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Annabel Nugent

Features Writer and Commissioning Editor

Annabel Nugent is a Features Writer and Commissioning Editor at The Independent, covering music, TV and film. She reguarly interviews Hollywood's biggest stars and reviews music's most talked-about concerts and releases. She first joined The Independent in 2020 as a culture reporter

<p>‘Sentimental Value’ director Joachim Trier with his stars Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård</p>

The Saturday Interview

Stellan Skarsgård: ‘Truthfully, you can never be a good parent’

Joachim Trier’s ‘Sentimental Value’ is primed for Oscar glory. Annabel Nugent speaks to Trier and his actors Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning

<p>Malachi Kirby: ‘Most of the characters that I’ve played have been traumatised. Weirdly, that is my comfort zone’</p>

The Saturday Interview

Malachi Kirby: ‘The cameras were off at this point, but I was shaking’

After roles in everything from ‘EastEnders’ to ‘Black Mirror’, the actor is now going head-to-head with Stephen Graham in the second round of ‘A Thousand Blows’. He speaks to Annabel Nugent about channelling trauma, on-set therapists, and his funny side

<p>Josh Finan: ‘There’s a certain amount of pressure that builds up in your body over the days’</p>

Rising Star

Josh Finan on his searing prison drama Waiting for the Out

<p>Best of the bunch: The non-fiction and fiction that’ll have everyone talking next year</p>

Features

16 books to have on your radar in 2026

The Independent culture team’s favourite songs of 2025

<p>Petticrew stars in a classic tale of forbidden love set against the backdrop of the Troubles</p>

Rising Star

Lola Petticrew: ‘Calling it the Troubles minimises what it really was’

<p>Marina Abramović: ‘I don't like pain, really, but I like to stage painful situations in front of the public’</p>

The Saturday Interview

Marina Abramović: ‘I’m going to be attacked by every British tabloid’

<p>Joe Keery: ‘As it’s become a more naturalised part of my life, I’m a little less shocked by it’</p>

The New Review

Djo on privacy, candid lyrics, and life after Stranger Things

<p>Three is a crowd: David Harewood, Toby Jones and Caitlin FitzGerald star in ‘Othello’</p>

The New Review

David Harewood on Othello: ‘I had to go off and have a little sob’

<p>Caroline Flack, who died in 2020, was most famous for presenting the ITV reality series ‘Love Island’</p>

In Focus

Caroline Flack’s final months – and her mother’s fight for the truth

<p>Victory lap: Billie Eilish revs up a crowd already raring to go</p>

Billie Eilish shows off an introvert’s approach to pop spectacle

<p>Jenna Ortega in season two of 'Wednesday'</p>

Wednesday is back and as stylish as ever, but frightfully formulaic

<p>Sean Hayes on his Tony-winning turn: ‘Nobody would have ever cast me in this role’</p>

Interview

Sean Hayes: ‘I love Will & Grace but I was thinking how do I get out?’

<p>Filmmaker Nia DaCosta and her ‘Hedda’ stars Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss</p>

New Review

The new Hedda Gabler is bisexual and biracial – and just as messy

<p>Rose-tinted glasses: Mark Hoppus’s memoir shimmers with gratitude after the pop-punk legend survived cancer in 2021</p>

Blink-182 rocker Mark Hoppus: ‘I wish I had kissed Robert Smith back’

Annabel Nugent talks to the bassist and vocalist of the Nineties punk megastars about unintended disclosures, band bust-ups and the subtle art of not growing up

<p>JADE: ‘I don’t mind piping up and clapping back’</p>

JADE: ‘No one I know came off X Factor without a mental health issue’

As one quarter of Little Mix, Jade Thirlwall breathed fresh life into British pop. Now, newly solo with a debut electro-pop hit to her name, she speaks to Annabel Nugent about the other side of fame, and why she loves to ‘poke the bear a bit’

<p>Patricia Lockwood: ‘If you call it fiction, you can sometimes put things in that you wouldn’t otherwise’ </p>

Interview

Patricia Lockwood: ‘I was in God’s gang back in the day’

<p>J Balvin: ‘Latinos can be whatever we want, we don’t just work in construction’ </p>

J Balvin: ‘In the super macho man reggaeton world, I looked weak’

The Reading List

How the queen of memoir ended up plotting to murder her girlfriend

Interview

Surreal and silly, Julio Torres pulls off the impossible in Hollywood

<p>This month, Tinie Tempah released ‘Eat It Up’ – a fierce, frantic track in collaboration with Skepsis</p>

The New Review

Tinie Tempah: ‘I was always scared of becoming a one-hit wonder’

<p>‘There’s nothing more exciting than doing something for the first time – being the first person to play a role’</p>

The Saturday Interview

Ewan McGregor on his return to the West End: ‘God it’s intense!’

<p>‘The Bear’ has made a star out of SNL alum Abby Elliott</p>

Interview

The Bear’s Abby Elliott: ‘My dad is so on board to be a guest star’

<p>Amer is back with a second season of ‘Mo’ on Netflix </p>

Interview

Mo Amer on Palestine, Trump and the return of his hit Netflix comedy

<p>Mikey Madison in Sean Baker’s Oscar-nominated ‘Anora’</p>

Oscars 2025

Why Anora deserves to win the Oscar for Best Picture

<p>Eliza Scanlen: ‘A lot of the time, casting agents are looking for a “look” rather than a performance’</p>

Interview

Eliza Scanlen: ‘It’s weird l’m still getting jobs for 17-year-olds’

<p>Haim perform at Primavera Barcelona 2025</p>

Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Haim rule over Primavera Sound 2025

<p>Osgood Perkins with his films – clockwise from top right – ‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’, ‘I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House’, ‘The Monkey’ and ‘Longlegs’</p>

Features

How the son of Psycho’s Norman Bates became horror’s hottest director

<p>Rap royalty: Krept and Konan have been forging the way for British rap since the release of their 2013 mixtape ‘Young Kingz’</p>

Interview

Krept & Konan: ‘The media will always mistake rappers for footballers’

<p>Zoe Saldaña: ‘I have an energy, a fire that is very much still alive, and I want to challenge myself’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Zoe Saldaña: ‘The Oscars tend to overlook actors using CGI technology’

Severance season two is strange, stylish and totally engrossing

<p>Hanks but no hanks: the A-list actor’s latest film ‘Here’ did not perform nearly as well as expected </p>

State of the Arts

Tom Hanks has hit a low – where does he go from Here?

<p>Brooke Shields reflects on aging as a woman in the spotlight for her new book </p>

The Reading List

Brooke Shields’s book about ageing fails to realise one crucial thing

<p>Sophie Thatcher: ‘I’m sick of looking at myself on screen looking scared’ </p>

Rising Stars

Sophie Thatcher on Hugh Grant: ‘There is no sugar-coating with him’

<p>‘Anger can make you self-immolate, but energy drives creativity’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Bernardine Evaristo: ‘A Black woman hasn’t won the Booker since me’

<p>‘There’s a limit in our imagination of what women are capable of exploring in art’</p>

The Saturday Interview

Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon on His Three Daughters

<p>Jeremy O Harris’s much talked-about play arrives from Broadway to London’s Noël Coward theatre this week</p>

Is London ready for Slave Play, the most divisive show of the summer?

<p>“I was definitely a “Perks of Being a Wallflower”-style individual’ </p>

Interview

The Dare: ‘People want to return to a dirtier, less fashionable era’

<p>Annabel Scholey: ‘You lose a skin when you become a mum, which I’ve found very useful because I can access anything quickly’</p>

Interview

Annabel Scholey: ‘I thought I’d be doing less sexy roles these days’

<p>Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘I’m used to making records about my internal world: my experiences, relationships, stories I had or had heard. But this felt quite obscure'</p>

Interview

Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘Lily Allen started a campaign against me’

<p>“I was definitely a “Perks of Being a Wallflower”-style individual’ </p>

Interview

The Dare: ‘People want to return to a dirtier, less fashionable era’

<p>Annabel Scholey: ‘You lose a skin when you become a mum, which I’ve found very useful because I can access anything quickly’</p>

Interview

Annabel Scholey: ‘I thought I’d be doing less sexy roles these days’

<p>Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘I’m used to making records about my internal world: my experiences, relationships, stories I had or had heard. But this felt quite obscure'</p>

Interview

Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘Lily Allen started a campaign against me’

Interview

Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer: ‘Sweden is not safe for queer people’

<p>Gracie Abrams: ‘I was afraid for people who didn’t know me to know that my dad works in entertainment’ </p>

New Sensations

Meet Gracie Abrams, the pop singer adored by Taylor Swift

<p>Fronted by Dave Bayley, Oxford outfit Glass Animals broke chart records with their 2020 hit ‘Heat Waves’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Glass Animals: ‘I had hoped Rihanna would sing Heat Waves’

<p>Eugene Levy returns (hesitantly) to another season of travelling the world in Apple TV+’s ‘The Reluctant Traveller’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Eugene Levy: ‘I’m not ruling anything out – including retirement’

<p>Tom Glynn-Carney has been praised both for his stage and screen work </p>

Interview

House of the Dragon’s Tom Glynn-Carney: ‘GoT oversexalised women’

<p>In my sights: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as married spies in ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ </p>

Interview

How Donald Glover and Maya Erskine put on the hottest affair on TV

<p>J Balvin: ‘Latinos can be whatever we want, we don’t just work in construction’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

J Balvin: ‘In the super macho man reggaeton world, I looked weak’

<p>Survivors of the Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes in the fuselage of the wrecked aircraft shortly after rescuers reached them</p>

The horrifying true story of the Andes disaster in Society of the Snow

<p>Up next for rising star Sophie Wilde is a role opposite Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickensen in A24’s erotic thriller ‘Babygirl’</p>

Rising Star

Sophie Wilde on Talk To Me: ‘I don’t mind being a scream queen’

<p>Lulu Wang is behind Prime Video’s adaptation of Janice YK Lee’s novel ‘The Expatriates’ </p>

Interview

Lulu Wang on Expats: ‘I’ve realised that I can’t represent everyone’

<p>‘The goth girl lives on – she just changed her lipstick’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Christina Hendricks: ‘People always think I’m going to be such a lady’

<p>‘I never want to make someone upset with something I’ve written but also at the same time, you can’t just be nicey-nicey at the cost of writing arresting, honest music’ </p>

Interview

Marika Hackman: ‘Even before I came out, my lyrics were all super gay’

<p>Turner stars as Olympic rower Joe Rantz in George Clooney’s feel-good sports film ‘The Boys in the Boat’</p>

Interview

Callum Turner: ‘People had a hang-up over my former modelling career’

<p>‘I love insulting critics when someone writes something bad’ </p>

Gaspar Noé: ‘Watching Gravity on morphine was the best experience’

<p>‘Bless people who are articulate enough to go on camera and talk about their political points of view because I really can’t’ </p>

Patti Harrison: ‘I’d love my work to be appreciated on its own merit’

<p>Simon Pegg: ‘It’s a great honour that any time anything bad happens, there’s a meme of me raising a pint’ </p>

The Saturday Interview

Simon Pegg: ‘People always ask when I’m going on Strictly – never’

<p>Paloma Faith releases ‘Glorification of Sadness’ in February 2024 </p>

The Saturday Interview

Paloma Faith: ‘It was worth losing our relationship for our children’

<p>‘You don’t have to have been bereaved in order to act somebody who’s bereaved otherwise, well, how would we proceed? Y’know, acting is acting’ </p>

Bill Nighy: ‘I would eat a pack of Magnums and Soleros in one sitting’

<p>Lana Del Rey releases her ninth album </p>

Lana Del Rey’s new album is alluring, introspective and a little long

<p>‘A comedian is not thought of as a beautiful person’ </p>

Interview

Netflix star Kate Berlant: ‘Culture is so sexless right now’

<p>Natalie Mering began performing as Weyes Blood as a teenager</p>

Interview

Weyes Blood: ‘I wanted to be an artist but I had no family money’