‘When Star Wars came out, one of our directors was close to tears’: how we made Blake’s 7

‘I thought I’d be rushing around doing stunts. But instead, it was all about my tight, sexy outfits. After three episodes, I was thinking, “I hate this big hair!”’I got the impression Blake’s 7 was just going to be “space opera” and, having worked as a director on Doctor Who, I wanted to move on and do other things, but the script for the first episode won me over. It was 1977, before the mass surveillance we have today, so the idea of everyone being watched by cameras, as that opening episode had it, seemed striking. It had shades of Nineteen Eighty-Four and felt very adult and relevant

The gig economy: ticket inflation is getting worse, so where does all the money go?

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and the Gallaghers’ ill-fated dabble with dynamic pricing have put the spotlight on how much we’re willing to pay for live music. But, on the other side of the equation, the costs can be exorbitant and the risks are eye-wateringThe news that Oasis were to reunite sparked a wave of euphoria across the nation at the end of last summer. But the nostalgia balloon was quickly punctured by the discovery that the tickets, initially priced at £148.50, had suddenly leapt to £355.20 due to dynamic pricing

Women who revolutionised the museum world | Letter

In the obituary of Dame Rosalind Savill, former director of the Wallace Collection, you quote Sir Timothy Clifford, ex-head of the National Galleries of Scotland, calling her “the most distinguished woman museum director not just of this country, but the western world” (Obituary, 2 January). Without wishing to denigrate her achievements, there are other candidates. For example, Anne d’Harnoncourt, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1982 to her death in 2008, oversaw a massive building project, renovating more than 100 galleries, conserving thousands of works of art, and relighting and redisplaying the collections so that the experience of visiting was completely transformed.Beyond the western world, how about Irina Antonova, legendary director of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow? She joined the museum in 1945 during the Stalin era, and was appointed director in 1961 by Khrushchev, remaining in the post for an unprecedented 52 years. She survived political change and bureaucratic obstruction, defied cold war politics by showing work by previously forbidden artists such as Picasso and Chagall, and brought in major exhibitions from the west, including the Treasures of Tutankhamun, not to speak of borrowing the Mona Lisa from Paris

Sunday with Julian Clary: ‘Our family tradition is a midday gin’

The TV personality talks about his neurotic rescue dog, salmon-cooking husband, daily phone calls to his mum and irrepressible ironing habitLie-in or early start? Definitely not a lie-in, because of my neurotic rescue dog Gigi. She was a feral creature living in a Serbian graveyard and demands to be taken out at about 7am, so there’s some negotiation between me and my husband as to who gets the job.What’s for breakfast? I’ll eat blackberries and yoghurt and a £1 croissant from the local Co-op. But you have to get there early as the local cafés buy them up and then you see them in their windows for a fiver.Lunch in our out? We have a main meal later in the day, unless the lesbians and their dog, Henry, are coming around

Rami Malek on rebellion, racism, and still feeling like an outsider: ‘I’m white passing, but growing up in LA, we definitely didn’t fit in’

He was an unruly teenager in 90s Los Angeles, who became feted for his turns as Freddie Mercury and a Bond villain. Now he’s turning to Greek tragedy on the London stageThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Rami Malek, in one graceful sweep, lifts the food delivery bags from an assistant and holds open the door of the photographic studio

The Guide #173: In praise of The Brutalist’s bladder-friendly intermission

There’s a lot to like about The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s newly minted Oscar best picture frontrunner. The tale of a Hungarian architect’s early years in postwar America and tortured quest to build a vast modernist community centre, it’s the sort of grand, decades-spanning epic that we complain Hollywood doesn’t make any more. It is full of chewy ideas around art, patronage, assimilation and America’s complex cultural relationship with Europe.Despite a (by modern standards) tight $10m budget, it looks astonishing (one scene filmed in a cavernous Italian marble quarry will set your eyes on stalks). The performances – Brody as its lead, Guy Pearce as his controlling, blue-blooded benefactor and Felicity Jones as his steely, principled wife – are layered and striking, as is its relentless score, by former Cajun Dance Party and Yuck guitarist Daniel Blumberg