I was delighted to discover recently that two great West Country actors went to my old school. Robert Newton, who played the archetypal Long John Silver (and arguably originated the ‘pirate accent’) and George Woodbridge, the classic Hammer horror innkeeper and comedy policeman, were both students of Exeter School in Devon. Newton, born in Dorset … Continue reading
You don’t hear many conventional love songs from Essex retro rock band The 1957 Tail Fin Fiasco – so the new single Monogamy Pews is predictably not a celebration of romantic marriage. In fact, this track from their latest album The Harvard Tango tells the story of Glynn Wolfe, also known as Scotty Wolfe, a … Continue reading
The idea of a channel devoted to classic films isn’t new, but in the UK Talking Pictures TV has found what seems to be the perfect nostalgic formula. While TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has been around since the 1990s and more recently Sony Movies has launched a dedicated ‘Classic’ channel, these and others tend to … Continue reading
Can you remember the first film you saw on colour TV? I can remember mine because, by pure luck, it was a spectacular timeless classic that had me glued to the screen – The Thief of Bagdad. It was a rainy August Bank Holiday in 1975. As a family, we were late adopters: for whatever … Continue reading
Fans of brilliantly plotted crime fiction will be delighted that the latest DI Adam Fawley thriller has been published. I was doubly delighted because I got to go to the launch party. All The Rage by my ultra-talented friend Cara Hunter is out now from Penguin Books – the fourth in her Oxford-set Fawley series … Continue reading
Nicola Sanderson is an incredibly versatile British actor with a record of success on stage, screen and radio – from thrillers to soap operas to comedies. I was lucky enough to see her as Auntie Lou in the stage production of Agatha Christie’s Love From a Stranger last year [2018] and have thoroughly enjoyed her … Continue reading
If there’s one thing more exciting than reading the latest Cara Hunter thriller, it’s being in the latest Cara Hunter thriller. That’s the honour bestowed upon me by my dear friend, the mind-bogglingly talented author of the best-selling Adam Fawley novels. Continue reading
Michael Wong, the Malaysian film-maker whose debut short The Story of 90 Coins picked up a host of awards (and was reviewed on this blog!), has released his second film – and it marks quite a change of direction. While 90 Coins was an engaging romance which ran to nine minutes, The Tattooist is a … Continue reading
Detective Inspector Adam Fawley is back in the second thriller by Cara Hunter – which means I got to enjoy more reflected glory (Cara is a friend) and another launch event. Cara’s debut Close to Home has been a runaway best-seller, a Richard and Judy book club choice, and an audiobook starring Lee Ingleby. Continue reading
From the role of Young Murron in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning Braveheart to in-demand lead in a huge range of features and shorts, Mhairi Calvey‘s career has come a long way in the last 25 years. As an actor, she has some exciting feature films on the way, and is also writing and directing her own … Continue reading
