Prime Video; full series available now
Summed up in a sentenceA frat boy goes to college and tries to convince himself and everyone else he’s totally“not gay” in comedian Benito Skinner’s heartfelt US comedy.What our reviewer said“Thoroughly charming … Benny’s attempts at personal growth are spiked with knockabout humour, but at its core this is a very earnest and, at points, schmaltzily American show about embracing your true self. There is much to enjoy here.”Rachel Aroesti
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Further reading‘I never want to get too mean’: Benito Skinner on his savage viral parodies
BBC Two; full series on iPlayer now
Summed up in a sentenceChris Packham meets people with ADHD in a documentary that couldn’t come at a more crucial time.What our reviewer said“BBC-ishly, this documentary says nothing of the far-right, anti-woke rhetoric that has hitched parts of its rickety wagon to what it calls an overdiagnosis of neurodiversity. Nevertheless, Packham offers a calm and clear refutation of these harmful notions, simply by telling real-life stories.”Rebecca Nicholson
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Sky Documentaries & Now; available now
Summed up in a sentenceA harrowing documentary about the two sisters who were killed in a park in 2020 – and the Met police officers who shared offensive comments and images of their corpses.What our reviewer said“It remains scarcely believable ... The women’s mother, Mina, has turned her energies to campaigning for women’s safety and for police reform. She, her husband Chris and her surviving daughter Monique radiate grief, courage and compassion.”Lucy Mangan
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Further readingMy darling girls were killed, and then the police failed us. But I still have hope
BBC Two; on iPlayer now
Summed up in a sentenceA documentary about the devastating inferno at the football ground in 1985.What our reviewer said“What happened at Bradford has perhaps faded more than it should have from public memory, the rancid injustice of the Hillsborough tragedy having come to represent all the calamities that befell English football fans in the 1980s. But, 40 years since 56 people died at Valley Parade, this sober, thoughtful documentary remembers them anew.”Jack Seale
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Further reading‘The whole city was touched’: Bradford prepares to mark 40 years since Valley Parade fire
BBC iPlayer; full series available
Summed up in a sentenceFollowing its surprise best drama win at the Bafta TV awards, now is the perfect time to catch up with this tense Belfast-set police drama.What our reviewer said“Blue Lights has been a breakout hit because, beneath the soapy surface of its interactions between rookie cops, it has a clear-eyed, humane view of policing as an impossible job … In hard times, it continues to skip deftly between light and dark.”Jack Seale
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Further readingThe biggest mistakes from the 2025 TV Bafta awards
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentenceSet almost entirely inside their car, Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play a splintering couple trying to save their terrified teenager.What our reviewer said“How encouraging that whatever state our film industry is considered to be in, it can still find space for a crackingly good script from a supersmart, disciplined first-timer. It is a gripping, real-time suspense thriller with a twist of the macabre.”Peter Bradshaw
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Further readingMatthew Rhys on Dylan Thomas: ‘He was the rock star poet’
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentenceBeautiful film of an off-grid family shattered by the death of photographer Maria Vatne.What our reviewer said“The film shows us the family coming to terms with their terrible loss and grief, particularly Nik. For a start, they can no longer live on their beloved farm because without Maria’s photography income [they] cannot keep up the mortgage repayments.”Peter Bradshaw
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Further readingHow death transformed a loving family – and shaped a remarkable film
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentenceLily Collias is outstanding as 17-year-old Sam, who goes hiking with her dad and his best buddy in India Donaldson’s feature debut.What our reviewer said“In some ways, the father-daughter theme reminded me of Debra Granik’s 2018 Leave No Trace, and I wonder if Donaldson has taken a little inspiration from that film. It is very intelligent and humane, and what a great performance from Collias.”Peter Bradshaw
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Apple TV+
Summed up in a sentenceStirring account of 1988 “anti-audism” revolt in the US at the world’s first deaf university.What our reviewer said“One former student describes being smacked with a ruler at school if he signed, another explains that his deaf grandfather told him not to sign in public. But their generation were done with it. Their energy and spirit of resistance are glorious.”Cath Clarke
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Rent/buy on Prime Video and Apple TV+
Summed up in a sentencePowerful insight into a life shared by two charismatic creatives, artist Maggie Barrett and photographer Joel Meyerowitz.What our reviewer said“Between the four of them, directors and subjects build up a portrait of the grace notes and grind of married life, a varied rhythm as quick as a game of ping-pong (Joel and Maggie are avid players) and slow as the sun traversing an empty apartment.”Leslie Felperin
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Further readingArtists Joel Meyerowitz and Maggie Barrett on laying bare their marriage on film
Reviewed byM John Harrison
Summed up in a sentenceHeartbreak and hope in a poetic vision of blue-collar America.What our reviewer said“The themes of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous echo into this novel: the familial landscapes of Vietnamese immigration; the need to manage generational tensions; the sense of life as the pursuit of a second chance.”
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Further reading‘Buddhism and Björk help me handle fame’: novelist Ocean Vuong
Reviewed by Shahidha Bari
Summed up in a sentenceTwo sisters bond over teenage secrets and midlife muddles on a riotous road trip through the Scottish Highlands.What our reviewer said“Candid and comic, Slags is Thelma & Louise with a campervan and without a clifftop.”
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Further readingEmma Jane Unsworth: ‘I blush when I think of Miranda July’s All Fours’
Reviewed byTiffany Watt Smith
Summed up in a sentenceWhy we’re still fascinated by the people’s princess.What our reviewer said“White approaches Diana’s story through the people who saw themselves in her – the doppelgangers, opportunists and superfans who found parallels between the princess’s life of extraordinary privilege and their own.”
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Reviewed byStuart Jeffries
Summed up in a sentenceThe zany comedian’s self-deprecating memoir.What our reviewer said“I was all set to hate this book, but Buxton has written a celebrity memoir that does something extraordinary: it manages to be worth reading.”
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Reviewed by Emma Brockes
Summed up in a sentenceThe former editor of Vanity Fair chronicles journalism’s good old days.What our reviewer said“His job entailed as much sucking up to the worlds of Hollywood and fashion as it did publishing great journalism, and this book reminds us that, like all hacks, he is a gossip at heart; casting an eye back on his life, he can’t help but dish the dirt.”
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Further readingGraydon Carter: ‘If there was another 9/11 this week, I don’t think the world would rush to support us’
Out now
Summed up in a sentenceThe British dance producer slows things down on her second album, for a summery, love-struck series of vocal tracks.What our reviewer said“Too drowsy and blurred to function as straightforward pop-R&B and too obviously sunlit to soundtrack the curtains-drawn post-club comedown, a lot of Romance exists in an appealing space of its own.”Alexis Petridis
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Out now
Summed up in a sentenceThe Montreal composer has a refreshingly unbounded vision, situating herself between modern classical, electronic, jazz and new age.What our reviewer said“Her new album – her first in eight years – is a gentle listen, made up of short, dreamy compositions that are light and quietly ecstatic … the world Coverdale has built is focused and full of feeling.”Safi Bugel
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Further readingRead more of our experimental album of the month reviews
Out now
Summed up in a sentenceKnown for their crazed energy and chaotic dynamics, the Atlanta mathcore sextet introduce big melodies into the mix on their third album.What our reviewer said“The Callous Daoboys display newfound poise, even refinement, in songs that are at turns heavier, more ambitious and more straightforwardly pop than anything they’ve put out before. They are still a lot, but they’ve added something fresh to their gonzo arsenal.”Huw Baines
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Out now
Summed up in a sentencePianist Yevgeny Sudbin performs a recital of pieces by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.What our reviewer said“Sudbin’s mastery of every technical challenge that Scriabin’s piano writing throws up is hugely impressive, the colours he finds in the music always beguiling.”Andrew Clements
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Summed up in a sentenceThe Boss kicked off his Land of Hope and Dreams tour with speeches lambasting Donald Trump – and a euphoric show of rock’n’roll prowess.What our reviewer said“There are few artists able to pluck hope from the darkest depths of the US, with such elegance and beauty, quite like Bruce Springsteen.”Daniel Dylan Wray
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Further readingFrom early setbacks to a storming Springsteen show: Co-op Live, a year on