Bournemouth - The Writers' Circle
The appearance of a second Writers' Circle in town reminds us of the town's longstanding associations with writers of all types [read more].

New Media Rights & Wrongs
The Writers’ Guild call for solidarity in support of the strike shutting down Hollywood over 'new-media' rights is an apt moment to consider the contribution scriptwriters make, via a few local-interest examples [read more].

Digging The Past On TV
TV’s long-running love affair with archaeology continues, showcasing distinctive sites also now used as settings by writers and filmmakers [read more].

Local Ups And Downs
The fates of half a dozen local buildings with cultural associations have been in the news [read more].

George Baker, Wessex Man
If any one actor should get a long-service award for appearing in local-interest films and TV dramas, it would be George Baker [read more].

Publishing, The Jane Austen Way
The "Jane Austen's Shocking Publishing Rejection" affair has launched a controversy about how novels are selected for publication today [read more].

The Unquiet Grave
The ‘Ripper’ case detective made famous on screen by Michael Caine and Johnny Depp, but buried in Bournemouth in an unmarked grave, is given a proper memorial as a new BBC TV drama about him is developed [read more].

The Not So Feral Beast
Local journalism weighs in over the issue whether the press is (in our departing PM’s phrase) a feral beast, or a pussy cat... [read more].

Brideshead Revisited, Revisited
A big-screen version of Evelyn Waugh’s local-interest masterpiece Brideshead Revisited has finally begun filming this month. [read more].

Make Mine A Double
Films about writers are now something of a fashion, and with the area's wealth of literary heritage, we should reasonably expect to see films dealing with this. But apart from films of Jane Austen works, we haven't had much so far. Now we have two rival films on a once locally-resident literary couple, the hard-drinking husband and wife team of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas [read more].

Would You Believe ‘CSI Bournemouth’?
The suggestion may not be as frivolous as it first sounds... [read more]

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein - Monstrous Creation Or Monstrous Fraud?
No sooner has the Conan-Doyle-as-mad-plagiarizing-murderer fuss died down, than another literary controversy over authorship has emerged concerning a local-interest writer [read more].

Conan Doyle, Plagiarist, Madman And Murderer?
In recent years, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle MD has been accused of poisoning a friend from whom he got the basis for his most famous novel. And a "CSI" style inquest has just been opened into the 1926 death of Houdini, with Doyle as chief suspect. Now a Poole GP has written a biography of Doyle as subject to delusions. Plagiarism, madness, and murder? The truth, as usual, is not so elementary ... [read more]
Update - new biography of ACD, new ACD literary prize

Our Local Literary Scene, Ten Years On
A year ago, I did a blog item titled 'Our Local Film Scene, Ten Years On' taking stock of how little had changed. Much the same could be said of our local literary scene - time to do something about it … [read more].

England’s Jane Takes Centre Stage
A season of Jane Austen film and TV dramas, and the first screen biography of the author herself [read more].
Update: New Austen Biographical Drama

That Was The Year That Was - 2006 In Review
One of the problems of producing a topical blog is that, whatever stories you chose to cover, they are simply incidents whose larger significance will only be revealed in hindsight by posterity. A year-end review can allow a fresh perspective on events, and a chance to catch up on these [read more].