Sex Education, Series 2, Netflix review - the teen sex show we deserved

★★★★ SEX EDUCATION, SERIES 2, NETFLIX The teen sex show we deserved

Happy Valentines: this humdrum holiday is the perfect occasion to stream the most affirming sex comedy in years

Netflix’s Sex Education has returned to our screens and streams. The show made waves last year for its refreshing take on the teen comedy-drama. It took on abortion, consent and female pleasure — subjects strikingly absent from our actual high school educations.

Messiah, Netflix review - con-artist or the Second Coming?

★★★ MESSIAH, NETFLIX Con-artist or the Second Coming?

It's sometimes sluggish, but it keeps asking provocative questions

It’s an intriguing question. If a new Messiah appeared today, what kind of reception could he (if it was a he) expect? Possibly something similar to the one which greeted Jesus, according to Netflix’s new series Messiah.

Uncut Gems review - relentless tale of gambling and the diamond trade

★★★★ UNCUT GEMS Relentless tale of gambling and the diamond trade

Adrenaline fuelled portrait of a gambler running out of luck

The Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, once programmed a season of films entitled Emotional Sloppy Manic Cinema, and if sloppy is subtracted from that description, it’s a pretty accurate summation of their work here in Uncut Gems. This is edge-of-the-seat filmmaking, with vertiginous camerawork by Darius Khondji and a relentless, immersive soundscape of electronica and layered dialogue.

The Crown, Series 3, Netflix review - if you want binge TV, there's none finer

GOLDEN GLOBES 2020 Olivia Colman crowned for 'The Crown'

Peter Morgan's royal saga has a new cast as the Windsors negotiate the turbulent 1960s

Although it conforms to a realistic chronology of events, this third season of Peter Morgan’s remarkable voyage around the House of Windsor (on Netflix) has the feel of a sequence of standalone dramas, linked together by its interrelated characters and their shared history.

The Laundromat review – The Panama Papers as root canal

★★ THE LAUNDROMAT The Panama Papers as root canal

Even Meryl Streep can't save Steven Soderbergh's misfiring satire

With The Laundromat Steven Soderbergh is trying to do for the Panama Papers what The Big Short did for the 2008 financial crash, namely offer an entertaining mix of explanation, exposé, black comedy and righteous anger. Sadly, it doesn’t come close. 

Stranger Things 3, Netflix review - bigger, dumber, better

Netflix’s retro adventure plays to its strengths in latest season

It sometimes feels like an age between Stranger Things seasons. Blame Netflix. The binge-watching trend that it helped solidify means that most people consume all eight hours of content in a single weekend. It comes and goes in a flash. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a disposable snack, the TV equivalent of those famous Eggo pancakes.

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, Netflix, review - sex and dope soap is back in San Francisco

★★★★ ARMISTEAD MAUPIN'S TALES OF THE CITY, NETFLIX Lives & loves resume with new faces & old

The pioneering stories of LGBT+ lives and loves resume with new faces and old

It helps to be of a certain vintage to appreciate the first impact of Tales of the City. Armistead Maupin’s column, begun in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1978 as a frank and joyous portrayal of gay culture, became a series of half a dozen cult novels. These started appearing in the UK from the mid-1980s.

Triple Frontier, Netflix review - war-on-drugs thriller suffers identity crisis

★★★ TRIPLE FRONTIER, NETFLIX Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck can't say no to one last big score

Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck can't say no to one last big score

Flying boldly against the #MeToo grain, Triple Frontier is a rather old-fashioned story of male buddyhood and the disappointments of encroaching middle age. The protagonists are five Special Forces veterans, brought together by private security specialist Santiago Garcia (Oscar Isaac) to raid the jungle lair of a South American drug warlord. Strangely, things don’t go according to plan.

After Life, Netflix, review - Ricky Gervais's grief emoji

★★★ AFTER LIFE, NETFLIX Ricky Gervais's grief emoji

The comedian does death in a sitcom about a widower who can't move on

The limitless goodwill generated by The Office earned Ricky Gervais the right to do and say as he pleased. Thus, hosting the Golden Globes, he was toweringly rude to Hollywood royalty. In Extras he gleefully portrayed celebrities as vain and ghastly. In The Invention of Lying he explored the logical consequence of a world in which people say what they really think.