Straight-talking verdicts on telly, tech and culture.
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.
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.
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.
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.