Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past: please don’t do to The Lord of the Rings what Saruman did to the Shire

Florence Shaw and Lewis Maynard talk soap, Taylor Swift and recording some of Mercury Prize shortlist-tipped Secret Love in Dublin

Enough is never enough for the country star Luke Combs, whose tiresome new LP runs down the clock with a patience-testing 22 tracks

HBO’s blackly comic The Comeback is a perfect vehicle for the former Phoebe Buffay in Friends

Television: Maggie Molloy is down-to-earth and seems to appreciate that she is helping people meet a basic need in their life

Television: Hooray for weirdos who live inside their heads – and for this sly, pointed deconstruction of the costume drama industrial complex

Television: Shuttered stalls, plunging footfall, drug addiction and lawlessness – it’s a wonder this wasn’t called Farewell to Moore Street

A tale of lies, female friendship and dreadful men set in upper-middle-class California that somehow doesn’t feature Nicole Kidman

Put your feet up as we bring you the best of Irish television – and then take a deep breath as we run through the worst

Katelyn Cummins claims the Dancing with the Stars crown

On his first LP since going independent, James Blake blends stillness and beauty with quietly roiling rage

Television: Slice-of-life memories a stark reminder of arbitrary cruelty of former Soviet Union

Television: There hasn’t been so much exposed flesh since a heatwave at Bray seafront in May

Television: Documentary often feels like conversation on misogyny without any input from the victims

Laufey brings an old-school sound thrillingly up to date during an evening of jazz-tinged joy