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New Zealand actor built career as dashing romantic leads and charismatic villains across film and television

Sam Neill’s 20 best performances

Sam Neill, the versatile New Zealand actor whose career spanned Oscar winners and blockbusters such as The Piano and Jurassic Park, has died aged 78.

The actor’s death was announced on Monday in a statement shared on his Instagram account. No cause of death was given, but Neill had only recently revealed he was cancer-free after being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.

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Google Maps Immersive Navigation appears to be rolling out for Android Auto.

The update brings 3D buildings, easy-to-spot flyovers and off-ramps, and more.

However, the rollout seems to be a server-side update instead of being tied solely to a new app version.

Back in March, Google announced a major overhaul of the Google Maps navigation interface with a new immersive navigation UI . The update started popping up in CarPlay for some users, but Android users were still stuck with the old navigation UI in Android Auto. Now, that seems to be changing.

In a new post on Reddit , user radgatt has shared screenshots of the Google Maps immersive navigation UI running on Android Auto. The screenshots show the new 3D UI with easy-to-spot flyovers, 3D buildings, and even individual trees.

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I first started reading Grace Paley in the weeks after my second novel was published, as I sought refuge from refreshing Goodreads, from waiting for the Booker Prize Committee to phone. Reading the five-page piece “Love,” and rereading it many times after, tears sprung into to my eyes—this was a perfect portrait of tenderness, of something ineffable and true and strange and small and enormous.

My first reading of the story ended with me remembering, in a jolt, why I write. There is some ego in the mix, of course, but ultimately, the egoic drive alone is not enough to propel me forward through years and years of working on a novel, which I am so proud of, and which was not shortlisted for the Booker Prize, nor did it cause Goodreads to spontaneously combust into sprinkles of fairy dust. I write, as Paley wrote, because I am in love with people, because I am fascinated by language, because I want this world to be a little more gentle and a little more just; I write to chisel toward the mystery, I write to play, I write to grieve, I write to be in conversation with ancestors.

I write, as Paley wrote, because I am in love with people, because I am fascinated by language, because I want this world to be a little more gentle and a little more just.

And discovering Grace Paley’s work was like discovering an ancestor. In an interview with the Paris Review, Paley spoke about how her work was often compared to Isaac Babel.

People say I write like Isaac Babel, but it’s not that he influenced me. I hadn’t read him before I wrote. It’s our common grandparents who have influenced us both… in terms of inflection and what one pays attention to. It’s not a literary influence so much as a social influence, a linguistic influence, a musical influence.

I hadn’t read Paley before or during the process of writing my second novel, but when I did read her work, I heard our common grandparents singing in it, as they’d sung to me, their voices a bit more muddled over the passing generations, but present still in my work, palpable still. One of the major projects of my novel is to rail against the smarmy practice of backshadowing history, to borrow a term from historian Tony Michels, that is, of writing characters who “should have been knowing what we now know,” whose entire lives are summarized by the facts of their eventual horrific deaths.

I didn’t want to write a shtetl in which every moment was defined by the fact of mass murder yet to come; I didn’t want to write Yiddish speakers whose only valences were nostalgia and tragedy. I wanted Yiddish sexiness, and Yiddish queerness, and Yiddish poetics, characters who make out and hide farts and argue about politics and create weird art and don’t know a thing about what they should have been knowing in the kumendike tzayt, the yet-to-come future, in other words, people who are fully alive, despite or alongside their being fictional. And in this, Paley, too, is my ancestor, my predecessor, my “somewhat combative pacifist” comrade and teacher: One of Paley’s narrators, in the story A Conversation with my Father , explains that she despises “the absolute line between two points” commonly known as plot. “Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.”

This, too, brings me to another aspect of Paley’s work and life that I so admire: her commitment to political activism, and her understanding that the projects of creative writing, that is, art making, and political activism are linked, but distinct, but also that a person is not a Twitter bio, a person need not choose between the two projects over the course of a life. Back to the aforementioned story, “Love,” in which the narrator and an old friend, Margaret, had a falling out; they had had “many years of political agreement before some matters relating to the Soviet Union separated us.”

So I turn and return to my teacher, my elder, my comrade, Grace Paley, to learn how to be an artist, a poet, a person, and how to be in love, most of the time.

That is good fiction writing, good art, in my book. The prurient, nosy, (online?) reader wants to know: but who believed what? And the fiction writer who is committed to using their fiction as merely a tool to score political points, will certainly want to say who was right; but sometimes, it is, it must be, just that: “We had many years of political agreement, before some matters relating to [fill in the blanks; today it’d perhaps be Palestine-Israel] separated us.” That is part of the Paley-ish project of fiction, to observe the world as it is, and people as they are. But that doesn’t mean that Grace Paley’s fiction always avoids taking uplifting political and ethical positions—far from it—or that she saw the artist’s lens as the only correct one with which to view the world.

Alongside her writing fiction, over the decades, Paley was jailed for civil disobedience, arrested at sit-ins, spent time picketing outside the draft board, protesting against atomic testing; she traveled to El Salvador and Nicaragua to meet with mothers of the disappeared; she co-founded the Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. According to Alexandra Schwartz, just three months before Paley died of breast cancer, in 2007, she traveled to attend a protest against the American War on Iraq.

So often, it is framed as a choice, an American either/or: either you are an activist, or you are an artist. But that is a choice I don’t want to make in my life; I am deeply committed to some of the same political causes for which Paley struggled, pacifism, antiwar activism, racial and gender and sexual equality, an end to the occupation, a world that supports and uplifts children and young people—”it’s one of my beliefs,” says the narrator of The Long-Distance Runner, “that children do not have flaws, even the worst do not”—and onwards, and I am also committed to making art that is truthful and beautiful and strange and slippery, that knows that none of us really knows anything, that is allegiant to something deeper than polemics or scoring political points. Which brings me, finally, to the question of genre, and specifically, here, of poetry.

In the American artistic sphere, so often writers are encouraged, subtly and not-so-subtly, to “stay in their lanes,” whether politically—”are you an activist or an artist”—or in terms of style and genre—”Are you a fiction writer, or a playwright, or a poet?”

This question, too, is one that Paley refused to bow down to. I recently came across a poem, “Responsibility,” in which Paley deliberately and subtly and explicitly refuses all of these choices: Poet or fiction writer. Activist or artist. Leafleteer or literary practitioner. Man or woman. Hopeful or hopeless. Happy or heartbroken: “It is the responsibility of society to let the poet be a poet,” writes Paley. She continues:

It is the responsibility of the male poet to be a woman

It is the responsibility of the female poet to be a woman

It is the poet’s responsibility to speak truth to power

as the Quakers say

It is the poet’s responsibility to learn the truth from the powerless.”

It is the responsibility, I might continue, of the poet—broadly defined—to read and keep reading Grace Paley. It is the responsibility of the poet not to be boxed in by ideas of what a poet, an artist, can and cannot do, not to limit herself because society says she ought to. It is the responsibility of the poet to be mischievous and stark, mesmerized by the world, heartbroken by it, awake to the strangeness of it all, to find ways to love and be in love with people and this world we live in, as Paley wrote, in another poem, entitled “Proverbs”:

A person should be in love most of

the time.

And so I turn and return to my teacher, my elder, my comrade, Grace Paley, to learn how to be an artist, a poet, a person, and how to be in love, most of the time.

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Watch Evolution for free on BBC iPlayer (UK) / PBS (US)

Use NordVPN to watch your free streams when abroad

All five episodes arrive in the UK on July 13, 2026 at 9pm BST

Evolution is BBC’s new natural history and science documentary series presented by English naturalist and television presenter Chris Packham. Unlike the broadcaster’s previous landmark series, such as Planet Earth and Life on Earth , Evolution is explicitly about the science behind biodiversity.

In this five-part series, Packham sets out to unlock the secrets behind evolution by studying one animal at a time, asking a common question: how did each species evolve over Earth’s four-billion-year history?

From the elephant and birds to dolphins, horses, and other remarkable species, the series explores the extraordinary evolutionary breakthroughs that shaped the natural world and the animals we see today. Even better, Packham adopts a deeply investigative, hands-on approach to explain complex scientific concepts with his trademark boyish charm and enthusiasm.

Evolutionary biologist Adam Rutherford has called the series a giant leap forward for science television, as it puts the theory of evolution at centre stage – using modern genetic research, palaeontology, and fossil evidence – rather than simply admiring the spectacularity of nature and animals. Oh, but there will still be plenty to admire thanks to BBC’s stunning wildlife cinematography.

Abroad? Here's where to watch Evolution online and on TV from anywhere in the world, potentially for free.

How to watch Evolution for free in the UK

In the UK, Evolution will be available to stream FREE on BBC iPlayer in the UK – with a valid TV licence.

Even better, all five episodes will arrive at once, allowing you to binge-watch the entire series.

Traditional TV viewers can watch it on BBC Two, while cord-cutters can stream every episode on demand via BBC iPlayer.

To watch BBC iPlayer: Visit the BBC iPlayer website or download the apps ( iOS / Android ).

BBC iPlayer is FREE , but you will need to create an account , have a valid U.K. postcode (e.g. SE1 7PB) and a TV licence.

Outside the UK? If you're currently traveling outside the UK, you can use this VPN (try risk-free) to watch UK TV from abroad . We recommend NordVPN . View Deal

How to watch Evolution from anywhere

If you're keen to watch Evolution but you're away from the UK and access to the show is geo-blocked, then you could use a VPN to access it (assuming you're not breaching any broadcaster T&Cs, of course). You may be surprised by how simple it is to do. Plus, we have a great 75% discount on our #1 VPN...

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How to watch BBC iPlayer with a VPN

Using a VPN to unblock Evolution is very straightforward. Just follow these steps:

1. Download and install a VPN: As we say, our top choice is NordVPN .

2. Connect to the appropriate server location: Open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select your home geographical location (anywhere in the UK).

3. Binge all episodes: In this case, just head to BBC iPlayer .

What devices can I watch BBC iPlayer on?

Amazon Fire (Tablets, Cube, Stick, TVs)

Android TV (please note: some models aren’t supported)

Android (Mobile & Tablet) - Android 7.0 and above

Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)

Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV and NVIDIA Shield)

Freely

Freesat (please note: some models aren’t supported)

Freeview Play (TVs and set-top boxes) (some models aren’t supported)

iOS (iPhone & iPad) - iOS 14 and above

LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)

NOW Smart Sticks and Boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)

PlayStation (PS4 and PS5)

Roku (Stick & Roku-OS powered TVs, minimum firmware v11.5.0)

Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and above)

Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck

Virgin Media (360, Stream, TiVo)

YouView (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)

Xbox (One, Series X, Series S)

Evolution: FAQs

Can I watch Evolution online in the US, Canada, Australia, and worldwide?

At the time of writing, BBC's Evolution is slated to be available in the US on PBS (website and app) from October 14.

The show will also be available in several Asian countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

As for other countries, we'll update this article if another streaming service picks it up.

If you're from any of these countries but currently abroad, you can use this VPN to watch your usual streaming services from anywhere in the world.

Note: Not all VPNs work for this, but NordVPN does. It's also great for privacy and comes with a 30-day risk-free trial .

Evolution official trailer

Evolution episode guide

Episode 1 , The Elephant – In Kenya, Chris embarks on a journey through time to uncover how a creature as vast, complex and charismatic as the elephant came to be. It's a story of innovations, lucky breaks and unlikely partnerships.

Episode 2 , The Ostrich – In South Africa, Chris finds out how reproduction has shaped life on Earth and the surprising evolutionary origins of sex, eggs and birds. This is a journey of innovation, adaptation and astonishing creativity.

Episode 3 , The Bat – In Borneo, Chris sets out to answer a deceptively simple question: how the drive to find food shaped life on Earth, and gave rise to one of nature’s most insatiable feeders. This feeding frenzy has origins from half a billion years ago.

Episode 4 , The Dolphin – In the Bahamas, Chris dives into one of the biggest questions in nature - how intelligence itself evolved, and how it arose in the dolphin's mind. Inside each is the result of a three-billion-year journey.

Episode 5 , The Horse – In the salt marshes of the Camargue, Chris explores the evolutionary beginnings of animal movement and how it reached its peak in one of the most elegant and athletic animals on Earth: the horse.

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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.