Topic: Culture

Sheffield's ex-partner killed in a knife and baseball bat attack, sparks fly over a controversial Israel-Gaza film, and a teacher at an elite boarding school loses her job over an undisclosed link to a convicted partner. Culture at the site stretches well beyond arts and entertainment, taking in the crimes, controversies and human stories that reveal something about how people live now, alongside the films, television and public figures that shape everyday conversation.

Here you'll also find the lighter and more reflective side of the news cycle: verdicts on the latest streaming hits and box-office flops, profiles of tech figures pursuing unusual ventures, and the odd stroke of luck or fate that turns an ordinary person's story into something worth telling. It sits alongside coverage of institutions under strain, from schools and legal bodies to the people who move between government and industry.

Taken together, this topic offers a broad, everyday view of society: what people are watching, what they're arguing about, and where individual choices collide with public consequences.

  • Dolly Parton musical to open on Broadway in January 2027

    Dolly Parton’s life-and-career musical, now titled *Dolly: A True Original Musical*, is heading to Broadway this winter. It will begin previews at the St. James Theatre on 7 December, with an opening night set for 19 January 2027 — a date that also marks Parton’s 81st birthday. The production follows the show’s July 2025 premiere…

  • L.O.L. Surprise! dolls to star in first live-action scripted series for 10th anniversary

    MGA Entertainment is launching L.O.L. Surprise! The Next Headliner, the first live-action scripted series for its L.O.L. Surprise! dolls, to mark the toy brand’s 10th anniversary. It matters as a significant expansion of the $7 billion franchise beyond toys and earlier animated and unscripted content, reflecting a broader strategy of turning the “original unboxing brand”…

  • Dolly Parton to bring her life story to Broadway on her 81st birthday

    Dolly Parton’s autobiographical stage show, *Dolly: A True Original Musical*, has set its Broadway dates, with previews beginning at the St. James Theatre on Monday 7 December and an official opening on 19 January 2027 — the country star’s 81st birthday. The announcement was made by Parton and her producers, with tickets going on sale…

  • Scotland’s World Cup bank holiday remarks by Susanna Reid cleared by Ofcom

    Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid has been cleared by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom after her on-air comments about Scotland’s extra World Cup bank holiday drew more than 500 viewer complaints. During an episode of the ITV programme on 9 June, Reid described the additional day off granted to Scottish public sector workers as “outrageous”,…

  • England win over Mexico watched by peak 9.1 million overnight

    A peak audience of 9.1 million people watched England’s dramatic World Cup win over Mexico on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer on Monday, despite the match kicking off at 02:00 BST. The overnight broadcast drew an average audience of 7.8 million, making it the biggest UK television audience ever recorded for a live broadcast between…

  • State of Decay 3 no longer guaranteed a day-one Game Pass release

    State of Decay 3 may no longer arrive on Xbox Game Pass at launch, following Microsoft’s decision to part ways with the game’s developer, Undead Labs. The studio is among those Microsoft is offloading after announcing 3,200 job cuts across its Xbox division. This matters because every prior trailer and update for the game, including…

  • New Pokémon Collab Grants 60 Japanese Football Teams Their Own Mascot ‘Mon

    The Pokémon Company has announced a collaboration with Japan’s J. League, pairing all 60 of the league’s football clubs with their own partner Pokémon, each accompanied by a bespoke logo. The tie-in forms part of the franchise’s ongoing 30th anniversary celebrations and coincides with heightened football interest during the World Cup, blending the country’s top-flight…

  • Interstellar and beyond: ranking the top science-fiction adventure films since 2000

    Entertainment site Collider has published a ranked list of what it considers the ten greatest science-fiction adventure films of the past 25 years, framed as a continuation of the genre’s long history stretching back to Georges Méliès’s silent-era A Trip to the Moon. The piece argues that although the 20th century gave audiences classics such…

  • Patrice Lawrence named as new children’s laureate

    Patrice Lawrence, the acclaimed author of young adult novels including Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Needle and the picture book Is That Your Mama?, has been named the UK’s new children’s laureate. She succeeds Frank Cottrell-Boyce and joins a distinguished lineage that includes Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson and Malorie Blackman. Over her…

  • Family with children walk out of Hatfield Turkish restaurant without paying £160 bill

    A family of “dine and dashers” was filmed leaving a Turkish restaurant in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, without paying a £160 bill. The group of five adults and four children ate a sharing platter, lamb ribs and drinks at Turkish Kitchen before slipping out in small groups and driving off in a waiting van. The incident, captured…