Issue 1334

Serving the story
Jo Hartley was inspired by the great method actors to play a bipolar character in her most recent role and now reprises her collaboration with Ricky Gervais in Netflix series After Life. Antonia Charlesworth chats to the Oldham-born actor about comedy, tragedy and the shades in between.

Boot on the other foot
Football clubs and their highly paid players took a kicking in the early days of the coronavirus crisis but now they are working hard to help local communities – all the while facing their own financial crisis, reports Ian Whittell.

Homes away from home
Nadia’s children suffer from anxiety and one daughter refuses to make new friends because of a fear they will be moved on yet again from temporary accommodation miles from where they grew up. Using Freedom of Information requests, Ciara Leeming finds that dispersing homeless people outside their boroughs is a growing phenomenon in the North West - but much less extreme in Yorkshire.

Plus
Arts, entertainment and online things to do, Gregory Porter's letter to his younger self, columnist Roger Ratcliffe, crossword, Sudoku and more.