David Walliams
Smart, funny and beautifully imagined: RSC’s The Boy in the Dress reviewed
David Walliams is one of the biggest-selling children’s authors in the world (having shifted some 25 million copies in more…
Lovely to look at but irritatingly pious: The Miniaturist reviewed
BBC1’s The Miniaturist (26/7 December) is a lavish two-part adaptation of Jessie Burton’s bestseller. It’s also further proof that almost…
Low life
The army patrols at Nice airport go around three abreast, steely-eyed, fingers on the trigger. They walk slowly and scrutinise…
War & Peace is actually just an upmarket Downton Abbey
Gosh what a breath of fresh air was Andrew Davies’s War & Peace adaptation (BBC1, Sundays) after all the stale…
Dreams don’t have to make sense - but TV dramas do: Peter & Wendy reviewed
On the face of it, ITV’s Peter & Wendy sounded like a perfect family offering for Boxing Day: an adaptation…
The best children’s authors of 2015 — after David Walliams
The easy way round buying books for children at Christmas is just to get them the latest David Walliams and…
Bohemian conformity can be just as suffocating as any other type: BBC1’s Life in Squares reviewed
On all those comic lists of the world’s shortest books (Great Italian War Heroes, My Hunt for the Real Killers,…
The best children’s books of 2014
If it’s all right with you, I’d like to launch a campaign please. Right here. You may be wanting me…
Tom Bower’s Diary: Resuming hostilities with Richard Branson
This week marks another milestone in my 15-year battle with Richard Branson. Ever since he unsuccessfully sued me in 1999…
We need something less evil than Britain's Got Talent. How about public executions?
You know what the world needs most right now? What it needs is five good-looking-ish, talented-ish blokes dressed in a…
After watching Bad Education, Big School is as embarrassing as watching your dad trying to DJ
You know you’re getting old when TV starts getting nostalgic about eras during which you were already feeling old and…
Big School left me po-faced
How did our comedies become so sad? BBC1’s new sitcom Big School (Fridays) opened with a scene that would probably…
