Category Archives: TV

Midsomer Murders, The Christmas Haunting. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Gwilym Lee, Tazmin Malleson, Les Dennis, Emily Joyce, Perdita Avery, Elizabeth Berrington, Nadia Cameron-Blakey, Pamela Betsy Cooper, Paul Blair, Anthony Farrelly, Mark Heap, James Murray, Nikesh Patel, Jonah Russell, Hannah Tointon, Susie Trayling.

It is a good job that the county of Midsomer is a fictional region. Not because of the many murders, ever intriguing, ever inventive. It is the abundance of the Detective Sergeants that pass through the doors of the Police Station in Causton that make the programme, though entertaining and almost compulsive viewing, a baffling place in which regular continuality strikes real terror in the community.

Midsomer Murders, The Christmas Haunting. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

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

The Escape Artist, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Tennant, Toby Kebbell, Sophie Okonedo, Ashley Jensen, Jeany Spark, Tony Gardner, Katy Dickie, Brid Brennan, Monica Dolan, Anton Lesser, Roy Marsden, Alistair Petrie, Patrick Ryecart, Stephen Wright, Gus Barry.

David Tennant doesn’t seem to have been off the television during 2013 and thank heavens for that. Not content with playing the lead role as Detective Alec Hardy in the phenomenal Broadchurch, Aiden Hoynes in The Politician’s Husband, the dashing Jean-Francois Mercier in the acclaimed Spies of Warsaw and a little matter of reprising his role as the tenth incarnation of The Doctor for the 50th Anniversary of the much beloved Science Fiction programme, let alone his work on stage for the R.S.C, it’s fair to say that the Scottish actor has never seemed busier.

The Escape Artist, Television Review. full post

(457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

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.

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

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The Great Train Robbery: The Copper’s Tale. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jim Broadbent, Luke Evans, Philip Glenister, Nick Moran, James Fox, Tim Piggott-Smith, James Wilby, Gwyneth Strong, Ken Bones, Tom Beard, Richard Hope, Tom Chambers, John Salthouse, Lee Starkey, Kelly Marie Autumnberg, Mark Ashwell, Ross McCormack, Eric Hulme, Alexa Morden, Tommy McDonnell, Al Powell, Alistair Donegan, Matthew Jure, Christine Cox, David Halliwell, Mark Mathieson, Anthony Hunt, Jacob Smyth, James McGregor, Bradley Snelling.

The Great Train Robbery: The Copper’s Tale. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(498 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Luke Evans, Neil Maskell, Jack Roth, Bethany Muir, Martin Compston, Paul Anderson, Nicholas Murchie, Del Synott, Jack Gordon, Nigel Collins, Eliza Doolittle, Robert Glenister, Stuart Graham, Bill Thomas, Eric Hulme.

Those behind the 1988 film Buster should look upon The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale as a way to tell a story properly and without the large amount of buckets of whitewash in which to dip the carcass of post-war police work and the glamorisation of those involved in a crime that shook the very foundations of life in the U.K. already rocked by the scandal surrounding John Profumo and Christine Keeler.

The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(447 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Lucan, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Rory Kinnear, Christopher Ecclestone, Paul Freeman, Michael Gambon, Catherine McCormack, Leanne Best, Gemma Jones, Alistair Petrie,  Lasco Atkins, Ann Bell, Tim Bentinck, Alexander Bracq, Helen Bradbury, James Bradshaw, Alan Cox, Benjamin Dilloway, Rupert Evans, Julian Firth, Michael Gould, Claudia Harrison, Leo Hart, Erick Hayden, Robert Horwell, Kevin Hudson, Jane Lapotaire, Olivia Llewllyn, Ruth McCabe.

The passage of time has never seemed to erase any interest or mawkish fascination in the case of Lord Lucan and his alleged crime of murder, in fact like Jack the Ripper nearly 90 years before him or Dr. Crippen, the more years pass, the stronger the interest seems to get, human nature becomes overwhelming in the search for the truth; even when that truth will certainly never be found.

Lucan, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Ripper Street, Our Betrayal. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Buring, Charlene McKenna, Joseph Mawle, Clive Russell, David Dawson, David Wilmot, Damien Molony, Leanne Best, Frank Harper, David Costabile, Justin Salinger, Robert Goodman, Joel Gilman.

Ripper Street, Our Betrayal. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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

Ripper Street: A Stronger Loving World. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, Gillian Sakar, Charlene McKenna, Paul Kaye, MyAnna Buring, Gina Bellman, Justin Avoth, Chris Patrick Simpson, David Wilmot, David Dawson, Damien Molony, Kirsty Oswald, Callum Turner, Liam Burke, Gwynne McElveen.

The writers of Ripper Street have never been afraid to head down the path afforded the rich history of Whitechapel for its inspiration. Whether it is the world of male prostitution, the salaciousness of Molly Houses, the rights of women, the Irish question or the straight poison that stalked the streets of the East End in 1888, there is not a moment in that dark history of Whitechapel that isn’t worth exploring.

Ripper Street: A Stronger Loving World. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(601 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Narnia’s Lost Poet: The Secret Lives And Loves Of C.S. Lewis, Television Review. B.B.C. Four.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Clive Staples Lewis was man who was driven by love and loss. The writer of many books, papers and poetry, the man who bought to life the world of Narnia, of Aslan and a flickering lamppost that marked the end of the wardrobe and the beginnings of a series of children’s stories that dominated the world of English fantasy literature alongside his Oxford University friend J.R.R. Tolkien.

Narnia’s Lost Poet: The Secret Lives And Loves Of C.S. Lewis, Television Review. B.B.C. Four. full post

(571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Ripper Street: Threads Of Silk And Gold. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Buring, David Wilmot, Damien Molony, Leanne Best, David Dawson, Frank Harper, Peter Sullivan, Frank McCafferty, Jassa Ahluwalia, Dale Leadon Bolger, Gillian Saker, Stephen Jones, Kirsty Oswald, Alexander Cobb, David Crowley, Scott Handy, Alfie Stewart, Bella Stewart-Wilson, Andrew Tieman, David Walsh.

The way that Ripper Street has incorporated the life of Detective Inspector Reid and his surroundings of Whitechapel, London and given the audience that watch this ever increasing popular programme a lesson in some of the more historical emergences of the time is never anything but gratifying.

Ripper Street: Threads Of Silk And Gold. Television Review. full post

(610 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)