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  THE ASSEMBLY Who would have predicted an interview show fronted by neurodivergent and learning disabled people would turn out to be one of the most compelling and uplifting this year? Yet here we are with ITV's 'The Assembly' - a show which puts famous faces into a high rise office building to face a barrage of questions that often cut really deep. Originally piloted on BBC1 last year with the Welsh actor Michael Sheen serving as the guinea pig , the format has been a huge success in France where Emmanuel Macron was asked about marrying his high school teacher and Australia where the ' Jurassic Park ' and ' Peaky Blinders ' star Sam Neill welled up when recalling his parents . The BBC decided not to option 'The Assembly' as a series. However that decision now looks like a massive own goal. Stepping into the breach, ITV's version catapults Danny Dyer, David Tennant, Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall and Gary Lineker into an arena where no question...

  THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME We're at that stage where people either love Wes Anderson films or are really irritated by them. Few contemporary directors sharply divide audiences and critics like the Texan, Then again, few filmmakers regularly attract the calibre of cast that Anderson assembles for his movies. True to form, Anderson's latest quirky black comedy 'The Phoenician Scheme' boasts a cast most directors and producers would die for. Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Riz Ahmed, Alex Jennings, Hope Davis, Matthieu Amalric, Jason Watkins, Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Charlotte Gainsbourg, F Murray Abraham and Bill Murray all feature. But in the biggest role of her relatively short career, it is Kate Winslet's daughter Mia Threapleton who steals the show with a deadpan performance as a novice nun. 'The Phoenician Scheme' begins in unlikely Anderson fashion like ...

  THE FOUR SEASONS Good observational comedies on the big or small screen are a precious commodity. Far too often we are subjected to comedies that go for crude, cheap laughs or are poor imitations of much better shows. So it's comforting to see Tina Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Whitfield reboot a successful but largely forgotten romcom hit from the 1980s, give it a 21st Century makeover and turn it into an engaging Netflix show. Alan Alda's movie 'The Four Seasons'  was the ninth biggest movie of 1981 and enjoyed huge critical and commercial success. Written, directed by and starring Alda, its cast included Carol Burnett, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Len Cariou, Jack Weston and Bess Armstrong and it followed the ups and downs of three New York middle class couples over four vacations in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Fey, Fisher and Wigfield's Netflix series isn't the first attempt to turn Alda's comedy drama into a TV show. Weston and Tony Roberts starred...