What to watch on TV this week Our pick of the best television shows Westworld Season 2, Sky Atlantic — hokum to get hooked on Evan Rachel Wood is superb as she morphs from sweet-faced homesteader to leader of the robot resistance Friday, 20 April, 2018 The Woman in White, BBC1 — ‘menaced maidenhead, vile villainy ’ The BBC’s new adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ Victorian novel looks set to be a thundering ride Friday, 20 April, 2018 Barry, Sky Atlantic — ‘an unnerving edge’ Bill Hader stars as a glum veteran-turned-hitman who hesitates when he is assigned to kill a physical trainer Friday, 20 April, 2018 Fatberg Autopsy, C4 — ‘watch this well after you’ve eaten’ Rick Edwards joins the flushers of Thames Water as they investigate the unspeakable depths of London Friday, 20 April, 2018 The Alienist, Netflix — Sherlock meets Jack the Ripper with a touch of Hannibal Lecter A gloomy, penumbral depiction of the early days of forensic science and psychological profiling Friday, 13 April, 2018 True Horror, Channel 4 — all the tricks of the horror flick A docudrama that follows a young family moving to an isolated but idyllic farm in the Brecon Beacons Friday, 13 April, 2018 More from this Series Lost in Space, Netflix — absurdly contrived, yet gripping A thoroughly modern family confronts primal fears in this reboot of an old favourite Friday, 6 April, 2018 Cunk on Britain, BBC2 — cake-and-eat-it satire The academic experts invited to enlighten gormless presenter Philomena Cunk are getting canny Friday, 13 April, 2018 Law and Order, BBC4 — the bad old days of criminal justice GF Newman’s classic crime drama is a bracingly downbeat portrait of 1970s London Friday, 6 April, 2018 The City and the City, BBC2 — odd, stylish and complex crime drama David Morrissey brings a glorious melancholy to the role of heavy-handed but sympathetic inspector Friday, 30 March, 2018 Bacchus Uncovered, BBC4 — ‘scholarly and enthusiastic’ Bettany Hughes charts 8,000 years of worshipping the god of wine Friday, 6 April, 2018 Take Your Pills, Netflix — the highs and lows of ‘brain-hacking’ A documentary following the abuse of performance enhancers from the sports arena to the dorm room Friday, 9 March, 2018 The Dangerous Book for Boys, Amazon Prime — ‘wistful and charming comedy’ Writer-producer Bryan Cranston turns the surprise bestseller into a sentimental family drama Friday, 23 March, 2018 The Defiant Ones, Netflix — the story of one of music’s most unlikely partnerships A documentary series filled with larger-than-life characters, tragedy and folly, glory and ignominy Friday, 16 March, 2018 Billions, Sky Atlantic — mostly preposterous Everyone talks in metaphors — even the lawyers — in the returning hedge fund drama Friday, 23 March, 2018 Kiss Me First, Channel 4 — outsider in a virtual world An introverted young woman is drawn to exist online in a secret pocket of a video game Friday, 30 March, 2018 Civilisations: The Eye of Faith, BBC2 — a quizzical glance over religious art Mary Beard whirls round Maharashtra, Seville, Venice and offers an an interesting angle on iconoclasm Friday, 16 March, 2018 Mosaic, Sky Atlantic — subtle characterisation and plotting Steven Soderbergh’s direction allows the characters ample time to think on screen Friday, 16 March, 2018 Flint Town, Netflix — pin-sharp cinematography, direction and subject matter Hard-hitting documentary series views the Michigan city’s near-intractable problems through the prism of police work Friday, 23 February, 2018 The Road to Santiago, BBC2 — Celebrity Big Brother with blisters An 800km pilgrimage across the Pyrenees with seven stars of varying luminosity Friday, 9 March, 2018 Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Netflix — ‘more moral dilemmas’ The story rushes off in so many directions it’s in danger of falling apart — but Jessica is irresistibly watchable Friday, 2 March, 2018 Active Shooter, Sky Atlantic — Columbine High School revisited Timely documentary suggests that much of what we believed about the 1999 school shooting was wrong Friday, 2 March, 2018 Civilisations, BBC2 — ‘an educative extravaganza of Reithian scope and aspiration’ A blockbuster nine-part arts series accompanied by a festival in partnership with hundreds of UK museums Friday, 23 February, 2018 Mosaic, Sky Atlantic — Sharon Stone at her slinky best Steven Soderbergh’s TV series explores the most convoluted chambers of the human heart with icy composure Friday, 16 February, 2018 Divorce, Sky Atlantic — ‘heart-wrenching issues’ How the main characters — played by Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church — relate to each other from now on is the puzzle Friday, 23 February, 2018 The Ruth Ellis Files, BBC4 — from glamour to gallows American documentarist Gillian Pachter scrutinises the celebrated case of the last woman to be hanged in Britain Friday, 9 March, 2018 Trauma, ITV, and Collateral, BBC2 — gripping drama from Mike Bartlett and David Hare John Simm stars as a grieving father, and as a Labour MP with a complex emotional life Friday, 9 February, 2018 Here and Now, Sky Atlantic — sex and drugs and moral philosophy Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter star in this drama about a hip academic and his seemingly perfect children Friday, 16 February, 2018 Everything Sucks!, Netflix — get your kicks in 1996 A dash of ‘Stranger Things’, a touch of ‘Glee’ — this high-school drama treads familiar ground Friday, 9 February, 2018 Endeavour, ITV — topical tale of seedy establishment figures Shaun Evans excels as the young Inspector Morse, investigating a case with Presidents Club echoes Friday, 2 February, 2018 Altered Carbon — five stars for Netflix’s sci-fi series Revel in the neon-lit retro-futuro stylings and the strong performances Friday, 26 January, 2018 Active Shooter, Sky Atlantic — the worst of humanity, and the best Show focuses on relatives of the nine victims killed in the 2015 Charleston white supremacist shooting Friday, 26 January, 2018 Dirty Money, Netflix — tracking the familiar trajectory of corporate guilt The first episode of new documentary series drills deep into the Volkswagen diesel scandal Friday, 19 January, 2018 Absentia, Amazon Prime — sheer weirdness Held captive for six years, an FBI agent returns to find her husband has remarried Friday, 26 January, 2018 Britannia — Jez Butterworth’s epic challenger to Game of Thrones’s crown Romans invade an alien, demon-haunted land ruled by bloodthirsty queens and malevolent druids Friday, 12 January, 2018 Black Mirror, Netflix The show is at its best when it eschews didactic dystopias in favour of stories that are more open-ended Friday, 29 December, 2017 Art, Passion and Power, BBC4 — one of Britain’s great splendours explored Andrew Graham-Dixon probes the Royal Collection for insights into 500 years of history Friday, 12 January, 2018 McMafia, BBC1 Not the best underworld exposé or crime drama, but the show does a very decent job of being both Friday, 29 December, 2017 Little Women — less cloying than previous screen versions Emily Watson’s matriarch is richly drawn in Heidi Thomas’s new adaptation Thursday, 21 December, 2017 The Crown Season 2 — a privileged glimpse into a privileged world The winds of change are blowing and the Royal marriage grows turbulent as Netflix’s show continues Monday, 27 November, 2017 She’s Gotta Have It — highs and lows of a sexually liberated black woman Spike Lee updates his 1986 comedy for Netflix and serve up serious issues along with the laughs Friday, 17 November, 2017 Godless — powerful Western dominated by women, and evil Jeff Daniels, Michelle Dockery and Merritt Wever star in a Netflix series harking back to simpler yet more dangerous times Friday, 17 November, 2017
