My Father and Me, BBC Two review - Nick Broomfield's moving voyage around his family

★★★★★ MY FATHER AND ME, BBC TWO Nick Broomfield's voyage around his family

Acclaimed documentarist's most personal film acutely catches social history

Nick Broomfield made his first film 50 years ago, and his career over those five decades (and some three dozen works) has been as distinctive, and distinguished as that of any British documentary maker.

Alan Warner: Kitchenly 434 review – dreams and delusions in the backwaters of fame

★★★★ ALAN WARNER: KITCHENLY 434 Dreams and delusions in the backwaters of fame

A bittersweet comic idyll from the last days of prog-rock

“They think it’s all drugs and sex up here, Mrs H.” “Bless me.” The reality, at Kitchenly Mill Race, runs more to a nice pot of Tetley’s and a plate of Gypsy Creams. But “people are funny around famous folk”. At this Tudor manor house in Sussex – boldly enhanced in the 1930s by an Arts-and-Crafts wing – resides none other than Marko Morrell, lead guitarist of prog-rock legends Fear Taker.

To Olivia review - Keeley Hawes rises above brainless biopic

★★ TO OLIVIA Keeley Hawes rises above brainless biopic

Syrupy take on a tempestuous marriage

Sure, Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but is that any excuse for a film quite so saccharine? He of all challenging and complex men, with a temperament to match, seems an odd subject for the sort of weightless, paint-by-numbers biopic that would be hard-pressed to muster much attention even as TV filler on a particularly dead night.

The Dig, Netflix review - a haunting exploration of time and timelessness

★★★★★ THE DIG, NETFLIX A haunting exploration of time and timelessness

Adaptation of John Preston's novel packs emotional wallop

The Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk has proved to be one of the most valuable archaeological finds ever made in Britain, shedding priceless light on the Anglo-Saxon period of the 6th and 7th Centuries.

Album: Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs

★★★★ SLEAFORD MODS - SPARE RIBS A searing scream in the face of 2020s Britain

A searing scream in the face of Boris, the virus and the shit show that is 2020s Britain

What’s all this? Female voices, guitars, a song lasting over four minutes… harmonies? Have Britain’s savviest social commentators gone soft? Fear not, their sixth album is wall-to-wall uncomfortable sleaziness, biting observation and bruising belittlements.

Roald and Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse, Sky One review – twinkly tale for troubled times

★★★★ ROALD AND BEATRIX,  SKY ONE Twinkly tale for troubled times

Dahl-meets-Potter Christmas drama with Dawn French, Rob Brydon and Jessica Hynes

They say "never meet your heroes". That may be true, but it forms the premise of a new TV drama concerning two of the worlds most famous childrens authors – Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl – who encounter each other at opposite ends of their life. 

A Christmas Carol, Old Vic online review - the bells have it once again

★★★★ A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OLD VIC ONLINE The bells have it once again

Andrew Lincoln invents Scrooge afresh in robust seasonal perennial

As proof that you can't have too much of a good thing, consider the return of Matthew Warchus's buoyant production of A Christmas Carol, now marking its fourth year at the Old Vic (with a lauded Broadway run last Christmas included, for good measure).