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.

Time, BBC One review - grim and gritty study of life behind bars by Jimmy McGovern

★★★★ TIME, BBC ONE Grim and gritty study of life behind bars by Jimmy McGovern

Sean Bean and Stephen Graham find themselves in different kinds of prison

Jimmy McGovern’s new three-part drama about prison life is about as far as you could travel from Ronnie Barker’s Seventies sitcom Porridge, even if they are both on the same TV channel.

Mare of Easttown, Season Finale, Sky Atlantic review - great performances in a town called malice

★★★★ MARE OF EASTTOWN, SEASON FINALE, SKY ATLANTIC Brad Ingelsby's brilliant but bleak drama storms to a close

Brad Ingelsby's brilliant but bleak drama storms to a close

With the last series of Line of Duty having left portions of its viewership dismayed and disgruntled, one consolation prize has been the way the many fine qualities of HBO’s Mare of Easttown (on Sky Atlantic) have seen it promoted it into the “unmissable” bracket. It isn’t anything like LoD, of course, and indeed the way it has stepped nimbly around the conventional pigeonholes of thriller or cop-show is one of the keys to its success.

Domina, Sky Atlantic review - a little less conversation, a little more action required

★★ DOMINA, SKY ATLANTIC A little less conversation, a little more action required

Sluggish start to Roman girl-power saga

Ancient Rome has always been a popular playground for film and TV, whether it’s Ben Hur, Gladiator or the 2005 TV series Rome. This Italian-made series for Sky Atlantic was shot at the renowned Cinecittà Studios in Rome, where Visconti, Leone, Scorsese and Bertolucci have all worked, but sadly none of that old-time movie magic has rubbed off on it.

Danny Boy, BBC Two review - when law and war collide

★★ DANNY BOY, BBC TWO Iraq war drama is powerful but lop-sided

Iraq war drama is powerful but lop-sided

The issue of public inquiries into the conduct of the military is in the headlines again, with a current focus on Northern Ireland, but at the centre of screenwriter Robert Jones’s Danny Boy was the attempt to find British soldiers guilty of war crimes in Iraq.

Line of Duty, Series 6, Episode 6, BBC One review - the pace accelerates for AC-12's final countdown

Apocalypse soon as the end of the line looms

As the finishing line begins to materialise through the haze of fear, suspicion and zany acronyms, the pace of this sixth series of Line of Duty (BBC One) has hotted up appreciably. In earlier episodes, there sometimes seemed to be a lack of intensity, and even the fabled interview scenes didn’t always grip like they used to. Maybe filming under Covid conditions had something to do with it.

Mare of Easttown, Sky Atlantic review - Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mystery

★★★★ MARE OF EASTTOWN, SKY ATLANTIC Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mystery

Tangled secrets in a dirty old town

Read our review of the season finale here

Dark family dramas set in unglamorous, unprosperous communities in the north-east of the USA have become a genre unto themselves. One thinks here of the work of writers such as Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone), and maybe Chuck Hogan and The Town for good measure.

Too Close, ITV review - capable cast struggles with unrewarding material

★★ TOO CLOSE, ITV Capable cast struggles with unrewarding material

Unconvincing TV treatment of Natalie Daniels novel

What may have happened here is that an intriguing book has been turned into a not so great TV series. Too Close was Natalie Daniels’s well-received first novel, and she has adapted it for this ITV three-parter under her real name of Clara Salaman. She used to play DS Claire Stanton in The Bill 20 years ago.