Hidden City review – Stephen Poliakoff’s convoluted 1980s mystery told with flair
Poliakoff’s first film starring Charles Dance is reissued, and whil the story rambles and some of the acting isn’t great, it retains a confident power to intrigue
May 2019
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Hatton Garden, Summer of Rockets and more – review
Jeff Pope puts to bed the myth of the cockney criminal, while Stephen Poliakoff gets off to a flyer with his latest period-posh drama
TV review
Summer of Rockets review – Poliakoff has pulled it off at last!
This cold-war drama has Stephen Poliakoff’s trademark stilted dialogue, odd acting and overload of posh houses – but this time, I want to watch more
Stephen Poliakoff: how my boarding school hell inspired new spy drama
Summer of Rockets writer talks about the childhood traumas he revisited for BBC Two cold war series
January 2017
This much I know
Stephen Poliakoff: ‘I write about the past a lot. It’s not always a nice place’
The playwright, 64, on guilty memories, cheating at maths and what he chose to ask Tony Blair
November 2016
TV tonight
Thursday’s best TV – Who Do You Think You Are?; Random Acts
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Damilola, Our Loved Boy; Deep Water; Close to the Enemy; Planet Earth II
TV review
Close to the Enemy review – pure Poliakoff: haunting, clever and arrogant
Angela Bassett: 'Anger doesn't serve me. If I'm frustrated, I just do better’
August 2016
'I have no fear of turning 30': Alfie Allen
From Equus to Game of Thrones, Alfie Allen is prospering. He talks to Tim Lewis about film, family and the future
January 2016
Alan Rickman tributes: ‘Behind his careless elegance... there was a superhero’
Film blog
Alan Rickman: 10 key performances
March 2015
Stephen Poliakoff's new BBC drama focuses on postwar intrigue
Close to the Enemy, starring Jim Sturgess and Inglourious Basterds’ August Diehl, set for six-part run set in background of emerging Cold War
December 2014
Actor Janet Suzman criticised for calling theatre ‘a white invention’
Theatre is a white invention. It’s in their DNA, Suzman says after Meera Syal appeals for theatres to look more to Asian audiences
April 2014
Tony Marchant and Broadchurch's Chris Chibnall on screenwriting
Theatre is the traditional training ground for TV and cinema writing, so how do dramatists make the leap?
January 2014
How to name a character – raid your inbox!
How do writers come up with character names? Some raid their emails, some plunder their school days – and some take inspiration from Psycho. Stephen Poliakoff, Abi Morgan and more talk to David Jays about the hunt for the perfect moniker
October 2013
Anna Friel and Stephen Poliakoff back WWF fight to save Virunga national park – video
Video produced by the World Wildlife Fund with director Stephen Poliakoff and actor Anna Friel aims to rally opposition to western oil companies
February 2013
Take 5: John Fordham's month in jazz
Take Five: John Fordham's month in jazz – February
John Fordham picks out the jazz highlights of recent weeks, and weeks to come – from the uncanny talent of Bobby McFerrin to an audacious new album by Mark Lockheart
Mark Lawson on television
A change of pace: do TV dramas need to slow down?
Mark Lawson: From Channel 4's terrorism drama Complicit to Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge, can slower sometimes mean better when it comes to TV drama?
TV tonight
TV highlights 11/02/2013
Dancing on the Edge | Penguins – Spy in the Huddle | My Big Fat Gypsy Valentine | Miracle Rising: South Africa | Spartacus: War of the Damned | Storyville - Expedition to the End of the World | Black Mirror
