Tag Archives: Douglas Henshall

Murder Is Easy. (2023). Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Mathew Baynton, Morfydd Clark, Douglas Henshall, Penelope Wilton, Mark Bonnar, Tom Riley, Tamzin Outhwaite, Sinead Matthews, David Jonsson, Jon Pointing, Nimra Bucha, Kevin Mains, Veronika Klimenko, Joe Fagan, Phoebe Licorish.

Murder is easy, it’s the consequences that are difficult to digest, the murderer’s intent and reasoning challenging to the minds of those to whom such an act is deplorable, an unacceptable reminder that the human soul is capable of such finality.

Shetland. Series Seven. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steve Robertson, Anneika Rose, Julie Graham, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Anne Kidd, Shauna Macdonald, Andrew Whip, Patrick Robinson, Laurie Brett, Stuart McQuarrie, Alexandra Finnie, Connor McCarry, Angus Miller, Lucianne McEvoy, Ladi Emeruwa, Grant O’Rourke.

Disasters such as The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in 1986, the Sea Empress crashing into the sound at Milford Haven, and The Taylor Oil Spill in The Gulf of Mexico, just a pinch of the disasters that have threatened the eco system around the world in the life time of us all, and yet everyday tragedies leave the local populace and the wildlife that shares the spaces with humanity looking at ruin, feeling the pain of mankind’s folly, and even death.

Shetland: Series Six. Television Review.

Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Steven Robertson, Mark Bonnar, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Anne Kidd, Fiona Bell, Neve McIntosh, Benny Young, Juie Brown, Jimmy Chisholm, Conor McCarry, Angus Miller, Cora Bissett, Stephen McCole, Kate Bracken, Thoren Ferguson, Andy Clark, Anneika Rose, Lewis Gribben, Sharif Dorani, Shonagh Price.

A pertinent question of the times, the ambiguity of morality, and the classic example of how low someone can stoop when they look to revenge; all this against the backdrop of island life in the shadow of murder, of the slow decline of the human mind, and the tensions that run high when an island’s life is supposedly threatened by a returning, and unwanted, soul.

Susan Hill’s Ghost Story. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Neve McIntosh, Louise Lombard, Adrian Rawlins, Casper Knopf, Maryam Hamidi, Cal MacAninch, Woody Norman, Paul Barber, Andrew John Tait, Calum Caulfield, Billy Thomson.

The issue with ghost stories that some might have has always been in the way the tale is resolved, like the mythical beast who sees the balance of power restored by the villagers below with one last gift offered to sate the taste of vengeance running in its blood. It is to this end that the typical ghost story ends the way it does, the murdered victim slipping away into the ether as the trembling confession is pulled from the mouth of the killer; it is neat and most of the time still leaves the viewer or reader with their own satisfaction sated.

Shetland: Series Five. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steve Robertson, Mark Bonnar, Julie Graham, Lewis Howden, Anne Kidd, Rakie Avola, Derek Riddell, Catherine Walker, Ayanda Bhebe, Lorn Macdonald, Owen Whitelaw, Tracy Wiles, Isabelle Joss, Conor McCarry, Robin Laing, Ryan Fletcher, Meghan Taylor, John Kazek, Francis Mayli McCann, Angus Miller, Emma Mullen, Olivia Barrowclough, Titana Muthui, Erin Armstrong, Kirsty Stuart, Natali McCleary, Kate Dickie, Jenni Keenan Green, Itxaso Moreno, Therese Bradley, Robert Cavanah.

Shetland: Series Four. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steven Robertson, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Mark Bonnar, Anne Kidd, Julie Graham,  Stephen Walters, Neve McIntosh, Sean McGinley, Amy Lennox, Fiona Bell, Sophie Stone, Gerard Miller, Allison McKenzie, Julia Brown, Arnmundur Ernst Björnsson, Carolin Stoltz, Eleanor Matsuura, Joi Johannsson, Hannah Donaldson, Michael Moreland.

Shetland, Series Three. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Steven Robertson, Mark Bonar, Julie Graham, Stewart Porter, Erin Armstrong, Anna Chancellor, Ciarán Hinds, James Cosmo, Saskia Reeves, Sara Vickers, Ace Bhatti, Andrew Rothney, Archie Panjabi, Jamie Michie, Jack Greenlees, Mark Cox, Struan Rodger, Kate Donnely.

The fairly uncomplicated lives of those who reside on the outlying islands of the United Kingdom is one that is prized and highly valued, it is a way of life that has many attractions and one that many could adapt to if they put their minds to it. However, for those forced to relocate out in to the storm tossed seas that surround the mainland, the islands can represent a jail with no locks, keys or guards, the solitude is enough to drive them to the point of no return.

Shetland: Blue Lightning. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Bill Paterson, Anthony Howell, David Annen, Erin Armstrong, Leigh Biagi, David Ireland, John Lynch, Lorne MacFadyen, Michael Nardone, Stewart Porter, Keith Ramsey, Steven Robertson, Annie Louise Ross, Paksie Vernon, Susan Vidler.

The question hanging on the lips of the residents of Fair Isle was just how long can it take to find a killer on an island? It all boils down to a matter of scale for D.I. Jimmy Perez as he is bought back to his home island to find the murderer of noted scientist Anna Blake and the confrontation of ghosts from his past that may have been better left to haunt the lonely isles alone.

Shetland: Dead Water. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Steven Robertson, Alison O’ Donnell, Mark Bonnar, Julie Graham, Alex Norton, Clive Russell, Nina Sosanya, Leanne Best, Marnie Baxter, Steven Cree, Anne Kidd, Kari Corbett, David Hayman, Erin Armstrong, Stewart Porter, Gerda Stevens.

Shetland: Raven Black. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Brian Cox, Mark Bonnar, Alison O’Donnell, Stewart Porter, Sophie Carr-Gomm, Chris Reilly, Erin Armstrong, Rebecca Benson, Finn Den Hertog, Anthony Flanagan, Julie Graham,  Steven Robertson, Gowan Calder, Francis Grey, Tunji Kasim, Cara Kelly, Anne Kidd, Freya Monk, Jana Reinermann, Matthew Zajac,

There is perhaps no place more remote in the U.K. than the Shetland Isles, the bleakness of the landscape betraying the cold that sits just below the surface of an island race who are closer perhaps in spirit to their old Nordic heritage than that of Scotland who has been their de facto Government since the 16th Century.