wed 06/11/2024

tv

Until I Kill You, ITV1 review - superb performances in a frustrating true-crime story

Helen Hawkins

The latest true-crime adaptation about a murderous man and his female victims turns its star into a bloody mess on a hospital table, her vital signs flatlining. And that’s just halfway through, with two episodes to go. 

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Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Disney+ review - the Boss grows older defiantly

Adam Sweeting

Director Thom Zimny has become the audio-visual Boswell to Bruce Springsteen’s Samuel Johnson, having made documentaries about the making of Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, Springsteen On Broadway and several more. Road Diary takes as its theme Springsteen’s 2023-4 tour, and uses that as a platform for an often emotional survey of his 50 year history with the E Street Band.

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Industry, BBC One review - bold, addictive saga about corporate culture now

Helen Hawkins

All three seasons of Industry are now on iPlayer, and after watching the most recent one and then backtracking for another look at the other two, I am still in two minds about it. With its forensic display of a toxic world where people are viewed as “capital” and anomie is the prevailing mode, is it masterly drama or an overheated mess? 

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Rivals, Disney+ review - adultery, skulduggery and political incorrectness

Adam Sweeting

Delirium has greeted Disney’s eight-part adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel Rivals (part of her Rutshire Chronicles series).

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Disclaimer, Apple TV+ review - a misfiring revenge saga from Alfonso Cuarón

Helen Hawkins

It seems to be silly season for big-name directors. First, Coppola’s Megalopolis and Steve McQueen’s Blitz: why? Now Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer: double why?

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Ludwig, BBC One review - entertaining spin on the brainy detective formula

Helen Hawkins

The latest incarnation of David Mitchell, TV actor, looks at first sight much like the familar one from Peep Show and Back. Not a pufflepant in sight. His only costume change for Ludwig is a pair of wire-frame spectacles. 

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The Hardacres, Channel 5 review - a fishy tale of upward mobility

Adam Sweeting

Set in Yorkshire in the 1890s, and based on the novels by CL Skelton, The Hardacres is the story of the titular family who, it seems, were pioneers of takeaway fish, although not accompanied by chips. It’s their stall selling fried herring fresh from the ocean which makes the Hardacres an unexpected fortune.

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Joan, ITV1 review - the roller-coaster career of a 1980s jewel thief

Adam Sweeting

If you’re looking for an advertisement for how crime doesn’t pay, Joan will do very nicely. Written by Anna Symon, this six-part series is based on the memoirs of real-life jewel thief Joan Hannington, whose light-fingered accomplishments earned her notoriety back in the Eighties. Some apparently referred to her as “The Godmother”, though they don’t here.

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The Penguin, Sky Atlantic review - power, corruption, lies and prosthetics

Adam Sweeting

Is there no limit to the number of times the comic book heroes and villains from Marvel and DC can be recycled? HBO’s The Penguin (showing on Sky Atlantic) is a spin-off from Matt Reeves’s 2022 film The Batman, which starred Robert Pattinson in the title role and Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobb, aka The Penguin.

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A Very Royal Scandal, Prime Video review - a fairly sound reimagining, but to what end?

Helen Hawkins

Why do production companies think the world needs yet another reconstituted TV drama involving famous people in infamous situations? Newspapers and non fiction books already do a great job of telling these stories of intrigue and scandal: why is a TV adaptation a viable improvement?

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