Barbara Ellen

1 week ago | observer.co.uk | Barbara Ellen

The edgy comedian behind absurdist hit series The Rehearsal uses surreal role-play to take improv to elaborate, deranged extremes Illustration by Andy BundayWho or what is Nathan Fielder? Genius or sociopath? The counterculture “king of cringe”? His acclaimed HBO US show The Rehearsal – returning this week for a second Sky Comedy series in the UK – delivered a potent visual image of Fielder as a brooding obsessive figure, standing with a laptop in a harness.

2 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Barbara Ellen

Julianne Moore stars in a sharp new satire with more than a whiff of White Lotus; the year’s second Lockerbie drama is heartfelt if overloaded; an ambitious film tracks the global fallout after George Floyd’s murder. Plus, Stanley Tucci in gnocchi heaven Sirens NetflixThe Bombing of Pan Am 103 BBC OneBacklash: The Murder of George Floyd BBC TwoTucci in Italy Disney+What would modern television do without the twin entities of wealth and wellness to take a swing at?

2 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Barbara Ellen

Channel 4’s intimacy reality show is one big turn-off; Chris Packham enlightens on neurodiversity; and a rogue security bot makes for dark comedy. Plus, the unremitting horror of Fred and Rosemary West Virgin Island Channel 4 Inside Our ADHD Minds BBC Two Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story Netflix Murderbot Apple TV+Watching the new Channel 4 series Virgin Island, you wonder what it’s trying to achieve.

3 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Barbara Ellen

Laura Bates’s disturbing study of AI, cyber-brothels and online porn exposes the age-old power dynamics of a parallel universe The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution Is Reinventing MisogynyLaura BatesSimon & Schuster, £20, pp320Something new and disturbing is wriggling in the pan-cultural petri dish: a degrading in male-female relations masquerading as technological progress.

4 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Barbara Ellen

TV round up: Poker Face is back with the powerhouse Natasha Lyonne; parents stand trial for their kids’ crimes in a dystopian courtroom drama. Plus, a sharp update of Judy Blume’s 70s teen bible Poker Face Sky Showcase/MaxThe Trial Channel 5The Real Adolescence: Our Killer Kids Channel 5Forever NetflixThe Handmaid’s Tale Channel 4Poker Face (Sky Showcase/Sky Max), the Emmy-winning US comedy drama starring Natasha Lyonne as an amateur sleuth-cum-human lie detector, shouldn’t work.