TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Educating Yorkshire
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence The joyful return of this school-set, fly-on-the-wall series, just at the point that we could do with a good news story about the state of secondary education in the UK.
What our reviewer said “Is Educating Yorkshire rose-tinted? Probably. Is it filmed and edited to show everyone involved in as positive a light as possible? Almost certainly. Does it feel like a necessary blast of optimism? You bet it does.” Phil Harrison
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Further reading ‘So aware of their emotions’: Pupils are standout stars in new series about Yorkshire academy
Pick of the rest
I Fought The Law
ITVX; available now
Summed up in a sentence Moving true-crime drama about a woman who forced the government to change the law so her daughter’s killer could be jailed.
What our reviewer said “Sheridan Smith elevates a workaday script that dares not take too many liberties, lest it be seen to dishonour the story, and makes it genuinely moving.” Lucy Mangan
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BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence A compelling documentary following early Premier League footballers who lost it all following investment advice that went wrong.
What our reviewer said “A gripping, moving and human enough tale to inspire more than a little fellow feeling.” Phil Harrison
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Stranded on Honeymoon Island
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence A dating show where singletons are “married” then marooned at sea. It’s like Married at First Sight meets Love Island.
What our reviewer said “It’s a lot of fun, fuelled by optimism instead of despair and populated by people who genuinely seem to like each other and who are frequently funny. It’s a rare beast.” Lucy Mangan
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You may have missed …
Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt?
ITVX; available now
Summed up in a sentence The science and statistics around Letby’s case are brilliantly unpacked by a considered programme that leaves you filled with questions.
What our reviewer said “In its marshalling and explanation of complicated medical and mathematical issues, it succeeds brilliantly, covering more ground more meticulously in an hour than any documentary I’ve seen in recent years, and perhaps ever.” Lucy Mangan
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Books
If you only read one, make it …
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Reviewed by Amit Chaudhuri
Summed up in a sentence The first memoir by the Booker-winning novelist and political activist.
What our reviewer said “The world described in the first part of the book provides much of the material for The God of Small Things. But even if she had never written her novel they would be utterly absorbing. They have a wonderful, self-assured self-sufficiency.”
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Further reading Arundhati Roy on her fugitive childhood: ‘My knees were full of scars and cuts – a sign of my wild, imperfect, fatherless life’
Pick of the rest
Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi
Reviewed by Sami Kent
Summed up in a sentence Troubled by a photograph of her honeymooning in Mussolini’s Italy, the award-winning writer of Free sets out to find out the truth about her grandmother.
What our reviewer said “The narrative is suspenseful, not least because Leman’s adopted family is so close to power – close enough, for example, that she can smell ‘lavender and onions’ on the breath of a young Enver Hoxha, the Stalinist who would go on to rule Albania for 40 years.”
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A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries
Reviewed by Sam Leith
Summed up in a sentence From Shakespeare’s fools to Donald Trump, this exhilarating read considers stupidity in its many forms.
What our reviewer said “An amiable and rambling tour through the history of philosophy, looking at the idea of rationality and its limitations.”
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Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
Reviewed by AK Blakemore
Summed up in a sentence A small-town family saga of love and war looks beneath the American dream.
What our reviewer said “It is no surprise that Ryan cut his teeth writing short fiction: Buckeye is elevated throughout by the precision with which he captures the tiny, haunting glories of everyday suburban life.”
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The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Reviewed by Clare Clark
Summed up in a sentence JK Rowling’s eighth Cormoran Strike novel sees the detective determined to tell his business partner how he feels about her at last.
What our reviewer said “For all its fiendish cat’s cradle of a plot, it foregrounds the personal, reminding us yet again what thoroughly good company Strike and Ellacott are.”
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You may have missed …
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Reviewed by Sam Byers
Summed up in a sentence An actor’s story becomes a radical deconstruction of family relationships and the social roles we play in this Booker-listed novel.
What our reviewer said “Audition thrills at the freedoms made possible through collapse. The result is a literary performance of true uncanniness.”
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Further reading Novelist Katie Kitamura: ‘As Trump tries to take away everything I love, it’s never been clearer that writing matters’
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Christy
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Moving and funny Irish drama about two brothers finding their feet after time in care, in a social-realist film with heart and humour.
What our reviewer said “It’s tough, but capable of delicacy and succeeds in conveying something very difficult to achieve without sentimentality: love of your home town. You can come for the drama and stay for the cheeky hip-hop sequence over the closing credits.” Peter Bradshaw
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Pick of the rest
Honey Don’t!
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Ethan Coen returns with another amusing, throwaway queer comedy starring Margaret Qualley as a horny private eye in an easy-going noir.
What our reviewer said “It’s hard to stay mad at a movie for refusing to add things up, or resolve its mysteries in any traditionally satisfying ways, when getting lost with Qualley can be such a pleasure. Besides, following narrative threads through to the finish is just playing it too straight.” Radheyan Simonpillai
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On Swift Horses
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones simmer in a glossy drama of sex and identity that searches for meaning beyond the picket fence.
What our reviewer said “The intention, boosted here by longtime Todd Haynes producer Christine Vachon, is to flag that this moment in American life wasn’t entirely as staid as we’ve been led to believe, that identities were shifting beneath the placid surface of postwar reconstruction.” Mike McCahill
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Jumanji
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence rerelease of startling 1995 fantasy adventure with Robin Williams in winning form in bizarre Kiplingesque fantasy that still holds up.
What our reviewer said “Williams’s wild-man routine is only in evidence in his opening scenes; otherwise he dials it down, perhaps sensing that the way to upstage the loony creatures is to be relatively rational. There is something touchingly innocent in his performance.” Peter Bradshaw
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Now Streaming …
Highest 2 Lowest
Apple TV+; available now
Summed up in a sentence Spike Lee retools Akira Kurosawa’s downbeat noir High and Low, with Denzel Washington on fine form as a record producer whose godson is kidnapped by mistake.
What our reviewer said “This is a big, muscular picture which aspires to the crowd-pleasing athleticism of Spike Lee’s sports icons; it’s very enjoyable and there’s a great turn from Washington.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest rages against the new but leaves him looking too old
Music
If you only listen to one, make it …
Big Thief: Double Infinity
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Classic melodies, spring water acoustics and pared-back poeticism about living in the moment.
What our reviewer said “If anyone can restore your faith in human connection, it’s US folk-rockers Big Thief. Adrianne Lenker’s poetic but unadorned lyrics are a field guide to living well.” Ben Beaumont-Thomas
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Pick of the rest
David Byrne: Who is the Sky?
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The Talking Heads frontman remains sunny – almost to a fault.
What our reviewer said “More primary-coloured musical optimism, employing Mariachi-style brass, sweeping 40s-Hollywood-musical strings, rhythms that join the dots between Cuban clave and George Michael’s Faith and an off-kilter, vocoder-bedecked take on sumptuous soul.” Alexis Petridis
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Sacred Lodge: Ambam
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Matthieu Ruben N’Dongo amps up the intensity on a second album that makes an uncanny atmosphere out of swarming electronics and polyrhythmic percussion.
What our reviewer said “Both dense and disorientating, Ambam may well be too overwhelming for some listeners. But the more you listen, the more you get sucked into the thrill of N’Dongo’s unapologetic resistance music.” Safi Bugel
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Nielsen: Clarinet Concerto; Helios; Symphony No 5
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The teeming textures of Nielsen’s 5th symphony are controlled with care and refinement by Edward Gardner, with the Bergen Philharmonic.
What our reviewer said “Both works, as well as the early Helios Overture, receive outstanding performances from the Bergen players, and Gardner controls the teeming textures of the symphony with great refinement.” Andrew Clements
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Live
Gorillaz
Copper Box arena, London
Summed up in a sentence Dressed like a vicar, Albarn leads his band – joined by a choir, a string quartet, De La Soul and more – in renewing Demon Days’ downbeat drama.
What our reviewer said “The show opens with a wartorn newsreel montage and sporadically drenches the crowd in hell-red light. For obvious reasons, the album’s haunting protest against humanity’s appetite for destruction – of people and planet alike – sounds no less apt tonight. Demon days are here again.” Dorian Lynskey
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