Slow Horses, Series 2, Apple TV+ review - Mick Herron’s spies make a welcome return

★★★★★ SLOW HORSES, SERIES 2, APPLE TV+ Mick Herron’s spies make a welcome return

The losers of Slough House are as winning as ever

Apple TV+ is using the arrival of season two of Slow Horses to offer a generous three-month free trial to its streamer service. Ample time to catch up with season one and watch it multiple times before all of season two is available at the end of December. Go for it.

Tokyo Vice, BBC One review - murder, extortion and corruption in the Japanese capital

★★★★ TOKYO VICE, BBC ONE Murder, extortion and corruption in the Japanese capital

Eager American reporter Jake Adelstein plunges into the murky world of the Yakuza

There was originally a plan to make Tokyo Vice a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, but it has ended up as a TV series starring Ansel Elgort. It’s almost certainly the better for it, because the eight episodes of this first season – the way it ends, or rather doesn’t, makes a second helping inevitable – give it space to explore Japanese culture and its often mutually uncomprehending relationship with American or European values.

1899, Netflix review - Atlantic voyage turns into cosmic nightmare

Another mind-bending trip from the creators of 'Dark'

Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese won delirious acclaim for their previous Netflix series Dark, a labyrinthine and fantastical account of children vanishing from a small German town. Anyone familiar with its baffling events and leaps across different timelines will probably feel at home with 1899, the duo’s similarly mind-bending follow-up.

Blood, Sex & Royalty, Netflix review - yo, bros, get down with the GOAT, Henry VIII

★★ BLOOD, SEX & ROYALTY, NETFLIX Anne Boleyn for the Young Adult audience

Netflix aims a hip hop historical drama about Anne Boleyn at the Young Adult audience

“It was like Woodstock on steroids,” opines an expert in Netflix’s new release about the doomed marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (yes, another one).

Not sure you remember anything of that description from your history lessons? That would be the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the lavish spectacle staged near Calais in 1520 for a summit between Henry and François I of France. 

The White Lotus, Season 2, Sky Atlantic review - the sizzling hit drama moves to Italy, but with less fizz

★★★ THE WHITE LOTUS, SEASON 2, SKY The sizzling hit drama moves to Italy, but with less fizz

Sex has replaced cultural cringe as the show's new focus, though it's mostly offstage

Why did Maui work better than Taormina? Mike White’s second series of The White Lotus, which has relocated for its second season from an upscale Hawaiian resort to the fleshpots of Sicily, is still a worthwhile watch, but it’s hard not to wonder where that special savour has gone this time. 

The English, BBC Two review - Emily Blunt's date with destiny on the prairies

★★★ THE ENGLISH, BBC TWO Emily Blunt's date with destiny on the prairies

Hugo Blick takes on the untamed West

Writer and director Hugo Blick isn’t afraid of getting stuck into some knotty and morally complicated issues, whether it’s Middle Eastern politics (The Honourable Woman) or the Rwandan genocide (Black Earth Rising), but perhaps he wouldn’t be your automatic go-to guy for Westerns. Nevertheless, here he is, giving it some high-plains-drifter in a baleful tale of revenge, violence and twists of fate.

The Crown, Season 5, Netflix review - is the royal epic outstaying its welcome?

★★★ THE CROWN, SEASON 5, NETFLIX  Is the royal epic outstaying its welcome?

Strong cast rehashes some familiar themes

Now into its fifth season, Netflix’s royal pageant is entering that danger zone where once-majestic TV series suddenly find they’re running out of steam. Perhaps Harry and Meghan’s publicity-hogging shenanigans and the real-life loss of the Queen and Prince Philip have somewhat overshadowed Netflix’s quasi-fictional drama. Perhaps everybody has become sick to death of rehashed versions of the life of Princess Diana.

SAS Rogue Heroes, BBC One review - rock'n'roll desert warfare from the pen of Steven Knight

★★★★ SAS ROGUE HEROES, BBC ONE Rock'n'roll desert warfare from the pen of Steven Knight

Indecently enjoyable TV treatment of Ben Macintyre's book

Irregular warfare has proved to be a speciality with the British armed forces. This new six-part series, based on Ben Macintyre’s 2016 book, tells the story of the chaotic birth of the Special Air Service during the war in North Africa in 1941, and it's a rollicking ride.

All Creatures Great and Small, Series 3 finale, Channel 5 review - revived vet show still strikes a popular note

★★★★ ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, SERIES 3 FINALE, CHANNEL 5 Darrowby gears up for bovine tuberculosis and war with Germany

Darrowby gears up for bovine tuberculosis and war with Germany

Ben Vanstone, the showrunner for Channel 5’s hit revival of All Creatures Great and Small, originally foresaw it as stretching over four seasons, but has subsequently revised his opinion. With the third series ending and the fourth already in preparation, he now foresees broader horizons. “Everything in this show plays out slower than you think it would,” he commented.

The Watcher, Netflix review - fear and loathing in the New Jersey suburbs

★★★★★ THE WATCHER, NETFLIX Fear and loathing in the New Jersey suburbs

Real-life story put through the fictional blender by Ryan Murphy

Netflix can’t get enough of Ryan Murphy, whose list of productions with the super-streamer includes Halston, Ratched and recent hit Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Now here he is again with The Watcher, a teasing little mystery based on a true story about a couple moving into their dream home in New Jersey only to be confronted with anonymous threats and hair-raising goings-on.