tv
All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special, Channel 5 review - life during wartime with the Yorkshire vetsSaturday, 24 December 2022
As the third series of All Creatures… ended a couple of months ago, Britain had just declared itself at war with Germany and the men of Darrowby were queuing resolutely in the town square to join the armed forces. Intriguingly, as the credits rolled, it seemed that among them was one of our headlining vets, Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse). Read more...
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Harry & Meghan, Netflix review - at home with the HarklesFriday, 09 December 2022
There’s no stopping Harry and Meghan. Logic, reason and facts can’t stand in the way of their “war on oppression and injustice” and determination to become “advocates of healing”. Even though their notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey was littered with demonstrable untruths, it seems their target audience buys into the notion of them telling “their” truth, surely the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card. Read more... |
George & Tammy, Paramount+ review - alcohol, violence and heartache in NashvilleThursday, 08 December 2022
Some may consider country music to be corny, sentimental and a relic of a forgotten era. If so, this six-part dramatisation of the lives of Tammy Wynette and George Jones is a reminder of how powerful and soulful the best country music can be, fuelled by raw emotions and personal turmoil. |
Slow Horses, Series 2, Apple TV+ review - Mick Herron’s spies make a welcome returnMonday, 05 December 2022
Apple TV+ is using the arrival of season two of Slow Horses to offer a generous three-month free trial to its streamer service. Ample time to catch up with season one and watch it multiple times before all of season two is available at the end of December. Go for it. Read more... |
Tokyo Vice, BBC One review - murder, extortion and corruption in the Japanese capitalThursday, 01 December 2022
There was originally a plan to make Tokyo Vice a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, but it has ended up as a TV series starring Ansel Elgort. It’s almost certainly the better for it, because the eight episodes of this first season – the way it ends, or rather doesn’t, makes a second helping inevitable – give it space to explore Japanese culture and its often mutually uncomprehending relationship with American or European values. Read more... |
1899, Netflix review - Atlantic voyage turns into cosmic nightmareThursday, 24 November 2022
Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese won delirious acclaim for their previous Netflix series Dark, a labyrinthine and fantastical account of children vanishing from a small German town. Anyone familiar with its baffling events and leaps across different timelines will probably feel at home with 1899, the duo’s similarly mind-bending follow-up. Read more... |
Blood, Sex & Royalty, Netflix review - yo, bros, get down with the GOAT, Henry VIIIWednesday, 23 November 2022
“It was like Woodstock on steroids,” opines an expert in Netflix’s new release about the doomed marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (yes, another one). Read more... |
The White Lotus, Season 2, Sky Atlantic review - the sizzling hit drama moves to Italy, but with less fizzWednesday, 16 November 2022
Why did Maui work better than Taormina? Mike White’s second series of The White Lotus, which has relocated for its second season from an upscale Hawaiian resort to the fleshpots of Sicily, is still a worthwhile watch, but it’s hard not to wonder where that special savour has gone this time. Read more... |
The English, BBC Two review - Emily Blunt's date with destiny on the prairiesFriday, 11 November 2022
Writer and director Hugo Blick isn’t afraid of getting stuck into some knotty and morally complicated issues, whether it’s Middle Eastern politics (The Honourable Woman) or the Rwandan genocide (Black Earth Rising), but perhaps he wouldn’t be your automatic go-to guy for Westerns. Nevertheless, here he is, giving it some high-plains-drifter in a baleful tale of revenge, violence and twists of fate. Read more... |
The Crown, Season 5, Netflix review - is the royal epic outstaying its welcome?Thursday, 10 November 2022
Now into its fifth season, Netflix’s royal pageant is entering that danger zone where once-majestic TV series suddenly find they’re running out of steam. Perhaps Harry and Meghan’s publicity-hogging shenanigans and the real-life loss of the Queen and Prince Philip have somewhat overshadowed Netflix’s quasi-fictional drama. Perhaps everybody has become sick to death of rehashed versions of the life of Princess Diana. Read more... |
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