The dissenting voice in one of the greatest courtroom dramas of all time. — A few years ago, I did a rather ambitious thing on my classic movie blog The Old Hollywood Garden. I ranked my favourite Angry Men, from 12th to 1st, one for each month of the year. Starting in January, number 12 was Juror 2, played by John Fiedler. And ending…

I’ve been writing scripts and stage plays for about a decade now. God, where did time go? Down the drain, that’s where. Kidding, I’m not bitter. And pretty early on, I realized that there was something I needed to. I started entering competitions. It started with the BBC Writersroom when…

Why it should be November and not December — Ah Christmas songs… Love them or hate them, they have a way of worming their way into our hearts, despite our best efforts. It’s a sort of love-hate relationship, in a way. …

Trevor Horn’s voice was the first to be heard on MTV — ‘I heard you on the wireless back in ‘52’ sang Horn, as The Buggles kicked off the biggest music channel ever with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ on 1 August 1981. And while The Buggles may have been a sort of one-hit wonder, Trevor Horn was much, much more than…

And why that needs to change — Hannibal Lecter? One of cinema’s most terrifying characters. Norman Bates? A total… *looks up a synonym of ‘psycho’, because that would be too on the nose*. Regan… All hail The Exorcist (1973). Annie Wilkes. The shark from Jaws (1975). The thing from The Thing (1982)… yes, yes and yes. But…

Write what you know, they say. What do you want to say, they ask. These are things that every writer knows far too well. We’ve all heard it. From creative writing mentors, to fellow writers, to readers, producers, agents, etc. And we’ve all done it. Most writers do write what…

Every two weeks or so, I go for a drink by myself. There is a cocktail bar in West London that I just adore, and, even though it is the designated hangout place for me and my girlfriends, I occasionally go for a drink there all by myself. Now, what’s…

The UK has produced an astonishing amount of good music, and the 70s were no exception. Led Zeppelin, Queen, David Bowie, T-Rex, and let’s not forget the Bay City Rollers. Actually, let’s. But for the most part, the 70s were a crackin’ decade for UK music. And yet, there are…

Those scenes that let you know what you’re getting yourself in for… — Noirvember is here. For those of you who might not be aware of it, Noirvember is a month-long celebration of all things film noir. By and for film buffs, of course. This isn’t, like, a national holiday or anything like that, though it absolutely should be. For years, my blog…