Her books have sold 16 million copies worldwide, been translated into 40 languages and recently her work topped the fiction, non-fiction and children’s book charts all in the same week. But Val McDermid isn’t sitting back basking in her success: she’s always looking for new challenges. The 64-year-old crime writer is working on her next thriller, she’s been commissioned to ...

Comedian and actor Tim Brooke-Taylor has died of coronavirus at the age of 79. Here is an article I wrote in 2013. In these days of instant stardom, when people are thrust into the limelight only to disappear after their 15 minutes of fame, it’s gratifying to know that there’s still a place for genuine talent. At the age of ...

Robert Daws is feeling nervous. Not something you would expect of a man who’s been acting for 40 years and has appeared in such seminal television series as The Royal and Poldark. Hours after our conversation, Robert took to the York Theatre Royal stage in Alan Ayckbourn’s Ten Times Table. In the audience was the legendary playwright himself. No wonder ...

The Marlowe Players’ production of Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton which should have been staged at Darley Abbey Village Hall from 24th until 28th March 2020 has been postponed until summer 2020 because of coronavirus. Here’s a look at the play in rehearsal.

For the second successive year, Derby Theatre is producing a major show featuring fully integrated British Sign Language and captioning. In 2019, the theatre presented Neil Duffield’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book; in 2020 Treasure Island will get similar treatment. Steve Orme chats to Derby Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham about the show and what the theatre is doing regarding the ...

By William Shakespeare Derby Theatre 3 to 14 March 2020 No outlandish concept, few gimmicks and a concentration on the text: Douglas Rintoul’s production for Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Derby Theatre is a fairly traditional take on Shakespeare’s story which points out the relevance to contemporary society. Watching on press night at Derby Theatre, I regarded some of the lines spoken by ...