Oh no. Not the nicest show on telly finding itself rocked by a crisis. After two dancers left Strictly Come Dancing following allegations about their behaviour towards their celebrity partners in rehearsals, it's turned into a bit of a sticky time for the cosy telly fave. And the timing isn't great, given this year is its 20th anniversary – a year that was meant to be a time of celebration. As Katie wrote this week, "For its legions of fans, Strictly is supposed to be an escape from toxicity, not an alleged hotbed of it. No one wants to sit down for the launch night this September and be left wondering whether the celebs are actually doing OK behind the plastered-on stage makeup." Can the shine return to the glitterball?
In other telly news, it was reported this week that ex-Top Gear stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are parting ways after over two decades as a trio. Louis wrote about why they may have decided it was time to call it quits. Louis also wrote about Entourage, and the "strange allure of one of TV's most problematic series". |
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Read our guide to this year's Edinburgh Fringe highlights in tomorrow's section |
Also this week, Louis (busy guy!) spoke to Anthony Ramos about Twisters, which for some reason no one I know understands, I find myself desperate to see. I don't know, maybe it's just that sometimes when it's hot, it's nice to go to a big screen and be overwhelmed by very loud noises? Something I did see at the cinema this week was Longlegs, and yes, I was quite creeped out by it. Last week Adam spoke to Alicia Witt, who gives one of the film's best performances – it's a great read.
I also loved reading Ellie's interview with the one and only Danny Dyer, alongside his Mr Bigstuff co-star Ryan Sampson, where Dyer pondered: "What is the perfect man? A man who can build you a cupboard, a man who can protect ya, a man who will cry at The Notebook, who will throw you around the bedroom like a caveman." Plus, the fallout from the shocking Trump assassination attempt is reverberating in the world of culture. In this week's State of the Arts, Laura Barton wrote about the row around a joke made by a member of Tenacious D on stage. Also, Trump's running mate JD Vance is an author – but what does his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, made into a film starring Amy Adams in 2020, tell us about him?
Tomorrow, don't miss our guide to this year's Edinburgh Fringe highlights, plus Sarah Crompton's brilliant interview with Matthew Bourne.
Have a great weekend,
Jessie
@jessiecath
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Anyone craving a taste of good old-fashioned razzmatazz won't be disappointed in Hello, Dolly!, a 1964 musical served up with all the trimmings in the Palladium's vast gilded barn. It's overwhelmingly lavish, its flimsy plot groaning under the weight of extravagances, like the giant train that steams across the stage, or the chorus of dancing waiters bearing silver salvers bright enough to blind half the front row. Charged with bringing both heart and substance to the feast, Imelda Staunton shines in the title role. |
Alice Saville | Chief theatre critic |
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In a sleepy Lancashire town where everyone knows everyone – and half of them are related – a blaze at the boathouse sets in motion a chain of events that will lead DC Ember Manning (Jenna Coleman) back into her own past. Sifting through the ashes, alongside Ember, is a podcaster, Riz Samuel (Weruche Opia), who has shown up to investigate a cold case. A girl, Amy (Bo Bragason), disappeared decades ago, and her body has never been found. What links the inferno on the jetty and this missing girl? And is this ancient history related to a string of present-day sex offences? |
Nick Hilton | Chief TV critic |
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"Can I have a piece of you?" Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) asks her beautiful and generous mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson). Their relationship, the centre of playwright Annie Baker's feature debut, Janet Planet, is precious but infected. The film spends its runtime trying to find the roots of this malaise. Wayne (Will Patton), Janet's current boyfriend, thinks it's odd that an 11-year-old still curls up in bed with her mother each night, like a pup in a foxhole. So, Janet plucks out a strand of hair and hands it to her daughter to remember her by, now that she has to be confined in her own bedroom. |
Clarisse Loughrey | Chief film critic |
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"Are we gonna die?" asks a child's voice. "Not tonight," comes the answer. The child is seven-year-old Legend Glover, son of showbiz multi-hyphenate Donald Glover. The response is his father's. This exchange is the very first sound we hear on Bando Stone & the New World, the fifth full-length album from Glover's shape-shifting music project under the moniker Childish Gambino. And yet, the album is a death, of sorts: Glover has framed Bando Stone as a farewell, the final record released as what he describes as the Gambino "character". At 40, the Atlanta star is through being Childish. |
Louis Chilton | Senior culture writer |
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Cherry Jones: 'I put my foot in my mouth all the time' (Getty) |
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Jones and Harry Treadway in rehearsals for 'The Grapes of Wrath' as Ma Joad and Tom Joad (Richard Hubert Smith) |
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Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… |
On a hot afternoon in the back room of the National Theatre in London, Cherry Jones is eating cherries. "Forgive me, but you're now going to hear an old woman munching some salmon on toast," says the actor, moving on from her namesake fruit to a small tinfoil package that she unwraps like a present, observing its contents with delight. "Oh, and with just a little bit of butter!" Jones is having lunch, on a break from rehearsals for Carrie Cracknell's new production of The Grapes of Wrath. With two Tonys and three Emmys to her name, Jones, one would think, could do an adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel in her sleep. She probably could – Jones is one of the great stage actors of her generation – but today, the 67-year-old bubbles with the anticipation of a first-time performer. "Never in my 40 years working..." she exclaims, in awe at the sheer size of the play, in which she is one of 27 actors. On the first day of rehearsals, they square-danced together: another first for Jones. Read the full interview here |
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