Television

Jill Liddington’s research into Anne Lister’s diaries inspired the television series Gentleman Jack. John Morgan speaks to her about making a difference locally and the lost tradition of extramural university teaching

In today’s multichannel landscape, says Fred Inglis, there are more bright, wondering eyes on the world than Babestations

Roger Michell faced ethical as well as artistic issues in dramatising the vilification of an innocent eccentric questioned over a murder, he tells Richard Howells

This remarkable ensemble piece exploring the rebuilding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina deserves a bigger viewership, writes Emma Rees

From Walter White to Dexter Morgan, what lies behind our fascination with imperfect heroes? asks Murray Smith

The 21st-century reincarnation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation is our version of Superman, argues Fern Riddell

Gary Day welcomes the master of malapropism to a screen with a scale that matches his talent: small

TV series dramatising the rise of department stores highlight a turning point in consumer culture, as entrepreneurs seduced female shoppers into becoming part of the bourgeois set

TV detective shows express a great deal about the nature of society and the human psyche, argues Gary Day

There’s more to the ancient world than dusty toff-on-toff talk, ‘professor of bloody Classics’ tells Matthew Reisz

Gary Day is fascinated by explanations of the Earth's path through the heavens and the Sun's hold over us

Matt Hills enjoys spotting the overlap as the Danish crime genre continues to bring home the bacon

Adela Bradley, a glamorous, more saucy version of Miss Marple, is brought vividly to life, says Gary Day

Does the award-winning Homeland break new ground, asks Matt Hills, or is it full of familiar themes?

Social workers are much maligned, says Gary Day, but all they do is try to help those who need it most

New dramas from the BBC tell compelling tales of offenders and their motivations, says Matt Hills

Fist-fighting is a way of life for Gypsy communities. It may seem brutal, says Gary Day, but it is at least fair

Incomplete works hold eternal appeal, from Dickens' Edwin Drood to Austen's Sanditon, says Gary Day

The step from chemistry to biology is so ordinary that life must exist elsewhere, says Gary Day

The BBC's new Sherlock Holmes is great fun, says Gary Day, but the man himself remains an enigma

From the spotlight to the gutter is a hard road, says Gary Day, reminding us that losers have lives, too

Sarah Lund is in danger of being upstaged by her sweaters in the hit series The Killing, says Gary Day

The Church was the heart of medieval life, says Gary Day, full of symbolism, beauty and grotesqueries

The murder of a Hell's Angel on the M40 exemplifies the lurking barbarism of men, says Gary Day

Alan Ayckbourn's plays are full of gentle humour and sharp insights into all human life, says Gary Day

Martin Scorsese's film shows that none of life's strings can last, says Gary Day

The harsh realities of the drug business on a Hackney estate give Gary Day food for thought

Choosing the life of a nun is not easy, finds Gary Day, but their days are filled with silence and contentment

Experiments with light can astound and delight us aesthetically and intellectually, says Gary Day

Joanna Lumley's honeyed charm wins over everyone she meets on her tour of Greece, says Gary Day

Doing dishes, scrubbing floors and 'not screaming' are the lessons of the child bride, says Gary Day

The embodiment of sex appeal, Shirley Bassey's sheer vitality obscures her self, says Gary Day

Campus comedy may be stuck in the past but the school hall is full of innovation, says Gary Day

Hilary Mantel's work is suffused with undercurrents and with what might have been, says Gary Day

Finding a gene for psychopathy does not help us face depravity beyond comprehension, says Gary Day

Gary Day sees parallels between the 19th-century novel and anthropomorphic tales of rare animals

Gary Day sees good versus evil in a hard-headed tale of murder set in a Glasgow newsroom

The mysteries of the star-spangled firmament are endlessly fascinating to us, says Gary Day

Will Brooker considers the comforting tropes of 'reality' TV present in BINTM and Jersey Shore

Glimpses of gothicism and a sense of deja vu entertain Will Brooker

'Know thyself', says Gary Day, of an examination of Delphi, and finds that applies equally to old rockers

Gary Day finds no sweetness in a series about Pickfords, where any dignity is denied for the camera

The brain's ability to remember and make sense of our past reflects our deeper needs, says Gary Day

Gary Day finds the writing sharp and the acting compelling in ITV's new female detective series

For some with a terminal illness, their fear is not death but leaving the last bits of life unused, says Gary Day

This government's policy has little comfort to offer the UK's children who live in poverty, says Gary Day

If this is our best in sport and entertainment, mourns Gary Day, it doesn't engender national pride

Computers have not liberated us, Gary Day learns, but rather locked us in a corporate capitalist world

The high drama of the Icelandic sagas reminds us how little we have changed, Gary Day learns

Gary Day is touched by an animated exploration of Relate's work with troubled or warring couples

Families can go to extreme lengths to keep their secrets, finds Gary Day, but the truth will out

Gary Day is mesmerised by the bedridden life of a man mountain who courts global media attention

Gary Day finds that forgiveness can be a recreation of ourselves and of those whom have done us harm

As the council house dream falls into disrepair, Gary Day sees a spirit of frugality and thrift rekindled

Gary Day finds absurdity in two programmes on universities - and only one is on a fictional campus

A new adaptation of Women in Love may not adhere to the book, but shows profound understanding

The Bible holds many mysteries, and Gary Day is intrigued by the suggestion that God had a wife

Gary Day asks what is meant by the Big Society when the government seems intent on dismantling it

'Why are we here? Where do we come from?' Brian Cox has the answers, says Gary Day

Gary Day sees irony in a lament about the death of variety theatre and its larger-than-life characters