Shetland, Series 8, BBC One review - same place but a different programme

DI Ruth Calder faces an uphill struggle to replace DI Jimmy Perez

The question they’re all asking is, can Shetland survive the loss of Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez? After all, it was Henshall’s shrewd and quietly anguished performance which gave the show much of its allure. And now there’s no Mark Bonnar either, who could always be relied on to add a soupçon of angst.

1984, Hackney Town Hall review - Room 101 shapeshifts into 2023, but remains as terrifyingly plausible as ever

★★★★ 1984, HACKNEY TOWN HALL Room 101 shapeshifts into 2023, terrifyingly plausible

The immersive experience makes us both victims of, and perpetrators in, an all too familiar perversion of truth

The day after I saw the show, as went about the mundanities of domestic life, I wondered how long it would take to come across a reference to 1984. My best bet was listening to an LBC phone-in concerning next week’s conference at Bletchley Park on Artificial Intelligence, but the advertising break intervened, so I switched to Times Radio.

Trueman and the Arsonists, Roundhouse Studio review - new warnings in old lessons

★★★ TRUEMAN AND THE ARSONISTS, ROUNDHOUSE New warnings in old lessons

When Simon Stephens' take on Max Frisch's classic play hits, it hits hard

A dystopian present. Sirens ring out across the city. Firefighters rush to the wrong locations. A man insists on entry to a big house.

He’s not selling anything, so he can’t be an arsonist can he? His friend turns up and she’s pretty upfront about her intentions – and the barrels of petrol in the attic rather give the game away. But the wealthy homeowner, so ruthless at work, is so polite at home, the coming conflagration all but accepted as a matter of… manners, social convention, apathy?

Wilderness, Prime Video review - twisty thriller that leaves a nasty aftertaste

Gilded couple explore the barren lands of their blighted marriage

Jenna Coleman has had a mostly upbeat acting CV to date, notably playing Clara in Doctor Who and the young Queen in ITV’s Victoria. The mood darkened with her excellent turn as the French-Canadian girlfriend of the mass murderer in The Serpent; now it turns to pitch with Wilderness.

Who Is Erin Carter?, Netflix review - secrets and ultra-violence under the Catalan sun

★★★ WHO IS ERIN CARTER?, NETFLIX Secrets and ultra-violence under the Catalan sun

Anglo-Spanish thriller is daft but addictive

One thing we know for sure about Erin Carter is that she’s played by Swedish-Kurdish actor Evin Ahmad, and it’s clear right from the start that she’s a woman with a complicated past which she’s trying to run away from. But you’ll have to get to episode four before the mysteries start to unwind themselves.

Mob Land review - familiar pulp fiction

★★★ MOB LAND Travolta graces a derivative but solid Southern noir

Travolta graces a derivative but solid Southern noir

Optimistically billed as John Travolta’s comeback, writer-director Nicholas Maggio’s debut is an effective Southern noir, with Travolta an authoritative but peripheral presence.

Disturbing Disappearances, More4 review - headstrong 'tec tackles Pied Piper mystery

★★★ DISTURBING DISAPPEARANCES, MORE 4 Headstrong 'tec tackles Pied Piper mystery

Abducted children case unlocks a tortuous family history

This five-part policier is the finale of the current Walter Presents French season, and takes us to the town of Montclair on France’s eastern border. The opening self-contained episode, occupying a chunky two-hour slot, took for its theme the legend of the Pied Piper. In this, you may recall, the children of Hamelin were lured away by the titular itinerant musician and drowned.

Hijack, Apple TV+ review - trapped at 40,000 feet with a bunch of armed thugs

★★★ HIJACK, APPLE TV+ How is Idris Elba going to rescue his fellow-passengers from this?

How is Idris Elba going to rescue his fellow-passengers from this?

Probably because it’s a secret fear shared by many a flyer, aircraft hijacking has become its own screen mini-genre. We’ve already had not only Hijack but also Hijacked, not to mention the Wesley Snipes vehicle Passenger 57, Jodie Foster in Flightplan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 7500. In Air Force One, the President himself (played by Harrison Ford) was hijacked. And then there’s Liam Neeson in Non-Stop.

Master Gardener review - a Paul Schrader perennial

The auteur's latest masculine investigation dissects a haunted horticulturalist

Gardener Narvel (Joel Edgerton) sniffs soil the way Blue Velvet’s Frank inhaled gas, finding erasure and release. Following Ethan Hawke’s priest in First Reformed (2017) and Oscar Isaac’s titular job in The Card Counter (2021), Paul Schrader’s latest driven protagonist verges on absurd, finding solace in pruning before deploying his secateurs with a prior, particular set of skills.