Alison Goldie – Google

TV that is just the ticket for autumn evenings: warming, cheerful and satisfyingly layered. David Mitchell fills the boots of his accidental detective character perfectly, ably supported by Anna Maxwell Martin as his best friend and sister-in-law. It’s not plausible as a dramatic set-up but it doesn’t matter a bit - we buy into it because we want to, because it’s fun and exciting. Strikes the right balance between comedy and whodunnit, crammed with familiar comforting tropes along with clever innovations. The writer has a mind like a mathematician, but it never matters if you don’t fully follow the code-cracking - the joy is in watching Mitchell’s tweedy geek become the unlikely hero as he applies his meticulous brain to multiple murders. I defy anyone not to enjoy it.

One of the most painful yet necessary TV reconstructions of history I’ve ever seen. A phenomenal cast lipsync to the words of real survivors of the Battle of Normandy and reveal the truth of war. The dramatised battle scenes mixed with genuine footage are graphic: frightening, and so moving. The way in which we identify with a small selection of both Allied and German soldiers, as well as French civilians makes the events of this incredible feat imprint themselves on the viewers’ minds and hearts. Better than any fictionalised war film, this is unmissable television.

This is a radical film. It takes its time so that you can observe every beautiful moment closely. You are invited to relish it with a painter’s eyes, just as the painter and her subject relish each other. At one point, I realised my mouth was hanging open in wonder. It enchants, it digs deep into what falling in love feels like, it shows women as the agents of their own lives and supporters of each other. The women singing on the beach is a divine moment amongst many. Men appear just as functionaries or in a crowd. It is a beautifully choreographed piece of considered care. Jewel-bright and luscious.

Hugely enjoyable film about a vile part of American history that prefigures some of the frightening liberal-hating that we see today. Cranston delivers a stunning performance: plausible and very entertaining. Diane Lane as his wife shows how saintly and sturdy a woman has to be to hold up a driven guy like this. Mirren is terrifying as Hopper. Added bonus - Trumbo shows how hard a successful writer works. All milksops who think they can write but don’t do it should see this, appreciate the truth and do something else with their lives.

At times so miserable I wasn't sure I could deal with the sadness, this extraordinary drama series held me on by changing emotional tack so craftily that by the end I felt really exhilarated. Costello and her motley crew of friends are unwrapped so tenderly by the writer that their worst excesses and nastiest habits become just other facets of their complex and ultimately lovable personalities. These people felt REAL!!! I loved all the scatalogical honesty, was sometimes upset, sometimes amused by the sex-work and generally had my mind opened more than I thought it could be (I thought it was pretty open). It's dirty/beautiful, political/anarchic, angry/gentle. Brave and big-hearted of the BBC to put it on. Daisy May Cooper wins again.

Heart warming, funny, real, this is a show that reflects the life of teenagers more accurately than any other. In a light and engaging way it normalises sexual practices of many varieties and helps young people (and older people) to be done with guilt and shame. Quietly revolutionary, it encourages everyone, irrespective of sexuality or gender, to seek to have the sex-life they most need to satisfy their yearnings. And it deals with parent-child issues, loss, grief, friendship, the pressure to succeed, sexual abuse, female solidarity, the need for boys and men to show vulnerability...and so much more. A wonderful show.