Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Newsletters
Sign in

Culture

  • Go for it … CatsTwoAngryYowlsD PE022601 (AKA the Wilhelm Miaow) was recorded in a living room in 1988.

    Film
    ‘A kitten on heat with a racy physique’: the mystery of the bloodcurdling cat screech used in hundreds of movies

    From Babe to Pet Sematary to Toy Story, the same furious yowl crops up in film after film. So who was the cat and who made the recording? We solve the enigma of the ‘Wilhelm Miaow’
  • Performance of a lifetime … George Fouracres as Lloyd Webber, backed by Flo & Joan.

    Comedy
    ‘King of the musicools!’ Inside the outrageous musical send-up of Andrew Lloyd Webber

    It’s had hit runs in Edinburgh and Soho – and was the Guardian’s funniest show of 2024. Now it’s blazing into the West End. Comedy duo Flo & Joan (who were both in Joseph at school) reveal all about One Man Musical
  • ‘A satire of pomposity and lies’ … Ruby Head, centre, in the RSC’s staging of Sarcophagus by Vladimir Gubarev at the Barbican, 1987.

    Stage
    The play that changed my life: ‘Sarcophagus dealt with Chornobyl as a symptom of corruption in Russia’

    Vladimir Gubarev’s tragic satire about the response to the nuclear disaster transfixed audiences and showed the absolute necessity of theatre
  • Tony Slattery pictured in 2019

    TV
    Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack

    • Crowd of people dressed as clowns

      Feature
      ‘It allowed me to be more myself’: how becoming a clown can be therapeutic

    • An entrance to Drumsheds, the Tottenham superclub which has faced police scrutiny in recent weeks.

      Club culture
      ‘Professionals’ to some, ‘a shambles’ to others: can the UK’s biggest nightclub stay open?

    • Man wearing sunglasses in front of blue sign

      The Diddy documentary cycle has started, and it’s already proving problematic

      Andrew Lawrence
    • Grace Delaney, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in We Live in Time.

      Most romcoms don’t dare ask what women in their 30s really want. We Live In Time does

      Hollie Richardson
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.
The Guardian Newsletters logo

News

  • An EH Shepard illustration of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet found in Smith's collection.

    Books
    Rare collection of Winnie-the-Pooh letters to be auctioned

    Letters sent between Pooh author AA Milne, illustrator EH Shepard and their publisher Frederick Muller were discovered in a carrier bag in a loft
  • Abel Tesfaye, AKA the Weeknd, performing in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 7 September 2024.

    Music
    The Weeknd postpones new album ‘out of respect and concern’ for LA residents

  • Beverley Knight as Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

    Theatre
    Beverley Knight to play rock’n’roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe

  • Film
    Actor Dirk Bogarde was ‘disturbed’ by KGB sting warning, declassified files reveal

  • Books
    Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses among winners of Nero book awards

  • US news
    Carrie Underwood to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration

  • Books
    ‘Transcendental beauty’ of Peter Gizzi’s Fierce Elegy wins him TS Eliot poetry prize

  • Film
    Oscar nominations further delayed by wildfires as Grammys and Sundance set to go ahead

  • Drag
    Drag artists warn of rising tide of bigotry as they pay tribute to The Vivienne

2025 culture preview

  • Clairo and Tyler, the Creator – two of the artists touring the UK this year.

    Music
    Billie Eilish, Sex Pistols and Beethoven’s skull: music to listen out for in 2025

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

    Games
    Games to look forward to in 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

  • stage

    Stage
    Chills, chuckles and Cate Blanchett in Chekhov: the best theatre, dance and comedy coming in 2025

  • music

    Film
    Toyboys, divas and Bridget Jones: the films to look forward to in 2025

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Reviews

  • Social psychologist Keon West.

    Book of the day
    The Science of Racism by Keon West review – evidence that speaks for itself

  • Claes Bang and the cast of William Tell.

    Film
    William Tell review – limbs fly as Claes Bang’s medieval hero rallies a Swiss army

    A classy cast plays it straight in this enjoyably daft action epic about the crossbow sharpshooter forced to shoot an apple from his son’s head
  • Marilyn Manson in black with top hat and green skin holds a finger to his mouth

    TV review
    Marilyn Manson: Unmasked review – should a tour bus really need the age of consent pinned to the wall?

    Abuse allegations – which he denies – pile up against the shock rocker in this chilling documentary, not helped by some of the sexual comments he makes about pre-teens
  • The Sixteen, conducted by founder Harry Christophers, performs at London's Wigmore Hall on Monday 13 January 2025 (singers, l-r, sopranos Grace Davidson and Alexandra Kidgell, basses Den Davies, Stuart Young and Eamonn Dougan tenors Oscar Golden-Lee, Mark Dobell and Jeremy Budd and alto Daniel Collins.) © Wigmore Hall.

    Music
    The Indian Queen review – musical wit, fratricide and crested adders as the Sixteen play Purcell

  • DCI Ahmed Halim (Sagar Radia) and Kat Crichton (Sorcha Groundsell) in An t-Eilean

    Television & radio
    An t-Eilean review – this Gaelic language crime drama should have happened years ago

  • Penn & Teller at the Sydney Opera House

    Magic
    Penn & Teller – icons of stage magic celebrate 50 years in canny new Australian show

  • Werewolves

    Film
    Werewolves – post-apocalyptic lupine horror makes an enemy of the moonlight

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Regulars

  • Andy Davis and James Warren of the Korgis in 1973.

    How we made
    ‘Our computer sampler cost more than a house!’: how the Korgis made Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime

    ‘I wrote it in 20 minutes one Sunday morning and there have now been more than 50 cover versions. My favourite is the brooding one Beck did for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’
  • David Baddiel.

    Honest playlist
    ‘I’d be tempted to have sex to Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)’: David Baddiel’s honest playlist

  • Siobhan Finneran wearing a dark blue coat, sitting in a blue velvet armchair.

    On my radar
    On my radar: Siobhan Finneran’s cultural highlights

  • Film
    Rowan Atkinson at 70: his best films – ranked!

  • My best shot
    My 90,000 shots of the sun: Andrew McCarthy’s best photograph

  • How we made
    ‘They wanted a host without much personality’: Evan Davis and Peter Jones on Dragons’ Den

  • Rebecca Frecknall
    On my radar: Rebecca Frecknall’s cultural highlights

Staying in

  • Simon Schama standing on the roof of a building in Whitechapel, London.

    What's on tonight
    TV tonight: Simon Schama’s series on the culture that defines us

  • The takedown … Anthony Robles as Jharrel Jerome in Unstoppable.

    The seven best films to watch on TV this week
    Unstoppable to Alien: Romulus – the seven best films to watch on TV this week

    Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez shine in a triumphant biopic of the US wrestler Anthony Robles, plus a youthful new twist on the classic sci-fi saga
  • Severance, season two.

    The seven best shows to stream this week
    Severance to An t-Eilean: the seven best shows to stream this week

    Ben Stiller and Adam Scott’s startling workplace satire finally returns, and the BBC’s first prestige drama primarily in Gaelic comes in the form of a murder mystery in the Outer Hebrides
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Pictures & video

  • L Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France 2022

    Art and design
    Seeing stars: meet the amateur astronomers

    They may stare into space from shonky-looking booths, but these citizen scientists have helped discover comets, dangerous asteroids and more
  • A lone Trump supporter wrapped in an American flag stands before barricades at Trump's inauguration in 2016

    Photography
    Trumpland: carnival to insurrection

  • Weinstein Irma and Alexis 300dpi Alexis and Irma, San Mateo, CA 2017

    Portraits
    ‘I had to transcend my fear’: LGBTQ+ lives – in pictures

  • Photos of the day
    Solar sculpture and winter landscapes

  • Music
    ‘Is it sexual? Or violent?’: the year’s best record sleeve art

  • Crime
    Chasing the mafia: the wild, Vespa-riding life of Letizia Battaglia

  • Photography
    January blues? Images that share your sadness

  • People
    Fight for the spotlight! Portrait of Britain winners

  • The big picture
    Every chocoholic’s dream?

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

You may have missed

  • ‘I’m queer and I’m a figurative painter. I don’t really know what else to say’ … Grewal at his studio with The Ceaseless Cycle of Erosion.

    Art and design
    ‘I was drenched in painting’: how Jake Grewal’s nudes in nature caused a sensation

    His dreamy, mysterious landscapes populated by naked figures have made him a rising star of the art world. But the young artist says he’s still figuring things out
  • 'Playing Nice' TV Show, Series 1, Episode 1, UK - 05 Jan 2025<br>Editorial use only Mandatory Credit: Photo by Joss Barratt/REX/Shutterstock (15034292aq) Niamh Algar as Maddie. 'Playing Nice' TV Show, Series 1, Episode 1, UK - 05 Jan 2025 Playing Nice, is a British ITV psychological thriller adapted by Malpractice writer Grace Ofori-Attah from the best-selling novel by British thriller author JP Delaney. Two couples discover that their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up and face a horrifying dilemma: do they keep the sons they have raised and loved or reclaim their biological child? Living a waking nightmare, Pete (James Norton) and Maddie (Niamh Algar) are jettisoned into the world of the other couple Miles (James McArdle) and Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay). At first it seems all four are agreed on a solution, but are hidden motives are at play? How far can each couple trust the real parents of their child or even each other?

    TV
    From stolen babies to dog murder: the TV shows that went way too far

  • 82nd Annual Golden Globes - Show<br>Karla Sofía Gascón wins Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for "Emilia Pérez" during the 82nd Annual Golden Globes held at The Beverly Hilton on January 05, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/GG2025/Penske Media via Getty Images)

    Golden Globes 2025
    The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Shōgun triumph

  • Louise Young.

    Comedy
    Louise Young: ‘Some hecklers are just excited to be out of the house’

  • Gruesome legacy … Trine Dyrholm as Overbye in The Girl With the Needle.

    Film
    ‘It’s easy to call what she did evil’: inside Denmark’s Oscars entry, about a serial child murderer

  • Zendaya wearing an orange formal dress in front of a Golden Globes sign

    Film
    Zendaya and Tom Holland might be engaged – and of course people are being normal about it

Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

Most viewed