UK voter ID laws attack ‘democratic rights of people of colour’, say artists in open letter
Exclusive: Lenny Henry, Anish Kapoor and Marianne Jean-Baptiste among those calling for Keir Starmer to scrap rules
June 2024
Lenny Henry rues fate of black TV dramas after Three Little Birds axed
Exclusive: Star’s Windrush ITV show cut after just one series as TV industry loses funding streams
May 2024
My future is bleak: can I go on without the all-you-can-eat unlimited Premier Inn breakfast?
Rich Pelley
With the chain selling off 126 restaurants, I’m worried. Will I be able to get the bottomless glasses of orange juice I need, asks writer Rich Pelley
March 2024
From getting sexy with Cilla to nearly slipping a disc: Lenny Henry’s best Comic Relief moments
TV tonight
TV tonight: Lenny Henry bows out after nearly 40 years of Comic Relief
January 2024
Sir Lenny Henry to host Comic Relief for final time this year
After 39 years, the charity’s co-founder steps down as presenter to allow ‘new and familiar faces’ to take the role
December 2023
2023 in TV
‘A total cringe-fest’: the TV letdowns of the year
From dramas with dialogue so schmaltzy you want to dry heave to possibly the worst TV show in history, there have been plenty of televisual disappointments in 2023. Here are the biggest stinkers
October 2023
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Three Little Birds; Life on Our Planet; Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream; The Burning Girls – review
Lenny Henry’s heartfelt Windrush drama pulls its punches, Netflix can only dream of David Attenborough – and how much Abba can Corfu take?
TV review
Three Little Birds review – Lenny Henry’s Windrush drama is way too sanitised
The star’s semi-autobiographical period drama about Jamaican immigrants moving to England in the 50s fails to get under the skin of its characters. It needs more grit
TV tonight
TV tonight: Lenny Henry’s fond, soulful Windrush drama
Lenny Henry hopes Windrush drama will generate conversation about immigration
‘I watched it and burst into tears’: Lenny Henry on his poignant, hilarious ode to Windrush
May 2023
The week in theatre: August in England; Blue Now; The Vortex – review
Lenny Henry draws his audience deep into the life – and its shattering – of a Windrush evictee; Derek Jarman’s final film is reverentially revisited; and Lia Williams and son ignite Noël Coward at his darkest
August in England review – Lenny Henry’s remarkable one-man show about the Windrush scandal
The actor makes his debut as a playwright with a richly detailed character study, performing with warm humour and outrage at injustice
Shelley Maxwell: the soul-stirring master mover who makes superheroes dance
From The Secret Life of Bees to The Marvels, she is the choreographer everyone wants. The Jamaican dynamo talks about turning humans into horses, turbo-charging TV debates and her dream Bob Marley gig
March 2023
Comic Relief raises over £34m as stars parody The Traitors and Eurovision
Hosts of BBC fundraiser include AJ Odudu and Paddy McGuinness but Lenny Henry is absent for first time
January 2023
Windrush 75th anniversary is ‘diamond jubilee for Britain’, say campaigners
Lenny Henry and Tristram Hunt are among representatives of the arts to call for national celebrations
December 2022
Weekend
Weekend podcast: best of 2022 – part 2
Andrew Nickolds obituary
October 2022
Adele the academic? Why mature students are top of the swots
The pop singer has announced plans to take a mid-career break and study English literature. As I found out, there’s no better time to do it
