard & Judy. I was then offered a contract to appear on the show regularly. I’ve never done a proper job interview. Who controls the remote in your house? Me. I live on my own these days. I’ve been out every night for two years and five months [since Feltz separated from her fiancé, singer Ben Ofoedu]. There have only been maybe five nights where it’s been me in front of the TV with my dinner on a tray, because I don’t want to be at home, eating alone. What TV have you enjoyed recently? I’m watching The Gilded Age, but I’m not enjoying it much; it’s remarkably stilted and incredibly dull. I’m also persevering with And Just like That…, which is also abysmal. And I’m watching Love Island. Thankfully my parents are dead, because they’d never forgive me. Have you given up caring what others think of you? My parents were extremely demanding and judgemental. They basically told me how lacking I was in every way that matters. If your parents are busy telling you what a disappointment you are, you can’t really care what everyone else thinks. I tried to placate, appease and enchant my parents, but always failed. My mother’s been dead for 30 years exactly. She wasn’t a baddie. I loved her very much – and I really miss her. What makes a good parent? It’s about being on your child’s side, even if your child is wrong. You have to s…

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Vanessa Feltz: 'My parents told me I was lacking in every way that matters'
type: item
date: 2025-07-07T23:01:12.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: audio
subject: Podcasts
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The broadcaster on being an anxious child — and an indulgent grandmother.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? My living room is lined with book-shelves from floor to ceiling with Penguin and Virago Classics and the books I read while studying English at Cambridge. There’s a battered sofa. I keep thinking of replacing it, but I can’t be bothered. Did getting a first at Cambridge open any doors in broadcasting? No one at work has ever asked me about my degree. I wrote two articles that provoked attention. I appeared once on TV and once on the radio and made waves. One story was about the death of a Jewish mother, the other about undiscovered erogenous zones in response to Sarah Ferguson and the toe sucking, which I discussed on Richard & Judy. I was then offered a contract to appear on the show regularly. I’ve never done a proper job interview. Who controls the remote in your house? Me. I live on my own these days. I’ve been out every night for two years and five months [since Feltz separated from her fiancé, singer Ben Ofoedu]. There have only been maybe five nights where it’s been me in front of the TV with my dinner on a tray, because I don’t want to be at home, eating alone. What TV have you enjoyed recently? I’m watching The Gilded Age, but I’m not enjoying it much; it’s remarkably stilted and incredibly dull. I’m also persevering with And Just like That…, which is also abysmal. And I’m watching Love Island. Thankfully my parents are dead, because they’d never forgive me. Have you given up caring what others think of you? My parents were extremely demanding and judgemental. They basically told me how lacking I was in every way that matters. If your parents are busy telling you what a disappointment you are, you can’t really care what everyone else thinks. I tried to placate, appease and enchant my parents, but always failed. My mother’s been dead for 30 years exactly. She wasn’t a baddie. I loved her very much – and I really miss her. What makes a good parent? It’s about being on your ch…

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Nicholas Pinnock on being a Mind ambassador and six-week stay in mental-health facility: "I was suicidal"
type: item
date: 2025-06-02T23:01:09.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Pinnock stars in Channel 4's first digital original drama, Beth.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. London-born Nicholas Pinnock, 51, has played Anna Friel’s ex-husband in Marcella, a former soldier in This Town, and he’s now starring opposite Abbey Lee in Beth, a three-part C4 drama about a couple whose relationship implodes after the birth of their baby, which will be available to watch on linear TV, streaming and YouTube. He also stars with Amanda Seyfried in the US drama Long Bright River about two cops working in a city hit by the opioid crisis. Where are you up to right now? I’m in Malta, filming [the BBC series] Two Weeks in August. I’m entering new territory because it’s a comedy. I don’t know if I can deliver, but I’d rather fail than not try at all. When I’m offered a role, I ask myself if it’s a character that scares me. If so, great! I’d never played a role like Jason in Marcella, and I didn’t know if I could play this seemingly heartless bloke in Beth. Whereas in Top Boy I played a character with a moral compass who was from a community about which I knew nothing. Did you feel nervous when you played Jesus in The Book of Clarence and Nelson Mandela in Mandela: The Prison Years? Yes! Those were huge challenges. Everyone knows Jesus and Mandela, so you have to represent them without caricature. You lived in Saudi Arabia as a child. How was that? We relocated from London in the early-'80s when I was five and stayed until I was 12; my dad was an electrical engineer and worked for a contractor out there. I went to an American international school, but it was still a culture shock. My cousins and friends in the UK were discovering hip hop and I was walking around Saudi Arabia on my own, with a boombox. The people were some of the kindest I’ve ever met, despite attitudes towards women and immigrants, which I didn’t understand as a child. Did the experience of a different culture enhance your acting? I understood that although we don’t look the same, we’re all the same underneath. The notion that we’re diff…

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Ten Questions with Nicholas Pinnock
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: The actor was inspired by Elvis and Dennis Potter — just don’t ask him about the plot of Adolescence…
encoded: Add Beth to your watchlist London-born Nicholas Pinnock, 51, has played Anna Friel’s ex-husband in Marcella, a former soldier in This Town and he’s now starring opposite Abbey Lee in Beth, a three-part C4 drama about a couple whose relationship implodes after the birth of their baby, which will be available to watch on linear TV, streaming and YouTube. He also stars with Amanda Seyfried in the US drama Long Bright River about two cops working in a city hit by the opioid crisis. Where are you up to right now? I’m in Malta, filming [the BBC series] Two Weeks in August. I’m entering new territory because it’s a comedy. I don’t know if I can deliver, but I’d rather fail than not try at all. When I’m offered a role, I ask myself if it’s a character that scares me. If so, great! I’d never played a role like Jason in Marcella, and I didn’t know if I could play this seemingly heartless bloke in Beth. Whereas in Top Boy I played a character with a moral compass who was from a community about which I knew nothing. Did you feel nervous when you played Jesus in The Book of Clarence and Nelson Mandela in Mandela: The Prison Years? Yes! Those were huge challenges. Everyone knows Jesus and Mandela, so you have to represent them without caricature. You lived in Saudi Arabia as a child. How was that? We relocated from London in the early-80s when I was five and stayed until I was 12; my dad was an electrical engineer and worked for a contractor out there. I went to an American international school, but it was still a culture shock. My cousins and friends in the UK were discovering hip hop and I was walking around Saudi Arabia on my own, with a boombox. The people were some of the kindest I’ve ever met, despite attitudes towards women and immigrants, which I didn’t understand as a child. Did the experience of a different culture enhance your acting? I understood that although we don’t look the same, we’re all the same underneath. The notion that we’re different based on the colour of…

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height: 780

Wild at heart
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Springwatch is celebrating 20 years – but how did it first captivate the nation and can it survive?
encoded: Add Springwatch to your watchlist What can viewers expect from the show this year? Michaela Strachan The delight of Springwatch is that we never know! We tell the stories nature gives us. We’re in a new location – the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate in the Peak District – so we’ll be tracking wood warblers and curlews. Chris Packham There will be a different ecology in the Peak District; the habitat looks like heathland but it’s moorland. This year some of our more common bird species have started to nest earlier due to this warm, dry spring, which means they’ll have probably fledged by the time we’re on air. We’re expecting redstarts, pied flycatchers, wood warblers and ring ouzels. Tell us about the innovation of Springwatch Street — rigging cameras in gardens in Sheffield. Chris It’s about encouraging people to love the community of animals they live with, including nocturnal ones like badgers, foxes, rats and hedgehogs. How will you mark Springwatch’s 20th birthday on screen? Michaela We’re not going to spend the whole season looking back, but we’re the only programme that has followed British wildlife for two decades. Scientists have learnt things from us because our cameras film around the clock. You have worked together for a long time now — how would you describe your on-screen chemistry? Michaela I’m a menopausal woman and Chris is an autistic bloke! He’s a delight to work with. We’ve known each other for 30-odd years so we play to each other’s strengths; he’s got the science background [a BSc in zoology] and I’m the storyteller. I used to feel inadequate because his knowledge is unbelievable. Now I’m comfortable with what I bring to the show. Chris Menopausal and autistic – what a combination! She’s grown up with my quirks. I’m not a sociable person, so Michaela has to invite herself to my house in the New Forest, where she’s always welcome. We have a compatibility through difference. We’d never let one another down. What challenges does Springwatch face …

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Springwatch hosts hope the show "can cut through all the mistruths" about climate change
type: item
date: 2025-05-19T23:01:23.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
subject: Climate - Intentional focused content
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Springwatch celebrates 20 years on air.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Springwatch is celebrating 20 years – but how did it first captivate the nation and can it survive? We spoke to Michaela Strachan and Chris Packham about what's ahead for the beloved nature series. What can viewers expect from the show this year? Michaela Strachan: The delight of Springwatch is that we never know! We tell the stories nature gives us. We’re in a new location – the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate in the Peak District – so we’ll be tracking wood warblers and curlews. Chris Packham: There will be a different ecology in the Peak District; the habitat looks like heathland but it’s moorland. This year some of our more common bird species have started to nest earlier due to this warm, dry spring, which means they’ll have probably fledged by the time we’re on air. We’re expecting redstarts, pied flycatchers, wood warblers and ring ouzels. Tell us about the innovation of Springwatch Street – rigging cameras in gardens in Sheffield. Chris: It’s about encouraging people to love the community of animals they live with, including nocturnal ones like badgers, foxes, rats and hedgehogs. How will you mark Springwatch's 20th birthday on screen? Michaela: We’re not going to spend the whole season looking back, but we’re the only programme that has followed British wildlife for two decades. Scientists have learnt things from us because our cameras film around the clock. You have worked together for a long time now – how would you describe your on-screen chemistry? Michaela: I’m a menopausal woman and Chris is an autistic bloke! He’s a delight to work with. We’ve known each other for 30-odd years so we play to each other’s strengths; he’s got the science background [a BSc in zoology] and I’m the storyteller. I used to feel inadequate because his knowledge is unbelievable. Now I’m comfortable with what I bring to the show. Chris: Menopausal and autistic – what a combination! She’s grown up with my quirks. I’m not a so…

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The race is for the swift
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Goodbye phones and comfort zones, hello sketchy maps, pressure and stress – Race across the World is back!
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Five pairs of travellers – an ex-husband and wife, two sets of siblings, a mother and son and a teenage couple – travel 14,000km from Huanghaucheng in China to Kanniyakumari in India in series five of Race across the World. As ever, they have no phones and just £22 each per day as they vie to win £20,000.

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Mother and son
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Caroline (60, housewife) and Tom (21, handyman)
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Whose idea was it to sign up? Caroline Mine! I’m a country girl who gave up a career to be a mother. I wanted to feel alive again. Tom I didn’t think we’d get through, but I wanted to support Mum. What were you most apprehensive about? Caroline Failing in front of Thomas. Tom Letting Mum down. Mum getting bored of me. And handing my phone in... Did you agree to prioritise racing or sightseeing? Tom We thought we had time to prepare, but before we knew it, we were standing on the Great Wall of China without a game plan. I was keener than Mum to sightsee. Caroline I thought I just wanted to race, but that quickly changed. I wanted to open my mind to China, this incredible country we were travelling through. Did you ever come close to quitting? Caroline I had serious doubts early on, but we are both steely. Tom At the start, in Beijing. We were struggling to communicate with anyone, and all the trains were full. I felt useless. Was there a luxury you wish you’d had? Caroline A beautiful clean pillow – we stayed in some pretty filthy places. Tom I had a luxury, an MP3 player loaded with great music. What did you learn about each other? Tom That Mum would never give up, which in turn motivated me. Caroline He has amazing empathy and anticipated my needs. Would you two go on another adventure? Caroline Yes, it changed my life. Tom Mum and I already have plans to go. But with our phones and the option to relax!

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Sisters
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Elizabeth (33, educationalist) and Letitia (26, special needs teaching assistant)
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Whose idea was it to sign up? Letitia We watched the show as a family and decided to apply because we both love travelling, languages and culture. Elizabeth We’ve also never travelled together. We wanted an experience that would bring us closer together as I lived in Italy for a long time. What were you most apprehensive about? Elizabeth The pressure of making the right choice quickly. I love taking time to think about things. Letitia Travelling into the unknown, the budget. I was worried I would be tired, hungry, grumpy... I didn’t want to jeopardise the race or stop us from having fun. Did the race test your relationship? Letitia At times. We had to be patient and respectful. We focused on the goal and were quite determined, so we always pushed through. We didn’t always share our feelings in case we upset each other. Elizabeth We shied away from conflict. But after the shock of racing 24/7, you have to work it out. How many times did you feel like quitting? Letitia Maybe on the first day, when we were trying to sort transport. I was thinking, “We have to go all the way to India. It’s a lot.” I had to switch my mindset, otherwise I’d have broken down on that first leg. Elizabeth After that first day I was close. But we kept going. Did you pack a luxury? Letitia Wipes! I wish I’d packed more. Elizabeth Essential oils for when the smells got bad. How did taking part in Race across the World change you? Letitia I learnt that I could stick to a goal. I can be disciplined. I became more adventurous. It changed my mentality. Elizabeth It made me more self-aware. I’m more anxious than I thought I was. Towards the end I was letting go and taking each day as it came, which was liberating and much more enjoyable.

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Boyfriend and girlfriend
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Finn (18, engineering student) and Sioned (19, customer service assistant)
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Whose idea was it to sign up? Sioned My parents suggested I applied with my brother, which I didn’t fancy! Fin I didn’t know anything about the show; I only watched it after we found out we were doing the race. Were you concerned about being the youngest contestants? Sioned We wanted to do the race before the rest of our lives start. We’ve just come back from Australia; we’re addicted now! Fin We’re young enough to be digital natives, but within a week of handing in my phone, I’d forgotten it. We had to speak to people, which pushed us out of our comfort zone. Did you worry about whether your relationship would survive? Sioned We’ve been together for nearly five years. I wasn’t worried, but maybe that was a bit naïve! Fin If we could get through the race, we could get through anything. We had to be together every single minute, which put our relationship to the test – in a good way. What were you most apprehensive about? Fin I’ve got type one diabetes, so I was worried about having access to food. Trying to read food packaging in different languages was a challenge. Sioned I love to be organised. I can be a bit of a stress-head, but I started to loosen up as the race progressed. How many times did you feel like quitting? Fin None! Sioned I said I was going to quit at least 100 times, but I didn’t really mean it. What did you learn? Fin To be grateful for the everyday luxuries. Speaking to strangers. Sioned Confidence. And, like Fin, learning to talk to people; as a generation we tend to be immersed in our phones and to avoid human interaction. We no longer rely on our phones so much.

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Ex-spouses
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Yin (54, data manager) and Gaz (52, sales director)
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Whose idea was it to sign up? Yin It was mine; eight months before we applied, my partner passed away suddenly. I went through a period of bad mental health and ended up staying with Gaz. I thought that the show might help me get back to life. The only person I could do it with was Gaz because, having been married, we know each other inside out. Gaz I’d never watched the show so didn’t know what I was signing up for. It might sound weird because we’re divorced, but I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else. How did you feel when you were told that the race started in China? Yin I was ambivalent about going to China because I don’t speak Mandarin. It confuses people. I initially wanted to run for the hills. I’m British-born Chinese and grew up in a traditional household in a white suburban town where I was subjected to regular racism. Gaz It was hard knowing how Yin would feel. But we just had to deal with the cards we were dealt. The food was amazing! Did either of you ever feel like quitting? Gaz The map we were given was dreadful because it only had major towns and cities on it. But we didn’t ever get to the point of wanting to jump on a plane and come home. Yin There were moments when I was close to quitting, but I enjoyed the challenges of figuring out how to get from A to B. Did you always agree on when to prioritise racing or sightseeing? Gaz We didn’t discuss it! We went all guns blazing. Everywhere we went was amazing. Yin We did sometimes choose sightseeing, knowing there were places we’d never see again.

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Brothers
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Melvyn (65, driving instructor) and Brian (62, retired financial adviser)
encoded: Add Race across the World to your watchlist Whose idea was it to sign up? Melvyn Mine. I saw the first series and thought, “I can do that.” My wife would never want to go, so I told Brian to watch it. Brian We applied twice and got lucky the second time. You’re always bickering and laughing at the same time. Who’s the most annoying? Melvyn Brian! Brian Melvyn is very loud, as you’ll see. What were you most apprehensive about? Melvyn The unexpected and how to respond. Not speaking the language. Brian Not having any contact with my family, but after a few days I got used to it. I wasn’t sure we’d really be on our own, but we were; the film crew don’t help and wouldn’t, for example, tell you if you had left your passport behind. How often did you feel like quitting? Brian I struggled early on. I told the crew I was upset and missed home. But you take a big breath and go for it. Melvyn I didn’t want to embarrass my wife by quitting! Did you take any luxuries? Melvyn A watch. Brian That’s not a luxury. Melvyn And a calculator. An MP3 player. Brian Blimey, transferring all the music from my CDs took for ever. And ear plugs for when Melvyn got too much! Did you get on with the younger travellers? Brian Fin and Sioned are so young, but such a lovely couple. Tom is a super guy. It was brilliant hanging out with the other contestants. Melvyn I teach a lot of 17- and 18-year-olds to drive – youngsters keep you young. Did you prioritise racing or sightseeing? Brian We went inland to do some sightseeing in the first leg. Melvyn Neither of us has a good sense of direction, which didn’t help.

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Harry Lawtey: 'I became obsessed'
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: How the Industry actor relished the chance to play the young Richard Burton
encoded: Add Mr Burton to your watchlist Were you a fan of Richard Burton’s before playing him as a young man in Mr Burton? I went through a phase of studying actors like Richard Burton when I was at drama school [he attended the Drama Centre in London]. Richard always burns off the screen. Last year I saw The Motive and the Cue, a play about Richard’s relationship with Sir John Gielgud when they were doing Hamlet on Broadway. I watched it, loved it, became mildly obsessed with Richard and a few weeks later, by chance, I was asked to audition for Mr Burton. What kind of research did you undertake? I was selective in what I read. We weren’t covering the hellraising years, so I had to be careful not to get too fascinated with what happened after our story finished. We wanted the DNA of that in our film, but it’s not the story we’re telling. Anyway, you could never make a film of Richard’s whole life; what he packed into it was staggering. What was it like meeting Richard’s daughter, Kate? I had barely come to terms with getting the role when I was asked if I’d like to meet her! I was feeling the burden of playing an iconic person, a Welsh national hero. It’s not the same gig as playing a fictional character; as an actor you can be bad, but you can’t be wrong. I had to take ownership of Richard, but then I met Kate and thought, “He’s not mine at all; he belongs to you!” We had some special conversations on set. She was so generous with his spirit and memory.

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'I'm sick of Dada's reputation'
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
description: Richard Burton’s Hollywood life captivated the world but his journey there, explored in a new film, is far more interesting, says his daughter
encoded: Add Mr Burton to your watchlist Richard Jenkins is a tricky teenager. He lives with his sister and brother-in-law in a Welsh mining town near Port Talbot, his mother long since dead, his father an alcoholic. This is 1942 and young Richard dreams of becoming an actor, but his brother-in-law insists he leave school and pay his way – the Second World War means rations and shortages. But Richard’s English teacher, Philip Burton, sees something in the lad and mentors him, with Richard eventually becoming his legal ward and taking his name. Of course, Richard Burton went on to become a global star of both screen and stage until his death in 1984 at the age of 58. He was not only nominated for seven Academy Awards, but was also, according to critic Kenneth Tynan, “the natural successor to [Laurence] Olivier”. Married five times, he was half of one of the first celebrity power couples when wed – twice, consecutively – to Elizabeth Taylor (who herself was married an impressive eight times). It is his hellraising years with Taylor that usually generate interest, but a new film, Mr Burton, eschews the rock ’n’ roll part of Burton’s life in favour of zooming in on his tricky teens. The biopic, starring Toby Jones as Philip Burton, Harry Lawtey as young Richard and Lesley Manville as Ma Smith, Philip’s landlady, is a fascinating journey through those early years. We know Jones and Manville are sublime actors, but Lawtey, whose breakthrough role was in Industry, is a revelation: at the start he’s a gangly kid with a broad Welsh accent, but Philip Burton takes him into the mountains to shout Shakespearean speeches into the air for hours on end and, by 1951, he’s performing Hal in Henry IV, his voice mellifluous, modulated and rich. Kate Burton, the 67-year-old daughter of Richard and his first wife, Sybil Williams, who was also an actor, usually makes a point of not watching films about her dad, but Mr Burton is different. “There have been so many biopics through the years,” she s…

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Kate Burton is "so sick" of father Richard Burton being labelled a hellraiser
type: item
date: 2025-03-25T00:01:24.000Z
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: Movies
subject: Magazine
description: A new film about the life of the iconic actor – staring Industry's Harry Lawtey in the lead role – is coming soon to UK cinemas.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Richard Jenkins is a tricky teenager. He lives with his sister and brother-in-law in a Welsh mining town near Port Talbot, his mother long since dead, his father an alcoholic. This is 1942 and young Richard dreams of becoming an actor, but his brother-in-law insists he leave school and pay his way – the Second World War means rations and shortages. But Richard’s English teacher, Philip Burton, sees something in the lad and mentors him, with Richard eventually becoming his legal ward and taking his name. Of course, Richard Burton went on to become a global star of both screen and stage until his death in 1984 at the age of 58. He was not only nominated for seven Academy Awards, but was also, according to critic Kenneth Tynan, "the natural successor to [Laurence] Olivier". Married five times, he was half of one of the first celebrity power couples when wed – twice, consecutively – to Elizabeth Taylor (who herself was married an impressive eight times). It is his hellraising years with Taylor that usually generate interest, but a new film, Mr Burton, eschews the rock ’n’ roll part of Burton’s life in favour of zooming in on his tricky teens. The biopic, starring Toby Jones as Philip Burton, Harry Lawtey as young Richard and Lesley Manville as Ma Smith, Philip’s landlady, is a fascinating journey through those early years. We know Jones and Manville are sublime actors, but Lawtey, whose breakthrough role was in Industry, is a revelation: at the start he’s a gangly kid with a broad Welsh accent, but Philip Burton takes him into the mountains to shout Shakespearean speeches into the air for hours on end and, by 1951, he’s performing Hal in Henry IV, his voice mellifluous, modulated and rich. Sponsored by Vue Save up to 30% on the latest releases at Vue in 2025 Are you a movie lover who always wants to be up to date with the latest releases? Then you're in luck, as RadioTimes.com readers can enjoy new films at Vue Cinema…

Ten Questions with Joe Cole
type: item
creator: Amy Raphael
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: App archive 100
description: The Gangs of London star shakes off a tough day of filming with a cold water dip and a sauna
encoded: This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in March 2025. Add Gangs of London to your watchlist Joe Cole, 36, has played a lot of tough customers. He was a Brummie gangster in Peaky Blinders, a Scouse boxer in A Prayer before Dawn (for which he won a British Independent Film Award) and a heroic former Met cop in Nightsleeper. He plays another gangster in the action thriller Gangs of London, which now returns for a third series. You’ve made a name for yourself as a bit of a tough man. Is that what you’re like in real life? I can certainly handle myself, to give a simple answer! But it’s a difficult question. Have you seen A Small Light?! [Cole starred as a real-life Dutch resistance member who helped his wife shelter Anne Frank’s family.] “Tough” covers many different facets. How do you choose your roles? It’s not by choice that I’ve done two action shows, two gangster shows and prison films – it’s because the roles I’m offered within them are great. I played a boxer from Liverpool who got locked up in a Thai prison in A Prayer before Dawn. An incredible experience. But a lot of this industry is out of an actor’s control; you’re at the mercy of casting agents, producers, directors. Your character, Sean Wallace, has been left for a dead a few times in Gangs of London. How does he keep surviving? Ha-ha! It’s in his genetic makeup! He seems to have nine lives, and he’s now been given one more chance. He started as an adolescent figure making rash decisions, developed into someone a little more calculated, cut-throat, almost a proper gangster and now he has a new life to adapt to. Gangs of London is known for its intense fight scenes — is it as relentless to film as it is to watch? Yes! It can be quite gruelling, especially when you have to do a fight 100 times in a row, but the stunts are choreographed and there’s always a buzz on set. Action sequences on TV are being elevated. These are film-makers trying to punch bigger than the budget in high-level acti…

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