When The South Bank Show was axed in 2009, it seemed like the final swing of the wrecking ball into ITV as a home for the arts, and further evidence that high culture in general was not welcome on television.

One of the nicest things about i – unprecedented in my Fleet Street experience – is the newspaper’s relationship with its readers.

Do you have to be a certain age to appreciate detective series?

The world's oldest surviving music hall, Wilton's in London, has been saved from closure after an "overwhelming" public response to an emergency fund-raising appeal.

Sherlock Holmes used a magnifying glass, while Hercule Poirot relied on his little grey cells.

Actor David Suchet receives the CBE from Prince Charles and says there could be more Poirot to come.

Spare a thought for the losers. Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical drew a blank at last night's ceremony, a rarity for him. Television's Poirot, David Suchet, must wait another year for an Olivier, despite a fine performance in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Derek Jacobi's towering and desperately moving King Lear was also beaten.

Awards also given to those in business, fashion, sport, the arts and media

He has been a political reporter for The Guardian since Pitt the Younger's first belch; these days, Michael White is so grand he can't be bothered with the boring matter of keeping abreast of facts.

The murder mystery writer Agatha Christie wanted to "exorcise herself" of Hercule Poirot, one of her most famous and enduring characters, her grandson has revealed.

The learned doctor really doesn't learn. The last time he criticised "celebrity casting", he picked on "that man from Dr Who" playing Hamlet on stage in 2008. In fact David Tennant, the object of his ire, was a classically trained Royal Shakespeare Company actor. After the brickbats aimed at him for that faux pas, you might have thought that Dr Miller would be more careful.

Private Lives and After the Dance both caused a sensation when they appeared in the Thirties and are still being successfully revived. But will today’s hit plays last the course?

No enemy can murder Agatha Christie. From India to France, her mysteries sell by the million. As crime buffs gather in Harrogate to investigate her lasting appeal, Andrew Taylor presents his defence

The Week in Arts