#Tell Me Everything itv

[kayharrisons]

enchanted to meet you [Louis x fem!Reader]

You're not sure what you've ever done to make him hate you. Louis is convinced he's doomed to suffer (pine) in silence.

A/N: branched out for a quick cutesy drabble bc Louis is POOKIE BABY so have this lil Tell Me Everything drabble 🤭 I've also only seen one episode LMAO so if anyone is outta character then my bad!!

Warnings: fireworks, underage drinking!

You're pretty sure Louis hates you.

You're not sure what you've ever done to your classmate beyond be friendly, and Zia constantly reassures you that you've done nothing wrong, babes.

But he never looks at you. Always gives you one word replies and lets silences hang on to the point of it being incredibly fucking awkward, where he will then flee back to Neve or Jonny, the former of whom will shoot you an apologetic smile and the latter who will roll his eyes and say something that gets Louis's face a bright red.

You wrack through your interactions with him constantly, trying to figure out where you went so wrong with him.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Louis wants to jump off of the nearest fucking bridge.

He speeds away from you, you with your cute hair, your twinkling eyes, your toothy smile, the way your jeans hug your-

He groans, hiding his face in Neve's shoulder as he slumps beside her on the couch, face burning with embarrassment.

"How many words did you manage this time?" Neve asks him, patting his head. Meekly, he holds up three fingers. She hisses a little through her teeth. "Jesus, Louis. Regressing a bit, aintcha?"

He hears Jonny laugh as he sits across from them. "I'm tellin' ya, mate," his friend slurs, grinning at him. "Just gotta act like you've fucked more girls than you already have. Remind me again, what's that number at now?"

"Horrid advice," Neve snips, shooting him the finger. Jonny gasps sarcastically, holding a hand to his chest. "Ignore him, for the love of all that's fucking holy, Louis."

He was planning on it!

"It's remarkable, actually," Louis sighs as he pulls his head out of Neve's shoulder. "I'm so shit at talking to her. The words just- jesus christ they're stuck. I don't think I've ever actually told her my name and- she probably thinks I'm so fucking dumb or something, coming up to her and not saying a word and just fucking walking off-"

"Every time, without fail." Jonny smirks, taking a sip of his beer. "It's actually quite impressive."

"Cheers, mate," Louis seethes, jumping at the sound of a boom outside, at the bright colours filling up the living room.

"Oooh, they've got the fireworks going! C'mon!" Neve grins, tugging both boys up and out the door, just as the next firework goes off. The trio watch the fireworks illuminate the chilly night air, a kaleidoscope of colours against the dark November sky.

You're shivering.

He can't help the way his eyes always seem to fall on you, instinctively seeking you out.

You don't have a coat.

You're shivering because you don't have a coat.

His feet are moving towards you on autopilot, already shrugging off his flannel and praying to god he hadn't been sweating in the damn thing.

"Oh!" You jump, as a flannel is shoved into your periphery by a trembling hand. "Hey, Louis," you smile, and his throat bobs hard as he swallows.

"Cold?" He asks, inclining his head towards the way you rub your arms.

"Oh! Yeah, a bit, jacket's somewhere inside, but uh... might sound stupid, I didn't wanna miss the fireworks.

"It's not stupid," he says gently, and you turn to face him, grinning wide and eyes shining. He damn near collapses at the sight, heart pitter pattering in his chest.

"So you can say more than one word at a time!"

Louis stammers, face going pink with embarrassment, illuminated by the sparks exploding above the party. You giggle, taking the flannel from him and sliding your arms through the sleeves.

"Sorry, sorry. Thanks for this," you grin, wrapping the flannel tight around you.

"...I'm Louis." He says, somewhat helplessly, his eyes soon screwing shut with embarrassment.

You smile gently, taking half a step closer. "I know," you hum, looking up at the fireworks. "I've fancied you for two years."

"You what?" Comes his squeak, blue eyes round with horror. "I- you mean to tell me you fancied me back-"

"Fancy, present tense. But I didn't realise you-" you blink up at him, surprise covering your face. "I thought you hated me-?"

"What? No! Do I look stupid?" He asks, before pausing, smiling sheepishly. "I'm not, I promise. I just... I've been told I'm a little socially awkward."

"You? Socially awkward? No!" You gasp sarcastically, to which he smiles and ducks his head down.

"Deserved that, didn't I?"

"Little bit." You grin, rubbing your neck, watching his face as it's illuminated blue, then gold, then pink. "For what it's worth, Louis, it's nice to finally meet you."

He looks at you then, a smile tugging at the lefthand corner of his lips.

He's fucking freezing. It's November, after all. But as he looks at you, in his flannel, your eyes sparkling brighter than the fireworks...

God, is it fucking worth it.

[demonicconsultingwhovian]

Why did i have to start hyperfixating on a tv show from 2014 that got cancelled after 4 episodes on a cliff hanger and no one else cares about??? there is no fanfic. no fan art. no edits. nothing on tumblr. niente. WHY!??!?!?

[reloha]

Jacobi and McKellen as grand marshals of New York City's 2015 pride march.

All Good Omens (show) fans will know Derek Jacobi as the Metatron. His brief role on Doctor Who is also getting a lot of mention in recent posts, but I'm not going to talk about any of that.

Like his Vicious co-star Ian McKellen, Jacobi has had a long and illustrious career in theatre, television, and film. McKellen and Jacobi met when they were at Cambridge.

I'm not a huge fan of the Daily Mail, but this article, an interview with the two actors, is quite interesting. I'll just quote this part:

Jacobi says he came out to his mother when he was at university. ‘She said, “All young men, go through this phase, don’t worry.” I remember saying, “Don’t tell Dad.”’ He doesn’t know to this day if she did. ‘I think she did, but I don’t know. But they were wonderful, my parents, not much was said but they kind of knew, they got it.’

McKellen hasn’t heard his friend talk of this before. ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard that,’ he says, genuinely moved. ‘I never came out to my family. Biggest regret of my life.’ It turns out he didn’t even come out to Derek at university, even though it’s always been reported that he had something of a crush on him. 

‘Yes, I did fancy Derek, but I didn’t act on it, God, no. It was illegal, remember. I do get on my high horse about it, because it was so difficult. There were no gay clubs you could go to. No gay bars, no gay newspaper, nothing. What there was was a bit sleazy, I suspect. One of the reasons I became an actor was that you could meet gay people. Even then everything was difficult. When you went to America they asked, “Are you now, or have you ever been, homosexual?” I lied on the form. It was a different world.’

I want to talk about Vicious for a bit, the ITV britcom in which Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen play an aging gay couple, (respectively) a homemaker, Stuart Bixby, and an actor, Freddie Thornhill, for fourteen episodes.

Freddie (McKellen) tells Stuart (Jacobi) about a part he's hoping to get.

I had to add these for the Broadchurch reference.

It's a law that British actors of a certain age play this part.

I couldn't find one with Michael Sheen and the skull, but here he is in the role.

McKellen did the part again at 81 in an age-blind production.

Jacobi's big breakout was the titular role in I, Claudius on the BBC in 1976.

In the '90s, Jacobi played amateur sleuth and 12th century monk, Brother Cadfael on the ITV series.

I had watched some of Vicious before, but, spurred on by Jacobi's reappearance on Good Omens, looked for it again and watched both seasons a couple of weeks ago. Because I love a good fancast and Jacobi and Sheen (at least as Aziraphale) remind me a little of each other, I couldn't help but think that Jacobi and McKellen in their youth could have played a version of Aziraphale and Crowley. (There have been a couple of posts noting this about Jacobi, and that he might have been up for the part if it had been done soon after the book came out.)

Jacobi, left, and McKellen, right (obviously).

I also think that Tennant and Sheen could have pulled off playing Freddie and Stuart in a flashback.

An even younger version of Freddie and Stuart does appear in the series, however, played by Luke Treadaway and Samuel Barnett.

Also good casting! They do a great job playing McKellen and Jacobi playing Freddie and Stuart.

Shoutout to this post by @ember-knights, that suggested Good Omens fans should check out Vicious for a glimpse of what life in the South Downs cottage might be. And also to other posts mentioning Vicious and Good Omens in the same breath, as well as comparing Sheen and Tennant to Jacobi and McKellen (which I probably reblogged but can't find right now).

Cast of Vicious: Frances de la Tour, Iwan Rheon, Philip Voss, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Marcia Warren (Wikipedia). (Yes, the upstairs neighbor (Rheon) does go on to play Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones. He's a sweetheart in this, though.)

Now, I don't think Crowley and Aziraphale are the same as Freddie and Stuart, by any means. Freddie and Stuart say quite cruel things to each other. The characters become deeper in the second season; it’s a little sweeter than the first. I enjoy the bitterness of the first season too, though. It is funny, and Good Omens fans may enjoy watching it if only to see Derek Jacobi (who plays the Metatron) in a comedy role and a role that's sympathetic, especially if they are not familiar with his large and impressive body of work.

I don't think Aziraphale and Crowley's life in the bookshop as a couple, not just a group of two, or life on the South Downs, would be exactly like this, but there are somehow some similarities that I don't even know how to begin to pinpoint or explicate.

Crowley and Aziraphale’s affection is always so palpable and that’s not always clear with Freddie and Stuart. Crowley and Aziraphale are so loving that, even when they're bickering, it's joyful, even when they're arguing, even when they're coming apart (temporarily) at the seams, their love is undeniable. I don’t even think their breakup was toxic; although they were desperate at that point and hurt each other badly, it wasn't what they wanted. Sometimes it's that way.

And, lest I'm putting you off Vicious here, the Ineffable Husbands are a high bar as love stories go, but you will get to see some love and affection between Freddie and Stuart too, and I'd really love to see these actors work together more. (I am happy with how the show ends up, by the way.)

Toodle-loo! Hope everything is tickety-boo with you.

[watermelonlicker]

Hi! I love your blog so damn much! I have a question that I have been hesitant to ask because I am afraid it will come across as unsupportive. I am a new fan - I always want to support Louis. I just don’t quite understand why streaming etc during his stunts helps? Does that tell the people that push this on him that it works? Would it be more effective to see a drop in his streams and followings to send them message that it does not work? I’m new and please excuse my ignorance. I’m really just trying to understand so I can explain when people ask. Thank you.

hi!!! thank you so much for liking my blog it’s so sweet and makes me feel like i have some kind of purpose here being the mess that i am djdjjd but for your question idk tbh bcos his indie het image has negatively impacted his streams. his numbers during the walls era compared to now are vastly different so doubling down on his het narrative will not course correct that but that’s prob what his team thinks. (simon jones the former syco leech is his pr and that tells you everything you need to know about incompetence and delusion about stunts)

i’ve been seeing talk for a bit of time now that this is all apart of the sony web or whatever like sony is rumored to be acquiring itv who have a stake in soccer aid and zara is heavily in bed with sony and maybe louis is trying to get back in the uk market after being blacklisted and his team feels like playing ball with what (cough rob stringer who hates him and was involved in his backlisting allegedly) like playing ball with what that asshole and all the sony execs want will get him back in the uk. like imo after kind of thinking about this for a while I DO believe his team believes they’re doing what’s best for him but i don’t think they realize it’s just more empty promises and these execs literally cannot be trusted which is why this stunt feels like sabotage and once again only the larries can see it.

[twopoppies]

I just saw a Daily Mail article...Lottie and Lewis better buckle up. Caroline's mum is all ready to drag them through the mud and that documentary isn't even due out until the end of the year. She swipes at Lou Teasdale as well.

Why Caroline Flack's mum finds her ex's new romance 'devastating' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14272227/Why-Caroline-Flacks-mum-finds-ex-boyfriends-new-romance-influencer-devastating-showbiz-bombshell-KATIE-HIND.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

Yikes. Yeah, I saw that was happening. I mean, everything surrounding Lewis when he first got together with Lottie seemed very shady. And he didn’t seem like a great boyfriend to Caroline. And I can totally understand Caroline’s mother not being able to let go of the fact that Lewis moved on to this seemingly glamorous and happy life after her daughter died.

But this second documentary comes across more like a way to attack him and other people she feels let Caroline down, rather than providing closure. It’s all terribly sad.

[…] One person who didn't join in the congratulatory messages was Christine Flack, the mother of television presenter Caroline who took her own life five years ago next month.

The much-loved 40-year-old had been in a turbulent relationship with Lewis – a model and former professional tennis player – who was 13 years her junior.

It was this relationship, Caroline's mother openly declared on social media, that 'ended her life'.

Indeed, it was a late-night explosive row between the two in 2019, after Caroline was said to have found text messages from another woman on his phone, that led to her hitting him with a lamp, being charged with assault - and ultimately resulted in her downward mental spiral and suicide on February 15, 2020.

It's understandable, therefore, that Christine found Lewis's new romance so difficult to take: the pair went public six months after Caroline died when they were spotted on holiday in Ibiza.

It's also understandable that Christine has long questioned whether the messages Caroline found on Lewis's phone that night may have been from Lottie.

Now Lottie, the younger sister of One Direction band member Louis Tomlinson and one of the UK's most sought after influencers, with more than four million followers on Instagram, has spoken about the scurrilous suggestion for the first time to the Mail.

Referring to the text messages Caroline is said to have found on Lewis's phone that night, her agent said: 'It is not true at all, they hadn't even met before at the time of the incident. Hope this clears that rumour up.'

Today, Lottie, 27, and Lewis, 33, live together in a £800,000 five-bedroom, three-bathroom luxury home in Kent which they are renovating in the style of a Los Angeles mansion.

The property, which both Lottie and Lewis regularly post about on social media, even has its own Instagram account.

As one of Caroline's friends tells me: 'It must be devastating for Christine, she has lost her daughter and now Lewis has become some kind of influencer with his girlfriend, living in apparent bliss and about to become a father for the second time.

[…]

In a statement yesterday, she said: 'I still have so many questions about what happened to Caroline in her final months, and it's something I feel deeply compelled to explore, even though I know it will be challenging. I'm pleased to be working with the team at Curious Films once again, in the hope of bringing clarity and understanding to Carrie's story – not just for her, but for everyone who cared about her.'

There are many targets, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and ITV – whom Christine is said to take 'a very dim view of' for sacking her daughter from her beloved job hosting the dating show Love Island.

Caroline killed herself after learning that her criminal trial for assaulting Lewis was going ahead, after initially being told she would only be given a caution.

Caroline had feared that the body cam footage taken by police on the night the incident took place would be played out in court. In a confession to a pal, she said she would 'rather die' than have the recordings played in a public arena.

Lewis was first spotted with influencer Lottie Tomlinson six months after Caroline's death

[…]

[Lou Teasdale] was one of Caroline's best friends, and the pair would regularly party together. And it was through Louise that Lewis got to know Lottie: Louise became friends with Louis Tomlinson through her work as the stylist for One Direction in their heyday.

It's a close friendship that endures today - another thing Christine finds very uncomfortable.

'Christine could be forgiven for thinking that Caroline's friends might have cast Lewis adrift,' one former friend of the television host tells me. 'But that isn't the case and it is hard for her.

'While nobody would try to argue that Caroline [wasn't] an easy person to be around at times, it has been another part of Caroline's death which has been difficult for Christine.

'Lewis wasn't always so nice to Caroline and there has been much talk about her giving him money for reasons that people don't known for certain.

'Christine and Louise are no longer close and her not ditching Lewis is thought to be a contributing factor for it. Christine thinks that if it hadn't been for Caroline going out with Lewis, she might be here today.'

Others point out that Louise 'did so much' for Caroline and was utterly devastated by her death – something she believes she will never get over.

'Caroline's death was a tragedy,' said one source close to Louise, who is now dating former Newcastle United and England footballer Andy Carroll.

'She wanted nothing more than for Caroline to get better and get through what was such an awful time. She is still today utterly devastated by her death but she has known Lottie since she was a teenager.

'Caroline's friends are simply trying to get on with their lives after the most terrible thing happened. It is awful and heartbreaking for them, too.'

Full article here

[phati-sari]

Hello PS, I hope you are having a good day.

I don't really have a question but I recently started getting ipkknd reels on Instagram and some people are really into hating Anjali, it surprised me.

The kind of comments they wrote about how she was evil and a deliberate obstacle in Arnav and Khushi's life (despite being their og shipper lol) made me kinda mad lol.

They seem like they don't know how emotionally damaged she must have been after suddenly finding out about Shyam the first reveal time, they just want her to blindly believe Arnav and Khushi. (Same people praising Khushi for never doubting Arnav during the Sheetal drama 💀)

I don't know if it's misogyny or plain stupidity honestly. She wasn't doing anything out of malice, she was a victim just like Khushi but somehow there's so much vitriol directed at her :(

Was it like this when the serial was airing too? Or is it like a new trend recently?

Hello!

It's not a recent thing, it was around in 2011 as well. Anything that came between Arnav and Khushi was deeply disliked, including Anjali, Shyam, Dadi, Sheetal and Aarav. If you go to the IPKKND sections of IndiaForums, you will find hate towards Anjali from very early on.

You've made a few points that I have been making since 2012! Such as here, here, and here. Reproducing because I like it:

And honestly, if the audience didn’t know already that Shyam was guilty, if the audience hadn’t seen his behaviour first hand, it would be tempting to think that Arnav was acting under the power of his lust. If this show was from Anjali’s point of view then everyone would hate Arnav for believing Khushi without proof lol, and for separating his pregnant sister from her God-like husband. Plus and also, it’s very common in ff to show Khushi’s unwavering trust in Arnav by putting him in a potentially compromising position with a model or some other woman, and then having his wife pontificate about how she’s sure Arnav-ji loves her and would never betray her like that (sometimes she slaps the other woman ha). It’s somehow a testament to Arshi’s Great Love when Khushi does it and a weakness when Anjali does it. Pfffft.

On one hand, I think many people consume IPKKND (and any media for that matter) without thinking about it beyond the surface level. They're just there for the vibes. Which is a perfectly valid way to enjoy things, and I sometimes do it too, but it does often lead to interpretations of characters and situations without nuance.

On the other hand, I think it's very important for all of us to understand the media we are consuming. Not to the same extent as me with this blog, but we need a minimum level of media literacy and critical thinking. I'm no longer following any ITV or really any serials / dramas etc, but I do still work in publishing. And the things I see on instagram, what passes for discourse these days in 15 second reels, is appalling.

People argue over things that are established in the canon, and seem to genuinely lack the ability to critically think about the things they're reading. There are so many ~content creators~ who happily admit they don't need books to make sense, and are generally not paying attention when they're reading, and forget everything that happened the moment the book is closed. Again, this is a valid way to enjoy books -- the world is too hard to always be thinking, especially when you're trying to escape -- but somehow these are the people with the largest platforms telling you how to spend your money on your next read. Let me reiterate -- people who don't pay attention while reading are telling the masses which books to buy. So it comes down to an entirely subjective recommendation of ~vibes~ and then we end up with these TikTok sensations that are objectively not-so-read books with not-so-great themes and alarming messages that we're feeding teenagers who often lack the ability to think critically about what they're consuming.

And now that everyone has a platform to be heard, emotional interpretations are more likely to reach large audiences (and go viral) than nuanced and balanced ones. While this has always been true of the internet, not everyone was on tumblr or livejournal or india forums in the way everyone is on TikTok and instagram. On top of people not thinking critically about the media they consume, you have people just blindly agreeing with whatever sensationalist opinion or interpretation they come across, on platforms with algorithms that are biased at best and dangerous at worst.

In summary, people have always been people but now it's much easier to reach like-minded people and social media is making everything worse.

[denimbex1986]

'David Tennant and Cush Jumbo walk into the Donmar Warehouse’s offices, above the theatre’s rehearsal rooms in Covent Garden, and sit down on a sofa, side by side. Tennant has that look his many fans will instantly be able to call to mind of being at once stressed – with a desperado gleam in his eye – yet mischievously engaged, which has to do with the intelligence he applies to everything, the niceness he directs at everyone. He is wearing a mustard-coloured jersey and could be mistaken for someone who has been swotting in a library (actually, he has been rehearsing a fight scene). If I am right in supposing him to be tense at this mid-rehearsals moment, I know – from having interviewed him before – that it is not his way to put himself first, that he will crack on and probably, while he’s at it, crack a joke or two to keep us all in good spirits. But some degree of tension is understandable for he and Jumbo are about to perform in a play that explores stress like no other – Macbeth – and must unriddle one of the most dramatic marriages in all of Shakespeare’s plays.

This is star billing of the starriest kind. Tennant, at 52, has more triumphs under his belt than you’d think possible in a single career (including Doctor Who, Broadchurch’s detective, the serial killer Dennis Nilsen in Des, and the father in There She Goes). Jumbo has been seen on US prime time in The Good Wife and The Good Fight and in ITV’s Vera. But what counts is that each is a Shakespeare virtuoso. Jumbo, who is now 38, won an Ian Charleson award in 2012 for her Rosalind in As You Like It and, in 2013, was nominated for an Olivier for her Mark Antony in Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Julius Caesar. More recently, she starred as a yearningly embattled Hamlet at the Young Vic. A dynamo of an actor, she is described by the former New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley as radiating “that unquantifiable force of hunger, drive, talent usually called star power”. Tennant, meanwhile, who has played Romeo, Lysander and Benedick for the RSC, went on to embody Hamlet and Richard II in performances that have become the stuff of legend.

Jumbo settles herself cross-legged on the sofa, relaxed in her own body, wearing a white T-shirt, dusky pink tracksuit bottoms, and modestly-sized gold hoop earrings. She looks as if she has come from an exercise class – and she has in one sense – no need to ask whether rehearsals, at this stage, are full-on. As we shake hello, she apologises for a hot hand and I for a cold one, having just come in from a sharp November morning. She is chirpy, friendly, waiting expectantly for questions – but what strikes me as I look at her is how her face in repose, at once dramatic and pensive, gives almost nothing away, like a page waiting to be written on.

Max Webster, the director, is setting the play in the modern day and Macbeth, a taut and ageless thriller, is especially friendly to this approach. I want to plunge straight in to cross-question the Macbeths. Supposing I were a marriage counsellor, what might they tell me – in confidence – about their alliance? Tennant is a step ahead: “There are two versions of the marriage, aren’t there? The one at the beginning and the fractured marriage later.” And he then makes me laugh by asking intently: “Are they sharing the murder with their therapist?”

He suggests Macbeth’s “reliance” on his wife is unusual and “not necessarily to be expected in medieval Scotland” (another excuse for the contemporary production): “I look to my wife for guidance: I don’t make a decision without her,” he explains. “We’ve been through some trauma which has induced an even stronger bond.” Jumbo agrees about the bond and spells out the trauma, reminding us the Macbeths have lost a child, but hesitates to play the game (I have suggested she talk about Lady Macbeth in the first person): “I want to get it right. I don’t want to get it wrong. I don’t know what to say… If I improv Lady Macbeth, it will feel disrespectful because you don’t know if what you’re saying on her behalf is true. And then you’re going to write what I say down and she [Lady Macbeth] is going to be: ‘Thanks, Cush, for f-ing talking about me that way.’” She emphasises that, as an actor, you must never judge your character, whatever crime they might have committed. And perhaps her resistance to straying from the text is partly as a writer herself (it was her play, Josephine and I, about the entertainer and activist Josephine Baker, that put her career into fast forward, opening off Broadway in 2015).

She stresses that the great problem with Lady Macbeth is that she has become a known quantity: “She is deeply ingrained in our culture. Everyone thinks they know who she is. Most people studied the play at school. I did – I hated it. It was so boring but that’s because Shakespeare’s plays aren’t meant to be read, they’re meant to be acted. People think they know Lady Macbeth as a type – the strong, controlling woman who pushed him to do it. She does things women shouldn’t do. The greatest misconception is that we have stopped seeing Lady Macbeth as a human being.”

For Tennant, too, keeping an open mind is essential: “What I’m finding most difficult is the variety of options. I thought I knew this play very well and that it was, unlike any other Shakespeare I can remember rehearsing, straightforward. But each time I come to a scene, it goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting.” He suggests that momentum is the play’s great asset: “It has such muscle to it, it powers along. Plot-wise, it’s more front-footed than any Shakespeare play I’ve done.” And is it ever difficult for him as Macbeth to subdue his instinctive comic talent? “Well, yes, that’s right, there are no gags! But actually, there are a couple of funny bits though I’d never intentionally inflict comedy on something that can’t take it. I hope I’m creating a rounded human being with moments of lightness, even in the bleakest times.” Jumbo adds: “Bleakness is funny at times”, and Tennant, quick as a flash, tops this: “Look at our government!” (He is an outspoken Labour supporter.) Later, when I ask what makes them angriest, he says: “Well, she [Suella Braverman]’s just been sacked so… I’m now slightly less angry than I was.” Jumbo nods agreement, adding that what makes her angriest is “unkindness”.

It is Tennant who then produces, with a flourish, the key question about the Macbeths: “Why do they decide to commit a crime? What is the fatal flaw that allows them to think that’s OK? I don’t know that they, as characters, would even know. Has the loss of a child destabilised their morality?” In preparation, Tennant and Jumbo have been researching post-traumatic stress disorder. “PTSD is a modern way of understanding something that’s always been there,” suggests Tennant – and the Macbeths are traumatised three times over by battle, bereavement and murder. “We’ve looked at postpartum psychosis as well,” Jumbo adds. They have been amazed at how the findings of modern experts “track within the play”. Tennant marvels aloud: “What can Shakespeare’s own research process have been?” Jumbo reminds him that Shakespeare, like the Macbeths, lost a child. She relishes the play’s “contemporary vibe which means it’s something my 14-year-old niece will want to see. Even though you know the ending, you don’t want it to go there. It’s exciting to play that as well as to watch it.”

A further exciting challenge is the show’s use of binaural technology (Gareth Fry, who worked on Complicité’s The Encounter, is sound designer). Each audience member will be given a set of headphones and be able to eavesdrop on the Macbeths. “The technology will mess with your neurons in a did-somebody-just-breathe-on-me way,” Jumbo explains. “You’ll feel as if you’re in a conversation with us, like listening to a podcast you love where you feel you’re sat with them having coffee.” Tennant adds: “What’s thrilling is that it makes things more naturalistic – we’re able to speak conversationally.”

Fast forward to opening night: how do they manage their time just before going on stage? Tennant says: “I dearly wish I had a set of failsafe strategies. I don’t find it straightforward. I’ve never been able to banish anxiety. It can be very problematic and part of the job is dealing with it. I squirrel myself away and tend to get quite quiet.” But at the Donmar, this will be tricky as backstage space is shared. Jumbo encourages him: “When I’ve played here before, I found the group dynamic helpful,” she says, but explains that her pre-show routine has changed since her career took off and she became a mother: “These days, I no longer have the luxury of saying: I’m going to do five hours of yoga before I go on. When I leave home at four in the afternoon, I might be thinking about whether I’ll hit traffic or, whether my kid’s stuff is ready for the next day. You get better at this, the more you do it. The main thing – which doesn’t sound that sexy – is to make sure to eat at the right time, something light, like soup, because when I’m nervous I get loads of acid and that does not make me feel good on stage. I have a cut-off point for eating and that timing has become a superstition in its own way.”

In 2020, Tennant and Jumbo co-starred in the compulsively watchable and disturbing Scottish mini-series Deadwater Fell for C4. How helpful is it to have worked together before? Tennant says it is “hugely” valuable when tackling something “intense and difficult” to be with someone you are “comfortable taking chances with”. Although actors cannot depend on this luxury: “Sometimes, you have to turn up the first day and go: ‘Ah, hello, nice to meet you, we’re going to be playing psychopathic Mr and Mrs Macbeth.’” And Jumbo adds: “I’ve been asked to do this play before and said no. You have to do it with the right person. I knew this would be fun because David is a laugh as well as being very hard-working.” He responds brightly with a non sequitur: “Wait till you see my knees in a kilt…” Are you seriously going to wear a kilt, I ask. “You’ll have to wait and see,” he laughs.

It is perhaps the kilt that triggers his next observation: “We’re an entirely Scottish company, apart from Cush,” he volunteers, suggesting that Macbeth’s choice of a non-Scottish wife brings new energy to the drama. He grew up in Paisley, the son of a Presbyterian minister, and remembers how, in his childhood, “whenever an English person arrived, you’d go “Oooh… from another worrrrld!”, and he reflects: “Someone from somewhere else gives you different energy.” And while on the Scottish theme, it is worth adding that Macbeth is the part that seems patiently to have been waiting for Tennant: “People keep saying: you must have done this play before? I don’t know if Italian Shakespeareans keep being asked if they have played Romeo…”

I tell them I remember puzzling, as a schoolgirl, over Macbeth’s line about “vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other” – the gymnastic detail beyond me. Tennant suggests that what Macbeth has, more even than ambition, is hubris. But on ambition, he and Jumbo reveal themselves to be two of a kind. Tennant says: “Ambition is not a word I’d have understood as a child but I had an ambition to become an actor from tiny – from pre-school. I did not veer off from it, I was very focused. When I look at it now, that was wildly ambitious because there were no precedents or reasons for me to believe I could.”

“For me, same,” says Jumbo, “I don’t remember ever wanting to be anything else.” She grew up in south London, second of six children. Her father is Nigerian and was a stay-at-home dad, her mother is British and worked as a psychiatric nurse. “At four, I was an avid reader and mimicker. I got into lots of trouble at school for mimicking. My ambition was similar to David’s although, as a girl, the word ‘ambition’ has always been a bit dirty…” Tennant: “It certainly is to a Scottish Presbyterian.” “Yes,” she laughs, “perhaps I should have said Celts and Blacks… Girls grow up thinking they should be modest, right? But I had so much ambition. I knew there was more for me to do and that I could be good at doing it.”

And what were they like as teenagers – as, say, 14-year-olds? Tennant says: “Uncomfortable, plooky…” What’s plooky, Jumbo and I exclaim in unison. “A Scottish word for covered in spots.” “That’s great!” laughs Jumbo. “Unstylish,” Tennant concludes. Her turn: “At 14, I was sassy, a bit mouthy, trying to get into a lot of clubs and not succeeding because I looked way too young for my age. And desperate for a snog.”

And now, as grownups, Tennant and Jumbo are, above all, keenly aware of what it means to be a parent. Jumbo has a son, Maximilian (born 2018); Tennant five children between the ages of four and 21. Parenthood, they believe, helps shape the work they do. “Being a parent magnifies the job of being an actor,” says Jumbo, “because what we’re being asked to do [as actors] is to stay playful and in the present – be big children. As a parent, you get to relive your childhood and see the world through your child’s eyes as if for the first time and more intensely. We don’t do that much as adults.”

Tennant reckons being a parent has given him “empathy, patience – or the requirement for patience – and tiredness. It gives you a big open wound you carry around, a vulnerability that is not a bad thing for this job because it means you have an emotional accessibility that can be very trying but which we need.” But the work-life balance remains, for Tennant, an ongoing struggle: “Just when you think you’ve figured it out, something happens,” he says, “and you have to recalibrate it because your children need different things at different times.” Jumbo sometimes looks to other actors/parents for advice: “To try to see what they are doing – but you never quite get it right.”

And would they agree there is a work-life balance involved in acting itself? Is acting an escape from self or a way of going deeper into themselves? Tennant says: “I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive though they sound as though they should be – I think it is both.” Jumbo agrees: “On the surface, you’re consciously stepping away from yourself but, actually, subconsciously, you have to do things instinctually so you find out more about yourself without meaning to.”

And when they go deeper, what is it that they find? Fear is another of the motors in Macbeth – what is fear for them? “Something being wrong with one of my kids,” Tennant says and Jumbo concurs. And what about fear for our planet? Tennant says: “There is so much to feel fearful and pessimistic about it can be…” Jumbo finishes his sentence: “Overwhelming.” He picks it up again: “So overwhelming that you don’t do anything.” Jumbo worries about this, tries to remind herself that doing something is better than doing nothing: “If everybody did something small in their corner of the world, the knock-on effect would be bigger.” Tennant admits to feeling “anxiety” and distinguishes it from fear. Jumbo volunteers: “I recognise fear in myself but don’t see it as a helpful emotion. It’s underactive, a place to stand still.”

As actors who have hit the jackpot, what would they say, aside from talent, has been essential to their success? Tennant says: “Luck – to be in the right place at the right time, having one job that leads to another.” Jumbo remembers: “Early in my career, I had a slow start. You have to fill your soul with creative things, which is not always easy if you can’t afford to go out. You have to find things that are free, get together with people who are creative and give you good vibes and not people who are bitter and jealous or have lots of bad things to say about the world. This tends to bring more creative things to you.” Tennant observes: “As the creative arts go, acting is a difficult one to do on your own – if you’re a painter, you can paint – even if no one is buying your paintings.” Jumbo chips in: “Because of that, it can be quite lonely when it’s not happening.” “Tennant concludes: “It’s bloody unfair – there are far too many good actors, too many of us.”

And are they in any way like the Macbeths in being partly governed by magical thinking – or do they see themselves as rationalists? (I neglect to ask whether they call Macbeth “the Scottish play”, as many actors superstitiously do.) “I am a rationalist. I’m almost aggressively anti-nonsense,” Tennant says. Jumbo, unfazed by this manifestation of reason, speaks up brightly: “I’m a magical thinker, I’m half Nigerian and that’s all about magical realism and belief in energy. If something goes my way, I think: God, I felt that energy. And the thing that drew me to theatre as a kid was its magic.” And now Tennant, alerted by the word “magic”, starts to clamber on board to agree with her – and Jumbo laughs as they acknowledge the power of what she has just said.'

[arshisrabbaves]

Arnav Singh Raizada and Redemption!

Ok so, let’s talk about it.

Rewatching the show as an adult made me realize that many people weren’t happy with Arnav’s redemption and how it was portrayed. They were looking for something more intense and serious

Now this might be a little unpopular opinion but THAT kind of redemption would be very unrealistic for him and let me explain it why.

By no means I’m trying to defend or justify his actions towards Khushi. I completely on the side that what he did to her or how he treated her was extremely wrong and toxic and I don’t support that, his past trauma shouldn’t be an excuse. However IPKKND is a show that handles trauma and trauma response in a better way than most of the ITV shows.

Notice how they (characters, storyline, scenes) never try to indicate that Khushi should fix Arnav’s trauma. That’s right! It’s because they are well aware that both of the characters are deeply traumatized yet have different outcomes. However I really wish they highlighted Khushi’s trauma as well and gave it more importance.

And now speaking of trauma they both had similar kind that of losing parents, but everything that happened later on was different.

For Khushi she was younger than Arnav when her parents passed away, only 8. She even mentioned it in one episode that she had no idea what death meant and always thought her parents would come back. And considering the fact that she was immediately taken in by Garima and Shashi there’s a high chance that they didn’t let her know or tell her anything about her parents death, leading her to believe that they’ll come back. There’s a high chance she found out later on after growing up or Madhumati told her while lashing out at her for something.

Notice how Khushi is always smiling, laughing, is very goofy and not only that she’s also always trying to fix everyone’s problem and never complains about her own. And even if she does she only does in front of her Devi maiya. It’s probably because she has a fear of judgement from other people.

I am very heavy on this but growing up Khushi heard a lot of such things as “You should be grateful for us, we took you with us and saved you. You would be in Orphanage without us” specially from Madhumati.

That’s why Khushi believed that no matter what happens she should always make them aka Guptas happy, never complain or do anything to make them upset. No doubt she was so hell bent on getting their forgiveness after the elopement track.

Arnav on the other hand was older than Khushi, he was more mature and had witnessed everything. His mother confronting his father, their deaths, his sister being left at the altar, his grandmother (Dadi) abandoning him and Anjali instead of taking responsibility and his uncle throwing him out of the house. Having to endure all this at the age of 14 made him more cold in general, which compelled him to ignore his emotions and just see things practically. It was his goal to be rich and successful so that no one can look down on him and he did that keeping his emotions aside.

You can critically argue that Arnav had some little changes after he started catching feelings for Khushi. Like being able to take jokes, laughing, having more compassion but still the huge parts were there. Notice how he still got nightmares and felt the pain deeply, and how he struggled saying things like sorry, Thankyou or even happy birthday. That’s the proof right there that falling for Khushi did infact NOT heal his trauma.

So that’s why! The kind of redemption people wanted would’ve required some intense therapy sessions which obviously didn’t happen 🤷‍♀️

[literatemisfit]

 "This is a strange and deceptive piece of our recent history. One with so many layers to it. I thought, as someone who is interested in politics, I understood everything that happened. I did not. It’s a fight for the truth that really shocked me.

"That is why it matters to tell this story now in an age where the truth seems more in danger than ever.

"It is a true honour to be bringing this story to the screen alongside David, Robert, Toby, Lewis, Patrick, Joe and Abi. I hope we find a way to do justice to the complexity of what happened and of celebrating the incredible reporting that sits underneath it."

[tellywoodtrash]

My dad's been in hospital since last one month, we went through literal hell n only now things are looking a bit better TT, thus I thought of you sis..how are and how's your cat doing??any new fav itv drama?or are you still in love with Thai bls(as an AO3 reader I TOTALLY understand you)??I watched only one Pak drama named 'rah-e-junoon' recently only cause of The beautiful Danish Taimoor😍 it's not bad specially he with his love n obsession makes me wana SIGHHHHH😩😩😩 dreamily..also HAVE YOU SEEN JUNAID KHAN IN 'MAHARAJ' (not the Sethupati one) MOVIE??his n Sarvari's reels are everywhere and they are so Wattpad coded... reminding me of those period couples in novels😍😍 he's so dreamy..6'2" tall, nerdy, kinda awkward and has this soft boy vibes going on and did I tell you he kinda looks like Henry Cavill??and Rami Malek??😩😩 life hell ho jaye par tharak na jaye🤤 now tell me how everything is going on your end✨

Hi Darling,

I hope your dad is feeling better, and you are taking care of yourself too, friend! (Caretaker burnout is reallllllll and I am sending you all the strength and healing vibes 🤗🤗🤗)

ITV seems to be a closed chapter for me; the rapidly progressing degeneration of that genre is just notttttt inspiring any confidence (or interest.) The wholeass industry needs a major major shakeup. Same with Bollywood, nothing's really pulling me anymore. Laapataa Ladies (which I still haven't watched yet) is LITERALLY THE ONLY MOVIE calling my name in all of the 2024 releases. Junaid seems like a promising nepo kid; the Cavill vibes are definitely there. Let's hope that he picks good scripts and doesn't fall down the usual wormhole.

Things that I have been watching and enjoying in the past few weeks:

The Acolyte: I literally know/care nothing about the Star Wars universe, but Manny Jacinto. Enough said. I need to rewatch coz god his character has me going awooooooooga like a fuckin' cartoon wolf. I am obsessed.

Abbott Elementary: Giving B99-ish (but much more mellow.)

Modern Family: Just a rewatch (during my mealtimes)

Late Night with Seth Meyers/Last Week Tonight/The Daily Show for US election shitshow in palatable doses

Meet You at the Blossom: A chinese BL which is fulllllllllllly delivering on the toxic romance from the Tellywood of yore

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans: A thai BL that is again, giving v Tellywood romcom vibes (Gul Khan types), with not one, BUT TWO WHOLE ENEMIES TO LOVERS couples. Noice.

Love Sea: Ridiculously high heat/good chemistry; one half of couple is the greenest fuckin flag in the history of human existence.

My Love Mix Up (Thailand): My cutest lil kuchupuchu babies. I wanna put them in my pocket and squishhhhhhhh them allllll like a goddamn stress ball. Wholesome wholesome lil show that makes me feel warm and sunshiney inside.

4 Minutes: No real idea what's really going on here with the time skips and background crimes and shit, plus this show feels like an anxiety attack in audiovisual form, BUT I'm here for Bible Wichapas giving me morally-grey himbo with hilarious (to me) gay panic.

So yeah...... That's what I've been up to! Hope you and yours keep well, lovely. <33333333 And yes, keep that tharak flag flying high!!!!!!!!

[phuljari]

incoming rant: the robotification of women

teri baaton mein aisa uljha jiya (2024) is among the latest movies in the genre of science fiction romance. it reminded me of an old itv show bahu hamari rajnikant (2016) , while i wasn't an avid watcher of the latter, i knew of it's existence. why did it remind of that particular sitcom? well, mainly because of the comedy. but it also reminded me of similar themes in english movies like ex machina (2015), wifelike (2022), archive (2020) and her (2013), which is surely a bit far fetched considering that in her, the ai never had a body. only a voice.

here, i think it's impertinent to also acknowledge male robots in indian cinema, like chitti from robot/enthiran (2010) and g.one from ra.one (2011) even though he wasn't an actual robot? i don't know if he classifies as one. so let's say, non-human, programming-based male entity (nhpbme). similar to samantha in her, a non-human, programming-based female entity (nhpbfe).

so yes, while male robots and nhpbme do exist in the sci-fi romance genre, it's the comparatively larger robotification of women that feeds the male gaze, and the patriarchy by an extention— which is ultimately problematic.

coming to the movie that i actually want to discuss, kriti sanon's sifra, in tbmauj, is the perfect lover, perfect bahu. why? she knows everything aaru (shahid kapoor) likes and wants. she has no chik-chik or tantrums like other girls. she can make cuisines from all around the world, can access everything on the internet quickly. she has perfect skin, perfect hair. probably doesn't age too. she is the dream girl of a typical man. she doesn't have her own opinions or problems, she serves him and him alone. no family of hers to care about, she can care about his family and their needs. the female gendering here acts like objectification.

the worst part of this movie was that it didn't do anything? since it was a comedy, it didn't delve deeper into the nuances of increasing technological reliance that humans have. i think it was probably meant as a warning— when sifra malfunctions and starts executing tasks that were deleted. but even at that, it fails because urmila's (dimple kapadia) company (so intelligently named) e-robots/robotex (something stupid like that), ends up launching her along with few other robots. only adds a dialogue which meant that you need to handle these robots responsibly. then, what was the point of all the testing they tried to do? placing her in different environments like india, when they don't really end up rethinking the whole idea or putting in more safety features? of course, there's no deeper meaning here. indian comedies don't really have subtext.

but it's perpetuates the same old concept of subservient women. rule-followers and caregivers. an image etched in stone. why do women ask– what do men want? men want this, an ideal version. have always wanted. fuelled by the unrealistic p*rn depictions. do they ever think what women want? aaru so casually tells off his friend who has a wife to look at how pathetic his own life is. he defends sifra's un-emotional response to a situation by attacking his friend's relationship asking if human women are any better?

it reminded me of wifelike (2022) where female robots are curated according to a person's need, a replication of their dead spouse. to love them, to serve them, to help them come out of grief. it's so funny to me how in tbmauj, sifra is shown to retain her feelings, getting jealous when aaru interacts with another woman despite getting reprogrammed; compared to how in wifelike, the robotic version of the human it was based on, always ended up leaving the husband because the human version never loved him.

isn't it interesting how female robots instantly get sexualised, and are depicted doing things that one would never ask their girlfriend or wife to do? these robots happily perform roles that are stereotypically feminine, wife-like. they're invented to put aside their feelings (if they have them) to take care of their human partners'. sifra cooks perfect food, emphasized by how many time aaru fired his maid for not cooking things the way he likes it. she probably doesn't have mood swings from periods because she's a robot. she doesn't eat, doesn't get out of shape. and most importantly, she doesn't age (cue: i'll get old but your lovers stay my age). as if the expectations from women aren't enough, that they're required to age gracefully, or best option— not age at all.

if you still don't get it, let me remind you how siri and alexa also end up on the same side of gender spectrum— female.

so the message is, guys, don't give up on your dream girl! you'll surely find a robot that satisfies all your needs! 🙄

men want perfect women, but women can't be robots. let's stop perpetuating the same image and setting unrealistic standards. real humans have real problems, deal with them.

[invisibleicewands]

Michael Sheen says 'it fills my heart' in passionate message about Wales that will give you goosebumps

Michael Sheen has been reflecting on what it is he loves about Wales ahead of his debut as Aneurin Bevan in new stage drama Nye - and his passionate message is enough to give you goosebumps.

Speaking to WalesOnline ahead of the play’s Cardiff run, Sheen opened up about why he keeps coming back to Wales and indeed now lives here again, even though his work takes him all over the world. “It’s my home,” he says. “It's where my family are, where my friends are, where I grew up. It's the country whose history is closest to my heart, whose people I care about the most, the communities that I care about the most. It is what shaped me, informed me, and what continues to shape and form me.

“Aside from anything to do with the natural beauty of the country, the warmth of the people, the history of the communities, how we grew up here, the challenges that we've had in the past and that we still face and that have shaped who we are now and why we are the way we are now and what our aspirations are, all of those things. [Wales is] what fills my head and fills my heart.”

The Newport-born, Port Talbot raised actor is recognised for his ability to transform into his characters, notably real life people like former Prime Minister Tony Blair, broadcaster David Frost, and controversial football manager Brian Clough.

Sheen, 55, who has more recently played Chris Tarrant in ITV drama Quiz and the angel Aziraphale in Good Omens opposite David Tennant, is now looking forward to starring in the title role of Nye, a co-production between the Wales Millennium Centre and the National Theatre, which sees the actor portray the founder of the National Health Service.

Interestingly, Nye will be the first time that Sheen performs on stage in his home country. Despite his groundbreaking performance as Jesus Christ in National Theatre Wales' The Passion which was staged on location across Port Talbot during Easter weekend in 2011, the actor revealed he's never actually fronted a show at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

“To be able to do this play and tell this story about this man on that stage is really exciting,” Sheen commented. “When we got there to start doing the tech and just stepped out onto the stage, it was really exciting. You could feel the whole company getting really excited and just looking out into that beautiful auditorium and just thinking about it being full of people coming to watch this play.

“The fact that we're telling this story, which is such a Welsh story about a Welsh legend, has been exciting from the very beginning. When we first started rehearsing, knowing that we'd be coming to Wales at the end of it, everyone was incredibly excited about that. To now actually be here and be just days away from starting the performance is quite thrilling.”

Sheen said that, perhaps for the first time in his career, he knew ‘everything’ about the man he was playing. A new play written by Tim Price, a synopsis for Nye reads: “Confronted with death, Nye's deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, parliament and fights with Churchill in an epic Welsh fantasia.”

Sheen said of playing Bevan: “In the last 10 years I've come to really appreciate who [Aneurin Bevan] was and what he did and what he achieved. This was an opportunity to be able to put everything I knew and felt about him into a piece on stage.

“It’s a very particular challenge playing a real person who is very well known by the audience. That brings all kinds of unique challenges that you wouldn't normally get if you're playing a fictional character, obviously, or a real life person that people don't really know that well. And with playing Nye as well, it feels like a huge responsibility. I mean, it's a privilege to play him and to tell his story, but it's also a massive responsibility because there have been very few things out there about him, and it's such an important story.

“I already had such a strong feeling about him, a strong relationship to him and what he achieved. I know people who feel incredibly passionate about him and what he did. That brings an even greater level of responsibility to it. It was a great relief to know that once we started performing the play, people were accepting of me playing the part and were enjoying it and felt that it portrayed Bevan in a way that did him justice.”

Sheen added that the NHS itself has “always” been there for him throughout his life, citing moments in which he has lost family members and friends, as well as caring for his two children with Swedish actress partner Anna Lundberg, Lyra and Mabli. “It's not just one moment, it's a lifetime, lifelong relationship.”

Another relationship that Sheen has developed in recent years is with Doctor Who star David Tennant. The pair have been firm friends since appearing in both Staged and Good Omens with each other – both of which were hugely successful. Of his friendship with Tennant, Sheen jokes: “David and I will keep working together as long as we don't fall out!” While he ruled out more episodes of Staged, Sheen will reunite with Tennant when the third and final series of Good Omens enters production next year. When asked whether he knows what the future holds for his character, the actor said: “I know what's going to happen in the entire story but I'm not going to tell anyone.”

Before then Sheen will take on another real life role, playing Prince Andrew in a new series about the infamous Newsnight interview the royal did with Emily Maitlis. The story was adapted into Netflix film Scoop earlier this year: “I thought Rufus was fantastic,” Sheen said of Rufus Sewell’s performance as Prince Andrew in Scoop. “I thought he was brilliant as Andrew, he was much better than me. He was more a supporting character in that though. Our story is about Prince Andrew and Emily, it's much more they are the lead characters. It's a different focus and requires a different approach to the character. I was having to look at, as I'm sure Rufus did, the interview in particular. When we were working on it I was listening and watching the interview multiple times a day, every day for months.”

Reflecting on playing the divisive member of the Royal Family, Sheen said: “The level of controversy in that story brings an extra layer as well. The fact that for whatever all our personal opinions might be about what did or didn't happen, or what he did or didn't do, we don't know for definite. There's been no actual court case. We don't know exactly what happened.

"That requires a real level of sensitivity in how you deal with the story, apart from anything else because of legalities and that stuff, but when I read the script I thought that was handled really well. I thought it was a very clever way of allowing the audience to have a satisfying dramatic experience, but still keeping a level of ambiguity, which I thought was done very well on the script. Playing that character was challenging in all kinds of ways, as it is with every real-life character, but I also had to make certain choices and decisions about what was going on for him in my version.”

2024 has already been a busy year for Sheen as a few months ago, his directing debut The Way was released on BBC One – to mixed reviews. Reflecting on the project, which was shot in Wales, he said: “It was quite extraordinary to be attacked by Conservative ministers in the press on the day that it came out, and then to have right-wing newspapers having a concerted plan to try and smear it.

"We didn't expect that just before it came out the news would come out from the steelworks. It was a huge shock and obviously affected the way people perceive the story of the drama. It was never intended to be a socio-documentary about what was going on at the steelworks. It was my first time directing something and to be able to tell that story and film it around south Wales with an amazing Welsh cast was such a brilliant experience.”

[ingek73]

Prince Harry: decision to take on tabloids contributed to family ‘rift’

Duke of Sussex tells ITV documentary that legal battles against newspapers ‘central’ to deterioration in relations

Caroline Davies

Wed 24 Jul 2024 16.46 BST

The Duke of Sussex believes his determination to take on tabloid newspapers in the courts was a “central piece” in the deterioration of relations between him and his family in the UK.

Speaking about his legal battles against newspapers over privacy, Prince Harry told an ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial that his decision to fight contributed to the “rift” with the royal family.

Asked if his decision destroyed the relationship, Harry says: “Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it. But, you know, that’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.”

He continues: “I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family. I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons.”

Asked what he thought of the royal family’s decision not to fight in the way he has done, he replies: “I think everything that has played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me, the mission continues, but it has, it has, yes. It’s caused, yeah, as you say, part of a rift.”

Harry has long despaired of the royal family’s failure to take on the press, and has previously revealed that his father, King Charles, told him it would be a “suicide mission”.

In his memoir, Spare, he wrote of what he saw as the royal family’s connivance with the media through alleged leaking, believing himself to be collateral damage. In the book Harry was withering about his father’s failure to take on the media, writing that “the same shoddy bastards who’d portrayed [Charles] as a clown” were now “tormenting and bullying” him and his wife, Meghan.

In December 2023, after he won damages in his hacking case against Mirror Group Newspapers, Harry made clear he felt vindication for his long-running legal battles against sections of the British media. He said in the statement at the time that he had “been told that slaying dragons will get you burned”, adding a defiant: “The mission continues.”

Speaking for the first time about the case, he told the documentary: “To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge … a monumental victory.”

He also spoke about fears that his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, may have been an early victim of phone hacking.

The duke, who is one of several celebrities appearing in the documentary which airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Thursday, is also involved in continuing legal actions over privacy against News Group Newspapers and Associated Newspapers.

[my-film-reel-world]

My brief review of the ITV drama miniseries Playing Nice (2025)

Plot (taken from IMDb because I’m too lazy to write my own version): Two couples discover their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up and face the horrifying dilemma of keeping the sons they have raised and loved, or reclaiming their biological child.

It is based on the book of the same name by JP Delaney. (I haven’t read it, so I don’t know how accurate it is)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Positives:

• Fantastic acting from the main cast: James Norton, Niamh Algar, James McArdle, and Jessica Brown Findlay, who play Pete and Maddie Riley and Miles and Lucy Lambert respectively. Norton, Findlay and Algar were amazing as usual and McArdle was so devious, he made me want to punch his smug little face. The child actors, who played Theo Riley and David Lambert in the series, were really sweet and stole my heart. 🥹

• The gorgeous Cornish scenery! I’ve visited Cornwall a few times and it is one of the most beautiful places to visit in the UK.

• I liked how the first episode was set up. It had a strong start that made me invested in the case. Suitably suspenseful. However, as the series went on, I gradually became uninterested in it because of the way the rest of the story progressed, which I will get into detail.

The Negatives:

• There are so many plot holes that needed to be filled. This one in particular really bugs me: We see Miles’ mum Edith Lambert (Maureen Beattie) in the final two episodes and I expected her to be more involved with the case, but after a harsh chat with Miles (McArdle), we never see or hear from her again. So you’re telling me Pete Riley (Norton) travelled all that way to Scotland from Cornwall to meet Edith and then go back to Cornwall to a court hearing, only for it to all amount to nothing? All that build up was for nothing!? What a waste of potential!

• The ending was just as ridiculous as the dialogue. Everything gets resolved so quickly and so bizarrely that I had more questions than answers.

• The characters were very hard to empathise with because they make stupid decisions, especially Pete. He’s a former journalist, yet he never puts those skills to good use. I mean, you could argue that he’s under pressure from the case, but he still should’ve done something believable that made sense to the plot and not something unrealistic and illogical. How James Norton agreed to be in this still baffles me. In the first episode, it makes sense; it's hard for any parent to process if they find themselves in a similar situation as he and Maddie: What if your child wasn't yours and is indeed someone elses? It's a daunting topic to tackle. Yet as the series progressed, Pete, Maddie and basically every other character's decision after that episode just becomes dumb.

• “JUST CALL THE POLICE!” were the words that came out of my frustrated mouth at the TV more often than anything else. Seriously, does Cornwall not have a police station?

Overall, a promising start with a sluggish middle and too many holes at the end. A frustrating watch.

5/10

[madandi]

From The Times

article about the new song: "Thank you mother"

At 16 Amy Nuttall became the youngest understudy for the lead role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, then a year later she joined the ITV soap Emmerdale and stayed for five years. The Lancashire-born actress has since appeared in Hotel Babylon, Downton Abbey, Death in Paradise and, most recently, Mr Bates vs the Post Office. On stage she has been in My Fair Lady, Boeing-Boeing, Cabaret and Spamalot. Now 41, Nuttall is married to the actor Andrew Buchan. They live with their nine-year-old daughter and five-year-old son in Buckinghamshire.

How much is in your wallet?

No one carries cash now — everything is cashless. I did get caught short last year when my daughter lost a tooth unexpectedly. I had no money for the tooth fairy. Luckily my neighbour came to the rescue but now I always make sure I have pound coins in my wallet. Apart from that, all I have is my driver’s licence, Tesco Clubcard, Boots card, Caffè Nero stamp card and my debit card.

What credit cards do you use?

I don’t own any. When I joined Emmerdale I came home to visit my parents and for some reason I’d got myself a credit card and I was telling my dad about it and he made me get it out, got a pair of scissors and said, “Right, I want you to cut it up in front of me. Take my advice. Do not go down that road.” And it’s just stuck with me. I’ve never had one since. I think my dad knew that it would basically give me the opportunity to spend money I didn’t have, so I think it was very wise advice.

Are you a saver or a spender?

I’d love to say I’m a saver. I think I started out really well but I have become a bit of a spender. It’s mainly on my children. When I started out, aged 16, touring in The Phantom of the Opera, my first pay cheque was £500 a week, which was an absolute fortune for someone that age. I remember we were rehearsing in London before we went on tour, and I needed some new trainers, so I went to Schuh in Covent Garden. And I’ve never forgotten that feeling of buying my own trainers with my own money — and still having money in my account. After that I barely spent a penny, other than on accommodation and food. I don’t know where that girl went, as I really enjoy spending now. Back then I was very cautious. I just wish I’d had the foresight to put that money into property.

How much did you earn last year?

I’m an actress, self-employed, so it varies substantially from year to year. Sometimes I get surprise emails from my agent about royalties, saying, “Downton Abbey has been sold to this country,” or whatever, and they’re always nice little happy surprises. But generally speaking, in the last financial year — what can I tell you? — below a hundred grand, but I’m married so it all goes into one pot. So it’s not as scary because I can lean on that. People may have thought that being in Downtown Abbey meant I could put my rates up, but it’s really not the case. I always seem to land jobs where they tell you there isn’t any money in the pot. And then you find out who the lead is and you think, ah, all the money is going to that person. So it’s really not as lucrative as people perceive.

I sing too. I recently released a song called Thank You Mother, to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity. That won’t see any personal return, but that’s fine as I want all the money to go to the charity. Overall I’m used to not knowing how things will be financially. It’s that excitement of not knowing what’s around the corner — maybe that big job with lots of money is going to turn up. That hasn’t happened yet, but you never know.

Have you ever been really hard up?

I started off well with Phantom and then Emmerdale, but when I was 22 I left and moved to London. Soon after I bought my first property in Ladbroke Grove [west London] but stupidly bought one that I was unable to sublet. I’d really stretched myself to the limit to buy it and I was relying on being in work to pay my mortgage and bills. I was the lead in Cabaret in the West End at the time, but it was a massive drop in earnings after Emmerdale and I just couldn’t cover everything, so I had to put the flat on the market. I had to move out a week after I finished Cabaret and rent a room in a flat and put all my furniture into storage. It was devastating.

Do you own a property?

I’m the joint owner of our comfortable family home in Buckinghamshire. We owned a smaller house before.

Are you better off than your parents?

I’d say my dad is probably better off than me. He recently retired but he was a criminal barrister and a judge. I have no idea how much money he earned but he was always extremely cautious and never spent money on five-star hotels. My mum was a hairdresser when they met and then did interior design for a while. Things were comfortable and my dad paid for all three of us to have a private secondary education.

Do you invest in shares?

I don’t and it’s not something I’ve ever thought about. I don’t know enough about it.

What is better for retirement, property or pension?

A bit of both. It probably changes from year to year but I think it would be safer to have a bit of property, a bit of pension.

What has been your best investment?

My house, my health and my children — not in that order.

And the worst?

I’ve not really made any great investments but I can’t think of anything that has been significantly bad either.

The most extravagant thing you’ve bought?

I bought my mum a Louis Vuitton bag because she did everything for my wedding. I just turned up on the day, which was great. I wasn’t particularly interested in doing it — she did it all. So I bought her a beautiful cream Louis Vuitton handbag, which cost about £2,000, which is an insane amount of money.

What is your money weakness?

Food, probably. I’m quite lazy, especially with the grim weather we’ve had lately. I just want to get out of the house and go to a cosy café to eat stuff I could easily make at home. My other weakness is [the homeware store] Homesense — I’m an absolute sucker for kitchen paraphernalia. Whether it’s another teapot or candle I don’t need, I’m there.

What is your financial priority?

My children. We’re a way off secondary school yet, though, so we’ll see what happens.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

First, I wouldn’t broadcast it. I’d share it among family, and I’d love to have the luxury of giving away a chunk of money to the Brain Tumour Charity. If there was any left to spoil myself, I’d love to be mortgage-free. I’d love a big house in the country with an Aga and a dog, and a holiday home in Tuscany. That would be lovely.

Do you support any charities?

I’m a patron of the Brain Tumour Charity — my mother passed away from a glioblastoma brain tumour in October, and I’ll be donating all the proceeds from Thank You Mother to them. It’s a song we played a lot at home in my mother’s final weeks. It was a very emotional time and the words in the song are very poignant to my relationship with my mum. I knew straight away that I had to do something to raise awareness of this terrible disease.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt about money?

That you never have enough, that it goes pretty quickly and that it doesn’t bring you true happiness. And like my parents said to me, “If you look after the pennies, the pounds will follow.” All proceeds from Thank You Mother by Amy Nuttall go to the Brain Tumour Charity

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm actually a little worried over the fact that Bridgerton is gonna be the standard for period dramas nowadays, like, that's how period dramas are gonna look like (and I'm not even talking about the diversity part, I'd ve very happy with a show actually giving poc people the protagonism they deserve and not call it diversity and having the only White character to be the main character of the whole show) we have things like The Buccaneers and that horrible Emma film Netflix made and wonder if that's the quality we are gonna have now

Mr Malcom's List was amazing, I love everything about that film, it was so well done

Honestly? I'm not that worried about it. Period dramas have always been hit or miss for me, and I think that while big hits always have an impact on their genres, they often don't have as massive an impact as we may think--because shows that try to follow them underperform, tastes change, and other big hits happen.

An example I'd think of is The Tudors, which... I'm not gonna lie to you. Like it or not, is probably one of the most impactful, if not THE most impactful period dramas we've seen in the past 20 years. It revived the idea of the high end period piece soap for an American audience--and it reminded people that period pieces don't have to be Masterpiece, BBC, ITV, whatever. They could be super sexy and super dramatic and super bloody. You didn't have to be a stickler for history.

That show got a lot of viewers and a lot of buzz--and honestly, it went a long way towards launching the careers of Henry Cavill and Nat Dormer. Showtime tried to replicate it with The Borgias, but obviously had much less success there. HOWEVER, I always think it's a little unfair that GoT gets credit for making period pieces hot again when a) it's not a period piece and you can tell its core audience doesn't associate it with those because of how much they talk about the dragons and the ice zombies and b) The Tudors had already stoked that flame, and then the general Tudor frenzy grabbed onto it, which is why Starz has been able to get mileage out of its PGregs/Tudor-general shows for so long. THOUGH! I hope the flopitude of their last Elizabeth show means they slow up.

You see other mini trends too--Vikings was a big hit, and because of that you got The Last Kingdom and its ilk and Vikings: Valhalla. Vikings really was nothing like The Tudors, aside from the fact that it had somewhat explicit sex for its network (nothing like The Tudors, but still) and centered on a piece of shit who treated women like garbage and needed!!! Sons!!!!!!!! It walked through a door I think The Tudors left open, but it wasn't as clear a followup as The Borgias or the PGregs shows were.

So while I think Bton is obviously having an impact, as seen with Buccs, I'm not worried about its long term impact. I HOPE we see more diverse period dramas continue to be a thing, though I feel that really is less a thing we can thank Bton for (see: Mr. Malcolm's List) and more a trajectory that was brewing already. I mean, Shondaland had technically already done it with Still Star-Crossed, a show I didn't like... at all. But it was diverse.

I mean, shows like Mary and George on the horizon are nothing like Bton and hopefully (if they're good) will have an impact. I think we're slooooowly seeing the rise in more explicit, less woebegone period dramas (not movies) centering queer people. Gentleman Jack got cancelled, obviously, but I think it still made strides on that front, and Mary and George will obviously be very queer but also very much not a "sad queer man is closeted and sympathetic but doomed" narrative. We haven't seen many shows depict a man actually using his sexuality to get ahead the way women are often depicted doing in shows like The Tudors--and at his mother's urging, versus his father's as is usually the case with a narrative like Anne Boleyn's.

Things just come and go in waves. I mean, watch The Artful Dodger if you're super worried about more romantic period dramas, it was so fucking refreshing. I do kind of wonder if the romance in that show was upped BECAUSE Bton had success, but it's so much better than anything they offered, all the while focused on a period of history we never see in international TV (1800s Australia), doing a fun little revamp of a classic story (Oliver Twist), with a diverse cast and a focus on like... medicine? But medicine in a way that feels less procedural and more narrative? Medicine and THEFT? Medicine and Theft and Kissing? And putting a salve on her inner thigh and blowing on it in an alley? And sexual tension during medical exams? (The 30 seconds of Jack and Belle tensing while he sits behind her and listens to her heartbeat in her darkened room after she strips out of her dress is better than anything Bton offered in two seasons.)

And additionally--if books are any indication, I actually don't know that Bton is having that big an effect. Historical romances are going through a slump right now; the most Bton has done is push Julia Quinn's books and offer a "if you like Bton" comp for some books, which...

Yes, Buccs got renewed, but I don't know that it... has had much of an impact? I don't see it mentioned much on social media, which could be my circles, but I also don't see it mentioned much on sites that normally push streaming shows, so. I don't know. I've yet to see a Bton acolyte (and there have been few) actually make an impact and stick around the way some of the Tudor spawns did, or the way shows that followed Vikings did, for that matter.