Benedict Cumberbatch
I’m taking in a Ukrainian
Delighted though we all are that Benedict Cumberbatch has decided to allow a Ukrainian family to live in one of…
How crazy was Louis Wain?
Before Tom Kitten, before Felix the Cat, before Thomas ‘Tom’ Cat, Sylvester James Pussycat Sr, Top Cat and Fat Freddy’s…
When did traditional masculinity become toxic?
It’s hard for privileged white men to stay relevant in this age of identity politics but a number of fail-safe…
Benedict Cumberbatch is spectacular: The Power of the Dog reviewed
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog could also be called The Power of Benedict Cumberbatch, as he’s so spectacular.…
The best Cold War thriller I've seen that I fully understand: The Courier reviewed
The Courier is a Cold War spy thriller and the prospect of a Cold War spy thriller always makes my…
War has broken out between me and my siblings
Last night I watched a boxed set. Parade’s End is a small box set as box sets go, and quite…
Gripping, immersive and powerful: 1917 reviewed
Sam Mendes’s 1917 is the first world war drama that this week won the Golden Globe for best film and…
Benedict Cumberbatch on playing my husband, Dominic Cummings
Imagine looking at a photo of a stranger and feeling in response, quite naturally, the sort of happy affection you…
Sky Atlantic’s Patrick Melrose adaptation is triumphant
Warning: if you haven’t seen it yet, the first episode of the much-anticipated Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic, Sunday) contains scenes…
What on earth was Ben Stiller thinking? Zoolander 2 reviewed
‘I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking,’ said a pouty Derek Zoolander…
I want to see President Trump – if only because of who he’d annoy
I suppose spite and schadenfreude are thinnish reasons, intellectually, for wishing Donald Trump to become the next American president (and…
Why should we listen to Benedict Cumberbatch on Syrian refugees?
Because I just don’t know what to think about the Syrian refugee crisis — not even after Simon Schama’s powerfully…
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet is far too nice
You can’t play the part of Hamlet, only parts of Hamlet. And the bits Benedict Cumberbatch offers us are of…
Sound and fury — the pianist James Rhodes is very angry indeed
Ours is the era of everybody’s autobiography. Bookshops groan with misery-lit memoirs — Never Let Me Go, Dysfunction Without Tears…
The Heckler: down with the actor-commentariat!
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
What Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t understand about ‘coloured’
Benedict Cumberbatch apologised at length: ‘devastated’, ‘shaming’, ‘offended’, ‘inappropriate’. What had he done? Been caught in a compromising situation or…
My four great loves were unrequited (though I had a chance with Ginger Rogers)
I had a short chat with BBC radio concerning the actor Jack Nicholson, whom I knew slightly during the Seventies…
The Imitation Game: a film that's as much in the closet as Alan Turing was
The Imitation Game is a biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician who broke the German’s Enigma…
Deborah Ross: 12 Years a Slave harrowed me to within an inch of my life
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave goes directly to the heart of American slavery without any shilly-shallying — unlike The…
Is Sherlock starting to suffer from ADD?
Sherlock’s not dead. A good thing, since on New Year’s Day BBC1 launched its third series of Sherlock, and it’d…
Come to the Spectator office, Gareth Malone, and hear our 'Carmina Burana'
They’re now televising proceedings from the Court of Appeal. Great. As if I didn’t have enough to do already, keeping…
Four good reasons not to watch The Fifth Estate
Just how interesting you find The Fifth Estate may entirely depend on how interested you are in the whistle-blowing site…
