It's 30 years since the Saatchis snatched the political initiative for the Conservatives. But the current Tory media onslaught isn't having the same effect, argues Mark Sellek

Bursting at the seams with special effects, big names (Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Peter O'Toole, Ricky Gervais) and an epic storyline about witches, princes and pirates, Matthew Vaughn's fantasy adventure seems to have everything going for it. But maybe that's the problem. There are so many ingredients thrown in that there's no room left for the enchanting, magical atmosphere of Neil Gaiman's source novel. And without that magical atmosphere, we aren't seeing a wondrous fairy tale; we're seeing famous people in fancy dress wandering around a forest.

Charlie Cox is taking a break from Hollywood to bring Pinter to London's West End. And the experience has proved to be truly terrifying, he tells Charlotte Cripps

Ten years ago Neil Gaiman taught the British that graphic novels could be literature. Now he's a worldwide cult author. By Marianne Brace

Guy Ritchie, 30, grew up in Fulham. He left school at 15 and worked at Island Records. Five years ago, despite being dyslexic, he began to write a film script. The result, `Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', which he also directed, was released to much acclaim. He won the `Evening Standard' award for Most Promising Newcomer for his directing

Suzi Quatro is ready to Can the Can, The Rubettes are in their (washable) berets, and Alvin Stardust is Coo-ca-Chooing to anyone who will listen ... Richard Johnson hits the road with Glitz, Blitz & 70s Hitz. Photographs by Philip Sinden

I went to Durham University to do a BA in English from 1969 to1972, and then did an extra year at Sunderland Poly to be a teacher. And after that, I went to teach English and drama in a school in a pit village outside Sunderland called Ryhope.

Courageously titled, Unforgettable sets a new benchmark for musical spectaculars without the spectacle. Look, no orchestra! Just a three-piece combo on the stage. And look, no cast! Just Clarke Peters doing everything.

UNLIKE bedding plants, shrubs cannot be discarded after a season and their ultimate size makes choosing whether or not to grow them an important decision. So the turnover of new varieties is slower and less well publicised than it is with smaller plants. An exception has been the "Barnsley" tree mallow, with porcelain pale flowers, which occurred as a chance seedling in Rosemary Verey's famous garden. This has been the best seller of the Nineties. It flowers all summer, but it grows thuggish in old age, and as it has now made an appearance in so many gardens it could be suffering from over-exposure. The plant that seems set to replace "Barnsley" is a new Lavatera called "Pink Frills", a shrub with better manners and smaller flowers.

FOR inspiration, Woody walks. He walks up, down, all around. He walks inside, outside, no doubt in those strange little sunhats of his. It sounds so painful: he says he squeezes out ideas, and if he walks enough eventually they come, enough for plots and scenes and then one-liners. He gets so annoyed when critics and audiences assume his work is mostly autobiographical - he sweats this stuff, he does so much walking.

Mitchell Parish, lyricist and poet: born Shreveport, Louisiana 10 July 1900; died New York City 31 March 1993.