Curfew, Sky One, review - belt up for a budget-price Mad Max

★★★ CURFEW, SKY ONE Belt up for a budget-price Mad Max

Sci-fi car race stars Sean Bean, Phoebe Fox and a nasty virus

Curfew (Sky One) is a new drama that begins as it means to go on, roaring from nought to 60 with a wildly implausible car chase. An electric blue McLaren is haring and weaving through London, with the law in hot pursuit. Forget the computer-generated high-speed U-turn and the armour-plated panda cars.

John Lanchester: The Wall review - dystopia cut adrift

★★★ JOHN LANCHESTER: THE WALL A visionary but frustrating novel of post-apocalyptic Britain

A visionary but frustrating novel of post-apocalyptic Britain

John Lanchester’s fifth novel begins with a kind of coded warning to the reader – and, perhaps, to the author too. Freezing conditions plague life on the defensive wall – or “National Coastal Defence Structure” – that protects a future Britain from incursions by climate-change migrants in small boats. The weather invites fancy metaphorical comparisons. This cold may feel like “slate, or diamond, or the moon”. Yet those punishing temperatures are really “just a physical fact… Cold is cold is cold.” Likewise, The Wall teases us into a range of tempting, figurative interpretations.

Doctor Who, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, BBC One review - a captivating debut from Jodie Whittaker

★★★★ DOCTOR WHO, THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, BBC ONE The 13th official incarnation - a captivating debut from Jodie Whittaker

The 13th official incarnation of everybody's favourite time-travelling alien

Re-casting a beloved character always carries a measure of risk. Solo: A Star Wars Story relied on the willingness of fans to buy in to Alden Ehrenreich as a younger incarnation of Harrison Ford: the film bombed (you know, in Star Wars terms, since it barely made $400 million).

Little Shop of Horrors, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - monstrously entertaining

★★★★ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE Monstrously entertaining

A blooming marvellous revival of a classic musical

The resplendent partnership of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – which produced Disney hits Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid – first took root with this 1982 Off-Broadway musical, based on a low-budget Sixties film, about a man seeking love and fortune via a bloodthirsty plant.

Detroit: Become Human review – a robot story with real heart

A big budget interactive story where your decisions can flip the script

Interactive stories are a tricky proposition. Make the on-screen action too passive and your audience feels like they’re watching a succession of cut-scenes. Tip the balance the other way and it’s just a game with pretensions of cinematic story telling. The idea that every decision you make in-game, whether it’s a dialogue choice or an action, will ultimately affect the outcome of the story is a bold ambition.

Anon review - adventures in cyber-noir

★★★ ANON Old-school detective hunts the ghost in the machine

Old-school detective hunts the ghost in the machine

Though set in a futuristic (although not by much) world in which information technology has almost taken over the human psyche, Anon still relies on a crumpled whisky-drinking gumshoe for its protagonist. In this case, the relict of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe is detective Sal Frieland, played by Clive Owen with his habitual air of laconic disappointment.

Westworld, Series 2, Sky Atlantic review - big trouble in synthetic paradise

★★★★ WESTWORLD, SKY ATLANTIC Apocalypse looms as androids go on the rampage

Apocalypse looms as androids go on the rampage

Some critics complain that Westworld is too complicated for its own good, and you can see their point. Even on a basic level, it’s an exploration of the nature and potential of artificial intelligence, as it depicts the consequences of super-lifelike androids – or “synthetic humans”, if you will – acquiring higher knowledge and going on a terrifying killing rampage.

The City and the City, BBC Two review - detection in four dimensions

★★★ THE CITY AND THE CITY, BBC TWO David Morrissey manages to keep fantasy psy-cop show on the road 

David Morrissey manages to keep fantasy psy-cop show on the road

It’s difficult to grasp in your imagination, never mind filming it and putting it on TV. In China Miéville’s source novel, dramatised here by Tony Grisoni, the twin cities of Besźel and Ul Quoma exist side by side, and in some areas even overlap. However, citizens of either city are forbidden to see each other and must learn to “unsee” people, buildings or objects from the opposing one.