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During the Scottish referendum, the comedian Kevin Bridges did a stand up routine on TV which really ridiculed the disgraced entertainers Rolf Harris and Jimmy Savile . Acknowledging in retrospect that both were creepy characters at the height of their fame, the Glaswegian comic wondered aloud about Savile: "Was everybody smoking crack back in the day?" "F**kin' look at him! If I was to draw a paedo.. If someone was to say: 'Any chance you could draw a wee paedo there, Kev'- big paedo glasses, big paedo cigar there.. big paedo teeth.."  Lookin back on it, it's incredible how Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter were able to gaslight a nation, openly flaunting their creepiness while denying the real truth. However it is the extent of Savile's crimes and his ability to mesmerise the Establishment that most appalls. Rowan Deacon's two part Netflix miniseries 'Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story' is a chilling two part examination ...

There's a type of British film that revels in working class eccentrics. It usually sees an underdog attempt to pull off something jaw dropping against all odds - not always successfully. Sometimes it's in the face of class snobbery and in defiance of the Establishment. And it's usually a well observed comedy. It's a cinematic tradition that includes such classics as 'Passport to Pimlico,' 'Whisky Galore!,' 'The Lavender Hill Mob' and 'Hue and Cry'. That tradition has continued right through to movies like 'Educating Rita,' 'The Full Monty,' 'Billy Elliot,' 'Made in Dagenham' and ' Misbehaviour '. The late Roger Michell's final movie 'The Duke' is very much of that ilk. It tells the true story of Kempton Bunton, a disabled Geordie pensioner who campaigned against the elderly being forced to pay for a licence for watching TV and was imprisoned for stealing Francisco Goya's 'Portrai...

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those directors who could devise a movie about a tax return and make it magical. Every three to five years when a film of his comes out, he garners considerable critical acclaim and his picture seems to be a big awards season contender. Yet Hollywood has never awarded the insanely talented 51 year old an Oscar. Any director would bite his or her arm off to have at least one film as good as 'Hard Eight,' 'Boogie Nights,' 'Magnolia,' 'Punch Drunk Love,' 'There Will Be Blood,' 'The Master,' 'Inherent Vice' and 'Phantom Thread'. And yet, just like Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Lumet, Quentin Tarantino Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman and Spike Lee, it seems the Academy Awards are reluctant to recognise his considerable skill. Critical expectations are usually sky high for an Anderson movie and that has certainly been true for 'Licorice Pizza' - a coming of age tale about a teenager...

With just three feature films under his belt, Robert Eggers is fast acquiring the reputation as one of the most vivid directors around. After giving us 'The Witch' and ' The Lighthouse ,' his latest movie is a two hour 17 minutes blood and guts Norse epic that is certainly not for the lily livered. Based on the Scandinavian legend of Amleth, viewers will be struck by the story's similarity to 'Hamlet'. That's because Shakespeare's tragedy is indeed based on the myth that also inspires Eggers' film. It is a tale of revenge that was first brought to international attention by the 16th Century French poet, Francois de Belleforest. The story of Amleth was first adapted for the London stage in a production known as the 'UrHamlet' either by Shakespeare or Thomas Kyd in a version that no longer exists. However it is believed to have inspired the Shakespeare play we know today  Eggers and the Icelandic poet and lyricist Sjon decided to bring the ...