August 2026 Cultural Highlights Enjoyable television and absorbing books.

September 8, 2026

Discover what we enjoyed watching and reading in August

Here’s our list of what we enjoyed watching and reading in August

Television

Ludwig  BBC1 & iPlayer

★★★★

Although classified as a crime series, the weekly plot and deduction play second fiddle to the relationship between the lead characters Ludvig played by David Mitchell and his sister-in-law, the always excellent Anna Maxwell Martin. Her police officer husband has disappeared and in the first series was impersonated by Ludvig to discover why.

Ludvig is a professional puzzle solver, so no surprise that he is adept at solving whatever the latest murder may be.  By the second series, his duplicity has been discovered but that’s no impediment to helping the police whilst his sister-in-law continues to plough her own furrow to find her husband.

This is very watchable TV underpinned by eccentricity and the dynamic between the two leads.

My Brilliant Career  Netflix

★★★★

Miles Franklin’s wonderfully lively and rebellious novel My Brilliant Career is 125 years old, adapted for film in the past and has now reached Netflix.

The story is centred around Sybylla Melvyn, a bullheaded author determined to write her own story – literally and otherwise – in a deeply patriarchal world that would prefer her to settle down, shut up and take a man’s hand in marriage.

She leaves her impoverished family for the splendour of her grandmother’s civilised society and is quick to ruffle feathers. Yes, there is a good dollop of syrup spread over the six episodes but the performance of Phillippa Northeast as Sybilla is hard to resist and she channels the essence of the source material while bringing something different to the party.

Worth watching for her alone.

Reacher Series 4  Prime Video

★★★

There’s always a familiar pattern to a Jack Reacher adventure. He’s going to be attracted to someone in distress, this time it’s a woman crying on the underground; he will be falsely accused of a crime and pursued by criminal and lawful forces as he collects a motley crew of assistants to solve the crime that’s baffling everybone else.

It a can be a tiring watch as Reacher is always running to and from danger and there will be a dust up with somebody or other every 10 minutes.

Despite its many implausibility’s, we like Reacher and at least Alan Richtson is a more convincing lead than Tom Cruise ever was in the filmic versions.

You and Me  ITVX

★★★★★

One of the many benefits of streaming is discovering a series that completely passed you by when first aired. You and Me was broadcast three years ago and executive-produced by Russell T Davies so likely to be a cut above standard fare.

What sets out as a romcom when Ben (Harry Lawtey) meets Jess (Sophia Brown) as they strike up a conversation at a bus stop becomes tragedy. This we know from the start as throughout the three-part series multiple timelines are deployed to fill in past and present.

This is a story of navigating grief and surviving loss. It’s not as bleak as it sounds and is often very funny. Can Ben, a journalist, ever overcome his grief despite the sage and soothing advice of his mother played by the predictably warm Julie Hesmondhalgh. That he can becomes a possibility in series 2 when work brings him into contact with Emma (Jessica Barden) an aspiring actress.

It could be criticised as being too romcom at times but that’s a worthwhile sacrifice as the exploration of grief is so well handled as is a healing heart.

Books

Audiobook

Agrippa  Robert Harris  Spotify

★★★★★

We picked the audio version primarily because it’s narrated by Simon Russell Beale whose tones evoke a rich visual of the Roman Empire in the times of Julius Caesar.

This is the trilogy of Harris Roman novels and takes us from civil war through the assassination of Julius Caesar, with all the bickering and bloodshed that follows, on to the decisive battle of Actium and Octavius’s apotheosis as Caesar Augustus. 

Agrippa is the boyhood friend of Caesar’s nephew Octavius which is established when Agrippa saves the weakling Octavius from school bullies and serves as his protector as Octavius rises to power as Caesar’s heir.

It’s a rich and absorbing tale of everyone betraying everyone else, raising armies, marrying each other’s children, forming and breaking alliances.

Often, we find audiobooks are challenge of concentration over the printed version, but not on this occasion thanks to the prose of Harris and voice of Russell Beale.

The Calamity Club Kathryn Stockett

★★★★★

The Help was a best seller for Kathryn Stockett and this is just as good.

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. The Depression is biting, Prohibition is coming to an end and life is tough — particularly if you’re a woman without money, status or a man to protect you.

At the heart of the story are three wonderfully drawn characters.

Meg is just eleven and already considered one of the “big girls” nobody wants to adopt from the local orphanage. She’s smart, spirited and determined not to be beaten down.

Birdie is unmarried, outspoken and in Oxford to persuade her socially ambitious sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind.

And then there’s Charlie — a woman with a past, very little luck and an enormous amount of fight.

When their paths cross, the three hatch a wonderfully audacious plan to take back some control over their lives.

What makes this such an enjoyable read is the combination of a fascinating period in American history with characters you quickly find yourself rooting for. There’s hardship here, certainly, but also humour, friendship, courage and a satisfying streak of rebellion.

Paradise City  Elizabeth Day

★★★★

In Paradise City, Elizabeth Day brings together four very different characters, each wrestling with disappointment, loneliness and the uncomfortable gap between the life they imagined and the one they actually have.

There’s Howard, a self-made millionaire who has everything money can buy but finds himself increasingly isolated. Beatrice, his Ugandan hotel maid, is trying to build a new life while carrying the weight of the one she left behind. Carol is a widow struggling to make sense of life after the death of her husband. And Esme is an ambitious young journalist whose professional confidence hides a more complicated private life.

Their stories gradually begin to overlap, revealing the connections between people who, on the surface, appear to have almost nothing in common.

What makes Paradise City such an absorbing read is that it isn’t really about dramatic twists or grand events. It’s about people — the mistakes we make, the secrets we keep, the loneliness we disguise and our persistent hope that life might still surprise us.

Catch up on all our other monthly recommendations in our Culture section. Let us know what you have njoyed recently.