wed 23/07/2025

tv

The Test: A New Era for Australia's Team, Amazon Prime review - how ball-tampering scandal forced a cricket revolution

Adam Sweeting

It was in March 2018 that Australia’s cricketers were caught ball-tampering during a Test match in Cape Town. The resulting public outcry and sanctions against the guilty players and assorted backroom staff shook the Australian game to the core.

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Five Guys a Week, Channel 4 review - lemming-like contestants make spectacles of themselves

Adam Sweeting

Channel 4 loves to walk the line between the compulsive and the repulsive, and this new dating show, complete with fake-salacious title, is a peerless specimen.

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Beyond the Grace Note, Sky Arts review - march of the women conductors

Jessica Duchen

Perhaps the most surprising thing is how good natured they all sound. There’s no anger. At least, not much – one can’t help wondering what they say off air.

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RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 12, Netflix review - 13 queens up the game

David Nice

As RuPaul's best squirrel friend Michelle Visage, co-doyenne of the amused and amusing judges, put it, "that was some next-level shit".

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Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall, BBC Two review - the storyteller and the truth

David Nice

Spectacular success couldn't have happened to a more interesting person, or a better writer.

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Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Netflix review - thrilling documentary series wreaks havoc in the paddock

Adam Sweeting

The 2020 Formula 1 season will commence in Melbourne next weekend... unless the race is cancelled because of the mounting coronavirus panic. Everyone will have to self-isolate and watch Netflix instead, so how fortunate that the ‘flix has delivered this second series of Drive to Survive in the nick of time.

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The Trouble With Maggie Cole, ITV review - Dawn French stars in new comedy drama

Veronica Lee

ITV's drama department is in overdrive at the moment, with a seemingly endless release of series with high production values and stellar casts, and the latest is The Trouble With Maggie Cole. It's a six-parter based on an idea by Dawn French (who also stars) and is written by Mark Brotherhood.

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Beauty Laid Bare, BBC One review - a facial peel for the cosmetics business

Adam Sweeting

In this aptly-titled series (BBC One), four British 20-somethings visit the USA to investigate the inner workings of the beauty industry. Perhaps not surprisingly, they discover that it’s a hotbed of greed and exploitation.

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The Trip to Greece, Sky 1 review - jokes, jibes and indigestion in the footsteps of Odysseus

Adam Sweeting

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan have been taking their bickering TV trips for a decade, beginning in the north of England in 2010 before working their way around Italy, Spain and now Greece (on Sky 1). They say this will be the last time, but believe that at your peril.

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Liar, Series 2, ITV review - more crime-by-numbers from the Williams brothers

Adam Sweeting

The first series of Liar, one of many thrillers from the fertile keyboards of Jack and Harry Williams, was on ITV back in 2017, so you may have forgotten the somewhat labyrinthine details.

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