Television
A highly polished exercise in treading water: Season 3 of Succession reviewed
At one point in an early Simpsons, Homer comes across an old issue of TV Guide, and finds the listing…
Lurking beneath the gore are moments of wit and sensitivity: Squid Game reviewed
Should we be worried that Squid Game is the most popular show in Netflix’s history? If it’s a case of…
Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution should be called ‘The Tragedy of Gordon Brown'
Murder Island features eight real-life ‘ordinary people’ seeking to solve a fictional killing on a fictional Scottish island. What follows…
Somewhere between eye-opening and jaw-dropping: Sky's Hawking – Can You Hear Me? reviewed
It is, of course, not unknown for a man to become famous with the support of his family — and,…
Amateurish and implausible: BBC1's Vigil reviewed
Tense, claustrophobic, gripping, thrilling, realistic: just some of the adjectives no one is using to describe BBC1’s Sunday night submarine…
Bleak, unashamedly macho and grown-up: BBC2's The North Water reviewed
‘The world is hell, and men are both the tormented souls and the devils within it.’ This was the cheery…
Up there with Succession and Chernobyl: The White Lotus, Sky Atlantic, reviewed
Every now and then, you see a new series — Succession, say, or Chernobyl or To the Lake — which…
Apocalypse, Seventies-style: BritBox's Survivors reviewed
When the apocalypse comes, I want it to be scripted by a 1970s screenwriter. That’s my conclusion after watching the…
A total mess: BBC2's The Watch reviewed
Last Sunday on Channel 4, a man called Eric Nicoli proudly remembered ‘the bravest thing I’ve ever done’. In November…
Switch over to Eurosport: BBC's Olympic coverage reviewed
I’ve not been allowed anywhere near the TV remote control this week because of some kind of infernal sporting event…
When did Sunday night TV become so grim? Baptiste reviewed
There was, you may remember, a time when Sunday night television was rather a jolly affair: gently plotted and full…
The techniques of totalitarianism are still fully in play today
How to Become a Tyrant(Netflix) is ideal history TV for Generation No Attention Span. Presented in six bite-sized chunks by…
Looks lovely if nothing else: Craig and Bruno's Great British Road Trips reviewed
To its huge credit, ITV has managed to find perhaps the last two television celebrities who’ve never before been filmed…
The best thing on TV ever: Rick and Morty, Season 5, reviewed
I’ve been trying to avoid the house TV room as much as possible recently because it tends to be occupied…
Thoughtful and impeccable: Ken Burns's Hemingway reviewed
Ken Burns made his name in 1990 with The Civil War, the justly celebrated 11-and-a-half-hour documentary series that gave America’s…
First-rate TV: Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime reviewed
I was at a party the other day when who should accost me but Jeremy Clarkson. There were lots more…
GB News will succeed – even if it fails
Help! If I’m too kind to GB News, my bosses at LBC will be cross as the channel nicked their…
One of the best Covid dramas so far: BBC2's Together reviewed
Let me start with a spot of admin: if you’re wondering what The Speccie makes of GB News, it’ll be…
The clichés of Israeli TV are far more bearable than ours
Tragically it wasn’t my turn to review when Channel 5’s groundbreaking Anne Boleyn came out so you’ll never find out…
Camp am-dram, plus stuff about the patriarchy: Channel 5's Anne Boleyn reviewed
Fifty-one years ago, in the BBC’s much-acclaimed The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was portrayed as a brave…
Latest proof that western civilisation is over: Sky Atlantic's Domina reviewed
I’ve been looking at the reviews so far of Sky’s new Romans series Domina and none seems to have noticed…
Quietly radiates a wholly justified confidence: BBC 1’s The Pact reviewed
There was certainly no lack of variety among new TV dramas this week, with a standard British thriller up against…
Honest, faithful and fantastically enjoyable: BBC1's The Pursuit of Love reviewed
I’d been expecting the BBC to make a dreadful hash of The Pursuit of Love, especially when I read that…
A TV doc that is truly brave: BBC1's Ian Wright – Home Truths reviewed
Ian Wright: Home Truths began with the ex-footballer saying that the home he grew up in was ‘not a happy…
This Is My House has rekindled my love for the BBC
Here’s a thought that will make you feel old. Or worried. Or both. The poke-fun-at-celebrity-houses series Through the Keyhole —…
