FILM P Back to Black ★★★ 15 10.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer It took a while before Marisa Abela felt ready to accept the role of Amy Winehouse in this 2024 biopic. You can understand the hesitation. It’s almost 15 years since Winehouse died, but the legendary singer-songwriter still has a massive and dedicated fanbase ready to pounce on perceived misrepresentations. But if anyone could rise to the challenge it would have to be Abela, one of the UK’s brightest young talents, as she showed in the hit BBC series Industry. Abela went into “full boot-camp mode”, as she put it, to study the role, learning guitar and singing in her own voice, to “tell [Amy’s] emotional story through the songs”. Abela recalls singing live in front of…

FILM P Operation Mincemeat ★★★★ 12 9.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen bring a wealth of period drama talent to this polished 2022 movie by director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). It depicts the fanciful but amazing real-life wartime plan to fool the Germans about the proposed site of an Allied attack in 1943, which sent them to defend Sardinia, when the landings were made in Sicily.Previously filmed more prosaically as The Man Who Never Was in 1955, the story sees Firth and Macfadyen working together to prepare a back story and false papers to be left on a dead body, helped by assistant Kelly Macdonald, who becomes a romantic focus for both men. Although they had not met previously, the two men had both…

CORONATION STREET EMMERDALE For the Corrie characters, the stakes are already high. As Debbie and Ronnie’s wedding wraps up, Todd’s planning to leave Theo, con man Carl is escaping to Germany, and Becky, Lisa and Betsy are heading to Spain. But their best-laid plans are about to come catastrophically undone… As weeks of detective work come together, Kit deduces Becky is driving to the port in Hull with Lisa and Betsy – and he also rescues Carla (above)! But as the panicked pair pursue the trio, Carla’s phone call to her true love changes everything when Becky loses control of the car (right), triggering the accident… ‘Within a split second, it’s catastrophic,’ says Vicky Myers, AKA Lisa. ‘The moment Carla hears that crash, everything else disappears,’ adds Alison King, who plays…

DRAMA Beyond Paradise 8.00pm BBC1 Catch up via iPlayer Criticism of Beyond Paradise seems almost petty, as no matter what negative observation is made, the reply will always be, “Yes, but it gets eight million viewers, so who are you to carp?” Fair point. But, in my humble opinion, series one could have done with a few more dead bodies. I’m sorry, but where there’s mystery, there ought to be murder. If Vera climbs out of her Land Rover, it’s to examine a corpse on some windswept stretch of coastline. If Sunny from Unforgotten steps into a suburban home, he should be met by the sight of a skeleton behind some recently exposed brickwork. But thankfully (and yes, this does sound inhuman to say), there is a juicy homicide for…

FILM Oasis: Supersonic ★★★★ 15 10.00pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming A lot of music bios spend too long covering the artist’s post-peak years; the overhyped comebacks and disappointing later albums. Supersonic feels no such obligation. Instead, this version of the Oasis story ends at the apex of their career — the 1996 gig at Knebworth. “It did feel like the end of something, rather than the beginning,” says Noel Gallagher. While some reviewers criticised the omission of certain events, in reality it’s this film’s sharp focus that provides its cutting edge. Do fans really need to hear more about cringey “Cool Britannia” or the Battle of Britpop with Blur? The emphasis here is on the finer details: from Noel’s array of haircuts while working as a roadie, to beefing up…

1 Wintoys www.snipca.com/55189 Wintoys was by far your most-downloaded tool of 2025, rising from 12th place in 2024. This brilliant system-optimisation app (it’s only available from the Microsoft Store) was updated throughout the year and made frequent appearances in our Best Free Software section. However, it was Wintoys’ inclusion in our ‘Best free software you’ll master in minutes’ Cover Feature in Issue 713 (pictured above) that attracted the majority of your clicks. Here we praised the app’s simple but feature-packed design, which saves you installing several separate PC-cleanup programs. Wintoys’ Cleanup options delete junk files, browser caches, old Windows updates and system-restore points, and its ‘Fast startup’ setting can speed up your boot time by 50 per cent. We particularly like its Tweaks tab (see screenshot below left), which lets…

DRAMA Casualty 9.10pm BBC1 Catch up via iPlayer Life can move swiftly and cruelly, as Dylan is discovering, having now been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence. He ought not to be being questioned but Dylan, who has in the past been the subject of speculation as to whether he’s autistic, can find it difficult to paint his actions in the best light. And despite the public at large arguably being more psychiatrically literate than ever before, the police here appear to find it difficult to comprehend Dylan’s bluntness. Dylan is understandably eager to get a call through to a pregnant Sophia, who has a medical abortion scheduled for the following morning. But, frustratingly, the priorities of the investigating officers do not match his. The resulting fallout also ends…

DOCUMENTARY Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens 8.00pm BBC2 Catch up via iPlayer NEW SERIES Traditionally, Spanish gardens have Islamic influences, following the pattern of a courtyard using symmetry and a water feature to make it a tranquil oasis away from the extreme heat of the outside world. However, Monty Don, resplendent in battered panama hat and linen jacket, is surprised in this first episode of a three-part series by the variety of gardens — whether public or private, formal or relaxed — that he visits in central Spain. They’re all uplifting and inspiring. Capital city Madrid’s majestic railway station, for instance, contains an enormous exotic garden, while a school, housed in a very modern building, has gardens within so they’re “included in the warp and weft of the curriculum”. Almost as radical is…

DRAMA Grantchester 9.00pm ITV1 Full series available on ITVX Due to its improbably high turnover of vicars who’ve all had a sideline in sleuthing, it’s been easy to make jokes at the expense of Grantchester over the years. But as a new series (its penultimate, sob) gets under way, it feels apt to note its subtler aspects. This first episode, for instance (there’s another at 9.00pm tomorrow), opens on a scene of Easter celebration in the parish, where home-made bonnets are being judged while eggs are raced upon spoons. But beneath the surface cheer is a degree of melancholy, with Alphy (Rishi Nair) clearly lonely despite a string of first dates, and Leonard (Al Weaver) obviously worried that partner Daniel (Oliver Dimsdale) will be exposing himself to trauma should he try to…

DRAMA Lynley 8.30pm BBC One Full series available on iPlayer NEW SERIES When the BBC axed NEW The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, it said it wanted to “move on”. But nearly two decades later, we find that it’s come full circle, hence this reboot starring Leo Suter as the aristocratic detective and Sofia Barclay as his working-class sidekick, DS Barbara Havers. Aside from that recasting, it’s pretty much business as usual, with Lynley still someone who’s concerned more with justice than he is with his title, while the tenacious Havers remains ever alert to the ways a suspect with wealth or privilege can use power to protect themselves. As such, theirs is an unusual partnership, though their first case feels highly conventional, dealing as it does with a suspicious death in…

FILM P The Old Oak 11.00pm BBC Two Catch up via iPlayer Ken Loach’s latest drama, released in 2023, feels like a career summary for one of Britain’s major directors. The end of a trilogy focusing on the effects of austerity economics in the north-east of England, it follows an ailing boozer in an old coal town. Landlord TJ (Dave Turner) and Syrian refugee Yara (Ebla Mari) are at the centre of a story that begins with a group of migrants moving into the community and expands into something incisive and hopeful. The Old Oak also marks the likely conclusion to Loach’s three-decade collaboration with screenwriter Paul Laverty, though according to Loach the duo continue to chat over the phone most days, even batting around new film ideas. The director…

As someone who is essentially perfect, I’m lucky enough not to need my own New Year’s resolutions. This is excellent news for the world, because it means I can dedicate all my efforts and focus to creating world-bettering resolutions for others instead. You’re welcome. Your first New Year’s resolution, dear tech manufacturers, is to sort out the Deals Deals Deals method of retailing. Only six left! Selling fast! Discounted from £999 to £849, don’t miss out! How I long for honest pricing, where you could trust that the figure you saw was fair and you weren’t forced to hunt for discount codes and historic pricing to see if you’re being conned. This all ties into the theme of “enshittification” that runs through this month’s issue, starting with our interview with…

Have attempts to drive under-age visitors from pornography sites worked? The raw numbers would suggest so. Visits to porn sites fell by a third in the three months after age-gating came into effect last July, according to regulator Ofcom, with one site reporting UK traffic falling by as much as three-quarters. How many of those were under-age visitors is impossible to tell, but it’s not enough to satisfy some: VPNs are now in the firing line. The Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza told the BBC in the summer that the age-gate-avoiding VPNs are “absolutely a loophole that needs closing”, while tech minister Baroness Lloyd suggested that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to protecting children online. With Ofcom now conducting research into VPN usage in the UK, will…

DOCUMENTARY Inside Our ADHD Minds 9.00pm BBC2 (Wednesday 9.00pm in Wales) Catch up via iPlayer Just as he did with his 2023 documentary about autism, Chris Packham is out to change perceptions, this time with a focus on ADHD, which he feels has been misnamed. What’s been labelled a “disorder” is, in his words, more of a “difference”. And rather than suffering from a “deficit” in attention, the reality is that those who live with this form of neurodivergence can find it difficult to regulate their ever-jumping minds. To highlight this, the compassionate Packham gets to know 23-year-old tour guide Henry and 51-year-old council worker Jo, two people at very different stages of life who share an instinct to conceal the daily organisational challenges they face for fear of upsetting…

DRAMA The Night Manager 9.05pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer “I am the man who will not explode,” Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) says to his MI6 psychiatrist in a reassuring tone of voice, yet the nails digging into the flesh of his hand tell a different story. For despite many years having passed since Pine infiltrated the coterie of arms dealer Richard Roper, he’s still scarred by that undercover mission. Hence his current low-risk role overseeing a night-time surveillance team in London. Only, a quiet job with unsociable hours does not a spy drama make, and it isn’t long before a chance glimpse of a former Roper collaborator is upending Pine’s life of seclusion. What ensues makes for, on the basis of this opening episode at least, an engaging enough espionage…

Thank you! It was a sad day when I learned that Sound & Vision was no longer to be. I received a notification that the remainder of my 25-plus-year subscription was going to be fulfilled with Stereophile. Meh! What good is a magazine that reviews high-end and high-dollar components going to do for a budget-minded 68-year-old semi-audiophile? After several issues, I discovered that I was getting an education. The more reviews I read, the more I learned about my lifelong hobby. This really kicked in when I got an issue with the Recommended Components guide. Since then, I have built the best-sounding system of my 50 years of listening. It consists of a Elac DPA 2 amplifier, Shiit Freya Plus preamp, Schiit Bifrost DAC, a pair of Philharmonic BMR monitors,…

FILM P Milli Vanilli ★★★★ 10.05pm BBC2 Catch up via iPlayer The title of smash-hit 1988 single Girl You Know It’s True proved bleakly ironic for its supposed singers, Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus. In 1990, the pair were outed as the frontmen for a pop fabrication: dancers by trade, they’d been hired by producer Frank Farian to lip-sync on stage and make-believe in interviews. In the wake of this scandal, the blockbuster success enjoyed by Milli Vanilli in the late 80s was immediately eclipsed by their new status: punchline. This documentary relates how the hoax came together, and the effect it had on Pilatus — who died in 1998 — and Morvan, who is interviewed here alongside other key figures. There’s fascinating insight into the sheer logistics of Farian’s…

DRAMA The Gold 9.00pm BBC1 Full series via iPlayer SERIES FINALE In writing and creating The Gold, Neil Forsyth conducted extensive research, but hasn’t shied away from taking a fair chunk of dramatic licence. It’s that smelting of facts from the ore of the story, yet allowing embellishments to be sprinkled, that has let this series shine. The holiday is well and truly over for Charlie Miller (Sam Spruell) and John Palmer (Tom Cullen), who are each in the dock on opposite sides of the Atlantic (Palmer deciding to represent himself at the Old Bailey feels like one of the more fanciful aspects of the story, yet did actually happen). More familiar faces return, and there’s a searing, standout turn from Jack Lowden as a cornered Kenneth Noye. It’s gripping…

DRAMA Waiting for the Out 9.30pm BBC One Full series available today on iPlayer NEW SERIES There is layer upon layer of satisfying dramatic sophistication in this new series by the playwright Dennis Kelly, whose eclectic TV CV consists of the Sharon Horgan sitcom Pulling, startling conspiracy thriller Utopia and Jude Law-led folk horror The Third Day. This is much more what you’d expect from a writer known mostly for theatre, since it includes long, talky scenes set in the prison philosophy classes led by Dan (Josh Finan), a clever but nervous young man whose troubled background has left him with obsessive behaviours and a limited capacity to cope with adulthood. As Dan’s class of prisoners challenge his attempts to school them on Locke, Descartes and the rest — either because…

DOCUMENTARY Inside the Factory 8.00pm BBC One Catch up via iPlayer “I’m like a kid in a sweet shop… well, a biscuit factory,” says an excited Paddy McGuinness as he steps inside the building in Cwmbran, South Wales that’s been manufacturing bikkies since 1939. He’s following the production of Jammie Dodgers (so it’s perhaps inevitable that we hear Bob Marley’s Jamming at one point) although he can’t resist taking a nostalgic detour to another production line to see Wagon Wheels being rolled out, too. There’s the usual conveyor belt of statistics, jolly chat with workers and shots of industrial machinery churning out dough/jam/filling (delete as applicable), while Cherry Healey enjoys herself holding a scientific dunking test to see which biscuit is best for this very British habit, as well as learning about…

2 LORD OF THE FLIES Coming soon BBC One Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne gets stuck into another story of young male rage in this adaptation of William Golding’s seminal castaway story. But don’t expect too many familiar faces — the casting team specifically sought out lads of 10–13 with no previous acting experience to embody Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Jack and the rest. HUW FULLERTON 3 A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS 19 January Sky Atlantic Game of Thrones goes granular in this smaller-scale spin-off that follows a lowly knight aiming for gold and glory at a tournament. Familiar faces like Bertie Carvel and Daniel Ings turn up as nobles, but scrappy lead characters Ser Duncan and Squire Egg are played by newcomers Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell. HF 4 SCARPETTA…

If Amazon allows sideloading, £20 for new Stick is a bargain I completely agree with your two-star verdict on Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K Select (Issue 725, page 29, pictured right). Banning sideloading is the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. It stigmatises all those people who sideload apps for legal purposes, not to watch Premier League football without paying. But might Amazon backtrack on this stupid decision? It’s already done so to allow VPNs (Issue 725, page 7). If you think it will, then the current price of just £19.99 for the device (www.snipca.com/57247), down from £49.99, could prove to be a bargain. I might take a punt. Jim Howard CA SAYS We understand Jim’s reasoning, but we doubt Amazon will reverse its ban on sideloading. This was…

DRAMA Love and Death 10.00pm ITV1 Full series on ITVX NEW SERIES Anyone who saw the 2022 Disney+ mini-series Candy will have a sense of déjà vu watching this seven-part drama, as it tells the same true-life story of 1970s Texas housewife Candy Montgomery, who went before a jury after an affair with a married man from her neighbourhood led to a killing. There are, though, notable differences, both in structure and style, with this series laying out events in a more linear fashion and terrific lead star Elizabeth Olsen humanising Candy in a way Jessica Biel wasn’t required to when she played the part. So gone are the bubble perm and bubbling rage, and in comes a more sympathetic depiction of a woman for whom suburban pressure to conform…

DOCUMENTARY Lives Well Lived 6.00pm BBC2 Catch up via iPlayer A better title for this two-part obituary programme might be Lives Famously Lived. It is not dedicated to community leaders and teachers, you won’t be surprised to hear; they don’t have clips in the archives. No, we’re talking famous lives, mainly much-loved actors; people we all feel we knew, despite never having met. Chief among them this year is the great Dame Maggie Smith, who died in September at the age of 89 and is the subject of a number of programmes on BBC2 and BBC4 tonight (see below). Friends who worked with Dame Maggie, including Frances de la Tour, Charles Dance and Alex Jennings, reflect on her life and career, and with luck we’ll also be treated to examples of her…

DRAMA Dead and Buried 10.30pm, 11.20pm (regions vary, see listings) BBC1 Full series available via iPlayer NEW SERIES Actor Colin Morgan must have a morally ambiguous face, as this is the second time in recent months he’s been seen on screen as someone whose motives are unclear. In ITV1’s The Killing Kind, he was introduced as merely a potential psychopath, whereas in this revenge thriller (first shown in September in Northern Ireland) set on the Derry/Donegal border, we’re being asked to consider whether his character Michael is a changed man following a conviction for murder 20 years prior. Michael is now free with a family and a decent job, but teacher Cathy (Annabel Scholey), whose brother he killed two decades ago, doesn’t believe he’s suffered enough. And following a chance…

REALITY The Jury: Murder Trial 9.00pm C4 Catch up via C4 streaming NEW SERIES Trial by jury is at the heart of our justice system, but is the decision made by 12 random people thrown together guaranteed to be an objective and correct one? To test the system, over the next four nights two juries — each unaware of the other — hear the evidence from a real murder case (names and dates have been changed for anonymity) re-enacted word-for-word by actors in a courtroom, then consider what they’ve heard. The verdicts are compared on Thursday. “John Risedale” is accused of bludgeoning his wife “Helen” to death with a hammer. From the outset it’s clear the jurors have different opinions, life experiences, personalities, and attitudes. In their teabreaks, derogatory remarks are made…