When AMC brought us The Walking Dead six years ago no one but the most avid fans of the comic series could have imagined it would become the most successful TV show in history, spawning spinoffs, video games and making creator Robert Kirkman a household name. Heck my parents watch it religiously week after week and they normally can’t stand the sight of gore or the zombie genre. Speaking of religion, Preacher premièred in the UK exclusively on Amazon Prime Video last night....

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The first fracking application in England for five years has just been approved by North Yorkshire Council. Their planning committee voted seven against four in favour of the fracking plans, by Third Energy a UK firm. Now the company will go ahead and frack for shale gas near the North Yorks village of Kirby Misperton. There have not been any fracking planning approval since 2011, after a series of tests on the Fylde coast in...

By Alex Lodge (@alexlodgemusic | Insta @alexlodgemusic7) Alex Lodge is a music supervisor for film, TV and advertising at Thirty Two.  It’s nearly June, everyone is starting to think about how they’re going to shed their winter coat (read excess weight) for the summer, and the city is starting to believe we might actually have some proper sun this year. Time for some dusty retro, some weird ambient and some astral jazz to get you ready to make the transition....

The late show host James Corden has managed to track down the internet's latest superstar for a new 'Late Late Show' skit. Mum of two, Candice Payne, went viral after posting a video of herself opening a new Starwars Chewbacca mask and breaking down into fits of laughter in her car. The new clip shows a giggling Candice driving Corden to work.  As she takes the wheel Candice shares with Corden her experience with finding instant internet fame after her...

Henry Mason, managing director of TrendWatching, talks to John Machin about how businesses can apply emerging trends to drive business insights We caught up with Henry Mason, managing director of TrendWatching and author of Trend-Driven Innovation, to find out how businesses can apply emerging trends to drive business insights and delight their customers. Let’s start with an obvious question: where do trends come from? We believe that trends emerge as innovators address people’s basic needs and wants in novel ways. The...

Review By Michael McNulty You may find it difficult to decide how to feel about Youth, Paolo Sorrentino’s most recent cinematic offering.  Set in a luxury spa hotel in the Swiss Alps, the film has a quiet melancholy about it with an undercurrent of comedy flowing beneath the surface. Youth’s rich visuals are beautifully stylised, but the film feels indulgent and overly sentimental and lacks a forward movement that limits its emotional engagement. It’s about two old, successful friends reflecting...

Reviewed by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada Mavis! explores the life and career of Mavis Staples, from her beginnings as a young girl performing gospel songs with her dad Pops and her siblings as the Staples Singers, through their transition to soul, some of her most important collaborations, and the ups and downs of a career in a changing musical industry. With interview footage from herself, prominent collaborators and friends, and ample concert footage, it's an engaging portrait of a never-tired singer...

Riding on the back of the digital revolution, e-sports have massively gained in popularity over the last decade and a half. An incredible 205 million people either took part in or were spectators in e-sports during 2014. While in the past much of the growing audience has been based in Asia, now, Europe and North America are now beginning to pick up the pace and embrace e-sports as enthusiastically as their cousins overseas. So, what does this mean for Las...

Boris Johnson has seemingly leveraged the power of 'the force' after pushing a cameraman over without even touching him. The video was picked up by the team at Have I Got News For You, prompting Ian Hislop to say “for the first time, I’m actually frightened”. @BorisJohnson uses The Force to take down cameraman #starwars #HIGNFY @haveigotnews pic.twitter.com/jW1Cl6wfXu — Alistair Higham (@AlistairHigham1) May 16, 2016 It was later revealed that the cameraman fell back over a palate supporting bulky-looking bags.  Boris...