tv
Syria: The World's War, BBC Two review - anatomy of a conflict, brilliantly toldFriday, 04 May 2018
This was not a film that left you with much respect for the wisdom of politicians, but perhaps its truest line came from John Kerry, when he called the ongoing – seven years, and counting – Syrian conflict “an insult to the humanity of this planet”. Read more... |
Jeff Beck: Still on the Run, BBC Four review - a legend without portfolioSaturday, 28 April 2018
As Aerosmith’s guitarist Joe Perry put it, “there’s a certain amount of fuck you-ness in everything Jeff does.” Perhaps it’s this which has allowed Jeff Beck to achieve the rare feat of surviving into his seventies as what you might describe as a guitar legend without portfolio. Read more... |
The Split, BBC One, review - Abi Morgan’s densely packed divorce dramaWednesday, 25 April 2018
A few years ago Abi Morgan was everywhere. For the cinema she scripted Shame, The Iron Lady, The Invisible Woman and Suffragette. On television she adapted Birdsong and created The Hour and, most recently, River. But she’s mainly been quiet for a couple of years. Read more... |
Westworld, Series 2, Sky Atlantic review - big trouble in synthetic paradiseTuesday, 24 April 2018
Some critics complain that Westworld is too complicated for its own good, and you can see their point. Read more... |
The Woman in White, BBC One review - camp VictorianaMonday, 23 April 2018
The BBC excels at a very particular kind of drama, namely one where production values overawe dramatic content. Its version of The Woman in White (BBC One) proves no exception. Our hero is Walter, a bemused sappy painter played by ex-Eastender Ben Hardy. Read more... |
Home From Home, BBC One review - Johnny Vegas as everyman heroSaturday, 21 April 2018
Home From Home, written by newcomers Chris Fewtrell and Simon Crowther, first saw life as a pilot in the BBC’s Landmark Sitcom Season in 2016, the channel's search for new and original content for its schedules. Well, new it may be, but original it ain’t – yet don’t let that put you off. It’s a decent enough run-through of several sitcom tropes, with Johnny Vegas as its everyman hero. Read more... |
True Horror, Channel 4 review - a Ronseal approach to ghost storiesFriday, 20 April 2018
As if the real world wasn’t scary enough... Ghost stories are en vogue at the moment, and after the BBC’s hit-and-miss Requiem, Channel 4 brings True Horror to the small screen – a collection of "real" ghost stories, told by witness interviews and dramatised with a decent budget. Read more... |
Occupied, series 2, Sky Atlantic review - political conflicts looking all too actualThursday, 19 April 2018
Eight months have passed since the Russians invaded Norway in the first season of Jo Nesbo’s neo-Cold War thriller. Real-life events have only made Occupied seem more relevant. Read more... |
Stephen: The Murder That Changed A Nation, BBC One review - ‘He was a cool guy and everybody loved him’Wednesday, 18 April 2018
When doctors told Doreen Lawrence her son had died she thought, "That’s not true." Spending time with his body in the hospital, aside from a cut on his cheek, it seemed to her he was sleeping. The death of a child will always be strange, and in the aftermath Neville, his father and her husband, even wondered if he might have been struck by the Biblical curse of the loss of his first-born. Read more... |
The Queen's Green Planet, ITV review - right royal arborealsTuesday, 17 April 2018
QCC isn’t the name of a new football club, nor some higher qualification for those toiling at the Bar, but stands for "Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy". Had you heard of it? On the eve of the Commonwealth conference, along came Jane Treays's gently hilarious, and finally rather tender film to fill in the gaps. Read more... |
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