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Gary Barlow's The Girls, SS-GB, Sidney Nolan, The Great Wall

Reassessing body confidence with Gary Barlow as his first musical, The Girls, opens; a touch of Bond in the TV version of SS-GB; Sidney Nolan's paintings; The Great Wall reviewed.

Gary Barlow has written his first musical with his long-time friend, the screenwriter Tim Firth. The Girls, like the film Calendar Girls, charts the true life story of a group of friends who meet at the Burnsall Women's Institute and decide to pose for a nude calendar to raise money for charity. Gary and Tim discuss stage nudity and body confidence, and meeting the real Yorkshire 'girls'.

The new five-part TV drama series SS-GB imagines the UK under Nazi occupation in 1941 after the Germans won The Battle of Britain. The writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who wrote the last six James Bond films, discuss this adaptation of the 1978 Len Deighton thriller, and their approach to re-imagining history.

Famous for his paintings of Ned Kelly, Sidney Nolan is often seen as the most prominent Australian painter of the 20th century. Yet he spent most of his life in Britain recreating the landscapes of his birth country from his imagination. Art critic Richard Cork reviews Transferences, a new exhibition at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, which kicks off a year of events marking the centenary of the artist's birth.

Veteran director Zhang Yimou and Hollywood star Matt Damon have teamed up to create The Great Wall, a film spectacular set in ancient China, which sees European mercenaries and Chinese soldiers working together to defeat a mythical horde of ravening beasts. It's the largest Hollywood co-production to be filmed entirely on location in China. Film critic Angie Errigo reviews.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Angie Nehring.

Available now

30 minutes

Chapters

  • The Girls

    Duration: 08:31

  • Sidney Nolan

    Duration: 05:43

  • SS-GB

    Duration: 08:34

  • The Great Wall

    Duration: 04:51

Gary Barlow's The Girls

Gary Barlow's The Girls

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth's musical is at the Phoenix Theatre, London until 22 April 2017.

Images:

Main image above: From Left - Claire Machin, Sophie-Louise Dann, Joanna Riding, Claire Moore and Debbie Chazen in The Girls.

Image credit: Matt Crockett/Dewynters

Image to the left: Tim Barlow, Kirsty Lang and Garry Barlow

SS-GB

SS-GB

大象传媒 One's new 5-part TV series is at 9.00pm on Sundays from 19 February 2017, and on the 大象传媒 iPlayer.

Image: Sam Riley as Det. Superintendent Douglas Archer in SS-GB.

Image credit: 大象传媒/Sid Gentle Films/Laurie Sparham

Sidney Nolan

Sidney Nolan

is at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex from 18 February - 04 June 2017.

Image: Kelly Spring, Sidney Nolan 1956, oil on hardboard,

Image credit: Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

漏 Sidney Nolan Trust

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

, certificate 12A, is in UK cinemas from 17 February 2017.

Image from The Great Wall film, credit: Universal Pictures

Credits

Role Contributor
Interviewed Guest Gary Barlow
Interviewed Guest Tim Firth
Interviewed Guest Neal Purvis
Interviewed Guest Robert Wade
Interviewed Guest Richard Cork
Interviewed Guest Angie Errigo
Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Angie Nehring

Broadcast

  • Fri 17 Feb 2017 19:15

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