James Delingpole James Delingpole

Ugly, mechanical, soulless: Apple TV+’s Hijack reviewed

Plus: Netflix’s Black Mirror is outclassed by the debauched brilliance of Sky Atlantic’s The White Lotus

Black Mirror is starting to look a bit too pleased with itself: Salma Hayek in ‘Joan Is Awful’, the opening episode of season six. Credit: Nick Wall/Netflix

Idris Elba would have made a perfect James Bond. Not the James Bond that we knew and loved when he was played by wry, capable Sean Connery or playful, tongue-in-cheek Roger Moore. But he definitely ought to have been a shoo-in for the horror show that the Bond franchise has become: dour, humourless, pumped up, ponderous, portentous, joyless…

In his latest vehicle, Elba plays high-level negotiator Sam Nelson, an ordinary man yet possessed of a very particular set of skills.

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