Stephen Frears

Florence Foster Jenkins is charming, frothy, endearing

it may lack a certain dramatic weight which stops it from having the modern classic feel of something like Stephen Frears' 2013 critical darling Philomena. But it's undeniably charming, frothy, endearing fun that amiably celebrates self-belief and what it means to have a dream in life.

Florence Foster Jenkins -- film review: 'A deft comedy'

Meryl Streep is a perfect fit as the notoriously tuneless singer in Stephen Frears' film.

Review: Florence Foster Jenkins

Meryl Streep is typically divine as the socialite singer who became a legend for all the wrong reasons.

No doubt who is the biggest star on Graham's sofa tonight, as three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep visits the studio to discuss playing Florence Foster Jenkins in Stephen Frears's biopic of the tuneless opera singer. Streep's co-star Hugh Grant also appears, as does Keeley Hawes, promoting The Durrells. Music arrives from Eurovision hopefuls Joe and Jake, performing You're Not Alone, hopefully not a fateful choice of title given how many Eurovisions have ended with Britain's acts looking very lonely indeed.

Florence Foster Jenkins review

Stephen Frears presents a picture that while humorous, focuses on the idea of pursuing one's dreams and that blind sense of childlike whimsy that enables you to do things you wouldn't normally do.

The biggest TV stand-up of the 1970s gets a proper appraisal in this very well put together documentary. His laconic, no-frills style is revisited and analysed but the meat of the programme is in telling the story of his life and the little stories behind his instantly recognisable, enormously popular performance tics. Great clips, many of them rarely seen, are bolstered by contributors from Allen's family and celebrities including Stephen Frears, Maggie Smith and Steven Berkoff.

Gemma Arterton, in saucy hotpants, returns to her native Dorset village to wreak emotional havoc on the local menfolk, in Stephen Frears's take on Posy Simmons's update of Far From the Madding Crowd. It's diverting enough as tragi-comic Aga-saga soap, but Tamsin Greig is superb as a novelist's wife who runs a writers' rural retreat.

Location Location Location - Frears go mad in Dorset

If these last, late summer weeks have seen west Dorset experience a surge in visits from French tourists we can thank Stephen Frears for it.

Tamara Drewe, review

Gemma Arterton stars in Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe, a tart but essentially bucolic romp in Dorset.

Video: Arterton 'didn't like' Tamara Drewe character

Star of Tamara Drewe Gemma Arterton has said she did not want to play the character, because "I didn't like her" - but director Stephen Frears convinced her.

The film also features Tamsin Grieg and Dominic Cooper - who caused a stir among his younger co-stars, with Jessica Barden saying he was "hot in this film... but it's embarrassing to admit it".