Bethan Ackerley

2 months ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Common Side EffectsJoseph Bennett, Steve HelyChannel 4 (UK); Cartoon Network, Max (US)One of the best shows I watched last year was , a lushly animated sci-fi series about an interstellar cargo ship that crashes on a planet full of strange, dangerous life. Sadly, it was cancelled after a single season. So, I was pleased to learn that one of its creators, Joseph Bennett, had partnered with writer Steve Hely on a new animated show called , all about a…

2 months ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Weather Girl, at London’s Soho Theatre until 5 April, is a frantic and funny one-woman show about the looming climate apocalypse. Written by Brian Watkins, it stars Julia McDermott as Stacey, a local weather forecaster in Fresno, California. Sandwiched between segments on dog shows and testicular tanning, her reports on the droughts and wildfires in her state are always delivered with a winning smile – until, one day, she snaps.

Mar 5, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

The OABrit Marling and Zal BatmanglijNetflixLike many film fans, I was heartbroken by the recent death of David Lynch. A trailblazing director and painter, he was perhaps the most influential visual artist of the past 50 years, responsible for haunting works of film and TV like , and, of course, . “Visionary” seems too small a word to describe him. While reading tributes to Lynch, I stumbled across a list of TV shows influenced by his work. One of those…

Feb 26, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

I won’t pretend to know much about opera, but was hooked by the radio show Jennifer Walshe: Zero-gravity opera, on the BBC World Service recently. It previews an as yet untitled work by Walshe (pictured above), a professor of composition at the University of Oxford. She is writing the opera with Mark O’Connell as librettist – he won the Wellcome Book Prize in 2018 for his exploration of transhumanism. The opera is set on Mars and is about female astronauts.

Feb 12, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

My Husband, the CyborgSusanna CappellaroAvailable to buy digitally from 14 FebruaryAround a decade ago, music industry executive Scott Cohen made a decision that rocked his marriage. His wife, actor and filmmaker Susanna Cappellaro, wasn’t a fan of the two titanium piercings near his sternum – but they weren’t the problem. Cradled by metal bars in his chest but not permanently anchored was a small circuit board Cohen co-developed that vibrated whenever he faced north.