I’m not normally one for New Year’s resolutions. But, for the sake of my sanity, I’ve decided that 2025 is the year in which I’m going to take a lot less notice of… stuff. And by stuff, I mean all the sound and fury of a world that is growing increasingly noisy, chaotic and, notContinue reading “Goodbye to all that”
Tag Archives: Writing
A Portrait of Terror
The ghost stories of M R James have been a spooky festive favourite for more than a century. Dating back to the days when the Cambridge scholar would read aloud to friends and students in his rooms at King’s College on Christmas Eve, James’ spine-chilling tales would later become a regular fixture of the BBC’sContinue reading “A Portrait of Terror”
David Nicholls: ‘I don’t know if authors should think too much about where they come on the brow scale.’
The year is 2009. Gordon Brown is Prime Minister, Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the board at the Oscars, and Susan Boyle outsells Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to become the UK’s unlikely new queen of pop. In publishing, meanwhile, the year marks the arrival of two very different, but equally cherished, literary sensations: Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winningContinue reading “David Nicholls: ‘I don’t know if authors should think too much about where they come on the brow scale.’”
Jack Thorne: “My autism seemed to be an open secret to everyone but me”
Jack Thorne squirms slightly whenever someone describes him as ‘prolific’. “I always feel it talks to a lack of care,” says the man The Guardian once dubbed ‘the hardest-working writer in Britain’. “I don’t want to be the guy who, when someone asks for six bananas, says ‘I can give you 12 bananas.’ So that’s why I’mContinue reading “Jack Thorne: “My autism seemed to be an open secret to everyone but me””
Jed Mercurio: “Our cast know that no-one in Line of Duty is safe…”
In the course of his eclectic and intimidatingly high-achieving career, Jed Mercurio has gone from being a doctor and an RAF pilot to arguably the most successful and powerful writer-producer in British television. And he owes it all to an episode of Blockbusters. “When I was in the lower sixth, there was a kid onContinue reading “Jed Mercurio: “Our cast know that no-one in Line of Duty is safe…””
Michael Praed: “Robin of Sherwood holds up, but if you watched Dynasty now, you’d p*** yourself laughing”
TV Heroes: Michael Praed found fame as TV’s best Robin Hood, before quitting for an ill-fated stint on Broadway – and marriage in a hail of bullets in front of 60 million people. It was some “crazy shit”, he tells Paul Kirkley. Michael Praed has just described Liam Neeson as “an absolute bastard to workContinue reading “Michael Praed: “Robin of Sherwood holds up, but if you watched Dynasty now, you’d p*** yourself laughing””
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