Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2024-11-13T16:37:09.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Mum's final series is "a beautiful, hilarious and heart-wrenching goodbye"
items: How Louis Theroux moved from the stranger fringes of US society to subjects closer to home
items: Andie MacDowell cried while filming Four Weddings and a Funeral sequel
items: Betrayal review: Tom Hiddleston excels throughout
items: Admissions review: A funny look at the politics of diversity ★★★★
items: The Twilight Zone review: Clever but not quite creepy enough ★★★
items: The Price review: David Suchet is superb in Arthur Miller's tragedy ★★★★
items: David Mitchell: my deep belief in Father Christmas has meant I’ve struggled with other forms of religion
items: Summer and Smoke review: A devastating tale of unfulfilled longing ★★★★★
items: Romeo and Juliet at the Barbican review: A millenial take on the romantic tragedy
items: A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre: Jim Broadbent is brilliant as Hans Christian Andersen ★★★★
items: Macbeth at the Barbican: Christopher Eccleston is a Macbeth with PTSD ★★★
items: Company at the Gielguld: A flawless revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical ★★★★★
items: The Apprentice's Claude Littner: 'Love Island is a terrible programme – and I love it'
items: Michelle Keegan and Luke Pasqualino reveal how they survived the gruelling Our Girl shoot
items: What on earth is wrong with the detectives in Thirteen?
items: King of the broadcasting jungle: Sir David Attenborough reveals how TV has changed over 60 years
items: Meet the cast of Last Tango in Halifax
items: Heathers review: This revenge-fantasy musical simmers with wicked talent ★★★
items: Pericles at The National Theatre: Shakespeare's tragedy transformed into a rousing musical
items: Exit the King review: Rhys Ifans is irresistible as Ionesco’s mad monarch
items: Allelujah! review: Alan Bennett's NHS play is full of wit and fury ★★★
items: “The starting point was me” - Benedict Cumberbatch on why The Child in Time was so personal
items: Copenhagen: Where to eat like a local and drink like a Dane
items: "I'm keeping my eye on Mo Farah": Usain Bolt on Soccer Aid and watching The Big Bang Theory
items: Ordeal by Innocence star Bill Nighy reveals why he almost gave up acting
items: "I’ll watch any old rubbish": Ken Bruce talks TV habits and meeting his wife at Eurovision
items: Mood Music at The Old Vic review: A compelling look at creativity and narcissism ★★★★
items: Genevieve O'Reilly plays The Secret's naive but guilty killer beautifully
items: Stephen Mangan on his new show Bliss – and why Green Wing didn’t win more awards

Mum's final series is "a beautiful, hilarious and heart-wrenching goodbye"
type: item
date: 2019-05-22T19:02:59.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The acclaimed comedy starring Lesley Manville about a widow and her fractious family returns for a third and final season
encoded: It creeps up on you, this sitcom. You think that in its gentle look at a middle-aged widow at home with her relatives, it might not move or thrill you, that it might be the kind of show you just dip in and out of. But before you know it, it’s taken hold of your heart. The third and final series of the Bafta-nominated Mum, written by Stefan Golaszewski (Him&Her), is a beautiful, hilarious and heart-wrenching goodbye to the characters we’ve grown to feel so strongly about. Lesley Manville’s Cathy spent the first two series quietly coping with the aftermath of her husband’s death while her cantankerous parents-in-law, hapless son, downtrodden brother and their respective partners – the unintelligent but golden-souled Kelly and the pretentious social climber Pauline – live their lives around her, mostly in her living room, eating her salt and vinegar crisps and drinking her tea. Lesley Manville on a life on screen, awards season and being an older woman in Hollywood Viewers hail the return of Mum on BBC2 as an "utter joy" Why Mum’s Lisa McGrillis deserves a comedy award ASAP Rather than a cliché of a long-suffering female with no agency, Cathy is a woman coming to terms with life without her husband of many years, and feeling the demands and expectations so often placed on females to keep everyone around her afloat and be there for her family. She’s un-judgmental, forgiving and patient, but not meek or blind to her own desires. When we last saw Cathy, she’d grown closer to family friend Michael (Peter Mullan) in a will-they-won’t-they relationship which made for some of the most moving scenes in the second series. What Golaszewski writes so astutely is unglamorous, mundane, ordinary life and how, actually, that’s where the most extraordinary moments happen. The scenes that make you cry and cheer at the TV aren’t always the loud, dramatic ones but rather a throwaway line, something someone really might say. In Mum, that’s the stuff that gets you. There’s quite a few of t…

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How Louis Theroux moved from the stranger fringes of US society to subjects closer to home
type: item
date: 2019-05-12T06:01:06.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Documentaries
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The filmmaker's latest BBC documentary Mothers on the Edge follows mums with postpartum mental illness in London and Hampshire clinics
encoded: During his 25-year career as a journalist, Louis Theroux has made documentaries about porn stars, neo-Nazis and UFO believers. There have also been swingers, body builders, Las Vegas gambling addicts and big-game hunters. However, now the 48-year-old father of three has started to turn his attention away from the stranger fringes of American society to subjects closer to our ordinary lives, such as alcoholism, dementia and mental health. You probably don’t know someone who fervently believes in UFOs but you’ll know someone – or be someone – who has experienced depression. How to communicate like Louis Theroux Louis Theroux: I want to interview Nigel Farage for my next documentary Watch full series of Patrick Melrose, Save Me and In the Long Run for FREE on RadioTimes.com In his latest film, Mothers on the Edge, he spends time at two specialist psychiatric units in London and Hampshire that treat mothers experiencing postpartum mental illness, which ranges from severe postnatal depression to psychosis, often triggered by birth or the strains of motherhood. The mothers live in the units alongside their babies as they struggle with a range of serious issues. It’s a powerful, moving but hopeful film on a topic that most of us know little about, even though it is estimated that one in ten new mothers in the UK will suffer a mental health issue before their child’s first birthday. What’s behind the film-maker’s increased focus on mental health? “Since I was quite small I’ve been fascinated by people whose brains work differently. I’ve visited friends in psychiatric hospitals and it always struck me that they were fascinating places, where you see life in a very raw and unvarnished way. I wouldn’t have had the maturity or journalistic skills to do justice to those stories then, but it wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in them.” He also says that at the age of 23, when he first stated working on TV Nation with filmmaker Michael Moore, he fell into a mode of being “tongue-in-c…

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Andie MacDowell cried while filming Four Weddings and a Funeral sequel
type: item
date: 2019-03-15T19:00:00.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Comic Relief
description: The Groundhog Day actress discusses the emotional reunion in aid of Comic Relief
encoded: Director Mike Newell has just yelled “cut!” and Richard Curtis is in tears. They’re happy tears, and Emma Freud hugs her partner tightly, beaming. Even the most hard-hearted of humans (and Curtis the romcom king is not one of those) might be moved by today’s event. The original cast of Four Weddings and a Funeral have filled the aisles and pews of a beautiful church in Hampstead in north London to film a scene in which they’re the guests at the wedding of Charles [Hugh Grant] and Carrie’s [Andie MacDowell] daughter. The couple, who fell in love and had an on-off love affair with a happy ending, are evidently still together. They sit side by side in the front row, surrounded by their friends: John Hannah’s Matthew, Kristin Scott Thomas’s Fiona and Anna Chancellor ’s “Duckface”. Even in between takes, the atmosphere is lively and celebratory as the cast reminisce about the last time they were all together, two and a half decades ago. Newell does a lot of shushing before the cameras begin rolling again. Lily James joins Red Nose Day's Four Weddings and a Funeral sequel The best TV shows airing in 2019 Everything you need to know about Comic Relief 2019 View oEmbed on the source website As the cast pause for lunch, Andie MacDowell, in a long, floral dress, sits down to talk. Just behind us, Rowan Atkinson spoons potatoes on to his plate, dressed in priestly robes and ready to reprise his role as the hapless Father Gerald. “I loved seeing everybody again,” says MacDowell, 60, “because apart from Anna [Chancellor] and Hugh [Grant], I hadn’t seen them in years. Before we started shooting, we all had dinner together at Richard’s house and there was really good food, speeches and it was romantic, as it always is with Richard.” It’s not only Curtis who is emotional about this reunion; MacDowell feels it, too. “I’ve been teary-eyed the whole day. It’s kind of silly but when you get older and you have the opportunity to be put back into a similar situation with these people who…

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Betrayal review: Tom Hiddleston excels throughout
type: item
date: 2019-03-14T12:33:37.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: News
subject: Travel
description: Jamie Lloyd's production is a smart and effective take on Harold Pinter's play about love and deception
encoded: The Pinter at the Pinter season – directed by Jamie Lloyd – draws to a fitting close with its first full-length play, and a real blockbuster: Betrayal, his 1978 work that tells, from end to beginning, the story of a seven-year long affair, loosely based on his own relationship with Joan Bakewell. A blockbuster, of course, needs a heavyweight cast, and Betrayal delivers in spades: Zawe Ashton is art gallery owner Emma, Tom Hiddleston her publisher husband Robert and Charlie Cox his literary agent best friend, Jerry – who is also Emma’s lover. In contrast to these riches, Soutra Gilmour’s set is sparse, pared down; in the centre of the floor is a circle, at the back one moveable wall, and there are minimal props – two chairs, a table, lots of drinks in glasses. It’s elegantly done, though the symbolism is not exactly subtle: the wall moves to the front during the oppressive scene when Emma reveals her affair to Robert; the circle rotates as the trio have cyclical conversations, ask questions they already know the answer to, get nowhere. All three leads remain on stage throughout, sometimes in the background, sometimes physically touching, apparently watching, but silent. It’s a smart, effective way of rendering this intricate collective relationship, the way all three are complicit, both the betrayer and the betrayed. Cox probably has the least to get his teeth into, he’s a pleasure to watch: relentlessly affable, but in brief moments almost acidic, deeply weary; his sozzled sincerity when he professes his love for Emma at a party is equal parts endearing and embarrassing. Hiddleston, meanwhile, excels throughout. His urbane, literary, composed Robert experiences the emotional upheaval of his wife’s betrayal as something physical – when he meets Jerry for the first time after his discovery, he is all agitation, in contrast to his friend’s stillness; Robert gulps down wine, stabs his fork against the plate as he attempts to spear slices of ham and melon. Ashton as Emma…

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Admissions review: A funny look at the politics of diversity ★★★★
type: item
date: 2019-03-13T13:08:49.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Alex Kingston shines as the mother who wants what’s best for everyone until it impacts on her son from Bad Jews writer Joshua Harmon
encoded: American writer Joshua Harmon’s new play, fresh in the West End from a successful Broadway run, is a sharp piece of satire that takes aim at well-meaning liberals and what it sees as their contradictions and pieties. Sherri (Alex Kingston) is the head of admissions at Hillcrest, a highly ranked American college. During her tenure, the school’s diversity quota has trebled, to 18%, and is about to rise again. She's fastidious about the numbers and focused on making sure diversity is properly represented. But, as thorny issues of race and colour arise, the question of who actually gets to count as diverse proves far from black and white. Which is literally the problem for the hapless Roberta (Margot Leicester), who is putting together the school prospectus, without much success. What's the correct number of students of colour to include? And how does she meet Sherri's target when she herself considers one of the 18% white for the purposes of the brochure, as they're too light-skinned. It's funny watching her constantly get it wrong, but there's a serious point behind the humour. The main drama, though, concerns Sherri's son and student, Charlie (Ben Edelman) – middle name Luther so that his parents can signal their virtue for Martin Luther King. When he doesn’t get into Yale, Charlie is seriously disappointed in a way only teenager can be. He's even more vexed to find out that his best friend, Perry (who we never meet), has been accepted to the prestigious institution, despite slighter poorer grades. Perry also happens to be black. The sometimes yawning chasm between the well-intended words of the liberal left and what they’re actually willing to do is evident. Especially when their ideals come up against what's best for themselves and those close to them. Harmon sticks the knife in, gives it a good wiggle around, and provides a very funny evening of increasingly outlandish hypocrisy. Alex Kingston gives a strong performance in Daniel Aukin’s production, that shows how…

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The Twilight Zone review: Clever but not quite creepy enough ★★★
type: item
date: 2019-03-13T12:54:13.000Z
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: The stage adaptation of Rod Sterling's sci-fi TV series is entertaining but lacks thrills, says Tony Peters
encoded: Rod Serling’s TV series The Twilight Zone that ran for five seasons between 1959 and 1964 is rightly regarded as a bona fide classic. It was responsible for introducing a mix of sci-fi, fantasy and psychological thrills to a mainstream audience and has influenced a number of directors and writers since. It spawned a feature film in 1983 and various TV revivals over the years, the latest from original broadcaster CBS is in production at the moment with Jordan Peele as narrator. So, all seminal stuff then. With revivals and the film being of variable quality though, director Richard Jones and writer Anne Washburn have thankfully used the original series as the template for this stage adaptation. Costume designer Nicky Gillibrand cleverly uses a monochrome palette to ape the show’s black and white footage to stunning effect. While Stephen La Rivere and Andrew T Smith nicely use 1950s-style graphics for the animated inserts. Washburn has adapted eight stories, written by Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, and rather than playing them episodically has interwoven plots — including alien interlopers, mysteriously missing airmen, a child’s bedroom being the portal to a different dimension, neighbours at each other’s throats in the face of an imminent missile attack — into a single narrative. With some stories inevitably being stronger than others this makes for an unevenness in pace, meaning that the twists and surprises don’t have the same impact as if we’d seen each story unfolding in sequence. Put bluntly, it’s just not creepy enough. Just as the series had moments of humour, thankfully Jones and Washburn don’t take things too seriously and the play works best when played for laughs and as an affectionate pastiche; the excellent 13-strong cast playing multiple roles and neatly capturing the style of acting that obviously now appears a touch hammy sixty years on. And the production is enhanced by illusions created by Richard Wiseman and Will Houston, includin…

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The Price review: David Suchet is superb in Arthur Miller's tragedy ★★★★
type: item
date: 2019-02-12T12:51:18.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: News
subject: Reviews
subject: Going Out
description: Miller's lesser-known play is a gripping tale that has stood the test of time, says Claire Webb
encoded: Following a sold-out run at the Theatre Royal Bath, Jonathan Church’s 50th-anniversary revival of one of Arthur Miller's lesser-known plays transfers to the West End with the same superb cast, including Poirot's David Suchet and Downton Abbey’s Brendan Coyle. Suchet plays elderly furniture dealer Solomon and has the audience in the palm of his hand from the moment he staggers on stage - shabby, frail and virtually unrecognisable from his sharp-suited Poirot. Brendan Coyle is his customer: Victor, a New York cop who is finally getting around to selling off his late father’s furniture. He and his wife also dust off their decades-old grudge towards his estranged brother; Victor dropped out of college to take care of his bankrupt father, while Walter stuck with his studies and became a rich surgeon. Solomon soon perks up, almost dancing around the stage as he shrewdly sizes up his taciturn client and the attic of junk. Coyle's performance is subtler and quietly powerful. Neither of them wastes a word of Miller’s deliciously funny, poignant script. No sooner has a deal been struck than the estranged brother strides in. It turns out suave, slippery Walter’s life isn’t an unmitigated success, but he still cannot understand why his brother feels aggrieved. The tight knot of family resentment unravels as we hear Walter's side of the story and realise Victor has always been the author of his own destiny. “We do what we want to do,” he admits. Adrian Lukis also puts in an arresting turn as suave, slippery Walter, while Sara Stewart crackles and snaps with frustration as Victor’s lonely wife Esther, who uses alcohol as a crutch. Set designer Simon Higlett makes the Wyndhman’s huge stage seem claustrophobic by cramming it with furniture. It even dangles over their heads, emphasising how the characters are hemmed in by the decisions of the past. “It’s a farce, a goddamn farce” shrieks Esther as the tension ratchets up, but this isn’t: The Price is an ordinary tragedy, and one tha…

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David Mitchell: my deep belief in Father Christmas has meant I’ve struggled with other forms of religion
type: item
date: 2018-12-25T20:01:00.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
subject: Christmas
description: The Upstart Crow star tells Kasia Delgado about his childhood Christmases, the anticipation, the disappointment - and how he'll try to keep it a magical time for his own daughter
encoded: As a child my religion was Father Christmas-anity. My deep belief in Father Christmas then has meant that I’ve struggled with other forms of religion ever since. I count myself agnostic, not atheist but I was sincerely with the religion of Father Christmas-anity at the time. So many children’s stories are about magic, and there’s so much magic in children’s literature, but not much magic in real life – except for Father Christmas. Upstart Crow's David Mitchell on Shakespeare – and watching Only Connect with his wife Twitter is “potentially killing the joy of humour for millions” says Peep Show star David Mitchell David Mitchell drags Radio Times into the fray in Would I Lie To You? When I was small, I went to see the Father Christmas in the grotto at what was then the Selfridges in Oxford, but I remember my parents saying, “It’s not really Father Christmas, it’s one of his helpers.” That was a wise thing to say because I believe that the idea that you can really see Father Christmas, is dangerous to the magic. I think we should only be able to see the evidence of him in his presents, not his presence. I had very happy Christmases as a child. It wasn’t too huge a gathering – my parents, my grandparents and my great auntie Ethel in either our house in Oxford or my mum’s parents’ house in Swansea. It was incredibly exciting, and when it was over, I felt very, very sad, because at that age the next Christmas is just unrealistically far away – so far away, it might as well never be happening again. I had a very strong sense that basically the best bit of the whole present-getting Christmas thing is the anticipation. And as soon as you actually open the presents, it’s sort of over. That was part of what I loved about the advent calendar, the kind of unbearable anticipation of the next day’s picture of a bell. I would wait and open my presents slowly. My brother is eight years younger than me, so by the time he was around I was quite advanced in how I was in terms of Chris…

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Summer and Smoke review: A devastating tale of unfulfilled longing ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-11-30T11:31:23.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Patsy Ferran gives an astounding performance as The Almeida’s production moves to the West End
encoded: Summer and Smoke may be one of Tennessee Williams' lesser performed, under-appreciated plays but Rebecca Frecknall's heart-shattering production transforms it into one of his best. Patsy Ferran plays Alma, a minister’s daughter and singing teacher. Caring for her mother who has suffered a nervous breakdown, and stuck in a cycle of responsibility and routine, she is pious and panicky. Her undeclared love for her long-time neighbour, a young, hedonistic and angry doctor named John [Matthew Needham], is heightening her neuroses. One searing summer they come close to romance, but it doesn't quite happen. Ferran is agonisingly good as an awkward, almost puritan soul, unwilling to give in to lust but experiencing a passion that clearly terrifies her. She and John attract and repel each other over and over again. Sometimes, the missed moments of love between them are almost unbearable to watch. Tom Scutt's set is stripped-back and atmospheric. The cast plays chords on the horseshoe of pianos encasing the stage, adding to the sense of hazy, blistering, smoky heat in which Alma struggles to feed her hunger for love. A spine-tingling production which holds you in its grip, long after its over. Summer and Smoke is at the Duke of York, London Find tickets for Summer and Smoke on ATG Tickets

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Romeo and Juliet at the Barbican review: A millenial take on the romantic tragedy
type: item
date: 2018-11-09T11:44:45.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Set in a London of blade-carrying teenagers, this is an imperfect production with brilliant performances, says Claire Webb
encoded: The Royal Shakespeare’s production of Romeo and Juliet is horribly timely. As London grapples with another spate of fatal stabbings, this 400-year-old play about blade-carrying teenagers who spill blood and shatter lives feels all too relevant. Find tickets for Rome and Juliet Director Erica Whyman’s Verona is a contemporary UK city: a place of concrete and skinny jeans. The plays opens with a chorus of young amateur actors, who also get to strut their stuff during the Capulets' party – a night of pounding music and hedonism. Like several recent Shakespeare productions, Whyman casts women in male roles and it works. Beth Cordingly plays the Prince of Verona and gets a laugh when she stresses “men” while yelling at the feuding teens: “What, ho! you men, you beasts” Charlotte Josephine’s Mercutio is dazzling. Romeo’s loquacious mate dances around the stage in a crop top and sparkly bomber jacket. Ishia Bennison’s bawdy, northern Nurse is also hilarious, while Raphael Sowole’s sinister, gravel-voiced Tybalt might have stepped straight out of a mafia movie. As for the star-crossed lovers, Karen Fishwick’s Scottish Juliet steals the show. Shakespeare’s prose rolls effortlessly off her tongue as she segues from heartbreak to humour, commanding the Barbican’s huge stage. Bally Gill's Romeo is sweet but a bit dull. This youthful production isn’t perfect, but there are some brilliant performances. Claire Webb Find tickets for Rome and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is at London’s Barbican Theatre until 19 January 2019

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A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre: Jim Broadbent is brilliant as Hans Christian Andersen ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-10-26T09:24:18.000Z
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Martin McDonagh’s dismantling of the Danish master of fairytales is entertaining and provocative, says Nick Wells
encoded: You won’t be able to say you weren’t warned. Even if you’re not familiar with Martin McDonagh’s previous hit plays and films – the deranged cat-loving paramilitaries (The Lieutenant of Inishmore); the psychopaths, indeed, all seven of them (Seven Psychopaths); or the racist, alcoholic police officers (the Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) – this time the warning's right there on the label. His new play, though, is far from the same old fair. Yes, there's the violence and near-the-knuckle black humour that sees you both laughing and sucking your teeth in equal measure. But A Very Very Very Dark Matter sees him delve into the preternatural realm of the fairy tale – dreams and ghosts included – with absorbing results. Jim Broadbent is at his inimitable best as Hans Christian Anderson, the renowned Danish author of numerous children's tales. We meet him at a public reading of The Little Mermaid, lapping up the praise of an adoring public even as he stumbles over his own story, and showing himself little more than an adulation-seeking braggart. Unbeknown to them, though, he is also a charlatan with a secret. In his attic in which the stage is dressed, he keeps an African Pygmy lady imprisoned in a wooden box hanging from the ceiling. It’s Marjory (the excellent Johnetta Eula'Mae Ackles), as he calls her because he’s too lazy to pronounce her native name, rather than Hans, who is turning out the popular books. The shadow of colonialism is never far away. McDonagh takes both the idea of the private self behind the public face, and the dark underbelly that lurks just below the surface of fairy tales to explore the indignities of racial prejudice in the 19th century. It might not always be entirely clear - part of the plot involves time-travelling Belgian soldiers and their murderous subjugation of Congo in the future that gets a bit murky - but it is very effective. Phil Daniels puts in a great turn as a philandering and profane Charles Dickens, with …

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Macbeth at the Barbican: Christopher Eccleston is a Macbeth with PTSD ★★★
type: item
date: 2018-10-24T10:44:02.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: This accessible Shakespeare production is a bit gimmicky and strange - but also fun and intriguing, says David Butcher
encoded: Do you like your Macbeths steeped in dread and doom? If so, move along. This RSC production might not be for you. Director Polly Findlay and designer Fly Davis conjure chilling effects and a fair smattering of of “direst cruelty” but the overall vibe is like one of those arch horror movies that shocks you one minute and makes you cackle with laughter the next. The witches here are three young girls dressed in neat red dresses and white tights - a sinister horror-film trope. They can appear out of nowhere, chanting or laughing, and their prophecies have the air of a playground game. It is one that turns ugly for Macbeth and Banquo, who meet the witches not so much on a blasted heath as in a corporate atrium, all sharp lines and with a watercooler in one corner. Next to the watercooler sits a janitor figure, the Porter, who observes the action throughout and chalks up a tally on a blackboard each time someone dies - i.e. quite often. It’s one visual device among many (too many, probably). After Duncan’s murder, an LED clock above the stage lights up and starts counting down from two hours towards zero, marking the time Macbeth’s destiny has allotted. It’s a bold idea - if a smidge distracting - and the read-out hits zero at the moment Macduff ends the king’s life. Clever stuff, but what does it add? A grab-bag of other effects - slithering strings, glitter showers, the words NOW and LATER projected behind the action, electrical buzzes and glitches, a second raised stage behind glass – all add to a sense of a world that is “brain-sickly” and “heat-oppressed”. In that context the performances of Christopher Eccleston as Macbeth and Niamh Cusack as his monstrous other half are suitably manic. There are times when they jerk around like puppets, wide-eyed and caught in the grip of their “black and deep desires”. Eccleston delivers the soliloquys manfully, like a bluff soldier confronted with stuff he hasn’t trained for - whether an “air-drawn dagger” or PTSD from too much …

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Company at the Gielguld: A flawless revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-10-18T09:32:29.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: This updated version of Stephen Sondheim's musical is Sex and the City with a touch of Bridget Jones, raised to new heights by Broadway legend Patti LuPone, says Simon O'Hagan
encoded: The bar stool is her throne, the cocktail glass her sceptre, and the regality is pitched somewhere between Mae West and Dorothy Parker. It’s the moment, deep into the second half of this flawless revival of Stephen Sondheim’s great 1970 work, when Patti LuPone raises it to a whole other level — with a performance of The Ladies Who Lunch that sends the audience into such sustained raptures that you wonder whether the action will ever get going again. If that was the stand-out moment of the evening, there were so many others in a production of Sondheim’s study of love’s paradoxes that brimmed with ideas and intelligence as much as it did with energy and flair, both visual and musical. Company has been performed countless times the world over, but this production is a first in a very big way, with the leading role of Bobbie — a New York singleton whose friends are badgering her into getting married — played as a woman not a man. It works so beautifully — with Rosalie Craig’s Bobbie conveying such veracity and pathos — that you wonder how it has never been presented as a woman’s story before. And there’s more: one of the five couples – Paul and Amy in the original — is now Paul and Jamie, and that works beautifully too, with Jonathan Bailey outstanding as the neurotic Jamie. Maybe nobody asked Sondheim if he’d allow any of this, but director Marianne Elliott did, and the result is a triumph to rank with War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both of them huge hits of Elliott’s on the London stage in recent years. In Company, we’re in Sex and the City country with a touch of Bridget Jones, but as with both of those creations, Sondheim and writer George Furth are as interested in the married state as they are in the single one. The action is centred around Bobbie’s 35th birthday, the story updated to the era of the smartphone. We see Bobbie forlornly swiping left. “How many times do you get to be 35,” she wonders. “11?” We begin with her home alo…

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The Apprentice's Claude Littner: 'Love Island is a terrible programme – and I love it'
type: item
date: 2018-10-10T11:53:35.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: Reality TV
subject: TV
description: Lord Alan Sugar's right-hand man reveals his ideal Apprentice candidate – and the business he wishes he'd started
encoded: Lord Alan Sugar's right-hand man Claude Littner tells Radio Times about his TV loves and hates – and whether he's really as mean as he appears to be on The Apprentice... What do you watch on TV? Serious business programmes? I enjoyed Love Island. It’s such a terrible programme and the people are so absurd that it’s compelling viewing. When I wanted to watch it, my wife went off to watch Poldark. I also watch Channel 4 News, Newsnight, Question Time. And Judge Judy. The Apprentice 2018: meet the candidates Stay up to date with the RadioTimes.com newsletter My wife doesn’t like that, either, so I find myself watching a lot by myself! What I really love is University Challenge, because I’m always amazed by how they can answer the questions in a nanosecond. It’s sensational. View oEmbed on the source website What can you see from your sofa? We watch TV in our very cosy and comfortable den. My wife sits on one couch and I sit on one on the other side of the room, so I spend a lot of time looking at her, watching TV and looking at my iPad. I like to multitask! I imagine you have a choice of rooms to watch TV in… We have another area with a huge couch for 15 people – it has a very nice carpet and is very nicely done up. I refuse to let my grandchildren in there: they’re aged eight, seven and five, and then there are 13-month-old twins. Blimey. You’re a stern man on The Apprentice. Are you softer with your grandchildren? I demand the same respect from them that I do from the candidates. They’ve got to call me sir and I question them mercilessly. No, we have a lot of fun, we play football, I tease them a lot. What do you look for in an entrepreneur on The Apprentice? You’ve got to find out who is faking it and who is the real deal. With an interview like this, you might come away thinking, “He’s such a super bloke, that Claude,” but if you saw me for 12 weeks in a row you might form a different opinion. As The Apprentice unfolds, you get an understanding of the candidates an…

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Michelle Keegan and Luke Pasqualino reveal how they survived the gruelling Our Girl shoot
type: item
date: 2018-10-09T08:07:23.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: A 43-degree jungle, seven months away from home and two continents: the filming for BBC1's army drama wasn't made easy for the cast
encoded: Michelle Keegan (Georgie Lane) Could you survive in the military? I’m not very good physically… I’ve not got good stamina and I can’t really keep up with the boys, although on screen it probably looks like I can because they’re able to edit it all. It’s very tough especially in the climate we’re working in. In the jungle in Malaysia where we’ve been filming the new series, it got to 43 degrees. It’s very hot and it takes a while for me to acclimatise. So acting is easier? Yes! I also couldn’t stand the early mornings. Although I’m up early at the minute, we’ve had two military advisers with us since day one and before they start working at six in the morning they’re in the gym at half four. They train every single day without fail. I couldn’t do that. What I do like is rolling around getting dirty while filming – I always tell them to put more dirt on my face, it’s really liberating. View oEmbed on the source website How did you cope with filming away from home? It’s been really hard being away for so long. I’ve been away for seven and a half months – half of it in South Africa, half in Malaysia. It’s a long time. Mark [husband Mark Wright, former The Only Way Is Essex star] has been out and my best friend and brother came out to visit me. My mum is also going to come out at some point. But it’s still so hard being away from family and friends. I only had a two-week gap between finishing in South Africa and starting in Malaysia, which just wasn’t enough time to cram everyone in. Have you filmed for long periods abroad before? Not really – we filmed some of the last series in Manchester, so all in all I was away for three months, which at the time seemed quite long but is nothing in comparison. And Tina and Bobby [the ITV drama in which Keegan played Tina Moore] was all filmed in Manchester, too. What do you miss about home? Ordering a Chinese takeaway, in my pyjamas, while watching a film. I also miss taking my dogs for a walk. My mum has my dogs so she takes them o…

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What on earth is wrong with the detectives in Thirteen?
type: item
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: FINALE SPOILERS! The BBC abduction drama is seriously good — but the detectives are staggeringly bad, says Kasia Delgado
encoded: You know those days when you feel you've messed up? You were late for a meeting, you spilled tea over someone? Or you elbowed a child on the train by mistake? Those moments are guilt-inducing enough, filling you with doubt about whether you're worthy of this world. Meet the cast of Thirteen What’s the opening credits theme song in Thirteen? Why you should be watching Thirteen So imagine how the detectives on Thirteen must feel every single day of their working lives. I've really enjoyed the BBC3 drama, but what on earth is wrong with the police on that show? They are so staggeringly bad at their jobs that I honestly think my pet tortoise could do a better job of solving the case. Let's take the finale, in which Ivy Moxam (Jodie Comer) was sent to meet her kidnapper Mark White (Peter McDonald) in the hope that he would release his latest abductee Phoebe. There are 40 "eyes" on Ivy, yet Mark immediately persuades her to take out her ear piece and go round the back of the shopping centre where he abducts her in a van and zooms off. Now, I know zero things about detective work but isn't it obvious that she was probably going to take her ear piece out? She was kept in a cellar for 13 years by this man so she's probably going to instinctively listen to his instructions. He must have immense power over her. And couldn't they have given her a GPS tracker or in some way ensured that she wouldn't be abducted again? The mind boggles. View oEmbed on the source website But more generally, DI Elliot Carne (Richard Rankin) and DS Lisa Merchant (Valene Kane) need an intensive refresher course in How To Treat People Who Have Been Kept In A Cellar For Most Of Their Life. One minute they're being kind and calm, the next they're calling her a liar and a murderer without for one second thinking that, oh I don't know, maybe she's SERIOUSLY PSYCHOLOGICALLY DAMAGED FROM THE CELLAR? Of course, we don't want our TV detectives too professional because that would be boring. We need some jeopar…

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King of the broadcasting jungle: Sir David Attenborough reveals how TV has changed over 60 years
type: item
date: 2018-09-28T11:12:42.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The legendary broadcaster recalls the "unbelievable" early years of BBC TV – and how the broadcaster should prepare for the future
encoded: The doorbell rings, and seconds later Sir David Attenborough bounds out of his front door in his trademark light-blue, safari-style, short-sleeved shirt and stone-coloured chinos. I’ve come to Attenborough’s home – the large but unflashy house in Richmond, south-west London, where he’s lived for 60 years – to whisk him to the Radio Times photoshoot for this 95th-birthday issue. I’d imagined that I might have to wait while he took his time, but the 92-year-old strides down the path like a man two decades younger. Just back from a trip to Africa for a new BBC series, he shows no sign of travel weariness. I stand aside for him to get into the taxi – after all, he is Sir David Attenborough – but he insists I get in first. Later, when we get out to walk from the car to the studio, he opens doors for me, while I – 63 years younger – stumble on a small pothole. I feel he’s going to tell me to take care. Louis Theroux meets David Attenborough to talk global warming, animal kinship and mortality David Attenborough: the BBC ‘doesn’t do enough’ for culture and the arts David Attenborough: we must act now to protect our oceans from the deadly threat of plastic Very few people working in broadcasting today can claim to be able to recall six decades of Radio Times’s existence, let alone have been central to so much of the magazine’s coverage. His career is unique in UK broadcasting – behind the scenes as a producer, the controller of BBC2 and the man tasked with introducing colour TV to the nation; and in front of the camera, inspiring and educating us in hit series after hit series from Zoo Quest to Blue Planet II. Indeed, Attenborough has been such a fixture of British broadcasting that he and his shows have been on the cover of Radio Times more than anyone else except the Queen. How apt, then, that he’s happy to grace the cover as the magazine turns 95. You might expect that inviting Attenborough to a photoshoot for the cover would involve calls to agents, dozens of emails and…

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Meet the cast of Last Tango in Halifax
type: item
date: 2018-09-14T11:54:00.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: Here's a handy guide to Alan, Celia, Gillian and Caroline...
encoded: If you've not seen the previous series of Last Tango in Halifax or you've got a hazy memory, here's a guide to what's happened so far, who plays who and where you've seen the actors before. Celia (Anne Reid) The Last Tango story begins with Celia, a 70-something widow, who gets in touch with childhood sweetheart Alan after she spots him on Facebook. They meet up and get on so well that it's like they've never been apart. By episode two they're engaged, much to the shock and confusion of their children. The duo are based on writer Sally Wainwright's own mother's experience of a meeting her teenage boyfriend 60 years later on Friends Reunited. Wait, so there is hope I could end up marrying Sam, who I fancied in year nine? Interrrrresting.... Anyway, Celia's daughter Caroline is going out with a woman named Kate in series two and unlike Alan, Celia doesn't take the same-sex thing well at all. In fact, she refuses to accept it and there are torrid, throw-plates-at-the-wall, rows until Celia realises she's making her daughter miserable with her homophobia. As the Christmas special begins, Celia is happily married to Alan and is caught up in the daily chaos of her family. (Some) lessons have been learnt although her sharp tongue hasn't lost its edge. Played by: Anne Reid, who you'll know as Valerie in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies. Alan (Derek Jacobi) Alan knows all about life's peaks and troughs. He gets engaged to Celia and then at the end of series one he has a heart attack. It's all ok though because he recovers and marries Celia as planned. Alan's daughter Gillian has a complex time in the show and he's very involved - but more about that later. The crucial thing to know about Alan is that he discovers he has a son called Gary from an affair he had in the 1980s while married to his first wife, his daughter Gillian's mum. Alan doesn't tell Celia about Gary because he's worried she'll judge him for having had an affair - and especially because Celia's own …

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Heathers review: This revenge-fantasy musical simmers with wicked talent ★★★
type: item
date: 2018-09-14T11:28:45.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: The musical of the cult teen 1989 film is a joyful satire- but it could be darker
encoded: Bullying, suicide, body-shaming, mass school shooting – Heathers was the edgy, deliciously dark teen film still beloved for how spot-on it was about the social nightmare of teenage life. Winona Ryder played Veronica, who gets in with a popular, sinister clique at her school. Soon she and her new psychopathic boyfriend (Christian Slater) are exacting revenge on the clique not by calling them mean names but by, well, murdering them. This musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, is daring, bold and funny, with Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Veronica full of life-affirming energy – and a spine-tinglingly powerful voice. Her Baudelaire-quoting troubled boyfriend is played by Jamie Muscato who sings so beautifully that you can see why Veronica sticks with him even after he starts killing her peers. The songs are witty - ‘Dead Girl Walking’, ‘I am damaged’, ‘my dead gay son’ – and the ballads are searing and sweet, but the musical isn’t memorable. You won’t find yourself humming the songs after you leave. The stand-out star of the entire night is Jodie Steele, who plays the terrifying Heather, the ruler of the clique. She is hilariously cruel, cocking her hip and staring down anyone not worthy of being within an inch of her. The world is her catwalk. Heathers is huge fun, and the audience was whooping, clapping and roaring with laughter throughout. I just wish it had just been a bit darker, a bit edgier and a little more disconcerting – it toyed with shocking us, but didn’t quite get there. But even if it lacked a bit of the bite in the original film, Heathers is worth seeing for its slickness, creativity and stunning talent. Heathers is on at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 24 November

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Pericles at The National Theatre: Shakespeare's tragedy transformed into a rousing musical
type: item
date: 2018-08-29T11:31:51.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: Indian percussion, gospel choirs and acrobatics make for a surprising, moving reworking of the Bard's play, says Claire Webb
encoded: The National Theatre has transformed one of Shakespeare’s least popular tragedies into an uplifting musical with a Disneyesque soundtrack, a dash of Baz Luhrmann-style pizzazz and a company of over 200 amateurs. In Chris Bush’s family-friendly new version, Pericles is a proud prince who loses everything. Banished from his kingdom, he discovers true love in a foreign land, only to lose his beloved wife at sea. The widowed king finally discovers the true meaning of home with the help of his long-lost daughter, and the journey at the heart of the play becomes a parable for diversity and inclusivity. Pericles is the first production to come out of the National Theatre’s Public Acts initiative, a partnership with eight community groups and an East London theatre – the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch. It’s the culmination of a year of workshops and sees 120 Londoners of different ages and backgrounds making their acting debut on the venerable Olivier Stage. There are also brilliant cameos from amateur performance groups, including acrobatics from Newham’s Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders, percussion from Indian arts centre The Bhavan, gospel singers from Faith Works Choir, and a heartrending lamentation from the London Bulgarian Choir when Pericles is widowed. Director Emily Lim has stage-managed her vast cast into a slick production that never flags for a second. There’s are special effects, colourful costumes, a live band that jumps effortlessly between two dozen musical genres. Lim knows how to make the audience coo: the youngest cast members are given cute cameos. The leads are professional and impeccable, although it’s often the amateurs who got the biggest laughs. As Pericles, Ashley Zhangazha segues seamlessly from swaggering young prince to wizened king, and from iambic pentameter to ballad. Jim Fortune’s sugary songs are perhaps more suited to a Disney movie, but the singing was superb – Naana Agyei-Ampadu deserves a special shout out as Pericles’ soulful beloved, Thaisa…

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Exit the King review: Rhys Ifans is irresistible as Ionesco’s mad monarch
type: item
date: 2018-07-26T11:32:27.000Z
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: This new version of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist work "is a very funny play about characters trapped in a slow-motion car-crash", says David Butcher
encoded: ‘I could feel that there was something incredibly lively and painful and funny in all this,’ director Patrick Marber has said of rediscovering Eugene Ionesco’s 1962 play about a dying king in a collapsing kingdom. He’s right, and it’s an inspired move to revive the Theatre of the Absurd classic in 2018, when its story of hubris in high places feels so topical it might as well be a Saturday Night Live sketch with the king wearing a Trump wig. The play puts us at the heart of an unnamed empire, where 400-year-old King Berenger I (Rhys Ifans) is facing his mortality. “If only I could have one more century, I’d be prepared,” he complains. Over the Olivier stage looms a Ruritanian coat of arms of a black eagle painted on a vast palace wall with a deep, cracking fissure down it, a symbol of the ills afflicting the land. “Our cities are rubble, swimming pools set ablaze,” sighs the queen, in a typically surreal line. “The clouds rain toads,” frets the king’s doctor-cum-astronomer. They and a few courtiers are gathered to witness the great king’s death, which will occur, they warn him (and us) bluntly, in 68 minutes, “at the end of the play.” So it’s not a long piece, and don’t expect plot twists - or any plot, for that matter. The characters simply swirl around the same plughole for scene after ludicrous scene, until, at the climax, that giant set delivers a brilliant, slow-motion coup de théâtre you won’t forget in a hurry. It’s all mesmerisingly daft and as the King, Rhys Ifans is irresistible, declaiming his lines in a glorious Peter O’Toole voice but behaving like a petulant child who refuses to accept his fate. “Go kill the spiders in my bedroom, don’t let them outlive me!” he orders. He’s part King Lear, part Iggy Pop, a fallen idol in blue satin pyjamas. In one scene he clings to his sceptre while courtiers try to remove it, whining “ My sceptre! My one!” like a spoilt toddler. “What a sick joke is life!” he moans at another point – more or less the absurdist creed …

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Allelujah! review: Alan Bennett's NHS play is full of wit and fury ★★★
type: item
date: 2018-07-20T10:27:23.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
description: The playwright's new drama looks at the grim realities of a geriatric ward - but it doesn't quite live up to Bennett's usual brilliance, says Michael Delgado
encoded: As I walk towards The Bridge theatre, neon-red letters scream at me from the front of the building. Nicholas Hytner’s sparkling new bankside venue is grand and exciting. What a place, then, to stage Alan Bennett’s Allelujah! – a play about a much creakier, imperiled edifice. Bennett’s latest offering, directed by long-time collaborator Hytner, is set in the geriatric ward of the Bethlehem Hospital, affectionately nicknamed The Beth. We are encouraged to see The Beth with the same fondness we see its patients. Like the delightful cast of geriatrics, the hospital is old and beset with problems, yet charming and indispensable. Tragically, the institution’s cradle-to-grave care is considered too cosy for harsh realities of modern life, and the looming threat of closure sparks a campaign to ‘Save the Beth’. Peter Forbes’ well-meaning but pompous, bumbling chairman takes the helm, and arranges for a documentary to be made about the hospital. It is the roaming camera which not only enables comic moments, but also the play’s central dramatic turn. When Bennett’s acerbic wit is allowed breathing space, the play shines. The best moments are those where sharp comedy is tempered by the grim realities of life on a geriatric ward. Gags about bladder control, impotence, and prostates abound. So does gallows humour. ‘How rude’, remarks Simon Williams’ endearingly grumpy Ambrose after hearing that his friend has died in the night. ‘Didn’t he realise there’s a queue?’ But jokes are not the whole story, and Bennett’s anger at the NHS’s decline bubbles below Allelujah’s surface. Sacha Dhawan’s Dr. Valentine is a good-natured student doctor threatened with deportation, and his plot strand quietly rages at the government’s hostility towards immigration. While the message is worthwhile, and pointedly relevant today, this thread often lacks subtlety. Valentine’s direct plea to the audience late in the second half unnecessarily breaks the fourth wall, and gives the impression that we are si…

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“The starting point was me” - Benedict Cumberbatch on why The Child in Time was so personal
type: item
date: 2018-06-22T13:13:37.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The Sherlock star talks the strain of starring in "very, very dark" BBC drama The Child in Time
encoded: How would you cope if your child vanished? This was the horrifying reality that Benedict Cumberbatch, the father of two young children, had to face in his role in The Child in Time, the BBC1 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 1987 novel about a man whose young daughter is kidnapped from the supermarket. It’s a haunting, gut-twisting account of parental torture. “There was a point,” says Cumberbatch, “where I said to the director, ‘I’m worried I’m getting a bit too upset in these scenes.’ I suppose it’s easier to imagine [as a father], but it isn’t that difficult to imagine. These circumstances are harrowing… They’re unthinkable for any parent, for anyone who has children in their life. It’s horrific, and very, very upsetting.” View oEmbed on the source website Particularly moving for Cumberbatch was a scene in the 90-minute film where his character Stephen Lewis, a children’s author, thinks he’s seen his daughter Kate again, three years after he lost sight of her. “Everything opens up with a double sledgehammer of grief: he’s reimagining that loss, experiencing it all over again, and feeling the humiliation of running after a schoolgirl he thinks is his daughter.” When it was published three decades ago, McEwan’s novel won the Whitbread Award and was declared an “extraordinary achievement” by The Guardian, while The Times concluded that “artistically, morally and politically, he excels”. Christopher Hitchens called it McEwan’s “masterpiece”, and the book has gone on to be studied by GSCE and A-level students across Britain. “I’m a McEwan nut,” says Cumberbatch, speaking to Radio Times at a press event for the drama, “and I don’t think I would have been as interested in this story per se had it not been adapted from such a masterful work that is Ian McEwan’s original novel.” It was also the lead character who appealed to Cumberbatch – an ordinary middle-class man married to Julie, played movingly by Kelly Macdonald. “I had a desire to portray someone closer to me,” says the …

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Copenhagen: Where to eat like a local and drink like a Dane
type: item
date: 2018-06-15T10:14:02.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: Travel
subject: TV
description: Fancy a weekend away in Saga Noren's hometown? Don't miss the Tivoli Gardens' retro rides, crazy liquorice and that bridge...
encoded: With its sparkling waterways, serene cyclists and lively streets, Copenhagen is often voted the world’s most “liveable” city – but you don’t need to settle there to see the appeal. The Danish capital is the ideal city break for lovers of food, history, culture and design – and fans of the hit Scandi-noir drama The Bridge, which is set in the Danish capital and the Swedish city of Malmo, linked by the stunning Oresund Bridge. Here’s our quick tour of Copenhagen’s many highlights to whet your appetite… High culture — and wild rides The Christiansborg Palace is home to the Danish Supreme Court, parliament and the administrative offices of the royal family, and it’s where politician Birgitte Nyborg spent her days in the political drama Borgen. Take the lift up to the top of the palace, and on a clear day you can see all the way to Sweden. Back at ground level, a guided canal tour is a relaxing way to spot the Opera House, the old canal district of Christianshavn and the Little Mermaid statue. And on dry land, whether you like rollercoasters or not, amusement park Tivoli Gardens is enchanting, full of exotic plants, shimmering pavilions and open-air music, right in the centre of Copenhagen. A 25-minute train ride outside the city is the impressive Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, with over 3,000 works of art, a sculpture park and beautiful sea views. Find flights to Copenhagen Compare best-rated hotels in Copenhagen Eat like a local… Try classic Danish rye bread sandwiches, or smorrebrod, topped with herrings and salt beef at café Din Nye Ven (Your New Friend) in central Copenhagen. Gemyse, at the Nimb Hotel in Tivoli Gardens, serves delicious organic food that is grown in the restaurant gardens and in a sustainable farm in North Sealand, the area north of the city. Visit the buzzing Latin quarter and enjoy modern Danish food and good wine at the beautifully designed Vakst, or a cosy meal at the unfussy but tasty Madklubben Vesterbro. Denmark’s first street food market, P…

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"I'm keeping my eye on Mo Farah": Usain Bolt on Soccer Aid and watching The Big Bang Theory
type: item
date: 2018-06-10T12:35:42.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Football
subject: News
subject: Sport
subject: TV
description: Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt discusses his football skills and TV viewing habits with Radio Times
encoded: Soccer Aid welcomes the world’s fastest man and Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt who tells Radio Times how he watches sport and Peaky Blinders – alone You’re at home in Jamaica – what can you see from the sofa? My living room sofa faces a large TV – to the left is my trophy room, to the right you can see my garden. I bet you’ve got a sizeable sofa… I would call it a huge lounger. It is a “U” shape and fits around eight to ten people. I often get a lot of friends coming round to hang out. I like chilling by myself but also with friends. Soccer Aid 2018: meet the teams The best women's sport on TV in 2018 RadioTimes.com newsletter: get the latest TV and entertainment news direct to your inbox View oEmbed on the source website Where do you keep all your awards and medals? My medals are in a bank in Jamaica. Is there a show you never miss? I only really watch live TV for sport. Otherwise it’s box sets or movies – I just finished Peaky Blinders. What makes you laugh? I love comedy. I watch a lot of the comedian Kevin Hart and The Big Bang Theory. Are you easily distracted when watching TV? No, my agent and manager often ask me things when I’m watching TV and I say yes. Then later I don’t ever remember having spoken to them, because I was focused on the TV! Did your parents discipline you as a child? I imagine it was difficult because you could just run away… My parents were very strict growing up, especially my dad. He has typical Jamaican family values, I didn’t mess with him. My mum was the softie, so they were a good balance. You’re taking part in Soccer Aid for Unicef this year – why did you want to get involved? Easy. I love football. I love competing in front of a big crowd. But most of all I love the fact that this game will make a real difference to thousands of children around the world. I’m the captain of the World XI team and I will be motivating my team to win. How do you think playing on a team will be different from all of your racing experience? I know I …

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Ordeal by Innocence star Bill Nighy reveals why he almost gave up acting
type: item
date: 2018-05-30T10:34:15.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The star of the BBC's new Agatha Christie adaptation explains why he longs to be typecast
encoded: Are you an Agatha Christie fan? I discovered the books when young and read all of them. I gave them to my daughter when she was 12. It was marvellous to see her go through them. Did you remember the Ordeal by Innocence story from having read it? I barely remember my name! I buy books and get to chapter three and go, “Oh! I’ve done it again. I read this in 1995.” I’ve done that half a dozen times. So I didn’t remember, no! View oEmbed on the source website Meet the cast of Agatha Christie drama Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence: the inside story of how the series was reshot after the allegations against Ed Westwick Did you go back to the book? If I’m doing adaptations of novels, I don’t read the book. You don’t need all that information, which may or may not have survived into the script. Who do you play? Leo Argyll, widower of the murdered Rachel Argyll and head of a rather strange house comprising their five adopted children, all of whom have shady pasts. Everyone looks very shifty, and hopefully the audience will bounce around trying to figure it out. Leo is an amateur Egyptologist and very interested in dead bodies… Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do? Yes. At assembly once in school, somebody next to me did something like pinch somebody’s bum, and I was accused of doing it. I was sent to the headmaster to be beaten and then the boy who did it came up and confessed, which was quite a big deal. He rocketed in my estimation. Do you ever watch yourself on telly? No. I tried that when I was young and less complicated to look at, and it was bloody awful. I was third bank robber in Softly, Softly [BBC1 1976]. I was staying in digs with some people — they were all crowded in the front room, and then I came on TV. I walked out, it was so terrible. What was so bad about it? I had a phoney accent, which was just not committed enough, and my hair, obviously. Oh! I went on Richard & Judy once, and they said, “We’ve got a bit of a surprise for you.” I …

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"I’ll watch any old rubbish": Ken Bruce talks TV habits and meeting his wife at Eurovision
type: item
date: 2018-05-25T08:40:49.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Entertainment
subject: News
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: audio
description: The Radio 2 presenter will host BBC music festival The Biggest Weekend
encoded: The Radio 2 presenter and broadcaster Ken Bruce will be headed to Perth this bank holiday weekend, as he presents BBC Music’s The Biggest Weekend. Here, he talks success, TV habits - and meeting his wife at Eurovision. When is The Biggest Weekend on TV? What time is it, and who are the acts? Noel and Liam Gallagher to headline BBC’s Biggest Weekend Festival – in separate shows RadioTimes.com newsletter: get the latest TV and entertainment news direct to your inbox View oEmbed on the source website Tell me about your sofa… Years ago I bought a large sevenseat, chocolate-brown corner sofa on a whim (it was on offer!). It’s a bit tattered now, but to remove it I’d have to demolish a wall, so there it stays. It tends to be full of children and dogs, so I got myself a little armchair, and I have first dibs on that. The telly is in one corner, and on the other side of the fireplace is the “trophy” cabinet, which includes my Ready Steady Cook plate, Celebrity Mastermind trophy and two others for shows yet to air, so not a word! What shows can’t you miss? I keep up with Coronation Street, and Harry Hill never fails to make me laugh. And I find the Gogglebox stars funny – Tommy Malone is one of my favourites. And those reunion shows tend to make me remove my glasses to take something out of my eye… You met your wife at the Eurovision Song Contest – how does it feel sharing an anniversary with the event? Kerith and I met at Eurovision 98 in Birmingham and it probably has given me a warmer feeling about the contest, and kept me coming back, despite the UK’s poor showings. It must be a little like childbirth: you forget the pain by the time the next one is due. But I do love it really and I’ll be in Israel next year, all being well. Who is your favourite person to watch TV with? My wife and I watch together and comment and laugh at the same things. However, somehow the two youngest [Verity and Charlie] always seem to find the remote before we can, so we often end up watching, a…

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Mood Music at The Old Vic review: A compelling look at creativity and narcissism ★★★★
type: item
date: 2018-05-04T11:16:44.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Going Out
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Ben Chaplin is captivating as a middle-aged musician fighting a young singer over song credits, says Kasia Delgado
encoded: When asked why he hires female singers for his songs, middle-aged musician Bernard says casually, "because they're cheaper." The Old Vic audience laughs darkly and knowingly at this nonchalant admission that women are treated badly in the music industry. In the age of the gender pay gap and #MeToo, that comment strikes a particularly loud note. But Bernard doesn't laugh or seem to think there's anything wrong with the fact that women are cheaper. To him it seems perfectly normal and if it is bad, it isn't really his problem. This sets the tone for Joe Penhall's play about former big rock star Bernard (Ben Chaplin) who has teamed up with young singer-songwriter Cat to make a record. The duo end up in a war over who really wrote the hit song they produced, who deserves the credit. Chaplin is gripping and very funny as a controlling ego-maniac who gets off on making Cat suffer but is also shimmering with rock-star charisma. It's a testament to how well the play is written - and acted- because while Bernard's awful, he's also charming enough that he never repels the audience entirely, you want more of Bernard because despite being a nightmarish narcissist, he's also alluring. He gets away with it just as so many real rock stars always have. Seána Kerslake brims with fury and doubt as young musician Cat, simultaneously dazzled by Bernard and wishing he was dead for taking advantage of her inexperience and passion. Book tickets for Mood Music The play is about the music industry but it's more about women and men, the systematic reasons that females get a bad deal so much of the time, and the myth of the artistic genius. For much of the play, Cat and Bernard talk to their psychotherapists and lawyers, having hugely entertaining and maddening conversations about how and why things have gone so wrong. Neil Stuke is brilliant as Bernard's slippery but exasperated lawyer, spitting with frustration as his client destroys everything gleefully and purposefully, a child trampling …

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Genevieve O'Reilly plays The Secret's naive but guilty killer beautifully
type: item
date: 2018-04-27T11:18:00.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Drama
subject: News
subject: TV
description: James Nesbitt is excellent in ITV's real-life drama, but it's O'Reilly as Hazel who deserves the plaudits for this dark story, says Kasia Delgado
encoded: It's been a tricky week for The Secret. Not in ratings terms - it's a hit - but because it has upset the daughter of Lesley Howell, the real-life murdered mother portrayed in the ITV drama. The family claims permission to make the drama was never sought, and daughter Lauren Bradford's case was raised during Prime Minister's Questions, where her local MP argued that relatives need more rights over their stories – especially ones as traumatic as this one. This topic raises lots of difficult, important questions about dramatisations of real-life events – and in a way, I feel guilty for enjoying a piece of TV that has been painful for the family of the victims. The Secret: how a mild-mannered dentist murdered two people and buried the truth for years James Nesbitt explains why The Secret’s true story of murder is close to home And yet, you cannot ignore the fact that The Secret, as a piece of TV, deserves all the praise it gets for its staggeringly good acting. James Nesbitt is bewitching as Colin, a man so obsessed with God, punishment and redemption that he's found a way to justify murder. View oEmbed on the source website But while everyone's talking about Nesbitt's on-screen power, it's really Genevieve O'Reilly (Banished, Episodes) who is hooking me in to this grim story. Nesbitt's Colin Howell seems convinced his life and actions are of epic, biblical proportions. God sees him, he's sure of it, and he's centre stage in his family life, running bible classes and basking in his popularity. He's a local hero with a sinister inner world. But O'Reilly's Hazel, Colin's accomplice, is quieter and harder to read, engulfed in a vulnerable innocence that makes her guilt seem all the more disturbing. We can guess what Colin's thinking: we know he's being driven by something far darker than the holy book, and that these brutal plans have come from his desperation to have what he wants. But O'Reilly's skilful portrayal of Hazel leaves you wondering whether the plan could have …

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Stephen Mangan on his new show Bliss – and why Green Wing didn’t win more awards
type: item
date: 2018-04-20T10:37:49.000Z
creator: Kasia Delgado
subject: Comedy
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The actor's new Sky 1 comedy sees him playing a man struggling to conceal a double life
encoded: What have you been watching? I loved Stranger Things and Blue Planet II. Strictly, too, but I wouldn’t go on it because nobody needs to see me in a pair of tight trousers with a shaved chest. I’ll also tell you what I haven’t been watching… That’s the opposite of what this column is for, but go on… I agreed to go on the Game of Thrones discussion show Thronecast but I hadn’t actually seen any of it. Then I realised the fans are so fanatical they’d tear me limb from limb, so I sat down and watched hours of it for two weeks – I took notes, did family trees. It was like doing an A-level. First look at Stephen Mangan and Heather Graham in new Sky 1 comedy Bliss Stephen Mangan to play a troubled therapist in new Channel 4 comedy Hang Ups In your comedy Bliss your character leads a double life with two families. That also sounds like hard work... It must be an absolute nightmare. I’ve got one family and even that’s brought me to the edge of exhaustion. My character ends up in this ridiculous situation through a cowardly niceness and not fessing up to things. You can relate to him because he just keeps putting off that moment of reckoning, which we all do in our lives all the time. Your character is a travel writer – what would you have been if not an actor? I did a law degree but I wasn’t ever really going to go down that route. I just played a barrister and I’m very glad I went to work down the glitter mine. How do you relax? One of the great joys of having kids is reading to them. I have three [ten, seven and nearly two] and my wife [actress Louise Delamere] is going to keep having kids so I can keep doing my silly voices. The most shameful thing I ever did was when I was in a play and my eldest was very young. As he was falling asleep I’d put on an audiobook of Tamsin Greig and me reading fairy stories. He thought every story started with “Read by Stephen Mangan”. Would you and Tamsin ever do more Green Wing? Maybe in five years we’ll be desperate for the money… It’ll …

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