tv
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live, BBC OneSaturday, 20 December 2014
It’s never a good start when the performers have more to gain than the audience. The album Cheek to Cheek, of which this was a televised performance, came out in September to a respectfully reserved reception in UK, while American critics, seemingly more demanding of originality, gave it a vigorous pasting. Read more...
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Serial Finale: Cul-de-Sacs and CurveballsFriday, 19 December 2014
The concluding episode came, and in a confusion of dates I missed it. If you’ve been following the weekly podcast Serial, you, like me and millions of avid listeners, would have been counting the days. I caught up only once I’d read the spoilers, which let it be known that they’d be no neat “did he or didn’t he” conclusion (was anyone actually expecting one?) and that we’d still be left in the realm of “maybe this, maybe that”. How frustrating. Read more... |
The Fall, Series 2 Finale, BBC TwoFriday, 19 December 2014
Before the second series of The Fall began, I was watching Gillian Anderson being interviewed on This Morning. While the subject matter of the drama - a tense game of cat and mouse between Anderson’s DSI Stella Gibson and Jamie Dornan’s perverted serial killer - was never going to translate well to daytime telly, but I was still a little taken aback by Amanda Holden’s fawning over the apparent sexiness of Dornan’s character. Read more... |
The Missing, Series Finale, BBC OneWednesday, 17 December 2014
So now we know. Sort of. The missing clue was tweezered into view in time for the final episode of The Missing and the fate of little Olly Hughes has been revealed. Up to a point. To those reading this without having seen the dénouement, it gives only a little away to report that the plot involving the search for a ring of paedophiles has been a gigantic red herring. Probably. Read more... |
The Choir: New Military Wives, BBC TwoWednesday, 17 December 2014
This feelgood programme hit all the buttons with almost unerring precision, as we followed Gareth Malone's project to prepare a military wives choir for a special prom, commemorating the World War One centenary on 3 August 2014. On the way we witnessed the joys of singing, the therapeutic value of music, and the virtues of hard work, mutual support and bonding. Read more... |
Steph and Dom Meet... Nigel Farage, Channel 4 / Bullseyes and Beer - When Darts Hit Britain, BBC FourTuesday, 16 December 2014
The idea of having a politician crossing the threshold of one's own home is enough to send most citizens diving for the Prozac (or the taser), and Nigel Farage provokes responses at the extreme end of the spectrum. Then again, Farage may have experienced reciprocal emotions on being invited to pop down to the not-so-humble abode of Dominic and Stephanie Parker, the loud and opinionated "posh couple" from Gogglebox. Read more... |
Olive Kitteridge, Sky AtlanticMonday, 15 December 2014
Some of the best films this year have been the longest. The one most likely to be remembered is Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, at a modest enough 165 minutes, followed soon after by Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Turkish masterpiece Winter Sleep, at a weightier 196. Read more... |
Canterbury Cathedral, BBC TwoSaturday, 13 December 2014
Attracting over one million visitors each year, Canterbury Cathedral is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. With its picturesque location and very nice, very white staff, the cathedral offers an easy metaphor for the version of England that Ukip supporters apparently hanker after, the narrator Saskia Reeves describing it as “England in stone”. Read more... |
The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, ITVThursday, 11 December 2014
Four years ago Christopher Jefferies was the victim of a concerted attack by the British press. His tenant Joanna Yeates had been murdered and, lacking any other leads, police arrested her landlord. While he was still being questioned, the newspapers sniffed around Jefferies’s patch of Bristol and, armed with a juicy quotation or two, chose collectively to forget all about the principle of innocent until proven otherwise. Read more... |
Bear’s Wild Weekend with Ben Stiller, Channel 4Thursday, 11 December 2014
It’s only a few years since TV companies wouldn’t let Bear Grylls talk to anything more important than small, edible fauna. So he’s done well to progress so quickly to genuine A-Listers like Ben Stiller and Stephen Fry. By most objective criteria, talking isn’t something Grylls does terribly well, relying on a mashup of puns, clichés and semi-scripted pep talks, like a PE teacher at parents’ evening. Read more... |
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