Straight-talking verdicts on telly, tech and culture.
A £30 streaming stick can make a sluggish old smart TV feel years younger — but only if you know what it can and cannot fix. We tested the budget options on an ordinary British broadband line and a diet of iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4.
Halfway through a new series and the remote is already twitching? You're not alone. Here's why 2026 is the year of the mid-box-set bailout, plus a three-question test before you press play.
Your smart TV is logging more than you think. Here's a practical, UK-friendly walk through the settings that actually matter, the defaults worth changing tonight, and what the data rules do — and don't — do for you in 2026.
Black Friday 2026 lands on 27 November, and the gadget aisles are already warming up. Some discounts will be genuine; plenty will be theatre. Here are five product categories where the UK hype tends to collapse once you read the model number, the returns policy and the actual price history.
A cheap projector promises cinema-sized film nights for the price of a decent round. We tested the sub-£150 dream in a dark November living room to see where it shines, where it falls apart, and whether it is worth the plug socket.
That shiny new set looked brilliant in Currys and odd in your front room for a reason. Here’s the seven-point picture reset we’d do on any budget or mid-range TV in 2026 — plus the settings worth leaving well alone.
Rotating streaming subscriptions has gone from frugal hack to national sport. We test the 2026 rota against annual-plan traps, Black Friday bait and the password police — and pick the services that reward you for staying.
The 2026 Christmas adverts are here, all snow-globe sob stories and supermarket sincerity. We rank this year's big UK campaigns on craft, cynicism and whether they actually earn the lump in your throat.
Three-hour blockbusters are asking for your evening, your babysitter and your patience. Lean British films are asking for 90 minutes and giving you a proper story. In 2026, the best cinema knows exactly when to roll the credits.
Streaming shelves are getting crowded with films that vanish overnight. In 2026, British film fans are rediscovering the charity-shop Blu-ray, the CeX bargain bin and the simple joy of owning the thing you paid for. Here is how to build a cheap disc collection without getting fleeced.
British telly has spent yearsPerfecting the art of the whisper. We look at why drama dialogue gets lost in the mix, test the cheap soundbars that claim to help, and separate the settings that work from the marketing nonsense.
Streaming has made films easier to find and harder to understand. As DVD extras fade from British shelves, we ask whether podcasts and Blu-ray reissues can replace the director’s commentary — and why film lovers should care in 2026.
We spent seven nights watching only ad-supported telly in the UK — ITVX, Channel 4, Pluto TV and the rest — to see if 'free' is a bargain or a billing in attention. Here's the keep-or-ditch verdict, plus the setup we'd actually recommend.
We built a sub-£500 projector, soundbar and blackout-blind setup and spent a month comparing it with actual trips to the pictures. The result is less about specs and more about how often you'll really use it — and whether the British weather helps or ruins the show.
No capes, no quaint bakeries, no algorithm-approved nonsense. Ten quietly brilliant British films you can stream tonight, each with a runtime, a platform and a two-second verdict.
The TV Licence is the best part of £175 a year, and the streaming giants still want your direct debit too. We weigh up what the BBC actually delivers in 2026, when cancelling is the sensible move, and whether the whole thing still earns its keep.
We spent seven days with four sub-£250 smartphones available in the UK, testing contactless payments, train Wi-Fi, battery life and whether the camera can handle a chippy tea. Here is the straight-talking verdict — and the one we would actually buy.
The 2026 festive schedules are taking shape, and it is a mixed bag of cosy winners, streamer flexes and a few programmes that should be quietly moved to 2am. Here are the 12 shows worth your December evenings, plus three to swerve.