Film, music, books and the ideas that shape how we live.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
All topics · Newest first
BBC Three and BBC Scotland will close as TV channels and move online, while Radio 4 Extra will be scrapped, in the spring, as part of BBC channel closures driving towards £500m in savings.
A new David Bowie dance show, Subject to Change, created by Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau, will be staged at Sadler's Wells in London in autumn 2028 after a world premiere in Luxembourg, before travelling to Tokyo in 2029.
Royal Exchange artistic director Selina Cartmell has announced the Manchester theatre's 2027-28 season of new plays, two years after a censorship row triggered by a cancelled A Midsummer Night's Dream production.
Scholars conclude 'beyond doubt' that Shakespeare was the principal author of the play Edward III, and that it was a major collaboration with Christopher Marlowe, based on computerised textual analysis.
A new biography of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the Yorùbá woman presented to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle aged seven as a 'diplomatic gift', has been published, and her great-great-grandson Bayo Randle has welcomed it.
Mark Cocker is completing his 1,000th article for the Guardian country diary, 39 years after his first column described a jay burying acorns near Norwich in autumn 1987. His next dispatch will turn to changing birdlife at Flint Clough in the Peak District.
Isabel Allende has won Spain's €1m (£843,000) Premio Planeta, entered under the pseudonym Luz Ventura. The 84-year-old took the 75th edition of the award on Thursday with her novel La hora antes del alba.
The Sky supernatural series Possession, filmed entirely in Jamaica, features a Jamaican film take on a biracial British lawyer who uncovers a vengeful spirit tied to a plantation's colonial past while investigating a multimillion-pound inheritance dispute. Director Storm Saulter says representing the trauma and legacy of enslavement was critical to the production.
More than 100 current and former cast and crew of The Archers, joined by Judi Dench, have written to BBC director general Matt Brittin arguing that the show's recording must stay in Birmingham, after the BBC moved to stop recording in the city for the first time in its 75-year history.
The Guardian-produced documentary NAZA, which details Israel's mass killing of civilians in Gaza, opened in UK cinemas this week to five-star and four-star reviews from critics worldwide and will screen in more than 50 countries.
The Prince Charles cinema in London's Leicester Square has signed a new 25-year lease with its landlords, ending the threat of closure after 21 months of uncertainty.
All 10 Victoria Crosses ever awarded to the Royal Marines are going on public display together for the first time, at a new £15m Royal Marines Experience at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard opening on 24 October.
Paddington: The Musical, the Olivier-winning West End show, will land in Sydney in September 2027 for a 10-week season at the Capitol Theatre. Dates in other Australian cities and the Sydney cast are yet to be announced.
Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using generative AI to write The Blue Fighter, announced winner of the Caine prize for African writers on 6 October, after an article by Vauhini Vara raised the simbarashe kundizeza ai controversy.
Cast members of The Archers have spoken of their anger after the BBC dropped plans for a new Birmingham studio at the Tea Factory in Digbeth, a move that could lead to the long-running radio drama being recorded away from its home in the West Midlands.
Sally Rooney says her support for Palestine Action means she can no longer receive UK royalties, and her publisher Faber will stop supplying her books in the UK.
JP Mayhew, who bought Rules on Maiden Lane in 1984, has donated the restaurant's historic 34-35 Maiden Lane home to the National Trust in an £11m gift, the charity's first venture into restaurants.
Showing 17 stories · October 20, 2026
Film, music, books and the ideas that shape how we live.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
All topics · Newest first
BBC Three and BBC Scotland will close as TV channels and move online, while Radio 4 Extra will be scrapped, in the spring, as part of BBC channel closures driving towards £500m in savings.
By LiveDigest · 13:59 GMTA new David Bowie dance show, Subject to Change, created by Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau, will be staged at Sadler's Wells in London in autumn 2028 after a world premiere in Luxembourg, before travelling to Tokyo in 2029.
By LiveDigest · 08:21 GMTRoyal Exchange artistic director Selina Cartmell has announced the Manchester theatre's 2027-28 season of new plays, two years after a censorship row triggered by a cancelled A Midsummer Night's Dream production.
By LiveDigest · 06:00 GMTScholars conclude 'beyond doubt' that Shakespeare was the principal author of the play Edward III, and that it was a major collaboration with Christopher Marlowe, based on computerised textual analysis.
By LiveDigest · Oct 18A new biography of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the Yorùbá woman presented to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle aged seven as a 'diplomatic gift', has been published, and her great-great-grandson Bayo Randle has welcomed it.
By LiveDigest · Oct 18Mark Cocker is completing his 1,000th article for the Guardian country diary, 39 years after his first column described a jay burying acorns near Norwich in autumn 1987. His next dispatch will turn to changing birdlife at Flint Clough in the Peak District.
By LiveDigest · Oct 17Isabel Allende has won Spain's €1m (£843,000) Premio Planeta, entered under the pseudonym Luz Ventura. The 84-year-old took the 75th edition of the award on Thursday with her novel La hora antes del alba.
By LiveDigest · Oct 17The Sky supernatural series Possession, filmed entirely in Jamaica, features a Jamaican film take on a biracial British lawyer who uncovers a vengeful spirit tied to a plantation's colonial past while investigating a multimillion-pound inheritance dispute. Director Storm Saulter says representing the trauma and legacy of enslavement was critical to the production.
By LiveDigest · Oct 16More than 100 current and former cast and crew of The Archers, joined by Judi Dench, have written to BBC director general Matt Brittin arguing that the show's recording must stay in Birmingham, after the BBC moved to stop recording in the city for the first time in its 75-year history.
By LiveDigest · Oct 16The Guardian-produced documentary NAZA, which details Israel's mass killing of civilians in Gaza, opened in UK cinemas this week to five-star and four-star reviews from critics worldwide and will screen in more than 50 countries.
By LiveDigest · Oct 16The Prince Charles cinema in London's Leicester Square has signed a new 25-year lease with its landlords, ending the threat of closure after 21 months of uncertainty.
By LiveDigest · Oct 16All 10 Victoria Crosses ever awarded to the Royal Marines are going on public display together for the first time, at a new £15m Royal Marines Experience at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard opening on 24 October.
By LiveDigest · Oct 15Paddington: The Musical, the Olivier-winning West End show, will land in Sydney in September 2027 for a 10-week season at the Capitol Theatre. Dates in other Australian cities and the Sydney cast are yet to be announced.
By LiveDigest · Oct 15Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using generative AI to write The Blue Fighter, announced winner of the Caine prize for African writers on 6 October, after an article by Vauhini Vara raised the simbarashe kundizeza ai controversy.
By LiveDigest · Oct 14Cast members of The Archers have spoken of their anger after the BBC dropped plans for a new Birmingham studio at the Tea Factory in Digbeth, a move that could lead to the long-running radio drama being recorded away from its home in the West Midlands.
By LiveDigest · Oct 14Sally Rooney says her support for Palestine Action means she can no longer receive UK royalties, and her publisher Faber will stop supplying her books in the UK.
By LiveDigest · Oct 14JP Mayhew, who bought Rules on Maiden Lane in 1984, has donated the restaurant's historic 34-35 Maiden Lane home to the National Trust in an £11m gift, the charity's first venture into restaurants.
By LiveDigest · Oct 13Showing 17 stories · October 20, 2026
Film, music, books and the ideas that shape how we live.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
All topics · Newest first
By LiveDigest · 13:59 GMT
By LiveDigest · 08:21 GMT
By LiveDigest · 06:00 GMT
By LiveDigest · Oct 18
By LiveDigest · Oct 16
By LiveDigest · Oct 16
By LiveDigest · Oct 15
By LiveDigest · Oct 14
By LiveDigest · Oct 13
Showing 17 stories · October 20, 2026
