shane macgowan. crock of gold: a few rounds with shane macgowan is a riveting documentary about the lead singer and songwriter of the pogues, who shot to fame in the ‘80s with their anarchic spin on irish folk music. using unseen footage from the macgowan family and narration from shane himself,

this shows him growing up in ireland with a pint in his hand and a song in his heart. then it's on to english public school and the hedonistic allure of the london punk scene, the birth of the pogues and a punishing world tour. in episodes illustrated by the great ralph steadman, there are shocking stories about wild nights out and terrifying tales of mental institutions. the singer isn't always in the best health, or even mood, when he's being interviewed for this documentary... once we've wrapped up filming... now? ..so director temple brings in a few friends for a chat. these include the film's producerjohnny depp, who was filmed before losing his recent libel case... what makes you think i did? ..former sinn fein president

gerry adams and shane's wife, victoria mary clarke. aided by archive footage, these interviews work as a potted social history of ireland, as well as a fascinating insight into a musical scene and a portrait of a troubled, talented and funny man. crock of gold: a few rounds with shane macgowan is in cinemas now and on digital and dvd from monday, december 7. i love seeing film—makers come up with creative solutions in challenging situations, and rob savage has done just that with the horrorfilm host. sitting in a circle. spirit, we invite you to use us to pass on any communication. is there anyone there? please come forward. what was that?

amy, was that you? i heard it. i heard something. i think there's something here. do you see that? inspired by a short that went viral on social media, it's set entirely on zoom, where six friends decide to hold an online seance under the guidance of a medium. thanks to a sharp script, naturalistic performances and a bit of improv, the characters are swiftly established and the stage is set for demonic activity that escalates to an alarming degree. shouting haley, this is all yourfault! it's not my fault! this is your fault! it's a lot of fun watching multiple screens for glimpses of paranormal activity. and it's genuinely scary when it kicks in. these are characters i enjoyed spending time with, and there's a peculiar intimacy watching them on an online conference call. atjust 57 minutes long, host isn't especially profound, but it is very effective.

it's in cinemas and on digital now. beautiful, isn't it? that's the last thing irememberseeing. back to ireland, via somalia, and a girl from mogadishu — the true story of activist ifrah ahmed. ask her, how did it happen? aja naomi king plays the teenage ifrah, who narrowly escapes war—torn somalia with a trafficker, played by barkhad abdi. ifrah thinks she's on a plane to see her aunt in minnesota, but instead, she arrives in dublin and is dumped at an asylum seeker centre. when a medical exam reveals she's a victim of female genital mutilation, the true horror of the custom begins to dawn on her. determined to save other young girls from the same fate, she learns english and launches

a campaign to end fgm in ireland and beyond. the narration is a bit overbearing at times, but this is still a compelling film, beginning as a gripping thriller and turning into an inspiring story of activism. until girls like me are free of the fear, the pain, the shame, i will not stop. director mary mcguckian has a broad populist touch. as well as dark moments, there is hope and even humour. ifrah is thrown headfirst into western culture, baffled by everything from aeroplane food to cornflakes. a girl from mogadishu is out on digital now. yo, give me your chips, man! i literallyjust bought them... shut up, fam! give me your chips. i don't care. what are you doing? what?

what are you doing? no, i was onlyjoking you wasjustjoking? yeah, man. i was onlyjoking with him! my next film choice is written and directed by a youth worker who spent over a decade working with kids who have been recruited by drug runners. henry blake's debut, county lines, feels alarmingly authentic, as it tells a story that is apparently relatively common. conrad khan stars as tyler, a 14—year—old londoner living with his sister and his single mother, toni, who's struggling to hold down a job. tyler is easy prey for the older simon, who buys him trainers and offers him cash to smuggle drugs on the train to small towns. naive tyler is soon thrust into a world of criminals, crack dens and violence. the performances are excellent. conrad khan really holds the attention in his first lead role. and simon is played with chilling brilliance by harris dickinson, who i reckon is shaping up to be the next tom hardy.

yes. right, let me call you back. all right, all right. what do you do? entrepreneur. what? someone who works for themselves. not all the dialogue in county lines rings true, but the storytelling is impressive, showing most events through tyler's point of view. it's a worthwhile watch that's in cinemas and on digital now. everyone say "christmas"! no, don't say that, just smile. 0k. blurry, boring. nope, nope, nope. 0k, none of these will do. we will try again tomorrow. thank you.

having sat through the likes of the family stone and four christmases, i don't always relish the idea of a glossy festive romantic comedy. but happiest season has a twist on the genre. it's about two women. how can you not like the lights and decorations? this is beautiful. come with me to my parents' house for christmas. abby, you and harper have a perfect relationship. she is my person and i really want everyone to know that. i want to marry her. i'm going to ask her dad for his blessing. way to stick it to the patriarchy! kristen stewart and mackenzie davis play a happy couple whose relationship is tested when they go home for the holidays. the venue is the affluent family home of harper, played by davis. the snag is that harper hasn't come out to her parents, despite having told her girlfriend that she already did. so abby is introduced as harper's flatmate, with a promise that all will be revealed in due course. naturally, nothing goes smoothly in this film from clea duvall,

who delivers a consistently funny comedy with an excellent cast. stewart has never been better. and supporting standouts include mary steenburgen as the controlling, oblivious mother and schitt‘s creek star daniel levy as abby‘s fiercely feminist friend. yes, iamjohn, abby's heterosexual ex—boyfriend. and i have come to get her back. isee. well, it would have been nice to have known you were coming, but since you are here, enjoy. thank you so much. ok, i nailed that, and she is fabulous. happiest season is better at comedy than it is romance, but it's still a fun, inclusive christmas movie with laugh—out—loud moments. it's available on demand now. # the sun will rise to light the skies # and merrily, bells ring out # surprise, and brighten all the folks in lockdown... #

finally, a fittingly surreal experience for 2020, a festive film made during the pandemic in the garden of former blue peter presenter peter duncan. billed as the first ever made—for—cinema, covid—friendly, socially distanced pa nto, jack and the beanstalk is co—directed and produced by duncan, who rounded up his showbiz mates for the gig. this is truly a pandemic panto. there is a lockdown song, with jokes about loo roll, and there are gags about trump. and then there's the giant ogre who's eating humans. it's a very strange thing to watch at home alone, but it's got all you'd expect from a family panto, including terrible puns, boo—worthy baddies and a pantomime dame, played by, yes, peter duncan. jack and the beanstalk is at everyman cinemas from saturday, december 5, and it's also available to stream at home now.

thanks for watching the film review with me, anna smith. mark kermode will be back next week. meantime, stay safe. chilly evening out there and it staying pretty cold over the next few days. not quite cold enough for any substantial snow. the temperatures are below the average for the time of year. the snow we've had in the last day or two is mostly melted now, it's mainly in the hills. so here's the weather map for this evening. low pressure close by so there will be some cloud and spots of rain here and there but what's more significant is that cold air stream from the arctic which has been spreading across the uk and into other parts of western europe. so the forecast for this evening and tonight, you can see some showers affecting scotland and also parts of northern england, maybe one or two in the south. skies will clear, particularly across western areas of the uk and in rural spots,

down to around —3 but generally speaking it will be hovering around zero first thing in the morning. so the forecast for first thing in the morning shows bright weather across many north—western parts of the uk, plenty of bright weather also in the south. i think the cloudiest area will be from that north sea coast there around newcastle to hull, across yorkshire and into the peak district and central parts of wales. but other than that, it actually looks fairly bright for most of us through sunday and a clear evening for many of us to come on sunday evening. so the jet stream pattern then into monday shows that dive in the jet stream and that colder air still coming in from the north. that pattern is here to stay, it's not going to budge, so that means the weather pattern across the uk won't be changing significantly from monday onwards. however, there will beat this weather front lurking out in the north sea which will rotate towards the uk during the course of monday night into tuesday.

monday itself is actually looking pretty bright and quite chilly across many areas, but the area of cloud, may be some sleet and snow across northern part of england and scotland will sweep through during the course of monday night and into tuesday. to the south of that, i think it's going to stay mostly clear. so, let's have a look at the forecast then for the week ahead. there is temperatures staying into single figures across the board and the weather's going to be a little bit variable. perhaps a hint of things turning a little bit milder towards the end of the week. bye— bye.

he's now this is bbc news the headlines at 7:00pm... brexit talks between the uk and the eu will resume on sunday after a phone call between boris johnson and the president of the european commission — but both sides say significant differences still remain. whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agree a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved. more rapid testing is introduced in areas in the highest tiers of restrictions in england — but there are concerns about their accuracy. a large—scale coronavirus vaccine roll—out begins in russia — but the sputnikjab is still undergoing mass testing. three people have been taken to hospital after an explosion