Television Highlights: Supernatural Thrills and Real-Life Drama
The cultural landscape this week is dominated by the highly anticipated return of Stranger Things for its final season on Netflix. The blockbuster sci-fi franchise continues chronicling Hawkins residents' epic battle against Vecna's forces from the Upside Down. According to Guardian reviewer Jack Seale, the new episodes form what essentially amounts to a five-hour action-comedy-horror movie with each story element luxuriously stretched across four seamlessly connected episodes.
Meanwhile, BBC iPlayer presents Poison Water, a damning documentary examining Britain's biggest mass poisoning incident that affected Cornwall residents during the 1980s. The film follows their painful decades-long fight for justice, with Hannah J Davies noting that the four-decade perspective casts events in a strikingly different light, bringing the disturbing story discomfitingly into the present through new interviews with residents, experts and politicians.
More Television Worth Watching
Disney+ offers two significant additions this week. The Beatles Anthology, the seminal 1990s docuseries, returns digitally enhanced with a bonus episode. Stuart Heritage describes it as The World at War but about the band that made Maxwell's Silver Hammer, praising its meticulous assembly of all available Beatles footage alongside contemporary interviews showcasing the band members' evolving styles.
Another Disney+ highlight is Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember, where the movie star journeys through his childhood haunts with his father in a heartbreaking attempt to slow his father's dementia progression. Jack Seale calls it not just a programme about confronting dementia but a moving treatise on sadness at letting go of the person his parent used to be.
For those who might have missed it, ITVX's Frauds features astonishing performances from Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker as conwomen attempting one final job. Lucy Mangan praises the series for delivering both the satisfactions of a Thomas Crown Affair-style caper and a mesmerisingly intricate portrait of friendship.
Cinema Spotlight: Broadway Breakups and Murder Mysteries
In cinemas, Richard Linklater's Blue Moon stands out with Ethan Hawke delivering what Peter Bradshaw calls a terrific performance as lyricist Lorenz Hart spiralling into despair following his professional split from Richard Rodgers. The film explores the rarely depicted overlap between professional and romantic failure, with Hawke fully embodying Hart's vinegary jilted despair.
Another notable cinema release is Pillion, featuring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling as unlikely lovers in a BDSM biker romance adapted from Adam Mars-Jones's novel Box Hill. Peter Bradshaw describes first-time director Harry Lighton's creation as something funny and touching and alarming – like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland.
Daniel Craig returns as private detective Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, arriving in cinemas now and on Netflix from December 12th. With a strong cast including Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin, the latest instalment maintains the series' signature enjoyment of character dynamics before the murder itself, according to Bradshaw.
Alternative Cinema and Streaming
For those seeking something different, Zodiac Killer Project sees Charlie Shackleton's would-be documentary about the 1970s serial murderer transforming into a critique of true crime after the original project was aborted. Bradshaw calls it exasperating, sometimes negligible but also often amusing and rather insightful.
Streaming from December 1st, Luc Besson's Dracula offers another take on Bram Stoker's classic, starring Caleb Landry Jones as the undead count and Christoph Waltz as his hunter. Despite its Hammer-y cheesiness, Bradshaw suggests he might prefer this lavishly upholstered vampire romance to Robert Eggers' recent solemn version of Nosferatu.
Literary World: Supernatural Series and Historical Portraits
In books, Karl Ove Knausgård's The School of Night continues the Norwegian author's sprawling addictive series of supernatural existentialism. Reviewer Charles Arrowsmith notes the author's philosophical preoccupation with death remains constant, expressed through tension between instinctual materialism and the haunting possibility of something beyond comprehension.
Elizabeth Goldring's Holbein: Renaissance Master provides a magnificent portrait of the Tudor court painter, with Kathryn Hughes praising his achievement in bringing before us the living, breathing men and women who plotted, suffered, contrived and triumphed through the most terrifying decades of English history.
Alice Jolly's The Matchbox Girl examines the ethics of Dr Asperger in second world war Vienna through the perspective of a mute autistic girl. Natasha Walter praises the book for walking a tightrope between sentimentality and honesty, between realism and imagination to create something spirited and memorable.
Waterstones' book of the year, Lucy Steeds' The Artist, follows a young English journalist gaining entry to the house of a reclusive artist in post-war Provence. Christobel Kent describes it as a seductive combination of romance, puzzle and poetry that interrogates the value of art in bringing freedom, perspective and light.
Music Scene: Anniversary Reissues and Live Triumphs
The music world sees a deluxe reissue of The Durutti Column's The Return of the Durutti Column, their debut album whose delicate experimentation was ahead of its time in the post-punk-tinged early 80s. Alexis Petridis suggests the peculiar circumstances of its creation – people experimenting for their own benefit rather than making an album for public consumption – helped forge its distinctly beguiling atmosphere.
HTRK presents String of Hearts (Songs of HTRK), featuring Sharon Van Etten, Stephen O'Malley, Perila and more transforming the veteran duo's gloomy, sensual songs through covers and remixes. Safi Bugel praises this brilliant, genre-agnostic record for tracing the breadth of the Melbourne band's shapeshifting sound without leaning too hard on nostalgia.
Marking their 25th anniversary since their first UK tour, The Hives demonstrate they're at their snarling best during their Alexandra Palace performance in London on November 29th. Dave Simpson notes the revelation of how strong their new material is live, proving the band remains hungry to prove themselves rather than settling into the numbing comfort of nostalgia.
This week's cultural offerings present a rich tapestry of entertainment options across all mediums, from the epic conclusion of a global television phenomenon to intimate character studies and historical explorations that promise to engage British audiences throughout the coming days.
