TV
Extinction: The Facts, BBC One review - David Attenborough tells a devastating storyMonday, 14 September 2020
Fires are raging: by human agency – unthinking greed – in the Amazonian rainforest, by climate change, arson and accident in California and the American Northwest, and barely under control in Australia, another country whose leading politicians and... Read more... |
The Singapore Grip, ITV review - colonial clichésMonday, 14 September 2020
ITV’s Sunday evening costume drama slot is filled for the next six weeks with this lacklustre adaptation of JG Farrell’s satirical novel, The Singapore Grip. Set in 1942, it was written in 1978 as the final part of his trilogy about British... Read more... |
Away, Netflix review - pioneering voyage to Mars descends into astrosoapFriday, 11 September 2020
Could you cope with spending three years away from your family and loved ones while you went on the first crewed mission to Mars? This is the question that underpins Away, Netflix’s new space exploration drama.Certainly it’s a daunting ask, but if... Read more... |
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum, ITV review - will motherhood be the gateway to a new life?Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Apart from her acting abilities, the qualities which made Sheridan Smith a star were her authenticity and lack of pretension. Both shone brightly from ITV's affecting documentary, in which Smith assessed how her success affected her mental health... Read more... |
All Creatures Great and Small, Channel 5 review - revival of vintage vet show is full of Yorkshire promiseWednesday, 02 September 2020
The BBC’s version of James Herriot’s books about his life as a Yorkshire vet became a weekend TV staple, running for seven series and a couple of Christmas specials between the late Seventies and the start of the Nineties. This elegantly-mounted... Read more... |
I Hate Suzie, Sky Atlantic review - Billie Piper excels as an actress on the edgeFriday, 28 August 2020
“I’m going to be a Disney princess!” Thirty-five-year-old actress Suzie Pickles (Billie Piper) is screaming with joy at having got the part, and her deaf, seven-year-old son Frank (Matthew Jordan-Caws) looks excited too. Her husband’s reaction? “I... Read more... |
Our World: Colombia - Saving Eden, BBC Two review - the war is over, but can they save the rainforests?Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Stories of the destruction of the natural environment are depressingly common, but Frank Gardner brought a fresh slant to this punchy account of a botanical expedition to Colombia (BBC Two). Best known as the BBC’s security correspondent, Gardner... Read more... |
The Truth about Cosmetic Treatments, BBC One review - pain, but not much gain?Wednesday, 26 August 2020
According to one interviewee here, a young Mancunian woman festooned with eyeliner, tattoos, pumped-up lips and huge hoop earrings, a major motivation for having cosmetic treatments is to make yourself look like Kylie Jenner and the Kardashians. “... Read more... |
The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech, BBC Two review - a stomach-turning swamp of lies and incompetenceTuesday, 25 August 2020
The story of the malignant fantasist Carl Beech is one of the more iniquitous episodes in British legal history, a stomach-turning swamp of lies, gullibility and heinous incompetence. It shook faith in some of our supposedly most robust institutions... Read more... |
Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom, BBC Two review - winners and losers as Manchester becomes Manc-hattanWednesday, 19 August 2020
“Manctopia” sounds like a blissed-out buzzword from the golden years of New Order and Happy Mondays, but in this four-part series (BBC Two) it’s used to describe the explosive redevelopment of Manchester. One of the fastest growing cities in Europe... Read more... |
Lovecraft Country, Sky Atlantic review - Misha Green, Jordan Peele and JJ Abrams take us on horror-driven road tripTuesday, 18 August 2020
The timing couldn’t be more perfect for a series like Lovecraft Country (Sky Atlantic) in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Here we have a spectacular show in which fantasy, horror and America’s racist legacy collide with remarkable... Read more... |
Mandy, BBC2 review - Diane Morgan's new creationFriday, 14 August 2020
Mandy started life in the Comedy Shorts season last year, and has now been given a six-part series. Diane Morgan, who has a solid CV in other writers' work including Philomena Cunk, Motherland and After Life, here writes, directs and stars as the... Read more... |
