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James Walton

James Walton

The Spectator

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Adultery is TV drama by numbers – and I’m hooked

The unequivocally titled Adultery began with a somewhat portentous voiceover. ‘There is a psychological equation,’ it intoned. ‘Attraction plus...

thursday 10

The Spectator

James Walton

BBC1’s Time isn’t subtle – but it’s still riveting

Jimmy McGovern is a writer whose sleeve is rarely heart-free. Since cutting his teeth on Brookside in the early 1980s, he’s served up one crunching...

15.10.2026 200

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / War is as good as Succession

In his ruefully funny 2012 novel The Man Who Forgot His Wife, John O’Farrell compares the increasingly uncivilised process of divorce to war: ‘In...

06.10.2026 20

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / War is as good as Succession

In his ruefully funny 2012 novel The Man Who Forgot His Wife, John O’Farrell compares the increasingly uncivilised process of divorce to war: ‘In...

05.10.2026 20

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / War is as good as Succession

In his ruefully funny 2012 novel The Man Who Forgot His Wife, John O’Farrell compares the increasingly uncivilised process of divorce to war: ‘In...

02.10.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

War is as good as Succession

In his ruefully funny 2012 novel The Man Who Forgot His Wife, John O’Farrell compares the increasingly uncivilised process of divorce to war: ‘In...

01.10.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / War is as good as Succession

In his ruefully funny 2012 novel The Man Who Forgot His Wife, John O’Farrell compares the increasingly uncivilised process of divorce to war: ‘In...

01.10.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / The disappointment of 70 Up (so far)

In advance, I confidently imagined that 70 Up would be the big programme of the week. In the event, it rather disappointingly felt more like the...

21.09.2026 50

The Spectator

James Walton

The disappointment of 70 Up (so far)

In advance, I confidently imagined that 70 Up would be the big programme of the week. In the event, it rather disappointingly felt more like the...

17.09.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Is Alley Cats really that bad?

We first saw Sybylla, the heroine (in every sense) of My Brilliant Career, at a society gathering in 1900 Australia reciting a poem she’d written....

21.08.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

Is Alley Cats really that bad?

We first saw Sybylla, the heroine (in every sense) of My Brilliant Career, at a society gathering in 1900 Australia reciting a poem she’d written....

20.08.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

The new Spider-Man is a triumph of Hollywood professionalism

Remember Peter Parker? By the end of the last instalment of the Spider-Man movies, No Way Home, we were the only ones who could. Following a...

08.08.2026 40

The Spectator

James Walton

Cinema / The new Spider-Man is a triumph of Hollywood professionalism

Remember Peter Parker? By the end of the last instalment of the Spider-Man movies, No Way Home, we were the only ones who could. Following a...

03.08.2026 40

The Spectator

James Walton

The new Spider-Man is a triumph of Hollywood professionalism

Remember Peter Parker? By the end of the last instalment of the Spider-Man movies, No Way Home, we were the only ones who could. Following a...

30.07.2026 40

The Spectator

James Walton

The invincibility of menopausal women in TV drama

Ride or Die began with a typical day for a fiftysomething woman in a TV drama. Having assassinated a Russian oligarch in an Alpine mountain resort,...

23.07.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / The blackly comic life of Katie Price

These days, the 1990s seem to be regarded – especially by people too young to remember them – as a prelapsarian idyll. In Britain, London swung...

10.07.2026 40

The Spectator

James Walton

The blackly comic life of Katie Price

These days, the 1990s seem to be regarded – especially by people too young to remember them – as a prelapsarian idyll. In Britain, London swung...

09.07.2026 30

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / The blackly comic life of Katie Price

These days, the 1990s seem to be regarded – especially by people too young to remember them – as a prelapsarian idyll. In Britain, London swung...

09.07.2026 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Another thriller, another teenage incel

At just over two hours, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of Cape Fear was 20 minutes longer than the 1962 original. It also added some moral...

11.06.2026 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Undeniably stirring: Dear England reviewed

James Graham has said in interviews that he regards Gareth Southgate as ‘a hero for the ages’. Even if he hadn’t, though, this view wouldn’t...

28.05.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / The BBC at its nation-unifying best

Children of the Blitz began with the surprising news – to me anyway – that while 800,000 British children in places likely to be bombed were...

15.05.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

The BBC at its nation-unifying best

Children of the Blitz began with the surprising news – to me anyway – that while 800,000 British children in places likely to be bombed were...

14.05.2026 70

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Big Mistakes is hysterical – but not in a good way

When following up a successful sitcom, should a writer head off into new territory or not? That was the question facing Dan Levy after Schitt’s...

18.04.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Big Mistakes is hysterical – but not in a good way

When following up a successful sitcom, should a writer head off into new territory or not? That was the question facing Dan Levy after Schitt’s...

16.04.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Over-cautious and clumsy: The Downfall of Huw Edwards reviewed

It’s not easy for a drama to be over-cautious and clumsy at the same time. Or to turn a real-life story that shocked (and, let’s face it,...

02.04.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Over-cautious and clumsy: The Downfall of Huw Edwards reviewed

It’s not easy for a drama to be over-cautious and clumsy at the same time. Or to turn a real-life story that shocked (and, let’s face it,...

02.04.2026 80

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Charming: The Other Bennet Sister reviewed

The Other Bennet Sister is to Pride and Prejudice what Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is to Hamlet. The events of the original...

25.03.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Charming: The Other Bennet Sister reviewed

The Other Bennet Sister is to Pride and Prejudice what Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is to Hamlet. The events of the original...

19.03.2026 70

The Spectator

James Walton

Bonkers: Young Sherlock reviewed

Judging from the two biggest new streaming dramas around, the taste these days runs towards the kitchen sink – not as in gritty northern blokes...

05.03.2026 70

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Bonkers: Young Sherlock reviewed

Judging from the two biggest new streaming dramas around, the taste these days runs towards the kitchen sink – not as in gritty northern blokes...

05.03.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Foot-to-the-floor entertainment: How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, Lisa McGee’s sequel to Derry Girls, reviewed

How do you follow a great sitcom? Judging from How to Get to Heaven from Belfast and Small Prophets, the answer is by keeping the same sort of...

19.02.2026 70

The Spectator

James Walton

Fascinating: The Fabulous Funeral Parlour reviewed

05.02.2026 80

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / The worst Agatha Christie adaptation I can remember

26.01.2026 70

The Spectator

James Walton

The worst Agatha Christie adaptation I can remember

22.01.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Lucy Worsley's sleuthing is rather impressive

08.01.2026 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Gothic lives matter: BBC2’s Civilisations reviewed

27.11.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Bleak but gripping: Channel 4’s Trespasses reviewed

13.11.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

The joy of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

30.10.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Is there anything menopausal women can’t do?

16.10.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Every line in the new Alan Partridge is perfect

05.10.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Every line in the new Alan Partridge is perfect

02.10.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Every line in the new Alan Partridge is perfect

02.10.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Mr Bates this isn’t: The Hack reviewed

25.09.2025 70

The Spectator

James Walton

Mr Bates this isn’t: The Hack reviewed

25.09.2025 60

The Spectator

James Walton

The makers of Doc don’t seem to trust the show

18.09.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Lower your expectations for Spinal Tap II

11.09.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Television / Another Traitors rip-off – and it might be even better than the original: Channel 4’s The Inheritance reviewed

04.09.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton

Another Traitors rip-off – and it might be even better than the original: Channel 4’s The Inheritance reviewed

04.09.2025 50

The Spectator

James Walton