The Prisoner (slight return)

Stories about a remake of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner have been circulating for almost as long as I can remember, so one learned some time ago to take them with a pinch of salt. But now that they've released a trailer, I guess we can now genuinely refer to the forthcoming movie.

So I turned, as one does, to i-Flicks.net, home of Ivan Radford, a critic who's always worth reading, to see what he has to say, and he sounds a note of sensible caution: 'It's actually looking quite awesome. Although it could still turn out absolutely terrible - these things usually do.' He's probably right.

Of course, those of us with a fondness for Portmeirion, where the original series was filmed, are going to regret the change of location, because the real star of the piece was the Village itself. But no doubt the film will generate yet more interest in the place.

Beyond Biba

Five years back - seems like longer - ACC published a book by me about the Biba shops in west London in the 1960s and '70s. It went very well (still available in paperback), and somehow Biba never quite goes away, even though it's nearly 35 years since the last of the original stores closed.

So, just to round up a couple of bits: Le Figaro in France has a piece on the subject; some friends have written a musical about Biba (tracks available for download); and tomorrow I'm going to the V&A where there's a screening of a documentary titled Beyond Biba, which apparently tells the story of what the founder, Barbara Hulanicki, did after the shop closed.