Best of the Listener 2023: Favourite entertainment stories
Best of 2023: What were the most read entertainment stories on the Listener online?
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Review: Better than standard French fare
A fresh French take on a familiar set-up as older women holiday.
Review: Stellar performances bring little-known story of the “British Schindler” to life
One Life is a moving story of everyman heroism.
Mechanical & masterful: two biopics of unforgivable geniuses
One is a great film while the other runs out of gas.
Review: Wonka has only traces of Roald Dahl’s old acid
Timothée Chalamet appears more as a male trainee Mary Poppins in sweet but vanilla film.
Graham Reid: Songs that got me through 2023
A selection of the tunes that helped make this reviewer's 2023 a better place.
Listener’s top 20 TV shows of 2023
Russell Baillie and Russell Brown select 20 of the best television shows of 2023.
The Listener’s December Viewing Guide
The Crown draws to a close while favourite book characters are reimagined for screen.
The Listener Christmas & New Year’s viewing guide
A guide to the seasonal one-offs and showbiz extravaganzas arriving on broadcast telly.
Great expectations for Charles Dickens at Christmas? The best TV adaptations
Would it really be Christmas without a Dickens' adaptation to watch?
Class of their own: Richard Betts’ favourite classical recordings of 2023
Richard Betts presents the best classical recordings of 2023.
Love, laughs and quiet dread: Best 20 films of the year
Listener reviewers Sarah Watt and Russell Baillie choose their fave 2023 flicks.
The Artful Dodger: David Thewlis on being a different kind of Fagin
The English actor shares why his Fagin is not the scoundrel of the Dickens novel.
Bigger than the Beatles: Graham Reid’s best albums of 2023
Funny year in music, wasn’t it? Sometimes it seemed like yesterday once more.
Songs of the week: New tracks by Reb Fountain, Voom & Adrianne Lenker
Have a listen to the songs that caught our ears this week.
Will the UK music charts deliver a Christmas fairytale finish?
There's a good chance that 36-year-old Fairytale of New York will finally make it.
Review: Peter Gabriel completes lunar mission
Intricately detailed listening, i/o is layered with interesting sounds and deep thoughts.
Sarah Watt: “The most offensive movie I have seen in years.”
An outlandish, underwhelming musical from Larry Charles.
Russell Brown: Facing the music
Local artists struggle to get their voices heard as mainstream media ditch concert reviews
Veteran director Ken Loach says goodbye to a lifetime of political cinema
Director Ken Loach's farewell film is a story of hope in an English mining town.
Russell Baillie: A Bridge to somewhere - what’s with Three’s 2024 line-up?
It would appear Three, for all its financial woes, might be taking a turn for the classy.
The Bigger Picture: “It was Christmas Eve, babe...”
The late Shane MacGowan wrote plenty of songs better than Fairytale of New York.
Songs of the week: New tracks by Iggy Pop & Cat Power, Amanda Palmer & Julia Deans, Home Brew
Have a listen to the tracks that caught our ears this week.
Grand Designs guru Kevin McCloud meets his NZ counterpart, Tom Webster
The two hosts chat about Kevin McCloud's forthcoming live shows.
Jandal all the way: Putting the Kiwi into Christmas music
Pōhutukawa pop? It's a mark of cultural maturity that Kiwi carols honour jandals and bbqs.
Reviews: Sampha is restrained and Dave Wilson is challenging in new albums
Graham Reid reviews Lahai by Sampha and Ephemeral by Dave Wilson.
Review: The Old Oak a box-ticking exercise for revered director Ken Loach
Refugee crisis is a timely topic but The Old Oak feels trite.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster talks taking on a classic Dickens character
Former child star plays delinquent-turned-surgeon in Australian spin on Dickens' classic.
Songs of the week: New tracks by Stan Walker, Lana Del Rey and Liam Finn
Have a listen to the tracks that caught our ears this week.
BBC star and 'new Attenborough' with Russell Brown on the experience of autism
Chris Packham: "If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person."
Maestro memories: When Dame Kiri Kanawa told Leonard Bernstein to stub it out
With biopic Maestro due, Dame Kiri shares her memories of the legendary Leonard Bernstein.
TV preview: Outback noir bestseller Scrublands gets small screen treatment - but has big-screen aspirations
There's a reason NZ action star Jay Ryan has been cast as the buffest priest you'll see.
Review: Hunger Games origin story leaves you wanting more
Even without Jude Law, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is entertaining and intriguing.
Review: Saltburn outlandish dissection of British upper class
Mr Ripley meets Brideshead in tense, titillating and terrifyingly funny Saltburn.