tv
King & Conqueror, BBC One review - not many kicks in 1066Thursday, 28 August 2025
In this strangely dreary recreation of 11th century history, it’s not just grim oop north, it’s grim everywhere. King & Conqueror purports to be the story of how the Norman monarch William (the titular Conqueror) and England’s King Harold found themselves locked in a battle to the death at Hastings, each having negotiated a fearsome labyrinth of plots, treachery, ambition and murder in order to become top dog on either side of the English Channel. Read more... |
Hostage, Netflix review - entente not-too-cordialeSunday, 24 August 2025
Conceived and written by Matt Charman, whose CV includes an Oscar nomination for his work on Steven Spielberg’s film Bridge of Spies, Hostage is a rather puzzling mix of political thriller and domestic drama which can never decide whether it’s serious or not. Read more... |
In Flight, Channel 4 review - drugs, thugs and Bulgarian gangstersMonday, 18 August 2025
What would TV screenwriters do without drugs? In Flight, created by Mike Walden and Adam Randall, is yet another drama depicting the perils and pitfalls of getting sucked into the narcotics trade, though it does deliver a twist or two to distinguish it from earlier specimens. Read more... |
Alien: Earth, Disney+ review - was this interstellar journey really necessary?Friday, 15 August 2025
Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie from 1979 was an all-time sci-fi/horror classic, and even an endless stream of sequels and spin-offs – Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien vs Predator, Prometheus, Alien: Romulus et al – hasn’t diluted the electrifying impact of the original. Read more... |
The Count of Monte Cristo, U&Drama review - silly telly for the silly seasonTuesday, 05 August 2025
Alexandre Dumas’ novel has been filmed an immeasurable number of times (there was a new French version only last year) and televised even more frequently (a Mexican incarnation materialised in 2023). Yet the world still can’t get enough, so here’s another one, this time a French/Italian production with a polyglot Euro-cast. Read more... |
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, BBC One review - love, death and hell on the Burma railwayThursday, 31 July 2025
Readers of Richard Flanagan’s Booker-winning novel will be familiar with its themes of war, extreme suffering, ageing, memory, fidelity and infidelity, as it roves over the decades from World War Two to the late Eighties. Read more... |
The Waterfront, Netflix review - fish, drugs and rock'n'rollMonday, 28 July 2025
You wouldn’t really want to belong to the Buckley family, a star-crossed dynasty who run their fishing business out of Havenport, North Carolina. As Bree Buckley (daughter of Harlan and Belle) tells recently-discovered family member Shawn, “I wouldn’t wish us on anybody.” Read more... |
Ballard, Prime Video review - there's something rotten in the LAPDTuesday, 22 July 2025
Following the success of its screen version of Michael Connelly’s veteran detective Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, Prime Video aims to make lightning strike twice by televising Connelly’s series of Renée Ballard books. Like Bosch, Ballard works for the LAPD, but has been demoted from the Robbery-Homicide division after reporting a sexual assault by her supervisor, Robert Olivas. Read more... |
Bookish, U&Alibi review - sleuthing and skulduggery in a bomb-battered LondonMonday, 21 July 2025
As a sometime writer of Poirot, Sherlock and Christmas ghost stories, Mark Gatiss is no stranger to enigmatic crimes and bizarre occurrences set in carefully-recreated versions of the past. He revisits similar themes in Bookish, his new series about a second-hand bookseller in post-World War Two London who is evidently concealing some hidden depths. Read more... |
Too Much, Netflix - a romcom that's oversexed, and over hereMonday, 14 July 2025
A thirtysomething American woman with wavering self-confidence, a tendency to talk too much and a longing for married bliss with Mr Darcy at his gorgeous country pile tries to reset her life post-breakup with a grown-up new job in London. Welcome to Bridget Jones country as seen through the lens of New Yorker Lena Dunham. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages...
