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Turning true stories into TV or movie dramas is a process fraught with danger. Get it wrong and there will be no shortage of real life figures portrayed onscreen ready to tell you how you failed them. Even if you get much of it right, someone will find a dramatic liberty taken and fume. HBO's 'The Staircase' is a good example. Filmmaker Jean Xavier de Lestrade, whose documentary inspired HBO's miniseries, has declared he feels betrayed by the way storylines had been altered by the showrunner and director Antonio Campos after opening up his archive to him. The original documentary series' editor Sophie Brunet, who is portrayed by Juliette Binoche in the drama, has also been angered by her depiction in the miniseries - claiming it has undermined her professional credibility. Petersen, the suspected murderer portrayed by Colin Firth, has  blamed de Lestrade  for the unhappiness around HBO's adaptation, accusing him of pimping his family's story out to Campos an

Has there ever been a shortlived band that has had the same cultural impact as the Sex Pistols? Especially a band with so few albums to their name? Nirvana, possibly but while 'Nevermind' was good, I'm not convinced it had the same potency as 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. Forty five years on, the Sex Pistols' only album still has the power to electrify and provoke. Blander corporate rock, pop and hip hop acts may dwarf punk these days in terms of record sales but let's be honest - most popular artists are afraid to rattle and challenge the way The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers did. And would anyone really in their right mind argue that Ed Sheeran's 'X' or Coldplay's 'A Rush of Blood To The Head' stirs people in the way 'Never Mind The Bollocks' still does or The Clash's 'London Calling'? Of course, great music didn't begin and end with punk. In the years since, there have been great albums from t

As the world hunkered down at the start of COVID, escapism was what we all desperately needed. Bombarded in the Spring of 2019 by grim statistics about a rising Coronavirus death toll and press conferences from world leaders, box sets were devoured as people retreated to their homes. Lockdown provided an opportunity to catch up on great television series and even greater movies missed during the normal hustle and bustle of life. With cinemas shut, the digital release patterns of movies of varying quality also accelerated as studios and indie producers worked out how and when to screen their work. However audiences also craved fresh stories with fresh talent about the world. Careers were turbo charged as audiences fell in love with the dynamic young casts of innovative, well made shows like ' I Will Destroy You ,' ' It's A Sin ' and ' Normal People '. Of those shows, Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie McDonald's 12 episode adaptation of Sally Rooney's 'N

It's a measure of just how much of a cult show ' Better Call Saul ' has become that it can afford to split its final season in two. Season Six, Part One of 'Better Call Saul' finds Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill still waging war with Patrick Fabian's corporate lawyer Howard Hamlin. Rhea Seehorn's talented attorney and Jimmy's wife, Kim Wexler remains a willing accomplice. Jonathan Banks' perpetually grumpy, former Philadelphia police officer Mike Ehrmantraut is still tidying up messes for Giancarlo Esposito's fast food chain owner and drugs kingpin, Gustavo Fring. But somehow in this split final season of 'Better Call Saul,' the stakes for them all just get higher and higher. (SPOILER ALERT!!) After betraying Tony Dalton's Lalo Salamanca in a failed assassination bid by Fring's gang in season five , Michael Mando's Nacho Varga is laying low at the start of Season Six. Lalo has gone to ground too, with the Cartel believing he