gbkimberley

The noisy clamour over How to Survive a Warzone has dominated headlines, overshadowing another new BBC documentary on Gaza - this one a three-part, blockbuster series on the history of Israel and Palestine - that has received none of the controversy.

And for good reason.

Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, whose final episode airs this Monday, is such a travesty, so discredited by the very historical events it promises to explain, that it earns a glowing, five-star review from the Guardian.

It "speaks to everyone that matters", the liberal daily gushes. And that's precisely the problem.

What we get, as a result, is the very worst in BBC establishment TV: talking heads reading from the same implausibly simplistic script, edited and curated to present western officials and their allies in the most sympathetic light possible.

Which is no mean feat, given the subject matter: nearly eight decades of Israel's ethnic cleansing, dispossession, military occupation and siege of the Palestinian people, supported by the United States.

But this documentary series on the region's history should be far more controversial than the film about Gaza's children. Because this one breathes life back into a racist western narrative - one that made the genocide in Gaza possible, and justifies Israel's return this month to using mass starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people.

Jonathan K Cook.

I started watching this with a lot of trepidation after seeing the low ratings and reading a couple of the negative reviews. Fortunately there were plenty of 'don't believe the low ratings' reviews as well and, as usual, they turned out to be correct because Squid Game The Challenge is very entertaining.

There are the usual player types of course. The player that you love to hate, the nice one, the annoying one etc etc. But who gets knocked out and who gets to progress each week is, so far, pretty random. Unlike your typical reality tv show.

Then there are the games. Many straight out of the original series and some completely new. All of them (five episodes in) are exciting and filled with tension and brutality (the non violent type).

So, seriously, do not believe the low ratings or negative reviews. Give it a go and decide for yourself.

Should have just been called Josephine & Napoleon the Soap Opera.

It was incredibly inaccurate historically and all the more boring for it. Most especially the battle of Austerlitz and Waterloo, which were portrayed as mere playground skirmishes. Austerlitz for instance, in real life was a masterpiece of command and strategy and one of his greatest victories.

The battle took place over an expansive area and was a masterclass of troop movements, timing and positioning and literally made his name. Scott made it seem like it all took place on a frozen lake and was over and done with in a matter of minutes. Hardly even close to reality.

There was so much source material they could have used for this movie, material that shows what made Napoleon the greatest General and commander of all time. Instead we get a character study of Napoleon's infatuation with Josephine and his desire for an heir. Incredibly disappointing and hardly worth the 5.0/10 that I've rated it. My advice? Wait for the DVD.