Tag Archives: Mark Heap

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Downie, Harry Enfield, Gemma Whelen, Lily Cole, Dominic Coleman, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steven Speirs, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Paula Wilcox, Rosanna Beacock, Hannah-Jane Fox, Karl Theobald, Luka Petrovic.

Words, songs, and inspiration hang in ether waiting for the right ear in which to discern their meaning, what though a clever mind can deduce is sometimes another soul will mark them with greater solemnity, the time is not always right – and the words are heeded, but allowed with great wishes and understanding to find another home in which to be born, another time in which the need is nobler, the suffering of the people more acute.

Upstart Crow. Series Three, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck, Paula Wilcox, Harry Enfield, Helen Monks, Gemma Whelen, Tim Downie, Rob Rouse, Mark Heap, Dominic Coleman, Steve Spiers, Spencer Jones, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Adrian Edmondson, Rosanna Beacock, Joe Willis, Beattie Edmondson, Brandon Fellows, Ben Miller, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Ken Nwosu, Nigel Planer.

If there is one thing an audience can count on with Ben Elton, aside from being involved in some of television’s most iconic comedies in the last thirty years, it is his unequalled ability to take a moment and turn it completely on its head and leave you with the feeling of being driven over the edge emotionally, of having the laughter pulled from underneath you and understanding that with great comedy must come empathy and grief in equal measure.

Upstart Crow: 2017 Christmas Special.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck, Emma Thompson, Gemma Whelen, Paula Wilcox, Harry Enfield, Rosanna Beacock, Dominic Coleman, Tim Downie, Mark Heap, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Rob Rouse, Steve Speirs, Joe Willis.

Be not afraid of greatness”, words to live by and words in which there stands the golden possibility that Ben Elton’s Upstart Crow will gather the same attention bestowed upon the realm of Blackadder, for in the wit and humour of the show stands that greatness, a passion for the bard that never seems to fall out of favour and why should it, for in the greatest of them all lives much to pluck a juicy Christmas tender joint from.

Maigret: Maigret In Montmartre. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Shaun Dingwall, Lucy Cohu, Lorraine Ashbourne, Cassie Clare, Sebastian De Souza, Simon Gregor, Mark Heap, Douglas Hodge, Sara Kestelman, Nike Kurta, Colin Mace, Gyula Mesterhazy, Adrian Scarborough, Hugh Simon, Nicola Sloane, Leo Starr, Olivia Vinall, Tilly Vosburgh, Jane Wood.

There may be murders in the Rue Morgue but then Paris, under the watchful eye of renowned Detective Maigret has always had its share of acts of homicide in which to fear the mist that rises off the Seine and through the artistic expression of Europe’s most romantic city. It is love that spurs on more murders than hate so it seems in detective fiction and in Maigret in Montmartre, that love is heightened, corrupted and put to the test of what even Jules Maigret can possibly solve.

Upstart Crow: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Gemma Whelen, Liza Tarbuck, Harry Enfield, Paula Wilcox, Helen Monks, Tim Downie, Dominic Coleman, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steve Spiers, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Adam Harley.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Ben Elton, one of the prestigious and prolific comedy writers of his generation, was asked to step in and take what was a perhaps seen as a series that confused some, baffled others and had those who had the wherewithal to not only admire Rowan Atkinson but who also understood the intricacies of historical comedy, heavily borrowing dialogue from William Shakespeare, to the absolute heights of the British comedy mountain.

Maigret’s Night At The Crossroads, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Lucy Cohu, Shaun Dingwall, Mark Heap, Aiden McArdle, Kevin McNally, Dorothy Atkinson, Ben Caplan, Paul Chahidi, Mia Jexen, Katherine Kanter, Jonathan Newth, Wanda Opalinska, Chook Sibtain, Leo Starr, Robin Weaver, Tom Wlaschiha, Stephen Wright, Max Wrottesley.

We all reach that decision sooner or later, we find ourselves perhaps tempted by the thought of a better life, of a world in which our care free abandon can run free riot and be held by the person that our dreams desire or we can keep going, being safe, being right and knowing full well the path we have chosen is not governed by avarice and jealousy, not by the path of the bullet.

Maigret: Dead Man. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Lucy Cohu, Shaun Dingwall, John Light, Mark Heap, Katia Bokor, Aiden McArdle, Karen Cagnon, Amber Anderson, Michael Fitzgerald, Ian Puleston-Davies, Peter Schueller, Hugh Simon.

There are many interpretations to any role, there are sublime ones and there are fresh readings, the ones that are arguably more remarkable because you know deep down the actor portraying the part has spent virtually all their lives preparing for the part and have therefore found the moment to give the exact reading the character deserves. For Rowan Atkinson, the role of Maigret must have played over and over again in his mind, the right nuance, the deliberate thought, the compassion, even to those in who do not deserve it, has to played just right and in the tale Dead Man, Rowan Atkinson plays Maigret with absolute conviction.

Maigret Sets A Trap: Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, David Dawson, Shaun Dingwall, Lucy Cohu, Fiona Shaw, Rebecca Night, Aiden McArdle, Mark Heap, David Annen, Ian Bartholomew, Jessica Bay, Gillian Bevan, Heather Bleasdale, Christopher Bowen, Alexander Campbell, Beth Cooke, Leo Hatton, Jack Johns, Renny Krupinski, Katie Lyons, Colin Mace, Jack McMullen, Zsófia Rea, Hugh Simon, Leo Starr, Martin Turner, Eva-Jane Willis, Nicholas Wittman, Rufus Wright, Scott Alexander Young.

Endeavour: Coda. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Sean Rigby, Dakota Blue Richards, Pearl Appleby, Jack Bannon, James Bradshaw, Robbie Carpenter, Samantha Colley, Mark heap, Jerome Hogg, Conor Lovett, Harry McEntire, Tom McKay, Tom Mothersdale, Caroline O’ Neil, Abigail Thaw, Sarah Vickers, Jimmy Walker, Bronson Webb.

It is the final dance that must come to any series, the peek behind the curtain to what must take place next, and as Endeavour reaches the end of its third series, the situation for the young Morse reaches a crossroads, his mentor is failing to grasp how life must change, his old tutor is embroiled in a scandal and as always the young Detective only sees what he has got when it is far too late. The Coda is the final appreciation in a dance that has to change.

We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul Ritter, Richard Dormer, Stuart McQuarrie, Sarah Alexander, Sally Philips, Charlotte McDougall, Harry Peacock, Keith Allen, Amy Hughes, John Sessions, Amy O’ Dwyer, Ralph Riach, Michael Cochrane, Mark Heap, Julian Sands, Kevin Bishop, Kieran Hodgson, Shane Ritchie, Roy Hudd.