fri 25/07/2025

tv

The Undeclared War, Channel 4 review - how would the UK cope with a devastating cyber-attack?

Adam Sweeting

As the world lurches ever deeper into multiple manifestations of chaos, writer-director Peter Kosminsky’s new drama about cyber-warfare taps into the prevailing climate of unease.

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Man vs Bee, Netflix review - or should it be Bee vs Bean?

Adam Sweeting

Rowan Atkinson’s strange little comedy (written by Will Davies) is the story of Trevor Bingley, a rather pitiable late-middle-aged man who finds a new job as a house-sitter for a disdainful and ridiculously wealthy couple, Nina and Christian Kolstad-Bergenbatten (Jing Lusi and Julian Rhind-Tutt, pictured below). They live in a high-tech superhome in countless acres of lush green countryside.

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Suspect, Channel 4 review - a stylised remake of a Danish psychological drama

Helen Hawkins

Suspect has a simple premise: a detective goes on a routine visit to a mortuary where an unidentified young woman has been taken after being found hanged. Suicide is the initial judgment: the cop, Danny Frater (James Nesbitt), grills the pathologist (Joely Richardson, pictured below) about the case and starts to leave.

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Sherwood, BBC One review - a traumatic journey through a painful past

Adam Sweeting

Renowned for an impressive body of work that includes This House, Quiz and Brexit: The Uncivil War, playwright and screenwriter James Graham has looked inwards and backwards for his new six-part series Sherwood.

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Borgen: Power and Glory, Netflix review - Birgitte Nyborg is back, more fascinating than ever

Helen Hawkins

Has there ever been a smarter television series than DR’s Borgen? It’s regularly compared to The West Wing for its twisty interrogation of government shenanigans – and certainly it pays to get to grips with the coalition-driven political scene at the Castle, seat of the Danish government, just as it did with Aaron Sorkin’s take on the Hill. 

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We Own This City, Sky Atlantic review - 'The Wire' creator David Simon is back on the Baltimore beat

Adam Sweeting

It has been 14 years since The Wire, David Simon’s labyrinthine epic about crime and policing in Baltimore, reached the end of the line. Yet it seems he couldn’t let it lie, because he’s back on the Baltimore beat with We Own This City (made by HBO, showing on Sky Atlantic). This time, the series is based on the eponymous non-fiction book by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton, with crime novelist George Pelecanos sharing the “Creator” credit with Simon.

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Ricky Gervais, SuperNature, Netflix review - a provocateur at work

Veronica Lee

Irony can be a trump card for a provocative comic such as Ricky Gervais, and he plays it right at the top of his SuperNature, an updated version of a show he started touring in 2019, which was rudely interrupted by the pandemic and is now his latest Netflix special. 

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The Midwich Cuckoos, Sky Max review - the 1957 sci-fi classic is given a contemporary spin

Helen Hawkins

If your memory of the 1957 John Wyndham novel about an alien invasion of an English village by chilling children with blonde pageboy hair is still pin-sharp, probably best to back-burner it before you watch Sky’s new adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos.

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Pistol, Disney+ review - Punk history repeats itself as farce

Adam Sweeting

The fact that John Lydon has complained so long and so loudly about director Danny Boyle’s TV drama about the Sex Pistols has only served to pump up interest in the project.

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Prehistoric Planet, Apple TV+ review - David Attenborough presents life on earth, 66 million years ago

Adam Sweeting

With Jurassic World: Dominion due in June, which will mark the end of the “Jurassic” movie franchise, here’s Apple TV’s alternative, science-based history of dinosaurs and their world. It’s produced by Jon Favreau, a key player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and narrated by David Attenborough in his trademark “Whispering Dave” style.

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