Back to Black review – woozy Amy Winehouse biopic buoyed by extraordinary lead performance
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s best film to date is more interested in romance and creativity than demons or blame
February 2024
Full trailer for Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black released
Much hyped Sam Taylor-Johnson film stars Marisa Abela as the singer, who died at her north London home in 2011
December 2022
Guns, death and Daddy issues: why SAS Rogue Heroes is one of the year’s most emotional TV shows
This brilliant series from the Peaky Blinders creator might be a high-octane, action-packed riot – but it’s also tender, touching and funny. Its finale will not disappoint
November 2022
Lady Chatterley’s Lover review – Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell crackle in the gloom
Lady Chatterley’s Lover review – sensuality as an almost religious revelation
October 2022
TV review
SAS: Rogue Heroes review – is the follow up to Peaky Blinders fun? Does Arthur Shelby like a drink?
This show about the formation of the SAS – from the brains behind the Shelbys, Steven Knight – is big, brash, witty and packed with energy. It’s Khaki Blinders, if you will
September 2021
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: The North Water; Wolfe; My Childhood, My Country; Imagine: Tom Stoppard; Big Age
A dark whaling tale brings out the wonderful worst in Colin Farrell, Paul Abbott goes cartoonish with a bipolar pathologist, plus author Bolu Babalola’s sparky new comedy
TV review
The North Water review – a riveting voyage of blood, sweat and beards
Jack O’Connell faces down Stephen Graham in a rousing drama that requires no deep thought and provides fathomless fun
TV tonight
TV tonight: Jack O’Connell, Stephen Graham and Colin Farrell star in The North Water
Jack O’Connell: ‘Eventually the wheels come off, everything explodes’
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer Photography
May 2021
Little Fish review – all-too-brief encounter in the midst of amnesia pandemic
Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell are the young couple trying to preserve memories of their romance in this story of doomed love
November 2020
Jungleland review – a neon-lit squint at the American dream
A bare-knuckle boxing tournament offers two brothers the chance of a better life
Jungleland review – flimsy boxing drama pulls its punches
Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam play brothers whose plans to escape poverty are threatened by a ruthless loan shark
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Before they were famous: stars' early stage appearances – in pictures
Tristram Kenton captures the debuts and breakthroughs of famous future faces including Emily Blunt, Martin Freeman, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker and many more
January 2020
The Q&A
Jack O’Connell: ‘Not many actors come from where I am from. I am proud of that’
The actor on his Derbyshire roots, travelling in his caravan and reforming Oasis
September 2019
Jack O'Connell to play Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder in biopic
Jason Isaacs and Maxine Peake in talks to star as Ryder’s parents in Twisting My Melon, based on ‘Madchester’ singer’s autobiography
May 2019
Trial by Fire review – old-fashioned death row drama pulses with anger
Jack O’Connell and Laura Dern impress in a sturdy, no-frills retelling of an enraging true story about a man who might have been wrongfully convicted of killing his children
September 2017
Tulip Fever review – long-delayed period drama fails to bloom
Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz and Judi Dench all find themselves lost in a beleaguered adaptation of a 17th-century potboiler that gradually turns into a far-fetched soap opera
July 2017
Girl from the North Country; Mosquitoes; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof review – bringing it all back home
Conor McPherson weaves magic with Bob Dylan’s songs, Olivias Colman and Williams ignite Lucy Kirkwood’s new play, and Sienna Miller’s Cat fails to sizzle
