Ben Lawrence

Edinburgh

Commissioning Editor at The Telegraph

Technology, Media & Sports at @endeavor_stream

Articles

Sorry Cate Blanchett, but artists should never ‘retire’

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lawrence

In one of several parallel fantasy lives that I live, I have retired. I am “dividing my time” between London and Southern France (probably Languedoc-Roussillon), with January spent on an island off the coast of Colombia. But I won’t have made a fuss about my retreat from the rat race: no grand speeches, no pitying donations on collectionpot.com and certainly no leaving drinks. I will have made a French exit.
Sorry Cate Blanchett, but artists should never 'retire'

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence
White Lotus conversations prove how mindless the chattering classes have become

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lawrence

What do the chattering classes talk about? Social justice, politics, school fees and the arts – at least that is the old cliché. Yet nowadays, such people (I know the chattering classes is a pejorative term, but it is a useful one, I think, for the point of this argument) are as likely to talk about what they have been watching on Netflix as the state of private-school provision for the academically precocious in north London.
White Lotus conversations prove how mindless the chattering classes have become

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence
A fatal flaw in the new Beatles films? Casting big stars

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lawrence

Earlier this week, the world’s worst secret was finally revealed. Sam Mendes’s new quartet of Beatles films will feature Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan as John, Paul, George and Ringo respectively. All four actors are star names – and thus the buzz has been considerable. This is a canny move on the part of Sony Pictures. It is a tall order to get audiences to go and see four films in quick succession; indeed some people barely go to the cinema that much in a year.
A fatal flaw in the new Beatles films? Casting big stars

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence

Earlier this week, the world's worst secret was finally revealed. Sam Mendes's new quartet of Beatles films will feature Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan as John, Paul, George and Ringo respectively. All four actors are star names - and thus the buzz has been considerable. This is a canny move on the part of Sony Pictures. It is a tall order to get audiences to go and see four films in quick succession; indeed some people barely go to the cinema that much in a year.
I love Adolescence, but culture must stop demonising young men

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence

At the root of the issue is the demonisation of the white working-class male, whose fortunes are linked to the decline in British industry and the rise in unemployment. Certain politicians and media commentators have been savage about such sections of the community, snidely metropolitan about the Brexit-voting "white van man" whose views are startlingly different to their own.
I love Adolescence, but culture must stop demonising young men

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lawrence

OpinionBen LawrenceWed, March 19, 2025 at 6:15 PM UTC5 min readLast weekend, I watched Adolescence, the new Netflix drama about a 13-year-old boy, Jamie, who’s arrested for stabbing a female classmate to death. We follow him through intense questioning at the police station and at a youth psychiatric facility. We see the repercussions of the crime at his comprehensive school, and on his parents and elder sister. Adolescence is, without doubt, the best TV drama of the year so far.
The arts are now terrified of God

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence

For centuries in the West, challenging the precepts of Christianity was downright dangerous. Caravaggio fell foul of his patrons for his heretical exploration of religious themes, while Hans Holbein the Younger, unfortunate enough to be alive during the Reformation, found his religious art at the mercy of Protestant iconoclasm.
The BBC can't win

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Lawrence

Well, let me tell you what the lawyers will allow. I once heard of a publicist for Jennifer Lopez chastising a journalist for describing the star as "an actress and singer". The journalist was reminded that Lopez was not simply a singer and actress, but a movement. Publicists, indeed, are the source of much gossip, and they often make matters worse.