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Inspector George Gently: Gently With Honour. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, William Ash, Jemma Redgrave, Oliver Milburn, Oliver Johnstone, Pip Torrens, Daniel Lapaine, Stephen Hamilton, Ford Kiernan, Olwen May, Bradley Gardner, Simon Hubbard, Celyn Jones.

Gently With Honour placed a very big size nine boot against the world of the British Army in the deeply suspicious days of the 1960s and upturned the kind of scandal that still sticks in the throat of all who may have served in the forces during that time but also would have caused a stink so high if the British public had found out what was being done to combat the issue of Communism.

Inspector George Gently: Gently With Honour. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

The Twang, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Any band that can survive the pre-Christmas atmosphere of The Rainbow in the area of Birmingham called Digbeth, a place in which poets have trembled and the packets of pork scratchings come with their own serving suggestion, will always surely go down well in Liverpool. The Twang exemplify the bridge, the mutual love in that does exist between the cities of Liverpool and Birmingham, especially when it comes to decent, well performed music.

The Twang, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus 6. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Even when something is not as good as what came before it and it still manages to beat everything else currently doing the rounds that you can lay your hands upon or let your eyes enjoy in a feasting frenzy of art and literature then it only goes to prove that class is so permanent, so enduring then even the least attractive will shine through.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus 6. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(597 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes. One For The Mortuary. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Sam Clemens, Francesca Hunt, Nigel Carrington, Nicholas Briggs, Terry Malloy, Rachel Atkins, Derek Carlyle.

The final instalment of the first volume set of stories produced by Big Finish of The Avengers: The Lost Episodes is the first to be taken out of running order from the television series and yet by the powers of great adaption and original story-telling feels naturally at home as a sequel to the preceding audio drama Square Root of Evil.

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes. One For The Mortuary. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(382 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

The Continuing Saga Of King Canute.

Still trying to hold back time and tide which waits for no man,

Canute of Westminster smiles and clings to a palm of gold coins

presented by those with real power and with a vested interest.

The stones that grated under his feet, the shale, the battered million grains of sand

Are nothing but a memory in which money to be thrown is no object.

With regal boots, the King of Westminster waded into the fury and cried out,

“Why Neptune does thy take offence with the poor souls of this land?

The Continuing Saga Of King Canute. full post

(306 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 1. Square Root Of Evil. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Phil Mulryne, Beth Chalmers, Tim Bentinck, Alan Cox, George Rainsford, Kieran Bew, Blake Ritson, Sophie Aldred, Colin Baker.

The murky world of forgery and counterfeit are the next in line to be investigated by John Steed and it gets all a little too close for comfort for him as the net closes in the third of the rejuvenated lost stories of The original Avengers scripts, the Square root of Evil.

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 1. Square Root Of Evil. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Mike Peters, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. (2014)

Mike Peters in Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Almost 30 years to the day since the album Declaration was released, Mike Peters found himself once more inside the 02 Academy and was greeted by all who wouldn’t let a rainstorm get in the way of listening to one of the greats of British Rock. Not greeted, lauded perhaps would be a better word, even praised and rightly so.

Mike Peters, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. (2014) full post

(856 words, 1 image, estimated 3:25 mins reading time)

Inspector George Gently: Blue For Bluebird. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Lee Boardman, Andrea Lowe, Pixie Lott, Lisa Riley, Isabelle Walters, Jodie Comer, Neil McDermott, Sean Kenney, Amelia Young.

The dying days of the 1960s saw the start of the decline of the family holiday parks as the British remembered them. They were going to have to modernise or become ancient history; they were going to have to compete with the cheap family holidays that were becoming the norm as venues in Spain were becoming tourist traps for the British holidaymaker. What wouldn’t have helped is a murder on the doorstep and the police in the shape of crusty cove George Gently investigating and poking his methodical nose into every nook and cranny.

Inspector George Gently: Blue For Bluebird. Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

The Midbeats, This Old Town. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Midlands city of Leicester might not be the first port of call when people talk about music in the last 50 years but away from the city’s overwhelming love of sport with Leicester City, the ever popular rugby team, the legendary bowls player Tony Allcock and of course it’s entertaining cricket side, music does play a significant part in the heritage that you can feel as you step out of the train station and start to explore this historic place.

The Midbeats, This Old Town. E.P. Review. full post

(483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Blake’s 7: Fractures. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Sally Knyvette, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell, Alistair Lock, Brian Croucher, Bethan Walker.

Nothing quite makes Science Fiction more entertaining than when the cast of your favourite programme have been set a problem which drives at the very psyche, the paranoia of the mind and the suspicion in those that you would normally defend with your life. It has been done so many times on screen and the tension it creates can be one of palpable enjoyment and dread that it might spill over too far. It is about the timing of the paranoia and suspicion and knowing when to pull back, leaving just the trickle of distrust seeping through after all is seemingly resolved.

Blake’s 7: Fractures. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(503 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)