Must Watch reviews: Widow’s Bay, Dear England and Kylie

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan join Naga Munchetty to review ‘Widow’s Bay’, ‘Dear England’ and ‘Kylie’.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

'Widow's Bay' stars Matthew Rhys as Tom Loftis, the mayor of a fictional New England town, who refuses to believe the residents who claim the island is cursed, until he begins encountering supernatural happenings himself.

Scott and Hayley say that this is definitely a Must Watch.

Scott says that this is “one of his favourite shows of the year so far, because it manages to do two things at the same time, which is so hard”.

“It manages to be creepy and has some really impressive moments that aren't violent, just really makes you feel very nervous.”

“There’s this kind of foreboding, it’s about an island that has a fog seeping in that apparently turns people mad. There’s an attachment to the folklore of the island and that tension is fantastic.”

Scott continues: “But then, also at the same time, it manages to be very much like ‘Parks and Recreation’. Very funny tapping into a small village or small island mentality.”

“The way that it has managed to somehow do both things so consistently well and it gels together is to me really rather miraculous.”

Scott adds: “It’s unsettling. It’s fantastically well acted and on my list of favourite TV shows of the year.”

Hayley believes that this is “definitely a must watch”, saying: “I loved this.”

“Even though I know everything that this show is pulling from, I don’t know what’s about to happen. The writing is so fresh and so funny that I’m just swept away in the fun of it all.”

“There are scary moments, but they’re not seriously scary. They’re sort of jump scary, but in a fun way.”

“It makes me laugh out loud and it’s only when that happens that I realise I’ve been intensely waiting for the scary bit.”

Hayley adds: “It's been ages since we’ve had a show that I’ve messaged friends about telling them they have to watch it and that’s this one.”

The first five episodes of Widow's Bay are on Apple TV with a new episode available every Wednesday.

'Dear England' is about the England men's team from 2016 and its manager Gareth Southgate. Based on the stage play of the same name by James Graham, it follows Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate from 2016 to Euro 2024, with Jodie Whittaker and Jason Watkins in supporting roles.

Scott says that it’s a very good watch but not a must watch.

He has seen the play when it was at the National Theatre, saying that “one of the strengths of this is how it really splices together lots of news footage to make it seem like you were with the team”.

He says that “it manages to weave in a lot about mental health, the divisiveness, etc”.

“Where it falls short for me is that there were too many lofty speech moments about the state of our country that went on a little bit too long.”

Scott adds: “It didn’t feel like I knew exactly who to follow.”

Hayley believes that this is well-made but she says “it’s not for her personally”.

“The problem here is me rather than the show. This is all about the England team, more broadly about the emotions of football.”

“Everything Southgate was doing seems obvious now but it was all revolutionary then. And that’s a great story.”

Hayley adds: “It was going to take a lot for me to say this one was a must watch. The fairy tale kind of aspect of football is not something that ever chimes with me.”

The first two episodes of Dear England are on BBC iPlayer.

A three-part documentary exploring Kylie Minogue’s life and career through key collaborators including Jason Donovan, Pete Waterman, Dannii Minogue and Nick Cave, focusing on pivotal moments and personal challenges.

This is a Must Watch for both Scott and Hayley.

Scott says that he loves this documentary. “I thought it was fantastic. Kylie is a person who is so hard to define.”

“I like that they didn’t try to sum everything up. They just chose specific stories and then basically went into them in great detail.”

“It really gave a real sense of intimacy. It felt as if you were getting another layer that you don’t always get.”

Scott says that “music documentaries sometimes can end up being so gushing but this does not fall into that trap”.

“It was just basically there to sum up an exceptional career and try to get into her psyche. I was really, really impressed.”

Hayley believes that this is “an excellent” documentary. She especially loves that “it’s not a standard talking heads documentary”.

“It takes four people who were instrumental in her life and it tells as much as it can of her life through the parts that they collided with.”

“I thought it was really well done, delicately edited, and it handles really hard material in a way that doesn’t feel salacious.”

“It feels like she’s telling you how it felt person to person.”

Hayley adds: “I love the fact that the best parts are narrated by Nick Cave, he’s very funny in this.”

All three episodes of Kylie are available to watch now on Netflix.

Listen to the full reviews of all three programmes on BBC Sounds.

But before all that, why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or both on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

We used AI to transcribe and summarise our Must Watch feature. This article was then written and reviewed by a BBC journalist. More on how the BBC uses AI.