DIY Vermeer documentary utterly misses the point about old masters
Jonathan Jones: Tim Jenison tried for a whole year to recreate a Vermeer painting – and all he got was a pedantic imitation
The Gravity effect: how the small screen is going to space
Stuart Heritage: There's been surge in the public appetite for all things celestial – but will Channel 4's Live from Space be able to replicate the thrill of Gravity?
Heroin: art and culture’s last taboo
It wrecks lives – but it has also inspired art from the poetry of Baudelaire to the music of Lou Reed. Andrew Hussey traces the path of heroin through modern European culture
Brian Barr obituary
Journalist and documentary film-maker whose investigations brought him into conflict with police and government
‘How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock’n’roll star’
Linda Keith lent a young blues player a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, Keith Richards – and the rest is history. In a rare interview, she tells her story to Edward Helmore in New York
Poaching Wars: will we glimpse the real Tom Hardy?
Stuart Heritage: Even playing himself in tonight's ITV documentary, the actor manages to maintain an air of enigmatic unpredictability
On my radar: Simon Donald
The standup comedian tells Ben Marshall why he loves Rod Stewart and London Transport Museum – and what went wrong with Man of Steel
James Gandolfini obituary
American actor best known for his role as the mafia boss Tony Soprano
The director’s cut: Oliver Stone’s move from silver screen to small screen
Mark Lawson: The Nixon director's new American history series sees him follow in the footsteps of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and Steven Spielberg
Ten of the best running documentaries
From the man who ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, to the Indian boy who had run 48 marathons by the age of four, documentary-makers across the globe have uncovered tales of extraordinary endurance
Peace on the streets? How two gangs in Birmingham found common ground
Following a brutal dispute in 2003 an uneasy truce reigns, brokered by a former cabinet minister and a film-maker. Elizabeth Day reports
Michael Apted’s 56 Up offers a regular glimpse of fascinatingly ordinary lives
In a culture so reliant on phony reality shows, documentary series offers a refreshing glimpse of real people in real lives
Documentary-makers join forces to expose the evil of global poverty
Directors of films in the forthcoming BBC series Why Poverty? explain how they tackled the subject and what it taught them
Fab furore: Is it time to re-evaluate the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour?
The Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour caused outrage in 1967 – and is now being compared to Buñuel and the Pythons. As it returns, John Harris hears the true story of the shoot from those involved