Culture Digest 17.10.25
A round up of the arts and culture stories which caught our attention over the past week or so...
Lights to go out after Lumiere 2025 - or will they?
So the plug is to be pulled on Lumiere after next month’s ninth edition, which - this being the paradoxical nature of things - may well see another record-breaking attendance.
Or might there somehow be a stay of execution, as North East Mayor Kim McGuinness suggests?
By any standard Lumiere has been a huge success, arriving every two years with reminders – from Durham County Council and London-based producer Artichoke - of the benefits it brings.
It became, according to Artichoke in its bombshell announcement earlier this week, “the UK’s pre-eminent light art biennial, inspiring many other events across the UK”.
It has attracted more than 1.3 million visitors, contributed £43 million to the local economy and involved more than 14,000 local residents and schoolchildren through learning and participation projects.
It has relied on the support of hundreds of local businesses, institutions and supporters and, of course, it has seen work by internationally renowned artists displayed in Durham.
Who would want that to stop?
Sam Fender bags the Mercury Prize on home turf
The Low Lights Tavern might have to consider adding a few more beers to its on-draught collection.
After donating two Brit Awards to his favourite local to be used as prestigious pint pullers, we’re betting chart-topping North Shields superstar Sam Fender will be adding a Mercury Prize to the behind-the-bar mix.
As the climax of the coveted competition stepped out of London for the first time, the 31-year-old’s third album, People Watching defied all the bookies’ predictions to win out of the 12 shortlisted long players.
Mayoral shot in the arm for North East creative economy
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has backed her commitment to the region’s creative industries with funding for 11 projects amounting to more than £360,000.
They’re a disparate bunch, ranging from an Anglo-Saxon gathering to a long weekend of women’s football, but the general aim, says the Mayor, is to “unleash cultural creativity”.
She explains: “I’m developing a thriving creative economy in the North East and with this funding we’re fuelling our energetic creatives and giving them the tools to create real impact.
“This region has it all.
“We’ve got amazing venues and museums, great festivals, hotels and restaurants, and a heritage to be proud of.
“The funding these programmes will receive will help us celebrate our culture and put our region on the stage as the home of creativity and world class cultural events.”
We know when series 2 of BBC radio comedy will be OOT
Dates have been confirmed for the return of Geordie comedy Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT! on BBC Radio 4.
Series two will debut on November 12 - while fans or those who missed it first time around can catch up with series one on Wednesday nights (11pm) between now and then (the repeats started on Wednesday, but that’s what BBC Sounds is for, right?).
Produced in Gateshead by Candle & Bell, the sitcom follows a millennial couple navigating life, love and laughter in the North East.
Written by and starring Tom Machell and Lauren Pattison, the new series was once again recorded at Pride Media Centre and features guest appearances from Julian Clary, Louise Young and Sarah Balfour.
Producer Zahra Zomorrodian said: “It’s an honour to bring more laughter from Tom & Lauren to BBC Radio 4’s listeners. Producing this second series from the region using North East talent is something we’re very proud of. We can’t wait to share series two with you all.”
A reel sense of place
Finishing touches are being put to an evening celebrating the stories, sounds and hidden histories of North Shields.
On Friday October 24, the town’s Salt Market Social will host From Our Streets to Our Seas: Tales of Heritage, Memory and Myth - a special event featuring film, live music and storytelling inspired by the people and places that define the historic Fish Quay.
Produced by Tyneside Cinema and Pinwheel as part of the town’s NS800 celebrations (a year of commemorative activity marking the town’s 800th anniversary), the event marks the culmination of a year-long project that set out to explore North East culture through the eyes of its communities.
Dragonfly will land in cinemas next month
The trailer has dropped for new film Dragonfly, which stars North East actor Andrea Riseborough alongside adopted North East treasure - and fellow Oscar nominee - Brenda Blethyn.
Scheduled for cinema release on November 7, the film (trailer below) tells the story of two neighbours whose unexpected friendship unfolds against a backdrop of loneliness, suspicion and quiet resilience.
Riseborough - currently starring alongside Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic in London - plays Colleen, a woman adrift and searching for purpose, who steps in to care for her elderly neighbour Elsie (Vera legend, Blethyn) after witnessing the neglect she faces from ‘so-called’ professionals.
What begins as an act of compassion soon raises questions about motive and morality, as those around them look on with doubt. Is Colleen’s kindness entirely selfless, or something more complicated?
Directed by Paul Andrew Williams (Bull) The film, which has been screened at festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival this year, has received rave reviews pretty much across the board.
When caffeine met history: the Magna Carta mishap
Happily, it’s unlikely that any of our displays of clumsiness or slip-ups will go down in history.
But that is not the case for unfortunate physician Christopher Hunter, whose accident with an ink bottle has been on show to thousands of visitors to Durham Cathedral.
In the cathedral’s current Magna Carta display, a brown stain can be seen tarnishing the right-hand margin of the definitive 1225 charter.
When Henry III came of age in 1225, he reissued both Magna Carta and the Forest Charter under his own seal.
Witnessed by 65 bishops, earls and barons, this version became the definitive Magna Carta. It was never reissued, only reaffirmed by later monarchs. Only four copies survive - and Durham’s is the only one to bear the mark of an 18th-century coffee break.
Green light for ambitious Northumberland nature recovery plan
A vital stage in a venture to protect and enhance nature on a 9,500-acre Northumberland estate can now go ahead after winning initial lottery backing.
The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust have received £250,000 from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, which will help lay the foundations for the Rothbury Estate project.
The Wildlife Trusts bought part of the estate a year ago and have until autumn 2026 to raise £30m to complete the purchase of the land.
I, Daniel Blake booked for return at Northern Stage
The stage adaptation of Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winning film I, Daniel Blake, is going back on tour in 2026.
North East actor, David Nellist confirmed he would return to the title role he debuted in 2023 for the gut-punching play, which was adapted for the stage by the film’s leading man, Davey Johns.
For the uninitiated, the story follows Daniel, a middle-aged carpenter recovering from a heart attack, who is declared unfit for work by his doctor but denied Employment and Support Allowance by the welfare system. Caught in a web of red tape, he battles to survive while clinging to his dignity and sense of justice.
During his fight, he befriends Katie, a young single mother experiencing her own hardship. Both struggling against poverty and bureaucracy, they form a tender, makeshift family - a bond that highlights the power of kindness and solidarity in a system that has forgotten compassion.
The production will once again be produced by Northern Stage - this time in association with Leeds Playhouse.
Tickets are on sale for performances at the Newcastle theatre which will run from Mar 20 to April 4. Further tour date details are to be confirmed.
Could North East director be Poised for prestigious award?
North East film maker Toby Robson has been longlisted for the British Independent Film Awards in the category of Best Debut Director - Feature Documentary.
The film which caught the judges’ attention was Poised, a documentary which spotlights the story of Sunderland man, Steven France, who channelled his own trauma - and what helped him get through it - into empowering young people from the city struggling to find positive paths to follow.
After losing his step dad to suicide, Steven found an outlet for his trauma in his local martial arts class.
A decade later, he opened his own gym with a mission to offer the same kind of solace and inspiration to local young people - a group he could see being left behind.
More awards glory for the region as Rivkala wins at Youth Music Awards
Newcastle-based jazz artist Rivkala has been named winner of the Music Video Award, supported by Notion, at the Youth Music Awards 2025.
While Sam Fender was picking up the Mercury Prize on Tyneside, Rivkala received her trophy at the YMA ceremony at Troxy in London for her video Chess, inspired by the ‘raw, emotive and socially charged work’ of Nina Simone, Carole King and Amy Winehouse.
The recognition crowns a big year for Rivkala, who was named One to Watch for 2025 by BBC Introducing North East, performed at the BBC Proms 2024, and made her TV debut on Look North as part of the MOBO Fringe Festival at the turn of the year.
With her debut EP on the way, Rivkala’s distinctive, cabaret-infused jazz sound will reach audiences across the UK later this year.
Rivkala said: “It feels surreal. Winning a Youth Music award is amazing. Youth Music does incredible things to support creatives and young people. I’m so grateful for the support that they’ve given me in my career so far, and it’s completely changed the trajectory of it.”
Stephenson-built Twizell handed to heritage line
The oldest working locomotive in Britain to be built by the famous Newcastle firm of Robert Stephenson has been gifted to a North East heritage railway.
Twizell, built by the Stephenson locomotive works in 1891, has been on loan to the Tanfield Railway from Beamish Museum.
Now the museum has handed over Twizell to Tanfield, along with a rare surviving locomotive from the North East steel industry.
Twizell has recently undergone a £100,000 overhaul and is in full working order. It was employed hauling coal trains for North East colliery owner James Joicey’s pits in County Durham before being saved for preservation in the early 1970s.
The Family Secret is all wrapped up
Filming has wrapped on The Family Secret, the latest Channel 5 drama to shoot in the region.
The shoot, which filmed its first scenes in September and was based in Hartlepool, followed hot on the heels of The Feud, which aired on 5 earlier this year and starred Jill Halfpenny, Amy Nuttall, Rupert Penry-Jones and Larry Lamb.
The new four-part psychological thriller was filmed at locations across the North East and has benefited from the North East Production Fund, delivered by North East Screen.
Produced by Gateshead-based Lonesome Pine in association with Sphere Abacus, The Family Secret follows Amanda Blakefield, played by Eleanor Tomlinson (One Day), whose seemingly perfect life with husband Jimmy, played by Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter), and their young son Luke, is turned upside down when she inherits a fortune from a man she has never met.
Strictly sequins meet glittering desert dreams in Priscilla’s Newcastle line-up
The full cast has been announced for the new UK and Ireland tour of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which rolls into Newcastle Theatre Royal from April 6-11 next year.
The hit musical, based on the Oscar-winning 1994 film, stars Kevin Clifton (Strictly Come Dancing, Chicago) as Tick/Mitzi, Nick Hayes (Groundhog Day, The Old Vic) as Felicia/Adam, Peter Duncan (The Dame) as Bob/Preacher, and Adèle Anderson of Fascinating Aïda fame as Bernadette.
The production features more than 100 show-stopping costumes designed by Vicky Gill, the BAFTA-winning designer behind Strictly Come Dancing.
“It is an absolute pleasure to be the costume designer for this vibrant and iconic show,” she said. “Every sequin, feather, stitch, and silhouette helps tell the story in real time.”
Kevin added: “I’ve always loved Priscilla Queen of the Desert - it’s bold, joyful, and unapologetically full of heart. Taking on the role of Tick/Mitzi feels like the perfect challenge because it’s not just about the glitz and glamour, it’s about identity, family, and love in all its forms.”
Tickets are on sale from the Theatre Royal website.
Sam Fender and Elton John team up for deluxe edition of Mercury Prize-winning album
Let's finish with some more Fender news, shall we?
Fresh (or maybe still slightly tiddly) from a triumphant night at the Mercury Prize in Newcastle on Thursday, Sam Fender has announced the release of a deluxe edition of his People Watching album.
The deluxe edition version of the North Shields singer-songwriter’s Mercury Prize-winning third album will hit the shelves and/or streaming services on December 5.
The new release features eight additional tracks on CD and vinyl, including three new songs — Talk To You (feat. Elton John), Fortuna’s Wheel and The Treadmill — alongside four from Fender’s limited-edition Me and The Dog Record Store Day EP, and Rein Me In (with Olivia Dean), available on formats you can hold in your hand for the first time.
To coincide with the announcement, Talk To You has been released as a single. The collaboration features the unmistakable sounds of Elton on piano (as well as a namecheck for the Low Lights Tavern in North Shields) and was recorded at British Grove Studios in London during the original People Watching sessions with producer Marcus Dravs.