Dopesick, Disney+ review - the harrowing inside story of America's OxyContin scandal

★★★★ DOPESICK, DISNEY+ How corporate greed rode roughshod over regulatory oversight

How corporate greed rode roughshod over regulatory oversight

“Drug companies are supposed to be honest,” says a lady from the Department of Justice, explaining why the US Food and Drug Administration had been treating the pharmaceutical industry with a light, indeed barely detectable, regulatory touch.

Dalgliesh, Channel 5 review - doleful detective fails to fire on all cylinders

★★ DALGLIESH, CHANNEL 5 Doleful detective fails to fire on all cylinders

Bertie Carvel's Adam Dalgliesh is decent but dull

Treading in the footsteps of Roy Marsden and Martin Shaw, Bertie Carvel is a making a decent (albeit soporific) stab at embodying P D James’s introspective detective Adam Dalgliesh, though you have to wonder if he’s getting the help he needs from Channel 5.

Wole Soyinka: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth review – sprawling satire of modern-day Nigeria

★★★ WOLE SOYINKA: CHRONICLES FROM THE LAND OF THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH Sprawling satire of modern-day Nigeria

The Nobel Laureate ends a 48 year wait for his third novel

Eight-years passed between the publication of Wole Soyinka’s debut novel, The Interpreters (1965), and his second, Season of Anomy (1973). A lot happened in the interim.

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle review - period piece speaks to the present

★★★★ COLSON WHITEHEAD: HARLEM SHUFFLE Period piece speak to the present

The 'Underground Railroad' novelist lets his hair down with a hardboiled crime piece devoted to 60s Harlem

More than once, reading Colson Whitehead’s latest novel Harlem Shuffle, the brilliant Josh and Benny Safdie movie Uncut Gems from 2019 came to mind, which was unexpected. For one, Whitehead’s book takes place on the other side of Central Park, far uptown from the film’s downtown Diamond District setting. It also unfolds in a meticulously recreated 1960s era Harlem rather than the early 2010s.

The Toll review - once upon a time in west Wales

★★★★ THE TOLL Brassy indie flick provides a fun slice of pulp cinema

Brassy indie flick provides a fun slice of pulp cinema

Budget constraints. In the hands of the right filmmakers, they can be a blessing in disguise, forcing creativity from simplicity. That’s exactly what works for The Toll, a dark comedy set in the wild west of these isles: Pembrokeshire.

Deceit, Channel 4 review - how Colin Stagg became prime suspect in the Rachel Nickell case

★★★ DECEIT, CHANNEL 4 How Colin Stagg became prime suspect in the Rachel Nickell case

Damning account of the Met's ill-conceived honeytrap operation

It seems unlikely that the Metropolitan Police will welcome Channel 4’s new four-part dramatisation of the hunt for the killer of Rachel Nickell, since it’s a reminder of yet another of the Met’s historic catastrophes.

ANNA X, Harold Pinter Theatre review - lacking in substance

★★★ ANNA X, HAROLD PINTER THEATRE Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan perk up one-dimensional drama about a Russian conwoman

Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan perk up one-dimensional drama about a Russian conwoman

There just isn’t enough there, with ANNA X. Daniel Raggett’s production is the third and final of the RE:EMERGE season at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with Emma Corrin of Lady Di fame in the lead. The graphic design – the brightly-striped faces of Corrin and her co-star, Nabhaan Rizwan, on a dark background – is impeccable. Joseph Charlton’s writing, not so much.

Baptiste, Series 2, BBC One review - powerful comeback for the sorrowful French detective

★★★★ BAPTISTE, SERIES 2, BBC ONE The sorrowful French detective is back

Another knotty missing-persons mystery from Harry and Jack Williams

Baptiste (BBC One) has two powerful weapons in its armoury, in the shape of its stars – Tchéky Karyo as the titular French ‘tec, and Fiona Shaw as the central character in this second series. Both of them are astonishingly persuasive at conveying unfathomable depths of pain and loss, and it looks like they’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove it across these six episodes.

Lupin, Part 2, Netflix review - master of disguise versus racists and lies

★★★★ LUPIN, PART 2 , NETFLIX Master of disguise versus racists and lies

Second coming of crowd-pleasing French drama hits virtuoso high notes

Lupin isn’t really about the fictional character it’s named after (the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc), but about Assane Diop, who’s an obsessive fan of the Lupin novels.