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The usual suspects – and Nate Parker – up for Directors Guild of America awards
53 minutes ago
The DGAs – a key predictor of the Oscars – has La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight present and correct among its nominees, plus Parker for debut director
All three key Oscar contenders have been named in the five-strong shortlist for this year’s Directors Guild of America awards. The DGAs have diverged from the Academy Awards’ top prize only seven times since 1948, meaning the victor this year will be cemented as the Oscars frontrunner.
Related: La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester By the Sea up for PGA awards
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- Catherine Shoard
Sky pulls broadcast of show that cast white actor as Michael Jackson
1 hour ago
Singer’s family ‘angered’ and ‘disrespected’ by portrayal of Jackson, played by Joseph Fiennes, in satirical series Urban Myths
Sky have pulled the broadcast of an episode of their satirical series Urban Myths after Michael Jackson’s children said they were sickened and offended by the portrayal of their father, played by Joseph Fiennes.
Paris-Michael Jackson, his daughter, tweeted after seeing the trailer, which shows Fiennes wearing facial prosthetics:
@TheMJCast i'm so incredibly offended by it, as i'm sure plenty of people are as well, and it honestly makes me want to vomit.
Related: Urban Myths director defends casting of white actor as Michael Jackson
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- Hannah Ellis-Petersen
Magic Lantern festival and Prevenge: top things to do in the UK this week
3 hours ago
From the UK’s answer to China’s carnival of lights to Alice Lowe’s ‘pregnancy horror’ film: your at-a-glance guide to the best in culture across the UK
Magic Lantern festival
Lights! Camera! Instagram filter! The UK’s answer to China’s New Year’s lantern festival returns, this time to Chiswick House Gardens, with more than 50 glowing installations on a Silk Road theme (not the drugs darknet; the original one, the ancient trade network linking Asia to the west). Expect plenty of animals (including pandas) and the odd admiral’s ship.
At Chiswick House Gardens, W4, from Thursday 19 Jan to Sunday 26 Feb
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- The Guide
Chewing Gum review – Michaela Coel’s hilarious, filthy comedy returns
5 hours ago
A slice of working-class urban life is shoved rudely, and gloriously, in your face. Plus: a thoughtful documentary on transgender children
“Yeah, yeah, I’m back, yeah,” says Michaela Coel’s character Tracey. Back for a second series of Chewing Gum (E4), back on the estate. She is clutching a Bible in one hand, and, if she didn’t have a bin bag of belongings in it, the other would probably be in her knickers. Tracey is holding on to her optimism, too. She has already been to see her best friend, Candice, and her nan, who, she says to camera, were really happy to see her. “Welcome back,” said Candice, looking neither happy nor welcoming. “Fucking hell, what you done to your hair?” said Nan.
When other comedy characters address the camera, it can be a bit cheesy, and a bit been-done-before. But there is something so utterly, convincingly real about Tracey, »
- Sam Wollaston
Friday’s best TV: Room 101; Tina and Bobby; The Eighties
6 hours ago
The Orwellian comedy show about pet peeves returns. Meanwhile ITV serves up another icon-dramatisation – this time featuring Bobby Moore. Plus, yet another excuse to laugh at shoulder pads and big hair
Frank Skinner clears some space in a basement bulging with bugbears, as a fresh series of the comedy panel show beckons. Catherine Tate, Nigel Havers and TV presenter Rylan Clark-Neal offer pet peeves for Skinner’s Orwellian alcove; picks from the pissed-off participants include try-hard hipster restaurants, prearranged paparazzi shoots and – in a move that may well goad viewers into using a BBC bias hashtag or 10 – Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Mark Gibbings-Jones
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- Mark Gibbings-Jones, Jonathan Wright, Jack Seale, David Stubbs, Graeme Virtue, Ben Arnold, Hannah J Davies
Unforgotten series two, episode two recap – the case of the dead Tory hots up
14 hours ago
A blur of secrets, sex workers and parties slowly come into focus as the hedonistic 80s are remembered – but which party animal killed David Walker?
Some huge reveals this week as the slow-burner hots up. Disparate strands are starting to connect as we try to make sense of David Walker’s life – and the core four are all put through the wringer as Cassie and Sunny make excellent progress in the case of the suitcase Tory.
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- James Donaghy
Sneaky Pete: the knockabout new crime caper with Bryan Cranston as a thug-lord
17 hours ago
A scoundrel on the run pretends to be his old cell mate and goes ‘home’ to live with the man’s family. Suspend your disbelief and it’s thumping good fun
What is it: Bryan Cranston’s new, far-fetched but fun TV thing.
Why you’ll love it: It stars Giovanni Ribisi (Phoebe’s kid brother in Friends) as Marius, a super-slick conman fresh out of jail and in desperate need of a hideout. He is being pursued by a menacing thug-lord called Vince (Cranston), who wants the $100,000 Marius owes him. So Marius becomes Pete (his old cell mate, who won’t get out for years) and travels to Pete’s family home in the countryside to pose as him until the heat dies down. Real Pete hasn’t been home for 20 years and the two men aren’t entirely dissimilar with their brown hair, pale skin and chin stubble, »
- Julia Raeside
With Nato shaky and the EU in turmoil, Putin makes the perfect TV villain | Emma Brockes
18 hours ago
In the Norwegian TV drama Occupied, a weakened EU without Us support is easy prey for Russia. It might come to be uncomfortably close to reality
I have just finished binge-watching Occupied, a Norwegian political TV drama that imagines a point in the near future when, with Nato collapsed and the Us in isolationist withdrawal, an emboldened Russia invades Norway for its energy supplies.
Related: TV drama depicting Russian invasion premieres in Norway
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- Emma Brockes
Whitney Cummings: 'The scariest place to perform standup is America'
18 hours ago
The outspoken comic talks about directing a ‘science comedy’ on the female brain, overcoming her battle with co-dependency and the cult of celebrity grief
At only 34, Whitney Cummings has packed an enormous amount of success – and a few notable failures – into her career. Named one of Variety’s “Comics to Watch” a decade ago, she went on to become a regular at Chelsea Lately and at the Comedy Central roasts. In 2011, she exploded – her sitcom Whitney premiered on NBC to withering reviews, only lasting two seasons; a short-lived talkshow would follow. At the same time, she was creating and executive-producing CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, a bona fide hit now in its sixth season.
Related: Comedy in 2017: Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and the French Seinfeld
Related: How comedians struggled to parody Donald Trump
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- Elise Czajkowski
TV can’t move for the living dead these days. Give up the ghosts!
20 hours ago
Apparitions are so rife on our screens that they’ve become the ultimate cliche – lazy, obvious and smug. TV writers: bury your dead already
Spoiler alert: this piece contains spoilers for Sherlock, Mr Robot and Pitch.
Anyone who thought Mary Watson’s time in Sherlock was up when a treacherous secretary fired a bullet through her chest must have been gobsmacked to see the latest episode of the whizzy detective drama. There was Mary, sans bullet wound, offering encouragement and advice to her bereaved husband John. Was it one of Sherlock’s narrative-resetting, “actually I’m not dead after all” twists? No. Instead, Mary was the latest in a long line of characters not letting their own passing prevent them from a bit of additional screen time.
Related: Why I'm so disappointed by gutless Sherlock's big twist
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- Gwilym Mumford
Henrik Larsson answer wins contestants Pointless quiz jackpot money – video
22 hours ago
Former footballer Henrik Larsson was the subject of a surprising moment on the quiz show Pointless earlier this week. Two contestants gave the former Sweden, Celtic and Manchester United striker as an answer when attempting to identify a goalscorer at Euro 2000. It wins them the jackpot prize money, amazingly, when one of the contestants then reveals her boyfriend, a Celtic fan, had encouraged her before the show to give Larsson as the answer to any football-related question
Henrik Larsson leaves Helsingborg after his son was attacked by fans Continue reading »
- Guardian Staff
Common Sense: TV news to burst the mainstream media bubble?
23 hours ago
By getting butchers, market traders and dinner ladies to dissect the news, the BBC is trying to address the crisis in journalism. Shame it can’t show the best bits
Last night, BBC2 launched Common Sense, a sort of soap-box Gogglebox, in which Britons comment on current affairs. A couple who run a butchers shop chat about fracking. Three octogenarian women do a gentle exercise class while discussing whether Theresa May needs to get a move on with Brexit. A pair of male nail technicians shoot the breeze about the Trump-Putin relationship.
Common Sense is one of TV’s attempts to address a growing sense of crisis in the provision of journalism. Falling audiences for – and declining faith in – traditional reporting is often attributed to a so-called “post-truth” environment, in which fact has little impact on opinion.
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- Mark Lawson
Hospital review – shining a light on an NHS at breaking point
11 January 2017 11:20 PM, PST
This six-part series does for the health service what The Thick of It did for government or W1A did for the BBC – but sadly it’s no satire
Morning at St Mary’s hospital, London; who’s for a game of musical beds? There is no flu epidemic, no norovirus, it’s not midwinter, just an average Monday last October. But the hospital is on red alert, meaning parts of it are full to capacity. Such as intensive care, where there is only one bed left.
Prof George Hanna will need it after an operation to remove a cancerous tumour from the oesophagus of his patient, Simon, 67. Simon has already had one operation cancelled because of a red-bed situation, and the operating window after his chemo isn’t going to stay open for long. The trouble is that 78-year-old Janice, being blue-lighted down from Norwich for an emergency op »
- Sam Wollaston
Netflix targets BBC family audience with Lemony Snicket remake
11 January 2017 11:00 PM, PST
A Series of Unfortunate Events forms part of plan to woo audiences and add to its 90 million global subscribers
Netflix is poised to launch its take on Lemony Snicket’s dark children’s tale A Series of Unfortunate Events, targeting the family drama audience traditionally catered for by ITV and the BBC.
Related: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Netflix lets its freak flag fly
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- Mark Sweney
Thursday’s best TV: Unforgotten; Spies; Chewing Gum
11 January 2017 10:20 PM, PST
The police procedural reminiscent of vintage-era The Killing continues; our trainee spies are obliged to inform on their ‘weakest’ colleagues; and a very welcome return for Michaela Coel’s brilliantly funny comedy
David Tennant narrates this series of themed nature films – this first one is “love” – in which animatronic creatures with hidden cameras gather dramatic closeup footage. A fun idea, and there’s cute stuff here of resourceful wild dogs giving a lioness the slip, maternal elephants and – in particular – a Nile crocodile in Uganda, scooping up her young in her mighty jaws. Monkeys in India, however, prove the most suspicious of their new robot chum. John Robinson
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- Ali Catterall, Hannah J Davies, Paul Howlett, Andrew Mueller, John Robinson, David Stubbs, Graeme Virtue, Jonathan Wright
Behind the scenes of reality TV: 'You're a little bit daft to apply'
11 January 2017 2:58 PM, PST
Manipulation is rife on reality TV, with producers often lying to contestants, depriving them of sleep and exploiting weaknesses in the name of manufacturing drama
Simone Lee Brennan married a man she’d met only moments earlier, before a television audience of nearly 1 million viewers. But the happiest day of her life came later – when she moved out of his apartment.
Brennan, a Sydney makeup artist, appeared in the second season of Australia’s Married at First Sight. Last week she published a tell-all blog post about the experience that, she warned, threatened to “ruin reality TV for you forever”.
Related: Family Rules: Indigenous family of 10 strong women star in refreshing new reality series
For a lot of people, being in a reality television show is the most interesting thing they will ever do
Related: The Bachelorette finale: Sam Frost picks Sasha in extended Air New Zealand ad
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- Elle Hunt
Mrs Brown's Boys: the chatshow – what a reassuring move by the BBC
11 January 2017 6:52 AM, PST
The mega success of Dublin’s most offensive widow may gobsmack many, but the BBC knows when it’s on to a good thing – and how to maximise it
There have been few TV shows as divisive as Mrs Brown’s Boys. Some people will no doubt say that the BBC has taken leave of its senses in announcing that the Irish drag-act sitcom will, later this year, get a chatshow called All Round to Mrs Brown’s. But to me, the decision is a reassuring sign that the corporation’s entertainment division is in full possession of its faculties that seemed in doubt after last week’s launch of the lame Cowell-imitation singing contest, Let It Shine.
Brendan O’Carroll’s Dublin widow has a tradition of polarising people. In 2011, when it debuted on BBC1, some reviewers were so appalled that they predicted the show would be pulled before »
- Mark Lawson
Is reading a murder mystery somehow better than watching one on TV?
11 January 2017 3:11 AM, PST
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts
People tend to think that time spent reading a book is more productive than time spent watching TV, but is that right? Is there more intrinsic benefit in, say, reading a detective murder mystery – such as one of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland books – than in watching the serialised version on the box?
Jan Jenkins, Hull
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- Guardian Staff
Harry Hill is a brilliant, berserk genius. So why is he floundering?
11 January 2017 2:26 AM, PST
On paper, his new show The Remote Controller is an awful idea – but Hill’s comic delights should never be underestimated. Fingers crossed he turns it into a hit
In 1996, You’ve Been Framed host Jeremy Beadle unveiled his big new project. Beadle’s Hotshots was a series in which he invited members of the public to submit sketches and short films they’d made at home. The show vanished without trace almost immediately, because nobody thought the idea of watching handmade footage from Joe Ordinaries at home would ever catch on. Then someone invented YouTube and proved everyone wrong.
Now, in 2017, You’ve Been Framed host Harry Hill has unveiled his big new project. The Remote Controller is an upcoming show where the British public are asked to pitch ideas for new television programmes to a panel of industry experts. It sounds like an unholy amalgamation of Dragons’ Den, »
- Stuart Heritage
Why are there no care workers in Coronation Street?
11 January 2017 12:30 AM, PST
Come on, programme makers. We may not be as glamorous as doctors and nurses, but you could occasionally feature us in your dramas and soaps
Whenever senior people in the social care sector gather together, one of the first topics of conversation is always the problem of recruiting and retaining staff.
When it comes to staying in the sector, money is certainly an important factor for social care professionals. You’re never going to get rich, or even be comfortably off, if you work in the social care sector. But it can’t be all about money. For example, a social care employer in London recently advertised for two jobs; one in administration and one as a support worker. Even though the job as a support worker was better paid, it attracted far fewer applications.
Related: Training and career opportunities vital to tackle care recruitment crisis
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- Anonymous care worker
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