Nicola Heath

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Nicola Heath |Jason Di Rosso

After gaining notoriety for playing two of the screen's most unsavoury characters — Timothy Ratliff in The White Lotus and Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise — British actor Jason Isaacs knew that playing a nice guy was always going to be a challenge. "I didn't know if the audience would accept it," Isaacs tells ABC Radio National's The Screen Show. In his latest film, The Salt Path, he plays Moth, "a tall, slim, handsome Santa Claus" who is about as likeable as characters get.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Nicola Heath |Claire Nichols

Australian author Charlotte McConaghy's third novel, Wild Dark Shore, opens with a woman washing up on a remote island halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Who she is and why she's there is the mystery that propels the narrative. Claire Nichols, host of ABC Radio National's The Book Show, says it's a great read — but McConaghy found Wild Dark Shore her hardest novel to write. "I wrote the first 25,000 words four times and deleted them four times.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Nicola Heath |Fiona Pepper |Dan Condon

Court is, almost invariably, mind-numbingly boring. While dealing with incredibly important matters, on what could be the worst day of someone's life, the sheer scale of admin, stuffy language and lengthy protocol can make even the juiciest case a real snooze-fest. And when it comes to the case of Erin Patterson, accused of murdering three people by serving them death cap mushrooms, there's an overflow of both interest and information.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Claire Nichols |Kate Evans |Nicola Heath |Declan Fry

Consider that unpleasant feeling of not knowing what to read next fully remedied: in this month's Best Books column, ABC Arts critics recommend their favourite April reads — and there are some rippers. You'll find a love story with a twist, new works from Australian literary heavyweights, a gruesome thriller, and a crime novel where climate change plays a leading role. Black IncThe colony will fall. Have you heard this phrase recently?

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Bhakthi Puvanenthiran |Dan Condon |Nicola Heath

It could be argued that true crime is the genre that keeps podcasting alive. The countless mysteries unearthed, turned over and sometimes solved keeps audiences hooked to their headphones and coming back for more. Amanda Knox's conviction and subsequent acquittal is a different kind of crime story. The world looked on open-mouthed as the 22-year-old was convicted of murder in an Italian court in 2009.