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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Our Girls: The Southport Families
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A deeply moving documentary celebrating the lives of the three girls killed in an attack on their dance class last year – and following the powerful way their parents dealt with the tragedy.
What our reviewer said “No children were exactly like these three, and it’s a privilege to know them a little through home movies and their parents’ words.” Jack Seale
Further reading One Day in Southport review – a sombre portrait of how a tragedy was hijacked
Pick of the rest
See No Evil
Channel 4
Summed up in a sentence An impeccably made documentary profiling the horrors of John Smyth, possibly the most prolific serial abuser ever associated with the Church of England.
What our reviewer said “The film gives all its participants’ contributions time to breathe, and time for the viewer to reflect on the many delicate, intelligent insights offered.” Lucy Mangan
You may have missed …
How I Made a Million in 90 Days
Channel 4
Summed up in a sentence Lovable prankster-satirist Oobah Butler tries to get rich quick.
What our reviewer said “Butler has managed to strip the aspiration from extreme wealth, demonstrate the false promises of hustle culture, show how much of the crypto-CEO world is built on sand and hot air, and prove once again his appealing combination of wry bravado and scrappy relatability.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading A documentary-maker’s wild attempt to strike it rich in 90 days
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Lurker
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A Hollywood hanger-on thriller starring Théodore Pellerin as a desperate wannabe who attaches himself to a singer on the rise.
What our reviewer said “There’s something remarkably assured about Alex Russell’s attention-demanding thriller, a buzzy Sundance debut that’s made with an unusual amount of self-awareness.” Benjamin Lee
Further reading Obsession, blackmail and Instagram: inside Lurker, the year’s most compelling thriller
Pick of the rest
Preparation for the Next Life
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Bing Liu’s film is an unflinching portrait of an undocumented Uyghur immigrant and a traumatised US veteran whose fragile connection is strained by their pasts.
What our reviewer said “The film shows how the two slip into a limbo, drifting and circling around each other. Perhaps Aishe isn’t sure she wants to commit to the moody and boozy Skinner who can disappear for days at a time; Skinner isn’t sure he really understands the abyss of cultural and historical sadness from which his new girlfriend has appeared.” Peter Bradshaw
The Shining
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Jack Nicholson stars as an abusive father who is tipped over the edge in Stanley Kubrick’s magnificently capacious spooker, rereleased this week for its 45th anniversary.
What our reviewer said “Nicholson’s performance is a thrillingly scabrous, black-comic turn, and the final shot of his face in daylight is a masterstroke.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘Extreme heebie-jeebies’: writers on their scariest movies of all time
Fackham Hall
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A period drama parody with some decent and often smart gags and a game cast including Damian Lewis and Thomasin McKenzie.
What our reviewer said “This enjoyable silver-spoon romp packs all of its 97 minutes with jokes and bits ranging from the puerile to the genuinely funny, proving that there may yet be more to wring from eat-the-rich satire.” Adrian Horton
Now streaming
Merv
Prime Video
Summed up in a sentence Charlie Cox and Zooey Deschanel co-parent a depressed dog in a by-the-book Christmas romcom to appeal to animal lovers.
What our reviewer said “Though not given much to do besides ‘be depressed’, Gus the Dog flops on the floor and whines convincingly – he’s no Messi in Anatomy of a Fall, but still a very good boy.” Adrian Horton
Books
If you only read one, make it …
The Curious Case of Mike Lynch by Katie Prescott
Reviewed by Charlie English
Summed up in a sentence A deeply researched account of the controversial businessman’s rise and his shocking demise on board the Bayesian.
What our reviewer said “As Katie Prescott sets it out in this excellent biography, Lynch was a monstrous man in many ways, but a gifted one.”
Pick of the rest
On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
Reviewed by Clare Clark
Summed up in a sentence The third volume in the hit Danish timeloop series.
What our reviewer said “As her focus widens, Balle introduces some welcome flashes of humour while sustaining the compulsively hypnotic effect of the first two books.”
Further reading ‘How can one day be so voluminous?’: the Danish author who has written her own version of Groundhog Day
Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today by Naomi Alderman
Reviewed by Sophie McBain
Summed up in a sentence A guide to safely navigating the dehumanising world of social media.
What our reviewer said “Alderman has a keen eye for the many subtle ways that digital media is changing us psychologically, and she is wise to note these shifts are often double-edged.”
Further reading Naomi Alderman: as AI floods our culture, here’s why we must protect human storytelling in games
Ever Since We Small by Celeste Mohammed
Reviewed by Selma Dabbagh
Summed up in a sentence A multilayered, magical realist tale of Trinidad and its people.
What our reviewer said “Ever Since We Small is deft, confident and big-hearted. Women curse, guide and heal, while love misleads, empowers and is satisfyingly capable of surmounting if not all, then at least a lot.”
You may have missed …
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Reviewed by Joanna Briscoe
Summed up in a sentence The novel behind the film out next month, starring Paul Mescal as Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as his wife, Agnes, who suffer a family tragedy when the plague comes to Stratford.
What our reviewer said “O’Farrell is simply outstanding. Within pages, she can inhabit the mind of an owl, of a great playwright, of a dying boy. Immersive, at times shockingly intimate … Hamnet is, above all, a profound study of loss.”
Further reading Why Herefordshire was the perfect stand-in for Shakespeare’s Stratford in the new film of Hamnet
Albums
For the year’s outstanding releases, explore the Guardian’s best of 2025 music coverage, including its ongoing countdown of the year’s best rock and pop albums and songs, as well as the best classical recordings
