5 d. ago A Man on the Inside season two review – Ted Danson’s despicably bland show is everything wrong with TV

Only our current tech hellscape could create a comedy so insidiously inoffensive. Prepare to be pummelled into submission as your time is siphoned off by OK entertainmentThis is a cosy, lighthearted whodunnit about a retired professor who gets a second wind as a private eye. It’s also a bingo card for just about everything that makes streamer-era TV so patronising, uninspiring and mind-numbingly dull.On the surface, A Man on the Inside’s crimes might seem negligible: it’s a little schmaltzy, a little too pleased with itself in that wisecrack-stuffed American comedy way. Yet it’s exactly that inoffensiveness that makes this strain of television so insidious. When the New York Times critic James Poniewozik coined the term “mid TV” to describe the current “profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence” that has come to dominate our screens, it wasn’t so much a vicious takedown as a shrug at the blah-ness of it all. The tech giants have pummelled us into submission by siphoning of...

Culture

1 week ago Malice review – you’ll be bingeing David Duchovny’s new thriller until Christmas

The X-Files star is at his charismatic best as a ruthless multimillionaire who hires Jack Whitehall as a sinister nanny. It’s like The White Lotus meets The Talented Mr RipleyI can’t say I had “Jack Whitehall stars with David ‘The X Files/ Californication’ Duchovny in glossy TV thriller” on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are, and a good time with it can be had by all. Alongside, perhaps, a smidge of national pride to see the daft lad from Fresh Meat, Bad Education and Travels With My Father all grown up and holding his own.The glossy thriller in question is Malice, in which Whitehall plays Adam, a tutor promoted to manny (male nanny, for those not au fait with rich people’s terms), who is bent – for reasons as yet unknown – on ruining high-rolling businessman Jamie Tanner (Duchovny). Whether he has it in for the rest of the Tanner family and friends, or they are just doomed to be collateral damage, is not clear, but that doesn’t spoil the machiavellian fun. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago EastEnders legend Pat Evans set for shock return 13 years after being killed off

In a move not on anybody’s bingo card, Pam St Clement is returning to Walford in time for Christmas

Events

2 w. ago ‘Not on my 2025 bingo card’ – F1 legend Daniel Ricciardo attends Premier League clash alongside Sky Sports presenter

FANS were left stunned after spotting Formula One legend Daniel Ricciardo at a Premier League match. The Australian ace, 36, raced for Renault, McLaren and Red Bull in a fine career spanning 14 years. Ricciardo won eight Grand Prix races during his time on the track. And he bowed out of F1 last year after...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Wasn’t on my bingo card’ – Former Tottenham star leaves fans stunned as he’s unmasked as singing owl on hit TV show

TOTTENHAM fans are used to seeing Toby Alderweireld keeping things quiet at the back – not belting out Mr Brightside dressed as an OWL. But that’s exactly what the Belgian defender was revealed to be on Friday night’s episode of The Masked Singer Belgium. The 36-year-old had viewers in stitches when he was unmasked as...

Events

3 w. ago ‘It wasn’t on my bingo card’ – Dame Prue Leith surprises Edinburgh hairdresser

The Great British Bake Off judge popped into a salon in the city to have her hair done before a charity event on Tuesday.

Politics

4 w. ago Back in the spotlight: decoding the Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau romance

As the singer and former Canadian PM get together, we look at the history of romances between artists and politiciansHis dad dated Barbra Streisand and his mother partied with the Rolling Stones, so perhaps it is no shock to see the former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau romantically linked with the American singer Katy Perry.But it is a surprise. “This was NOT on my 2025 bingo card,” posted the entertainment news site Tyla in July, when the couple were first spotted together in Montreal. Grazia magazine this week labelled them “2025’s most surprising couple”. Continue reading...

Politics