‘In practical terms, we were asking very big actors to suddenly slide into the background. All the biggest names – Christopher Eccleston, Sarah Lancashire, Ricky Tomlinson – absolutely got it’My mantra for Clocking Off was “extraordinary moments in ordinary people’s lives”, and seeing how realistic I could make that. It was partly inspired by Dekalog,...

The Spark, a song created by a group of nine-to-12-year-olds including refugees, has amassed 8.6m viewsIt is called The Spark and has been declared the song of the summer – a viral sensation from a group of children in Ireland who filmed the video in a day.Since launching on 15 May, the song has amassed 8.6m views and been hailed as a drum’n’bass-beat...

The Whiplash star commits himself to the role of rampage killer on a motorbike rampage that ultimately lacks forward momentumVeteran actor JK Simmons (Whiplash) is the main reason to watch this basic horror-thriller, which isn’t as horrific or thrilling as one might hope. Simmons plays Wade, a cold-as-ice killer on a rampage, who kicks off the action...

Corn Exchange, Brighton Ed Hughes and Peter Cant’s chamber opera meditates on literature, aesthetics and theology and boasts John Tomlinson as Milton. But this opera of ideas doesn’t allow us to make out the actual ideasGiven its world premiere at the Brighton festival, Ed Hughes’s chamber opera States of Innocence marks the 350th anniversary of Milton’s...

Influencers and politicians use snappy cliches to get you on side – but you can fight fire with fireSince the moment I learned about the concept of the “thought-terminating cliche” I’ve been seeing them everywhere I look: in televised political debates, in flouncily stencilled motivational posters, in the hashtag wisdom that clogs my social media feeds....

Co-Op Live, Manchester On his final tour, the 80-year-old gives fans a slick but satisfying treatment of his pleasantly cheesy oeuvreThere’s jubilation in the air tonight. Tens of thousands of Manchester City fans file out into the Etihad campus in a sea of blue as they celebrate winning the Premier League. Moving in the other direction towards the...