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The Miniaturist, BBC One review - a lovely supernatural soapThursday, 28 December 2017![]()
Simon Schama called the Netherlands’ century of success an "embarrassment of riches". The thrust of Jessie Burton’s lavishly hyped debut novel The Miniaturist is that the Dutch felt guilty about their good fortune, and denied themselves the right to enjoy sugar, spice, and all things nice. The money went on surface things, on finery and furniture. Read more...
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Alan Partridge: Why, When, Where, How and Whom?, BBC Two review - a helping of Christmas PartridgeThursday, 28 December 2017![]()
Over 25 years since his modest inception as a parody sports reporter, Alan Partridge has become one of comedy’s most enduring icons. With a new BBC series expected in 2018, we were treated to a tribute (or Partribute, if you will) to the impressive and varied career of Norfolk’s favourite fictional broadcaster. Read more... |
Little Women, BBC One review - life during wartime with the March sistersThursday, 28 December 2017![]()
One of the much-hyped jewels in the crown of the family-friendly BBC holiday season is this new three-episode adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's much loved novel by Heidi Thomas, the writer of Call the Midwife. Read more... |
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time, BBC One review – a defiantly small and personal goodbyeTuesday, 26 December 2017![]()
And so, with one last speech on the importance of kindness, Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat bid farewell to the TARDIS. In their final Doctor Who episode, Twice Upon a Time subverted expectations with a small, sweet adventure which valued character above plot. Read more... |
300 Years of French and Saunders, BBC1 review - seasonal treat from the sketch duoTuesday, 26 December 2017![]()
What joy that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were persuaded by the BBC to celebrate their 30 (ish) years as a comedy duo with this programme – and that this sweet confection was shown on Christmas Day. Read more... |
Maigret in Montmartre, ITV review - dirty deeds in clublandSunday, 24 December 2017
Whatever the Waitrose and Morrisons commercials are telling you, as far as TV schedulers are concerned ‘tis the season for murder. Thus a Christmas Maigret has become an instant tradition, with Rowan Atkinson reprising his performance as Georges Simenon’s dolorous detective. Read more... |
Peaky Blinders, Series 4 Finale, BBC Two review – Tommy faces his reckoningFriday, 22 December 2017![]()
Luca Changretta got his just desserts, Alfie Solomons made a last gasp for the quiet life, and Thomas Shelby revealed his true enemy – Peaky Blinders wrapped up another exciting series in a high-octane and neat finale. Read more... |
The League of Gentlemen, BBC2 review - an anniversary to celebrateThursday, 21 December 2017![]()
In 1994, a group of students at Bretton Hall drama school – Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith – began writing and performing together. Read more... |
Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees, BBC One review - an arboreal delightThursday, 21 December 2017![]()
“I am going to find out how much my trees live, breath, and even communicate. I am Judi Dench, and I have been an actor for 60 years – but I have had another passion ever since I was a little girl: I have adored trees. My six acres are a secret woodland, and my trees are part of my extended life.” Read more... |
Agatha Christie's Crooked House, Channel 5 review - actresses chew furniture for funMonday, 18 December 2017![]()
Crooked House is being released as a film in various territories, but has already been shown on television in America and has now surfaced as a drama on Channel 5 bearing the title Agatha Christie’s Crooked House. Read more... |
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