The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne review – Hollywood tales A fond but frank memoir of an eccentric showbiz family shaped by tragedy The Guardian - UK · Jun 13, 2024
Copa 71: The Lost Lionesses review – the wild tale of the Women’s World Cup that Fifa tried to stop This spectacular, thrilling documentary celebrates the 70s female football tournament that had 110,000 people at its final – despite attempts to suppress it. It’s a rollicking underdog tale The Guardian - UK · Jun 11, 2024
Cursed Histories review – so bonkers you’ll struggle not to laugh Evil mummies, evil cities, evil scrolls … this programme has got them all. Just don’t expect much actual history The Guardian - UK · Jun 10, 2024
Lost Boys & Fairies review – a beautiful gay adoption extravaganza Gabriel and Andy adopt a boy in this incredibly emotional drama. It has a huge heart, big musical numbers and plenty of weepy moments – you will be in floods of tears The Guardian - UK · Jun 3, 2024
Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult review – a horribly mesmerising look at an invite-only church Is it a religious organisation? A management company for dancers? A brainwashing sect? This fascinating, unusually sensitive Netflix documentary looks at a dark, sad tale The Guardian - UK · May 29, 2024
The Sympathizer review – Robert Downey Jr thunders around in prosthetics in this stylish Vietnam drama This ambitious identity-and-imperialism saga sees the American actor take on several different roles – and demands your full attention The Guardian - UK · May 27, 2024
‘I wanted to scrape it from my eyeballs’: critics on their zero-star savagings Sometimes a film, gig or sex-positive puppet show is so excruciating that awarding it one star just isn’t damning enough. How do writers who’ve written zero-star reviews feel about the worst shows they’ve ever seen now? The Guardian - UK · May 23, 2024
Buying London review – probably the most hateable TV show ever made I usually love to gawp at rich people and their wallpaper, but this British version of the real-estate reality show Selling Sunset is tired, tone-deaf and shamefully crass. Watching it will work you up into a total rage The Guardian - UK · May 22, 2024
Cold Case Investigations: Solving Britain’s Sex Crimes review – how victims from 50 years ago are finally getting justice This remarkable documentary goes behind the scenes at a new major crime unit digging into dormant cases – and getting closure for brave survivors who’ve been waiting for decades The Guardian - UK · May 20, 2024
Chef Sally Abé: ‘It’s only when I go into a male-dominated kitchen that I notice the friction’ She wants to change restaurant culture from within – and her thrilling memoir showing sexism and a culture of fear in some kitchens shows why The Guardian - UK · May 19, 2024
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal review – jaw-dropping tales from the adultery site fiasco When a dating site for people seeking extra-marital affairs was hacked, lives were ruined. Why did Netflix choose to turn their sorry stories into a comedy whodunnit? The Guardian - UK · May 15, 2024
Me and the Voice in My Head review – Joe Tracini’s disarmingly frank take on borderline personality disorder The comedian and actor splits himself in two for this incredibly raw exploration of living with a condition that causes paranoia and mood swings. Can he make it through the show? The Guardian - UK · May 13, 2024
Actor Vinette Robinson’s year in TV: ‘Sometimes I just need mush like Selling Sunset’ The Boiling Point star on being gripped by Happy Valley, wanting more of The Last of Us, and puzzling over The Lazarus Project The Guardian - UK · May 12, 2024
Rosie Jones’s year in TV: ‘I never thought acting would be open to me, so Call the Midwife was special’ The comedian and writer on being on Celebrity Mastermind, bingeing The Bear, and the good that came out of her controversial documentary The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024
The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024 Laura Kuenssberg’s year in TV: ‘Who would play me on TV? Cameron Diaz, if she could do a soft Scottish accent’ The political reporter on wanting more Big Bang Theory, winding down with Romesh Ranganathan’s Avoidance, and why Navalny would make a great drama
The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024 Footballer and commentator Jill Scott’s year in TV: ‘When you’re in the jungle, Ant and Dec aren’t allowed to tell you the football scores’ The I’m a Celebrity winner on the Women’s World Cup, being a Friends superfan, and hanging out with Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway
The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024 Layton Williams’ year in TV: ‘Someone once mistook me for Ncuti Gatwa. Come on people, try harder!’ The actor, dancer and presenter on loving Jack Rooke, crying over One Day, and playing Traitors backstage on Strictly
The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024 Jonathan Bailey’s year in TV: ‘Bridgerton characters were created to turn people on’ The Fellow Travelers star on becoming a heart-throb, loving The Traitors, and longing to go on a White Lotus holiday
The Guardian - UK · May 3, 2024 Clarkson’s Farm review – Jeremy’s heartbreak at Diddly Squat will make you weep Although it is often hilarious, Clarkson’s ever-compelling show is back with shocking and harrowing insights into the truth about British farming. Tissues at the ready!
The Guardian - UK · Apr 29, 2024 The big idea: what would culture look like without nightlife? Live music venues, clubs and bars feed creativity and drive social change. But they’re increasingly in danger
The Guardian - UK · Apr 25, 2024 Joe and Katherine’s Bargain Holidays review – comedians slum it with a ‘spa day’ in a pub car park Budget ice baths, graveyard sleepovers and a night of slam poetry in Norwich! Joe Wilkinson and Katherine Ryan are super fun as they hunt for adventures that don’t break the bank
The Guardian - UK · Apr 17, 2024 Mammoth review – this bold sitcom about a man frozen since the 70s is dad jokes galore Mike Bubbins stars as a man who awakes in 2024, having been frozen for 50 years, and wonders why everyone is picking up dog poo in little plastic bags
The Guardian - UK · Apr 16, 2024 For the Love of Dogs review – Alison Hammond brilliantly fills Paul O’Grady’s shoes Hammond takes over presenting duties at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home – and gets all the tails wagging. Just like that, canine TV’s top dog should stay the leader of the pack
The Guardian - UK · Apr 14, 2024 ‘The courgettes were so good last year, I got a tattoo of one’: life on a Birmingham allotment A city of welly-wearers, Birmingham has more allotments than any other UK local authority – some of its keen plotholders tell us why
The Guardian - UK · Apr 13, 2024 Kurt Cobain: Moments That Shook Music review – even 30 years on, his death seems utterly tragic This documentary about the Nirvana singer’s demise is at its best when it uses archive interviews with fans to show the scale of their loss. Otherwise, it struggles to really convey his impact