Why do farmers hate Clarkson's Farm so much?
When the programme launched, it was heralded by many as something of a miracle for British agriculture. Clarkson's programme showed the people at home all the ups and downs of farming life in its brutal reality: the sheaves of inane paperwork; the incentives to actually not farm at all; the masochism of the British weather and the brutal acceptance that with life, comes death. As farmers always say, 'where there's livestock, there's deadstock', and Clarkson's Farm didn't shy away from showing viewers this truth. It might not all be entirely genuine, but it was far closer to the truth of life in the countryside than the likes of your average Countryfile episode.
In fact, author and sheep farmer James Rebanks went so far as to say that Jeremy Clarkson had done more for farmers in one TV series than Countryfile managed in 30 years.
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Theatre reviews: The 39 Steps
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The 39 Steps, Pitlochry Festival Theatre ★★★ The Last Laugh, Theatre Royal ★★★★ In a world where credible futures seem in increasingly short supply, it sometimes seems as if cultural nostalgia is becoming our only jam. Rock music survivors from the 20th century stage ever-larger stadium tours, tribute musicals whisk us back to the 1960s or 70s; and here, in Pitlochry and Glasgow this week, are two stage shows which have their own special relationship with our cultural past. Alexander Service and Chris Coxon in The 39 Steps | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Patrick Barlow's brisk two-hour stage adaptation of The 39 Steps - first seen in London two decades ago - is probably best understood not as a version of John Buchan's 1915 novel, but as an affectionate send-up of Alfred Hitchcock's hugely successful 1935 film, designed to extract maximum laughs from the absurdities of extreme fringe theatre, as a cast of only four try to tell a story featuring at least 20 characters, with much help from bad hats, and worse facial hair. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To judge by Barlow's programme note for this year's Pitlochry production, he also intended his adaptation to add a little heart to what began as a brusquely masculine tale of Richard Hannay, a British imperial adventurer at a loose end, who finds himself in a desperate race to expose a deadly network of foreign spies before they catch up with him. And in Ben Occhipinti's Pitlochry production of Barlow's version - which follows and surpasses Hitchcock in introducing some female love interest to the story - Alexander Service as a handsome Hannay, and Blythe Jandoo in stylish Thirties form as all the women with whom he falls in love, both bring a real touch of romance to their performances. The problem, though, is that almost all other aspects of the plot are reduced to such Monty Python-style absurdity - as supporting actors Chris Coxon and Stephanie Cremona conjure up a bewildering series of dastardly villains and spoof Scottish peasants - that it becomes very difficult to attach any real meaning to the story. Liz Cooke's set is charming, with its little train circling the front of the stage to the upbeat strains of Vivian Ellis's Coronation Scot. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To my eyes, though, most of the comedy looks laboured and un-funny, in a post-1980s fringe theatre style that has had its day; and despite the best efforts of the actors - who received a well-deserved cheer from the audience as they took their bows - the show seems to me to lack momentum, and to be both less meaningful, and less seriously funny, than Barlow originally intended. The Last Laugh | Contributed There's a richer and more direct vein of comedy, by contrast, in writer and director Paul Henry's 80-minute play The Last Laugh, now on a UK-wide tour after its 2024 Edinburgh Fringe success. The show features a dressing-room conversation among three of Britain's most revered 20th century comedy stars; the great natural comedians Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe, and Bob Monkhouse, comedian and game-show host, who spent most of his life studying the structure of comedy. The Last Laugh follows other fine plays about comedy - notably Tom McGrath's Laurel & Hardy - in dealing with the strange, poignant relationship between comedy and death. Both Cooper and Morecambe died in mid-career, in the spring of 1984; and Hendy uses this fact to place all three stars in what turns out to be a dressing room on the edge of eternity. For most of its length, though, the show is a funny and fascinating exploration of comedy itself, as delivered by a generation of absolute masters. Damian Williams as Tommy, Bob Golding as Eric, and Simon Cartwright as Bob all make a brilliant job of evoking the special style and comic energy of the men they play; and they also bring an immense quiet skill to their handling of the play's huge range of emotional registers, from the daftly hilarious to the poignant, and finally to the tragic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Metro
2 hours ago
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Chris Martin mortified after exposing couple's ‘affair' during concert
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Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
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I paid £18 for fish and chips in famous UK seaside town — two words sum it up
The takeaway and restaurant is right on the seafront There was an outpouring of sadness when a well-known seafront chippy in the iconic seaside town of Weston-super-Mare closed down suddenly after 20 years and more. But the good news soon came that former Michelin-starred chef Josh Eggleton had snapped up the site and he reopened it as one of his Salt and Malt restaurant and takeaways within a matter of weeks. And it seems to have been a hit with the locals straight away — by 6pm on the sunny Saturday I visited, there was a queue for tables in the restaurant and an even bigger one waiting for takeaways. With its blue-tiled frontage, black and white 'chessboard' floor tiles and ribbed glass partitions between booths, this shiny new Salt and Malt looks similar to other branches and you get a sense that Eggleton is now gearing up to open in other seaside locations. And let's hope so because this upmarket fish and chip concept is crying out to be rolled out more widely. With its sustainable North Atlantic fish, gluten-free chips and daily specials (it was Cornish Mounts Bay sardines with toasted sourdough, salad and pickles on this visit), it's a 'posh' chippy but Eggleton has been careful not to price seaside visitors out of the market. The takeaway prices aren't too far off what most seafront chippies are charging: small cod and chips is £12.50, battered sausages are £2.40 and the kids' meals are £7, chips in a cone at £2 and a large chip box for £5.60. In the restaurant, prices are more of course, with battered haddock and chips with buttered crushed garden peas for £19 and homemade fishcake with cod, haddock, lemon, dill and parsley for £14.50. The kids' menu (for ages 16 and under) in the restaurant is only £7.50 with options including battered fish, sausage, chicken chunks, scampi and halloumi, all served with chips and choice of peas, baked beans, carrots or cucumber. But it's the little twists and alternatives that puts Salt and Malt in a different league to other seaside town chippies. As well as gluten-free batter as standard, you can have your cod or haddock baked in garlic butter rather than battered if you prefer — a healthier option, perhaps, for those craving a 'beach body' this summer. For those diners not too bothered about such things, there are also free chip refills, although portions are generous enough not to need that. We tried the cod and chips (£18) and the curried cod burger (£16.50) and both were hard to fault. The cod was encased in crisp, golden batter, the large flakes of fish moist and juicy within, with a generous heap of buttery crushed peas. OK, £18 might be more than average for a plate of fish and chips, but it was a top quality version of the British seaside classic and worth it. Served in a soft brioche bun, the curried cod burger was a large piece of lightly battered fish with a gentle curry sauce flavour, tartare sauce, coleslaw and pickled red cabbage. The chips were greaseless, crisp on the edges and fluffy inside. It was essentially a dish that encapsulated the best bits of a seaside chippy - fish and chips, bread roll, curry sauce and burger accompaniments - and was bordering on the 'genius'. Weston-super-Mare may have lost Winstons after 20 years, but its replacement is already making its mark as the hottest new venue on the seafront this summer. If I had to sum it up in two words, they would be "top drawer". Chippy classics with a sea view - what more do you want on a sunny summer day?
