Scoop, Netflix review - revisiting a Right Royal nightmare

★★★★ SCOOP, NETFLIX Gripping dramatisation of Newsnight's fateful Prince Andrew interview

Gripping dramatisation of Newsnight's fateful Prince Andrew interview

What with the interminable Harry and Meghan saga, the death of the Queen and the recent health scares for Kate and King Chuck, this is just what the Royal Family needed – the exhumation of Prince Andrew’s catastrophic 2019 Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis which probed his alarm-bell-jangling relationship with serial sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World Season 2, BBC Three review - fun, friendship and big talents

★★★★ RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE UK VS THE WORLD, BBC THREE Fun, friendship and big talents

Worthy and lovable winners (no spoilers) as the best stay the course

In the finale of the latest RuPaul extravaganza to make it to the BBC, our hostess asks each of the competitors “why does the world need drag now more than ever?” The question needs detailed answers as increasingly more intense hate is hurled against the age-old art around the world, and it’s clear that the finals, at least when not all-American, are more a love-in than a competition.

This Town, BBC One review - lurid melodrama in Eighties Brummieland

★★ THIS TOWN, BBC ONE Lurid melodrama in Eighties Brummieland

Steven Knight revisits his Midlands roots, with implausible consequences

Industrious screenwriter Steven Knight has brought us (among many other things) Peaky Blinders, SAS: Rogue Heroes and even Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, but This Town may not be remembered as one of his finest hours. Here, we find Knight revisiting his Midlands background for a story that begins in 1981, during Margaret Thatcher’s first term as Prime Minister. There’s rioting on the streets, unemployment is soaring and Bobby Sands is on hunger strike in Belfast.

Passenger, ITV review - who are they trying to kid?

Andrew Buchan's screenwriting debut leads us nowhere

The screenwriting debut of actor Andrew Buchan, Passenger ends up resembling a bunch of ingredients looking for a cake. While characters come out with such meta-observations as “this isn’t Twin Peaks” and “this isn’t Broadchurch” – Buchan having been one of the stars of BroadchurchPassenger contains echoes of both of them, and rather louder ones of Happy Valley.

3 Body Problem, Netflix review - life, the universe and everything (and a bit more)

★★★ 3 BODY PROBLEM, NETFLIX Life, the universe and everything (and a bit more)

Mind-blowing adaptation of Liu Cixin's novel from the makers of 'Game of Thrones'

From Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and DB Weiss, in cahoots with Alexander Woo, 3 Body Problem is Netflix’s daring attempt to dramatise Liu Cixin’s novel The Three-Body Problem. A mind-bending sci-fi epic spanning multiple decades, while also reaching centuries into the past and future, it can scarcely be faulted for lack of ambition, but sometimes there's just too much going on to digest properly.

Manhunt, Apple TV+ review - all the President's men

★★★★ MANHUNT, APPLE TV+ Tobias Menzies and Anthony Boyle go head to head in historical crime drama

Tobias Menzies and Anthony Boyle go head to head in historical crime drama

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 14 April 1865, five days after General Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomatox signalled the end of the American Civil War. The ensuing chase to catch his killer, John Wilkes Booth, is the basis of Manhunt (based on James L Swanson’s book).

The Gentlemen, Netflix review - Guy Ritchie's further adventures in Geezerworld

★★★★ THE GENTLEMEN, NETFLIX Riotous assembly of toffs, gangsters, travellers, rogues and misfits

Riotous assembly of toffs, gangsters, travellers, rogues and misfits

Welcome back to Guy Ritchie’s Geezerworld, familiar from such slices of lurid villainhood as Lock, Stock…, RocknRolla and The Gentlemen (the movie). The Gentlemen (the TV series) takes some cues from the similarly-named big-screen event from 2019, but becomes its own distinctive self as it unwinds across eight episodes.

Prisoner, BBC Four review - jailhouse rocked by drugs, violence and racism

★★★★ PRISONER, BBC FOUR Jailhouse rocked by drugs, violence and racism

Sofie Gråbøl joins a powerful cast in bruising Danish drama

The notion of prison as a pressure cooker of human behaviour and emotions is hardly a new one, but it can provide formidable fuel for drama. It does so here in this ferociously gripping Danish series, which hails from the same production company as The Killing and The Bridge. It also boasts a forceful roster of acting talent, not least Sofie Gråbøl (aka Sarah Lund from The Killing) and David Dencik (from Chernobyl and McMafia, among other things).

Drive to Survive, Season 6, Netflix review - F1 documentary overtaken by events

★★★ DRIVE TO SURVIVE, SEASON 6, NETFLIX Real-life dramas in the paddock were too late to make the cut

Real-life dramas in the paddock were too late to make the cut

When the first season of Drive to Survive launched on Netflix in 2019, it was greeted with suspicion by some in the Formula One paddock. But with its sixth season now up on Netflix, just ahead of next weekend’s 2024 season-opening race in Bahrain, the show can congratulate itself for having helped to bring about a revolution within Formula One.