Tag Archives: B.B.C.

Doctor Who: Into The Dalek. Television Review, B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Nicholas Briggs, Zawe Ashton, Michael Smiley, Samuel Anderson, Laura Dos Santos, Ben Crompton, Bradley Ford, Michelle Morris, Nigel Betts, Ellis George, Barnaby Edwards.

For anyone who ever wondered what it would be like to be placed within the very heart of the most dangerous creature in existence, then the latest episode of Doctor Who, Into The Dalek almost provided the answer to that fantastic question. Until they find a way to see into the very soul of the Time Lord, seeing inside a Dalek who has discovered the point of existence beyond the blasted horizon by the Denisons of destruction encased in Dalekanium ranks almost as high.

Doctor Who: Deep Breath. Television Review, B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Neve McIntosh, Dan Starkey, Catrin Stewart, Peter Ferdinando, Paul Hickey, Tony Way, Maggie Service, Mark Kempner, Brian Miller, Graham Duff, Ellis George, Peter Hannah, Paul Kasey.

The Doctor is in, he just might not see you just yet.

The thirteenth man to take on the titular role of the long lasting and very popular series of Doctor Who might take some getting used to for some. After nearly a decade of having arguably a more youthful outlook but for many, surely the more than capable, erudite and wonderfully strange Peter Capaldi is a return to what bought success for the programme in its 1970s heyday.

A Poet In New York, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Hollander, Essie Davis, Ewen Bremner, Phoebe Fox, Samantha Fox, Stuart Matthews, Shane Hart, Morfydd Clark, Lucinda O’Donnell.

What really drives a poet as an artist? Not for them perhaps the adulation bestowed upon them as other artists, the secrecy of their work arguably not given a thought by the population as whole in the same way as a those who follow music. The craft is unseen and so is their life as they squirrel away words like some hide treasure or famous paintings by old Masters. However for Dylan Thomas, he was a breed of the new poet, loved on both sides of The Atlantic after the ravages of World War Two.

Scottie Road, The Musical. Theatre Review. Unity Theatre (2014)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Keddy Sutton, Gillian Hardie.

When Scottie Road, The Musical was first performed it was genuine piece of Liverpool humour delivered by two of the finest female talents around. One sequel later, a vast swathe of the population who make it their duty to support local theatre, no matter the size of the venue, left feeling enraptured and laughing so hard it would make an ice bun melt, the two stars of the show, Caz and Britney, take the audience back to where it all started, where the music first played and the threat of prison was something that came along on a really bad throw at Monopoly and just as then as it is now, the audience fell completely and utterly in love with it all.

Atlantis. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 3/10

Cast: Jack Donnelly, Mark Addy, Robert Emms, Jemima Rooper, Sarah Parish, Juliet Stevenson, Aiysha Hart, Alexander Siddig, John Hannah, Oliver Walker, Hannah Arterton, Ken Bones, Joe Dixon.

There is something magical about Greek and Roman mythology; it has consistently been a source of epic tales and for the vast majority of the stories that have survived the spectre of time, they are thrilling, exciting and serve to be poignant many millennia after they first appeared.

Still Open All Hours, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 7/10

Cast: David Jason, Lynda Baron, Stephanie Cole, Maggie Ollerenshaw, James Baxter, Johnny Vegas, Mark Williams, Brigit Forsyth, Kulvinder Ghir, Sally Lindsay, Nina Wadia, Barry Elliott, Kathryn Hunt, Misha Timmins, Cathy Breeze, Sally Womersley, Emily Fleeshman, Nadine Mulkerrin.

There are some things in life that are worth re-visiting, even if it just the once. To see old characters move around in familiar ways but know that somehow they have changed, even slightly, is to understand that time must and always will move forward.

The Whale, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Martin Sheen, Jonas Armstrong, Charles Furness, Adam Raynor, Jolyon Coy, Jassa Ahluwalia, David Gyasi, John Boyega, Ferdinand Kingsley, Paul Kaye, Chris Starkie, Andre Aguis, Joe Azzapardi, Macram Borg, Stephen Buhagiar, Jimi Busutti, Graham Charles, Aklileu Gudetta, Ian Shaw, Bolton White, Valentino Stojanov.

In amongst the seemingly endless repeats, festive cheer, tear-jerkers and the inane, sometimes a made for television film comes along in the run up to Christmas Day that is a sparkling jewel, a reason why television actually deserves its place in the lives of all, a piece of quality so rare that it has been worth being forced to listen to other people’s conversations about the latest celebrity gossip and ghoulish-like fascination of the box in the corner.

Trail Of A Timelord: Volume 1, Audio Book Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Lynda Bellingham, Colin Baker.

In the wake of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who which has seen the special programme being watched simultaneously around the world by the type of television audience normally reserved for F.A. Cup finals and Royal weddings, it seems almost ludicrous now that there was a time in which the very survival of the programme was in doubt as certain people at the B.B.C. finally saw the chance to take the long running science fiction programme off the air.

An Adventure in Space and Time, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Bradley, Jessica Raine, Sacha Dhawan, Brian Cox, Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell, Claudia Grant, Anna-Lisa Drew, Reece Sheersmith, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford,  Sophie Holt, Nicholas Briggs, Sarah Winter, Jeff Rawle, Andrew Woodall, Ian Hallard, David Annen, Sam Hoare, Mark Eden, Lesley Manville, Cara Jenkins, Reece Pockney, Charlie Kemp, Roger May.

A Very British Murder, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter where you look on television or in the book stalls and shops of Britain, there is always the chance you will come across a programme, factual case or long line of fiction dedicated to the murder. The British seem obsessed with it, so much so that no Sunday night would be the same without one of Agatha Christie’s plots giving the viewer a challenge to find the killer before the spinster or the Belgian and no trip to a book shop would feel the same without picking up the latest crime thriller. Dr. Lucy Worsley’s latest historical series delves into the mind set of our island race’s preoccupation with the despicable act and looks at some cases of the deed in A Very British Murder.