Category Archives: TV

The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Max Irons, James Frain, Aneurin Barnard, Faye Marsey, Amanda Hale, Janet McTeer, Rupert Graves, Caroline Goodall, David Oakes, Eleanor Tomlinson, Juliet Aubrey, Sonny Ashbourne, Pixie Davies, Veerle Baetens, Joey Batey, Michael Marcus, Tom McKay, Francis Tomelty, Michael Maloney, Ben Lamb, Shaun Dooley,  Hugh Mitchell, Robert Pugh, Arthur Darvill.

As television blockbuster’s go, The White Queen has followed on the satisfying trend set by The Tudors to bring sections of history back to life and into the public consciousness.

The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(486 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Real Great Escape, Television Review. B.B.C. 4

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * * *

The 1963 film The Great Escape which starred Steve McQueen, James Garner, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson and Richard Attenborough is one of the iconic motion pictures, alongside Escape From Sobibor, that represent forever the spirit shown by Second World War prisoners of war or those incarcerated in death camps in their attempt to escape their surroundings. However the film, no matter how thrilling, never really captured the man behind the mass escape from Stalag Luft III, the resilient and self-assured Roger Bushell.

The Real Great Escape, Television Review. B.B.C. 4 full post

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

Burton And Taylor, Television Review. B.B.C. 4.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dominic West, Helena Bonham-Carter, Lenora Crichlow, William Hope, Michael Jibson, Trevor White, Christopher Cowlin, Lucille Sharp, Isabella Brazier-Jones.

It was a love affair that captured millions of people’s imaginations. The unceasing desire between two people at the end of their long acting powers that both brought them together but also tore them apart, both mentally as well as physically, was captured in all its glory in the latest well produced one-off drama by B.B.C. 4 in Burton and Taylor.

Burton And Taylor, Television Review. B.B.C. 4. full post

(538 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Larry Hulme, Travis McMahon, Abe Forsythe, Caribe Heine, Peter Houghton, Clayton Watson, Dominic Gameau, Matthew Le Nevez, Ryan O’Kane, Brendan Cowell, Richard Davies, Alexander England, Nicholas Coghlan.

It could possibly leave younger viewers stumped at the fuss, however Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War is one of the finest pieces of television plays concerning cricket ever conceived for the medium. That though is not hard; as pretty much anything that tries to capture the intrigue, drama and microcosm of life that goes on within the test arena has been fairly awful. Unless it is one of those great documentaries narrated with elegance and knowledge of the game by the actor Jim Carter, then they tend to go the same way as the rather disappointing Bodyline miniseries from 1984, forgotten and not worthy of the moment in time it was ungraciously trying to capture.

Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War, Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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

Miss Marple, Greenshaw’s Folly. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Julia McKenzie, Julia Sawalha, Fiona Shaw, Robert Glenister, John Gordon Sinclair, Judy Parfitt, Vic Reeves, Kimberley Nixon, Rufus Jones, Matt Wills, Joanna David, Bobby Smalldridge, Candida Gubbins, Sam Reid, Martin Compston,

Rarely does Miss Marple stray into the domain held dear by Agatha Christie’s other great creation of Hercule Poirot, that of the understated darkness in greed or supposed glory. Mostly whatever deeds have been committed in the cases of Miss Marple it has been for love or lust. Greenshaw’s Folly though perhaps sees the elderly spinster at her very best as she deals not only with horrifying aftermath of spousal abuse but the very worst case of murder, premeditated and for gain.

Miss Marple, Greenshaw’s Folly. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

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

The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Max Irons, Janet McTeer, James Frain, Robert Pugh, Juliet Aubrey, Caroline Goodall, Aneurin Barnard, David Oakes, Ashley Charles, Amanda Hale.

 

The demand for some sort of history is never truly satisfied or sated and after many years of watching Sky have a tight grip on historical dramas in screening of The Tudors, the B.B.C. finally get to dip their feet in the murky waters of the British Royal family in the adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen.

The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(535 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Julia McKenzie, Robert Webb, Antony Sher, Charity Wakefield, Hermione Norris, Alistair Mackenzie, Daniel Rigby, Montserrat Lombard, Oliver Ford-Davis, MyAnna Buring, Anele Matoti, Joe Vaz, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charles Mesure, Piipa Bennett-Warner, Warren Brown, Jeremy Crutchley, Charlie Higson.

Not even in the Caribbean are you safe from Miss. Marple, the woman with the scent of murder in her nose even when she is sent abroad to recuperate after a bout of illness always finds the murderer in the end.

Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

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

I, Claudius. Television Review. B.B.C.4.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Derek Jacobi, George Baker, John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Patrick Stewart, Siân Phillips, Patricia Quinn, Christopher Biggins, Ian Ogilvy, James Faulkner, Simon MacCorkindale, Sheila Ruskin, Angela Morant, Graham Seed, Jo Rowbottom, Bernard Hill, Norman Rossington, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hepton, Barbara Young, John Cater, Kevin McNally.

I, Claudius. Television Review. B.B.C.4. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Name Of The Doctor. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, John Hurt, Alex Kingston, Richard E. Grant, Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, Dan Starkey, Eve de Leon, Kassius Carey Johnson, Nasi Voustsas, David Avery, Michael Jenn, Rab Affleck, Samuel Irvine, Sophie Downham, Paul Kasey.

 

Doctor Who, The Name Of The Doctor. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(556 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Murder On The Home Front, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Tazmin Merchant, Patrick Kennedy, James Fleet, Ryan Gage, John Bowe, Richard Bremmer, Amanda Fairbanks-Hynes, Emerald Fennell, Iain McKee, Siobhan Hayes, Susie Blake, John Heffernan, Patrick Knowles, Joey Batey.

Murder on the Home Front, the two-part television programme based on the memoirs of Molly Lefebure, may not have the stature of other crime/detective programmes that have become a staple of the diet, the fix of misdeed and felony that Britain seems to revel in watching but nonetheless it sparked and blossomed and in the end was enough to get the crime gastric juices flowing to make it quirky, watchable and in parts inspired.

Murder On The Home Front, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(426 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)