The Roses (2025) is a dark comedy film starring Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. It tells the story of Ivy and Theo Rose, a married couple who seem to have a perfect life in California. They have good jobs, happy children, and a strong relationship. But when Theo loses his job and Ivy becomes more successful, their marriage starts to fall apart. They begin to fight over their careers, their children, and their home. The movie shows how love can turn into rivalry when people stop listening to each other.

This new film is a modern version of the 1989 movie The War of the Roses. In that story, a couple named Oliver and Barbara Rose also had a good life – until they decided to divorce. They both wanted to keep their house, and their fight became very angry and even dangerous. The 1989 film was famous for showing how a divorce can become a “war.”

In the 2025 version, the focus is more on career competition and emotional struggles. It’s funny, sad, and sometimes shocking – but always about how relationships can change when people grow apart.

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With winter temperatures plunging, Sanyika the penguin figured his home from home would be the freezing streets of Budapest rather than the city zoo. Local Zugló police caught up with the fugitive along Dózsa György út and now Sanyika is safe and sound at his regular abode.

Zugló police patrolling Dózsa György út late last night came across a strange figure waddling across the road. Sanyika the penguin had escaped from Budapest Zoo and was making a beeline for Heroes’ Square when the local authorities caught up him, wrapped him in a blanket and took him back to safety.

Sanyika is an African or Cape penguin, and doesn’t actually crave the freezing temperatures of the Antarctic. Now having survived crossing one of Budapest’s busiest streets late at night, he can live up to 30 years in captivity.

sources (article; video; pictures): We Love Budapest; Benedict Cumberbatch Can’t Say ‘Penguin’, The Graham Norton Show, The Graham Norton Show, Youtube; BRFK Információs Portál, Facebook

useful expression:
to make a beeline for something
to move quickly and directly toward something

Benedict Cumberbatch és a penguin szó (3:25) : VIDEO

“(My favourite director) is Stanley Kubrick, the reason would take 30,000 words – i.e. my dissertation.”

2. In Darjeeling, India, he taught English at a Buddhist monastery.

“I could actually stay with monks in their homes and watch them at work and at prayer, and get the chance to teach them and interact with them.”

3. He was abducted while filming in South Africa.

“We were in South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal, this amazing district north of Durban. It was cold and it was dark. I felt rotten. We were wary because that’s a notoriously dangerous place to drive. I was scared, really scared. ‘What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?’”

Cumberbatch and his friends were eventually released by the kidnappers. The shock of the experience left him with a newfound appreciation for what’s important in life.

“It really, really enriches your values in life.”

4. Benedict’s grandfather, Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, was a naval officer who served the Royal Navy during both World Wars. He saw action at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in World War I and captained several vessels in World War II.

5. Although Benedict was always interested in acting, he briefly considered going into law.

“For a while I wanted to be a barrister because there is definitely a crossover with criminal law with trying to persuade an audience and a judge of the case and your client’s story. So I did go down that route for a little bit.”

6. Before filming the pilot for Sherlock in 2010, Cumberbatch’s hair turned green. The mishap occurred when the dark brown dye that they used for Sherlock combined with some bleach that Benedict had used for his earlier role as Vincent van Gogh.

7. Benedict’s father served as the inspiration for his performance as Smaug in the Hobbit films.

“Completely ripped it off from my dad. He read this book to me, when I was, I mean, I must have been 6 or 7. My dad is a great actor and he brought the characters so clearly to life and so colourfully.”

8. He almost turned down the role of Sherlock Holmes due to his fear that the show might be “cheap and cheesy.”

“I heard about it and thought ‘that sounds like an idea to refranchise something to make money. It could be a bit cheap and cheesy’. Then I found out who was involved and realised it wouldn’t be cheap and cheesy. I thought I would read the script and then I fell in love with it.”

9. His parents didn’t want him to go into acting.

“They wanted me to do a grown-up job and be a barrister. But they understood my decision.”

10. He had to eat 4,000 calories a day for Star Trek Into Darkness.

“To go up from a 38 chest to a 42, eating 4,000 calories a day and training two hours a day as well as the stunt rehearsals and fight choreography, was the most physical demand that’s ever been made of me for the screen.”

source: You Tube, Biography.com

Can you fill in the gaps in the biography of Benedict Cumberbatch with the words in the table?

Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch is a British …… (1) , best known for his …… (2) on the BBC television show Sherlock. He has also appeared in Hollywood films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Star Trek: Into the Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He has won several stage and screen acting …… (3) and received both Golden Globe and Oscar …… (4) for his role in the acclaimed 2014 Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game.

He was born in London in 1976. His parents, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, were well-known television actors. Despite their success, they tried to steer young Benedict away from the …… (5). Cumberbatch’s first role was as Titania, Queen of the Faeries, in the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer’s Night Dream. He spent a year teaching English in Tibet, and then returned to England to study drama at the University of Manchester. Cumberbatch began his career with roles in classic plays and small television shows. In 2004, he …… (6) a young Stephen Hawking coping with the early stages of motor neuron disease. In 2010, the BBC …… (7) a modern adaptation of the story of Sherlock Holmes, which won widespread praise and granted stardom to Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock. Martin Freeman plays Holmes’s …… (8), Dr Watson. In the 2012 film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Cumberbatch provided the …… (9) for the Necromancer, and the dragon, Smaug.

He is …… (10). His wife is the director Sophie Hunter. They have two sons.

Key: 

1. actor 2. role 3. awards 4. nominations 5. stage 6. portrayed 7. aired 8. sidekick 9. voice 10. married

1. A SHERLOCK LANDMARK HELPED MAKE THE SHOW HAPPEN.

For years, writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss took a train to and from Cardiff while working on Doctor Who, and discussed various projects they were interested in doing; one that kept coming up repeatedly was a modern-day adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. This reportedly went on for some time, with neither man making any particular effort to get it off the ground, until Moffat’s wife, Sue, decided to invite both men for lunch. Her selection: the Criterion, a watering hole and eatery in London’s Piccadilly Circus. It’s the same place where the fictional John Watson, Holmes’s best friend, first hears of the famed detective. The two got the hint and began working on the series.

2. THE ORIGINAL PILOT NEVER AIRED.

When Moffat and Gatiss conceived of a modern-day take on Holmes for the BBC in 2008, the expectation was that their hour-long adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet would lead to a series. When they finished filming, however, those chances seemed slim: The pilot was more of a stodgy production than the cinematic, inventive style Gatiss and Moffat were hoping for. The BBC agreed to reshoot it with new director Paul McGuigan adding touches like having text messages appear onscreen. The less-polished prototype is available on the DVD release.

3. IT WAS INTENDED TO BE AN HOUR-LONG SERIES.

Although the original pilot was 60 minutes, the reshot episode was 90 minutes, leading Gatiss and Moffat to believe the best format for the show would be as a small season of movie-length episodes. The pair initially intended all episodes to run an hour, with more of them—up to six—per season. “That [pilot] was going to be the format of the series,” Gatiss said in 2014. “I think if we’d done that everything would be very different. We would do one where it was mostly Doctor Watson, or [landlady] Mrs. Hudson investigates or something like that.”

4. MATT SMITH AUDITIONED FOR WATSON.

While Benedict Cumberbatch was the first and only choice for Holmes, Matt Smith was among a number of actors considered for his counterpart, John Watson.The role eventually went to Martin Freeman (The Office, Fargo) because Moffat believed his chemistry with Cumberbatch was the best. Smith wound up auditioning for Doctor Who just a week later, and became the Eleventh Doctor.

5. HARRISON FORD GEEKED OUT OVER IT.

The quality of the series has not been lost on audiences, critics, or Harrison Ford: When the actor appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Cumberbatch in 2013, he told the actor the show was “amazing.” Ford’s wife, Calista Flockhart, told the Radio Times that she and Ford “can’t stop watching” the show. The family’s BBC gateway drug was apparently Agatha Christie’s Poirot, a long-running adaptation of the author’s elegant detective.

6. IT’S LED TO A RISE IN BOOK SALES.

The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle must have been pleased to note that the 2010 debut of Sherlock on BBC One correlated with a sharp uptick in sales of the author’s printed works. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks media sales, copies of Doyle’s titles moved roughly 57,000 copies in 2009. The year after, it was 88,000—with sales the week after the show premiered doubling from the week prior.

7. FANS HAVE CHANGED HOW THE SHOW IS PRODUCED.

When word gets out that Sherlock is filming exterior shots in Cardiff, fans gather using a Twitter hashtag (#Setlock) to watch—sometimes up to 300 at a time, all positioned behind barricades. Martin Freeman has described the experience as something “I don’t love,” since the crowd is effectively an uninvited audience. (They once broke into applause when he opened a bag of crisps.) Because of the distraction, Gatiss has noted that the show now arranges for fewer scenes set outside. “Large dialogue scenes outside are quite tough,” he said in 2014, adding that the actors had trouble concentrating.

8. PBS CUT A BIG CHUNK OUT OF EPISODES.

If your only exposure to the second season of Sherlock was on PBS in America, you’ve missed nearly a half-hour of the show. In 2012, executive producer Sue Vertue told the Independent that eight minutes from each of the three episodes had been snipped in order to make room for sponsor spots in the United States. 

9. THERE’S A MANGA ADAPTATION.

An adaptation of an adaptation, in 2012 Japan’s Young Ace magazine depicted the first episode of Sherlock in the country’s distinctive sequential art style. U.S. publisher Titan Comics recently compiled the four issues into an English-language trade paperback edition after several unofficial fan translations demonstrated a considerable demand for the work to be reprinted. Titan also publishes books in which Holmes fights aliens and vampires.

10. YOU ARE UNLIKELY TO EVER SEE A CROSSOVER WITH DOCTOR WHO.

Two of the BBC’s biggest successes are both filmed in Cardiff and both have the same showrunner; television crossovers have happened with less. Despite that, Steven Moffat—who oversees both shows—says the odds of the time-hopping Doctor crossing paths with Holmes are slim to none. In addition to the Sherlock cast being disinterested, Moffat told a Royal Television Society audience in 2014 the fact that Holmes has been presented as a fictional character in Doctor Who presents a difficult hurdle to overcome. “[The Doctor] has even dressed up as [Holmes],” the writer said.

11. THERE MIGHT BE A SHERLOCK THEME PARK ATTRACTION COMING.

Not many fictional detectives get their own theme park; Holmes might be a rare exception. The BBC is reportedly considering an amusement park based on their properties, including Sherlock and Doctor Who, for Kent, England, in 2020. The addition is expected to join a planned London Paramount Entertainment Resort that will also feature a water park.

12. THE SHOW MIGHT RUN FOREVER.

Sherlock has produced just 10 episodes in nearly eight years, a far cry from the 180-odd episodes a network series would have amassed in that time. But the erratic shooting schedule that sometimes frustrates fans might eventually work to the audience’s benefit. Because the series doesn’t shoot continuously, Moffat sees no reason the production can’t keep resuming indefinitely. “It’s an occasional treat when you get three movies,” he said in mid-2016. “That’s why I think it’s unlikely that we’ve completely finished it. There would be nothing strange in stopping for a while. It could go on forever, coming back now and again.”

Though Cumberbatch has recently hinted that the show’s fourth season could be his last, Moffat said that the star’s quote was misunderstood. “It seems to be impossible these days not to be misquoted,” Moffat said. “He was quite specific about being keen to carry on. He went on to say [it’s] hard to get us all together. We want to keep the quality up. We haven’t even seen this [season air] yet. We don’t know. We haven’t sat down with the intent to anything yet. But we’re always aware that it could be over. But the fact is Benedict did not say that.”

source: mentalfloss

Can you answer the questions on the basis of the text?

1. What’s the name of the watering hole where John Watson first hears of Sherlock Holmes?

2. Who plays the role of Sherlock Holmes in the series?

3. Why did people miss nearly a half-hour of the show on PBS in America?

4. What does Sherlock Holmes fight in manga adaptations?

5. Did Benedict Cumberbatch specifically say that he doesn’t want to continue starring in the series?

Key

1. Criterion

2. Benedict Cumberbatch

3. Because eight minutes from each of the three episodes had been snipped in order to make room for sponsor spots.

4. Holmes fights aliens and vampires.

5. No, he didn’t, he only hinted it.

That’s elementary, according to genealogy website Ancestry.com. Cumberbatch is distantly related to author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the brilliant but quirky sleuth some 130 years ago, the website said.

Cumberbatch, 40, star of the Emmy award-winning BBC TV series, “Sherlock,” is a 16th cousin, twice removed of Doyle.

The two are related through 14th century English nobleman John of Gaunt, who, according to records, was Cumberbatch’s 17th great-grandfather and Conan Doyle’s 15th great-grandfather, Ancestry researchers said.

John of Gaunt, born about 1340, was a son of England’s King Edward III, meaning that Cumberbatch and Conan Doyle also have a distant royal connection.

“How rare that an actor in a major series has the chance to play a character created by a relative, especially one as iconic as Sherlock Holmes,” said Jennifer Utley, a family historian at Ancestry.

“Sherlock,” a modern twist on the life and investigations of the 19th century London detective, first aired in 2010 returns for its fourth series on both U.S. and British television.

The show, in which Cumberbatch plays Holmes as a haughty, socially inept detective to Martin Freeman’s calm, practical Dr. John Watson, is the most popular TV drama in Britain, according to ratings data, and has been sold to 180 other countries.

Conan Doyle published the first of about 60 Sherlock Holmes stories in 1887. The eccentric, violin-playing character has since become one of the best-known fictional detectives in the world and the inspiration for hundreds of movies, stage plays, books and TV shows.

source: Reuters

Can you fill in the gaps in the text about Arthur Conan Doyle with the words below?

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22, 1859. In 1890 his novel, A Study in Scarlet, introduced the character of ………. (1). Doyle would go on to write 60 stories about Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet introduced the wildly popular characters Detective Sherlock Holmes and his ………. (2), Watson and earned Doyle the ………. (3) he had so desired. It was the first of 60 stories that Doyle would ………. (4) about Sherlock Holmes over the course of his writing career. The ………. (5) author composed four of his most popular Sherlock Holmes books during the 1890s and early 1900s: The Sign of Four (1890), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) and The Hound of Baskervilles, published in 1901. In 1893, to Doyle’s readers’ disdain, he had attempted to ………. (6) his Sherlock Holmes character. In 1901, however, Doyle ………. (7) Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of Baskervilles.

In 1928, Doyle’s final twelve stories about Sherlock Holmes were published in a ………. (8) entitled The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

Key

1. Detective Sherlock Holmes

2. assistant

3. recognition

4. pen

5. prolific

6. kill off

7. reintroduced

8. compilation

So my friend has asked me to write to you… I have to confess it’s been hard to know what to say. Mainly because like most adults I feel preposterous asking anything of you because our time with you is surely done. Now we get our own presents, control our own fates, take responsibility for our own actions, and live in the world we have created… so it’s not for us to turn around and plead for your help with the environment, the migrant crisis, the NHS, education, food banks, human rights, fundamentalism and wars. Though God knows we need all the help we can get with all these man-made problems and more.

And it’s not that you aren’t compassionate and full of joy. You’re great. In spite of you being changed into different colours for corporations and being bastardised to represent materialism gone mad – despite probably originating in some season based pagan druid ritual a million thought miles from requests for spontaneously combusting hoverboards… Kidadults cynically pointing this out after having their moment of belief in you are wasting everyone’s precious time. Because you are not for them. You are for the children. Children who need some magic in a world where the borders between innocence and responsibility, playful imagination and cold, adult obstacles are continually shrinking.

This is what I’d like to ask you to help with. A little more time for children to be children. Stretch the moment of magic and playfulness. Distract them from the realities of a world gone mad so that they can laugh with their breath rather than sob with their tears. Especially those caring for family members, or suffering illness, hunger or poverty. Especially those hiding in buildings as bombs rain down, or being handed shaking with fear or cold into a boat to escape environmental disaster or war. Please help to light up their worlds with a moment of joy and hope.

When I think about it you’ve got it tough this year… And when I really think about it I’m not sure that asking you for a lightsaber and getting one (not that I ever did by the way) is equatable with controlling the space time continuum and making the good of childhood last a little longer.

But you do inspire wonder and awe amongst those that write you letters and go to sleep hoping there might be a new object in their possession come dawn. You inspire good behaviour and, at least in my memory, some desperate last minute attempts to redeem bad behaviour so as not to be overlooked. Spare a thought too for those millions who want to write to you but through illiteracy can’t. Hear their words and help to give them the time and chance to learn how to read and write so they can better their lives and escape their impoverished beginnings.

I feel a little sorry for you. And I guess I’ve done exactly what I said I wouldn’t… Asked you to help with adult problems and solve some of the greatest worries we have for our children. I promise to leave some extra port and mince pies for you!

Lots of love

Benedict x

P.S. Please could I have that lightsaber now?

source: Huffington Post

Father Christmas has different names in different countries. Can you match the names with the countries?

Key

1. c.

2. a.

3. e.

4. b.

5. d.

6. g.

7. f.

Prince Charles plays Hamlet in brilliant BBC sketch alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Judi Dench

The Prince of Wales – briefly – became the Prince of Denmark on Saturday.

Prince Charles appeared on stage at Stratford as part of a stellar cast in Shakespeare Live, a light-hearted tribute to Britain’s most famous writer, 400 years to the day after he died.

Prince Charles uttered Shakespeare’s most famous line “to be or not to be”, managing to achieve not just every actor’s dream, but trump Dame Judi Dench.

His short contribution came as part of a complex and witty homage to Shakespeare and his soliloquy from Hamlet known the world over.

Prince Charles appeared alongside Tim Minchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Harriet Walter, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and the RSC’s current Hamlet, Paapa Essiedu.

It was a fitting finale to a day of celebrations in Stratford that mixed solemnity, pomp, quite a bit of low farce – and royalty. William Shakespeare probably would have approved.

Thousands gathered in Stratford-Upon-Avon on Saturday to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the death of Britain’s most famous writer – and his birthday too.

Tributes were led by the Prince of Wales, who – before his appearance on the Stratford stage – laid a wreath on the grave of the playwright in Holy Trinity Church, and had a tour of New Place, the site where Shakespeare spent the last 19 years of his life and wrote some of his most famous works, including it is believed his last play, The Tempest.

Now an archeological site, in the process of being turned into a garden and visitor centre, Prince Charles inspected some of the finds: medieval dice, dominos and a thimble that could have been used by Shakespeare’s father, who was a leather worker. Or at least that is the optimistic interpretation of the curators.

His wreath was made out of generous sprigs of rosemary — reference to Ophelia’s final act of handing out the herb, “for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.”

A TELJES VIDEÓT ITT NÉZHETITEK MEG: TELJES VIDEÓ 

source: telegraph.co.uk

Emmy Awards: Sherlock and Breaking Bad win big

BBC One drama Sherlock has won a hat-trick of awards at the US Primetime Emmys in Los Angeles.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman won best actor and best supporting actor in a mini-series, although neither was at the ceremony. Steven Moffat also won best writing in a mini-series for the final episode of Sherlock’s third season.

Drug drama Breaking Bad was the biggest winner on the night, scooping five awards including best drama series. It was the second consecutive year that the show, which ended last September after five seasons, had picked up the ceremony’s highest honour.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston was named best actor in a drama series for a fourth time as the teacher-turned-drug kingpin Walter White. He beat a host of Hollywood heavyweights including Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson for their roles in the acclaimed crime drama True Detective. His co-stars Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn were also honoured for best supporting actor and supporting actress in a drama series.

In other categories, The Good Wife star Julianna Margulies won the Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series for her part as lawyer Alicia Florrick. There were also best actress and best supporting actress in a mini-series awards for Oscar winners Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates for their roles in American Horror Story: Coven.

Although there was a considerable amount of British talent up for awards, success only came from Sherlock‘s triple win and a best director award for Colin Bucksey for Fargo. ITV drama Downton Abbey walked away empty-handed despite nominations for its stars Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith, Joanne Froggart and Jim Carter.

Sitcom Modern Family was named best comedy series for a fifth consecutive year, equalling the record set by 1990s show Frasier for most comedy wins. Ty Burrell also walked away with best supporting actor in a comedy for his role on the show. The Big Bang Theory‘s Jim Parsons won best actor in a comedy series. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her third consecutive Emmy for playing foul-mouthed US Vice President Selina Meyer in political satire Veep.

The ceremony also paid tribute to industry members who died in the past year. They included James Garner, Ruby Dee, Sid Caesar, Carmen Zapata and Elaine Stritch. It concluded with a special homage to Robin Williams by long-time friend Billy Crystal, who remembered the actor as "the brightest star in a comedy galaxy".

source: BBC

a hat-trick of – hármas győzelem (sportban használják)
supporting actor – mellékszereplő
although – habár
to scoop – markolni, felszedni, begyűjteni
consecutive – egymásutáni
kingpin – kulcsember, fejes
heavyweight – nehézsúlyú
acclaimed – elismert
considerable – jelentős
to walk away empty-handed – üres kézzel távozni
nomination – jelölés
to equal – egyenlő valamivel
foul-mouthed – mocskosszájú
to pay tribute to – tisztelegni valaki előtt
special homage – rendkívüli megemlékezés

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