Factual TV

The week in TV: Suspect; The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN; Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain; Ellie and Natasia

James Nesbitt’s latest troubled detective got lost in neo-noir gloom, an excellent documentary exposed the UN’s seedy side, Lenny Henry celebrated cultural diversity, and a new sketch show sparkled

Barbara Ellen

26, Jun, 2022 @8:30 AM

Memories, manipulation and murder: a true crime docuseries tests the form

Mind Over Murder, a six-part series, searches for reconciliation in a town divided by the wrongful conviction of six people for a 1985 murder

Adrian Horton

22, Jun, 2022 @6:06 AM

The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN review – a horrific tale of misogyny, rape and 10,000 deaths

This shocking, methodical documentary uses first-hand testimonies to expose a toxic culture where abusers prey on the vulnerable – while hiding behind a cloak of saintliness

Jack Seale

21, Jun, 2022 @9:30 PM

From Cathy Come Home to Shameless: how UK TV explains the cost of living crisis

Whether it’s provocative plays and astute sitcoms, or property porn and undercover docs, the small screen has never shied away from showing life at the sharp end – even if it doesn’t always get it right

Stuart Jeffries

17, Jun, 2022 @10:00 AM

TV tonight: an uplifting look at some of the lives touched by Grenfell

Five years on, we catch up with people affected by the tragedy, including the ‘Grenfell guerrilla gardener’. Plus: the unofficial follow-up to The Wire continues. Here’s what to watch this evening

Hollie Richardson, Ellen E Jones, Graeme Virtue and Phil Harrison

14, Jun, 2022 @5:20 AM

The Australian beach tragedy that inspired a global rip safety movement

A 2016 drowning at a NSW beach spurred a rescuer and a film-maker to create a series of documentaries that would change the conversation around our number one coastal hazard

Dwayne Grant

11, Jun, 2022 @8:00 PM

‘It affected a great number of people’: inside the world of shocking military drug experiments

A damning new documentary sheds light on experiments done on US soldiers from the 50s to the 70s and the devastating after-effects

Radheyan Simonpillai

09, Jun, 2022 @6:11 AM

When will Top Gear get back to its best? No time soon

Its focus on car culture makes it better than Clarkson et al’s last series. But the driving show needs to address its Paddy McGuinness problem before it can become genuinely great TV

Joel Golby

04, Jun, 2022 @8:00 AM

Police on Trial: two years after the killing of George Floyd, what has changed?

The Minneapolis murder led to protests and calls for structural change but a new documentary shows that the journey to racial equality remains long

David Smith in Washington

31, May, 2022 @2:38 PM

Prehistoric Planet review – you’ll genuinely think you’re watching real dinosaurs

This nature show about millions of years ago looks so good it’s like a wildlife documentary – especially as David Attenborough narrates. What a wonderful spectacle

Lucy Mangan

23, May, 2022 @5:00 AM

Bend It Like Beckham: 20 Years On review – this lighthearted doc made me rewatch the film (and weep)

In 2002 I felt the movie had nothing to say to British Asians like me, or my football-mad mum. This engaging doc shows how much, and how little, has changed

Chitra Ramaswamy

22, May, 2022 @7:30 PM

The week in TV: Conversations With Friends; The Time Traveler’s Wife; Floodlights; Elon Musk: Superhero or Supervillain?

Ragged emotions surge through the BBC’s slow-moving new Sally Rooney adaptation; The Time Traveler’s Wife is tone-deaf; and a fine drama tells the real-life story of sexual abuse in football