The dress code isn’t the only sustainable aspect of this evening’s ceremony; the dinner menu afterwards is sourced entirely within the UK, and an entirely vegan option is available.
Some of the films expected to win big this evening are 1917, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and Judy.
The meal begins with a vegan starter of caraway-infused carrot salad with celeriac moutabel, kelp pickled turnip, mushroom piccalilli, sweet vinegar reduction.
They’ll then move on to either thyme-basted Shropshire chicken, chestnut mushroom barley with a ballotine of Potash Farm walnuts, Dorset truffle creamed parsnips and roasted beets – or the vegan option of aromatic Hodmedods Farm lentil and cauliflower tart with champ potatoes, roasted beets, lovage and parsley relish.
Dessert, also vegan, is an early season Yorkshire rhubarb fool, with a pear sphere and preserved raspberry jelly, meringue, toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, followed by coffee and petits fours.
Guests will also be sipping on Champagne Taittinger, Villa Maria wine and San Pelligrino throughout the evening.
Now, is it too late to bag ourselves a ticket to dinner?
She’s the Syrian journalist hotly tipped to win big this year with her globally-acclaimed documentary. Here, Waad al-Kateab talks to Andrew Threlfall about family life in Aleppo, filming on the frontline, and why winning a Bafta or Oscar would help to reshape the conversation for women still living under siege
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With the international spotlight fixed firmly on For Sama this awards season (the film has already been garlanded with a plethora of accolades at major festivals, including best documentary at Cannes and SXSW) it’s hard to believe this hard-hitting, deeply personal account of the Syrian uprising is 28-year-old al-Kateab’s first feature film.
Shot over five years by the Channel 4 correspondent chronicling life in Aleppo, For Sama documents the horror and hope experienced by al-Kateab and her toddler Sama as their beloved Syria is ravaged by bomb raids. It’s a story that begins with the peaceful protests against President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011, before bearing witness to the grief and the terror of conflict, and lifts the lid on what raising a family on the frontline truly means. For al-Kateab, each still is a snapshot of Sama’s childhood and she describes For Sama as a ‘love letter to daughter and my city’.
Perhaps more powerfully though, it’s a film that no longer accepts society’s desensitised collective shrug towards the women destroyed by war. And, at a time when the industry seems shockingly lacking in female directors and diversity, it seems now really is al-Kateab’s moment to shine…
For Sama’s nominations are bringing much-needed awareness to victims of the Syrian uprising. Has global acclaim come as a surprise to you?
‘To be honest it has come as a complete shock, but the prospect of winning an Oscar provides an incredible platform for people to engage with the film and campaign,ActionForSama.com, which has been created to support the people of Syria. This is the most important legacy of all. I want to spread the word to policy makers so that they can change their perspective about what is still happening in Syria and be more responsible. I want this opportunity to bring about real change.’
Making the film must have been incredibly challenging, both emotionally and logistically…
‘As you can see from the very first minutes of the film, I never thought that I would make it out of Aleppo alive. Filming was the thing that kept me going – I knew the footage would be the only record left of me if I was killed.’
Waad Al-Kateab and co-director Edward Watts attend a special screening for ‘For Sama’ in California, January 2020 (Getty Images)
It sounds terrifying. What promoted you to pick up a camera amid the chaos?
‘I had no real idea what I was going to do with what I was filming, but when the Syrian revolution started in 2011, I already had more than 500 hours of footage, so I just carried on. Some of it was just about me being a mother and commenting on what was around me in a normal way. But, at the same time, I realised that I had to be citizen journalist so I tried to film the air attacks too. It was only when I finally looked through all the hard drives that I realised what I’d captured. It was five years and thousands of small stories. That’s how it felt.’
Was becoming a journalist always the goal?
‘Yes, but filming under these kind of circumstances was more about [capturing] how you would live the last minute of your life; [everyone] was living minute by minute, day by day. You learn to feel every moment incredibly deeply – even the sad ones.’
Your daughter Sama is now four years old and you’ve since given birth to your second child, Taima. How do and your husband feel Sama has changed since making the documentary and escaping Syria to live in London?
‘Sama does a lot of things by herself. She is very capable and doesn’t often want help, so she acts much older than she should. I think she is aware of the film. When I was pregnant with her, I felt that I had life inside me and that I was bringing new life to a place where there was so much death. It gave me strength to know that even though Aleppo was being destroyed, we were still trying to live a normal life. Sama gave me hope.’
Al-Kateab joins in on a protest against hospital bombings outside the United Nations in January 2020 (Getty Images)
Did you know at the time of filming that you were doing something important for your country?
‘I never knew how it would turn out but I hoped, and still hope, that one day Syria will be free and Assad will be gone. The situation is still bad back home.After I had Sama I felt the extremes of feeling happy while still fearing for the people of Syria. We had a screening at the United Nations in New York, but we [still await] a formal investigation [about the] bombing of hospitals…’
It’s been nine years since you first started recording life in Aleppo and you now live and work in London. How do you feel about the situation in Syria today?
‘We have lost faith in the [Syrian] government, but we still have faith in the people. Documentaries and films alone can not change the world, but the people who watch them can. Together, we can make people accountable for conflict, and viewers of this film can help by changing the narrative of how Syria is perceived. For Sama shows the humanity of the Syrian people. The focus [in the West] was always on ISIS and Assad, but this film hopefully redresses that and I am passionate about returning to Syria to make a second documentary one day. We claimed asylum here in the UK in 2016 and I now work as a journalist for Channel 4 – I love London and there is a wonderful Syrian community here, too. But I am Syrian and I want to make a difference for the children like Sama back home. I hope I can also forge a career here in the UK [that will help me to achieve that], I hope it’s the first step.’
* For Sama is available on All 4 On Demand – Channel 4
After ten years of being there for us, Friends left our screens in 2004 – leaving a Central Perk shaped hole in our hearts – and we’re still not over it.
Yes, it may have been 15 years since Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Joey made their last appearances but it still feels like it was just yesterday.
We’re still deeply invested in Rachel and Ross’ tumultuous relationship, we’ve never given up hope on Parker (Alec Baldwin) coming back into our lives, and we can’t believe how quickly the Friends children have grown up. Are we the only ones confused by our feelings for Ben now that he’s grown up and starring in Riverdale?
But it’s not Cole Sprouse or the Friends reunion that became a conversation topic this week. Instead it was the characters, Rachel and Joey, that made news as it emerged that both actors strongly objected to their most famous storyline.
Yes, Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston were reportedly uncomfortable with the storyline where Joey and Rachel date.
In a recent interview with Express.co.uk, Dr Simone Cox, one of the brains behind Friends: A Reading of the Sitcom, explained how Matt LeBlanc in particular was heavily against the storyline.
Recalling her conversation with one of the Executive Producers, Kevin S. Bright, Dr Simone Cox explained: ‘He told us when they first started floating the idea of a storyline involving Joey developing feelings for Rachel that Matt LeBlanc was very uncomfortable with this.
‘He said these actors were so invested in their characterisations, and Matt LeBlanc’s objection was: “Joey wouldn’t do that.”’
Cox continued: ‘Joey is many things: He’s a womaniser; he is into his food; but he’s also a very loyal friend. So Joey would never go for Rachel because that would be devastating for Ross. But in this case they went for it because, I guess, they thought they would get some interesting storylines.’
And Matt LeBlanc wasn’t alone, with Jennifer Aniston reported to also be against the storyline.
‘It had to be a crush, and it had to be more funny than emotional, otherwise, this arc would go from risky to unwatchable,’ Kelsey Miller, author of I’ll Be There for You: The One About Friends, has previously explained of Jennifer Aniston’s opinions of the season 9 relationship.
Jen reportedly insisted that Rachel’s attraction for Joey could not be love and had to be purely physical, with it always being about Rachel and Ross.
Kate Middleton is one of the most talked-about women in the world, from her fashion influence (Kate Middleton effect) to her being super mum to three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
This year, Kate’s family priorities made news once more, as it emerged that the three rings that she wears on her wedding finger have very special meanings.
We’ve all noticed the 12-carat sapphire sparkler surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds on her ring finger, with the engagement ring being an heirloom from Princess Diana. But on closer inspection, the Duchess of Cambridge wears two more bands alongside it.
One is of course her wedding ring, made of welsh gold, and the other was a sweet present from Prince William.
Yes, the Eclipse Diamond Eternity Ring by Annoushka retailing at £995, is said to be a push present from Prince William. He is said to have given her the white gold band studded with diamonds after the birth of Prince George in 2013.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made news this month as they announced that they were planning on stepping down from their roles as ‘senior’ members of the royal family, hoping to become financially independent.
It was then announced by Buckingham Palace that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be losing their HRH titles following a new deal, and repaying ‘Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage’.
Releasing an official statement, Buckingham Palace announced: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.’
The Sussexes have faced a wave of backlash from the public since their split from the royals, with Prince Harry’s father, Prince Charles, reported to be offering the couple ‘love and affection on standby’.
Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, on the other hand has been stoking the fire, taking part in yet another TV interview, this time telling the world that he thinks Prince Harry is a ‘very insecure man’.
‘I think that Harry is a very insecure man and I think that’s being shifted on to my daughter,’ he explained in a TV clip of Harry & Meghan: The Royals in Crisis, an upcoming TMZ prime-time special on Fox News, via Daily Mail TV. ‘I think she winds up mothering him.’
He later continued: ‘I hope that they stay together and love each other and take care of their child, my grandson. I hope that some day we do get back together but I’m 75 so there isn’t a lot of time.’
But Thomas didn’t stop there, then bringing Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, into the conversation in an interview with Good Morning Britain.
‘I’ve spoken and sent letters to Doria to get to Meghan,’ Thomas announced in the interview of trying to reach out to his daughter. ‘And that hasn’t happened as well. So no, I’m at their mercy.’
This is said to have upset Harry and Meghan in particular, with the couple reportedly ‘furious’ about her being dragged in.
‘Thomas’ attempt to bring Doria into the whole thing is a desperate move,’ a source reportedly told The Sun. ‘She is a completely innocent party in the whole thing. If Meghan decides to speak to her dad again it will be her own decision. They don’t want Doria dragged into any of this and to become a pawn for Thomas to use. Doria doesn’t do conflict.’
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not yet commented.
Meghan Markle took to her role as a royal so well that it’s hard to remember that before the speeches, royal tours and ribbon cuttings, she was of course a Hollywood actress, featuring in a number of high profile films.
Her most famous role however was in the show Suits, where she starred as Rachel Zane, for seven seasons, leaving the US TV series as she became a royal.
The official Suits twitter account posted the clip to social media, captioning it: ‘Turns out Rachel is doing REALLY well’ – a nod to Meghan’s new royal life.
While viewers picked up on the Meghan Markle nod, it seems that a lot of us missed a later Prince Harry nod, with the show throwing yet another royal reference.
In last year’s season finale in the run-up to Louis and Sheila’s wedding, Harvey comments on Louis’ attire, exclaiming ‘Wait are second. Are you wearing a morning coat?’. And when Louis responds, ‘Of course I’m wearing a morning coat. Frankly, I’m disappointed you’re not’, Harvey responds: ‘Louis, you’re not the prince of England.’
It was then announced by Buckingham Palace that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be losing their HRH titles following a new deal, and repaying ‘Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage’.
Releasing an official statement, Buckingham Palace announced: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.’
Amid the backlash they have faced, the couple made no secret of the fact that they were looking forward to having a bit more privacy and stepping back, moving earlier this month to Canada with their baby.
Now, the couple are apparently looking forwards, with reports that Meghan is thinking about her career.
‘It can be a manager or an agent, but she’s reaching out to people to find someone to represent her for future professional projects.’
This was followed by rumours that Meghan could be entering into reality TV.
Page Six claimed this weekend that Meghan would be guest-starring on a new reality show by her best friend, Jessica Mulroney, with the TV programme, I Do, Redo, focusing on second marriages.
‘When I believe in something, I go after it at full speed, and I’m blessed to be able to create a show that truly inspires me,’ Jessica Mulroney explained in a press release of the show. ‘We are aiming to make a significant difference in the lives of our chosen couples whose first weddings did not go as planned due to tragic circumstances. This is a side of the wedding industry that has never been shown on television before.’
According to InStyle however, the Palace has announced that the report is ‘categorically untrue.’
Well, that’s that.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not yet commented.
Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Blake revealed that her middle daughter, Inez, wasn’t quite sure about the new addition to the family at first – and it’s seriously relatable to anyone with kids.
‘I have so many children!,’ the star began. ‘It’s a bit of a tough adjustment in our house, but it’s good. I have two other daughters, so my oldest is very into the baby, but my middle child not so much.
‘She sort of like pretends to play with her so like in the beginning,’ she explained. ‘Our oldest is loving on her, and she’s like very maternal and then our middle daughter is just like, just keeps away from her.
‘And then I said to her, I said, “you know, you’re going to teach her everything she knows. You get to teach her about cities and the sky and flowers and Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse, anything you want.”
‘And she goes, “ohhh, I didn’t love you, but now I do.”’
The third series of the show documenting the Royal Family’s life focused heavily on Margaret’s marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, and the events that lead to their divorce in 1978.
Of course, the Queen’s sister sadly passed away after a short period of illness in 2002, aged 71, when the Queen was 75.
The two sisters were always close and, according to Andrew Duncan, author of The Reality of Monarchy, the late Princess had a lovely way of describing her sister.
Princess Margaret and the Queen in 1946
The newly-surfaced comments were shared by Duncan in a recent article he wrote for the Radio Times.
‘My sister has an aura. I’m enormously impressed when she walks into a room. It’s kind of magic,’ she said. ‘In my own humble way I’ve always tried to take some of the burden off my sister. She can’t do it all […] and I leap at the opportunity to help.
‘Sometimes it can be very formal and boring, but I’ve got a reflex against that now,’ she continued. ‘It’s very much up to one not to be bored.’
Can you guess who is taking over from Olivia Colman?
Credit: Netflix
The Crown has officially cast its Queen for Season 5, taking over from Olivia Colman when the fourth season comes to an end.
Netflix has announced that Imelda Staunton, who played Professor Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies, will be the show’s third and final Queen Elizabeth II.
‘I have loved watching The Crown from the very start,’ the actress said in a statement issued by Netflix. ‘As an actor it was a joy to see how both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman brought something special and unique to Peter Morgan’s scripts.
‘I am genuinely honoured to be joining such an exceptional creative team and to be taking The Crown to its conclusion.’
Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and final season of The Crown. pic.twitter.com/hUOob58A9p
However, there’s some bad news for the show’s die-hard fans. Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, has revealed the fifth season will be the show’s last, ending in the 21st century after the death of Princess Diana.
Meanwhile, royal biographer Angela Levin revealed Prince Harry had told her in an interview, ‘I’m going to make sure they stop it [the show] before they get to me.’
Don’t know about you, but we’re excited to see how the end of the show pans out.
The couple had hoped to be able to continue performing some of their royal duties and become ‘financially independent’. However, it was not possible for them to remain working royals, and they will no longer use their HRH titles.
After a couple of weeks of engagements and talks with the royal family to negotiate their new life, Prince Harry flew out to Canada to join Meghan and their nine-month-old son, Archie.
Before leaving for North America, Prince Harry gave a speech at a Sentebale charity dinner saying he felt ‘great sadness’ at he and Meghan’s stepping down, but that there was ‘no other option’ for his family.
Sources say that Meghan is now ‘happy to be out of London‘, but new reports suggest the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking for a home in Los Angeles for the summer.
The move would make sense, as the Californian city is where Meghan was born and grew up, and where her mother, Doria Ragland, still lives. According to reports, the Sussexes are hoping to spend this summer living there.
A source told E! that ‘[Meghan and Harry] have started to look at homes online and are in the process of interviewing security teams. They are getting their ducks in a row and seeing if it’s logistically possible.
‘They’ve reached out to people in L.A. and would like to assemble a team of locals.’
The source added that the duchess ‘is hoping to find something that will fit their needs,’ and a home that will enable her ‘to do meetings at the house and also be able to host friends and entertain. Those are two things that are important to her.’
Feeling down? Struggling with life’s challenges? Forget therapy, massages or medication – turns out a bibliotherapy may just be the answer
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Words by Kerry Parnell
As we celebrate National Storytelling Week (from Feb 1st-8th), reading a good novel might give you a welcome escape from real life, but it’s also doing wonders for your mental health, and will, quite literally stop you losing the plot.
Bibliotherapy, or using literature to improve your mental health, has proven so effective, books are even being prescribed on the NHS.
It works on everyone from children to adults and the most effective genre is not self-help, as you might assume, but rather literature and poetry.
Reading poetry considerably reduced the symptoms of people with PTSD, according to a recent report in the Journal of Poetry Therapy, and researchers from the University of Alabama found depressives given bibliotherapy had less chance of relapsing than those prescribed medication.
It works by three stages – identification, catharsis and insight. You identify with the main characters, experience their emotions and struggles from a distance, then gain insight into your own life from their story.
Plus, the wider you read the better. According to a study by the Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute, reading classics like Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, allows people suffering from depression to discover new emotions and experiences and rediscover forgotten ones.
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And while many of us subconsciously self-medicate with books – reaching for old favourites when we feel the need to escape or find calm, there are additional benefits if you partake in a group discussion afterwards.
In England, you can get a book prescription from your GP, to use at the library, or attend a local Reading Well group, run by the Reading Agency. It follows similar successful services in Scotland and Wales.
The Reader charity also runs therapeutic reading groups across the nation, as well as in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, care homes and sheltered accommodation.
Universities including the University of Liverpool and Cambridge University have been launching courses in bibliotherapy and charity ReLit ran one with the University of Warwick, which is on YouTube. It includes interviews with supporters including Sir Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, Ben Okri and Rachel Kelly.
It has also spawned a new industry of bibliotherapists who offer personalised sessions and prescriptions. One such is Bijal Shah, 37, a former investment banker turned therapist, who has a practise in London, as well as hosting literary afternoon teas in Soho’s Ham Yard Hotel. She has clients from all over the world, but says women in their twenties to forties are her biggest customers.
bijal shah
‘I offer 45-minute sessions which examine a client’s reading life, goals, interests and personal needs,’ says Shah. ‘I then prepare a personalised book prescription and offer relevant therapy or coaching.’
‘Fiction allows us to use our imagination and access aspects of our unconscious that we would never be able to tap into otherwise. It can sometimes be more powerful than any psychotherapy conducted by a psychoanalyst.’
Shah runs sessions in her clinic and virtually, plus has free reading lists on her website booktherapy.io. She also offers couples bibliotherapy, enthusing that ‘it is an amazing way to connect with your other half’.
Here are few of Shah’s top book prescriptions:
Feeling stressed: Try Deborah Alma’s The Emergency Poet
‘When stressed, I would suggest poetry,’ Shah advises. ‘It is the perfect way to calm the mind, bring you into the here and now and slow you down so you can pause, re-energise and re-boot.’
Feeling depressed: Try Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar
Although reading Plath for depression might not seem the obvious choice, Shah says it works by providing, ‘extraordinary access to the mind of someone who is depressed, validating the feelings of anyone experiencing depression. Raw, insightful and even rational, it really empathises with depressed reader, often providing cathartic relief.’
Getting over a break-up: Try Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist
This Pulitzer-nominated novel follows a travel writer recovering from losing his son and his wife leaving him. ‘Unsure of how to proceed, he uses his writing to chronicle the challenges and the emotional processing we are forced to embrace as life goes on,’ says Shah. ‘It’s a beautiful story that teach us life-affirming lessons.’
