Simon Russell Beale
- Actor
Press clippings
Douglas Is Cancelled review
Rows about cancel culture tend to be reductive. A clear binary between those who harrumph "you can't say anything any more" and the righteously censorious. A nuanced path somewhere between the two is probably society's best way forward, but as a savvy newspaper editor says in Steven Moffat's twisty new comedy-drama Douglas Is Cancelled: "Outrage is exciting, nuance is work."
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 27th June 2024Douglas Is Cancelled preview
There have been so many trailers for new ITV1 comedy drama Douglas Is Cancelled I felt like I'd seen it before I hit the play button. And even when I'd hit the button and watched the first episode a lot of it was scarily familiar. But in a Good Way.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 26th June 2024Hugh Bonneville & Karen Gillan lead ITVX comedy from Steven Moffat
Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan are to star in Douglas Is Cancelled, a new comedy drama for ITVX written by Steven Moffat, his first television comedy in the two decades since Coupling.
British Comedy Guide, 17th November 2023Download: The Death of Stalin review
Armando Iannucci assembles a dream team for a nightmarish orgy of power-grabbing and back-stabbing.
Raphael Abraham, The Financial Times, 16th February 2018The Death of Stalin picks up film awards
The Death of Stalin was one of the big winners at the British Independent Film Awards last night.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 11th December 2017The Death of Stalin review
Some critics have questioned the use of humour in depicting this dark time in Russia's history. Isn't it in bad taste? Perhaps. Nevertheless it is a work of genius from the master of dark sardonic humour. Iannucci has triumphed again.
David Kerr, Counter Culture UK, 31st October 2017Film review: The Death Of Stalin
I'll keep this review brief because if you have good taste in comedy you will have seen The Death Of Stalin already.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 26th October 2017The Death of Stalin, review
Weighing in at a relatively sprightly 106 minutes, The Death of Stalin is a clever and accomplished movie, well worth investigating. This is Iannucci playing to his strengths as a political satirist and mostly coming up with the goods. Interesting though, that despite a script peppered with crackling dialogue, the film's funniest scene is an entirely visual one. Go figure.
Philip Caveney, Bouquets & Brickbats, 23rd October 2017The Death of Stalin review
This delicious new dark comedy comes courtesy of renowned political satirist Armando Iannucci (The Thick Of It, Veep).
Matthew Turner, i Newspaper, 19th October 2017The Death of Stalin - an audacious comedy of horrors
Armando Iannucci's Soviet-era satire is full of grand absurdity and violent dread.
Danny Leigh, The Financial Times, 18th October 2017