Must Watch reviews: 70 Up, Last Seen and Reckless

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

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan join Kylie Pentelow to review 70 Up, Last Seen and Reckless.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

The documentary series began in 1964, with the late director Michael Apted filming people talking about their lives and ambitions. He revisited them every seven years, until he died in 2021. This latest two-part instalment of the series revisits the group, who are all now 70 years old.

Both Scott and Hayley think 70 Up is a Must Watch

Scott says, “it's astonishing”.

“It is unlike anything I've ever seen on TV”.

“Not only is it deemed already to be, by many, the greatest documentary ever made, I think it is also the longest documentary ever”.

Scott adds, “I think it's also a rather powerful tribute to Michael Apted”.

“What they have done, and I think is really respectful, is still use Michael's voice throughout it. You don't really hear anyone else as the interviewer”.

Scott goes on to say that, “I just don't think a TV show this ambitious can be ever made like this ever again”.

“TV has changed so much that I think everyone's on a much more short term viewpoint now. No one would make an idea of, ‘right, let's make a series where we go back every seven years’”.

Hayley says, “this is absolutely a Must Watch”.

“It really is amazing. It's this long-running anthropological study that you cannot fake”.

She points out that, “it started before modern reality TV gave people an idea of who they had to be on television, which is one of the reasons that I find reality TV very hard to watch these days, because everyone is so samey”.

“There's nothing samey about these people”.

Hayley continues by saying, “I also like that there are some of-the-time biases or assumptions that aren't edited out”.

“Asking the girls questions that the boys weren't asked”.

“But then later on, we see the girls get older and the film includes them telling off Michael Apted for asking them questions that he didn't ask of the boys. It shows a changing political landscape as well as a kind of awakening in an individual”.

The first episode of 70 Up is available on ITVX.

Set in Australia and starring Patrick Brammall and Maxine Peake, Last Seen is about a father who works as an emergency call handler who is still grieving the loss of his daughter from 11 years ago, when he receives a mysterious phone call which leads him to believe she’s still alive.

Both Scott and Hayley think Last Seen is a Must Watch.

Scott says, "at first, I thought it was going to be lazy. But then when you get into episode two, and I'm actually at the end of episode three, it feels like a completely different drama”.

He goes on to say, "the first episode is a lot of setup that you have to navigate and go through the weeds”.

"You have to go through the weeds before it reveals what it's actually doing”.

"It felt very much like a series that was ticking off conventions”.

He adds "episode two, it goes in a completely different direction”.

"Patrick is fantastic in this…you could sense his despair”.

Hayley says, "I'm really liking this one”.

"It does come with the usual clichés that we talk about. But I think it works in this one and they kind of get away with it”.

She continues by saying, "it does feel like a kind of bleak Scandi noir thing”.

"I think if you're a fan of maybe Mare of Easttown you might be into this”.

She adds, "I'm also really impressed with Patrick Bramall”.

"It's the kind of show where each episode ends in a real cliffhanger that makes you start the next one automatically”.

The first three episodes of Last Seen are available to watch now on Apple TV.

A four-part Australian adaptation of the Scottish show Guilt. It's about two siblings who run over an elderly man on the way back from a wedding. Instead of reporting the accident, they drag the dead man back into his house and make it look like he died.

Neither Scott nor Hayley thought Reckless was a Must Watch.

Scott says, “I find it really hard to judge”.

"It just makes me go, I wanna watch the original. That's better than this, even though this is still good”.

Scott adds, "when I watch it and I experience similar beats of the plot that the original had, it just makes me go, I wanna watch the original”.

He goes on to say the original is “better than this, even though this is still good”.

Hayley says, “this isn't a Must Watch for me”.

"I wanted to like it, but I thought it tried too hard”.

She adds that, "whenever they do jokes, you can basically see how they were written in the script”.

"It's not funny, but it was really trying to be”.

Hayley goes on to say, “I thought it was pretty unremarkable”.

"It's not really thrilling in the sense that none of what happens thrills”.

"It just felt like a show constantly setting itself up to then be a farce”.

She concludes by saying, "it felt really slow and forced to me”.

"I was not a fan of this”.

All episodes of Reckless are available to watch on ITVX.

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.