Must Watch reviews: The Shards, The Westies, and Hit Point

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 ‘The Shards’, ‘The Westies’, and ‘Hit Point’.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

The Shards is a nine-part teen drama on Disney+ based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Ryan Murphy. It follows Bret (Igby Rigney), a student in his final year of high school in 1981 in Los Angeles, who becomes obsessed with new student Robert Mallory (Homer Gere), at the same time as a serial killer rips through the local community.

Scott and Hayley both think The Shards is a Must Watch.

Hayley says, "I have this problem where I have to watch every Ryan Murphy show, no matter how bad it is. But this one's different".

She thinks Ryan Murphy is “the right guy for this story”.

“From all of his work, he knows how unbearable the rich American elite can be. And this is a story about the rich American elite."

Hayley read the book when it first came out and thinks “the show manages to capture the tone of it pretty accurately and the text of it almost verbatim."

“The way they've cast it is a bit of an in-joke. The book is about these rich kids in LA who either have famous or rich parents. And in the show, at least two of the cast have famous and rich parents.”

“We've got Kaia Gerber, who is Cindy Crawford's daughter, and Homer Gere who is the son of Richard Gere and Carey Lowell.”

Scott says, "Ryan Murphy makes it camp and fun in a weird way whilst also not being too slasher-y".

"The series is about Bret's obsession with this new kid who's joined the block. It's like a character study of that level of obsession, which really makes it blurry between good and bad”.

He adds, "that dynamic between the two of them is unpredictable and is really well crafted".

Scott describes it as “an incredibly addictive watch” but tonally, “all over the place”.

The first two episodes of The Shards are available to watch on Disney+ now with a new episode available every week.

The Westies is an eight-part drama about the real-life 1980s Irish-American gang who partnered with the Italian-American mafia in Manhattan. It features JK Simmons as the Irish gang leader, Eamon Sweeney.

Scott and Hayley do not think The Westies is a Must Watch.

Scott says "it is well done and well crafted".

"The cinematography does look rather compelling.”

And he says the show looks at organised crime differently to other TV shows.

"I found that the main character Eamon Sweeney, played by J.K. Simmons, is a complicated and fascinating character, and as you would expect, incredibly well acted."

However, Scott says, "the organised crime genre is not only full of great shows, but also some of the finest hours of TV pretty much ever, you can't help but compare it to shows that are actually better than it".

"I found it fine and very good in some small bits, but not enough for me."

Hayley says “it's not a Must Watch, but it's fine".

"It's clearly a mashup between The Sopranos and Peaky Blinders and it's sort of stunning that no one has done this yet as a show, given that it's a real life story."

She believes the drama is “exactly what you think it's going to be”.

“If you imagine an Irish-American gang or an Italian-American gang having various clashes in empty warehouses or bars or restaurants or funerals, it's basically that."

Hayley says, "in conclusion, it's clichéd and stereotypical, but watchable”.

All six episodes of The Westies are available to watch now on MGM+ which you can watch through Amazon Prime Video now.

Hit Point is a six-part series on U&Dave from the creators of Misfits. The series starts when three men in animal masks intercept a Range Rover carrying £10m in cash, and detectives Bella (Saffron Hocking) and Leo (Nick Blood) are called to investigate.

Scott and Hayley do not think Hit Point is a Must Watch.

Hayley says "it has a very high energy beginning and then it kind of peters out into following some deadpan detectives around while they wind each other up but clearly fancy each other".

"I think you'll either be into this dynamic or find them annoying. And I was in the camp that found them annoying."

Hayley does note that this is the first scripted drama for U&Dave, which is a channel that mostly does comedy panel shows like Taskmaster, and she is glad to see them branch out.

"It's full of elements I've seen before, mixed up so it's more cheeky and playful, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it."

Scott says, "I've admired Howard Overman’s work before. He's known for creating Misfits, which had a really rebellious streak".

"It is extremely watchable, I was able to get through and it's well acted, but something doesn't really click in this series for me."

He found that “some characters were quite complex, whilst other characters felt a little bit like a pastiche or a spoof of other villains in other TV shows".

"It's bold for U&Dave compared to what this channel would normally make. But unfortunately, it doesn't feel like it gets going."

Hit Point is available to watch on the streaming service U from Thursday 13 August.

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.