documentary

What did Leni Riefenstahl know?

10 May 2025 9:00 am

Leni Riefenstahl: what are we to make of her? What did she know? Often described as ‘Hitler’s favourite filmmaker’, she…

Confection of sex, bad history and nonsense: Apple TV+’s Carême reviewed

10 May 2025 9:00 am

Antonin Carême was known as the ‘chef of kings and the king of chefs’. His patrons and employers included Talleyrand,…

How come the only Palestinians Louis Theroux met were non-violent sweeties?

3 May 2025 9:00 am

Louis Theroux: The Settlers was never likely to be a programme with much of a narrative arc – and so…

How fun is it being part of an Amazonian tribe?

5 April 2025 9:00 am

Tribe with Bruce Parry ran for three fondly remembered series in the mid-2000s. Now, upgraded to Tribe with Bruce Parry,…

Outstanding and eye-opening doc about North Korea: Beyond Utopia review

4 November 2023 9:00 am

The documentary Beyond Utopia follows various families as they attempt to flee North Korea. It is eye-opening and outstanding. In…

Much of the mysteriousness is inadvertent: ITV’s The Reunion reviewed

12 August 2023 9:00 am

The Reunion opened in 1997 with some young people being carefree: a fact they obligingly signalled by zipping around the…

A Soviet version of Martin Parr: Adam Curtis’s Russia 1985-1999 –TraumaZone reviewed

29 October 2022 9:00 am

Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone – even the title makes you want to scream – is Adam Curtis’s Metal Machine Music: the…

Well-meaning thriller with moments of implausibility: BBC1's Crossfire reviewed

24 September 2022 9:00 am

Crossfire was a three-part drama in more ways than one. Running every night from Tuesday to Thursday, it brought together…

A David Bowie doc like no other: Moonage Daydream reviewed

17 September 2022 9:00 am

Moonage Daydream is a music documentary like no other, which is fitting as the subject is David Bowie. If it’s…

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…

The joy of volcano-chasing

23 July 2022 9:00 am

Mary Wakefield on Katia and Maurice Krafft, who loved volcanoes and each other

The definitive Diana doc? Possibly not: The Princess reviewed

2 July 2022 9:00 am

The Princess, a new documentary film, is the first re-framing of the Princess Diana story since it was last re-framed,…

A very classy thriller indeed: C4's The Undeclared War reviewed

2 July 2022 9:00 am

The Undeclared War has many of the traditional signifiers of a classy thriller: the assiduous letter-by-letter captioning of every location;…

May put you off Chaplin for ever: The Real Charlie Chaplin reviewed

19 February 2022 9:00 am

Charlie Chaplin is one of the most famous movie stars ever and is certainly the most famous movie star with…

A TV doc that is truly brave: BBC1's Ian Wright – Home Truths reviewed

8 May 2021 9:00 am

Ian Wright: Home Truths began with the ex-footballer saying that the home he grew up in was ‘not a happy…

A redemption song, conventionally sung: Sky's Tina reviewed

1 May 2021 9:00 am

It has never been easy for women in the music industry. Once upon a time the evidence was largely anecdotal.…

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…

Contains nothing you couldn't get from Wikipedia or YouTube: Netflix's Pelé reviewed

27 February 2021 9:00 am

Pelé is a two-hour documentary about the great Brazilian footballer — the greatest footballer ever, some would say — who…

Makes me nostalgic for an era when music was more than a click away: Teenage Superstars reviewed

13 February 2021 9:00 am

In Teenage Superstars, a long and slightly exhausting documentary about the Scottish indie scene of the 1980s and ’90s, there…

Incoherent and conspiracy-fuelled: Adam Curtis’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head reviewed

13 February 2021 9:00 am

‘History,’ wrote Edward Gibbon, ‘is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.’ In…

It’ll blow you away: Collective reviewed

28 November 2020 9:00 am

When I recommend this documentary to people, telling them it follows the journalistic investigation into a fire that broke out…

A gripping portrait: Billie reviewed

14 November 2020 9:00 am

This documentary about Billie Holiday is transfixing. Not just because it’s about Billie Holiday — I am not into jazz…

A convincing and hair-raising depiction of showbiz at its most luridly weird: I Hate Suzie reviewed

29 August 2020 9:00 am

Fifteen minutes into the first episode of I Hate Suzie, main character Suzie Pickles was doing a photoshoot in her…

Fascinatingly weird – but not satisfyingly weird: Herzog’s Family Romance LLC reviewed

4 July 2020 9:00 am

In the past Werner Herzog has given us a man pushing a ship up a mountain, a 16th-century conquistador going…