JK Rowling was not joking when she said her next book would be "very different" to the magical world of Harry Potter. Yesterday it emerged her first novel aimed at adults would follow parish council elections in an English market town. The celebrated British author's first book in five years will be called The Casual Vacancy, and will be a "blackly comic" tale of an idyllic English town at war itself, the publishers revealed.
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Knebworth House rocked to its foundations
Saturday 31 March 2012
Cancellation of music festival leaves owner struggling to pay for essential repair work
Walking in the footsteps of Harry and Hermione
Friday 30 March 2012
Fifteen-year-old fan Holly Hatfield guides us – and her dad – through the astonishing new Warner Bros Harry Potter tour near Watford
Attractions: A Hogwarts and all day out
Friday 30 March 2012
Tomorrow, The Making of Harry Potter tour opens to the British public – and it's wizard, says 15-year-old Holly Hatfield, who's had a sneak peek
Luke Blackall: Always check the loos after the Baftas to see if anyone's forgotten their award
Saturday 18 February 2012
Man About Town: Where else would you see Ralph Fiennes, Cuba Gooding Jr, Octavia Spencer and the cast of The Artist all letting their hair down?
Shakespeare on film: He that plays the king... and director
Sunday 08 January 2012
Directing Shakespeare has proved irresistible for actors seeking a vehicle for their talents. Ralph Fiennes is just the latest
Branagh's film legacy honoured
Monday 05 December 2011
The veteran actor and director Kenneth Branagh said he was "thrilled and excited" as he was honoured for his role in British film-making last night.
DVD: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (12)
Friday 02 December 2011
Harry Potter's film incarnation can now settle where he belongs – the pre-Christmas shopping melee.
Tom Felton is first of Harry Potter stars to bag a blockbuster role
Friday 12 August 2011
With the Harry Potter valedictory lap, replete with fans declaring their childhood officially over and photo-montages tracking its junior cast from pre-teen to young adults, finally over, people may be surprised that the franchise's first youngster onto their next blockbuster role, isn't Harry, Hermoine or Ron, but their scheming nemesis Draco Malfoy, aka actor Tom Felton, with his lead role in new prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (12A)
Friday 15 July 2011
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Laurie Penny: Elitism, Hogwarts-style
Monday 01 November 2010
Young people who grew up with the Harry Potter books and films are beginning to tire of waiting to be chosen
DVD: Clash of the Titans (12)
Friday 30 July 2010
Ralph Fiennes tries his hammy best (channelling a heady mix of Richard III, Fagin and Rigsby) as miffed Hades, god of the underworld, in this humourless and noisy Greek-myth actioner.
DVD: Clash of the Titans, For retail & rental (Warner)
Sunday 25 July 2010
This CGI-heavy remake of the 1981 adventure film has Perseus (Sam Worthington) battling monsters, while the ridiculously wigged and made-up gods of Olympus (Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes) look on.
Clash of the Titans (12a)
Friday 02 April 2010
The week's other 3-D adventure swaps Vikings for the ancient Greeks, who have apparently become so uppity that Zeus (Liam Neeson) intends to make an example of them.
DVD: The Reader, For retail and rental, (Entertainment in Video)
Sunday 24 May 2009
A film that was always going to bring a tear to the eye – for lead actress Kate Winslet as she accepted her Bafta and Oscar trophies.
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