SOME MOTHERS DO ‘AVE ‘EM...

Inbetweener Simon Bird’s feature directorial debut is an entertaining tale of a despairing single parent and her angst-ridden teenage son

with her heavy metal-fixated 15-year-old son Daniel (Cave), who has reached the age when everything his mother says and does is a major irritation. A proposed day trip to the seaside inspires a petulant outburst – “I hate the beach, I hate sand!” – and he repeatedly rolls his eyes behind tangles of greasy black hair when Sue suggests he might help out around the house with chores.

Daniel’s plan to spend six weeks in Florida with his father Bob and stepmother are cruelly dashed and he faces the bleak prospect of wallowing in self-pity

DEAR... (Apple TV+)

under the same roof as his dowdy, divorced mother.

Sue encourages her boy to update his CV and find a holiday job but Daniel prefers to hang out with best mate Ky (Elliot Speller-Gillott) and daydream about becoming the lead singer of a nihilistic band called Skull Slayer.

Meanwhile, Sue entertains the possibility of a first date with Daniel’s history teacher, Mr Porter (Rob Brydon).

Younger sister Carol (Alice Lowe) fans the flames of Sue’s long dormant desire.

“You’ve been living like a nun for eight years. You’re allowed to have a bit of fun,” she contends.

INSPIRED by the Dear Apple advertising campaign, which featured letters from fans to company CEO Tim Cook about how products had changed their lives, Dear... is a reflective 10-part documentary series which profiles charismatic figures through the written words of people who have been affected by their work.

These subjects include Big Bird from Sesame Street, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, film director Spike Lee, musical theatre composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, actor and activist Yara Shahidi, feminist movement trailblazer Gloria Steinem, presenter Oprah Winfrey and singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder.

Mother and son embark on separate paths to selfenrichment and unexpectedly grow closer.

Days of the Bagnold

Summer charts a predictable narrative trajectory, underscored by a dreamy soundtrack courtesy of Scottish rock band Belle & Sebastian.

Loosely structured vignettes, including a toe-curling fudge-making demonstration replete with cameo from comedian Tim Key, tiptoe towards the obligatory catharsis for both lead characters.