The Week’s best film, TV, book and live show on this weekend, with excerpts from the top reviews.
TELEVISION: Have I Got News For You
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“About to return for its 57th series…just think how amazing Have I Got News For You could be now. Think of the potential. It has everything on its side; it has the material, it has a weight of responsibility and it has a viewership desperate for catharsis. And this week it has German comedian Henning Wehn as a panellist, ready and waiting to point out how terrible this all looks to the rest of the world, as well as David Dimbleby making his hosting debut. If anyone knows how to surf a wave of unmanageable chaos, it’s him. The whole thing is theirs to lose.”
18 October, 9pm on BBC One
MOVIE: Official Secrets
Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post
“It’s sickening to revisit the dissembling, self-deceptions and outright lies that led to a misadventure that still reverberates today; it’s even more troubling to consider that very little seems to have been learned, and no one held to account, as a result. Like the upcoming drama 'The Report,' about the Senate investigation into alleged torture at CIA black sites, Official Secrets uses the recent past to invite viewers to interrogate our present and, more specifically, what they’re willing to risk to prevent at disastrous future.”
Released 18 October
BOOK: Me by Elton John
Roisin O’Connor in The Independent
“There are moments that are by turn hilarious, touching and surprising. The late David Bowie never seemed to like him, he says, taking on a forgiving tone as he observes how the Ziggy Stardust icon was 'absolutely out of his mind on coke' when he dismissed him as 'the token queen of rock and roll'…By the time you reach the moment he lost his virginity (although the actual moment is glossed over, suggesting even John has his moments of prudishness), aged 23 and already a bona fide star, you’re practically cheering him on."
Published 15 October
STAGE: The Son
Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph
“This is a 100-minute drama that stares in the face of mental anguish, and yet for all its grimness, with occasional unexpected shafts of humour, it feels oddly life-affirming. As well as attesting to the considerable finesse of the playwright, who creates a pressure-cooker ambience, and a volcanic eruption of feeling that spills like molten lava out into the auditorium, Zeller’s simplicity itself is stirring.”
Until 2 November at the Duke of York’s Theatre
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Friendship: 'bromance' comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim RobinsonThe Week Recommends 'Lampooning and embracing' middle-aged male loneliness, this film is 'enjoyable and funny'
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TV to watch in December, from 'Squid Game' to 'Paris & Nicole'The Week Recommends A pulpy spy thriller, the reunion of Paris and Nicole and a new season of 'Squid Game'
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Black Doves: Keira Knightley stars in 'gleeful' spy thrillerThe Week Recommends Entertaining Netflix series is a 'crash-bang helter-skelter ride' that gets better every episode
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Are celebrities ruining children's books?In the Spotlight Keira Knightley's first novel has been met with frustration by writers
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The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptationThe Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
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Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
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Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
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Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff GoldblumThe Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
