Hip Hop Evolution, Sky Arts review - foundations of a revolution

★★★★★ HIP HOP EVOLUTION, SKY ARTS Hip hop's rise from the underground to the mainstream

Originators and moguls unite for four-part documentary on the genesis of rap

Comprehensively charting hip hop’s rise from the underground to the mainstream is no mean feat, but that’s exactly what Canadian MC Shad aims to do over four hour-long episodes. Originally shown in the US in 2016, and available in full on Netflix, Hip Hop Evolution has finally reached the British box via Sky Arts.

A Very English Scandal, BBC One review - making a drama out of a crisis

BAFTA TV AWARDS 2019 Ben Whishaw wins Supporting Actor for 'A Very English Scandal'

Tragedy and farce in glittering recreation of the Jeremy Thorpe saga

There was a time when Hugh Grant was viewed as a thespian one-trick pony, a floppy-haired fop dithering in a state of perpetual romantic confusion. But things have changed. He was excellent in Florence Foster Jenkins, hilariously self-parodic in Paddington 2, and he’s brilliant in A Very English Scandal (BBC One) as smooth, treacherous Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. At moments, he even manages to look uncannily like him.

The Last Poets, Brighton Festival review - black power sets the night alight

★★★★ THE LAST POETS, BRIGHTON FESTIVAL Black power sets the night alight

After a slow start the progenitors of hip hop explode into life

The venom with which Abiodun Oyewole spits “America is a terrorist”, the key repeated line to “Rain of Terror”, has startling power. The piece is an unashamed diatribe against his nation. Beside him his partner Umar Bin Hassan rhythmically hisses the word “terrorist” again and again while, behind, percussionist Donn Babatunde provides minimal backing on a set of three congas. “Take a black woman, a pregnant black woman, cut her belly open and let the foetus fall out, stomp the baby in the ground.”  Oyewole is raging and it feels good.

DVD: All the Money in the World

★★★★ ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD All in the family: Ridley Scott's Getty drama on DVD

All in the family: Christopher Plummer refuses to pay Charlie Plummer's kidnap ransom in Ridley Scott's Getty drama

It’s open season on the Getty dynasty. Last month the BBC documentary The Gettys: The World’s Richest Art Dynasty briskly coursed through the family archives. In March the TV drama Trust began on FX, scripted by Simon Beaufoy and directed by Danny Boyle.

Entebbe review – Seventies hijack drama remains grounded

★★ ENTEBBE Seventies hijack drama remains grounded

Gripping real-life story becomes mediocre movie

The freeing of a plane-load of hostages by Israeli forces at Entebbe airport in Uganda in 1976 produced an instant spate of movie versions. Raid on Entebbe starred Peter Finch and Charles Bronson, Victory at Entebbe offered gainful employment to Elizabeth Taylor, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, while the Israeli-made Operation Thunderbolt featured Klaus Kinski as German hijacker Wilfried Böse.

Martin Gayford: Modernists & Mavericks review - people, places and paint

★★★★ MARTIN GAYFORD: MODERNISTS & MAVERICKS People, places and paint

Utterly human account of the painters of London over the 30 years since 1945

Back in the early Sixties Lucian Freud was living in Clarendon Crescent, a condemned row of houses in Paddington which were gradually being demolished around him. The neighbourhood was uncompromisingly working class and to his glee his neighbours included characters from the seamier side of the criminal world.

Reissue CDs Weekly: New York Dolls

'Personality Crisis' is a frequently wonderful collection of what New York’s finest did not originally release

Playing Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on 8 September 1974, the New York Dolls opened their first set of the evening with three cover versions. Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man” was followed by The Shangri-Las’ “(Give Him a) Great Big Kiss” and Otis Redding’s “Don’t Mess With Cupid”. They were acknowledging that blues, girl group records and soul were integral to who they were. A pretty comprehensive sweep considering they were a prime influence on the purportedly reductive punk rock.

Law and Order, BBC Four review - not a fair cop

★★★★ LAW AND ORDER, BBC FOUR GF Newman's 1978 series about police corruption intrigues

GF Newman's 1978 series about police corruption still intrigues

In the late 1970s the British establishment sustained a bloody nose. Roland Huntford published his debunking of Captain Scott and Anthony Blunt was outed as the Fourth Man, while the Old Etonian Liberal party leader Jeremy Thorpe was tried for conspiracy to murder.