Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Image: Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Image: Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
Heaton Park, just north of Manchester City centre, is tonight hosting 80,000 fans who’ve come to see the Gallaghers’ homecoming.
“I would honestly say it’s a real cultural moment of the 21st century,” says Sam, who’s from Manchester and has come here with a group of friends – including one who has travelled from Australia for the gig.
Image: Oasis fans wear band T-shirts with the almost obligatory bucket hats. Pic: Reuters
This will be the fourth time Sam has seen Oasis play, although obviously not for many years, and he says he can’t wait for the moment the band comes on to the stage.
“The reaction from the fans, that’s going to be really special,” he says. “This band means so much to the North West.”
Like many people attending tonight’s concert, Sam is wearing a bucket hat.
Liam Gallagher’s iconic headgear has become a part of the band’s cultural legacy and they are certainly on display here, with street vendors popping up all around the park’s perimeter.
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Another fan, Dean, tells me he feels incredibly lucky to have got a ticket at all.
“I had seven devices out when the tickets were released and I didn’t get one,” he says. “And then about three days ago, a friend of mine messaged to say she couldn’t make it.
“So I made it. £120 with coach travel there and back – perfect.”
Image: Dom has flown from half a world away to be in Manchester tonight
Dom is another fan who has come from Australia for the gig.
“We’re frothing to be here, like so stoked,” he says, “The atmosphere is going to be electric.”
R&B singer Chris Brown has denied further charges following an alleged bottle attack in a London nightclub.
The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) to music producer Abraham Diaw, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Brown also denied one count of having an offensive weapon – a bottle – in a public place.
Image: Chris Brown arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. Pic: PA
The Grammy-winning US musician last month pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Mr Diaw.
The attack allegedly happened at the Tape venue, a private members’ club in Hanover Square, Mayfair, on 19 February 2023.
The plea hearing is part of preparations for his five to seven-day trial, which is due to take place from 26 October 2026.
Brown’s co-defendant, US national Omololu Akinlolu, 39, on Friday pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Mr Diaw occasioning him actual bodily harm.
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Akinlolu, a rapper who goes by the name Hoody Baby, has previously pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
Image: Brown’s co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
The defendants sat side-by-side in the dock, looking straight ahead during the hearing in London.
Around 20 fans sat in the public gallery behind the dock for Friday’s hearing, with several gasping as Brown walked into the courtroom.
The Go Crazy singer was able to continue with his scheduled international tour after he was freed on conditional bail in May.
He had to pay a £5m security fee to the court as part of the bail agreement, which is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court and may be forfeited if they breach bail conditions.
Mr Diaw was standing at the bar of the Tape nightclub when he was struck several times with a bottle, and then pursued to a separate area of the venue where he was punched and kicked repeatedly, Manchester Magistrates’ Court previously heard.
Brown was arrested at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel at 2am on 15 May by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
He is said to have flown into Manchester Airport on a private jet in preparation for the UK tour dates.
Brown was released from HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 21 May.
The singer, who rose to stardom as a teenager in 2005, won his first Grammy award for best R&B album in 2011 for F.A.M.E..
He earned his second in the same category for 11:11 (Deluxe) earlier this year.