The Masked Singer
... and Dracula, Three Hours, Georgia's Seeking Thrills and Little Women
Hello there!
Happy New Year and welcome back to The Edit, my weekly newsletter of things to read, watch and listen to this weekend.
While everything below is of course solid gold entertainment, what I’m most looking forward to is the next episode of The Masked Singer! It’s the crazy ITV show everyone is talking about where celebrities are disguised in elaborate costumes, perform a song and attempt to keep their identity secret from a panel of judges. You want to look away but you can’t and while you really shouldn’t give a stuff about who’s behind the mask you can’t help but get drawn into the guessing game.
It’s funny how a format which could be among the most humiliating for the celebrities involved seems to be turning into a strangely rewarding and enjoyable experience for those unmasked so far. We will see how the ones still sweating away inside their costumes in three or four weeks time feel about that!
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Thanks for reading!
Rob
Here are my picks this week:
📖 Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton
This was the first book I finished in 2020 and Rosamund Lupton has set a very high standard for the year. Three Hours tells the real-time story of a school in rural England under siege from masked gunmen during a blizzard. It is a bold and thrilling book which will have you gripped from the very first page. There were a couple of twists towards the end which caused me to audibly gasp.
What could easily have become a story told purely for thrills is given real heart and substance through the backstory of Rafi and Basi, brothers who came to the school as refugees from Syria. I don’t want to say too much more for fear of offering any spoilers, only to say that Three Hours should make its way straight to the top of your reading list.
Out now, Penguin Viking | Buy now
📺 Dracula
The BBC’s new big budget adaptation of Dracula delivers just the right balance of humour, terror and gore to make each 90 minute episode absolutely fly by. Danish actor Claes Bang plays the titular character perfectly, helped in no small part by a career defining performance from Dolly Wells as Agatha Van Helsing. I’ve got one of the three episodes left to enjoy this weekend and can’t wait to see where the dramatic twist at the end of episode two takes us.
BBC iPlayer | Watch now
🎶 Georgia - Seeking Thrills (Album)
We got the first taste of Georgia Barnes’ second album last March with single About Work The Dancefloor, undoubtedly one of the songs of 2019. Subsequent singles including the most recent 24 Hours suggested we were in for something quite special and now finally here it is, Seeking Thrills. The gist of the album seems to be about going out out; experiencing the temporary euphoria of the music, the lights and the dancefloor. Since going out is awful, it will for me quickly become the perfect soundtrack to preparing dinner, two decent glasses of white wine in, my Christmas socks (still in the underwear rotation for some reason) sliding from fridge to cooker across the wooden boards of the kitchen dancefloor. I couldn’t be happier.
Out now, Domino | Listen on Spotify
🍿 Little Women
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the classic coming-of-age story is a pretty much perfect film and has done absolutely nothing to abate my infatuation with Timothée Chalamet. I went to see it having never read the book or seen any of the six prior film versions and therefore with no risk of being disappointed by any of the creative choices. Among the absolutely top notch cast, Florence Pugh really shines - continuing a run of standout performances (Fighting With My Family, Midsommar) that will surely lead to her grabbing hold of an Oscar before too long. Saoirse Ronan and Laura Dern are also fantastic and Meryl, well, she does Meryl so no complaints there. If you are planning a cinema trip this weekend then this is the one to see.
In cinemas now | Book tickets
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading this far! You can follow me on Twitter - @robgillett - where I talk about all sorts, and on Instagram - @theeditmail - which is mostly about books. You can also hit reply to this email, I love to hear from all of my readers!
Have a great weekend! See you next Friday.