The Metropolitan | The Editors | Substack

Essays

I hate being on TV

The early 2000s weren’t all sparkles and rainbows (the clothes were awful, for one thing); but there was a sense that — to adapt the New Labour anthem …

Jun 13 • Rowan Davies

West End girls and East End boys

Midway through The Gold (BBC, 2023), Neil Forsyth’s series about the 1983 Brinks Mat robbery, there’s a truly great parable about British class.

May 23 • Rowan Davies

Reacher at rest

You can get a bit exhausted, sometimes, by the complexity of real life: the weight of people’s experiences and difficulties, and the way that absolutely…

May 9 • Rowan Davies

The Pitt: progressives in despair

SPOILER WARNING:

Apr 18 • Rowan Davies

Avoiding President Farage

Those who walk away from Sandringham

Mar 14 • Rowan Davies

Content warning for sexual assault

Feb 14 • Rowan Davies

The latest from

The Editors

Taxi Driver (1976)

Tobias Sturt

Taxi Driver (1976)

Rowan Davies

I hate being on TV

Jon Millington

November '24: A Christmas story

Chris Waywell

April '24: Ooh, you poor man

The Metropolitan

The Metropolitan

Weekly emails about pop culture & society, written by British Generation X. No dunking. No hot takes. No false nostalgia. Choose the 'Free' option when you subscribe to get the weekly newsletter.

Raised By Puffins

The Dark Knight Returns

Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley (Titan Books, 1986)

Jun 20 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

1066 And All That

W C Sellar & R J Yeatman (Methuen, 1930)

Apr 4 • Rowan Davies

Iain M. Banks (Orbit, 1996)

Jan 3 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Father Christmas

Raymond Briggs (Hamish Hamilton, 1973)

Dec 13, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Can We Show The Kids?

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Can anyone else smell frying onions?

Jun 6 • Tobias Sturt and The Editors

Highlander (1986)

There can be only one. And a couple of sequels. And a TV series. And a remake.

Mar 7 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Say, what gives?

Dec 6, 2025 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

The Wicker Man (1973)

In the wood there grew a tree, and a fine, fine tree was he

Oct 18, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

On The Box

Moonlighting (1985 - 1989)

If people are missing, if objects are lost / we’ll find them for you, at reasonable cost

May 16 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Changing Rooms (1996-2004)

Mar 21 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Blackadder II (1986)

A sitcom so cunningly devised that you could put a silly hat on it and call it the court jester to the king of weasels.

Jan 17 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

‘A Bit Of’ Fry & Laurie (1989 - 1995)

…oh Christ, I’ve left the iron on

Sep 20, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Track Listing

1986: Gone To Earth

Growing up with David Sylvian

May 2 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Ba buh-buh buh-buh buh

Feb 21 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

What a lovely way to burn

Nov 15, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

1990: Love’s got the world in motion

This is a football song

Sep 6, 2025 • Rowan Davies

Canon fodder

Taxi Driver (1976)

I’m the only one here

Jul 4 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Lake Wobegon Days (1986)

‘Wobegon’, from the Native American ‘the place where we waited all day in the rain [for you].’

Apr 11 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Titus Groan (1946)

A trip down the winding sentences and cluttered paragraphs of Gormenghast

Feb 7 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Down with Skool (1953)

Nov 1, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Mixtape

Metropolitan Mixtape: June 2026

What The Metropolitan has been watching while delirious from the heat

Jun 27 • The Editors

Metropolitan Mixtape: May 2026

Heroes, super and otherwise

May 30 • The Editors

Metropolitan Mixtape: April 2026

Comforts and discomforts

Apr 25 • The Editors, Tobias Sturt, and Rowan Davies

Metropolitan Mixtape: March 2026

Histories, cinematic, personal and otherwise

Mar 28 • The Editors, Rowan Davies, and Tobias Sturt

Seasons

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892/1984/1991)

"Remarkable, Holmes!", "Meretricious, Watson." "And a Happy New Year."

Dec 20, 2025 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

A Study in Pink (2010)

The scarlet thread of disappointment running through the colourful skein of TV

Nov 26, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Sherlock Hound (1984) / The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Holmes Movies: The game is a-paw

Oct 16, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976)

Holmes Movies: Sherlock Holmes meets Sigmund Freud!

Sep 23, 2025 • The Editors

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts