News

The Queen is dead. King Charles has acceded to the throne. Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister. And The Snuts have a new album called Burn the Empire. Of course, the Scottish four-piece didn’t know its release date would fall somewhere between these disruptive historical events. But, at an uncertain, unstable moment for the nation, the album’s themes of frustration, fury and good old-fashioned rage against the system are about as timely as it gets.

“It felt pretty cathartic to go into the studio and start screaming all this stuff,” frontman Jack Cochrane says with a grin. We’re speaking over video call, on the same day the band are forced to cancel shows in Paris and Antwerp over Brexit-related red tape. So, as you can imagine, he’s pretty fired up. “Everybody’s super frustrated, it’s like there’s this societal breakdown,” the 26-year-old says.

This inconclusive documentary charts the scary history and, in the era of climate crisis, revised views about the prospects for nuclear power

Vicki Lesley’s sprightly, inconclusive documentary tackles a perennially controversial subject: nuclear power and its contested ethical status. Like almost all documentaries these days, this begins with a clip of some sonorous 1950s propaganda film – shorthand for the hilariously naive, reactionary stance that we’ve supposedly overcome. It is an amusing gimmick, but in danger of being overused here.

Nuclear power was idealistically embraced after the war as part of our white-hot technological future (a notable partisan was once Labour politician Tony Benn) but then rejected with the news of terrifying accidents, notably the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979.

For taking on a number of animal-protection causes – including, most recently, using his trademark wit and charm to urge the Prime Minister to introduce a long-overdue ban on wild-animal circuses in Britain – PETA has named the late actor, humanitarian, and long-time animal advocate Sir Roger Moore its 2017 Person of the Year.

“Animals in dire need had a caring, charming friend in Sir Roger Moore,” says PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is honoured to recognise this wonderful man for sticking his neck out for the vulnerable amongst us time and again. We will continue campaigning to help the animals he cared so deeply about.”

In addition to offering to pop a champagne cork with Theresa May should she bring forward a long-awaited ban on wild-animal circuses, Moore also led a successful campaign to push Selfridges to stop stocking foie gras and boldly called for the Queen’s Guard’s caps to...

Actor David Oyelowo has been impressing people with his skilled performances on stage and screen for quite a number of years, but his portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava Duvernay’s Selma certainly turned a lot more heads and made him much better known.

That increased popularity for his acting has helped Oyelowo get films like A United Kingdom made.

Directed by Amma Asante (Belle), Oyelowo plays Seretse Khama, the future king of the African nation of Botswana, who while attending college in England during the ‘40s, falls in love with Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), a working class British woman, only for them to learn that their interracial love wouldn’t be accepted by either of their countries. On returning home to be inaugurated, the obstacles become clearer as Seretse’s regent uncle and various British politicos want to separate him from Ruth even after they’ve been married.

Much like her last one, Amma Asante’s newest feature is purposefully subversive. The director’s sophomore effort, 2013’s Belle, took the English period drama and swapped the generic pretty white debutante out for a young black woman, while A United Kingdom, Asante’s latest based-on-fact tale, is a historical romantic epic that keeps the standard porcelain beauty but makes the dashing leading man a black African.

The very title of the film is subversive, a reference to poor, troubled Bechuanaland, the home of David Oyelowo’s Seretse Khama, rather than misty old colonial-era Great Britain, where Seretse first meets Rosamund Pike’s Ruth Williams. Early scenes set in 1940s post-war London deliberately toy with conventions, as law student and secret royal Seretse begins a whirlwind romance with Ruth, a local clerk, with neither initially acknowledging their color at a time when interracial relations were a major taboo.

When the...

Louisa Mellor Aug 25, 2016

Pulling writers Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly are back with a wry, understated comedy pilot about middle-class awkwardness…

Adeel Akhtar and Paul Ready’s most famous scene in Dennis Kelly’s conspiracy thriller Utopia saw the latter gouge out the former’s eye with a spoon. The Circuit, written by Dennis Kelly and Sharon Horgan, reunites the pair for more torture involving cutlery. And placemats. And Le Creuset saucepans. And giant prawns of unspecified variety.

The Circuit is a character comedy set against the peculiar middle-class agony of the dinner party. If Channel 4 orders a series, each episode will presumably take place in the home of a new host Come Dine With Me-style. If you can picture Come Dine With Me populated by the cast of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

It says something about a comedy’s world outlook that its sanest, most...

We Are Many, directed by Amir Amirani, explores the legacy of the global anti-war demonstrations of 15 February 2003, an event that saw an estimated million people march against the Iraq war in London alone. Filmed over nine years, the film talks to key campaigners, including Damon Albarn, Ken Loach and the late Tony Benn, as well as those who made the decision to go to war. A special satellite screening of the film with a Q+A with Jon Snow takes place in London on 21 May, transmitted to select cinemas across the country, while the film is released on 22 May.

See if first on May 17th as part of Guardian Live at the Rio Cinema Continue reading...

A new year of films may beckon, but there are lots of movies from 2014 you may have missed. Here's a list of 2014's most underappreciated...

There was no shortage of magnificent films in 2014 of every kind, from the expensive and explosive to the low-key and experimental. But it's a sad fact of life that not all movies do as well as they should, either because of poor distribution or simply because they'd been released at the same time as something much bigger and more star-laden.

While the list below is by no means an exhaustive one - there are plenty of great films from 2014 that we're still getting around to seeing - it's our attempt to highlight a few fine pieces of work that didn't get quite as much love as they deserved.

So without further ado - and in no particular order - we'll start with a stunning...

Director Peter Chelsom on Hector, Pegg, Miley Cyrus, Syd Field, live action PG movies and Being There...

Peter Chelsom started life as an actor, before moving behind the camera when he hit 30. His films have included Hear My Song, Funny Bones, The Hannah Montana Movie, Serendipity and The Mighty. His latest? The big screen take on Hector And The Search For Happiness. And over a bowl of soup, he spared us some time for a chat...

Let's start at the beginning! I’m a great fan of your first film, Hear My Song, which was always a bit of a tricky one to track down.

Thank you! There was a DVD re-release, that was really did well. They did a great job on it.

Well, let’s start there. How much control do you have over your films once they’ve left a cinema, and headed to home formats?

It varies.

Figures revealed for the 2014 edition of Eiff.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has recorded more than 46,000 admissions for its 68th edition - a 4% increase in 2013.

The 12-day festival, which opened on June 18 with Hyena and closed on Sunday (June 29) with We’ll Never Have Paris, screened 121 new features.

Venues included the Eiff’s home at Filmhouse, its venue partner at Cineworld Fountain Park, and at Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Traverse Theatre, Dominion Cinema, Odeon Lothian Road, Cameo, Royal Lyceum Theatre and Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen.

Ken Hay, CEO of Eiff, said: “We are delighted to see that audiences have again supported the festival this year despite football fever and the glorious June sunshine. An increase in our admissions is a testament to the strength and depth of the programme.”

This year, the festival also collaborated with This is Edinburgh and Essential Edinburgh on Film in the City - a series of outdoor screenings and events across the city...

Update: Tony Benn doc wins audience award; Hide and Seek wins Michael Powell Award, Ice Poison takes international prize.

Joanna Coates’s drama Hide and Seek has won The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature at the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival, which has revealed its winners today.

Walking on Sunshine star Hannah Arterton, sister of Gemma, is among the cast of the film about four fragile youngsters who flee London to start an unconventional utopia.

Coates wrote the film with Daniel Metz, who also stars in the film and produces.

The Michael Powell jury, chaired by director Amos Gitai with actors Nina Hoss and Michael Smiley, described the film as “innovative” and “exceptional.”

On Sunday, Skip Kite’s documentary Tony Benn: Will & Testament won the audience award.

The award for Best Film in the International Competition went to Midi Z’s Ice Poison (Taiwan, Myanmar), which charts the economic despair in the rural and developing...

Before his death in March, Tony Benn sat down with director Skip Kite to reflect on his remarkable career in politics. Once called 'The most dangerous man in Britain' by the right-wing press, Benn recalls growing up in the establishment, his conversion from centre-right politician to Labour supporter in the 1950s and his eventual decision to quit parliamentary politics and go it alone as a social campaigner. Tony Benn: Will and Testament has its world premiere at the Edinburgh film festival on 27 June and will be released in cinemas this autumn Continue reading...

Exclusive: Alternative distribution outfit is a joint venture between David Shear and Deborah Rowland.

David Shear of UK independent distribution company Shear Entertainment and Deborah Rowland of We Are The Tonic are joining forces to launch a new alternative distribution outfit, Shear Tonic.

The first project to come out of the joint venture will be Praslin Pictures’ Tony Benn: Will & Testament [pictured], a documentary about the labour politician who died in March this year. It will be released in the UK this summer.

Set up in response to “demand from filmmakers seeking direct distribution and sales agents wanting to hold back UK rights and distribute themselves,” Shear Tonic will offer distribution expertise on a project by project basis, allowing filmmakers to hang onto their distribution rights. It will work across theatrical, home entertainment and VOD.

Formerly head of theatrical distribution at UK company Revolver Entertainment, Shear set up his own distribution consultancy Shear Entertainment in April 2013, working...

Jonathan Creek was Friday's (March 14) highest-rated TV show outside of soaps for the third week running.

Down slightly from last week's 5.57m rating, the third and final episode of the mystery series was seen by 5.41 million viewers (25.2%) at 9pm on BBC One.

BBC One started the evening with 3.91m (20.1%) for The One Show at 7pm, followed by 2.98m (14.4%) for The Question of Sport at 8.30pm.

Room 101 - with guests Sue Perkins and Bruno Tonioli - entertained 3.44m (15.3%) at 8.30pm, while New Tricks ended the evening with 1.85m viewers (15.2%) at 10.45pm.

Over on ITV, Student Nurses: Bedpans and Bandages was the highest-rated show outside of soaps with 2.62m (11.9%) at 8pm. The fourth episode of Edge of Heaven suffered a slight dip in viewers, picking up 1.51m (6.8%) at 9pm.

Mastermind was once again BBC Two's highest-rated show of the evening, attracting 2.31m (10.5%) at 8pm. The evening continued with a strong...

Tony Benn left a brief message with Channel 4 to be broadcast after his death.

The short clip shows him thanking family members including wife Caroline, and "all the many, many other people who supported me, encouraged me and taught me so much".

"I hope that in return, I encouraged them, and that I didn't give offence, because I tried to speak my mind, and that's what you have to do in politics," he added.

At the close of the video, Benn, who died on Friday (March 14) at the age of 88, laughs and jokes: "I'll check that on transmission!"

Benn became a Labour MP in November 1950, succeeding in a by-election.

He was disqualified from sitting as an MP in 1960 when he was automatically elevated to the peerage upon the death of his father, and campaigned for a change in the law which was enacted in 1963, allowing Benn to renounce the...

Before Borat, Bruno and The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen was Ali G.

A shard of light in Channel 4's otherwise forgettable 11 'O Clock Show (who's heard of that "Ricky Gervais" character since?), Cohen's comic creation would simply lampoon the great and good.

Often, Cohen's victim's appeared to bend over backward in a bid to show some non-existent "yoof" credentials.

Honesty being his defining virtue, Tony Benn, who died this morning at the age of 88, refused to play that game - a rare man pushing back against the ridiculous views being spouted opposite him.

"You're not living in the real world, my friend," Benn spluttered indignantly.

"You're living in a world where just everybody is just so bloody greedy that there's no hope of building a better society, and that's why we're in a mess."

While David Cameron desperately tries to show his laddy football credentials by telling non-Jewish football...

From new voices like NoViolet Bulawayo to rediscovered old voices like James Salter, from Dave Eggers's satire to David Thomson's history of film, writers, Observer critics and others pick their favourite reads of 2013. And they tell us what they hope to find under the tree …

Curtis Sittenfeld

Novelist

My favourite books of 2013 are Drama High (Riverhead) by Michael Sokolove, Sea Creatures (Turnaround) by Susanna Daniel, and & Sons (Harper Collins) by David Gilbert. Drama High is incredibly smart, moving non-fiction about an American drama teacher who for four decades coaxed sophisticated and nuanced theatrical performances out of teenage students who weren't privileged or otherwise remarkable and in so doing, changed their conceptions of what they could do with their lives. Sea Creatures is a gripping, beautifully written novel about the mother of a selectively mute three-year-old boy; when she takes a job ferrying supplies to a hermit off the coast of Florida,...

The 49-year-old screenwriter and director on politics, comedy characters and why he refuses to work weekends

There's probably no other comedy character who has lasted as long as Alan Partridge. Though he's not always been on screen in his 22 years, when Steve Coogan and I meet up we'll always fill in the gaps and speculate about what he's been up to. His life runs simultaneous to ours.

I grew up in the Glasgow Hillhead constituency which, for a political geek, was like going to Glastonbury. We had Roy Jenkins in a by-election in 1982, Edward Heath speaking, Tony Benn. Then you'd bump into Shirley Williams.

Anger has to be in my comedy. Blair and the Iraq war was the first demo I had been on since I was a student – a lot of that went into The Thick of It.

I refuse to work evenings or weekends. If a script sees my character meeting for dinner,...

The 49-year-old screenwriter and director on politics, comedy characters and why he refuses to work weekends

There's probably no other comedy character who has lasted as long as Alan Partridge. Though he's not always been on screen in his 22 years, when Steve Coogan and I meet up we'll always fill in the gaps and speculate about what he's been up to. His life runs simultaneous to ours.

I grew up in the Glasgow Hillhead constituency which, for a political geek, was like going to Glastonbury. We had Roy Jenkins in a by-election in 1982, Edward Heath speaking, Tony Benn. Then you'd bump into Shirley Williams.

Anger has to be in my comedy. Blair and the Iraq war was the first demo I had been on since I was a student – a lot of that went into The Thick of It.

I refuse to work evenings or weekends. If a script sees my character meeting for dinner,...

Director Ken Loach's new film revisits the year that Britons turned to socialism – and ushered in the NHS, public ownership and the concept of public (not private) good. We trace the spirit of '45 and speak to some who remember the dawn of a new life

Ray Davies, robust, articulate and dignified, aged 83, veteran campaigner, a Labour councillor in Caerphilly for 50 years, sits in a Spanish civil war beret and recalls the time, in 1945, when he was 15 and had already worked two years underground in Welsh mines.

"In those days, it wasn't safety that came first, it was coal," he says. "We were in the pit and the message came down – 'Labour's won by a landslide!' Tough, hard miners had tears streaking down their faces, black with dust. They said, 'Ray, this is what we've dreamed about all our lives. Public control of the railways and mines and banks,...

From staying up late to cooking together, famous grandparents and grandchildren – from Sheila Hancock and Tony Benn to Daisy Lowe and Zoe Smith – celebrate the generation gap

Actor Sheila Hancock, 79, with Jack (17), Molly (15), Lola (14), Talia (nine), Charlie (eight), Alfie and Louis (five), and Rosie (two)

Sheila Being a grandma is lovely. There's a feeling of continuation. I know that when I go, which will be shortly, there will be people going on who have in them a tiny bit of me or John [husband John Thaw who died in 2002]. And that's nice. What I've most enjoyed is seeing them change and develop. I'm not that keen on them when they're weeny; they don't do much. Then suddenly, for example, Jack is a man. That is so odd. And these girls are suddenly young women.

It's totally different from being a parent. It's wonderful – you can lead them astray. I don't have to conform. It started with the teeth.

Julien Temple's throbbing documentary celebrates London's bloody-minded spirit

Julien Temple has created a brilliant, exhaustive and exhausting clip-collage, a visually throbbing cine-quilt that basically proves the Sex Pistols got their most famous title wrong. It's Anarchy in London, not Anarchy in the UK. London is where the dense swirl of creativity, energy and violence is to be found. In comparison, the rest of the country is placid and dull. It's arguably a bit more subversive than Danny Boyle's masterly Olympic opener – though perhaps no less heartfelt.

The material is well-chosen; the juxtapositions are witty and bold, collapsing the distinction between the modern world and ye olden dayes. After a while, I went into a trance, immersing myself in this Lucy-in-the-Sky trip into the heart of London. Temple finds flickering black-and-white footage from the Victorian and Edwardian capital and will splice it with 80s analogue video, showing Margaret Thatcher outside Downing Street.

A secret? Eric Cantona is a giggler

Ken Loach, 75, was born in Warwickshire. After grammar school, he went to Oxford University where he read law. He started his career in the theatre and went on to become a BBC television director in 1963. He worked on Z Cars and then the Wednesday Play, where he directed the classic Cathy Come Home. In 1969, Loach made the award-winning film Kes. His other movies include Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen, The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Looking For Eric. The Angels' Share, his new film, is out now.

What is your greatest fear?

I would have said relegation for Bath City, the football club I support, but we've just been relegated.

What is your earliest memory?

Getting my fingers trapped in a deckchair when I was three or four.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Tony Benn, for moving to...

He made his name playing criminals and low-lifes – now Tim Roth is back as the nicest father in town. Catherine Shoard meets him in Cannes to talk films, politics and bringing up his own teenagers

When Clarice Starling is first assigned to interview Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, we are told, in Thomas Harris's novel, that "a brief silence follows the name, always, in any civilised gathering". Something similar happens when you say you're off to interview Tim Roth. A light gasp, a small step back. Roth – who was set to play the younger Lecter in 2002's Red Dragon, until Anthony Hopkins dyed his hair and reprised the role – has a reputation for being slippery. He just doesn't give, I'm told. Meet him in California, people caution, and he clams up. Get an audience in London and he is prickly, defensive.

So why is it that in Cannes,...

Sci-Fi-London

The budgets might be small but the ideas are big at this enduring festival of the fantastic – a place where "what if?" meets "Wtf?". Visit worlds where America is ruled by China (Ghosts With Shit Jobs), a woman gives birth to the clone of her lover (Clone, starring Eva Green and Matt Smith), and Osama bin Laden returns from the grave with zombie jihadists (Osombie). For old-school lovers, there are all-nighters of Paul Verhoeven and Boris Karloff and a tribute to the Zx Spectrum.

Various venues, Tue to 7 May

The Other Cinema Presents La Haine, London

It was made 17 years ago, but Mathieu Kassovitz's explosive drama just keeps getting more relevant. Its depiction of the Paris suburbs as a powder-keg of multiculturalism, social and economic deprivation, and aimless youth (including a young Vincent Cassel) looks like even more prescient in light of last year's England riots, not to...

From Piers Morgan to Polly Toynbee, Jemima Khan to Jarvis Cocker – David Cameron takes questions from public figures who want answers

Hear what the Pm has to say in our audio interactive

David Mitchell, comedian

Do you wish you were less posh?

"[Laughs] No. You can't change who you are. For a long time I thought my full name was 'The Old Etonian David Cameron'. I had parents who gave me a wonderful start in life, who sacrificed a lot to give me a great education. So I don't ever want to change – I don't want to drop my accent or change my vowels. I am who I am."

Piers Morgan, TV presenter

If you could relive one moment in your life, excluding births of children and marriage, what would it be?

"God, that's a really good question. Piers, why don't you ever ask really good questions like that normally? I...

When the film-maker Carol Morley read that the skeleton of a young woman had been found in a London bedsit, she knew she had to find out more…

On 25 January 2006, officials from a north London housing association repossessing a bedsit in Wood Green owing to rent arrears made a grim discovery. Lying on the sofa was the skeleton of a 38-year-old woman who had been dead for almost three years. In a corner of the room the television set was still on, tuned to BBC1, and a small pile of unopened Christmas presents lay on the floor. Washing up was heaped in the kitchen sink and a mountain of post lay behind the front door. Food in the refrigerator was marked with 2003 expiry dates. The dead woman's body was so badly decomposed it could only be identified by comparing dental records with an old holiday photograph of her smiling. Her...

Tomorrow's New Statesman has been guest-edited by Jemima Khan. It's a free speech special issue featuring contributions from Julian Assange (for whom Khan stood bail), film director Oliver Stone, actor Tim Robbins, Tory MP Rory Stewart and the artist Damien Hirst.

The issue will include Khan's interview with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and a piece by Tony Benn about the way in which new media has aided the Arab revolts.

Robbins takes the press to task while Stone gives his verdict on President Barack Obama.

The magazine's regular editor, Jason Cowley, said he asked Khan to be guest editor "because I admired her work as a human rights activist in Pakistan and her support for freedom of information."

He explained: "We met for a Marmite-and-toast breakfast in January and have been planning the issue ever since. Her enthusiasm and diligence have delighted the whole team."

Source: New Statesman

New...

Following news that the Tribeca film festival is launching a parallel, online version of itself, Flatpack's Ian Francis brings you a webby preview of this week's filmic fun in Birmingham

Flatpack kicks off tonight. If the film festival were a house party, this is the stage when we would start dishing out the nibbles, removing any unsightly carpet stains and hoping people turn up.

Flatpack has long liked to mix things up ("wilfully eclectic" says the Guardian) and this year's programme includes documentary, animation, independent cinema, audio-visual performance and archive cut-ups, with a generous side order of food art. We'll be taking over venues across Birmingham, including pubs, galleries and warehouses, the town hall and the century-old Electric cinema, and we'll also be trundling all over the city thanks to the vintage mobile cinema. This modified Bedford truck was commissioned in the 60s by Tony Benn to tour British factories,...

Originally published in the Guardian on 17 November 1980

The Conservative Party will get rid of Mrs Thatcher in about three years' time and Lord Carrington will probably become party leader, according to Sir Harold Wilson in a television interview to be screened tonight.

Speaking on the BBC Panorama programme, Sir Harold says that Mrs Thatcher will be consigned to Tory mythology. "If they (the Tories) decide they're going to lose the next election with her there, she'll be ditched and it will be as though she's never been. She'll become a non-person."

He describes Mrs Thatcher as "the best man" the Tories have got and praises her for her success over Rhodesia, attributing her achievement to Lord Carrington, the Foreign Secretary. "I think he would be a very formidable leader. I think he would take an awful lot of beating."

On the Labour Party leadership, Sir Harold says he voted for...

The goals are movable, though one thing is certain: we like our treasures to have a laugh

Last week, as the internet exploded with goodwill for Danny Baker, Danny Kelly wrote in the Observer of his surprise at realising that his friend had quietly become a national treasure. Which set us thinking: who else do we count as a national treasure, and what makes one worth treasuring? We thought we'd ask you, the readers, to offer suggestions over the next few weeks, and reveal the results before the year's end. But first: some questions.

Why is Cheryl Cole a national treasure but Simon Cowell most certainly not? Is it just the dimples? Or does success in the face of personal tragedy help? There are those who earn the title by simply sticking round (Tony Benn?) and those whose good work commends them (Jamie Oliver?).

There are national treasures who look like Kate Moss,...

Nicky Wire has criticised young bands for not saying anything with their music. The Manic Street Preachers bassist made the comments in conversation with journalist Simon Price and former MP and Stop The War Coalition president Tony Benn for music website The Quietus. Asked by Price if pop culture has the power to get messages across, Wire said: "I'm a true believer that it does and I spend my life dedicating myself to doing it, because a lot of the time it's really hard to do and you make a mess of it and they're awful songs. "I think when you get it right it's the (more)...

More4 is reportedly planning to broadcast a docudrama about Ed and David Miliband. The show is expected to focus on the rivalry between the brothers, who are both currently standing for the Labour leadership. According to The Sun, the Milibands' family background, childhood and political careers will be explored in the programme. Dramatic reconstructions will be mixed with interviews from other Labour personalities, including Tony Benn. A source (more)...

As a passionate lover of films and a life long resident of Walthamstow in East London, I wanted to bring to your attention and gather some more support to an incredible battle that has gone on for around seven years to save our local cinema that was sold to the controversial Universal Church of The Kingdom of God (Uckg), an international religious organisation, which plans to convert the venue into a place of worship. The battle has been led by the McGuffin Film and Television Society that have battled so long and so hard for years to save the wonderful cinema.

Walthamstow Emd Cinema isn’t your regular cinema. It is so full of amazing history, It was Walthamstow’s first dedicated full time cinema in 1907 and was a haunt for a young Alfred Hitchcock who lived nearby. The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Little Richard,...

Mark Millar, a lay preacher, has shot to Hollywood fame with his comic book characters

Mark Millar still has the air of a man who needs to pinch himself to appreciate his good fortune. After 20 years of rupturing the boundaries of taste and decency, the enfant terrible of the comic world has finally hit paydirt. Millar's stellar levels of bad language and violence may not raise eyebrows in the geeky world of comic novels, but when transferred to the big screen in Kick-Ass, they have generated the sort of publicity certain to ensure the film's success.

"Anything goes in the comic world, so sometimes you forget the sensibilities of the mainstream," says Millar. "But even I chuckled to myself at that line, because I knew it would cause a huge amount of fuss if it ever hit the big wide world. Sure enough . . ."

He is referring to the line delivered by Chloë Grace Moretz,...

Maxine Peake, 35, actress, single

T his is why I always got it wrong: I thought if I dressed like the guys I fancied they'd like me more, so I went to the hairdresser and said: "I'd like my hair cut like Paul Young." It was a strange spiky number with a bit of a mullet. It took me years to realise that didn't work. I've always had pop-star crushes. I had a huge crush on Ian Brown. A friend and I went to Spike Island, and when the Stone Roses came on stage I got a bit overemotional. I had to lie and say I was having an asthma attack.

I was such a tragic figure at secondary school. It was awful, painful. We used to hang around the Water Place in Bolton, where all the lads went skateboarding. The girls would sit with the stereo and watch the boys.

Former Labour MP and hero of the left, Tony Benn is a living legend and one of my personal political heroes. I met up with him to talk about his powerful new book, Letters To My Grandchildren. DJ: Your book is very Utopian. Is it difficult to remain so positive considering all the problems in the world you address? TB: I go up and down like everybody, but I think that talking yourself into a permanent sense of disaster, which is what sometimes happens in the media, doesn’t help, and I think that you have to be positive if you’re going to get the most out of everything. DJ: What, to you, is the book about? TB: It’s primarily conclusions that I’ve reached in the course of my life. I felt I wanted to set them down for future generations, and it reflects the fact that...

Tributes are pouring in for legendary British playwright Harold Pinter, who died on Wednesday aged 78.

The writer, who penned classic plays including The Birthday Party and The Dumb Waiter and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005 for his contribution to the arts, passed away following a long battle with cancer.

And friends and former colleagues have lined up to pay tribute to Pinter following his death.

Actor Sir Michael Gambon said: "I had the privilege to know Harold well and was in many of his plays. I created a couple of parts for him in first productions. He was our God, Harold Pinter, for actors. He was the man who wrote the plays you wanted to be in."

Pinter's second wife, Lady Antonia Fraser, said: "He was a great, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten."

Former British MP Tony Benn said: "His death will leave a huge gap that will be felt by the whole political spectrum."

And English actor David Bradley, currently starring in Pinter's No Man's Land in London's West End, added: "I'm very honoured to have known him personally and professionally over the past 10 years. It's a huge loss. People from Germany, Israel and China would come backstage saying Harold Pinter was so important to them. He wrote about oppression and people taking terrible advantage and oppressing each other on a personal level. Although he did not write the plays in an overtly political way they stood the test of time because they have universal themes. They meant so much to people in different ways."...