Search | New Scientist

Prehistoric Planet 2 review: Attenborough returns to ancient Earth

14 May 2023

The second series of this show about Earth 66 million years ago is a joy to watch - but it inspires more than it informs. A little more science would have been nice

Silo review: With apocalypses everywhere, can a new TV show deliver?

10 May 2023

Dystopias are everywhere on TV, but for every gem there is one to forget. A new offering, Silo, starts from a great premise about a society forced to live underground, but does it really deliver, asks Bethan Ackerley

Mrs. Davis and Class of '09 review: AI anxieties abound in TV sci-fi

10 May 2023

Hostility, scepticism and general disquiet towards artificial intelligence run through two new sci-fi shows, Mrs. Davis and Class of '09, but they have very different styles

Wild Wet World and Torus review: Transmuting obscure worlds into music

3 May 2023

Giving musical voice to the deep ocean and to the complex shapes of geometry is a serious ask. But composers Cosmo Sheldrake and Emily Howard manage this tough brief with aplomb

Dead Ringers review: A triumphant reimagining of Cronenberg's classic

19 April 2023

Remaking a cult psychological thriller like Dead Ringers is a seriously tough ask. Amazingly, a six-parter starring Rachel Weisz as twin gynaecologists is a standalone triumph, says Bethan Ackerley

Cosmic Tumbles, Quantum Leaps review: Embodying Schrodinger's cat

14 March 2023

This physics-inspired circus performance enthralled attendees of the American Physical Society’s March Meeting, but a casual observer may have missed some of the scientific concepts that performers enacted

Creature review: Human nature is key to a sci-fi ballet

5 March 2023

The ballet Creature, adapted for film, worries about how we treat other primates, but its subtleties are overwhelmed by simple moralising and a metaphor that doesn’t work. The dancing is superb, though

Animalia review: Intriguing sci-fi thriller, shame about the aliens

24 February 2023

Faith, freedom and spirituality are key to a well-made sci-fi psychological thriller, Animalia. But writer-director Sofia Alaoui leaves the aliens dangling in an unsatisfying ending

THE LAST OF US takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

The Last of Us review: An excellent example of fungal horror

18 January 2023

From Hannibal to Whitechapel and now this fine adaptation of a bestselling video game, why do fungi so often steal the show in TV thrillers, wonders Bethan Ackerley

Wildcat review: Come for cute animals, stay for nuanced psychology

30 December 2022

An unusual nature documentary features a battle-scarred soldier who finds salvation in the Amazon rainforest, caring for an injured ocelot cub and developing a complex relationship with the founder of a wildlife rescue centre