The Burbs makes the transition from movies to TV, and was a mediocre film at the best of times, but in 2026, no-one in Hollywood has original ideas any more.
This time round, a 30-something white man (Tom Hanks) has become a 30-something black woman (Keke Palmer – Good Fortune). She’s not a terrible actress, so why not find something original for her in which to appear?
Also, like BBC1’s Babies, it’s yet another mixed-race couple – almost all of them in TV/movies, whereas reality sees the percentage knocked down to 10%
Still, albeit not being big on the original 1988 movie, I checked this out. In short: there’s weird shit happening with a creepy house across the road, and anyone who doesn’t like Samira is called a racist. Ooh, the racism card. How original(!)
And why is a girl called Rory?
As an aside, since the place is called Hinkley Hills, in a news piece, the weird house was called Hinkley House, given that it was built by H. Horace Hinkley… cue a photo of a more modern-day Tom Hanks, although he doesn’t actually show up in this.
The Burbs is tripe. And once again, Jack Whitehall proves he’s got nothing in his locker. Don’t bother.
The Burbs begins Wednesday on Sky One, at 2am UK time, with the episode being shown again at 9pm that evening. This equates to 9pm US time. In the US, it’s shown on Peacock.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Cert: 
Running time: 45 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: April 1st 2026
Studio: Sky Atlantic
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Jeff Byrd, Thembi Banks, Rachel Goldberg, Yana Gorskaya, Heather Jack, Natalia Leite, Nzingha Stewart
Producers: Stephanie John
Creator: Celeste Hughey
Screenplay: Celeste Hughey, Madie Dhaliwal, Hakim Hill, William Yu, Amy Aniobi, Neil Reynolds, Zora Bikangaga, Rachel Shukertson, Rahne Keith
Music: Michael Abels, Robert Wallace
Cast:
Samira Fisher: Keke Palmer
Rob Fisher: Jack Whitehall
Lynn Gardner: Julia Duffy
Dana Richards: Paula Pell
Tod Mann: Mark Proksch
Naveen Varma: Kapil Talwalkar
Agnes Festersen: Danielle Kennedy
Bill Festersen: Randy Oglesby
Gary: Justin Kirk
Betsy Wilson: Erica Dasher
Rory: Kyrie Mcalpin
Danny Daniels: Max Carver
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.