Over Paul Young’s shoulder in the study of his home in London, framed collections of gold and platinum discs crowd the wall. Alongside a few of them is a photo of Young in his 1980s pomp, all feathered fringe and brooding eyes – looking every inch one of Smash Hits’s Most Fanciable Males. In front of these sits the present-day Paul Young, looking in notably good nick at 68.
Tell Them You Love Me comes with what appears to be a warning label: Louis Theroux is involved. And so, one braces for some freakish slice of American life, with Theroux himself as the bespectacled ringmaster. It’s a pleasant surprise, therefore, to find that Theroux neither seen nor heard – he is merely the one of the producers.
It’s Valentine’s Day this week and don’t worry, even if your partner doesn’t remember, or you’re on your own, Netflix’s algorithm would never forget you. In lieu of a bunch of roses it offers you One Day, a serialised drama remake of the novel by David Nicholls, which has already been adapted, in 2011, for a film of the same name, starring Anne Hathaway with a rubbish British accent.
It’s always a coup for a theatre when a Hollywood star agrees to appear in one of its productions. In the post-pandemic period, Broadway and the West End have had a reliable trickle of big names, but Dublin has remained a sort of outpost for this glitzy overspill. Until now.