Reflections On Love (In Lyrics And Literature)
A few of my friends have recently broken up with their boyfriends because their relationships were just not as exciting as they had once been. They say they want pretty much what Carrie Bradshaw said...
View ArticleAre Awards More About the Red Carpet Than Artistic Achievement?
Awards season is upon us, culimating with the Oscars on Sunday. Inevitably there is a rush of excitement: who will take best film, best director but what sends the media into an absolute frenzy is the...
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Oscar Fever
Oscars frenzy has well and truly taken over Los Angeles. And as the 2016 awards season comes to a close we wait in anticipation for the biggest show of them all, The 88th Academy Awards. For those of...
View ArticleThe Write Thing to Do?
Many times I am invited to come along and take part in seminars or talks and occasionally to observe other people talk about their experiences and share in that, which I find fascinating. The whole...
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From Old Masters to Fresco Disasters - Celebrating the Glory of Failure
Quite a lot has been written over the years on the subject of failure. In business and in the creative world it's a topic that's discussed constantly. In television, in particular, we pore over numbers...
View ArticleOscar Predictions 2016 - Will DiCaprio win?
The Revenant leads the pack with 12 nominations, ahead of Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 (oh my, a blockbuster??). Thing is, when the competition's this tight, how will you know for sure who's going to...
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Marathon Man
Week one - the challenge begins. So the plan on paper is a simple one. Complete a marathon every day for 27 days across South Africa. Unfortunately when you step off the paper and onto the concrete,...
View ArticleThe Film Censor Hangs Up His Scissors
I'm due to retire from my position as director of the BBFC on 10 March, following almost 12 years in the post. I've been reflecting on that time and have spoken to a number of colleagues, BBFC...
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Imagine a World Where Tangerine Was Up for an Oscar
In the repetitive whitewashed sea of worthy, epic and cocksure movies of 2015 (aka #OscarsSoWhiteII), Sean Baker's Tangerine would have offered a winking, badass beacon of hope that the grubby glass...
View ArticleWhy Leonardo DiCaprio Shares His Oscar Glory With Chris Rock
Yes the night belonged to Leo DiCaprio who finally won an Oscar after like a gazillion years! But for me the icing on the cake for the 2016 Oscars was also the brilliant Chris Rock. The first time I...
View ArticleIn or Not - That Is the Question
So we are faced with a dilemma, do we stay in or not? Within that, there is also the question of what role we will play, what is our influence and is it really worth our while being a part of it....
View ArticleThe Best Ever Film Awards
What a year it's been for film! By that, I mean what a mediocre year. Will the winners of the 2016 Academy Awards stand the test of time? Who knows if we'll still be talking about "The Revenant" in...
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Charity Begins at Home
They say charity begins at home. Well In 2011 I was lucky enough to be invited to a charity auction in Stoke-on-Trent - which is where I was bought up. It was to be hosted by charity founder Dawn...
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The B-52s Won't Be Trump's (Or Any GOP's) Inaugural Band
(B-52s v. 2016, L-R: Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson. Photo by Larry Jaffee) In Martin Scorsese's new HBO series Vinyl about the music industry in the early 1970s in New York, there's a...
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The Champions by Romina Ressia
"The Champions" project explores how the contemporary society sees and values things like glory and success. It talks about preconceptions and our valuation of talent and effort. Being part of a...
View Article'Grimsby': Much Grimmer Than I Thought
When I go to the cinema, no matter how dreadful the acting, how poor the dialogue or how illogical the plot, out of respect for the creative process and the hard work and efforts of all those involved...
View ArticleFirebird: A Powerful New Play, Inspired by the Rochdale Child Sexual...
Firebird is Phil Davies's debut play and deals with the difficult issues surrounding the sexual exploitation of a fourteen year old girl called Tia, from Rochdale in the North of England. It was...
View ArticleDiversity Issue Boosts Oscar Telecast Ad Revenue
The 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony was rather unique, even for Hollywood. It began covered in a negative cloud over allegations of racial discrimination in the nominations, a cloud that remained...
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The Trouble With Sam Smith
Imagine the scene. An ante room in a horribly opulent Beverly Hills hotel. There are gaudy flower arrangements and vomit-print furnishings as far as the eye can see. And in the very middle of it,...
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Oscar's Sweet 16: The Only Female Screenwriters to Ever Take Him Home
Surprised a woman didn't win an Oscar for best screenplay this year? If you are, you've probably been living under a rock for the last century. But all joking aside, when you realise only 16 female...
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