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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Shifty
BBC iPlayer; full series available now
Summed up in a sentence In his signature kaleidoscopic style, celebrated documentarian Adam Curtis looks back at Britain over the past 40 years … and how it has come to the brink of collapse.
What our reviewer said “It is an increasing rarity to stand in the presence of anyone with an idea, a thesis, that they have thoroughly worked out to their own satisfaction and then present stylishly, exuberantly and still intelligently. The hell and the handcart feel that bit more bearable now.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Thatcher, Farage and toe-sucking: Adam Curtis on how Britain came to the brink of civil war
Pick of the rest
Heston: My Life With Bipolar
BBC Two/iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence The celebrated chef opens up with searing honesty about being sectioned by his wife 18 months ago.
What our reviewer said “A conversation with his son Jack, also a chef, is one of the most dreadfully honest and painful things I have seen on television in years. Pent-up emotions pour forth from Jack as he remembers “just wanting relaxing conversation with our dad and not being allowed to have one … You didn’t want to know anyone’s thoughts. I just didn’t think you gave a shit.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘It’s part of who I am’: Heston Blumenthal on the bipolar diagnosis that saved his life
Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure
ITV1/ITVX; full series available now
Summed up in a sentence The veteran presenter returns to show us his woo woo life in New Zealand in a show that is surely destined to be a cult classic.
What our reviewer said “‘All we are is body energy systems,’ he … is ‘explains’ the word? ‘They touch everything around us. Which is how you move into the bigger matrix, the universal energy system.’ You know what? I loved Noel’s House Party. And nothing has ever made me cry happier tears than Noel’s Christmas Presents. He’s earned this.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘I am Jesus!’: the TV brilliance of Noel Edmonds
You may have missed …
Amandaland
BBC iPlayer; all series available now
Summed up in a sentence The worst Motherland mother gets her own spin-off – and the gag rate is so high it fizzes with the energy of perimenopause.
What our reviewer said “The gags – about Gloria Hunniford, the Just Seventeen problem page and Sinn Féin – are very British and aimed at a very particular audience, namely strung out middle-aged mums longing to laugh until they wee a bit at jokes about wellness supplements. Too rarely do we get the chance.” Chitra Ramaswamy
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Holloway
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Powerful documentary following six former inmates revisiting their old cells in the former women’s prison to reflect on childhood trauma and domestic abuse.
What our reviewer said “The film producers explain at length in notes provided that their process involved working with the six women, who had a say in the final edit and were given access throughout to a psychotherapist. Their collaborative documentary feels like essential viewing for policymakers.” Cath Clarke
Further reading ‘Prison was the first place we felt sisterhood’: six women return to the ruins of Holloway
Pick of the rest
28 Years Later
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Danny Boyle’s horror threequel brings back the sprinting zombies as an island lad seeks help for his sick mum on the undead-infested mainland.
What our reviewer said “The film takes a generational, even evolutionary leap into the future from the initial catastrophe, creating something that mixes folk horror, little-England satire and even a grieving process for all that has happened.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘You’d never make Slumdog today’: Danny Boyle on risks, regrets and returning to the undead
Elio
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Pixar’s latest offers Spielbergian twists and an aggressive, deal-oriented alien in a story about a lonely boy who finds friendship in space.
What our reviewer said “Elio may well indeed do the business. It has charm, likability and that potent ingredient: childhood loneliness and vulnerability.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Raspberry scented weirdness: will Elio be Pixar’s wildest ride to date?
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Michael Haneke’s stalker drama, rereleased as part of a retrospective season, Complicit, is a compelling tale about the denial and guilt mixed into the foundations of western prosperity.
What our reviewer said “There is no dramatic musical score, none of the traditional shocks or excitements, just an IV-drip-drip-drip of disquiet leading finally to a convulsion of horror.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Michael Haneke films – ranked!
Now streaming
Grenfell: Uncovered
Netflix; out now
Summed up in a sentence Bleak, enraging documentary combining first-hand accounts of the disaster with an appalling record of official negligence.
What our reviewer said “With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘Grenfell should make us all uncomfortable’: Olaide Sadiq on making Grenfell: Uncovered
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Sanctuary by Marina Warner
Reviewed by Kathryn Hughes
Summed up in a sentence An ambitious meditation on the power of stories in an age of migration.
What our reviewer said “Over the past 50 years of her distinguished career as a cultural historian, Warner has immersed herself in fairytales, playground chants, lullabies and fables. Now she suggests using these folk forms to forge connections between arrivants (a term she prefers to ‘migrants’) and their often hostile hosts.”
Read the full review
Pick of the rest
The Cuckoo’s Lea by Michael Warren
Reviewed by Amy-Jane Beer
Summed up in a sentence From buzzards in Oxfordshire to cranes in Kent – how once common birds left their mark in British placenames.
What our reviewer said “Warren’s wordcraft is sublime … his style textured and generous, weaving fascination, family life, and lightly carried expertise.”
How to Lose your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast
Reviewed by Fiona Sturges
Summed up in a sentence The daughter of the Fear of Flying author on being neglected as a child – and dealing with her mother’s dementia.
What our reviewer said “The writing veers between punchy and meandering, with moments of deep sadness leavened by a sardonic humour.”
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
Reviewed by Sam Byers
Summed up in a sentence A polyphonic portrait of contemporary Belfast digs into the faultlines of class and money.
What our reviewer said “In her first novel, this acclaimed short-story writer revels in the possibilities of an expanded cast, yet controls the pace and framing with all the precision of a miniaturist.”
Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
Reviewed by Toby Litt
Summed up in a sentence A standup takes revenge after a hatchet-job review.
What our reviewer said “Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel.”
You may have missed …
What Is Free Speech? by Fara Dabhoiwala
Reviewed by Joe Moran
Summed up in a sentence A brilliant history of a weaponised mantra.
What our reviewer said “He wants us to think of free speech as being not just about the content of words but about which voices are heard most loudly and which are marginalised.”
Further reading The big idea: what do we really mean by free speech?
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Loyle Carner: Hopefully!
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Family, fatherhood and friendship fill the British rapper’s fourth album – along with, for the first time, his singing voice.
What our reviewer said “Whenever Carner slips into his low-pitched, totally unaffected croon, it cuts through any over-sweetness like a squeeze of lemon.” Rachel Aroesti
Pick of the rest
Hotline TNT: Raspberry Moon
Out now
Summed up in a sentence These New Yorkers made one of our favourite rock albums of recent times with 2023’s Cartwheel. This follow-up broadens out their sound.
What our reviewer said “The way bandleader Will Anderson weaves acoustic and distorted guitars and blasts of needling feedback into something as beguiling as Julia’s War is evidence of a unique talent operating in a crowded field.” Stevie Chick
Further reading The bands saving shoegaze, from Deafheaven to Feeble Little Horse
Duo Ruut: Ilmateade
Out now
Summed up in a sentence This Estonian duo utilise runo song, a form of oral poetry specific to the Baltic Finnic languages, and play the kannel (an Estonian zither).
What our reviewer said “These songs are rhythmically complex and have solid, ancient roots, but fans of ambient, Balearic dreaminess and the softer sides of indie pop and psych-folk will find woozy comforts here.” Jude Rogers
Berlioz and Ravel: Orchestre de Paris/Mäkelä
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Conductor Klaus Mäkelä leads the Orchestre de Paris, performing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Ravel’s La Valse, having blown minds with their rendition of the former at last year’s Proms.
What our reviewer said “It’s all played with consummate skill by an orchestra who are clearly responsive to their conductor’s every move.” Erica Jeal
Further reading Prom 58: Orchestre de Paris/Mäkelä review – electrifying music-making from an elite team
You may have missed …
Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Currently on tour across the UK, this Chicago indie trio channel the Raincoats, the Feelies and the Velvet Underground on their second album.
What our reviewer said “The album feels almost clockwork: every element machine-tooled, a place for everything, and everything in its place. But there’s no coldness here, the poignancy only accentuated by the poise with which these songs are delivered.” Stevie Chick
English (US)