A Man in Full to Shardlake: the seven best shows to stream this week
Pick of the weekA Man in Full Charlie Croker is a boorish property developer who trusts his charisma and deal-making smarts will carry him through any crisis. Based on Tom Wolfe’s 1998 novel of the same name, the drama stars…
Thank You, Goodnight review – Bon Jovi’s surprisingly devastating ode to lost youth
Every pop biography has the same dilemma: fans of the artist want to know all the details, while viewers with only a passing interest just want to get to the good stuff. You can tell which side of the line…
Joe and Katherine’s Bargain Holidays review – comedians slum it with a ‘spa day’ in a pub car park
Channel 4 has carved out a particular niche in daytime-shaped TV shows airing at night. This largely means that an afternoon-ish format, of the sort that would usually be broken up with ads for life insurance, animal charities and conservatories,…
‘She was tough, but it broke her’: why There’s Something About Miriam was reality TV’s most shameful low
It was the very definition of “different times”. In summer 2003, a TV dating series saw men compete for the affections of a 21-year-old Mexican model named Miriam Rivera. What her suitors didn’t realise was that the glamorous star of…
Dead Boy Detectives review – this fun paranormal romp will make you feel young again
Given the amount of exposition clunked out, the first episode of Dead Boy Detectives sure is confusing. But I think I have it worked out. There are two boys – best friends Charles (Jayden Revri) and Edwin (George Rexstrew). They…
Growing Up Jewish review – wildly inappropriately lightweight for our times
In itself, the hour-long documentary Growing Up Jewish is … fine. Gentle and uplifting, it follows three British girls and a boy as they prepare for their bat and barmitzvahs, the Jewish rite of passage that will mark their transition…
The Red King review – like a wickedly playful new spin on The Wicker Man
Folk-horror film touchstone The Wicker Man celebrated its 50th birthday last year, presumably by not blowing out a candle with a tiny human sacrifice trapped inside. Alibi’s wickedly playful island psychodrama The Red King feels like a belated part of…
‘We were going down fast’: how Benjamin Franklin saved America
“A long life has taught me that diplomacy must never be a siege but a seduction,” says Michael Douglas’s Benjamin Franklin, raising a wine glass in a world of candlelit tables, baroque music and powdered wigs. “Think of America as…
TV tonight: the fascinatingly diverse world of bar and bat mitzvah
Growing Up Jewish 10.40pm, BBC One Judaism’s Orthodox, Reform, Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions are simultaneously similar and very distinct; this documentary explores different versions of the bar and bat mitzvah across them. Whether it’s Eve, who was raised in a…
Glitter: The Popstar Paedophile review – a most sickening nostalgia trip
Do you remember – it feels so long ago now – the days when it was a shock to find out that a rich, famous, charismatic man had been using his riches, fame and charisma to rape and abuse women…