3 h. ago Wildly incoherent, utterly flummoxing, blissful: how And Just Like That rewrote the rules of TV

The Sex and the City spinoff – which ends this week – is so bizarre it has barely made sense as a television show. Unless you think of it as an attempt to redefine the whole genre Sex and the City’s divisive spin-off And Just Like That is set to end after three bizarre seasons and a deluge of critical contempt, with bemused fans losing it on Reddit, and articles about how the programme became a hate watch. There has been little heartache in the discourse after the announcement of the show’s demise, the general consensus being: good. But to these people, I say – you’re wrong! But also, I understand. There is always an element of fear in contemplating change, in engaging with the rapid advancement of modernity, and I would like to make the case for And Just Like That being a product of exactly that.It feels analogous to a comment a friend of mine once made during a conversation about the best oven pizzas, when someone posited Dr Oetker pizzas as a contender: “It’s delicious, it’s some...

Politics

13 h. ago Weinstein could be sentenced next month, but only if there’s no retrial on an unresolved rape charge

Harvey Weinstein faces sentencing and another possible retrial in his New York City sex crimes case

Events

4 d. ago And Just Like That return hopes dashed by key plot as disappointed fans fume

Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That is ending after three seasons with fans left disappointed at the direction the show was taken in after return to screens

Politics

1 week ago The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère review – sex and the city

Newly decoded extracts from his diaries expose the celebrated 17th-century diarist and naval administrator as a rapacious sexual predatorSamuel Pepys’s diary, which covers 1660 to 1669, is regarded as one of the great classic texts in the English language. Words spill out of Pepys – 1.25m of them – as he bustles around London, building a successful career as a naval administrator while navigating the double trauma of the plague and the Great Fire of London. Historians have long gone to the diary for details of middle-class life during the mid‑17th century: the seamy streets, the watermen, the taverns and, as Pepys moves up the greasy pole, the court and the king. Best of all is his eye for the picturesque detail: the way, for instance, on the morning of 4 September 1666, as fire licks around his house, Pepys buries a choice parmesan cheese in the garden with the intention of keeping it safe.Not all of the diary is in English, though. Quite a lot of it is in French (or rather Frangla...

Politics

1 week ago The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère review – journal of a predator

Newly decoded extracts expose the celebrated 17th-century diarist and naval administrator as a rapacious abuserSamuel Pepys’s diary, which covers 1660 to 1669, is regarded as one of the great classic texts in the English language. Words spill out of Pepys – 1.25m of them – as he bustles around London, building a successful career as a naval administrator while navigating the double trauma of the plague and the Great Fire of London. Historians have long gone to the diary for details of middle-class life during the mid‑17th century: the seamy streets, the watermen, the taverns and, as Pepys moves up the greasy pole, the court and the king. Best of all is his eye for the picturesque detail: the way, for instance, on the morning of 4 September 1666, as fire licks around his house, Pepys buries a choice parmesan cheese in the garden with the intention of keeping it safe.Not all of the diary is in English, though. Quite a lot of it is in French (or rather Franglais), Latin, Spanish and a ...

Politics

1 week ago 'Truth about what we saw on set with Mr Big': Chris Noth was cancelled at height of #MeToo

As Mr Big in Sex And The City, he was the handsome businessman whose gentlemanly charm made Carrie Bradshaw - and millions of fans - fall in love with him.

Politics

1 week ago Goodbye, And Just Like That: why it’s the right time to end the cursed spin

Sex and the City fans have bravely endured the far lesser follow-up for three seasons, but after an official announcement it’s time for a sigh of reliefAnd just like that, it was over. Friday’s announcement by the showrunner Michael Patrick King that the third series of And Just Like That would be its last was met with little surprise and I suspect some relief. Following a forthcoming two-part finale, Carrie Bradshaw will hang up her Manolos for good – and not a moment too soon.If a theme could be pulled from the scrambled threads of the third season of the Sex and the City reboot, it is, I think, the question of appearance versus reality. Early on in the series, rattled by the discovery of a rat infestation in her meadowy garden, Carrie seeks comfort from Aidan, the man she’s technically in a relationship with but due to a muddled and implausible arrangement, can’t actually be with for five years. Carrie thought her garden was perfect, she says, “but I just wasn’t looking underneat...

Politics

4 w. ago Why Gen Z Londoners are dressing like Carrie from Sex and the City

A new generation has fallen for her Noughties on-screen style. Writer Charlotte Ambrose is among them, and asks what keeps women coming back to Carrie’s looks

Politics