Category: 5. Entertainment

As Indian cinemagoers watched the latest Superman film, many noticed something was amiss. On two occasions as the superhero leaned in for a kiss with Lois Lane, the film suddenly jumped forward, cutting to the aftermath of an embrace.

India’s censor board had deemed the kissing scenes, including a 33-second smooch, to be “overly sensual” for Indian audiences and demanded they be cut from the film before its cinematic release.

The cuts have prompted an outcry from some viewers, who accused the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) of making arbitrary, overly moralistic demands and having double standards by allowing heavy violence and misogyny to be depicted in Indian films but cutting a kissing scene from a Hollywood film.

“CBFC would allow horrific scenes of violence and sexual assault in a U-certified film that kids are freely allowed to watch, but won’t allow consensual kissing in a U/A comic book movie that kids should watch under adult supervision,” one viewer said on social media.

Another said: “So, Superman is NOT allowed to kiss Lois Lane on Indian screens. But all sleazy leading men of Indian films are allowed to pull, grope, assault, stalk, slap, and do whatever they want with their heroines. Are you serious, Indian censor board?”

Another fan criticised the jarring interruption caused by the crude cuts. “The Indian censor board has embarrassed itself with the abrupt cuts they’ve made to the film. The ‘morality’ of censorship aside, the way they’ve managed to mangle the flow is atrocious,” they said.

Indian cinema has long had an uncomfortable relationship with on-screen kissing. With the exception of a four-minute kissing scene in the 1933 film Karma, up until the 1990s on-screen caressing was largely kept to hugs or symbolised through imagery such as flowers.

While attitudes have relaxed in recent years, the country remains largely conservative and widely religious, particularly outside of urban areas, and more intimate kissing scenes are still subject to the censor’s knife.

The censor board has also faced accusations of being overly political. The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice was blocked from cinematic release last year after its director, Ali Abbasi, refused to make cuts demanded by the CBFC. “I ran away from Iranian censorship only to meet corporate censorship of the US. Now India. Really?” Abbasi said. “Censorship seems to be an epidemic at the moment.”

Similarly, earlier this year censors in effect banned the release of Santosh, an internationally acclaimed film addressing police violence and misogyny in India, after demanding a list of cuts. Sandhya Suri, the film’s director, called the cut requests “disappointing and heartbreaking”.

Located along the pristine shores of Obhur Bay, Rixos Obhur Jeddah ushers in a bold new chapter of experiential travel, enhancing Jeddah’s position as a global leisure and tourism hub. As the first Rixos property in the Kingdom, the resort introduces the brand’s renowned “all-inclusive, all-exclusive” concept to Saudi Arabia, setting a new benchmark for immersive, inclusive, and family-centric stays. Combining contemporary refinement with the warmth of traditional Arabian hospitality, Rixos Obhur Jeddah presents a vibrant offering where every element, from dining and wellness to entertainment and children’s activities, is carefully curated and seamlessly included.

The resort features 250 thoughtfully designed accommodations, including 176 rooms and suites, and 74 private villas, crafted for families and discerning travellers seeking comfort, exclusivity, and connection. Set along the Red Sea, guests enjoy direct access to a private beach, exciting water sports, dedicated yacht marina facilities, and two main pools-one for adults and one for children.

Rixos Obhur Jeddah invites guests on an exciting culinary journey across its range of dining venues, featuring three restaurants, two lounges, and three bars. Signature outlets include Turquoise, the resort’s international all-day dining destination offering global flavours; Orient, serving authentic Turkish cuisine; and Kapnos, a vibrant Greek-Mediterranean restaurant inspired by coastal flavours. Guests can also enjoy relaxed beachfront dining at Âme Beach Club, or catch live match screenings in The Hub, Jeddah’s first exclusive sports bar, combining social energy with live match screenings.

The resort is also home to Jeddah’s only Rixy Kids Club, a dedicated family haven featuring six engaging activity rooms, an outdoor yard, and a private kids’ pool. Specially tailored programmes ensure children of all ages can play, learn, and create unforgettable memories in a safe and enriching environment.

Complementing the family focus is a suite of comprehensive wellness offerings. The resort features a state-of-the-art exclusive Sports Club, which includes a fully equipped gym, an outdoor open-air studio, a multipurpose court (for basketball, volleyball, and football), a padel court, and a daily schedule of fitness programmes designed to rejuvenate body and mind, making Rixos Obhur Jeddah the city’s first resort to offer holistic wellbeing at its core.

Entertainment is also at the heart of the Rixos experience. A dedicated stage hosts live performances, concerts, and shows, enriching the resort’s dynamic energy and turning every stay into a celebration. With day-use options and signature dinner-and-show evenings available to outside guests, Rixos Obhur Jeddah becomes a destination not only for in-house residents but also for locals and visitors.

Hotel website

Rixos Obhur Jeddah Resort & Villas
Abdullah Al Faisal Street
Jeddah, 23817
Saudi Arabia

+966 12 579 0100

Few can deny that the grass courts of Wimbledon, this year, have served up a delight.

The prestigious tennis tournament reached its crescendo at the weekend with Iga Świątek cruising past Amanda Anisimova to claim the women’s singles title and Italy’s Jannik Sinner making history as he saw off defending champion Carlos Alcaraz for the men’s.

And while there was plenty of drama on the court, the All England Club didn’t lack for it off it either, with a constellation of celebrities and stars appearing to get a taste of some of the action.

Hollywood headliners brushed shoulders with the sporting elite as they sat to enjoy the tennis spectacle – and in some cases literally, with Leonardo DiCaprio shaking hands with Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami.

Sir Chris Hoy, Nicola Adams, Tom Daley, Neeraj Chopra, and Roger Federer were among a host of Olympic gold medallists who dropped by the Grand Slam, while Bukayo Saka, Jurriën Timber, Roy Hodgson, David Beckham and Sir Gareth Southgate made sure that football was well represented at SW19.

The worlds of fashion and film collided constantly throughout the two-week event, and seemed to peak when Anna Wintour appeared in the famous Royal Box on Centre Court flanked by esteemed actors Nicole Kidman, Keira Knightley, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal.

Famous musicians, too, were also seen gracing the Grand Slam with Cynthia Erivo, Seal, David Grohl and Olivia Rodrigo among those in attendance, making the most of the sporting display.

Below are just some of the many captured celebrities at Wimbledon.

Appearances are deceptive. On the face of it, The Weir is not an exceptional play. Set in a rural pub somewhere in north-west Ireland, it is naturalistic and familiar. It does not call for fanciful interpretations or big directorial statements. Even its author, Conor McPherson, seems ambivalent. “It was just people talking, so it shouldn’t have worked,” he once observed.

Audiences who saw JM Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World in 1907 would have recognised the bar stools, the fireplace and the sleepy camaraderie. They would have sensed the timeless smell of peat and whiskey. So too would they have recognised the locals: practical men, variously shy, garrulous and funny, who are joined by an outsider, a mysterious woman from Dublin. They shuffle in, have a few drinks, share stories, then leave.

But such a prosaic description does no justice to McPherson’s play. For all its everyday trappings, The Weir takes a mesmerising hold. Audiences find it electrifying. The critic Michael Billington called its opening performance “one of those nights no one who was there will ever forget”. He included it among The 101 Greatest Plays, alongside Oedipus the King, Macbeth and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. What stood out, he said, was McPherson’s “narrative power, his gift for language and his ability to excavate the quiet desperation of the unfulfilled”.

Ian Rickson’s production opened in 1997 at London’s Royal Court Upstairs (in exile at the Ambassadors theatre), and transferred to the Duke of York’s, where it ran for two years. Broadway came next. McPherson, only 25 when it opened, won Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle awards.

The Weir has duly attracted prestigious actors, the latest of whom, Brendan Gleeson, is about to play the mechanic Jack, in a production directed by McPherson in Dublin and London. Gleeson, star of The Banshees of Inisherin, calls the play “profoundly moving, inspiring and ultimately hopeful”.

First played by Jim Norton, Jack is one of the regulars in a rudimentary pub. Like barman Brendan and sidekick Jim, he is single – a reason to be prickly when the married Finbar, a hotelier, takes it upon himself to show around Valerie, a blow-in from Dublin. Taking it in turns to attempt to impress the stranger, the men spin supernatural stories. They are silenced when she then tells a devastating story of her own.

Julia Ford was the first to play Valerie, performing for 60 people behind the curtain on the Ambassadors stage. “It was the most intimate play I’ve ever been involved in,” she says. “It was like they were in the bar with you. You were not really acting, just talking in a pub. After the first preview, people were really moved and saying, ‘God, that was amazing.’ It’s a special play.”

Behind the surface realism, The Weir has a haunting appeal. “Mystery is the philosophical underpinning of life,” McPherson once told me. “We don’t understand who we are or where we come from. A fear of the unknown is very exciting on stage.”

Ardal O’Hanlon warms to that idea. He played Jim, alongside Brian Cox and Dervla Kirwan, in Josie Rourke’s 2013 production for London’s Donmar. “It lives in that liminal space between the mundane and the ineffable,” says the actor. “It lives between past and present, natural and supernatural. There’s real depth to it. It’s an Irish thing: there is a healthy respect for the unknown, the mysterious and the supernatural in Ireland. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

Lucianne McEvoy recognises that setting well. She played Valerie in Amanda Gaughan’s production at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum in 2016 and knows exactly the kind of bar-cum-talking-shop McPherson had in mind. “My dad lived in the west of Ireland for the last 15 years of his life and was very much adopted by his Mayo family,” says the actor, currently appearing in Sing Street at the Lyric Hammersmith.

“His pub was Inche’s bar in Ballinrobe. His little stool was kept for him. When I would visit, I would get an honorary stool pulled up beside him. The same characters were all along the bar and had the same amount of pints. It was like a ritual. If you were there, it was an honour to be there. Valerie probably felt very welcomed into that secret place.”

That welcome is part of the play’s emotional pull. Valerie, a woman in an all-male space, not only acts as a catalyst for the men’s stories, but feels comfortable enough to reveal her own sad tale of loss. “If she was real, I’m glad she happened to go into that bar,” says Ford.

Valerie was even more of an outsider in Caitríona McLaughlin’s production at Dublin’s Abbey three years ago. Then, she was played by Jolly Abraham, a New Yorker who now lives in Ireland. With McPherson’s blessing and a judicious tweak of the script, she played Valerie as newly arrived from Chicago.

“I’ve been in an old man’s pub in Ireland, so I know what that feeling is,” says Abraham, back in rehearsal with McLaughlin for The Boy at the Abbey. “As a woman, you know Brendan, Finbar and Jack are all putting on a bit of a show. Valerie is amused by who’s peacocking and who’s not, but also how everything being said is freeing her from her past.”

The stories also draw in the audience. McPherson calls storytelling “the most pure moment of theatre”, one that demands our engagement. “What’s brilliant about the theatre is the audience is willing to do that work,” he said when I interviewed him in 2013. “We are willing to go into what I call a collective trance. It probably goes to the nature of consciousness itself. We’re constantly putting order on the chaos.”

O’Hanlon agrees: “Storytelling is central to human existence. It’s how we process the world. The form of storytelling in The Weir creates a little bit of a distance from your own experience. You protect yourself by couching your experience in terms of a story. Jim’s story is dark and disturbing, and you get the sense it is about something that happened to him in a way that he hasn’t fully acknowledged.”

Abraham picks up the theme: “Storytelling, whether it’s a myth, or ‘Once upon a time …’, or something that happened to you on the metro, you as the person speaking need to get it out, but you as a listener are also trying to find a way to connect, relate and latch on. All those people in that pub need to be heard and seen. It’s primal.”

“Conor has a great ear for dialogue,” says O’Hanlon. “It’s not just the rhythm and the beautiful use of language, it’s the jokes. He is a hilarious writer. As a standup myself, given that the play is in part a series of monologues, where each character gets their turn to shine, that’s something that I relish. I could really bring those standup chops to the set-piece story Jim tells: a shocking, inappropriate twist on the ghost story.”

McEvoy also relished McPherson’s language: “It’s such a joy. You pay attention to the rhythms, the punctuation and how he phrases things. Valerie’s monologue is long and you have to let one thought lead you to another. If you trust the writing, it’s not about memorising it in a linear fashion, it’s about being in each moment and trusting that the next moment will come. They’ll line up. He’s in the train of thought with you.”

Ford says that this play that is supposedly “just people talking” is anything but. “This is why I think Conor is a genius,” she says. “It is the combination of simplicity with themes that just go on and on. It’s about all the things we go through: grief, loneliness, loss, the need for other human beings. I feel quite moved saying it: the raw, immediate, essence of what humanity is. And one of the most basic human needs is storytelling.”

For McEvoy, storytelling is what brings together the characters and, in turn, the audience: “In sharing the stories they are unburdened of something and we feel more connected. As a metaphor, that’s what theatre is: we come together, we don’t know most of the people around us, and we agree to bear witness to these mysteries.”

The live-action remake of the beloved animated tale of a boy and a flying beast will soon be available to watch on your TV screens with the digital release of “How to Train Your Dragon.”

Set on the rugged isle of Berk, “where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations,” the movie is based on the 2010 animated adventure of the same name.

The film follows Hiccup (Mason Thames), the inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), who “defies centuries of tradition when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury Dragon.” The two forge an unlikely bond which “reveals the true nature of dragons, challenging the very foundations of Viking society,” the film’s synopsis says.

“As an ancient threat emerges, endangering both Vikings and dragons, Hiccup’s friendship with Toothless becomes the key to forging a new future,” it adds. “Together, they must navigate the delicate path toward peace, soaring beyond the boundaries of their worlds and redefining what it means to be a hero and a leader.”

‘A lesson for anybody tackling a remake’

USA TODAY’s Brian Truitt gave the film ★★★½ out of four, writing “the new ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ manages to be a rousing success” on “all counts.”

“‘How to Train Your Dragon’ is a lesson for anybody tackling a remake,” Truitt wrote in his review. “It doesn’t try to half do something old and something new, like ‘Snow White,’ and makes the case for being actually necessary, unlike ‘Lilo & Stitch’.”

“As it was back in the day, Toothless is a joy to watch and the movie’s best special effect but he’s also a symbol of growth: as watchable and lovable as ever, yet with a slightly more mature sheen,” the review adds.

Here is what to know about the “How to Train Your Dragon” digital release and when it will be available to stream.

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ review: Live-action redo soars just like original

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When will ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ be released digitally?

“How to Train Your Dragon” will be available to buy and rent on digital platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home, on Tuesday, July 15, Universal Pictures, the studio behind the live-action film, announced on June 14.

Watch ‘How to Train Your Dragon‘ on Amazon Prime | Apple TV

“How to Train Your Dragon” was released in theaters on June 13.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Animated vs. live-action: Biggest changes in the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ movie

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ 4K Blu-ray/DVD release

“How to Train Your Dragon” will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on Aug. 12, per Universal Pictures.

The studio, in a news release, said the digital and Blu-ray version of the movie will offer exclusive bonus features, such as deleted scenes with introductions by writer-director Dean DeBlois, a gag reel and featurettes, including a “glimpse at the technology, artistry, and imagination involved in bringing life-like dragons to the screen,” building the berk and the “elaborate transformations” of the cast.

Is the movie suitable for kids? A parent’s guide to ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

Will ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ come out on Peacock?

Universal Pictures’ films typically release on Peacock a few months after their theatrical release, which means “How to Train Your Dragon” could drop on the streaming platform sometime in October. However, neither the studio nor the streaming platform has made an official announcement regarding the film’s streaming release.

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ cast

The cast of “How to Train Your Dragon,” according to Universal Pictures, includes:

• Nico Parker as Astrid
• Mason Thames as Hiccup
• Gerard Butler as Chief Stoick the Vast
• Nick Frost as Gobber
• Gabriel Howell
• Julian Dennison
• Bronwyn James
• Harry Trevaldwyn
• Peter Serafinowicz

Watch ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ trailer

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Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you purchase through our links, the USA Today Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.

Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

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Cillian Murphy leads the cast as titular American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer, the man who would ultimately become known as the “father” of the atomic bomb.

Told through multiple timelines, Oppenheimer moves back and forth between black and white and colour imagery – noting life before and after the creation of the bomb.

On top of his involvement in the Manhattan Project, which created the bomb that would change the world forever, the film follows his life and complicated relationships with his wife, Kitty, and mistress Jean Tatlock.

Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Matt Damon joined Murphy in the stacked cast, with the movie becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2023 behind Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and video-game adaptation The Super Mario Bros Movie.

At the Academy Awards in 2024, the film swept the ceremony, with Nolan winning Best Director; Murphy winning Best Actor; and Downey Jr winning Best Supporting Actor, as well as the film winning Best Picture.

Just two days after the film’s release on Netflix, Oppenheimer has reached number four in the streaming services charts in the UK – with potential to reach the number one slot, which is currently held by Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Destination Wedding.

Animation K-Pop Demon Hunters sits at number two, while foreign language thriller Brick is number three.

Oppenheimer is available to stream on Netflix.

If you’re looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Film hub for all the latest news. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Following the mare performance testings in Germany and Denmark, the Oldenburg breeding society announced the names of the mares selected to compete at the 2025 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede.

The annual elite mare show takes place on 24 July 2025.

The Oldenburg Elite mare show coincides with the Oldenburg Young Horse Championships in Rastede. New this year in the programme is a stallion performance test – an innovation that gives stallions the chance to collect points for the necessary entry in the Stallion Book I through their sporting achievements.

The best represented sire this year is Dynamic Dream (by Dream Boy x Sir Donnerhall) with five daughters selected, followed by licensing champion Bonds (by Benicio x Sir Donnerhall) with four.

The qualified Oldenburg mares are:

• Delia’s Dynastie (by Dynamic Dream x Sezuan)
• Bon Kadenza (by Bon Courage x Diamond Hit)
• Charleen (Tby otal McLaren x Fürst Romancier)
• Pommery Look (by Florida TN x Sir Donnerhall I)
• Una Belleza M (by Secret x Stedinger)
• Tiffany Bond (by Bonds x San Amour I)
• Bella Hadid (by Life Time x Foundation)
• Sunshine Unique B (by Sezuan x D’Avie)
• Rhianna (by Blue Hors Monte Carlo x Fürstenball)
• Füchtels Funkelperle (by Viva Gold x Floriscount)
• Dancing Queen (by Dynamic Dream x Superstar)
• Je t’Aime (by Jameson x Sir Donnerhall I)
• Spicy Chocolate (by Franklin x Borsalino)
• Zara (by Zackerey x Dante Weltino)
• Blueberry Gin (by Dynamic Dream x Bordeaux)
• Be Epic (by Bonds x Florestan I)
• Valery MB (by Viva Gold x Fürst Romancier)
• Weihami (by Vitalis x Foundation)
• Vita Royal (by Vitalis x Tomahawk)
• Enjoy the Moment H (by Bonds x Dante Weltino)
• Gigi Bene J (by Va Bene x Wynton)
• Samoa (by Sezuan’s Donnerhall x Hotline)
• HP Isabella (by Ibiza x Fürst Romancier)
• Arina Figuera TR (by In My Mind x Donnerschwee)
• Mayra GP (by Moreno x For Romance I)
• Pamina (by Fürstenball x Grey Flanell)
• Elfenfeder (by Fynch Hatton x De Niro)
• Blanjana (by Vivaldos x Royal Classic)
• Lady K (by Total McLaren x San Amour I)
• Emma Gold (by Bon Vivaldi x Rohdiamant)
• Queen of Pop (by Zuperman x Quantensprung)
• Füchtels Hedda (by Bonds x Damon Hill)
• Bonne Velua XT (by Bon Joker x Davignon II)
• Top Girl (by Total McLaren x Sir Donnerhall II)
• Nightlife K (by Damaschino I x Rheinklang)
• Marianalanta von Bellin (by Marian von Bellin x For Romance I)
• Rosalie V (Iby nfantino x Vitalis)
• Weihe’s Happiness (by Dynamic Dream x Sir Donnerhall I)
• Dolce Gusti (by Dynamic Dream x Finest)
• Valana (Vby an Vivaldi  x Negro)
• Granacha (by Glamourdale x Sir Donnerhall I)

Related Links
First Vaiana, Champion of the 2024 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show
Royal Hope, Champion of the 2023 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show
Benice, Champion of the 2022 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show
Faraglioni, Champion of the 2021 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show
Casey, Champion of the 2020 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show
Heideromanze, Champion of the 2019 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Venecia, Champion of the 2018 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede 
Furstin Gesine, Champion of the 2017 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Candy, Champion of the 2016 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Fiesta Danza, Champion of the 2015 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Funf Sterne, Champion of the 2014 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Calamity Jane, Champion of the 2013 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Fasine, Champion of the 2012 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Fire and Ice Proclaimed 2011 Oldenburg Elite Mare Champion in Rastede
Fifty Fifty, Champion of the 2010 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Carlotta Wins 2009 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Weihegold Wins 2008 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede
Rebelle Wins 2007 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede 
Silberaster Wins 2006 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede 
Loxana, Dancing Diamond at 2005 Oldenburg Mare Show in Rastede 
Love Story V, Champion of the 2004 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in Rastede 
Fabina, Rastede Oldenburg Champion 2003 
1999 Oldenburger Champion Mare Lady Madonna sold to the USA 
Donna Doria, the 2000 Oldenburg Champion Mare at Radstede

The BBC has said it breached its editorial guidelines by failing to disclose that the child narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.

A report into the controversial programme said three members of the independent production company knew about the role of the boy’s father – but no one within the BBC was aware.

The review called the failure to bring the information to the BBC’s attention a “significant oversight by the production company”.

The independent report – commissioned by the corporation – criticised the BBC team involved in the documentary for not being “sufficiently proactive” with initial editorial checks, and for a “lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions” ahead of broadcast.

It described the background on the narrator’s father as “critical information”, which was not shared with the BBC before broadcast.

While the report said there was no evidence “to support the suggestion that the narrator’s father or family influenced the content of the programme in any way,” it concluded the use of a child narrator for the programme was “not appropriate”.

Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone aired on the BBC in February but was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

How To Survive A Warzone was made by independent production company Hoyo Films, and features 13-year-old Abdullah al Yazouri, who speaks about life in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas.

The review was led by Peter Johnston, the BBC‘s director of editorial complaints and reviews, who reports directly to director general Tim Davie.

It found that a fee of £795 was paid for the narrator, paid to his sister. The report found that was not “outside the range of what might be reasonable in the context”.

The report did not name any individuals facing disciplinary action, but a new leadership role has been created in BBC News documentaries and current affairs, which the corporation say will be advertised in the next seven days.

While the BBC said the report found that Hoyo Films did not “intentionally” mislead the BBC, they said the independent production company “bears most responsibility for this failure”.

They added that the BBC also “bears some responsibility”.

Culture Secretary ‘pleased’ that ‘catastrophic’ failures acknowledged

Flagging “a significant failing” in the documentary, Mr Davie said, “I am sorry for this failing”.

He said action would now be taken to ensure “proper accountability” and also “prevent such errors being repeated”.

The BBC Board said: “Nothing is more important than trust and transparency in our journalism. We welcome the actions the Executive are taking to avoid this failing being repeated in the future.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she was “pleased” that the BBC has acknowledged “catastrophic” failures.

She said she had had “several meetings” with the corporation, adding, “I believe that they are acting now at pace to put in place measures to make sure that this cannot happen again”.

Children ‘deserve to have their voices heard,’ Hoyo Films says

Hoyo Films said they take the report findings “extremely seriously,” and also apologised.

They said they were “working closely with the BBC” to see if they could find a way to bring back parts of the documentary to iPlayer, adding: “Our team in Gaza risked their lives to document the devastating impact of war on children.

“Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone remains a vital account, and our contributors – who have no say in the conflict – deserve to have their voices heard.”

The BBC says it has no current or future planned commissions with HOYO Films.

Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee earlier this year, Mr Davie described the fallout over the documentary as “damaging,” and said the corporation “were not told” about questions asked around Abdullah’s father.

Media watchdog Ofcom previously warned that recent controversies could “start to erode public trust and confidence”.

Israel does not allow international news organisations into Gaza to report independently.

IN THE CRUEL—and, honestly, somewhat funny—way it tends to happen for artists, Larry McMurtry was heaped with a fresh wave of copious praise just at the point when he could no longer appreciate it—after he had died, in 2021, at the age of 84. And through the subsequent machinations of internet-age virality that the entertainment industry can only dream of understanding, McMurtry’s 800-page magnum opus, Lonesome Dove, has once again become a book du jour, just like it was when it was first released in 1985 and won the Pulitzer Prize. McMurtry may not be here to bask in the phenomenon, but his publisher and estate certainly are; in February, it was announced that a new TV or film project was in the works based on the larger Lonesome Dove series.

Watercooler moments in the book world are increasingly rare, and since this one promised horseback adventures, my friends and I recently decided to join the moment and commit to Lonesome Dove as the latest entry in our semiregular book club. The assignment was no small task for a group of thirtysomethings, some of them with young children, and all in the precarious state of fighting against potent attention-economy distractions. I personally hadn’t managed to read a book this long since college. But we all found ourselves spellbound by McMurtry’s vivid vision of a post–Civil War cattle drive, undertaken by Texas cowboys in the twilight of the Wild West. Every one of us finished the book with dirt-covered enthusiasm. The virality, as it often is, was well earned.

Over bowls of chili, our book club met outside on a cold night in Los Angeles—the far west end of the country’s trail, really—and fell for a familiar trap: we romanticized the hell out of Lonesome Dove. It’s difficult not to. There’s a reason people have named their kids after Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae, the lovably toxic former Texas Ranger at the center of the book, along with his lovably even-more-toxic longtime compatriot, Captain Woodrow F. Call. The many semiconnected characters of the full saga, who circle each other across a meandering path through the middle of the country, luxuriate in the book’s space.

McMurtry has talked about these characters as if they were so organic that he had no control of them—as if he were on the edge of his seat to find out what they did, the same as we were. In this way, the book’s naturalistic quality makes it a ready foil to Cormac McCarthy’s nightmarish depiction of roughly the same time and place in Blood Meridian, which was also released in 1985. Lonesome Dove is like the relief of waking from a bad dream; there are horrors in McMurtry’s world too, but at least there’s also love and humor and heroism. Despite copious death, it feels eminently livable.

So, like the unruly remuda of Lonesome Dove fans of the last 40 years, I grew attached to McMurtry’s presentation of the 1870s. I joined the long lineage of starry-eyed readers, some of whom have been drawn by the beauty of our past’s open landscape, others by the opportunity and adventure that such a landscape offers. I also joined the lineage of readers McMurtry himself probably would have rolled his eyes at.

“The book is permeated with criticism of the West from start to finish,” McMurtry said in a 2010 oral history of Lonesome Dove published in Texas Monthly.

Call’s violence, for example. But people are nostalgic for the Old West, even though it was actually a terrible culture. Not nice. Exterminated the Indians. Ruined the landscape. By 1884 the plains were already overgrazed. We killed the right animal, the buffalo, and brought in the wrong animal, wetland cattle. And it didn’t work. The cattle business was never a good business. Thousands went broke.

Lonesome Dove is indeed a crushingly brutal book—the type of story in which bad things happen to people not because of narrative logic but because, in 1870s Texas, sometimes lightning just strikes you. And when it does, there’s no hospital nearby, no treatment to dole out. There’s little sentimentality to be offered either. A shallow grave and some quick words are the most you’ll get, if those around you have the time to spare.

McMurtry’s insistence that his book is meant to be a critique rather than a glorification of the Old West aligns him with a particular school of exasperated nonfiction writers and scholars: those who routinely publish articles, year after year, reminding doom-stricken readers that it is actually, currently, the best time to be alive on this planet. That determination can be made when taking into account factors like infant mortality rate, average lifespan, medical innovations, and so on. Want to live without hunger? Want an education? Want to die of old age? You’ve never had a better shot than right now.

But the reason some version of this article has to be written every year is because it rarely feels like you’re among the luckiest people to exist, especially when dips in quality of life call into question the general upward trend. Discussing Lonesome Dove in my friend’s backyard, we were just a short distance away from Altadena, where an entire community had recently been wiped from the earth by wildfires. The cost of living has been doing laps around inflation-adjusted income, plummeting 401(k) values have become a straight-up meme, and the long-term ramifications of climate change are starting to rear up in frighteningly tangible ways. It’s a difficult period to be told that this is “the best time to be alive.”

What I can accept, though, is McMurtry’s broad point that, yeah, okay, at least from a misery-index standpoint, I’m probably fortunate not to have been born in the 1800s. I can nitpick the ebbs and flows of year-to-year quality of life growth, but I cannot deny that I’m much less likely to be killed by a water moccasin than your average 19th-century cowboy was.

Still, I remain a little jealous of the dramatic lives of my Lonesome Dove friends. It’s a contradictory pang of human nature that McMurtry was clearly aware of, even if he didn’t like to admit it. The epigraph he chose for the book is about this wistful hypernostalgia: “Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside,” the quote from the early 20th-century academic T. K. Whipple reads in part. “We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.”

Eventually, people are destined to look back upon our lives in the 2020s and see beautiful savages of their own. Some will wonder if they would have been happier or more fulfilled in our simpler world—and, given the way things are trending, they might very well be right. But all the while, they’ll be reminded of the plain truth of the matter—that it’s getting better all the time.

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