From Youth to Heart of the Beast: the week in rave reviews
Summed up in a sentence Sharon Horgan is back with a hilarious, painfully realistic series about life in your 50s – and it’s some of her best work ever.
What our reviewer said “Horgan dwells in the truth always, and there is nothing more bitterly funny or compelling than that.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘I didn’t know if I’d ever have sex again’: inside Sharon Horgan’s excruciating post-divorce comedy
Pick of the rest
The Great British Bake Off
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence Nigella Lawson joins the judging panel of one of TV’s most treasured culinary shows – and gives it a much-needed shot of life.
What our reviewer said “I pronounce the good ship Bake Off fully seaworthy. Long may she sail with Nigella and crew at the helm.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘Eating is my superpower’: Nigella turns up the heat on Bake Off
The Split Up
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence A delightfully soapy spin-off of BBC divorce drama The Split – set in Manchester and starring Sanjeev Bhaskar.
What our reviewer said “The Split Up delivers full-on sudsy fun from the start.” Lucy Mangan
The Wargame
Now; available now
Summed up in a sentence An enjoyably terrifying exercise in which an imminent nuclear strike on the UK by Russia is played out, by a cabinet of real-life ex-politicians including Nicola Sturgeon, Harriet Harman and Michael Gove as PM.
What our reviewer said “Gove, Harman and Sturgeon are fabulously awful.” Lucy Mangan
You may have missed …
Furious
Disney+; available now
Summed up in a sentence An enormously entertaining crime drama about a female serial killer powered by its female characters’ unfaltering current of rage.
What our reviewer said “Television for grownups, television to pay attention to and to entertain you enormously.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Furious: this serial killer thriller is the most staggeringly feminist TV you’ll ever watch
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Her Private Hell
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Shapeshifting fantasia from Nicolas Winding Refn that moves through time and space, from doomy reality to strange dream worlds populated by quasi-Lynchian characters.
What our reviewer said “Her Private Hell resists interpretation, like so many of Refn’s recent films, but executes a slow dervish swirl of hypnotic strangeness.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘I thank God for killing me and bringing me back’: Nicolas Winding Refn on the heart surgery that inspired his new sci-fi horror
Pick of the rest
Hope
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A melee of running, chasing and shouting at angry alien invaders from Korean director Na Hong-jin mixes digital work with old-school spectacle to create top-quality entertainment.
What our reviewer said “The movie ingeniously reveals that monsters have feelings too, and the local people’s desensitised aggression towards this existential outsider may have caused all the problems in the first place.” Peter Bradshaw
Remake
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Sherman’s March director Ross McElwee revisits footage of his late son for a magnificent and moving tribute to a tragic loss and the art it inspired.
What our reviewer said “Remake is all at once about creativity, shame, love and loss, revelling in the way film can capture a moment of truth and honesty, but tempered by the knowledge that once a subject knows they’re being filmed everything becomes a kind of performance.” Leslie Felperin
Sense and Sensibility
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Sober-minded next-gen do-over of the Austen romcom, with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters in a fresh take quite different from the 1995 version.
What our reviewer said “This turns out to be a more downbeat, ruminative version, happening in much cloudier weather than 30 years ago and without the sugar-rush final wedding scene.” Peter Bradshaw
Heart of the Beast
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Brad Pitt and loyal hound Odin get stuck in remote Alaska in this serviceable adventure with hints of Jack London and Marley & Me.
What our reviewer said “It’s an entertaining anthro-canine-mance, with man and dog relating to each other on a deep level … kind of like Owen Wilson in Marley & Me, only without Jennifer Aniston, or Bernie Winters and Schnorbitz, only without the devastating melancholy.” Peter Bradshaw
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Britain’s Slave Traders by William A Pettigrew
Reviewed by Joe Moran
Summed up in a sentence A historian’s meticulous account of just how intertwined British society is with slavery.
What our reviewer said “Slave gain – Britain’s gigantic profiting from the trade – funded the physical structures, from docks to canals, that helped make the country a global force.”
Pick of the rest
Doom Painting by AK Blakemore
Reviewed by Sandra Newman
Summed up in a sentence A dazzlingly ambitious, linguistically rich retelling of England’s 1381 Peasants’ Revolt.
What our reviewer said “It’s a beast and a challenge; in its quirkiness and intensity, it couldn’t be more interesting.”
Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel
Reviewed by Nina Allan
Summed up in a sentence Two possible future USAs – one chaotic, one totalitarian – are linked through the story of a woman searching for the truth.
What our reviewer said “Is the price of stability necessarily the loss of freedom? The question plays out daily in our political reality.”
The Recovery House by Derek Owusu
Reviewed by Emma Loffhagen
Summed up in a sentence A young writer seeks to recover from an emotional crisis.
What our reviewer said “This is a uniquely honest and affecting meditation on art, religion and mental health, told with a preternatural tenderness.”
The American Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell
Reviewed by Gary Younge
Summed up in a sentence The author of Blink attempts to explain US gun culture.
What our reviewer said “By avoiding any serious analysis of systemic and structural inequalities – particularly in terms of race and class – he fails to engage with who gets murdered by guns and why.”
You may have missed …
The Disappearers by Marlon James
Reviewed by Yagnishsing Dawoor
Summed up in a sentence Shortlisted for the Booker, this 600-page epic explores gay life and murderous homophobia in Aids-era Kingston.
What our reviewer said “His prose is a consistent triumph: bitter and hilarious, lyrical, bawdy, pugnacious and scorchingly, ravishingly queer.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Gilla Band: Pugnello
Rough Trade; out now
Summed up in a sentence Your favourite band’s favourite band unleash a thrilling and relentless 42 minutes of monstrous noise whose precise instrumental source always remains discomfitingly unclear.
What our reviewer said “Pugnello is the dictionary definition of ‘not for everyone’, although, like a lot of extreme music, it feels fitting in the context of 2026. You could view it as a suitably anxious, unpredictable soundtrack to anxious, unpredictable times; you might equally find it exhilaratingly cathartic.” Alexis Petridis
Further reading ‘We’ve got to release the dead hand of the past’: how Ireland created the world’s best alternative music scene
Pick of the rest
Jae Stephens: Audacity
Def Jam; out now
Summed up in a sentence After five EPs in seven years, the Dallas native with the big voice pours everything into this wild cauldron of maximalist R&B and hyperactive pop.
What our reviewer said “The whole record is bonkers and, for once in pop, makes good on its title. It’s the sound of an artist finally getting her shot, and refusing to squander it.” Shaad D’Souza
Julia Jacklin: The Gem
4AD/Remote Control Records; out now
Summed up in a sentence The Australian musician’s fourth album blends mystery and intimacy with luscious pop-rock, bright, upbeat jangle and stripped-back acoustics.
What our reviewer said “Blending mystery and intimacy, The Gem offers a window into the contradictions and confusions of Jacklin’s smart, sensitive mind. It’s an apt visualisation of Jacklin’s genius duality, continuing her trajectory as one of Australia’s finest contemporary songwriters.” Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Further reading Julia Jacklin finds the light: ‘I’ve wasted a lot of energy in my life trying to be cool’
Himari: Debut
Decca; out now
Summed up in a sentence The programme feels a little safe but the 15-year-old Japanese violinist impresses in her debut recording of works by Wieniawski, Chopin, Godowsky and Sibelius.
What our reviewer said “What is immediately apparent is the technical security of her playing, combined with an easy lyricism across the instrument’s full range. The playing exhibits depth and feeling, ably supported by pianist Chelsea Wang.” Clive Paget
On tour …
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at 80
Royal Albert Hall, London; touring now
Summed up in a sentence This birthday celebration champions bold creativity as Julia Fischer, Pablo Ferrández and Jan Lisiecki bring poetry and virtuosity to Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.
What our reviewer said “The strength of this performance, however, lay in its sense of vision and musical cohesion. The rip-roaring orchestral battle, with laser-focused offstage brass and the final retreat from the world with its soulful strings, saw Petrenko and the RPO emerge as the real heroes of the night.” Clive Paget
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