tv
The Winter's Tale, RSC, BBC Four review - post-war poise colours a solid productionMonday, 26 April 2021
It has been a hard coming for this RSC Winter’s Tale. Erica Whyman’s production was cancelled by the virus days before its premiere last spring, with plans to stage it in the autumn frustrated by the second lockdown. Read more... |
Mare of Easttown, Sky Atlantic review - Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mysteryTuesday, 20 April 2021
Read our review of the season finale here Read more... |
Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty, BBC Two review - when crime paid handsomely for corrupt officersThursday, 15 April 2021
As Line of Duty aficionados debate the identity of H and wonder who DCI Joanne Davidson shares her DNA with, this new three-part series from BBC Two investigates the history of real-life corruption in the Metropolitan Police. Read more... |
Too Close, ITV review - capable cast struggles with unrewarding materialWednesday, 14 April 2021
What may have happened here is that an intriguing book has been turned into a not so great TV series. Read more... |
This is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist, Netflix - the last word (for now)Thursday, 08 April 2021
It’s no surprise that 30 years on, the individuals most closely connected to the world’s biggest art heist are showing their age. Read more... |
Intruder, Channel 5 review - implausible but watchableWednesday, 07 April 2021
Channel 5 is rather partial to its four-night dramas, though recent effort The Drowning seemed to have sneaked unseen past the quality control department on its way to the screen. It pulled in the viewers though, and Intruder will probably do the same. Read more... |
Queen Elizabeth and the Spy in the Palace, Channel 4 review - how the Fourth Man burrowed deep into the British EstablishmentMonday, 05 April 2021
Director of the Courtauld Institute, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures and a particular expert on the art of Poussin, Sir Anthony Blunt spent decades at the epicentre of the royal family and the British Establishment. Read more... |
Messiah highlights, English National Opera, BBC Two review – short-cut sorrow and redemptionSunday, 04 April 2021
Well, it wasn’t quite Messiah, but it was a source of joy. In ENO’s end-of-lockdown staging, BBC Two’s transmission of Handel’s resurrection song delivered a scant 54 minutes of music from the Coliseum on Easter Saturday. Read more... |
Keeping Faith, Series 3, BBC One review - is the drama turning to melodrama?Sunday, 28 March 2021
After arriving with a bang in 2018, Keeping Faith (BBC One) disappointed many (though not all) of its fans with 2019’s second series. It’s had a bit of a breather before this third – and final – series, first seen in its Welsh version Un Bore Mercher on S4C last November. So, how is it shaping up? Read more... |
The Flight Attendant, Sky One review - first-class entertainmentSaturday, 27 March 2021
“I get to see all these beautiful places and look passengers right in the eye and say the word trash.” Meet Cassie Bowden (the excellent Kaley Cuoco), flight attendant on Imperial Atlantic Airways. In firm denial about her alcohol problem, she knocks back myriads of vodka miniatures onboard, parties hard in cities the world over, has one-night stands after black-out benders (“Thank you for the effort. Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
The Fifth Step, Soho Place review - wickedly funny two-hande...
The plays of David Ireland have a tendency to build to an explosion, after long stretches of caustic dialogue and very funny banter....
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Every now and then a concert programme comes along that fits like a bespoke suit, and this one could have been specially designed for me. Two...
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The Bombing of Pan Am 103, BBC One review - new dramatisatio...
The appalling destruction of Pan Am’s flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 was put under the spotlight in January this year in Sky Atlantic’s ...
Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works, Royal Ballet review - th...
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Album: Robert Forster - Strawberries
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Music Reissues Weekly: Chapterhouse - White House Demos
Quoted in an early music press article on his band Chapterhouse, singer-guitarist Stephen Patman said their ambition was “to have our records on...