Must Watch reviews: Buried with Michael Sheen, My Brilliant Career, and Race Against the Tide

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

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan join Emma Vardy to review ‘Buried with Michael Sheen’, ‘My Brilliant Career’, and ‘Race Against the Tide’.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

Buried with Michael Sheen, is a new two-part documentary series with the well-known actor. He looks at allegations that a chemicals giant decades ago had dumped huge amounts of industrial chemicals all around Wales, resulting in contamination and concerns from locals that it could be responsible for an increase in cancer rates in the region.

Scott and Hayley both think Buried with Michael Sheen is a Must Watch.

Hayley says, “it's one of those shows that could make a difference in the world and I think one that will wake people up.”

She says, “it really is an unexpectedly emotional story. It's also enraging, and I hope this makes something happen. It’s quite a watch and I think everyone should see it”.

Hayley thinks Micheal Sheen is the right choice for this: “he's using his platform to get this story into the public sphere. But he's talking to other people who have been deeply researching this stuff and have been trying to get the story out for decades”.

“I thought this was really well done. It's a story about a company and lawyers and money, but with Michael Sheen driving it, it's also got this emotional drama in it.”

Scott agrees with Hayley that this show “creates rage, which just gets stronger and stronger as you watch”.

“It once again highlights how it is really down to the people within the local community who have to stand up to these things for potentially years just to get heard.”

Scott enjoys Micheal Sheen’s presenting, “this is not like a normal TV documentary with a well-known face who is just exploring the issue”.

“You can tell that Michael's determination and anger is evident throughout and that this is very much a personal project for him.”

Both episodes of Buried With Michael Sheen are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

My Brilliant Career is a six-part Netflix adaptation. You may be familiar with the story from the 1979 film starring Judy Davis and a very young Sam Neill. It’s about a young girl called Sybylla growing up in a rural town in Australia, with ambitions to become a writer. But her plans are disrupted by a romance with a man called Harry.

Scott and Hayley do not think My Brilliant Career is a Must Watch.

Scott says, “it's not a Must Watch, it's a good watch. There are parts of it I really enjoyed.”

“The editing and the pacing are very good. It's only 40 minute episodes and the acting is good.”

Scott explains the show uses characters who wear traditional clothing, like bonnets, as Sybylla’s enemy, “because she is an outsider to this and she hates it. That feels refreshing.”

However, Scott says some parts of the series were “unimaginative”.

Hayley agrees with Scott and found the show has a lot of “clichés in it”.

“I admit that this show had an uphill battle with me, but I'm always open to things changing my mind.”

“Unfortunately this didn't really do anything for me and it just felt like a clichéd generic Netflix show with bonnets and they've done that before.”

Hayley found the main character “deeply annoying”.

“There are the predictable characters around her and the predictable chats they have about society and what's expected of everyone.”

Hayley says she “fundamentally can't stand sitting through a story again about women having to find a husband. I simply don't care. Why do we keep telling this story?”

All episodes of My Brilliant Career are available to watch now on Netflix.

Race Against The Tide is a competitive sand sculpting competition on BBC Two. Expert professional sand sculptors are partnered with creative newbies and their sand sculptures are judged on technical prowess and detail.

Scott and Hayley do not think Race Against The Tide is a Must Watch.

Hayley says the only note she wrote whilst watching this show was “no”.

“This is exactly the kind of show that I find torturous, a competition show full of puns. I find them hard to watch.”

Hayley did have one positive thing to say about the show though: “As the screener for the first episode was opening, I was praying it would only be half an hour long and it was, so that is the best thing I can say about it.”

Hayley was not impressed with Scott for suggesting they watch Race Against The Tide: “Scott suggested we watch this and I think it was an act of violence against me personally.”

Scott says, “when we compare it to, let's say, Game of Wool, which celebrated the UK's best knitter with Tom Daley, there are many shows now that are all about celebrating somebody who is very good at making something.”

“A lot of these shows educate you about how to make certain things. Here in episode one they go, ‘Well to make a sandcastle you add sand and you add water’. And there's not much else beyond that, to be honest.”

Scott feels this show is quite “boring” and long.

“The end product of the sculpts, what gets sculpted, you go, ‘Oh, that's nice.’ Seeing people make it over the course of half an hour is very boring television.”

Scott feels this show might be a nice watch for children during the summer holidays.

“But I am thinking that there should be something a bit more substantive than a silly little sandcastle show.”

All six episodes of Race Against The Tide are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

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.