Ellen Cheshire

After January’s journey into the dark forest — where fairy tales unravelled and wishes carried consequence — February moved indoors. The Gothic lens shifted from tangled woods to enclosed spaces, from external threats to the unease that seeps through walls and settles into floorboards. February – It Walks Around the House at Night Venue: Chichester Festival Theatre Theme: Haunted Houses It Walks Around the House at Night is a contemporary ghost story rooted in one of the mo

Here's the 25th batch of #52FilmsByWomen watched since taking the pledge in 2016. This batch of 52 films, 1250-1301, are those watched between November 2025 and February 2026. They included 26 feature films, 1 full-length documentary, 1 event cinema, 23 shorts and 1 TV episode. Read about films: 1 – 52, 53 - 104, 105 - 156, 157 - 208, 209 - 260, 261 - 312, 313 - 365, 366 - 417, 418 - 469, 470 - 521, 522 - 573, 574 - 625, 626 - 677, 678 - 729, 730 - 781, 782 - 833, 834 - 885,

For the first screening of Wuthering Heights at my local cinema, my mum and I settled into our favourite seats, surrounded by around sixty other people ready to watch the latest interpretation of Emily Brontë’s novel. We had both enjoyed Saltburn , and I had been particularly taken with Promising Young Woman , so expectations were high. The trailer promised something bold, stylised and unapologetically Gothic. The heightened aesthetic, anachronistic music and costuming did n

In 2026, I’m exploring theatre, film, and fiction through a Gothic lens. Each month revolves around a key stage show, paired with films and novels that echo, extend, or twist its themes. The goal is to step outside my usual choices, dive into stories that unsettle, delight, or surprise, and see familiar genres in a new light. From fairy-tale forests to shadowed halls, the year promises a journey through imagination, consequence, and a little delicious darkness. Read more abou

It’s January 2024, and time to rewind back to 1976 as I watch seven films from that year that I’d never seen before. Alongside them, I revisited a long-standing favourite, Murder by Death , to see if anything new might challenge its place at the top. The Seven Films: The Bad News Bears (1976, Michael Ritchie) ★★★½ Walter Matthau is in fine grumpy form as a washed-up ex-player drafted in to coach the worst little league team in town. What starts as pure cynicism slowly soften

Up in London to stay with a friend and catch a couple of shows, I managed to bookend the weekend with some of my bucket list must-sees. On Friday, I battled the chilly wind and rain at the tail end of Storm Goretti to reach Bermondsey and tick off London’s only dedicated LGBTQ+ cinema, The Arzner , tucked into Bermondsey Square. I was in the area for theatre later, but arrived rather buffeted and windswept at this incredibly stylish independent cinema of around 50 seats, comp

E.F. Benson (1867-1940) made Sussex his home at a pivotal point in his life. In 1918, after years of travel, writing and public service, he settled in the ancient town of Rye, at Lamb House. He remained there until his death in 1940, and it was during these Sussex years that he produced some of his most enduring work. Rye offered Benson a place of continuity and containment, a town shaped by history and habit, where daily life unfolded on a human scale. Born in 1867, Benson c

As we step into 2026 it feels like the perfect moment to reflect on the films that shaped my year. Huge thanks to Letterboxd for making year end film navel gazing such a pleasure. In 2025 I logged 941 films , 733 first time watches , with the rest revisits. Some were seen in cinemas and at festivals while many were enjoyed at home. If you are curious about everything I watched you can find it all over on Letterboxd at cheshellen . This year was packed with memorable cinema mo

What a year. 2025 leaned hard into the joyful overlap between film, theatre, music and exhibitions – with event cinema sitting neatly in the middle. Across the year I saw 86 films at the cinema , attended 68 live performances (concerts, theatre, talks), and enjoyed 10 event cinema screenings . Plus according to my letterboxd , I logged 941 films* in 2025 but more to follow on my year in film! *This includes lots of shorts! Theatre played a particularly strong role, with

For 2025 I set myself a focused cultural project: to immerse myself in the work of Stephen Sondheim by watching his 40 favourite films (a list he drew up in 2003) , alongside related screenings, documentaries and a concerted effort to see his stage musicals I had never seen. What began as a structured viewing challenge gradually became a wide-ranging exploration of the ideas, forms and storytelling traditions that shaped Sondheim’s creative imagination. Working chronologicall

Continuing my journey through Stephen Sondheim’s top 40 films, numbers 31–40 offer another diverse batch of international cinema, from gripping political dramas to tense character studies and meditations on mortality. Alongside these, I watched bonus screenings celebrating Sondheim’s love of puzzles, performance and storytelling itself. 31/40: The Official Story (1985, Luis Puenzo, Argentina) In Buenos Aires during the final days of the military dictatorship, a history teach

Last Christmas I asked for experiences rather than things and added an Art Fund National Art Pass to my list. I was delighted when my mum gave it to me, and it quickly became more than just a gift - it changed how I explored, planned and thought about art. Over 2025 I used the pass to see 12 exhibitions at 10 venues. The full ticket value came to £159.50. I actually spent £65. That is a saving of £96.25, comfortably more than the cost of the pass itself at £63.25. What follo

There are bucket lists and then there are bucket lists . The kind that take you from the cathedral square of Wells to the quietly cinematic streets of Crouch End in pursuit of ice cream wrappers and impeccable comic timing. We are, slowly and with great reverence, ticking off the filming locations of the Cornetto Trilogy — first the Somerset serenity of Hot Fuzz , now the North London zombie lanes of Shaun of the Dead — armed with cameras, over-specific knowledge and my Exce

Some places have been quietly glowing on my bucket list for years, waiting for the right moment. A day in Walthamstow and Hackney gave me a chance to finally tick a few off - each one with its own distinct character, yet all threaded together by art, craft and imagination. The William Morris Gallery had long been near the top of my list and stepping inside felt like stepping into a carefully crafted world. The rooms are full of fabric samples, sketches, printing blocks and

Milne in 1922 By Emil Otto Hoppé - Shadowland, September 1922 (page 62), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58472213 On Christmas Eve in 1925, the first Winnie-the-Pooh story, The Wrong Bees , was published in the London Evening News. In celebration of this 100th anniversary, this latest blog in the Writers in Sussex series explores the Sussex landscape that inspired A.A. Milne’s beloved stories and the enduring magic of Ashdown Forest. Ashdown Fo

Tessa Thompson in Hedda (2025) Here's the 24th batch of #52FilmsByWomen watched since taking the pledge in 2016. This batch of 52 films, 1198 – 1249, are those watched between July and November 2025. They included 38 feature films, 9 shorts, 2 TV series and 3 feature-length documentaries. Many of the shorts and features were those watched as part of the 10 th Femme Filmmakers Festival, and online celebration of films directed by women. You can read more about the films prog

Camden Town might be more readily associated with live music than movies, but after Nigel Smith gave this tour a very enthusiastic plug at the end of his tour of the Carlton Cinema on the Essex Road, I booked immediately. Partly because I’m a sucker for a good cinema story… and partly because the Odeon Camden is due to close soon. The chance to explore its history before the lights go down felt too good to miss. As ever with Nigel’s walks, this was far more than a list of for

Jamie Patterson, born in 1986 in Brighton, East Sussex, is a British filmmaker whose work is closely tied to his home city. He co-founded the Brighton‑based production company Jump Start Productions and in 2018 wrote and directed Tucked , his first feature film. Tucked is a raw and tender drama about Jackie, an ageing drag queen given six weeks to live, who forms an unexpected bond with a younger queen called Faith. The film explores identity, grief and community, blending h

I’ve always been fascinated by bio-pics, so much so that I wrote a book about them! Seeing Blue Moon (2025, Richard Linklater) at the London Film Festival reminded me exactly why. Opening in the UK this Friday, it is a gorgeous example of how a short window in someone’s life can illuminate an entire world. Richard Linklater’s latest unfolds over a single night in lyricist Lorenz Hart’s life in 1943, at the opening night of his former writing partner Richard Rodgers’ Oklahoma

With Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein in cinemas now, ahead of its Netflix release, it seemed like a good time to write up my visit earlier this year to Bath, seeking out locations with a Mary Shelley connection. There aren’t as many as for Jane Austen, but they’re worth the search. I whiled away hours in the fascinating Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein , which brings the novel’s enduring visual power and legacy vividly to life. Mary Shelley spent a pivotal period in Ba