The return of three hit TV shows couldn’t come at a better time

I won’t be watching Matt Hancock taking a shower or eating a spider. Those televised daily Covid briefings were enough to put me off him for life, writes Charlotte Cripps

Hancock’s stint in the jungle seems far less ominous – but really it’s not (AP)

The news is grim – the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine, austerity, and Matt Hancock joining I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

But at least the long-awaited return of not just one but three hit shows has arrived – and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Personally, I’d been dreading the return of The Handmaid’s Tale’s season five on Channel 4, but it’s not half as torturous as I had anticipated. I ended up binge-watching as many episodes as I could lay my hands on. It’s always fun to watch the tables turn – Fred is dead and Serena’s future is looking less stable by the minute.

The White Lotus season two is also back on Sky Atlantic this week – we gave it a five star review, with our critic Nick Hilton commenting that “there is nothing more enjoyable to watch on television right now”. This time it’s set in a five star resort in Sicily rather than Hawaii – but much like the first season, a murder mystery unravels against a backdrop of wealth, privilege, and sex.

Netflix’s The Crown season five finally begins next week [9 November]. It has already been inundated with complaints – particularly for filming the death scene of Diana, Princess of Wales in Paris and for recreating the Martin Bashir Panorama interview. But it’s not going to put off millions of viewers from tuning in – including me.

Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana in the forthcoming series, has said people need to “move on” from complaining about the show’s portrayal of royals after Netflix added a disclaimer stating that The Crown is a “fictionalised drama”.

There are so many TV shows – and films – depicting real people’s deaths. I don’t know how it can be avoided. Marilyn Monroe’s death scene in Netflix’s recent film Blonde – starring Ana de Armas – might have gone a step too far. It was shot in the room where Monroe died in real life – an experience the director explained was like a “seance” because the crew and actors felt her presence on set.

Netflix’s recent 10-part Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was slammed for reopening the wounds of victims of his cannibalistic murder spree 30 years later. Hancock’s stint in the jungle seems far less ominous – but really it’s not. It will stir up emotional feelings in families who lost loved ones during the Covid pandemic or who couldn’t visit relatives in care homes due to lockdown rules.

Hancock, the then health minister, broke the rules when he had an affair with his aide. Debicki is right when she says about The Crown – it’s “good drama to me”. But I won’t be watching Hancock taking a shower or eating a spider. Those televised daily Covid briefings were enough to put me off him for life.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Senior culture writer