Channel 4
Putin: A Russian Spy Story, Channel 4 review - inside the mind of a man without a faceTuesday, 24 March 2020
Director Nick Green’s new three-parter follows on the heels of his A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad and comparisons are sure to be made between his two subjects. Though the finer degrees of political power-play – and the sheer quantity of... Read more... |
Feel Good, Channel 4 and Netflix review - a fresh, bingeable comedy that digs deep but feels mildThursday, 19 March 2020
“I am not intense.” That declaration arrives early in Feel Good, the new Channel 4 and Netflix romantic comedy fronted by comedian Mae Martin, who plays a fictionalised version of herself. Over Mae’s shoulder, we see a literal trash fire. She’s lit... Read more... |
Five Guys a Week, Channel 4 review - lemming-like contestants make spectacles of themselvesWednesday, 11 March 2020
Channel 4 loves to walk the line between the compulsive and the repulsive, and this new dating show, complete with fake-salacious title, is a peerless specimen. The set-up is simple – one woman asks five guys who are “looking for love” to move in... Read more... |
The Windsors, Series 3, Channel 4 review - perfect timing for return of the bogus royalsWednesday, 26 February 2020
The rage and bitterness surrounding the Brexit brouhaha have made it immune to comedy and satire, but perhaps change is in the wind. Channel 4’s bogus royal family is back after a two-year gap, charged (as an introductory voice-over explained) by... Read more... |
How To Stay out of Jail, Channel 4 review – a bold rehabilitation programme from Durham policeWednesday, 19 February 2020
With prison overcrowding reaching chronic proportions, police in County Durham have developed the Checkpoint programme to try to keep offenders out of jail with rehabilitation in the community. It’s like Felons Anonymous – candidates have to sign a... Read more... |
Baghdad Central, Channel 4 review - thriller set in the aftermath of the Iraq warTuesday, 04 February 2020
Inspector Muhsin al-Khafaji of the Iraqi police may be set to become one of those classically dog-eared, depressed and down-at-heel detectives who have proliferated in crime fiction. He could join a lineage that includes Martin Cruz Smith’s battered... Read more... |
Crazy Delicious, Channel 4 review - the most ridiculous cooking programme on TV ?Wednesday, 22 January 2020
The race continues to create the most ridiculous cooking programme on TV. Channel 4’s new brainchild, Crazy Delicious, finds the culinary nutty professor Heston Blumenthal teaming up with fellow-judges Carla Hall and Niklas Ekstedt to become the “... Read more... |
Deadwater Fell, Channel 4 review - dark murder mystery in a Scottish villageSaturday, 11 January 2020
An idyllic Scottish classroom full of happy children making sponge paintings of flowers with two enthusiastic young teachers – clearly, doom is in the air. Here comes that sense of dread again a little later at a ceilidh in a village hall, with... Read more... |
The Accident, Series Finale, Channel 4 review - ambitious mini-series leaves many unanswered questionsFriday, 15 November 2019
Channel 4’s The Accident closed with a bang and a whimper. Jack Thorne provided a definitive answer to his series’ central question, but his characters and subplots petered out in the meantime.Over four episodes, this series examined the fallout of... Read more... |
The Great British Bake Off, Series 10 finale, Channel 4 review - bittersweet end to a divisive seriesWednesday, 30 October 2019
And that’s a wrap: last night concluded 10 years of The Great British Bake Off. This show is the nation’s TV equivalent of comfort food. In the past, it has stuck to a well-worn recipe — the result was fun to fight over but easy to love.This series... Read more... |
The Accident, Channel 4 review - Sarah Lancashire leads another bleak but gripping dramaFriday, 25 October 2019
I wouldn’t want to live in Jack Thorne’s head. Nor Sarah Lancashire’s, for that matter. The Accident is Thorne’s latest four-part drama, and the final instalment in his grim and gripping trilogy of shows for Channel 4. The Accident’s predecessors... Read more... |
The British Tribe Next Door, Channel 4 review - risible culture-clash farragoWednesday, 23 October 2019
What’s the most ridiculous programme that Channel 4 has ever made? Sex Box? The Execution of Gary Glitter? Extreme Celebrity Detox? Whatever, The British Tribe Next Door is up there vying for supremacy.The Moffatt family, from Bishop Auckland, have... Read more... |
