Too Much, Netflix - a romcom that's oversexed, and over here

★★ TOO MUCH, NETFLIX Lena Dunham presents an England it's often hard to recognise

Lena Dunham's new series presents an England it's often hard to recognise

A thirtysomething American woman with wavering self-confidence, a tendency to talk too much and a longing for married bliss with Mr Darcy at his gorgeous country pile tries to reset her life post-breakup with a grown-up new job in London. Welcome to Bridget Jones country as seen through the lens of New Yorker Lena Dunham. 

Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, National Portrait Gallery review - a protégé losing her way

★★★ JENNY SAVILLE: THE ANATOMY OF PAINTING, NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY A brilliant painter in search of a worthwhile subject

A brilliant painter in search of a worthwhile subject

When in the 1990s, Jenny Saville’s peers shunned painting in favour of alternative media such as photography, video and installations, the artist stuck to her guns and, unapologetically, worked on canvases as large as seven feet tall. While still a student at Glasgow School of Art, she painted Propped, 1992, one of the most challenging and memorable female nudes in the history of art (pictured below right). 

Chicken Town review - sluggish rural comedy with few laughs (and one chicken)

A comedy great gets lost in an English backwater

Fans of the character comedian Graham Fellows will possibly turn up for this British film starring the man who created the punk parody single “Jilted John” and Sheffield’s finest, the car-coated singer-songwriter John Shuttleworth. But they may leave disappointed.

Outrageous, U&Drama review - skilfully-executed depiction of the notorious Mitford sisters

★★★★ OUTRAGEOUS, U&DRAMA Skilfully-executed depiction of the notorious Mitford sisters

A crack cast, clever script and smart direction serve this story well

If somebody submitted a treatment for a new costume drama series set in the 1930s in which not just one but two fictitious sisters from a fading aristocratic family pair off with leading fascists, while the cousin warning them off these liaisons is a future British PM, the pitch meeting probably wouldn’t last that long. 

28 Years Later review - an unsentimental, undead education

★★★★ 28 DAYS LATER An unsentimental, undead education

Allegorical mayhem in an eerily familiar zombie Britain

The 23 years since 28 Days Later and especially those since Danny Boyle’s soulful encapsulation of Britain’s best spirit at the 2012 Olympics have offered rich material for a franchise about deserted cities, rampaging viruses, hard quarantines and an insular, afraid country hacked adrift from Europe.

Edward Burra, Tate Britain review - watercolour made mainstream

★★★ EDWARD BURRA, TATE BRITAIN Social satire with a nasty bite

Social satire with a nasty bite

It’s unusual to leave an exhibition liking an artist’s work less than when you went in, but Tate Britain’s retrospective of Edward Burra manages to achieve just this. I’ve always loved Burra’s limpid late landscapes. Layers of filmy watercolour create sweeping vistas of rolling hills and valleys whose suggestive curves create a sexual frisson.

Lollipop review - a family torn apart

Posy Sterling brilliantly conveys the torment of a homeless single mother denied her kids

On leaving prison, Lollipop’s thirtyish single mum Molly discovers that reclaiming her kids from social care is akin to doing lengths in a shark-infested swimming pool teeming with naval mines. 

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life review - persuading us that the French can do you-know-who

★★★ JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE An amiable cross-Channel literary rom com

An amiable cross-Channel literary rom com

Do the French do irony? Well, was Astérix a Gaul? Obviously they do, and do it pretty well to judge by many of their movies down the decades. As we brave the salutes on this side of the Channel to arch irony-spinner Jane Austen’s 250th birth-year – from gushing BBC documentaries to actually quite witty Hallmark cable movies – France offers up Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a cordial, low-energy rom com that sets out to Austenify the lovelorn of Paris.

Big Star: The Nick Skelton Story review - the ways of a man with his mount

★★★ BIG STAR: THE NICK SKELTON STORY The ways of a man with his mount

Documentary about the champion showjumping duo

If you’re horse mad or merely an every-four-years Olympic fan, you already know Nick Skelton’s story. Equestrianism can favour mature competitors, but Skelton was twice the age of his rivals. He'd survived numerous injuries – including a broken neck – by the time he propelled Britain to showjumping gold in 2012. Fifty-four at the London games, he wasn’t done. Both he and his horse Big Star returned to the Olympics four years later to win the individual gold medal.