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Pose, BBC Two review - transgender goes mainstream

Markie Robson-Scott Friday, 22 March 2019

NYC, 1987. AIDS is ravaging the city, Reagan’s in power, Trump is in his tower. The American dream is available - to some. And for some of those to whom it’s not, there’s the world of balls, vogueing and competing for trophies. If your family has kicked you out for being gay or trans, the balls are a place where you can strike a pose, find acceptance and make your legendary mark.

The Bay, ITV, review - Broadchurch goes north

Jasper Rees Thursday, 21 March 2019

In the 1970s, the Mancunian stand-up Colin Crompton had a famous routine about Morecambe. He characterised Morecambe as “a sort of cemetery with lights” where “they don't bury their dead, they stand them up in bus shelters with a bingo ticket in their hand”.

Shetland, Series 5 Finale, BBC One review - Sicario-on-Sea?

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 20 March 2019

Thing is, a lot of this unpleasantness could have been avoided if DI Jimmy Perez had just watched the second series of The Missing.

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Showbands, BBC Four review - an Irish cultural phenomenon explained

Veronica Lee Saturday, 16 March 2019

Ask most people what a showband is and they’ll give you a blank look. But ask any Irish person (or those born in the Irish diaspora) who is north of 50 and they will probably look misty-eyed. For between the late 1950s and 1980s showbands were a huge Irish cultural phenomenon, and Ardal O’Hanlon was our amiable guide through this brief but illuminating history of them.

Cheat, ITV review - fear and loathing in academia

Adam Sweeting Tuesday, 12 March 2019

As fans of Inspector Morse are well aware, there are plenty of snakes lurking in the grass at our premier seats of learning.

After Life, Netflix, review - Ricky Gervais's grief emoji

Jasper Rees Friday, 08 March 2019

The limitless goodwill generated by The Office earned Ricky Gervais the right to do and say as he pleased. Thus, hosting the Golden Globes, he was toweringly rude to Hollywood royalty. In Extras he gleefully portrayed celebrities as vain and ghastly. In The Invention of Lying he explored the logical consequence of a world in which people say what they really think.

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Leaving Neverland: Michael Jackson and Me, Channel 4 review - sordid revelations from the court of the King of Pop

Adam Sweeting Thursday, 07 March 2019

Not just the Peter Pan of Pop, but also its very own Houdini. With the aid of shed-loads of money, an illusion-spinning PR machine and the most aggressive lawyers that money could buy, Michael Jackson managed to make it to his premature exit in 2009 without being sent to jail.

Derry Girls, Series Two, Channel 4 review - welcome back, gang

Owen Richards Wednesday, 06 March 2019

When Derry Girls premiered on Channel 4 in early 2018, there was little fanfare. But it’s been a whirlwind year for the four girls from Derry (and the wee English lad), capturing British hearts before conquering the US through Netflix.

Fleabag, Series 2 review - a standing ovation

Veronica Lee Tuesday, 05 March 2019

What a super-talented woman Phoebe Waller-Bridge is.

Marianne Faithfull, BBC Four review - more than a vagabond life

Tim Cumming Monday, 04 March 2019

French actor and director Sandrine Bonnaire’s warm, langorous film portrait of la Faithfull may not the first – that accolade goes to Michael Collins’s feature-length Dreaming my Dreams (2000), featuring Mick, Keith, Anita and John Dunbar – but it does feel like a...

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