‘It’s great!’ Rafe Spall on having a baby with his co-star in Trying, the infertility sitcom
In the hit TV series, Spall and Esther Smith play a couple who have endured the pain of infertility. And now it turns out they’re having a real-life baby together. The proud dad-to-be reveals all
September 2023
‘We messed with some heads’: Roy Williams on tackling a torn nation in Death of England
As his series co-created with Clint Dyer continues at the National Theatre, the playwright revisits how a Guardian microplay about sport led to a panorama of Britain in tumult
July 2023
Leading actors and artists back Labour’s push for more creativity in schools
Exclusive: Grayson Perry and Olivia Colman lead group of creative figures supporting Keir Starmer’s plan to improve “human” skills
April 2022
The week in theatre: To Kill a Mockingbird; The Mozart Question; Clybourne Park – review
Rafe Spall is a fine Atticus in Aaron Sorkin’s somewhat awkward spin on Harper Lee; Jessica Daniels steers a sublime adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s tale; and Bruce Norris’s racial satire is snappily revived
March 2022
To Kill a Mockingbird review – Harper Lee would approve of snappy Sorkin update
Court is in session: To Kill a Mockingbird in the West End – in pictures
June 2021
Comfort Eating with Grace Dent
S1 E3: Rafe Spall, actor
Actor Rafe Spall talks about his weight struggles
May 2021
Rafe Spall: ‘Madonna came up and started grinding me. A circle formed’
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer photography
March 2021
Rafe Spall to star in West End premiere of To Kill a Mockingbird
Spall will replace Rhys Ifans as Atticus Finch in production opening at the Gielgud theatre in March 2022
December 2020
Best culture 2020
A dramatic year: the 10 best theatre shows of 2020
As the industry faced turmoil, there were triumphant stagings of classics by Sarah Kane, David Mamet and Alan Bennett – and bold new experiments
November 2020
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Before they were famous, part two: stars' early stage roles – in pictures
Tristram Kenton’s archive reveals more performers heading for the big time, including Rachel Weisz, Idris Elba, Daniel Kaluuya, Felicity Jones and more
August 2020
National Theatre to reopen with explosive sequel to Death of England
Scene changers: the theatre-makers with radical ideas to combat racism
May 2020
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: The A Word, Isolation Stories, The Eddy; Trying; Homeland – review
Peter Bowker’s wry autism drama returned to fresh complications, ITV went full lockdown, and Netflix’s jazz story was all tuned up with nowhere to go
April 2020
Rafe Spall: 'Dieting is the opposite of sex!'
Once the ‘go-to guy for feckless losers’, the actor is now spearheading Apple’s assault on British TV. He talks about flops, racism, chest hair – and Laurence Fox
February 2020
The week in theatre: Leopoldstadt; Death of England; Far Away – review
Tom Stoppard explores his Jewish heritage in what may be his final play
On my radar
On my radar: Rafe Spall’s cultural highlights
The actor on the resilience of Lemn Sissay, Amy Schumer’s sidesplitting comedy and a fish stew to die for
Death of England review – Rafe Spall dazzles in punkish state-of-the-nation address
Spall is like a man possessed in Roy Williams’ and Clint Dyer’s hair-raising dramatic monologue about the grief and grievances of a working-class white male
