Slow Horses, the very British hit about misfit spies, is back and its budget is showing
The BBC passed on the show, according to Apple TV’s Europe boss. It was a mistake worthy of Slough House
John le Carré
Slow Horses returns: ‘Readers know by now I’m capable of killing off whoever is in danger,’ says creator Mick Herron
Mick Herron knows every character he jettisons spells the end for an actor too. That’s life, he says, as the Apple TV+ series returns and a new Slough House novel arrives
New crime fiction: cynical pitch-black comedy reinvigorates the spy fiction genre
New novels by Mick Herron, Nicola Upson, Seishi Yokomizo, Janice Hallett and Rav Grewal-Kök
George Stephanopoulos: ‘You can only have constructive debates if people are determined to engage in good faith’
Clinton-era White House adviser talks about his history of the White House Situation Room and his fear that Americans of opposing political camps have stopped listening to each other
The Pigeon Tunnel: Seasoned interrogators John le Carré and Errol Morris lock horns, with fascinating results
‘I’ve lived through a world of endless betrayal,’ the great spy writer tells the celebrated documentarian in his final testament on camera
Errol Morris on his film-making ideal: ‘I call it the shut-the-f**k-up school of just sitting and listening’
All the Oscar winner’s talents are on show in The Pigeon Tunnel, his gripping documentary about the great espionage writer John le Carré
A secret gay history of UK espionage: ‘The skill-set of homosexuals and spies overlapped’
Huw Lemmey, a novelist and host of the Bad Gays podcast, has made the intriguing spy film Ungentle
How to make the new Irish passport the world’s coolest: Vote for the jellyfish, the shark and the lizard
Donald Clarke: We are a sentimental people, but that does not extend to passports any more than it does to driving licences
Ben Macintyre: ‘The Brits have been on the wrong side of history many times in the past’
The historian on his new book on Colditz, and Britain’s second World War obsession
Can rotund characters be represented by less rounded actors?
Donald Clarke: If authors can keep an open mind about appearances, so can readers
Drop the needle, it’s the 1970s on screen – again
Decade of brown carpets and complicated hair lives on in a long line of retro movies
Rosita Boland: Two things I am grateful for this year
My iPad and audiobooks are two wonderful things salvaged from a year I’d prefer to forget
Why Joe Biden is such an elusive target for his critics
US Politics: The president is acting out that US paradox – the fuddy-duddy reformer
Aoife Kelleher: ‘At my 30th my friends had to rescue the party from my morose playlist’
Soundtrack of My Life: The director on her lockdown listening, Francophilia, and Peppa Pig
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices