House of the Dragon: sex, violence and top notes of incest
This prequel is still Game of Thrones in all its bloody, deviant glory.
ByTV reviews
Discover compelling insights into the latest TV shows with our selection of reviews, providing critical analysis, expert opinions, and captivating commentary on the most popular and thought-provoking series.
Fleishman Is in Trouble is a slick but exhausting portrait of New York wealth
This series belongs to a new big-budget genre of TV that attempts to intellectually flatter viewers who can actually afford…
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Clarkson’s Farm is yet more proof that nimbys run the world
A planning system that says no at the slightest hint of opposition, and to hell with our economic decline, is…
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BBC One’s The Gold is outstandingly enjoyable TV
This madly entertaining drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery doubles as an account of the Thatcherite Eighties.
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An Everywoman on her way up
Funny Woman is a broad, old-fashioned comedy about an aspiring female comic in Sixties London with an indisputable star at…
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Why we will mourn the loss of Happy Valley
Marrying suspense and a profound understanding of character, the epic finale proved that Sally Wainwright’s police drama has always been…
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How Happy Valley reveals the reality of austerity
Since 2014, Sally Wainwright’s complex police drama has laid bare the hope and terror of living in the north of…
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Russell T Davies’ Nolly is more than melodrama – it’s a social history
The story of the Crossroads actress Noele Gordon (played by Helena Bonham-Carter) becomes a metaphor for something bigger.
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The fierce women doctors of Maternal show that TV drama is moving on
Not so long ago, every successful working woman on screen was either a secret wreck or a man-in-training.
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Everyone Else Burns attempts “edgy” comedy – but ends up predictable
Like so many supposedly funny shows just lately, this sitcom about an extreme Christian sect isn’t funny enough.
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Why The Last of Us is the dystopian drama of the post-pandemic era
Our interest in apocalyptic narratives has accelerated after Covid – but something sets this series apart from its peers.
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ITV’s Stonehouse is a satirical caper – and weirdly timely, too
Matthew Macfadyen is perfectly cast in this ironic drama about the Labour MP who faked his own death in 1974.
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Happy Valley is back – and still richer and deeper than any other police procedural
Sarah Lancashire’s performance is marvellous in Sally Wainwright’s small town saga.
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The New Statesman’s best TV shows of 2022
The highlights of the year, from The English to The White Lotus.
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The Detectorists Christmas special is playful and exquisitely moving
Like every great Christmas parable, Detectorists sees how the epic and the everyday are intertwined.
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Motherland festive special: A Christmas Carol for the Mumsnet generation
This special edition of Sharon Horgan’s BBC One comedy is perfect in every way, save for the fact that it…
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Vardy v Rooney: how Wagatha Christie went from farce to legend
Who is watching this Channel 4 drama who hasn’t already inhaled every detail of the Rebekah Vardy-Coleen Rooney trial?
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The highs and lows of Christmas TV 2022
From the Motherland special to the return of Happy Valley.
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The Meghan and Harry documentary isn’t really about Meghan Markle at all
For all she dominates, this isn’t a story about the duchess. It’s much bigger than that.
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Even Claudia Winkleman can’t make The Traitors watchable
The BBC’s latest stab at a reality show, with a murder mystery-style twist, is a convoluted extravaganza of tedium.
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