BBC2

Wonderfully naturalistic and intriguingly odd: BBC2’s The Gallows Pole reviewed

3 June 2023 9:00 am

In advance, The Gallows Pole: This Valley Will Rise was touted as a radical departure for director Shane Meadows. After…

Alienatingly sweet and warm: BBC2's The Newsreader reviewed

30 July 2022 9:00 am

When TV makes shows about TV, it rarely has a good word to say for itself. In the likes of…

Relentless and shouty: BBC2's Then Barbara met Alan reviewed

26 March 2022 9:00 am

BBC2’s one-off drama Then Barbara Met Alan(Monday) told the true story of how two disabled performers on the cabaret circuit…

What’ll happen next – or what’s happened so far – is anybody’s guess: The Ipcress File reviewed

12 March 2022 9:00 am

ITV’s new version of The Ipcress File began with a close-up of a pair of black-rimmed glasses just like those…

For all its absurdity, it delivers the goods: BBC2's Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America reviewed

26 February 2022 9:00 am

In the latest episode of Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America, Louis asked a rapper called Broke Baby if ‘it’s important to…

Some jolly TV artifice and a rare moment of authenticity: C4’s Miriam and Alan – Lost in Scotland reviewed

20 November 2021 9:00 am

Thanks to Covid, the days are gone — or at least suspended — when a TV travel programme meant a…

A highly polished exercise in treading water: Season 3 of Succession reviewed

23 October 2021 9:00 am

At one point in an early Simpsons, Homer comes across an old issue of TV Guide, and finds the listing…

Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution should be called ‘The Tragedy of Gordon Brown'

9 October 2021 9:00 am

Murder Island features eight real-life ‘ordinary people’ seeking to solve a fictional killing on a fictional Scottish island. What follows…

Bleak, unashamedly macho and grown-up: BBC2's The North Water reviewed

11 September 2021 9:00 am

‘The world is hell, and men are both the tormented souls and the devils within it.’ This was the cheery…

A total mess: BBC2's The Watch reviewed

14 August 2021 9:00 am

Last Sunday on Channel 4, a man called Eric Nicoli proudly remembered ‘the bravest thing I’ve ever done’. In November…

A very watchable doc cashing in on Line of Duty: BBC2's Bent Coppers reviewed

24 April 2021 9:00 am

If you’re after an exciting, twisty programme about police corruption that doesn’t also feel a bit like sitting an exam…

John DeLorean: man of mystery – and full-blown psychopath

30 January 2021 9:00 am

DeLorean: Back from the Future was one of those documentaries — for me at least — that takes a story…

Is The Undoing properly great or just a run-of-mill thriller with a brilliant casting director?

7 November 2020 9:00 am

There must be some people somewhere who vaguely know their own spouses — but if so, they don’t tend to…

Enough plotlines to power several seasons of The West Wing: BBC1's Roadkill reviewed

24 October 2020 9:00 am

Like many a political thriller before it, BBC1’s Roadkill began with a politician emerging into the daylight to face a…

Funny, tender and properly horrible: Channel 4’s Adult Material reviewed

10 October 2020 9:00 am

A woman is eating a pie in her car as it gets an automatic wash. Careful to keep the pie…

What on earth has happened to Simon Schama: The Romantics and Us reviewed

12 September 2020 9:00 am

‘You may think our modern world was born yesterday,’ said Simon Schama at the beginning of The Romantics and Us.…

Sumptuous and very promising: A Suitable Boy reviewed

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Nobody could argue that Andrew Davies isn’t up for a challenge. He’d also surely be a shoo-in for Monty Python’s…

The real Rupert Murdoch, by Kelvin MacKenzie

1 August 2020 9:00 am

The BBC documentary on Rupert Murdoch is pure one-sided bile, says Kelvin MacKenzie

An extraordinary tale: BBC2’s The Countess and the Russian Billionaire reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

There can’t be many programmes that bring to mind quotations from both Henry Kissinger and Boney M., but BBC2’s The…

Undeniably eye-popping: BBC2’s Louis Theroux – Selling Sex reviewed

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Victoria, a single mother in her early thirties, is getting her children ready for school — ensuring an equitable distribution…

Is the patriarchy as all-powerful as it’s cracked up to be? The Baby Has Landed reviewed

30 November 2019 9:00 am

Anybody who watched the opening episode of The Baby Has Landed (BBC2, Wednesday) might have found themselves wondering if the…

Praise be to Mary MacLeod Trump. [Photo: The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images]

If we do get a good Anglo-American trade deal, we should thank Trump’s mother

26 October 2019 9:00 am

In an uncharacteristic fit of almost-robustness, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has said she is ‘open-minded’ about scrapping the BBC licence…

Should we be playing the surveillance state for laughs? Celebrity Hunted reviewed

19 October 2019 9:00 am

One of the many great things about The Capture was that we could never be sure whether the British authorities’…

A badly missed opportunity: How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain reviewed

27 July 2019 9:00 am

BBC2’s How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain (Tuesday) began rather promisingly. ‘I’m a working-class comedian who voted Leave,’ announced presenter…