The best TV shows and box sets on BBC iPlayer (14th October 2022)
David Farnor | On 14, Oct 2022
Our guide to the best TV shows and box sets currently available on BBC iPlayer. (Click here to see our guide to the best movies on BBC iPlayer.)
Catch up with: Ralph & Katie
Anyone missing the heartfelt goodness of The A Word would do well to catch up with this beautiful spin-off. The series follows Ralph and Katie, the newlyweds from Season 3 of Peter Bowker’s drama. The A Word took its title from the autism that young boy Joe was diagnosed with in Season 1, building a superbly observed family around him and giving every character – Joe included – the chance to grow and evolve without being defined by his diagnosis. This comedy sets out to do the same thing for its two scene-stealing supporting characters, who have Down’s syndrome. Played with warmth and humour by Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy, they’re a brilliantly natural couple, falling into their marital routine with a lived-in chemistry, even if the actual specifics of the routine are still something they’re working out. Gordy’s the optimistic, sensible anchor to Harrop’s more stubborn, cynical partner, and their dynamic is hilariously and gently captured by the slightly eyebrow raise or pointed glance. There’s a crossover part for Pooky Quesnel as Ralpy’s protective mother, Louise, and new energy brought to the table by Dylan Brady as Ralph and Katie’s new support worker, Danny, who’s young and lacking in experience. But it’s just a joy to see the duo in action once more, given the chance to take centre stage and drive their own stories and complications forwards. More of this please.
Available until: September 2023
Comedy Box Set: Ghosts Season 4
Pitched somewhere between The Others and What We Do in the Shadows, this horror-tinged comedy from the Horrible Histories and Yonderland team is a hysterical, witty and irresistibly silly piece of television that gets a laugh out of the darkest of material. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Gripping Box Set: Industry
HBO’s gripping high-finance drama is a thrillingly modern dissection of modern workplace pressures. Read our full review
Cunk on Earth
Diane Morgan’s inspired documentary spoof only gets smarter, sillier and funnier. Read our full review
Inside Man
Stanley Tucci and David Tennant are the star draws in this new drama from Steven Moffat, which brings together a vicar in a quiet town, a maths teacher trapped in a cellar and a prisoner on death row. You can feel the script twisting to make these contrived connections fit, as tutor Janice (a steely Dolly Wells) finds herself on the wrong side of a family man trying to protect his own – and David Tennant is excellent as exploring the boundary between doing the right thing, even when that requires several wrong turns along the way. And, in between them all, Stanley Tucci is having lots of fun as a convicted murderer pronouncing moral judgements on others and working as a sort-of Sherlock for hire behind bars. The more their paths cross, the less plausible it becomes, and the script gets a little too tortured in its lecturing on human nature and how morals can be dismissed when people are put under pressure, but as a star-studded pulpy thriller, it’s a fun ride.
Available until: September 2023
Catch up with: Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy
Celebrity travelogues and food docuseries are two-a-penny these days, but you know it’s worth the investment when the celebrity doing the travelling is Stanley Tucci. The cocktail enthusiast and delectable foodie is on impossibly charming form as he treks across Italy to discover the secrets, history and delights of the country’s cuisine – from the fried origins of Napoli pizza to growing tomatoes near the Amalfi Coast. It’s mouth-watering stuff, made irresistible by Tucci’s easygoing charisma and genuine passion for his subject matter.
Available until: November 2023
Frozen Planet 2
With our planet facing a severe climate crisis, the urgency of combatting it is perhaps most evident in the Earth’s frozen quarter, locked in ice and blanketed in snow. It’s a fragile world of beauty and hostility and Sir David Attenborough once again presents us with a visually stunning portrait of life in these extreme conditions – conditions that are on the brink of a major change.
Available until: November 2023
Am I Being Unreasonable?
Daisy May Cooper excels in this darkly comic thriller about friendships, family and secrets. Read our full review
Available until: September 2023
Marriage
Sean Bean and Nicola Walker are a perfect match in this honest, intimate, unflinching portrait of a relationship. Read our full review
Catch up with: Strictly Come Dancing: Season 20
Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse are back alongside new judge Anton Du Beke for the 20th edition of the BBC’s dancing extravaganza – and, with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman still on effervescent hosting duties and Ellie Simmons, Tony Adams and Matt Goss among the contestants, it’s set to provide the same kind of glitzy escapism needed each week all over again.
Available until September 2022
Crossfire
A holiday resort descends into horror in this three-part thriller, which sees a Canary Islands hotel attacked by gunmen. That potentially tasteless premise gets a welcome dose of gravitas by having Keeley Hawes leading its cast, as she plays Jo, a mother who fights to keep her family and friends safe in the face of such unexpected horror and violence. It’s Hawe’s grounded presence that helps brings stakes and humanity to the events, even if the lengthy runtime – comprising lots of shots of people running through corridors – feels a bit too drawn out. A poignant pay-off involving the consequences of how people reacted to the crisis makes for an ultimately thoughtful question of what counts as being “heroic”.
Available until: September 2023
The Ranganation: Season 5
Romesh Ranganathan’s state-of-the-nation talk show is back for a fifth season, and Romesh’s ability to adapt the current situation to his own comedic strengths remains brilliant. Romesh has always been one of the best TV comics around thanks to the fact that he is naturally funny and at his best when he’s simply talking to other people. Having his panel of representatives from across the UK – “Pride of Wales”, “Small Town Girl”, “Technophobe”, and so on – on one big video call is a natural step for the show’s smart and simple format, while his celebrity guests chip in without being allowed to dominate the chat. A masterclass in working a crowd.
Pick of the week: Maryland
“I have googled how to kick out a taillight from inside the boot of a car.” That’s one of the many women given a voice in this hugely powerful short film based on Lucy Kirkwood’s stage play. Written in response to the murders of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and all too many others, it was a raw piece of scratch theatre and it has lost none of its potency or immediacy on screen. It follows Mary (Zawe Ashton) and Mary (Hayley Squires), two women who are reporting a sexual assault at the police station. “You’re gonna laugh,” says PC Moody (Daniel Mays) when he hears both their names are the same, and that blithely indifferent attitude is one of the harrowing tiny details that Kirkwood and her cast capture. Slowly, those small details build into a Greek chorus of women striding confidently, angrily through the streets, where they outline statistics, voice their fears, remind us that they can’t even trust the police to treat them respectfully, and ask the horribly urgent question: “What is it that makes us so very killable?” Essential viewing.
Catch up with: Big Oil v the World
“What do you do when you learn the product that you make threatens the entire planet?” That’s the question that starts this all too timely documentary series, which explores the fossil fuel industry’s reaction to climate change – a reaction that dates back to more than four decades ago, when scientists working for Exxon warned about the eventual impact the industry would have upon the environment. What ensues is eye-opening, gripping and alarming.
Gripping box set: The Control Room
It’s hard to imagine a higher stakes job than working in an emergency control room, where every minute can see another crisis emerge on the other end of the phone and every second requires a decision that can mean life or death for someone. This three-part thriller follows Strathclyde Ambulance Service’s Gabe (Iain De Caestecker), who answers a 999 call only to find the person on the other end recognising his voice. The awkward part? They’ve effectively confessed to committing murder, after the man they assaulted – apparently in self-defence – has passed away while they were ringing for help. Does Gabe (or “Gabo”, as the mystery caller calls him) know who they are? And, more to the point, does he tell his bosses? A string of bad decisions follow, with the unravelling mess including dead bodies, secret workplace relationships and a healthy dose of blackmail, all playing out in the shadows of a highly sensitive workplace. It gets absurd towards the end, but Iain De Caestecker’s committed, compassionate turn keeps you on the line.
Catch up with: The Real Mo Farah
Modern slavery is an all too real problem in our society, lurking just out of sight and exploiting people who are often at their most vulnerable. Mo Farah’s revelation about the journey he made to the UK as a child and the conditions he was force to live in are an eye-opening reminder of the scale of the unseen problem. It’s told with a moving sensitivity and honesty.
Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain
Lenny Henry celebrates British-Caribbean life with a string of insightful, warm and entertaining interviews with famous faces. From Judi Love and David Harewood to Levi Roots, what’s brilliant about the series is that its range of subjects highlight the way that Caribbean culture has influenced and interwined with British life, across music, clothes, film, TV, food and more. It’s a celebratory tapestry of life and humanity, one that keeps things uplifting and positive rather than dwell too much on the trials and tribulations faced by immigrants arriving in this country – and yet that decision only highlights the lack of humanity shown elsewhere in modern society. Essential viewing.
Comedy box set: Ellie and Natasia
From What We Do in the Shadows to The Windsors, Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White are prolific comedy players whose faces are as familiar as they are hilarious. After a pilot in 2019, they finally get a full six-part showcase for their comic talents thanks to this BBC Three sketch show. Broadcasters and commissioners have sadly passed sketch comedy by in recent years, and not because there’s a lack of sketch talent out there. Ellie and Natasia is a pointed reminder of that fact, with their character-driven skits dizzyingly wide-ranging and wonderfully weird. Their observational comments are as recognisable as their make-up and costumes aren’t, and there’s a heightened surreality to their fast-paced blend of online video tropes and privileged hipster lifestyles. Expect to laugh a lot.
Catch up with: Sherwood
James Graham’s brooding crime drama about a divided community doesn’t miss its mark. Read our full review.
Aids: The Unheard Tapes
This moving three-part documentary gives us a powerful account of the Aids crisis by those who survived – and those who didn’t. As frank about the homophobia of the time as it is intimate and personal, this is a devastating reminder of an all-too-recent history.
My Name is Leon
This 90-minute drama based on Kit de Waal’s novel follows Leon (a sensational turn by newcomer Cole Martin), a mixed-race boy who grows up in the 90s in foster care and longs to be reunited with his white half-brother, Jake. The result is a nuanced, moving tale of family conflict, racial prejudice and the national care system.
Comedy Box Set: Avoidance
Romesh Rangathan delivers an amusing turn full of pathos in this enjoyably awkward drama about Spencer, a father struggling to face up to a break-up with his partner while also attempting to avoid any kind of confrontation or responsibility. As relatable as it is realistic.
Catch up with: This Is My House
This improbably entertaining competition series is essentially a modern spin on Through the Keyhole, as it invites us to partake in that favourite national pastime of snooping around someone else’s house. The secret to this show’s success is that it also gets a panel of comics and celebrities to try and work out who lives there, with four people all trying to claim that the pad in question is theirs, with only one telling the truth – cue much catfishing as they vie to be the most convincing contestant. Season 2 has the added fun of bringing Judi Love and Harry Hill into the room and their commentary alone is worth tuning in for.
Comedy Box Set: Everything I Know About Love
Dolly Alderton’s memoir is translated to the screen in this honest comedy-drama about a group of twentysomethings stumbling their way through such rites of passage as dating and first jobs. Emma Appleton’s Maggie, who is drawn to possibly sketchy musician Street (Connor Finch), is joined by MVP Bel Powley as her best friend, Birdy, a more sensible counterbalance to Maggie’s more chaotic force of nature. The result is familiar, but there’s a likeable whirlwind energy to the keenly observed balance of naive confidence and constant vulnerability that anyone of a certain age will immediately recognise.
Comedy Box Set: State of the Union: Season 2
“It sounds like you’re trying. I am. Well, don’t.” Brexit gets a brief mention but it’s another union breaking apart in this delightfully funny, wonderfully heartfelt comedy, which sees one couple’s marriage crumbling – while they attempt to rebuild it at the same time. The premise is inspired, as we drop in on them every week for 10 minutes before their go their marital therapist – a brief chat in the pub that, it soon becomes obvious, covers far more ground than they do in their actual session. Nick Hornby pens the 10-minute bursts with the kind of honesty and wit you’d expect, with each episode delivering a revelation or step forward in their relationship – while also pushing them several feet back. Stephen Frears, meanwhile, brings an agility and brevity to the helm that captures endless telling details in the shortest of time-frames. Chris O’Dowd and Rosamund Pike sink their teeth into the bite-sized morsels with relish, O’Dowd full of immaturity and tragedy, Pike conveying unhappiness and frustration, both of them balancing their regrets, secrets, resentments and fears with a razor-sharp comic timing and – this is the kicker – a huge dose of feeling that ensures we’re always rooting for the happiest outcome, whatever that may be.
Season 2 isn’t as a funny as the first, but Brendan Gleeson and Patricia Clarkson bring a spikiness that makes up for it, setting the backdrop for an awkward, interesting clash of culture, values and relationship goals.
Available until: September 2023
Charming Box Set: Love Life: Season 1 and 2
This wonderful TV show has a simple idea at its heart: tell the story of one person’s love life across a single season. In Season 1, that meant Anna Kendrick taking us through a rollercoaster of relationship fails, missed connections and heartfelt hope and now, William Jackson takes the lead for a second season of loyalty, heartbreak, temptation and loneliness. The anthology approach means that there’s time for real nuance in each encounter, and an understanding of the lingering traces that people leave on each other. Beautifully observed and hopelessly romantic.
PRU
After a successful pilot last year, this BBC Three comedy returns as a full series following the clash of personalities at a Pupil Referral Unit – and the result is an entertaining, wonderfully nuanced ensemble comedy.
Peacock
People Just Do Nothing’s Allan Mustafa cements himself as one of the best performers on TV at the moment, with another perfectly pitched turn in this bittersweet comedy. The series, written by Steve Stamp and Ben Murray, follows Andy, a personal trainer at Sportif Leisure who is undergoing an identity crisis. Caught between vanity, self-esteem, competition, ego and the need for recognition and acknowledgement, he’s a spirally bundle of male neuroses, and Mustafa manages the tricky feat of making him both amusingly pathetic and heart-wrenchingly sympathetic, as Andy’s kind and sincere self begins to emerge from his would-be-tough-guy shell. After all, for everyone else to take him seriously, he needs to start taking himself seriously first. An absolute joy.
Here We Go
This perfectly cast family sitcom is an admirable, universal and highly entertaining reminder to find the positives in any situation. Read our full review
Conversations with Friends
This skilful portrait of four flawed characters all sheltering their true emotions is a meaningful exploration of modern love. Read our full review
The Other One: Season 1 and 2
This gentle tale of two women helping each other through grief is a fresh, funny comedy. Read our full review.
Inside No 9: Season 7
Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are back together for a seventh chapter of the short story anthology, and it kicks off with an enjoyably understated outing on a pedalo. Shearsmith and Pemberton are joined by Mark Gatiss to play three estranged university friends who meet up for a reunion on a secluded lake, joined by Donna (Diane Morgan), the gate-crashing girlfriend of Pemberton’s PE teacher. The prickly tensions are fun, but it’s the poignant undercurrents that make this a deceptively moving voyage, one that reminds us that Inside No 9 doesn’t always want to take us into the same waters.
BAFTA TV winner: Dreaming Whilst Black
Adjani Salmon. Get ready to know that name. The filmmaker and writer has adapted his own web series – co-created with Max Evans, Laura de Sousa Seixas and Natasha Jatania – into a BBC Three Comedy Slice pilot and the result is surely destined to earn a full series commission. The comedy, co-written with Ali Hughes, follows wannabe filmmaker Kwabena (played by Salmon), who has almost given up on the idea of a film career after years in a recruitment job. A chance encounter with a former fellow film school graduate inspires him to keep chasing his dreams, and the result is a comedy that dissects the unspoken racial biases in the workplace and the gate-keeping nature of the film industry with fresh wit, personal authenticity and a steady stream of laughs. The script is stuffed with well observed moments that are played by a strong cast (including Will Hislop and The Pin’s Alexander Owen) with sharp comic timing – from a cringe-inducing microwave lunch incident to a white filmmaker pitching a project about someone else’s experiences with privileged presumption. At its heart of is Adjani Salmon’s brilliant performance, which balances frustration and aspiration with underdog charm and an awareness that Kwabena doesn’t deserve to be an underdog. The same is true of Adjani and the rest of the talent behind this – expect the BBC to order more episodes imminently.
Life After Life
Groundhog Day meets period drama in this adaptation of Kate Atkinson’s novel, which follows Ursula, who keeps dying and coming back in an alternative iteration of life – a pattern that will continue through from his birth in 1910 through two world wars. The result, ironically, suffers from repetition, although the cast – including Thomasin McKenzie, Sian Clifford and Jessica Hynes – are heartfelt enough to give the premise potential.
Catch up with: Gentleman Jack: Season 1 and 2
Suranne Jones is inimitable, intimidating and absolutely electric in this period drama, which follows Anne Lister, the entrepreneur determined to become a power couple with the love of her life, Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle). Season 2 sees things become less straightforward, but one thing that doesn’t change is the male-dominated society in which Anne, Ann and Anne’s former lover, Marianna (the forthright Lydia Leonard), all have to carve out their own stories – and with Joanna Scanlan also joining the cast as another former partner, Isabella “Tib” Norcliffe, things only get more entertaining.
Pick of the week: The Split: Season 1 to 3
The Defoe sisters, Hannah (Nicola Walker), Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Rose (Fiona Button) are back for another round of legal dramatics on London’s divorce circuit. Hannah and her sisters make for engrossing, compellingly human television. With so much seething distrust, jealousy and resentment simmering under the surface, the fun lies in seeing each relative use their clients as ammunition to snipe at the others, or support one another through their tumultuous lives. Now in its third season, all those crises have built up to become a wonderfully involving web of problems – and at its heart remain the question of whether there can ever be a future for Hannah and her husband Nathan (the excellent Stephen Mangan). Should they Split or not? Therein lies the pain, fun and suspense of Abi Morgan’s excellently complex scripts.
Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough
Palaeontology is one of the most thrilling branches of natural science, despite the fact that so much of it seems so inactive and the subjects being studied are so distant. Enter David Attenborough to change all that, with a one-off documentary that chronicles the last moments of the dinosaurs on our planet. With improved graphics from the days of Walking with Dinosaurs, and access to a new fossil site in America’s Midwest that holds clues to what happened when a gigantic asteroid struck the Earth, the result is a visually striking time capsule that captures the thrill of every brush stroke as the fossils are excavated and examined. Warning: May cause children to dream of a career in palaeontology.
Dynasties: Season 2
This grippingly intense nature documentary finds its impact in focusing on the brutal battle for survival facing endangered species. Following the animals for such a long period of time pays off with a handsome, moving, jaw-dropping portrait of wildlife in every sense of the word. If you liked the first season, prepare for another four thrilling instalments, including a mother puma battling off rivals and prey, plus a cheetah and a hyena.
Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism?
What if dwarfism could be cured? That’s the question at the heart of this remarkable new documentary, presented by five-time Paralympics gold medallist Ellie Simmonds. The reason the documentary is so powerful and effective is that it dismantles an assumption behind that question: that dwarfism is a problem that needs to be “cured” in the first place. With a controversial new drug being trialled that would help children with dwarfism grow closer to average height, Ellie explores the science behind it – and, moreover, the wider social questions it raises. She speaks to a range of people, some who are taking the drug and some who would, while delving into the kind of subjects that aren’t usually discussed openly on TV, from the pressure to fit in to feminine hygiene. Throughout, Simmonds makes the case for not trying to change people to fit the world but changing the world to be more accepting of people as they are. It’s a thought-provoking, honest and compassionate piece of TV that should be mandatory viewing for everyone.
House of Maxwell: Season 1
With Ghislaine Maxwell denied a retrial earlier this month, the name “Maxwell” hardly needs an introduction, but this superb three-part documentary zooms out to paint a portrait of the whole dynasty, beginning with Robert Maxwell, the patriarch who transformed himself from an unassuming boy in Czechoslovakia to a media tycoon. Episode 1 is an eye-opening account of his career, from his relationship with his sons and daughter to his disappearance of his yacht and the chaos that ensued right down to the way he had a camera crew follow him at all times to control his own public image.
Gazza: Season 1
Paul Gascoigne was a footballing hero, a national legend and a tabloid star – the latter not only for his sporting achievements but also for his violent behaviour towards his partner, Sheryl. That kind of domestic abuse can’t be excused, but this in-depth, frank documentary gives us an insight into “Gazza” the man, in terms of the intense pressure he felt at the hand of the media and the way that his life fell apart almost as a result of the war for newspaper headlines. Asked how he would “stay on the rails” in interviews even before the scrutiny and attention reached its peak, it’s a tragic tale told with empathy, attention to detail and a wide range of contributors and perspectives.
Peaky Blinders: Season 6
The final chapter of Steven Knight’s crime saga is as stylish and riveting as ever. Read our full review
Catch up with: We Are Black and British
This remarkable, insightful and hugely entertaining reality TV two-parter sits a group of Black Britons from varying walks of life down together to discuss big questions and serious issues. The result is a mosaic of views and experiences that assemble together to give a sense of identity – all underpinned by sometime heated but always nuanced discussions.
Family box set: Dodger
Christopher Eccleston as Fagin is reason enough to tune into this new 10-part take on Oliver Twist. The family drama, which takes place before Charles Dickens’ novel, is a rogue’s gallery of colourful characters – led by 12-year-old orphan Jack who makes it London with his friend, Charley – that manages to balance criminal capers with the grim living conditions of Victorian London, all wrapped up with a genuine sense of peril and a winning sense of humour. Horrible Histories does Dickens? Please, CBBC, let us have some more.
Available until: February 2023
Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America
The idea that we should be congratulated for not being as awful as we could be to others is something that perhaps could only have arisen during the age of the internet. An ultimately democratising tool with huge potential for doing good and providing access to services and information to everyone, it’s also become a tool for giving a platform to hatred, bigotry and cruelty. Louis Theroux’s return to the BBC sees him once again wide into the waters of America’s far right, talking to influential speaker Nicholas Fuentes, whose online streams rake in money from donators, plus other only figures such as “Baked Alaska”. The spiky conversations that ensue are familiar viewing, as they espouse white-first ideologies and, in the case of some, admit that they think women should stay at home and shouldn’t vote, while denying that they’re white nationalists or anti-Semitic. But Theroux’s getting at something more troubling and timely, namely the way that the internet fosters such communities of minority-held views and amplifies them, as people at their heart use irony to spread rhetoric across social networks, while expecting to be rewarded for saying that slavery is bad. It’s an intriguing look at self-reflexive, self-promotion in an era of heightened self-awareness – all unfolding in the shadow of the recent Capitol Hill attack, which remind us how digital echo chambers can erupt into the real world. There are two more episodes to come, focusing on rap and pornography.
Available until: February 2023
Catch up with: This Is Going to Hurt
Ben Whishaw is brilliant in this blunt diagnosis of the pressures facing the NHS. Read our full review.
Catch up with: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World
Racers start your engines! RuPaul is back and the result is even more fabulous as ever, as BBC Three smartly ups the stakes and scale for this spin-off from Drag Race UK – a crossover contest that sees past Drag Race contestants from around the world all face off against each other. That means the fun of seeing familiar faces, such as Baga Chipz and Cheryl Hole, but also the fascinating snapshot of Drag Race culture in other countries, including Thailand and Holland. Throw together those different senses of humour into one workshop and you have a firecracker of catty, fierce dynamics, while still being relentlessly feel-good.
Available until: February 2023
Thrilling box set: The Responder
Martin Freeman is blisteringly intense in this searing state-of-the-nation police thriller. Read our full review.
Comedy Box Set: Cheaters
Joshua McGuire and Susan Wokoma have quietly stolen entire shows from under the feet of co-stars in recent years. Now, they get a welcome chance to take centre stage in this fast-paced rom-com. The series begins with a sweet meet-cute in Finland, where Josh (McGuire) and Fola (Wokoma) are stranded when their flight is delayed – and after some crossed words at the airport and a hotel bar, they end up spending the night together. When they return home, they’re shocked to discover that they actually live opposite each other – with their respective partners. Said partners are less well drawn, but the guilt and awkward tension between our two leads is superbly captured by McGuire and Wokoma, who are funny, vulnerable, spiky and surprisingly sympathetic given how the show begins. It all unfolds in 10-episode chunks, which doesn’t necessarily do much to change the rhythm of the storytelling, but it does make it easy to drop into casually between other programmes – and that, unlike the protagonists on screen, isn’t something to feel bad about.
Gripping box set: Chloe
When was the last time you saw a TV show that was genuinely unpredictable? This six-part thriller is a fascinating dive into the limbo between real life and the way we’re perceived on social media. Erin Doherty is remarkably enigmatic as outsider Becky, who infiltrates the inner circle of influencer Chloe, after she dies mysteriously – and the closer she gets to Chloe’s friends and loved ones, the more she finds herself caught in a web of lies. The result is at once horrifying and gripping, appalling and surprisingly sympathetic, and endlessly unexpected. What a tangled, thorny treat.
Available until: February 2023
Comedy Box Set: Starstruck: Season 1 and 2
“Why didn’t you tell me who you are?” “When did we eat cereal?” “Why are you wearing my coat?” That’s the sound of Jessie (Rose Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel) hooking up in Starstruck, BBC Three’s new romantic comedy, which tells the timeless tale of a slacker twenty-something striking up a fling with a movie star. If that sounds like a millennial Notting Hill, you wouldn’t be far off, and the script – by Matafeo and Alice Snedden – leans into the fairytale-like set-up with an uncynical charm. That’s matched by the cast, with Matafeo and Patel sparking off each other with wit and humour. Matafeo, whose pin-point comic timing has taken her from being a winning stand-up comedian to the winning star of recent rom-com Baby Done, does a great job of delivering a female lead who’s not bumbling or ditzy but talkative and confident in her own lack of confidence. Patel is wonderful as an actor who isn’t selfish or conceited. Together, they’re a delight to watch in action, while they chat in a bar, ask lots of questions in the bedroom, and work through the awkward excitement of the morning after. While that’s enough reason to put this show on your watchlist, there’s also an appearance from Minnie Driver as Tom’s agent.
Comedy Box Set: The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk Season 2
Spencer Jones is on dazzlingly silly form in this madcap comedy about Herbert Clunkerdunk, a man who struggles to get through day to day life – not least because of the interruptions of his overactive imagination. Everything from impromptu music videos and talking household objects interfere with his daily routine, not to mention Dom Coleman (Upstart Crow), as his irrepressible, unpredictable neighbour, Jonny Wallop – and all the while, Lucy Pearman (Mister Winner) keeps things grounded and sane as Bobby Kindle, Herbert’s wife, who supports him with patience and tolerance.
Catch up with: The Green Planet
David Attenborough is back and not a minute too soon, as he shepherds the long-running “Planet” franchise away from oceans and the arctic and into the next logical arena: the world of plants. With new technology, from slick drones to powerful microscopes, it’s a breathtaking chance to see planets, flowers and trees close-up in new detail – and kicking off in a tropical rainforest, the series is immediately astonishing, as it unravels the battle underway to get a shaft of treasured daylight. But what’s more remarkable than the visuals and perspective is that all this is captured on the plants’ timeframe – a new timelapse rig, called The Triffid, lets us see plants move at their own real-time pace, snaking, weaving and growing to out-reach each other or manipulate ants and insects to take each other out. A day here can equal thousands of years or vice versa – and you’ll be captivated by every second.
Catch up with: Rules of the Game
From The Morning Show to The Good Fight, some of the best TV shows around take an acerbic, deep dive into topical issues that have no simple answers and trigger complex consequences. Ruth Fowler’s thorny drama makes no secret that it wants to do just that for workplace abuse and toxic office culture, with the arrival of new HR expert Maya (Rakhee Thakrar) at a company where she tries to change things for the better – and finds herself tackling not only systemic sexism and two brothers who own the firm but also a lack of support from high-up manager Sam (Maxine Peake), who seems happy for things to continue as they are. It’s a scathingly drawn web of covert bullying, secretive relationships, and not so secret whistleblowing – all wrapped around a dead body that crops up on the premises. It’s not particularly subtle and threatens to teeter into soap operatics the more skeletons are unearthed in the copious closets, but there’s a huge amount of promise in the way it stands on the brink and unflinchingly takes in the panorama of mess. Available until: January 2023
Drama box set: Four Lives
Sheridan Smith and Stephen Merchant are excellent in this moving, chilling portrait of a flawed police investigation. Read our full review
Comedy box set: Toast of Tinseltown
Matt Berry makes a gloriously silly return in this hilarious Hollywood outing for Steven Toast. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Gripping box set: The Tourist
Jamie Dornan delivers an intense leading turn in this entertainingly unpredictable thriller. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Family box set: Around the World in 80 Days
David Tennant is on charismatic form in this sparky, globe-trotting romp. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Gripping box set: A Very British Scandal
Claire Foy and Paul Bettany are electric in this stylish, timely period drama. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Catch up with: Superman and Lois
This refreshingly human take on the Man of Steel is a warm, entertaining and grounded slice of superhero spectacle. Read our full review
Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks
The best of Doctor Who’s New Year Dalek specials toys with time-loops but reins its story in. Read our full review
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas
Aardman’s short, sweet seasonal outing fizzes and pops with warmth. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
Superworm
This heartfelt, timely ode to teamwork and friendship is a charming addition to the Donaldson/Scheffler animated universe. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint
Mark Gatiss’ short, scary adaptation of a MR James tale is chillingly simple and simply chilling. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
The Girl Before
David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are excellent in this tense psychological thriller. Read our full review
Available until: December 2022
The Hunt for Bible John
The myth and fear surrounding the mysterious serial killer Bible John fuel this elegy to Glasgow and to its inhabitants. Read our full review
Available until: November 2022
In My Skin
Kayleigh Llewellyn’s painfully honest portrait of the teen experience is a grown-up affair – dark, dirty, gritty, emotional, and entirely unforgettable. Words: Helen Archer Read our full review
Available until: November 2022
Mary Berry – Love to Cook
Just when you think that the BBC can’t come up with another angle for a Mary Berry show, along comes Love to Cook, which focus on greener food – both the kind made from ingredients grown in your garden to plant-based dishes. As always, it’s a pleasure to see her in action in the kitchen – not least because of her always stylish outfits – but it’s a delight to see her venture out into the world and meet other cooks, from One Pizza Planet’s vegan menu to the green-fingered Taira, who harvested a bunch of potatoes from a fish tank on her flat’s balcony.
Available until: November 2022
Nadiya’s Fast Flavours
In an age where there’s no time to cook long recipes, Nadiya Hussain smartly focuses on quick meals in this new series, or at least dinners in which quick workarounds can bring some big flavour to your kitchen – whether that’s putting cheese puffs into a macaroni cheese or using puff pastry as a cheat’s way to make fresh paratha. All that wrapped up in a grinning enthusiasm and a montage of a vindaloo being assembled, and you mouth will be watering in no time.
Available until: November 2022
Gripping box set: Showtrial
BBC One wages its latest war on the idea of spare time on Sunday evenings with this new drama, which takes us into the aftermath of a student’s death in Bristol. The chief suspect behind Hannah’s (Abra Thompson) killing? Talitha (Celine Buckens), her former friend who enters into the idea of being interviewed by the police with all the disdain and casual humour of wealthy privilege. Tracy Ifeachor is fantastic as Cleo, the solicitor who is determined to help her, despite any reason to do so, and the awkward, tense chemistry between them is as intriguing as the whole case and trial that begins to unfold.
Family box set: Worzel Gummidge
Is there anything Mackenzie Crook can’t do? One suspects not, based on Worzel Gummidge, his adaptation of Barbara Euphan Todd’s children’s books. Stepping into the straw shoes of Jon Pertwee, who was the definitive Worzel for a generation of kids, he’s instantly iconic here with his own take on the scarecrow of Ten Acre Field. Now back for a second season of three standalone episodes – (read our full review of Season 1) – things kick off with a delightful Bonfire Night story that reunites Crook with national treasure Toby Jones, who hysterically plays every member of the local Bonfire Night Committee (and every other committee going) – just as “Guy Forks” night goes awry. Why? Because the Guy (played with rascally charm by Paul Kaye) is too busy bickering with Worzel, leaving Gummidge to have to take his place on the bonfire. The result is a delightful, witty and warm tale of friendship and avoiding one-upmanship, all tinged with a gently creepy folk horror vibe, thanks to an eerie musical motif based on the old rhyme “Remember remember, the 5th of November…”
Catch up with: Doctor Who: Flux
“Trick or treat?” an alien villain teasingly asked the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) at the start of her final proper run in the TARDIS, and the answer is a bit of both. Flux, a six-part miniseries before Whittaker’s final three specials airing in 2022, is that rarity in modern Who: a one-story serial that unfold six episodes. Beginning with what essentially the end of the universe, it’s hard to see where the show can go from there, and that’s exactly the point, as we spend the first episode scrabbling to keep up with the Doctor and Yaz (Mandip Gill), while they in turn scrabble to keep up with what’s wiping out existence as we know it. Along the way, there’s time to introduce new sidekick Dan (a likeably down-to-earth John Bishop) and a race called the Karvanista, who are basically gigantic dogs. There’s also a visit to period Liverpool, a jaunt to the Arctic Circle, a Weeping Angel on someones doorstep and praise for Klopp-era Liverpool. There’s undoubtedly too much going on here – Game of Thrones’ Jacob Anderson also pops up as a character who’ll become important – but it’s exhilarating to see writer Chris Chibnall bow out by trying something different with some bigger stakes. Read our full, spoiler-filled review
Available until: September 2022
Spending Black: The Currency of Community?
Aaron Roach Bridgeman is one of the best rising talents on the presenter scene today, and it’s a treat to see him move away from crime documentaries on Channel 5 and into territory that’s thoughtful and timely. In the aftermath of 2020, he looks away from simply supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and into the more concrete question of whether shopping at Black-owned businesses can help to make a difference in an unequal society. From the Black Wall Street that led to the Tulsa massacre in 1921 to today’s era of digital commerce, he charts a comprehensive profile of Black businesses within the context of history and ongoing systemic bias – Black people are three times more likely than white people to start a new business, he points out, but are also more likely not to get it off the ground. He explores not only the impact that supporting Black businesses can have, but also the importance of diversity in the workplace and diversity within marketing and public outreach. An engaging presence both on camera and interviewing others, he’s precisely the kind of talent that the BBC should invest more in.
Available until: September 2022
Catch up with: Frankie Boyle’s New World Order
Frankie Boyle once again returns to tackle the big issues facing humankind with his typically acerbic but also acutely observant commentary – the kind of blunt, withering punditry that isn’t afraid to treat the climate crisis with the severity it warrants. This opening episode dissects everything from the consequences of the Brexit referendum to the challenges of the economy recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, and what’s commendable is that Boyle doesn’t just steamroll through a string of outrageous or provocative statements but uses his show as a platform for other deserving comic talents, including Sophie Duker, Rob Delaney and Erika Ehler.
Available until: September 2022
Informative box set: Universe
Professor Brian Cox returns to our screens to once more traverse the enormous expanse of our universe, with the help of some stunning CGI, his always-flawless hair and a voice so soft that it could be used as bubble wrap. This season sees him contemplate the big turning points that have shaped the universe, from the search for a second Earth and the impact of the Sun on everything else around it to black holes and the Big Bang itself. It’s accessible but never dumbed-down and, best of all, the Beeb has dropped all five episodes at once so that you don’t have to wait each week for another dose of scientific knowledge. Amazing.
Available until: September 2022
Ear for Eye
“debbie tucker green’s phenomenal adaptation of her 2018 play is a powerful piece of cinema.” Read our full review.
Available until: September 2022
Paris Police 1900
President Felix Fabre is dead, having passed away during the middle of an (ahem) intimate moment. That’s the starting point for this French period thriller, which doesn’t shy away from the naughty, the dark and the downright nasty – the latter coming courtesy of a wave of antisemitic violence flowing through the streets of 1899 Paris. What ensues is a murder mystery, a conspiracy plot and intriguing political secrets. So far, so European, but Paris Police 1900 comes wrapped up with such style and polished period detail that it’s a rather involving and glassily entertaining ride.
Available until: September 2022
The Trick
The ubiquitous Jason Watkins delivers yet another stellar turn in this one-off drama about the Climategate scandal of 2009. He plays Phil Jones, the professor who – in the run-up to the COP15 conference – found his emails stolen by hackers, who went on to make it look like the scientists had manipulated the data to drum up fears of climate change. Skeptics and deniers swarmed and the result was a briefly explosive conspiracy. Years later, the incident seems short-lived and relatively incidental, but in the days ahead of COP26, it’s a timely and unusual lens through which to consider the climate crisis. The fact that it gives a lead role to Jason Watkins in the process is a bonus.
Available until: September 2022
Catch up with: Ridley Road
Sarah Solemani brings Jo Bloom’s novel to the screen for this four-part drama, which depicts the rise of fascism in the UK in 1960s London. Rory Kinnear stars as Colin Jordan, the leader of the “National Socialist Movement”, who uses the Free Speech Act as justification for rallying people behind his repellent antisemitic views. He humanises Colin with a hauntingly plausible calm and polite facade, but our protagonist is the fictional Vivian (a phenomenal Agnes O’Casey), who moves to the swinging capital in search of her ex-boyfriend, Jack, who has joined the NSM – but, crucially, is a spy for the 62 Group, a resistance force led by Vivian’s uncle (a superbly committed Eddie Marsan). By the end of the first episode, Vivian is embedded in the NSM too, and the result is a gripping thriller that never loses sight of the heartbreaking horror at its heart – and, in its quiet everyday mundanity, finds a chilling resonance for the modern day.
28 Up: Millennium Generation
One of the BBC’s most ambitious documentary projects returns for its fourth instalment, picking up the mantle left by the landmark 7 Up series. Over 20 years in the making, and made by the same production team throughout, 28 Up Millennium Generation does what Michael Apted’s classic documentary did but for today, following the lives of a group of people who were all aged 7 at the turn of the century. Now aged 28, they provide a fascinating cross-section of society, but also the same question that they all face late in their 20s: what do they want for their lives? Perhaps most timely is the strand following Oliver, from London, who was educated at Eaton and is now wondering whether his career in the finance sector is actually fulfilling at all – a striking contrast to Gemma, in Bolton, who was left paralysed by a virus at the age of 2 and is now trying to find work in a tough landscape.
Available until: September 2022
Catch up with: Alma’s Not Normal
After a recent break-up, Alma tries to get her life back on track. But with no job, no qualifications, and a rebellious streak a mile wide, it’s not going to be easy. Family life’s not ideal either as Alma’s heroin-addicted mum has been sectioned for arson and her vampish Grandma Joan wants nothing to do with it. That was the starting point for Sophie Willon’s comedy when it aired its pilot last year, and the full series doesn’t flinch, diving further into the unusually dark subject matter with a shrewd, razor-sharp script and a strikingly sincere performance from Willan – not least when she’s trying to muster enthusiasm for her job as a “sandwich artist”.
Available until: 7th November 2022
Gripping box set: The Hunt for a Killer
This understated Scandi series shows the result of the world how true crime drama should be done. Read our full review
Available until: September 2022
Gripping box set: The North Water
Andrew Haigh’s brooding, brutal whaling drama is an unflinchingly dark voyage into human nature. Read our full review
Catch up with: Vigil
“How are you with enclosed spaces?” That’s the question asked of DCI Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) when she’s hastily recruited and sent aboard HMS Vigil. A Trident submarine, it’s more than just a closed-off space: it’s a compressed echo chamber that’s home to nuclear warheads, unspoken tensions and a dead body. Is it an accidental overdose or is there something more at play? The six-part thriller dives right in from the off, laying the seabed of suspicion thick on top of layers of intriguing conspiracy – before she’s even underwater, she’s encountered anti-Trident protestors, and before she’s seen the body, she’s been warned about what she can and (crucially) can’t do. Jones is impeccable at the nerves-of-steel investigator, who can confidently laugh off a misspelling of her name but finds herself on shaky ground once she’s all at sea – and she’s surrounded by a remarkable ensemble that throws up threats and secrets aplenty. From Martin Compston’s duty-driven mess officer and Shaun Evans’ seemingly honourable liason to Sex Education’s Connor Swindells as the heated engineer. Stealing the show and steering the ship? The always-excellent Paterson Joseph, who brings intimidation and a sense of duty that brings wider political stakes to the whodunnit. “We have always been at war,” he warns DCI Silva with an unblinking stare. One episode in and you can already feels those walls closing in – this is a grippingly claustrophobic watch.
Catch up with: Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League
Football’s just a game of two halves – but it’s game that’s grown and transformed dramatically over the years, evolving from jumpers for goalposts in the park to a billion-pound business that’s broadcast and streamed across the globe. This fascinating four-part documentary series explains how we get here, charting the founding of the Premier League back in the early 1990s – the point at which Rupert Murdoch came along and, as football seemed on the out in the 1980s, invested a huge sum of money in crafting what would become the definitive football competition. From players such as Alan Shearer being snapped up to Murdoch’s insistence on having Monday-night matches regularly scheduled, it’s an interesting potted history, not least because David Beckham’s production company has secured punditry from some impressive names, including Alex Ferguson, Vinnie Jones and the always-entertaining musings of Eric Cantona.
Available until: September 2022
Thrilling box set: Motherland: Fort Salem
“This new series has a lot to recommend it. Created by Eliot Laurence, the premise is beguiling, incorporating all the elements for what should be a terrific supernatural programme. Ancestral witches, going back generations, are recruited into an “army” to fight against a terrorist group called The Spree, made up of witches gone “bad”…” Read our full review Words: Helen Archer
A Life in 10 Pictures: Amy Winehouse
BBC Four’s A Life in 10 Pictures has always been an inspired way to approach notable figures, and Amy Winehouse is a textbook example. Taking a handful of iconic photographs as its framework, the documentary’s hour-long episode is a thoughtful and poignant exploration of a woman whose image was everywhere at one point – balancing media snaps with private photos of her at a young age. While there have been several documentaries featuring talking heads with conflicting accounts of Winehouse’s life and career, this balanced piece lets the images do the talking.
Gripping box set: The Pale Horse
Rufus Sewell stars in Sarah Phelps’ final Agatha Christie adaptation for the BBC – a haunting, stylish mystery dripping with ghostly dread.
Available until: 28th September 2022
Catch up with: Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing: Season 4
The Trip, but with fishing instead of food. That’s the premise behind this charmingly low-key chat between Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, who go fishing for little reason other than catch some tench or salmon and shoot the breeze about health, childhood and bad Robert De Niro impressions. It’s not shockingly revelatory or a gripping gossip fest – and that’s exactly the point. Now four seasons in and headed to the Outer Hebrides, and that pointless drifting has become even more endearing, as the pair’s intimate bickering, quick-witted bantering and completely honest observations remain as frank and unguarded as ever. If The Trip is a show in which personas are knowingly deconstructed, Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing doesn’t even bother constructing its stars’ personas in the first place.
Available until: 26th September 2021 (Season 1 to 3)
Catch up with: Gossip Girl
Not the 2021 remake (read our review of that here) but the OG GG, this wonderfully cheesy and surprisingly nostalgic teen drama charts the scandals and vengeful plotting of a group of wealthy youngsters on New York’s Upper East Side – and from pitch-perfect performances by Penn Badgley and Leighton Meester to Blake Lively, this is a superbly more-ish pleasure. Leave the guilt at the door. (Read: Why you need Gossip Girl in your life.)
Drama Box Set: Pose Season 1 to 3
Vibrant, gripping, emotional and sassy, Pose is one of Ryan Murphy’s greatest TV creations, shining a spotlight on the ball culture of the 1980s. With its groundbreaking, primarily transgender cast, it’s a revelatory experience to watch it, not only because of the plethora of lives and stories finally being told but also the talent bursting through every frame. Season 3 takes things forward to the 1990s for a powerful final run that faces the AIDS crisis head-on, as its characters still struggle to find acceptance, respect, support and a welcome distraction. The result is as breathtaking and moving as ever.
Ambulance: Season 7
Just when you think that you couldn’t admire the NHS any more, along comes Season 7 of the BBC’s heart-stopping, hugely compelling documentary, which puts us on the ground with the staff of the North West Ambulance Service in Merseyside. While the usual onslaught of accidents and incidents is already overwhelming, this season sees the paramedic crews also having to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which adds an emotional weight and traumatic toll to their shifts. They face it all with comforting calm and remarkable humour, while also reminding us all watching of the need for perspective, as some people complain about the weather while other bid farewell to loved ones over the phone. A sobering, heartfelt watch, narrated with frank sensitivity by
Christopher Eccleston.
Back to Life
This new comedy takes the tradition for flawed female characters trying to make their way in life and turns it up to 11. Daisy Haggard (who also co-wrote the series with Laura Solon) plays Miri, who is returning to her childhood home on the Kent coast after 18 years spent in prison. Getting used to how things have changed in the time she’s been inside (her bafflement at everyone’s obsession with phones and the posters on the walls of her old bedroom – George Michael, Prince, David Bowie and Jamie Oliver (“last man standing”, as her mother (Geraldine James) calls him), is the least of her worries. She is also returning to a hostile community who still bear a grudge for her crime and are out to make her life as difficult as possible. The series follows Miri as she gets a job at a chippie and starts a tentative new relationship, while reconciling the ghosts of her past, and discovering what led to the incident which put her in jail. A great supporting cast, including Richard Durden as her compost-obsessed father, Adeel Akhtar as the next door neighbour who befriends her, Liam Williams as her new boss, and Christine Bottomley as her old schoolfriend, bring life to their characters, though there are a couple of subplots which don’t add much and take the focus away from the main meat of the programme. Back to Life has been compared to Fleabag, with good reason – the programmes share the same producers, debuted on BBC Three, and takes the “dysfunctional heroine” to new extremes – and its melancholic humour and first-rate acting will surely act as great calling cards. Words: Helen Archer
Pick of the week: Uprising
“People on the outside, maybe they can just imagine…” That’s one of the survivors of the New Cross Fire in January 1981, speaking at the start of Uprising. Directed by Steve McQueen and James Rogan, the three-part series for BBC One charts a string of events from that, beginning with the fire, before going on to the first organised mass protest by Black British people and, that April, the Brixton riots. Respectful, moving and burdened with social, political and racial context, this is a vivid and powerful portrait of tragedy and legacy.
Pick of the week: Reclaiming Amy
Marking the 10-year anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s tragic death, this new BBC documentary is a fascinating and poignant watch. It makes no secret about its desire to set the record straight on the singer-songwriter, with her parents, Janis and Mitch, essentially using the film to reply to Asif Kapadia’s seminal 2015 documentary Amy. While your mileage may vary when it comes to Mitch refuting that film’s criticisms of his behaviour, what’s undeniable is the intimacy on display here, as Winehouse’s friends and family all chime in alongside home videos and recordings of her on stage. Objectivity isn’t going to be achieved here, but there’s a raw, personal quality that makes this if not a comprehensive rebuttal to Kapadia’s film then a moving counterpart. One standout segment features a clip of Winehouse playing Rizzo in a school production of Grease – a powerful reminder of a talent lost far too soon.
Please Help
After working with Spencer Jones in The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk, BBC Three gives a welcome spotlight to Lucy Pearman for this one-off pilot, which sees her play Milly, a young woman whose life has been consumed by caring for her grandmother. Starved of a social life, stressed and exhausted, she begins to experience a breakdown, hallucinating and hearing voices (including Tim Key as a horse). But when that burn-out takes the form of apparent super-powers, we end up an enjoyably surreal limbo where her forceful rebuke of sexist workmen and her inability to sit still in a chair without hovering become a promising blend of absurdist humour and poignant statements about the lack of support in an underfunded healthcare system.
Baptiste
Tchéky Karyo once again reprises his role as the insightful but stubborn investigator Julien Baptiste in this second chapter of the BBC’s spin-off from The Missing. There’s certainly intrigue to keep you hooked, as he’s drawn into the hunt for the family of British Ambassador Emma Chambers (the always-excellent Fiona Shaw), but writers Harry and Jack Williams are smart enough to know that Baptiste also needs to grow and change – and a personal tragedy leads to a heart-wrenching turn by Karyo, as he moves between past and present with real emotional clout.
Inside No 9: Season 6
Six seasons in and Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are still finding ways to flex their muscles – even if it is with an episode that explicitly talks about how they’re doing just that. Combining a masked jewel heist with commedia dell’arte, the result is somewhere between Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, balancing threatening, gun-toting tension (courtesy of Paterson Joseph’s gang leader) with stock comic characters (such as Shearsmith’s heavily accented Scaramouche). In between it all, Gemma Whelan is clearly having a ball as the deceitful Columbina, who breaks the fourth wall every chance she gets, teeing up a non-stop stream of double entendre and double identities, plus an endearing running joke about a sandwich. “It’s quite clever in a way,” Columbina smirks. “But still sounds like something a drama teacher would have a **** to.”
Available until: September 2022
Gripping Box Set: Gods of Snooker
Snooker might seem like a sedate sport, but it’s one that has enjoyed a dramatic past, and this three-part documentary is a perfect introduction to the appeal of the battles on and off the baize. Taking us back to the 1980s, when smoky halls were the backdrop for the tussle of talent and ego, the money-spinning soap opera introduces us to such legendary figures as Alex Higgins, the hurricane of skill who wouldn’t conform to the composed sheen of the circuit, Steve Davis, whose steely professionalism made him a key part of Barry Hearn’s Matchroom Mob, and Jimmy White, whose rock-and-roll lifestyle made him a popular people’s player.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under
Sashay, G’day! This Antipodean edition of the RuPaul drag race phenomenon is just the thing to give you your fix before the next run of UK and US queens competing, as we meet the Australians and New Zealander hoping to become Down Under’s first Drag Race superstar.
Gripping box set: The Cry
This gut-churning tale of a child’s disappearance is impeccably painful TV.
Available until: September 2022
Catch up with: Louis Theroux: Shooting Joe Exotic
A year on from when Netflix’s Tiger King dominated our watchlists, it seems only fitting that Louis Theroux should revisit “Joe Exotic” a decade after he first interviewed the convicted felon and cult figure. Theroux, tellingly, responds to a direct call from Joe to tell the “real story” and to explore the saga of the animal hoarder. The result is a documentary that digs deep into Joe’s background, meets Carole Baskin and looks back at how Joe came across in his first screen appearance with Theroux – an initially charming figure with much darker things going on. This is a thoughtful, reflexive watch, even if you might never want to hear anything more about the Tiger King again afterwards.
Catch up with: Bloodlands
James Nesbitt is broodingly intense as DCI Tom Brannick in this gripping crime drama, which brings a polished sheen to darkly grim material, as a cold case awakens in Northern Ireland that brings with it the ghost of Goliath, a legendary killer who was reputed to be a former police officer who went missing 20 years ago. With Tom’s wife among Goliath’s victims, Nesbitt’s copper inevitably sees his judgement compromised and questioned – just the ticket to promise a twisting, gripping mystery plot until Line of Duty returns.
Festival of Funny
The BBC is bringing a boatload of comedy to our screens this spring, with celebrations of such legends as Victoria Wood and Tommy Cooper balanced by a new live stand-up series and a wave of comedy specials from modern comedians, including Rose Matafeo’s hilarious Horndog, Eddie Izzard’s formidable Force Majeure and Dylan Moran’s darkly funny Off the Hook. See our full guide to the season here.
Available until: February 2023
Attenborough’s Life in Colour
Using the latest camera technology, David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour: to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies. Attenborough’s vocals are as soothing and insightful as ever, but it’s the visuals that take centre-stage here, giving us an eye-popping fresh look at the natural world.
Catch up with: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
The UK’s own incarnation of RuPaul’s veritable TV phenomenon has lost none of its delightful, uplifting charm with its second season. The show once again sees the best of Britain’s drag scene competing to impress judges that, this season, include Elizabeth Hurley. While episodes drop weekly, there’s also the whole of Season 1 to enjoy too, with judges ranging from Andrew Garfield and Alan Carr to Graham Norton. Witty, fabulous, and very, very British. Read our full review.
Available until: February 2023
Gripping box set: Noughts + Crosses
We’re in a dream age for dystopian fiction – an ironic paradox if ever there were one – and a golden era for alt-history thrillers. Noughts + Crosses is based on Malorie Blackman’s novel of the same name, first published in 2001. 20 odd years later, it’s still blisteringly topical and breathtakingly bold. The series introduces us to an alternate 21st century, where the black ruling class – the “Crosses” – lead society and the “Noughts” are the white underclass. Sephy, the daughter of the home secretary, reunites with Callum, a Nought and a friend since childhood. With a spark reignited between them, the stage is set for a star-crossed, socially forbidden romance. It’s a grippingly astute role reversal, and one that the script – plus directors Julian Holmes and Koby Adom – bring to life with immediately convincing, and remarkably detailed, world-building. Segregation, we’re told is over, but the programme shrewdly captures the little ways in which racism is still alive in society, whether it’s interactions with the law or people’s choice of words. The always-excellent Paterson Joseph leads the cast as Sephy’s father, with Peaky Blinders’ Jack Rowan and newcomer Masali Baduza shining as our two young leads. The result is timeless and timely, gripping and heart-wrenching, dazzlingly different and searingly recognisable. There’s never been a better worse time to watch it.
Available until: February 2023
The Trump Show
If you were ever in doubt about the catastrophes going on behind the scenes in the current US administration, this eye-opening documentary takes us behind the scenes of the White House in the first 18 months of Trump’s presidency, as a reality TV star took control of the country and run it like an immature businessman determined to appear successful at all costs. What’s impressive here is the access and willingness of contributors to speak out about such events as the first delivery of “alternative facts” to the press regarding the crowd size attending Trump’s inauguration. With interviews from Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon among others, it’s hard not to take seriously their accounts of the most incredulous presidency in history.
Death in Paradise
Ralf Little once again steps into the lead shoes for the long-running BBC drama about a bumbling UK detective, and he’s a good fit for the surprisingly light crime series – a show that, in a modern age of grim true crime, relies not on gore to keep audiences interested but solid mystery plots and gorgeous seaside backdrops. What more could you want for escapist pandemic viewing?
Would I Lie to You?
Now in its 14th season, there’s no surprise in store for fans of Would I Lie to You?, a panel show that gets celebrity guests to tell lies and truths and get others to spot the difference. But a constant that also remains true is its consistently high laugh count, with host Rob Brydon and team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell always entertaining to watch box with each other – a skirmish of quick-witted one-liners and sarcastic put-downs that they enjoy as much as we do. The chance to see Stephen Hendry enter the fray this season is the icing on the cake, but the core of the show has lost none of its appeal. If it isn’t broken, why change it?
A Perfect Planet
It wouldn’t be the BBC without David Attenborough, and this new series is as wonderful as you’d expect, capturing Attenborough’s respect and infectious awe for our planet – one where every element of the Earth seems to be perfect for human life, and all other life, to exist. Kicking off with volcanoes and the benefits they bring to the global ecosystem, this is a visually stunning reminder of why Earth needs to be looked after – and also will likely haunt your dreams with the introduction of the vampire finch.
Drama Box Set: The Serpent
Bangkok, 1975. Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg investigates the disappearance of a young couple who were last seen alive at the apartment of gem dealer Charles Sobhraj. What sounds like a gripping starting point for a serial killer thriller is in reality a slow-paced watch, as the eight-episode drama based on real events takes its time to unfold its chilling true story. But there’s style, colour and a superb cast underneath that glacial surface – Tahar Rahim as Charles and Jenna Coleman as his sidekick Marie-Andrée are excellent – and that’s reason enough to get hooked.
Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks
With the Doctor imprisoned halfway across the universe, how can Graham, Yaz and Ryan stop a deadly Dalek takeover of planet Earth? This New Year’s Day outing doesn’t always do the best by its iconic villains, as Chris Noth returns to play the Donald Trump-like tycoon using the Daleks’ shells to make security drones, but it excels at bringing back John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, who immediately brings out new dynamics between the likeable core cast – and, with John Bishop lined up to become a new companion for Season 13, there are some surprisingly moving moments involving the Doctor’s fam as they take agency over their own futures.
Comedy Box Set: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
“Now, this is a story all about how, my life got flipped turned upside down…” If you’re already reciting that out loud, then The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air needs no introduction. One of the best sitcoms of the 1990s, it featured rising star Will Smith, it was exec produced by Quincy Jones and taught everyone the correct way to dance to Tom Jones. Over 25 years later, and the show looks even better, a charming mix of 90s nostalgia, admiration for Will Smith’s on-fire charisma and surprise at just how many serious issues and emotional character moments the show managed to pack into its 148 episodes. Read our guide to the best episodes
Pandemonium
BBC Two’s pandemic sitcom Pandemonium might sound like a terrible idea, but it doesn’t ask us to laugh at any of these things – it asks us to laugh at the tiny frustrations and absurdities that we all face day-to-day, almost regardless of the fact that a global pandemic is raging through our lives. Thanks to shrewdly observed and sharply delivered dialogue, it’s highly entertaining. Once this pandemic is over, it’s easy to imagine the Jessops being just as fun to watch in a fully-fledged sitcom, no matter what they’re going through.
Available until: November 2022
Thrilling Box Set: Pretty Little Liars
If you’re a teen drama fan, this is your chance to catch up with one of the definitive modern high school mysteries. Based on the best-selling book series written by Sara Shepherd, it follows four friends whose darkest secrets come to light. All seven seasons are available now – with spin-off The Perfectionist also available in the UK for the first time.
Thrilling Box Set: Spiral: Season 1 to 8
With Season 8 now on BBC iPlayer, the rest of this superb French thriller has also returned to stream. Following Laure Berthaud and her team of detectives facing the brutal world of organised crime, the iconic Paris-set thriller – which began way back in 2005 – hasn’t lost its gripping edge, its nuanced portrayal of the nature of justice or the dark cycle of crime under the city’s busy surface.
Available until: November 2022
Documentary Box Set: OJ: Made in America
This seven-hour epic documentary puts the history of OJ Simpson into profound, dizzying context.
Catch up with: The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown
What a joy it is to have Dawn French’s “buxom vicarette” back on our screens. Even in 10-minute chunks, she’s a delightfully comforting presence, catching us up on the Dibley village gossip through the now-time-honoured format of an online video message. Sprinkling reassuring words of kindness in between subtle but sharply observed gags, it’s a bite-sized reminder of just why The Vicar of Dibley was a heavenly bit of TV in the first place. More please.
Available until: September 2022
Drama box set: Small Axe
Steve McQueen’s remarkable anthology tells stories of people within London’s West Indian community, and how they shaped their own lives in the face of society’s racial bias. it begins with Mangrove, telling the story for the first time on mainstream TV of a group of Black activists who, 50 years ago, took to the street to protest against police harassment in Notting Hill. The result is a taut yet free-wheeling, important yet understated celebration of a community building – and defending – a home in a city that’s growing and changing, of voices being heard rather than silently despairing or being dismissed.
Available until: November 2022
Thrilling box set: His Dark Materials
This impressively faithful adaptation of Philip Pullman’s books is a grand but grounded epic, with Season 2 proving bigger, bolder and darker than the first. Read our review
Out of Her Mind
Sara Pascoe goes into full-on meta mode with her postmodern sitcom about Sara Pascoe trying to make it through life, resenting her sister for getting engaged and her friend for getting pregnant. All of this is intercut by Sara Pascoe commenting on Sara Pascoe, while rollerskating around a warehouse with footage of herself playing in the background, dispatching lectures about the science behind the illusion of romance and the way that expectations of and pressures placed upon women in modern society shape perceptions, ambitions and self-worth. It’s not new or cutting-edge, but it’s delivered with a sparky energy that’s nonetheless entertaining.
Gripping Box Set: Collateral
Carey Mulligan is quietly brilliant in David Hare’s complex, compellingly dark portrait of modern Britain.
Comedy Box Set: The Vicar of Dibley
Dawn French is on hugely charming form in Richard Curtis’ classic comedy about a forward-thinking female vicar assigned to a backwards Oxfordshire village.
Young, Black & British: Hear Us
“No one is born racist.” CBBC’s Newsround confirms itself as one of the best news organisations around with this fantastic series about young Black and British kids across the country, who share their experiences of growing up in a society where racial prejudice sadly still exists. But while the confirmation that they’ve already had to face racial abuse in their young lives is heartbreaking, their resilience and determination to be themselves and rise above it is inspiring.
Roadkill
Hugh Laurie makes a welcome return to our screens in this brilliantly dark and grim political drama. He plays Peter Laurence, a self-made politician who is charismatic and enjoys being the controversial figure on the edge of Whitehall, juggling a radio phone-in show with the media attention that comes with a trial. But threats of skeletons being dragged out of his cupboard are on the rise, thanks to dogged journalist Charmian (Sarah Greene) and an unexpected figure from his past. With David Hare pulling the plot threads together, the result is a rivetingly plausible thriller, one that pits personal ambition against the political system, with Brexit on the horizon, Boris Johnson-like questions about family and legacy and everyone’s professional stakes at the highest possible level. The cast are superb, from Helen McCrory as a ruthless PM to Sidse Babett Knudsen, and simply seeing them all lock horns is reason enough to tune in. Expect the conspiracies to thicken quickly – and with all four episodes released at once following the broadcast of the first episode, expect to get through them all even quicker.
Drama Box Set: Us
Anything starring Tom Hollander is always worth a watch and BBC One’s Us is no exception. It follows Douglas (Hollander) and Connie (Saskia Reeves), two parents who go on a tour of Europe before their son (Tom Taylor) leaves for university. But marital discord soon surfaces and Douglas ends up using the trip to try and win his wife back – a set-up that David Nicholls’ script (based on his own book) mines for maximum awkwardness and humour, nailed with precision by the top-notch cast. Not one for honeymoon viewing.
Extinction: The Facts
David Attenborough has made it his mission of late not only to showcase the natural wonders of our world but to educate everyone on their responsibility to look after it. Here, he graduates from stark words of warning at the end of a series to a one-off documentary that’s wall-to-wall warnings, delivered with a heartbreaking urgency. A million species are currently at risk of extinction, he explains, a crisis that has knock-on effects for food and water security, not to mention pollination, plant growth and more – all of which carries grave consequences for food chains and life cycles that underpin our basic existence. With scientists cautioning that our behaviour and treatment of the planet are driving the emergence of diseases, the very question of environmental awareness and safeguarding takes on an even more terrifying importance.
Available until: September 2022
Thrilling Box Set: The Bridge
One of the best Scandinavian crime dramas ever made, this superb, slick, noir sees the Danish and Swedish police forces join together, as Saga from Malmo CID and Martin from Copenhagen PD are both assigned to solve the murder of a woman in the middle of Oresund Bridge, exactly on the border between the two countries. The first two seasons are now available to binge – don’t miss your chance to relive them.
Nadiya Bakes
Nadiya Hussain is always a delight to watch in the kitchen, and here, she’s even more in her element as she goes back to the thing that made her a household name: baking. Her unique combination of flavours, practicality and enthusiastic indulgence is as infectiously enjoyable as ever, which leaves you brimming with inspiration to make at lest one of the recipes on show – whether that’s a blueberry scone pizza, a strawberry cupcake or a spicy Asian take on the traditional toad-in-the-hole. It’s all presented with a refreshing lack of pretence and a candid excitement – right down to a cameraperson dropping their slice on the floor by mistake.
Drama Box Set: Good Trouble
The Fosters was a long-running drama, unfolding over five seasons, which detailed the lives of a large and diverse foster family. When it was cancelled in 2018, this spin-off series sprung from the ashes, following two of the adopted Foster-Adams daughters as they head to LA to find their fortune. But fear not if you’ve heard of neither programme – Good Trouble has the legs not only to stand on its own, but to sprint light years ahead.
It is inhabited by a cast of characters that, if listed, would sound like the writers are checking off one diversity box after another, but who are ultimately so rounded that they fully come to life. Returning characters from The Fosters dip in and out but the sharpness of the writing fills in any gaps with wit and economy.
Fans may have to wait some time for the third season, as filming was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but these 31 episodes should keep viewers going for a while. Be warned: Good Trouble can only be described as ‘moreish’ and, once started, the urge to gorge is strong. Read our full review
Available until: February 2023
Cuba: Castro vs the World
Cuba has one of the most interesting histories of any nation, and one of the most complex, taking us from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, which cut short the Communist funding of Fidel Castro’s regime. This two-hour documentary walks us through all of these, starting with the overthrow of dictator Batista and the start of a revolution that would ambitiously challenge the whole world. Post-Cold War, we see how the island continued to shift still, finding new paths to international diplomacy. If you underwhelmed by Netflix’s Wasp Network recently, this two-hour deluge of accessible, informative filmmaking is a riveting watch.
The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty
Rupert Murdoch has been one of the most influential figures in the world over the years, thanks to the reach of his media empire and his business clout. Like watching an evil Forrest Gump, this three-part documentary tells the story of the media mogul, from his own family tensions to his interactions with key politicians in recent decades. That includes his decision to support Tony Blair in becoming Prime Minister in 1995 – we see Blair flying out to Murdoch’s private island in the summer for a summit – and the scrutiny facing his newspapers’ use of police bribes. From Blair and Murdoch’s close ties, particularly in the run-up to the Iraq war, to Murdoch’s apparent demands for the Conservative Party to change its policy, it’s an eye-opening, gripping watch – and, although it includes Nigel Farage among its talking heads, it also boasts Alistair Campbell and Hugh Grant. The running theme becomes not only Murdoch’s habit of being in the right place to influence the right people in his own interests, but also the Murdoch empire’s consistent ability to avoid being held to account for its practices.
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth’s acclaimed novel about life in post-partition India is one that has been long overdue on our screens, and the BBC certainly sets out to do it justice, with no white actors or characters and an all-Asian cast, and the wonderful Mira Nair at the helm. Andrew Davies penning the script, then, is perhaps a bit of a step backwards, as he stays closely to the traditional TV drama playbook in balancing the personal and the political, the period and the contemporary. Davies’ skill is as evident as ever, as he introduces us to Lata (Tanya Maniktala) in north India, who is being pushed into a marriage by her mother, and then Maan (Ishaan Khatter), a wayward youth who is an embarrassment to his politician father. The result, though, with its mostly English-language dialogue, perhaps isn’t as modern or strikingly different as you’d expect. Then again, giving this Indian period drama the gloss and production value of The Crown is still a step forward for Sunday night TV. Here’s hoping its opulent style and good intentions carry it to something sincere over its six, condensed episodes.
Drama Box Set: Mrs America
Cate Blanchett is brilliant in this playful, provocative, stylish and highly entertaining drama about the battle for women’s rights in the 1970s. Read our full review
Drama Box Set: The Secrets She Keeps
“The value of a secret depends upon whom you’re trying to keep it from,” says someone partway through The Secrets That She Keeps, a show that’s bursting at the seams with secrets – although it doesn’t always do a very good at keeping them. The Australian thriller, adapted from Michael Rowbotham‘s novel, is inspired by a real life hospital incident from the 1990s. Over the years, it’s been embellished and transformed into something far more audacious and implausible, but – it goes without saying – something more entertaining too. An entertaining page-turner that doesn’t outstay its welcome. Read our full review
Drama Box Set: I May Destroy You
Michaela Coel’s frank exploration of consent is remarkable, personal and uncompromising TV. Read our full review
Comedy Box Set: What We Do in the Shadows Season 2
The vampire sitcom’s second season balances horror myths and human tedium to witty, silly effect. Read our full review
Comedy Box Set: This Country: Season 1 to 3
DAisy May and Charlie Cooper are gently side-splitting in this low-key mockumentary, which explores the lives of young people in modern rural Britain
Don’t Miss: Normal People
BBC Three and Hulu’s 12-part adaptation of Sally Rooney’s hit novel is a moving, nuanced and beautiful drama that’s at once smart and sensual. Read our full review here.
Drama Box Set: Devs
The future is fixed. Everything is determined. Or is it? Those are the kind of questions that Alex “Ex Machina” Garland asks in his latest project, following the dizzyingly ambitious Annihilation. His brilliantly ambiguous tech drama pieces together an existential conundrum from shards of philosophy, conspiracy and espionage thrills, as we follow young Sergei, a programmer who is recruited by the mysterious digital firm Amya. Led by Nick Offerman, who plays its CEO with lots of hair and even more mystery and tragedy, it’s a shady organisation that’s hard at work in its revolutionary examination of free will. But when Sergei disappears, his girlfriend, Lily (the excellent Sonoya Mizuno), begins to look into what exactly he was doing. The result is a wonderfully intriguing thriller with a convincingly chilling cast (including the always-great Alison Pill) and a sinister, eerie vibe that only tightens its claustrophobic grip. All eight episodes are now on BBC iPlayer. Boot up and prepare not to log off for the best part of your weekend.
The Mash Report
In contrast to HIGNIFY, The Mash Report has always excelled at rolling with the absurdity of modern existence, and its first remote-hosted episode is a surprisingly slick affair. That’s partly thanks to a pre-filmed segment on Facebook radicalising everyone’s mothers, and partly thanks to the news correspondents’ ability to deliver increasingly daft headlines with a smile – including one brilliant segment involving a monkey. Add in the usual witty back-and-forth between Rachel Parris and Nish Kumar – and the right-wing comedian Geoff Norcott who completes a running joke about Rishi Sunak with aplomb. Kumar’s signature frankness, whether talking about his tiny flat or the fact that these are genuinely scary times, has never been a more welcome presence on our screens.
Available until: 3rd May (Episode 1)
Our Girl: Season 4
Michelle Keegan is back again for another tour as Georgie Lane, the determined, smart and tough army medic. The start of Season 4 showcases her calm skills in the face of emergency, but this time in the refreshingly domestic context of a nightclub brawl – and her decision to then move back from normality to Afghanistan means the return to active service has the same impact it had three seasons ago. This time, it brings with it difficult memories of loss, and Keegan sells the emotional toll with a convincing, heartfelt performance that continues to grip.
Thrilling Box Set: Spooks: Season 1 to 10
M:I-5. Not 9 to 5. Even the slogan for the BBC espionage series feels quaintly dated, but for all its love of numerical keypad phones and laptops as cutting-edge gizmos, this spy thriller is still grippingly modern, as it never relied on technology to make its programme relevant: the series’ real secret weapon was its focus on character, which was driven by increasingly far-fetched plots. With a cast including David Oyelowo, Richard Armitage, Matthew Macfadyen and Nicola Walker, that means you have a show that’s as hugely entertaining as ever.
Thriling box set: Line of Duty: Season 1 to 5
Before Jed Mercurio’s ridiculously tense cop thriller returns for a sixth season, don’t miss your chance to binge through the first five.
Louis Theroux: Selling Sex
The exchange of sex for money is legal in Britain, so long as it doesn’t involve coercion, exploitation, or any kind of public nuisance. Now, in an age of social media and digital connections, the notion of transactional sex is suddenly in front of people who might never have previously considered it. Enter Louis Theroux to untangle the complicated presumptions, expectations and challenges surrounding what is now an industry. He meets 30-something Victoria, a mother who fits in multiple bookings each day between school runs, Caroline, a former dental nurse who is turned onto the work by a friend and Ashleigh, a student with Asperger’s who is using transactional sex to pay for art school. Theroux may not be making headlines with this film, but he’s at his absolute best, teasing out details from his subjects through probing but sensitive questions, from how one of their past relationships has framed their valuing of sex and themselves to his own reticence to make judgements or assumptions and his attempts to stop any thoughts of paternal concern. The result is a thoughtful consideration of an unseen but prevalent economy, and a provocative examination of moral, ethical and financial issues.
Drama Box Set: The Trial of Christine Keeler
The Trial Of Christine Keeler takes a fresh look at one of the most infamous British stories of the 20th century: the chain of events in the 1960s that came to be known as the Profumo Affair. This stylish, gripping drama finds the female voice at the heart of it: 19 year-old Christine Keeler, a young woman whom the powerful, male-dominated establishment sought to silence and exploit, but who refused to play by their rules. (Read our full review)
Comedy Box Set: The Young Offenders: Season 1 to 3
This sublime comedy series is expertly performed, smartly written and very, very funny. Read our full review
Available until: September 2022
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
Mark Kermode’s engaging, insightful documentary about The Exorcist manages to be more than just a making-of.
Thrilling Box Set: Killing Eve: Season 2
Stylish, darkly funny and powered by its complex characters, Season 2 of Killing Eve is as intoxicatingly unpredictable as ever. Read our review. (Season 1 is also available: read our review here).)
Comedy Box Set: Fleabag: Season 2
The return of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy is as brilliant, candid, rude and funny as you’d expect. Read our review here.
Available until: February 2023
Mayans MC
Testosterone and gasoline fuel this biker drama, spun off from Sons of Anarchy. And, once again, we’re immersed in the group politics, personal conflicts and violent retributions that bubble under the surface of a petrolhead gang – this time, a Latino gang in Santo Padre, on the US/Mexico border. Created by Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, the series picks up four years after Sons, as young Ezekiel (J.D. Pardo) finds himself drawn into the world of the Mayans Motorcyle Club, driven by the need for revenge against the Galindo cartel. Flashbacks introduce us to his childhood sweetheart, Emily (Sarah Bolger), who is now married to the son of the cartel’s boss. That’s more than enough to hook in fans, even without the presence of Ron Perlman and other stalwarts from the original show – although there are some crossover cameos to watch out for. Throw in a compelling veteran turn from Edward James Olmos as Ezekiel’s father, Felipe, and you’ve got all the promising mechanical components for another muscular drama waiting to be revved up.
Better Things
Pamela Adlon’s comedy about a single mother has taken its time to arrive on our screens, and has had a tumultuous time of it even before then – it was initially co-written by Louis C.K., who was rightly and promptly booted from the series (along with his production company) when accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him. Its belated premiere on UK TV, courtesy of the Beeb’s deal with FX, nonetheless deserves praise for Adlon’s central performance as Sam, a mother of three who is trying to balance her flailing acting career with raising three daughters. Adlon co-created the programme and sets the tone from the off, with a performance that’s honest in its semi-autobiographical approach and unapologetically prickly – we first meet her in a shop, where she’s ignoring her crying child, who’s in tears because she wants to buy some earrings she doesn’t need. Later, she argues with her eldest in a car. “Hide things from me please!” she cries, as her child tries to solicit her to buy weed. With Adlon working on a third season, both directing and reprising her lead role (and with four new writers on board), this opening run (available as a box set on BBC iPlayer) promises a candid, fresh take on motherhood that’s worth checking out.
Drama Box Set: Luther
“I’m with the police.” “Which police?” “The police.” That’s the sound of Idris Elba remaining as tough, gruff and willing to rough people up as ever over four seasons of Luther. The BBC drama, which co-stars Ruth Wilson and a fantastic coat, dives into grimy police work with a glowering swagger that only adds to the hard-hitting appeal of the concise storytelling, curt dialogue and did we mention Idris Elba? Before Luther returns for Season 5, don’t miss the chance to catch up with show’s gripping back catalogue.
Family Box Set: Blue Planet II
David Attenborough once again narrates this majestic, majestically filmed nature documentary, which dives beneath the waves to reveal not only the life beneath, but the way in which that life is being transformed by our existence up above. From the Earth’s frozen poles to coral reefs, it’s an eye-opening, informative and infinitely accessible programme that is almost too much to take in one sitting. Plus who doesn’t like the excuse to drop the word “phytoplankton” into everyday conversation?
Tags
Box SetsRelated Posts
Netflix UK review: Robin Robin November 24, 2021 | David Farnor
Netflix TV binge review: Sense8 (Episodes 7, 8, 9)... June 17, 2015 | Chris Bryant
Why you should be watching BBC One’s The Split... February 11, 2020 | David Farnor
Why Swamp Thing should be your next box set... February 2, 2020 | Laurence Boyce
