‘They wanted a host without much personality’: Evan Davis and Peter Jones on Dragons’ Den

‘The left-hand driving glove was madness – while the baby dream machine and the armchair that converted into a gym for older people made me laugh’I was running a fairly successful telecoms business and had a phone call from the BBC saying that they’d like to come and chat. I was intrigued enough to say yes. I was late for our meeting and while he was waiting for me, Martyn Smith, the BBC’s producer, was watching people coming into my office saying: “What do you think of that? Should we do this?” He asked me, “What were those people doing?” I said: “Coming in and pitching ideas.” He said: “You’re not going to believe it …”He explained that Dragons’ Den was a format in Japan and they were thinking of putting together a UK version. He said: “All you have to do is sit in a chair as people come in and pitch you ideas

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne dies aged 32

James Lee Williams, known as drag artist The Vivienne, has died at the age of 32, their public relations representative announced on Sunday.Simon Jones posted on Instagram: “It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams – The Vivienne, has passed this weekend.“James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career

‘Our thighs are aquiver!’ Inside the Siegfried and Roy opera with magic, tiger puppets and ‘hysterical sex’

Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera tells the incredible story of the tiger-loving partners, from traumatic childhoods to their shocking career-ending showMagic doesn’t just happen. Opera singers Kanen Breen and Christopher Tonkin are learning that the hard way. Making magic is key to their onstage partnership as the stars of a new Australian opera about one of the most successful stage partnerships of all time – that of Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn: two boys raised in postwar Germany with violent, alcoholic fathers, who became life and stage partners, created a celebrated magic and animal act in Europe in the 1960s, and then went on to become the highest-paid act in Las Vegas – until, in 2003, the duo’s beloved white tiger, Mantacore, put an end to their career in spectacularly bloody fashion.Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, co-written by director Constantine Costi and composer Luke Di Somma, is one of the centrepieces of this year’s Sydney festival.The first day of rehearsals with the production’s stage illusion consultant, Adam Mada, included the most important lesson in stage magic, says Breen: you never talk about how a trick is done

Director of Edinburgh international festival warns cuts put its status at risk

The director of the Edinburgh international festival has warned it could lose its status as one of the world’s greatest arts events without significant increases in public and philanthropic support.Nicola Benedetti, a Grammy-winning classical violinist who became the festival’s director in 2022, said in an interview with the Guardian she feared the creative arts that underpinned it were at risk of stagnating because of repeated funding cuts.She said an increase in Scottish government arts spending announced four weeks ago, while “a very welcome step in the right direction”, had come too late to prevent this year’s international festival being smaller.“It’s too close to impact our 25 festival in any significant way,” she said. “There are one or two late levers we’d be able to potentially pull [to stage extra events], but even that will be down to late availability

From Edvard Munch to Central Cee: Observer critics choose their cultural highlights for 2025

From Thom Yorke’s Shakespearean score to 25 years of Tate Modern, Bridget Jones to Leigh Bowery, our writers anticipate the most exciting shows, releases and events of the yearAmerican auteurs returnA new film from one of the heavy hitters of US cinema is always cause for celebration, and with projects from Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach and Paul Thomas Anderson on the horizon, there’s plenty to whet cineaste appetites in the coming year. Details on all three are scant at the moment. Kathryn Bigelow’s film, her first since Detroit in 2017, is a political thriller set in the White House, following staffers as they scramble to respond to an imminent missile strike on America. The cast includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson and Jared Harris.Even less is known about Noah Baumbach’s new film, which, like Bigelow’s, is a Netflix production

The big chill: warming, nourishing culture to help you hibernate until spring

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light iPlayer Period dramas are traditionally rather cosy, but from the very first scenes – a stark restaging of Anne Boleyn’s beheading – it’s clear this adaptation of the final book in Hilary Mantel’s epic Thomas Cromwell trilogy will be a bracing immersion into the gruesome reality of these well-worn Tudor tales. Even so, the lavish production, exquisite performances and sheer beauty of the script itself are all things to luxuriate in during cold, dark winter nights. For newcomers, the original Wolf Hall series is also on iPlayer.Am I Being Unreasonable? iPlayer A magical romcom-style flashback – two lovers bidding farewell at a train station as snowflakes drift down – initially lends Daisy May Cooper’s hilarious and enthralling 2022 dramedy a winter wonderland vibe. The reality, however, is far less lovely