6 d. ago Ferne McCann 'really misses it' as she opens up on making sad family decision

Former Towie star Ferne McCann has opened up on her decision to end her reality show, My Family And Me, admitting that she feels 'sad' that it's no longer on screens

Politics

8 d. ago ‘If you get it wrong, it’s sacrilegious!’ TV’s problem with Irish accents

From James Norton’s ‘terror’ at playing a Dubliner in House of Guinness to Helen Mirren doing an impersonation so atrocious it went viral – why do actors struggle to play people from Ireland?Putting on a good Irish accent is an art. In the same way that pouring Guinness is an art, actually. And as with all artistic feats, people think, “Well, anyone could do that!” before swiftly finding out that anyone could not, in fact, do that. An accurate Irish accent, for a non-Irish actor, takes dedication, research, talent. And as is the case with all art, failure invites utter brutality from the critics.In the canon of Irish TV and film, there are sadly more misses than hits when it comes to nailing the gift from God that is a true Irish accent. Bad accents become famous for being bad, remembered for reducing all Irish speech to a monolith. Brad Pitt as an IRA gunman in The Devil’s Own, for instance, was so bad that the year after it came out, the Troubles finally ended. Then there’s Gerard...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘A resistance to AI’: The author inviting readers to contribute to a mass memoir

Richard Beard says he’s got ‘better at telling the truth’ by arranging his life story on a grid – and invites others to do the sameRichard Beard, award-winning author of The Day That Went Missing and Sad Little Men, thought he was writing his next book, a whole life memoir. In the event, he has written his way off the page and into an entirely new publishing model. The Universal Turing Machine is the title both of Beard’s memoir and the mass memoir project he hopes others will help him to build.Organised as a chessboard, each of the 64 squares narrates one year of Beard’s life, in 1,000 words per year. (He’s 58, so the last five years are fictionalised.) The reader moves around the “board” as if they were a knight, picking the next year to read from options limited by the knight’s L-shaped ambulation.Contributions to The Universal Turing Machine can be made at universalturingmachine.co.uk Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago Strictly Come Dancing fans 'so sad' for Amy Dowden as star 'to miss out on Glitterball trophy'

Strictly Come Dancing begins on Saturday night and will see the celebrities being paired with their dance partners.

Politics

3 w. ago Coronation Street star Vicky Myers 'sad' after being forced to miss major Glasgow event

The Coronation Street star was due to appear at the upcoming An Audience with Coronation Street tour

Politics

3 w. ago Mark Nicholas: Pride in 2005 Ashes mixed with sadness at missed opportunity

Nicholas led Channel 4’s coverage of an unforgettable series as England lifted the urn for the first time in 18 years.

Politics