Back in 2004, I happened to be in London and the Australian asked me to interview Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office, ahead of the broadcast of the final episodes on free-to-air TV. At the time, Merchant and Ricky Gervais were working on Extras, though not much was known about it. The interview never got [...]

One of the many sections hiding in the text-based archives of Gusworld is Gusworld Records. The idea of this “fantasy reissues record label” was to come up with theoretical CD reissues for material I thought needed to come out in a digital format. It seems a quaint idea in this download-driven age, and my usual [...]

Blood Brothers opened its current run in the West End in 1988, coincidentally the first year I ever came to London. I don’t think I even registered it was on at the time — all I cared about was spending my days in the Virgin Megastore and getting to see Chess. (I did both.)
By the [...]

If you had to pick a single word for Blackpool’s North Pier tonight, it would be “windy”. The lighting along the promenade is spectacular, but I can’t imagine the half-term crowds will be doing much in the way of swimming or sandcastles.
I’m not here for the sights or for outdoor fun, fortunately. I’m here to [...]

Just in case you were wondering.

Arenas get tatty quite quickly (Acer), assuming that they weren’t already tatty in the first place (Rod Laver). I’ve not been in the O2 in London before, but it’s holding up well. The padded seats are a nice bonus. I’m seated centrally towards the back on the floor, waiting to see if the Kemp brothers [...]

I’m clearly in a finicky mood right now. Rather belatedly, I’ve been reading Catalogue, the art book which collates the Pet Shop Boys record covers and other assorted designs from 1986 to 2006. Discussing the cover for ‘Love Comes Quickly’, design Mark Farrow recalls how unusual it was not to feature either the artist or [...]

Today’s News Of The World boasts an “ONLINE EXCLUSIVE” with audio tapes of Michael Jackson revealing that he was ” ready to SCRAP the tapes for Thriller .. until a visit to a school playground inspired him to finish the biggest-selling record in history”.

Having audio recordings of Jackson is obviously a good way of pulling [...]

Tonight I went to the Auckland opening of the latest international touring production of Mamma Mia! That makes it the fourth country I’ve seen the show in since it opened back in London in 1999, and about the 20th time I’ve seen it overall (yes, I’m such a tragic fan of the show I’ve lost [...]

The BBC pretty much towed the PR line when it reported last week that a press showing of the ITV Miss Marple adaptation A Pocket Full Of Rye meant that Wendy Richard’s last role had been “screened for the first time”. This is, to be honest, utter rubbish. Not only had the Agatha Christie-estate-needs-more-money program [...]