Hannah J Davies

The performances are mostly good – and sometimes excellent, as in the cases of Zendaya, Sweeney and Akinnuoye-Agbaje. But Euphoria season three is grim TV that seems hellbent on rattling us for the sake of it.

Kidman and Curtis have terrific chemistry, and they clearly have good fun as warring siblings whose childhood animosity has bubbled over into adult hostility. But, really, their scenes could have come from any half-decent drama, and they alone cannot save Scarpetta.

Shrinking is weirdly afraid of getting too deep. Even though this show has a hint of a victory lap about it, a fourth season has already been commissioned, so this won’t be its final outing. But, like so many shows of the streaming era, it’s not yet made its mark.

As much as it hopes to smarten up its act, Beast Games feels like the TV equivalent of the sad Christmas fair where an ailing horse is given some antlers and told to look lively. It is fairly cruel, sure, but it’s also incredibly turgid – and maybe that’s worse.

Good news: season four is even better, truly top-tier television that’s surely destined for end-of-year lists, a serious feat when we’re barely a week into January.

There are many, many new faces, the best among them being Minnie Driver. .... There is also – perhaps surprisingly – more emotional heft to this series than previous outings, and the sense that Emily and friends are growing up. .... Before things can get too heavy, though, the series steers us back towards the absurd and the outrageous.

For a brief moment, I do consider whether Squid Game: The Challenge could be so bad that it is good, but I think that would be letting its makers off too lightly. The way many of its contestants conduct themselves is dreadful, but then again, this is a dreadful contest.

The final two episodes see us hurtle towards a startlingly similar conclusion to last season, and there are moments where it begins to drag. But, on the whole, The Diplomat remains a treat.

The main problem here, though, is that the plot pinballs around far too much, and far too frivolously.

What follows is a perfectly serviceable, if rarely hilarious, workplace comedy about how to revive a failing business while under increasingly unbearable levels of stress.