The Guardian - TV & Radio (22 hours 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 day 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 day 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 (2 days 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 (2 days 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 (2 days 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 (4 days 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 (4 days 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 (4 days 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 (4 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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 (6 days 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...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
As he stars alongside Sheridan Smith as a casino boss on the take, the actor talks about leaving school with no qualifications, playing vile dads – and why he's eager to circulate the This Is England reunion rumourMichael Socha is about to jump on a train to Wales. The impressively bushy beard he's got is for his role in The Witch House, a...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The actor slides into the hot seat on The Assembly. Plus: an Australian dating series for people who are scared of dating. Here's what to watch this evening10.05pm, ITV1Stephen Fry was asked whether there was "anything he wouldn't do for money”. Lenny Henry fielded questions about racism and discovering his uncle is his biological father. Now,...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Amol Rajan was harsh, Miriam Margolyes was thoroughly charming – and the teens watching will have been screaming at the screen. Last year's Christ's College captain lets rip on this year's tense set-toA new chapter in the history of Anglo-Scottish rivalry has been written with the broadcast of this year's University Challenge final. After 36...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Like Romeo and Juliet meets a gangster thriller, Charlotte Regan's series is sumptuously shot with an incredible payoff – plus the most visually stunning scene of self-pleasure you will ever seeShannon is 22. Her dad is a fearsome gangster. Her mum is an uncanny amalgamation of a Stepford and mob wife. Her brother's a computer nerd; her gran is a...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The comedians are back with a fifth series of their Weirdo's Book Club. Plus, a fascinating look into some stories filed away in America's National ArchivesIf IRL book clubs can feel a little twee (why is there always someone who hasn't finished the book?!) Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd's podcast might be a better way to get your lit fix. Season...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Will Shannon and Arran's lust at first sight win over their rival crime families? Plus: how the tragedy of Chernobyl unfolded. Here's what to watch this evening9pm, BBC OneThis retelling of Romeo and Juliet from Charlotte Regan – director of hit indie film Scrapper – is set in modern-day Scotland. Sparks fly at a train station when yearning...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The team behind this adult animation is unbelievably stellar – Jason Schwartzman, John Waters, Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Sedaris … Sadly, it's so awful it's hard to even express its direnessWe need to talk about Kevin. We need to surround ourselves with soothing furnishings and sturdy stress toys and – deep breaths, everyone – discuss how and...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Don't come to this Canadian show looking for prestige drama. But it is a highly entertaining tale featuring numerous holdalls of cocaine – and Driver having loads of fun with English accentsTelevision drama loves border country: places hovering between one identity and another, defined by comings and goings, with forbidden bounty forever out of...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
It has long been soured by scandal, but MasterChef is back with new judges – and they don't want anyone to have a bad time. Grace Dent and Anna Haugh talk about eating like T rexes and why they don't think about the show's pastGrace Dent grew up with MasterChef. She and her dad would watch it together at home in Carlisle. "We used to laugh...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Gadd and Jamie Bell are so frank they're almost feral in a show so violent you'll think you can taste blood in your mouth. This man can hit a nerve like no other Part of the thrill of Baby Reindeer was the feeling of watching the birth of a monster. Comedians starring in their first scripted drama tend to base their characters gently on themselves,...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
It seems that even the Traitors host can't save the ailing chatshow format. As her series ends, it's hard not to feel that she never quite got out of Graham Norton's shadowSix weeks ago, before Claudia Winkleman launched her BBC One Friday night chatshow, media profiles regularly referenced her "Midas touch” with TV formats. She had left one...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Richard Gadd's first show since Baby Reindeer is just as compellingly horrible – and you didn't think Netflix was done with Hawkins, did you?Richard Gadd's first TV project since Baby Reindeer is a visceral drama likely to have a similar impact. Half Man is fictional but its exploration of agonised youth still packs a mighty punch. Playing out...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell go on a magical quest to save their heartbroken souls. And before its return this summer, go back to the start of the super-fun franchise that gave the world the Minions Kogonada's beguiling fable pushes two damaged people together through a fantastical meet-cute, then traces their fraught quest for peace of mind....
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
The naturalist revisits the family of apes he had a goosebump-inducingly famous encounter with 50 years ago. You'll find yourself overcome with aweThe most famous sequence in all of wildlife film-making happened 48 years ago. During the filming of Life on Earth – the groundbreaking BBC show that set the blueprint of nature programming as we know...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (A week ago)
This royalist-pleasing hagiography is highly basic – and skims rapidly over the darker side of the crown. If you've seen The Crown, you know it all alreadyWhenever I see a headline about "the queen” cutting a ribbon for the Scouts or some hospital, I momentarily think Elizabeth II has risen from the dead. It takes me, on average, 45 seconds to...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
From people marrying digital companions to CEOs excited about how people whose jobs are replaced can 'adapt', this is terrifying watching. But Perry is the perfect hostThere is a fun game you can play while watching Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future, the two-part documentary presented by the artist on the subject of artificial intelligence, its...
ReadThe Guardian - TV & Radio (2 weeks ago)
The star powerfully plays the mum to Elle Fanning's cash-strapped single mother and OnlyFans creator in this charming schmaltzfest – which could have been so much moreMargo's Got Money Troubles first gives us the why. Margo's got money troubles because Margo got pregnant. Margo got pregnant because she is so young, and she thought her English...
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