Theatre: Shakespeare
2. King Lear (RSC).
3. As You Like It (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
4. Measure for Measure (Almeida).
5. The Winter’s Tale (RSC/Roundhouse).
6. Henry IV part 2 (Globe).
7. Macbeth (Globe).
8. Antony and Cleopatra (RSC).
9. Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse).
10. Hamlet (The Crucible, Sheffield).
11. King Lear (Donmar).
12. Henry VIII (The Globe).
13. The Tempest (Old Vic).
14. As You Like It (Old Vic)
15. Macbeth (Belt Up/York Theatre Royal).
Theatre: Not Shakespeare
1. Jerusalem (Apollo).
2. After the Dance (National).
3. An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible).
4. Women Beware Women (National).
5. London Assurance (National).
6. Enron (Theatre Royal, Newcastle)
7. The Habit of Art (National Theatre).
8. Corrie! (Lowry, Salford)
9. The Real Thing (Old Vic).
10. Canterbury Tales (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Northern Broadsides).
11. La Bete (Comedy Theatre).
12. Death of a Salesman (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
13. Three Sisters (Lyric, Hammersmith).
14. The Misanthrope (Comedy Theatre)
15. Beating Berlusconi. (York Theatre Royal).
Exhibitions
1. Gauguin (Tate Modern).
2. Van Gogh (Royal Academy).
3. Renaissance drawings (The British Museum).
4. The Book of the Dead (British Museum).
5. Venice. Canaletto and his rivals. (The National Gallery).
6. Sargent and the Sea (Royal Academy).
7. Rude Britannia (Tate Britain).
8. Summer Show (Royal Academy).
9. Beatles to Bowie (National Portrait Gallery).
10. Chris Ofili (Tate Britain).
Books
1. Andrea Levy The Long Song.
2. Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall.
3. AS Byatt – The Children’s Book.
4. Rose Tremain – Trespass.
5. Colm Toibin Brooklyn.
6. Ian McEwan Solar.
7. Paul Magrs Diary of a Doctor Who Addict.
8. Tony Blair The Journey.
9. Kate Atkinson Started Early, Took My Dog.
10. Alexander McCall Smith The Double Comfort Safari Club.
TV
1. Coronation Street – especially for Jack’s Death and the Live episode (ITV).
3. Ashes to Ashes (BBC1).
4. Doctor Who – The End of Time part 2 (BBC1).
5. Doctor Who – especially for the eleventh hour (BBC1).
6. Downton Abbey (ITV1)
7. I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (ITV1).
8. Macbeth (BBC 4).
9. Luther (BBC1).
10. Silent Witness (BBC 1).
and my guilty pleasure of the year
Peter Kay at the Studio, Lowry (and again at the Manchester Evening News Arena).
between the acts 