tv
Believe Me: The Cyprus Rape Case, ITV review - British teenager’s holiday from hellWednesday, 15 April 2020
The case of the British teenager allegedly raped by a group of young Israeli men in Ayia Napa in Cyprus last year, only to find herself convicted of “public mischief”, has built up a head of steam in the international press and has provoked outrage among women’s movements and rights campaigners. Read more... |
Prue Leith: Journey with My Daughter, Channel 4 review - an emotional journey into the pastWednesday, 15 April 2020
Days before the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge in 1975, orphaned baby Li-Da was flown out of the country, and was eventually adopted by Prue Leith and her husband Rayne. Leith’s culinary star was rising rapidly, and her husband was a successful writer and businessman. Their Cotswolds home became a fairytale setting in which their adopted daughter could make a fresh start. Read more... |
Run, Sky Comedy review - vicarious thrills for the self-isolation eraWednesday, 15 April 2020
Watching Run, HBO’s newest seven-part series, feels like off-the-rails escapism: it’s a fast-paced thriller about dropping everything, chasing intimacy and courting danger. It’s a vicarious adventure centred on a woman who has spent too long stuck at home. Read more... |
Killing Eve, Series 3, BBC iPlayer review - Eve and Villanelle resume operationsMonday, 13 April 2020
Instant spoiler alert: she’s not dead. But do we care? Prepare for the plumbing of new psychological depths from showrunner Suzanne Heathcote, previously story editor, appropriately enough, on Fear the Walking Dead, but that may not be enough to keep series 3 from veering into slightly dull and serviceable territory, judging by the first three episodes. Murderous clowns at a kids’ party, for example, have surely been done to death. Read more... |
Tigertail review, Netflix - a story of immigrant opportunities, taken and missedFriday, 10 April 2020
“Crying never solves anything. Read more... |
Alma's Not Normal, BBC Two review - bare-knuckle comedy pilot hits the spotThursday, 09 April 2020
Creating the opening episode of a new comedy series is like flipping pancakes with one hand while playing the Moonlight Sonata with the other. You have to introduce your characters and invent the world they live in, while squeezing in enough plot to keep the action moving. Read more... |
Return to Belsen, ITV review - Jonathan Dimbleby retraces his father's journey to a nightmare worldWednesday, 08 April 2020
When the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany was liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on 15 April 1945, the BBC’s reporter Richard Dimbleby was there to record the occasion. Read more... |
Ozark, Series 3 review, Netflix - money-laundering saga hits new heightsMonday, 06 April 2020
While not the most headline-catching show on Netflix, Ozark has been steadily accruing critical accolades (including a couple of Emmys) and a devoted audience. Perhaps this superb third series will mark the tipping point where Ozark crosses over from cliqueishness to mass adulation. Read more... |
Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema, BBC Four review - the undying allure of the spying gameFriday, 03 April 2020
Mirrors and windows, looking at ourselves or out into the world, reflecting the culture or making it: compare and contrast. This was the subliminal debate in Spies (BBC Four), the latest instalment of Mark Kermode’s essays on the history and trajectory of movie-making, with some mention too of that complementary form of film, the television programme. Read more... |
The Trip to Greece, Series Finale, Sky 1 review - bittersweet swansong for the cantankerous comradesWednesday, 01 April 2020
Could this mock-mythic journey, emulating the trek homewards to Ithaca of Homer’s hero Odysseus, really be the final series of The Trip (Sky 1)? Or will Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon see sense, and realise that they’ll never have as many free lunches as this again? Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
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