While I don’t yet know whether The Undeclared War is BAFTA magnet Peter Kosminsky’s best work, after watching the opening episode, I am prepared to say it is his most intelligent and timely. Cybersecurity is a major subject in modern society as technology relentlessly...
Borgen proves TV revivals can work.
Borgen is the best political series on television. It's not an area television drama dabbles in that often. There's the original House of Cards and the Netflix version which now feels sullied, The West Wing (don't ask me my opinion of Sorkin) and Sky's OTT drama...
The BBC confirm second series of Sherwood.
As the critically acclaimed Sherwood finishes its much talked about run on the BBC tonight (28 June) it has been confirmed that it will return for a second series with filming set to take place in 2023. Sherwood launched to over 6 million viewers on the BBC (7-day...
#350: Only Murders in the Building, SuperPumped, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Loot & Man Vs Bee
You can vote for us as part of the British Podcast Awards! https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/vote Type TheCustardtvpodcast in the search box and vote for us! We'd love a reason to get dressed up. Matt is joined by site contributors Sarah Kennedy and Sophie Davies...
Saturday 2nd – Friday 8th July 2022
PICKS OF THE WEEK 24 Hours in Police Custody: The Murder of Rikki Neave Monday 4th/Tuesday 5th July Channel 4 Only Murders in the Building Tuesday 5th July Disney+ We Own This City Tuesday 5th July Sky Atlantic Boys from the Blackstuff Wednesday 6th July BBC Four...
Atlanta” isn’t in Atlanta anymore. But it’s still just as good.
Atlanta has always been a genre-defying show. The pilot episode leads you to believe otherwise, that the series is a straightforward comedy-drama following the rise of Atlanta rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry) and his cousin/manager Earn (series creator Donald...
Saturday 25th June – Friday 1st July 2022
PICKS OF THE WEEK The Outlaws Sunday 26th June BBC One Sherwood Monday 27th/Tuesday 28st June BBC One *Final Episodes* Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Monday 27th June Sky Comedy Only Murders in the Building Tuesday 28th June Disney+ Atlanta Wednesday 29th June...
Season 2 of Only Murders in the Building.
The first season of Only Murders in the Building was one of the best shows of last year. Funny, warm and with a new take on the mystery genre it was unpredictable and absolutely delightful. For those who need a refresher, the series follows Charles (Steve Martin),...
Celebrating The Wire 20 Years On.
It was the show’s mastery of character that made it great. 20 years ago this month, HBO aired the first episode of The Wire. Nine months earlier, 9/11 had dramatically snatched federal law enforcement’s attention and budget away from the war on drugs and towards the...
#348: Sherwood, My Name is Leon, Avoidance, Abbott Elementary
Matt is joined by Gary Redrup and site contributor Dawn Glen to review BBC One drama Sherwood, Single drama My Name is Leon. US comedy Abbott Elementary which is available on Disney+ and new BBC One comedy Avoidance from Romesh Ranganathan. Listen to "#348:...
Saturday 18th – Friday 24th June 2022
PICKS OF THE WEEK The Outlaws Sunday 19th June BBC One Sherwood Monday 20th/Tuesday 21st June BBC One Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Monday 20th June Sky Comedy We Own This City Tuesday 21st June Sky Atlantic The Fight Attendant Thursday 23rd June Sky Max...
Deadwood: Looking back at HBO’s true masterpiece.
“Pain or damage don’t end the world. Or despair, or f***ing beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you’ve got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man… and give some back” This could well be the mission statement for Deadwood, David Milch’s...
BBC drama Sherwood tells a uniquely British story about what happens when we let politics divide us.
The BBC's new crime drama Sherwood is brilliant. A starry cast, tackling a uniquely British story with an intriguing central mystery that feels tied to its surroundings rather than tacked on to keep viewers interested. The residents in this former mining village are...
Big Boys: The poignant comedy that shines the light on the importance of male friendship.
The odd couple is a much-mined sitcom premise, with a myriad of shows built upon the fastidious, introvert forced by circumstance to spend time with a casually confident, careless extrovert. Looking at the trailers for Channel 4’s latest sitcom Big Boys, you might...
#347: We Own This City, Borgen: Power & Glory, Everything I Know About Love, Girls5eva
Matt is joined by site Editor Luke and contributor Sarah Kennedy to review David Simon's return to Baltimore for We Own This City on HBO and Sky Atlantic. The Danish political drama Borgen returns for an anticipated fourth season on Netflix. Dolly Alderton's memoir...
Saturday 11th – Friday 17th June 2022
PICKS OF THE WEEK The Outlaws Sunday 12th June BBC One Sherwood Monday 13th/Tuesday 14th June BBC One Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Monday 13th June Sky Comedy Barry Monday 13th June Sky Comedy *Final Episode* We Own This City Tuesday 14th June Sky Atlantic The...
Apple TV’s For All Mankind is the best recent example of prestige TV.
America is reeling from a gigantic loss in the Cold War – of prestige, of humiliation. In other words: A Red Moon. We are introduced to Ronald D. Moore’s For All Mankind as it throws us for an alternate history style scenario establishing the gauntlet from the get-go...
Seven series in, Inside No.9 remains the most inventive show on television
Inside No. 9’s most surprising twist might be that seven series in, it’s just as high-quality as it was at the start. With the latest run of episodes, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have proved that they’re still perfectly capable of entertaining us, moving us...
Inside No.9 gets two more series taking it to Series 9.
The BBC has announced that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s critically acclaimed and BAFTA-award-winning anthology series, Inside No. 9 will return for series eight and nine as twelve brand new episodes are commissioned and will once again be made by BBC Studios...
#346: Stranger Things, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Pistol and The Midwich Cuckoos
Matt is joined by our old podcast pal Gary and site fan Suky Khakh to review the long-awaited return of Stranger Things on Netflix. Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ as well as the Danny Boyle directed Sex Pistols biopic Pistol on Disney+ and finally Sky's The Midwhich...
David Simon returns. We Own This City and the vindication of The Wire
A new David Simon project dropping has roughly the same effect on critics that a designer drug has when it debuts among addicts. So with We Own This City beginning on Tuesday 7th June on Sky Atlantic expect a deluge of podcasts, blogs and think pieces marking the...
Saturday 3rd – Friday 10th June 2022
PICKS OF THE WEEK The Outlaws Sunday 5th June BBC One. Girls5eva Monday 6th June Peacock/NOW Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Monday 6th June Sky Comedy Barry Monday 6th June Sky Comedy We Own This City Tuesday 7th June Sky Atlantic Everything I Know About Love...
Abbott Elementary is a warm and engaging comedy that you can’t help but for in love with.
It’s unsurprising given the world events of the past couple of years that TV has been turning to more positive, heartwarming comedies for escapism. Shows like Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso have given us an antidote to the harshness of life around us, by leaning hard...
The Sopranos: The show that paved the way for all that was to come.
Like everyone else, including James Gandolfini’s own son, Michael, in preparation for his role in the prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark (as cited during his interview with Simon Mayo for Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review) I used lockdown to start watching The...