Entertainment News

The acclaimed Birmingham Indian Film Festival (BIFF) has announced its festival programme including the world premiere of Dobaaraa directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring award winning actress Taapsee Pannu. 

The highly anticipated thriller is produced by Shobha Kapoor & Ektaa R Kapoor (Cult Movies, a new wing under Balaji Telefilms) and Sunir Kheterpal & Gaurav Bose (Athena).

Birmingham Rep, the city’s only major producing theatre, and theatre company Told By An Idiot have today released production images for Would You Bet Against Us?.

This world premiere production marks 40 years since Aston Villa’s historic win at the European Cup and is now playing at The Rep until Sat 4 Jun. European Cup Winners Dennis Mortimer, Tony Morley and Kenny Swain will join the cast for a post-show Q&A supported by AV40.

Birmingham 2022 Festival today announces more events as part of the six-month programme. 

Incorporating dance, live music, narration and an outdoor exhibition of original artworks and historic photographs, ME Dance Company’s Chain Stories takes you on a journey along the canals and across the sea to Ghana and Grenada, and back again.

It’s 40 years since the opening of this legendary Manchester nightclub and music venue which unleashed the acid house and rave scene, brought us bands like New Order via Tony Wilson’s Factory Records and influenced many others including Oasis. The Haçienda was at the forefront of music and youth culture in the 80s and early 90s.

China Plate and Birmingham Hippodrome are searching for exciting local talent to take part in their new concert musical To The Streets! Over the weekend of 10 – 12 June, the creative team will hold open auditions at the Hippodrome, with a view to finding strong singers and dancers from the local community, particularly those that represent the wide diversity of Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The wait is over, MCM Comic Con, the ultimate celebration of pop culture, is back with bang, rolling into London’s ExCeL on 27th – 29th May. Whether you’re a serious gamer, comic book collector, highly-skilled cosplayer, or passionate film buff, there’s plenty to explore at this year’s shows.

Composer Vangelis, who was known for his celebrated film themes for Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner, has died. The musician first tasted fame as the keyboardist in a band with singer Demis Roussos in the late 1960s.

The Greek-born composer went on to be a groundbreaking electronic solo artist, as well as the composer of popular film soundtracks - winning an Oscar for the stirring theme to 1981's Chariots of Fire, which was followed by Blade Runner a year later.

For the first time ever, the BBC Proms is taking its successful chamber music series across the UK this summer – and Birmingham is one of the dates. 

Claire Barnett-Jones will give a song recital as part of the world’s largest classical music festival on Monday 29 August at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Bradshaw Hall, part of Birmingham City University. 

The BBC has just confirmed that David Tennant and Catherine Tate are to return to Doctor Who. The pair are currently filming for the sci-fi show's 60th anniversary, which it will celebrate in 2023.

Tennant played the 10th Doctor on the time travel drama from 2005-2010, while Tate played companion Donna Noble. The news comes a week after the BBC announced that Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa will be the next Doctor.

Coventry City of Culture Trust have announce that the UK’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery, The Reel Store, has opened today, becoming a permanent new visitor attraction in the heart of the city. Following on from the huge popularity of immersive art spaces around the world, this new state-of-the-art space features innovative experiential art commissions and is now a prominent feature of the City of Culture programme.

On Record, a specially commissioned concept album championing the many vibrant sounds of Birmingham UK, will be released via 1000 copies of limited edition vinyl and across all streaming platforms on Friday 17 June 2022.

Executive produced by Birmingham Music Archive for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, the 11-track LP features new and original recordings from internationally acclaimed artists, Mercury Prize and BBC Young Musician of the Year winners, YouTube music sensations, celebrated composers and producers, and emerging and unsigned talent drawn from across the city.

A city centre parade and a record breaking drone display are among events to mark the end of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture.

Other events include the opening of the UK's first permanent immersive digital art gallery to the public. City council leader George Duggins encouraged people to come along and help end the special year in style.

Ed Sheeran has enlisted Budjerah for an all-new remix of ‘2step’, which is out now on Asylum/Atlantic and has been joined by an official visualiser. Ed has teamed-up with an array of artists from across the globe for special remix versions of his latest single ‘2step’, tapping into his love of collaboration. 

Birmingham Hippodrome has launched a competition to find the region’s top magician.

Inspired by the upcoming production of Magic Goes Wrong which comes to the Hippodrome from Tue 24 May – Sun 29 May, budding magicians are being asked to share a video clip of them performing their best trick.

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, composer and producer, Gary Barlow has announced ‘A Different Stage’, his theatrical one man stage show telling his story, in his words will play at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 17 – 20 November 2022.

Tickets are on sale exclusively to Friends of the Grand and members from 8am online on Thursday 12 May. Public sales open at 9:30am on Friday 13 May online at grandtheatre.co.uk.

Indian classical music legend Shiv Kumar Sharma has died. The leading exponent of santoor, a dulcimer-like instrument, suffered a heart attack at his residence in Mumbai.

Sharma is credited with converting the santoor, which was mainly played in Kashmir, into a major instrument of Indian classical music and was also part of a duo - along with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia - who worked on classical and film music.