Five-year-old Harvey Hind, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, appeared on the BBC One soap on Wednesday.
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I’m new to Uketsu – the ambiguous YouTuber whose true identity is unknown, only photographed wearing a mask. The press release for Strange Buildings refers to the author as ‘he’, on which basis we can presumably rule out half the planet. Either way, Uketsu exploded onto the Japanese literary scene and, thereafter, around the world, his enigmatic presence of course ensuring an immediate following of millions.
Following the wildly successful novels Strange Pictures and Strange Houses, the final part of this trilogy is exactly what it says. Eleven strange buildings all connected – but how? And by what or whom? Ranging from a lonely hut in the woods to a hidden chamber or a mysterious shrine, each has a secret. All very creepy and a touch Tales From The Unexpected… but much darker.
Each story is told via a narrator, who navigates and pulls together each mystery to a very chilling end with a deduction revelation. Uketsu is an author that weaves a clever path for the reader to follow, process and challenge. An author with a dark psyche: thank the lord he chose to be an author and not a serial killer. In fact, he may be. We wouldn’t know.
The film, which is named after a last-ditch pass sometimes made in American football, centres around Gosling’s character Ryland Grace, a science teacher who through a number of extraordinary circumstances, finds himself on a spaceship with no recollection of how he got there, tasked with saving the world from sun-eating bacteria.
The funding increase is about 8% up on the previous financial year, the government will announce on Thursday.
The circus’s fun and frolics rolled into Cardiff last night after a successful run at the Bristol Old Vic. Barnum, a classic musical which premiered in 1980, dramatises the life of P. T. Barnum, a 19th-century American impresario often dubbed “the world’s greatest showman”.
Lee Mead, of Any Dream Will Do and Joseph fame, dons the top hat as ringmaster Barnum, portraying the selfish visionary and his belief in creating the greatest show on earth. A role played for many years by Michael Crawford onstage, and more recently by Hugh Jackman in 2017 movie The Greatest Showman, the story follows Barnum and his family as he relentlessly pursues his dream at the cost of everyone around him.
Mead engages as Barnum, impressing with acting and vocal chops alike – as do the rest of the cast, who showcase an array of musical dexterity, and acrobatic skill worthy of the Barnum & Bailey Circus itself, in retelling the circus tale. Wife Charity Barnum, played by Monique Young, is an ever-present source of support, the showman’s biggest champion even as she’s riled by his constant exaggerated tales and deceptions.
There is a non-stop parade of flick-flacks, musical interludes and comic set pieces, with witty banter galore. A nod must be given here to Barnum’s designers and creators, who delivered a cracking set; a realistic elephant was one of the highlights. A highly talented cast deal with an interpretation that, in parts and in my view, fell a bit flat; still, the technical brilliance of the performers alone ensure this show leaves you beaming.
Barnum, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Tue 17 Mar
On until Sat 21 Mar. Tickets: £18-£85.50. Info: here
words ANTONIA LEVAY
The company says the proliferation of AI has enabled people to upload fake songs to streaming sites.
Nicola Whyte’s Murder Like Clockwork is a locked-room mystery that will have you scratching your head while you turn the pages. Perfect for cosy crime lovers, it is the sequel to 10 Marchfield Square, which received acclaim and award nominations on its publication a year ago.
Audrey Brooks is a cleaner who arrives at the Petrov residence midday each Thursday to clean the house and maintain the owner’s collection of clocks. But on this particular Thursday, shivering from the cold, Audrey arrives half an hour early and discovers a mess she wasn’t expecting: a bedroom full of blood and a dead man at its centre.
Like any sane person would, Audrey gets out quickly and calls the police – who arrive, in less than 20 minutes, to find a pristine room and no dead body in sight. Thus Murder Like Clockwork presents a fascinating conundrum: how could someone clean up a crime scene so fast, and remove a body from a house in broad daylight without being spotted?
While the novel reintroduces characters from 10 Marchfield Square, despite having not read the first book myself I found Murder Like Clockwork thrives as a standalone cunning crime mystery.
The anonymous street artist has become synonymous with subversion, satire and secrecy.
However, the government’s position is now unclear, saying it “no longer has a preferred option” for what to do next.
US actor Sean Penn has been gifted an Oscar-shaped award made from war-damaged rail metal by Ukraine, after he skipped Sunday’s ceremony to visit the war-torn country.
Penn, 65, won his third Academy Award for his supporting actor role in political thriller One Battle Another but was absent from the ceremony.
In a video posted by Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, Pertsovskyi tells Penn: “You’re missing Oscars… So we made this one. This is from the railcar that was damaged by the Russians”.
A long-time advocate for Ukraine, Penn has visited several times since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of the country four years ago.
He gifted one of his Oscars to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022.