Must Watch reviews: The Box, Ms. X and New Zealand Spy

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 The Box, Ms. X and New Zealand Spy.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

This is a celebrity game show and Gary Lineker's first role since leaving Match of the Day. The celebrities are packed into yellow boxes and sent to different locations, where the doors open and they’re set challenges to complete. This round includes Joey Essex, John Bercow, and Graeme Souness.

Both Scott and Hayley think this is not a Must Watch.

Scott says “it's just the fact that there doesn't really seem to be that much of a point of it really”.

“There's not really that much of a strategy…the challenges are so overwhelmingly boring. In the first episode, they had to go and do essentially a long egg and spoon race. Half of them didn't read the instructions.”

He adds that, “they literally had a game of musical chairs. Apart from that, there was no music and they won by sitting on the chair the longest. And I'm like, how is this television?”

Scott was forced to defend his decision to make the rest of the panel watch it, saying “the reason why I think we had to review it was because this was at the heart of ITV's schedule”.

Hayley says “as with all of these celebrity shows, I knew who maybe two or three people were”.

She thought that this was “basic celebrity game show challenge nonsense”.

“It did irritate me watching them cheat on the egg and spoon race. That a grown man still thinks you can hold onto the egg with his thumb is just unfathomable.”

She adds that “this is just boring”.

“I just don't want to watch them anymore. And I think some of these celebrities probably don't have better things to do, but Gary certainly does.”

The first two episodes of The Box are available to watch on ITVX with the third episode airing at 8.15pm on Saturday 12 September on ITV1.

A new high stakes comedy thriller starring Melissa George, about a woman called Mia who is convinced that her husband is having an affair, only for it to end up being much, much worse than you could possibly imagine.

Scott thinks this is a Must watch, Hayley does not.

Scott says, “I think one of the joys of this is that it's inherently unpredictable…I like the fact that it becomes a bit of a detective show”.

Scott adds “the fact that we are seeing New Zealand in a very domestic setting, it's kind of a bit of a mixture between a high stakes thriller and Motherland, in terms of people being petty about each other and their neighbours and not necessarily always getting on".

“It's something a little bit different and I don't know where it's going to end up. I was excited about watching it.”

Hayley says, “I thought it was predictable but fun and I thought the characters were good”.

“And I like that it's set in New Zealand. So not only do you have new stuff to look at, but you get actors you don't usually see.”

Hayley liked “that it's about a woman in her fifties”.

“It's already been renewed for a second season, so it's popular among people who are not us, the wider public.”

“I think give it a go, it might charm you.”

Hayley concludes “I'm not going to be raving about it forever, but I had fun with it”.

All six episodes of Ms. X are available to watch on Disney+ now.

A new six part comedy series written and created by Paul Williams. Starring Williams, Rose Matafeo, Joe Thomas, and Bret McKenzie – the series is about a set of new spying recruits who all got the job because there are five roles.

Both Scott and Hayley think this is a Must Watch.

Scott says, “I really, really liked New Zealand spy”.

“I find that with comedy shows, if it manages to make me laugh out loud, and I'm the only person in the room, then it gets the thumbs up from me, and with this show, it did it about four times in the first 15 minutes.”

He adds that “I can imagine that it is one of those comedy series that you're either going to love or not really at all”.

“I like how it spins all those conventions that you see in every single spy thriller. And just decides to make it really, really silly.”

Hayley says, “It was scrappy, weird, deadpan, sometimes a bit laboured".

"It's a spoof of 1970s spy films, but somehow manages to be very Kiwi with it."

She adds that "it's very silly."

"I probably like the fact that it exists more than I like the show itself."

Hayley enjoyed the character roles, "I like the Flight of the Conchords idea that the Australians are the villains in this”.

"Outsiders may think they're basically the same, but they're not."

"There's this whole internal conflict about identity going on."

She ends by saying “I thought it was fun. Fun, weird, different, great cast.”

All episodes of New Zealand Spy are available to watch on Sky and the streaming service NOW, with episodes also regularly airing on Sky One.

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

But before all that, why not contact Must Watch 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.