TV
Drama Matters: Lawless, Sky LivingFriday, 04 October 2013
There's no denying the allure of a well-crafted legal drama, and there's also probably a hefty swathe of fans pining for the return of Maxine Peake in Peter Moffat's superior Grays Inn yarn, Silk. They will have found plenty to cheer in... Read more... |
Secret Voices of Hollywood, BBC FourMonday, 30 September 2013
They called Rita Moreno the triple threat – she could dance, act and sing. But even her spirited performance as Anita in West Side Story could not satisfy United Artists: the doomy low notes of "A Boy Like That" were considered out of her range, and... Read more... |
Atlantis, BBC OneSaturday, 28 September 2013
Ancient Greece has been having a bit of a run lately what with Dr Michael Scott’s recent primers on Greek culture and society and the like. There are, however, certain parts of the television audience a Hellenistic scholar cannot reach, and they are... Read more... |
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Channel 4Saturday, 28 September 2013
There are two schools of critical thought when it comes to stories set in fantastical worlds. The first implies that it’s difficult to argue for realism and consistency in something that’s supposed to be a bit of fluff, where not only have aliens... Read more... |
Meet the Russians, FoxThursday, 26 September 2013
There’s a great line near the beginning of Fox’s nine-parter Meet the Russians: “Money can’t buy you taste. It can buy you a personal shopper.” If this show's participants had splashed out on a bit of PR advice as well, you wonder whether the answer... Read more... |
The Wrong Mans, BBC Two / London Irish, Channel 4Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Love him or hate him, James Corden undeniably does have a range of talents – actor, writer and co-creator of some very funny comedy (we'll politely forget the car crash of his misguided BBC sketch show with Mathew Horne). And now, dontchaknow, he's... Read more... |
Being Paul Gascoigne, ITVWednesday, 25 September 2013
There was a time when England’s greatest and most charismatic footballer of the last 40 years would inspire fine writers to flights of poetry. Karl Miller in the London Review of Books compared him to “a priapic monolith in the Mediterranean sun”.... Read more... |
Listed: Jane Austen providesTuesday, 24 September 2013
Right at the start of the boom around 20 years ago, a Hollywood mogul is said to have told one of his people to get some more work out of that Jane Austen. She seemed like a good source of romantic comedies. Regrettably for all, there were only ever... Read more... |
Downton Abbey Series 4, ITV / By Any Means, BBC OneMonday, 23 September 2013
"The price of great love is great misery when one of you dies," intoned the Earl of Grantham lugubriously in this fourth-season opener [****], and the death of Matthew Crawley hovered heavily over the household. His widow Lady Mary haunted the... Read more... |
Vinnie Jones: Russia's Toughest, National GeographicFriday, 20 September 2013
Once you’d got over an initial sense of absurdity at Vinnie Jones as travel guide, to Russia and for National Geographic to boot, a certain logic kicked in: hard country, hard man. Some time after we'd lost count in Vinnie Jones: Russia’s Toughest... Read more... |
Who Do You Think You Are? - Marianne Faithfull, BBC OneThursday, 19 September 2013
We know, not least through her own account, of Marianne Faithfull's colourful progress as winsome Sixties pop star, lover of Mick Jagger, junkie on the streets of Soho and her artistic rebirth as gravel-throated chanteuse. Here, her frequently... Read more... |
Father Figure, BBC OneThursday, 19 September 2013
Coming to it fresh, it’s hard to imagine Father Figure as the Radio 2 serial it apparently began life as. The first episode of the six-part series is driven by what some would call "visual gags" or "physical comedy", as if writer and star Jason... Read more... |
