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Line of Separation, All 4, review - handsome if soapy epic

Jasper Rees Saturday, 02 June 2018

You don’t see a lot of German drama imported to British television. France, Italy, Scandinavia, yes. But the biggest country in Europe is less of a player. The great exception – and it really was great - was Deutschland 83, a thrilling hit when shown on Channel 4.

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Africa: A Journey Into Music, BBC Four review - too little, too late?

peter Culshaw Saturday, 02 June 2018

BBC Four is the TV music equivalent of those oldsters music mags like Q and Mojo. Have there been five, or is it six, documentaries about Queen on the channel?

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Peter Kay's Car Share: The Finale, BBC Two review - happy ever after?

Jasper Rees Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Would it be happy ever after for John and Kayleigh? Would they or would they not drive off into the sunset? By the end they weren’t driving off anywhere. Thanks to an errant hedgehog, the finale of Peter Kay’s Car Share (BBC One) turned into Peter Kay’s Car Crash and blew the bloody doors off. So they went home holding hands on the bus.

King Lear, BBC Two review - modernised TV adaptation is a mixed blessing

Adam Sweeting Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Some have contended that King Lear is unstageable, and perhaps it’s unfilmable too.

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Hip Hop Evolution, Sky Arts review - foundations of a revolution

Owen Richards Saturday, 26 May 2018

Comprehensively charting hip hop’s rise from the underground to the mainstream is no mean feat, but that’s exactly what Canadian MC Shad aims to do over four hour-long episodes. Originally shown in the US in 2016, and available in full on Netflix, Hip Hop Evolution has finally reached the British box via Sky Arts.

Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA, BBC Four review - unexpected facts aplenty

marina Vaizey Thursday, 24 May 2018

“Oh say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light” was a vision of the American flag, that star-spangled banner, riding proud from Francis Scott Key’s patriotic poem of 1814 based on an episode in the War of 1812.

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Manchester: The Night of the Bomb, BBC Two review - devastating account of the lottery of terror

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 23 May 2018

“I thought she maybe had superpowers to go that high.” Emilia Senior, 12, watched her sister Eve, 15, thrown into the air by the force of the explosion.

A Very English Scandal, BBC One review - making a drama out of a crisis

Adam Sweeting Monday, 21 May 2018

There was a time when Hugh Grant was viewed as a thespian one-trick pony, a floppy-haired fop dithering in a state of perpetual romantic confusion. But things have changed. He was excellent in Florence Foster Jenkins, hilariously self-parodic in Paddington 2, and he’s brilliant in A Very English Scandal (BBC One) as smooth, treacherous Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe.

The Handmaid's Tale, Series 2, Channel 4 review - it's not getting any better for Offred

Adam Sweeting Monday, 21 May 2018

Not the least startling element of Bishop Michael Curry’s house-rockin’ sermon at the royal nuptials was his quotation from the old spiritual “There is a balm in Gilead”. Evidently the Bishop was not referring to the endlessly looping nightmare that is The Handmaid’s Tale, where “Gilead” means not balm, but torture, terror, misery and misogyny.

Innocent, ITV review - David Collins wants his life back

Adam Sweeting Thursday, 17 May 2018

Addressing the baying media on the steps of the courthouse after being acquitted of murdering his wife, for which non-crime he’d spent the last seven years in prison, David Collins (Lee Ingleby) was a bitter and angry man.

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