wed 25/06/2025

tv

Baghdad Central, Channel 4 review - thriller set in the aftermath of the Iraq war

Adam Sweeting

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 Russian sleuth Arkady Renko, or Bernie Gunther, anti-hero of Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy. Or he may create his own category of one.

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Shock of the Nude with Mary Beard, BBC Two review - when does art become erotica?

Marina Vaizey

Are you a fan of oysters or Marmite? Mary Beard is not to everybody’s taste, but love her or loathe her she is not only a distinguished academic but a ubiquitous writer and presenter of classical histories, connected travels, and ruminations on societal problems.

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Belsen: Our Story, BBC Two review - inside the unfathomable horror of the Holocaust

Adam Sweeting

The 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz reminds us once again of the unfathomable horror of the Holocaust. The revival of anti-semitism in our own country and elsewhere is why it’s worth telling these terrible stories again and again.

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Young, Sikh and Proud, BBC One review - siblings divided by their attitudes to faith

Adam Sweeting

Journalist Sunny Hundal has a long track record as a writer and blogger concerned with issues of race, politics and ethnicity.

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Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music, BBC Four review - an essay on the emotional power of music

Marina Vaizey

Drums away: Stewart Copeland, drummer with The Police and a score of other groups, composer for films, video games and operas, now beams enthusiastically at us from the small screen.

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Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting, BBC Two review - is it too late to get population growth under control?

Adam Sweeting

We hear plenty of debate about climate change and its disastrous potential, but the ballooning growth of the world’s population may be the most critical issue facing humankind.

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Crazy Delicious, Channel 4 review - the most ridiculous cooking programme on TV ?

Adam Sweeting

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 “Gods of Food”.

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The Outsider, Sky Atlantic review - double trouble in small-town Georgia

Adam Sweeting

Stephen King’s novels have generated an impressive lineage of successful adaptations.

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Cobra, Sky 1 review - entertaining mix of political mischief and cosmic chaos

Adam Sweeting

If nothing else, you’d want to tune in to Cobra (Sky 1) for its cast. Robert Carlyle is steely and decisive as Prime Minister Robert Sutherland, his indispensable fixer Anna Marshall is played by Victoria “Queen Mother” Hamilton, and David Haig oozes bullying malevolence as Home Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan.

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Messiah, Netflix review - con-artist or the Second Coming?

Adam Sweeting

It’s an intriguing question. If a new Messiah appeared today, what kind of reception could he (if it was a he) expect? Possibly something similar to the one which greeted Jesus, according to Netflix’s new series Messiah.

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