anne fenton @fentonab

I’ve just finished Fauda and I was absolutely hooked. Yes, I know what some of you are going to say: “Israeli propaganda.” Maybe it inevitably reflects an Israeli perspective. But as somebody watching from Britain, it gave me a much better insight into the fear, hatred, history and sheer complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than I had before. And one thing kept frustrating me throughout. Again and again you’re watching Hamas and other armed groups planning attacks while the Israeli operatives are trying to identify the people behind them and stop those attacks before Israelis are killed. Obviously it’s a drama. It isn’t a documentary and I’m not pretending it gives you the entire history of the conflict or the Palestinian perspective. But it did make me understand something more clearly: what it must feel like to live in a country where preventing the next terrorist attack is an everyday security concern. Then I got to Season 5. The October 7 episodes were fucking harrowing. Watching families hiding inside their homes. Parents desperately trying to protect their children. Homes attacked and burned. Civilians murdered. The depiction of women being subjected to horrific violence. Knowing that October 7 itself wasn’t fiction made those episodes incredibly difficult to watch. And whatever your politics on Israel or Gaza, the deliberate murder, abduction and sexual violence inflicted upon civilians that day was barbaric. There is no political cause that makes that acceptable. It also made me think about Britain. Watching armed terrorists moving through ordinary communities and attacking people in their homes genuinely terrified me. Because we spend so much time arguing about terrorism, extremism, borders and national security as abstract political issues that it’s easy to forget what a successful terrorist attack actually looks like for the ordinary families caught in it. Fauda hasn’t made me think I suddenly understand the entire Middle East after watching a Netflix series. Quite the opposite. It’s made me realise how much I DON’T know. But it has made me understand the Israeli experience and its obsession with security considerably better. And if a television drama leaves you wanting to read more, question more and understand a conflict beyond the slogans we’re all fed on social media, I’d say it’s done something worthwhile. Brilliant television. Absolutely gripping. And Season 5 genuinely stayed with me. Have you watched it? Keen to hear people’s thoughts on this great show.

The silent majority is real. #Eurovision

Correction: the chase also got slightly more viewers than us.

@MartinSLewis @rachelreeves @itvMLshow And a great show it was! 👏Privileged to be part of the Live Audience. Thank you @MartinSLewis @itvMLshow

Don't miss your chance to vote performers out of the show!!! @watfordpalace @1OntroerendGoed are playing their only UK date here. Imagine The Traitors meets Mafia: watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk/events/fight-n…

And now, the most Israeli story ever: the man who neutralized the terrorist in Jaffa is the chair of Israel’s “Burning Man”, Midburn, who happened to be in the area (he’s also a Nova survivor). He did it in flip flops.

Sign the petition: Petition: call on BBC to review Gary Lineker's contract webelieveinisrael.org.uk/gary_lineker_p… via @WeBelieveIsrael

📢CEO & Director of Programming @stevemarmion announces his first season at the Palace...and it's an absolute CORKER! bit.ly/49QZ2x1 #theatre #watford #watfordpalace #artscouncil

Our CEO & Director of Programming @stevemarmion will be chatting to @BBC3CR's @TalkRoberto today at 3.15pm about our exciting new season! 🎭 Tune in here: 📻 bit.ly/3U73NwA

Well produced clip sharing some positive thoughts during difficult times #uplifting #lookonthebrightside