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Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty, BBC Two review - when crime paid handsomely for corrupt officers

Adam Sweeting Thursday, 15 April 2021

As Line of Duty aficionados debate the identity of H and wonder who DCI Joanne Davidson shares her DNA with, this new three-part series from BBC Two investigates the history of real-life corruption in the Metropolitan Police.

Too Close, ITV review - capable cast struggles with unrewarding material

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 14 April 2021

What may have happened here is that an intriguing book has been turned into a not so great TV series.

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This is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist, Netflix - the last word (for now)

Florence Hallett Thursday, 08 April 2021

It’s no surprise that 30 years on, the individuals most closely connected to the world’s biggest art heist are showing their age.

Intruder, Channel 5 review - implausible but watchable

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 07 April 2021

Channel 5 is rather partial to its four-night dramas, though recent effort The Drowning seemed to have sneaked unseen past the quality control department on its way to the screen. It pulled in the viewers though, and Intruder will probably do the same.

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Queen Elizabeth and the Spy in the Palace, Channel 4 review - how the Fourth Man burrowed deep into the British Establishment

Adam Sweeting Monday, 05 April 2021

Director of the Courtauld Institute, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures and a particular expert on the art of Poussin, Sir Anthony Blunt spent decades at the epicentre of the royal family and the British Establishment.

Messiah highlights, English National Opera, BBC Two review – short-cut sorrow and redemption

Boyd Tonkin Sunday, 04 April 2021

Well, it wasn’t quite Messiah, but it was a source of joy. In ENO’s end-of-lockdown staging, BBC Two’s transmission of Handel’s resurrection song delivered a scant 54 minutes of music from the Coliseum on Easter Saturday.

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Keeping Faith, Series 3, BBC One review - is the drama turning to melodrama?

Adam Sweeting Sunday, 28 March 2021

After arriving with a bang in 2018, Keeping Faith (BBC One) disappointed many (though not all) of its fans with 2019’s second series. It’s had a bit of a breather before this third – and final – series, first seen in its Welsh version Un Bore Mercher on S4C last November. So, how is it shaping up?

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The Flight Attendant, Sky One review - first-class entertainment

Markie Robson-Scott Saturday, 27 March 2021

“I get to see all these beautiful places and look passengers right in the eye and say the word trash.” Meet Cassie Bowden (the excellent Kaley Cuoco), flight attendant on Imperial Atlantic Airways. In firm denial about her alcohol problem, she knocks back myriads of vodka miniatures onboard, parties hard in cities the world over, has one-night stands after black-out benders (“Thank you for the effort.

Line of Duty, Series 6, BBC One review - fasten your seatbelts, it's back

Adam Sweeting Monday, 22 March 2021

Jed Mercurio’s tangly police corruption thriller Line of Duty has become one of the jewels in the BBC’s drama crown, and this sixth (and possibly last) series has finally arrived on BBC One after a steadily growing crescendo of pre-publicity. Can it live up to the hype?

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My Father and Me, BBC Two review - Nick Broomfield's moving voyage around his family

Tom Birchenough Sunday, 21 March 2021

Nick Broomfield made his first film 50 years ago, and his career over those five decades (and some three dozen works) has been as distinctive, and distinguished as that of any British documentary maker.