MOTHERLAND S2
(BBC)
I was overjoyed when this savagely brilliant school-gates sitcom returned, with more manic middle-class matriarchs than you can shake a stick blender at. Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Pulling) proves herself once again as a masterful sitcom writer (alongside a team of Holly Walsh, Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Helen Linehan), but it’s the flawless cast that make this show what it is. Anna Maxwell Martin as restless everywoman Julia, Diane Morgan as acid-tongued Liz, Lucy Punch as insufferable snob Amanda (not Mandy), and Paul Ready as the downtrodden dad, the sole beta-male among the ‘alpha mums’. Magnificent. ***** SP
THE WALL
(BBC)
Danny Dyer shouting “Drop ‘em!” repeatedly doesn’t sound like a great Saturday night (unless you’re his wife) – and guess what? It isn’t. Like a giant version of The Price Is Right minigame Plinko, this gameshow gets teams of two to drop coloured balls down a bean machine, with 15 slots equating to varying amounts of cash. One of them sits in isolation answering questions of a similar difficulty to those written for daytime TV competitions (e.g. “What colour is the sky? a) Blue b) Green c) Danny Dyer”). The other one shouts at the balls to fall into the £50K slot. Drop ‘em? Drop it, more like. ** SP
HIS DARK MATERIALS
(BBC)
After the release of the 2007 film The Golden Compass, widely regarded as a commercial flop, fans of Philip Pullman’s fantasy book series were left to lament the absence of a worthy on-screen ending. However, BBC One’s His Dark Materials, which aired in November, promises to capture the pleated nuance of its source material. The current adaptation, filmed in Wales, renders Pullman’s fantasy universe with genuine visual flair and a fresh, modern aesthetic. It is impossible to say if it’ll give Pullman’s story the conclusion it deserves, but these early episodes are filled with potential. ****JD
RIVERDALE S4
(Netflix)
It’s been two years since Riverdale first aired and swiftly became the most talked-about teen drama. Its fourth series, which is currently being released weekly on Netflix in the UK, is certainly worth discussing. Adapted from the popular Archie comics, series four still follows Riverdale’s favourite redhead Archie Andrews and his friends as they navigate high school life. In typical Riverdale fashion though, nothing’s ever that simple. Following on from previous season’s peculiar plotlines, things seem to be as bizarre as ever. So far this series, we’ve seen spooky dolls, serial killers and spies – and we’re only five episodes in. *** TB
THE CROWN S3
(Netflix)
Being a docuseries about a monarch still reigning, one would expect The Crown to be accurate. The third episode depicts the Aberfan Disaster, which took the lives of 116 children. Oddly, Oona O’Beirn (producer) admitted she had never heard of the tragedy – surely impetus for factual precision. People increasingly tend not to learn about modern history anymore and wait for The Crown to embellish it instead. But how long can this series go on for? Will Meghan Markle play herself when the series reaches the present? With all the Prince Andrew shenanigans coming to light, there’s certainly enough material to keep going. *** DG & SP