tv
Spiral, Series 7, BBC Four review - hard-hitting return of our favourite French cop showSunday, 20 October 2019
And welcome back to our favourite French cop show – perhaps our favourite cop show from anywhere, in fact – which has raced into its seventh series (on BBC Four) with some typically grimy storylines about death and lowlife in a very de-romanticised Paris. Read more... |
Giri/Haji, BBC Two review - inspired Anglo-Japanese thriller makes compulsive viewingFriday, 18 October 2019
Well here’s an interesting one. We’ve been up to our eyebrows in Eurocops for the past few years, but this Anglo-Japanese fusion from BBC Two (the title translates as "Duty / Shame") feels strikingly fresh and different. Read more... |
In the Long Run, Series 2, Sky 1 review - Idris Elba's warm-hearted comedy returnsThursday, 17 October 2019
Dust off the record player: Idris Elba’s Eighties comedy In the Long Run (Sky 1) has returned for a second series. Read more... |
Lenny Henry's Race Through Comedy, Gold review - illuminating account of TV's struggle to become multiculturalWednesday, 16 October 2019
Sir Lenny Henry, PhD and CBE, is scarcely recognisable as the teenager who made his TV debut on New Faces in 1975. He’s been a stand-up comedian, musician and Shakespearean actor, and even wrote his own dramatised autobiography for BBC One. Read more... |
Chaos in the Cockpit: Flights from Hell, Channel 5 review - do we really want to watch plane-wreck TV?Tuesday, 15 October 2019
Apparently your odds of dying in a plane crash are about one in 11 million, while chances of death in a car accident are about one in 5,000. Therefore flying is theoretically safe, and supposedly getting safer. Read more... |
Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes, BBC Four review - a perfectly paced tale of world-shaking basslines and human frailtySaturday, 12 October 2019
If there was ever a documentary that needed you to have good speakers on your TV setup – or good headphones if you're watching on computer or tablet – this is it. Read more... |
The Capture, BBC One, series finale review - nimble drama alive with twistsWednesday, 09 October 2019
What did we learn at the end of The Capture (BBC One)? A rice jar is a good place to hide USB sticks. It’s possible to withhold the opening credits for 11 whole minutes. A green coat works exceptionally well with light blue eyes and shoulder-length auburn hair. Read more... |
Doing Drugs for Fun, Channel 5 review - why the cocaine trade is no laughing matterWednesday, 09 October 2019
Monday night’s first episode of this three-part series was a bit ordinary, as it introduced its cast of British recreational cocaine users and explained why their habit may be ill-advised. Read more... |
The Great British Bake Off, Episode 7, Channel 4 review - bakers hampered by pointless celebritiesWednesday, 09 October 2019
What’s extraordinary about Bake Off is not just the staggering complexity of the cooking challenges, but the amount of technical shenanigans that go into turning it into a finished programme (actually, spoiler-averse Channel 4 had teasingly left the ending off my preview version of this week’s show, but... Read more... |
Catherine the Great, Sky Atlantic review - a glorious role for Helen Mirren only gets betterFriday, 04 October 2019
“I want something Russian…” It’s with such a cry that Helen Mirren, bored by the bizarrely transgressive masked ball that comes at the close of the first episode of Catherine the Great, gets the dancing going: nothing from the imported fashions of Europe will do for her, and the music duly strikes up, a soupily romantic melody on violin, the quintessence, you might think, of mythic "Russianness”. Read more... |
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