May 3, 2025
Discover what was good to watch or read during April.
Some returning series failed to hit their mark in our view, such as White Lotus and Gangs of London, but others did notably Series 2 of 1923 – the prequel to Yellowstone – and Season 4 of Hacks. Here’s our monthly round up.
TV
Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes Disney+
★★★★★
This is a tense rendering of the events of summer 2005, dramatising the bombings on 7 July and the feverish atmosphere of the following weeks. The Metropolitan police were on high alert and under great pressure to bring the guilty to justice. A botched surveillance operation followed by a shameful attempt at covering tracks, the killing of innocent Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was a tragedy that became first a scandal, and then an insight into issues at the Met.
It’s rightly severe on the Met’s top brass but, crucially, never forgets the story of the blameless victim and the anguish of his family. It’s four episodes, very well told and dramatized.
No 1 on the Call Sheet Apple TV
★★★★☆
Whoever is No 1 on the Call sheet is the leading actor in the movie and this two-part documentary charts how Black stars have risen in the Hollywood firmament.
It spotlights Black leading men, and Part 2 Black leading women, showing how these trailblazers broke barriers, challenged stereotypes, and redefined what it means to be a “leading actor.” It’s an intelligent and personal look as told by those who have climbed the ladder and who they were indebted to.
There are personal stories from the likes of Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Kevin Hart and many more. The only notable missing is Samuel L Jackson, and you can never get enough of Samuel L Jackson.
1923 2nd Series Paramount
★★★★☆
The sequel to 1833 and the prequel to Yellowstone. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren ground the series with tough, lived-in performances, portraying a frontier couple battling drought, the Great Depression, and rising tensions with outside forces threatening their land. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch Series One for the backstory.
Like Yellowstone, the show is visually gorgeous — sweeping landscapes, brutal action scenes, and period detail that feels authentic rather than staged.
There’s talk that there may be a series to bridge the gap between the two shows and there’s no doubt that Yellowstone has spawned a rich vein of well-constructed dramas with exceptional backdrops.
Hacks Season 4 Sky Max
★★★★☆
You may know by now that we are big fans of Hacks, the show that’s centred around an aging comedy star and the scriptwriter she employed to boost her flagging career.
In Season 4, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) is achieving her dream of hosting a late-night talk show, while Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) steps into the role of head writer—a position she secured through blackmail. Their relationship becomes increasingly complex as they navigate the challenges of producing the show, dealing with industry scepticism, and confronting personal tensions.
It’s funny and as ever extremely well written.
Ransom Canyon Netflix
★★★☆☆
There are times you start watching a series and just keep watching whilst not wholly convinced.
One of those is Ransom Canyon which follows rancher Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) as he grapples with personal loss and battles to protect his land from corporate interests. His long-time friend, Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly), runs the local dancehall and becomes entangled in a complex relationship with Staten, all while facing her own challenges. The narrative weaves through the lives of three ranching families, introducing a mysterious newcomer, Yancy Grey, whose arrival stirs up long-buried secrets.
It has the allure of Western landscapes with interpersonal drama and romantic entanglements, Ransom Canyon doesn’t break new ground but it’s an easy watch and sometimes that’s what you want..
Mobland Paramount+
★★★★☆
There are stars who can transcend and carry a series and one of those is Tom Hardy a street-smart fixer for the Harrigan family, led by patriarch Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) and matriarch Maeve Harrigan (Helen Mirren). The Harrigans are in conflict with rivals the Stevensons which escalates when son, Tommy Stevenson, is killed, and suspicion falls on grandson Eddie Harrington.
As the series progresses, Harry navigates complex family dynamics, betrayals, and the looming threat of all-out war.
Hardy makes this a compelling watch, and this is an intense crime drama with complex characters and moral ambiguity. Worth watching.
Your Friends & Neighbours Apple
★★★★☆
You lose your job, you’ve got an expensive lifestyle, an ex-wife and you can’t get another job. So, what do you do? You start stealing from your wealthy neighbours. That’s the premise of this show, which is anchored by Jon Hamm, playing the amateur burglar.
This is a dark comedy-drama and although it’s had mixed reviews, it has been renewed for a second series. Whilst at the time of writing, it’s in the early stages of Series One, we suspect this is more than just a series of burglaries and a life unravelling. At least we hope so.
Books
Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron
★★★★☆
Not a great month for reading or perhaps we just made the wrong choices, so your recommendations would be greatly received. What we did enjoy was Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road published long before the Slough House series (dramatised as Slow Horses). It introduces Sarah Tucker, a bored housewife living in a quiet Oxford suburb. After a nearby house explodes in a suspected gas leak — with hints that a young girl may have survived and disappeared — Sarah becomes obsessed with finding the missing child.
Her amateur investigation leads her into dangerous territory, involving deceit, betrayal, and people with far more to lose than she realizes.
Down Cemetery Road is a clever, character-driven mystery that’s less about a ticking-clock thriller and more about peeling back the rot behind ordinary lives. If you like smart crime fiction with bite, it’s worth your time.
The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
★★★★☆
Four siblings are appalled when their artist father, Vic Kemp, declares that he has fallen in love with someone 50 years his junior. Kemp decamps to his Italian Villa and marries his young partner, Bella-Mae. When his children learn of his death, they descend on the villa to find out what has happened, who is his young wife? And where is his long promised final painting.
What unfolds is a well-structured tale in which Bella- Mae is the catalyst that tests the tenuous bonds holding the siblings together. Told with compassion and tender insight, The Homemade God explores memory, identity, grief, healing, and what happens when bonds splinter, and what it might take to find a new way forward.
Visit our Culture Section and find recommendations for watching, reading and listening.
If there is any film, television, podcast or book you would recommend please do share with us.
You need to sign up or be logged in to leave a comment.