It is traditionally the preserve of mainly white casts. But now the BBC is shaking up period dramas with its first production featuring no white stars at all. The all-Indian line-up for A Suitable Boy includes the director Mira Nair. The adaptation of Indian author Vikram Seth’s award-winning 1993 novel …...Read More

A former British military translator and his sick wife have pleaded to come to the UK after being trapped in the ‘worst refugee camp on Earth’ on a Greek island. Nesar, who served alongside UK troops for almost two years in Helmand in Afghanistan, fled for Britain with his wife …...Read More

Confronted by the dead and seriously injured all around them in the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack, Sean Gardner and his teenage daughter, Charlotte, were in no doubt that they were among the lucky ones. Hannah, Sean's younger daughter, whom they had arrived to collect, was also mercifully …...Read More

It was once extinct in England and Scotland. But now the red kite is back with a vengeance as 10,000 take to our skies in the 'biggest species success story in British conservation history'. The majestic large birds of prey, which feed on crows, rodents and worms, were common scavengers …...Read More

Schools in England are set to receive a £2.2billion boost as Boris Johnson promises all children a ‘superb education’. Most state school pupils will have an increase in Government funding of at least 3 per cent next year. Mr Johnson said secondary schools will get at least £5,150 per pupil …...Read More

Doctors will be told to prescribe time in green spaces to boost patients’ physical and mental health under proposals to ease the burden on the NHS. In a speech this morning, Environment Secretary George Eustice will say that instead of simply handing out pills, GPs and other health professionals could …...Read More

Dominic Raab yesterday urged workers to return to the office to get the economy 'firing on all cylinders' again. The Foreign Secretary admitted there will be more remote working even after the coronavirus threat has passed. But he warned that the country was in the middle of a 'severe economic …...Read More

DAY 2,909 — or it feels like it — of lockdown, and my husband and I prepare for an early night. Amazingly, not in separate rooms. Not quite yet. He brushes his teeth, has a quick poke about with his interdental brushes, pops his pyjama bottoms on and jumps into …...Read More

Lockdown has led to an unprecedented surge in alcohol problems, with four in ten households drinking more than before. Women in particular have turned to the bottle during the pandemic and 53 per cent have upped their alcohol intake, a major survey reveals today. Experts said many parents have increased …...Read More

A conman with 'blood on his hands' after selling £50million worth of fake bomb detectors around the world says his fortune 'doesn't exist anymore,' after he was released from prison early. James McCormick, 64, sold useless detectors made from novelty golf ball finders to various authorities for up to £27,000 …...Read More