The gripping case of Russian spy Anna Chapman somehow becomes quite dull in parts of this very male documentary. Thank goodness for the only woman to speak in it – who livens things up ahead of a thrilling ending

In June 2010, Anna Chapman was arrested in New York City as part of a major FBI operation targeting Russian spies. Members of the “illegals programme” had, for decades, ingratiated themselves into American workplaces and communities, all while working for Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR). While Chapman was ostensibly in the US to sell real estate to wealthy Russians, she was something of an outlier among the group. The 28-year-old had been in Manhattan for only a year, having spent much of the previous decade in London. There, she had married (and later separated from) a British citizen, Alex Chapman. It was also where she may or may not have been initially recruited as a Russian state asset. Her connections to Britain would, for a while, make Anna Chapman a tabloid mainstay; here we see her ex, Marcus Read, reading an old interview he did with the Mirror, headlined “My crazy six weeks of passion with Russian spy girl Anna Chapman”.

The working title of this two-part documentary was Red Hot Spy: The Anna Chapman Story. Indeed, much is made of how irresistibly alluring and apparently manipulative Chapman was, and the pull of her flame-coloured locks (tabloid infamy also coincided with a dye job). Read met Chapman in Zimbabwe, and she ended up joining him in Brighton for a time, before ditching him at a techno night to embark on a relationship with Alex Chapman. “Here I am, 20-odd years later ,still talking about it,” says Read, perhaps wistful, clearly still incredulous. It is, maybe, the first clue that The Spy Next Door doesn’t contain any big new revelations about Chapman (who has returned to Russia and didn’t want to be involved with the programme), but rather is a slick reworking of old news.

The Spy Next Door: The Anna Chapman Story is on Channel 4

The Old Vic, London
The suburban romp of envy and infidelity in two different homes comes bouncing back to life with a fizzing cast led by Roger Allam

Early in a career that reaches 92 plays with The Trial of Romeo Oscar at his Scarborough home base next month, Alan Ayckbourn often spins titles from expressions: Absurd Person Singular, Relatively Speaking, Joking Apart and How the Other Half Loves, his ninth play.

In How the Other Half Loves (1969), the pun is doubled. Two couples – the Phillipses and Featherstones – envy how the well-to-do Fosters, boss Frank and wife Fiona, live. But structurally, the Phillipses and Fosters occupy half the set each, actors blanking out characters in the other house even while making phone calls to each other side by side. In the second scene, when the Featherstones – unwittingly used as adultery alibis by Mr Phillips and Mrs Foster – simultaneously attend dinner parties on consecutive nights with the other couples, the two actors in both scenes swivel their heads at tables laid across each other.

The wait is over. From soap stars to athletes and Kim Kardashian’s hairdresser, we’ve rated this year’s celebrity hoofers in terms of likely glitterball success

No Tessbot. No Clauditorium. Three new presenters, five new professionals and a new-look “vodcast” It Takes Two sister show. Yes, the fast-approaching 24th series represents Strictly Come Dancing’s biggest ever shake-up. This has become a make-or-break year for the BBC’s ballroom behemoth.

Lineup announcements have been strung out over two months, like a boring byelection, but the Strictly class of 2026 is finally complete. There are the usual grumbles about a lack of household names, with theories that the casting department prioritised social media followings over mainstream fame. My personal feeling is they have smashed it with the women, who comfortably overshadow the far weaker lineup of men. This raises the pleasing possibility of the first back-to-back female champions since Abbey Clancy and Caroline Flack more than a decade ago.

When I moved to the town in 2022 I loved the beach walks, cheap drinks and panoramic coastal views. Now it feels like a never-ending circus

Clacton town centre is bustling, the beaches are packed and the pier’s raking in cash. We can credit the weather, but no doubt press coverage and Count Binface’s promotional videos have got us on radars too. The tourists look like they’re having a lovely time.

I moved to Clacton in 2022 and the first year was brilliant. It started with beach walks, cheap drinks and decorating a flat with panoramic sea views, and ended fat and happy from chips and ice-cream, a newborn baby in tow. Privileged with my health and stable income, albeit strained by a Truss-era mortgage, it was a place I loved, and was proud of.

Sarah Elizabeth Cox is a historian, and communications manager for a science charity

After a period of underachievement and upheaval for the Blues, the arrival of Xabi Alonso could signal a change in fortunes

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd (NB: this is not necessarily Billy Munday’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 10th

It might seem an unlikely way to stop overheating, but many owners have found the tech a lifeline in hot weather

“If it is 35C outdoors, I can get the temperature down to 21C,” says Andrew Ingram of the sanctuary that his living room has provided this summer.

“On the nights I’ve slept in there, you have to put your thick pyjamas on,” jokes Ingram, who lives in Maidenhead, Berkshire, with his wife, Sue.

Beginning in Russia’s remote Arctic north, the eclipse traced an arc over much of western Europe – with the best views in Spain, Iceland and Greenland

It was a moment of awe shared by millions across Europe: an eclipse that blocked out the sun, plunging parts of the continent into a daytime darkness in which temperatures dropped and birds suddenly went quiet.

Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north, going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out.

Fellow pupils at his primary school have challenged Cambridge academic’s story, though others support it

The story of Jason Arday’s extraordinary rise to becoming the youngest black professor in the history of the University of Cambridge is all the more remarkable for one claim: that he did not learn to speak until just shy of his 12th birthday.

This claim was mentioned in a letter announcing his resignation last week, which came amid mounting questions about his academic work and statements he had made about his past.

Family, friends and colleagues attend service at Buckfast Abbey, which former MP described as her ‘safe haven’

About 100 family, friends and colleagues of Ann Widdecombe have attended a funeral service for the former Conservative minister, who was killed in her home in Devon last month.

Politicians and broadcasters were among the mourners at Buckfast Abbey in Buckfastleigh, a Catholic abbey in Devon where Widdecombe regularly worshipped and which she described as her “safe haven”.

Errors by police and prosecutors after first murder had left serial sex offender free to kill again

Simon Levy, the prolific sexual predator left free by police and prosecution errors to murder two women, will never leave prison after being sentenced to a rare whole-life tariff.

Judge Lucraft KC said Levy, 40, “ruthlessly” exploited women for his sexual pleasure, and had a proven history of sexual offending dating back to 2018.