Alys, Always, Bridge Theatre review - mildly perverse but rather dispiriting

Adaptation of Harriet Lane's psychological and satirical bestseller never quite takes off

Okay, so this is the play that will be remembered for the character names that have unusual spellings. As in Alys not Alice, Kyte not Kite, etc. Anyway, Lucinda Coxon's adaptation of journalist Harriet Lane's 2012 bestseller for the Bridge Theatre starts off with Frances (Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt) coming across a fatal car crash in which Alys, a woman she doesn't know, is killed.

This Time with Alan Partridge, BBC One review - a man out of time?

★★★ THIS TIME WITH ALAN PARTRIDGE, BBC ONE A man out of time?

Shameless return of Steve Coogan's cringetastic broadcaster

“I’ve remained a vital presence on the fringes of TV Land,” argues Alan Partridge in an interview with Radio Times, the man whose latest claim to… well, not fame, but at least he has been presenting Mid Morning Matters on North Norfolk Digital.

Eden, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs review - thoughtful commentary on people and principles

★★★★ EDEN, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Thoughtful commentary on people and principles

Hannah Patterson's new play is based on a true story, but stands firmly on its own two feet

"It's gonna be the best golf course in the world," a man in an Aertex shirt and a bright red baseball cap is assuring us. "The best. I guarantee it." You can tell he's the kind of person who thinks talking quickly and loudly is the same thing as being right.

Blu-ray: De Niro & De Palma - The Early Films

★★★ DE NIRO & DE PALMA - THE EARLY YEARS Sometimes intriguing pre-fame work of two Hollywood giants

Sometimes intriguing pre-fame 1960s work of two Hollywood giants

If we think of Robert De Niro and Brian De Palma, we likely think of The Untouchables from 1987 with the great actor in his career pomp, chewing up the scenery in a memorable cameo as Al Capone. However, the pair had history.

Kristen Roupenian: You Know You Want This review - twisted tales

★★ KRISTEN ROUPENIAN: YOU KNOW YOU WANT THIS Twisted tales lack empathy

Nasty nuance aplenty in story collection from the 'Cat Person' writer, but empathy absent

A one-night stand between a female college student, Margot, whose part-time job is selling snacks at the cinema, and thirtyish Robert, a customer, goes pathetically awry. It was disappointing, uneasy, perhaps more, and memorialised in all its edgy discomfort in Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person”, published in the New Yorker in December 2017.

Vice review - Christian Bale on surging and satiric form

★★★★ VICE Christian Bale on surging and satiric form in Adam McKay's Oscar hopeful

Adam McKay's Oscar hopeful entertains and chills

Satire was once thought in America to be that thing that closed on Saturday night. Not here: filmmaker Adam McKay goes the distance with Vice, a hurtling examination of realpolitik that puts Dick Cheney under a spotlight at once satiric and scary. Do we have Dubya's onetime veep to thank for the subsequent rise of Trump and the parlous state of affairs Stateside since then?

I object, British Museum review - censorship, accidental?

★★ I OBJECT, BRITISH MUSEUM Dissidence show doesn't allow objects to speak for themselves

Exhibition on dissidence and subversion doesn't allow objects to speak for themselves

It’s the nature of satire to reflect what it mocks, so as you’d expect from a British Museum exhibition curated by Ian Hislop, I object is a curiously establishment take on material anti-establishmentarianism from BC something-or-other right up to the present day.