What to watch on TV this week Our pick of the best television shows Inside the American Embassy, C4 — ‘upbeat and boosterish’ A look at Robert Wood Johnson, the latest US ambassador to the UK, and the advisers who field Trump’s tweets and fix bad PR Friday, 22 June, 2018 Glow, Netflix — ‘bouffe up your hair and enjoy’ A winning combination of fabulous 1980s looks and time-travel to an era gloriously bereft of good taste Friday, 22 June, 2018 Managing England: The Impossible Job, BBC2 — watchable even for the uninitiated A documentary on the 13 unsuccessful England football managers since 1966 World Cup victory Friday, 15 June, 2018 Julius Caesar, BBC4 — landmark all-female Shakespeare The first of Phyllida Lloyd’s trilogy of productions, which played at the Donmar Warehouse in London from 2012 Friday, 15 June, 2018 Mystery of the Lost Paintings, Sky Arts — outrageous and heartbreaking The theft of Caravaggio’s ‘Nativity’ and the stories offered by Mafia turncoats regarding the fate of the artwork Friday, 15 June, 2018 Storyville: City of Ghosts, BBC Four — astonishing viewing A devastating film following a resistance group dedicated to exposing Isis atrocities in Raqqa Friday, 8 June, 2018 More from this Series Flowers, Channel 4 — the dark family sitcom returns A welcome second series for writer Will Sharpe’s tales of an odd family Friday, 8 June, 2018 Patrick Melrose: At Last, Sky Atlantic — the concluding part of a landmark TV series The five-part adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s acclaimed novel sequence reaches its finale Friday, 8 June, 2018 A Girl’s Guide to TV, BBC2 — light, bright and funny Rachel Parris presents all things women can’t or shouldn’t do, as expressed by the pundits of yesteryear Friday, 8 June, 2018 Dietland, Amazon Prime — ‘a lumping together of women’s issues’ Workplace fat-shaming meets feminism and vigilante justice in a comedy set in the offices of a glossy magazine Friday, 1 June, 2018 Journey into the Danger Zone: Iraq, BBC2 — offbeat focus Journalist and ex-soldier Adnan Sarwar returns to discover what’s left of the country 15 years after the war Friday, 1 June, 2018 Ugly Me: My Life with Body Dysmorphia, BBC3 — intelligent examination A close-quarters documentary about a disorder that affects one in 50 people in the UK Friday, 1 June, 2018 Atlanta, BBC2 — frank and blisteringly surreal drama-comedy The plot is minimal, but this tale of the highs and lows of an aspiring rapper and his cousin/manager is mesmerising Friday, 11 May, 2018 Killed By My Debt, BBC3 — ‘painful to view’ The heart-rending story of Jerome Rogers whose two traffic violations escalated into an unmanageable financial crisis Friday, 25 May, 2018 Genderquake, Channel 4 — prejudice aired and dispelled Eleven young people, mostly gender-fluid and of various sexual orientations, move into a house on the Sussex Downs Friday, 4 May, 2018 Burma with Simon Reeve, BBC2 — travelogue meets reportage A documentary that explores the country’s cultural riches but doesn’t shy away from its ugly side Friday, 11 May, 2018 The Rain, Netflix — a post-apocalyptic Scandi horror A dystopian Danish drama driven by conspiracy fears and environmental catastrophe Friday, 27 April, 2018 The Split, BBC1 — a tale of warring divorce lawyers Abi Morgan’s drama foregrounds steely, controlled women — with male characters tending towards emotional incontinence Friday, 27 April, 2018 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
