TV
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... |
AIM Awards 2020, SBTV review - a game attempt to rewire awards ceremoniesThursday, 13 August 2020
Music awards shows are a strange beast: part window display, part industry conference and part party. Especially if you don’t have Brit Awards or Mercury Prize budget to create a whizz-bang spectacle, the ceremonies can be an interminable pileup of... Read more... |
Cuba: Castro vs the World, BBC Two - turbulent life and times of El ComandanteWednesday, 12 August 2020
During World War Two, President Franklin D Roosevelt described the USA as “the arsenal of democracy”. Only a couple of decades later, Fidel Castro was busily turning Cuba, only 100 miles from the US mainland, into the factory of revolution,... Read more... |
The Adulterer, Channel 4 review - atmospheric, addictive and bingeworthyMonday, 10 August 2020
It has taken a good half decade for the Dutch series Overspel (The Adulterer) to make it on to TV screens in the UK. Its 32 episodes were made in 2011-2015, but the third and final series is only now being broadcast on Channel 4’s Walter Presents.... Read more... |
