tv
Hillary, Sky Documentaries review - facing the fire and furyFriday, 12 June 2020![]()
“Never get rattled”. For some, it might sound like a trite self-help mantra. For Hillary Rodham Clinton, it was an essential daily memo and a practical self-affirmation. In recent public memory, she is the political figure who has been rattled the most, often with sinister intent. Read more... |
What We Do in the Shadows, BBC Two review - the vampires of Staten Island are backFriday, 12 June 2020![]()
The first series of What We Do in the Shadows, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s mockumentary about vampires in Staten Island (a TV spin-off from their cult New Zealand-located film) was a joy, and although it’s a hard act to follow, it’s delicious to be reacquainted with these timeless Transylvanian transplants and their mission to conquer the Americas. At least, that’s what their master, a crumbling vampire baron, has told them to do. Read more... |
Freud, Netflix review - hysteria and horrorThursday, 11 June 2020![]()
Anyone expecting, as I was, a reverend and slightly earnest miniseries about Sigmund Freud's early professional years will be in for a surprise, and mostly in a good way. Read more... |
Das Boot, Series 2, Sky Atlantic review - multi-layered war drama goes from strength to strengthWednesday, 10 June 2020![]()
Das Boot made an impressive debut early last year with its entwined narratives of war by land and sea. Read more... |
The World's Greatest Paintings, Channel 5 review - enthusiastic presenter but no dazzling revelationsSunday, 07 June 2020![]()
Andrew Marr’s art show is a lot of fun, although engulfed in almost overwhelming banality and cliché. Our enthusiastic presenter is a self-confessed addict of art. Read more... |
The Other One, BBC One review - entertaining odd-couple sitcomSaturday, 06 June 2020![]()
This engaging sitcom created by comedian Holly Walsh has had a long gestation: this, the pilot episode, was first broadcast back in 2017 but Walsh's pregnancy meant that the six-part series commissioned at the time was filmed last year. Read more... |
Little Fires Everywhere, Amazon Prime review - in every dream home a heartacheFriday, 05 June 2020![]()
Reese Witherspoon has evolved into a growth industry on the new frontier of Big Television. Her production company Hello Sunshine has a heap of projects on the go with a range of networks, and following her success with Big Little Lies (for HBO), Little Fires Everywhere comes to you courtesy of Hulu (in the US) and Amazon Prime. Read more... |
A Very British Hotel Chain: Inside Best Western, Series Finale, Channel 4 review - let's hear it for Alasdair the hotel inspectorWednesday, 03 June 2020![]()
It’s impossible to tell whether this reality-doc series (C4) came to praise Best Western hotels or kill it off entirely. Read more... |
Shutdown: The Virus That Changed Our World, Sky Documentaries review - a chaotic response and an uncertain futureWednesday, 03 June 2020![]()
It’s too early for a definitive account of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this was very much a Sky News version of what we’ve been through so far. Although it seems the virus has peaked and we’re entering a tentative stage of partial de-lockdown, the message was relentlessly grim. Read more... |
Philharmonia, Channel 4 review - death on the podiumMonday, 01 June 2020![]()
Great idea to use a symphony orchestra as the basis for a TV drama, because all of human life is there. Read more... |
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