Laura, daughter of top British dramatist Stephen, shows she has a voice all of her own with her debut play. By Alice Jones

Stephen Hendry hit the front in his long-awaited first Crucible meeting with his fellow Scot John Higgins in Sheffield.

The past is a lucrative country; they do things deliciously there. So runs one of the unsinkable maxims of 21st-century British television. Or at least it seemed unsinkable until ITV's Titanic: finishing tonight, the multi-decked extravaganza's ratings have drowned amid a vortex of so-so reviews and bad seafaring puns. Which might make you wonder: is the period drama set for a fall from grace to rival that of Tess of the d'Urbervilles?

Blackthorn (102 mins, 15)

A nice wartime romance – shame about the peace

It's Downton-on-Sea – but this drama may not end so happily for Fellowes

Deaths of soldiers in advance party bring sorrow to Warminster

BBC's Downton rival shows its class – below stairs

Her luminous good looks made her the star of Little Dorrit and Upstairs Downstairs. As she prepares to light up our TV screens once again, Claire Foy talks to Gerard Gilbert.

This year the Festival has majored on big personalities, behind and in front of the camera. Geoffrey Macnab reports

Joely Richardson, a scion of England's grandest theatrical family and with a glittering career to match, is pensive on the eve of her return to the London stage, writes Arifa Akbar

Ronnie O'Sullivan brought the house down at the Tempodrom in Berlin last night with a magnificent comeback win to beat Scot Stephen Maguire in the final of the German Masters.

Meryl Streep is superb, but the story is of one woman fulfilling her destiny rather than the pell-mell of politics

In a good year for the film industry, the average Briton will go to the cinema three times. Neil White clocked up twice that number of movies in just one day as he chased his goal of watching every new release over the last 12 months.