Tag Archives: Adeel Akhtar

Back To Life. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Richard Durden, Liam Williams, Jamie Michie, Adeel Akhtar, Christine Bottomley, Frank Feys, Imogen Gurney, Jo Martin, Souad Feress, Jennifer Tollady, Rhona Cameron, Angus Kennedy, Juliet Cowan, Jade Harrison, Celia Henebury.

It takes a special kind of relationship between a writer and their possible audience to make any connection with comedy work, especially when it is one that is set against the backdrop of murder and the after-effects of the accused being released from prison.

Killing Eve: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia, Owen McDonnell, Sean Delaney, Edward Bluemel, Henry Lloyd-Hughes Nina Sosanya, Adrian Scarborough, Jung Sun den Hollander, Emma Pierson, Adeel Akhtar, Shannon Tarbet, Zoe Wanamaker, Nickolas Grace, Julian Barratt, Nigel Betts, Barbara Flynn.

A new television serial might be a hit with viewers from the start, the initial rush of congratulations could well be deserved, but there is always a nagging doubt that it is born of quick sensationalism, rather than the embrace of complexity, a character who titillates rather than nourishes, and whilst in a modern world there is no problem with the idea of shock tactics to win over an audience, it can leave others feeling cold, numb to the pressure to enjoy.

Les Misérables. Television Review. (2019).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Dominic West, Adeel Akhtar, David Oyelowo, Lily Collins, Olivia Coleman, David Bradley, Ellie Bamber, Erin Kellyman, Emma Fielding, Enzo Cilenti, Donald Sumpter, Andre Pasquasy, Turlough Convery, Archie Madekwe, Josh O’Connor, Joseph Quinn,  Natalie Simpson, Angela Wynter, Reece Yates, Derek Jacobi, Jerome Flynn, Darren Kent, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Josef Altin, Anna Calder-Marshall, Alan David, Ron Cook, Archie Madekwe, Lorcan Cranitch, Hayley Carmichael.

Apple Tree Yard, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin, Mark Bonnar, Susan Lynch, Olivia Vinall, Stephen Elder, Jack Hamilton, Syreeta Kumar, Assad Zaman, Kezia Burrows, Steffan Rhodri, Adeel Akhtar, Rhashan Stone, Lydia Leonard, Nick Sampson, Frances Tomelty, Laure Stockley, Sebastian Armesto, Denise Gough, Adrian Lukis.

The problem with putting on a drama on the television, no matter how well intentioned, is that in some respects the pace of the script feels disjointed, it can either be too fast and therefore lose the viewer’s attention by being overly complicated or too slow and then being the type of programme in which the person enduring the ongoing situation is forced to believe that many of the scenes or characters could have been cut or not bothered with at all.

River, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan, Adeel Akhtar, Owen Teale, Georgina Rich, Michael Maloney, Turlough Convery, Sorcha Cusack, Jim Norton, Steve Nicolson, Josef Altin, Peter Bankole, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lydia Leonard, Franz Drameh, Shannon Tarbet, Steve Edwin, Souleiman Bock, Andrew Byron, Andrew Byron, Ali Craig.

The fine line between genius and insanity is never truly explored on television unless it is in the form of a great detective and for those there are too few to whom the reason for their own peculiarities are ever given credence or perhaps respect.

Pan, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Adeel Akhtar, Nonso Anozie, Amanda Seyfried, Kathy Burke, Lewis MacDougall, Cara Delevingne, Jack Charles, Tae-joo Na.

The astounding J. M. Barrie’s mischievous creation, the noble and forthright Peter Pan, is so beloved, not just in the U.K. but all over the globe, that it really is not surprising just how much affection the character garners and just how many films and stories that stay in the mind. It is a character that offer offers everything to the child’s imagination and as such stays within the heart of the adult when such things as fantastical pirates, fairies, crocodiles and flying boys should perhaps be left to fade away into the world of half remembered dreams.

Utopia, Season Two. Episode Three Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Geraldine James, Neil Maskell, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Alistair Petrie, Alexandra Roach, Nathen Stewart- Jarratt, Oliver Woollford, Kevin Eldon, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Michael Maloney, Ian McDiarmid, Paul Ready, Will Attenborough, Allan Corduner, Juliet Cowan, Keith Farnham, Candida Gubbins, Alex Lowe, Bruce Mackinnon, Gerard Monaco, Damien Thomas.

Utopia is never meant to be reached, if it was then Sir Thomas More completely missed the point as he wrote in praise to England before finding himself on the wrong side of a King’s wrath. Dystopia on the other hand is the easiest level of human attainment and for those on the run in Channel 4’s riveting series, Utopia, dystopia might actually be more preferable.

Utopia. Series Two, Episode Two. Television Review. Channel 4.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 81/2/10

Cast: Geraldine James, Fiona O’ Shaughnessy, Neil Maskell, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Alistair Petrie, Alexandra Roach, Nathen Stewart-Jarratt, Oliver Woollford, Kevin Eldon, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Michael Maloney, Ian McDiarmid, Paul Ready, Alan Cordiner, Pixie Davies, Leemore Morrett Jnr, Diane Morgan.

It is the 21st Century equivalent of throwing yourself out of the window of a tall office block after wiping millions off the value of shares in the United States, the way of suicide compared to the office boredom and placing the stapler over the tongue ready to make sure you feel something, anything, to let the pain remind you are still alive…as Ian asks his colleague, is it possible to actually die of boredom?