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Renowned British actress Haydn Gwynne, who left an indelible mark both on stage and screen, passed away at 66 after a recent diagnosis with cancer. Celebrated for her talent and versatility, she brought life to a vast array of characters, demonstrating her range from television satire to Shakespearean roles.

Born in Sussex in 1957, Gwynne’s journey into the acting realm wasn’t a straight path. Before captivating audiences, she was an English lecturer in Italy and even studied Modern Languages at the University of Warwick. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties that Gwynne ventured into acting, but when she did, her ascent was meteoric.

She shot to fame in the 1990s with “Drop the Dead Donkey,” a sitcom that offered a witty look into the world of journalism. Her portrayal of the sardonic assistant editor Alex Pates garnered her a BAFTA nomination. Gwynne’s magnetism wasn’t confined to TV; she...

The Australian Netflix original series Wellmania delighted viewers during its first season, and season 2 of the irreverent dramedy is now highly anticipated. The show follows 30-something food writer Liv (Celeste Barber), who suffers a major crisis when she's denied a green card to reenter the U.S. because of her unhealthy life choices. Based on the book Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness by series co-creator Brigid Delaney, the show debuted on Netflix in March 2023 and immediately made a splash with its deft mix of humor and heart. Something of a coming-of-middle-age story, Wellmania not only explores its fascinating characters but also skewers modern society's obsession with "wellness."

Met with overwhelmingly positive reviews (via Rotten Tomatoes), Wellmania also climbed the Netflix streaming charts despite seemingly coming out of nowhere. What made the show so appealing was its split focus on Liv's outer and inner journey, and Barber's dynamic performance carried the first season.

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Van Cleef & Arpels, the legendary fine jewelry maison, is centering its timepieces with an immersive installation at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, now through April 16. The “Poetry of Time” pop-up is located, fittingly, in the shopping center’s Jewel Court, which has been transformed into an enchanted forest featuring some of the brand’s most precious watches.

The dream-like exhibition is inspired by nature and astronomy, two realms that inspire the maison’s design and material choices. Making their debut exclusively for this pop-up, the brand’s Sweet Alhambra watch (in rose gold and carnelian) and the Lady Féerie Or Rose watch are prominently featured in the vault.

Lady Féerie Or Rose, Lady Arpels Heures Florales Fermée and Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier

The...

Wellmania is a series created by Benjamin Law, starring Celeste Barber. It is based on a novel by Brigid Delaney.

Wellmania is a fun Australian comedy about health based on the novel by Brigid Delaney in which health is the most important thing, but seen through the eyes of a girl who has not thought about her health once in her life and who, upon discovering this new world, is like some of us when we see a bicycle and ask ourselves: and what’s this supposed to do?

Wellmania About the Series

A nice comedy in the Australian style, starring a great Celeste Barber who is given one of those “roles of her life” and who knows how to take advantage of it with wit and style.

As for the series: it has the restrained wit of intelligent humor, very literary, the smooth pace of a novel, and well-profiled characters that,...

1975: Ryan's Hope's Pat comforted Delia with a song.

1985: Santa Barbara's Lionel fell off a train and had his ID stolen.

2008: Days of our Lives' Ej found John in Stefano's basement.

2014: Guy Wilson made his first appearance as Will on Days."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1937: Clara, Lu & Em actress Isobel Carothers died suddenly at age 37. Clara, Lu, and Em was radio's first network daytime soap opera, beginning June 16, 1930 over Wgn-am Chicago, Illinois. It moved to the Blue Network in 1931 and later NBC.

1985: Santa Barbara's Brick & Amy were married.

1995: Loving spinoff The City premiered on ABC.

1998: Guiding Light's Danny met Michelle.

2003: One Life to Live's Blair married Walker."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1942: On Clara, Lu and Em, Emma "Em" Krueger (Helen King) threw a party.

1964: On Another World, Mitchell Dru (Geoffrey Lumb) asked John Randolph to take on Pat Matthew's case. Michael M. Ryan and Gaye Huston made their first appearances as John and Lee Randolph.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) panicked when Woodard's ghost appeared.

1979: On As the World Turns,...

1975: Ryan's Hope's Pat comforted Delia with a song.

1985: Santa Barbara's Lionel fell off a train and had his ID stolen.

2008: Days of our Lives' Ej found John in Stefano's basement.

2014: Guy Wilson made his first appearance as Will on Days."History is a vast early warning system."

― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1937: Clara, Lu & Em actress Isobel Carothers died suddenly at age 37. Clara, Lu, and Em was radio's first network daytime soap opera, beginning June 16, 1930 over Wgn-Am Chicago, Illinois. It moved to the Blue Network in 1931 and later NBC.

The show began as a Northwestern University sorority sketch by Louise...

Image Source: Netflix In season two of The Crown, while Prince Philip is on his tour to open the Olympic Games in Australia, a reporter named Helen King catches his eye. Even though his private secretary urges him not to take the interview, the prince insists. Little does Prince Philip know, when he agrees to sit down for an interview with her, the deepest secrets of his childhood will be revealed. Helen rattles off several details about how his family was exiled from Greece and that Prince Philip himself fled in an orange crate. He then lived a childhood in exile after his mother suffered a mental breakdown and was taken to an institution. It was also revealed that his sister had even joined the Nazi party during all of this chaos. Some of these details seemed a little far-fetched, and we started to wonder if they were simply made...

Though serialized overall, “The Crown” is a notable Netflix series in that it regularly delivers impeccably strong episodic arcs. Episodes stand out on their own and often feel constructed as a time capsule for that specific story. Season 2 continues this tradition, and IndieWire will explore select episodes via individual reviews. After all, the best standalone episodes deserve standalone analyses. Below, we take a look at Episode 2, “A Company of Men.”

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “The Crown” Season 2.]

Just because a character is unlikable — or downright repugnant — doesn’t mean he’s a bad character. The soon-to-be Prince Philip, after the third episode of Season 2, is the epitome of this conundrum. Many viewers complained about Matt Smith’s character in the first season, though few were mad enough to fault the actor’s performance (and they shouldn’t, given how wholly Smith gives himself to the role). They just didn’t like him, especially compared to the vastly...