The Latest Breaking News from Barbara Ellen

Meet the Y2K tweenagers going where no one had been before, in 2000

Much had changed since Barbara Ellen’s Enid Blyton-reading childhood

The Guardian - UK · Nov 3, 2024

Sex, drink, football: the legacy of lads’ mags – by the women who (mostly) loved working for them

It’s 30 years since the first issue of Loaded and there is talk of a relaunch. While women who worked there loved its edgy chaos they then saw its copycats flounder in misogyny

The Guardian - UK · Mar 3, 2024

Defining sexual consent is crucial

It must be given, and it must be clear that it can be withdrawn at any time

The Guardian - UK · Nov 19, 2023

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland review

“It’s quite a feat to leave the viewer feeling simultaneously galvanised, reflective and wrung-out, but the new five-part James Bluemel docuseries ‘Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland’ (BBC Two) manages it,” said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. Bluemel made a celebrated 2020 series about the Iraq War, and here…

The Week · Jun 1, 2023

Dead Ringers review: Rachel Weisz takes on the role of twin gynaecologists

David Cronenberg’s 1988 psychological thriller about twin gynaecologists descending into mania featured surgical instruments “so misshapen and disturbing, it was difficult to watch without squirming”, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. Now the film has been made into a six-part series for Amazon Prime, with the lead roles gender reversed,…

The Week · Apr 27, 2023

I love an LP, but spare me the Vinyl Snob going on like a broken record

Just what is it about a day celebrating music stores that sets off those who fetishise format over pleasure?

The Guardian - UK · Apr 24, 2022