wed 16/07/2025

TV reviews, news & interviews

Too Much, Netflix - a romcom that's oversexed, and over here

Helen Hawkins

A thirtysomething American woman with wavering self-confidence, a tendency to talk too much and a longing for married bliss with Mr Darcy at his gorgeous country pile tries to reset her life post-breakup with a grown-up new job in London. Welcome to Bridget Jones country as seen through the lens of New Yorker Lena Dunham. 

Insomnia, Channel 5 review - a chronicle of deaths foretold

Adam Sweeting

A mixture of legal drama, medical mystery and psychological thriller with creepy supernatural overtones, Insomnia sometimes seems to be trying to cram too much in, but it’s well worth sticking with it to the end to reap the full benefits.

Live Aid at 40: When Rock'n'Roll Took...

Adam Sweeting

“Bob’s not the kind of guy you can say no to,” said Sting, reminiscing about the origins of 1984’s Band Aid charity single “Do They Know It’s...

Hill, Sky Documentaries review - how Damon Hill...

Adam Sweeting

Some world champion racing drivers make it look effortless, but it was never that way for Damon Hill. His path to the championship he won in 1996 had...

Outrageous, U&Drama review - skilfully-...

Helen Hawkins

If somebody submitted a treatment for a new costume drama series set in the 1930s in which not just one but two fictitious sisters from a fading...

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Prost, BBC 4 review - life and times of the driver they called 'The Professor'

Adam Sweeting

Alain Prost liked being world champion so much he did it four times

The Buccaneers, Apple TV+, Season 2 review - American adventuresses run riot in Cornwall

Adam Sweeting

Second helping of frothy Edith Wharton adaptation

The Gold, Series 2, BBC One review - back on the trail of the Brink's-Mat bandits

Adam Sweeting

Following the money to the Isle of Man, Spain and the Caribbean

Dept. Q, Netflix review - Danish crime thriller finds a new home in Edinburgh

Adam Sweeting

Matthew Goode stars as antisocial detective Carl Morck

The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone, BBC Two - boom and bust in the lingerie trade

Adam Sweeting

Life in the fast lane with David Cameron's entrepreneurship tsar

Code of Silence, ITVX review - inventively presented reality of deaf people's experience

Helen Hawkins

Rose Ayling-Ellis maps out her muffled world in a so-so heist caper

The Bombing of Pan Am 103, BBC One review - new dramatisation of the horrific Lockerbie terror attack

Adam Sweeting

Six-part series focuses on the families and friends of the victims

theartsdesk Q&A: Zoë Telford on playing a stressed-out psychiatrist in ITV's 'Malpractice'

Adam Sweeting

She nearly became a dancer, but now she's one of TV's most familiar faces

The Trunk, Netflix review - stylish, noir-ish Korean drama wrapped around a beguiling love story

Helen Hawkins

Unusual psychological study of a stranger paid to save a toxic marriage

Malpractice, ITV1, Series 2 review - fear and loathing in the psychiatric unit

Adam Sweeting

Powerful return of Grace Ofori-Attah's scathing medical drama

Fake, ITV1 review - be careful what you wish for

Adam Sweeting

Australian drama probes the terrors of middle-aged matchmaking

Formula E: Driver, Prime Video review - inside the world's first zero-carbon sport

Adam Sweeting

F1's electric baby brother get its own documentary series

Flintoff, Disney+ review - tumultuous life and times of the great all-rounder

Adam Sweeting

John Dower's documentary is gritty, gruelling and uplifting

Your Friends & Neighbors, Apple TV+ review - in every dream home a heartache

Adam Sweeting

Jon Hamm finds his best role since 'Mad Men'

MobLand, Paramount+ review - more guns, goons and gangsters from Guy Ritchie

Adam Sweeting

High-powered cast impersonates the larcenous Harrigan dynasty

This City is Ours, BBC One review - civil war rocks family cocaine racket

Adam Sweeting

Terrific cast powers Stephen Butchard's Liverpool drug-ring saga

The Potato Lab, Netflix review - a K-drama with heart and wit

Helen Hawkins

Love among Korean potato-researchers is surprisingly funny and ideal for Janeites

Adolescence, Netflix review - Stephen Graham battles the phantom menace of the internet

Adam Sweeting

How antisocial networks lead to real-life tragedy

Drive to Survive, Season 7, Netflix review - speed, scandal and skulduggery in the pitlane

Adam Sweeting

The F1 documentary series is back on the pace

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, ITV1 review - powerful dramatisation of the 1955 case that shocked the public

Adam Sweeting

Lucy Boynton excels as the last woman to be executed in Britain

Towards Zero, BBC One review - more entertaining parlour game than crime thriller

Helen Hawkins

The latest Agatha Christie adaptation is well cast and lavishly done but a tad too sedate

Bergerac, U&Drama review - the Jersey 'tec is born again after 34 years

Adam Sweeting

Damien Molony boldly follows in the hallowed footsteps of John Nettles

A Thousand Blows, Disney+ review - Peaky Blinders comes to Ripper Street?

Adam Sweeting

The prolific Steven Knight takes us back to a squalid Victorian London

Zero Day, Netflix review - can ex-President Robert De Niro save the Land of the Free?

Adam Sweeting

Panic and paranoia run amok as cyber-hackers wreak havoc

Footnote: a brief history of British TV

You could almost chart the history of British TV by following the career of ITV's Coronation Street, as it has ridden 50 years of social change, seen off would-be rivals, survived accusations of racism and learned to live alongside the BBC's EastEnders. But no single programme, or even strand of programmes, can encompass the astonishing diversity and creativity of TV-UK since BBC TV was officially born in 1932.

Nostalgists lament the demise of single plays like Ken Loach's Cathy Come Home or Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, but drama series like The Jewel in the Crown, Edge of Darkness, Our Friends in the North, State of Play, the original Upstairs Downstairs or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy will surely loom larger in history's rear-view mirror, while perhaps Julian Fellowes' surprise hit, Downton Abbey, heralds a new wave of the classic British costume drama. For that matter, indestructible comic creations like George Cole's Arthur Daley in Minder, Nigel Hawthorne's Sir Humphrey in Yes Minister, the Steptoes, Arthur Lowe and co in Dad's Army, John Cleese's Fawlty Towers or Only Fools and Horses insinuate themselves between the cracks of British life far more persuasively than the most earnest television documentary (at which Britain has become world-renowned).

British sci-fi will never out-gloss Hollywood monoliths like Battlestar Galactica, but Nigel Kneale's Quatermass stories are still influential 60 years later, and the reborn Doctor Who has been a creative coup for the BBC. British series from the Sixties like The Avengers, Patrick McGoohan's bizarre brainchild The Prisoner or The Saint (with the young Roger Moore) have bounced back as major influences on today's Hollywood, and re-echo through the BBC's enduringly successful Spooks.

Meanwhile, though British comedy depends more on maverick inspiration than the sleek industrialisation deployed by US television, that didn't stop Monty Python from becoming a global legend, or prevent Ricky Gervais being adopted as an American mascot. True, you might blame British TV (and Simon Cowell) for such monstrosities as The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent, but the entire planet has lapped them up. And we can console ourselves that Britain also gave the world Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, David Attenborough's epic nature series Life on Earth and The Blue Planet, as well as Kenneth Clark's Civilisation. The Arts Desk brings you overnight reviews and news of the best (and worst) of TV in Britain. Our writers include Adam Sweeting, Jasper Rees, Veronica Lee, Alexandra Coghlan, Fisun Güner, Josh Spero and Gerard Gilbert.

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