tv
What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?, BBC Two review - absorbing but troubling search for answersWednesday, 15 January 2025
In the late Eighties and Nineties, Tony Slattery became one of the most ubiquitous faces on television, appearing regularly on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Have I Got News For You while popping up in quizzes and sitcoms all over the place (as well as in the movies Peter’s Friends and The Crying Game). He even became a film critic for a while, hosting Saturday Night at the Movies. Read more... |
American Primeval, Netflix review - nightmare on the Wild FrontierMonday, 13 January 2025
It seems The Osmonds may not have been the worst outrage perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by the Mormons. American Primeval is set in the 1850s, and is based around the real-life massacre of settlers travelling from Arkansas to California by the Mormon militia known as as the Nauvoo Legion. This took place at Mountain Meadows, Utah, apparently triggered by rising tensions between the US federal government and Mormon leader Brigham Young. Read more... |
SAS Rogue Heroes, Series 2, BBC One review - Paddy Mayne's renegade warriors invade ItalyWednesday, 01 January 2025
Having carved a swathe of terror and destruction through the Axis forces in North Africa, the SAS return for a second series (again written by Steven Knight, and with another rockin’ soundtrack featuring the likes of The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary”, Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” and Magazine’s very apt “Shot by Both Sides”). Read more... |
The Split: Barcelona, BBC One review - a soapy special with seasonally adjusted sentimentalityMonday, 30 December 2024
Maybe it was the timing, even though most of the action takes place in bright sunlight, that made The Split’s two-parter uncharacteristically soft-centred. This was a Christmas-but-filmed-last-summer special, often a guarantee of a mushy mash-up. And indeed, it was as if writer Abi Morgan had started channelling Richard Curtis. Read more... |
Best of 2024: TVSunday, 29 December 2024
They say cinema is dying (you never know, they may be wrong), but you can’t help noticing the stampede of movie stars towards TV and streaming. Many of 2024’s most memorable shows had a big-screen name attached, even if it was impossible to be entirely certain that it really was Colin Farrell inside all those prosthetics as he romped his way through the gripping second season of The Penguin (Sky Atlantic). Read more... |
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, BBC One review - hilarious high five to an indelible cast of charactersFriday, 27 December 2024
The most hyped special of the season came to a cosy comedy ending with pairings accomplished, evil witch Sonia and her coven dispatched and the usual everyday chaos reinstated. Tidy. Read more... |
All Creatures Great and Small, Christmas Special, Channel 5 review - Mrs Hall steps into the spotlightTuesday, 24 December 2024
Since its revival in 2020, All Creatures Great and Small has drawn big audiences internationally and become Channel 5’s biggest hit, even if there have been occasional grumbles about how it takes liberties with James Herriot’s original books. Read more... |
Death in Paradise Christmas Special, BBC One review - who killed Santa Claus?Monday, 23 December 2024
Though Death in Paradise is an Anglo-French production filmed in Guadeloupe, in the French West Indies, the Frenchness seems to have mysteriously leaked away. Read more... |
Strike: The Ink Black Heart, BBC One review - protracted, convoluted puzzler lifted by its leadsThursday, 19 December 2024
The man whose name sounds like a major aviation accident, private detective Cormoran Strike, is back, with his sidekick Robin, for more of the lobster quadrille that is their relationship. Read more... |
Black Doves, Netflix review - Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw battle against the implausibleTuesday, 10 December 2024
It’s rare to spot Keira Knightley in a TV series, and it’s no doubt a sign of changing times that she’s starring in this six-part spies-and-guns caper, penned by Joe Barton (of Giri/Haji and The Lazarus Project fame). Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel, Barbican review -...
Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela took the Barbican by storm last night with a thrilling account of Mahler’s...
Jenůfa, Royal Opera review - electrifying details undermined...
This was always going to be Jakub Hrůša’s night, his first at the...
German National Orchestra, Marshall, Cadogan Hall review - s...
This concert was an effusion of pure joy. Billed as the German National Orchestra, the Bundesjugendorchester (Federal Youth Orchestra), all of...
Chris McCausland, Winchester Theatre Royal review - Strictly...
By all accounts Chris McCausland had to be persuaded to take part in the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing, which he won with...
Album: The Weather Station - Humanhood
Four of Humanhood’s 13 tracks are short, impressionistic mood pieces. Between 48 seconds and just-over a minute-and-a-half long, they...
Oliver!, Gielgud Theatre review - Lionel Bart's 1960 ma...
Into a world of grooming gangs, human trafficking and senior prelates resigning over child abuse cases comes Oliver!, Lionel...
What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?, BBC Two review -...
In the late Eighties and Nineties, Tony Slattery became one of the most ubiquitous faces on television, appearing regularly on Whose Line Is...
Album: Ethel Cain - Perverts
Ethel Cain’s Perverts is a dark and experimental follow-up to her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter. It takes listeners on a...
Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall review - colour and courage,...
Forthright and upright, powerful and lucid, the frank and bold pianism of Leif Ove Andsnes took his Wigmore Hall audience from Norway to Poland (...