The Latest Breaking News from Charles Dickens

The six-part series has been created by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

Actress Anna Maxwell Martin obliterates the stereotype of the ever-so-proper British matron sipping tea from a porcelain cup. Leaning back in her straight-backed chair and plopping her arm on the table in front of her, Martin admits that one of her failings is her penchant for telling the unvarnished truth.…

Critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Michael Rosen’s update of Oliver Twist gets the musical treatment in this high-energy show about a schoolgirl ensnared by a street gang

Olivia Colman stars as Miss Havisham in the BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic penned by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight

In his Channel 4 series, Full English, artist Grayson Perry travels around England in a white van searching for an answer to the question: “Is there a viable version of England and Englishness that will feed my soul?”

There were moral and practical considerations to ending the barbarity of state executions in Britain. They are still relevant today, says writer and former Guardian crime correspondent Duncan Campbell

Until the mid-19th century in Britain, watching someone die was considered a form of entertainment. Indeed, this shared experience shaped the landscape of London and bound the city together.

Debates about what books students should be reading in high school reach a crescendo at the start of each school year.