Culture ‘Binge theatre’: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll still crackles 70 years on Classic plays often carry unhelpful baggage, and Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll has been burdened with claims that make it feel like a museum piece. Red Stitch’s revival of the play and its two prequels found instead a trilogy that still crackles with life and resonance.
Culture MF Doom’s final years in Leeds remain a mystery Adam Batty's search for clues about the masked rapper led him to a remote-control car shop in Otley and to the Brudenell Social Club, among other places. Rumours suggested Doom had spent thousands in the shop and sightings placed him around the indie venue. Batty and BBC 6
Culture Back gardens in the sky: Renée Gailhoustet’s eco‑brutalist housing When the French architect Renée Gailhoustet died in 2023, residents of Le Liégat put up a large handmade sign reading “Merci Renée.” She had lived in her Liégat duplex for more than 40 years, with a cherry tree and a profusion of greenery visible from her living room window. Her
Culture National Pizza Day 2026: Deals and freebies for Feb. 9 Monday, Feb. 9 is National Pizza Day, and several popular retailers are running promotions for the occasion. Chuck E. Cheese, Grubhub, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut are among the chains offering deals and discounts. 7-Eleven 7Rewards and Speedy Rewards members can buy one pizza and get another for $3, and
Culture The distance between us: are these people together or apart? Intriguing images fill Yolanda del Amo’s new book, Archipelago. It explores how our longing for closeness coexists with a desire for individuality. The pictures prompt a simple question: are these people together or apart? yolanda del, archipelago, photo book, images, people, longing, closeness, individuality, togetherness, separation
Culture Jon Stewart Defends Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show On 'The Daily Show,' Jon Stewart defended Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance, saying it shouldn’t be a performer’s job to unify the country: 'Why the [expletive] is it the Super Bowl halftime entertainer's job to unify the country? In what world
Culture Jason Statham Thriller Homefront Climbs Netflix U.S. Charts Jason Statham's 2013 thriller Homefront has climbed the Netflix U.S. streaming charts more than a decade after its theatrical release. The film moved from eighth on February 6, 2026, to third, behind The Investigation of Lucy Letby and the 2018 rom-com Overboard. Based on Chuck Logan’s
Culture TV tonight: a group of strangers take on a menacing mountain The Summit (9pm, ITV1) sends a group of novice climbers to New Zealand. Contestants who have never climbed a mountain before – including Ace from Gladiators, who is now an ordained minister – must reach a peak while completing challenges, leaving no one behind and all the while watched by a menacing
Culture Moroccan lamb filo pie and rhubarb panna cotta Slow-braised meat is especially pleasing to cook in the depths of winter. A trimmed shoulder of lamb rewards patient cooking with an exquisite flavour that suits bold spicing; here the savoury dish draws on sweetly aromatic ginger, turmeric and cinnamon, followed by cardamom, cream and rhubarb for pudding. The result
Culture Two women, no boundaries and no rules: best podcasts of the week Ignore That Feeling pairs comedians Alison Spittle and Fern Brady in a hugely entertaining ramble. “It’s clear that the theme of this podcast is us trying to talk about a topic and getting immediately sidetracked,” they say, as they flick between subjects from Lily Allen’s “breakup album for
Culture 10 Greatest Blockbuster Masterpieces of the 2010s, Ranked The 2010s were a paradoxical decade for blockbusters. Franchises, shared universes, and risk-averse studio logic came to dominate, yet a handful of tentpoles proved that scale did not have to come at the expense of craft, ambition, or thematic seriousness. These films expanded what spectacle could mean, asking audiences to
Culture Young ladies too tired to stand at a Black debutante ball Miranda Barnes’s book Social Season opens with a poem set in the mid-1800s, a time that marked the beginning of increased financial prosperity for some African Americans. Cotillion dances have European origins, but Black New Yorkers adapted the waltz and quadrille, dressing in fine outfits; these debutante balls have
Culture Go deep into Freud, follow Gwen John and watch Giacometti melt Exhibition of the week: Lucian Freud: Drawing Into Painting offers a close study of the artist’s portrait process, tracing work from paper to canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London, from 12 February to 4 May. Also showing: Gwen John: Strange Beauties returns one of early 20th-century Britain’s most original
Culture Gaming’s new coming-of-age genre embraces millennial cringe A micro‑trend has emerged in games: millennial nostalgia that goes beyond Y2K aesthetics to become semi‑autobiographical work about growing up in the early 2000s. Recent examples include Despelote, set in 2002 Ecuador and seen through the eyes of a football‑obsessed eight‑year‑old; the award‑winning Consume
Culture The Rookie S8E6 Teases a Chilling Serial Killer's Return and a Deadly Curse Warning: this recap contains spoilers. The episode opens with Celina Juarez and new roommate Miles Penn at a crystal shop, where a spell meant for someone else lands on Miles after Celina ducks. The curse leads to a cascade of dangerous mishaps—pepper spray, allergic spider bites and, by episode&
Culture Margot Robbie says a co-star once gave her a book telling her to 'eat less' Margot Robbie said a male actor once gave her a book telling her to "eat less." She described the incident as happening "very, very early in my career" during a video interview with her Wuthering Heights collaborator Charli XCX for Complex. The book she referenced appears
Culture Weird roguelike tactical cats game Mewgenics release date and launch time The freaky cat turn-based tactics game from Edmund McMillen (The Binding of Isaac) and Tyler Glaiel (The End Is Nigh) is about to launch for you to breed and battle increasingly cursed cats. Release times: 8 am PST (Los Angeles), 11 am EST (New York), 4 pm GMT (London), 5
Culture How a decades-old video game helped me defeat the doomscroll Cutting back on doomscrolling is one of the hardest resolutions to keep. Instinctively tapping the usual apps becomes a reflex, so I tried replacing my phone with something fuzzier and more nostalgic: a Game Boy Advance running Pokémon FireRed, a remake of the first Pokémon games that turn 30 this
Culture Mindhunter: Fincher's Netflix crime series that redefined true crime David Fincher’s work with Netflix has produced some of his most intense thrillers, and his adaptation of John E. Douglas’ memoir resulted in Mindhunter, one of the streaming platform’s most acclaimed original series. Visually glossy and emotionally gritty, the show earned praise even as it was left in
Culture Amidst the Shades review – Ruby Hughes’s Dowland tribute John Dowland died 400 years ago, and this tribute from soprano Ruby Hughes, lutenist Jonas Nordberg and viola da gamba player Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann is exceptionally captivating. The recording is not all Dowland: it takes its title from a Purcell song and includes a spellbinding version of the Corpus Christi
Culture Vila review: imaginative mood music from Fabiano do Nascimento Over the past decade Fabiano do Nascimento has honed a sound so muscular and expansive it may make you think the prolific soloist and collaborator had four hands on his instrument’s six strings. His 14 records since 2015’s debut Dança do Tempo range from the tender duet The
Culture Danny L Harle: Cerulean — earnest homage to early 00s bangers or poor imitation? Cerulean is a confusing business: it is billed as Danny L Harle’s debut even though Harlecore came out in 2021. What sets this release apart is its weighty guestlist — Clairo, Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress, MNEK and more — a sign of Harle’s rise into the major leagues of pop production;
Culture Prime Video’s Most Bingeable British Crime Series Is Hiding in Plain Sight British crime dramas have long produced gripping, binge-worthy mysteries, and 2025’s Lynley joined that tradition. The new adaptation of Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley novels premiered on BritBox on September 4, 2025 and earned a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes; one user called it "smart, moody, and quietly
Culture Sudoku 7,205 medium Click here to access the print version. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. Continue reading... sudoku, 7,205, medium, print version, grid, row, column, 3x3 box, 1-9, instructions
Culture Nuisance Bear Review: In Case You Forgot, Climate Change Sucks In the northern corner of Manitoba lies Churchill, often called the "Polar Bear Capital of the World." Gabriela Oslo Vanden and Jack Weisman's Nuisance Bear documents the town's uneasy coexistence with polar bears as melting sea ice forces them to scavenge and travel further
