Ju Shardlow

Life in London can be pretty tense. Just think of all the time we spend each week contorting into gaps on the tube during our overcrowded commute or the hours a day hunched over laptops, sitting through stressful meetings or chained to our desks late into the evening before slumping over our phones at home to scroll through TikToks for several hours. Even if we find time in our days for an hour or two of proper fun, mindful quiet, or the endorphin hit of a sweaty exercise class, we still have tired feet, tight muscles, and shoulders that need soothing. Enter these amazing London spas and studios dedicated to massaging the city back to health. Permit yourself a break, put your slippered feet up and let these amazing treatments work their magic.   RECOMMENDED: Check out the best spas in London for more top treatments Want to save money on your massages? Loads of great deals at Time Out Offers

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We went on a tour of some of the more secret TV and film spots in the city with HBO and @onlocationtours (via Twitter).

Paul Rudd é um tipo hilariante e com um ar e postura eternamente jovens – tem 49 anos, mas ninguém o diria. Falámos com o herói da Marvel a propósito da estreia de Homem-Formiga e a Vespa. Recomendado: Cabe muito cinema nos filmes de Verão

Depois de ser descoberta por um agente de modelos quando passeava na rua e uns quantos pequenos papéis depois, Evangeline Lilly deu-se a conhecer como a Kate de Perdidos. Hoje, é a Vespa da Marvel. Fizemos-lhe meia dúzia de perguntas. Recomendado: Cabe muito cinema nos filmes de Verão

This week, the latest film in the screen-dominating Marvel franchise hits cinemas. A large-scale epic tackling injustice on a social as well as superhero level, ‘Black Panther’ is the first film of its kind to be largely fronted by a cast of black actors. As well as a typically ambitious run through the Marvel universe, it’s also a film with something to say — on screen and off. But of course, being a high-octane action flick, it’s also a whole heap of fun too. So we decided to pit its stars — Daniel Kaluuya, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and Letitia Wright – against our infamous Bucket of Questions. All the necessary questions of course, like “How good are Andy Serkis’s shoulder massages?”. Imelda Staunton and Celia Imrie currently hold the record with 21 questions answered in three minutes, with Mark Hamill trailing at 6. How well will the ‘Black Panther’ stars do?  Black Panther is in cinemas now. Check out our review here.

Actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed surprised Marvel fans by announcing he’ll play Riot, aka Dr Carlton Drake, in the upcoming Tom Hardy film ‘Venom’. The billionaire tycoon is the leader of the mysterious Life Foundation, and transforms into the symbiote, Riot. We can’t imagine good things happen after that.  We caught up with Riz in London this week where he took our Timed Out three-minute trial. Essentially, it’s a series of daft questions, over three minutes. Stuff like: Who would win in a rap battle, him or Tom Hardy? If he had to merge with another actor to make one super-actor, who would he choose? (Answer: it’s Christopher Walken. Which either makes him Chris Ahmed or Riz Walken. Either way, we like it.) And most importantly, what's the most evil thing he’s ever done? Watch the video to find out. Venom opens across the UK on Wed Oct 3. Here’s our lowdown on all things Marvel.      

‘Paul Rudd walks into the White House...’ sounds like the start of a joke. But it’s exactly where he’d go if he got the chance to mess with some Pym particles in real life. We spoke to the ’Ant-Man and the Wasp’ star about his role as Scott Lang, the aphid crusader caught between house arrest and a new adventure with The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). The follow-up to 2015’s ‘Ant-Man’ hits UK cinemas soon and promises to bring more Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Avengers-style comedy.  Paul took our quickfire ‘Timed Out’ quiz, where we found out what he’d like to enlarge (oo-er!), and whether he does actually know any close-hand magic.  Also, check out our interview with Lilly about who she thinks is the funniest Avenger...  ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ is out Fri Aug 3. Find out what we thought of the film.

‘Mission: Impossible’ returns to screens this week with its sixth outing: ‘Fallout’. The franchise has lasted 22 years and, somehow, Ethan Hunt has barely aged a day in that time. Must be the healthy food in the IMF canteen. This time around, a terrorist group led by the code-named and mysterious John Lark threatens world safety with three nuclear bombs. And it’s up to Ethan (Tom Cruise), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) to sort out the mess. Joining the cast is Henry Cavill, who plays agent August Walker – the ‘reason-they-had-to-remove-Superman’s-moustache-with-CGI’ guy. We caught up with him about joining the franchise, and whether he might soon be stepping out as another international spy: James Bond.  And catch our interview below with Simon Pegg, too. He talks diving, YouTube and leather gloves in our time-trial ‘Timed Out’.  ‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout’ is out on Jul 25.  Check out some of this summer’s other unmissable movies.  

The latest big dino movie – ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ – has thumped into town, which means that it’s time to whip out the nostalgic ’90s memorabilia, run to the nearest green space and yell the theme song at the top of your lungs. So what’s different this time around? Well, a volcano is erupting (yes, they built the dino park next to a volcano, sensibly) and all our favourite terrifying critters are threatened with extinction. Again.  We spoke to the cast ahead of the film’s release and got some top tips about finding love in a hopeless place from funnyman Chris Pratt. In the trilogy, he’s Owen Grady – a kind of velociraptor-wrangling cross between Ray Mears and Evel Knievel. And for anyone who was worrying, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) gets to run in boots this time.  Catch our ‘Timed Out’ interview above, where we grill them against the clock. ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ opens Jun 6 in cinemas. Get the lowdown on what to expect here. 

Could you face down Han Solo in a game of Sabacc? Since the premiere of ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ at Cannes this week, fans have been eager to find out more about the genesis story of the galaxy’s most charming smuggler. We chatted to the cast about robot heads, poker faces and fake sound effects. Watch our star-crammed interview, above, featuring Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Emilia Clarke and Alden Ehrenreich. And yes, this does mean we managed to get close to Donald Glover. Swoon.  ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ opens in the UK on Fri May 25. Can’t wait till then? Read our review here. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ll have noticed there’s a new 'Avengers' movie coming out. Maybe you’ve already spent 478 hours watching YouTube fan-theory videos about ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. (Nope? Just us then.) Joe and Anthony Russo’s epic superhero team-up has been breaking records before even being released. The first trailer got 230 million views in its first 24 hours, and ticket presales have surpassed recent Marvel mega-movie ‘Black Panther’.  So naturally Time Out jumped at the chance to chat with some of the film’s stars in London this week, including Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Doctor Strange), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch) and Paul Bettany (Vision). What secrets could they divulge for news-hungry fans? Well, don’t expect to find out whether Captain America dies or not. But we did get a cracking insight into how Cumbers maintains his manicured beard and whether we’ll be seeing a Vision-Scarlet Witch wedding any time soon. We put the stars through their paces with a quick-fire quiz...  ...as they tried not to reveal too many spoilers about the upcoming film. Love a blockbuster? Check out our list of hotly anticipated 2018 movies here.

  It’s hard to imagine now, but BAFTA-winner Claire Foy was lambasted by her director on her first ever acting job. She describes her first day on the set of ‘Being Human’: ‘My first day on set was when I was being pushed up against a car and held by the throat... and the director said, ‘‘It’s time to start acting now darling’’.’ Turns out, this nearly put Foy off acting for good. ‘I thought oh dear this isn’t going to go well,’’ she tells us. ‘I went home and cried and thought, I don’t think I should do this for a living.’ We spoke to Claire about her 'firsts' - first job, first moment she realised she had made it, and the first thought that came into her mind when she won the Emmy this year (we’ll give you a clue. It's a swearword.) She does a brilliant turn as Janet Armstrong in Damien Chazelle’s moon biopic 'First Man', currently in cinemas.  First Man is out in cinemas on October 12. Check out all our latest reviews here.    

We quizzed ‘Agent Carter’ star Hayley Atwell on what it was like filming the Pooh Bear fantasy drama ‘Christopher Robin’ with Ewan McGregor. And we had to ask: what’s his worst on-set habit? ‘Breaking into song,’ she reveals, ‘[and] always tapping his foot. He’s always got a tune going on in his head.’ It sounds like more of a blessing than a curse, if we’re honest. But then, we didn’t have to spend weeks on a film set with him. In the movie, Atwell plays Evelyn, wife of hard-working family man Christopher (Ewan McGregor). It’s set in 1940s London and Christopher finds himself torn between family and job. Everything’s looking pretty grey until he bumps into childhood pal Winnie-the-Pooh. Cue Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and the gang springing up and causing life-affirming mayhem.  Atwell answered our time-trial quiz Timed Out with three minutes on the clock.  ‘Christopher Robin’ is showing in UK cinemas. Sadly you can’t watch it in a 100-acre wood. Instead, check out the summer’s best outdoor cinema screens. 

Many of us had strange nicknames in school. None more so than Kevin Hart, star and producer of new comedy ‘Night School’, who reveals his peers called him ‘Flip’ due to wearing oversized shoes.  The star tells us, ‘I wore sneakers that were too big because the girls would see them and think: Oh my god, you know what that means.’ Sounds like the end result was pretty unsuccessful: ‘They were flipping off all over the place.’ Bless.  Watch our three-minute time trial ‘Timed Out’, where Hart and co-star Tiffany Haddish divulge their weird former jobs, secret skills and which teachers they had crushes on. In his latest comedy, Hart plays barbecue salesman Teddy Walker. Forced to attend night school to get his GED, he must befriend a group of oddball students and tackle feisty teacher Carrie (Haddish). Night School is out in UK cinemas. Feeling inspired? Why not take one of these workshops and courses in London. 

  Last week, our Musicals Stripped Back series launched with Alexandra Burke’s stunning, pared-down performance of ‘Me and My Baby’ from ‘Chicago’, and Mazz Murray’s ‘When You’re Good To Mama’ from the same show. Now we’ve got another performance, from their co-star and Blue heart-throb Duncan James, performing an atmospheric new version of ‘All I Care About’. This is the first time the producers of ‘Chicago’ have allowed these songs to be rearranged like this – so enjoy. Time Out has the best price on the show: a whopping 54% off tickets. Book here. ‘Chicago’ is at the Phoenix Theatre. Until Jan 5 2019.

Last week, we caught up with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ stars Rami Malek, Joseph Mazzello and Gwilym Lee in London to find out just how much they know about Freddie Mercury, John Deacon and Brian May. Turns out, a lot.  What were all of Freddie Mercury’s cats called? Which member of the Royal Family did he sneak into a London club in drag? And which London pop star did Mercury fit with a pair of leather boots in 1969 while working on a Kensington market stall? (Answer: David Bowie. Too small? Maybe that inspired ‘Under Pressure’.) Watch the cast ‘Play the Game’ below…  ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is released in UK cinemas on Oct 24. Want to see a little silhouette of a man? Check out the Queen-themed Christmas lights at Carnaby Street this year.