fri 15/08/2025

tv

Sleeping with Extremists: The Far Right, Channel 4 review - insightful but flawed documentary

Owen Richards

It’s always interesting to see how presenters make their presence known in documentaries. Louis Theroux hovers on the sidelines like an ethereal presence, Stacey Dooley connects immediately on an emotional level, and one-time host Keith Allen handled proceedings like a fight before a Millwall game.

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Traitors, Channel 4 review - Cold War thriller fails to reach room temperature

Adam Sweeting

It’s 1945 and World War Two is nearly over. Somewhere in England, Fiona Symonds (“Feef” to her friends) is training to be a spy and be dropped behind enemy lines.

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Baptiste, BBC One review - detective from The Missing gets his own hand-me-down show

Saskia Baron

Is there an algorithm for writing this review? There seems to have been one used to create Baptiste, a spin-off from The Missing, and even the staunchest fans of Tchéky Karyo will be struggling not to see the all-too-familiar formula poking through the script.

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Catastrophe, Channel 4, series 4 finale review - sitcom saves the best till last

Jasper Rees

When the third series ended with a car crash, I did wonder whether Catastrophe (Channel 4) should maybe think about calling it a day.

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Shetland, Series 5, BBC One review - uneven start to new season

Adam Sweeting

And so back to the windswept landscapes of the Shetland archipelago, where stoical DI Jimmy Perez is still keeping the bad guys at bay while continuing to cope with life as an ageing widower. You do wonder, though, how he sustains his commitment to the job in a territory offering such a restricted career ladder.

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Endeavour, Series 6, ITV review - reassuringly accomplished return of the brainy copper

Adam Sweeting

The end of series five of Endeavour found PC George Fancy shot dead, Cowley police station closed and the old crew dispersed. With Led Zeppelin on the soundtrack (it’s 1969), the sixth series opened minus WPC Trewlove, but with Fred Thursday demoted and shunted off to Castle Gate police station.

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David Bowie: Finding Fame, BBC Two review - the most touching instalment of Francis Whately's trilogy

howard Male

Even the most ardent Bowie fan might dismissively sum up their idol's pre-fame years with just these three words: The Laughing Gnome.

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Safe Harbour, Series Finale, BBC Four review - too much message, not enough drama

Adam Sweeting

Picture this. You’re sailing in the Timor Sea with family and friends on your luxurious yacht, hoiking the occasional plump fish out of the ocean to provide a ready meal washed down with Aussie plonk, when you suddenly chance across a decrepit, broken-down fishing boat crammed with mostly Iraqi refugees. What do you do?

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Das Boot, Sky Atlantic review - menacing drama on land and sea

Adam Sweeting

Wolfgang Petersen’s film Das Boot is now nearly 40 years old, but in this new TV sequel time has moved forward a mere nine months from the original story, into the autumn of 1942.

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Don McCullin: Looking for England, BBC Four review - a hard look at home

Marina Vaizey

A picture is worth more than a thousand words, never more so than with the photographs of Don McCullin. The octogenarian photographer’s black-and-white imagery made the Sunday Times colour supplement the talk of international media in the 1970s.

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