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Barbara Ellen

Barbara Ellen is a columnist for the Observer. She has also written for NME, the Times, Mail on Sunday, Elle, Marie Claire, Grazia, Loaded, GQ and Mojo

April 2025

  • Peter Capaldi in a parka in Black Mirror

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Black Mirror; Doctor Who; What They Found; Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz; Reunion – review

    Can the new Black Mirror compete with reality? Plus, Holocaust documentaries from Sam Mendes and Simon Schama, a pioneering British Sign Language thriller – and a nice bit of tension on Doctor Who
  • Elton John and Madonna embracing for a selfie

    Elton John and Madonna have made up, but why do famous people publicly go to war?

    Sorry seems to be the hardest word – and there is a public appetite for watching high-profile feuds
  • Michelle Williams as Molly in Dying for Sex.

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Dying for Sex; Twitter: Breaking the Bird; MobLand; Austin – review

    Michelle Williams shines as a woman with terminal cancer hitting Tinder; dirt is dished in a demise-of-Twitter doc; Helen Mirren unleashes her Irish accent on London’s criminal underworld. Plus, the Australian drama that gets autism right

March 2025

  • John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their bed-in at Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal in 1969.

    Yoko Ono is now getting acclaim, but why do rock stars’ female partners get so much abuse?

    Barbara Ellen
  • James Nelson-Joyce, Sean Bean and Jack McMullen.

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: This City Is Ours; Love and Loss: The Pandemic 5 Years On; The Studio; The Change – review

  • Gwyneth Paltrow at The Fashion Awards at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 4 December 2023.

    #YouToo, Gwyneth Paltrow? Intimacy coordinators make sex scenes safe for all, not just A-listers

    Barbara Ellen
  • Tamara Lawrance, in the title role, with Joe Dempsie in Get Millie Black.

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Get Millie Black; With Love, Meghan; A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story; Towards Zero – review

  • Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Toxic Town; Small Town, Big Story; Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October; Dope Girls – review

  • And the winner is ... the rising generation of older female actors

  • I may be a pan-cultural youth vampire, but I think I’ll leave gen Z to their slang

    Barbara Ellen

February 2025

  • The White Lotus<br>The exploits and misadventures of various guests and employees at a tropical resort over the course of one week.

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: The White Lotus; A Thousand Blows; Escaping Utopia – review

    Mike White’s delicious whodunnit returns to put the rich through the grinder in Thailand; Stephen Graham goes the extra round in Steven Knight’s bare-knuckle period drama. Plus, a chilling account of life inside a New Zealand cult
  • Steve Coogan as Brian Walden and Harriet Walter as Margaret Thatcher seated opposite each other in a TV studio, a map of the world as backdrop

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Brian and Maggie; Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis; Paradise; Mo – review

    Harriet Walter and Steve Coogan star as Margaret Thatcher and her friend turned foe; Idris Elba fronts a harrowing study of street crime; there are riddles aplenty in a new US thriller; and art echoes life in the bittersweet Mo
  • Bridget Jones, played by Renée Zellweger, rests her head on the shoulder of one of her new love interests, Roxster, Leo Woodall, in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

    Is it time to stop bashing Bridget Jones? Hapless everywoman has evolved – and so have we

    A fourth film about Helen Fielding’s creation will be released on Valentines’s day, and this time it’s gen Z that has fallen in love with her

January 2025

  • President Trump And VP JD Vance At Presidential Inauguration - USA, Washington, United States - 20 Jan 2025<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Pool/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock (15110225bx) US President Donald Trump delivers remarks after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in an inauguration ceremony in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2025. Trump's planned outdoor inauguration ceremonies and events are being held inside today due to a forecast of extreme cold temperatures. President Trump And VP JD Vance At Presidential Inauguration - USA, Washington, United States - 20 Jan 2025

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: President Trump’s Inauguration; Out There; What Happened at Auschwitz; Prime Target – review

    Second time around was definitely not funny as the Trump show rolled back into DC. Plus, Martin Clunes in overalls in a dark Welsh drama; a maths thriller that doesn’t quite add up; and a Holocaust documentary with quiet power
  • Black and white photo of David Lynch in a buttoned-up shirt smoking a cigarette and leaning against a wall

    Subversive, warm and wild at heart: David Lynch deserves all his tributes

    The late director sided with the outsider and saw things in America no one else could see. His startling oeuvre changed film and television for ever

    • Observer TV reviews
      The week in TV: Severance; Marilyn Manson: Unmasked; Bump; Lucy Worsley Investigates… 1066 – review

    • Observer TV reviews
      The week in TV: Patience; 7/7: The London Bombings; Playing Nice; American Primeval – review

    • The week in TV: Lockerbie: A Search for Truth; The Traitors; SAS Rogue Heroes; The Split: Barcelona – review

December 2024

  • Squid Game S2 Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game S2 Cr. No Ju-han/Netflix © 2024

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: Squid Game 2; Doctor Who: Joy to the World; Outnumbered; A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone – review

  • Claudia Winkleman standing in front of a castle, dressed in black velvet and a white frilly shirt

    We all love TV show The Traitors … what does that say about us?

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