The coolest female characters on television
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong Features correspondent Netflix (Credit: Netflix) From chic Sylvie in Emily in Paris, to Sam in Better Things, unapologetic and flawed midlife women are ruling the small screen. We need more, argues Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Earlier this year, as the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That…, sparked heated weekly debate […]
10 TV shows to watch this February
Amy Charles Features correspondent Aaron Epstein/Netflix Killing Eve bows out, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gets a gritty reboot and the Jack Reacher novels are adapted for the small screen – Amy Charles lists this month’s unmissable TV. Peacock (Credit: Peacock) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was one of the ’90s defining sitcoms, turning its […]
Why Lady Macbeth is literature’s most misunderstood villain
Hanna Flint Features correspondent Alamy/Apple TV+ (Credit: Alamy/Apple TV+) Shakespeare’s murderous queen has long been demonised as a wicked seductress. Yet Frances McDormand is the latest actor to show she deserves far more understanding, writes Hanna Flint. Seductress. Manipulator. Madwoman. The Fourth Witch. These are just a few of the more hostile descriptors that Lady […]
The film that changed how we see sport
Hanna Flint Features correspondent Alamy (Credit: Alamy) Even though it was first released 20 years ago, the movie Love and Basketball is still revolutionary now, argues Hanna Flint. The sport movie has long been the domain of male stories and basketball has frequently provided the backdrop. From 1954’s Go Man Go! featuring Sidney Poitier and […]
Yayoi Kusama’s extraordinary survival story
Cath Pound Features correspondent Getty Yayoi Kusama (Credit: Getty) The Japanese artist famed for her Instagrammable artworks overcame childhood trauma, prejudice and mental illness to become a sensation late in life, writes Cath Pound. Yayoi Kusama is the biggest-selling female artist in the world. And in her bright-red wig and quirky polka-dot ensembles, she is […]
How radical is the new biopic?
Nicholas Barber Features correspondent Number 9 Films Keira Knightley stars as Colette in the film about a taboo-busting writer. Does it match the brio of its subject? She might have been born in the late 19th Century, but Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is a heroine for our times: a fearless, creative woman who challenged the patriarchy in […]
The eerie emptiness of ‘Britain’s Area 51’
Mark Piesing Features correspondent Geography Photos/Getty Images Orford Ness, on England’s east coast, is still steeped in secrecy following the work done there during two World Wars and the Cold War (Credit: Geography Photos/Getty Images) Orford Ness is now one of Britain’s most protected natural landscapes. For decades, however, it was the hidden nerve centre […]
How your family shapes your body image
Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld Awareness of body ideals can start from a young age (Credit: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld) Comments about our looks from our loved ones and friends can cause lifelong insecurities. How can we teach kids to feel confident about their bodies instead? Picture the scene: a little girl tries on a sparkly dress, does […]
What it’s like living as a female psychopath
Megha Mohan Features correspondent Somsara Rielly/BBC Psychopathy is most commonly associated with men – particularly among criminal offenders – but it is largely understudied in women (Credit: Somsara Rielly/BBC) Psychopathy is a condition that reviles and fascinates many people in equal measure, but the deeply entrenched stigma surrounding it means the disorder is still poorly […]
The genius who scandalised society
Hephzibah Anderson Features correspondent Getty Images On the 200th anniversary of George Eliot’s birth, Hephzibah Anderson explores how the author was as revolutionary in life as in her novel writing. A woman sits engrossed in her reading, long hair hanging loose at her shoulders, feet slung over the arm of a chair. However you imagine […]