I Fought the Law, ITVX review - how an 800-year-old law was challenged and changed

★★★ I FOUGHT THE LAW, ITVX How an 800-year-old law was challenged and changed

Sheridan Smith's raw performance dominates ITV's new docudrama about injustice

ITV continues its passion for docudramas about injustice, which you can’t blame it for after the rip-roaring success of Mr Bates vs the Post Office. The issue in I Fought the Law is, from one angle, of national (even International) importance, though compared to the persecution of hundreds of innocent postmasters, some of whom committed suicide, its cause is a rarer bird.

Inter Alia, National Theatre review - dazzling performance, questionable writing

★★★★ INTER ALIA, NATIONAL THEATRE Dazzling performance, questionable writing

Suzie Miller’s follow up to her massive hit 'Prima Facie' stars Rosamund Pike

Rosamund Pike is back. For her first stage appearance since 2010, when she played Hedda Gabler in Adrian Noble’s production for Bath Theatre Royal, the Hollywood superstar has chosen Inter-Alia, Suzie Miller’s follow up to her smash hit Prima Facie, which starred Jodie Cromer and whose London staging was at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2022.

The Importance of Being Oscar, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Wilde, still burning bright

★★★ THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR, JERMYN STREET THEATRE One man play from 1960 given a compelling revival

Alastair Whatley honours his subject in a quietly powerful performance

It’s a greater accolade than a Nobel Prize for Literature – one’s very own adjective. There’s a select few: Shakespearean; Dickensian and Pinteresque. Add to that list, Wildean. 

A Voyage Round My Father, Theatre Royal, Bath review - Rupert Everett excels in a play showing its age

★★★ A VOYAGE ROUND MY FATHER, THEATRE ROYAL, BATH Rupert Everett excels

John Mortimer creates a dazzling vehicle for a star, alongside one-dimensional supporting characters

Like theatre itself, the law finds its voice in stories, performance and spectacle. Any law student will, from that very first induction lecture, become suffused in a culture that is informed by and in turn informs theatre, some classes more like an evening at the Old Vic than an afternoon at the Old Bailey.

Zadie Smith: The Fraud review - the trials we inherit

★★★★ ZADIE SMITH: THE FRAUD In her first foray into historical fiction, Smith pens a prescient and well-researched retelling

In her first foray into historical fiction, Smith pens a prescient and well-researched retelling

Zadie Smith’s latest novel, The Fraud, is her first venture into historical fiction – a fiction based on a factual trial and a real, forgotten Victorian author. While the premise is interesting and the story is engaging in itself, this book perhaps doesn’t quite feel as readable as her past novels – though, admittedly, that is a high bar.

Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, Ambassadors Theatre review - courtroom drama hits the back of the net

★★★★ VARDY VS ROONEY: THE WAGATHA CHRISTIE TRIAL, AMBASSADORS THEATRE Courtroom drama hits the back of the net

Sparky adaptation of legal spat puts verbatim theatre in football context

“Wagatha Christie” – I salute the bright spark who coined the term – describes, for those who don't follow such fripperies, the social media spat between footballers' wives Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney (married to Jamie and Wayne respectively), which later became the subject of an multimillion-pound court case.

Carlos Ghosn: The Last Flight - Storyville, BBC Four review - the tycoon who fell to earth

★★★★ CARLOS GHOSN: THE LAST FLIGHT - STORYVILLE, BBC FOUR The tycoon who fell to earth

Astonishing story of power, politics, money and corruption in the automobile industry

The extraordinary story of motor industry executive Carlos Ghosn is a heady combination of power, money, corruption and international politics, with a Mission: Impossible-style ending that carries it over the finishing tape in dramatic style. It might be considered a cautionary tale, except that Ghosn’s experiences and personality were so unique that a repeat performance could never happen.

The Mauritanian review – moving 9/11 drama

★★★★ THE MAURITANIAN Lawyers for Guantanamo detainee find that justice and the War on Terror don't mix

Lawyers for Guantanamo detainee find that justice and the War on Terror don't mix

Whether he’s making documentaries or dramas, director Kevin Macdonald has an eye for the bleak moments in our history, and a dynamic way of recreating them, from the Oscar-winning doc Four Days in September, about the Munich massacre, to the fictionalised account of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, The Last King of Scotland, which at times played like a horror film.

Verdict review - social realism and court procedural combine in powerful Manila drama

★★★★ VERDICT Domestic abuse and legal turmoil in Venice prize-winning debut

Domestic abuse and legal turmoil in Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s Venice prize-winning debut

There’s something of an anomaly in Filipino director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s debut feature between its fast-moving dramatic opening, defined by an agile hand-held camera, and the much slower, more static scenes that follow.

Time review - a stunning portait of enduring love

★★★★★ TIME A stunning portrait of enduring love in the US prison system

The US prison system exposed through one family's long fight

Sometimes in fictional cinema, a character can seem so strong, so righteous, that you begin to doubt the reality of the piece. How can anyone be that good when faced with such hardship? Perhaps these thoughts make us feel better about ourselves, and what we do with our lives. But we can make no excuses with Time, a documentary about a woman so remarkable that it could only be true.