Bethan Ackerley

Wolverhampton

Sub-Editor and TV Columnist at New Scientist

subeditor, tv columnist and quiz gal @newscientist. 🍅-meter approved. slattern. she/her

Featured in: Favicon

newscientist.com Favicon

newsbreak.com Favicon

weeklyreviewer.com Favicon

cultbox.co.uk Favicon

nach-welt.com Favicon

newsylist.com Favicon

flipboard.com

Articles

Black Mirror returns full of delights and disappointments

1 week ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Black MirrorCharlie BrookerNetflixWhen began in 2011, it was easy to describe: a British horror anthology series about technology. Over time, that description has become fuzzier. It no longer feels very British. It’s not always horrifying or tech-inclined. Sometimes, it’s not even TV: in 2018, an interactive film called let viewers control the life of troubled programmer Stefan (Fionn Whitehead). Now in its seventh season, Black Mirror has metamorphosed again.
Stunning new animated series tells the story of a cure-all mushroom

4 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Bethan Ackerley

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won't be needed 'for most things'Over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed "for most things" in the world, says Bill …
Stunning new animated series tells the story of a cure-all mushroom

4 weeks ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Common Side EffectsJoseph Bennett, Steve HelyChannel 4 (UK); Cartoon Network, Max (US)One of the best shows I watched last year was , a lushly animated sci-fi series about an interstellar cargo ship that crashes on a planet full of strange, dangerous life. Sadly, it was cancelled after a single season. So, I was pleased to learn that one of its creators, Joseph Bennett, had partnered with writer Steve Hely on a new animated show called , all about a…
New Scientist recommends Weather Girl, an electrifying one-woman show

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Weather Girl, at Londonâ€™s Soho Theatre until 5 April, is a frantic and funny one-woman show about the looming climate apocalypse. Written by Brian Watkins, it stars Julia McDermott as Stacey, a local weather forecaster in Fresno, California. Sandwiched between segments on dog shows and testicular tanning, her reports on the droughts and wildfires in her state are always delivered with a winning smile â€“ until, one day, she snaps.
The OA review: The late director David Lynch echoes through this TV show

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

The OABrit Marling and Zal BatmanglijNetflixLike many film fans, I was heartbroken by the recent death of David Lynch. A trailblazing director and painter, he was perhaps the most influential visual artist of the past 50 years, responsible for haunting works of film and TV like , and, of course, . “Visionary” seems too small a word to describe him. While reading tributes to Lynch, I stumbled across a list of TV shows influenced by his work. One of those…
New Scientist recommends Jennifer Walshe: Zero-gravity opera

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

I won’t pretend to know much about opera, but was hooked by the radio show Jennifer Walshe: Zero-gravity opera, on the BBC World Service recently. It previews an as yet untitled work by Walshe (pictured above), a professor of composition at the University of Oxford. She is writing the opera with Mark O’Connell as librettist â€“ he won the Wellcome Book Prize in 2018 for his exploration of transhumanism. The opera is set on Mars and is about female astronauts.
Documentary-maker films the fallout as her husband opts to be a cyborg

2 months ago | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

My Husband, the CyborgSusanna CappellaroAvailable to buy digitally from 14 FebruaryAround a decade ago, music industry executive Scott Cohen made a decision that rocked his marriage. His wife, actor and filmmaker Susanna Cappellaro, wasn’t a fan of the two titanium piercings near his sternum â€“ but they weren’t the problem. Cradled by metal bars in his chest but not permanently anchored was a small circuit board Cohen co-developed that vibrated whenever he faced north.
Severance review: This is still the most thoughtful, complex show on television

Jan 22, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

SeveranceDan EricksonApple TV+ (Episodes releasing weekly from 17 January)Good things come to those who wait, or so we say. But there is nothing worse than patience unrewarded by time, especially when weeks have stretched into years of anticipation. Sitting down to watch season two of (for my money, the best sci-fi show in a decade), I was nervous. I had put off watching it more than once. Long-neglected chores took on a startling importance. Three years after the first season ended on a…
New Scientist recommends climate change play Kyoto

Jan 8, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

Last year, I had the pleasure of seeing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, a play about the 1997 United Nations Climate Change Conference (or COP3, for short). It was a fantastic production, so I was pleased it has transferred to London’s @sohoplace until 3 May. Stephen Kunken (pictured above) stars as Don Pearlman, a lawyer working for the fossil fuels lobby to prevent climate action. Pearlman is the kind of adversary you would dread: a brilliant strategist…
The best sci-fi TV of 2025: Alien: Earth, Severance, Andor and Doctor Who

Jan 1, 2025 | newscientist.com | Bethan Ackerley

If you live in a part of the world where January is a hardscrabble month of inclement weather, you might well be tempted to lock yourself away for the rest of the year, fearing the sun will never return. Should you succumb to this awful temptation, there would, at least, be a wealth of brilliant television to fill your days, as some hotly anticipated science fiction and science-focused TV series are arriving in 2025.