It's time for some Weekend Shelf-Care 📚

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( December 17, 2022 [View in browser](   Well, that was a strange week. Between snow, train strikes (here’s where I confess that I recently moved to Kent) and the 700 different flu bugs flying around, my week has been a minor shambles. And then, on Thursday morning, all of my remaining life force was sapped from me by the final part of [Harry and Meghan’s Netflix doc](. Sorry guys, but you’ve [lost me with this one](. I love royal drama, but even *I* don’t have the stomach for six hours of first world whinging. In more cheery news, I’m thrilled that, as of this week, the newsletter has a lovely, shiny new section all about books. Weekend Shelf-Care is a new mini interview with authors, and I hope it fills your Saturdays and Sundays with lots of reading recommendations and creative inspiration. Our first author is the fantastic Joanna Quinn, whose debut The Whalebone Theatre is an utter joy, and we have some wonderful writers coming up over the next few weeks – so please do pass this newsletter on to any bookworms in your life who might enjoy it. I’m also positively delighted that we have the legend that is [Lucy Prebble as our Saturday Interview this week](. Ahead of I Hate Suzie Too, the second series of her unmissable show with Billie Piper, she spoke to Annabel Nugent, and, honestly, it’s a dream. (Suzie features in [our comprehensive guide to the good, bad and ugly of this year's Christmas TV viewing](.) Finally, I just wanted to mention my favourite story this week. The Ticket Bank is a new initiative, a bit like a food bank for culture. [It will provide 1000 unsold tickets per week to theatre shows to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them](. It’s been organised by Chris Sonnex, the artistic director of Cardboard Citizens, and while it’s sad in many ways that this is necessary, it could change lives. Or, perhaps, just make some bleak days a little bit brighter. Bravo. Oh , and I was (kind of!) right with [my White Lotus theory](. I’ve not stopped talking about that finale since. Very good, wasn’t it? If you’ve not seen it… lucky you, you have some great telly ahead. Jessie [@jessiecath]( Christmas telly time is coming (clockwise L-R): 'Without Sin', 'I Hate Suzie Too', 'Vardy v Rooney' and 'Happy Valley' (ITV, Sky, Channel 4, BBC) This week I loved: The return of [Liz Kingsman]('s One Woman Show. I would not argue with Nick Hilton's [list of this year's best TV]((although... where is The Traitors). No, [your]([dad wrote a porno](. [Putting these on repeat]( so my next year Spotify Wrapped has fewer Whitney Houston dance remixes on it. And... this has been a burden in my life for a few years now, and [finally Katie Rosseinsky has got to the bottom of it](.   [The Saturday Interview – Lucy Prebble]( [Oscars image]( Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper's 'I Hate Suzie Too' starts on Sky next week Well, I loved this. Lucy Prebble, on her Christmas break from Succession series four, [spoke to Annabel Nugent about writing](, making I Hate Suzie with her best pal Billie Piper, and the lesson she learned after getting a letter in the post from Harvey Weinstein. [Oscars image]( Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble have collaborated on multiple projects (Getty) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… Prebble is a great chat; generous, funny, and engaged. She speaks enthusiastically about technology, having previously written a column for The Observer. (She stopped when she found the deadlines to be too anxiety-inducing.) And she loves gaming – she’s a big fan of Portal 2, Immortality and The Last of Us 2. Open and effusive, she’s excited to dig into her work. “Did that read for you?” she asks after explaining her intentions behind a particular scene in I Hate Suzie (it did). She also speaks with a hint of theatre about her, relaying anecdotes with pauses in all the right places. She did give acting a go at school but found it too stressful. “Unless you’re hugely famous and successful, I think most actors have a very difficult life of waiting to be chosen and then being told what to do and what to feel. That doesn’t appeal to me. In fact, I have the opposite. For whatever dark reason, I want to build a world and control the world and tell people how to feel within that world.” Prebble can’t help but feel a bit guilty about all the attention Piper has received over the Suzie similarities. “You know, writing is a fairly cowardly thing. You basically really want to say something, but you don’t want to say it directly and you don’t want to be there when people hear it,” she says. “I feel bad for Billie because she’s the one that is pushed out in front, so everyone thinks everything is about her. And well, no – actually it’s not. Sometimes it’s about me or often it’s stuff we've created together because we’re artists or whatever.” Besides, she continues, “It’s also a bit offensive to us as creators and me as a writer to assume it’s all autobiographical.” The implication of that, she laughs, is that “I haven’t done any work!” Prebble worked very hard to make all this stuff up, thank you very much. [Read the full interview here](   Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Joanna Quinn Welcome to Weekend Shelf-Care, in which, every Saturday morning, an author will be giving us a little insight into their reading and writing life. I’m over the moon that our very first author is Joanna Quinn, whose debut novel The Whalebone Theatre was one of my absolute favourite books of the year. It’s an English country house novel, set during between the end of the First and Second World Wars, full of love, theatre and epic scenery. Give it as a Christmas present… to yourself. A book I recently read and loved is… Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, a super-funny, super-astute biography of poet John Donne. Rundell is so good at turning hefty research into enjoyable reading. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be… Hilary Mantel, Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott. Not finishing books: my stance is… I’m a dogged finisher, but I don’t judge those who choose to quit. They seem like very decisive people. My writing routine is… Not so much a routine, more a well-drilled habit of using any available time: train journeys, lunch breaks, boring Zoom meetings etc. As I’ve got older, I’ve become less precious about the writing process - as long as I have a pen and a notebook, or even just my phone, I can string a few sentences together. The Whalebone Theatre is out now, published by Fig Tree   Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our [welcome offer when you join today](.   What to watch this weekend [The Traitors]( I am now part of a WhatsApp group about The Traitors (named, obviously, "Faithfuls"). That is how good and massively addictive this BBC show is. If you haven't already, [binge it this weekend]( before it finishes next week. [Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol]( Are there too many productions of A Christmas Carol? Possibly. [A Dolly Parton Christmas Carol](, though? More acceptable. [Avatar: The Way of Water]( Get those 3D specs on, pals:[James Cameron's Avatar sequel]( needs to become the "third or fourth" highest grossing film ever, just to break even. Louis Chilton [writes brilliantly about just what's at stake](.   INDYBEST / [BEST BUYS]( Stranger Things and Quiksilver launch an Eighties-inspired collection that’s worn by the cast in season 4 As the second half of series four unfolds, inject some retro style into your wardrobe[Read more](       OTHER NEWSLETTERS YOU MIGHT LIKE [Competitions and Offers] Competitions and Offers Every Friday, 1.30pm (UK time) Our free weekly pick of great prizes, deals and discounts direct to your inbox [Join now]( [Health Check] Health Check Every Thursday, 7am (UK time) Written by Rebecca Thomas [Join now]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. 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