Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-10-28T12:19:48.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Our 50-year affair: Timothy West and Prunella Scales on decades of marriage and canal-boating
items: Our 50-year affair: Timothy West and Prunella Scales reveal their romance with Britain’s backwaters
items: Where is Doc Martin filmed? Martin Clunes reveals the real Portwenn
items: Steven Moffat on Doctor Who and The Time Traveler's Wife
items: Discover the setting of ITV's detective drama Vera
items: Christopher Jefferies found it "impossible" to watch his arrest in ITV drama
items: How to buy tickets for Disney On Ice: Dream Big
items: 11 plays to see this summer - starring Aidan Turner, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Linney and more
items: Chuffing perfect: Peter Snow picks his favourite railway journeys
items: My Name is Lucy Barton: Laura Linney is superb in a one-woman play ★★★★
items: Machinal review: Humans' Emily Berrington stars in a discomfiting feminist classic ★★★★
items: Julie review: The Crown's Vanessa Kirby is devastating ★★★
items: Schism review, Park Theatre: A love story that packs a punch ★★★★
items: How to buy tickets for Anne-Marie's UK tour 2018
items: How to buy tickets for Gloria Estefan's musical On Your Feet!
items: How to buy tickets for Jason Manford's "Muddle Class" tour
items: How to buy tickets to Ed Sheeran's UK tour 2018 - extra tickets released Friday 11 May
items: Life and Fate review: A brutal, beautifully performed Soviet masterpiece ★★★★
items: How to buy tickets for Proms in the Park 2018
items: The Writer review: Romola Garai stars in a furious attack on sexism and the male gaze ★★★
items: "Why don’t we call it Potato?" Katherine Parkinson on new film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
items: The Good Karma Hospital: Amanda Redman, Neil Morrissey and Phyllis Logan on their favourite places in Sri Lanka
items: The Durrells' Alexis Georgoulis on his favourite corners of Corfu: "All Corfiots are crazy"
items: Troy: Fall of a City - where was the ancient city of Troy?
items: The Durrells: The unspoilt Corfu of My Family and Other Animals still exists
items: Discover the surprising home of Jamestown - Budapest
items: Reader offer: Join Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins on a music cruise - £100 off
items: Alan Titchmarsh's top National Trust days out
items: Douglas Henshall: "When you go somewhere like Shetland, you realise what quiet sounds like"
items: Endeavour: On the trail of Morse's Oxford

Our 50-year affair: Timothy West and Prunella Scales on decades of marriage and canal-boating
type: item
creator: Claire Webb
subject: App
subject: App features
description: "I always say I want to die on the eighth curtain call."
encoded: Beloved actress Prunella Scales, best known as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and for her long-running partnership with husband Timothy West, has died aged 93. In this classic interview, first published in March 2014, she and West reflected on a life of laughter, love and canal journeys that defined their half-century together. Add Great Canal Journey to your watchlist Timothy West is gaily reminiscing about the time in 1996 he and Kevin Whately faced a watery grave. "We were doing Twelve Angry Men at Bristol Old Vic and I took a party of actors on the boat down the River Avon — a very swollen River Avon as there'd been a lot of rain." Nosing his narrowboat into a lock, it was swept into the adjacent, waterfall-like weir. At the last second a safety bar stopped them toppling over. "Kevin Whately and I were standing on the back of the boat looking very brave but thinking, 'This is probably the end of our boat and our trip and possibly the production.' The trouble was we hadn't the force — either from manpower or engine power — to get away as the water was driving us against this bar." In the end, a passing canoeist paddled a rope to the opposite bank and flagged down a lorry. The driver attached the rope to his front bumper and ploughed across somebody's field, dragging the actors out of danger. "It was quite a hairy afternoon," recalls Tim. "It's a good thing there was plenty of wine on board!" Watching Tim and Pru's Slow Boat, you wonder there aren't more mishaps. At 81, Prunella Scales is still astonishingly nimble: shimmying along locks unfazed by the sheer drop either side. Her husband is at the helm and responsible for a few sickening crunches as the boat bounces off the bank. "Yes, it's always Tim who steers!" trills Prunella, with mock exasperation. "But I enjoy running up and down because of the wonderful wildlife on the towpath. And it keeps you fit." The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last October with a trip down the River Thames on pad…

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Our 50-year affair: Timothy West and Prunella Scales reveal their romance with Britain’s backwaters
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T11:35:56.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Entertainment
subject: TV
description: "I always say I want to die on the eighth curtain call."
encoded: Beloved actress Prunella Scales, best known as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and for her long-running partnership with husband Timothy West, has died aged 93. In this classic interview, first published in March 2014, she and West reflected on a life of laughter, love and canal journeys that defined their half-century together. Timothy West is gaily reminiscing about the time in 1996 he and Kevin Whately faced a watery grave. "We were doing Twelve Angry Men at Bristol Old Vic and I took a party of actors on the boat down the River Avon — a very swollen River Avon as there'd been a lot of rain." Nosing his narrowboat into a lock, it was swept into the adjacent, waterfall-like weir. At the last second a safety bar stopped them toppling over. "Kevin Whately and I were standing on the back of the boat looking very brave but thinking, 'This is probably the end of our boat and our trip and possibly the production.' The trouble was we hadn't the force — either from manpower or engine power — to get away as the water was driving us against this bar." In the end, a passing canoeist paddled a rope to the opposite bank and flagged down a lorry. The driver attached the rope to his front bumper and ploughed across somebody's field, dragging the actors out of danger. "It was quite a hairy afternoon," recalls Tim. "It's a good thing there was plenty of wine on board!" Watching Tim and Pru's Slow Boat, you wonder there aren't more mishaps. At 81, Prunella Scales is still astonishingly nimble: shimmying along locks unfazed by the sheer drop either side. Her husband is at the helm and responsible for a few sickening crunches as the boat bounces off the bank. "Yes, it's always Tim who steers!" trills Prunella, with mock exasperation. "But I enjoy running up and down because of the wonderful wildlife on the towpath. And it keeps you fit." The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last October with a trip down the River Thames on paddle steamer the Waverley. Their love affai…

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Where is Doc Martin filmed? Martin Clunes reveals the real Portwenn
type: item
date: 2022-09-07T10:25:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BritBox
subject: On demand
description: The ITV doctor's surgery is really in the picturesque fishing village of Port Isaac on the north Cornwall coast.
encoded: As well as all the medical drama and comedy which comes from the grumpy doctor, Doc Martin is also known for its stunning Cornish scenery, with all the action taking place in the fictional Portwenn. Martin Clunes previously told us all about his favourite spots while filming the much-loved ITV drama series, including some locations which have been made iconic across the 18 years the show has been on screens. These include the Doc's cottage, the local pub, the primary school and more, which have featured across all 10 seasons of the beloved series. With the show coming to an end this year, read on for everything you need to know about where Doc Martin is filmed. Where is the real Portwenn? The fictional village in Doc Martin is actually filmed in the historic fishing village of Port Isaac, which can be found on the north Cornwall coast. The Platt, the Cornish name for a market square, is at the heart of the village and has been used for special events throughout the series, including a lifeboat day gala in the very first episode and the wedding of Al and Morwenna in season 9. However, if you're looking for Martin Clunes when he's not on set, you're better off searching in the nearby village of Port Quin. The small cove and hamlet on the north Cornish coast is where Clunes likes to walk his dog, along the cliff overlooking the bay. Clunes said: "It’s an old fishing village along the coast from Port Isaac. There’s a beautiful crenelated folly there called Doyden Castle, built about 1830 by Samuel Symons, which we used as Pentire Castle at the end of season 5." Where is Doc Martin's house and other key locations? Although you can’t actually go in, many people seek out the Doctor’s house and surgery on Roscarrock Hill in Port Isaac in order to snap a picture outside. The cottage is called Fern Cottage, and Clunes is particularly fond of its garden. He said: "Doctor Martin’s house actually has two gardens. One that we use and one just up the cliff a little. When filming g…

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Steven Moffat on Doctor Who and The Time Traveler's Wife
type: item
date: 2022-05-15T08:00:07.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: The Big RT Interview
description: The former Who showrunner opens up on the familiar themes in his time-displaced romantic drama.
encoded: When Steven Moffat read The Time Traveler’s Wife, he’d just written his first episode of Doctor Who. Like millions of readers, the Scottish screenwriter devoured Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel about a reluctant time-traveller and his long-suffering wife - and promptly borrowed the idea. The result was The Girl in the Fireplace - a 2006 episode of Doctor Who in which David Tennant’s Time Lord falls in love with King Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. “It’s very similar in mood if not in detail,” explains Moffat, who went on to become the showrunner of the sci-fi series and also created the hit BBC dramas Sherlock and Dracula. “It’s about a time-lapse relationship, and I did it quite consciously - knowing I was doing The Time Traveler’s Wife. In my time on Doctor Who, I was more interested in the time travel aspect than most people probably are - I loved time conundrums and paradoxes.” Moffat didn’t realise that the Chicago author had rumbled him until she published a second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. “She has a character in the book actually watching The Girl in the Fireplace on television, so I knew she was onto me. At which point I could be more obvious, so I made Doctor Who a wife - River Song." Played by Alex Kingston, River Song encounters several incarnations of her extra-terrestrial husband-to-be - just as the ill-starred couple in The Time Traveler’s Wife meet at various ages. Moffat finally met Niffenegger at the press launch for River Song’s last appearance in Doctor Who and has now come full circle: he’s written HBO’s version of The Time Traveler’s Wife, which marries his penchant for sci-fi and spiky rom-coms such as his pre-Who comedy Coupling. He admits he’s “nervous” about comparisons to the novel and the 2009 film adaptation, which cast Rachel McAdams as the long-suffering heroine. “People are very invested in the book, and a lot of people love the movie.” The TV show stars two Brits: Theo James is Henry, a Chicago librarian who involuntaril…

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Discover the setting of ITV's detective drama Vera
type: item
date: 2021-08-25T14:44:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Brenda Blethyn's DCI often finds herself inspecting the beautiful beaches and wild moorland of the North East.
encoded: ITV detective drama Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn as DCI Vera Stanhope, is returning for an eleventh season this year, with an exclusive Vera preview released on RadioTimes.com. Adapted from crime author Ann Cleeves' novels, the series will return us to the wild, rugged landscape of the North East, where the drama series is predominantly set, in addition to the city of Newcastle. Series 11 filmed in various locations, including on Shields Ferry from South Shields to North Shields, Collingwood Monument in Tynemouth and Holy Island. We previously caught up with Margaret Mitchell, the show’s producer, who's as fond of the drama's sweeping Northumberland backdrop as she is of Blethyn's detective. “I think there’s a real appetite to see dramas set in areas other than London,” explains Mitchell. “I absolutely love Northumberland. I think it’s beautiful.” The series also uses Newcastle as a character in the drama. “The backdrop in the series informs the choice of colour palette we use,” explains Mitchell. “Vera’s costume colours and the autumnal tones are influenced by the countryside. There are blues and grays in her overall costume palette. Vera is a very large character and performs in a large, rugged landscape. It’s great to see the countryside and the actors play out their characters.” Read on for producer Margaret Mitchell's five favourite Vera filming locations. 1. Blyth and Whitley Bay The small town of Blyth, south of the river on the east coast, is real Vera territory. “This section of the coastline has these amazing turbines out to sea,” explains Mitchell. “It’s a very angular, metallic world out there with a desolate landscape. It’s quite moody. The turbines are pretty striking with the landscape. It’s harsh coastal countryside”. The Rendezvous Café, nearby Whitley Bay, is also regularly used as a filming location. “The place has distinctive windows”, explains Mitchell, “It’s a timeless area, there’s a big statue just behind the priory where we shot the episode…

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Christopher Jefferies found it "impossible" to watch his arrest in ITV drama
type: item
date: 2020-08-17T16:39:40.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The retired teacher vilified by the press after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering his tenant Joanna Yeates is the subject of a two-part ITV drama.
encoded: A version of this article was originally published in 2014. Christopher Jefferies couldn't bear to watch his arrest acted out for an ITV drama, he told Radio Times. The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies has been written by Peter Morgan – the man behind critically acclaimed Frost/Nixon and The Queen – with W1A actor Jason Watkins (in character above) playing the retired schoolteacher. It dramatises the month after Jefferies was arrested on suspicion of killing landscape artist Joanna Yeates in December 2010, and the shocking way he was subsequently hounded and demonised by the tabloid press. Jefferies was later released without charge and another of his tenants, Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, was ultimately convicted of Yeates' murder. During filming the director – Roger Michell, a former pupil of Jefferies – invited him on set to watch the arrest scene but the retired schoolteacher found he couldn't watch. "It didn't seem to be to be necessarily the most sensitive thing to invite me to go and see," Jefferies told Radio Times magazine. "There were 13 takes and because my arrest is done in the film exactly as it happened, I found it quite impossible to watch Jason in that scene." Otherwise he says he was dispassionate watching Watkin's replay that traumatic episode in his life. "Although I appear played by a character who looks remarkably like me, or who was made up to look remarkably like me, probably what comes across – but obviously I am not the best person to judge – is that this is somebody who represents or caricatures certain aspects of me, exaggerated and separated, as it were, from the whole, in order to make the point Peter Morgan wanted to make. "So, in a sense, I suppose the writer was using me and what happened to me to say something that he particularly wanted to say about British society." Originally broadcast in 2014, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies is repeated on ITV beginning tonight (Monday, 17th August) at 9pm – check out what else is on…

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How to buy tickets for Disney On Ice: Dream Big
type: item
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Live events
description: Moana, Aladdin, Ariel, Maleficent and Elsa will be touring the UK in 2018
encoded: All your favourite Disney characters will be skating into Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham and London later this year. The hugely popular family show Disney On Ice will return to the UK in September with a brand-new production. Dream Big will be "a collection of inspiring stories" featuring characters from Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tangled and Moana. The show will premiere in Glasgow and tour the UK, visiting Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham and London (see below for the full list of dates and venues below). Presale tickets are available from 22 June via Ticketmaster.co.uk. Tickets go on general sale on Friday 29 June at 9am. Buy presale tickets Expect all the magic and adventure of Disney’s tales through figure-skating, fabulous costumes and dazzling set designs, plus plenty of thrilling special effects. Audiences will travel to the kingdom of Arendelle with Anna, Elsa and Olaf, jump into amazing adventures with Aladdin, battle the villain Maleficent (in the form of a fire-breathing dragon) and dive under the sea with headstrong Ariel. View oEmbed on the source website Tour dates in full: 21 to 30 September 2018 - Intu Braehead, Glasgow 2 to 7 October 2018 - Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle 10 to 14 October 2018 - Manchester Arena 19 to 28 October 2018 - Arena Birmingham 14 to 18 November 2018 - Flydsa Arena, Sheffield 21 to 25 November 2018 - Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham 26 December to 6 January 2019 - The O2, London Buy Disney on Ice tickets

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11 plays to see this summer - starring Aidan Turner, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Linney and more
type: item
date: 2018-06-14T09:00:38.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Planning a trip to the West End? Check out which TV stars are treading the boards...
encoded: Lots of familiar faces will be strutting their stuff on London's stages this summer. Our roundup also includes a cult teen film that's now a musical, and a great play about Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Book early to avoid disappointment! 1. Aidan Turner is to play a terrorist in The Lieutenant of Inishmore The Poldark star will make his West End debut in black comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Oscar-winning Martin McDonagh’s critically acclaimed satire on terrorism is set in 1993 and tells the story of Mad Padraic, whose beloved cat has been run over on the island of Inishmore. The murder of Wee Thomas the cat sets off a chain of bloody events, which will see Turner swapping that legendary scythe for a cut-throat razor. When? 23 June to 8 September 2018 Where? Noel Coward Theatre, London Book tickets for The Lieutenant of Inishmore 2. Orlando Bloom is a corrupt cop in comic thriller Killer Joe Orlando Bloom plays a cop who moonlights as a part-time contract killer in this dark comic thriller. The Smith family hatches a plan to murder their estranged matriarch for her insurance money. They hire Joe Cooper, police detective and killer-for-hire, but the plan soon flounders... Bloom is joined by Kingsman's Sophie Cookson, Benidorm's Adam Gillen, Neve McIntosh and Steffan Rhodri. Read our review When? 18 May to 18 August 2018 Where? Trafalgar Studios, London Book tickets for Killer Joe 3. The Crown's Vanessa Kirby lets her hair down in a modern Miss Julie Last month Vanessa Kirby won a Bafta for her memorable turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown. In Julie, she plays an even more reckless woman: one of theatre’s unhappiest heroines, Miss Julie. Swedish dramatist August Strindberg’s 1888 play has been transported to 21st century London. Kirby's Julie lives in a mansion with her wealthy businessman father, who fails to show up for his daughter’s decadent birthday party. 130 years after she was created, Strindberg’s heroine still feels painfully relevant, and Kirby’s m…

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Chuffing perfect: Peter Snow picks his favourite railway journeys
type: item
date: 2018-06-13T15:20:26.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Documentaries
subject: TV
description: Whether it's an epic ride through the Canadian Rockies or a steam-powered day in Dorset, the veteran broadcaster loves nothing more than a train trip
encoded: Peter Snow is mad about trains – miniature as well as full-sized. “I’ve had a model railway ever since I was a boy,” he says. “They seem to me almost a substitute when you can’t go on a big train. You put your head down close to the rail and look at them chuffing towards you. Wonderful.” In his Channel 4 series Peter’s Great Railway Restoration, a team of enthusiasts will attempt to restore four decaying railway carriages from different periods in history. “These carriages were in an appalling state, mouldering away in people’s gardens,” he says. “One was Queen Victoria’s state coach, which was used as a kind of lean-to. I found it hard to believe that they would manage to restore them.” If all goes to plan, Snow hopes then to fulfil a lifelong dream and drive a steam locomotive. “I’m extremely excited. The idea is that I’ll pull these carriages from Llangollen to Corwen [in north Wales], which is one of the most beautiful lines in the world.” Which begs the question, what other lines does he recommend we ride? 1. Rocking the Rockies The Rocky Mountaineer is a terrific train that runs through the Canadian Rockies, from Banff to Vancouver. My wife [the journalist Ann MacMillan] is Canadian, so we took the family about ten years ago. We were there in July when the lower slopes are green and you get this wonderful variety of colour. The carriages are very comfortable and the train has an observation carriage with a see-through roof, so you get incredible views of snow-capped peaks above your head. We had a marvellous steward called Henry who used to give us a little lecture about what we were passing and the train’s history, and then he’d serve us lunch. The other wonderful thing is the spiral tunnels. You go into a mountain and instead of coming straight out the other side, you go round in two full circles and come out 500 feet lower down. Radio Times offer: Canada's Rocky Mountaineer from Calgary to Vancouver, 9 days from £2,699pp 2. The Taj by train When my children…

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My Name is Lucy Barton: Laura Linney is superb in a one-woman play ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-06-13T09:23:49.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: The Big C and Ozark actress makes her West End debut in a deeply moving adaptation of Elizabeth Strout's bestselling novel
encoded: As soon as Laura Linney spoke her last word in My Name is Lucy Barton, the entire audience of the Bridge Theatre leapt to their feet and ferociously applauded. It was deserved, with the three-time Oscar nominee and Broadway star pulling off a deeply affecting one-woman play. Linney plays an author reminiscing about when she was in hospital with a strange illness, a time during which her mother came to visit her and the two women talked properly for the first time in years. Linney’s Lucy is shy, nervous and warm as she talks about slivers of memory that came back to her while talking to her estranged mother. As she talks about moments from their brief time together, it becomes clear that that Lucy and her siblings were beaten and neglected as children. Lucy’s time in hospital becomes a bittersweet reunion, where her mother admits some guilt but ultimately walks away at the end with no resolution – no happy, easy ending. Adapted from Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name by Rona Munro, the play is a subtle, nuanced story of a difficult childhood and how difficult it is to escape the past, however hard we try – but also how our family will always inform our identity, whether we like it or not. Lucy relieving her hospital memories is compelling not because there are any huge revelations or twists and turns – it’s a quieter play than that – but because Linney plays Lucy with such humanity. One moment she’s full of love for her mother’s strangeness and the next moment brimming with pain and frustration at what she had to endure. The most extraordinary thing about the play is how Linney shifts from Lucy to Lucy’s mother so seamlessly, suddenly becoming an older woman with a deep drawl. My Name is Lucy Barton is 90 minutes of sadness, humour, love and acts of kindness that are almost too much to bear. I’d be amazed if Linney didn’t get standing ovations for her extraordinary monologue every night of the run. My Name is Lucy Barton is at London's Bridge Theatre until 23 …

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Machinal review: Humans' Emily Berrington stars in a discomfiting feminist classic ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-06-12T14:45:50.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Ninety years after it was a hit on Broadway, London's Almeida Theatre has revived a play by an overlooked US playwright - and it still feels radical
encoded: Emily Berrington played a conscious robot in the Channel 4 drama Humans. In Machinal, she plays a young woman who isn’t supposed to think and feel – a cog in the unstoppable capitalist, patriarchal machine. When it was written by American journalist Sophie Treadwell in the 1920s, Machinal was decades ahead of its time and still feels astonishingly, and depressingly, pertinent. Loosely based on a notorious murder case, it's about a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage who snaps and murders her husband. (In the 1928 premiere, he was played by Clark Gable making his Broadway debut.) The play is divided into nine disjointed "episodes", beginning with the morning a stenographer's lecherous boss proposes and ending with the day she's sent to the electric chair. Young Woman – the only name she's given in the programme notes – is repulsed by her boss, but marries him because society expects it. On their honeymoon, she shrinks from his touch and hackneyed conversation. When she becomes a mother, she cannot bear the sight of her baby daughter. Speaking in a Brooklyn accent, Berrington looks very fragile on stage – pale, small and extremely nervy. In the opening scene, she twitches and quivers while her workmates hammer a relentless rhythm on their typewriters. When she breaks her silence, her internal monologues are fragments of raw emotion, sort of like jagged poems – in stark contrast to her odious husband’s well oiled platitudes. Director Natalie Abrahami’s production is an assault on the senses. She does away with the interval so the play is squeezed into an intense 90 minutes. The slick scene changes are marked with blinding lights and Berrington recoils from the sound effects that intrude on every scene. Miriam Buether's set design includes a huge slanting mirror that hangs just above the actors, distorting the action and heightening the sense of claustrophobia. Like Treadwell's antiheroine, the audience is on an unstoppable conveyor belt, being swept along to the…

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Julie review: The Crown's Vanessa Kirby is devastating ★★★
type: item
date: 2018-06-08T15:32:34.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: August Strindberg’s existentialist masterpiece Miss Julie is reimagined in contemporary London
encoded: Last month Vanessa Kirby won a Bafta for her mesmerising turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown. In Julie, she plays an even more reckless woman: one of theatre’s unhappiest heroines, Miss Julie. Playwright Polly Stenham has updated Swedish dramatist August Strindberg’s 1888 play and transported his troubled protagonist to 21st century London. Stenham's Julie lives in a mansion with her wealthy businessman father, who fails to show up for his daughter’s decadent birthday party. The play opens on a scene of glitzy hedonism. Upstairs, beautiful young things swig champagne, snort cocaine and writhe to pounding dance music. Downstairs, a woman patiently clears up discarded glasses in an enormous kitchen – Julie’s housekeeper Kristina. As Kristina points out, Kirby’s Julie is “technicolour” – a brilliant butterfly fluttering around the stage in a shimmering skirt and sequinned jacket. By contrast her staff – the only other speaking roles – wear black and white, the age-old uniform of servants. In Stenham’s version, they’re first-generation economic migrants: Kristina is Brazilian (Thalissa Teixeira) and Julie's father’s chauffeur, Jean, is Ghanaian (Eric Kofi Abrefa). Adding race into the mix is a clever move, neatly illustrating how the gap between rich and poor is as vast as it was in Strindberg’s day. Drunk and high and desperately lonely, Julie is on a power trip. She sets about seducing Jean, who is engaged to Kristina but does a poor job of pretending to resist. The night careers out of control as Julie’s demons get the better of her, and the mismatched lovers hatch a half-baked plan to run away. Whether or not you agree with Jean that Julie’s existential crisis is self-indulgent, and she’s just “like any other lazy overgrown woman child”, it’s impossible to take your eyes off Kirby. She doesn’t waste a line as she struts and cowers in that enormous yet claustrophobic box of a kitchen – she’s caustic and pleading by turns, witty and wretched. It’s a virtuoso perfor…

Schism review, Park Theatre: A love story that packs a punch ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-05-24T18:16:37.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Athena Stevens' thought-provoking play explores the power dynamics in a destructive relationship
encoded: A maths teacher is on the verge of committing suicide when he's rudely interrupted: a teenage girl appears in his lounge, having picked his lock with a hairpin. Katherine is a student at Harrison's school, but he's never taught her because she has cerebral palsy. She's been locked away in special ed classes because the school has equated disability with stupidity. She's broken in to prove she's smart; now she wants him to tutor her and persuade the governors that she should be allowed an education. He does, and so begins the complex relationship at the heart of this thought-provoking two-hander. After Katherine goes away to college, their friendship blossoms into romance – although both try to resist it, for different reasons. Written by and starring Athena Stevens, Schism is a horrifying insight into the frustrations and humiliations of life in a wheelchair: the teachers who won't look you in the eye, or hold the door open so you can go to the loo. The wheels that leave her hands permanently cut and bloody. Stevens gleefully explores the power dynamics of their relationship, and challenges assumptions about disability and its perceived limitations. But above all, this play is about the power of love: how it can destroy as well as nourish. The Park's intimate studio is a fitting space (if at times uncomfortably so) as their love affair unravels. Stevens is brilliant as witty, ferociously ambitious Katherine. Jonathan McGuinness is equally impressive as Harrison who has a convenient habit of recording his innermost thoughts on a tape recorder. The first half is funny and moving by turns, with Stevens displaying impeccable coming timing. The second half takes a darker turn. Stevens isn't afraid to make her audience squirm and her play is all the more powerful for it. Schism is at Park Theatre, Finsbury Park until 9 June Bat Out of Hell review: A thrilling assault on the senses Chicago review: Cuba Gooding Jr turns on the charm Quiz: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? play…

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How to buy tickets for Anne-Marie's UK tour 2018
type: item
date: 2018-05-21T15:00:15.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Live events
description: Hot on the heels of her debut album, the pop star has announced a UK tour in Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London
encoded: Anne-Marie has added three new dates to her UK tour. The Essex singer will headline seven concerts in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Birmingham in November 2018 (dates and venues below). Tickets are on sale now from ticketmaster.co.uk. Buy tickets Her debut album, Speak Your Mind, shot to number three in the Official Albums Chart. The 27-year-old pop singer has already had four hit songs: "Alarm", "Rockabye", "Ciao Adios" and "FRIENDS", a collaboration with Marshmello. She's currently supporting Ed Sheeran's stadium tour, and her latest single is co-written by him. "2002" is a cheeky nod to songs from the early noughties, including Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" and "Nelly's Ride With Me" (see the video below). Concert dates and venues: 19 November 2018 – Manchester Academy NEW DATE: 20 November 2018 – Manchester Academy 22 November 2018 – O2 Academy Brixton, London NEW DATE: 23 November 2018 – O2 Academy Brixton, London 25 November 2018 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow 28 November 2018 – O2 Academy Birmingham NEW DATE: 29 November 2018 – O2 Academy Birmingham Buy tickets View oEmbed on the source website

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How to buy tickets for Gloria Estefan's musical On Your Feet!
type: item
date: 2018-05-21T14:47:39.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Live events
description: The hit Broadway musical is coming to the West End for a limited run - here's everything you need to know
encoded: Everybody, gather 'round now, let your body feel the heat... Yes, Gloria Estefan's irresistible Cuban rhythms are coming to the West End. Her hit Broadway musical On Your Feet! will arrive at the London Coliseum next year. Buy presale tickets Winner of 26 Grammy awards, Estefan is the queen of Latin pop and has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Here's everything you need to know about On Your Feet! What's it about? On Your Feet! charts Gloria’s rise to super-stardom, from her humble beginnings in Cuba, to the streets of Miami, to hitting the big time. It's also about her intense love affair with her husband Emilio, who was a founding member of the Miami Sound Machine, who created a brand new Latin crossover sound – fusing infectious Cuban rhythms with American pop and disco. Does it include her greatest hits? Expect to hear "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You", "Conga", "Get On Your Feet", "Don’t Want To Lose You Now" and "1-2-3", and of course Estefan's show-stopping "Coming Out of the Dark" performance at the 1991 Grammy Awards. When is it? It will have a limited run from 14 June 2019 at one of the West End's grandest theatres, the London Coliseum, which is usually home to the English National Opera. How much are tickets? Tickets start at £23 plus booking fee. Presale tickets are available now from ticketmaster.co.uk Buy presale tickets Who's starring? The cast hasn't been announced yet, but there are big-hitters behind the scenes. On Your Feet! is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde), with choreography by Olivier winner Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) and book by Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman). What can I dance to right now? Check out the teaser video below. View oEmbed on the source website

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How to buy tickets for Jason Manford's "Muddle Class" tour
type: item
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Tickets
description: Don't miss out on his first stand-up tour in years - now extended into 2019
encoded: Earlier this month Jason Manford embarked on his first stand-up tour in years. "Muddle Class" is about his realisation that he’s no longer working-class; he's middle-class – and very confused about it. If you missed out on tickets, or the tour wasn't due to go to a venue near you, good news: he's just announced a raft of new dates in 2019 (you can find the full list of 2018 and 2019 dates below). Tickets go on sale on Thursday 17 May at 10am. Buy tickets “Somebody said to me on my Facebook fan page, ‘it’s been ages since you’ve toured’,” Manford explained when announcing the show last year. “I thought ‘no way, it was last year wasn’t it? Anyway, long story short, they were right, it was years ago! I just got fooled cos I’ve been on tour doing musicals and the last tour is repeated on Dave ja Vu 13 times a day! "So I’ve been putting some stuff together, looking at my life and how it’s changed over the years, how the world has changed and how my parents haven’t changed a bit!" The new dates kick off in Norwich in January and end in Richmond, London, in early April. Tickets for the new dates and remaining tickets for the 2018 dates are available from ticketmaster.co.uk New 2019 dates: 17 January 2019 – Theatre Royal, Norwich 18 January 2019 – Theatre Royal, Norwich 23 January 2019 – Bath Halls, Scunthorpe 24 January 2019 – Victoria Hall, Halifax 25 January 2019 – Empire, Sunderland 26 January 2019 – Alhambra Theatre, Bradford 30 January 2019 – Hawth Theatre, Crawley 31 January 2019 – Central Theatre, Chatham 1 February 2019 – Forum, Bath 2 February 2019 – Hexagon, Reading 6 February 2019 – Derngate Theatre, Northampton 7 February 2019 – Anvil, Basingstoke 8 February 2019 – G Live, Guildford 9 February 2019 – Oasis, Swindon 13 February 2019 – Storey House, Chester 14 February 2019 – Storey House, Chester 15 February 2019 – Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry 16 February 2019 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester 27 February 2019 – Queens Theatre, Barnstaple 28 February 2019 – Playhou…

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How to buy tickets to Ed Sheeran's UK tour 2018 - extra tickets released Friday 11 May
type: item
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Tickets
subject: Live events
description: It's not too late to nab a ticket for Sheeran's sold-out UK concerts
encoded: New tickets for Ed Sheeran's sold-out stadium tour will be released on Friday 11 May. Production holds will be released for every night of the UK leg of his tour, which begins on 24 May. Buy tickets The tour kicks off with four concerts in Manchester, and will see him playing to over a million people around the country. When tickets went on sale last July, they sold out in minutes. As well as old-favourites, Sheeran will be playing songs from his most recent album, Divide, which was 2017's biggest-selling album. Here's everything you need to know to bag one of those tickets. When are tickets on sale? Production holds will be available from 10am on Friday 11 May through ticketmaster.co.uk How can I maximise my chances? Bookmark this link now. Before the tickets go on sale, log into your ticketmaster.co.uk account beforehand, checking you know the password and that it's the correct billing and delivery address. When the tickets go on sale, stick to one browser window and don't refresh your screen or you'll use your place in the virtual queue. What are the dates and venues? 24 May 2018 – Etihad Stadium, Manchester 25 May 2018 – Etihad Stadium, Manchester 26 May 2018 – Etihad Stadium, Manchester 27 May 2018 – Etihad Stadium, Manchester 1 June 2018 – Hampden Park, Glasgow 2 June 2018 – Hampden Park, Glasgow 3 June 2018 – Hampden Park, Glasgow 8 June 2018 – St James’ Park, Newcastle 9 June 2018 – St James’ Park, Newcastle 10 June 2018 – St James’ Park, Newcastle 14 June 2018 – Wembley Stadium, London 15 June 2018 – Wembley Stadium, London 16 June 2018 – Wembley Stadium, London 17 June 2018 – Wembley Stadium, London 21 June 2018 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff 22 June 2018 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff 23 June 2018 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff 24 June 2018 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff Anything else? Keep an eye on @TicketmasterUK on Twitter. Any updates will be announced there first. View oEmbed on the source website

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Life and Fate review: A brutal, beautifully performed Soviet masterpiece ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-05-10T11:43:19.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Review
description: A rare chance to see one of Russia's best theatre companies performing Vasily Grossman's banned novel
encoded: When Vasily Grossman attempted to publish Life and Fate in the late 50s, the novel was banned and his typewriter was confiscated by KGB agents. Fortunately, Grossman had taken the precaution of sending a copy to to an acquaintance which was smuggled out of the Soviet Union and published in Switzerland in 1980, 16 years after the author's death. His sweeping epic is now hailed as a 20th-century War and Peace and Lev Dodin's adaptation arrives in the West End for the first time, performed by the Maly Theatre Company of St Petersburg with English surtitles. Life and Fate centres on Jewish scientist Viktor Shtrum (Sergey Kuryshev) who's buffeted by the humdrum privations and horrors of life in Moscow during the Second World War – evacuation, rationing, missing relatives, disappeared colleagues. But his biggest concern is his research into nuclear physics, which is compromised by growing anti-Semitism. It opens with a monologue by Viktor's mother (Tatiana Shestakova) describing her ignominious fate: forsaken by her neighbour and forced into a ghetto by Hitler's men. Her words are threaded throughout the play – her last heartbreaking letter to her preoccupied son. During the first half, the action moves between the Shtrum's drab flat in Moscow, a Nazi POW camp and a Soviet gulag where the hollow-faced inmates of fascism and communism debate. The similarities between the totalitarian regimes are clear, especially when the prisoners shuffle into identical lines and are ordered to sing. Amid the bleakness there are moments of tenderness and lust, dancing and humour. Kuryshev is wonderful as world-weary Viktor, wry and jovial. Ironically, one of the funniest scenes is a surprise phone call from Stalin, which prompts Viktor to dance as only a desperate man can. He's one of the lucky ones, but his conscience does not get off so lightly. A clever set allows the director to do away with scene changes and layer the scenes on top of one another, giving a sense of scale to the horro…

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How to buy tickets for Proms in the Park 2018
type: item
date: 2018-04-27T10:57:27.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: audio
subject: News
subject: BBC Proms
description: Gladys Knight, Joseph Calleja and Michael Ball will be at this year's musical extravaganza in Hyde Park
encoded: Tickets for the BBC's Proms in the Park, the al fresco finale to Proms season go on sale today. Buy tickets Here's everything you need to know about this year's event, from the line-up to picnics. It always sells out so book early to avoid disappointment. When is it? Saturday 8 September Where is it? Hyde Park, London Who's performing? Soul grande dame Gladys Knight, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Josh Groban, tenor Joseph Calleja, Vegas favourite Matt Goss, Lisa Stansfield, 100 members of the Rock Choir, and of course the BBC Concert who will be leading a sing-along conducted by Richard Balcombe. Michael Ball returns as host. How much are tickets? £48.20 (£45 plus a £3.20 booking free) You can also buy VIP tickets for £449 which gets you access to an exclusive terrace with views of the stage, a three-course meal served with fine wines and a complimentary bar. Tickets are available now from ticketmaster.co.uk Book tickets What time does it start? The gates open at 3pm and the music starts at 5pm. The concert will finish at around 10.30pm. Can I take a picnic? You can but there's a limit to how much wine you can bring in and certain items are prohibited. There will also be street food vendors, bars and drinking water dispensers. You can pre-order a gourmet picnic when you buy your ticket.

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The Writer review: Romola Garai stars in a furious attack on sexism and the male gaze ★★★
type: item
date: 2018-04-25T12:51:35.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Ella Hickson’s new work is a bold and vivid explosion of anger
encoded: Ella Hickson’s new play is a multi-layered polemic on the modern state of sexual politics. Submitted to the theatre three days before the Harvey Weinstein story broke, it is a prescient drama within a drama within a drama. It starts with a 24-year-old woman (played uncompromisingly by Lara Rossi) heading back into a theatre to retrieve her bag before she is quizzed by the show’s unnamed director (played by Samuel West). Rossi’s character expresses her distaste for theatre’s general failure to tackle important issues of the day, while he makes it clear that the medium needs to be commercial to survive. It then transpires that this odiously smug man had encouraged this woman, who he doesn’t recognise, six years before and asked her to submit some written work to him. And had then tried to seduce her. Her denunciation of the play she has just seen – “old men saying fascinating things about time and history while women in hot pants lean over desks"– is thus given considerably more punch. If that all sounds slightly self-involved and self-referential, that’s because it is. The lively opening exchange is then dissected in an audience Q&A with insightful questions asked by what turns out to be actors playing theatregoers. It transpires that this opening section is in fact a piece written by Romola Garai's writer, an overly nervous woman who, like Rossi’s character, has ambitions to make theatre something that matters and will change the world. Next we meet the earlier play’s "real" director played by Michael Gould– an even more clunkingly unwoke figure who really doesn’t get anything about sexism and racism. Garai's writer is seen as an unhappy girlfriend mulling over a film offer. Her suit-wearing boyfriend, again played by West (below), wants her to take the money – a cool £40,000. He spends all day in a job he hates selling football boots. Why can’t she just bend her principles and make their lives easier? But in lines Garai delivers with feeling and power, her characte…

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"Why don’t we call it Potato?" Katherine Parkinson on new film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
type: item
date: 2018-04-20T09:46:54.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: The IT Crowd actress talks The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and her crush on co-star Lily James
encoded: "I said, why don’t we call it Potato?” jokes Katherine Parkinson on the subject of her latest project’s, ahem, distinctive title. “I’d love to have Potato on my CV!” The title might be a tongue-twister – and, yes, they did consider changing it – but the film is a class act. Playing out against a bucolic backdrop, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a story of romance and resistance amid the horrors of Nazi occupation on the Channel Islands. A handsome, tear-jerking drama, it’s based on the posthumously published bestseller by American author Mary Ann Shaffer that was completed by her niece, Annie Barrows, after her death. Joining Parkinson in the stellar ensemble are Lily James, Penelope Wilton, Jessica Brown Findlay, Michiel Huisman, Matthew Goode and Tom Courtenay. View oEmbed on the source website Lily James on the new Mamma Mia film Channel 4's Humans gets a third season Discover the delights of Guernsey With Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) in the director’s chair, the film stars James as successful writer Juliet Ashton, who is disenchanted with the post-war London party scene as she struggles for creative inspiration. On striking up a correspondence with Guernsey farmer Huisman, she is drawn to the islandbased book club of the title, while in flashback some closely guarded secrets are gradually surrendered to the island’s occupying force. As an islander who provides homemade gin and a shoulder for James to cry on, Parkinson is the comic relief – the member of the society who’s dreaming of her Heathcliff while getting pie-eyed off her own supply. London-born, Oxford-educated Parkinson is rapidly becoming one of the most beloved faces on the small screen, as the Bafta-winning star of The IT Crowd, Doc Martin and Humans – for which she’s now completed filming a third series. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (in cinemas from Friday 20 April… yes, why don’t we call it Potato) kicks off …

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The Good Karma Hospital: Amanda Redman, Neil Morrissey and Phyllis Logan on their favourite places in Sri Lanka
type: item
date: 2018-04-01T17:50:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Drama
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: When they weren't filming, the cast went whale and elephant-spotting and visited tea plantations
encoded: The sun-drenched ITV drama The Good Karma Hospital is set in southern India, but it's actually filmed in Sri Lanka. We asked Amanda Redman, Amrita Acharia and the rest of the cast about their favourite places on the beautiful island they called home for three months. Our guide to Sri Lanka - from beautiful beaches to tea plantations to ancient temples Neil Morrissey on Unawatuna “At the southern tip of Sri Lanka, the beach is beautiful during the day and has everything: sun, sea, great surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving. But in the evening, it really comes alive: outside every restaurant there’s a table with mountains of fresh fish, prawns, squid – the best tuna I’ve ever eaten. And if you venture behind the beach into the hustle of the town you can find The Good Karma Hospital, although when we’re not filming it’s actually a teacher training college.” Best-rated hotels in Unawatuna ...and Galle Fort “A beautiful old Dutch fort town, now full of little hotels, restaurants and shops. It’s a really pretty place to have a wander and a meal. Early morning or early evening is best because you will sweat! And if you get hungry, go to Lucky Fort – this little restaurant is a must. Order the curry of the day, it’s normally chicken or fish, and with it you get a big bowl of rice and ten smaller vegetarian dishes depending on what the chef, Lucky, has got from the market, each one individually spiced.” Phyllis Logan on whale-watching in Mirissa “This trip means you have to make a very early start, but it’s completely worth it. We were on the jetty ready to get on the boat for 5.30am and set off soon after. We could still see the coastline when we saw our first blue whale. They didn’t leap out of the water like you see them do in nature films, but they breached the surface and we saw them squirt water out of their blowholes and flick their tails into the air before they disappeared into the ocean again. It was amazing. And afterwards we were back on land in time for a break…

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The Durrells' Alexis Georgoulis on his favourite corners of Corfu: "All Corfiots are crazy"
type: item
date: 2018-04-01T16:56:20.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: When he has a day off from filming, the actor who plays Spiros heads to the beach with his guitar
encoded: Where’s your favourite place on Corfu? Sidari Beach, on the northwest coast of the island, for the astonishing sunsets and scenery. And I love to drive up to Kaiser’s Throne – a panoramic viewpoint on a cliff in central Corfu. Is filming The Durrells as idyllic as it looks – or does it get hot and sticky? We shoot a little before or after the tourist season when the weather is perfect. I prefer spring, when the wildflowers blossom. Also, the actors and crew are like one big family now, so it doesn’t feel like work. How do you spend your days off? I wake up early and go to one of the small, private coves by Glyfada Beach on the west coast. I stay there the whole day until late at night – swimming, playing my guitar and hanging out with friends. Compare flight and hotel packages to Corfu Find cheap flights to Corfu Discover Corfu's north-east coast Have the locals welcomed you? Look, all Corfiots are crazy. I haven’t met a Corfiot who is normal. They’re very fun people, always making jokes, and their culture is very different from the rest of Greece. I’ve made a lot of good friends there. Different how? They are very into music. All Corfiots can play an instrument, and all of them sing as well, especially when they’re drunk! They even speak differently, with a singsong intonation. Do they have any culinary specialities? Like everywhere in Greece, they have great taste in food. The most famous dish is bourdetto – a spicy tomato stew made with scorpion fish, or sometimes you can find it with octopus. And to wash it down? They have very nice wines and a digestif that can only be found on Corfu – a sweet, orange-coloured kumquat liqueur. Bourdetto is very nice with a glass of raki or tsipouro, a Greek brandy. Where’s your favourite place for lunch? Marina’s Tavern in Spilia, the old Jewish neighbourhood in Corfu Town. Marina serves Corfiot recipes and even a simple salad is delicious because she sources her ingredients from local gardens, so the tomatoes are very ugly but…

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Troy: Fall of a City - where was the ancient city of Troy?
type: item
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Fancy a trip to Troy? You'll need to book a flight to Turkey or South Africa...
encoded: BBC1's new Saturday-night drama retells the legendary story of the fall of Troy – but it was a real place, too. Here's where to find it. Where was Troy? It was in modern-day Turkey – in the northwest of the Anatolian peninsula, which makes up 95% of Turkey's land mass. Anatolia is also known as Asiatic Turkey and used to be called Asia Minor in late Classical antiquity. The Anatolian peninsula is the westernmost limb of Asia, and is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean sea to the south and the Aegean sea to the west. View oEmbed on the source website Does anything remain of the city? Yes, there's an archaeological site that's believed to be the remains of Troy – it's modern name is Hisarlik. It was first excavated by an English archaeologist called Frank Calvert and a German called Heinrich Schliemann in the 1860s, who discovered several cities had been built there in succession, creating an artificial hill. Best places to visit in Turkey Find cheap flights to Turkey Where was Troy: Fall of a City filmed? Like a lot of TV dramas, Troy: Fall of a City was made in South Africa. "For the palace interiors we were in a studio in an industrial area on the edge of Cape Town which could not feel more different to ancient Troy," explains Frances O'Connor who plays the Queen of Troy, Hecuba. "The moment you enter them though you are transported back – you are fully immersed into this world because the production design is just amazing. The sets are huge but the little details have not been neglected. You feel the reality of being in that world and you could see why people would want to take this city." "The exterior sets were shot out in the wine country of Cape Town against the backdrop of the mountains," says O'Connor. "Being there, it didn’t even look real – it's such a huge, sweeping landscape that instantly gives our series a mythical backdrop. In front of this they built so much of the city of Troy and filled it with supporting artists. It created a …

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The Durrells: The unspoilt Corfu of My Family and Other Animals still exists
type: item
date: 2018-03-13T09:00:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Gerald Durrell's widow Lee returns to Corfu every year and heads for the island's north-east corner
encoded: Every May, conservationist Gerald Durrell’s widow, Lee, returns to Corfu. She’s joined by naturalists, botanists, entomologists and Durrell devotees, and they spend a week retracing the footsteps of her late husband: picnicking by the “lake of lilies”, exploring Corfu Town and examining the island’s flora and fauna. The Greek island that Gerald put on the map has changed dramatically since his memoir My Family and Other Animals was published in 1956, and he knew he only had himself to blame. View oEmbed on the source website “Gerry and his first wife went back to Corfu in the 70s,” recalls Lee, “and he was complaining mightily about how tourism was changing the place. Somebody said: ‘It’s your fault, Gerry. You wrote such a popular book about Corfu.’ He was mortified, of course.” In later life Gerald became known as a presenter of TV wildlife programmes, but he got to know Corfu through living there with his family (including his married brother Lawrence, who later wrote The Alexandria Quartet) from 1935 to 1939. Milo Parker as young Gerald in ITV's adaptation From the age of ten, when Gerald and his family arrived on the island, he developed a deep interest in the local plants and wildlife. His love affair with the place was lifelong and it’s easy to see why. The island, as seen in ITV’s drama The Durrells, looks idyllic – from the crystal-clear Ionian Sea and sun-baked olive groves to the wildlife scuttling into every scene. “Gerry always said that if he had the gift of Merlin, he would give every child the kind of childhood he had in Corfu,” says Lee. Compare flight and hotel packages to Corfu Find cheap flights to Corfu Follow in the footsteps of The Durrells and discover Corfu's unspoilt north-east coast As honorary director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust since Gerald’s death in 1995, Lee makes the annual trip because it’s still possible to escape the package holidayers and find the island Gerald recalled in his Corfu trilogy. Her favourite time of …

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Discover the surprising home of Jamestown - Budapest
type: item
date: 2018-03-09T18:11:21.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: News
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Actress Naomi Battrick tells us about her favourite haunts in Hungary's cool capital
encoded: The period drama Jamestown is about the settlers who established the first British colony in America. Today its wind-beaten remains lie in Virginia, but the show is filmed on the outskirts of Budapest. “The production company bought a field with a stunning lake and built an exact copy of Jamestown,” says Naomi Battrick, who plays an upper-class Englishwoman with a dark secret. “They even grew the tobacco plantations. They had to chop it all down and burn it after filming because Hungary has strict tobacco laws.” The cast and crew lived in Budapest for five months while making the first two series, and Battrick cannot recommend her temporary home highly enough. “I’ve completely fallen in love with Budapest and the Hungarian people. I can’t wait to go back if we do a third series.” In the meantime, she’s enrolled at a language school in London. “It’s a very accommodating city for non-Hungarian speakers – everybody speaks English – but I’d love to learn the language because I find it so beautiful.” Here are her favourite spots in the capital. Compare flights to Budapest Compare top Budapest hotels Exclusive reader offer: Join Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins on a music cruise - £100 off One city, two personalities “We stayed in the old Jewish quarter in Pest (the capital was originally two cities, Buda and Pest). It’s like Soho-cum-Shoreditch – lively at night and good fun,” says Battrick. “If you’re after peace and quiet, I’d suggest staying across the river in Obuda, the city’s oldest district. One weekend we hired a villa in the Buda Hills, where locals go to hike and picnic. If budget isn’t an issue, book a room at the fabulous Corinthia (corinthia.com). Apparently, it’s the hotel that the film The Grand Budapest Hotel was based on. See the sights “One of my favourite things is to climb up to the Freedom Statue on the Buda side. It’s a huge statue of a woman holding a leaf. The walk up the hill is lovely, the views are fantastic and then you can sit and watch the ri…

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Reader offer: Join Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins on a music cruise - £100 off
type: item
date: 2018-03-08T14:56:15.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: News
subject: Travel
description: Set sail with Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins, Wynne Evans, Ruthie Henshall and Julian Lloyd Webber for a festival of the performing arts at sea!
encoded: We are giving Radio Times readers the opportunity to join Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins and 28 world-class performers for a festival of performing arts aboard the cruise ship Celebrity Silhouette. The Bravo Cruise will set sail across the English Channel from 19 to 26 May 2018, heading south in the sunshine. Not only do passengers enjoy all the accoutrements of a cruise holiday, they get to enjoy a 7-day music and performing arts festival. The usual price is £1,099pp for a twin-share cabin – but we are offering Radio Times readers an exclusive £100pp discount. (Scroll down for details of how to claim your exclusive discount). View oEmbed on the source website There will be stellar performances from the headliners: Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins, Wynne Evans, Ruthie Henshall, Mirusia, The Celtic Tenors, Julian Lloyd Webber, The National Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Welch and The Bravo Choir, and conductors Anthony Inglis and Guy Noble. There'll also be artist meet-and-greets and a passenger choir made up of guests who join to rehearse throughout the week, singing together in a stunning closing show. The music on Bravo spans genres from jazz, swing, chamber, classical, orchestral and choral, to name a just a few. There is also the opportunity to join an exclusive tour of The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, with its unique architectural design, rotating exhibitions and static gallery. Book now (type "Radio Times" in the Special Requests section for your £100 discount) Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins tell us what they'll be performing and share their packing tips The itinerary The Bravo cruise departs from Southampton on the 19 May 2018 for a week at sea, sailing to Bilbao in Spain, where guests have the opportunity to alight at the port and visit places of interest, including a private tour of the Guggenheim Museum. From there she sails to Vigo in Spain, where there'll be another opportunity to alight for a day of sightseeing; and then on to Cherbourg in France, where guests…

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Alan Titchmarsh's top National Trust days out
type: item
date: 2018-03-06T18:50:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: The presenter likes to set up his easel at Corfe Castle in Dorset and go for a scenic amble along the Cornish coast
encoded: In Secrets of the National Trust, Alan Titchmarsh explores the houses, landscapes and coastline looked after by the conservation charity. From the magnificence of a French Renaissance-style château built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to a ‘Capability’ Brown masterpiece, the Channel 5 series travels the length and breadth of the UK, delving into the nation’s history. Here he tells us about three of his favourite days out, from Churchill's country home in Kent to a rugged beach in Cornwall. A night in Agatha Christie's Devonshire holiday home - Greenway Find a National Trust holiday cottage Best for history: Chartwell, Kent "It’s fashionable to knock Sir Winston Churchill, but he was a fascinating man — the most influential Briton of the 20th century — and so Chartwell, his country home, is of enormous interest. When you go to his studio and see his paints, or his bathroom, or the dining room where his wife Clemmie threw a bowl of spinach at him, you get a real feeling of what the man was like off-duty. For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/chartwell Best for walkers: Porthcurno, Cornwall "The National Trust has some wonderful walks. There’s a lovely two- to three-hour walk from Sennen Cove to Porthcurno and back — though it’s overrun with Poldark fans! It’s fantastic for wildlife, surf crashing on rocks and tiny sheltered coves. In the evening, return to the outdoor Minack Theatre, which overlooks the ocean. Above it is the most beautiful sloping garden." For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/sennen-to-penberth Best for artists: Corfe Castle, Dorset "Corfe Castle sits on this knoll, and you can see it from the road. It’s just so statuesque. You could park your easel and draw it from 100 different angles. I think you could spend a week there and not paint the same view twice." For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/corfe-castle Secrets of the National Trust with Alan Titchmarsh is on Tuesdays on Channel 5, 9pm Browse the National Trust's hundreds of h…

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Douglas Henshall: "When you go somewhere like Shetland, you realise what quiet sounds like"
type: item
date: 2018-03-06T18:45:48.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Travel
description: When he's not playing Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez, Henshall likes to explore Shetland on foot
encoded: What do you enjoy most about filming on Shetland? The peace and quiet. Living in London you forget how much sensory violence is done to you. When you go somewhere like Shetland, you realise what quiet sounds like. Did Shetlanders have any reservations about letting the BBC film there? There had been a TV crew before us who were very patronising so people were understandably wary. Once they realised we weren’t trying to show them as crazy highlanders, they took to us and now they can’t do enough for you. Can you recommend somewhere to stay? The Scalloway Hotel is fantastic. That’s where I stay. Peter and Caroline who run the place are fantastic, the rooms are great, the food is really good. Scalloway is really nice and quite picturesque. If you want somewhere more secluded or if you’ve got a family, then the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse is spectacular. It’s a self-catering place and it’s got the best equipped kitchen I’ve ever seen. Find cheap flights to the Shetland Isles Compare hotels in Scalloway Exclusive reader offer: Join Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins on a music cruise - £100 off How do you spend your downtime? Walking. I’ve been going there for six years and I keep discovering new nooks and crannies. I’d recommend St Ninian’s Isle – it’s connected to the mainland by an amazing tombolo beach and the cliffs feel like the edge of the world. Have you visited many Scottish isles? Loads. I think my favourite place in the whole of Scotland is Skye. There’s nowhere like it. It was part of a volcano that erupted and has been edging its way over from America for millennia. That’s why the Black Cuillin mountains look like the dark side of the moon. Edinburgh or Glasgow? Glasgow. I grew up in Barrhead, on the outskirts – the centre is only 15 minutes away. All my best memories are around Glasgow, that’s where I started working in the theatre and became an adult. How would you spend a Saturday in Glasgow? I would walk through the Necropolis, go to the Citizens Theatre and e…

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Endeavour: On the trail of Morse's Oxford
type: item
date: 2018-03-04T07:00:00.000Z
creator: Claire Webb
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Michael Hodges follows Colin Dexter’s famous sleuth to the dreaming spires and murder scenes
encoded: Few detectives have such a hold on the national imagination as Endeavour Morse, the curmudgeonly middle-aged police inspector who lives for real ale and classical music. He wasn’t always middle-aged of course and the younger version, as played by Shaun Evans, is about to return to our screens in the fourth series of Endeavour, charting the young detective’s progress through early 1960s Oxford. Thanks to Endeavour, and Lewis and Inspector Morse before it, the city has become a byword for murderous academia and old-fashioned pubs, so Michael Hodges booked into the sleuth’s favourite hotel, The Randolph, and went looking for Morse... Exclusive reader offer: Join Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins on a music cruise - £100 off The White Horse Morse, in both his younger and older incarnations, liked alehouses and Oxford city centre is home to many establishments the swigging detective favoured. You could visit The King’s Arms, The Eagle and Child, The Bear Inn, The White Horse and The Lamb and Flag, where his younger self, Endeavour, took a ruminative pint with a beautiful but murderous opera singer in the series’ successful pilot. If you’re inclined to start a Morse city pub-crawl then the pretty much unchanged White Horse has been used as a location by Morse, Lewis and Endeavour. Crucially for devotees of the thirsty yet traditionally minded detective you can still get your bitter in a pint jug with a handle, just as Morse does in The Dead of Jericho. Sheldonian Theatre If you reverse the route and end your Morse pub crawl at The White Horse, then cross the road – carefully – to the Sheldonian Theatre, central to the classic Morse episode Twilight of the Gods and shortly to be seen again in series four of Endeavour. The producers of the lauded spin-off have been keen to follow in the footsteps of Morse, not least in pubs (see the White Horse), and the Endeavour production crew turned the interior of this Grade I-listed 17th-century theatre into a 1960s dance hall. Endeavou…

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