@chrisdbroughton.bsky.social
Will write for food.
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chris-broughton
Also on Instagram, where I'm more active (and popular):
https://www.instagram.com/chrisdbroughton/
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chris-broughton
Also on Instagram, where I'm more active (and popular):
https://www.instagram.com/chrisdbroughton/
The Fog (I'd usually say Cloudbustiing, but The Fog frankly doesn't get nearly enough love).
December 9, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The Fog (I'd usually say Cloudbustiing, but The Fog frankly doesn't get nearly enough love).
I'm still mildly disappointed at not getting to do the interviews for How we made The Thing, but at least I've now I've spoken to John Carpenter about his second most notorious screen alien. His phone rang halfway through our chat, and I can confirm that his ringtone is the theme from Halloween.
‘We used a beachball as an alien!’ John Carpenter on his gloriously shonky sci-fi comedy Dark Star
‘The control room buttons were upside-down ice-cube trays, one space suit had a dish-drying rack on it – and the special effects guy wrote the theme tune lyrics’
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I'm still mildly disappointed at not getting to do the interviews for How we made The Thing, but at least I've now I've spoken to John Carpenter about his second most notorious screen alien. His phone rang halfway through our chat, and I can confirm that his ringtone is the theme from Halloween.
There's no 'surfboard' in 'Kaleidoscope', but perhaps Ray deserved a 'final scene inspired by' credit. It wasn't really fair of him to take the matter up with Brian Narelle, however, who was clearly none the wiser at the time!
November 25, 2025 at 7:24 AM
There's no 'surfboard' in 'Kaleidoscope', but perhaps Ray deserved a 'final scene inspired by' credit. It wasn't really fair of him to take the matter up with Brian Narelle, however, who was clearly none the wiser at the time!
'Kaleidoscope' from 'The Illustrated Man' is about a group of astronauts who are thrown out of their disintegrating rocket and argue over their helmet radios as they drift into space. One ends up delightedly joining a swarm of meteors, another enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes a shooting star.
November 25, 2025 at 7:20 AM
'Kaleidoscope' from 'The Illustrated Man' is about a group of astronauts who are thrown out of their disintegrating rocket and argue over their helmet radios as they drift into space. One ends up delightedly joining a swarm of meteors, another enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes a shooting star.
Here's my How we made... piece from today's Guardian. I held out a little too long in the hope make-up effects maestro Craig Reardon would materialise as the 2nd interviewee, but without marvellous Marty Casella I wouldn't have heard about maggot handlers or got to include the phrase "ghost semen."
‘If I’d known the skeletons were real I’d have been even more disgusted’: how we made Poltergeist
‘Steven Spielberg lit up when I told him I couldn’t do the face-tearing scene. Those are his hands you see in the film. I could never have ripped my face off with the same joie de vivre’
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Here's my How we made... piece from today's Guardian. I held out a little too long in the hope make-up effects maestro Craig Reardon would materialise as the 2nd interviewee, but without marvellous Marty Casella I wouldn't have heard about maggot handlers or got to include the phrase "ghost semen."
Both were great - it must feel really odd to be host one day and the subject the next, and I imagine being given extra time today must have been stressful. You're really engaging whichever foot the boot's on, though and your candour does you credit.
November 2, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Both were great - it must feel really odd to be host one day and the subject the next, and I imagine being given extra time today must have been stressful. You're really engaging whichever foot the boot's on, though and your candour does you credit.
What Steve said - and re. today's session, I'm now really looking forward to receiving Possessed, as much for your intro as the novel itself. I love hearing about dogged persistence bearing fruit long after many would have admitted defeat.
November 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
What Steve said - and re. today's session, I'm now really looking forward to receiving Possessed, as much for your intro as the novel itself. I love hearing about dogged persistence bearing fruit long after many would have admitted defeat.
Turns out I'm wearing a matching jumper, too.
October 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Turns out I'm wearing a matching jumper, too.
It's a good 'un!
October 16, 2025 at 1:05 PM
It's a good 'un!
You'll get there, I'm sure, and it'll be a must-read when you do. Great that you got Matheson and Méheux. I found Ray the more enthusiastic interviewee! Just took delivery of Illusions Of Presence, by the way, in all its plum-hued glory. Had a quick peek - The Terrible Dentist is a troubling title.
October 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
You'll get there, I'm sure, and it'll be a must-read when you do. Great that you got Matheson and Méheux. I found Ray the more enthusiastic interviewee! Just took delivery of Illusions Of Presence, by the way, in all its plum-hued glory. Had a quick peek - The Terrible Dentist is a troubling title.
Did this about that earlier this year, though you'll probably have heard most of these anecdotes before.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
‘Every slap we got from the screws was real’: Ray Winstone on brutal borstal drama Scum
‘During the riot scene, all the baked beans and mashed potato ended up on the floor. It became like an ice rink. It looks fantastic – but it was pretty hairy’
www.theguardian.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Did this about that earlier this year, though you'll probably have heard most of these anecdotes before.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
My copy came back off the shelf over the weekend - I only had time to read the poems last year, but am now three tales in. Hopefully I'll make it to Virginia's tale before the month is out (I'm quite strict about only reading seasonally-themed anthologies at the appropriate time).
October 6, 2025 at 9:10 AM
My copy came back off the shelf over the weekend - I only had time to read the poems last year, but am now three tales in. Hopefully I'll make it to Virginia's tale before the month is out (I'm quite strict about only reading seasonally-themed anthologies at the appropriate time).
I wondered if this one might be gold on black to break with the silver/black combo of a couple of early Gilded Nightmares, but gold on plum (or does my laptop screen deceive me?) is an aptly sumptuous alternative. Bravo!
August 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I wondered if this one might be gold on black to break with the silver/black combo of a couple of early Gilded Nightmares, but gold on plum (or does my laptop screen deceive me?) is an aptly sumptuous alternative. Bravo!
He makes no claim to be a punk (though he could always use the John Lydon butter defence if he did).
August 15, 2025 at 8:27 PM
He makes no claim to be a punk (though he could always use the John Lydon butter defence if he did).
Heads-up for those in or around the Scottish capital:
The phantasmagorical new feature by maverick artist, filmmaker and drum-banger Andrew Kötting gets its world premiere in Edinburgh on Friday, with additional screenings next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I appear as a badger-faced folklorist.
The phantasmagorical new feature by maverick artist, filmmaker and drum-banger Andrew Kötting gets its world premiere in Edinburgh on Friday, with additional screenings next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I appear as a badger-faced folklorist.
The Memory Blocks - Edinburgh International Film Festival
An experimental reflection on the changeable and complex nature of memory through the lens of neurodivergence. The latest project from filmmaker Andrew Kötting sees his daughter Eden, dressed as Dorot...
www.edfilmfest.org
August 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Heads-up for those in or around the Scottish capital:
The phantasmagorical new feature by maverick artist, filmmaker and drum-banger Andrew Kötting gets its world premiere in Edinburgh on Friday, with additional screenings next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I appear as a badger-faced folklorist.
The phantasmagorical new feature by maverick artist, filmmaker and drum-banger Andrew Kötting gets its world premiere in Edinburgh on Friday, with additional screenings next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I appear as a badger-faced folklorist.
So excited I ordered an extra copy for my ghost story-made pal. He's always excited to find any he hasn't read before - this'll make his Christmas.
July 31, 2025 at 4:20 PM
So excited I ordered an extra copy for my ghost story-made pal. He's always excited to find any he hasn't read before - this'll make his Christmas.
Coo! Don't mind if I do. Ta, duck.
July 28, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Coo! Don't mind if I do. Ta, duck.
Ridiculously overlooked - these days, I might even like The Creatures more than I do The Banshees.
July 18, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Ridiculously overlooked - these days, I might even like The Creatures more than I do The Banshees.
It's sad, evocative and enlightening and sent me off on a week-long R.E.M. jag, which is always time well spent. I'm currently enjoying the Shirley Collins chapter and look forward to finding out where Kate, Mark and Paddy lead you, as I love them all dearly.
July 5, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It's sad, evocative and enlightening and sent me off on a week-long R.E.M. jag, which is always time well spent. I'm currently enjoying the Shirley Collins chapter and look forward to finding out where Kate, Mark and Paddy lead you, as I love them all dearly.
My highlight of last weekend was reaching the passage in your book about hearing Sorted for E's & Wizz for the first time at Glastonbury in 1995, and then coincidentally getting to see Pulp perform it again on the same stage 30 years later (via iPlayer). I'll happily pay to read this.
July 4, 2025 at 7:49 PM
My highlight of last weekend was reaching the passage in your book about hearing Sorted for E's & Wizz for the first time at Glastonbury in 1995, and then coincidentally getting to see Pulp perform it again on the same stage 30 years later (via iPlayer). I'll happily pay to read this.
For this week's My best shot, I talked to Michael Rababy about his 30 years spent photographing casinos and those who frequent them.
Is that Elvis hitting the Vegas slot machines? Michael Rababy’s best photograph
‘I use a hit and run approach when photographing inside casinos. On one occasion, the sound of my camera woke a guy up and he wanted a fight’
www.theguardian.com
July 3, 2025 at 6:41 AM
For this week's My best shot, I talked to Michael Rababy about his 30 years spent photographing casinos and those who frequent them.
I take it this isn't a Minnie Riperton cover, then? Shame - the thought of hearing Ashcroft attempt that high note might actually have intrigued me enough to press play.
July 3, 2025 at 6:39 AM
I take it this isn't a Minnie Riperton cover, then? Shame - the thought of hearing Ashcroft attempt that high note might actually have intrigued me enough to press play.
What's now niggling, of course, is my repeated 'too' in the above comment. Gah! The lack of an edit function is one of the reasons I also rarely posted on that other social media commentary platform.
July 2, 2025 at 4:22 PM
What's now niggling, of course, is my repeated 'too' in the above comment. Gah! The lack of an edit function is one of the reasons I also rarely posted on that other social media commentary platform.
Anyway, The Life & Death of Reginald Perrin would have bothered me, too - The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin would have niggled, too.
By the way, can I also join the 1971 club? Were we born in a peak year for pedants?
By the way, can I also join the 1971 club? Were we born in a peak year for pedants?
July 2, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Anyway, The Life & Death of Reginald Perrin would have bothered me, too - The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin would have niggled, too.
By the way, can I also join the 1971 club? Were we born in a peak year for pedants?
By the way, can I also join the 1971 club? Were we born in a peak year for pedants?
Jonathan Coe sometimes makes me laugh, though his jokes can be a little overworked (which I actually find endearing and I always throughly enjoy his books). I always chuckle when I remember the scene in MM's All Quiet on the Orient Express when the farmer FINALLY blows up about the spilled paint.
July 2, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Jonathan Coe sometimes makes me laugh, though his jokes can be a little overworked (which I actually find endearing and I always throughly enjoy his books). I always chuckle when I remember the scene in MM's All Quiet on the Orient Express when the farmer FINALLY blows up about the spilled paint.