Irvine Welsh: ‘If I don’t have sex every day, I start to go a bit weird’
The author on addiction, wrinkles, ‘big snogs’ and his toy rabbit BunnyBorn in Edinburgh, Irvine Welsh was working for the council and studying for an MBA at Heriot-Watt University when he wrote...
View ArticleTrainspotting review – Danny Boyle's classic holds up terrifically well
This supercharged 1996 story of drugs, violence and growing up has lost none of its edge ahead of the release of sequel T2Prior to the guys’ Take-That-style reunion in the forthcoming sequel T2, here...
View ArticleEwan McGregor: ‘What if I'm not Scottish enough any more?’
Twenty years after Trainspotting made him a star – and the poster boy of 90s excess – could Ewan McGregor become Renton again? Recently, I was in a cinema when the trailer for T2, the new Trainspotting...
View ArticleTrainspotting review – still a cinematic drug of choice
A rerelease of the 1996 box-office smash finds its tale of Edinburgh heroin addicts looking remarkably fresh faced despite the advancing yearsDanny Boyle’s celebrated picture is rereleased in advance...
View ArticleBlondie, The Clash and Queen: is the Trainspotting 2's soundtrack as good as...
From Born Slippy to Lust For Life, Trainspotting’s music defined a generation. Can its long-awaited sequel similarly capture the zeitgeist?Student posters haven’t changed much in the last 20 years....
View ArticleRobert Carlyle: Trainspotting 3 could be on the way
Talking at the Edinburgh premiere of T2 Trainspotting, the actor revealed that he’d been in talks about continuing his character Begbie’s storyRobert Carlyle has suggested a third Trainspotting film...
View ArticleT2 Trainspotting: discuss Danny Boyle's sequel with spoilers
Choose a follow-up? What did you think of the soundtrack, the transformations and the exploits of the re-formed cast of characters, 20 years after the original? This article contains spoilers.Has it...
View ArticleBegbie’s balcony and Spud’s cafe: classic Trainspotting haunts 20 years on
As T2 Trainspotting is released, we rediscover the original film’s gritty locations in GlasgowDownstairs in the Kelbourne Saint tavern, James Killen, general manager, is telling me how to spot the...
View ArticleFrom Spud to Slimane: how Trainspotting helped invent the skinny jean
The 90s classic featured drainpipe jeans long before Dior and slip dresses perfect for Chloé. With the sequel’s release, it’s time to reappraise the original film’s sartorial legacyNineties cinema...
View ArticleAdelaide Fringe: six talked-up shows you have to see
From Trainspotting to Isis to abortion, the festival is tackling big issues with a big heart – but there are moments of silliness and spectacle tooThe second-biggest fringe festival in the world has...
View ArticleWhen big-screen reunions work … and when they don't
The team behind Oscar-nominated crime thriller Hell and High Water have just announced a new project, but what can they learn from other re-teams that have and haven’t been successful?It’s human nature...
View Article'Trainspotting generation' most likely to die from drug use
Surge in deaths among 40- to 49-year-olds last year helps fuel another record high in drug use deathsPeople in the “Trainspotting generation” are most likely to die from drug use, after a sharp rise in...
View ArticleIrvine Welsh: ‘The white male rage of Begbie is in the culture today’
The Trainspotting author, 58, on the destruction of masculinity, loving Iggy Pop and the terror of hangoversMy first memory is saying goodnight to my toys. One was a rabbit called Bunny that had no...
View ArticleKelly Macdonald: ‘People were still drunk on the Trainspotting set’
The actor, 41, on cowboy boots, childbearing, self-sufficiency and being bullied at school for not swearingWhen I started acting I knew nothing. It was a momentous decision to pick up the flyer for the...
View ArticleIrvine Welsh: ‘When you get older, it’s harder to be a bastard’
The author talks about his obsessive-compulsive thing, which Trainspotting character he most resembles, and losing his temperIrvine Welsh is doing just fine for money. He knows he never has to work...
View ArticleDead Men’s Trousers by Irvine Welsh – a last hurrah for Renton and company
The heroes of Trainspotting keep on giving – albeit in increasingly cartoonish formIrvine Welsh’s style is so pulpy nowadays that it’s hard to imagine Booker prize judges losing time arguing over his...
View ArticleDead Men’s Trousers by Irvine Welsh review – the Trainspotting gang party on
Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud are back in this wildly farcical story of revenge, sentimentality and psychedelic drugsAt a newspaper I used to work for, the story was told of a foreign correspondent...
View ArticleIrvine Welsh: ‘I thought Trainspotting would be a cult book, but not...
The Scottish author on 25 years of his landmark novel, Brexit as a catalyst for democratic change and the exhilarating effects of boxingTrainspotting is 25 years old. Did you have any idea when you...
View ArticleTrainspotting: behind the scenes by Danny Boyle, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh...
The bust-up with Harvey Weinstein, Irvine Welsh’s verdict on the script (‘too effete’), the problem with the excrement scene … the cast and crew relive the making of the classic 1996 filmContinue...
View ArticleBrian Tufano obituary
Cinematographer who brought his imaginative sensibilities to films such as Trainspotting, Billy Elliot and QuadropheniaThe cultural aesthetic of the Britpop and New Labour years was shaped partly by...
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