The only things left worth watching on the BBC are foreign buy-ins like The Last Wave
Soon, very soon now — even sooner than I imagined, if A Suitable Boy turns out to be as lacklustre…
Why I love French telly
There’s a scene in the French espionage series The Bureau — about the DGSE, France’s equivalent of the CIA or…
Trump shouldn’t wear a mask
Next time Donald Trump poses for a photo call in one of those ridiculous, unnecessary and completely off-brand face masks,…
Pure poison: BBC1’s Talking Heads reviewed
The big mistake people make with Alan Bennett is to conflate him with his fellow Yorkshireman David Hockney. But whereas…
Dystopian notes
Albion is toast Australia: will you take me? You’ve always been high on my list of escape destinations when everything…
Jeffrey Epstein really was a streak of slime
Did Jeffrey Epstein kill himself or was he murdered — and frankly who cares? Actually, having watched the four-part Netflix…
I so wanted to enjoy White Lines but it's spectacularly uninvolving
If I could live my life over again my plan used to be that I’d make my fortune very early,…
Netflix’s Caliphate is all too frighteningly plausible
Sweden is now properly celebrated as the Land that Called Coronavirus Correctly. But in the distant past, those with long…
Superbly convincing: Unorthodox reviewed
When I lived briefly in Stamford Hill I was mesmerised by the huge fur hats (shtreimel) worn by the local…
A leftie jumps out of the closet (no, not that closet)
Michael Moore’s new film exposes the renewables hoax
The Amazon Prime doc that will convert anyone to cricket
Imagine rooting for the Australian cricket team. If you’re Scottish, Welsh or Irish — or Australian obviously — it might…
A Formula 1 doc for people who hate Formula 1
Some years ago I was invited to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone courtesy of a watch manufacturer. As freebies…
Foreign language TV is without the political correctness spoiling English drama
Every cloud has a silver lining. Never again are you likely to have a better opportunity to catch up with…
Wu flu notes
My Coronavirus hell Many of you will be wondering what it’s like to get the coronavirus – aka Wu Flu,…
Should 'Spanish flu' have been known as 'American flu'?
There’s an ongoing debate in the media as to whether or not president Trump is being ‘racist’ by repeatedly referring…
Old-school Sunday-night family viewing: ITV's Belgravia reviewed
The world may be going to hell in a handcart but some things remain reassuringly unchanged: Julian Fellowes period dramas…
Short notes
Confessions of a Coronavirus vulture The luckiest man in the world is a financier friend of mine who decided two…
Why I've lost respect for Jeremy Clarkson
If Jeremy Clarkson had lived through the Wars of the Roses he would have been neither a Yorkist nor a…
Stairway to Gaia
A day on the green with St Greta
Too edgy and clever to be wasted on kids: Netflix’s Locke & Key reviewed
One of my perpetual gnawing terrors is that I’ll recommend a series that looks initially promising but turns out to…
The Democrats are fracking insane
This article is in The Spectator’s March 2020 US edition. Subscribe here. What could be more emblematic of the American Dream than…
The appeal of psychopaths
Ever since the end of Gomorrah season four (Sky Atlantic) I have been bereft. I eked it out for as…
SAS: Who Dares Wins is harsh, gruelling and transgressively countercultural
SAS: Who Dares Wins (Channel 4, Sundays) is literally the only programme left on terrestrial TV that I can bear…
How to be a man
The river of death has brimmed his banks And England’s far and Honour’s a name But the voice of…
Netflix's Messiah is a great concept undermined by implausible politics
Sky’s latest bingewatch potboiler Cobra can’t quite make up its mind whether it wants to be an arch, knowing House……
