ITV

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…

Too in thrall to today’s dogmas: ITV1’s A Spy Among Friends reviewed

15 July 2023 9:00 am

In 2014, Ben Macintyre presented a BBC2 documentary based on his book A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the…

Time to take your meds, Kanye

1 July 2023 9:00 am

No one does agonising quite like Mobeen Azhar. In several BBC documentaries now, he’s set his face to pensive, gone…

The BBC's fairly desperate new reality show: Unbreakable reviewed

8 October 2022 9:00 am

On first impression, you might have thought that Unbreakablewas just a fairly desperate reality show cobbled together from I’m a…

Unhurried and accomplished whodunit: ITV's Holding reviewed

19 March 2022 9:00 am

A couple of years ago, I happened to read Graham Norton’s third novel Home Stretch. Rather patronisingly, perhaps, I was…

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…

Shades of Tony Soprano: BBC1's The Responder reviewed

29 January 2022 9:00 am

Older readers may remember a time when people signalled their cultural superiority with the weird boast that they didn’t watch…

When did Sunday night TV become so grim? Baptiste reviewed

31 July 2021 9:00 am

There was, you may remember, a time when Sunday night television was rather a jolly affair: gently plotted and full…

Looks lovely if nothing else: Craig and Bruno's Great British Road Trips reviewed

17 July 2021 9:00 am

To its huge credit, ITV has managed to find perhaps the last two television celebrities who’ve never before been filmed…

It's impossible not to feel snooty watching ITV's Agatha and Poirot

10 April 2021 9:00 am

Agatha and Poirot was one of those programmes that had the annoying effect of making you feel distinctly snooty. ITV’s…

The TV we feared they’d never dare make any more: The Singapore Grip reviewed

19 September 2020 9:00 am

‘Art is dead,’ declared Mark Steyn recently. He was referring to the new rules — copied from the Baftas —…

Who watches the broadcast watchdog?

27 June 2020 9:00 am

At the beginning of April, I became so frustrated by the supine coverage of the government’s response to the coronavirus…

Another drama about how women are great and men are rubbish: C4's Philharmonia reviewed

6 June 2020 9:00 am

On the face of it, a French-language drama about a Parisian symphony orchestra mightn’t sound like the most action-packed of…

Sharp family saga with a thriller uneasily attached: ITV’s Flesh and Blood reviewed

29 February 2020 9:00 am

As in many thrillers, the characters on display in Flesh and Blood (ITV, Monday to Thursday) often seemed locked in…

Cressida Bonas: Everyone seems to have very strong opinions about my wedding

18 January 2020 9:00 am

White House Farm began last week on ITV; a six-part factual drama about the notorious murders. I play Sheila Caffell,…

Could this be the defining moment of the election campaign?

10 December 2019 5:50 am

An interview earlier today with my colleague Joe Pike captures the contradiction at the heart of Boris Johnson’s campaign. He…

Shameless and corny: ITV’s Beecham House reviewed

29 June 2019 9:00 am

ITV’s new drama Beecham House is set in late 18th-century India where the British and French were still battling it…

Makes you wonder if you’ve got drunk without noticing: Wild Bill reviewed

15 June 2019 9:00 am

Usually, the return of Killing Eve would be pretty much guaranteed to provide the most unconventional, rule-busting TV programme of…

Did the makers of When I Grow Up have no qualms turning a small boy into a hate figure?

4 May 2019 9:00 am

Channel 4’s When I Grow Up had an important lesson for middle-class white males everywhere: you’re never too young to…

Sharp practice: Olivia Cooke and Claudia Jessie in Vanity Fair

Bad news for fans of good TV drama – there’s three more corkers to keep up with

8 September 2018 9:00 am

This week was bad news for fans of good television drama series — mainly because there’s now three more of…

A proper old-fashioned stinker: ITV’s The Bletchley Circle – San Francisco reviewed

28 July 2018 9:00 am

After just one episode, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (ITV, Wednesday) seems certain to stand out from the crowd. In…

Shamelessly undemanding: ITV’s The Durrells reviewed

24 March 2018 9:00 am

For as long as I can remember, Sunday nights have been the home of the kind of TV drama cunningly…

Troy managed to descend into cliché even when nobody was actually using any words

24 February 2018 9:00 am

ITV’s Marcella (Monday) represents another triumphant breakthrough in the portrayal of female cops on television. Of course, thanks to more…

Channel 4’s Kiri is already shaping up to be one of the TV highlights of the winter

13 January 2018 9:00 am

These days a genuinely controversial TV drama series would surely be one with an all-white, male-led cast that examined the…

Loose ends

23 September 2017 9:00 am

On Sunday night, Holliday Grainger was on two terrestrial channels at the same time playing a possibly smitten sidekick of…