TV Highlights: Rolf Harris Documentary and More
The week's most acclaimed television includes the harrowing documentary Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator on Prime Video. The two-part series explores how the light entertainment celebrity sexually assaulted girls for decades. Guardian reviewer Lucy Mangan highlighted disturbing archive footage, including Harris appearing on Jim'll Fix It and assuring Jimmy Savile he could leave a child on stage "safely in my capable hands."
Another standout is For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music on YouTube, a brainy documentary series presented by Charlotte Ritchie. Reviewer Stuart Heritage called it "nothing short of amazing that something like this exists in 2026." Additionally, Abandoned on Disney+ follows three siblings investigating why they were left at a Barcelona train station in 1984. Phil Harrison noted the series feels "a little helter-skelter at times" but gripping.
Film: The Invite and Other Picks
Olivia Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite, now in cinemas. Peter Bradshaw described it as a "bizarrely moving comedy" about a married couple inviting bohemian neighbors to dinner. Despite being "broad, stagey, and contrived," Rogen's comedy credentials make the twists palatable.
Other notable films include Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a slacker comedy about goofball buddies who time-travel to 2008. Bradshaw praised its laughs while noting a serious point about time passing. Birds of War documents a long-distance relationship between a BBC correspondent and a war photographer in Syria, focusing on "romantic love among the ruins." Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) also returns to cinemas, with Bradshaw observing that its horror and sleaze strike afresh each viewing.
Streaming now, Not a Pretty Picture on Mubi recreates moments before and after Martha Coolidge's rape. Bradshaw questioned whether such unselfconscious daring could be made today.
Books: Long Wave and More
Daisy Johnson's Long Wave, a sublime story of motherhood and separation from a Booker-shortlisted author, received praise from Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett for prioritizing "character and language above gimmick or twist." JD Vance's Communion was reviewed by Rowan Williams, who criticized the vice-president's book for ignoring "the rampant corruption of the Trumpian ruling class." Candice Carty-Williams' Queenie Is Working on It, a sequel to the 2019 bestseller, was lauded by Shahidha Bari for handling race with a "skilfully light touch." Other picks include Daisy Dixon's Depraved, a history of dark art, and Florence Hazrat's On the Mark, a scholarly inquiry into punctuation. Emily Wilson's 2017 translation of The Odyssey was called a "cultural landmark" by Charlotte Higgins.
Albums: Madonna's Confessions II and My Chemical Romance Tour
Madonna's Confessions II, co-produced by Stuart Price, is a banger-heavy sequel to her 2005 album. Alexis Petridis called it "an accommodation with her past that bodes well for her future." Other albums include 2K88's collaborative Everything Always Changes, described as "haunting and vaporous" by Safi Bugel, and Sienna Spiro's debut Visitor, with Shaad D'Souza suggesting more subtlety could cement her "new Adele" tag.
My Chemical Romance is touring The Black Parade at Bellahouston Park and Wembley Stadium. Petridis noted the spectacle includes frontman Gerard Way being stabbed by a pierrot and a suicide vest detonation, amping up the OTT factor.
