wed 02/07/2025

tv

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

Helen Hawkins

The BBC’s latest “cool” Agatha Christie adaptation has many hallmarks of the decidedly dark ones that were considered prestige Christmas treats until recently. But although it’s lovely to look at, it’s low on chills and thrills.

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

Adam Sweeting

They stopped making the BBC’s original Bergerac in 1991, so you can hardly complain that this reboot is premature. John Nettles became closely identified with the titular detective Jim Bergerac before he decamped to Midsomer, murder capital of the world, and has declared himself impressed with Damien Molony’s performance as the born-again sleuth (pictured below, Molony picks up the baton from Nettles).

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

Adam Sweeting

Steven Knight is beginning to resemble the British version of Taylor Sheridan. While Sheridan has been saturating our screens with Yellowstone, 1923, Landman etc, Knight has been reeling off Peaky Blinders, SAS Rogue Heroes and even the story of opera star Maria Callas.

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

Adam Sweeting

It seems that esteemed former US President George Mullen is subsiding gently into retirement on his luxurious country estate, with a publishing contract for his memoirs if he can ever manage to knuckle down and write them, when fate throws a curve-ball.

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The White Lotus, Series 3, Sky Atlantic review - hit formula with few surprises but a new bewitching soundtrack

Helen Hawkins

The return of Mike White’s hit series can be celebrated for one major reason: its extraordinary music. That may sound like a minor reason, but this third iteration of the show confirms that the show's sound world is key to its success.

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Hacks, Season 3, NOW review - acerbic showbiz comedy keeps up the good work

Adam Sweeting

Dying is easy, comedy is hard, according to the Georgian actor Edmund Kean. Luckily, everybody involved with the much-awarded Hacks understands precisely the creative anguish that top-flight comedy demands, and in its third season the show puts further expanses of clear blue water between itself and the competition.

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Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix review - the real story behind Ridley Scott's Oscar-winner

Adam Sweeting

Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down was a technically superb blockbuster bristling with thunderous action sequences and famous actors, though its gung-ho depiction of the heroics of American special forces during the appalling Somalian civil war always felt a little uncomfortable.

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Vietnam: The War That Changed America, Apple TV+ review - painful and poignant stories from a terrible conflict

Adam Sweeting

It’s been 50 years since the USA bowed to the inevitable and pulled out of Vietnam, in the midst of harrowing scenes of anguish and chaos.

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Paradise, Disney+ review - enigmatic drama with an unknown destination

Helen Hawkins

The latest from the This Is Us creator, Dan Fogelman, is a futuristic take on relationships among survivors once Earth has suffered an extinction event, a popular concept in these troubled times. Except that it starts out by following an equally popular narrative track, the classic locked-door whodunit. Where is this heading?

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Prime Target, Apple TV+ review - the appliance of science

Adam Sweeting

An opening sequence of a drone flying over a busy street in Baghdad, followed by a huge explosion that leaves many casualties and a gaping hole where a row of buildings used to be, suggests that Prime Target is going to be another special forces, war-on-terror type of drama.

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