As autumn nights draw in, this week’s television offers a rich mix of crime, history, and music. Saturday opens with The Trial of Paul Burrell, the story of the royal butler whose close relationship with Princess Diana brought him fame, scandal, and a courtroom showdown. Later that evening we head to Havana in Rum and Revolution, which explores the city’s intoxicating mix of empire, resistance, and culture. Across the week, we range from Billie Holiday’s haunting legacy in Arena to the shadowy world of online exploitation in Blackmailed: Sextortion Killers.
History lovers are well served, whether it’s the forgotten bravery of Maurice Bavaud in Killing Hitler or the secrets behind Britain’s nuclear bomb project. Contemporary anxieties also take centre stage—from social media’s darker currents to the toxic echo chambers of the manosphere. The O.J. Simpson trial, thirty years on, reminds us how a single courtroom drama can capture a nation’s soul.
Streaming brings no shortage of choice, with everything from dark thrillers (Nero the Assassin, The Woman in Cabin Ten) to a candid portrait of Ozzy Osbourne. Together, these programmes remind us that culture, whether past or present, always reflects the battles we fight and the questions we ask.
Selections by Pat Harrington
Saturday, 4th October 2025
The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) – BBC Two, 10:40 AM
Before privatisation, before Beeching, before the word “heritage” became a brand—there was The Titfield Thunderbolt. Released in 1953, this Ealing Studios gem imagines a group of villagers banding together to save their local railway line from closure. Their solution? Run it themselves. Their obstacle? A scheming bus company determined to see them fail.
What unfolds is part farce, part fable. Stanley Holloway and John Gregson lead a cast of eccentrics who treat civic pride not as nostalgia but as action. The comedy is gentle, yes, but the politics are quietly pointed. In an era of centralisation and creeping commercialism, Titfield celebrates local ownership, community grit, and the joy of doing things the hard way—because they matter.
The film’s charm lies in its tone: whimsical without being twee, idealistic without being naive. The steam engine itself becomes a symbol—not just of transport, but of resistance, memory, and shared purpose. And while the sabotage attempts are played for laughs, the stakes feel real. This is about more than trains. It’s about who gets to decide what’s worth saving.
Watching it now, in a landscape of shuttered ticket offices and outsourced services, The Titfield Thunderbolt feels less like a period piece and more like a gentle provocation. A reminder that community isn’t quaint—it’s powerful.
The Trial of Paul Burrell – Channel 5, 8:40 PM
The former royal butler, once dubbed “the Queen’s rock,” found himself at the centre of public scrutiny when his loyalty to Princess Diana collided with questions about propriety and trust. This programme revisits the sensational trial that saw Burrell accused of theft, only to be dramatically acquitted after the Queen intervened.
The documentary explores not only the court case but also the broader question of how much power and influence a servant can wield in the royal household. Burrell’s story sits at the intersection of duty, gossip, and the public’s insatiable curiosity about monarchy.
It makes for compelling television because it feels like both soap opera and constitutional drama. Was Burrell victim, opportunist, or both? The programme doesn’t force an answer but leaves viewers to weigh the evidence.
Rum and Revolution: A History of Havana – PBS America, 10:00 PM
This documentary plunges into Havana’s past, where the story of rum is inseparable from the story of revolution. The sugar trade, colonial exploitation, and the rise of Cuba’s most famous export are traced alongside the political upheavals that defined the island.
The film shows how Havana became a crucible of resistance, its streets echoing with both music and protest. Rum here is more than a drink—it is a symbol of survival, commerce, and culture in a city that has endured centuries of change.
By placing revolution beside rum, the programme captures Havana’s contradictions. It is a city shaped by oppression yet defined by resilience, its spirit unbroken and intoxicating.
Scarface (1983) – Film4, 11:55 PM
Brian De Palma’s Scarface is a neon-soaked opera of crime and excess. Al Pacino’s Tony Montana starts as a penniless Cuban refugee and claws his way to the top of Miami’s cocaine empire. His performance is wild, snarling, and unforgettable, turning Tony into both monster and folk hero.
The film is drenched in eighties excess—blazing colours, synth score, and violence that shocks even today. Every scene feels larger than life, from chainsaws in motels to the decadent sprawl of Tony’s mansion. Giorgio Moroder’s pulsing soundtrack gives the whole thing a fever-dream energy.
Critics dismissed it on release, but audiences claimed it as their own. Today it’s a cult classic, quoted endlessly and adored for its swagger. It’s a rise-and-fall tale, but one told with such ferocity that even Tony’s destruction feels mythic.
Law of Tehran (2019) – BBC Two, 12:55 AM
Forget the glamour of heists and high-speed chases—Law of Tehran is a narcotics thriller stripped to the bone. Directed by Reza Dormishian, it plunges into the underbelly of Tehran’s drug epidemic, where addiction isn’t just a social ill—it’s a symptom of something deeper, more systemic.
The film follows detective Samad (Payman Maadi), whose pursuit of a notorious dealer becomes less about justice and more about exhaustion. The city is choking on methamphetamine, and the police are drowning in bureaucracy, corruption, and despair. What emerges is not a hero’s journey but a procedural grind—where every arrest feels like a drop in an ocean.
Visually, it’s stark: concrete, shadows, and the relentless hum of urban decay. The pacing is deliberate, almost suffocating, but that’s the point. This isn’t a thriller designed to entertain—it’s a reckoning. The moral ambiguity is relentless. Samad is no saint, and the criminals are often more lucid than the system that hunts them.
What lingers is the film’s refusal to offer easy catharsis. There’s no redemption arc, no triumphant finale. Just a city caught in a cycle, and a man trying to hold the line as it crumbles beneath him.
For late-night viewers, Law of Tehran offers something rare: a crime drama that indicts not just its characters, but the conditions that shape them. It’s not comfortable viewing—but it’s necessary.
Sunday, 5th October 2025
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – BBC Two, 3:50 PM
Few films capture the spirit of friendship like George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman and Robert Redford play the outlaw duo with wit, charm, and a chemistry that lights up every frame. Their banter, as much as the gunfights, defines the film.
The story of two men out of time is beautifully shot against vast western landscapes. But it’s the smaller moments that linger—bicycles in the sunshine, easy jokes shared between friends, and the sense that the world is moving on without them. Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” gives the film a bittersweet playfulness.
Watching now, there’s an added poignancy. Robert Redford, who died earlier this year, leaves behind a legacy not only as an actor but as a director and activist. His Sundance Institute and festival shaped independent cinema, and his performance here reminds us why he became a legend. This film is both rollicking entertainment and a farewell salute to an era—and to one of Hollywood’s greats.
Bob Brydon’s Honky Tonk Road Trip – BBC Two, 9:00 PM
Bob Brydon heads into the heartlands of American music with a wry smile and an ear for storytelling. This isn’t just a travelogue; it’s a love letter to honky tonk and the working-class poetry of the barroom stage. His encounters with musicians feel warm and genuine.
We hear stories of broken strings, long roads, and cheap motels, but also of joy found in the simple act of playing. Brydon treats his subjects with respect, never mocking, always listening.
The show reminds us that country music, at its best, is about truth told plain. The humour comes not at the expense of others but in the shared absurdities of life on the road.
Blackmailed: Sextortion Killers – BBC Three, 9:00 PM
Dark and unsettling, this documentary digs into a crime that thrives in the shadows of social media. The victims are young, often isolated, and coerced into a spiral of shame and fear. The perpetrators are ruthless, using technology to turn vulnerability into control.
It’s not easy viewing. The interviews with families who have lost loved ones to these schemes are heartbreaking. The scale of the problem is laid bare, leaving us to question how platforms and governments have failed to act.
The film’s strength lies in its refusal to sensationalise. It keeps the focus on victims, reminding us that this is not entertainment but a call to awareness. A sobering watch.
Il Capitano (2023) – Film4, 11:35 PM
Based on true events, Il Capitano tells the harrowing story of two young migrants whose journey ends in tragedy. The film is stark, unflinching, and rooted in the realities of those who risk everything for a better life. Its restrained style makes the story all the more powerful.
Performances are raw and believable, giving voice to people who are often reduced to statistics. The director avoids melodrama, focusing instead on quiet detail—the exhaustion, the fear, the fleeting moments of hope.
It’s not an easy watch, but it’s a vital one. By placing us in the shoes of its protagonists, the film forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about borders, humanity, and responsibility.
The Guard (2011) – Film4, 1:55 AM
Brendan Gleeson is superb as Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a small-town Irish policeman with a taste for mischief and a complete disregard for convention. Don Cheadle plays the straight-laced FBI agent who must work with him to take down an international drug ring. The odd-couple pairing is comedy gold.
The humour is dark and laced with satire, skewering everything from corruption to cultural clashes. Gleeson delivers barbed one-liners with ease, while Cheadle plays the perfect foil, exasperated but grudgingly impressed.
It’s a rare mix of crime thriller and comedy that never feels forced. The dialogue crackles, the characters stick with you, and Gleeson turns what could have been a stereotype into one of his most memorable roles.
Monday, 6th October 2025
Joe Wick’s Licence to Kill – Channel 4, 8:00 PM
Joe Wicks, best known for his fitness empire, takes an unexpected turn here with an investigative series about murder and the psychology behind it. The title may play for shock, but the delivery is calm and measured. Wicks proves surprisingly thoughtful in interviews.
He explores how ordinary people cross the line into extraordinary violence. The stories are grim, but the human detail keeps them from being abstract. He asks questions that many presenters would shy away from.
The programme works because Wicks approaches the subject not as an expert but as a curious outsider. That humility makes the material accessible. A bold departure for him, and one that works.
Conquistadors: The Rise and Fall (1 of 6) – PBS America, 9:00 PM
The story of Spain’s empire is as brutal as it is dramatic. This first episode charts the rise, from Columbus’s voyages to Cortés’s conquests. The imagery is lush, but the message is clear: gold and God came at terrible cost.
What stands out is the testimony of Indigenous voices woven into the story. The producers avoid the trap of making this only a European tale. We hear of resistance, survival, and adaptation in the face of unimaginable change.
It’s history presented as tragedy and warning. The grandeur of empire is undercut by the cruelty behind it. A strong start to a series that promises depth and nuance.
Social Media Monsters – Channel 4, 10:00 PM
This documentary turns its lens on the darker corners of online life. Troll farms, manipulation, and influencer culture are dissected with forensic care. It feels timely, even overdue.
We see how power has shifted from institutions to algorithms, and how easily outrage can be manufactured. The stories of individuals harmed by viral hate are particularly powerful.
It’s not a hopeful watch, but it is necessary. The monsters are not just behind screens—they are the systems that profit from our clicks. A hard look at a world we all inhabit.
Arena: Billie Holiday – The Long Night of Lady Day – BBC Four, 10:00 PM
Billie Holiday remains one of the greatest voices in music, but also one of the most tragic. This Arena special focuses less on the familiar biography and more on the emotional toll of her art. Her songs are played in full, lingering long enough for us to feel the weight.
The archive material is stunning. Holiday’s performances still crackle with pain and beauty. Musicians and critics reflect on what made her unique, but the voice itself says more than any words.
By the end, we feel both admiration and sorrow. Lady Day sang as though each note was her last. This film captures that sense of urgency.
Tuesday, 7th October 2025
Never Mind the Buzzcocks – Sky Max/Showcase, 9:00 PM
The irreverent music quiz show returns, full of banter, digs, and chaotic energy. Familiar faces trade insults while new guests try to keep up. The humour remains sharp, with pop culture both celebrated and skewered.
What makes it work is the chemistry. The jokes fly, some land, some don’t, but the spirit of mischief holds it together. It’s not about the score—it’s about the laughs.
For those who grew up with it, there’s comfort in its return. For new viewers, it’s a crash course in British comedy at its most unfiltered.
Glory (1989) – Film4, 10:50 PM
Glory (1989) tells the true story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment—the first African-American unit to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. Led by Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), a young white officer, the regiment must not only face Confederate forces but also the racism and neglect of their own side.
What makes Glory endure isn’t just its battle scenes—though they’re harrowing and beautifully staged—but its emotional texture. Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Andre Braugher deliver performances that refuse sentimentality. Washington’s Private Trip, in particular, is a study in rage, dignity, and defiance. His silent tears during a flogging scene remain one of cinema’s most devastating moments.
The film doesn’t pretend that heroism erases injustice. Instead, it shows how courage can exist within systems designed to crush it. The final assault on Fort Wagner is brutal, tragic, and necessary. Glory doesn’t offer easy uplift—it offers truth, and the cost of honour.
Saba (2024) – Channel 4, 2:55 AM
Saba is a quiet storm. It centres on a daughter (Mehazabien Chowdhury) who serves as sole carer for her paraplegic mother (Rokeya Prachy), in a relationship defined by duty, bitterness, and moments of piercing tenderness. The film doesn’t flinch from the emotional toll of caregiving—it shows how love can curdle into resentment, and how dependence can become a prison for both parties.
Shot with restraint and intimacy, Saba unfolds in tight domestic spaces, where silence often says more than dialogue. The performances are raw, especially from Chowdhury, whose character navigates exhaustion, guilt, and flashes of rebellion. There’s no melodrama, just the slow erosion of self under the weight of obligation.
What makes Saba remarkable is its refusal to judge. It understands that care is complex, and that love—especially between parent and child—can be both sustaining and suffocating.
Wednesday, 8th October 2025
Killing Hitler – National Geographic, 8:00 PM
This documentary tells the little-known story of Maurice Bavaud, the Swiss theology student who tried to assassinate Hitler in 1938. His failure consigned him to obscurity, but this film restores his place in history.
Bavaud’s courage contrasts with the cowardice of many who claimed ignorance of Nazi crimes. The film asks why his act is forgotten when others are lionised. It’s a compelling corrective.
By highlighting the lone resister, the programme shows that history could have taken a different turn. Sobering, and oddly inspiring.
Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story – BBC Two, 9:00 PM
Britain’s race to join the nuclear club was marked by secrecy, risk, and questionable ethics. This documentary opens the files and lets those involved tell their story. Engineers, politicians, and locals near test sites recall what was hidden at the time.
The mix of pride and regret is striking. Some still see it as national necessity; others call it betrayal. The voices of those who lived with fallout—literal and figurative—carry the greatest weight.
It’s a story not just of technology but of trust broken. A reminder of how national security can be used to justify almost anything.
Film Club (1 of 6) – BBC One, 10:55 PM
Film Club isn’t just a weekly ritual—it’s a lifeline. For Evie, who hasn’t left the house in six months, it’s a chance to transform her garage into a cinematic sanctuary. And for Noa, her best friend and steadfast co-conspirator, it’s a space where friendship, film, and feeling quietly collide.
But tonight, everything shifts. Noa arrives with news: a dream job, far away. The kind that forces you to choose between ambition and intimacy. Suddenly, the Friday night comfort zone becomes a crucible—where unspoken emotions, long buried, begin to surface.
Nabhaan Rizwan brings a quiet gravity to Noa: loyal, emotionally inarticulate, but unmistakably present. His chemistry with Aimee Lou Wood’s Evie is the heartbeat of the show. Their scenes hum with the tension of what’s unsaid, and the ache of what might be lost.
What makes Film Club sing is its refusal of melodrama. It’s funny, yes, but also piercingly honest. The garage becomes a stage for love, grief, and the kind of friendship that’s harder to name than to feel. In a media landscape of noise and spectacle, this is storytelling with restraint—and resonance.
A quietly dazzling start to a series that understands how ordinary rituals can hold extraordinary meaning.
Film Club (2 of 6) – BBC One, 11:25 PM
Evie returns for the second instalment of the evening, this time guiding us into the world of science fiction horror.
Not Okay – Film4, 11:45 PM
Social media satire with teeth, tears, and a protagonist you’re not meant to like.
Zoey Deutch stars as Danni Sanders, a fame-hungry photo editor who fakes a trip to Paris for clout—only to get caught in the fallout of a real-life tragedy. What begins as a comedy of cringe spirals into something darker: a portrait of performative grief, online notoriety, and the moral vacuum of influencer culture.
The film doesn’t ask you to sympathise with Danni. It asks you to watch her unravel. Director Quinn Shephard keeps the tone sharp and slippery, refusing easy redemption arcs. Mia Isaac, as Rowan, a school shooting survivor turned activist, delivers the film’s emotional centre—her scenes cut through the satire with raw clarity.
Not Okay is less about cancel culture than the systems that reward dishonesty and punish vulnerability. It’s funny, yes, but also deeply uncomfortable. And that discomfort is the point.
Alien (1979) – BBC One, 11:55 PM
The monster movie that redefined space as a place of silence, dread, and survival.
Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) remains a masterclass in atmosphere. The crew of the Nostromo answers a distress call, stumbles upon a derelict ship, and brings back something they shouldn’t. What follows is not just horror—it’s existential terror. The alien isn’t just a creature. It’s a metaphor for intrusion, violation, and the unknown.
Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is iconic not because she’s heroic, but because she’s human—pragmatic, terrified, and ultimately resolute. The film’s pacing is glacial by modern standards, but every frame builds tension. The silence is weaponised. The corridors feel claustrophobic. The threat is never overplayed.
What lingers is the mood: industrial grime, flickering lights, and the sense that space isn’t a frontier—it’s a trap. Alien doesn’t just scare. It isolates. And in doing so, it changed science fiction forever.
Thursday, 9th October 2025
EastEnders Investigates: The Manosphere – BBC Three, 8:00 PM
Soap characters step aside as the EastEnders brand dives into documentary. The focus is the online “manosphere,” a toxic subculture breeding resentment and misogyny. It’s an unusual but welcome approach.
The programme uses drama’s popularity to draw in viewers who might otherwise ignore the issue. Real testimonies are mixed with case studies, making the abstract personal.
It’s bold for the BBC to connect a soap with social critique. This experiment may not please everyone, but it deserves attention.
Secrets of the Brain – BBC Two, 11:00 PM
Neuroscience made accessible. This series delves into how the brain creates consciousness, memory, and identity. Complex material is handled with clarity and flair.
What strikes is the mix of science and story. We hear from patients, doctors, and researchers, each with a different perspective on the mind’s mysteries.
The result is not just educational but moving. To study the brain is, in the end, to study ourselves.
Belfast (2021) – BBC Two, 12:00 AM
Belfast opens with a child’s-eye view of a city on the brink. Buddy (Jude Hill) is nine years old, navigating school, family, and the first stirrings of sectarian violence. The film doesn’t attempt a sweeping political history—it offers something more intimate: memory, filtered through affection and fear.
Shot in crisp black and white, with occasional bursts of colour, Branagh’s direction leans into nostalgia but never loses sight of the stakes. The performances are quietly devastating—Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan as loving but conflicted parents, Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds as grandparents who anchor the film with warmth and wit.
What makes Belfast resonate is its restraint. The Troubles are present, but not romanticised. The humour is gentle, the heartbreak understated. It’s a film about leaving, staying, and the ache of knowing that home is both sanctuary and battleground.
For viewers with ties to Northern Ireland—or anyone who’s wrestled with the meaning of belonging—Belfast offers emotional clarity without sentimentality. A midnight screening that lingers long after.
In Flames (2023) – Channel 4, 2:05 AM
After the death of her father, Mariam and her mother must navigate a patriarchal society that sees them as vulnerable, disposable. But In Flames isn’t just social critique—it’s supernatural dread. As Mariam begins to see visions and feel a presence stalking her, the horror becomes both literal and metaphorical.
Director Zarrar Kahn crafts a slow-burning descent into fear, where the ghosts may be real, but the true terror lies in the living. Ramesha Nawal leads with quiet intensity, her performance capturing the claustrophobia of grief, gendered violence, and inherited trauma.
The film’s power lies in its ambiguity. Is Mariam haunted by spirits, or by the expectations and threats of a society that refuses to let her live freely? The visuals are stark—dimly lit rooms, oppressive silence, and moments of surreal intrusion. It’s horror with purpose, not spectacle.
In Flames is not an easy watch, especially at 2:05 AM. But for those willing to sit with its discomfort, it offers a rare blend of genre and social realism. A scream in the dark, and a whisper of resistance.
Friday, 10th October 2025
The O.J. Simpson Trial: 30 Years On – Channel 5, 9:00 PM
Few trials have gripped the world like that of O.J. Simpson. Thirty years on, this documentary revisits the evidence, the media circus, and the deep racial divides it exposed. The case is framed not just as celebrity scandal but as cultural turning point.
We hear from lawyers, journalists, and activists who lived through the moment. Their reflections are tinged with hindsight—what was missed, what was manipulated, what remains unresolved.
It’s clear the trial was never just about guilt or innocence. It was about America itself, wrestling with race, fame, and justice. That struggle continues.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)– 5Action, 9:00 PM
Joseph Sargent’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is a masterclass in tension and sardonic charm. Four armed men hijack a New York subway car and demand a million-dollar ransom. The city, already fraying at the edges, becomes a pressure cooker. Walter Matthau’s weary transit cop squares off against Robert Shaw’s icy mastermind, and the result is a battle of nerves played out in tunnels and control rooms.
What makes the film sing isn’t just the plot—it’s the texture. The dialogue crackles with New York cynicism, the pacing is taut, and the score (by David Shire) pulses like the city itself. It’s a thriller that understands systems: transport, bureaucracy, and the fragile social contract that holds it all together.
Watching it now, it feels eerily prescient. The chaos isn’t just criminal—it’s institutional. And the humour, dry as dust, is the only thing keeping the panic at bay.
The Producers (1967) – BBC Two, 11:00 PM
Before it was a Broadway juggernaut, The Producers was a film—Mel Brooks’ first, and still his most gleefully outrageous. Zero Mostel plays Max Bialystock, a washed-up producer who teams up with timid accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) to stage a surefire flop and pocket the profits. Their choice? Springtime for Hitler, a musical so tasteless it’s bound to fail. Except, of course, it doesn’t.
The film is a riot of bad taste, but it’s also a satire of showbiz, greed, and the absurdity of fascism. Brooks walks a tightrope between offence and brilliance, and somehow never falls. Wilder’s nervous breakdowns are operatic, Mostel’s scheming is Shakespearean, and the whole thing feels like a fever dream of Broadway gone rogue.
It’s not just funny—it’s fearless. And in an age of caution, that feels revolutionary.
Ghost Stories (2017) – BBC One, 12:40 AM
Adapted from the hit stage play by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, Ghost Stories follows Professor Philip Goodman (played by Nyman), a professional debunker of the paranormal, who’s handed three unsolved cases by his long-lost mentor. Each story—featuring Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, and Alex Lawther—unfolds with creeping dread and psychological unease.
But this isn’t just a collection of scares. It’s a meditation on guilt, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. The horror is atmospheric, not gory; the twists are earned, not cheap. And by the end, the anthology folds in on itself, revealing something far more personal and unsettling.
It’s a rare late-night offering that rewards close attention. A ghost story not just about what haunts us—but why.
Streaming Choices
Nero the Assassin – Netflix, from Wednesday 8th October
Néro the Assassin – Netflix, from Wednesday 8th October
A brooding historical thriller set in 1504 France, where blades speak louder than laws.
Forget togas and emperors—this Néro is no Roman tyrant. He’s a cynical assassin navigating the fractured politics of early 16th-century France, where loyalty is a currency and survival a daily negotiation. Betrayed by his former master, Néro is forced to protect his daughter Perla, a stranger to him in every sense but blood.
The series trades imperial grandeur for muddy roads, fortress shadows, and the quiet desperation of a man who’s killed too much to be redeemed, but not enough to be free. Pio Marmaï leads with a performance that’s all restraint and grit, while Alice Isaaz’s Perla brings fire and vulnerability to a role that refuses easy tropes.
Filmed across Southern France, Italy, and Spain, the production leans into its setting with textured realism—stone corridors, windswept battlements, and the kind of candlelit tension that makes every scene feel like a reckoning. The violence is sharp, but never indulgent. It’s the cost of choices made, and debts long overdue.
Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape from Now – Paramount Plus, from Tuesday 7th October
The “Prince of Darkness” is back under the spotlight in this intimate documentary. Ozzy Osbourne lived a life of chaos and creation, and this programme doesn’t shy away from either. From his early days in Birmingham to superstardom with Black Sabbath and his wild solo years, the film charts a remarkable journey.
What gives it weight is the honesty. We see not only the excesses but also the struggles with health, family, and identity. Sharon Osbourne’s presence adds both warmth and bite, grounding the myth in human reality.
Novel Vague – Netflix, from Friday 10th October
A stylish new drama that plays with narrative itself, Novel Vague blurs the lines between author and character, fiction and reality. Each episode unravels like a book being rewritten mid-sentence, pulling the viewer into a hall of mirrors.
The show borrows from French New Wave cinema, with jump cuts, direct addresses to camera, and an ironic distance that still manages to feel deeply emotional. It’s clever, yes, but also strangely moving.
This is television for those who like puzzles and poetry in equal measure. Demanding but rewarding, Novel Vague invites you to get lost in its labyrinth.
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