TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Secret Garden
BBC One/iPlayer, available now
Summed up in a sentence Ahead of his 100th birthday, David Attenborough presents a sparkling series about his love of wildlife in our British back gardens.
What our reviewer said “Despite the animals concerned being familiar old friends, the programme tells the sort of thrilling stories of predation and survival, mating and nesting, that we’re used to when Attenborough is in Africa or Asia.” Jack Seale
Further reading ‘We didn’t want to be preachy’: David Attenborough’s unexpected new show – which might enrage cat lovers
Pick of the rest
The Assembly
ITV1, out now
Summed up in a sentence Stephen Fry is the next celebrity to be interrogated by a group of young adults with neurodivergence or learning disabilities – and it is a liberating experience.
What our reviewer said “A budding thespian called Luca gets up and performs The World Is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth, pitching it somewhere between a Shakespeare soliloquy and a dramatic spoken moment from the book of a musical. TV has rarely seen anything like it, and Fry, to his delight, clearly hasn’t ever.” Jack Seale
The Testaments
Disney+, out now
Summed up in a sentence Don’t be fooled by the lighter tone of this sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale – life is still brutal and bloody for the women of Gilead.
What our reviewer said “It’s a YA version that still encompasses bloody punishments, rotting corpses swinging from gibbets and indoctrination and abuse – with the youth of the protagonists making it even harder to watch.” Lucy Mangan
You may have missed …
The Other Bennet Sister
BBC/iPlayer, all episodes available
Summed up in a sentence Ella Bruccoleri is wonderful in a fresh Pride & Prejudice spin-off, focusing on overlooked Mary Bennet’s spirited coming-of-age story.
What our reviewer said “The growing charm and heft – not to mention the lovely central performance from Bruccoleri – make it one worth sticking with. Sorry, Mary – one with which it is worth sticking.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading A new Austen drama made me wonder: is the fate of bookish young women really so different today?
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
The Stranger
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence François Ozon’s adaptation of L’Etranger is faithful to the original text while bringing a contemporary perspective to its themes of empire and race.
What our reviewer said “François Ozon’s lustrously beautiful and superbly realised monochrome version of Albert Camus’s novella has an almost supernaturally detailed sense of period and place – it amounts to a passionate act of ancestor worship in honour of a renowned French artwork.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Let’s get metaphysical! Existentialist cinema is back, if anyone cares
Pick of the rest
Father Mother Sister Brother
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Jim Jarmusch explores the awkwardness and closeness of parents with their grownup children in three comic panels of drama set in the US, Dublin and Paris.
What our reviewer said “Basically, there is a contentment and calm here, an acceptance and a Zen simplicity that is a cleansing of the moviegoing palate, or perhaps the fiction-consuming palate in general. It is a film to savour.” Peter Bradshaw
Stand By Me
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A 40th anniversary rerelease of the coming-of-age drama about four boys on a quest to see a dead body, directed by Rob Reiner and adapted from Stephen King’s short story.
What our reviewer said “The resulting adventure – bizarre, mysterious and moving – is about lost youth and the recovery of innocence through writing and memory. It is also one of those vanishingly rare films where child actors have to carry almost the entire drama.” Peter Bradshaw
California Schemin’
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence James McAvoy’s directorial debut is an unlikely tale of the true story of Scottish rappers who pretend to be American.
What our reviewer said “The distinct oddness of the story holds our attention, all the excitement of a con game deftly pulled off, and, of course, the stress of its inevitable unraveling.” Richard Lawson
Further reading James McAvoy: ‘I’ve been “that Scottish person”, reduced to a noise that comes out of my mouth’
Now streaming
Outcome
Apple TV
Summed up in a sentence Jonah Hill writes and directs an in-joke and insider-laden spoof about a nice-guy megastar actor (Keanu Reeves) hiding a drug addiction.
What our reviewer said “The performances are unfailingly entertaining: Laverne Cox as a women’s rights lawyer, Drew Barrymore as herself and Martin Scorsese, movingly, as a washed-up talent manager.” Cath Clarke
Books
If you only read one, make it …
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Reviewed by Ian Thomson
Summed up in a sentence The grimly absorbing investigation of a teenager’s unexplained death.
What our reviewer said “Keefe, best known for his books including Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, writes in the page-turning tradition of Gay Talese and Joseph Mitchell.”
Further reading A gangster, a bogus inheritance and a dead 19-year-old: the mystery Patrick Radden Keefe couldn’t ignore
Pick of the rest
Go Gentle by Maria Semple
Reviewed by Rebecca Wait
Summed up in a sentence A New York romcom about stoic philosophy from the author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
What our reviewer said “The book is a zany high-wire act and the main plot, which at times seemed like a shaggy dog story, is ingeniously wrapped up at the end.”
The Black Death: A Global History by Thomas Asbridge
Reviewed by Steven Poole
Summed up in a sentence The human impact of one of the world’s most lethal pandemics.
What our reviewer said Asbridge evokes terror and pity by focusing in on what he calls the “micro-histories” of individuals caught up in the horror.
Upward Bound by Woody Brown
Reviewed by Xan Brooks
Summed up in a sentence A non-speaking autistic author’s debut about life in an adult daycare centre.
What our reviewer said “Upward Bound is funny and moving and ringing with life; a book that embraces the difficulty and contradictions of its subject matter.”
Further reading ‘I was in the pit of despair’: Non-speaking autistic novelist Woody Brown on his journey from write-off to writer
You may have missed …
The Pretender by Jo Harkin, now out in paperback
Reviewed by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Summed up in a sentence A bold and witty reimagination of Lambert Simnel, unlikely challenger to Henry VII’s throne.
What our reviewer said “There’s a deep love for literature here, and a desire to showcase the formation of the late-medieval mind, which elevates The Pretender above other novels about this period.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
My New Band Believe: My New Band Believe
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Smoothing out the chaos of his previous band Black Midi, Cameron Picton brings entirely acoustic instrumentation to bear on these lovely, beguiling songs.
What our reviewer said “It feels like it’s wearing its intelligence a little more lightly than its author once did, which might be the smartest move of all.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
Czech Philharmonic/Bychkov: Mahler Symphonies 1–9
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler symphony cycle with the Czech Philharmonic is meticulous, imaginative and deserves to be placed alongside the very best sets.
What our reviewer said “The playing of the Czech Philharmonic, especially the woodwind, is unimpeachable throughout.” Clive Paget
Reckonwrong: How Long Has It Been?
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Londoner Alex Peringer breaks from his intriguing and outlandish dance music with this debut album of charming bedroom-pop ballads.
What our reviewer said “The left field flourishes and use of echo calls to mind World of Echo-era Arthur Russell, while tracks such as Water of Life and I’m Not Me channel the woozy melancholy and quiet drama of Robert Wyatt”. Safi Bugel
Holly Humberstone: Cruel World
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The British singer-songwriter replaces introspection with euphoric choruses, 80s synths and even happy hardcore on her vivid second LP.
What our reviewer said “Cruel World is peppy bordering on euphoric”. Rachel Aroesti
Now playing …
James
Touring the UK to 18 April
Summed up in a sentence A talismanic Tim Booth is the pied-piper through a set that covers the five decades of this unique band’s beloved back catalogue.
What our reviewer said “What a unique, brilliant, special band they are”. Dave Simpson
Further reading ‘By 18 I was having sex to the music of Brian Eno’: Tim Booth’s honest playlist