The Heist Before Christmas review – Timothy Spall’s festive drama is a total triumph
Sure, it pits Spall and James Nesbitt against each other as Santa and Villainous Santa – but the child star Bamber Todd is who really steals the show. What a magnificent drama
September 2022
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: the Queen’s funeral; Crossfire; Bloodlands; Am I Being Unreasonable?
The monarchy’s star performer was given the send-off she deserved; Keeley Hawes takes aim; and has Daisy May Cooper written the new Motherland?
June 2022
The week in TV: Suspect; The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN; Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain; Ellie and Natasia
TV review
Suspect review – James Nesbitt rages endlessly in unbearable Luther-lite
December 2021
TV review
Stay Close review – your new Netflix binge-watch? This irresistible thriller
James Nesbitt is a brooding detective in this Harlan Coben thriller, in which Cush Jumbo is dragged back into her shady old life. You won’t be able to turn it off
February 2021
Will tourists follow James Nesbitt’s murder trail along the Ards Peninsula?
Hoteliers and distillers hope visitors will be drawn to their part of Northern Ireland by the dark drama Bloodlands
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Bloodlands; Unforgotten; Blitz Spirit With Lucy Worsley; Grayson's Art Club
James Nesbitt looks understandably hard-pressed in a twisting new crime drama; Unforgotten pushes all the right buttons; and Grayson Perry returns
Bloodlands: location of BBC drama kept secret to avoid tourist influx
Police thriller starring James Nesbitt is set on island in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland
April 2019
This Is My Family review – terrifically funny musical is a triumph
James Nesbitt and Sheila Hancock star in Tim Firth’s touching comedy about a dysfunctional group of relatives
February 2018
From ER to The Sopranos: what were the most shocking TV deaths?
Run ins with household appliances and mob hits have all claimed well-loved TV characters, but sometimes the most affecting deaths came out of thin air
May 2017
50:50 female actors' campaign reveals it asked Bafta nominees for backing
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Siobhan Finneran and others wore badge after being approached by Equal Representation of Actresses
February 2017
TV review
Stan Lee's Lucky Man review – James Nesbitt's superpowers are stretched to the max
Jimmy N gives it his all in the return of the hammy, magical crime-fighting caper
September 2016
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Cold Feet; Poldark; Motherland; We the Jury; The Last Leg: Live from Rio
Our old friends in the north: Cold Feet is back – and Helen Baxendale nearly was too
August 2016
Cold Feet warms up for return to TV: 'There's a great need for nostalgia'
It’s 13 years since we saw Adam, Pete, Jenny, Karen and David, but in the new series, they are recognisably the characters audiences fell for in the 90s
May 2016
When true crime TV drama only adds to the pain
Rachel Cooke
ITV’s The Secret was accused of exploitation by the family of a central character. They may have a point…
Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman recreating BBC's Jekyll for big screen
Actor and chat show host producing movie of the James Nesbitt serial in which he starred as a modern-day Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, struggling to raise two children
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Flowers; The Secret; Line of Duty; Game of Thrones – review
Julian Barratt mumbled his way through a great new black comedy, while James Nesbitt shone as a deadly dentist
April 2016
Mark Lawson on television
Armed and dangerous: how Belfast became the capital of crime TV
The Secret, a new drama based on the startling story of a devoutly murderous dentist, is just the latest big-hitting series to be filmed in Northern Ireland. What made Ulster the crime TV hotspot?
January 2016
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Stan Lee’s Lucky Man; The Jihadis Next Door; The Comic Strip Presents… Red Top; Jericho
Fortune smiles on James Nesbitt as a flawed superhero, while a timely documentary exposes a pair of prize idiots
