Screen: June TV Roundup

There have been some outstanding television programmes over the past couple of months, including a few that are likely to dominate the awards discussion over the next year. Yes, they were amid my nominations for this year's Dorian Awards (Golden Globes voting uses a different calendar). in this roundup, I'll start here with three new shows, then three final seasons and finally four returnees...

Half Man
From Baby Reindeer writer Richard Gadd, this is a staggeringly bold drama about the push and pull between two stepbrothers from Glasgow. Niall and Ruben are expertly played by Jamie Bell and Gadd himself, with star-making turns by Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell as teens. But it's the unflinching nature of the writing that makes this show essential, taking a riveting look through at connection, masculinity and identity with mind-bogglingly layered situations. It's violent and harsh, but there's a real sense of affection woven into the badly strained nastiness. And this is a rare case in which editing the story out of sequence actually adds a proper kick, forcing us to pay attention. (BBC)

Big Mistakes
Created by Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott, this bonkers crime comedy centres around Levy's Pastor Nicky and his agent-of-chaos sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega), who gets them entangled with a mobster (Mark Ivanir). As things escalate, the plot feels increasingly silly, but it remains watchable simply because the cast is so strong. The ace card here is Laurie Metcalf as the siblings' mother, so self-absorbed with running for mayor that she hasn't a clue what's going on with them. The story has a freewheeling structure that easily carries us along through eight half-hour episodes. And these people are just about the right kind of ridiculous to make us want to see more of them. (Netflix)

Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Bold and full of intensely outrageous moments, this comedy centres around a family that has serious impulse control issues, but the deep and very messy love they have for each other is riveting to watch. Powerhouse performances bring these people to life, including Elle Fanning in the title role as a single mother who finds an inventive way to make ends meet, Michelle Pfeiffer as her spiky mother and Nick Offerman as her ex-wrestler, ex-addict dad. Plus extraordinary turns from Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Kinnear, Michael Angarano and especially Nicole Kidman. There's nothing simple about this show, but it's funny and bracingly honest about things most television programmes are terrified to touch. (Apple)

T H I S   I S   T H E   E N D

Hacks: series 5
With a steady stream of starry cameos, this comedy charges confidently through to its big finale with another series of episodes that mix snappy humour, entitled attitudes and warm emotion. Of course the entire show has been about the relationship between jaded veteran standup comic Deborah (the great Jean Smart) and her cynical young writing partner Ava (Hannah Einbinder), so it's nice that the storylines honed in on their interaction. Meanwhile, there was plenty of nuttiness from their agents (Paul Downs and Megan Stalter) and a flurry of side characters from throughout the seasons. It's so much fun we don't mind too much that the various plotlines all feel rather undercooked. (HBO)

Euphoria: series 3
Jumping ahead a few years, this season shifts from a teens-messing-around-with-drugs drama into intense crime thriller with young people trying to survive against very steep odds. Anchored around the seriously gifted Zendaya, who gives Rue a wonderfully textured soul, the show feels like it is pinging from one tragedy to the next, and it becomes clear that no one is going to escape writer-director Sam Levinson unscathed. Plot turns are astonishingly harsh, the violence is darkly haunting and the seediness is sometimes overpowering. But the actors are all on fire, especially Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Colman Domingo, Maude Apatow, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Alexa Demie (HBO) 

The Boys: series 5
Barging into its full-on final season, this raucously violent show sets up that long-anticipated final confrontation between Karl Urban's scabrous antihero Billy and Antony Star's supervillain Homelander. The true protagonist Hughie (Jack Quaid) also gets a personal arc with conflicted goodie Starlight (Erin Moriarty). And side characters have their own kicks, including favourites Frenchie and Kimiko (Tomer Capone and Karen Fukuhara), plus Jensen Ackles and Cameron Crovetti as Homelander's father and son, respectively. It's all as deliberately ugly and abrasive as always. Even with various requisite over-grisly endings, this is an astute, timely look at the true nature of power and heroism. (Prime)

B A C K   F O R   M O R E

The Four Seasons: series 2
Breezing through another eight episodes, this outrageously watchable show catches up with three couples over another year of joint holidays. This is pure joy distilled into a TV series. The dynamics both within and between the couples have shifted, largely due to Ginny's (Erika Henningsen) impending motherhood and Anne's (Kerri Kenney) lingering bitterness. And both Kate/Jack (Tina Fey/Will Forte) and Danny/Claude (Colman Domingo/Marco Calvani) have their own relationship issues. The first-rate cast excels at this engaging, fresh mix of comedy and drama. Notable flourishes include a flashback episode with Steve Carell, plus a trip to Italy that beautifully redefines Claude. (Netflix)

The Comeback: series 3
Lisa Kudrow's inventive comedy returns, following on from its 2005 and 2015 runs. It's also tackling another bracingly current industry issue, while catching up on the next chapter in the life of Kudrow's astonishingly nuanced alter-ego Valerie Cherish. This time, her manager (Dan Bucatinsky) lands her the lead role in a sitcom that's written by AI, creating mixed emotions: the cast and crew have jobs, but writers don't. Using dry humour, the topical discussion is cleverly woven into the fabric of the show, so it's more provocative and less flashy than, say, The Studio. And the ensemble is simply wonderful, in both new and returning roles. Andrew Scott is particularly strong as a slippery studio head. (HBO)

Scrubs: series 10
The hospital sitcom is back, after its nine-season run from 2001 to 2010, with its distinctive mix of fast-talking wit and heartwarming sentiment. Returning cast members Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison and Judy Reyes are joined by Joel Kim Booster as a nemesis doctor and most enjoyably Vanessa Bayer as a hapless HR officer. And it works well because it shifts the leading characters from rookies into the veterans, now in charge of a new group of ridiculous but of course brilliant interns. What makes this entertaining is the lively writing, with rapid-fire banter, extended sight gags and rather a lot of very silly jokes that poke fun at things like masculinity and political correctness. (ABC)

Alpha Males [Machos Alfa]: series 5
Increasingly tangled in knots, this Spanish comedy continues to put its characters through the wringer as they attempt to grapple with the interplay between gender and society. At this point, the four men are on their own, planning a patriarchal commune away from women. But of course they are quietly breaking their own rules. Meanwhile, their exes are having their own journey, trying to build strong female lives while also continually blurring the lines. The actors are a bit more grounded this time around, which makes the rapid-fire storytelling feel marginally less inane. But the way it pings around between the various story threads is still rather exhausting. (Netflix)

GUILTY PLEASURES: Britain's Got Talent, The Traitors US, Race Across the World, Drag Race (UK vs the World 3, All Stars 11).

NOW WATCHING: Spider-Noir, Good Omens 3, Man on Fire, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Widow's Bay.

COMING SOON: The Bear 5, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 4, Sugar 2, The Vampire Lestat, Zorro, Heartstopper Forever.

Previous roundup: APRIL 2026 > 

On the road: Take the plunge

Being away for the holidays, I've prioritised hanging out with family and friends over work - so I'm a bit behind with everything apart from food! But I've managed to watch a few films here and there. Just out in cinemas here in the US, The Plague stars Joel Edgerton as a boys' water polo coach who seems either unable or unwilling to tackle the horrific bullying on the team. It's strikingly well made, with a terrific central performance by young Everett Blunck. 

The gentle drama Rebuilding features yet another excellent role for Josh O'Connor as a Colorado rancher trying to start over after a wildfire. It's quietly powerful. Ron Howard's Eden tells the true story of Europeans trying to find paradise in the Galápagos in the 1930s, with a cast that includes Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Ana de Armas. The cast makes it watchable even when it gets rather soapy. The documentary The Perfect Neighbor is assembled from body-cam footage as Florida cops teal with a messy situation that escalates until someone dies. It's hard to watch, but important. I also caught up with a few pulpy movies from recent years, including the cat-and-mouse thriller Carry-On in which Jason Bateman terrorises security agent Taron Egerton in Los Angeles airport. It's seriously stupid, but fun. Mel Gibson plays an action-oriented Santa in Fatman, an uneven mix of comedy and violence that never comes together. Walton Goggins is seriously intense as the baddie; Marianne Jean-Baptiste (yes, really) shines as Mrs Claus.

Over this next week, I'll be watching a few more contenders before ballots are due in various awards. I'm also flying back to London, so will no doubt catch up with some gems (!) on the flights. Before that, I will be finalising year-end lists of my best and worst from 2025 - watch this space...

Critical Week: She's behind you!

This past week has been a flurry of awards voting deadlines, watching both contender and holiday releases. Then after several critics' groups started announcing their year-end winners, the Golden Globe nominations came out on Monday, and awards season is now in high gear until Oscar night in March. Among the eclectic group of movies I watched this week, perhaps the most fun was had with The Housemaid, Paul Feig's latest female-led blackly comical thriller, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. It's twisty, nasty and entertaining.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Goodbye June • Lurker
The President's Cake
Baby • Scarlet
ALL REVIEWS >

And then there was Nia DaCosta's sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, picking up the story from Danny Boyle's movie last summer, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell. It's brutally nasty, with intriguingly thoughtful moments along the way. Rose Byrne gives a tour fe force performance in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a staggeringly immersive drama abotu a woman grappling with motherhood. H Is for Hawk stars the excellent Claire Foy as a woman dealing with grief by raising a feisty goshawk. It's warm, earthy and very moving. From Japan, Kokuho is a lavish, powerfully involving epic about a boy determined to become a great kabuki artist. The scale is both enormous and vividly intimate. Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play frazzled parents in Hallow Road, almost entirely set inside their car. The plot doesn't quite work, but it's riveting. I also finally caught up the wonderfully warm and funny comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island, a ridiculously likeable music-infused British movie starring Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan. And there were two live performances, The Fit Prince at King's Head Theatre and Boys in the Buff (ooh err!) at Golden Goose Theatre, all before flying out to see my family in California for the holidays. 

Coming up this next week, I don't really know what I'll be watching, as I'm spending time with my parents and family members. I'll no doubt see something on the flight! And at some point I do still need to watch The Plague with Joel Edgerton, Rebuilding with Josh O'Connor and, now that it has a Golden Globe nomination, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

Critical Week: Take a break

Tube strikes have paralysed London this week, so the only films I've seen are those I could watch on links at home. I braved the bus one day to get to the theatre, a grisly journey involving flustered crowds, pouring rain and nightmarish traffic. But there were plenty of movies to watch. Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor star in the understated romantic drama The History of Sound, which requires patience but has a lot to say. Denzel Washington reteams with Spike Lee for Highest 2 Lowest, a provocative thriller with a moral dilemma at its heart, reimagined from a Kurosawa classic.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Islands • Spinal Tap II
The History of Sound • Dreams
ALL REVIEWS >

Screening at Toronto Film Festival, Christy is a biopic about boxing champion Christy Martin. It's the usual story, but Sydney Sweeney is excellent in the title role. Michael Chiklis goes back to college in The Senior, based on the relentlessly inspirational true story of a 59-year-old who returns to play college football. The superb Adam Bessa stars in Ghost Trail, a complex, powerfully moving story about Syrian refugees in Europe. And the Hong Kong remake of Richard Linklater's 2001 drama Tape is seriously riveting exploration of perspective and memory.

I also attended the stage show Murmuration: Level 2, a mesmerising mix of music and movement. And I published my September TV Roundup featuring Chief of War, Wednesday, Smoke and much more.

Films screening this coming week include Harris Dickinson's Urchin, Marion Cotillard in The Ice Tower, Cillian Murphy in Steve, Mike Figgis' making-of documentary Megadoc and three festival favourites: The Love That Remains from Iceland, Two Prosecutors from Ukraine and Romeria from Spain.

Critical Week: Into the sea

While the Cannes Film Festival continues in the South of France until this weekend, I've been keeping busy here in London with an eclectic collection of screenings. Most unusual was the Chinese animated adventure Deep Sea, which is dazzling to look at even if the story feels a bit busy. It's definitely worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Hit Man • Solo
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
In Flames • Kidnapped
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Garfield Movie
ALL REVIEWS >

Last Friday I attended the UK premiere of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, attended by the cast and crew. Anya Taylor-Joy is terrific in the steely title role, and the film boasts terrific action sequences even if it feels a bit thin. Jennifer Lopez stars in the sci-fi thriller Atlas, which is fairly simple but enjoyably packed with very cool tech. Greg Kinnear stars in two movies I watched this week: alongside Isla Fisher in the silly but cute family fantasy comedy The Present and opposite Terry Chen in the inspirational and relentlessly preachy fact-based drama Sight. And from Canada, the drama Solo is a gorgeously observed character study set in the drag scene. 

After seeing Hit Man last week, I thought I should perhaps catch up with Glen Powell's last hit, the romcom Anyone But You, which is deeply goofy but also sunny, charming and sometimes even a bit sexy. On stage, I also watched the superbly provocative musical comedy drama Piece of Me at Camden People's Theatre.

This coming week I'll be watching Jessica Lange in The Great Lillian Hall, Anthony Hopkins in Freud's Last Session, Richard Armitage in The Boy in the Woods, Francois Ozon's The Crime Is Mine, Palestinian drama A House in Jerusalem and the doc The Pilgrimage of Gilbert & George. 

BFI Flare: Be yourself tonight

One of my favourite festivals each year, the 38th edition of the British Film Institute's Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival kicked off last night with the European premiere of Layla. Over the next 10 days, BFI Southbank is transformed into a lively space with a range of events, club nights and conversations alongside screenings of some of the most diverse movies on earth. Many of these films are impossible to see anywhere else, so I always look forward to discoveries. And it's also fun to reconnect with the gang of "Flare Friends" who gather annually to celebrate this important aspect of the industry. Here's the first collection of highlights, with my usual Critical Week report down below...

Layla
dir-scr Amrou Al-Kadhi; with Bilal Hasna, Louis Greatorex 24/UK ****
With wonderfully loose authenticity, this breezy British drama hones in on the often contradictory nature of being human. Writer-director Amrou Al-Kadhi refreshingly resists creating characters who are easy to pigeon-hole, and the situations don't resolve themselves in the tidy ways we have grown to expect on-screen. Instead, the film has some strong things to say about how our self-image is a key factor in our work and relationships. And even more importantly, it's a relentlessly charming movie.

The Summer With Carmen
dir Zacharias Mavroeidis; with Yorgos Tsiantoulas, Andreas Labropoulos 23/Gr ****
An astutely written and directed meta comedy about the nature of filmmaking, this Greek film playfully pokes fun at both itself and low-budget queer movies. Multiple layers of narrative feed together inventively to explore family relationships, friendships, romance, lust and even pet ownership for a group of 30-something guys. And as it knowingly grapples with issues of loyalty and masculinity, the film is warm, funny and very sexy... FULL REVIEW >

Silver Haze
dir-scr Sacha Polak; with Vicky Knight, Esme Creed-Miles 23/UK **.
Beautifully shot like an artful fly-on-the-wall doc and played with remarkable authenticity by a fresh cast, this film is watchable as an observant slice of life. Writer-director Sacha Polak captures the rhythms of British working class situations with plenty of energy, although the plot is so slim that this could have been an effective 20-minute short. There's also a problem with the naturalistic dialog, which is difficult to hear... FULL REVIEW >

Calls From Moscow
dir Luis Alejandro Yero; with Dariel Diaz, Daryl Acuna 23/Cub ****
Shot fly-on-the-wall style, this sharply well-made film follows the lives of four young Cuban men who are living in limbo in wintry Moscow. They have travelled there with hopes of bettering life for themselves and their families back home by hopefully moving into the European Union. But they're stuck here without documents, and being queer in Russia isn't easy. Filmmaker Luis Alejandro Yero takes an unusually artful approach, revealing inner feelings  through overheard conversations, music and silence.

Chasing Chasing Amy
dir Sav Rodgers; with Sav Rodgers, Kevin Smith 23/US ***.
Kevin Smith's 1997 comedy Chasing Amy stars Ben Affleck as a comic writer who falls in love with a lesbian played by Joey Lauren Adams. It's been considered problematic for its gender politics, but filmmaker Sav Rodgers found it inspiring because of its honest depiction of openly queer people. So he made this documentary both to say thank you and to understand why the movie generated so much controversy... FULL REVIEW >

Full reviews will be linked on Shadows' BFI FLARE PAGE >

For festival information, BFI FLARE >

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C R I T I C A L  W E E K

Outside the festival, I also watched Sydney Sweeney as a nun in the delightfully gruesome and camp horror thriller Immaculate; Bill Skarsgard in the mayhem-packed hyperviolent action comedy Boy Kills World; Cate Blanchett as a nun in the gorgeous, powerfully involving Aussie drama The New Boy; Caleb Landry Jones in Luc Besson's enjoyably bonkers but somewhat empty thriller Dogman; Emile Hirsch in the rather messy a psychological thriller State of Consciousness; and the complex, delightful queer romance Glitter & Doom. Live on-stage, there was the gifted New York City Ballet at Sadler's Wells, pointed drama Blue at Seven Dials Playhouse, and Company Wayne McGregor's fascinating Autobiography at Sadler's Wells.

Coming up this week are the blockbuster sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Australian drama Limbo, Irish drama Baltimore. On stage at Sadler's Wells, there's UniVerse, a second Wayne McGregor show, as well as the medieval re-enactment performance Assembly Hall.

Critical Week: Too cool

The weather in London has been diabolical this week, more wintry than spring-like with grey skies, rainshowers and weather that's oddly cold for this time of year. So not too bad for moviewatching. I enjoyed Ben Affleck's new film Air a lot more than expected, but then I wasn't expecting much for a movie about trainers. It's a sharply well-written drama about Nike's creation of the Air Jordan brand, and has terrific performances from Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis and more. And the new adaptation of the roleplaying fantasy game, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, was also a pleasant surprise: a rare blockbuster that's colourful, funny and thoroughly engaging. Thankfully it takes its cues more from The Princess Bride than Marvel or DC. I wrote reviews of it for three different outlets.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Chrissy Judy • Summoning Sylvia
Dungeons & Dragons
ALL REVIEWS >

Further afield, Summoning Sylvia is a riotously silly horror comedy about a group of camp friends in a haunted house, but it has serious undertones that give it unexpected weight. Missing is a well-made thriller told through computer screens (it spins off from Searching), gripping even if the story holds no water at all. A verbatim adaptation of a recording, Reality is the riveting re-enactment of the arrest of a whistleblower, starring a superb Sydney Sweeney. Cairo Conspiracy is a strikingly involving mystery about government interference in religious leadership in Egypt. Of course, exiled filmmaker Tarik Saleh had to shoot it in Turkey and Sweden. And the lightly futuristic Japanese drama Plan 75 is a thoughtful meditation on mortality that's not particularly easy to watch, understandably. 

This coming week is mercifully slow after the past few months. I'll be watching Taron Egerton in Tetris, the Norwegian black comedy Sick of Myself, the Moroccan drama El Houb, the addiction doc Blue Bag Life, and the biographical doc Little Richard: I Am Everything. I also have a theatre show and museum exhibition to check out (reviews here soon).

Critical Week: Fairy dust

London finally enjoyed a late-summer heatwave this past week - not baking hot, but sunny skies and warm weather lured what looked like everyone out into the city. That'll likely have a knock-on effect on cinema box office if it continues through this weekend. Otherwise, things have been a bit quite for critics, as the Venice Film Festival continues and Toronto Film Festival kicks off. The programme for October's 65th London Film Festival was launched this week, and there are several bit titles from Venice, Toronto and Cannes in there. Meanwhile, here in London I caught up with two high-profile Amazon releases: Camila Cabello makes a strong acting debut in Cinderella, a musical comedy that's silly but entertaining. And Justice Smith gives a welcome grown-up performance in The Voyeurs, which starts as a Hitchcockian thriller but contrives itself into something unnervingly bleak.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Servant • Respect • Boy Meets Boy
The Collini Case • The Capote Tapes
ALL REVIEWS >

Smaller films includes Small Engine Repair, John Pollono's adaptation of his own play about three men on a mystery mission that swerves from edgy comedy to pitch-black thriller; Dating & New York is a twinkly romantic comedy about millennials trying not to fall in love (no surprise what happens); Iceland Is Best is a quirky and strangely muted British-made, Iceland-set comedy about teens with dreams; Death Drop Gorgeous is a messy but rather hilariously grisly slasher comedy set in a drag club; and The Collini Case is an excellent German courtroom drama that uses a fictional story to explore a shockingly true situation.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching the filmed stage musical Come From Away, British drama A Brixton Tale, British comedy Pirates, horror thriller The Djinn, social media satire The Influencer, Norwegian comedy Ninjababy, Second World War drama Natural Light and Bruce LaBruce's Saint-Narcisse.