Category Archives: Television & radio

Twiggy: ‘I don’t think high fashion will ever move completely away from slimness’

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As a model, she was the face of the 60s, and went on to have a busy acting career. She discusses her new podcast, and life in swinging London

So enduring is that image of Twiggy – side-swept hair, heavy eyes, delicate neck – that it’s strange to think she was a model for only four years.

But Twiggy is an expert at reinvention (or “branching out” as her joke goes). The schoolgirl known as Lesley Hornby became Twiggy, the face of the 1960s, recognised then and now by a single name. At 21, she became the all-singing, all-dancing star of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Boy Friend, which won her two Golden Globes. She has performed on Broadway, recorded albums and been a TV presenter. In her 60s, she turned fashion designer, with several collections for Marks & Spencer. Last year, she was given a damehood.

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Jerry Stiller, star of Seinfeld and father of Ben, dies aged 92

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Comedian who formed a popular duo with his wife, Anne Meara, has died of natural causes

The comedian Jerry Stiller has died at the age of 92. His death was announced on Monday on Twitter by the actor Ben Stiller, who called him “a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband”.

Jerry Stiller enjoyed a long career on stage and screen, often accompanied by his wife, Anne Meara, with whom he formed a popular comedy act. They met in 1953, married the following year and regularly teamed up for improv sketches, performing in Las Vegas nightclubs and on The Ed Sullivan Show and other TV programmes, often in character as the squabbling spouses Mary Elizabeth Doyle and Hershey Horowitz, playing upon their Irish Catholic and Jewish cultures. In 2010, they took their act online, performing from the front room of their New York apartment. Meara died in 2015.

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Julie Andrews: ‘I was certainly aware of tales about the casting couch’

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The celebrated actor had a turbulent upbringing before becoming world-famous for playing two perfect nannies. Now she’s bonding with a new generation of children through her storytelling podcast

“I’ll tell you what, shall I go outside?” Julie Andrews asks. We are talking by phone, but, alas, the reception inside her home on Long Island is, she says, “always terrible”. Torturous minutes pass in which I can hear only fragments of her conversation, and if anyone knows of a sweeter agony than being barely able to hear Andrews’ still lovely, melodious voice, I don’t want to know what it is. Eventually, I have to tell her this phone conversation isn’t working.

“I can stand out in my garden, although it is a bit nippy …” Andrews suggests.

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It’s boom time for podcasts – but will going mainstream kill the magic?

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Fifteen years ago, when the word podcast was added to the dictionary, only the tech-savvy were listening. Now, as star names pile in, they’re big business. Can the quality survive?

Hello friends! Do you fancy listening to “a new type of time-shifted amateur radio”? No? How about a brilliant podcast? Of course you do.

Fifteen years ago, Macworld, a magazine for fans of Apple products, announced, with limited fanfare, that Apple was about to add podcasts to iTunes, its music download offer. Unfortunately, few readers knew what a podcast was, hence Macworld’s “time-shifted radio” definition. In June 2005, the idea of having thousands of ready-to-hear audio shows, anything from true-crime documentaries to all-chums-together comedy, to up-to-the-minute news to gripping drama to revealing interviews, and being able to listen to these shows whenever you want, wherever you are – well, that wasn’t quite happening. So Apple’s move didn’t seem important. Nor did the fact that the Oxford English Dictionary added “podcast” to its lexicon in the same year, after tech journalist Ben Hammersley came up with the term in 2004 (which was also the year the BBC launched a downloadable version of In Our Time). Podcasts were new. It takes time for the new to become everyday.

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Hafthor Bjornsson, Game of Thrones’ ‘Mountain’, breaks world deadlift record

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  • Icelandic strongman lifts 1,104 lb at Thor’s Power Gym
  • 31-year-old starred as Ser Gregor Clegane in HBO series

Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 lb (501 kg) at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland.

Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on Game of Thrones, broke the record previously held by Briton Eddie Hall who in 2016 became the first man to lift 500kg.

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Embarrassed TV host caught broadcasting in collar, blazer and … shorts

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It’s easy to let standards slip during the lockdown but unlike Will Reeve not all of us see our pantless selves broadcast to the nation

Almost two months into the US shutdown, things are starting to get a little wild in quarantine. Perhaps you’ve stopped brushing your hair or started working in pyjamas. But a Good Morning America reporter took it a step further yesterday – he “went” to work without pants on for a nationally televised broadcast.

I have ARRIVED*

*in the most hilariously mortifying way possible https://t.co/2NQ85QEJVr

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Ronan O’Rahilly, Radio Caroline founder who inspired UK pop and pirate radio, dies aged 79

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O’Rahilly, who also managed pop stars and James Bond actor George Lazenby, was diagnosed with dementia in 2013

Ronan O’Rahilly, the Irish founder of the notorious Radio Caroline that popularised pop music on British radio, has died aged 79.

His death was announced by the radio station that is still broadcasting, who said: “In a pastime populated by unusual people, Ronan was more unusual than all of them combined.” He had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.

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Hackers exploit coronavirus lockdown with fake Netflix and Disney+ pages

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Criminals seek rich pickings as viewers stuck at home flock to TV streaming sites

More than 700 fake websites mimicking Netflix and Disney+ signup pages have been created seeking to harvest personal information from consumers during the coronavirus lockdown streaming boom.

Netflix, which is expected to smash its forecast of 7 million new global subscribers when it reports first-quarter results on Tuesday, is the main target as millions of new potential customers seek entertainment while confined to their homes.

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No conferring! Take our devilishly hard University Challenge quiz

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Are you a brainbox like Brandon, or even half as wise as Wang? Ahead of Monday’s final, pit your wits against our truly tricky questions, as compiled by the show’s question setters

In which present-day country is the ancient kingdom of Sheba, whose queen visited King Solomon?

Oman

Yemen

Saudi Arabia

Which Latin-derived philosophical term was popularised by Ivan Turgenev’s 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, where it was used to describe the crude scientism espoused by the character Bazarov?

Nihilism

Nominalism

Probablism

Which US state capital was named after a dukedom conferred on the future James II (James VII of Scots) in 1664?

Albany

Hartford

Bismarck

More than 80% of compounds used in nuclear medicine are labelled using which radioisotope? It has atomic number 43 and mass number 99.

Gallium

Thallium

Technetium

Appearing in the title of an opera by Philip Glass, which term did Mahatma Gandhi use for his policy of non-violent resistance to British rule?

Satyagraha

Pratyahara

Swaraj

Named by the US sociologist Robert K Merton after a book of the Bible, which "effect" can be summarized as: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer"?

Mark

Matthew

Genesis

Depicting an impoverished pea-picker and her children in 1936, Migrant Mother was a celebrated image by which photographer?

Dorothea Lange

Jack Delano

Arthur Rothstein

Polka dots and "infinity rooms" with mirrors are a characteristic feature of the installations of which Japanese artist, born in 1929?

Yayoi Kusama

Tatsuo Miyajima

Yoshitomo Nara

What term denotes the boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium? It lies about 123 astronomical units from the sun.

Heliopause

Heliosheath

Heliotrope

The first independent French-speaking African state, which country did Ahmed Sékou Touré rule from 1958 until his death in 1984?

Ivory Coast

(Republic of) Guinea

Mali

Describing an allegorical place populated by women of "great renown", The Book of the City of Ladies is a 1405 work by which French author?

Marie de France

Christine de Pizan

Clémence de Bourges

In transport history, the Rainhill Trials - won by Stephenson’s Rocket - took place towards the end of which decade?

1780s

1820s

1850s

Expressed in metric tons, what is one gigagramme?

1,000

10,000

100,000

Changsha is the capital of which Chinese province, the birthplace, in 1893, of Mao Zedong?

Hunan

Hebei

Hubei

Which Swiss architectural firm designed the Bird’s Nest stadium for the 2008 summer Olympics?

Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Mario Botta Architetti

Herzog & De Meuron

15 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

14 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

13 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

12 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

11 and above.

Wang, is that you?! If those were all guesses, then they were superb

10 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

9 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

8 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

7 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

6 and above.

And at the gong ... looks like you’ve done a more than respectable job!

5 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

4 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

3 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

2 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

0 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

1 and above.

Oh, do come on! Sadly, it’s a non-starter for 10

The University Challenge grand final airs Monday 20 April at 8.30pm on BBC Two

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People opened up because I’m the Beavis and Butt-head guy’: Mike Judge on his new funk direction

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The writer-director’s comedies – from Office Space to Silicon Valley – always sum up the spirit of their times. So why has he made an LSD-soaked cartoon about George Clinton and Bootsy Collins?

Few writer-directors have been as consistent and ruthless at capturing the moment as Mike Judge, although he never actually intends to do so. “It’s always a shock when something comes out and it feels so relevant,” he says, in his laconic surfer-dude tone, talking to me by phone from his home in Los Angeles. “But I tend to look at stuff that feels as if it’s everywhere, but nobody’s talking about.”

Judge, 57, is so beady at spotting what’s everywhere, his shows themselves end up becoming ubiquitous, the thing everybody’s talking about. It is impossible to imagine 90s TV without his seminal hits, Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, the former satirising the worst of youth culture, the latter fondly depicting gentle American conservatism acclimatising itself to the Bill Clinton era.

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Drama out of crisis: Spanish sitcom tackles life in lockdown

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Quarantine Diaries focuses on sweeping changes unleashed by coronavirus pandemic

From Herculean efforts to keep children from interjecting in conference calls to fitness classes derailed by daytime drinking, a new sitcom in Spain – billed as the first of its kind on primetime TV – is set to tackle the quirks of life in lockdown.

The show aims to offer a humorous take on the sweeping changes unleashed by the pandemic, said Álvaro Longoria, the creator and producer of Quarantine Diaries. “We are in no way trying to make fun of the people that are suffering. The focus is on those trying to make normal life out of an extraordinary situation.”

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Honor Blackman, James Bond’s Pussy Galore, dies aged 94

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Actor also known for role in Avengers praised as ‘hugely prolific creative talent’ by family

• Peter Bradshaw on Honor Blackman: an elegant and witty star who never took herself too seriously
• Honor Blackman: a life in pictures

Honor Blackman, the actor best known for playing the Bond girl Pussy Galore, has died aged 94.

Blackman, who became a household name in the 1960s as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and had a career spanning eight decades, died of natural causes unrelated to coronavirus.

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‘I was face-to-face with Tony Blair’: Michael Sheen on Murdoch, class and giving away his money

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He renounced acting for activism, then had to start earning again. As he returns to TV, Sheen talks about life in isolation, politics and his curious encounter with the man he has portrayed more than any other

Michael Sheen is at home in south Wales, looking out on his garden. The sun catches the side of his face, lighting up his scraggly hair and beard. “We’re very lucky to have a garden to go out in. I know not everybody does,” he says. In the current climate of famous people churning out endless videos of their isolation struggles from the side of a pool in a mansion, it’s a telling sentiment.

A few years ago, after a successful stage and screen career, the actor, 51, “refocused” his life away from entertainment towards community work and activism, and moved back to Wales from Los Angeles. He had been living there for much of the past two decades, to be near his eldest daughter, Lily (her mother is the actor Kate Beckinsale, and they remain close). “And then when my daughter was 18 and went off to a life of her own, I realised: ‘Oh, I can go home again now.’”

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Claire Danes on the end of Homeland: ‘It was so nice to play such a badass’

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A landmark of 21st-century TV drama is about to finish its 10-year run. Its star reflects on how playing Carrie Mathison – and learning from real spies – has shaped her view of politics

Perhaps the defining image of Homeland, one of the most ambitious US drama series of the past decade, is Claire Danes’s character, Carrie Mathison, a mercurial CIA officer, staring at a video screen and displaying a sixth sense for the vital clue. So it is fitting that Danes appears to this interviewer not in person but via FaceTime.

“Let me just get on to my wifi,” she says, as the signal flickers, “I thought I was. OK, that should be better.”

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What happened after Netflix quarantine smash Tiger King ended?

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The phenomenally successful docuseries about tigers, criminals and polygamy has led to memes, celebrity fans and a newly awakened legal case

In the century since March began, one series has emerged as the go-to distraction for the millions now sequestered in their living rooms: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The bizarre documentary series on a feud between big cat owners, as well as about 95 other things, has been the No 1 program on Netflix’s US platform since it premiered less than two weeks ago. And though the news and social media remain dominated by coronavirus coverage, the five hours of drama between outlandish characters in the disturbing American trade of private zoos has proved to be strange and fittingly unhinged counter-programming. Everywhere (online) you look: if it’s not about the pandemic, it’s probably Tiger King.

Related: Murder, madness and tigers: behind the year's wildest Netflix series

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‘It’s pure rock’n’roll’: how Money Heist became Netflix’s biggest global hit

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While still a cult concern in the UK, this Spanish thriller is the streaming service’s most popular foreign show. As it returns, its creator and stars explain how it became unmissable

You’ve rewatched The Wire, seen every episode of Friends at least twice and are starting to wonder if this is what it feels like to “complete” Netflix. But wait: there’s a world-changing, cultural juggernaut of a TV show that – while hugely popular – you may well have missed.

This week, Money Heist – or, to use its Spanish title, La Casa de Papel – begins another eight-episode run on Netflix, where it is the streaming giant’s most-watched non-English language show worldwide. The first season of the full-throttle thriller saw its gang – all code-named after major cities and memorably clad in revolutionary-red overalls and Salvador Dalí masks – break into the Royal Mint of Spain, taking 67 people hostage and literally printing money: 2.4bn euros, to be exact. It’s fair to say that the plot doesn’t quite go to plan, though it does result in three raunchy romances and an island escape. Season three, an even wilder ride, proved that for this gang loyalty is as much a motivation as loot.

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The Real Michael Jackson review – how did he get away with it for so long?

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The ‘Wacko Jacko’ persona was a deliberate ruse to cover a much darker truth, says Jacques Peretti as he examines his own complicity in letting the pop star off the hook

If you keep wondering what to think about Michael Jackson’s complicated legacy – is it OK to play Billie Jean at a party? Do you have to switch radio stations if Smooth Criminal comes on? – imagine how Jacques Peretti feels. He has made three films about the pop icon in the past 15 years and in this, his fourth, he aimed to build the fullest picture yet. But how many of us are brave enough to confront that picture?

The Real Michael Jackson (BBC Two) comes just over a year after the broadcast of HBO/Channel 4’s Leaving Neverland, a gruelling, four-hour documentary built around the detailed accounts of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who say they were sexually abused by Jackson as children. Peretti’s film was initially billed as a rival Jackson film, but in the event, it’s much more like an unofficial sequel; a film that could not exist if Leaving Neverland hadn’t cleared the media’s hagiographic haze, but which also provides necessary context on the huge fallout from Jackson’s 2009 death.

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‘He didn’t even pretend to let us win’… Growing up with the world’s biggest stars, by their children

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The sons and daughters of John Wayne, John Lennon, Caitlyn Jenner and others tell us what it was like to grow up with a world-famous dad

A lot of the happy memories of my father are from the late 1960s at Kenwood, the old Tudor house we had in Surrey, when I was a little boy. Without knowing it, I probably saw some of the greatest musicians in the world come and go through that house.

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Matthew Macfadyen: ‘We are all living by the seat of our pants’

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The British actor on the triumph of HBO’s Succession - and being cast as the ‘coughing major’ in ITV’s Quiz

I met Matthew Macfadyen on one of those days in ancient history, a couple of weeks ago, when we were still not quite sure whether to make silly jokes about elbow-touching greetings, or to fear for civilisation’s immediate future. In many ways, Macfadyen is the archetypal actor for this kind of moment, a master of shifting and ambiguous tone, whose frequent bursts of laughter often threaten to turn hollow. One of the many joys of his portrayal of the bullied and bullying son-in-law Tom Wambsgans in the HBO show Succession – arguably the defining contribution to the defining TV drama of our times – is his winning ability to switch from empathy to psychopathy in a heartbeat.

Next month, Macfadyen will bring all of that gift for nuance to the three-part ITV drama Quiz, in which he plays Major Charles Ingram, the “coughing major” who was convicted of cheating his way to the top prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2001. The show, an adaptation of the West End play by James Graham, has been directed for television by Stephen Frears. Macfadyen’s major takes the hot seat across from Michael Sheen, who adds Chris Tarrant to his repertoire of uncanny impersonations.

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