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In pictures: Western Isles' HebCelt music festival

In pictures: Western Isles' HebCelt music festival

BBC News3 days ago
The Hebridean Music Festival - HebCelt - has opened in Stornoway on Lewis.About 17,000 music fans are expected to attend over the weekend, with headline acts performing in the event's big top tent.Scottish pop icon Lulu, singer-songwriter Eddi Reader and Highlands folk pop band Tide Lines are performing.There has also been a special appearance by Gaelic children's TV legend Donnie Dòtaman.
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Horoscope today, July 21, 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg
Horoscope today, July 21, 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg

The Sun

time11 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Horoscope today, July 21, 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg

OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in 2023 but her column will be kept alive by her friend and protégée Maggie Innes. Read on to see what's written in the stars for you today. ♈ ARIES March 21 to April 20 As the moon and Venus get together you can get a handle on emotions that have felt out of control. Resisting negative feelings can make them stronger, so find a positive way to share these, as soon as you can. Family history and long-standing mystery are both in the spotlight of Jupiter – with a potential luck bonus. 2 ♉ TAURUS April 21 to May 21 You have big ideas linked to spending or saving – and getting these agreed may take a more patience than you expect. Stick to a plan, and try not to react straight away to others' actions. Give yourself time to deliberate, free from outside influences. Is 'P' passion worth fighting for? Only you can decide. Get all the latest Taurus horoscope new s including your weekly and monthly predictions ♊ GEMINI May 22 to June 21 The more you think about a relationship – in terms of love, work or family – the less you may feel you understand it. But this is a day to trust your heart, and go with what you truly feel. If you start the day single, your name is near the top of a list – to keep it there, bring your best self to every encounter. Get all the latest Gemini horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♋ CANCER June 22 to July 22 There is a love dream you have kept in the shadows in recent weeks, but this is your chance to bring it into the light. You have the right to ask for change, and to be heard – and if this isn't happening, take the right action. Mercury may make money talks trickier, with its retrograde path, but they should still happen. 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CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Karen Pirie: With plots as deep and dark as a coal mine shaft, this is no ordinary Karen
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Karen Pirie: With plots as deep and dark as a coal mine shaft, this is no ordinary Karen

Daily Mail​

time41 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Karen Pirie: With plots as deep and dark as a coal mine shaft, this is no ordinary Karen

Something of a tradition, the two-hour crime drama on a Sunday night. It stretches from Vera and Grace, all the way back to Inspector Morse in the 1980s. But it's a dangerous format. If the characters are weak, if the story sags, if the dialogue drags, viewers will really start to feel it around the 60-minute mark. Then an ad break will come around, they'll wander off to put the kettle on... and not bother coming back. The cosy detective show McDonald And Dodds, starring Jason Watkins and Tala Gouveia, ought to have thrived as a series of well-paced one-hour episodes, for instance. But it simply didn't have the complexity or the characters to last double the length. Viewing figures slumped, and earlier this year it was quietly cancelled. Karen Pirie is different. Based on the superb books by Val McDermid, this returning drama has plots as deep and dark as a coal mine shaft. The characters aren't merely well drawn — they're alive, constantly seeking to understand and learn more about each other. This three-part adaptation of the novel A Darker Domain opened in a Fife fish shop during the miners' strike in 1984. A young mother was sharing a chip supper with her best mate and cooing over her one-year-old. A thread of tension ran through the scene, vibrating with a hidden threat. But nothing hinted at the explosive violence to come, as a masked gunman seized the mum, taking her and the baby hostage. DI Pirie (Lauren Lyle) wasn't even born when the kidnap happened. But the young woman was the daughter of Scotland's wealthiest oil baron, Sir Brodie Grant, and it was all too plausible that the unsolved case was one every copper would know. This three-part adaptation of the novel A Darker Domain opened in a Fife fish shop during the miners' strike in 1984 Its parallels with the John Paul Getty kidnap are hard to miss, and acknowledged in a brief aside by Pirie to her slightly dim sidekick, DC Jason 'Mint' Murray (Chris Jenks). He's none the wiser: 'John Paul?' he asks. 'As in the pope?' Mint gets all the best jokes. When Pirie asks if he's 'media trained', he replies, 'No, but I've watched a lot of Arnold Schwarzenegger speeches on YouTube.' The two timeframes are expertly intercut, with some flashbacks lasting just a few seconds, helping us to grasp what people are talking or thinking about. This technique removes the need for long passages of explanation. Grant in 1984 is played by Jamie Michie, as a bullying, demanding tycoon who expects the police to work as his own private army. James Cosmo is the same man 40 years later, emotionally broken but as controlling as ever, employing an investigator to look into Pirie's past. The private eye will surely have discovered that she's in a relationship with another colleague, DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt) — one she hasn't disclosed to her bosses. That deep, dark mine shaft is going to take more twists.

How novel to watch a TV detective who doesn't have a drink problem
How novel to watch a TV detective who doesn't have a drink problem

Telegraph

time5 hours ago

  • Telegraph

How novel to watch a TV detective who doesn't have a drink problem

TV's most normal detective is back. By which I mean that Karen Pirie (ITV1) doesn't have a traumatic emotional back story, or a drink problem, or neurodiversity dialled up to 10. She's just a regular person who works hard at her job while wearing sensible clothes. This sounds quite boring, but thanks to Lauren Lyle, who plays her, and Val McDermid, who wrote the source material, Pirie is a character you enjoy watching. The story is based on McDermid's novel A Darker Domain, although some elements have been changed by screenwriter Emer Kenny. We begin in 1984 – the scene is set with Simple Minds on the soundtrack and Arthur Scargill on the telly in the corner of the chip shop – and the abduction of a young mother with her two-year-old son. Her father is Sir Broderick Grant (played by James Cosmo), a Scottish oil baron. He receives a ransom demand, but Catriona is never heard from again. Then, 40 years later, a man's body is discovered, preserved in peat. In his pocket is a key to Catriona's car, which she was forced to drive by her abductor and was later found burnt out. Time for Pirie to get cracking on the cold case investigation. Usually, I find split timelines annoying, but this successfully switches between the 1980s and the present day without causing confusion. The drama also strikes just the right tone, treating the crime seriously but leavening it with shots of humour. Pirie can be funny, especially when assessing her own limitations – newly promoted to inspector and still in her 20s, she would much rather not be in a position of authority. Her sweet but uninformed colleague, DC Jason 'Mint' Murray (Chris Jenks) is also good for a laugh. Pirie describes Catriona as Scotland's John Paul Getty III. 'John Paul… as in, the Pope?' Mint asks. There's no slack in episode one, with every scene moving the plot along and introducing us to characters who will prove to be significant. The personal stuff – Pirie is secretly dating a fellow detective – fits nicely into the picture rather than detracting from the main event. I wish it kept this up but, alas, three two-hour episodes drag it out when it could have been done more satisfyingly in half that time, and the quality drops off. There were also points in the middle where I had to keep reminding myself who the supporting characters were. As for Pirie's sensible clothes, there is a certain quirkiness to the way she wears them: the collars of her Fred Perry turned up, her valuables safely stashed in a bum bag. But that's as singular as she gets.

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