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Lucy Mangan

Tomatometer-approved critic
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Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Under Salt Marsh: Season 1 (2026) 100% 4/5 EDIT “The drama poses the question of whether such independence serves a person or a community equally well under more extreme circumstances -- be they meteorological or emotional -- or whether a community can implode under the strain.” – Guardian Feb 4, 2026 Full Review Wonder Man: Season 1 (2026) 90% 4/5 EDIT “Not only are the eight episodes only around half an hour long but they also eschew spectacle in favour of storytelling. It’s a radical idea, but you never know, it might catch on.” – Guardian Jan 28, 2026 Full Review The Beauty: Season 1 (2026) 70% 4/5 EDIT “In short, The Beauty is a return to bingeable Murphy goodness (and a harking back, subject-wise, to arguably some of his best work, Nip/Tuck).” – Guardian Jan 22, 2026 Full Review Steal: Season 1 (2026) 80% 4/5 EDIT “Amid all the action, however, Steal finds room for thought. While never taking its foot off the narrative gas, the series becomes a meditation on the notion that the love of money is the root of all evil. ” – Guardian Jan 21, 2026 Full Review A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1 (2026) 95% 3/5 EDIT “Perhaps the fact that it is not going to set the world on fire, either literally within the show or metaphorically without it, is the point. The real world is now too Westeros-like for us to cope with any more.” – Guardian Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Agatha Christie's Seven Dials: Season 1 (2026) 74% 2/5 EDIT “Retro without flair and full of modern concerns about everyone’s emotional wellbeing is a mix that doesn’t work for me.” – Guardian Jan 15, 2026 Full Review The Great British Baking Show: Holidays: Season 8, Episode 1 (2025) 4/5 EDIT “A little chance to exhale, God rest ye self a moment and brace yourself before the next fascinating piece of festive disaster comes along.” – Guardian Jan 15, 2026 Full Review Can You Keep a Secret?: Season 1 (2026) 83% 3/5 EDIT “Can You Keep a Secret? has charm, wit and warmth enough to work as soothing balm rather than riotously fun fare. Though if farce is your thing, you will probably find yourself edging more towards the latter and enjoy yourself very much. ” – Guardian Jan 15, 2026 Full Review Pole to Pole With Will Smith: Season 1 (2026) 100% 3/5 EDIT “Smith is an unexpectedly warm, attentive listener. It’s a lovely mix, and makes Pole to Pole a celebrity documentary that is an honourable exception to the usual dross that passes commissioning muster.” – Guardian Jan 14, 2026 Full Review Hijack: Season 2 (2026) 72% 4/5 EDIT “I can say no more without massive spoilers, but if you’ve tuned in for one minute, you’ll be there for them all. So enjoy, and I’ll see you again at the end of what promises to be another rollicking ride.” – Guardian Jan 14, 2026 Full Review Heated Rivalry: Season 1 (2025) 96% 3/5 EDIT “We wait for the main pair to grow up. The second half of the show lets them, a bit. Sex becomes love (and sex) and intimacy (and sex) and the banter improves a bit. Whether it is reward enough for sitting through the first few hours is for you to decide. ” – Guardian Jan 12, 2026 Full Review Girl Taken: Season 1 (2026) 80% 4/5 EDIT “Alfie Allen, in a fantastic and -- given how much he clearly relishes the meaty role -- fantastically restrained performance.” – Guardian Jan 8, 2026 Full Review His & Hers: Season 1 (2026) 68% 3/5 EDIT “The twists, they are plentiful. The absurdities, they multiply. The viewerly enjoyment, it increases. The script -- intoxicating mercenariness aside -- is serviceable. The endeavour is bingeable. Nobody needs more, this early in the year.” – Guardian Jan 8, 2026 Full Review Lynley: Season 1 (2025) 91% 3/5 EDIT “Everything, in short, is as it should be -- for fans of the books, for fans of the old series and for fans of undemanding telly. Deo gratias.” – Guardian Jan 6, 2026 Full Review Run Away: Season 1 (2026) 82% 3/5 EDIT “The plot moves in increasingly convoluted but well-oiled grooves towards its resolution over the course of eight episodes.” – Guardian Jan 2, 2026 Full Review The Hunting Wives: Season 1 (2025) 80% 5/5 EDIT “The Hunting Wives is perfect trash. The most perfect trash possibly ever -- how’s that?” – Guardian Dec 30, 2025 Full Review Amadeus: Season 1 (2025) 88% 2/5 EDIT “Shaffer’s driving interests in the corrupting power of envy, the survival of religious faith under duress, the mystery of talent and what we expect to come from genius are mostly reduced to pale, petty versions of themselves. ” – Guardian Dec 22, 2025 Full Review The Revenge Club: Season 1 (2025) 100% 3/5 EDIT “The Revenge Club is a gallimaufry of tones, styles and performances. Watching it is like looking through a kaleidoscope that someone twists for you every few minutes; it’s fun but quite disorienting after a while.” – Guardian Dec 17, 2025 Full Review The War Between the Land and the Sea: Season 1 (2025) 86% 3/5 EDIT “Look, it’s fine. It’s solid entertainment for kids and I can see teenagers starting off sneering but falling under its spell soon enough.” – Guardian Dec 8, 2025 Full Review The Abandons: Season 1 (2025) 30% 3/5 EDIT “Overall, The Abandons works, because myths by definition always work. You want to see the Nolans win, you want corruption to be vanquished, you want moral order to be restored. In the defiantly unmythic real world, we need our fictions.” – Guardian Dec 4, 2025 Full Review With Love, Meghan: Season 2.1 (2025) 14% 2/5 EDIT “I feel both offended and harmed, but in the spirit of goodwill I will add a star to my rating in gratitude for the fact that at least we are safe now until next year. God bless us, every one.” – Guardian Dec 3, 2025 Full Review The Death of Bunny Munro: Season 1 (2025) 83% 5/5 EDIT “As a study in masculinity, in men handing on misery to men, deepening like a south coastal shelf as Bunny and son drive towards doom, it is as timely -- for all, alas, that the book was written over a decade ago -- as it is illuminating.” – Guardian Nov 20, 2025 Full Review Malice: Season 1 (2025) 44% 4/5 EDIT “It’s a great ride, and Whitehall acquits himself well in his first lead dramatic role, even if he is better at oblique menace than delivering straightforwardly murderous speeches.” – Guardian Nov 14, 2025 Full Review The Beast in Me: Season 1 (2025) 84% 5/5 EDIT “Even without two astonishing performances from the lead actors, the script, the sheer style and confidence of it all, would be things of beauty. But add what that pair are doing, and this... thriller moves seamlessly into top-tier television.” – Guardian Nov 13, 2025 Full Review Pluribus: Season 1 (2025) 98% 4/5 EDIT “Pluribus has great lines and blackly funny moments but escapist fluff it is not. It’s almost as bleak as real life.” – Guardian Nov 7, 2025 Full Review
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