tv
Trauma, ITV, review - surgically imprecise revenge dramaThursday, 15 February 2018
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Read more...
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Collateral, BBC Two review - a lecture or a drama?Thursday, 15 February 2018
It says something about the state of television that sooner or later every actor has to play a cop or a spy. Read more... |
McMafia, Series finale, BBC One review - the last bite is the cruellestMonday, 12 February 2018
McMafia has taught us to recognise one thing – you might call it the “Norton stride”. As the charismatic Alex Godman, James Norton has been advancing, confidently at screen centre, towards one challenge after another, and they have been coming (mildly put) from all sorts of unexpected quarters. He’s dealt with everything by pressing onwards, ignoring advice from all and sundry. Read more... |
Derry Girls, Channel 4 review – bring on series two!Friday, 09 February 2018
When first announced, Derry Girls seemed a strange prospect. Read more... |
Spiral, Series 6 Finale, BBC Four review - hot fuzz hit new heightsSunday, 04 February 2018
Happily, there’s hope for Spiral junkies – as series six ends, we bring you news that series seven has just gone into production. This is just as well, because these last dozen episodes have been an object lesson in how to make TV drama for the mind and body, nimbly evading cop show genre-pitfalls to bring us carefully-shaded characters operating within a Venn diagram of overlapping grey areas... Read more... |
Requiem, BBC One review – everything but the scaresSaturday, 03 February 2018
Despite horror’s omnipresence in cinema, British television has been somewhat deprived of jump scares. Read more... |
Gomorrah, Series 3, Sky Atlantic review - there will be bloodFriday, 02 February 2018
No doubt McMafia has its strengths, but it’s like a mug of Horlicks compared to the grappa-with-aviation-fuel blast of Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic). The Naples-set organised crime drama takes no prisoners. It gives no quarter, and expects none. Read more... |
Strike Back, Series 6 part 2, Sky 1 review - shoot first, talk laterThursday, 01 February 2018
After a mysterious mid-season break which seemed to catch everyone by surprise, Strike Back’s sixth season belatedly bounces noisily back. So far the story has ricocheted around the Middle East before detouring to Hungary, where our indestructible Section 20 operatives just managed to save “Mac” McAllister (Warren Brown) from being hanged by the fanatical Magyar Ultra extremist group. Read more... |
Hits, Hype and Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business, BBC Four review - how gigs got bigSaturday, 27 January 2018
The “insider’s guide to the music business” tag attached to Hits, Hype and Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business (BBC Four) dangles the carrot of all kinds of clandestine scams being exposed, such as extortionate recording contracts, systematic chart-rigging or Mafia rackets involving cut-out records. Read more... |
Inside No 9, series 4, BBC Two review - laughter in the darkWednesday, 24 January 2018
Talk about laughter in the dark. With every successive episode, the fourth series of Inside No 9 (BBC Two) has perceptibly turned a shade blacker. "Zanzibar" was a festive farce mashing up half the plots of Shakespeare from Macbeth to A Comedy of Errors. "Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room" was a mournful reunion with a twist featuring a failed comedy double act. 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.
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