Author: Laura Robinson

My mother never took me to the pictures or to see shows at the theatre. Nor did we ever have a single conversation about what was on the telly or who my favourite superhero was.The fact is that we never had the opportunity. I have a vague image in my mind’s eye of visiting Mum at a cottage hospital somewhere on the Kew Road in Richmond when I was three years old.She told me she was leaving me with ‘Auntie Vera’, a woman with three daughters of her own. My mother then sailed home to Nigeria. The reason I am…

Gary Oldman was in celebratory mood. He’s just reached The Beatles’ famously serenaded age of 64, and he’s got his teeth sunk into the role of a lifetime.He plays a seedy slob of an espionage operative, in the best spy drama to reach TV screens in years.Oh, and he hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol for a quarter of a century. ‘Do you know what the odds are of making 25 years of sobriety?’ he asked me. Luckily, it was a rhetorical question. ‘It’s incredibly low!’ he exclaimed, adding: ‘To think back, I couldn’t go 25 minutes without a drink.’Life is good,…

Erin Doherty will play an enemy of the crown in her next screen role. The actress, who won acclaim for her turn as Princess Anne in Netflix’s The Crown, will star as Protestant martyr Anne Askew, who was tortured at the Tower of London then burnt at the stake.Psychological thriller Firebrand, which begins filming next month, will explore the fractious relationship between Henry VIII (being played by Jude Law) and his sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander).One of its key storylines involves Henry’s adviser Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester (Simon Russell Beale), and his ruthless investigation to…

Gary Barlow is bringing his one-man show to the West End in late August.A Different Stage recounts the ups and downs of the Take That singer’s life to the backdrop of his hits.And he tells me the show, which he first began developing more than a year ago with writer Tim Firth, is touchingly ‘actually a celebration of my dad’, who died in 2009, aged 71. Gary Barlow is bringing his one-man show to the West End in late AugustBarlow’s mum, Marjorie, caught A Different Stage when it played her local theatre, The Brindley in Cheshire, on six consecutive nights.…

The wheel is often hailed as the most important invention of all time, having had a massive impact on transport, agriculture and industry.But a new study claims the greatest creation of early humans may actually have been the handle, because it made stone tools much more energy efficient when chopping and smashing.It did this by increasing the ‘force and precision’ that could be applied, according to researchers at the University of Liverpool. Invaluable: A new study claims the greatest creation of early humans may have been the handle, because it made stone tools much more energy efficient when chopping and…

The Netflix show Call My Agent, about a Parisian talent agency, its staff and their famous (and famously difficult) showbiz clients, has become a potent French cultural export.There are 15 foreign versions in the works, including one here in the UK. And I can now reveal that it is to be turned into a West End musical. Creative executives behind the show have struck a deal with two London producers, who aim to have Call My Agent — The Musical up in lights by the end of 2024.During Zoom conversations with Michel Feller, lead producer and a creator of the TV…

Stranger things have happened to Hollywood actor David Harbour, but this could be the most daunting, as he prepares to make his debut on the London stage.Harbour, who encounters all things weird and wonderful as melancholic police chief Jim Hopper in the Netflix sci-fi horror drama Stranger Things, has signed on to star in the world premiere of American playwright Theresa Rebeck’s play Madhouse, for a 12-week season at the Ambassadors Theatre starting in June.The show’s a two-hander featuring two men — Daniel, who’s in his 60s; and Michael, who’s in his 40s (presumably the part that Harbour, 46, has…

To understand the new smart watched and other pro devices of recent focus, we should look to Silicon Valley and the quantified movement of the latest generation. Apple’s Watch records exercise, tracks our moves throughout the day, assesses the amount of time we are stood up and reminds us to get up and move around if we have been sat for too long – let’s not forget Tim Cook’s “sitting is the new factor” line. Diana saves Steve Trevor who has crashed on Themyscira. He warns her of the great war, World War I, raging across the globe. Wonder Woman…

To understand the new smart watched and other pro devices of recent focus, we should look to Silicon Valley and the quantified movement of the latest generation. Apple’s Watch records exercise, tracks our moves throughout the day, assesses the amount of time we are stood up and reminds us to get up and move around if we have been sat for too long – let’s not forget Tim Cook’s “sitting is the new factor” line. Diana saves Steve Trevor who has crashed on Themyscira. He warns her of the great war, World War I, raging across the globe. Wonder Woman…

To understand the new smart watched and other pro devices of recent focus, we should look to Silicon Valley and the quantified movement of the latest generation. Apple’s Watch records exercise, tracks our moves throughout the day, assesses the amount of time we are stood up and reminds us to get up and move around if we have been sat for too long – let’s not forget Tim Cook’s “sitting is the new factor” line. Diana saves Steve Trevor who has crashed on Themyscira. He warns her of the great war, World War I, raging across the globe. Wonder Woman…