Anna Maxwell Martin excels as a good MP, while James Corden’s ex-soldier shows he can be dark as well as funny

A drama featuring a face-off between an MP and a constituent outraged by the failings of the system might be considered provident timing a week before election night.

But Joe Penhall’s drama is a very different animal from the quintessential political play, with no cynicism, spin or party politics, none of the brash polemics of David Hare nor the wide-ranging scope of James Graham.

A lawyer’s offer, a judgment that foretold years of legal wrangling, and diplomatic pressure all played a part in the release of the WikiLeaks founder

It was, as his friends described it, the “last kick of the British establishment”. At 2am on Monday, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was woken in his small cell in the high-security Belmarsh prison, south-east London, and ordered to dress before being put in handcuffs.

It was the beginning of the end of Assange’s incarceration in Britain but it was going to be on his jailers’ terms.

Vivian MacKerrell – who really did drink lighter fluid – shared a house with Withnail and I director Bruce Robinson

“I must have some booze!” So goes the famous line exclaimed by Richard E Grant in his turn as the title character in the cult classic Withnail and I.

And judging by recently unearthed diaries kept by one of the struggling actors the film was based on, it’s clear to see how that kind of dialogue came so easy.

Leanne Mohamad gave up her Labour membership last year and believes she is in a two-horse race in east London seat

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In late October, Leanne Mohamad relinquished her membership of the Labour party, dismayed after Keir Starmer said Israel had the right to withhold water and power from Palestinians trapped in Gaza. “When Keir Starmer said what he did on LBC, I was like, I’m done with politics, I’m done with this whole system,” she said.

She was not the only one. Although Starmer later sought to clarify his stance, the interview sparked criticism and prompted resignations among Labour councillors, which was seen as a sign that the party’s position on Gaza could prove costly at the ballot box.