The Latest Breaking News from Mike Leigh

The actor answers your questions, from his memorable impersonation of a sloth at Rada to what it was like having to execute one of his son’s best friends

Neither hambone nor underplayer, Lesley Manville gives tremendous value for the money. Her classical chops, coupled with a shrewd improviser’s wiles honed in the films of Mike Leigh, have elevated so many projects, among them Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” in which Manville played the impeccably coifed gatekeeper to Daniel…

Some directors come with such huge back catalogues that it can be hard to know where to start. Enter our film critics, who suggest the best routes in to the works of some of our most prolific film-makers

All is not well in an idyllic town where all women of child-bearing age become pregnant. Plus: Kaley Cuoco’s timing is impeccable in The Flight Attendant. Here’s what to watch today

Imelda Staunton is outstanding in Mike Leigh’s incredibly timely drama, while Alicia Vikander is the perfect AI creation in Alex Garland’s directorial debut. Plus, Keanu Reeves is back with more Matrix

Radio’s odd couple take questions from actors, directors and Observer readers about optimism, the films they disagree on – and biscuits

Gavin and Stacey star Alison Steadman is back on television this week starring as a gran in the new BBC comedy Here We Got which follows the highs and lows of the Jessop family

Some we see all the time, some we hardly see at all

Pamela is all posh on the Great British Menu

The cinema will be showing classics starring Marlon Brando and Sydney Poitier alongside independent British films

The eponymous do of Mike Leigh’s 1977 play is reimagined in Abi’s House Party, a youth production at the Watford Palace theatre. But what would Bev think?