Dolby Vision refines colours and adds a cinematic sheen, but highlights don’t stand out, reinforcing that flatness. The main gripe we have with the TV's design, though, is the green power light at the base of the screen. It’s hard to think of any TV brand that better fits Forrest Gump’s “life is like a box of chocolate” mantra than Toshiba.

At 43in, it’s the baby of a three-strong line up – the other options are 50in and 58in screens – and it’s fully fitted with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, a Dolby Atmos-badged sound system (produced in conjunction with Onkyo) and even a built-in microphone for Alexa and Google Assistant voice interaction.

While the inclusion of Dolby Atmos can’t work miracles, it does at least give the audio a greater feeling of presence with supporting soundtracks.

While we've had no issues the set can be rocked in place a bit too easily leaving us worried it might come loose from the base. Dark scenes are too grey for serious film fans, perhaps, but for its money, or as a second room TV, it’s a really good bet – and the best TV to wear a Toshiba badge we’ve seen for years. The colours looked realistic – the blue sky was very natural and Lorelai and Rory had enough pink in their cheeks to seem lifelike. HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision are covered on the HDR side, but there’s no Dolby Atmos sound with this model featuring a sound system developed by Onkyo. Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

Toshiba might not be the cutting edge name in TV it once was, but the Japanese giant has not given up the fight for your living room. It has a standard array of buttons to carry out the TV's functions as well as shortcuts that will give you quick access to the Prime Video and Netflix streaming services. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. This IPS screen plays better in brighter rooms (blacks are certainly helped), and performance is not much different from the UL20 or U29.

Switching between the DTS and Dolby Atmos tracks on a couple of 4K Blu-rays clearly reveals an expansion in the size of the sound stage, a wider dynamic range, and a more aggressive, forward sound. Provided, anyway, that you keep the set’s motion processing and noise reduction systems set to low or turned off entirely.Thankfully the Toshiba UK31 does well where it counts – it’s picture performance is excellent when compared to other budget-friendly sets. John Archer has been testing TVs and AV gear for over 25 years, having worked on Home Cinema Choice magazine. An extension lead does not always supply the TV with sufficient power, so the TV may not be able to turn on fully if connected this way. This acts as a customisable screensaver feature when the TV is in standby mode, displaying information such as the time, weather and calendar events.

Moving on to Dolby Vision-supported content and Cinema mode is replaced with Dolby Vision Dark and Dolby Vision Bright. We reviewed the 43in model in October 2021 and were taken by its image accuracy, HDR tone-mapping and WebOS smart platform but it failed to deliver in some key areas. The only problems with the smart system, really, are that it can be a bit sluggish to load when you hit the Home button, and that it doesn’t currently carry either the Disney+ or Apple TV apps. As a result, there’s little in the way of bass extension, and the restricted soundstage tends to sound brittle at higher volumes.We particularly like the feet – a set of chrome-finished, ice skate-style blades, only a little flatter.