For all that people talk about summer being the prime time to visit a cinema, there’s something extra special about ducking into a ‘picture house’ in winter, away from the elements and back into the safety of a surrogate womb (as suggested by Fellini and the psychoanalysts . . . good name for a band that).
It’s also the time of year where a ton of great movies are released, from horror chillers to Oscar baiters and, apologies for descending into the impending season’s cuisine-normative tropes, a few inevitable festive-adjacent turkeys.
So we thought we’d mark the moment when the daily rate of natural light reduces and big-screen projection gets cranked up to full beam with a winter film special. Kicking it off is our very own auteur du jour Lynne Ramsay, returning after an eight-year hiatus from the red carpet scene and festival circuit with Die My Love: a no doubt typically intense affair by the Glaswegian in which Jennifer Lawrence plays a new mother being slowly nudged towards a complete breakdown. Expect this to be showing up on a few Oscar shortlists.
In consideration for Academy Award gongs for the very first time are casting directors and we speak to a trio who have long been quietly producing miracles behind the scenes in getting the right people for the right acting job. In this centenary of community cinema, we find out what’s shaking in the grassroots film environment on our doorstep, plus for those who like to receive cinematic deep dives through their ears, we check out a number of top film podcasts. And we’ve compiled a handy round-up of key movies and film festivals between now and the end of February (spoiler: a very smouldering looking Wuthering Heights will be the date movie of choice that month).
But it’s not all about film in this issue (though we do also have an interview with indie star Ethan Hawke and print a strong review of another steamy affair in the shape of Pillion). Our cover stars Wet Leg speak to us about new directions ahead of big gigs in Glasgow and a headlining spot at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. We also pass a favourable verdict on the Inside No 9 live show, look at whether it’s the end of the road for tasting menus, have Q&A chats with author Jenny Colgan and guitar supremo Carlos Alomar, pick our favourites for the SAY Award, explore the collapse of a record-label titan, and pore over the memoir of a punk-poet legend. Get wrapped up, folks.
Brian Donaldson EDITOR
Rafferty
McLean
Laidlaw
Santini Advertorial
Isabella Dalliston
Afreka Thomson, Ailsa Sheldon, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Eddie Harrison, Emma Simmonds, Evie Glen, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, Gary Sullivan, Isy Santini, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jennifer McLaren, Jo Laidlaw, Katherine McLaughlin, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Lachlan McMaster, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Rob Adams, Suzy Pope, Vic Galloway
7 - 29 AUGUST 2026
THE CALL’S GONE OUT. WILL YOU ANSWER?
In 2026, A Call to Gather invites audiences to unite at the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade for an unforgettable evening of spectacle, storytelling, and celebration.
front
mouthpiece
In this month’s column, Kevin Fullerton is cashing in on the ‘mid TV’ phenomenon with a few, erm, interesting show ideas of his own
Dear Ian Netflix,
It’s been drawn to my attention that you’ve decided to bring the golden age of television to an end and let audiences settle for the risk averse, identikit bibble known as ‘mid TV’, a dreary facsimile of decent telly with all the interesting bits stripped out. As a profoundly mediocre human being, I’m more than qualified to hurl some ‘mid TV’ ideas your way and demand payment for my effort. None of these formats will cost you blockbuster levels of cash (although, again, you must remunerate me immediately) and all will lure in people who need background noise while they watch teenagers dance to Taylor Swift on TikTok.
Warren Peace How do you make a prestige literary adaptation cost effective? Simple: dress cutesy-wutesy bunnies up as Russian generals for a loose mash-up of War And Peace and YouTube-adjacent animal videos. Expect convoluted plotting, fervent rutting and the palpable threat of myxomatosis.
Cosy Murder Dating Club People will watch literally any old drivel if it has the word ‘cosy’ or ‘murder’ or ‘dating’ in it, especially if they get to feel like they’re part of a club. Cast Miriam Margolyes as the lead and insist she goes off book with a celebrity anecdote every 15 minutes.
Grand Designs Hostage Situation: A True Crime In Real Time A live taping of Grand Designs in which Kevin McCloud (who’s been injected with a delirious cocktail of rage-inducing drugs beforehand) takes a middle-class
Sadly, we have to acknowledge that they seem to be everywhere these days, and Nazis are also inevitably cropping up across the culture. Pitlochry Festival Theatre is once more alive with The Sound Of Music as the good guys and the baddies face off in the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein WW2 musical which again features Kirsty Findlay as Maria. Russell Crowe began his career as a nasty Melbourne skinhead in Romper Stomper and, coming full circle, he’s now Hermann Göring in James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg alongside Rami Malek, Leo Woodall and John Slattery. After playing Nigel Tufnel’s wife in the Spinal Tap
couple hostage inside their self-funded building site, giving bloodthirsty audiences the chance to witness a ‘true crime in real time’. For every design decision that doesn’t adhere to his ‘vision of the dream home’, the frothing presenter will go ballistic and kneecap someone.
Loads of sequels to Planet Of The Apes For whatever reason, people can’t get enough of apes as talking political point scorers. A few to get you started: Plutocracy Of The Planet of the Apes; Peninsula Of The Planet Of The Apes; Broadly Democratic Simian’s Republic Of the Planet Of The Apes; Small Flat Of The Planet Of The Apes; Downstairs Cupboard Of The Planet Of The Apes; Universe Of The Planet Of The Apes; Crevice Of The Planet Of The Apes; Motorway Junction Of The Planet Of The Apes; Geographically Remote Communist Republic Of The Planet Of The Apes; Punnet Of The Planet Of The Apes; and finally, Pamphlet Of The Planet Of The Apes. That should cover at least one season.
Rich Shits Explains itself.
Anyway, Ian Netflix, I expect payment for these ideas in full. Seven or eight million seems more than fair. Payment by postal order, for tax reasons. And if you need any more slop (and, given your recent output, I’ve got no doubt that you do), I’m always available.
Kind regards, Dr Kevin Fullerton, Fully Accredited Idea Maven
sequel, ventriloquist Nina Conti’s directorial debut Sunlight has also been in cinemas, an unconventional love story featuring a woman who is reluctant to get out of her monkey suit. Celebrating 25 years of electroclash, Machine Music For A New Millennium is a new CD/ LP boxset compiled by (triple point score alert) Nag Nag Nag club founder Jonny Slut alongside Readers Wifes DJ Mark Wood. Finally, the stupendous Nala Sinephro has just released her debut film score, a pulsing soundtrack for The Smashing Machine, Benny Safdie’s biopic about UFC competitor Mark Kerr. Nice
Nala
Nuremberg
PlayList
The dwindling daylight hours may be sending us into winter hibernation, but we guarantee our latest issue soundtrack (plus a vitamin D tablet or two) will perk you right back up. Hear toe tapping tunes from Wet Leg, Shay O’Dowd, Turnstile, Taahliah, The Joy Hotel, Patti Smith, Madonna and many more
Scan and listen as you read:
Airing on Disney+ and National Geographic in November is Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip To Remember. But rather than being another celebrity simply burning hot rubber or clocking up those yawn-inducing, anti-woke airmiles purely for the fun of it, the star of Thor, Star Trek and Home And Away is biking his way across Australia with his dad Craig who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. They rekindle memories and strengthen that father/son bond, exploring the science of connection, community and nostalgia, seemingly overlooked tools in the fight to protect brain health.
In this series of articles, we turn the focus back on ourselves by asking folk at The List about recent cultural artefacts that touch their heart and soul. This time around, Lachlan McMaster tells us which things . . .
Made me cry: I had the pleasure of attending Edinburgh International Film Festival’s opening night a few months back and caught Eva Victor’s heartbreaking Sorry, Baby. The film is a full emotional rollercoaster, but the cosy setting and Victor’s sharp, funny dialogue give a soft landing to an otherwise gutting story.
Made me angry: Keir Starmer’s ‘Britcard’ idea: we’ve all read Nineteen EightyFour
Made me laugh: I heard the rallying cries of greatness around Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and my pessimistic nature refused to believe any film could be so universally adored. Delighted to have been proven wrong: there’s not an ounce of fat on this taut political thriller. Anderson’s writing and DiCaprio’s newfound comic timing make for a perfect match.
Made me think: A visit to Traade on Portobello High Street had me wondering why all shops aren’t like this. The curation is spot-on and you’ll struggle not to caress the handcrafted home goods, but it’s the community side that elevates it: workshops, run clubs, live events and great-value supper clubs from chefs who don’t miss. It’s a one-stop shop.
Made me think twice: I came to St Luke’s in Glasgow for Billy Woods but left a full DJ Haram convert. Her set morphed from industrial soundscapes into spiralling Middle Eastern flutes, then closed on something almost tender yet still dark, still hypnotic. Proof that even chaos can be beautiful.
Edinburgh City Centre / Tickets from £26.00 plus booking fees
Photo: Keith Valentine
Your whole identity goes into crisis “
IAs we kick off our winter film special, who better to start proceedings but one of Scotland’s finest ever directors. After an eight-year hiatus, Lynne Ramsay is back with her fifth movie, the raucous Die My Love. As she tells James Mottram, its tale of a struggling new mother was all too close to home
t’s the back end of the London Film Festival when I meet Lynne Ramsay in the city’s Corinthia Hotel.
Dressed in black, complemented by a bright orange blouse, she’s been awake since 4am, although it can hardly be out of concern for her new movie
Die My Love. Samantha Morton, the star of Ramsay’s second film, 2002’s Morvern Callar, is introducing it later. And she’s got Jennifer Lawrence by her side too. The Oscar-winning actress sent her the source novel, by Ariana Harwicz, and alongside film icon Martin Scorsese, is a producer and driving force on the project.
Yet initially, Ramsay was hesitant. ‘At first I thought it was maybe too close to We Need To Talk About Kevin,’ she says, referring to her 2011 adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s novel about a mother’s relationship with her psychopathic son. In truth, they’re not alike, although they’d make a cracking double bill. In Die My Love, Lawrence plays Grace who moves with husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) to his uncle’s home in rural Montana. Her passion for writing has dried up, and after she gives birth her mental state begins to deteriorate.
Ramsay, who has one daughter with musician Rory Stewart Kinnear, related to what Grace endures. ‘You feel a bit depleted,’ she insists. ‘You’re sleep-deprived and going absolutely nuts, because you have to wake up every three hours. Even your husband can feel like that; the two of us looked like zombies for about three months. It’s much more challenging than you think it’s going to be. You feel a bit down and like you’ve disappeared. Your whole identity goes into crisis.’
As Ramsay recalls, Lawrence herself was pregnant during filming. ‘I didn’t find out until three weeks before the shoot and I was like: “Are you sure about this?” But in a way,
pregnancy isn’t a fragile state; you feel like a warrior. She was glowing, and I think all those happy hormones are good for playing a dark part. If you could bottle pregnancy, people would take it because you can feel so great. Some people don’t, but I felt amazing. And she obviously felt amazing. You could tell.’
Though it’s a work about isolation, mental health and even writer’s block (which Ramsay has struggled with in the past), the writer-director is reluctant to label the movie as any one thing. ‘This isn’t a postpartum film,’ she states. ‘It’s more than that. It’s got many more layers. I saw it as a love story between this couple where he can’t understand her. She’s a wild animal; she’s going somewhere. He still loves her but he just doesn’t get her. She’s an anarchist, smashing the world up.’
Defined by a raucous energy, Die My Love even features Ramsay on vocals. Collaborating with the film’s music supervisor Raife Burchell and with guitarist George Vjestica (a long-term member of The Bad Seeds), she sings a version of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ over the end credits and on a punk-infused track ‘Zero’, which she also co-wrote. ‘I just recorded it on my phone. We were thinking about getting someone else to do it, maybe Jennifer and Robert as a duet, but then it just kind of stuck. People liked it. Personally, I can’t stand my voice!’
Still, it would be wrong to characterise Die My Love as dour. There’s humour in its bones. ‘I saw them as a Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn couple,’ she says of Grace and Jackson. Ramsay, who grew up in a working-class Glasgow family before leaving to study photography at Edinburgh’s Napier College and then cinematography at London’s National Film And Television School, was reminded of her parents. ‘They were always fighting, but then they’d start
Die My Love
Film
Lynne’s faces: Die My Love (and below, left to right), Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need To Talk About Kevin
laughing in the middle of an argument and the kids would all be laughing, because it’s totally crazy. I wanted to have this mad humour in their arguments.’
When Ramsay was in the midst of finishing Die My Love, her mother passed away. She did manage to spend three days with her, returning to finish the film after she died. ‘She loved Hitchcock and she loved westerns. We’d watch Saturday matinees together. Even though they weren’t moviemakers or any of that, just simple people, her and my dad were really into film.’
Sadly, her mother didn’t live long enough to enjoy her daughter’s latest success. Lawrence has already gained stellar reviews for her performance as the fragile Grace (an Oscar nomination seems certain) and the film has been bought by streamer Mubi for a staggering $25m: ‘That kind of happened overnight,’ Ramsay reflects. ‘So, I was like: “Wow, ok”.’ It almost feels as though Ramsay has earned this after the trouble she’s experienced in the past; creative differences on films such as The Lovely Bones and Jane Got A Gun led to her walking away at the eleventh hour.
Then again, that uncompromising streak is part of what makes Ramsay the filmmaker she is, and she still harbours hopes of adapting Margaret Atwood’s 2014 tale Stone Mattress, set aboard a boat in the Arctic. She got close once before but was unhappy with the set-up. ‘It was a rush job and there was no prep: it was
a run-and-gun shoot,’ Ramsay sighs. She also wanted to film in Greenland, even scouting Disko Bay, but the more film-friendly Iceland was suggested. ‘I killed it and sometimes I regret that. Maybe I should have just done it.’
With Julianne Moore currently attached, it may yet come back, but the 55-year-old knows how exhausting movie shoots can be. ‘I’m getting too old for it,’ she smiles, grimly. Ramsay has also written a script about a pioneering photographer who travels to Alaska in 1910 and falls in love with an Inuit girl (Joaquin Phoenix is set to star). ‘It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever written,’ she says. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, who created the score for We Need To Talk About Kevin and her last film, 2017’s vigilante saga You Were Never Really Here (which was also lit up by Phoenix), told her that when he read it he could ‘really feel the cold’.
Talking of inclement climates, what about Scotland? Would she like to come back and film here? ‘There is a project, actually, that I wrote a while ago,’ she says, revealing that it’s a ‘continuation’ of her debut 1999 feature Ratcatcher, which followed a young boy growing up in 1973 in a poor part of Glasgow. Over the 26plus years she’s been making features, she’s learned one thing: ‘You’ve got to be pragmatic and determined. It’s frustrating, of course. But if you really want to make a film, you find a way.’
Die My Love is in cinemas from Friday 7 November.
ITrue grit
Despite her conservative upbringing, Jennifer Lawrence has become a beacon for Hollywood feminism, tackling a huge diversity of roles across her career. Emma Simmonds hails this genuine film star for her glamour, wit and integrity
f the modern age has produced few bona fide movie stars, then Jennifer Lawrence can certainly count herself among them. Although we’ve seen less of her recently and her choices have felt less canny, the prospect of this actress bringing her considerable charisma to the latest from Scottish auteur Lynne Ramsay (the psychologically probing, blackly comic Die My Love) is undoubtedly a tantalising prospect.
Born in 1990 into a Republican, christian household in Kentucky, Lawrence would ultimately shake off her conservative upbringing to become one of Hollywood’s most high-profile feminists, as well as one of its sharpest wits, routinely puncturing her bubble of glamour and privilege with self-deprecating humour. Lawrence’s breakthrough came in 2010 when she bagged the lead in Winter’s Bone, for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, aged just 20.
Two years later, she would become the second youngest winner of that prize for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook. By 2015, Lawrence was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood.
For a time, Lawrence was everywhere.
Deftly balancing Oscar-bait with blockbusters such as The Hunger Games and X-Men franchises, she became both an action star and a critical darling, flitting between dour dystopias and the screwball world of David O Russell (who directed her in Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy). However, by 2016 her career had already begun to falter: the X-Men series took a nosedive quality-wise, while (as she eventually admitted herself) that year’s Passengers was conceptually problematic, damaging her feminist
credentials. Mother! might have been a bold artistic choice but it was something of a Marmite watch, while Red Sparrow and Don’t Look Up also attracted mixed reviews.
Lawrence’s rise to the top was rapid and she has often made being famous seem fun, but she has, like so many others, found that being in the spotlight comes at a hefty price. In 2014, naked pictures of her were stolen and posted online, an incident she felt was tantamount to a sex crime, telling Vanity Fair in 2021: ‘My trauma will exist forever.’
In 2022, Lawrence became a mother and has since had a second child with art gallery-director husband Cooke Maroney, a less highprofile romantic situation following relationships with X-Men co-star Nicholas Hoult and her Mother! director Darren Aronofsky. Since having kids, things have been quieter on the film front: the respectable if slightly underwhelming war veteran drama Causeway was followed by Lawrence making something of a comeback with successful 2023 sex comedy No Hard Feelings. She’s also branched out as a producer with production company Excellent Cadaver, who are behind her three most recent releases as well as the documentaries Zurawski v Texas and Bread And Roses
Based on the 2012 novel by Ariana Harwicz, Die My Love features a young mother moving to the countryside with her partner (played by Robert Pattinson), only to find herself struggling with her sanity. One of her most challenging roles to date, it returns Lawrence to the cinematic conversation in quite some style. It’s good to have her back.
Local heroes
Film doesn’t just exist in multiplexes, established cinemas and arthouse venues. Kevin Fullerton takes a look at community cinema in Scotland and finds a thriving and expanding scene powered by passionate enthusiasts with an anything-goes attitude
When the Filmhouse shut its doors two years ago, panic ran through the UK cinemagoing community.
Was this a sign that Scotland had fallen out of love with film? Critic, writer and curator Anna Bogutskaya underscored the venue’s value best when she advocated for the cultural necessity of cinemas in a spirited piece for The Guardian. ‘There should be room for curation and experimentation beyond profit,’ she wrote. ‘Every single screening, red carpet or not, is an experience.’
There was a happy ending for the Filmhouse, which reopened this year after a lengthy period of campaigning, but within that time smaller projects have emerged that recapture the magic of screenings which operate outside of the arthouse or multiplexes. Community cinemas have enjoyed a broad resurgence across the central belt, with eclectic programming styles that favour the eccentricities and enthusiasms of their programmers. In the centenary year of community cinemas, and at a time when sites like Letterboxd have re-ignited a younger generation’s interest in cineliteracy, the notion of film
as a gathering point for like-minded people is alive and well. The most recent community event to unload its projector is Leith Kino, which takes place every Sunday at Edinburgh’s Leith Depot and harbours an endearingly no-brow attitude to its programming. In its opening month in September, audiences drank in the subversive Japanese queer classic Funeral Parade Of Roses, John C Reilly’s zany biopic pastiche Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Ping Pong, the first ever film in the UK to feature a majority cast of British Asians.
‘That’s something we’re beginning to specialise in already; films that people may not have heard of or may not have seen before,’ says Morvern Cunningham, one of the co-founders of Leith Kino. ‘But hopefully they stimulate an audience that trusts us and knows that whatever they’re going to see will be entertaining, challenging or interesting.’
Cunningham, who has co-ordinated various community cinema projects in Edinburgh as part of the Local Cinema Network, first conceived of Leith Kino alongside Fraser Elliott in an effort to establish a regular micro-cinema experience, echoing the spirit of boutique picture houses that are wellestablished in capital cities across Europe. Its commitment
Upcoming cine-delights at Leith Kino: Crazy Family, Strange Journey – The Rocky Horror Story
Endearingly no-brow: Morvern Cunningham (front) and members of Leith Kino
to making niche programming accessible extends to its pricing, with tickets costing £5. ‘We’ve got basic back-of a-fag-packet budgeting,’ Cunningham explains, ‘which is 50 people at a fiver each, which can pay for one film license and leaves some money for us. It’s a commitment to accessibility and a commitment to paying ourselves something.’ With 12 members of the collective selecting films, diversity is key to Kino’s flavour, ensuring a programme that is broad in its appeal and unique in its sensibilities.
It’s an approach shared by Sam Elder, the organiser of Glasgow’s Hurdy Gurdy Film Club, which favours countercultural cinema of the 1960s and 70s. Establishing the project with money he made as a submission viewer for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Elder’s intention behind Hurdy Gurdy has been to broaden the net
of films available to watch across Glasgow. ‘The GFT can only show so much and there are just so many films out there that are ripe for rediscovery,’ Elder insists. ‘The idea is to show stuff that is screening for the first time in Glasgow or films that have skipped whole generations since they were last on the big screen. It’s a case of introducing audiences to things they may not have actively sought out before and to give them new and thought-provoking experiences.’
Cinetopia, an Edinburgh-based organisation which has transformed into a hub for film networking, exhibitions and media, share a similar approach, with plans to merge cinema with music and conversation in its new Cinetopia Salons series. ‘We want to encourage artists from across different art platforms to engage with the moving image,’ Amanda Rogers, co-founder of Cinetopia states. ‘We’re
trying to create a space where discussion can happen. There will be drink and maybe some free nibbles. The idea is to literally create a space where it’s more than just a film event.’ As with their first screening in October, this can mean a jazz performance to Louis Malle’s Lift To The Scaffold, a more traditional orchestration of a silent film classic, or something entirely different. Beyond the cost of screening licenses, the sky is the limit in terms of creative ideas that cater to those who view cinema as an ideal intersection of every artform.
Creative thinking abounds in these spaces, led by the instincts of both programmers and audiences. ‘There’s something great about a community space,’ Leith Kino’s Elliott says. ‘There’s a sense of community ownership over it.
At professional cinemas, you always move onto the next film, the next film, next film, then “everyone out”. Whereas here, we can stay in the space for an hour afterwards or turn it into a standing gig. It’s more collaborative and open to where people want it to go.’
‘We really care about the films that are getting put on screen,’ echoes Cunningham. ‘I’m really proud of every title. People are exposed to films they haven’t seen before or can re-appraise films that they never thought were any good.’
As Rogers points out, community cinema is a fluid idea. ‘In the technical sense, there’s a type of license that you take out which makes a space a community cinema. But ultimately you can create a community cinema experience in a multiplex if it’s fostered with the concept of bringing a group of people together for their love and passion around a film or theme.’
Myriad screenings take place unnoticed across the central belt in small, interesting venues, maintaining the legacy of film as an egalitarian medium (it’s with good reason that the nascent years of the moving image invited comparisons to the Tower Of Babel).
Leith Kino, Cinetopia and Hurdy Gurdy Film Club (along with others such as Matchbox Cine, Take One Action and the venues participating in the Local Cinema Network) are a small selection of many individuals ensuring that the spirit of film remains intact. ‘Martin Scorsese says we cannot rely on the movie business to look after cinema, we have to do it ourselves,’ says Elder. ‘Independent programming is part of that.’
For full programme details, see instagram.com/leithkino; cinetopia.co.uk/events; instagram.com/hurdygurdyfilmclub
Promised land: 2022’s Electric Muses (also below), a women-led evening of surrealist film; (and bottom) a Cinetopia networking event at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 2024
THE PODCAST FOR COMEDY
Good Hang With Amy Poehler Parks And Recreation star Amy Poehler hosts this amiable podcast, interviewing Saturday Night Live comics Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig and Rachel Dratch, top performers such as Regina King and Selena Gomez, and even her own husband, Adam Scott. Poehler’s chat with Paul Rudd will restore your faith in actors as they both take great joy in nailing the pretentions in their profession. The only downside is the guests are often there to plug new products, as with Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman for The Roses, but Poehler knows how to get them off track.
THE PODCAST FOR STAR TREK FANS
Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Star Trek fans will obviously recognise the name of show creator Gene Roddenberry. Mission Log explores the universe of vintage Star Trek one episode at a time. Even if you don’t know your Borg from your Vojean, various incarnations of the show have impacted several generations; they’re on a 14-year mission to cover every aspect of Star Trek and Gene’s son Rod is an occasional guest. Original host Ken Ray left after seven years to be replaced by John Champion and Norman C Lao, and coverage expands to cover The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and all the movies too.
THE PODCAST FOR DIVINE DECADENCE
Caligula: Package Of Excellence
No rumour could match the reality when it came to the shambolic making of Tinto Brass’ notorious 1979 movie about Emperor Caligula. Journalist and writer Collin Friesen (who worked on Schitt’s Creek) and historian-critic Tara McNamara bring a wry wit to this five-episode series discussing the utter chaos of this production which involved Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, Helen Mirren and John Gielgud. Never able to resist getting involved, I’m one of the critics drafted in to discuss how Gore Vidal’s script was made into a pornographic film before being restored, recut and creditably salvaged in 2024.
THE PODCAST FOR GENRE AFICIONADOS
Smersh Pod
Smersh Pod is a film ’cast that goes for genre deep cuts. Hosted by John Rain, its stated remit is to ‘do a little bit of everything’, from new releases to forgotten obscurities and much-debated titles from James Bond (as the title suggests), Amicus, Carry On and Hammer. Rain engages a regular roster of guests including Toby Hadoke (a leading authority on Quatermass and its screenwriter Nigel Kneale) while Scotland’s Paul Whitelaw displays his forensic knowledge of Sylvester Stallone’s 1980s output. The tone is reliably affectionate and irreverent.
THE PODCAST FOR SCI-FI COMPLETISTS
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever (Almost)
Winner of the 2025 Ear Worthy Podcast Award for Best Movie Podcast, this informative series has notched up more than 40 episodes to date. Starting from 1902’s A Trip To The Moon, host Ayesha Khan has an enormous field of movies to choose from but has a knack of picking real fan favourites including La Jetée, Village Of The Damned and Alien Guests are extremely well qualified, with Soviet history expert Denise Youngblood tackling Russian obscurity Aelita: The Queen Of Mars, while Stanford University neuroscientist David Eagleman champions 2023’s underrated The Creator
THE PODCAST FOR IRISH FILM FANS
Film Ireland Podcast
Covering all things cinema from across the Irish Sea, Film Ireland’s podcast is supported by Screen Ireland and showcases talent alongside a focus on initiatives for industry insiders. Recent guests discussing their current releases include writer Alan O’Gorman on Christy (a film about estranged brothers not the new boxing one with Sydney Sweeney) and director Darren Thornton on Four Mothers. The podcast shines a light on key groups such as The Writers’ Guild Of Ireland, features annual film festivals and covers oldies including 1970’s bizarre Dublin-set Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx starring Gene Wilder.
Pod people
Sacrificing his own viewing time so you can get square eyes watching even more movies, Eddie Harrison rounds up his pick of film-related podcasts to suit every kind of cinema lover
I‘always watch people. I’ve always been interested in people’s mannerisms, their jewellery, their accents; it all tells a story,’ says Kahleen Crawford, chatting over Zoom from her London office.
Glasgow-born Crawford was 23 when she was chosen by Ken Loach to cast his film Ae Fond Kiss. It was her first job. She’d studied Loach as part of her film and TV studies degree and went on to collaborate with the kitchen-sink socialist director for 21 years, casting every feature film of his thereafter. She set up her own casting agency in 2006, with offices in Glasgow and London, and has cast Charlotte Rampling, Olivia Colman and Scarlett Johansson over the years, working recently on movies including Pillion, The Outrun and All Of Us Strangers. ‘We talk about actors “playing range”,’ says Crawford. ‘Someone might be amazing with humour but can they drop their guard at a critical moment in a film?
Do we buy it when they need to show deep emotions? Actors evolve throughout their life and can become totally different performers; it’s an ongoing relationship.’
She remembers an ‘extraordinary’ audition with Josh O’Connor, when he improvised knocking on a door in 15 different ways, and being completely blown away by Andrew Scott. ‘Some actors are waiting for their next line. With Andrew, you can see the thoughts, everything going on in his mind. You spot the ones who are listening. They are communicating so much over and above the lines.’
Orla O’Connor has been a casting director for almost 20 years, and when we meet in her Leith office, she’s sitting beneath a wall covered in Polaroid photos of actors that she has worked with, including a baby-faced Andrew Scott, plus Brian Cox and Alan Cumming, both of whom she recently worked with on Glenrothan ‘Casting directors are often the first in on a project,’ she says. ‘We’ll
Invisible
Casting far and wide (clockwise from above): The Outrun, All Of Us Strangers, Kahleen Crawford, Orla O’Connor, Iona, Glenrothan
see a script sometimes years before a director comes onboard. What we do is crucial; it’s an invisible art. People don’t talk about casting if it’s done well but they will talk about it if it’s not.’
O’Connor, like her ‘CD’ peers, was delighted when the Oscars introduced a new category to recognise casting talent. The Academy Awards confirmed the move last year after a long campaign from the casting industry and 2026 will see the first winner announced.
‘We finally feel seen,’ says O’Connor. ‘Casting directors are integral and really do have an important influence. They have a say in who represents society on screen.’
Crawford, like O’Connor, works with actors from around the world and is concerned by contemporary notions of beauty. ‘These can be defined by such a narrow part of society,’ she notes. ‘Certain cultures, like Hollywood, really lead the conversation. The pressure on people to look symmetrical or augmented or whatever can be massive, and
we sometimes need to have very robust conversations about who is the best actor to match the role. I’ve heard astoundingly awful things come out of executives’ mouths. It can be a real gut punch. We have to factor in skills, of course, and sometimes bankability and audiences are a major factor, but also let’s think about someone’s spirit! Pillion, for example, featured a disabled actor in an orgy scene. The feedback from performers with mobility impairments was amazing. They were delighted to have representation; for their sex life to be documented on screen.’
‘Diversity is so important,’ agrees O’Connor. ‘I’ll often comment if I think a cast is too male-heavy, or suggest casting someone wonderful in a wheelchair, not because it’s a disabled role, or because someone wants to shoehorn in diversity at the last minute, but because they authentically fit the character best. Real life is diverse. For me, I’m casting a soul. I put Ruth Negga forward for Iona and was told: “Oh
touch
Often unsung, casting directors will get their moment in the spotlight in 2026, with a new Oscar category added to honour their craft. Claire Sawers talks to those working in the role about beauty standards, diversity and being Scotlandbased in a London-centric industry
you know, we don’t have to have a non-white actor”. I had to explain: “No, Ruth was the first person I thought of”. She was the right person for the job and we cast her.’
Across town, in her office at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, is casting director Simone Pereira Hind, whose first casting job was Circle Of Friends from 1995. She’s cast the likes of Jeremy Irons, Cate Blanchett, Kenneth Branagh and Willem Dafoe, and worked on films such as Munich: The Edge Of War (starring Irons and George MacKay) and Nobody Has To Know (featuring Michelle Fairley and Bouli Lanners). She joined forces with fellow casting director Anna Dawson earlier this year to create Pereira Hind & Dawson Casting. Like O’Connor and Crawford, Pereira Hind uses her platform to advocate for under-represented communities, the deaf, disabled and neurodiverse (DDN), as well as people of colour and gender non-conforming actors.
‘Over my career, I’ve seen ginormous strides when it comes to diversity, mostly in the last ten years. But we still have many more steps to take. I’m frustrated by the fact that we aren’t yet on a level playing field. Execs are often so preoccupied by not showing actors of colour, DDN actors and transgender actors in a negative light that those actors effectively miss out on playing some great roles: the baddies! I understand why we don’t want negative stereotypes, of course, but it will be great when the time comes when there is genuine equality for all.’
As for the challenges of casting Scottish actors or working from Scotland in what can often be a London-centric world, all three casting directors are reading from the same script. Things are far better than they have been in the past, but Scottish cinema needs nurtured, and respected, in order to thrive. Both Crawford and O’Connor describe walking away from projects where they feel Scotland wasn’t well reflected. ‘When I meet silly stereotypes or badly researched opinions of Scotland, I like to gently illustrate that they’re wrong,’ says Crawford. ‘Without ramming it down anyone’s throats, you present certain actors and they gradually realise they have the wrong impression. Attitudes have changed. Scotland is being embraced as a location.’
‘I often say, please don’t call me a local or Scottish casting director,’ laughs O’Connor, who is originally from Derry.
‘I don’t see myself like that. I choose to live in Edinburgh but I very much work on an international level. Especially since lockdown it doesn’t matter where you are; you can collaborate with global projects. Ireland used to have the same problem as Scotland: London casting directors would come and bring actors from London. It was seen as having the expertise, which is where me and my casting director colleagues come in. Yes, we have a niche, but that’s not just what we do. Many projects have so much cross-fertilisation between countries now.’
‘Anna and I feel privileged to work here in Scotland,’ says Pereira Hind. ‘Since I returned to casting in 2011, opportunities for Scottish actors have grown immeasurably.
With the establishment of so many studios and the tax breaks, film and TV makers have flooded to Scotland to use our facilities and actors. I’d love it if there were more opportunities coming from inside Scotland too. I think that’s happening, but slowly. It’ll be a great day when more homegrown feature films are made in Scotland by filmmakers, crews and actors based in Scotland. Bring it on!’
Rotten tomatoes
As we celebrate all things filmic, Kevin Fullerton spoils the party vibes by scouring cinematic history to select his top three casting catastrophes
RICHARD GERE IN RHAPSODY IN AUGUST
Rhapsody In August was a late-period gem from Akira Kurosawa, a meditation on how contemporary Japanese society deals with the horrors which rained down on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Its central cast are worn down by time while the spiritual drain of WW2 puts hangdog grimaces on their faces. And then there’s Richard Gere, who pops up with an air of Hollywood radiance so shimmering he may as well turn to the camera and proclaim: ‘Don’t worry foreign investors, I’ll make sure western audiences find this palatable.’ Sometimes glamour works, but the shallow beauty of Gere proves a tone-deaf counterpoint to this otherwise downbeat tale of loss. Amazing cheekbones though.
EDDIE REDMAYNE IN JUPITER ASCENDING
Eddie Redmayne’s purple period came when the world was suffering from Downtonitis, a serious condition which elevates any male actor with a clipped accent and a trust fund larger than the GDP of Switzerland to the upper echelons of stardom (see Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and, for Americans who truly value poshness over talent, Jack Whitehall). All this despite Redmayne giving painfully mannered performances that reduce Oscar-bait cinema to amateur dramatics. His nadir was Jupiter Ascending, a high camp sci-fi dud from the Wachowskis which let him chew scenery until he choked and began regurgitating all over the filmgoing public.
JARED LETO IN, WELL, EVERYTHING
Jared Leto in House Of Gucci (mamma mia!).
Jared Leto in Suicide Squad (smell the cheese). Jared Leto in Tron: Ares (why make an AI so punchable?). Jared Leto in Fight Club (plus side: watching him get punched is satisfying).
Jared Leto in Blade Runner 2049 (intoning at random isn’t interesting, Jared, it’s grating).
Leto’s agent must have something on every power player in Hollywood. How else has this one-man ruiner of method acting maintained his career?
Simone Pereira Hind (and from top), Munich: The Edge Of War, Nobody Has To Know
Cine worlds
As those dark winter nights envelop our lives, time to huddle down in the cinema for a big-screen fix. Here is a selection of the top film festivals and key movie releases to keep you entertained well into 2026
INVERNESS FILM FESTIVAL
What seems clear is that November is a great month for film festivals in Scotland. First up is this Highland adventure which includes a selection of new Scottish short films, an animated look at puberty (Living Large), a Hitchcockian mystery caper starring Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil (A Private Life), a disjointed body horror (Alpha) and Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s love letter to cinema which reimagines the making of Godard’s classic Breathless n Thursday 6–Thursday 13 November.
FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL
We’ve reached year 33 of this festival dedicated to French and francophone cinema and as always it features premieres as well as timeless classics. Among the movies on show are François Ozon’s The Stranger, The Richest
Woman In The World starring Isabelle Huppert, animation Nina And The Hedgehog’s Secret and returning favourite The Edge Of The Blade n Thursday 6 November–Friday 14 December.
HAVANA GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
The tenth anniversary of this festival preaches ‘solidarity and kindness’ and takes place at the CCA, GFT and The Boardwalk. A key theme this time is a celebration of Cuban and Vietnamese solidarity helmed by Through The Eyes Of Santiago in which the son of revolutionary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez follows in his father’s footsteps to investigate why he risked his life to cover America’s ill-fated war. Plus, there’s the UK premiere of the award-winning documentary Life Is Dance n Tuesday 11–Sunday 16 November.
From top left, clockwise: Nouvelle Vague, Nina And The Hedgehog’s Secret, Through The Eyes Of Santiago, Housemaid, It Was Just An Accident, Our Wildest Days
Hamnet (and clockwise), Saipan, No Other Choice, The History Of Sound, Wasteman, Wuthering Heights, The Chronology Of Water, Is This Thing On?
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL GLASGOW
This year marks the 12th IFFG which focuses on various themes including debut movies, female perspectives and Balkan cinema as well as featuring workshops for under 16s, talks, panels, networking and Animation Day. Among the individual films being screened are La Cocina, Pillion, Our Wildest Days and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
n Wednesday 12–Sunday 16 November.
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
The 2025 Palme d’Or winner by Iranian director Jafar Panahi follows a group of political prisoners from his homeland who wrestle with the moral quandary of whether or not to seek vengeance on those who tormented them. It would be fair to say that the Iranian authorities are not big fans of Panahi’s work, given that they’ve banned his movies and arrested him several times. The fact that he made It Was Just An Accident in secret on the streets of Tehran says a lot for his own courage as well as that of the cast and crew.
n Friday 5 December.
HOUSEMAID
This is Paul Feig’s third movie release in two years, and stars Sydney Sweeney as Millie, a young woman with a troubled past who becomes the live-in housemaid for a wealthy but equally
problematic family. Despite the initial signs that they’re living the perfect lives, the façade slowly drops. Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar play the married couple at the centre of this messed-up household.
n Friday 26 December.
HAMNET
The beloved 2020 book by Maggie O’Farrell has made it to the London stage (to decidedly mixed reviews) and now gets a filmic treatment and the star casting it deserves with Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as her playwriting husband. Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn are also in there with Chloé ‘Nomadland’ Zhao directing and Max Richter composing the soundtrack (hankies very much at the ready then).
n Friday 9 January.
SAIPAN
Steve Coogan walks in the shoes of yet another real-life person. This time he’s Mick McCarthy, the Yorkshireman who managed Ireland during 2002’s FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. A time for mass celebration and enjoyment for all Irish folk. Except a storm was brewing, with McCarthy facing up to a key player who had a big problem with him: namely Roy Keane, portrayed here by Éanna Hardwicke.
n Friday 23 January.
NO OTHER CHOICE
Park Chan-wook’s latest is a dark comedy thriller based on The Axe, Donald E Westlake’s 1997 novel about a middle-aged man who embarks on a determined (and rather violent) job hunt after being unexpectedly fired from the paper company he worked at for 25 years. This is the latest cinematic adaptation of the book following Costa-Gavras’ French version in 2005. n Friday 23 January.
THE HISTORY OF SOUND
Busy time for Paul Mescal as he joins forces with Josh O’Connor (another actor who seems to be everywhere right now) for this tale directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus. Based on two short stories by Ben Shattuck (who takes on screenwriting duties here), we follow the trajectory of Lionel and David who meet in 1917 and, after WWI, travel around Maine recording folk songs. n Friday 23 January.
IS THIS THING ON?
After the music-based A Star Is Born and Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s third directorial gig feels like a distinct U-turn with Liverpudlian stand-up John Bishop’s story the basis for this tale of a comic trying to climb the showbiz ladder while his life falls apart. Will Arnett is the comedian with Laura Dern playing his increasingly estranged wife. n Friday 30 January.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER
Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut with this biopic of Lidia Yuknavitch, a US author whose torrid upbringing left scars that only began to heal when she took up writing and swimming. An intriguing cast includes Thora Birch and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon while Jim Belushi plays One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey and Imogen Poots is Lidia. n Friday 6 February.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
As far as early publicity images go (and the only one available at time of press), a close-up of a finger in someone else’s mouth with bits of grass flapping around is as enigmatic as it gets. But this is Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles) so we can expect something a little steamier than normal way up on the windy moor. n Friday 13 February.
WASTEMAN
Filmed partly in Somerset’s Cornhill prison, this directorial debut from Cal McMau zeroes in on one convict’s chances for an early release and that new start being put under serious threat when his cellmate has ruthless plans to turn their lives upside down. David Jonsson and Tom Blyth play the mismatched prisoners. n Friday 20 February.
I
just feel like a veil has been lifted “
Defying pressure to quickly pump out a second album after huge success with their debut, Wet Leg chilled out and took their own sweet time. Ahead of some big Scottish gigs and with sophomore release Moisturizer finding the band dealing with shifting dynamics, co-founder Rhian Teasdale tells Fiona Shepherd how she’s adjusting to a more prominent role and relishing the simple joy of being loved
For a band who were completely blindsided by overnight success in 2021, Wet Leg have always conducted themselves with playful poise. Their insanely catchy debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ became the jam of that year, with its headlong rush of a hookline, drop-dead cool vocals and eminently quotable lyrics (the best of which was surely the Mean Girls lift: ‘Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?’).
Formed in 2019 by music college buddies Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, here was a band in it for the fun and freedom, with little expectation that their music might make it beyond their Isle Of Wight base. Instead, they breached The Solent, conquered 6Music, slayed the States, opened for Harry Styles on tour and had to build some cabinets (probably) to house their burgeoning haul of awards, including a Best British Group Brit and Grammys for Best Alternative Music Performance and Album.
‘Fake it ’til you make it,’ is how Teasdale thinks about their wild trajectory now. ‘When me and Hester started the band, it was because we just wanted to go to festivals and write songs that were fun for us to play live.’ When everything took off so buoyantly, there was a fair bit of running to catch up with themselves. Even so, Wet Leg had the wherewithal to buck the received industry wisdom that producing the follow-up to a successful debut album needs to happen lickety-split while you’re still touring to promote the first one. ‘Oh yeah, that was hinted at while we were on the Harry tour,’ says Teasdale, ‘and we said “we don’t think we have the capacity”. I don’t know how people do that.’
Instead, Wet Leg discovered that with success comes a degree of leverage when their idea to take some quality time together to write new songs was greenlit by their label Domino. By this point, the band’s impish myth that their second album was written and ready to go had been well and truly busted. When they convened at an Airbnb in Southwold on the Sussex coast, it was with a completely blank sheet of paper. ‘There was nothing,’ says Teasdale. ‘It was a very strange feeling being all together in one place, looking around at each other, blinking and thinking “our job is to write songs”. Like writing an essay, the hardest part is starting it and we just had to decide to start.’
And so began phase two of the Wet Leg adventure, as the band spent close to a month writing what would become second album Moisturizer by day and watching horror films by night in a hermetic realm they dubbed ‘Moisturizer Valley’. By this point, the friendship group had expanded. Wet Leg were initially promoted as a tight double act with Teasdale and Chambers as co-frontwomen. In reality, as soon as they signed their deal they were asked who they would like to recruit for their touring band. They chose college pals Joshua Mobaraki on guitar, Ellis Durand on bass and Henry Holmes on drums. By the time they got to
Southwold, they were no longer touring musicians but an intrinsic part of the line-up. ‘It was the most natural thing,’ says Teasdale. And thus, five went mad (in a good way) by the seaside. For proof, simply check out the celebratory music, the confident attitude, distinctive aesthetic and slightly disturbing self-directed videos which were birthed on that retreat. On the day Teasdale beams in from El Paso for our chat, the video for their new single ‘Mangetout’ is released, featuring Teasdale in a massive face-obscuring wig, grinding in fields and forecourts before unmasking for a bloodsmeared conclusion: think Ring meets Children Of The Corn with tongue in cheek and all very in keeping with Teasdale’s transition from playfully demure ingenue to more freakily sexy frontwoman. The integration of Mobaraki, Durand and Holmes is not the only change in band dynamics. This time round, on account of her social anxiety, Chambers has consciously stepped back from promo and from her prominent position onstage as Teasdale’s wing woman. One look at Moisturizer’s sleeve tells its own story. Teasdale has teeth bared and talons out; Chambers has her back to the camera, clutching herself in a grim embrace. Chambers is as involved in the creativity as ever (even fronting two tracks on the album) but ask Teasdale how she feels about becoming the sole focal point of the group and she responds with a long ‘hmmmmmmmmm. I always get a bit uncomfortable when people ask me that question so I don’t know if that answers the question . . . ’ she demurs. She is happier talking about her newfound liberation onstage, setting the guitar aside for a number of songs to deliver a more charismatic, even confrontational performance style. ‘I wanted it to link in with the creepiness of the album,’ she says. ‘For the first album I was literally anchored to the microphone stand the whole time. My hands were so busy playing guitar, I couldn’t move around at all. So when we were writing the second album, I purposefully took a step back from playing guitar on a lot of the songs. I thought it was a really good idea and then when it came to it, it was really scary. It was a stretch, but the more you stretch yourself the more you grow as a performer.’
For Teasdale, this goes far deeper than simply making a bold artistic choice. The smart snark of debut Wet Leg was largely inspired by a break-up. In contrast, Moisturizer is an album with a high proportion of leftfield love songs inspired by a new long-term relationship. Singles ‘Catch These Fists’ and ‘Mangetout’ might be witty diss tracks but Teasdale makes it orgasmically clear on ‘CPR’ that ‘I, I, I, I, I, I’m in love’.
‘I definitely know 100% that I feel a lot more confident in myself through feeling loved and being in love and feeling a lot more supported in whatever mad decisions or mad paths I decide to take,’ she says. ‘I’ve always got someone cheering me on. It’s changed me immensely. This is my first queer relationship and I just feel like a veil has been lifted. And I think it’s cute to have a record of that in the form of an album.’
Teasdale has made a new life for herself in London while her bandmates remain on the Isle Of Wight. But she’s ready to return next summer, the homecoming conqueror, to play at the Isle Of Wight Festival. She recalls attending the festival and its boutique counterpart Bestival (‘RIP’, she notes) while still at school and, in particular, catching a set by cult local heroes The Bees. ‘I didn’t make music at that age; I didn’t know it was an option. Now when I think back it was really important for me to see a band from the Isle Of Wight playing shows. If I could tell younger us that one day we’d be playing the slot that we’re playing . . . it’s really strange and really cool.’
Before then, Wet Leg have another pinch-me rite of passage to enjoy when they headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations in Princes Street Gardens,
with Hamish Hawk and Lucia & The Best Boys in support. Beyond a general declaration of excitement at the prospect, there’s a sense that Teasdale doesn’t quite know what she’s let herself in for. But that feeling cuts both ways, as the Concert In The Gardens audience better hunker down for some feral indie action. One thing Teasdale is sure of is that she will party the night away in the company of the person who largely inspired Wet Leg’s second chapter. ‘I just always try and be with my partner . . . for the New Year’s kiss, you know?’
Wet Leg play O2 Academy Glasgow, Sunday 23 & Monday 24 November, and Concert In The Gardens, Edinburgh, Wednesday 31 December; Moisturizer is out now on Domino.
VITTORIA GROUP
In a world where restaurants come and go, there’s something reassuring (and admirable) about the spots that stay the distance. The Vittoria Group, stalwarts of Leith Walk and the Old Town, mark their 55th anniversary this year. Their first spot, Vittoria On The Walk, is still going strong (this nostalgic image captures Tony and Alberto Crolla Snr behind its counter around 1987). The family-owned business is celebrating by establishing a charity fund to support local projects; we suspect that dropping by to share your stories about Italian comfort cooking and good old-fashioned community spirit will make them equally happy though. Buon compleanno! (Jo Laidlaw) n vittoriagroup.co.uk
eat & drink
Is the tasting menu still the pinnacle of dining out in Scotland? Ailsa Sheldon dives into a trend that may well have peaked
Last orders?
The most creative way to dine or a tedious, performative slog? Truth is, a tasting menu can be either, depending on the kitchen’s skill. And while there’s little worse than sitting through endless stodgy courses of questionable quality (yes, we have a list; no, we’re not sharing it), at their best, tasting menus are dazzling, entertaining and palate-thrilling.
But there’s been a shift recently. Fewer new restaurants have opened with this format while established spots like Dean Banks’ Restaurant 1925 At Pompadour in Edinburgh have changed from tasting menu to à la carte to ‘reflect changing consumer demands’. So is this the end for the multi-course fixed menu?
‘There will always be a place for tasting menus,’ says Roberta Hall-McCarron (Edinburgh’s The Little Chartroom, Eleanore and Ardfern), ‘but our tasting menu sales are much lower than our three course à la carte menu. We believe people want choice, so we actually offer it on both the three course and five course menus.’ Dan Ashmore, of Borders luxury hotel Schloss Roxburghe, agrees: ‘Guests are more focused on choice now, rather than being told what you are going to eat.’
While a tasting menu lets chefs demonstrate their skills and curate an exciting dining experience, the freedom to choose exactly what you fancy is surely part of the joy of eating out. Still, at Killiecrankie House in Perthshire, Tom Tsappis stresses the ‘treat’ element of the format. ‘Our restaurant is tasting menu only, so obviously we don’t think that tasting menus have had their day; actually, we’ve had the best year in our history.’ Calum Montgomery, chef at Skye’s Edinbane Lodge, believes tasting menus have a place when they’re done for the right reasons, not just for the sake of following a trend. ‘There’s an art to getting the flow, balance and story right so the guest feels taken on a journey rather than overwhelmed or bored,’ he says. When done right, there’s no chance of palate fatigue and sometimes the ‘wild card’ dish you’d never choose ends up being the highlight of the night.
But not everyone is convinced, including Jun Au of Edinburgh’s Pomelo. ‘I believe tasting menus have had their day and it’s largely due to the state of the current economy,’ says Au. ‘People are more attracted to choice . . . it’s understandable that customers want more control over what they have for dinner.’ Peter McKenna (The Gannet, Glasgow) agrees the format may have
side dishes
Winter is all about cosy pints, cute new bars and bowls of cuddly carbs, according to Jo Laidlaw
Glasgow has been the focus of most new pub action for a bit, but Edinburgh is getting back in on the act. Evergreen Bar & Kitchen has transformed an Alva Street basement into a chilled joint for cocktails, small plates and regular DJs, while Winton Brewery have opened The Rusty Seagull in Portobello (with The Pecking Order popping up in the kitchen). Talking of spruced-up taprooms, Leith institution Nobles Bar has changed hands: Bellfield Brewery are now behind the bar and the pumps. The Gilded Saloon popped up for the Fringe and has been perfecting its plans ever since; it’s now fully open with comedy from Gilded Balloon downstairs and a Tomás Gormley-designed menu of hearty bar snacks upstairs.
In Glasgow, it’s all about the cold weather comfort food. Ramen Dayo has opened a big yet welcoming new space in Renfield Street, with big bowls for slurping and wee sides for sharing, while the team behind old favourite Yiamas open Yianni’s this month, focusing on gyros. Queens Diner, a new café on Battlefield Road, looks just the place for those cold-morning catch-ups, too.
Finally, congrats to Wheatberry Bakery, who won this year’s hotly contested Scotland’s Best Croissant competition. The wholesaler supplies dozens of cafés around the city, and if you’re looking for a handy guide to find your way around then we’ve got great news: Eat & Drink 365 Glasgow is out now, packed full of recs for everything from a quick coffee to a full tasting menu. That’ll warm the cockles; get it where you get your List.
peaked: ‘While I believe there will always be a place for tasting menus, I do think we might have hit a kind of saturation point. Diners increasingly crave variety and the ability to curate their own experience. The essence of great dining is harmony between choice, quality and the simple joy of sharing a meal.’ Changing eating and drinking habits play a part; many chefs note the increasing complexity of catering for different dietary requirements and appetites. Pomelo’s Au notes there’s ‘more of a zeroalcohol crowd, with people much more inclined to have softs rather than alcohol.’ McKenna agrees: ‘Appetites are shrinking; there is no doubt in my mind. And those who do drink less may opt for a better glass or bottle, swapping quantity for quality, which is not a bad trade-off.’
Killiecrankie House’s Tsappis concludes: ‘I don’t think we have seen the end of tasting menus, perhaps just the end of the ones that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.’ As McKenna, whose own Gannet is closing at the end of this year (a ‘new chapter’ is planned for the site), reminds us: ‘Dining habits are always in flux . . . but guests always recognise quality and the Scottish hospitality sector is very good at delivering it.’ n
The tastemakers: (from left): Roberta HallMcCarron, Tom Tsappis, Calum Montgomery, Jun Au
The Gilded Saloon
TipList
WHISKY GALORE
Our TipLists suggest the places worth knowing about in different themes, categories and locations. This month, we’re settling into the darker nights with a wee dram or two from some of the best whisky bars around town
Glasgow Edinburgh
THE BEN NEVIS
1147 Argyle Street, thebennevisbar.com
There’s nowhere else quite like The Ben. Its interior is a modern interpretation of a Highland blackhouse, with a roaring fire, excellent folk sessions and, crucially, a carefully curated whisky list covering everything from classics to rarer finds and indie bottlings. Beer taps are rotational including cask ales and modern pales.
THE BON ACCORD
153 North Street, bonaccordpub.com
The Bon Accord has endured the construction of the M8 motorway and the death of its owner, Paul McDonagh, in 2023. Now in the safe hands of his son, Thomas, it remains one of the top spots to enjoy a dram in Scotland. It also has one of the city’s best cask ale selections.
THE LISMORE BAR
206 Dumbarton Road, instagram.com/lismorebar
The Lismore has everything you could want in an old-school boozer: a fireplace, folk sessions, splendid drams, great beer, stained-glass windows and a dark-wood interior. It’s basically the distillation of a warm hug. Plus, it has the only urinal in Glasgow you could justifiably describe as a tourist attraction.
THE POT STILL
154 Hope Street, thepotstill.co.uk
Thanks to the love and dedication of the Murphy family, this is undeniably Glasgow’s archetypal whisky bar par excellence. The selection is staggering, covering not only all regions of Scotland, but much of Britain, Ireland and the world. Perhaps more importantly though, it has one of the best atmospheres anywhere in the city.
THE WEE WHISKY BAR
12 Ashton Lane, ubiquitouschip.co.uk
This teeny drinking den has just had a glow-up but still feels very much like The Wee Pub it once was, albeit with a lick of fresh paint. The selection isn’t quite as strong as before, but it remains a wonderfully cosy spot to while away an evening. (Robbie Armstrong)
THE ABBEY WHISKY BAR
65 South Clerk Street, abbeybar.co.uk
With up to 700 whiskies on the back bar at any one time, including a selection of their own single cask bottlings, The Abbey is a fine place for a dram or a flight. They’re curated by region, age, distillery or groupings like blends, grains, own bottlings and a ‘once they’re gone, they’re gone’ list.
THE BELFRY
1–3 Barclay Place, thebelfryedinburgh.co.uk
A bar for locals as well as whisky enthusiasts, their selection of around 100 bottles may be small but it’s well curated. Featuring one-of-akind and independent bottlings, sought out from auction sites, the bar’s ethos is to offer good drams that that you might not find elsewhere.
THE BLACK CAT
168 Rose Street, facebook.com/theblackcatbaredinburgh
Claiming to be the only independent public house on Rose Street, this modest one-roomed pub is an Ardbeg ‘embassy’, offering special edition bottlings from the Islay distillery. You’ll also find whiskies from independent bottlers, as well as classic pub elements: cask ales, trad music and a quiz.
CAFÉ
ROYAL
19 West Register Street, caferoyaledinburgh.com
Café Royal has been here since 1863. The adjoining ornate oyster bar is famous for shellfish and smokies, while the classic bar has an excellent 11-page whisky list. It represents all the regions of Scotland, with nods to the rest of the world and helpful suggestions for the indecisive.
THE LAST WORD SALOON
44 St Stephen Street, lastwordsaloon.com
Dark and moody is the order of the day at this subterranean saloon, with flickering candlelight creating a snug vibe. With a fine list of single malts, blends and world whiskies as well as flights and a strong cocktail showing (with curated concoctions to please both aficionados and novices), it’s an ideal spot for a night cap.
(Johanna Derry Hall)
Mix it up a bit: whisky’s not just for sipping neat. Alex King, UK Brand Ambassador for Monkey Shoulder, shares his favourite bars for a wee whisky cocktail
THE GATE
251 Gallowgate, Glasgow, thegateglasgow.com
Whether it’s a cocktail, a pint or a dram, The Gate does everything well. Their whisky selection is one of the best anywhere and so is their cocktail list. Grab yourself a Pomme Porri (featuring Monkey Shoulder), chat to the brilliant bar team and don’t forget a toastie with your drink.
This brilliant West End café makes you want to sit for hours with friends, and that’s before you’ve even looked at a menu. The team have a penchant for well-made, classic cocktails; my personal favourite is a Boulevardier which matches the décor perfectly and transports me to the bistros of Paris.
NAUTICUS
142 Duke Street, Edinburgh, nauticusbar.co.uk
One of the first (and last) bars I will visit in Edinburgh. If you’re pulling into the capital, head down to Leith to grab yourself a cracking drink from the team here. Focusing on purely Scottish produce, they’ve made a name for themselves as one of the best bars in the UK.
PARTNERSHIP WITH
The Gate
The Ben Nevis The Belfry
CAFÉ NORAH
Simple but effective is the order of the day at new bakery-slash-café Norah in Newhaven. The décor mixes 1970s-style Formica tables and elegant Scandiblond wood with big windows looking out to Newhaven’s landmark lighthouse and the grey or blue sea (depending on the weather) beyond. Along this often wind-whipped coast, a cosy café with honest, Irish-inspired food feels like a haven; each dish on the breakfast and lunch menu centres around one or two ingredients and lets the quality of the produce speak for itself.
The packets of Tayto crisps and Flahavan’s oats lining the shelves nod to chef Claire Hanrahan’s Irish roots. Comfort dishes like an unctuous potato tartiflette and delightfully simple sausage, egg and chips warm your bones. Smoked haddock chowder, dotted with fat mussels, embraces Newhaven’s fishing history and is perfect for blustery days by the sea. A bitter-leaf salad with pear and walnut is topped with a mountain of Boyne Valley Bán goat’s cheese, while a serving of simple soda bread and butter will stave off any hunger pangs if you’re opting for one of the carbohydrate-light dishes.
Breakfast is served until 11.30am, but Norah is a laid-back spot and they’re happy to present two menus at once and play it all by ear. Focused on what’s grown locally, you won’t find avocado toast here but rather pear and honey paired with soda bread, classic bacon sandwiches with a homemade tomato chutney and a deliciously spiced panisse (like a chickpea polenta) with aubergine and cumin. The menu changes with the tides, reflecting the seasonal availability of vegetables, game and fruit. The coast’s not just for summer though: as the wind picks up and the skies turn steely, it’s the perfect time to enjoy some warming, Irish-inspired food. For this, Norah has you covered. (Suzy Pope)
n 3 Pier Place, Edinburgh; norahnewhaven.co.uk; average price £18 for lunch with coffee.
ITALIAN MALOCCHIO
Glasgow’s love affair with Italian food is reborn. Burrata and nduja roll off the tongue now like they’ve always been here, while bruschetta and arancini know their days are numbered. Sugo brought panzanella salads to the city centre, Celentano’s casually nods to Italian fine dining with Scottish ingredients, while New York and Detroit vie with Naples for pizza superiority. Good times, if these are a few of your favourite things.
In the middle of this, Malocchio sits pretty in its massive, shiny spot on the corner of the Merchant City. It’s way cooler than the previous incarnation (Mediterraneo), with lots of light, an olive-grey palette and the long, open kitchen we’ve come to expect. There are small plates, small(ish) dishes of pasta and small pizzas. And damn, those pizzette are good: the ratio of bubbly, chewy crust to the foldable, Neapolitan middle is altered (more of the first, less of the second) so it scratches the bread-to-share-as-starter itch as much as the pizza one. A riff on a carbonara pizza features oily, crispy shreds of pancetta doing masterful salty things, while elsewhere mascarpone melts into a tomato and nduja base; it lacks chilli ferocity but that potentially broadens its appeal.
Not every dish excels, but Malocchio hits way more marks than it misses. Everything feels very of the moment, the crowd is young and the pricing fair. Bag one of their window ledge seats, which feel like private counter spots, look out at the Merchant City and enjoy the buzzy restaurant behind you. Life is good. (David Kirkwood) n 159 Ingram Street, Glasgow; malocchio.co.uk; average price £25 for three small plates.
Ask EADith
Got a food dilemma? Need a killer rec to seal the deal? Or just want the inside track on Glasgow and Edinburgh’s eating and drinking scene? Then why not ask EADith, our Eat & Drink team’s helpful agony aunt. This month, she’s managing the thorny topic of eating out with weans in tow
Dear EADith,
I recently had a baby. While I may travel with a pramful of infant paraphernalia every time I step out the house, I haven’t lost my taste buds. Where can I enjoy dining in Edinburgh with my squawking bundle of joy?
MumNeedsFood
Dear MumNeedsFood
Back when I was raising sprogs, a gungy highchair hidden by the toilets of a TGI Friday’s was the height of baby-friendly dining. Even today, intimate spots pose problems for buggy storage, not to mention candlelight is a burn hazard for little hands, while shrieks of delight from grandbaby EADith in all her dribbling glory don’t exactly blend in with a romantic bistro atmosphere. While nearly every restaurant will provide a state-of-the-art highchair and won’t actively turn you away with a babe in arms (pubs are a very different story), there are places where dining en famille is more welcome than others.
My top tip is Ka Pao at the St James Quarter. It has wide alleys between tables, plenty of highchairs and enough convivial chatter to cover general baby noise. There’s also a lift from ground level so no need to negotiate the slippery basement steps or surprise raised entrances of Edinburgh’s older buildings. The menu is designed for sharing, so the small one can sample new south-east Asian flavours while you feel smug about adventurous weaning.
While the child munches happily away on a piece of bread or hispi cabbage, parents can sip sophisticated cocktails, like refreshingly fizzy Lemongrass Spritz, to celebrate another month of keeping them alive. Pleasingly, choices such as finger-licking fried chicken with banana chillis or corn ribs with salted coconut mean that the whole table will need a baby wipe or two: everyone’s a winner and my burgundy remains unscathed.
And do not fear: fingers smeared with Petits Filous and bulging nappy bags don’t mean your fine dining era is over. But just wait until baby is old enough to realise Coro Chocolate Cafe exists. (As told to Suzy Pope) n Ka Pao Edinburgh, St James Quarter (also at 26 Vinicombe Street, Glasgow); ka-pao.com; average price £35 for sharing menu.
BAR FILES
Creative folks reveal their top watering hole SINGER SONGWRITER SHAY O’DOWD
In recent times, Òran Mór has quickly become one of my favourite go-to spots for a drink in Glasgow. It’s got such a warm cosy feel to it with its old wooden furnishings. Being from the Southside, it’s always a nice change heading over to the West End for a night out. Me and my mates often enjoy several pints of Guinness there on a packed-to-the-brim Saturday night where we always bump into people we know. We always say ‘deffo not gonna end up in Òran Mór tonight’ yet somehow we always do. It feels like a hotspot where everyone gathers for some pints, tunes and a good atmosphere. As if it couldn’t get any better, it’s usually open until 2am which is class because most pubs in Glasgow shut at midnight. However, if the pub has served its purpose and I’m looking for a boogie then I’ll likely end up in the club downstairs, singing my heart out to Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ with the boys.
n Shay O’Dowd plays St Luke’s, Glasgow, Tuesday 23 December; his selfreleased EP Growing Pains is out now.
BIGGLESTONES BOOKS
travel & shop
Part bookshop, part social nook and entirely Glaswegian, Bigglestones Books is a glorious place to while away an afternoon. This warm and inviting space is, say its owners, a ‘wee haven for folk who love stories, daft banter and a good rummage through the shelves’. In a city with surprisingly few independent bookshops, Bigglestones has created a space that feels local to everyone who walks through the door. Charismatic proprietors Drew and Ian are in every day, ready to matchmake curious readers to their perfect paperback. Events are spirited, from literary talks to their recent evening with Mary Portas, which was such a riot it nearly made them forget their own second birthday. (Afreka Thomson) 57 Glassford Street, Glasgow, bigglestones.com
Can’t agree with the other half on holiday plans? Jo Laidlaw finds the best of both worlds on a trip combining the city buzz of Athens with island calm on Hydra
TWanderList: Athens and Hydra
here’s nothing new about the two-centre holiday. But when one half of a couple wants a city break while the other craves a bit of peace and quiet, and you’re not over-endowed with annual leave between you, flying to Athens with a side trip to Hydra ticks all the boxes without adding anything like two travel days.
Start in Athens, where naturally the city’s antiquities are the jewel in a pretty shiny crown. The Acropolis is one of the world’s wonders; it’s not hype to say it feels like a magical place where the veil between today’s world and the ancient one is very thin. Despite being perpetually rammed with tourists (go early, there’s a hill to climb and the heat is fierce), you’ll still find a quiet corner where it’s easy to believe you’re about to take part in an ancient temple rite to the glory of Athena, the ancient goddess who gave the city her name.
The Greek capital’s museums are world-class too: The Acropolis Museum gives context to the site (and includes a few highly enjoyable jabs at that arch looter Lord Elgin), while the National Archaeological Museum is crammed with treasures such as Agamemnon’s death mask and the Thera Room, filled with household items perfectly preserved by a volcanic eruption around 1600BC that are almost unbearably poignant in their familiarity.
But Athens is also a vibrant, living city. Despite the noise and traffic, a young population live outside, starting their days with leisurely iced coffees, moving onto (excellent) local wine and taking every opportunity to sample, at any time, what might be the world’s greatest street food. When it all gets too much (and it will), join them and head to the Athens Riviera for pretty beaches, all accessible by tram. For proper chill time, though, Hydra awaits. A mere hour and a half away by ferry, it’s a tiny island with no cars or even bikes; the only wheels you’ll see belong to the solitary rubbish truck and the luggage trollies that crowd the quayside as the boats dock. It’s utterly perfect for people-watching, with a well-heeled Euro crowd spilling off daddy’s yacht to eat fresh fish and spend in the super expensive ‘I saw you coming’ shops that line the port.
Hydra cannot be described as rustic in any true sense of the word (including prices: it is spenny), but it has charm and calm. Take a water taxi to one of the beach bars that dot the coast or walk over to the cliffs beside Sunset Bar for a DIY day. As the name suggests, that’s also the best place to watch the glorious sunset. Take a bottle of wine with you and don’t forget to offer a libation to the ancient gods, who are always watching.
thisisathens.org; hydra.com.gr
my favourite holiday
Virtuoso guitarist Rosie Frater-Taylor looks back on a horizon-broadening trip to the French capital
One of the holidays that springs to mind as being pretty impactful for me is my solo trip to Paris last year to see Noga Erez at the wonderfully hip La Maroquinerie. She’s one of the most unique artists around at the moment. I’m generally a creature of habit. I love my comforts; the same old coffee shops, parks and routines, so any chance I get to challenge that side of myself always impacts me. The phrase I’ve been using is ‘seeding my brain to predict differently’. So, I stayed in a less touristy part of Paris (20th Arrondissement) and explored new places on my own: the haunting and gorgeous Père Lachaise Cemetery in the rain where true legends from Edith Piaf to Oscar Wilde are buried; the Picasso Museum (more Picassos than you can shake a stick at!); hoarding posh French croissants, biscuits and snacks from the supermarché to eat in my quaint room at the Nadaud Hotel. It was such an epic trip that I took my mum back to repeat the exact same holiday the following year: guess I’m still a creature of habit then.
Rosie Frater-Taylor plays The Old Hairdresser’s, Glasgow, Sunday 30 November.
on your doorstep
Bringing a bit of sparkle to the darkest of nights, Evie Glen rounds up some of Scotland’s best winter light displays
ANCIENT FOREST TWI-LIGHTS
If you’ve never been to Carrbridge, home of the World Porridge Championships, now’s your chance to rectify that. The Highland village, immortalised in recent film
The Golden Spurtle, offers a Christmas lights trail in an ancient pinewood forest, complete with treetop path, UV light tunnel, laser show and marshmallow roasting pits, running on weekends throughout winter from Saturday 22 November into February.
n landmarkpark.co.uk
WINTER, WONDER, WANDER
If the thought of a treetop light trail errs too close to the gorp life for you, head to Duthie Park in Aberdeen for a seasonal light display in one of Europe’s largest indoor gardens. Take shelter from the north-eastern winter between Peruvian cacti and Japanese cherry blossoms as this event brightens up the Granite City from Tuesday 4–Tuesday 11 November.
n visitabdn.com
CHRISTMAS AT THE BOTANICS
Designed to complement rather than overwhelm the natural landscape at Edinburgh’s Botanic Garden, this year’s lowenergy, high-art light trail features a new installation from Chicago sculptor Michael Young and a heart-shaped arch walk sure to satisfy any emerging influencer. Enjoy guiltfree festivities from Thursday 20 November–Tuesday 30 December, sure in the knowledge this is one of Scotland’s most sustainable light displays.
n rbge.org.uk
Ancient Forest Twi-Lights
PICTURE: RUPERT SHANKS
Shelter from the storm
The Bothy Boutique has become a go-to for charity shop devotees. But, as Isy Santini discovers, it also supports Edinburgh’s homeless population and has plans to extend its helping hand further
If you’ve wandered down Marchmont Road in the last year, you may have found your eye drawn to a bright red façade and one of many whimsical window displays The Bothy Boutique has become known for. Opened last summer to support the vital work of The Breakfast Bothy, a charity founded by the team at Carlowrie Castle to provide free breakfasts for homeless people, the boutique has quickly become a destination charity shop in Edinburgh. ‘The idea was to be as different as we could be in terms of being a charity shop,’ says chair and trustee Keith Taylor. ‘You don’t have any control over what stock you get coming in, but we deliberately pick the interesting pieces. We try to make the inside of the shop look a little bit different and a little bit funky. We wanted it to have a sense of fun so that when people walk in it’s bright and cheerful.’
The Bothy Boutique is distinguished from other charity shops not only through its careful curation but also the strong sense of community it fosters. Many who have previously or still use The Breakfast Bothy, a colourful police box on the edge of the nearby Meadows, now help out in the boutique. ‘Some of our guests helped with building shelves and putting the place together,’ says Taylor. ‘There’s a guy who used to be an electrician and is now the handyman for the boutique. We’re trying to grow their confidence just through getting them regularly involved.’
Edinburgh locals will likely be familiar with The Breakfast Bothy itself, but many might not know that its work goes far beyond providing free breakfasts. Using funds from the boutique, the bothy is able to partner with local businesses and offer services such as free haircuts, laundry and bicycle repair.
As the boutique grows, so too can the work it supports. ‘We have aspirations to provide a sort of drop-in hub, somewhere where people can come in, get a tea or a coffee, sit down at a laptop and maybe get help filling in forms for housing or banking.’ Taylor explains that while these services are available for homeless people in Edinburgh, they are spread out across the city. ‘People will go and fill in a housing form in one part of Edinburgh and then go and see about employment in another part. We want to centralise things and and just make access slightly easier by having one location.’
Stringers is housed in an elegant 18th-century townhouse that you can imagine ringing with the same sonatas and concertos when it was built as it does today when musicians try out instruments in the shop. It was founded in 1992 by cellist Maureen Stringer-Morrison and is a destination store for string players.
n 7 York Place, Edinburgh; stringersedinburgh. com; instagram.com/stringersmusic
KENNY’S MUSIC
Electro geeks and grunge junkies will feel like kids in a sweetie shop at Kenny’s Music in Glasgow (other branches in Aberdeen and Dunfermline). With a manifesto based around good customer
Ribchester picks out three top instrument shops to help you hit the right notes
service, Kenny’s prides itself on welcoming musicians at any stage of their rock odyssey.
n 61–63 Jamaica Street, Glasgow; kennysmusic.co.uk; instagram.com/kennys_music
MUSIC BROTH
If you’re not yet ready to commit to a single instrument, check out Music Broth, a social enterprise with hubs in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Laying claim to be ‘Scotland’s loudest library’, the service offers access to a catalogue of instruments to hire and swap throughout the year.
Basic membership costs £60.
n Skypark 4, Glasgow and 121 Lawrie Reilly Place, Edinburgh; musicbroth.org; instagram.com/musicbroth
Lucy
Music Broth
WINTER FESTIVAL
the dictionary definition of eclectic. There’s jazz (Rachel Duns, pictured), slowcore folk (Constant Follower), spoken word and rap (Bee Asha), harp music (Dara Dubh) and improvisational cello (Simone Seales). And there’s a treat for film fans as the classic 1920s silent movie Metropolis is screened with accompaniment from composer and guitarist Graeme Stephen who will also deliver a masterclass in improvisation, composition and practice. (Brian Donaldson)
Richard Coyle is reprising his 2022 West End role of Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin’s take on classic American novel To Kill A Mockingbird. The acclaimed actor tells Kelly Apter that there’s more to his sainted character than meets the eye
As any artist will tell you, stepping away from your creation is often the hardest thing. There’s always something, a tweak here and there, that calls for attention. And although opportunities to revisit rarely present themselves, that’s exactly what Richard Coyle has been given. A highly respected actor of stage and screen (including playing Aberforth Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts), Coyle took on the role of Atticus Finch in the in 2022 West End production of To Kill A Mockingbird. Three years later, he’s pulling on the lawyer’s suit once again for the show’s UK tour.
‘I’ve never returned to a role before, so it’s a new experience,’ says Coyle. ‘But I did feel that I had unfinished business when I left the West End show, and that it was something I’d like to revisit somewhere down the line. So, I was able to re-examine everything and rethink it, but with a really solid foundation to build on.’ There’s also a sense of serendipity for Coyle, who cites Harper Lee’s novel as a guiding light during tough times as a teenager, stating that ‘it’s one of the great privileges of my life to be able to play this role’.
One of the best-loved characters in American fiction, and loosely based on Lee’s own father, Atticus Finch comes with big shoes for any actor to step into. Defending a black man accused of raping a young white woman as the horrifically violent racial tensions of 1930s Alabama rage around them, he’s often viewed as one of literature’s moral saints. But there’s more to him than that, as Aaron Sorkin set out to prove when writing the script for this production. Drawing not just on the source material, but also Harper Lee’s only other published novel Go Set A Watchman (finally published in 2015, it was originally thought to be a sequel but is now widely viewed as a first draft of To Kill A Mockingbird), Sorkin pitches Finch as multi-layered.
‘He’s a much more complicated figure in this production,’ explains Coyle. ‘Because, in a way, he’s a combination of the Atticus from both books. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the character is told from his adoring young daughter’s perspective. Whereas Scout is a grown woman in Go Set A Watchman and sees the politics of the American South, and her father, very differently. So he’s not the white saviour that, in a sense, he was in the Gregory Peck film. His ideas come under a lot of scrutiny in this production and his stance, while honourable and noble, is flawed.’
Anyone who has watched actors barrelling through lines in The West Wing or The Social Network will know that Sorkin’s pen is sharp as a rapier, especially when it comes to social and political commentary. As well as lovingly reworking Lee’s original text, he spent time exploring the likes of Breitbart News in order to inform the hate-filled vitriol levelled at Finch’s wrongly accused client, Tom Robinson.
‘Aaron’s pneumatic style gives the show real punch; it’s so fast and energetic,’ says Coyle. ‘And he’s also incorporated words from right-wing websites and chatrooms, and put them into the mouths of characters like Bob Ewell. It’s a very clever updating.’ The fact that almost a hundred years after the novel is set, such language is still used, is testament to the work’s longevity. But that doesn’t make it any easier for those delivering the words or receiving them. Which is why a large part of the rehearsal process was about crafting a culture of respect and kindness.
‘It’s a very conscientious production,’ insists Coyle. ‘A lot of this material is of course racially sensitive, but it’s also quite graphic in terms of abuse. So we’ve had cultural co-ordinators from the UK and the States, and the way the cast speaks to each other and behaves around each other has been handled so sensitively. One of the things I try to uphold in my work is to be impeccable in your artistry, which I think also applies to your behaviour. So it’s wonderful to be in a production where the way we treat one another and care about each other is the core value.’
To Kill A Mockingbird, King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tuesday 4–Saturday 8 November.
“ We are not a cover band.
Carlos Alomar, George Murray and Dennis Davis soundtracked David Bowie’s pivotal Berlin era. Known as The DAM Trio (you can definitely work out why), between 1975 and 1980 they were the backbone of The Thin White Duke’s most experimental albums: Low, Heroes and Lodger. Guitarist Alomar is now heading back out on the road with bassist Murray and fellow musicians to honour those records as well as the memories of Bowie and drummer Davis, who both died in that ubercelebrity graveyard year of 2016. Danny Munro hears from Alomar about gigging as a teenager with Chuck Berry and keeping the legacy of Bowie, and The DAM Trio, alive
Firstly, are you well? You know something? For a 74-year-old man, I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I’m having with my life.
You toured with and played backing for a lot of legends when you were just a teenager; people like Chuck Berry, James Brown and Ben E King. How did you find yourself rubbing shoulders with these artists at such a young age? Isn’t it odd that we don’t question our karma and our fortune? Look, somebody gives you a call on the telephone. How did they get your number? No idea. ‘Hey man, there’s a gig at so and so. I was wondering if you were free.’ Sure. You show up and who’s the gig for? Chuck Berry. He’s playing in this state fair and you’ve heard of Chuck Berry all your life and you’re like: ‘Oh my god, I’m a kid.’ And then he comes in and he says to you: ‘Look, when I take my headstock and I go up and down like this, you start. And when I take my headstock and I go sideways like this, you stop. You got it?’ Everybody: ‘Yes, Mr Berry.’ Carlos raises his hand and says: ‘Mr Berry, are we going to rehearse?’ Mr Berry whips back and says: ‘Boy, we don’t rehearse rock’n’roll.’
You maintained long, successful professional relationships with the likes of David Bowie and Luther Vandross. How do you achieve longevity when it comes to creative partnerships? You don’t do it through musicality. Musicality is a job . . . when it’s in the studio, I need creativity and a creative. But when it’s on tour, I basically need somebody I like. Why? Every great musician can listen to the song and cover the part. But who do you want to go with on the road for six months? Not that guy that when he stops at the bar, all you want to do is say: ‘You shut the hell up.’
You’ve done so much in your career; you’ve played on 32 gold or platinum records Well, more than that, but we don’t want to brag!
Apologies. You’ve worked with countless influential artists. Do you ever resent how much of the coverage you receive focuses on the Bowie era? Because I was a minister’s son, in a strange way I kind of was meant to serve. And so my basic premise is very simple: all bragging rights belong to the boss. I don’t need bragging rights. The bragging rights that I give are my performance.
You were a professor of music and technology at college for many years. What was the most important teaching you passed on to your students? Your best teacher was your last mistake.
What has compelled you to get The DAM Trio back together and head out on tour? I want to represent something that I’ve been listening to all my life. That’s the same attitude that the fans have when they come to see the show. They want to be 22 again. They want to be 24. Our lead singer has
We are the band
a problem: why? Everybody knows all the words to every damn song. They have been living with this David Bowie all their lives. And you know what? They’re gonna sing along and you’re not gonna stop them. And they’re gonna be with their people. The same people who love that period. What can you expect from the show? The only thing I want you to accept is that we are going to have fun. There should be no other reason for you to go see a concert if it’s not for you to have fun; for your adrenaline to be pumping as fast as mine; for your pacemaker to be going: ‘You better stop jumping around!’; for you to be able to say: ‘You see, son, that’s my music’ . . . and understand that yes, there are certain things that are once in a lifetime chances. I have no intention of repeating this tour. Why? The DAM Trio is available now! Why don’t you let tomorrow speak for itself? There’ll be plenty of cover bands. We are not a cover band. We are the band.
What does your tour rider look like in 2025? My rider looks like no expectations. Ask for nothing and you get everything. My rider is that I’m doing a tour under the lowest circumstances necessary . . . I just want the legacy to be shared. The legacy of The DAM Trio, the memory of [drummer] Dennis Davis and your own legacy to finally understand why you started, why y’all started this so long ago and why we’re still together. Once we see each other on stage, we’re going to relive those moments and you know what? You’ll see David (Bowie) because you’ll hear David, and if you can hear David, then you’ll feel David; and then if you feel David, then David is still with us, and that’s all we do this for.
The DAM Trilogy, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Wednesday 26 November.
GAELIC CULTURE
BLASAD: A TASTE OF GAELIC CULTURE
Sarah Scott is part of Ionad Gàidhlig Dhùn Èideann, the initiative working to establish Edinburgh’s permanent Gaelic hub. ‘We’re currently getting business advice and looking at funding options with the aim of taking big steps forward in the next year,’ says Scott. In the meantime, Blasad: A Taste Of Gaelic Culture, their National Library Of Scotland showcase of poetry and music, is a vital part of bringing that language and culture to a broader audience.
Headlined by Scottish Makar Peter Mackay, Scott reveals the bill will also feature ‘young folk from Edinburgh, such as Laura Penman, recently a Young Traditional Musician Of The Year finalist, and fantastic singers Tawana Maramba [pictured, on the right] and Iris MacLeod’. She is also thrilled to see Mackay bringing Gaelic into the cultural spotlight. ‘The fact that he is an Edinburgh poet also evidences the importance of Gaelic artists and writers in the city, which can sometimes be overlooked.’ Cultural events such as Blasad speak directly to Ionad Gàidhlig Dhùn Èideann’s ethos. ‘We aim, in different ways, to bring Edinburgh Gaelic speakers and learners together, as a community,’ explains Scott.
As 2025 slips into 2026, she confesses there are challenges ahead. ‘This is not the first attempt to set up an Edinburgh Gaelic hub but the time feels right and the community support for the initiative has been great.’ With some solid stakeholder partnerships in place, the future is looking brighter. ‘For me, it’s a privilege to be part of creating something that could bring great benefits in the future as a home for Gaelic in the city.’ (Marcas Mac an Tuairneir) n National Library Of Scotland, Edinburgh, Saturday 29 November.
PICTURE:
COMEDY MY COMEDY HERO ESTHER MANITO
My first comedy hero was Victoria Wood. She was the comedian my whole family would gather around the television to watch and her material felt like it belonged to us. Her jokes became long-running household catchphrases: ‘Mum, are there any biscuits?’ or: ‘Is it on the trolley?’ Even now, those lines take me straight back to that feeling of comfort and shared laughter.
As I grew older, though, I realised how few comedians reflected my own experience of being dual heritage and navigating family life between the Middle East and the west. That changed when I discovered Shappi Khorsandi. Her comedy was sharp, hilarious and deeply relatable. Even her stories about the social antics of her political father struck a chord, making me feel truly seen. Years later, not only did I get the chance to gig with Shappi, but we became close friends. She even accompanied me when I recorded my appearance on Live At The Apollo; a surreal and unforgettable full-circle moment.
Another of my comedy heroes is Jen Brister. I first met Jen at a gig in Surrey, back when I was just starting out. I’d already heard about her reputation as a formidable force on the circuit, and when I finally saw her perform, she lived up to every word. Unapologetically brilliant, she delivered punchlines with the speed and precision of machine-gun fire. Years later, Jen went on to host that very first episode of Live At The Apollo that I performed on; an absolute dream come true. Soon after that, I saw Jess Fostekew for the first time. Jess could read out a menu and have the audience in stitches. She is hilarious, warm and razor sharp, with a presence that fills the room. That same quality is something I also admire in Zoe Lyons. Both Jess and Zoe have a gentle brilliance combined with complete self-assurance and watching them is not just entertaining but genuinely inspiring.
Esther Manito: Slagbomb, The Stand, Glasgow, Thursday 13 November.
VIC ’ S PICKS
BBC broadcaster, author, actor, musician, DJ, and now a List columnist, the lad Galloway flicks through some music listings to choose top November gigs in variously sized rooms and across different genres . . .
Are they hardcore? Are they pop? Who cares if they’re this good, right? And Baltimore’s own Turnstile are certainly emerging as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet right now. Having seen them back in 2018 in a small club in Austin, Texas, it’s been quite extraordinary witnessing them develop from punk-rock puppies into a global sensation, mainly off the back of two crossover albums, Glow On and the recent Never Enough which are excellent. They managed to sell out O2 Academy Glasgow (Sunday 2 November) in a few minutes, and their next tour will surely see them pack out a stadium near you. I hope you got a ticket.
In the midst of a busy schedule of composing for video games, TV and theatre, as well as putting on successful events with her Sufrecs company, the songwriting talent that is Wilson returns with a new album, Thaw, on Friday 14 November, showcasing an impressive 30 tracks. Watching her conjure magic out of thin air this summer at Leith Depot was quite something, and I can attest to the sheer quality of this new material. Judge for yourself when she plays Glasgow’s Stereo and Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire (Friday 7 & Saturday 8 November respectively). Wilson is one of our very best songwriters and a natural performer who just keeps getting better.
The Godfather Of Grime may well be Wiley, but the MC who blew up the charts and became a household name is Dylan Kwabena Mills aka Dizzee Rascal 25 years now, Mr Rascal has been shouting down a microphone over bangin’ beats and basslines, firmly putting UK hip hop on the map. No longer seen as some minority interest, the UK rap scene is alive and kicking in myriad forms such as grime, UKG (UK garage), drill and bassline, and probably owes him a huge debt. Experience his raucous, unruly We Want Bass tour at Edinburgh Corn Exchange (Monday 24 November) and realise that pioneering music can and should be a lot of fun.
Listen to Vic Galloway every Monday and Wednesday night on BBC Radio Scotland; he will also co-host the Scottish Album Of The Year Award Ceremony at Caird Hall, Dundee, Thursday 6 November.
Siobhan
Apollo that I performed on;
Sounds Good
November
1st Garth Marenghi - This Bursted Earth Book Tour
2nd Across The Universe - The Beatles ‘66-’70
3rd Beth Nielsen Chapman + Judie Tzuke - Live in Concert
6th SCO 25/26: Steve Reich+
7th Butler Blake & Grant
8th Ardal O'Hanlon - Not Himself
9th Stewart Copeland - Have I Said Too Much
10th Professor Alice Roberts – Domination – The Fall and Rise of an EmpireSOLD OUT
13th SCO 25/26: Schumann & Mozart Matinee with Anthony Marwood
14th Fergus McCreadie Trio
15th HORSE: The Same Sky Anniversary Tour
16th Steeleye Span in concert 2025
17th Dominic Waxing Lyrical x Mr McFall’s Chamber String Quartet
18th Colin Hay
19th Art of Andalucia | FLAMENCO DANCE
20th Simon & Oscar
22nd Nouvelle Vague
23rd SCO 25/26: Carmina Gadelica
24th New Town Concerts: Timothy Ridout & Federico Colli
27th The Bootleg Eagles
29th The Vintage Explosion - SOLD OUT
30th Swing Into Christmas with the Down for the Count Swing Orchestra
thequeenshall.net 0131 668 2019
THE JOY HOTEL: CEREMONY
Sometimes more is more. The Joy Hotel’s debut album is the sound of seven musicians in a room jamming good through a proudly maximalist suite of songs. Ceremony was recorded live-to-tape at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales, with producer Chris McCrory capturing that room-where-it-happens energy, from rip-roaring opener ‘I Decline’ via luscious country waltz ‘Forever Tender Blue’ to the proggy blast of ‘First Joy’. And that’s just the first three songs. This Glasgow septet, fronted by charismatic powerhouse Emme Woods and guitarist/co-vocalist Luke Boyce, conduct themselves with the no-messing confidence of a band who know they have the goods to share and are just taking care of business. Classic references abound: first single ‘Jeremiah’ is a big, bold flourish of a song combining Wall Of Sound drums with a shameless ‘Dear Prudence’ guitar figure and some old-testament imagery. Lyrically, it’s the end of the world as some see it.
The ballad ‘Killing Time’ showcases their understated side but mostly they let rip, with the burnished bravado of ‘Rapid Eye Movement’, the classic rock carousel of ‘Twenty Three (A Comedy)’ and the suitable cacophonous climax of ‘Small Mercy’ testifying that, for sheer ambition and audacity, The Joy Hotel’s Ceremony would be a resounding choice for Scottish Album Of The Year. (Fiona Shepherd)
KATHRYN JOSEPH: WE WERE MADE PREY
Kathryn Joseph’s first three albums are almost perfect in their primal, haunting immediacy, so complete that it seemed as though their singular sound couldn’t be pushed further. Was there anywhere left for her to go? We Were Made Prey answers that question by melding the unrelenting thrum of Joseph’s piano with a diverse palette of electronics that add new depths to her songwriting.
Reuniting with electronica maestro Lomond Campbell as producer, the heart-shattering desolation of earlier work turns into a malevolent horror movie creep on ‘Wolf’, while lilting synths on ‘Roadkill’ prove an able counterpoint to Joseph’s scratchy pathos laden vocals, flitting restlessly between sparseness and overwhelming intensity.
Few artists can reach into their diaphragm and produce visceral emotion quite like Joseph, who sounds like she’s squirming on a hook, unable to stop herself reliving a deep-seated pain. She continues to favour violent imagery (bodies are clawed at, people are roadkill, bones are fractured) while never afraid to lean into a starry-eyed sense of beauty (‘Hold’ is perhaps the most hopeful she’s ever sounded). There are no easy listens on We Were Made Prey, but its unforgiving, tragic tone is belied by an otherworldly majesty. It may be her best record to date. (Kevin Fullerton)
With the SAY Award longlist cut to a shortlist from which this year’s winner will be crowned, 20 became ten and shall soon become one. Keeping the numbers game going, we ask four of The List’s crack team of music experts to tell us which album they want to see taking home the prize from Dundee
Having
TAAHLIAH: GRAMARYE
That Taahliah produced an album as astonishing as Gramarye at the first time of asking came as no surprise to anyone who has been following her career. Interspersing otherworldly moments of enchantment with touching glimpses of vulnerability, the Glaswegian producer builds on the magic of her early work to produce an LP deserving of the plaudits it has received from a litany of electronic royalty.
Having proudly rejected the ‘hyperpop’ label often lazily attached to her music, Gramarye is a stern warning to anyone who dares attempt to box Taahliah into one restrictive genre. From abrasive offerings such as the confrontational ballad ‘Eylvue’ to the glistening ‘Angel’ on which Taahliah coos ‘the world is hard but I’m soft like an angel’, each track is a masterclass on how to make engaging electronic music, crafted by an artist rightly high on confidence. On ‘Heavenrise’, we hear Taahliah’s voice for the first time and can only hope that singing becomes a staple of her approach to production going forward. Among those featured on the project are Devonté Hynes aka Blood Orange and the London Contemporary Orchestra, but it’s Taahliah’s show-stealing production that has Gramarye taking its rightful place on the SAY Award shortlist. (Danny Munro)
ZOE GRAHAM: TENT
their SAY
Nothing satiates my love for a feelgood album like a bit of synth pop. Add on top of that some heady, image-rich lyrics, stunning vocals and an undeniably queer narrative to feast my ears on and I can guarantee I’ll be coming back for seconds. In fact, since Tent’s release in March, I’ve strutted down pavements, run through parks, smiled out of train windows and danced in my kitchen to this album more times than I can count. Its ten tracks are perfectly formed (both from a songwriting and production perspective), covering a wide range of influences while remaining sonically cohesive and collectively singular. Zoe Graham’s brain seems to ooze delicious hooks and counter melodies that she packs into bangers and ballads alike. While a sparkly lightness is captured in songs such as ‘Good Girl’ or ‘Push And Pull’ whose opening lines (‘The lingering peel of the orange skin / Dirty nails are a bitter flavour’) sink us into Graham’s arresting point of view. Similarly, ‘Evilin’ with its 70s funk sensibilities and St Vincent-esque theatricality, shows us Graham’s grit and bite, and boy is it moreish. Let me be the first to say: Scotland has a new alt.pop princess. (Megan Merino)
Scottish Album Of The Year Award Ceremony, Caird Hall, Dundee, Thursday 6 November.
AI’d love it if Will Ferrell asked me to play his brother “
Ethan Hawke is the poster boy of 90s independent cinema who has gone on to carve out a remarkably eclectic filmography. Ahead of his latest movie, Blue Moon, he talks to James Mottram about comedy ambitions and why the kind of film he loves isn’t being made right now
s modern Hollywood partnerships go, there probably isn’t a more enduring one than Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater. Hawke first worked on the director’s 1995 film Before Sunrise and they’ve not stopped since. ‘We just keep talking and these movies come out of that,’ he explains when we meet at the Berlin Film Festival. Their latest venture is the ninth of this long-standing friendship: Blue Moon, a film that, curiously enough, is all about creative partnerships.
Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, the Broadway lyricist who co-wrote such indelible songs as ‘My Funny Valentine’ and ‘Blue Moon’ with Richard Rodgers. But blighted by alcohol addiction, his time came to an end with Rodgers, who found a new partner: Oscar Hammerstein. Over time, Rodgers and Hammerstein became the most successful duo in musical history, creating shows such as South Pacific and The Sound Of Music, overshadowing any achievements with Hart. Linklater’s Blue Moon is set entirely at the after-show bash for the first Rodgers and Hammerstein production, 1943’s Oklahoma!, as Hart enviously looks on and realises his time is up.
‘Growing up in the theatre community, I find that whole period very romantic, imagining those opening night parties and those relationships,’ says Hawke, who appears on screen with a (slightly disconcerting) combover and looking shorter than everyone else, replicating Hart’s 5ft 5in stature. ‘When I think about people who played Johnny Cash or Muhammad Ali . . . we know what they look like, and we’ve heard them talk. Nobody knows Larry Hart. So it’s a huge relief, because I can read books about him,
read his letters and learn about him. But I can just take what interests me, as opposed to feeling obligated to go, “why didn’t you capture this side of him that’s so important?”, because people don’t know much about him.’
Playing Rodgers is Andrew Scott, who won Best Supporting Performance in Berlin this year for that role. Hawke compares their on-screen dynamic to a break-up. ‘It’s almost like meeting a couple who were married for 20 years, but you’re watching them the day after they got divorced. It was challenging for Andrew and I to sense the history. Larry Hart was the mentor, then became the peer, then he was the student of, and then he was dismissed.’
Fortunately Hawke, who turns 55 this month, is far from being dismissed, with new roles this autumn in horror film Black Phone 2 and TV detective drama The Lowdown. But, as a symbol of the 1990s American independent scene, he feels the filmmaking he was fascinated by when he was young is out of fashion now. ‘I never dreamed of car chases or zombie movies. My dream was, “what would it be like to be Max von Sydow?” It’s tough: those movies aren’t happening.’
Calling himself ‘genre agnostic’, Hawke is keen to try as many different types of films before he retires, including a broad comedy. ‘I’d love it if Will Ferrell asked me to play his brother.’ If nothing else, the four-time Oscar nominee will always have Linklater, though he’s amazed the director keeps hiring him. ‘He’s spent years of his life editing my performances,’ Hawke remarks. ‘I mean, he must be bored shitless!’
Tchaikovsky’s beloved festive score performed in full.
The Nutcracker
Under 26s for £6 | Under 18s go FREE
Maxim Emelyanychev Conductor Introduced by Jay Capperauld
GOING OUT FURTHER AFIELD
Get yourself away from the central belt and out into various parts of Scotland where the cultural landscape is just as rich and varied. Among the upcoming highlights here are a theatre piece zeroing in on our national bard, new work by a multidisciplinary artist from Argentina and a tour from a unique horror scribe as well as festivals of brass bands, jazz and rivers
ABERDEEN
JAMIE REID
A year after celebrating their half-century, Peacock now has quite the coup by laying on Eternal Ecstasy, a collection of prints and various memorabilia from the man who crafted the Sex Pistols’ visual identity.
n Peacock Visual Arts, until Saturday 6 December.
ALLOWAY
THE BURNS PROJECT
After a Fringe run, the Cora Bissett-directed work goes on tour including a stop-off at this rather symbolic venue. Featuring musical accompaniment, audiences will enjoy further insights into the man and his work.
n Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Saturday 29 November.
CAMPLE
AMALIA PICA
Keepsake platforms new work from this Londonbased Argentinian artist, such as embroideries on linen and an installation made with pressed daisies.
n Cample Line, until Sunday 14 December.
DUNDEE
DUNDEE JAZZ FESTIVAL
A fine long weekend at spots such as Caird Hall, Canvas and Bonar Hall which play host to the likes of Rebecca Vasmant, Kitti (pictured), Matt Carmichael and Kimberley Tessa.
n Various venues, Thursday 13–Sunday 16 November.
GLENROTHES
STUART MITCHELL
This rising Scottish comedy star is now touring Tips Not Included (if you’re familiar with his biography, you’ll know what that relates to), a show that has plenty of laughs amid its traumatic storyline.
n Rothes Halls, Friday 14 November.
INVERNESS
GARTH MARENGHI
To go alongside a new video series (Skull-Flusher) and scary book (TerrorTome’s third blooded segment), the horror author spews forth a fresh tour, This Bursted Earth, dubbed his most ‘disturbing and ambitious’ offering yet.
n Eden Court Theatre, Sunday 2 November.
PEEBLES
TWEED RIVER FESTIVAL
A new annual celebration of contemporary art and river culture from Connecting Threads takes place across Peebles, both indoors and out, with microscopic drawing workshops, gift giving rituals and film screenings all in the mix.
n Various venues, until Sunday 2 November.
PERTH
FESTIVAL OF BRASS
The UK’s largest brass festival features senior bands and approximately 1000 players from the country’s youth groups with competitions, performances and workshops across three days.
Rare objects from the British Museum’s Sudan and Nubia collections come to Scotland for the first time. The exhibition explores the legacy of Sudan’s ancient empire of wealth, artistry and power.
n Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, until Sunday 22 February.
The Burns Project (and bottom from left), Jamie Reid, Amalia Pica, Stuart Mitchell, Kitti
Powered by terrific lead turns from Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, Emma Simmonds finds plenty to love about Pillion, an ambitious and charmingly absurd romcom with a BDSM twist
Anervous newbie to the gay scene bites off more than a mouthful in this sweet and sadistic romantic comedy that plunges us headfirst into the world of BDSM. Pillion features an adorably boring parking attendant who meets an absurdly handsome biker hunk and becomes his submissive.
Based on the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, this is the likeable and accomplished debut of writer-director Harry Lighton which benefits significantly from the presence of Succession and Murderbot star Alexander Skarsgård as colead, a huge casting coup.
The film follows thirtysomething Colin (Harry Melling) who punishes illegally parked drivers, lives with his parents in Bromley and sings in a barbershop quartet with his nice dad Pete (Douglas Hodge). One Christmas Eve, Colin is in his local pub on an underwhelming date organised by his terminally ill mum Peggy (Lesley Sharp, in a series of fabulous wigs) when he’s approached at the bar by a towering stranger Ray (played by Skarsgård). Ray orders three packets of crisps, one in each
available flavour, and makes Colin pay for them, before passing him a note suggesting they meet outside Primark on Christmas Day. Colin can’t believe his luck.
Following an inept sexual encounter in an alleyway, Ray tells Colin that he has ‘an aptitude for devotion’, and so begins their very one-sided relationship, with a wide eyed yet up-for-it Colin surrendering his liberty and dignity for a crack at love. He shaves his head and starts wearing a lock on a chain around his neck, to which Ray has the key. Colin’s mum is understandably worried and confronts Ray about the apparently demeaning nature of their dynamic over a very awkward family dinner. His dad stays out of it. Colin is also inducted into Ray’s gay biker gang, which contains other couples enjoying similar arrangements. The group includes Kevin (Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters fame) who ends up as an annoying rival for Ray’s affections during a camping trip.
Pillion is a quintessentially British look at some out-there ideas which might seem small-time with its modest budget and unglamorous setting. But it’s deceptively ambitious as it
attempts to get to grips with what looks like an uncomfortable business (both physically and emotionally) and skilfully negotiates some significant shifts in tone. It balances quite explicit, sometimes squirm-inducing depictions of BDSM with Mike Leigh-esque domestic scenes; we watch as a lovable Hodge and increasingly no-nonsense Sharp are visibly bewildered by their naive son’s new predicament. If Ray maintains much of his mystery (beyond some spikiness and just a hint of sadness), Colin is presented as a fascinating mix; he seems to have little agency and not much going on in his life even before Ray takes advantage of that, yet he also has his limits, bolstered by a positive outlook and capacity for love and understanding that is truly endearing. It’s a lovely lead performance from Melling, who may still be best known for his work in the Harry Potter franchise (where he played Harry’s dreadful cousin Dudley), but who has also impressed in the likes of The Queen’s Gambit and Wolf Hall. Meanwhile, Skarsgård’s preposterous attractiveness and movie star charisma are aptly out of place here, giving proceedings a fantastical dimension as
you start to wonder whether Ray even really exists. It’s another well-judged performance from the Swedish actor, who seems to be getting better and better.
The film plays up the absurdism within this inarguably surreal social scene (which is made to seem particularly anomalous, and more amusing, within the suburban London setting). Lighton shows an eye for comedic compositions as the couple get stuck into some wrestling and open-air sexual shenanigans, and he picks out Melling’s priceless expressions, ranging from sore and startled to swooning and satisfied. The script is largely a triumph, too, from the simple but killer gags (the casual shouts of ‘wanker’ that greet Colin in his much-despised day job) to its fundamentally sensitive nature and thoughts on what might draw someone into this world. Pillion keeps its affability intact through some eyewatering exploits as it weighs up whether submitting totally to someone else’s wants can ever be ok. Pillion is in cinemas from
film of the month
ART LINDSEY MENDICK: GROWING PAINS
A shop front on Dundee’s Reform Street reads ‘Growing Pains’ in garish green lettering. In the window, stained-glass images of picture-perfect homes appear to be shattered. Inside, ‘for sale’ signs are scattered round the room, a reminder that the grass is always greener. From afar, Lindsey Mendick’s glazed ceramic creations resemble conventional dolls’ houses, but a closer inspection reveals sinister, overgrown gardens crawling with insects and ivy-covered brickwork.
Inspired by Alice In Wonderland growing too tall for a house after consuming the Eat Me cake, all the noughties teen baggage of Mendick’s formative years explode from within the walls. These were the must-have possessions (or the pastimes you should be undertaking) in order to fit in with peers: Nokia mobile phones, cigarette butts, PlayStation handsets, discarded booze bottles and Nike trainers all act as a reminder of how hard it is to remain relevant, yet simultaneously carve out an independent existence for yourself as a teenager.
Mendick has transformed this vacant high street shop into an immersive artwork as part of Jupiter Artland’s offsite project, Jupiter+ Dundee, which is also running an educational programme for local schools and community groups. In this imagined estate agency, she scrutinises class, identity and social mobility, and acknowledges the struggles she experienced as a teenager. In Mendick’s short film ‘You Couldn’t Pay Me To Go Back’, she revisits the London suburb where she grew up, all the while facing up to the demons that continue to haunt her. (Jennifer McLaren)
Reform Street, Dundee, until Sunday 21 December.
THEATRE
ARLINGTON
Enda Walsh wrote his Orwellian tale of social isolation before the pandemic rendered such stories cliché. Adapting Arlington for a post-covid audience, then, required a feat of platitude-bursting imagination that directors Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello achieve by exhausting the potentialities of theatre. Walsh’s guiding themes (defiant hope and unrequited love) are poignant, his dialogue casually poetic, yet this adaptation excels in its staging, sound and lighting. Arlington is the high-rise building in which our protagonist, Isla, is trapped. Fittingly, the stage sits five feet from the ground and is sparsely set but for three chairs upholstered in hospital-blue plastic and a bundle of discarded clothes. At floor level, Isla’s supervisor (the requisite Big Brother figure) sits at a security desk stacked with box televisions that screen various angles of the stage back to him and the audience in real time.
The music, composed by Cat Myers, is an accelerating electro pulse that reflects the characters’ uneasy anticipation of a release that might never come. It perfectly soundtracks Jack Anderson’s contorted contemporary dance in the middle act, which takes the play closer to performance art without losing any narrative momentum. Racing LEDs circle the border of the stage as if goading him to see what’s beyond; to see if freedom is anything more than an open window and the rush of air down to blood-stained pavements. With a more straightforward production, Arlington’s hopeful resolution might seem farfetched, but in this adaptation the hope seems radically well earned. (Evie Glen)
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 6–Saturday 8 November; reviewed at Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
PICTURE: BRIAN HARTLEY
PICTURE: NEIL HANNA
With Stage/Fright, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have created a smart, funny and surprisingly emotional live experience that brings fresh ideas to the table while satisfying hardcore Inside No 9 fans, says Kelly Apter
For nine glorious series on the BBC, Inside No 9 gifted us the pleasure of not knowing quite what was going on or where we were headed. Right up until the last tearinducing episode, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith kept us guessing. So it comes as no surprise to find the same plot-twisting, genre-shifting style alive and well in the show’s live debut. Stage/Fright feels like several shows in one, and if that occasionally leads to fragmentation, it’s a small price to pay for two hours of clever, funny, insightful and unexpectedly moving theatre.
Along with their fellow League Of Gentlemen stars, Pemberton and Shearsmith cut their teeth on stage, so although we’re now used to seeing them on the small screen, they look very much at home beneath a proscenium arch. In fact, their love for live performance, and the audience etiquette it demands but often doesn’t receive, leads to a hilarious opening scene (a not so subtle reminder that phones, chatter and noisy food wrappers have no place here). How to shape the Inside No 9 live offering must have caused Pemberton and Shearsmith no end of sleepless nights; in some ways, they
comedy of the month
were in a ‘damned if we do, damned if we don’t’ situation. Present a brandnew show and hardcore followers would decry the lack of favourite moments from the series, but rehash old material and they’d be accused of rinsing the fans’ good nature.
And so we have a combination of both, with the first half devoted to classic episode ‘Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room’ and bits and pieces from ‘A Quiet Night In’, ‘Kid/Nap’ and ‘Sardines’ woven together (and probably others, providing no end of fun for those who enjoy a game of ‘spot the reference’).
The second half plays into the notion that old theatres are haunted by performers past, particularly if they met a grizzly end. Having earlier told us about a supposed real-life ghost, act two finds the duo and a supporting cast rehearsing the very play which led to that actor’s demise. Playing an embittered director, Shearsmith delivers a plethora of on-the-nose barbs
about modern day theatre, while Pemberton fits the part of a slightly deranged surgeon like a glove. Past and present, real and supernatural fuse as we try to decipher what’s really happening, evoking shades of Inside No 9’s 2018 Halloween special, ‘Dead Line’.
As expected, it’s all highly entertaining, filled with sharp humour, strong characterisation and the requisite twists and turns. But perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that, by the end, Pemberton and Shearsmith haven’t just brought tears of laughter to our eyes. A poignant farewell, acknowledging that we, the fans, are as important to them as they are to us, might just have you reaching for a tissue.
Inside No 9: Stage/Fright, Edinburgh Playhouse, Tuesday 25–Saturday 29 November; reviewed at Wyndham’s Theatre, London.
MUSIC LA BOHÈME
Whether you’ve seen La Bohème on many occasions or only once, its emotive power goes straight to the heart. In Scottish Opera’s current revival of their 2017 production, which draws to a close with an empty sofa representing all that is left of Mimì as she departs this earth, André Barbe and Renaud Doucet’s staging is one of pathos contrasting with vitality. It’s impossible not to feel sadness for Mimì and the fragility of her life, including a passionate affair with Rodolfo, with this well-matched pairing brilliantly sung by Hye-Youn Lee and Mario Chang.
It is in the orchestra though, conducted by music director Stuart Stratford (currently celebrating ten years in the role), that the intensity of feeling is propelled across this piece. Lush strings, tender wind solos and the shifting tempi of Puccini’s everlastingly popular score not only reflect the onstage narrative but pull its audience into every nuance of emotion. Yet, at the same time, it is the warmth and colour of 1920s Paris that lingers in the mind. Busy backstreet lanes, full of the vibrancy of café culture, set the scene for those youthful bohemians and their impoverished, artistic lifestyle.
More contrast comes in Rhian Lois’ glamorous Musetta as a sequinned flapper in another strong romantic match with Roland Wood, an assured Marcello. Special credit to the fresh voices of the new Scottish Opera Children’s Chorus in their first mainstage performance, and evocative solo accordion from Djordje Gajic. (Carol Main)
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday 14, Sunday 16, Tuesday 18, Thursday 20, Saturday 22 November; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.
FILM
CHRISTY
Challenging notions of what both a boxer and domestic violence survivor look like, Christy tells the story of the most successful female fighter of the 90s. Christy Martin signed with Don King, fought on a card with Mike Tyson and graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, all while enduring hell at home. Taking on the title role, it’s a chance for Euphoria and Anyone But You star Sydney Sweeney to ditch her glamorous image. Having shown herself to be a versatile, committed actress (check out the superb Reality), the physicality and complexity of Christy as a character gives Sweeney the opportunity to push herself further.
Sporting an unflattering brown mullet and bulking out for the part, Sweeney plays the trailblazing Christy over two decades, starting at 21. After her conservative parents, Joyce and Johnny (Merritt Wever and Ethan Embry) confront her over a relationship with a female peer (Jess Gabor), Christy begins sleeping with her much older coach James Martin (a genuinely sinister Ben Foster), a spiteful and controlling man who she eventually marries. As she rises to the top, Christy eschews feminism and aggravates opponents by playing the perfect housewife, but the fall back down is brutal.
Christy is helmed by Australian filmmaker David Michôd, who has intermittently impressed but never really hit the heights of his blistering debut Animal Kingdom. Michôd is great at creating discomfort in Christy’s early scenes, where his young protagonist is stigmatised by her family and exploited by her coach. What is less impressive is the sometimes clichéd dialogue and the fact that, by skipping so quickly through Christy’s story, the film can feel abbreviated and unsatisfying. However, the final throes pack a fitting punch, in scenes that are powerfully performed by Sweeney. (Emma Simmonds)
In cinemas from Friday 28 November.
PICTURE:
MIHAELA
BODLOVIC
UK List Advert.qxp_Layout 1 24/10/2025 13:06 Page 1 Get off
BlackFriday25 with code
*Valid only between Friday 28 Nov - Sunday 30 Nov 2025, online and th th at Filmhouse Box Office Discount only apples to Filmhouse Memberships usually priced at £60, and joint memberships usually priced at £110 Excludes Student, Benefactor and Under 26s memberships
THEATRE
THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Although this Glass Menagerie is a co-production between three of the most prominent theatres in Scotland (Dundee Rep, Lyceum and Citizens), it offers little in the way of dynamic, provocative dramaturgy. Tennessee Williams’ script is dense and verbose, guiding the audience through a poignant memory of his dysfunctional family, with the author’s stand-in narrating details and their context. While it provides a commentary on disability, fading hopes and the beckoning future of war and adventure, this production roots itself so heavily in the script’s historical moment that it barely speaks to the present.
The language is rich and eloquent, and the performances are all strong if stilted at times. Following the domestic conflicts of a mother, her son and daughter, it delves deeply into the characters’ psychology, with the arrival of a ‘gentleman caller’ destroying their fantasies of security. The production is theatrically precise, its scenography detailed and lighting evocative of the diminishing aspirations of the family, making the tragedy all the more explicit and measured.
Nevertheless, Williams’ play is as dated as the mother’s aspirations: the delivery never quite captures the repressive hothouse atmosphere that lurks in the son’s poetic ambitions and those euphemistic visits to the cinema or the daughter’s frustrated desire to love and be loved. Without that emotional violence, this production reverts to a period piece, a familiar treat for audiences who respect the language of theatre and can indulge in a trip to the dramatic past. (Gareth K Vile)
The title of Shih-Ching Tsou’s solo directorial debut, co-written and edited by Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Baker, undersells the complexity of this vivid portrait of a Taiwanese family struggling to make ends meet. It does, however, nod to an archaic superstition the grandfather of I-Jing (the ferociously adorable nine-year-old Nina Ye) has about her being left-handed and the influence it has on her behaviour. I-Jing, her older sister Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) and her mother Xiao-hong (Blaire Chang) have recently made the move back home to Taipei after mysteriously leaving for many years. Tsou vibrantly captures the chaos and thrills of reconnecting with old family and friends, and the bustling nightlife of the market where their noodle kiosk begins to thrive.
Every richly drawn character in the film is hustling in some sense. Shu-Fen is craving her independence and takes up a job where she gets into a messy romantic entanglement with the owner. Xiao’s relationship with her ex-husband is a touchy subject and one that she is literally still paying for after being guilted into coughing up the cash for his funeral. Her parents and sisters all give her a hard time and Chang’s performance is wonderfully imbued with the quiet exhaustion and vulnerability of a single mum trying her best. All the performances are full of life: Ye as I-Jing is a force of nature and Tsai nails the rebellion and nuance of a lost and confused young soul.
The carefully conceived screenplay balances tragedy and comedy with a mischievous sense of humour and playfulness that’s reminiscent of Baker’s The Florida Project. As the dramatic stakes crank up in a nail-bitingly funny finale, the narrative and thematic threads of mistakes, making amends, personal growth and scandalous family secrets are expertly handled. An intoxicating debut that has deservedly earned its spot as Taiwan’s official Oscar entry. (Katherine McLaughlin)
In cinemas from Friday 14 November and on Netflix from Friday 28 November.
PICTURE: TOMMY
GA-KEN WAN
Innovations (and bottom from left), Lachlan Goudie, Push The Boat Out, Wicked: For Good
OTHER THINGS WORTH GOING OUT FOR
If you fancy getting out and about across the central belt this month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as a legendary comedy venue’s new project, a contemporary dance showcase focused on innovation, an award-winning Skye chef talking food (also sprinkled with innovation), the top poetry gathering in Scotland and a much-anticipated movie sequel
ART LACHLAN GOUDIE
From The Forest To The Forge encapsulates Goudie’s fascination with industry as a subject for painting, and collected here are works inspired by mines, quarries, oil refineries and a steel furnace.
n Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, until Saturday 22 November.
COMEDY
THE COMEDY SHOW
Gilded Balloon’s new venue gets into full swing this month headed up by a series of Friday night multiact bills featuring top stand-ups such as Stephen Buchanan, Mark Nelson, Marjolein Robertson, Eva Peroni, Kathleen Hughes and Sam Lake.
n The Gilded Saloon, Edinburgh, Fridays.
DANCE
INNOVATIONS
This contemporary dance platform showcases new work from choreographers and dance artists hailing from Scotland, Spain and the Netherlands, tackling themes such as cultural identity, work pressures and fractured relationships.
n The Studio, Edinburgh, Friday 7 & Saturday 8 November.
FESTIVAL
EDINBURGH DIWALI
A true celebration of diversity as Edinburgh Diwali celebrates its tenth anniversary with events across the New Town including music, dance and a public fireworks display in Princes Street Gardens.
n Various venues, Edinburgh, Sunday 2 November.
PUSH THE BOAT OUT
This year’s excellent gathering of poets features the likes of Len Pennie, Peter Mackay, Bee Asha, William Letford, Imogen Stirling, Anthony Anaxagorou and Hollie McNish, plus pictured pair Janette Ayachi and Iona Lee.
n Various venues, Edinburgh, Friday 21–Sunday 23 November.
FILM
KEEPER
Osgood Perkins follows up the scary Longlegs and The Monkey with a slice of surrealist horror in which a couple mark their anniversary in a secluded cabin which has a fair few dark secrets to show off.
n In cinemas from Friday 14 November.
WICKED: FOR GOOD
An agonising year-long wait for this sequel is over as Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey all reprise their roles in the movie version of 2003’s stupendously successful stage musical.
Jon M Chu is back once again in the director’s chair.
n In cinemas from Friday 21 November.
MUSIC GIOFEST
The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra bring us another feast of musical improv performances as well as workshops, films, panel discussions and even a session for the wee ones (GIObabies).
n CCA, Glasgow, Thursday 20–Saturday 22 November.
TALKS
CLARE COGHILL
Launching her Café Cùil Cookbook, this awardwinning Skye chef will be dishing up a celebration of Highland produce, Scottish favourites and Hebridean twists.
n Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Saturday 15 November, as part of Aye Write; Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh, Tuesday 25 November.
Londons Original sin ondons
le vin du diable
WAR PAINT
Margy Kinmonth has made documentaries about war and art before, one featuring art history graduate Eddie Redmayne (War Art) and another which profiled Eric Ravilious, the first British war artist to die in active service during WW2. Now she returns with War Paint which focuses on the women who have altered the perception of this arena as purely a male domain. Artists featured include Shirin Neshat (whose ‘Rebellious Silence’ is pictured), Lee Miller, Assil Diab and Cornelia Parker. (Brian Donaldson)
Sky Arts, Sunday 9 November.
staying in
GONE TO THE DOGS
In the noughties, big money clashed with the music industry old guard. Afreka Thomson talks to Chris Atkins whose new podcast relives the whole sorry tale that led to the demise of one of Britain’s biggest record labels
I‘’m a massive, massive music nerd,’ says filmmaker and podcaster Chris Atkins, whose latest series, Music, Money & Mayhem, traces the spectacular collapse of one of Britain’s coolest record labels, home to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Blur. That red logo was on almost every CD you bought in the 90s. And the cute little dog with the gramophone. EMI: remember? Apparently, it’s all too easy for some of us to forget. Atkins sounds genuinely astonished that the company’s demise passed without much mourning. ‘Lots of people don’t realise that it’s gone. It was so iconic . . . it was our cultural identity; a British label pushing British artists around the world. For that to have gone and no one really comment on it . . . I thought it was really strange.’
So here he is, with a six-part podcast about EMI and the people who worked there. ‘The story of its downfall is just an absolute epic car crash,’ says Atkins. At the centre of this wreckage is Guy Hands, the private-equity mogul who bought EMI in 2007, a move not exactly welcomed by industry heavyweights of the time. ‘You just couldn’t make this guy up,’ Atkins laughs. ‘He was a fish out of water; your sort of city banker nerd thrust into the same pool as the ultra-cool musos. They were never gonna get on.’
Hands and his methods were met with utter disbelief. ‘He brought in guys who had sold kitchen cleaner and put them in charge of The Beatles catalogue,’ Atkins explains. ‘It’s insane when you think of it but they were actually very good at it.’ Thankfully for the podcast, some of these wild ideas were pure comedy gold. ‘They said to Radiohead: “Do you wanna do a brand deal with Next?” It never happened but it was a real idea,’ he grins. A line of High & Dry raincoats, perhaps?
Across the series, Atkins chats to the likes of Ed O’Brien, Neil Tennant and Johnny Marr, all of whom had front-row seats to EMI’s slow-motion implosion. ‘No one had really asked the artists about it,’ Atkins says. ‘People assume they just write songs and let the grown-ups sort out the money. But these guys are incredibly astute; they understand it better than the finance guys.’ For Atkins, the story of EMI isn’t just about one company’s collapse, it’s about the world it reflected. ‘I basically spend my life these days making music documentaries. I’m always on the lookout for stories that tell you something bigger about the world. And EMI gives that in spades.’ New episodes available every Monday on all the usual platforms.
LISTEN
The letter M is sashaying its way onto the dancefloor in this month’s instalment of our alphabetical rundown of album recommendations
Distilling the underground club scene to its most hectic elements, London-based Djrum created a wild, inordinately stressful experience with Meaning’s Edge (2024). Tempos shift with an athletic grace, while its unfathomably complex layering creates a mathematically precise concatenation of pinballing emotions. Moments of flutes and ambience offer a brief caesura before the ricocheting patterns of chaos begin again.
Hitting dancefloors of a very different sort is Madonna’s Music (2000). Madge had long since given up her role as a trendsetter by this point, instead acting as a conduit between mainstream audiences and hipster trends. Here, she effortlessly adds pop textures to trip hop with the air of a sophisticate sharing their newfound passion rather than a careerist clutching at relevancy (not something that can be said of her later output). Sure, it’s patchy (‘American Pie’ is to be endured more than enjoyed) but ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’ and ‘Runaway Lover’ are top-tier entries from the end of the voguer-in-chief’s reign. (Kevin Fullerton) Other M listens: Mug Museum by Cate Le Bon (2013), Manuela by Manuela (2017), Maggot Brain by Funkadelic (1971).
future sound
Our column celebrating new music to watch continues with solo artist Iona Zajac, who tells Fiona Shepherd about playing with The Pogues and the prospect of becoming the Lizzo of the harp
Iona Zajac has been enjoying illustrious company this year. You might have seen her as tour support to the likes of Arab Strap, Alison Moyet and Lisa O’Neill or onstage with The Pogues in their latest line-up, convened to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their classic album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, putting her in the privileged position of having a performer’s eye view of a Pogues Barrowlands audience in full flow. ‘They’ve always said they were their wildest gigs,’ says Zajac. ‘It doesn’t even feel like a gig, it feels like some ritualistic ceremony.’
Zajac sings and plays harp in the band but she is also garnering attention for her own arresting music and solo shows, armed with guitar, an intoxicating singing voice and a batch of dark, classy songs which are collected on her debut album, Bang
She hails from a family of performers. Her father is theatremaker Matthew Zajac, best known for his play and book The Tailor Of Inverness, inspired by his Polish father. She currently lives in London with her 90-year-old maternal grandfather, but grew up in Edinburgh, studied and started her music career in Glasgow and immersed herself in Dublin’s alternative folk scene for a couple of years, living with Lankum’s Daragh Lynch, hanging out with The Mary Wallopers in their garden pub and first meeting The Pogues’ Spider Stacy. ‘I’m as confused as everyone else is about where I’m based,’ she admits. ‘It has something to do with how difficult the cost of living is everywhere. Dublin is the most expensive city in Europe at the moment in terms of rent but I was living briefly in a house that was being squatted.’
Although her own songs tend towards dramatic alt.pop balladry, her bedrock is folk music. She attended the Feis and Hands Up For Trad’s Tinto Summer School from a young age, gravitating to clarsach (a type of harp). ‘That was the instrument I was obsessed with until I became a grumpy teenager and stopped playing it,’ she says. Later, she used her harp skills to bewitching effect in her first band, the folk-jazz trio Avocet, before taking up guitar during lockdown and writing her first original songs. ‘With my limited knowledge of the guitar, that became an interesting process. I was experimenting and it turned into something by magic. I wanted to establish myself without the harp so I wasn’t known as the harpist and then, maybe like Lizzo with the flute, I would just whip it out at some point.’
Her second album is already in the works as Bang makes its way into the world. Speaking of her debut, she admits there’s quite a lot of anger in the record. ‘The other thing that runs through it is how I cope with life, and difficult experiences in particular, which is quite often through comedy or surreal experiences and strange dreams I have. I’m trying to flip heaviness on its head and dance on top of it. I want to both challenge and relax a listener and I love playing with discomforts.’
Bang is released by Post Electric on Friday 21 November; Zajac co-headlines with Robin Kester at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sunday 23 November and The Hug And Pint, Glasgow, Monday 24 November.
first writes
In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. For this issue, we feature Grace Walker, author of The Merge, a near-future thriller where the participants in an experimental medical process soon begin to question if everything is really as it seems
What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? I can’t be sure what the very first was, but I do know which book first hooked me completely: The Bad Beginning (the first in A Series Of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket). I saved up for the whole series and they became my first proper ‘shelf trophies’.
What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer? That’s difficult to pinpoint, but Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman is the book I always return to when I think about what shaped my early writing. It made me fall in love with alternate worlds, places that look so much like ours, yet tilt the balance just enough to make you question everything. As an adult, I’m endlessly inspired by Margaret Atwood’s futures that feel alarmingly plausible and by Kazuo Ishiguro’s quiet explorations of memory, humanity and what it means to belong.
What’s your favourite first line in a book? ‘Since I have no other, I use as preface Jacob’s preface which I read, sneakily, fifteen years ago, when it lay on the Goldmans’ breakfast table, amid the cornflakes.’ Brother Of The More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido.
Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It’s the kind of book that seeps into you rather than ending on the last page.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? Make a strong coffee.
What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? Make a strong coffee.
In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? I’d never burn books. They’re far too useful for learning how to spot the next tyrant.
What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? Treat writing like it matters, because it does! Carve out time for it, protect it and show up even when you’re not feeling inspired.
The Merge is published by Magpie on Thursday 6 November.
GAMES
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 7
Since 2005, a new Call Of Duty game has launched every year; an extraordinary streak made possible by a rotating quartet of development studios. That relentless pace has produced triumphs, misfires and plenty in between; Infinity Ward’s groundbreaking Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare set a new standard for shooters in 2007, while two years ago, Sledgehammer’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III marked a clear low point in the series.
This year marks the return of a classic industry battle, as Call Of Duty faces off against Battlefield 6, the first such contest between these gaming behemoths since 2021. After the lukewarm reception to the last entry, Battlefield 2042, the developers wisely took their time to regroup and start afresh, delivering one of the series’ strongest launches in years and a game that’s currently dominating the conversation. By comparison, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 feels worryingly familiar, looking and sounding much like its predecessors. Set in 2035, its campaign (playable in coop) leans into trippy, psychedelic set-pieces to help place it apart from Battlefield’s grounded realism. Multiplayer looks largely unchanged and the package is rounded out by the now-standard (and popular) round-based Zombies mode. But Call Of Duty’s game engine is really showing its age, while Battlefield’s equivalent depicts war with ferocious realism, immersive sound and impressive destruction technology. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 could still surprise us, but right now it feels like this battle may be over before it’s even begun. (Murray Robertson)
Out on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox series X/S on Friday 14 November.
PICTURE: CHRISTIANNE RISMAN
TV FRANKENSTEIN
Guillermo del Toro really goes to town with this umpteenth adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece. The director puts his grisly and operatic stamp on the material, changing things up storywise and building some grand and gobsmacking sets. Oscar Isaac plays barmy boffin Victor Frankenstein. Haunted by the demise of his beloved mother (Mia Goth), Victor is eager to break the boundaries of medicine and go beyond death.
With the financial assistance of Christoph Waltz’s Harlander, Victor assembles a man from battlefield body parts (Jacob Elordi’s The Creature) and electrifies him into existence. However, it’s not long before his creation begins to disappoint him, though Victor’s soon-to-be-sisterin-law Elizabeth (Goth again) sees beyond the scars and shows the monster kindness before he’s unleashed into the world.
The design of The Creature certainly makes a statement. Pale, absurdly sculpted and towering, before adopting a tousled wild man shtick, it’s hard not to think of him as Frankenstein’s Hunk, especially given the casting of hot property Elordi (of Saltburn and Priscilla fame). Despite such distractions, Del Toro works hard to extract every ounce of emotion from the tale. Isaac brings his usual intensity to the part, while the role of The Creature is a tough ask for any actor but Elordi is easy to feel sorry for. Del Toro has delivered an audacious take on a well-worn story with bags of visual drama. (Emma Simmonds)
Available on Netflix from Friday 7 November.
In this column, we ask a pod person about the ‘casts that mean a lot to them. This month, it’s David Berkeley (pictured, right), the American half from Sons Of Town Hall (the other 50% comprises Britain’s Ben Parker), a transatlantic podcasting folk duo (dubbed ‘Simon & Garfunkel lost at sea’) with harmony drenched songs and mythically scented stories
my perfect podcast
Which podcast educates you? Probably not the best place to say that I mostly insist on listening to audiobooks, when I’m at the wheel and in control of the radio. I’ve just gotten through War And Peace. That clocked in at 62 hours. Drove Ben crazy.
Which podcast makes you laugh? WTF With Marc Maron is pretty hilarious: talk about a guy who’s not afraid to say what’s on his mind. Or The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart: some of the best political satire in my land right now.
Which podcast makes you sad or angry? The Last Invention about AI has really gotten me both sad and angry about how blindly we seem to be barrelling into a new age with only profit in mind. I don’t know how we derail the train, but I’d sure like to go back to a simpler analogue time like the one Sons Of Town Hall inhabit.
Which podcast is your guilty pleasure? Thank You For The Music. You might be surprised to learn that we’re both huge Abba fans and we can’t get enough of this deep dive.
Tell us someone who currently doesn’t have a podcast but totally should. And why do you think their one would be amazing? Tom Waits. He’s a genius; a master of words as much in conversation as in song. There’s a collected interviews book called Innocent When You Dream and every page is pure poetry. To hear that voice spinning stories, half truths and beautiful nonsense would be a gift to humanity.
Pitch us a new podcast idea in exactly 25 words Radio-theatre comedy of friendship, folly and song tracing a folk duo’s adventures drifting across time and tide. Wait . . . that’s our podcast: Madmen Cross The Water
Madmen Cross The Water episodes are available on all the usual platforms; Sons Of Town Hall appear at Leith Arches, Edinburgh, Sunday 16 November.
game of the month
Murray Robertson rates Battlefield 6 as a blistering return to form for the series with its teamplay, design and soundscape forging a formidable package
Much is riding on the success of Battlefield 6, not least the need to recoup the game’s eye watering budget (reported at around $450m). Three years ago, predecessor Battlefield 2042 launched to a whole lot of indifference and some outright hostility. That game’s reputation improved over the intervening years but it was never able to recapture the series’ magic. In a misguided bid to capitalise on the hero shooter craze, it bastardised its much loved class system, while 128-player matches often left individuals feeling like insignificant cogs in a joyless machine.
Happily, Battlefield 6 is a confident return to form and an almost defiant statement of intent. Drawing inspiration from the intense, teamwork driven combat of Battlefields 3 and 4, but without their notorious launch-day technical woes, it has reverted to 64-player skirmishes. This might seem like a retreat but it works in its favour: the reduction in scale restores the clarity, rhythm and sense of purpose that defined the earlier titles.
With the removal of the previous game’s controversial ‘specialists’, teamplay is once again a core part of the experience. Anyone can now revive teammates by dragging them to cover and administering aid, a small but transformative tweak that lends battles a tactile, human quality and keeps the fight flowing. The usual fleet of vehicles is present, with fighter jets and combat helicopters offering support from the air, and a variety of tanks and assorted land vehicles scaring up the troops on the ground.
The launch maps are small to medium in scale, dense with choke points, flanking routes and destructible cover. This tighter design
of play encourages constant ‘Battlefield moments’: exhilarating passages of chaotic cinematic action. The audiovisual design is wildly intoxicating: the bleached-out urban warfare of Battlefield 3 collides with the ferocious destruction of beloved spin-off Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Buildings splinter under bombardment, smoke chokes the air and panic sets in as structures crumble to the ground. The soundscape (always a Battlefield speciality) is astonishing: a near-constant maelstrom, albeit one packed with detail among the bombast. There will be moments when players will choose to forego a revive simply to get a moment’s peace.
Compared to the spawn/kill/die/repeat of multiplayer Call Of Duty, Battlefield has always been the more nuanced, tactical alternative. Its four core classes (assault, engineer, recon and support) mesh neatly across the two main game modes of conquest (capture-andhold warfare) and breakthrough (attritional offence versus defence).
A generous arsenal of weapons, gadgets and grenades unlocks quickly, though the post-match breakdown still prioritises loot and cosmetic trinkets over meaningful analysis of play.
A singleplayer campaign is present, notable only for a few novel set-pieces and a mission cutely located on the Rock Of Gibraltar. It’s entirely optional but it misses a trick by doing nothing to introduce newcomers to the multiplayer mechanics. But that hardly matters: Battlefield 6’s real power lies online. This is a blistering, chaotic, brilliantly executed return to what Battlefield does best: creating unforgettable moments of shared, explosive mayhem.
Battlefield 6 is out now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
BOOKS
PATTI SMITH
Bread Of Angels (Bloomsbury) lllll
The restless cycle of hope, retreat and renewed energy frames this most intimate of memoirs by punk poet Patti Smith. From a childhood and adolescence pockmarked with endless adversity and ill health, Bread Of Angels maps her journey from crushing poverty and enforced transience to a state of artistic release and a long-sought permanency. Along the way, her rise to prominence as a rock music icon, general of gender equality and true lion of the dispossessed chafes against her own desire for stability, creativity and protective love.
Smith’s formative years are related with a spiritual sweetness and candour, bringing to life a child’s eye view of friendship, the yoke of religion and loss of innocence. Stories of vanquished bullies and purloined pin badges act as balm to her soreness in a stream of tragedy, and her ability to turn disappointment into inspiration helps plant the roots of lifelong resilience. With the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud as her North Star, Smith creates a resoluteness that underpins her prose while her unquenchable optimism acts as a compass pointing towards her need to exist as a writer. That same gift of lyricism, coupled with her tendency to heap symbolism into every sentence, works both for and against that fluency she craves, and her imagery will delight some and flummox others. The excitement of her New York rise, a dalliance with Robert Mapplethorpe and the patronage of Burroughs, Ginsberg and Dylan bring a gallop in momentum, yet too much reliance on literary richness glazes over the underlying sentiment. The tenderness in her voice when recalling her brother Todd and ‘madrigal’ spirit Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith helps bring balance to those excesses. Only at the book’s end does artifice fall away, revealing where Patti Smith truly resides: a vagabond in a place of peace, safe from the needles of bereavement and wise from the hard but necessary truths of living, learning and creative evolution. (Gary Sullivan)
n Published on Tuesday 4 November.
ALBUMS
CELESTE
Woman Of Faces (Polydor) lllll
Celeste recently brought the glossy drama to Day Of The Jackal’s TV theme tune with ‘This Is Who I Am’. The English soul singer is a silky fit for swooning James Bond-style string arrangements while her powerful voice is a treacly rasp, a sugary bruise of resignation here on her second album, Woman Of Faces. This follows her chart topping 2021 debut Not Your Muse, and scores equally high on commercial appeal; the one-time singer of a John Lewis Christmas advert has been wrapped up with a big, radio-friendly, jazz-pop ribbon.
In ‘Keep Smiling’ she sings of moth-to-the-flame moments with a man who’s made mistakes but still, ‘I’ll stretch my limbs to him evermore’. In ‘People Always Change’ (featuring exquisite ivories work from Philip Glass), Celeste is stuck in break-up inertia, defeated and fragile, with a voice that’s anything but. The label tries to go full Adele on bombastic ‘Could Be Machine’ and heavyweight US producers Dave ‘TV On The Radio’ Sitek, Beach Noise and Jeff Bhasker add ultra smooth pop finishes throughout. Two tracks at the end shimmy with 60s girl band pluckiness and potentially offer some overdue light at the end of her heartbroken tunnel.
The melancholia and studio-refined melodrama do wear thin over a full album, and listeners may find themselves craving more Shirley Bassey sass or Billie Holiday rawness, either of which Celeste might show us somewhere down the line. For now, please enjoy big, if slightly overworked, pop torch songs par excellence. (Claire Sawers)
n Released on Friday 14 November.
ALBUMS SIMONE SEALES
Dearest
On Dearest, Simone Seales turns the debris of first love into something tender and tactile: part classical composition, part spoken word, part jarring improvisation. These are soundscapes rather than songs, each one invoking a chapter of their first queer relationship. Dearest is less about what happened, more about what still lingers. Born in Florida and now based in Glasgow, Seales is an intersectional cellist, performance artist, educator and improviser whose work is rooted in black queer feminism and the politics of emotion. Dearest grew from a reflective poem they wrote two years ago and takes its track titles from the fictional letters in Carol, a cult 1950s lesbian love story that became a touchstone during the aftermath of Seales’ first queer relationship.
The album opens in innocence: warm sunrises, play, soft light, the early mornings of romance. Mele Broomes delivers Seales’ words carefully, her voice floating deliberately, unhurried and at peace. The poetry describes shared moments and small actions, while the cello threatens to drown them out: feelings enveloping and distorting the memories. Sometimes it’s hard to make out the words but that feels intentional. On the title track, there are moments where the cello sounds distinctively dour: long arching bows reflecting distance, weathering and solitude. The west coast of Scotland seems to have seeped into the bones of this song.
Then ‘There Are No Accidents’ shifts the ground; the light dims, the cello grows restless. ‘You disappeared / I let go,’ Broomes speaks with quiet force, the anger sitting deep in her clipped consonants. A coldness sets in as we reach ‘You Seek Resolutions’. It’s jaunty but taunting; the folky cello moves quickly, mean-spirited and hurt. The language remains simple but weighted, full of unflinchingly personal half-thoughts and a bit like revisiting the poetry hidden deep in your Notes app. Dearest could soundtrack all sorts of break-ups and breakdowns, yet somehow it stays light, reflecting experiences of queer heartache at its silliest, pettiest and most tender. (Afreka Thomson)
Self-released on Friday 21 November.
PODCASTS
JOE AND JAMES FACT UP
(Audio Always)
There’s a moment in the second episode of Joe And James Fact Up, a podcast reuniting The Inbetweeners stars Joe Thomas and James Buckley, where Buckley recalls a time that the pair met one of his heroes, Stephen Merchant. He was suitably starstruck by The Office co-creator and remains reverential. But as a dedicated fan of The Ricky Gervais Podcast, he realised that he’d heard many of Merchant’s anecdotes before. And that’s a feeling which listeners here may relate to.
Focused on facts and factoids, with the distinction between the two decidedly hazy, the duo pledge to provide a single fact each for every episode. Yet even this gentle industry doesn’t stop them reheating popular urban myths and rehashing subjects that have featured in the likes of QI, such as whether animals have accents. And while there’s a certain amount of slapdash charm to their lack of authority and only loose adherence to the format, this suffers by comparison to any number of well-researched, fact-based comedy podcasts such as the late Worst Foot Forward or No Such Thing As A Fish. Worse, they occasionally use ChatGPT for listener enquiries, dead air for anyone not watching on YouTube as Thomas taps into a keyboard and quietly reads.
Both disarmingly honest in their own ways, podcast veteran Buckley and ingenue Thomas retain a fond chemistry and bring out the best in each other, eschewing the melancholic insecurity that has sometimes dogged both of their other projects. With the more streetwise, downto-earth Buckley occasionally schooling Cambridge graduate Thomas with his esoteric knowledge, their conversational back and forth flows freely enough. But beyond the promise of titbits of Inbetweeners lore that haven’t already been shared elsewhere, they’re offering nothing fresh or remarkable. (Jay Richardson) New episodes available every Tuesday.
Catch Up
In the pre-Christmas period of cold nights in (cuffing season for romantics or peak retreat time for misanthropes), Claire Sawers rounds up some freshly released TV offerings. There’s a new fix for Slow Horses addicts, a preposterous yet entertaining sci-fi thriller and a dreamy documentary about a brutalist health spa in war-torn Ukraine
After the galloping success of Slow Horses, adapted from Mick Herron’s spy novel series, Apple TV+ has now turned to the author’s first novel, Down Cemetery Road. The title comes from a Philip Larkin line and this smart conspiracy thriller frequently echoes the poet’s bleak Britishness. Drama unfolds with a mysterious gas explosion in suburban Oxford. A small girl disappears and a bored housewife (Ruth Wilson) becomes hellbent on finding out why. Dark humour is baked in with the plot of major MOD cover-ups and marital drudgery. Emma Thompson plays punky, sourpuss private detective Zoë Boehm, a bitter snarl of jaded sardonicism wrapped in a leather trench coat. Eight episodes burst with plot twists and cat-and-mouse chases via university rooftops, military bases and exploding churches. Although certain moments spill over into slapstick (one bumbling government lackey feels reminiscent of Danger Mouse’s hamster sidekick Penfold), the Russian-doll story structure is deeply enjoyable.
Similarly action packed, although with some risibly oddball moments in the writing, The Iris Affair (Now TV) goes full James Bond. Created by Neil ‘Luther’ Cross, Niamh Algar does a smooth, Jodie Foster-esque job of playing laser-focused Iris Nixon, an expert code cracker ‘with a brain the size of a planet’, brought in to unlock a topological quantum device. Things go full word salad when explaining the powers of this game-changing AI machine: it can cure cancer but, inconveniently, could unleash an apocalypse. Who cares? Locked in a secret lair in Slovenia, ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’ (as the machine is known) is the most brazenly baloney part of the plot, but also a handy hook upon which to hang eight episodes of tight, breathless thrills. Set in Sardinia and Rome, Iris finds herself in Day Of The Jackal-style chases with cops and millionaires. Best enjoyed by leaning hard into the absurdity of it all.
Karen Pirie star Lauren Lyle finds herself in New Zealand for the role of tightly wound Mia. The Ridge (BBC iPlayer) is a gripping co-production between BBC Scotland and Sky New Zealand Originals, following Mia as she flies out for her sister’s wedding but finds her corpse instead. Mia works as a hospital anaesthetist in Scotland but wades into smalltown Kiwi beefs as she searches for answers. The combo of woo-woo strangeness, ancient Maori tradition and local gossip gives this a rich depth, with solid acting turns from Dulcie Smart and Chloe Parker. Lyle’s bold spin on the trauma-informed script of addiction is memorably acidic, spitting out lines with surreal derangement as she wrestles with grief, opiates and jetlag.
Sanatorium (BBC iPlayer) is the 745th instalment in the BBC’s wonderful Storyville documentary strand, and boy is it good. In fact, it’s Ireland’s Oscar selection for Best International Feature Film. Filmed over a summer at Kuyalnik sanatorium near Odesa, air raid sirens wail as guests arrive for wellness treatments. One retired uranium mine worker tries mud scrubs for his psoriasis, a young woman with fertility problems has come to meet a fairy godmother fertility expert and a recently widowed woman wants to ‘relax her soul’ after her husband was killed in combat. ‘Everybody is equal on vacation,’ remarks one elderly chap spectating a ping-pong game between two topless men in jeans. Prepare to hover one finger over the pause button as shot after shot is presented with serene, dilapidated grandeur. Peach net curtains, powder blue walls, wooden signs in Cyrillic script, endless medical apparatus; this is visually stunning and an incredibly moving, low-key snapshot of everyday hope during crisis.
SAWERS ALSO SAW . . .
Victoria Beckham on Netflix: ‘Bingeable, frustrating, perfectionist puff piece’ IT: Welcome To Derry on Now TV: ‘Sinister 60s Stephen King prequel’
To Cook A Bear on Disney+: ‘Stylish Swedish folk-horror whodunnit’
Stranger things: The Ridge (and clockwise from below), Sanatorium, The Iris Affair, Down Cemetery Road
ALBUMS AARON PARKS
By All Means (Blue Note)
Seattle-born pianist Aaron Parks wasn’t entirely a newcomer when he first recorded for Blue Note. Invisible Cinema, his 2008 debut for the label, was his fifth album as a leader and its melodic accomplishment marked Parks out as one to watch. With a follow-up, the solo Arborescence, he joined an elite band of musicians who have recorded for both America’s leading jazz label and its European equivalent, ECM. And while he hasn’t become a massive name, Parks has matured into a player with plenty to say albeit one who likes to travel at his own pace.
By All Means is his third Blue Note outing and expands the trio he first convened in 2017 (featuring bassist Ben Street and master drummer Billy Hart) into a quartet with tenor saxophonist Ben Solomon whose CV includes work alongside trumpeter Wallace Roney and pianist Chick Corea. It’s a perfectly balanced group with Solomon confident and assertive but content to play at Parks’ pace. The opening ballad, ‘A Way’, illustrates Parks’ talent for a searching melody and Solomon’s ability to express it with tenderness. If Street and Hart’s roles lean more here towards lending colour, by second track ‘Parks Lope’, they’re swinging gently but with purpose as Parks and Solomon converse, the pianist adding some gospel flavouring. A further ballad, ‘For María José’ (dedicated to Parks’ wife), is suitably romantic without being cloying and features Parks soloing at his most attractively lyrical and expansive. Going back to Invisible Cinema, Parks’ approach has always been to envelop the listener with attractive moods; the waltzing ‘Little River’ and gently surging ‘Raincoat’, with Hart injecting subtle percussive detail alongside Street’s sure presence, achieve this beautifully, adding a vital quality that calls the listener back for more. (Rob Adams)
Released on Friday 7 November.
PODCASTS CHILD (BBC Sounds)
The first series of India Rakusen’s podcast Child followed the growth of humans from fertilisation to first birthday. Now Rakusen picks up where she left off for series two, which homes in on the developing toddler brain to explore the subject of emotions. Each episode of the eight-part series picks a particular feeling to focus on, starting with happiness. Rakusen explains that this ostensibly sunny and carefree sensation is a lot more complex than it first appears. For starters, there’s the slippery process of defining happiness (which has changed in the two-and-ahalf centuries since it was enshrined as a human right in the USA’s Declaration Of Independence). Then there’s its darker side, which comes in the suffocating pressure on parents to ensure their children feel happy at all times.
This opening episode is a whistle-stop tour, fitting almost half a dozen micro interviews into its 27 minutes. Rakusen visits a neuroscience unit, chats to child psychologist Tovah Klein and hears from human rights lawyer Patience Akumu, who moved her young family from Uganda to Switzerland in search of a happier life, only to discover the dearth of community and extended family support left her exhausted and overstretched.
If you’re an avid consumer of popular psychology, you might find some of the content feels recycled (the neuroscience findings on the toddler brain, for example, have been presented in other documentaries, and Akumu wrote about her Switzerland experiences earlier this year in The Guardian). But Rakusen’s humane and personal engagement with the subject make this a sparky and compelling listen. (Lucy Ribchester)
Available from Wednesday 5 November.
OTHER THINGS WORTH STAYING IN FOR
A packed month of things to do indoors or consume on your travels include an upcoming record from a boundary-smashing composer, the latest instalment in a city-building game and a new podcasting exploration of America’s Satanic Panic
ALBUMS
FKA TWIGS
Feels like ten minutes since Twigs’ last album (the Mercury-nominated Eusexua) and despite its name, Eusexua Afterglow is a standalone record rather than merely an overly swift follow-up afterthought.
n Atlantic, Friday 14 November.
CHEAP TRICK
All Washed Up is a great name for a record by any band aiming to show they are far from it. The 21st album from these Illinois power-pop rockers marks almost half a century since their breakthrough hit, ‘I Want You To Want Me’.
n BMG, Friday 14 November.
KARA-LIS COVERDALE
Electric organ, modular synthesis and piano are brought together for Changes In Air, a new collection from someone described by one critic as ‘a composer without boundaries’.
n Smalltown Supersound, Friday 21 November.
BOOKS
ALLAN RADCLIFFE
It was only meant to be a casual encounter, but when two men meet on a dating app it opens up a series of tortured recollections about their days at school together. But will Davie and Jordan eventually escape their past?
n Fairlight, Thursday 13 November.
GAMES
ANNO 117: PAX ROMANA
The eighth instalment in the Anno series features strategic city-building gameplay in Ancient Rome, the earliest historical setting for this franchise.
n Ubisoft, Thursday 13 November.
PODCASTS
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were seemingly infiltrating North American society on a massive scale. Sarah Marshall explores the believers and the sceptics.
n CBC, new episodes weekly.
TV
ALL HER FAULT
Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy, Dakota Fanning and Michael Peña star in this drama which revolves around every parent’s worst nightmare and triggers the uncovering of some dark family secrets.
n Sky Atlantic, Friday 7 November.
PLURIBUS
Showrunner Vince Gilligan reunites with his Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn for this sci-fi fantasy tale in which the most miserable person on the planet must save us all from happiness. An intriguing premise to say the least.
n Apple TV+, Friday 7 November.
STRANGER THINGS
The first portion of this concluding fifth season explodes into action as we get a little closer to (maybe) finding out what’s truly going on with the Upside Down and Eleven.
n Netflix, Wednesday 26 November.
Pluribus (and bottom from left), FKA Twigs, Anno 117, Allan Radcliffe
Saturday 1st November
SCOTLAND v NEW ZEALAND
Saturday 8th November
SCOTLAND v
Sunday 16th November
SCOTLAND v
Sunday 23rd November
back
Jenny Colgan’s romantic comedy novels have sold more than nine million copies worldwide. With an appearance upcoming at Glasgow’s Aye Write festival while her latest book, The Secret Christmas Library, is on shelves now, Colgan takes on our hard-hitting Q&A and reveals her solar-powered optimism, train geekery and fear of in-shower TVs
Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Who do you think the casting people would choose? Miss Hoolie from Balamory. ALF, the friendly alien puppet.
What’s the best cover version ever? It’s probably Johnny Cash doing ‘Hurt’, but I have a very soft spot for The Chicks’ take on ‘Landslide’.
What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? I won something at a Glen Michael’s Cavalcade live show and got to go up on stage. Deeply terrifying. I always found him scary anyway. Stupid Paladin.
What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? ‘I’m not Willie Nelson.’
If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? A human, but this time around, one that looks exactly like Elizabeth Debicki.
If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? Oh that sounds boring. Do you mean like watching the queen go to the toilet? No, I think I’d rather be an angel and dance in clouds and sing in chords and play my harp. I already play the harp, but very much not well enough to get into heaven.
THE Q& A WITH JENNY COLGAN
If you were playing in an escape room, name two other people (well-known or otherwise) you’d recruit to help you get out? Oh any of the Doctor Whos: they’ve already got the screwdriver. I’ll take any two of Ncuti, Peter C or David: keep it local.
When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? It is a minor thrill for me if anyone asks me for directions in a foreign country. Last month I did a library event in Utrecht and was walking away from it when a woman asked me for ‘something something bibliotheek?’ I pointed it out to her and felt smug.
Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? Alex Jennings. I will listen to any audio book he has anything to do with. He’s just such a beautiful speaker and actors aren’t trained to sound like that anymore, so there’s a hint of melancholy even in hearing it.
Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? That you have a choice in how you feel about quite a lot of the things that happen to you.
Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Ooooh winter, dark, fire on, kids all home, stiff G&T, sleepy dogs, enormous bowl of crisps and either an incredibly good book or some incredibly terrible TV, cosy bed with electric blanket on at 9. I absolutely love a party and going out, but that’s what Tuesdays are for.
If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? Any single day when the kids were little and couldn’t stop talking. I love them big but I miss them wee. Of course, at the time it felt exhausting. We found an old video tape recently where my husband had just left it running in the car and it was 30 minutes of the three of them asking questions and squabbling and being noisy and hilarious. It was like finding rarest gold.
If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to and what would it be called? I couldn’t, but my dad used to play in an Eagles tribute band called Hotel Caledonia.
As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? It was when the pandemic finished and the kids were finally back at school after 18 months of just kicking about with us: no activities, no holidays, nobody going away to work or anything. My husband asked, ‘ok, well we should try and think of one positive thing about the pandemic: what was the best thing about it?’ And my then 12-year-old said, ‘oh, I would say, all of it?’ and the tenyear-old agreed vociferously. We overschedule kids a lot.
Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? Yes I had a nickname, no I was not ok with it and one of the many joys in my life is never, ever having to have one single further interaction with any of the people who used it.
When were you most recently astonished by something? I am watching the explosive growth of solar power and battery storage times in absolute amazement. The world is now adding a gigawatt (that’s about a million homes) every single day. It’s going to happen. We’re going to do it. In a world of rotten news, this is the kind of thing I’m desperately clinging on to.
What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? Something by Kate Bush, but only with likeminded chums. ‘Cloudbusting’ is very much a group endeavour.
Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I’m a galloping train nerd and can often identify the trains that pass our house by sound alone. I held my 50th birthday party on the Caledonian Sleeper. One of my presents was a model version of the sleeper, which we built to go round the buffet car while the train was moving. I am desperate to be published in China so that I have an excuse to take the Shanghai Maglev.
When did you last cry? Oh god, it’s so awful. You know you associate songs with big moments in your life? So we just dropped off our second son at uni and the song that came on the radio was ‘The One And Only’ by Chesney Hawkes
and at the verse: ‘No one / Can be myself like I can / For this job I’m the best man’ . . . I was gone. I am quite annoyed it was a song so dumb and ubiquitous that I now have to cry along to it for the rest of my life.
Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Michelle Obama complains vociferously in her excellent memoir that Barack would just take himself off to Hawaii and read for three weeks solid, and I would be very down with that.
What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? I have a PageFlip Butterfly. When I’m playing piano, I read the music off the iPad and that’s my Bluetooth foot pedal that magically ‘turns’ the pages. Apparently, it will also work if you wink at it but I haven’t managed that.
What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? I’d love to be able to animate (computer, stop-motion, hand-drawn . . . really anything). But I just don’t have the patience for it. I’m not built that way. But I do like to draw little cartoons and it would be cool to see them move.
By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? The last owner remodelled our flat before we moved in and it now has three bathrooms which is, I feel, rather de trop for the three people who still live here. They also put a TV in the shower. I cannot, or do not want to figure that out at all.
If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Ooh, I know exactly where, because it’s on my list: the Grandhotel Pupp in Czechia, which is where they filmed the casino scene in the Casino Royale remake. If I’m ever stressed, I go and look at the pictures on their website. One day . .
Jenny Colgan (with Anne Marie Ryan) appears at Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Sunday 16 November, as part of Aye Write; The Secret Christmas Library is out now published by Hodder & Stoughton.
hot shots: art special
1 2 3
Edinburgh-born and Glasgow-based multidisciplinary artist Rae-Yen Song will transform the vast space at Tramway (15 November–24 August) into a sub-aquatic world. This solo exhibition features sculpture, textiles, sound, light, moving images and print in order to examine myth, ritual and science.
We’re in ‘last chance to see’ territory for Kirstin Harvie’s Beyond Redemption (until 2 November) at Hunter Saville Cumbrae Gallery & Studio in Millport, which focuses on the 107 individuals in the UK who are serving prison sentences with no possibility of release. Her prints and portraits explore notions of justice, identity and crime.
At Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, there’s a double header of immersive art going on with Beyond Monet and Beyond Van Gogh (29 November–2 January). While this style of exhibition may not please all palates, global audiences are rolling along in their millions to sample these vivid displays that tease the senses.
