Author Archives: admin

Mark Gatiss: Doctor Who – Last Of The Gaderene. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Mark Gatiss is one of a rare breed of people who seems to instinctively understand every incarnation of the Doctor to the point where it would surely be impossible for him to create an adversary who was not worthy to tackle the ever ticking and calculating brain of the traveller in time and space, and in the Last Of The Gaderene, that deeply rooted appreciative voice transfers itself neatly to that of the Third personification of the strange wanderer in the fourth dimension as they take on, not only The Master, but an alien entity driven by misfortune and which has turned to envy and desire, as they focus their attention on destroying humanity so they can colonise the planet and restore life to their dying civilisation.

Mark Gatiss: Doctor Who – Last Of The Gaderene. Book Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

The Divine Comedy. Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Neil Hannon’s The Divine Comedy is probably the closest group ensemble to recreate the sensational beauty and drama of the old style Victorian Music Hall, and yet as the sheer poetry and observations are unveiled before the audience, the sense of modernity is overwhelming, two worlds colliding, one of examination of the sometimes absurd world we live in, and the other of outstanding theatre that captures human frailty at its most keenest, most endearing, its most vulnerable.

The Divine Comedy. Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall. Liverpool. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Martyn Joseph: Troubled Horses. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Concentration and a singular vision of focus is often the key to strength in delivering purpose, few in today’s bright lights and multitude of distractions can go a certain length of time without the desire to be pulled away, to glimpse what is outside of the bubble they wish to dedicate a sense of commitment to in which to achieve greatness or at least a weight of fulfilment with honour.

Martyn Joseph: Troubled Horses. Album Review. full post

(507 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue. Television Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Eric McCormack, David Ajala, Lydia Wilson, Jan Le, Adam Long, Siobhan McSweeney, Peter Gadiot, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Carolina Guerra, Deborah Ayorinde, Hari Dhillon, Isaiah St. Jean, Ángel López-Silva, Sebastián Capitán Viveros, Harlys Becerra, Joana Borja, Christian Contreras, Sebastián Orozco, Daniel Topic, Misa D’Angelo, Oscar Foronda, Gloria Garcia.

Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue. Television Drama Series Review. full post

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

Resident Alien. Series Four. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Alan Tudyk, Sara Tomko, Corey Reynolds, Alice Wetterlund, Levi Fiehler, Judah Prehn, Elizabeth Bowen, Meredith Garretson, Kaylayla Raine, Gary Farmer, Ben Cotton, Alex Barima, Jenna Lamia, Diana Bang, Linda Hamilton, Alvin Sanders, Trevor Carroll, Terry O’Quinn.

In one of the most inventive and comical series of its kind, Resident Alien has been a refreshing combination of satire and down-to-earth comedy drama, one that plays upon the old idea of the miscommunication of the stranger in town, the traveller from abroad who is unaware of the social customs and niceties and who in time comes to be appreciated for what he can offer rather than what is expected of his kind.

Resident Alien. Series Four. Television Review. full post

(407 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Newsreader. Series Three. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Anna Torv, Sam Reid, William McInnes, Marg Downey, Stephen Peacocke, Michelle Lim Davidson, Chum Ehelepola, Chai Hansen, Philippa Northeast, Daniel Henshall, Jackson Tozer, Rhys Mitchell, Andrew McFarlane, Gillian Cosgriff, Dan Spielman, Caroline Lee, Maria Angelico, Nick Simoson-Deeks, Maude Davey, Queenie van de Zandt, Tom Wilson, Maria Theodorakis, Grant Piro, Robin McLeavy, Meewon Yang, Joe Cho, Yuchen Wang.

The Newsreader. Series Three. Television Drama Review. full post

(479 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Marvel: Zombies. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Iman Vellani, Todd Williams, Florence Pugh, Elizabeth Olsen, Awkwafina, David Harbour, Paul Rudd, Tessa Thompson, Hailee Steinfeld, Dominque Thorne, Kerry Condon, Kenna Ramsey, Kari Wahlgren, Simi Liu, Randall Park, Feodor Chin, Wyatt Russell, Rama Vallury, Hudson Thames, Greg Furman, Adam Hugill, Daniel Swain, Sheila Atim, F. Murray Abraham.

One of the most intriguing episodes of the animated What If? series from the great American comic house of Marvel, is surely the one that delved into the world of horror as Zombies overwhelmed and desecrated the ranks of the heroes that the fans adored, leaving only a rag tag bunch to fight Wanda Maximoff as her new persona, that of The Red Queen.

Marvel: Zombies. Television Series Review. full post

(408 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Alien: Earth. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Babou Ceesay, Adrian Edmondson, Timothy Olyphant, Adarsh Gourav, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Jonathan Ajayi, David Rysdahl, Diêm Camille, Moe Bar-El, Sandra Yi Sencindiver, Kit Young, Michael Smiley.

Alien is quite rightly considered one of the most important films to have graced the cinema and home viewing apparatus ever; a combination of science fiction and horror to which many have tried to emulate, and failed, be it by just a degree or full hearted collapse, the direction of Ridley Scott and the screen writing of Dan O’ Bannon was just too potent a force to ever truly equal.

Alien: Earth. Television Series Review. full post

(528 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Various Writers: The End Of The World As We Know It. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are books that perhaps define a generation with a greater sense of unfathomable fear than others; the late Victorian age for example, obsessed with standards and the in-built contempt for the so-called lower orders saw disease and unregulated, unprotected sex as the reason why civilisation would eventually fail and rot, and which they arguably saw in the Gothic spine tingling and ungodly, to their mind, Dracula.

Various Writers: The End Of The World As We Know It. Book Review. full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

High Cockalorum. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Monica Dolan, Goldie Crane.

The strangest of encounters often make for the finest stories to be told, the random, the most unexpected, the implausibly surprising, these intersecting stumbling’s into another’s orbit are to be cherished by all as they prove a truth of life, that those we meet in a one off moment in time have been placed before us to perhaps make an amends elsewhere in our lives; this truth is expanded when it comes to those we perceive as an idol, a hero maybe, someone to whom we look to as a star in our eyes and who we know so much about, but who might only be in our lives for less than a day.

High Cockalorum. Audio Drama Review. full post

(481 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)