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From Nuts in May to Vera Drake and the forthcoming Hard Truths, Leigh’s unique creative process gives us perfectly crafted dramas and characters who feel real

A few years ago I went on a pilgrimage to West Lulworth in Dorset. My wife, Linda, came with me. I stood on the shore beside the geographically fascinating Stair Hole and shouted: “Candice Marie, you are standing on sedimentary limestone!” To which Linda, who had walked up to the top of the cliff, duly replied: “I can’t hear you, Keith.” After which we went to Corfe Castle and had a theatrical row about who got to hold the guidebook before going in search of the dungeons.

To be clear, this was no marital tiff – rather, it was a reenactment of one of our favourite movies, Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May (Internet Archive). The story of a would-be idyllic camping holiday...

Stars: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Pearce Quigley, David Moorst, Rachel Finnegan, Tom Meredith, Simona Bitmate, Robert Wilfort, Karl Johnson, Sam Troughton, Roger Sloman, Kenneth Hadley, Tom Edward-Kane | Written and Directed by Mike Leigh

Peterloo is the latest film directed by British auteur Mike Leigh and is his second-period piece in the last five years, after his critically acclaimed epic Mr Turner, released in 2014. Premiering on what will be the 200th anniversary of the relatively unknown British tragedy of the same name, occurring in the year of 1819 in Manchester. It is a rather timely release considering only 200 years later the British people are once again in a traumatising political disposition considering the deliberating reasoning of Brexit, although I’m sure this is no coincidence on Leigh’s part. Peterloo covers the days and ultimately the harrowing event itself with a massive British ensemble with pretty much every single UK...

EastEnders' Les Coker is to become a permanent member of the cast. The character - played by TV veteran Roger Sloman - is set to become a regular face on the BBC One soap along with his wife Pam (Lin Blakley) as they open a funeral parlour on Albert Square. The soaps executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said: ''Les and Pam are part of our plans to rejuvenate the show's older generation. It's already so exciting to watch the chemistry between Roger and Lin on set, playing characters who have been together for so long, they know each other inside out. Or...