The Undoing, Series Finale, Sky Atlantic review - bluff and double-bluff as the truth is revealed

★★★★ THE UNDOING, SERIES FINALE, SKY ATLANTIC Bluff and double-bluff as the truth is revealed

Murder mystery reaches dramatic courtroom climax

Throughout its preceding five episodes, The Undoing (Sky Atlantic) has skilfully, if a little shamelessly, kept the fickle finger of suspicion in perpetual motion.

Small Axe: Red, White and Blue, BBC One review - sobering real-life story of police officer Leroy Logan

★★★★ SMALL AXE: RED, WHITE AND BLUE, BBC ONE Sobering real-life story of police officer Leroy Logan is third film in Steve McQueen's quintet

One man's bid to change the Metropolitan Police from the inside

The third film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe quintet (BBC One) took for its subject the real-life story of Leroy Logan, the Islington-born son of Jamaican parents who joined the Metropolitan Police in the early Eighties.

What a Carve Up!, Barn Theatre online review – ingenious whodunnit

★★★★ WHAT A CARVE UP! BARN THEATRE ONLINE Film adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s 1994 bestseller is a postmodern masterpiece

Film adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s 1994 bestseller is a postmodern masterpiece

Classical murder mysteries end with a neat solution — and with the arrest of the perpetrator. Postmodern murder mysteries play games with the genre, turning it upside down and inside out. This film adaptation of What a Carve Up!, Jonathan Coe’s 1994 bestselling novel, is a postmodern crime story — and then some. And then some more. And yet more of more.

Arena - Fela Kuti: Father of Afrobeat, BBC Two review - the music that never dies

★★★★ ARENA - FELA KUTI: FATHER OF AFROBEAT, BBC TWO Intimate and in-depth portrait of West Africa's great cultural icon

Intimate and in-depth portrait of West Africa's great cultural icon

There have been Felabrations, stage musicals, bands featuring his sons Seun and Femi that have continued the legacy. There has been the slew of re-releases from his massive catalogue, and a number of films, including Alex Gibney’s Finding Fela, and the 1982 classic, Music is the Weapon. In his afterlife, the legendary Fela Kuti and his music feels more alive than ever.

The Good Lord Bird, Sky Atlantic review - picaresque account of the myth of John Brown

★★★★ THE GOOD LORD BIRD, SKY ATLANTIC Picaresque account of the myth of John Brown

Ethan Hawke leads an outlandish ride through American history

On the face of it, this new Sky Atlantic series sounded as though it might be a grave and sombre slice of American history, telling the story of the anti-slavery crusader John Brown and how his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia helped push America into the Civil War.

Offended by Irvine Welsh, Sky Arts review - are we seeing the end of free speech?

★★★ OFFENDED BY IRVINE WELSH, SKY ARTS Are we seeing the end of free speech?

'Trainspotting' author examines the insidious march of cancel culture

Do we have a right not be offended? It's a question that’s growing bigger and uglier, thanks to the censorious “cancel culture” which has become such a disfiguring aspect of social media.

Small Axe: Mangrove, BBC One review - explosive start to five films about racial injustice

★★★★★ SMALL AXE: MANGROVE, BBC ONE London's burning in Steve McQueen's account of the Mangrove Nine trial

London's burning in Steve McQueen's account of the Mangrove Nine trial

With the Black Lives Matter movement spurred this year by another wave of police brutality against African Americans, Steve McQueen’s blisteringly powerful, viscerally topical drama reminds us of the UK’s own torrid record in that regard, by returning to a true story that is, thankfully, as inspiring as it is appall

The Crown, Season 4, Netflix review - royalty rocked by personal and political turbulence

★★★★ THE CROWN, SEASON 4, NETFLIX Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher steal the limelight

Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher steal the limelight

Pre-release excitement about the fourth coming of The Crown (Netflix) has centred on Emma Corrin’s portrayal of Princess Diana, still big box-office 23 years after her death.

David Crosby: Remember My Name, Sky Arts review - a rock icon looks in the mirror

★★★★★ DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME A rock icon looks in the mirror

America's town crier - still singing out

Rock documentaries are so often disappointing, the result less a portrait than a whitewash. A J Eaton’s 90-minute rock doc David Crosby: Remember My Name, which premiered on Sky Arts, was an unflinching close-up, utterly absorbing and all the more affecting for its searing honesty in showing a man who’s gone through the fire and is willing to show the burns.

His Dark Materials, Series 2, BBC One review – upping the ante whilst retaining the magic

★★★★ HIS DARK MATERIALS, SERIES 2 Upping the ante, retaining the magic

A third world and the promise of a divine war to come worthy of Dante

The first series of the BBC and HBO’s fantasy adventure His Dark Materials felt even more timely than when author Phillip Pullman first published Northern Lights twenty-five-years ago.