Spring break: Culture worth catching this season

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Today in Focus
Episode: Spring break: Culture worth catching this season
Date: March 27, 2026
Host: Nosheen Iqbal
Guests: Catherine Short (Film Editor), Alexis Petridis (Chief Pop & Rock Critic), Hannah J. Davis (TV Critic)

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Episode Overview

This lively spring edition of Today in Focus is a fast-paced guide to the most exciting films, TV series, albums, tours, and festivals heading into the new season. The Guardian’s cultural critics convene to share their top picks, dissect trends (like the ongoing obsession with nostalgia and sequels), and give candid first impressions on the most hyped titles. Expect smart banter, genuine passion for culture, and a few playful digs at the industry’s quirks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Welcoming the Season: The Mood of Spring 2026

• Spring is “nature’s equivalent of yelling, cheer up, love might never happen,” says Nosheen, who notes a collective craving for comfort culture amid bleak times.
• The team sets out to reveal which projects this season will truly deliver that uplift.

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Film: Nostalgia, Sequels & Blockbusters

Devil Wears Prada 2: Anticipation & Apprehensions

• Catherine Short expresses concern:

  “I was more excited before I saw the trailers. Actually, I thought the trailers looked a bit worrying… [the jokes] look a bit like dementia. Who is this?” (04:08)

• The return of Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Meryl Streep is promising, but the wit seems blunted.
• Nostalgia is everywhere in 2026, but is originality taking a back seat?

Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day”: Sci-Fi Spectacle

• Emily Blunt stars as a Kansas City weather girl “possessed by aliens,” bringing “levity moments” to a global alien conspiracy drama.
• Massive cast includes Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth. There’s excitement, but also bemusement at the genre-blending. (05:46)

Kids Films as Ambitious Cinema

• Catherine Short passionately argues that “kids films are just incredibly much where the talent and ambition and invention is these days.” (20:19)
• Big spring sequels:
  • Toy Story 5 (“showing how a tablet takes over childhood. Might also have good jokes and burps…” (21:11))
  • Shaun the Sheep 3
  • The Mitchells vs. The Machines 2
  • Minions sequel
• Technology as a recurring theme in new kids’ movies.

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TV: Innovative Dramas, Literary Adaptations & Meta Moments

Richard Gadd’s “Half Man” (BBC)

• From the creator of “Baby Reindeer,” a new drama tracing brotherhood, violence, trauma, and “manosphere adjacence.” (06:13)
• Explores masculinity and social change across three decades.

“Dear England”

• TV adaptation of the acclaimed stage play about Gareth Southgate’s England squad revolution.
• Joseph Fiennes reprises his uncanny portrayal of Southgate. (07:16)

Riz Ahmed’s Meta Bond Satire “Bait”

• Ahmed stars as a struggling actor linked (fictionally and in reality) to the next James Bond role.
• “Very, very meta… but actually it ends up being much more about race and identity… being the only minority voice in a room.”
  — Hannah J. Davis (10:23)

Anticipated Returns & Generational Drama

• “Beef” Season 2: Major cast change (Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac). Now centers on “generational beef” between millennial and Gen Z characters at a country club.
  — “TV also maybe de-centering Boomer or even Gen X narratives and going for this Gen Z vs Millennial beef.” (22:53)

• Euphoria: Finally back after years of delays—now set five years later, even darker and heavier.
  — “Most of the comments on YouTube… are just like this looks like Grand Theft Auto. Now. It doesn't necessarily look like the same place that we kind of started in 2019.” (Hannah J. Davis, 25:32)

Succession–Silicon Valley Mashup “The Audacity” (AMC)

• “They’re horrible people who have no boundaries.” (16:07)
• Tech CEO and therapist dynamic; sharp, boundary-pushing, “jaw dropper.”
• Also flagged: David E. Kelley’s new Apple TV+ series about a young woman turning to OnlyFans with parental encouragement.

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Pop & Rock: Albums, Tours, and Noteworthy Trends

Ray’s Second Album

• Self-released after a major-label fallout, this conceptual 80-minute “breakup record” is “demanding of listeners” but “incredibly bold.”
  — “I admired it…. There are really good songs on it… hats off to Ray for going for it.” (Alexis Petridis, 08:35)

Kneecap’s Third Album

• Highly anticipated, produced by Dan Carey, features Kate Tempest and Rady Pete.
  — “Their last album was really witty about sectarianism in Northern Ireland. Not normally a subject that gets played for lol, you know, and they did it incredibly well.” (12:01)

Female Artists on Tour

• Ray, Olivia Dean (“she's managing to do the sort of girl next door thing without it being unbelievably boring”), and Lily Allen (polarizing comeback tour).
• Lily Allen’s show:
  • “String quartet playing her hits for 45 minutes, curtain drop. And then Lily Allen comes out and then does her album in full… almost like a barrier between her and the audience.” (19:15)

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A24 Films: From “Groovy” to “Butter Chicken”

• A24’s transition from edgy to “mainstream spicy” with hits like “Marty Supreme,” “Civil War,” upcoming “The Drama” (Zendaya & Robert Pattinson), and “Backrooms,” adapted from a viral 4chan/YouTube phenomenon.
  — “A24 are the groovy, groovy American outfit… They've moved into the kind of butter chicken level of spice now.” (Catherine Short, 13:18)

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Festival Lineups: Where to Book Now

• Reading & Leeds: “It’s got all the moment—Charli XCX, Fontaine DC, Dave, Ray, Kneecap, Geese.” (27:59)
  • Especially buzzy as Glastonbury is not happening this year.
• End of the Road: “Pulp, Seamat, Matt Demarco… lower down, a lot of interesting acts like Anna Von Hausswolff, Model/Actriz, Beverly Copeland.”
• Love Supreme (Jazz, Glynde): “Ezra Collective headlining… Loyle Carner… De La Soul… great for families. Also, I could drive home to my own flush toilet!” (Alexis Petridis, 29:19)
• Alexis admits: “I'm not one of life's natural campers.”

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Indie Film Picks & Documentaries

• “The Last Spy” — about Peter Sichel, the “Jewish James Bond.” (30:05)
• “Hen” — behind the scenes at a poultry farm (“as fun as you’d imagine!”).
• “London’s Last Wilderness” — an atmospheric look at the Thames Estuary with “no speech, just a lyrical look at the eddies and industrial edgelands.” (30:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On nostalgia and sequels:

  “Pretty much like every other year, [2026] is leaning hard into nostalgia and sequels and so on.” — Nosheen Iqbal (03:26)

• On A24’s reputation:

  "I think they've moved into the kind of butter chicken level of spice now, to be honest." — Catherine Short (13:18)

• On festival camping:

  "I'm not one of life's natural campers." — Alexis Petridis (29:04)

• On interviewing Harry Styles:

  “What does he do all day? ... I wonder if he’d be, like, absolutely fascinating if you met him or, you know, a total blank.” — Alexis Petridis (33:10)

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Dream Interviews

• Hannah J. Davis: Michaela Coel
• Alexis Petridis: Harry Styles
• Catherine Short: Sandra Bullock or Simon Rich

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Important Timestamps

• Spring trends, sequels & nostalgia: 03:26 – 04:36
• Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day”: 04:40 – 06:05
• British TV: 'Half Man', 'Dear England': 06:08 – 07:33
• Ray’s new album: 07:41 – 09:35
• Riz Ahmed’s 'Bait' & the Bond discourse: 09:35 – 10:46
• Kneecap’s new release: 11:49 – 12:44
• A24’s shifting rep, “The Drama,” Backrooms: 13:11 – 15:22
• “The Audacity” & Apple TV+ new drama: 15:52 – 17:16
• Live music tours (Ray, Olivia Dean, Lily Allen): 17:26 – 19:45
• Toy Story 5 & kids films’ themes: 20:12 – 21:30
• TV: Beef S2, Euphoria S3: 21:34 – 25:32
• Festival recommendations: 27:43 – 29:51
• Indie/Documentary picks: 30:05 – 31:27
• Dream interviews: 31:42 – 34:03

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Tone & Style

The banter is sharp yet affectionate, with plenty of inside-baseball references and a genuine enthusiasm for everything from oddball documentaries to blockbuster sequels. The critics are unafraid to poke fun at industry trends—“levity adjacent, levity moments” and “butter chicken level of spice” being typical turns of phrase. The episode is lively, conversational, and insightful—just as much a chat among passionate friends as a formal cultural review.

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Final Takeaway

This episode is a whirlwind guide through the must-see (and must-be-skeptical-about) TV, film, music, and festivals of Spring 2026—perfect for anyone wanting to feel “in the know” about what’s worth chasing and what’s just hype this season.

Transcript

[Hannah J. Davis]

This is the Guardian.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Today put a spring in your step with our Critics guide to culture worth getting hyped for.

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[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay, it is officially spring Q2, as the corporates call it. All that OTT night, Blossom Green. It's basically nature's equivalent of yelling, cheer up, love might never happen. And boy, do we need reasons to be cheered up right now. So we summoned the Guardians, tv, music and film critics to tell us what's what this season and what they found comforting. When the world feels especially bleak, try to stay calm.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Jesse Buzz, you know me.

[Catherine Short]

I'm the definition of calm.

[Noshi Nikbal]

That's not gonna work. From the biggest blockbusters to the most out there indies. Are you serious?

[Emma]

I'm sorry, I. I order an Uber.

[Noshi Nikbal]

How to find a show that you won't regret streaming.

[Hannah J. Davis]

I think Netflix has maybe killed the mood a bit because every few months they've now got a documentary along the lines of. Remember that show that you used to really love? Well, guess what? It was super abusive.

[Noshi Nikbal]

There was a lot of body shaming. You're not thin enough.

[Emma]

You're not thin enough.

[Hannah J. Davis]

We are actually going to switch your ethnic baby girl.

[Alexis Petridis]

Baby girl.

[Noshi Nikbal]

And of course, who's going on tour and making music to remember. All that. And the definitive guide to who the next James Bond will be. Sort of. From the Guardian. I'm Noshi Neqbal. Today in a spring awakening. Welcome to Today in Focus. Catherine Short, film editor, Alexis Petridis, our chief pop and rock music critic, and Hannah J. Davis, our TV critic. Thank you for being here. First question, Katherine 2026, pretty much like every other year, is leaning hard into nostalgia and sequels and so on. So I want to talk firstly about one that I've heard of that. Is all over my feedback. Devil Wears Prada, too. Where would you like to start?

[Emma]

I am the new future editor at Runway.

[Noshi Nikbal]

No, you are not.

[Alexis Petridis]

Yeah.

[Catherine Short]

We are all so thrilled.

[Noshi Nikbal]

You know what's funny is you've changed.

[Hannah J. Davis]

You have.

[Catherine Short]

You're much more confident.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Kept those eyebrows, though, didn't you?

[Noshi Nikbal]

Are you excited? Tell me everything. Is it going to be any good?

[Catherine Short]

I was more excited before I saw the trailers. Actually, I thought the trailers looked a bit worrying. Why? Well, they didn't look very funny. There's this repeated joke in one of the trailers where Miranda Priestley, the Meryl Streep, bitchy, bitchy editor character, can't remember that Anne Hathaway was her assistant or that she called the morn Emily. And that's meant to be just evidence of her bitchiness. Looks a bit like dementia. Who is this?

[Noshi Nikbal]

Do you know her? Do I know her? I'm Andy Sachs.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Andrea.

[Alexis Petridis]

She was one of the Emilys.

[Catherine Short]

One of the what? But if that's the sort of level of joke that slightly gives me pause, I mean, maybe it'll be good. You know, Kenneth, that might be fun. Stanny Tucci's back. But something about it gives me the heebie jeebies.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Emily Blunt, she's having another moment. Is it Catherine?

[Catherine Short]

She took some time out after Oppenheimer and now she's back. Back. Back with Devil Wears Prada and Disclosure Day, which is a massive film for the late spring, early summer, which is Spielberg's new film. And it's a sort of Close Encounters thing, but bigger.

[Noshi Nikbal]

What are you gonna do?

[Alexis Petridis]

Full disclosure to the whole world.

[Hannah J. Davis]

That truth will upend all established order across the entire world. If you do this, there's no one doing it.

[Catherine Short]

And Emily Blunt plays a weather girl. She plays a weather girl that is sort of possessed, I think, by aliens and starts talking in a funny, statutory sort of way.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Good morning, Kansas City. Let's take a look at today. Let's. Let's. Today is today.

[Catherine Short]

It'll be good. It's her and Josh o' Connor and Colin Firth and Eve Hewson and people like that. And it does look quite exciting and spectacular.

[Alexis Petridis]

Sorry, this is a drama, not a comedy. No, I'm just genuine.

[Catherine Short]

It's a drama. Yeah, there's probably.

[Alexis Petridis]

So it's a drama about a weather girl that's possessed by aliens.

[Catherine Short]

I think there's more to it. It's probably more of a worldwide conspiracy of aliens and them coming down, speaking through Emily Bluntsworthy girl. But it isn't I expect there's levity moments. Levity adjacent, levity moments.

[Alexis Petridis]

I love a film with a levity moment.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Hannah in the world of British TV series, what can we look forward to?

[Hannah J. Davis]

There's some really good stuff coming up. So Richard Gadd, who kind of broke through with Baby Reindeer, the big stalker word of mouth thriller on Netflix back in 2024, he's back with a new BBC drama called Half Man. It stars him and Jamie Bell and they are from Billy Elliot. And they are placed. They are.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Sorry, this is the first thing that came into my head from the great

[Hannah J. Davis]

body of works from Billy Elliot, among other things. And they star as not blood related brothers, but brothers in the kind of sense of the word. And it's all about their story told over 30 years from the 80s onwards and sort of trauma and violence and apparently modern masculinity. So kind of manosphere adjacent maybe as well, which is quite of the moment. So that sounds interesting. And that is out in April. The BBC also have Dear England, which is a stage to TV transfer of James Graham's play about Gareth Southgate's revolutionary leadership of the England squad. And it also stars Joseph Fiennes, who played him on stage and who managed to capture his mannerisms in a very uncanny fashion.

[Alexis Petridis]

Dear England, I can't possibly hope to speak or an entire country, but I would like to share a few things with you as we begin this journey.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Alexis, is there anything coming up in a similar vein? You're not sure how to sell like it's supposed to be big. You're kind of not sure it could be good. Maybe it isn't the sort of big

[Alexis Petridis]

album, I guess Coming out of Britain certainly is Ray's second album. There's this sort of big backstory. With Ray signed to a major record label, they treated her pretty shabbily. She kicked off, they dropped her, she self released her album. It was incredibly successful. Since that's happened, she's obviously sort of really taken control of her own career. The album, in contrast to her last album, is a about 80 minutes long conceptual work divided into four movements. It's essentially like a breakup record. I'm really intrigued to see how it kind of flies with the general public because it's sort of demanding of listeners. They sit down and listen to the whole thing.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Did you enjoy it?

[Alexis Petridis]

I admired it.

[Noshi Nikbal]

You admired it?

[Alexis Petridis]

I admired it. No, and I don't mean that. No, no.

[Hannah J. Davis]

But you're not going to go.

[Alexis Petridis]

It stinks. There are really good songs on it. There's this line People always go, well, you know, if Bohemian Rhapsody was released today, it wouldn't be a hit because they wouldn't know what playlist to put it on, so no one would get to hear it. And there is an element of sort of a Bohemian Rhapsody ishness that's in the sort of grandiosity of this record, in that it's incredibly bold. It's also called this Album May Contain Hope, which if you look at the trend in 2026, awful album title. We had Harry Styles Kiss all the Time, disco occasionally, which sounds like something you'd see on a poster in someone's kitchen next to a sign. It's Prosecco o', Clock, you know. So, yeah, I don't think the title's doing any favors, but hats off to Rhae for going for it. Yeah, absolutely. She's really gone for it.

[Noshi Nikbal]

And on the subject of artists, multi talented, doing different things at all different times, Riz Ahmed's back as an actor. Has he written a new thing? Hannah?

[Hannah J. Davis]

He has a new series which has just come out on Prime Video called Bait, which is a kind of interesting proposition because Amazon, MGM obviously now are the guardians of the James Bond franchise and he has been granted permission by them and by Barbara Brookley specifically to make this series about a struggling actor who is linked to the role of James Bond.

[Catherine Short]

I got stuff cooking.

[Alexis Petridis]

What are you cooking?

[Catherine Short]

I can't tell you.

[Alexis Petridis]

It's top secret.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Oh my God. Sharpa, are you gonna be the next James Bond?

[Alexis Petridis]

Just an aud. James Bond is white.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Oh, this is meta, isn't it?

[Hannah J. Davis]

Is he playing that actor because he

[Noshi Nikbal]

was tipped to be Bond?

[Hannah J. Davis]

Exactly. So it's very, very meta.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Any good?

[Hannah J. Davis]

I think it is really good, but I almost feel like the Bond bit is the least interesting part of it. I feel like it's just kind of a way in, but actually it ends up being much more about race and identity and how there is this tendency to only have space in a room for one minority voice at a time. And there's this kind of recurring bit of him getting either confused for other actors or being, you know, replaced by them.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Catherine, I mean, in real life, how many struggling actors or not struggling actors are trying to be Bond? And who do you think is going to be the next one?

[Catherine Short]

I think there's 20 or so on the short list at the moment, but it's quite a long list. But if I was going to place a bet on it, and I would do so very soon, because I think it will be announced very soon, I would Place a very strong, heavy bet on Jacob Elordi to do it. Obviously, he looks the part, you know, entirely, and everybody likes him. And he's got sort of critical nous, you know, from the Frankenstein thing, and he's not doing anything mysteriously for somebody so hot. His IMDb Pro page, which outlines his upcoming projects, is mysteriously cold. So he's done the new Ridley Scott film, which is out later this year, but nothing apart from that, which is nothing in production. Yeah. And this would be quite exciting because he'd be the second Australian Bond. He'd be the youngest Bond ever.

[Noshi Nikbal]

He's still white and he's still male.

[Catherine Short]

Yes, that's true. He'd be the tallest Bond, though. It's got to count for something ever. So that's. I mean, I think. I think he'd be quite good.

[Alexis Petridis]

Well, there's a lot of drama in James Bond, isn't there? And I would say there's been a lot of drama around a band called Kneecap.

[Catherine Short]

There we go.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Nicely done.

[Alexis Petridis]

Kneecap's third album is set to come out.

[Noshi Nikbal]

This is exciting.

[Alexis Petridis]

It is exciting. And I think it's got Kate Hempest's on it. Rady Pete, who was on the last album, is from Lancome, the very highly acclaimed and excellent doomy Irish folk band. I think I'm interested to hear the Kneecap album because somewhere in the kind of mix of all this stuff about Palestine and censorship and so on and so forth. The last Kneecap album was really funny, you know, it was really witty about sectarianism in Northern Ireland. Not normally a subject that gets played for, lol, you know, and they did it incredibly well. And how brilliantly entertaining Kneecap art. It's produced by Dan Carey, who's a really good producer. There's a track on it called Cocaine Hill, which apparently sounds like Pink Floyd.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay.

[Alexis Petridis]

Which is a sort of intriguing new sort of sonic move for Kneecap. So, yeah, loads of people I know that have heard it said. It's absolutely brilliant.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I like it. We want things to be interesting. So, Catherine, a 24. I say this because they're, you know, they're quite spicy.

[Catherine Short]

Spicy and controversial in some ways, I don't think. I think they've moved into the kind of butter chicken level of spice now, to be honest.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Do you want to explain a 24 and then tell us about their transition to butter chicken?

[Catherine Short]

Well, a 24 are the groovy, groovy American outfit that are partly a kind of sort of thing you say on your dating profile. I love A24 films. Their most recent films are things like Marty supreme, which their best highest grossing film ever. Other films would include things like Midsommar, would include Hereditary and other movies not made by Ari Aster, like Civil War. They have an amazing back catalog and they're kind of an amazing outfit. And they have a new film coming out called the Drama, which is quite a sort of buzzy film. And it stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as a couple who are about to get married and are very cool and hip and beautiful and happy and then they're not because she says a thing and nobody knows what the thing is.

[Noshi Nikbal]

All right, so before we got married,

[Hannah J. Davis]

we did this thing where we said

[Noshi Nikbal]

the worst thing we've ever done.

[Babbel Advertiser]

I'll tell mine if we all do it.

[Alexis Petridis]

Promise.

[Catherine Short]

What did you do?

[Alexis Petridis]

This doll.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Beer bottles and porn left in her of an eye.

[Catherine Short]

Yeah.

[Alexis Petridis]

What's the worst thing I've ever done?

[Hannah J. Davis]

Okay, I.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Are you serious?

[Emma]

I'm sorry. I'm gonna order movers.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Emma, what the fuck?

[Catherine Short]

This is an example of a good trailer where you don't quite know what the thing is and then you're sort of thinking and so one of the most groovy sounding movies this spring is this thing Batrooms, which is a very complicated. And I'm gonna say it all wrong because I'm 400, but it's about the liminal spaces 4chan thing, about mysterious rooms that look just charged with horror and mystery and sort of tacky and grubby and beige and also just very frightening. And this guy made a YouTube thing about them and it's been adapted and it sounds amazing and intriguing and again, another very good trailer.

[Alexis Petridis]

Found a place. It's massive in there. It just goes on and on and on. All these rooms. This place builds them. Actually more like it remembers them.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Right? I mean, I sort of understand 4chan, the rooms thing that you're describing. Hannah, for clarity, anything interesting in a similar vein, or perhaps even not on tv, what's on the horizon?

[Hannah J. Davis]

Well, this is a bit more tech, bro y, I would say, but there's a new drama called the Audacity which is airing on AMC next month in the US with a UK date to follow. And it is, and I quote, succession meets Silicon Valley. And a real jaw dropper.

[Emma]

They're horrible people who have no boundaries.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Can you not touch me?

[Hannah J. Davis]

No manners, no integrity.

[Emma]

Did you leak the acquisition rumor?

[Catherine Short]

Yes or no? No.

[Noshi Nikbal]

No.

[Alexis Petridis]

Maybe I shouldn't have leaked the acquisition rumor.

[Hannah J. Davis]

It's about a power hungry tech CEO Played by Billy Magnussen, who was in Maniac, and his therapist who was Sarah Goldberg, who was in Baryon Industry. And it's written by Jonathan Glatzer, who was one of the writers and producers of Succession over on Apple tv. They've got a new series coming out next month from David E. Kelly, the writer of Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies, amongst other things, starring Elle Fanning. And it is about a young turns to OnlyFans to make money for her child, apparently on the advice of her dad, a former pro wrestler played by Nick Offerman. So it all sounds so much going on, a little bit problematic. Yeah. And Nicole Kidman also plays a professional wrestler, so there is like quite a lot going on in there, but looks like it could be fun. In order to earn income for my

[Emma]

child, I have been doing some work on the Internet.

[Noshi Nikbal]

For your first taco picks, we'll make you a scary girl.

[Hannah J. Davis]

I'll marinate on it.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Alexis. This is a bit of a pivot from OnlyFans, but I just want to know, straight up, three tours that I'm booking for this spring, or more importantly, our listeners, what would they be?

[Alexis Petridis]

Well, three big tours, all female. We've already mentioned Ray, she's going out on tour. Olivia Dean.

[Hannah J. Davis]

I could be the twist the one

[Alexis Petridis]

to make you stop Olivia Dean, she's absolutely huge. Her album, I don't think it's actually been out the top five since it was released. In a world of really flashy, visually driven female artists, Sabrina Carpenter, Chapel Row and people like that, she is managing to do the sort of girl next door thing without it being unbelievably boring.

[Catherine Short]

Cause I make it so easy Fall in love so come give me a

[Alexis Petridis]

call the last time I saw her, she was supporting Sabrina Carpenter at Hyde Park. And the contrast between her and Sabrina Carpenter, who has this very sort of incredibly entertaining, brilliant kind of pop show, and then Olivia Dean, who was kind of very charismatic but sort of ordinary at the same time. It's quite a tricky thing to pull off. I'm just intrigued to see what she does.

[Noshi Nikbal]

So who's the third female artist you mentioned?

[Alexis Petridis]

Lily Allen.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I mean, the album was great, but the tour has been panned.

[Alexis Petridis]

Yeah. Which is why I think that's kind of interesting in that she makes this. I mean, not unbelievably successful, but very successful album that in some ways goes against the grain of what you're meant to do, you know, Again, this is an album that you're meant to listen to from start to finish. It has A narrative arc. And then she did this live show that people seemed sort of really disappointed by.

[Noshi Nikbal]

She spent 45 minutes of the beginning, as I understand it, of actually not being on stage. But there's been some quartet playing. A string quartet. Yeah, that's it. Okay. String quartet playing her hits for 45 minutes, curtain drop. And then Lily Allen comes out and

[Alexis Petridis]

then does her album in full in this very kind of theatrical way that a lot of people seem to feel put a kind of almost like a barrier between her and the audience. And I think there's something to be said for trying to go, no, I'm gonna do this.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Yeah.

[Alexis Petridis]

No, I'm not gonna give you exactly what you want. I'm gonna do something different.

[Noshi Nikbal]

And back in the room again with Lily Allen.

[Alexis Petridis]

Yeah. You see, there's another.

[Noshi Nikbal]

That takes us very neatly, I think, to Catherine in terms of ambitious blockbuster, perhaps unexpected. And I think, from my understanding, I'm going to pretend is your favorite film this spring, Toy Story 5.

[Catherine Short]

Yeah. I mean, I think the Toy Story films are fantastically good and really underrated, if anything.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Underrated? Doesn't everyone love Toy Story?

[Catherine Short]

Until I sort of had to watch them on repeat, I was a bit dismissive. So maybe just me, but, yeah, I think they're great. And I've said this a hundred million times. I think kids films are just incredibly much where the talent and ambition and invention is these days, and even the sequels, you know. So you've got Toy Story 5, you've got the new Shaun the Sheep movie, Shaun the sheep 3. You've got Mitchell's versus the machines 2. You've got another Minions film. All kids films these days, their big focus is tech and tech skepticism versus tech embrace and how you balance those two. And they engage with that in a much more sophisticated way than adult films in my experience. Wow. It's very true. And this is no different. This is showing how a tablet takes over childhood. And it might also have some good jokes and burps and stuff, so. Quite looking forward to that, Bonnie.

[Alexis Petridis]

Screen time's over now, okay? I want to talk to you, Device.

[Emma]

Please call me Lily.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Me and the toys have been working

[Alexis Petridis]

all summer to try and get Bonnie to make friends.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Yeah, but then you had to ruin it. You're not even listening to me.

[Emma]

I'm always listening.

[Noshi Nikbal]

See, now, look here.

[Emma]

Me and the toys have been working all summer. Now, in Spanish, Conas, Jaimel, Los Horzans.

[Alexis Petridis]

Yeah, I got dibs on behind the dresser,

[Noshi Nikbal]

Hannah. And don't call it a comeback, but can you Tell me about other favorite series returning.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Yes. So Beef, which was a huge hit on Netflix back in 2023. It was this quite slow burning drama series starring Ali Wong and Steven Young as two people who got into like a very unexpected road rage incident and decided to ruin one another's lives. It's very entertaining, very entertaining. Cause it's an anthology this time around. It's a completely different cast. So it's Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac in the lead roles with Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton, our members.

[Alexis Petridis]

Do you know why they pay so much to come here, play Gol? The courts, the exclusivity, the discretion. People need a place where they can feel safe.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Is it keeping with the theme of two characters having beef?

[Hannah J. Davis]

It's keeping with the beef, but now it's two characters having beef with two other characters. So Kerry and Oscar are one couple. They're a millennial couple and he is the manager of a sort of nice country club. And I believe Kaylee and Charles characters are employees there. They witness a fight or an argument between the millennial and. Yeah, they're the kind of Gen Z counterparts. And this is how the beef somehow begins.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Generational beef.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Generational beef. So kind of interesting to see like TV also maybe de centering Boomer or even like Gen X narratives and going for this Gen Z versus Millennial beef, which as a millennial, I'm sad to report, does definitely exist. Although it feels quite one sided from them towards us.

[Noshi Nikbal]

We don't have the time. We're too busy doing all the work, allegedly. Shouldn't say that. That's on Netflix.

[Hannah J. Davis]

That's on Netflix. When do we know when from 16th of April.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Right. Okay. Anything else that Gen Z might get

[Hannah J. Davis]

excited by a show that we've been waiting for what feels like 10,000 years for, which is Euphoria amazed it's come back. I know, right? It's incredible because it's been delayed by everything from COVID to the strikes to even the LA Fires. And it really felt like for a moment there, that might be the end of it. So when Euphoria first debuted back in 2019, it was this very soapy, very sexy teen drama.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I did find it really depressing also.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Depressing? Yeah. Soapy, but depressing. A weird mix. And it's kind of made household names of people like Jacob Elordi, people like Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney. But there was always kind of this undercurrent of, you know, perhaps things not being that great behind the scenes, perhaps with the creator Sam Levinson and rumors of rifts. And it has been said that a lot of the cast, especially Zendaya, have not been particularly promoting it on their socials. So this time around it looks like they're going to be making it even more serious, even more depressing, as you can mention.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Are they still in high school?

[Hannah J. Davis]

They're not still in high school. It's on a five year time. Okay.

[Catherine Short]

A few years after high school, I don't know if life was exactly what I wished, But somehow for the first time, I was beginning to have faith. Hello Rue, you owe me money.

[Hannah J. Davis]

And this time around, Rue, who is played by Zendaya, is still in the trenches, still having the worst life ever, it seems, seemingly being sort of trafficked around between sort of different drug dealers that she owes money to. Oh no. Cassie, who's played by Sydney Sweeney, is now a cam girl, of course, and is marrying Nate, played by Jacob Elordi. He's not particularly happy about her line of work. It looks a bit wild. Most of the comments on YouTube on the trailer are just like this looks like Grand Theft Auto. Now. It doesn't necessarily look like the same place that we kind of started in 2019.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Coming up, the festivals you should book tickets for now.

[Farnoosh Tarabi]

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[Emma]

Chicago 2011, a cop is murdered. Police and prosecutors swear they have the trigger man. He swears he didn't do it. How far will each side go to prove they're right?

[Farnoosh Tarabi]

Like, it's just one bombshell after another, you know, where you're like, what?

[Catherine Short]

What?

[Emma]

The story of a PlayStation, a brain eating amoeba, and the relentless pursuit of justice.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Off duty.

[Emma]

Out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Alexis, Looking forward at the lineups and your appetite for muddy fields. What festival lineups look interesting? Because I feel this question's always asked when it's sort of too late for people to actually buy the tickets and they're all sold out, so are masking well ahead of summer.

[Alexis Petridis]

The festival that's got the most sort of star power in terms of its lineup is Reading and Leeds. The Reading festival seems almost exclusively attended by people who've just got their GCSE results. It's almost like spring break or something. Do you know what I mean? It's got that kind of vibe about it, which you definitely didn't used to have. However, in terms of lineup, Charli xcx Fontaine's dc Dave Ray, Kneecap Geese. I mean, it's got all the moment.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Yeah.

[Alexis Petridis]

I think it's kind of perhaps benefited from Glastonbury not happening, because that's the next biggest thing.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Yeah.

[Alexis Petridis]

And then once you get past that, it becomes a bit more specialist, I think. End of the road looks pretty good. Why good lineup? I mean, the headline is a Pulp Seamat and Matt demarco. But lower down the bill, you've got quite a lot of interesting people. Anna Von Housewolf, she's like a sound artist, but she writes really good songs. It's very sort of intense. Her album last year was Brilliant. Model Act Trees, who are like a really interesting American band. You know, I've got Beverly Copeland playing, so that's sort of interesting. Speaking of someone who's been to every Glastonbury that's been on since 1994. I'm not really a huge fan of festivals.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Oh, man.

[Alexis Petridis]

I'm not one of life's natural campers I like.

[Noshi Nikbal]

So then no other lineups ever tempts you?

[Alexis Petridis]

Well, the lineup, I guess that's tempting me. Although it is very much the kind of Waitrose option is Love supreme, which is ostensibly a jazz festival.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Right.

[Alexis Petridis]

It takes place in Glynde, where Glyndebourne is, you know, Ezra Collective. A headlining, which, as anybody who knows about jazz will tell you, actually having a jazz act headlining a jazz festival is so Rare these days. Lord Karna is on something for the kids. De La Soul Annie in the Caldwell, amazing kind of family gospel band from the deep south of America who are just super. So, you know, if I had to pick anything to go to. And also it's within driving distance of where I live so I could go home in the evenings and enjoy the

[Noshi Nikbal]

comfort of my field for you.

[Alexis Petridis]

Flush toilet.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Catherine, from what I know, you're not a festival person unless it's the kind where you can just sit in a dark room for hours watching films. What sort of niche indie film stuff will you be watching instead of hanging out in a muddy field?

[Catherine Short]

Oh, okay. So you have got some interesting smaller films coming up. For instance, documentaries wise, you've got the Last Spy which is about Peter Sitchell, the amazing CIA head stroke fitner who made amazing wines and was known as the Jewish James Bond, now dead but interviewed at the age of 100. Quite a spicy documentary that one. That's the Last Pie. Highly recommend that.

[Alexis Petridis]

My name is Peter Seychelle, I'm 100 years old. I was the head of the CIA in Berlin and worked in Washington with the CIA and ultimately ended up chief station in Hong Kong.

[Catherine Short]

Also there's a vegan documentary called Hen which shows behind the scenes at a poultry farm which is as fun as you'd imagine. But it was also quite a good film. And there's a film that I haven't seen called London's Last Wilderness which is about the Thames estuary in Medway, which I am particularly interested in. There's no speech, it's just a lyrical look at the eddies and industrial edgelands of Medway coast. So I'm quite, I'm quite looking forward to that.

[Alexis Petridis]

I think that sounds good. Yeah, I think that's this kind of thing that if it came on, you know what I mean, BBC4 or whatever on a Friday night, I would happily turn off my mind, relax and flow downstream.

[Catherine Short]

Yeah, group outing. Popcorn.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay. So at some point I have had the, the pleasure of commissioning interviews for all of you at some point and editing them and all the rest of it. And you're all obviously great. But if there was one dream commission, dream interview that you could do, Hannah, who would it be?

[Hannah J. Davis]

I would say just to aim really high, Michaela Cole, who is very intriguing. We've not heard from her for a few years since I May Destroy youy, which was just obviously such a massive sort of game changing drama. She's now working on another show for the BBC which is called First Day On Earth. She plays a novelist who goes to visit her estranged father in Ghana and gets herself into a dangerous situation, by all accounts. So, yeah, it would just be really interesting to see what she's been up to.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Get inside that brain.

[Hannah J. Davis]

Get inside that brain.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Okay, Alexis, if I had to interview

[Alexis Petridis]

anyone at the moment, I would be genuinely fascinated to interview Harry Styles, who hasn't done, like, a proper interview since, I think, 2019. And he's this kind of huge star. And I'm just intrigued by Harry Styles.

[Catherine Short]

He.

[Alexis Petridis]

He does this thing where he often seems to talk a really good game about music, drops a lot of interesting reference points, and it's not necessarily reflected in the records he makes. There's a kind of weird disparity.

[Noshi Nikbal]

The campaign's really good. Hasn't he just got a good team around him? Like, he manages to insert himself in the zeitgeist.

[Alexis Petridis]

What does he do all day? You know what I mean? What is it? Just, you know.

[Catherine Short]

He walks a lot, doesn't he? He walked three hours each way in New York the other day to go to some studio, apparently.

[Alexis Petridis]

Right, Okay. I just find him, like, super intriguing, and I wonder if he'd be, like, absolutely fascinating if you met him or, you know, a total blank.

[Noshi Nikbal]

Catherine, same question. Dream interviewee right now.

[Catherine Short]

I mean, someone like Sandra Bullock would be interesting because she's been dormant for so long and it's coming back later this year. Also, Simon Rich is always incredibly good writer. The writer Simon Rich, and he scripted this Andrew Garfield starring Sam Altman film about the open AI guy.

[Noshi Nikbal]

It's very funny.

[Catherine Short]

He's very funny. Luca Guadagni is directed that. I mean, Simon Rich is always great, but Sandra Bullock, if I could commission that, I would.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I mean, you are actually in charge, so.

[Catherine Short]

But it's not. The decision isn't simply mine.

[Noshi Nikbal]

I know there's a whole industry of people behind Sandra Bullock. Thank you, everyone. Catherine, Alexis, Hannah, thank you so much for your time. It's a pleasure.

[Catherine Short]

Thank you.

[Noshi Nikbal]

That was Katherine Shaw, the Guardians film editor, Alexis Petridis, our chief rock and pop critic and TV critic and culture writer, Hannah J. Davis. Head on over to theguardian.com culture for all the news, reviews and interviews worth reading. I would especially recommend seeking out Rick Samada's review of Bait, which is the Riz Ahmed Show. As per with Rick, it is very, very funny. And that's it for today. This episode was presented by me, Noshi Nikbal. It was produced by Natalie Katena, sound design is by Brian McNamara. The executive producer was Huma Khalili we'll be back with the latest this evening and today in focus. We'll be back with you on Monday morning.

[Farnoosh Tarabi]

This is the Guardian. Hi, this is Farnoosh Tarabi from Sew Money with Farnoosh Tarabi. And today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile Quick Money Tips Stop paying a carrier tax if your phone bill feels trapped in a pricey plan, this is your sign to unlock savings. Boost Mobile helps you reset your spending with the $25 Unlimited Forever plan. You can bring your own phone, pay $25 and get unlimited wireless forever. And that simple switch can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's money you could put towards paying down debt, investing or something that actually brings you joy. And those savings are based on average annual single line payment of AT&T, Verizon and T Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com Parle tu Francais?

[Noshi Nikbal]

Hablas espanol?

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[Emma]

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