The Guardian - TV & Radio (18 hours ago)
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle had only just met when the crew snapped cuffs on their wrists – and made them do roly-polys. The stars of Sky drama Prisoner talk bravery, breast milk and Denzel WashingtonFew devices in film and television are as enduring as the "odd couple handcuffed together”. Think Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Sidney Poitier and...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (18 hours ago)
A wild true-crime tale. Plus Jamie Oliver's ultimate barbecue and a gruelling trek with Bear Grylls and Matthew McConaughey. Here's what to watch this evening9.45pm, BBC TwoThis heart-racing, three-part documentary tells the wild story of a casino bomb and the man behind it. In 1980, a ticking timebomb using 1,000lb of dynamite was wheeled through...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A day ago)
Sally Lindsay and Jill Halfpenny are incapable of hitting a false note in this tale of a daytime TV presenter being stalked. It's full of twists and turns – even if it isn't wildly sophisticatedThe new Channel 5 (I know! Me too – but yes, it's still around) thriller Number One Fan stars two Coronation Street graduates from back in the days when...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A day ago)
Jill Halfpenny and Sally Lindsay star in the watchable four-parter, Number One Fan. Plus practice makes perfect in Virgin Island. Here's what to watch this evening9pm, Channel 5Jill Halfpenny and Sally Lindsay star in a silly but oh-so-watchable thriller, which runs through the week. Lucy Logan (Halfpenny) is the nation's favourite daytime telly...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 days ago)
From tales of giant tortoises trampling tents to almost getting shot, this is a relentlessly entertaining documentary about one of David Attenborough's greatest pieces of TVLife on Earth has a good claim for the top spot in any list of the best British TV shows of all time. A giant leap forward from previous wildlife programmes, it gave us the...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (4 days ago)
The creator of this singular work of art founded his own TV network to get it aired – and its cast is an absolute dream. Mandy Patinkin, Janet McTeer and Patti LuPone are just superbDetails about how a TV series was commissioned or why it ended up on a particular streamer are normally tedious and superfluous: once a piece of art has been made, it...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (5 days ago)
Season two of the Oregon hospital series starts with the launch of a birthing centre. Plus, Bill Bailey's moving portraits series. Here's what to watch this evening11.10pm, BBC OneIf the nonstop emergencies of The Pitt are a bit too unnerving, why not try a dose of Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin's good (and occasionally excellent) mockumentary, set...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (5 days ago)
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle are the prison guard and contract killer handcuffed together and on the run from a super evil crime syndicate. Cor, it's silly stuff So, well, Prisoner is stupid. It's fun. But cor – is it stupid. By which I mean that if the new six-part action thriller about a prisoner and his escorting guard being handcuffed together...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Everyone is obsessed with the hit hospital drama – and the internet is abuzz with curious predictions and theories. Ghost medics, anyone?It's thrillingly intense. It's obsessed with intubating. It's occasionally infested with maggots or rats. And it has single-handedly made medical dramas cool again. With each episode covering an hour inside the...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
As well as penning a Sunday Times bestseller, the terrier had been a regular in the BBC comedy series since 2020Sad news for fans of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. Ted has died.The dog, a patterdale terrier mix, first appeared on the BBC fishing series alongside Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse in 2020 and had regularly joined them on their...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is formidable in Netflix's take on the thriller novel Denzel Washington turned into a noughties action movie. But it's a great lesson in why shows don't normally have a glum high-octane heroWho doesn't love a thriller in which a lone wolf takes down an all-powerful criminal network? Jack Reacher, Ethan Hunt, whatsisname from...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
What's not to love about Izuka Hoyle and Tahar Rahim's action-packed drama Prisoner? Plus, the Indian version of The Traitors. Here's what to watch this evening9pm, Sky AtlanticA lean, Line of Duty-esque police drama finds a fresh-out-of-idyllic-maternity-leave prison officer Amber (Big Boys' Izuka Hoyle) on her way to pick up Tibor Stone (The...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
From Peep Show to Half Man, some of the best television can be the hardest to watch. Get ready to look through your fingers at these supremely squirm-inducing scenesIt's not exactly how anyone imagines their first time. Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer follow-up, bruising BBC drama Half Man, is full of disturbing scenes but none more so than in the...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Caroline Muirhead's whirlwind romance with a Scottish farmer soon took a turn when she discovered his dark secret. This Netflix docuseries is a tale of her bravery, and the shocking stupidity and neglect it was rewarded withThere are some truly amazing women in the world. The fact that this thought most often crosses my mind when I am watching a...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Mare of Easttown meets Schitt's Creek in this rich, wonderful and laugh-out-loud series, in which a put-upon mayor tries to turn a cursed New England island into a tourist hotspotWhat do you do if you want your charming little island off the coast of New England to become the next Martha's Vineyard, but it's full of legends about local cannibalism,...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
As David Attenbourugh turns 100 years old, we would like to hear your memories over the years – including any encounters you've had with him in the wildAs David Attenborough turns 100 years old on 8 May, we would like to hear your memories of the great naturalist and broadcaster over the years – including any encounters you've had with him in...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Sam Levinson's HBO show has always aimed to ruffle feathers. But its new season's provocations ring hollow'A husband expects a yes': how wife schools are shaping submissive Christian women"You're not a man!” screams Cassie Howard in the latest episode of Euphoria, HBO's hedonistic, no-longer-high-school drama. "Men provide.” Cassie, who is...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (6 days ago)
Dalì is among the artist suspects in This Is Not a Murder Mystery. Plus: the story behind the 2018 Salisbury poisonings. Here's what to watch this evening8pm, U&DramaA period crime drama set in West Sussex, 1936: a stately home is playing host to the hottest artists of the day, including Salvador Dalí, Man Ray and René Magritte. After a...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Half Man is the story of two 1980s schoolboys and their entwined lives. Plus: a reality series following first-time daters. Here's what to watch this evening10.40pm, BBC OneRichard Gadd's follow-up to Baby Reindeer comes to regular telly, having premiered on iPlayer last week. Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell are both superb as weak Niall and...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Yes, the beachside sexperiment comes with endless hands-on intimacy therapy, which could easily feel shocking, excruciating or just plain dull. Instead, it's a jolly, wholesome joyHere are a few things Virgin Island is not. The Channel 4 series, in which 12 adult virgins travel to Croatia to take part in a three-week intimacy retreat, isn't...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Arterton power-walks stylishly through Tom Bradby's slick crime caper that takes itself so seriously even the saucy stuff is solemn. Slow Horses this is notAnother week, another glossy espionage drama in which agitated politicos scour the corridors of power in search of something, anything, to differentiate the thing from its predecessors. But...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The creator of The Responder's new offering is the tale of two casino employees robbing their workplace. It's a perfectly plotted thriller but it's also so much more than thatFour years ago, Tony Schumacher, a former taxi driver and police officer turned novelist, made his television writing debut with The Responder. It was a five-part series...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The Great Moose Migration has become a 'slow TV' sensation, keeping audiences worldwide glued to the beasts' epic trek – even if they're rarely spotted on screen. We go behind the scenes with its makers On a crisp bright early spring afternoon on a small uninhabited island in the Ångerman river in northern Sweden, the stars of The...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Twists galore for an M16 agent who discovers a government mole. Plus: young adults lay bare their intimacy issues. Here's what to watch this evening9pm, ITV1Gemma Arterton stars as MI6 officer Kate Henderson in a tense, ambitious espionage thriller. Henderson heads the Russia desk and is disturbed by evidence suggesting the presence of a mole in...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Famous artists including Magritte are suspects in this glossy, grisly whodunnit – and it's loads of funI don't know about art, but I know what I like: cosy crime. I'm excited by Flemish series This Is Not a Murder Mystery (U&Drama, Wednesday, 8pm, and streaming on Channel 4), which offers a classy shot of both. Silent movie credits tell us...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
He is one of the most chilling actors around. Yet Matthew Rhys is now playing a Basil Fawlty type in comedy horror Widow's Bay. He talks about fluffing his James Bond audition, unzipping in Girls – and why he almost jacked in acting to join the army'What an absolute twat!” cries Matthew Rhys, clutching his face in both hands. He has just been...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
The chatshow host lifts the energy of this game where families battle to avoid being voted out of a street they move into. But he's not onscreen often enough to save itI've had a good idea. Let's apply for a moratorium on new reality shows, at least until the frenzied desire for a challenger to The Traitors' crown is over. Otherwise they're just...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Six households move to a new street where they battle it out. Plus: it's time to crown the winner of I'm a Celebrity South Africa. Here's what to watch this evening9pm, ITV1It's got a big-name host in Graham Norton, but in the early stages it's hard to find the unique selling point of this new reality elimination contest. Six real households decamp...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac decided to wear earbuds so they could listen to music while acting in Beef – resulting in massive VFX costs. But they're the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wild onset choices…Come awards season, you probably wouldn't think that the second season of Netflix's Beef would be a contender for many visual-effects...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Walkie-talkies, teen romance, hideous monsters … this animated series has everything that made the original series so lovable. It might go nowhere, but that's not such a bad thingStranger Things takes us back to simpler times. The original Netflix series plonked us in a fantasy past where kids in small American towns rode bikes, chewed gum,...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Part lesson, part lark, these 15-minute episodes are a total joy. They have such a deliriously light touch they will make you want to run outside and plunge your hands into the soilThis might sound like heresy to some, but I can comfortably assert that the reason I am not a skilled horticulturist is Gardeners' World. When I was growing up,...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Cush Jumbo is excellent in Apple's unsettling tale of police corruption. But the former Time Lord, whose death-stare is turned up to 11, is this show's heart'Ello, 'ello. What's goin' on 'ere, then? Criminal Record, is it? A second series, you say? Well, strike a light, guv, cos here it comes, nee-nawing through London's perp-spattered streets with...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
Richard Gadd's at it again. His unforgiving new drama tackles the damage men do to each other head on, by pulling out his insides and smearing them everywhere. Every man should watch this queasy masterpieceWe have known for some time, I think, that men are not OK. Richard Gadd's new drama, conceived before his astounding, semi-autobiographical...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
New hosts Grace Dent and chef Anna Haugh have shaken off the show's crusty, stale feel. They're a real improvement on John Torode and Gregg Wallace MasterChef is back, emboldened by the strange and giddy euphoria of an enforced refresh. For nigh on 20 years, the BBC's premier cookery contest was judged by John Torode and Gregg Wallace and was just...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
The country-hopping contestants turn their sights to Tbilisi in Georgia. Plus, a big Robert Lindsay reveal in Big Mood. Here's what to watch this evening8pm, BBC OneIt's hotting up in Turkey as the fourth leg begins, and the teams set off for their next checkpoint: Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. Three teams turn their feet east but one decides to go...
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