Radar: My Cultural Highlights 15.09.25

Find out what's on Andrew's cultural radar this week.

Reading

Michael Ondaatje, A Year of Last Things (Cape, 2024)

Ondaatje's most recent collection of poetry is A Year of Last Things which I’ve been reading recently. I would describe Ondaatje’s style as sparse, fragmentary and elliptical. He enjoys leaving the reader with images and allowing them to piece the poem together, as seen in his poem ‘There are Three Sounds in the Wood This Morning’ which details the last days of Edward Thomas. I’ve always been fascinated by novelists who also write poetry, as it strikes me that poetry is such a particular and peculiar art form that anything other than total devotion to the craft dilutes the efforts, and that most novelist-poets are novelists first and poets second, with their poetry being a by-product that the publisher is happy to publish, particularly in the case of best-selling authors such as Ondaatje. However, this is definitely not the case here, and Ondaatje proves himself in this book as a bona-fide poet with all the attention to detail and imagery required of the best writers. At times, I maybe would have liked more formal restraint, innovation and concision (most of the poems here are in free verse and play fast and loose with punctuation) however, to an author who has written a novel as poetic as The English Patient, I can make an exception, and what this book does not lack is sensibility and soul. The triptych ‘Last Things’ is particularly resonant and the poem ‘Below Dante’ captures what is best about this collection, a personal reminisce of friends and a reflection on time’s passing and irretrievability, ‘those small recalls of this and that/ before our walk up a staircase into the dark.’

Watching

Code of Silence, ITVX

While in Cornwall we were looking for a new series to watch - something fairly light at the end of a long day at the beach with the children. I’ve often thought the choice online for television programmes can make the job of choosing what to watch almost dizzying, to the point where I just turn the thing off and go to bed. So often we’ve confined ourselves to BBC IPlayer and Disney+ just out of habit more than anything else. But I’ve got to say that ITVX has really upped its game over the past while and it’s fast becoming the first streaming platform we visit when we’re looking for a new programme. So, when I couldn’t find anything on IPlayer worth watching, I came across some good reviews for Code of Silence featuring Rose Ayling-Ellis and thought I’d give it a spin. After the first episode we were hooked - this was a tense, original crime drama whose innovation came with the character played by Ayling-Ellis, a partially deaf/ hard of hearing lipreader, who was able to translate mute CCTV footage in order to extract key details from prime suspects. This ended up with her leaving her low-paid job, and work for the police with totally unexpected and dangerous outcomes. The show is carried by Ayling-Ellis’s performance as well as the chemistry she has with her co-star Kieron Moore. An excellent, compelling piece of TV drama - highly recommended.

The English Patient, Amazon Prime

To my shame I'd never read The English Patient, but I did spend a recent summer evening watching the film, bought digitally for £5.99 on Amazon Prime, and boy am I glad I did. I can safely say it is the best film I've ever watched. It is a masterpiece of storytelling by Michael Ondaatje and was brought to life with such poignancy by Anthony Minghella, the screenwriter. In fact, the main reason this came onto my radar was that I'd noticed that Doc Martin (see recent post) was written by Dominic Minghella, whom I Googled, only to be led down a path to Anthony Minghella and The English Patient, which has consequently led me down a path to Michael Ondaatje - a fascinating writer, who started out as a poet. I listened to him on this version of Radio 4's Book Club from 2012 with James Naughtie, in which he explains how he writes all of his books in long-hand with pen, and that he spent six years writing The English Patient, which went on to win not only the Man Booker Prize of its day, but also in 2018 the Golden Man Booker Prize, to celebrate 50 years of the award. 

Listening

Desert Island Discs: Anthony Minghella, (BBC Sounds)

After I’d been watching Doc Martin (created by Dominic Minghella, the brother of Anthony) and The English Patient, I wanted to learn more about the life of Anthony Minghella. He chose a beautiful range of music with some lovely pieces by Bach that were new to me, as well as sharing some insights into how he wrote The English Patient and the obstacles he faced in getting funding for it. It was nice to hear Van Morrison’s ‘Here Comes the Night’ in there too. I’d recommend this if you’re interested in the works of Minghella - a life cut short by throat cancer in his 40s. 

Shadow World: The People vs McDonald's, Radio 4/BBC Sounds

I've been really enjoying a range of podcasts recently and have more lined up, but one that I heard a glimpse of while driving was 'Shadow World: The People vs McDonald's'. I'll be honest, one of my guilty pleasures, particualrly as we've been on the road during the holiday, is a Maccy Ds, but I'll maybe rethink that after this podcast. The show, in six episdoes narrated by comedian and socialist Mark Steel, explores the longest trial in the UK known as the McLibel case which saw Helen and Dave try to defend themselves in a libel suit issued by McDonald's after a Greenpeace protest in which they handed out fliers making claims about the dangerous impact of the world's fast food fast-food chain. I'm currently listening and its excellent. I'm fascinated and worried about the power these companies can hold over us and I'm full of admiration for Helen and Dave for continuing to fight and beat the odds against this corporation. Is corporate greed and power getting out of hand? Listen to this podcast and make up your own mind.