Exhibition: Nelson, Navy, Nation at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

From this distance, Britain's unrivalled national hero Horatio Nelson appears to embody the entire span of glittering age of naval dominance such is his pre-eminence in our cultural consciousness.

And yet, definitive though his actions were, they spanned only a few years at the tail-end of the 1700s through to his victory - and celebrated death - at Trafalgar in 1805.

Stage review: The Commitments, Palace Theatre

STAGE
The Commitments
Palace Theatre
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Roddy Doyle has re-created his tale of Dublin soul band as a full-on gig with banter.

Spiral Notebook: Breaking bad news for schedulers

I took to humming last week.

Not the usual dirges that are necessary to keep the skull-headed gorilla safely ensconced in my bedroom cupboard but, instead, a chirpy tune, lacking in melody but delivered with considerable oomph.

Exhibitions: Royal Museums, Greenwich

EXHIBITIONS
Yinka Shonibare / 
Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Royal Museums, Greenwich
★★★✩✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Two contemporary exhibitions of very different visuals ask the visitor to think again about what they see.

Film review: Sunshine On Leith (PG)

FILM
Sunshine On Leith
(PG) 100mins
★★★✩✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Director Dexter Fletcher does it again - courtesty of The Proclaimers - with a life-affirming celebration of love, family and Scotland.

Film review: Prisoners (15)

FILM
Prisoners
(15) 153mins
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Superior story-telling, smart direction and powerhouse performances ensure Prisoners sidesteps the usual child-kidnapping cliches.

TV preview: Father Figure (BBC)

If you put the expression “Mrs Brown’s Boys” into Babelfish.com and bat it back and forth around the continents, it comes back as “male infant covered in sticky chocolate”.

Which must have given comedian Jason Byrne an idea. Just the one, mind, but, if he played his cards right, told it with an Irish accent (mainly because he’s Irish) and threw in a toilet gag he could spin the skit into a six-part sitcom.

Stage review: The Secret Agent, Young Vic

STAGE
The Secret Agent
Maria at Young Vic
★★✩✩✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Theatre O take the prescient themes of Joseph Conrad's classic and present them with intriguing, if disjointed, visual flair.

Film review: Rush (15)

FILM
Rush
(15) 122mins
★★★★★

IN A NUTSHELL
The combination of palm-sweating race sequences and moving human drama ensures this story of the 1976 F1 Championship takes the chequered flag.

Film review: Ain't Them Bodies Saints (15)

FILM
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
(15) 97mins
★★★★✩

IN A NUTSHELL
Sundance alumni David Lowery has created a doom-laden Bonnie and Clyde mood-piece with some fine central performances.