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Alan Bennett

April 2026

  • Barrit (centre) as Sir John Falstaff in the RSC’s Henry IV Part II, in 2000, alongside (left) Benjamin Whitrow and Peter Copley.

    Desmond Barrit obituary

    Character actor of energetic comic brilliance, notably as Falstaff at the RSC and in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys

March 2026

  • Mary Rand in the women's long jump final during the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

    Brief letters
    A gleaming tribute to Mary Rand’s gold

  • Alan Bennett sitting at a desk by a window

    Enough Said by Alan Bennett review – a man for all seasons

  • Apple iPod composite and Louis Theroux

    Six great reads
    Six great reads: Louis Theroux’s reluctance to answer questions, Apple’s hits and misses, and boomers v gen Z

  • Alan Bennett is an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and author. He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University, where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. © Tom Miller / eyevine Contact eyevine for more information about using this image: T: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 E: info@eyevine.com http:///www.eyevine.com

    ‘I feel I am not yet grown up’: Alan Bennett’s diary of his 90th year

December 2025

  • Boy playing trumpet in school orchestra

    All children should have access to arts education

    Letters: Readers respond to an article by Martin Kettle about the impact of educational inequality on Britain’s cultural sector

November 2025

  • Ralph Fiennes conducts in The Choral.

    From fiasco to feted: the story of the Dream of Gerontius, the revolutionary music of The Choral

  • The Choral

    The Choral review – Ralph Fiennes leads the choir in impressively unsentimental Alan Bennett fable

October 2025

  • Getty Images Portrait Studio Presented By IMDb And IMDbPro At The Intercontinental Hotel Toronto, 2025TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 06: Roger Allam of "The Choral" poses in the Getty Images Portrait Studio Presented by IMDb and IMDbPro during the Toronto International Film Festival at InterContinental Toronto Centre on September 06, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb)

    ‘I’ve played a lot of sneery bastards’: Roger Allam on bad singing, big paydays and Elgar’s level of ‘gitacity’

    He launched a thousand memes as the beleaguered Tory MP in The Thick of It, and starred in the original production of Les Misérables. Now the actor is making not-so-sweet music in the Alan Bennett-scripted film The Choral. But there are plenty of things he draws the line at …
  • Fawlty TowersActress Prunella Scales in a scene from episode 'Communication Problems' of the BBC television sitcom 'Fawlty Towers', January 28th 1979. (Photo by Don Smith/Radio Times via Getty Images)

    Prunella Scales obituary

    Versatile stage and screen actor who found TV comedy fame as Sybil Fawlty and later played Elizabeth II on stage
  • Patricia Routledge in The Importance of Being Earnest at Chichester Festival theatre in 1999

    Patricia Routledge brought humanity to an array of eccentrics, from Hyacinth Bucket to Lady Bracknell

    The versatile star, who has died aged 96, portrayed absurdly pretentious and apparently grotesque characters with wonderful sympathy

September 2025

  • Ralph Fiennes in The Choral

    First look review
    The Choral review – Ralph Fiennes makes pleasant music in low-volume drama

  • Best Paperbacks September 2025

    This month's best paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Haruki Murakami, Richard Powers and more

March 2025

  • Alan Bennett.

    Audiobook of the week
    Killing Time by Alan Bennett audiobook review – quietly subversive comedy

    The author narrates his darkly comic novella about lockdown life in a care home during the pandemic

November 2024

  • Alan Bennett

    Killing Time by Alan Bennett review – a cut above

  • Alan Bennett author photographed by pal Hansen for the Observer New Review in our London office studio.

    Book of the day
    Killing Time by Alan Bennett review – senior moments full of wit and style

  • Victoria Square, Birmingham

    Brief letters
    Youth services should have had a big budget boost

  • Alan Bennett.

    Alan Bennett at 90: ‘What will people think? I don’t care any more’

September 2024

  • Maggie Smith.

    Maggie Smith – a life in pictures

    Gallery22
  • Archie Christoph-Allen and Curtis Kemlo laughing in the history boys

    The week in theatre: The History Boys; A Chorus Line – review

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