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Francesca Steele

@francescasteele.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1.6K following 74 posts

Freelance journalist with a focus on film. Former Senior Writer @thetimes.com Host of the writing podcast Write-Off. Agent: Laura Macdougall at UA, Insta @francescasteelewrites Recovered from #longcovid

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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Any primary/prep school teachers follow me on here?
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Hi Scott, I’m writing about The Salt Path debacle. Would love to quote you, is there a way I can contact you? Thanks!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Nope I DIDN’T hate 28 Years Later, just bits of it. The first half is a folk horror, fever dreamt masterpiece… read here, and SUBSCRIBE! Purlease and thank you culturetrash.substack.com/p/when-good-...
culturetrash.substack.com
When good movies turn baaaaaad....
28 Years Later and why I've got the Rage
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
I went to see 28 Years Later and now I’ve got the RAGE open.substack.com/pub/culturet...
open.substack.com
When good movies turn baaaaaad....
28 Years Later and why I've got the Rage
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Reposted by Francesca Steele
Sight and Sound magazine @sightsoundmag.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
The humour might be inconsistent, but there’s real chemistry between Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan as former lovers and bandmates who meet again for a well paid one-off gig. @francescasteele.bsky.social reviews The Ballad of Wallis Island, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
bfi.org.uk
The Ballad of Wallis Island review: Gig economy
The humour might be inconsistent, but there’s real chemistry between Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan as former lovers and bandmates who meet again for a well paid one-off gig.
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
I want to talk to you about horror (stay with me!). And blenders. It’s my first proper Substack post. Please do subscribe! open.substack.com/pub/culturet...
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Guys I did a substack open.substack.com/pub/culturet...
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Have you been to the full moon party in Thailand? Send me you anecdotes good and bad pls! Can definitely be anonymous
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
I am looking to speak to people who have moved back into London (or another city) after moving out to the country for years. Esp if they’ve moved back for retirement. Please get in touch!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Your favourite Agatha Christies, go!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
It’s Meghan SUSSEX not Markle, Christ, Mindy.
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
So far I’m worried for poor Daniel that he will spend his entire stay chez Sussex laboriously admiring Meghan and never get a chance to try out those homemade bath salts..
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
For a film critic I have a shamefully high tolerance for crap TV. Will Meghan get me in the end? Stay tuned!!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
There is a man in my co-working space who taps his foot ALL the time and it is slowly driving me utterly, utterly round the bend
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
In a reading funk - I want to read something clever but also fun and light, domestic fiction probably, am thinking Such a Fun Age, Pineapple Street, that sorta thing. Any thoughts?
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Mine too. Hero
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
LOVED interviewing the supa Dog Man author Dav Pilkey for @thetimes.com about writing his way out of trouble as a kid and why parents should chill out about comic books. The very enjoyable Dog Man film is out this Friday fyi 🐕👮‍♂️ www.thetimes.com/culture/film...
thetimes.com
Dav Pilkey on Dog Man: ‘Parents should let kids pick the books they want to read’
The children’s author has sold more than 140 million copies of his comic books — as a new film opens, he talks about how he got the world reading
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Reposted by Francesca Steele
The i Paper @theipaper.com · 04/02/2025
🎞️ From Cameron Diaz to Keira Knightley, a flurry of high-profile actresses are making their comebacks 🖋️ @francescasteele.bsky.social 🔗 inews.co.uk/culture/film...
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Just meeeeeet meeee at the… apt apt apt apt apt apt apt apt
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Ooh thanks! Can you add us pls @sianushka.bsky.social ?
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Back on here after a hiatus, hoping madly for things that are the opposite of did they didn’t they Nazi salutes
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Ooh I want to be on this one pls, where is it?
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
It’s fine don’t panic it’s just me having a mild midlife crisis in @thetimes.com Hair dye, tattoos and learning guitar in your 40s. Sad or VERY COOL? www.thetimes.com/article/f0f7...
thetimes.com
Help! I turned into my father at 43
New research suggesting that is the age at which we become our parents is true, says Stuart Heritage
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Reposted by Francesca Steele
The i Paper @theipaper.com · 01/01/2025
★★ 🎥 We Live in Time, starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, too often leans on cliche - and its underlying message is startlingly regressive 🖋️ @francescasteele.bsky.social 🔗 trib.al/ZnXhTnv
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
I didn’t like, sorry!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Truly, I am sorry inews.co.uk/culture/spli... @inews.co.uk
inews.co.uk
The Split: Barcelona is trite and melodramatic
At this time of year we want warm and cuddly dramas - but this feels like a telenovela
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
EM looks about five here
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Do I know any party planners on here? 🎈🥳🍾
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Reposted by Francesca Steele
Sandra Newman @sannewman.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Writers: yes, you are still a "real" writer if you - have never published anything - have no readers - didn't write anything this month - didn't write anything this year - can't articulate words anymore - can only float and mournfully wail - were murdered ten years ago on this very spot
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
H delighted to meet the marvellous @cressidacowell.bsky.social this morning, and tickled by the idea of training his viking in her excellent-looking new short story collection
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
I think that’s exactly it (or at least a big part of it) actually. I wonder if the ease of set-up actually worked against it in some ways - people have come here with curiosity, ready to engage. (I also dislike on there that it really feels like I’ve just hopped over from Insta)
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Still not sure how I feel about the assisted dying bill but I found this piece by @hugorifkind.bsky.social profoundly moving and articulate on an aspect of it that is usually described in vaguer terms www.thetimes.com/article/5050...
thetimes.com
My mother’s MS has shaped my view on assisted dying
From a position of health it’s easy to say we’d take the quick route. But real life isn’t like that
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Get that nihilism in early!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Engagement is just generally better on here, even though numbers are so much higher on there. I’m looking forward to the inevitable long read picking apart the weird and subtle “vibe” reasons some socials succeed
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Enjoying the journey as much as the destination here Helen
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
I agree, I wasn’t a huge fan of Napoleon (which is also David Scarpa in fact)
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
A good example really of why the star system for ratings is a strange old business… because I both was absolutely entertained AND simultaneously didn’t think it was very good. 5 stars for spectacle. 1 star for actual narrative cohesion. 🤷‍♀️
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
… and Mescal is strangely bland, as if gentle Connor himself has woken up in the arena. They’re constantly putting speeches in his mouth that don’t sound like they belong to him…
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
… but it’s also very wait, who’s fighting who and why?! 🤷‍♀️ Is there a real plot? Probably, maybe there are in fact too many plots…
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Finally got round to seeing Gladiator 2. Some thoughts: It would be quite hard not to enjoy the Big Cinema Spectacle of it all. Sharks in the Colosseum! Yes! Wide screens of Paul Mescal’s thighs! Yes! But…
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Reposted by Francesca Steele
The i Paper @theipaper.com · 26/11/2024
★★★ 🎥 While #Moana wowed adults and children alike, the new sequel lacks the original’s fearless spirit 🖋️ @francescasteele.bsky.social 🔗 inews.co.uk/culture/film...
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Man totally forgot Margot Robbie is in this!
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Oh now listen About Time is REALLY worth a rewatch but also saying sexy pyjamas to your brother is not cool
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Excellent
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Good god
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
I couldn’t even enjoy hate watching the new Cruel Intentions. It is very very bad. 1 ⭐️ from me in @inews.co.uk inews.co.uk/culture/tele...
inews.co.uk
The Cruel Intentions reboot is an insult to the 90s cult classic
This teen-centric rehash tries to be Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars, but its not nearly fun enough
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Once after hunting high and low I actually managed to purchase the coronation Colin. A special day
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
No one unrelated to M&S employees can ever get hold of an actual irl Christmas Colin the Caterpillar, and that is an incontrovertible fact
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
So pleasing and true from @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social -this please *is* like a twinkly winter pub (for now) www.thetimes.com/article/da26...
thetimes.com
Watch out Elon Musk, now Clifton Suspension Bridge has left X, it’s over
Forget doom-scrolling, Bluesky is taking over from X, formerly Twitter, with daft memes, Wallace and Gromit — and Carol Vorderman, of course
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Francesca Steele @francescasteele.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Hey guys! 👋 Can you add me to this one pls? Thanks!
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