Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2025-11-23T00:02:03.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Prisoner 951 review: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe drama is fittingly infuriating and heart-rending
items: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review - A strong multiplayer and Zombies mode offsets a dull and poor campaign
items: Kirby Air Riders review: Friendship ended with Mario Kart, now Kirby is my best friend
items: Wicked: For Good review – Oz saga conclusion will satisfy its extensive army of devotees
items: The Mighty Nein review: Critical Role level up with magical new adventure
items: Keeper review: An unsettling, compelling but ultimately unsatisfying chiller from Oz Perkins
items: The Beast in Me review: An embarrassing blunder for 'Peak TV' icons
items: The Running Man review: Glen Powell proves a charismatic hero in Edgar Wright remake
items: Now You See Me: Now You Don't review – A disposable but fitfully fun reunion
items: Dragonfly review: Brenda Blethyn is at her very best in frequently heartbreaking film
items: Robin Hood review: MGM+’s reimagining eventually finds its target with Sean Bean as Sheriff
items: Midsomer Murders on stage review: A killer debut for the classic crime drama
items: Football Manager 26 review: FM26 is one step forward, two steps back
items: The Witcher season 4 review: Liam Hemsworth's Geralt falls flat as Netflix flagship fantasy loses its magic
items: Hazbin Hotel season 2 review: Hell's most ambitious project has a score to settle with naysayers
items: The Outer Worlds 2 review: A game that begs to be played
items: It: Welcome to Derry review – Blood-soaked prequel has its frights, and its flaws
items: Jurassic World Evolution 3 review: It's good to be back, but it's not perfect
items: Lazarus review: This supernatural mish-mash should've stayed a cut-and-dried thriller
items: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere review – is the biopic worth a cinema trip?
items: Black Phone 2 review: Gripping sequel embraces gruesomeness and the paranormal
items: ROG Xbox Ally review: I don't really know who this is for
items: The Woman in Cabin 10 review: Keira Knightley's whodunnit sinks without a trace
items: Battlefield 6 review: Old-school Battlefield action
items: Is The Traitors Live Experience worth it? How to get tickets to this faithful recreation of the BBC series
items: Tron: Ares review – A beautifully designed but slightly hollow blockbuster
items: Murder Before Evensong review: Grantchester meets Agatha Christie in this cosy crime drama
items: Frauds review: Jones and Whittaker fight typecasting in bold heist drama
items: Film Club review: Aimee Lou Wood's dramedy has real potential – but it's yet to be unlocked
items: Punch review: James Graham's play is a marvel on London's West End

Prisoner 951 review: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe drama is fittingly infuriating and heart-rending
type: item
date: 2025-11-23T00:01:38.000Z
creator: James Hibbs
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes shine in this powerful four-part series.
encoded: Unless you've been living under a rock or have been avoiding the news entirely for the past 10 years (and, honestly, it would be hard to blame you), then chances are you'll have some knowledge, however fleeting, of the story surrounding Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. That is in no small part thanks to the work of her husband Richard, whose tireless and personally brutal campaigning shone a light on Nazanin's plight, which could otherwise have gone so much deeper under the radar. Now, a BBC drama, Prisoner 951, is set to bring Nazanin's story to even greater prominence and recognition, while also deepening the understanding of those who are only aware of it on a cursory level. Based in part on Nazanin and Richard's upcoming book, A Yard of Sky, which is set to be released next year, the series is a powerful, unflinching piece of drama, which is at once both deeply upsetting and utterly enraging. To fill in some of the blanks: in 2016, a British-Iranian citizen, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe travelled to Iran with her 22-month-old daughter Gabriella to visit her family. Her husband, Richard, stayed at home in the UK. As the mother and daughter were waiting to board a flight back to the UK, they were arrested at the airport, and Gabriella's passport was confiscated. Iranian officials accusing Nazanin of leading a "foreign-linked hostile network" and plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. She was sentenced to five years in jail. Nazanin always denied those allegations and said that she was only in Iran to visit her family. Over the following years, Richard worked to bring her home in any way possible. As he became disillusioned with the political response, he turned to making waves in the press to draw attention to Nazanin's plight. Both he and Nazanin became convinced that she was a pawn in a decades-old political dispute between the Iranian government and the UK, relating to a debt the latter owed. The UK government has always denied that the two issues were linked, bu…

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review - A strong multiplayer and Zombies mode offsets a dull and poor campaign
type: item
date: 2025-11-19T17:00:37.000Z
creator: Echo Apsey
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Call of Duty
subject: Review
description: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 shines with a nostalgic multiplayer experience and a strong continuation of Zombies, even if the campaign is a big step back.
encoded: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a fascinating game, in that it is a direct follow-up to last year’s Black Ops 6 that, for the most part, abandons everything that made it one of the strongest releases we have seen for a while. As a result, Black Ops 7 feels like a muddled release that doesn’t quite warrant a new game, even if the multiplayer and Zombies are an excellent refinement of its predecessor's offerings. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign is also a direct follow-up to 2012’s Black Ops 2. Main character David Mason is Alex Mason’s son, and the game connects characters from across the Black Ops timeline like Troy Marshall from Black Ops 6. There are even some fun nods to the beloved Black Ops 1 that offer some highlights. Emma Kagan, the CEO of evil robotics company The Guild is using Raul Menendez and a Fear Toxin to consistently torment Mason and the other characters with nightmares from their past or their worst fears. This is where Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign gets pretty wacky. The series has always played around with supernatural or Lynchian narrative beats, but here it feels like a runaway train, and not in a good way. After the first mission, and once you kind of accept this is the nonsense we're dealing with, it isn’t as jarring to see a huge horde of Zombies support you as you break out from Vorkuta prison, or have to fight a giant Harper who spits out attacks from his mouth. Alas, it isn’t really what I wanted from the Black Ops 7 campaign. Previous campaigns in the series were memorable because they kept things grounded while fiddling around with some of these ideas. The bigger, more fundamental problem with the campaign is that it just feels like it wasn’t treated with the care and respect that campaigns in the series usually receive, especially after the excellent Black Ops 6 campaign last year. Here you blaze through everything in about four hours, hopping between the linear levels and exploring Avalon, the endgame map, which is like a gia…

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Kirby Air Riders review: Friendship ended with Mario Kart, now Kirby is my best friend
type: item
date: 2025-11-19T11:00:22.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Nintendo
subject: Nintendo Switch
subject: Review
description: Sakurai's beloved child does it again.
encoded: The best way I can describe Kirby Air Riders is that it is, at its core, an intensely GameCube-coded game. For some, that might be a turn-off; why would you want to play a game reminiscent of a gimmicky console from 2001? For others – myself included – a game like Air Riders harks back to an era that may have been a bit quirky and off-kilter, but was nothing if not fun. Air Riders is a sequel to 2003's Kirby Air Ride, and unsurprisingly, it plays very similarly. The controls are simple, and while it can be a touch difficult to get used to the way you turn and drift if you're used to games like Mario Kart, within a few races you'll be absolutely flying. One of the core mechanics is the classic Kirby concept of absorbing enemies to steal their powers. By absorbing enemies during a race, not only will you get a nifty speed boost, but you'll also get their corresponding ability, letting you blast enemies with balls of fire or slash them with vast sword swipes. Races are fast, chaotic, and surprisingly tough once you turn the AI difficulty up a few notches. Before each race, you'll have the chance to choose one of 20 iconic characters, as well as a vehicle, each of which has its own spread of stats and its own unique quirks. Depending on how you want to play, the combination of rider and vehicle you choose can have some major impacts on your approach to the race. Meta Knight on the Winged Star may not exactly speed through the more grounded tracks like Floria Fields, but stick him on Airtopia Ruins where his penchant for flying can truly shine and you're golden. The fact that your approach to the game is so heavily influenced by the vehicles you use means that there's a surprising amount of skill expression, and plenty of flexibility. Two players can race with entirely opposing strategies and still perform well, as opposed to a game like Mario Kart, in which (at least for the average player) how well you perform is determined by how well you can drift and how lucky you g…

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Wicked: For Good review – Oz saga conclusion will satisfy its extensive army of devotees
type: item
date: 2025-11-18T17:00:32.000Z
creator: James Mottram
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are back in top, lung-busting form in another wondrous, multi-colour extravaganza.
encoded: After last year’s Wicked: Part I, we’re back for some more Ozploitation. Jon M Chu’s two-part adaptation has already been a wild ride, tapping into the perennial enthusiasm for the long-running stage show by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, which itself came inspired both by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel and, of course, Hollywood Golden Age musical The Wizard of Oz. Part I conjured a healthy $756 million global box office, followed by ten Oscar nominations and two wins. There’s no reason to think Wicked: For Good won’t perform the same trick, or better it, with Chu bringing events to a rousing close. While he infuses enthusiasm into every frame, the same can be said for his leading ladies. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are back in top, lung-busting form as, respectively, the pink-hued Glinda the Good and Elphaba, the green-skinned witch who has been cast out of Oz, thanks to the machinations of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, wickedly charming as ever), the ultimately carney-man. Now in exile, the demonised Elphaba’s name has been stained by the Wizard, in league with her one-time tutor, the former Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, still wearing that delicious Mr Whippy ice-cream hair-do). The slightly vapid Glinda, meanwhile, thinks they need to be trademarking the word "good", while she’s also caught up in preparations for her impending wedding to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who has been charged with capturing Elphaba. Early on, we see her deftly flying her broomstick and causing disruption as workers build the famed Yellow Brick Road – and that won’t be the only reference to The Wizard of Oz. Wicked: For Good weaves around events of the 1939 movie, as a certain house from Kansas comes tumbling from the sky. Chu, wisely, never makes this about Dorothy, Toto and the others, but rather places them in the backdrop – a move that respectfully doesn’t trample on the memory of the iconic star of the original, Judy Garland. There are…

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The Mighty Nein review: Critical Role level up with magical new adventure
type: item
date: 2025-11-17T16:00:18.000Z
creator: Nicola Austin
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Review
description: The Wildemount adventures begin as Critical Roles expands its animated universe.
encoded: Critters can once again delve into the world of Exandria with the long-awaited adaptation of the nerdy-ass voice actors’ most viewed – and undoubtedly most beloved – live-action tabletop role-playing campaign, The Mighty Nein. The animated version of their second live-streamed games has long been on the wishlist of fans following the release of The Legend of Vox Machina, and it’s certainly been quite the wait since the show’s announcement back in January 2023. Spanning over 550 hours and six major story arcs across three and a half years, there’s plenty of source material for the Critical Role gang and Titmouse, Inc to sink their (mimic) teeth into, with at least two seasons on the way. The team has evidently taken on board viewer feedback about TLOVM’s rushed pacing, with the first season of The Mighty Nein starting from a session-zero perspective – laying the groundwork for this brand-new collection of complex characters. Set around 20 years after the events of The Legend of Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein unfolds on the continent of Wildemount, on the brink of war. Political tensions are at breaking point between the two powerful nations of the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty. Drawn together by a tragic event – and seemingly by circumstance – the “motley group of assholes" find themselves at the centre of a major play for power, as a powerful arcane relic known as The Beacon falls into dangerous hands. The group of fugitives and outcasts attempt to band together to expose the false flag that’s been set in motion, and in turn, help save the realm from all-out war. The adventuring party has seriously levelled up with a treasure trove of arcane magic – there are brand new spells, new powers and new feats this time round. Unlike their more stereotypical predecessors, this band of misfits consists of a more intriguing collection of classes and species. There’s the utterly chaotic Tiefling cleric Jester (Laura Bailey) and her travelling companion Fjord Stone (Travi…

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Keeper review: An unsettling, compelling but ultimately unsatisfying chiller from Oz Perkins
type: item
date: 2025-11-14T15:02:55.000Z
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: The best bits are frightening, memorable and distinctive but the plot reveals don't exactly hold up to scrutiny.
encoded: Modern love meets ancient evil in Keeper, a folk horror-hybrid from Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins. This is his second chiller out this year after solid Stephen King adaptation The Monkey and it’s a far more ambitious offering, though for all Keeper’s flair it doesn’t always hit the mark. Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany stars as the inscrutable Liz, a city-girl artist, who is taking a break with her physician boyfriend Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland – son of Donald Sutherland, half-brother of Kiefer) in his plush cabin in the woods. They’ve been together a year and she’s very happy, apparently (tell your face that!), but suspicion runs deep between the two, and being stuck in the wilderness in a lodge full of tall glass windows with no blinds, doors with no locks and no privacy anywhere, isn’t helping. Add in weird cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) and his Eastern European girlfriend Minka (Eden Weiss) (she’s from one of the “-ainias”, we’re told) and it’s a recipe for tension and distress for already skittish Liz. Elemental imagery including frequent overlays of rushing water and screaming women suggest something bigger than relationship anxiety is occurring here. Exactly what won’t be revealed until the exposition-heavy third act, and even then it doesn’t entirely hold up to examination. She-Hulk star Maslany has a lot of heavy lifting to do here and she copes admirably, bringing an occasional jolt of much-needed humour – she knows she’s in a horror film – but Sutherland as Malcolm, who has a tough job anyway with clunky dialogue and bizarre character beats in Nick Lepard’s uneven script, isn’t quite able to convincingly carry off the required mix of lover/doctor/enigma. And as a couple the two don’t gel at all. There’s a mid section plot line that means Malcolm is not even there for a chunk of the action which is, perhaps tellingly, the most unsettling part of the film, leaving Liz alone to handle her paranoia, intrusions from Darren and increasingly …

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The Beast in Me review: An embarrassing blunder for 'Peak TV' icons
type: item
date: 2025-11-13T08:01:45.000Z
creator: David Craig
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Netflix
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: Netflix's latest dud marks a low point for Emmy winners Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys.
encoded: If you needed any more evidence that the golden age of television is well and truly over, look only to how its mighty have fallen. The Beast in Me unites three actors whose work represents major pillars of the 'Peak TV' era – Claire Danes (Homeland), Matthew Rhys (The Americans) and Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) – but renders them all somewhat laughable. You might remember that Saturday Night Live (back when that was worth watching, too) staged a savage viral parody of Danes's Homeland performance back in 2013, enlisting Anne Hathaway to play CIA agent Carrie Mathison at her most hysterical. It's hard not to be reminded of that during The Beast in Me, which sees Danes constantly amped up to 11, while co-stars Rhys and Banks chew the scenery until there's nothing left but a damp pile of mulch. The story begins when real estate tycoon Niles Jarvis (Rhys) moves into the wealthy neighbourhood of author Aggie Wiggs (Danes), who is struggling to crack the follow-up to her celebrated best-selling debut. It isn't long before Niles becomes a subject of interest, as the super-rich, hyper-aggressive businessman is plagued by unproven accusations that he murdered his missing ex-wife. Is there more to the story than meets the eye? Aggie herself is wracked with guilt over the death of her young son in a car accident that occurred while she was driving, causing her marriage to disintegrate and her world to become much, much smaller. That profound, agonising grief (plus intimidation from this enigmatic new neighbour) is the catalyst for an extreme turn from Danes, in which almost every line of dialogue is shakily blurted out in a state of mild to moderate panic. Though you wouldn't know it from this review, I am actually quite a fan of Danes's work – from Homeland to 2022's highly underrated Fleishman is in Trouble – but even admirers will be quickly desensitised to her intense emoting here. Equally, The Americans is one of my favourite shows of all time, so I am keenly aware of ho…

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The Running Man review: Glen Powell proves a charismatic hero in Edgar Wright remake
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T19:00:22.000Z
creator: Jeremy Aspinall
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: Wright delivers plenty of kinetic set-pieces in this Stephen King adaptation – but the plot's episodic nature leads to some lulls in momentum.
encoded: On-the-rise action man Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters) takes on a role originally played on screen by his Expendables 3 co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger in this explosive, big-budget remake of the 1987 thriller. Set in a dystopian, totalitarian United States where violent television programmes have become the opium of the people, the original film was based on a 1982 novel by Stephen King (under his Richard Bachman pseudonym), but co-writer/director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Last Night in Soho) has opted to stay even closer to the source material for his adaptation. So, instead of Arnie’s Ben Richards being a cop coerced to participate in the game, Powell’s Richards is a working-class Everyman living in an overcrowded slum, whose frustration with his inability to hold down a job and look after his waitress wife and their ailing toddler forces him to volunteer for the financially lucrative if lethal Running Man TV show. Avoid capture for 30 days and $1 billion is the ultimate reward. However, contestants are also hunted across the United States by an elite team of assassins led by a merciless masked mystery man. The action is televised to an audience happy to dob them in to the authorities for a slice of the financial pie, all under the auspices of ever-smirking network CEO and smug puppet-master Dan Killian (Josh Brolin). Read more: Dragonfly review: Brenda Blethyn is at her very best in frequently heartbreaking film Die My Love review: Jennifer Lawrence is superb in this absorbing and quietly devastating drama Killian and motor-mouthed MC Bobby T (Colman Domingo) consider Richards a ratings winner, especially when he continues to evade his murderous pursuers and their ever-present drone cameras, and then survives by the skin of his teeth when they do get close, as in one fiery encounter at a down-at-heel Boston hotel. However, could Richards’s resilience and apoplectic defiance inspire something other than bloodlust from viewers and threaten their bes…

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Now You See Me: Now You Don't review – A disposable but fitfully fun reunion
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T17:00:16.000Z
creator: Kevin Harley
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: The script for this threequel is rarely as clever as it thinks it is and hardly ever as fresh as it should be.
encoded: Combining legacy characters with a new trio of younger illusionists, the third film in this action-comedy series is a busily disposable – if fitfully fun – combination of reunion gig and new-generation franchise spruce-up. Director Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Uncharted) replaces predecessors Louis Leterrier and Jon M Chu, stepping in to juggle the expected ingredients of a tangled heist, some tricksy set pieces, a couple of crowd-pleasing cameos and splashes of globe-trotting glitz. Yet as the crowded cast grapple with the script’s patchy supplies of sparkle and finesse, it can be hard to care which way the plot’s cards end up landing. The opening piles deceit on deceit with a show seemingly involving the returning Four Horsemen, star magicians whose ranks number cocky frontman J Dallas Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), hypnotist Merritt (Woody Harrelson), escapologist Henley (Isla Fisher) and card-sharp Jack (Dave Franco), reunited after almost 10 years away. A rug-pulling segue then introduces a fresh-faced gang of magicians, namely Bosco Leroy (Dominic Sessa), June (Ariana Greenblatt) and Charlie (Justice Smith). When Atlas infiltrates their secret hideout to reprimand them for imitating his crew, he also recruits them. Their mission, should they choose, etc? To help engineer a diamond heist and take down a crime syndicate fronted by Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a woman whose callous activities, we’re told, “make the world’s worst people possible". Read more: Dragonfly review: Brenda Blethyn is at her very best in frequently heartbreaking film Die My Love review: Jennifer Lawrence is superb in this absorbing and quietly devastating drama The film’s prologue tries to big up the Horsemen’s comeback to a degree that might seem excessive even if Elvis were resurrected. While it’s hard to share the excitement at their return after the shallow romp of 2016’s Now You See Me 2, a nifty on-screen switcheroo at least revitalises the franchise’s mild pleasures: watching charming…

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Dragonfly review: Brenda Blethyn is at her very best in frequently heartbreaking film
type: item
date: 2025-11-05T14:25:47.000Z
creator: James Mottram
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: This new film from writer/director Paul Andrew Williams is a bleak but captivating study of loneliness and social care set in contemporary Britain.
encoded: Two actors, among the very best of their respective generations, come together for Dragonfly, a bleak but captivating study of loneliness and social care set in contemporary Britain. Brenda Blethyn plays Elsie, an ageing pensioner who lives in a semi-detached bungalow. Elsie has been a widow for 13 years and has one son, John (Jason Watkins), who rarely visits. The only people she regularly sees are the carousel of care workers who bustle in to wash her and fix her tea before scooting off to their next appointment. Next door is Coleen (Andrea Riseborough). She lives alone with her bullish-looking dog, an animal she loves dearly but barely has control over. Her hair scraped back, her skin is pale and, despite her protests to the contrary, she looks far older than her 35 years. Living on benefits, she slouches on the sofa all day watching TV, sinking into a malaise. But gradually, she finds company when she offers to buy provisions for Elsie from the corner shop. From this little acorn, an oak tree of friendship grows, as these two lost souls find solace together. Writing and directing is British filmmaker Paul Andrew Williams, who adds yet another intriguing addition to his body-of-work, one that kickstarted with the visceral London to Brighton almost two decades ago. Williams errs on the darker side in his films, as his last movie, the 2021 hallucinatory revenge tale Bull shows, and Dragonfly is no different. The companionship that Elsie and Coleen conjure is destined to take a disturbing twist, although it’s likely you won’t see it coming until it’s too late. The film toys with social realism, albeit on Williams’s terms. The low-key electronic score by Raffertie, who previously scored Oscar-nominated horror The Substance, occasionally punctuates unsettling shots of Elsie’s home, empty hallways and so on that suggest how little she has left in her life. Shooting in natural light, there’s a gloom that envelops this film, made more poignant when Elsie suddenly cries o…

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Robin Hood review: MGM+’s reimagining eventually finds its target with Sean Bean as Sheriff
type: item
date: 2025-11-02T06:00:28.000Z
creator: Jess Bacon
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: Sean Bean takes on the iconic role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in MGM+’s reimagining of Robin Hood.
encoded: Robin Hood has been retold across countless mediums, most recently in Disney’s family-friendly adventure Robin and the Hoods. Now, John Glenn and Jonathan English have reimagined the tale as an origin story with psychological depth and mythological and historical undertones — a portrait of a man fighting for justice under oppressive rule in MGM +'s Robin Hood. Stripped of their lands and ancestral homes, the Saxons struggle to adjust to their new status as outlaws after the Norman conquest of the Middle Ages. Their usurpers sit comfortably in their manors, while Rob (Jack Patten) and his parents, Joan (Anastasia Griffin) and Hugh (Tom Mison), are turned out of their home and into a modest hut in the forest. The series begins in Rob’s childhood, when the Normans first seize power, exploring the devastating effect this has — particularly on his father. Robbed of his title, position, and home, Hugh’s dangerous rage puts the family at risk, as his wife tries to temper his fury for the sake of survival. Driven by pride and ego, the opening episode dissects Hugh’s shortcomings as a man forced to kneel before a king and authority he does not recognise — a conflict Rob will later inherit. Most crucially, Hugh introduces his son to the bow and teaches him to control his emotions in order to always hit his mark. Rob’s relationship with his father is pivotal to this adaptation, and it’s a testament to Mison’s performance that the full weight of that bond — and its undoing — lands within the first hour. His father’s death becomes a powerful motivator, shaking Rob from his submissive slumber and igniting the rebellion that defines him. Read more: I'm an expert historian and here's how accurate Robin Hood on MGM+ is to real events Sean Bean is a ruthless Sheriff of Nottingham in dramatic trailer for new Robin Hood Heavily influenced by Vikings (and, at times, Game of Thrones), this is unmistakably an adult watch. Graphic sex scenes, power plays, and gruesome tableaus are framed t…

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Midsomer Murders on stage review: A killer debut for the classic crime drama
type: item
date: 2025-10-30T23:00:05.000Z
creator: Michael Sidhu
subject: Going Out
subject: Reviews
subject: Tickets
subject: Review
description: DCI Barnaby is back on the case in this thrilling stage production.
encoded: 28 years after it first launched on our TV screens, Midsomer Murders makes a thrilling stage debut. Retaining all the heart of the beloved TV show, writer and director Guy Unsworth welcomes you to the county of Midsomer with a brand-new look at the episode and book that started it all: The Killings at Badger’s Drift. The play takes place when well-loved spinster Emily Simpson is found dead and her friend Lucy Bellringer refuses to accept it was an accident. DCI Tom Barnaby and Sergeant Gavin Troy are called in to investigate, uncovering a world of hidden passions, long-buried secrets and deadly rivalries. Leading the cast is Daniel Casey, the original DS Gavin Troy, who has been promoted to DCI Tom Barnaby. In an interview with Radiotimes.com, Casey admitted feeling a little “daunted” and “a little bit trepidatious” about the role, but he takes on the mantel left by John Nettles with ease. Casey brings a quiet authority and warmth in the part that helps to ground the play. He’s the calming presence in the manicured wilderness of Midsomer, giving the audience a steady guide throughout. Surrounding him is an assortment of eclectic characters, all expertly played by a handful of supporting cast; most of whom are playing two or three roles. It was quite a surprise to realise how few actors there were when the show ended. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/10/Daniel-Casey-Barnaby-James-Bradwell-Troy-Rupert-Sadler-Dennis-Rainbird-in-The-Killings-at-Badgers-Drift-Manuel-Harlan-062a01f.jpg" width="5000" height="3333" alt="Daniel Casey (Barnaby), James Bradwell (Troy) & Rupert Sadler (Dennis Rainbird) in The Killings at Badger's Drift, ©Manuel Harlan" title="Daniel Casey (Barnaby), James Bradwell (Troy) & Rupert Sadler (Dennis Rainbird) in The Killings at Badger's Drift, ©Manuel Harlan" /> Barnaby’s protégé, DS Troy, is now played by James Bradwell; delivering the same bad-driving and conclusion jumping fans of the show would be expecti…

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Football Manager 26 review: FM26 is one step forward, two steps back
type: item
date: 2025-10-30T16:00:01.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Review
description: FM26 feels like a strong foundation to build on, but for now, the switch to Unity hasn't paid off.
encoded: You don't know what you've got until it's gone. That sentiment very much sums up my feelings about Football Manager 26. A yearly game like FM needs to evolve – of course it does – and the switch to the Unity engine promised to be the jolt in the arm that FM deserved, if perhaps it didn't necessarily need it. A technological leap forward for the series, Unity would bring the graphical update fans had been clamouring for, as well as lay the foundations for a new era for the series. Following a chaotic two years in which FM25 had to be scrapped, FM26 is finally here. The graphics may have been updated, those foundations laid, but has all that trouble and strife resulted in a better game? For me, sadly not. Let's start off with the good, shall we? Those graphics are indeed a huge step up for the game. Gone are the repetitive blank slate players of the past, replaced with more detailed and lively ones, replete with animations that feel far more like you're watching a real football match. Now and then, that added realism does swerve a touch into the uncanny valley, when a particularly odd animation or player decision occurs, but for the most part, it's hard to argue that SI hasn't done a bang-up job here. I will miss the option to take a grainy webcam photo so that the game can make my manager's face a grotesque baby man, but I'll let it slide. Another great addition is how tactics have been changed, now giving players the option to choose players positions and roles both in and out of possession. In practice, there are still some exploits that need tweaking, but it's a nice extra bit of flexibility, even if I do currently hate all of the new role names. We also finally have the addition of women's football, which has been implemented excellently, and I can't wait to see more leagues added into the game in future years so I can manage my beloved hometown of Rugby Borough. Unfortunately, when it comes to new changes, that's about it for the good. That, of course, begs the …

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The Witcher season 4 review: Liam Hemsworth's Geralt falls flat as Netflix flagship fantasy loses its magic
type: item
date: 2025-10-30T08:01:48.000Z
creator: Nicola Austin
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Comment
subject: Netflix
subject: Review
description: Will Henry Cavill’s departure prove the final nail in the coffin for the "Witcherverse"?
encoded: Following the shock news that leading man – and self-confessed Witcher fan – Henry Cavill was hanging up Geralt’s swords and wolf medallion back in 2022, fans of Netflix’s flagship fantasy series were understandably left reeling. The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth was shortly announced as the new the White Wolf for the final two seasons. But with huge shoes to fill, as many considered Cavill’s portrayal of the beloved monster hunter definitive, the controversial announcement certainly left a dark cloud over the project. Casting concerns aside, there’s no denying that the writers have long played fast and loose with the source material in season 4, taking plenty of creative liberties with certain character arcs and events – much to the frustration of those who love Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and the CD Projekt games. While the third outing attempted to right the ship with a more faithful adaptation, season 4 faces even bigger challenges. Can Netflix win over returning viewers with the introduction of fan favourite characters such as Regis (Laurence Fishburne) and Leo Bonhart – or Cavill’s departure prove the final nail in the coffin for the "Witcherverse"? Picking up after the devastating (and Continent-altering) events of the Thanedd Coup, season 4 sees Geralt (Hemsworth), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri (Freya Allan) once again scattered across the war-ravaged Continent. The former lion cub of Cintra embraces her “Falka” persona among the rebel gang of outlaws known as the Rats, while Geralt embarks on yet another (!) rescue quest, forming a new found fellowship of misfits along the way. Meanwhile, Yennefer seeks to unite the remaining sorceresses for a final showdown with Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), the mage who's secretly been pulling the strings all along. View Green Video on the source website Thankfully, the latest instalment isn’t split into multiple parts – as that month-long gap between volumes last season certainly hurt the pacing. Netflix has instead op…

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Hazbin Hotel season 2 review: Hell's most ambitious project has a score to settle with naysayers
type: item
date: 2025-10-27T16:00:01.000Z
creator: Emma Flint
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: Review
description: A power vacuum, a traumatised princess, and a defeated heaven is the perfect storm for the Vees' ambitions.
encoded: Renovated to near perfection, the Hazbin Hotel is open again for business in season 2. It’s been over a year since the original hotel was decimated; the fierce battle with Adam and the exorcists nearly broke Charlie (Erika Henningsen) and her band of misfits. Yet, they survived, albeit by a hair. But hell’s redemption remains a giant unknown, especially now that the overlords have scattered to the four winds, and with Vox (Christian Borle) attempting to monopolise on the chaos Charlie has wrought. Everything hangs in the balance, and not just in relation to the characters’ predicament. The first season of Hazbin Hotel was met with mixed reviews from critics, and while its fandom is fiercely loyal, season 2 has something to prove. Never one to shy away from the critics, Vivienne Medrano’s creation comes out swinging, delivering a musical extravaganza that doubles down on being unashamedly chaotic. More often than not, the anarchy of the show succeeds, largely due to the fact that it follows its own rules. However, some mistakes from the first season remain, potentially jeopardising the cult classic status the show has claimed. Compared to its sister show, Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel played it safe. There was still the adult humour, musical numbers, and the oppression of hell juxtaposed against entertaining hijinks, but Hazbin Hotel was tamer. For a new animated show leaving behind its YouTube pilot and pivoting to Prime Video, it made sense. And it paid off. Now that security has been assured, the safety net has been cast off and Medrano has allowed those fever-dream-esque traits from Helluva Boss to permeate Hazbin Hotel. Much like Helluva Boss did in its second season, Hazbin Hotel hits its stride, delivering a story that continues to blur the lines between conventional good versus evil, with a threat looming large much closer to home for Charlie and co. The growing malevolence of the Vees – hell’s equivalent to the Heathers – was established early on in season 1. T…

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The Outer Worlds 2 review: A game that begs to be played
type: item
date: 2025-10-23T16:20:36.000Z
creator: Rob Leane
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Review
description: These worlds are well worth exploring.
encoded: Society is run by farcical corporations that only care about the bottom line – in The Outer Worlds 2, that is. This satirical science-fiction roleplaying game allows you to create your own character and stumble into a conspiracy of galactic importance, where you're just as likely to chuckle at an unexpected joke as you are to feel your adrenalin pumping in an explosive gunfight. You'll collect colourful companions for your spaceship as you travel between planets, unravel the plot and pull your hair out over massively important decisions. With all-new characters and locations, newcomers to the series are very much welcome here. If you did play the first game in the franchise, you might be surprised to jump into a sequel that feels totally unrelated to the first game. Your brand new character is thrown straight into a high-stakes mission, and it’s not long before you’re unleashed on a planet with almost total freedom to wander about and do whatever you want. As you explore the manifold wide open areas of the game, which are rendered beautifully (if somewhat overstuffed with violent creatures), you’ll do all sorts of random tasks, from solving murders to resolving workplace disputes and everything in between. In typical Fallout fashion, it’s not long before you’re given some difficult choices to make and warring factions to choose from. Things can go very badly wrong, and you will be held accountable for decisions that you make along the way. Even something that seems noble, like saving some innocent people, can backfire on you in major ways. However, in the first few hours of the game, the writing doesn’t do an amazing job of communicating who the different factions are and why exactly they are warring. And, trust me, I was really trying to take in all the dialogue. (As more of a visual learner, reams of text is rarely the way I understand things!) To start with, I was worried that the overarching space opera story was lacking anything engaging. It felt like the space…

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It: Welcome to Derry review – Blood-soaked prequel has its frights, and its flaws
type: item
date: 2025-10-22T16:00:27.000Z
creator: Chezelle Bingham
subject: Fantasy
subject: TV
subject: NOW
subject: Review
subject: Sky
description: Pennywise is back – this time, in a prequel series.
encoded: This review is based on the first five episodes of It: Welcome to Derry. As a lifelong Stephen King fan – with over 30 of his books in my collection and almost every film adaptation watched – you can probably imagine how excited I was when I heard that HBO was creating a prequel series to the It film series. A potential origin story of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, with Bill Skarsgård himself set to return? Yes please. The 2010s It movies, while obviously not perfect, always held something of a soft spot in my heart. Maybe it's because of the stellar cast, led as children by the likes of Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell and Finn Wolfhard, and as adults by Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader, who managed to tap into King's iconic original universe in a way that was so wonderfully unsettling – from screaming in blood-soaked bathrooms to investigating monster-infested sewers. I went into It: Welcome to Derry with high hopes, and while the pay-off was far from a flop, it didn't quite reach the heights of its predecessors. The series follows a similar premise to the original films, only this time set in the 1960s. A kid goes missing and a bunch of other kids try to work out what's happened to him, only to discover that a certain ancient alien presenting most commonly in the form of a dancing clown is behind everything. Where this series differs, though, is with its adult characters. Several of them are the parents of the Derry kids, who also find themselves embroiled in their children's nightmares, while others – including a group of marines – are trying to end Pennywise for good. It's a strong set-up. And there's certainly a lot to enjoy in the series. The opening sequence, for example, is particularly stand-out. Without spoiling anything, it's remarkably nauseating, atmospheric and easily one of the best scenes across the first five episodes – making a solid return back to the monstrous horror that made the town of Derry so terrifying in the first place. The show…

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Jurassic World Evolution 3 review: It's good to be back, but it's not perfect
type: item
date: 2025-10-21T14:00:22.000Z
creator: Rob Leane
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Review
description: The game gets deeper, but at what cost?
encoded: It’s good to be back, but Jurassic World Evolution 3 isn’t a perfect game. And that’s coming from a long-time fan of this dinosaur-stuffed theme park management series. When Frontier Developments stepped away from their fossil-dusting kits to make Planet Coaster 2 a few years ago, I feared the worst. I thought the Jurassic World Evolution franchise was dead in the water like the victims of a Mosasaurs attack. With that in mind, it’s a cause for celebration that JWE has returned with a whole new game, outlasting the original Jurassic World movie series (which has now been relaunched with a new cast including Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey). Let’s start with the movie connections. While Owen Grady (Chris Pratt’s role from the films) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) were key characters in the campaign last time, with Howard even lending her voice to the game, this new release only refers to them in passing. On the upside, Jeff Goldblum is still present and correct, voicing Ian Malcolm once again. The good doctor constantly quibbles and questions whether any of this is a good idea, and Goldblum’s inimitable line deliveries really add a layer of fun authenticity to proceedings. View Green Video on the source website The story, set after Jurassic World Dominion, tasks you with travelling to sites around the globe and helping dinosaurs in various different ways. In some places, you’ll find a good old-fashioned theme park. In others, a scientific project or a breeding programme that needs your assistance. Speaking of breeding, that’s one of the big new upgrades this time around, and it makes the gameplay so much deeper and more engaging than before. In previous entries, once your dinosaurs were happy in their enclosure, you could leave them alone for huge stretches of time without anything going wrong. In this new game, if you have a breeding pair and you give them a nest, you will eventually see a juvenile dinosaur coming to life in your midst. Not only is …

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Lazarus review: This supernatural mish-mash should've stayed a cut-and-dried thriller
type: item
date: 2025-10-21T13:00:41.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Amazon Prime Video
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: Coben and Danny Brocklehurst team up again for a new Prime Video series that's frantic and frustrating.
encoded: The Harlan Coben book-to-TV pipeline has become quite the well-oiled machine over the years. While his various Netflix shows may not be the stuff of five-star critical reviews, fans love them, they're produced at pace and they satiate that thriller itch. What more can you really ask for as a casual TV viewer? Now, Coben has turned his attention to creating another Prime Video series, partnering once again with BAFTA-winning Brassic creator Danny Brocklehurst – the pair have worked together on the likes of Safe, The Stranger and are set to bring us another Netflix show, Run Away, with yet another star-studded cast. But while it's easy to wax lyrical about the unquestionable success of Coben's expansive television universe, his latest offering, Lazarus, will likely be forgotten almost as soon as you've finished watching it. The series follows Sam Claflin as Laz, a forensic psychiatrist who has gone about his life suppressing his emotions by throwing himself into work. That all catches up to him when, one day, he receives the tragic news that his father, Dr L (Bill Nighy), has died by suicide. That in itself would be enough to deal with, but this being a Coben thriller, there's clearly more to the story... We see Laz become subject to a series of strange experiences once he sets foot in his father's office, originally in the pursuit of answers surrounding his death. These apparitions see Laz take the form of his father in these visions, witnessing how Dr L's various therapy sessions and personal moments played out. They give insight into his patients, their life problems and also pave the way for some cold-case investigations. With his childhood best friend working as a detective sergeant, Laz starts ingratiating himself into various cases, discovering bodies and eventually having to come clean about the fact that he's seeing ghosts. The people around Laz seem to take it in their stride, though, begging the question of whether Laz has demonstrated similar behaviours pr…

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Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere review – is the biopic worth a cinema trip?
type: item
date: 2025-10-20T10:29:06.000Z
creator: Terry Staunton
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: This biopic works best when its sharper focus is on a troubled thirty-something burying himself in the creation of what would become one of his most celebrated records.
encoded: Early on in Deliver Me From Nowhere, the man of the hour is shopping for a new set of wheels when the smooth-talking dealer tells him "I do know who you are". Bruce Springsteen, checking out the dashboard cassette player on a sporty little number, shrugs and says: “Well, that makes one of us." It’s an awkwardly glib exchange, unnecessarily reminding viewers they’re watching an account of a musician familiar to millions struggling with his own identity, and an example of the weak dialogue that occasionally threatens to derail an otherwise solid drama. We’ve been here before, and not that long ago; it’s less than a year since the release of A Complete Unknown and Timothee Chalamet’s Bob Dylan navigating an equally soul-searching creative crossroads. As voices of their generations, Bob and Bruce are cut from not entirely dissimilar cloth, so it’s inevitable that fans of either or both will indulge in studious games of compare/contrast between the two offerings. One intriguing difference is that while the earlier film is inspired by events leading up to Dylan infamously "going electric," The Boss biopic largely concerns itself with Springsteen doing practically the opposite. We first see Jeremy Allen White’s Springsteen drenched in sweat during the closing number of the last show of a lengthy arena tour to promote his and the E Street Band’s 1980 album The River, Bruce’s first US chart-topper and the global breakthrough that would go on to sell seven million copies worldwide. All is not well, though, as rapidly escalating fame sits uncomfortably on his shoulders, further scratching an itch to dial down the bombast and get back to basics – it’s time to buy a primitive tape machine and retreat to a weather-beaten cottage in semi-rural New Jersey. That, in a nutshell, is the central theme of the source material, author Warren Zanes's acclaimed book of the same name about the making of Springsteen’s next LP, the low-key and decidedly lo-fi Nebraska. Consequently, the film s…

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Black Phone 2 review: Gripping sequel embraces gruesomeness and the paranormal
type: item
date: 2025-10-17T09:38:31.000Z
creator: Jeremy Aspinall
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: Ethan Hawke returns as the Grabber in Scott Derrickson's follow-up to his 2022 horror film.
encoded: After watching race-against-time retro-horror The Black Phone (2022), you may wonder how a sequel is possible. Ethan Hawke’s prolific, masked child-killer “The Grabber” had been “dispatched” by latest teenage victim Finney (Mason Thames), thanks to supernatural aid from a phone line to the ghosts of the dead, helpfully situated in the boy’s soundproofed basement prison. However, when it comes to movie monsters and celluloid serial killers, it’s hard to keep a “good” fiend down, especially if a low-budget flick is a box-office hit (over $160 million worldwide). After all, the slasher antics of the likes of Michael Myers (Halloween), Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th), Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Ghostface (Scream) spawned lucrative long-running franchises, if with diminishing critical returns. However, writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C Robert Cargill have upped the supernatural ante for the sequel with ghoulish and gory aplomb. They achieve this by taking the original film’s characters (and cast) out of small-town suburbia and stranding them at an isolated, blizzard-hit Christian youth camp where boys had vanished mysteriously back in the 1950s. It’s 1982, four years after Finney escaped from becoming another grim statistic, but his ordeal has left him traumatised and prone to violence, much like his alcoholic dad (Jeremy Davies) became after the suicide of Finney’s mother. Meanwhile, younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), whose dreams helped to save her sibling in 1978, is finding her psychic ability (inherited from mum) more of a curse than a gift, and is sleepwalking around town not knowing what is real, a nightmare or a prophetic vision. Indeed, it's a dream about a frozen lake – and its mutilated ghostly denizens – that inspires Gwen, Ernesto (younger brother of a Grabber victim) and Finney — numbing himself with smoking weed in the hope he’ll stop receiving phone calls from beyond — to go to Alpine Lake Camp. Once there, however,…

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ROG Xbox Ally review: I don't really know who this is for
type: item
date: 2025-10-15T13:00:42.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Review
subject: Tech review
subject: Xbox
description: The ROG Xbox Ally is a solid console in a vacuum, but doesn't offer the value of its competitors.
encoded: In August, I had the chance to try out the ROG Xbox Ally at Gamescom, and I was rather impressed by what I saw in the 10 minutes of Forza Horizon 5 that I was afforded. Two months on, after a few weeks with one in the comfort of my own home, I would be lying if I said that I was not underwhelmed by the console. For the sake of clarity, I want to make clear now that this is a review of the weaker, white ROG Xbox Ally, and not the more powerful, black ROG Xbox Ally X. The Ally retails for £499.99 in the UK ($599.99 in the US), a whole £300 ($400) cheaper than the Ally X, for which you get a weaker CPU and GPU, 16GB RAM instead of 24GB RAM, and 512GB storage compared to 1TB. They represent a collaboration with Xbox and ASUS, rebranding ASUS's existing ROG Ally duo with the Xbox stamp of approval. The clearest example of this is that Armoury Crate, the original Ally's means of tweaking and optimising your device's settings as well as launching games, has been replaced on the latter front by the Xbox App. This thankfully removes the need to use the rather clunky and bloated Armoury Crate as a launcher in favour of the Xbox App, which can detect and launch games from Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net or any other separate launchers you may have. This is a godsend, and aside from a few dodgy interactions where it launched Steam's Big Picture Mode instead of the game I had selected, works like a charm. In tandem with this, we now have a nifty Xbox button on the Xbox Ally which gives you easy access to the App as well as the Xbox Game Bar. Though it takes a touch of getting used to using all of this as your main means of navigating your games, once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze to use, and probably my favourite thing about the console. Unfortunately, that really is about it for what's new, and indeed, what stood out about the console. When it comes to actually playing games, I was rather underwhelmed. I was, of course, not expecting the Ally to be able to comfortably run…

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The Woman in Cabin 10 review: Keira Knightley's whodunnit sinks without a trace
type: item
date: 2025-10-09T15:00:42.000Z
creator: Terry Staunton
subject: Movies
subject: Netflix
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: A look at the talented cast list for this stagnant murder mystery promises riches that never surface.
encoded: The ensemble crime mystery has been a fiction staple since long before Agatha Christie was bulk-buying typewriter ribbons, and is catnip for filmmakers. It enables them to fill the screen with an often starry cast of equally often exaggerated characters, teasing viewers as to which will ultimately be revealed as the culprit – but can there be culprits when there’s no evidence of a crime? Welcome aboard the “superyacht” Aurora Borealis, where investigative journalist Keira Knightley is the square peg in a round hole of mega-rich fellow guests; deep-pocketed donors awaiting an important announcement from their similarly philanthropic hosts Guy Pearce and his terminally ill wife. All’s as it should be for the first few hours of the voyage (although Knightley is slightly irked her ex-boyfriend photographer David Ajala is also a passenger), but when our intrepid reporter hears a scuffle in a neighbouring cabin, followed by the sound what she thinks is a woman being thrown overboard, cats are well and truly among pigeons. However, after raising the alarm so that the crew can carry out a spotlight search of the waters below, she’s informed a head-count shows that everyone is accounted for, and there’s no signs of anything remotely like foul play in the cabin – which nobody was berthing in anyway. The suggestion is floated (ha!) that she’s imagined the melee, especially after her erstwhile beau lets slip details of a trauma from an earlier newspaper assignment, but our Keira is determined to get to the bottom of the puzzle and figure out who knows more than they’re letting on. And who do we have? In addition to smoothie moneybags Pearce and his automaton-like staff, there’s his wife’s hangdog doctor Art Malik, boozy gallery owners David Morrissey and Hannah Waddingham, arrogant alpha male model Daniel Ings, flighty social media starlet Kaya Scodelario, wizened cartoon cut-out rock star Paul Kaye, and taciturn tech genius Christopher Rygh, a big noise in AI and facial-recogn…

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Battlefield 6 review: Old-school Battlefield action
type: item
date: 2025-10-09T15:00:35.000Z
creator: Alex Raisbeck
subject: Gaming
subject: Technology
subject: Review
description: Back on track.
encoded: According to its developers, Battlefield 6 is the game that is going to right the ship and return to the series' roots. After pumping many hours into its campaign and multiplayer across both the review period and open beta, old-school Battlefield is certainly back. Set only a few years in the future, in a world where NATO is crumbling at the hands of private military contractor Pax Armata, the game focuses on the elite marine unit Dagger 1-3, a veritable cog in an all-out global conflict. The campaign's gameplay is about what you would expect. A series of linear missions where you shoot the baddies. At times, it throws in some rather boring stealth sections, but makes up for it with some absolutely fantastic vehicle sections – put me in a tank over crawling through a sewer any day. As for the story itself, the concept for the campaign is excellent – or rather, it could have been. An enfeebled NATO struggling to hold itself together against the overwhelming power of an enormous private military contractor practically begs for critique, whether that is of the impotence of organisations like NATO in the face of real threats, or of the inseparable ties between capitalism and the military-industrial complex that make Lockheed Martin, Palantir, and the potential Pax Armata so inconspicuously powerful. But aside from a few grandiose moments, Battlefield 6's campaign routinely veers away from these more interesting concepts, instead choosing to focus on the melodrama of the crew of Dagger 13. In the end, it's a perfectly serviceable story, and one that I enjoyed by all accounts, but I do feel as if a far better tale was lost in the pursuit of something more generally digestible. Story is all well and good, but for many, Battlefield is about one thing only: the multiplayer. I spent god knows how many hours in the open beta a couple of months ago, and after topping up in the last week or so, these developers have really nailed the classic Battlefield experience. There are no …

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Is The Traitors Live Experience worth it? How to get tickets to this faithful recreation of the BBC series
type: item
date: 2025-10-09T09:00:12.000Z
creator: Olivia Garrett
subject: Going Out
subject: Reviews
subject: Tickets
subject: Review
description: You are not ready for the round table.
encoded: Despite being the best reality TV show for decades, can anyone really explain what makes The Traitors so good? From the Agatha Christie-style sneaking around, to the unhinged reactions that would sit comfortably in any Carry On film, to the ruthless moments of genuine psychological warfare, the show just has it. Well, whatever it is, they've bottled it, and transported it to London for the Traitors Live Experience, a 100% faithful recreation of the BBC series now open in Covent Garden. Whether you're a die-hard Diane fan or more of a casual viewer for when the January blues hit, the experience is a perfect match, down to the dramatic pop covers and dead-pan attitude of its tweed-clad host. Two members of the RadioTimes.com team were invited to try the experience and I, dear reader, was selected as a Traitor – so you can trust me when I say the tension on the show is real. The experience takes place in groups of 10 to 14 and allows players to compete in a range of mini-games in order to earn "money" and gain a higher spot on the overall league table. The challenges range from memory tasks to treasure hunts and present the players with a special chance to earn shields that grant immunity from murder. Although simple and mainly isolated to the one room, these tasks were fun and accessible for everyone and still managed to pose a challenge, especially when it came to working with people you'd only just met. As in the show however, all this paled in comparison to the dreaded round table, where as a team you must accuse and ultimately banish a fellow player. As a Traitor, I can say it was genuinely uncomfortable trying to come up with reasons to banish people I knew, for a fact, were Faithful, all the while attempting to stay under the radar as the group diminished. Although there is definitely nowhere near as much drama and animosity as on TV, the stress of discussion and voting is palpable, very much helped by the suspenseful tones of our host. After banishment, it is o…

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Tron: Ares review – A beautifully designed but slightly hollow blockbuster
type: item
date: 2025-10-07T16:00:29.000Z
creator: James Mottram
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: At times watching this sequel feels like stepping into the future – but it requires a much-needed humour injection.
encoded: "We are a hundred per cent expendable." So says Jared Leto’s Ares, the military-grade AI soldier at the heart of this third film in Disney’s Tron franchise. No doubt Leto and the acting community at large are probably feeling that this week following the unveiling of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which has left Hollywood up in arms. Still, that development is an unexpected, if weird, publicity boost for Tron: Ares, a beautifully designed, if slightly hollow, blockbuster. With its landmark visual effects, the first Tron (1982) sucked Jeff Bridges’ programmer Kevin Flynn into the mainframe ‘grid’ of the company he once worked for, a world where computer programs appear as living human entities. The franchise went back online with 2010’s Tron: Legacy, a disappointing sequel distinguished by Daft Punk’s thunderous score. Fifteen years on from that, Tron is back – with a twist. This time, the computer programs come into our world. Evan Peters plays Julian Dillinger, grandson of David Warner’s character from the original. Drunk with power, he’s recently taken over the Dillinger company from his mother Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson, in a thankless role), as he looks to create the ultimate security software. Ares, along with several other cohorts, live inside the ‘grid’, but can materialise in our world. “Military AI is the future,” Dillinger beams to his investors, who aren’t aware of one fatal flaw in his plan. After 29 minutes, these AI beings evaporate. Dillinger is seeking what’s called "the permanence code" to change all that, but he’s not alone. Over at ENCOM – the company that Flynn once worked for and Dillinger’s grandfather unscrupulously ran – rival tech genius Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is doing the same. Whoever finds it first will have quite the breakthrough on their hands. Peters, who famously played real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix show, is of course the unhinged villain of the piece, only interested in profit and gain. The film comes directed by Joa…

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Murder Before Evensong review: Grantchester meets Agatha Christie in this cosy crime drama
type: item
date: 2025-10-07T06:00:39.000Z
creator: Megan Bull
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Channel 5
subject: Review
description: Reverend Richard Coles's bestseller gets the TV treatment, with Harry Potter's Matthew Lewis and New Tricks star Amanda Redman on fine form.
encoded: Cosy crime is the TV trend that's here to stay. Offering light escapism, all the nation needs is an amateur sleuth with a barrage of compelling mysteries to solve, and my dear Watson, the game is afoot! With Bookish, The Marlow Murder Club and pretty much any Agatha Christie adaptation proving popular, 5's Murder Before Evensong is a welcome addition to the genre, and I suspect Matthew Lewis has a multi-season contract in his future. Based on Reverend Richard Coles's bestselling novel, Murder Before Evensong has all the trappings of a classic murder mystery. A charming English village full of busybodies, where long-running rivalries, secrets and betrayals lurk beneath the surface? Check. An unlikely hero on the trail of a methodical killer? Check. Sure to resonate with fans of ITV's Grantchester, as well as Agatha Christie stans, Murder Before Evensong is set in the fictional village of Champton during the 1980s. Introducing viewers to Canon Daniel Clement, Matthew Lewis steps into the lead role with expert precision, imbuing the character with an innate softness and sincerity that has you rooting for him. Tasked with keeping the peace, Daniel is pushed and pulled between the wants and needs of his fierce and overbearing mother Audrey (Amanda Redman), not to mention the clergy and the many demanding members of his local Parish. So, when he and his adorable dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda, discover the body of a man stabbed to death in the church, Daniel's life is thrown into chaos. With too many loose threads to count, Murder Before Evensong succeeds as a gripping whodunit, with every one of Champton's residents treated as a potential suspect. Was it the jealous journalist at the local newspaper? Or the mysterious groundskeeper with a criminal past? The possibilities feel like a never-ending Cluedo board. Getting off to an intriguing but somewhat slow start, the first two episodes delve into the power dynamics and rivalries at play in Champton. Stirring up trouble, Tamz…

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Frauds review: Jones and Whittaker fight typecasting in bold heist drama
type: item
date: 2025-10-05T21:00:07.000Z
creator: David Craig
subject: Drama
subject: TV
subject: Review
description: Both actors strike out of their comfort zone in a series that is both admirable and flawed.
encoded: Note: This review is based on Frauds episodes 1-3, which were screened in advance for critics. Frauds may not be perfect, but Suranne Jones and co-creator Anne-Marie O'Connor still deserve credit for injecting life into a drama landscape that can all too often lean on the strictly familiar. At a time of funding woes and fragmenting audiences, widely marketable detective shows and true crime dramas have come to dominate our schedules more than ever, seemingly leaving little room for much else. By design, Frauds isn't wholly original – its influences in the heist caper genre are clear to see – but its vibrant setting and eccentric leads still offer a welcome break from smartly dressed sleuths standing morosely against a grey sky. Indeed, between all of the violent atrocities and calculating sociopaths in our TV diet, it's no wonder that the country seems perpetually on the cusp of a nervous, paranoid breakdown. Frauds is a holiday by comparison. The story picks up after loose canon Bert (Jones), a fraudster and thief, is released from prison on compassionate grounds due to ill health, bringing her back together with former partner-in-crime, Sam (Whittaker). It isn't long before old habits rear their head, with the quiet sundown that Bert had promised swiftly mutating into a pitch for one last job, intended to leave a lasting impact – and potentially set Sam up for life. As is tradition, a crew is assembled, including magician's assistant Jackie (Elizabeth Berrington), forgery pro Bilal (Karan Gill) and mentor figure Miss Take (Talisa Garcia), all of whom are overlooked and facing pressures of their own. Alas, the full potential of this line-up doesn't present itself until the third episode (by far the strongest of the first half), which sees our gang finally collaborate on a mission where their chemistry rapidly builds. Prior to this, Frauds drags its feet through a flat introduction, where perhaps the most memorable moment is Bilal eagerly guzzling a can of room-temp…

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Film Club review: Aimee Lou Wood's dramedy has real potential – but it's yet to be unlocked
type: item
date: 2025-10-02T23:01:42.000Z
creator: James Hibbs
subject: Comedy
subject: TV
subject: BBC
subject: BBC iPlayer
subject: On demand
subject: Review
description: The sweet and charming series is a cosy, easy watch, but could be so much more.
encoded: While as a critic it's always important to start watching every series with an open mind, there are some shows you just want to love. One of those, for me, was Film Club, the new BBC Three comedy-drama series co-written by and starring Aimee Lou Wood. For one thing, Wood has already proven herself to be a delightful and engaging screen presence, so getting to hear her own screenwriting voice was a fascinating prospect. For another, it's always a thrill to see new British comedy series come to air, at a time when there are so many unique, funny and vibrant comedies out there (despite what some many would have you believe). Then there's the show's charming concept, it's quirky visual aesthetic, a central turn for Nabhaan Rizwan, I could go on – the point is, there were a lot of selling points. It's therefore a strange feeling to come out of watching all six episodes of Film Club and feel that it hasn't quite made its mark yet, or fulfilled that desire I had. That's not to say it wasn't an enjoyable watch, or that it couldn't achieve that potential in future – just that, right now, there are a few bumps in the road. Film Club stars Wood as Evie, a young woman who hasn’t left the house in six months after suffering from a mental health episode, described as a 'wobble'. Every Friday, as a weekly escape, she and her friends, including best friend Noa (Rizwan), meet up in her mum's garage and celebrate film. There's a different film chosen for each week, decorations are put up to recognise that, costumes are required, phones are banned and a movie-related quiz takes place. It's delightful. There's just one snag. That is that Evie and Noa are quite clearly in love with each other, despite never having expressed their feelings to one another. Oh, and Evie has a boyfriend, Josh. Oh, and Noa is moving to Bristol for his dream job, meaning film club won't be continuing. It's all rather a lot for Evie to deal with, and over the subsequent weeks she goes on a journey of discovery…

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Punch review: James Graham's play is a marvel on London's West End
type: item
date: 2025-09-29T15:55:28.000Z
creator: Laura Wybrow
subject: Going Out
subject: Reviews
subject: Review
description: This remarkable true story is a testament to the power of restorative justice, and it features one of our favourite young actors at the moment, Alec Boaden.
encoded: 4 stars Growing up in Nottingham, the story of Jacob Dunne – the man who fatally punched another man unprovoked – is one I already knew. Friends at a nearby school learnt about it in assembly, but the rest of us knew about it like some kind of urban legend, except it was true. Punch, which premiered at the Nottingham Playhouse before transferring to the Young Vic, then to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, recounts the events which led to Dunne fatally punching paramedic James Hodgkinson and the redemption which followed. The play is based on Dunne's book, Right from Wrong, and it's been brought to life for the stay by Nottingham's own James Graham (Dear England, Boys from the Blackstuff, Best of Enemies), who proves time and time again why he deserves his flowers as one of Britain's great modern playwrights. A lot happens in Graham's Punch, but the play is immaculately paced, and no moment feels rushed. David Shields takes on the role of protagonist Dunne, and the audience meets him as he cuts about from Yates's to Thirland to Bluebell to Slab Square, talks of rivalries with neighbouring districts St Ann's and Radford, and visits mates in Meadows and Holgate. We quickly learn that Dunne is a character who lives for the weekend, partying and petty fights, like many young lads, but it takes just one blow for Dunne's life as he knows it to come crashing down. Winner of the Best Performance in a Play award at the 2025 UK Theatre Awards, Shields is remarkable as Dunne; the actor explores Dunne's self-protection which manifests itself as anger and cockiness – a much-needed coping mechanism if you're growing up in the Meadows. When Dunne meets Hodgkinson's parents, Shields expertly navigates his character's feelings of guilt and grief, all while coming to terms with the accidental nature of the punch. The relationship that forms between Dunne and Hodgkinson's parents is the most pivotal part of the play, and you can hardly believe it's based on a real-life relationship. …

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