PeakDash

When he first portrayed Darth Vader in the much-panned Star Wars prequels 20 years ago, fans vented their anger at him. So why is he risking more in a new TV series? He talks about George Lucas, the pressures of fame and his love of bulldozers

Only the most hardcore action junkies will have the stamina for what is essentially one marathon sword-fighting scene The craziness is all in the idea of this singular Japanese action movie: essentially one marathon battle scene, filmed in a single take, in which a master swordsman takes down several hundred assailants. The execution, as it

The musician David Berman, who has died suddenly aged 52, was the leader and sole constant member of Silver Jews, a band whose poetic, experimental recordings during the 1990s and 2000s embodied American indie rock at its most literate, and of Purple Mountains, his recent Americana project. Berman, fragile and intellectual, served as a reluctant

Olga Lepeshinskaya, supreme virtuoso of the great days of Soviet ballet, adored not only for her dancing but also for her exuberant joie de vivre, has died at the age of 92. Although acclaimed worldwide, she never danced in the UK. Nonetheless, from fragments of film and vivid descriptions of her artistry, her name has

Comedy about science is becoming increasingly popular, but how important is it to be scientifically accurate when trying to get laughs? In response to yesterday's piece about how science often gets comedy wrong, here is a piece about the exact opposite issue by Robin Ince