Comic Relief 2015

What’s happening in Comic Relief 2015?

“Our aim is to bring about real and lasting change by tackling the root causes of poverty and social injustice. So, to drive this change, we award grants to incredible projects on the ground that work to give people a leg up, not a hand out.

We are committed to ensuring all the money we are responsible for is genuinely making as big a difference as it possibly can. That’s why we monitor and evaluate the difference our funding is making and every few years, we review our grant-making strategy and adapt it, to ensure we're flexible and responsive to the changing world around us.”

Comic relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy script writer Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief’s appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief. Comic Relief is one of the two high profile telethon events held in the United Kingdom, the other being Children in Need held annually in November.

What’s on this year?

He’s been off our screens for eight years, and now Mr Bean is back. He gets up to his usual antics at a funeral of a friend – but it seems the comic character hasn’t quite adapted to the modern world, taking a faux pas selfie of himself with the coffin. 

the comic character hasn’t quite adapted to the modern world, taking a faux pas selfie of himself with the coffin. 

David Walliams is reprising his role as long-term carer Lou, but the Little Britain Comic Relief special will see him pushing Stephen Hawking in the wheelchair instead of Matt Lucas’ Andy. Catherine Tate is also set to make an appearance as a nun. 

instead of Matt Lucas’ Andy. Catherine Tate is also set to make an appearance as a nun.

 The Red Nose Day broadcast switches over to BBC2 at 10pm during the BBC news, when Jo Brand will be talking to celebrity star bakers Gok Wan, Jennifer Saunders, Victoria Wood and Michael Sheen before announcing the winner. 

Comedians including Stephen Fry, Miranda Hart and Sheridan Smith take to the stage at the London Palladium to raise a few laughs, and hopefully some money. We hope you will donate!

The Sixth Form has been selling cakes and red noses around college to participate in raising money for the less fortunate. Hope you enjoyed them!

No, Prime Minister - TV Debates

The TV leaders debate has ended in stalemate, with David Cameron refusing to partake and the broadcasting companies standing their ground, will we ever get these debates?- James Sullivan

It began as a novel  method of educating the British public in politics before a crucial general election.

Viewed by 9.4 million people, the 2010 debate between the party leaders Gordon Brown (Labour), David Cameron (Conservative) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) proved an avid spectacle before a crucial general election. So why not do it again?

Yet since 2010 British party politics has changed.

There are no longer only three major parties in Parliament; the Green party won a seat in 2010, nationalist parties continue to be popular in Wales (Plaid Cymru) and Scotland (SNP). Plus who can forget the rise of UKIP, who now have two seats in Parliament.

So, when the plans for this years debate were announced, which only had Nigel Farage (UKIP) added, it caused outrage among the smaller parties and David Cameron refused to partake without these smaller parties.

The plans changed; seven leaders would now feature. There were to be three leaders debates, one with a head-to-head between Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. The other party leaders would feature in two other debates.

Even with these plans there was continued disagreement.

Broadcasters failed to include the Democratic Unionist Party (from Northern Ireland) despite including all other major parties. In fact the BBC has rejected the DUP’s appeal on the matter.

Now David Cameron is refusing profusely to partake in all but one of the debates, and in response the broadcasting companies are continuing their plans with or without the Prime Minister.

After all the struggle and toil, we end up  with debates that don’t feature all the relevant parties and may now not feature the Prime Minister. Are these debates worth the effort?

The lack of DUP seems a major oversight. After the Scottish Independence referendum it’s clear the Union is close to pulling apart, so it’s not the best time to start excluding small nationalist parties.

But I don’t think it’s a major reason to postpone the whole debate, seven parties will still be informative to the public as they begin to contemplate who to vote for in May.

David Cameron is a slightly more pressing issue. Whatever his reasoning is, it’s clear he believes these debates will be damaging. 

Other party leaders have been quick to criticise his decision, with Nicola Sturgeon (SNP leader) saying we should “stick with that, rather than allow a Tory prime minister to dictate the terms of debate."

There has already been enough conflict in organising these debates, so the BBC is justified in pressing on without him. It’ll only serve to damage his reputation.

It’s a shame, because in an age where political interest is dwindling, the debates served a purpose of capturing the interest of the public. Yet David Cameron’s refusal reinstates the negative view people hold about politicians.

The upcoming general election will be closely contested according to opinion polls, so these debates prove crucial for all parties to influence the public. Yet Cameron may have left the door wide open for Ed Miliband. I can hardly see him losing a debate to an empty chair.

TV debates schedule:

April 2: Debate between all seven party leaders– Broadcasted on ITV

April 16:  Debate between all seven party leaders– Broadcasted on BBC

April 30: Head-to-head debate featuring David Cameron and Ed Miliband - Broadcasted on Channel 4 and Sky

Educating Rita at the Mercury Theatre, 27/02/2015

Educating Rita at the Mercury Theatre - Photo by Robert Day

Ellie Bannerman reviews Educating Rita, the first show in the Mercury Theatre’s new Made In Colchester season. Check out heylookitstheellie.wordpress.com for more theatre blog posts and reviews. 

One of my goals for the new year was to go and see more plays – ask me anything about musical theatre and I’ll probably know the answer but plays are a different story. I can really only think of two plays I’ve ever seen and based on that knowledge it’s hardly surprising I’d actually never heard of Educating Rita before I got my ticket to see it at Colchester’s Mercury Theatre. Educating Rita is the story of Rita, a hairdresser who is adamant she needs to break out of her working class lifestyle, learn about the world and ‘find herself’. This brings her into the path of Frank, an Open University tutor who survives on the multitude of bottles of whisky hidden behind his bookshelves and his constant desire to reject himself.

To begin with, I was fairly sceptical about the show – how on earth could it be interesting for two hours with only two cast members? I felt as if the show took quite a while to get going, the first part seemed fairly repetitive with Rita continuously demanding she wants to ‘know everything’ and Frank attempting to tell her this is far easier said than done. But in the second act the show really comes into its own; I felt far more emotionally connected to the characters, my sympathy switched between both Frank and Rita throughout and I found it very hard to try and pick who’s side I was on! I also loved how the language of the two characters was so contrasting – both between Frank and Rita in the first act and the way in which Rita’s language changes as she becomes more ‘educated’ in the second.

The two cast members carried the show with ease. Dougal Lee gives a solid performance as Frank; I loved how he portrayed the contrasting sides of his character and began to change as his friendship with Rita grew. But from the moment she enters Samantha Robinson shines as Rita, her performance is hilarious, heartfelt and incredibly moving in places. Again, I loved how the character’s personality changes to become more ‘educated’ in the second act and to see Frank’s reaction to this, and how Rita learns to accept herself. I definitely had a lump in my throat by the end!

Staging was simple but really lovely, consisting of a large bookshelf and a few light up pictures. There was also a big backdrop which changed colour to signify the different times of day. The simplicity of the staging was really nice and I was very impressed with a lot of Rita’s quick changes. Scenes were transitioned very cleverly with the sky backdrop (or a change in Rita’s outfit!) usually signifying a new day.

I left wondering one thing: does this count as revision? Though I’m not learning about Macbeth or William Blake, I did find myself being very interested about the meaning of assonance (getting the rhyme wrong, according to Rita). All in all a good, well produced local production – I can’t fault the cast but I just wasn’t overly fond of the story. 

Rating [3/5]

THE NME AWARDS ARE BACK!

Charlotte Cory talks about the NME nominations that have been released for the annual awards on February the 18th.
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The NME awards are back again. Last year, we saw Arctic Monkeys dominating the nominations however, after Kasabian’s album 48:13 they are overshadowing this years awards with eight nominations. 

Nominated for the top award ‘Best British band’ include: Alt J, previous winners Arctic Monkeys, Chvrches, Kasabian, upcoming rock band Royal Blood and lastly The Libertines who reunited in 2014. The other big award is for best album. The nominations for this include: Jamie T—Carry On The Grudge, Kasabian—48:13, La Roux—Trouble In Paradise, Royal Blood—Royal Blood, Run Jewels—Run The Jewels 2 and St Vincent—St Vincent.  

Out of all the nominations I believe ’The Best Live Band’ will be hardest to predict who will win as they’ve all proved their worthy of winning this award. 

The nominations are: Arctic Monkeys, Fat White Family, Foo Fighters, Kasabian, Royal Blood and The Libertines. The  NME awards should be the most interesting, exciting and captivating yet. With comeback artists like The Libertines back in the nominations to fantastic new bands like Royal Blood.

For more information head to the NME website.

Made In Dagenham review, 28/10/2014

Ellie Bannerman reviews Made In Dagenham, the new musical playing at the Adelphi theatre following the story of the Ford factory workers who fought for equal pay.

It's so unusual these days that I go and see a show having very little knowledge of what it's about - being a musical theatre nerd I'm pretty much word perfect on all the songs before I even enter the theatre - so being able to see the newest addition to the West End, Made In Dagenham, from a completely fresh perspective was super exciting!

The show follows the story of Rita O'Grady and the workers at the Ford factory in Dagenham who rise up to fight for equal pay for women. It's an inspiring story which makes for a fun night out, especially since the cast are very talented. A particular stand out for me was Sophie Isaacs who plays Sandra; her voice was outstanding and she performed the role excellently. Gemma Arterton was also great as Rita O'Grady; a pleasant surprise as sometimes when seeing a famous face in a show you are left disappointed.

Made In Dagenham has a mixed score - some songs were really great while others lacked interest and made me wish they would be over sooner! I really liked 'Everybody Out' - a fun song at the end of act one which really reminded me of 'Seize the Day' from Newsies. Unfortunately it was somewhat outnumbered by a few other more average songs. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to cut a few songs, as I did think the show seemed a bit long in places and I did find myself wanting them to get to the more exciting moments of the show quicker.

Overall, I'd say this show was good, but not amazing. I'm not in any great hurry to go back and see it again, nor will I be singing the songs for months to come, but if you're looking for a fun night out at the theatre then you can't really go wrong with this. It’s had a decent run, but I didn’t really see it becoming one of those classic shows that never closes. I was also super happy with my seat - I got a £25 stalls ticket (which was right at the back) but could see all the stage with no trouble. I also got to move forwards about three rows due to the huge number of free seats in front of me, which always puts me in a good mood (a bit sad, I know!).

[3/5]

Read more on my blog: heylookitstheellie.wordpress.com

Bombay Bicycle Club review, 13/12/2014

It’s not often you get to see the last concert at a major music venue and Bombay Bicycle Club’s send off to Earls Court definitely didn’t disappoint. By Ellie Bannerman

Being able to see the last concert at an iconic venue is not something you get to do often, so having the chance to see Bombay Bicycle Club perform at Earls Court on its final night was definitely something I won’t forget in a hurry. The atmosphere was incredible – everyone seemed to know they were about to witness something special. Support came from Sivu, who performed well, but I wasn’t too sure if their music was really good for getting a crowd worked up before a concert. Peace, on the other hand, were great and I definitely got more excited listening to them before the main act. I’m still completely obsessed with their song Gen Strange (which was featured in my December Playlist), and luckily it was just as good live as it is on the album.

After the two support bands it was time for Bombay Bicycle Club to come on stage – and they did not disappoint! Opening with Overdone they instantly got everyone having an amazing time and they had clearly put a lot of thought into their staging as the lighting and projected images at the back of the stage were really well done. Their set focused mainly on their two most recent albums which was really good for me as I wasn’t too familiar with their earlier work, but even the songs I didn’t know so well were brilliant. My highlights of the set were Shuffle, Home By Now, Luna and Carry Me (which made an amazing encore!). It was also really cool to get to see David Gilmour on stage with the band to perform Wish You Were Here – a Pink Floyd classic!

Special mention also has to go to their use of confetti, for some reason I get very excited about collecting little bits of sparkly tissue paper (very sad, I know). Unfortunately we didn’t get to keep our tickets – they were taken off us as we entered the venue which really annoyed me because I like collecting them too! Another thing that could have improved the experience would be the enforcement of height restrictions on audience members… I couldn’t really see the stage at all – it seemed all Bombay’s fans were about 6ft and despite my attempts at jumping to see over them I did not really succeed. Obviously this didn’t really ruin the experience too much –  I still had a great time and would definitely see the band again – but maybe I’d try and get there before all the tall people!

[8/10]

Read more on my blog: heylookitstheellie.wordpress.com

The Theory of Everything

Oscar season is fast approaching and amongst the British stars nominated for ‘Best Actor’ is Eddie Redmayne for his performance in, ’The Theory of Everything’ in which he plays Professor Stephen Hawking. This film is reviewed by Violet Daniels below. 

The Theory of Everything is a British made film, directed by James Marsh and staring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox and David Thewlis. The biographical drama follows closely the novel, ’Travelling to Infinity: My life with Stephen’ which is written by Jane Hawking, previous wife of Professor Stephen Hawking. 

Stephen Hawking is known internationally for his astounding contribution to theoretical physics and the understanding of gravitational theorems and his work in the field of general relativity. But above all he is known throughout the world for being a medical phenomenon. Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of just 21 and was given just a few years to live. Initially, he and everyone around him was devastated. However Stephen learnt to love life with everything he had, claiming that, ‘before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life.’ After his diagnosis Stephen was hit with the realisation that he may never complete his PhD. Despite this he did achieve his PhD and after his diagnosis went on to marry and have three children.  In present day, Stephen continues to be an inspiration to many and in doing so provides us all with a life story which is fundamental as it  embodies the life of one of the greatest scientists in human history.  

The Theory of Everything is a phenomenal film. Often, the word ‘phenomenal’ is over used to describe just above average films, books and TV shows ect. However I saw Eddie Redmayne’s performance in The Theory of Everything and it was phenomenal. The stance, the facial expressions, and the mannerisms all reflected my imagination and how I have always perceived Stephen Hawking. Before filming Eddie Redmayne even spent time with Stephen Hawking and this has been proved to be affective as his astounding performance mirrors the very person that is Stephen Hawing. As a result of his performance, Eddie is nominated for best actor in the annual Oscar academy awards in America. The film itself is expertly directed by James Marsh. In his directing the film depicts eloquently the life of Stephen Hawking as he is crippled by the fatal motor neurone disease which impacts his own life and the people around him. The film takes the viewer on a journey of discovery behind the man we all know of, but have never really learnt much about. Before watching this film, I had no idea of Stephen Hawking’s life outside of Science and I was shocked to discover the extent of his personal life and the challenges he and his family faced. 

Before watching this film, I had no idea of Stephen Hawking’s life outside of Science and I was shocked to discover the extent of his personal life and the challenges he and his family faced. 

The film follows Stephen from his first days as a young student at Cambridge University when he is studying for a PhD. Not even half way through his PhD he is given the news that he has motor neurone disease, known amongst most medics of the time to be incurable and with a life expectancy of just a few years. The film shows Stephen as he cuts himself off from his fellow friends at Cambridge and his girlfriend, Jane Wilde. Thus through expert cinematography the viewer realises how isolated Stephen Hawking became during the years of his life which should have been full of adventure and discovery. However this step back did not stop him in his road to completing a PhD.

Through the help of his friends and the support of his girlfriend Jane, Stephen is able to grab life with both hands as he attempts to fight and tackle his illness. As the film develops, so does Stephen Hawking’s condition. With time he deteriorates as his body cannot carry out normal day to day bodily functions. Gradually he needs more and more help from others and has to rely on the support of his (then wife) Jane. 

The film itself stresses the strain Stephen’s condition puts on Jane and his children at the time. Jane has to spend a lot of her time looking after Stephen and sometimes the children are abandoned for the sake of Stephen’s condition. The Theory of Everything portrays this disease to have a greater impact than I initially assumed. The disease controls Stephen’s life and everyone else's lives around him. In particular the film focuses on the relationship between Stephen and Jane. Jane is played by actress Felicity Jones, her expert performance enables the audience to realise the strain which a life threatening disease can put on a relationship. Furthermore the film manages to depict throughout the constant struggle that Stephen’s condition brings to his own family. The acting from all points of view is astoundingly life like, as being part of an audience for a screening of The Theory of Everything I can confirm that the film made me feel completely involved with the tragic, real life story which Stephen still carries with him even to this day. 

As the annual Academy Oscar Awards approaches all eyes are on Eddie Redmayne for his chance to pick up an award for best male actor in this film. Currently only 16 British male actors have won this prestigious award. However for now the ceremony still awaits as the battle against Benedict Cumberbatch and his role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game  and Eddie Redmayne and his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything awaits a verdict. I have seen both nominated performances and forgive me if I am biased, but I would most definitely give the award to Eddie Redmayne. Additionally, only recently did Eddie Redmayne pick up the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and also he won the award for Best Actor in the SAG (screen actors guild award) to which he dedicated this to, “those people around the world living with ALS, to those who have lost their lives to this brutal disease." Hopes remain high for Eddie Redmayne and this astounding performance of a generation, however only time will tell us whether he will receive this award.