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Courtesy of Eureka Entertainment

by James Cameron-wilson

Perhaps surprisingly, Juggernaut is being released on Blu-ray for the first time in the United Kingdom, from a high-definition restoration, to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. When Juggernaut was first released in cinemas in 1974, it was at the height of the disaster movie era, following on from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and, in the same year, Airport 1975, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno, all stories featuring numerous sundry characters trapped together in terrifying circumstances. However, Juggernaut was a very different thing, both in its execution and in its presentation. Loosely inspired by the bomb hoax on board the QE2 luxury liner in 1972, the film was originally to have been directed by Bryan Forbes. However, when Forbes jumped ship, he was replaced by the American TV director Don Medford, who also left the project at the last minute, leaving the production company with the enormous daily...

Inspired by the Richard Lester retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, August 7-13.When the great Omar Sharif died recently, the BBC's coverage of the sad event included clips from Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, of course, and then cut to Richard Lester's Juggernaut just as the voice-over commented on the declining quality of Sharif's later films, causing me to splutter into my cocoa and pen angry letters to Auntie Beeb in my mind, for Juggernaut is a fantastic example of seventies British cinema. It's what I remember seventies Britain being like. The Christmas scene in Ken Russell's Tommy has the same effect on me, but that's because I was a kid in the seventies.Brown and orange color schemes, older men with long hair, and grim political discussions that went over my head but seemed to portend explosive doom: that was the United Kingdom in Ad 1974. In Juggernaut,...

The Ribald Tales Of Canterbury

(dir: Bud Lee, 1985)

We’ve all been there at some point. A long journey with nothing to do. All of a sudden, someone comes up with the idea of sharing stories and laughs to help pass the time. Yeah, maybe not everyone has been there, but I had to set the scene somehow right? The first film on this double feature release from Vinegar Syndrome follows the journey of a group of noblemen and women headed by the Hostess Hyapatia Lee (Let’s Get Physical) en route to Canterbury. She proposes a wager with her fellow travellers. Each places the grand sum of 20 pence in to a small pouch and whoever can recall the best erotic tale on their journey wins all. It’s certainly a novel way to pass the time! The stories range from a humble knight having a surprising (in the best...

On the 30th anniversary of the miners' strike, Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall talks about Thatcher's death, being fired from War Horse – and finding the lead for his Elton John musical

I'm watching Billy Elliot the Musical in a state of shock. Forget the movie – this is incendiary drama, militant to its core. Not only does it open with Labour MP Herbert Morrison's paean to the newly nationalised mines and common ownership ("Now I want you men of the pits to come through ... The great experiment of socialism in a democracy depends on you"), it also pre-empts the passing of Margaret Thatcher with a feelgood singalong: "We all sing together in one breath/ Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher/ We all celebrate today/ 'Cause it's one day closer to your death."

The astonishing thing is that the musical, with tunes provided by the not notably radical Elton John, has been a worldwide success,...

Writers often worry about the dangers of outside influence, but what about the non-literary inspirations they are far more comfortable admitting to? Andrew O'Hagan talks to six novelists about their passion for a second artform

The divine counsels decided, once upon a time, that influence is bad and that too much agency is the enemy of invention. Harold Bloom can't be blamed for that: he certainly pointed to the danse macabre of influence and anxiety, but to him the association was perfectly creative. Elsewhere, writers have always been blamed for being too much like other writers, or too much like themselves, and even now, in the crisis of late postmodernism, we find it hard to believe that writers might live happily in a state of influence and cross-reference. Yet anybody who knows anything about writers knows that they love their sweet influences.

What I've noticed, though, is that the influences...

From Meryl Streep's Iron Lady to Spitting Image and the Spice Girls, Observer writers and critics pick the films, books, art, music and TV that show Thatcher's lasting influence

Art, chosen by Laura Cumming

Treatment Room (1983)

In Richard Hamilton's installation, Thatcher administered her own harsh medicine from a video above the operating table with the viewer as helpless patient: a case of kill or cure.

Taking Stock (1984)

Hans Haacke portrayed Thatcher enthroned, nose in the air like a gun-dog, surrounded by images of Queen Victoria, the Saatchi brothers and, ominously, Pandora. Caused national furore.

In the Sleep of Reason (1982)

Mark Wallinger edited Thatcher's 1982 Falklands speech from blink to blink, fading to black in between, emphasising her solipsistic tendency to close her eyes when speaking as if nobody else existed.

The Battle of Orgreave (2001)

Jeremy Deller's restaged the worst conflict of the miners' strike from multiple viewpoints, uniting...

Political thriller Secret State was stripped of ideology and a plot, while Dara O Briain had a decent stab at making science sexy

Secret State C4|4oD

Dara O Briain's Science Club BBC2 | iPlayer

Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature BBC1 | iPlayer

Imagine BBC1 | iPlayer

In an age when politics lacks any great thrills, it appears harder to make a great political thriller. The last one that comes readily to mind was Paul Abbott's State of Play, which was way back in 2003, during Tony Blair's eventful second term as prime minister. But since then the air has seeped out of the Westminster bubble and not even the prospect of global economic collapse has succeeded in reflating public interest or screenwriters' conspiratorial imagination. The Killing and Borgen suggest the Danes know how to breathe life into coalition politics but so far it's an art for which British TV...

The brothers-in-film have been brilliant and Tony Scott will be sadly missed. He and Sir Ridley have also been part of a fascinating process: the creation of an unreal world beloved of London - and therefore of the UK's decision-makers

The careers of Tony Scott and his brother Sir Ridley are exemplars of how the talent of the north of England will out, in their case from Grangefield grammar at Stockton (whose alumni also include the novelist and Booker Prizewinner Pat Barker) and West Hartlepool college of art.

Both places are still part of the local education system although in different forms, as might be expected after more than half a century, Grangefield as a comprehensive technology college and West Hartlepool as part of Cleveland college of art and design. They continue a grand tradition which played a major part in an area requiring artistic and design talent for its...

Winning an Oscar is a life-changing event, even as we all acknowledge how silly it all seems. When Simon Beaufoy, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire discusses his craft, one tends to listen. I was afforded such an opportunity recently, as Simon sat down with myself and a few other journalists to discuss his latest film, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, his directorial past and future ambitions, the daunting task of adapting Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games series, and his next possible project with director Slumdog and 127 Hours helmer Danny Boyle. The following is a transcript of interview questions asked by myself and other journalists at a recent roundtable session with the writer.

So this project, you adapted from the book, and the book is written in a very unconventional style.

It’s an epistolary novel, like Dracula.

A lot of people look at a...

Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now

• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below

Opening this week

Theatre

• Reasons to be Cheerful

Raucous, rude and really rather joyful, the Graeae theatre company's musical – set in 1979 as Thatcher comes to power, and inspired by the music of Ian Dury – is terrific fun. It's good to have it back. New Wolsey, Ipswich (01473 295 900), until 18 February, then touring.

• The Recruiting Officer

Josie Rourke's first show as the Donmar's new artistic director is a revival of an early 18th-century comedy. Mackenzie Crook, Mark Gatiss and Nancy Carroll are part of a strong cast. All eyes will be watching. Donmar, London WC2 (0844 871 7624), until 14 April.

Film

• A Dangerous Method (dir. David Cronenberg)

Freud, Jung and their patient-acquaintance Sabina Spielrein ignite psychological problems. On general release.

Dance

• Blanca Li...

I was looking forward to seeing Juggernaut on TCM not too long ago when I saw it show up on the classics channel’s schedule. Even in this cable/download/Netflix age of constant program recycling, the movie rarely shows up on TV, maybe because it had been such an instant and complete flop when released theatrically in 1974. Still, this UK-produced film has always been one of my pet favorites, a flick I have long felt died an undeserved death, and I was psyched at the chance to see it again.

In synopsis, I admit the movie doesn’t sound like much. Or perhaps I should say it sounds way too familiar. A nutcase has put seven bombs on an ocean liner and threatens to sink the ship unless he’s given a ransom of £500,000. The ship is far from land, no other vessels are close enough to render assistance,...

Featuring Ian McKellen in his first starring role, 1981's Priest of Love explores the latter years of novelist D.H. Lawrence, picking up his story in 1914. The film, directed by Christopher Miles and adapted by Alan Plater from a biography by Harry T. Moore and the letters and writings of Lawrence, moves quickly, establishing that the writer married a German woman, flitting ahead a year later to the public burning of his book The Rainbow for alleged obscenity, and then settling for a while in 1924, as he moves to the United States. It feels like being tossed into the deep end of a man's soul, but McKellen proves to be a solid anchor. The actor, 41 at the time, had many years of...

London, June 26 – British screenwriter Alan Plater has passed away after losing his battle with cancer.

Plater, who passed away on June 25 this year at the age of 75, has almost 300 assorted credits in radio, television, theatre and films to his name as well as six novels, the Telegraph reported.

During his career he received awards from Bafta, the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Royal Television Society as well as an International Emmy.

His most recent television work was a recently filmed ITV period drama titled ‘Joe Maddison’s War’, starring Robson Green and Kevin Whately.

Playwright and author of TV dramas including The Beiderbecke Affair and Fortunes of War

Alan Plater, whose TV credits in a writing career spanning 50 years included The Beiderbecke Affair, Fortunes of War and the screenplay for A Very British Coup, has died, his agent confirmed to the BBC today.

Plater, 75, wrote novels and for film and theatre, but will be best remembered for a profilic body of television drama spanning six decades, starting with TV play The Referees for BBC North in 1961.

His final TV drama, Joe Maddison's War, starring Kevin Whately and Robson Green and set on the eve of the second world war in the north-east, where Plater was born, is currently in post-production for ITV.

Plater was born in Jarrow in 1935 and moved with his family as a young child to Hull, where he grew up.

He studied architecture at Newcastle University and worked for a short...

British screenwriter Alan Plater died on Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 75.

Plater's agent tells the BBC he had been "very robust" until he was checked into a London hospice for his last week of life.

His career spanned six decades, during which time he wrote numerous works for the stage and screen as well as six novels.

Plater received a BAFTA award for writing in 2005 and he accepted a lifetime achievement honour from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain in 2007.

Among the full-length dramas he wrote was 2000 movie The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, which starred Dame Judi Dench in the lead role.

His final screenplay was World War II drama Joe Maddison's War, which will air on U.K. TV later this year.

Alan Plater's agent Alexandra Cann and Chris Mullin, author of A Very British Coup, remember the TV writer

Alexandra Cann, Alan Plater's agent

"How do you sum up Alan's career? With great difficulty. He was an astoundingly wonderful television writer and his contribution to British television was of a very high standard. He wrote many wonderful original things as well as adaptations.

"His swansong will be an original work — Joe Maddison's War — for ITV. When he died, he was writing an essay on Hull. "He was writing to the end, but his last TV writing was an episode of Lewis and Joe Maddison's War. His body was very frail but his mind was extremely robust. He really wanted to engage right through to the end.

"I was his agent for 20 years and had known him a little longer. He was just the most utterly delightful person, thoroughly enjoyable and amusing.

Pioneering director of theatre-in-the-round and musical shows in the Potteries

Once described by Simon Hoggart as the "furry caterpillar" because of his habitual woolly sweaters, Peter Cheeseman, who has died aged 78, offered a unique vision of the role of theatre in the community. He pioneered theatre-in-the-round and, as the artistic director of the Victoria theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and then the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, installed a vibrant, creative hothouse in the industrial sprawl of the Potteries.

English regional theatre in the late 1950s was still dominated by the Edwardian values of the West End, the star system and the cosy conventions of the French-windows farce. Peter's passionate commitment to breaking the fourth wall of the proscenium arch stage, and rooting a resident company of actors, writers, musicians and designers in the local community, was revolutionary. He became involved in 1961 with the Studio Theatre Company, founded by Stephen Joseph. Peter put...

DVD Playhouse—February 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Hunger (Criterion) Harrowing true story of imprisoned Ira member Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) and his 1981 hunger strike protesting the British government’s refusal to recognize him, and other Ira members as political prisoners. Director Steve McQueen delivers the story with true filmmaking panache, mixing startling imagery that blends both stunning beauty and stomach-churning horror. Fassbender is absolutely brilliant in the lead. Not for the faint-of-heart, but not to be missed or, particularly, ignored. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interviews with McQueen and Fassbender; Short documentary; 1981 episode of BBC series “Panorama” that covers the Ira hunger strike; Trailer. Widescreen. DTS-hd audio on Blu-ray.

Adam (20th Century Fox) Quirky romantic comedy about an eccentric, borderline Asperger’s Syndrome, astronomy buff (Hugh Dancy) who is drawn out of his self-imposed shell by a beautiful and sympathetic neighbor (Rose Byrne). Charming film with engaging performances by the two leads,...

Robson Green and Kevin Whatley have signed up to star in a new ITV1 period drama. The one-off film, titled Joe Maddison's War, follows shipyard worker Joe (Whatley) who feels past his prime and too old to serve in the war. His problems then escalate when his wife leaves him for a younger man. Green will play Joe's friend Harry, who releuctantly agrees to join him as part of the Home Guard. Writer Alan Plater said of the film: "Joe Maddison’s War splices (more)...