SORRY WE MISSED YOU
(DVD)
Not billed in any overt sense as a followup to 2016’s benefits system-denouncing I, Daniel Blake, this latest barrel of Newcastle-set grit from Ken Loach indubitably prods at similar social themes. Sorry We Missed You concerns a parcel delivery driver taking on unmanageable hours, taunted by carrot-and-stick targets and pummelled both by a toxic work environment and a crumbling home life. Loach’s attempts to underscore the enduring dignity of this island’s working class, while successful, do not necessarily preclude the feeling that it may be better just to be nuked into instant extinction. **** Noel Gardner
THE STRANGER
(Netflix)
There’s something very ITV about Netflix’s adaptation of Harlan Coben’s The Stranger. Maybe it’s the setting — somewhere around Manchester — or the familiar British (and Irish) actors that give it a more terrestrial feel. Not that I’m complaining. The Stranger is a slow burning, twist-filled drama reminiscent of BBC’s Nice Town in its too-good-to-be-true, middle-class, suburban setting. The all-knowing Stranger appears early in Episode 1, disrupting the status-quo with her intimate knowledge of the locals’ secrets. Unnerving without being too gruesome The Stranger makes for good family TV if you’re home with more mature teenagers, even if the ending doesn’t quite satisfy. **** John-Paul Davies
DIRTY STREAMING: THE INTERNET’S BIG SECRET
(BBC iPlayer)
Have you ever thought about the impact streaming has on the environment? If you answered no, you’re not alone. Presenter Beth Webb explains how our gaming, watching, and not-so-social media habits are killing the planet faster than cheap flights and plastics. Speaking to scientists and economists, the programme simplifies complex issues and contains some real epiphanies – like how ‘the cloud’ is actually a worldwide network of undersea-cables and data centres concentrated around small-town Virginia. Both educational and entertaining, watching this programme is half-an-hour well spent and might even inspire you to review your Netflix auto-play setting. **** Elouise Hobbs
LOVE IS BLIND
(Netflix)
After its initial release on Netflix, reality show Love is Blind quickly became dubbed as Love Island on steroids – a cast of young ‘hopeless romantics’ (in other words, fame seekers) desperate to fall in love in the most unconventional of ways. Essentially, a romantic connection of some sorts is supposed to bloom between two willing contestants, by communicating through a wall without ever coming face to face until the couple’s wedding ceremony. Bizarre, odd but strangely compelling, this is an embellished attempt to prove that love is actually, well, blind. *** Shania Wilson
HILARY MANTEL: RETURN TO WOLF HALL
(BBC iPlayer)
I’m currently making the most of my lockdown time to work my way (very slowly) through Hilary Mantel’s Tudor trilogy of novels – her brilliant reimagining of the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s oft maligned right hand man. This documentary about the author, filmed over the months preceding the release of her latest novel The Mirror and the Light, sees her discussing aspects of her personal life and upbringing, interspersed with footage of her applying make-up and firing a machine gun. A fascinating glimpse into the inner life of a genius of our time. **** Sam Pryce
