All posts tagged: Stephens

Toby Stephens: What my mum Maggie Smith taught me about acting

Toby Stephens: What my mum Maggie Smith taught me about acting

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter In the early Noughties, Toby Stephens was a leading man with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Then came his breakthrough screen role: a North Korean general transmogrified into a swashbuckling insomniac English billionaire with a union jack parachute. Maybe not the most likely choice for today’s aspiring thespians – and as Stephens admits, it felt eccentric at the time. Imagine casting a Bond villain like that now. “You’d never get away with that, would you?” he says of Die Another Day’s race-swap conceit. The son of acting royalty Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, he wasn’t even top of MGM’s list; that was Sean Penn. But eventually he landed the role of Gustav Graves, having initially been led into an oak-panelled room at EON’s Piccadilly offices and handed a page of dialogue. “Right,” he remembers asking. “Do you want me to do it …

Bret Stephens is helping Jews reconsider what we should care about

Bret Stephens is helping Jews reconsider what we should care about

(RNS) — My new “rabbi” is a woman named Melani Sanders, founder of the viral Instagram phenomenon the We Do Not Care Club. Sitting in front of her phone camera and speaking to her 2.2 million followers, she calmly lists all the things she no longer cares about. She does not care if her hair looks perfect. She does not care if strangers approve of her outfit. She does not care if she answers every text immediately. She’s become an unlikely prophet for women navigating midlife, menopause and aging. Her mantra is simple, almost defiant: We do not care. By it, she means that certain things are simply not worthy of her investment of energy.  Keep that in mind when I tell you about New York Times columnist Bret Stephens’ State of World Jewry address at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan this past Sunday evening (Feb. 1). Stephens, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and one of the most prominent Jewish voices in the world today, engaged in dialogue with Rabbi David Ingber of …

The Traitors finale, review – Rachel and Stephen’s win was dazzling, but the BBC must heed this warning

The Traitors finale, review – Rachel and Stephen’s win was dazzling, but the BBC must heed this warning

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter When Alan Carr won The Celebrity Traitors back in November, I wondered whether the success of that series had salted the earth for its civilian sibling. Just 56 days after the Carr supremacy (only a week longer than a Liz Truss premiership) The Traitors returned at the start of this year with a groan. Did the country have the enthusiasm for another month-long obsession? Wouldn’t Traitors fatigue set in? But it was New Year’s Day and, with nothing else to do, I, like many others, threw caution to the wind. Along with almost 12 million Brits, I started another round of the parlour game that’s gripped the nation. And – dammit – again I got sucked in. Whether it was traitorous Celtic duo Rachel and Stephen forging an unshakeable bond in the turret, rogue “Secret Traitor” Fiona self-immolating, crime novelist Harriet …

The Traitors finale, review – Rachel and Stephen’s win was dazzling, but the BBC must heed this warning

The Traitors finale, review – Rachel and Stephen’s win was dazzlingly enjoyable, but the BBC must heed this warning

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter When Alan Carr won The Celebrity Traitors back in November, I wondered whether the success of that series had salted the earth for its civilian sibling. Just 56 days after the Carr supremacy (only a week longer than a Liz Truss premiership) The Traitors returned at the start of this year with a groan. Did the country have the enthusiasm for another month-long obsession? Wouldn’t Traitors fatigue set in? But it was New Year’s Day and, with nothing else to do, I, like many others, threw caution to the wind. Along with almost 12 million Brits, I started another round of the parlour game that’s gripped the nation. And – dammit – again I got sucked in. Whether it was traitorous Celtic duo Rachel and Stephen forging an unshakeable bond in the turret, rogue “Secret Traitor” Fiona self-immolating, crime novelist Harriet …

The Traitors 2026 live: Final episode to reveal Rachel’s fate as Stephen’s loyalty falters

The Traitors 2026 live: Final episode to reveal Rachel’s fate as Stephen’s loyalty falters

Watch: Rachel turns on Stephen The beginning of the end for the Traitors team? Rachel flips suspicion onto fellow Traitor Stephen at the roundtable Jacob Stolworthy23 January 2026 13:34 Our columnist Charlotte Cripps is raising her kids to be mini Traitors – here’s why. Jacob Stolworthy23 January 2026 13:01 How wolf in sheep’s clothing Stephen proved to be the apex Traitor Even if calculating fellow Traitor Rachel makes it to tonight’s final, the man in impeccable knits has shown that warmth makes the predatory instinct more dangerous, writes Patrick Smith Jacob Stolworthy23 January 2026 12:35 Watch contestants discover family connection ICYMI: In the wake of Roxy’s murder, the players were told about her connection to fellow Faithful Judy. Traitors’ players find out Roxy’s secret family connection following her murder Jacob Stolworthy23 January 2026 12:00 This year’s dark horse contestant Step forward Jade. She’s always had her name brought up at the roundtable, meaning she’s been saved from murder, but you’ll notice how there’s never really been enough evidence to banish her. This is mostly due …