Down Cemetery Road, Apple TV review - wit, grit and a twisty plot, plus Emma Thompson on top form

★★★★ DOWN CEMETERY ROAD, APPLE TV Wit, grit & a twisty plot, Emma Thompson on top form

Mick Herron's female private investigator gets a stellar adaptation

Back in 2003, when Mick Herron was a humble sub-editor, his debut novel was published, the first of what became a four-volume series, the Zoë Boehm thrillers. Inevitably, after the success of his later Slow Horses series, television has snaffled this character up too. Morwenna Banks works on both series as a writer-producer. And it shows.

A House of Dynamite review - the final countdown

★★★ A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE Kathryn Bigelow sets the nuclear clock ticking again

Kathryn Bigelow's cautionary tale sets the nuclear clock ticking again

Armageddon is here again, as Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in eight years examines the minutes before a nuclear missile hits Chicago from multiple perspectives, finding no hope anywhere.

Slow Horses, Series 5, Apple TV+ review - terror, trauma and impeccable comic timing

★★★★ SLOW HORSES, SERIES 5, APPLE TV+ Terror, trauma and impeccable comic timing

Jackson Lamb's band of MI5 misfits continues to fascinate and amuse

Fifth time around, Slow Horses continues to show the rest of the field a clean pair of heels. Or hooves. The adventures of Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and his peculiar little band of secret service misfits have come to exert a fierce stranglehold on the viewing public. Horses must be perilously close to being officially declared a cult.

theartsdesk Q&A: actor Sam Riley on playing a washed-up loner in the thriller 'Islands'

The actor discusses his love of self-destructive characters and the problem with fame

You won't find Sam Riley lying at the pool in a holiday resort – unless it's for work. "I'd rather stay home to be honest", says the Berlin-based Yorkshireman, who plays a washed-up tennis player turned coach living on the Canary island of Fuerteventura in Jan-Ole Gerster's slow-burning psychological thriller Islands. "I'm sure it's great to drop the kids off for a while and enjoy some peace and quiet. But my idea of relaxation is quite different."

In Flight, Channel 4 review - drugs, thugs and Bulgarian gangsters

★★★ IN FLIGHT, CHANNEL 4 Drugs, thugs and Bulgarian gangsters

Katherine Kelly's flight attendant is battling a sea of troubles

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.

The Kingdom review - coming of age as the body count rises

A teen belatedly bonds with her mysterious dad in an unflinching Corsican mob drama

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree is the bitter message of The Kingdom. Director and co-writer Julien Colonna’s nerve-fraying drama about an adolescent girl’s sudden immersion in the brutal, uber-macho world of her father, a ruthless Corsican mafia boss, or caïd, builds inexorably to the only possible conclusion. It's still shocking; cathartic, too, but dispiritingly so.

Ballard, Prime Video review - there's something rotten in the LAPD

★★★★ BALLARD, PRIME VIDEO Persuasive dramatisation of Michael Connelly's female detective

Persuasive dramatisation of Michael Connelly's female detective

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.

Ballerina review - hollow point

Ana de Armas joins the Wick-verse to frenetic but soulless effect

John Wick’s simple story of a man and his dog became a bonkers, baroque franchise in record time, converting Keanu Reeves’ limited acting into Zen killer cool. Now Ana de Armas extends her delightful No Time to Die cameo as a high-kicking, cocktail-dressed MI6 agent into her own heroic assassin.

Blu-ray: Eclipse

★★★ BLU-RAY: ECLIPSE Unsettling 1977 thriller starring Tom Conti and Gay Hamilton

The BFI has unearthed an unsettling 1977 thriller starring Tom Conti and Gay Hamilton

What constitutes a “lost classic”? I guess we can’t say it’s an oxymoron, since we readily accept the concept of “instant classic”? Either way, the “classic” aspect may be in the eye of the beholder, but “lost" is more easily quantified. Simon Perry’s slippery 1977 psychological thriller Eclipse certainly fits the bill, having languished unseen in the BFI vaults for nigh on half a century.

The Accountant 2 review - belated return of Ben Affleck's lethal bean-counter

★★★ THE ACCOUNTANT 2 Belated return of Ben Affleck's lethal bean-counter

Horror, humour and mind games combine in Gavin O'Connor's sequel

It’s been nine years since Ben Affleck’s original portrayal of Christian Wolff in The Accountant, who’s not only an accountant but also a super-efficient assassin working for the highest bidders. In this follow-up, again directed by Gavin O’Connor and written by Bill Dubuque, Affleck barely seems to have aged, and he's still solitary, anti-social and probably autistic.