Cocoa A Cut Too Far? Male Circumcision review – an act of love, or an assault?The Guardian - Lucy ManganOut of context, most of the things we do seem mad. I just voluntarily ate a combination of sugar, cocoa solids, milk solids and emulsifiers that made me happy at the time but I knew would make me sad Then
Paralympics Paralympics to join events that must be shown on free-to-air TVThe Guardian - Aamna Mohdin and Jim WatersonCampaigners have welcomed the government’s stated intention to add the Paralympic Games to the list of sporting events that must be screened live on free-to-air television in the UK, with ministers also
Play buttonTV Series Game of groans: how boring historical accuracy ruined VikingsThe Guardian - Luke HollandWhen Ian McShane pithily remarked that Game of Thrones was “just tits and dragons”, you had to concede he had a point. Yes, it’s one of the greatest TV shows of all time – you, at the back! Pipe down!
God ‘Will Allah be OK with this?’: inside the BBC's first British-Muslim sketch showThe Guardian - Hannah J DaviesAs Ali Shahalom and Aatif Nawaz scan the faces on the walls of the boardroom we’re in, their faces light up. “The BBC have put us in the brown room!” laughs Shahalom, gazing up at the cast of Goodness
TV Series Game of Thrones: the stars forced to nominate themselves for EmmysThe Guardian - Stuart HeritageUnless you actively enjoy excruciatingly drawn-out scenes of roundtable policy minutiae, the Game of Thrones finale was a bit of a disappointment. However, don’t be sad, because that was simply a fake-out.
Brexit Tonight’s TV: Britain’s Brexit shambles unscrambledThe Guardian - Mike Bradley, Hannah Verdier, Ellen E Jones, Graeme Virtue and Paul HowlettThe first task of the nation’s new prime minister (whose identity will be disclosed on Tuesday 23 July following the final Conservative members’ ballot) will be to find a solution to Britain’s Brexit To
TV Series Shaun Micallef is Mad as Hell after ABC airs wrong episode of current affairs TV showThe Guardian - Stephanie ConveryThe ABC mistakenly replayed an old episode of current affairs comedy show Mad As Hell on Wednesday night. The show’s host Shaun Micallef tuned in to watch his skit show in its usual time slot of 8.31pm
Driving GameFace review – irresistible comedy that's all heart and sillinessThe Guardian - Rebecca NicholsonAny sitcom that kicks off with a motivational speech and then a montage immediately wins my affection, and Roisin Conaty’s irresistibly amiable GameFace (Channel 4) does not disappoint. It begins with
EastEnders Archie Panjabi: ‘Not getting on Eastenders didn’t turn out too badly’The Guardian - Dale Berning SawaIt says a lot about British actor Archie Panjabi that the best piece of advice she says she ever received was when an Indian agent told her that an Indian woman would never make it in Hollywood. It’s story
Play buttonBig Little Lies Screaming? Crying? Confessing? How will Big Little Lies end?The Guardian - Rebecca NicholsonIt’s quite possible that the coming second season finale of Big Little Lies will be the last time we’ll check in with the Monterey Five. Earlier this year, HBO’s president, Casey Bloys, said that the of
Boris Johnson TV tonight: a study of Boris Johnson using his newspaper columnsThe Guardian - Jack Seale, Mike Bradley, Phil Harrison, Ali Catterall and Paul HowlettIf his own words could damn him, Boris Johnson would have long since been ejected from the top tier of politics and left to jabber glibly on the back benches. Nevertheless, this profile dives into the
The Emmy Awards Emmys 2019: Game of Thrones leads race with record 32 nominationsThe Guardian - Benjamin Lee in New YorkGame of Thrones leads this year’s Emmy nominations with a record 32 nods, with The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Chernobyl close behind. The final season of HBO’s fantasy hit received mixed reviews from critics
Fleabag (TV Series) Roisin Conaty: the genius comic who will fill the Fleabag hole in your lifeThe Guardian - Julia RaesideRoisin Conaty still remembers her first night of standup. It was 2003 and she was at the King’s Head pub in London’s Crouch End, tipsy and being egged on by a friend. Conaty put her name down for the comedy
Facebook Inside the Social Network: Facebook’s Difficult Year review – thumbs down!The Guardian - Stuart JeffriesFacebook has a director of social good. She is called Hema and if she has a surname, we weren’t privy to it. The BBC’s Horizon team, as if bewitched at being granted unprecedented access to the social
D'Arcy Carden From Homecoming to The Good Fight: this year's Emmys snubs and shocksThe Guardian - Stuart HeritageOh, the cruelty of letting D’Arcy Carden announce the 2019 Emmy nominations. From relative obscurity, she’s undoubtedly had a barnstormer of a year; The Good Place – one of the most talent-stuffed shows
When They See Us Emmy nominations: the 2019 listThe Guardian - Gwilym MumfordBetter Call Saul Bodyguard Game of Thrones Killing Eve Ozark Pose Succession This Is Us Barry Fleabag Russian Doll Schitt’s Creek The Good Place The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Veep Bob Odenkirk, Better Call
Play buttonMTV From Date My Mom to Plain Jane: the MTV shows we don't need rebootedThe Guardian - Stuart HeritageRemember O Town? Danity Kane? Donnie Klang? No, of course you don’t, because they were all groups formed through MTV’s reality series Making the Band, and as such were only ever created to be empty ephemera.
13 Reasons Why Netflix cuts controversial suicide scene from 13 Reasons WhyThe Guardian - Gwilym MumfordNetflix has removed a controversial suicide scene from its teen drama 13 Reasons Why more than two years on from its premiere. In a statement, the streaming service said that the three-minute-long sequence
What could happen in the Friends reboot?The Guardian - Joel Golby, Issy Sampson and Monica HeiseyWhat would the characters of Friends be doing now? Well, it’s a mixed bag. Joey, with his profile as former soap lead-turned-former buddy cop lead-turned-failed actor, gets a second-career wind and heads
Facebook Tonight’s TV: Facebook invites the cameras in – it's engrossing TVThe Guardian - Mike Bradley, Hannah J Davies, Ali Catterall , Phil Harrison and Paul HowlettFollowing a turbulent year that has seen the world’s largest social media platform embroiled in accusations of data leaks and the spreading of fake news, Facebook allows BBC cameras in to monitor the trying
Mushrooms Nadiya's Time to Eat review – guilt-free meals in six picoseconds!The Guardian - Lucy ManganShortcuts! Embracing every cheat in the book! Recipes in a rush! Nadiya’s Time to Eat (BBC Two) is here to show you all this and more! In half an hour! Which you should probably spend cooking if you’re
Play buttonTV (Australia) With Number 96, Australia brought queer people to TV decades before anyone elseThe Guardian - Andrew MercadoDuring last month’s 50th anniversary celebration of the Stonewall riots, many historians looked at how the modern gay rights movement influenced pop culture. We learned about music, books and cinema which
Vicky McClure Vicky McClure: ‘I couldn't stay in London. I begrudge paying so much for a pint'The Guardian - Emine SanerOne of the best stories about Vicky McClure concerns the time she flew by private jet to attend the Berlin film festival in 2008 with Madonna. “It was, like, wow, a whirlwind.” And the next day, McClure
Margaret Atwood 'Things could get so much worse': inside the Handmaid’s Tale’s darkest season yetThe Guardian - Jane Mulkerrins‘I have a very high tolerance for things that are dark and brutal,” says Elisabeth Moss, cheerfully. That, you must conclude, is a fortuitous trait for the star of a series that has become a byword for
Poldark Poldark series five, episode one recap – Ross is back with a bangThe Guardian - Viv Groskop’Tis right and ’tis proper to throw a party as ’tis back, ’Darkers! “These are difficult times. It’s wise to be selective.” Indeed. But who would not select Poldark for their viewing delight? How I have
Poldark Poldark final series review: still ridiculous – but I wouldn't have it any other wayThe Guardian - Emine Saner'Here’s to the new century,” says Sam Carne, raising a glass during dinner at Trenwith. “What do it hold for us?” And here’s to the new series of Poldark and what it holds for us, it seems, is more of
Play buttonBig Little Lies Big Little Lies recap: season two, episode six – The Bad MotherThe Guardian - Rebecca NicholsonSpoiler alert: this blog is for people watching season two of Big Little Lies, which airs on HBO in the US, Sky Atlantic in the UK and Foxtel’s Showcase in Australia. Don’t read on unless you have watched
The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid’s Tale season three, episode six recap – beautiful but problematicThe Guardian - Julia RaesideSpoiler alert: this recap is for people watching The Handmaid’s Tale, series three, on Channel 4 in the UK. Please do not add spoilers for later episodes in the series. Is anyone else getting strong placeholder
Morality Tonight’s TV: a dark morality tale given extra topicality by current eventsThe Guardian - Hannah J Davies, Graeme Virtue, Mike Bradley, Ellen E Jones and Paul HowlettLevi David Addai, writer of the acclaimed Damilola: Our Loved Boy, had already started work on this dark morality tale about Hollywood sex abuse when the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, lending it a layer
