TV
Why ‘Lady Chatterley’ Still Provokes Us
On the set of the BBC’s recent adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s novel, I realised that his most controversial book is as important as ever
The Greatest Man I Ever Knew?
The rich, varied, and absorbing life, and careers, of John Freeman
Predictable Pot-Shots At Auntie
The stifling right-wing press has adopted a cultish refusal to publish one good word about the BBC
Protestant Power Games
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, superbly adapted for television, is brilliant because it defies easy definition
Who’s in Charge of BBC News?
The Corporation’s reporting and investigations are still essential-but now they are threatened from within
Rivers of Babylon
The great provocateur – Joan Rivers
Revolt of the TV Eunuchs
Celebrity presenters such as Jon Snow reject impartiality. But the news must not be twisted
A Saga with Staying Power
Revisiting the unsurpassed TV glories of The Forsyte Saga
Civilisation: Do we know it when we see it? He did
The presenter the BBC chooses to remake Kenneth Clark’s seminal series has a tough act to follow
Typecast by the ‘ologies
‘I know that my obituary will read “Lipman Gets Cut Off”, but I honestly thought the BT ‘ology commercials were toasted bagels-until Nigel Farage brought it all back’
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past