Sky Atlantic / NOW TV The premise of Lovecraft Country – HBO’s timely new creature feature from super-producers Jordan Peele and JJ Abrams – is certainly bold. As its title suggests, it’s inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft, whose lurid ‘cosmic horror’ stories gifted the world such monstrosities as the giant, octopoid ‘Cthulu’. He was also,Continue reading “Lovecraft Country”
Author Archives: paulkirkley
Isa Guha: “I feel a responsibility to the game that’s given so much to me.”
When Isa Guha made her England cricket debut aged 17, she had no idea she was also making history. “It never crossed my mind,” says the celebrated pace bowler of becoming the first British Asian woman to represent her country in any sport. “It’s only later I actually discovered why it was a big deal.Continue reading “Isa Guha: “I feel a responsibility to the game that’s given so much to me.””
Muppets Now
Disney+ People love the Muppets, don’t they? Not kids, particularly – they don’t seem that fussed. I’m talking about grownups of a certain age: the ones who insist that The Muppets Christmas Carol is better than the Alistair Sim or Albert Finney versions, and possibly even better than Dickens’ version (which is something of a disappointment inContinue reading “Muppets Now”
Little Birds
Sky Atlantic / NOW TV Depending on which critics you read, Anaïs Nin was either a spirited pioneer of female sexual empowerment, or a self-absorbed narcissist dressing up her mucky fantasies as ‘art’. In Little Birds, writer Sophia Al Maria has taken Nin’s posthumous collection of erotic short stories as the (very loose) inspiration for a steamy sagaContinue reading “Little Birds”
A Suitable Boy
BBC One / iPlayer The BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable Boy arrived trailing a mild controversy in its wake: namely, is Andrew Davies, a white Welshman, really the most… well, suitable candidate to adapt Vikram Seth’s epic saga of post-partition India? What Davies does have, of course, is experience in wrestling mammoth historical doorstops onto the screen,Continue reading “A Suitable Boy”
Lily Cole: “It’s very hard to have ideals and fully live up to them. But that doesn’t mean ideals aren’t important.”
In 2010, Lily Cole received two invitations in the space of a week. One was to take part in a fashion show – the sort of high-profile catwalk parade that had helped make the then 22-year-old one of the most famous models in the world, with a multi-million pound fortune to match. The other wasContinue reading “Lily Cole: “It’s very hard to have ideals and fully live up to them. But that doesn’t mean ideals aren’t important.””
Don Black: “Did I ever write a song for my wife? Yes, all of them.”
A week after Don Black was admitted to hospital with Covid-19, a nurse happened to notice his hands. “She said, ‘they’re very soft – what do you do?’” the 82-year-old tells Weekend. “I said, ‘I write songs – Google me’. And I thought that was it. Anyway, when the day came for me to leave, theyContinue reading “Don Black: “Did I ever write a song for my wife? Yes, all of them.””
Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm
BBC FOUR / iPLAYER A Welsh pig and dairy farm may sound like an unlikely rock and roll mecca – or, indeed, a fitting subject for a 90-minute TV tribute. But as this absolute gem of a rock-doc demonstrated, Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire has been the location for some fairly seismic moments in the historyContinue reading “Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm”
Imagine… This House is Full of Music
BBC One / iPLAYER Two years ago, Sheku Kanneh-Mason was performing at a royal wedding in Windsor Castle, watched by a global audience in the hundreds of millions. This summer, he’s playing his cello in the front hallway of his family’s Nottingham home, with occasional interruptions from the Amazon delivery man. Welcome to planet EarthContinue reading “Imagine… This House is Full of Music”
Nitin Sawhney: “You’re constantly confronting demons from your past.”
Spend half an hour in the company of Nitin Sawhney and you’ll quickly see why the word that crops up time and again in profiles of him is ‘polymath’. Over the course of a wide-ranging conversation with Weekend, the composer and multi-instrumentalist bounces from discussions of race and identity to a technical deconstruction of Western classicalContinue reading “Nitin Sawhney: “You’re constantly confronting demons from your past.””
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