Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Guy Anker, Leaf Arbuthnot and Arion McNicoll. You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts: In this week’s episode, we discuss: Streaming court case Five people who hadContinue Reading
“Many critics sigh at the prospect of yet another ‘Dream’, Shakespeare’s most accessible and most performed play,” said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. Yet for me the play – a “joyful skip through the Athenian forest, packed as it is with errant lovers, mischievous fairies and some joyously badContinue Reading
“It’s quite a feat to leave the viewer feeling simultaneously galvanised, reflective and wrung-out, but the new five-part James Bluemel docuseries ‘Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland’ (BBC Two) manages it,” said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. Bluemel made a celebrated 2020 series about the Iraq War, and hereContinue Reading
After four seasons jam-packed with cut-throat boardroom drama and eviscerating sibling rivalry, “Succession” has come to an end. It was a “perfect, terrible goodbye”, said The Guardian, as show runners brought the popular dark comedy series to a gripping conclusion. Many loyal viewers were keen to see more of Kendall,Continue Reading
A “blazing, once-in-a-generation talent”, Martin Amis “provoked, inspired and outraged readers … across a literary career that set off like a rocket, and went on to dazzle, streak and burn for almost 50 years”, said Boyd Tonkin in The Guardian. He wrote 15 novels, as well as journalism and essaysContinue Reading
The Welsh-born painter Gwen John is generally remembered as a “fragile”, isolated figure, said Mark Hudson in The Independent. Neglected for some time after her death, John (1876-1939) was rediscovered in the 1980s, when she was reassessed as a reclusive talent overshadowed by two “bombastic male egos”: her brother, theContinue Reading
This four-part documentary series reveals the truth behind Bernie Madoff’s $64bn global Ponzi scheme, the largest in history. With access to whistleblowers, employees, investigators, and victims, and never-before-seen video depositions of Madoff himself, filmmaker Joe Berlinger uncovers how the fraud was not just the brainchild of one evil genius. Madoff:Continue Reading
Tina Turner, commonly dubbed the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll”, has died at the age of 83 following a long illness. The singer “died peacefully” at her home near Zurich, Switzerland, her spokesperson confirmed in a statement. “With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.” Born AnnaContinue Reading
This entertaining co-production of “Anna Karenina”, which transfers from Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre to Bristol Old Vic next month, “began as a dare”, said Fergus Morgan in The Stage. The British-Russian director Polina Kalinina was complaining to the Scottish writer Lesley Hart that Russian literary texts typically “suffered from staidnessContinue Reading
In a 2006 interview to celebrate receiving his CBE, Rolf Harris was asked why he was so popular. “I guess it’s because I’m real,” said the entertainer, whose death aged 93 was reported this week. “I’m not putting over a huge, phoney facade. The bloke you see up on theContinue Reading
