Category Archives: TV

Endeavour: Terminus. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sean Rigby, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Caroline O’ Neill, Sara Vickers, Adam Ewan, William Sebag-Montefiore, Anna Burnett, Adam Mirsky, Ray Emmet Brown, Chirag Lobo, Martin Hutson, Marion Bailey, Matthew Marsh, Ben Bishop, Estelle Daniels, Jennifer Kirby, Abigail Thaw, Anthony Flanagan.

When one of the great detectives of British television pays homage to one of the finest, if not the best of murder mystery writers, the outcome, can either be one of forced recoil, almost a cringe of mixed volatility, or as in the case of the Endeavour episode Terminus, can leave the armchair detective almost hugging themselves with glee as the script unfolds, loving the delicate balance created between sheer admiration and genuine impressive insight.

Endeavour: Terminus. Television Review. full post

(496 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Vigil. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Shaun Evans, Paterson Joseph, Adam James, Connor Swindells, Gary Lewis, Lolita Chakrabarti, Anjli Mohindra, Lorne MacFadyen, Stephen Dillane, Lois Chimimba, Bobby Rainsbury, Cristian Ortega, Martin Compston, Daniel Portman, Tom Gill, Anita Vettesse, Orla Russell, Reuben Joseph, Cal MacAninch, Aisha Toussaint, Stephen McCole, Lauren Lyle, Theresa Bradley, Parth Thakerar, Oliver Lansley, Dan Li, Jim Sturgeon, Angelique Fernandez.

Vigil. Television Review. full post

(592 words, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Annika. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Nicola Walker, Jamie Sives, Katie Leung, Ukwelu Roach, Silvie Furneaux, Paul McGann, Jade Chan, Kate Dickie, Hannah Donaldson, Saskia Ashdown, Andy Clark, Martin Bell.

A detective must have a quirk to make them more appealing to the television viewer, the moment when the serious equivalent of the comedic catchphrase is long awaited for by those investing their time in the drama, and when it appears gives them a sense of comfort, a reminder that every detective is as prone to the errors of every human, every person, but in which their foible and particular oddity helps them understand the condition of the murderer they have set out to catch.

Annika. Television Review. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Ghosts (Series Three). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurance Rickard, Ben Willbond, Katy Wix, Geoff McGivern, Jessica Knappett.

Uproariously silly, who knew that being a ghost could do so much for your sense of humour, who could have realised that being able to see the dead would give your spirits a rise. For three series in to become one of the great British comedies of the last decade, up there with the intricate mayhem provided by The Goes Wrong Show, Not Going Out and Vicious, Ghosts is the joy provided by a set of writers who understand that with a great gag must come pathos, that truth is born out of farce, and these sterling qualities have the obligation to be captured by actors to whom timing and sympathy to the character is an absolute commitment.

Ghosts (Series Three). Television Review. full post

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

Endeavour: Striker. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sean Rigby, Julian Moore-Cook, Gabriel Tierney, Caroline O’Neil, Mia McCallum, Angus Yellowlees, Andrew Havill, Harriet Thorpe, James Bradshaw, Abigail Thaw, Anton Lesser, John Hollingworth, Joseph Millson, Eleanor Fanyinka, Elliot Levey, Sara Vickers, Roxanne Palmer, Lewis MacLeod, Ruth Bradley, Jacinta Mulcahy, Killian Coyle, Colum Convey, Evalina Järrebring, Tom Spink.

Endeavour: Striker. Television Review. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

War Of The Worlds (Series Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Léa Drucker, Gabriel Byrne, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Natasha Little, Bayo Gbadamosi, Ty Tennant, Stephen Campbell Moore, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Paul Gorostidi, Mathieu Torloting, Stéphane Caillard, Emilie de Preissac, Adel Bencherif, Aaron Heffernan, Ania Sowinski, Pearl Chande, Thom Ashley, Oliver Zetterström, Leo Bill, Féodor Atkine, Robert Emms, Elizabeth McGovern.

War Of The Worlds (Series Two). Television Review. full post

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

Harley Quinn (Season Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Matt Oberg, Jason Alexander, Diedrich Bader, Christopher Meloni, J.B. Smoove, Jim Rash, James Adomian, Vanessa Marshall, Phil LaMarr, Briana Cuoco, James Wolk, Tom Hollander, Sean Giambrone, Michael Ironside, Rory Scovel, Sanaa Lathan, Rachel Dratch.

Subversion is a game played geniuses. To subvert the norm is a political act of will carried out by those who wish to shift attitudes and destroy boundaries with all the artistic integrity they can muster, whilst at all times, conforming to the point of art; to alter a person’s view through beauty, through insight, and with passion.

Harley Quinn (Season Two). Television Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Prodigal Son (Season Two). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Bellamy Young, Halston Sage, Lou Diamond Phillips, Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts, Catherine Zeta Jones, Keiko Agena, Esau Pritchett, Kasjan Wilson, Alan Cumming.

What we inherit, the D.N.A we have coursing through our very being, is only a fraction of the traits we exhibit when out in the open amongst others, the very question of nature and nurture is never more acute of the moments when we have to remove the mask we have put in place, when we allow our true feelings to surface in the company of strangers and family who may look upon us as the uncontrolled daughter, the Prodigal Son.

Prodigal Son (Season Two). Television Review. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Dalek Universe 2. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Tennant, Jane Slavin, Joe Sims, John Banks, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Nicholas Briggs, Barnaby Edwards, Avita Jay, Kevin McNally, Leighton Pugh, Blake Ritson, Nina Toussaint-White.

It is often a surprise that for all the talk of family in Doctor Who, the thought of blood relations meeting the Doctor in different incarnations has never been truly explored.

Dalek Universe 2. Audio Drama Review. full post

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

Professor T. Television Series Review. (2021).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Ben Miller, Emma Naomi, Barney White, Sarah Woodward, Juliet Aubrey, Frances de la Tour, Andy Gathergood, Douglas Reith, Martin Swabey, Rupert Turnbull, Ben Onwukwe, Lizzie Back, Barbara Verbergt, Keith Dunphy, Lucy Anna Richardson, Robert Cavanah, Kammy Darweish.

The detective with a unique quirk is nothing new to the overwhelming amount of television programmes dedicated to the genre; even those who assist the police have their own routines and ways which can, if written with care, make them stand out in such a way that the public takes to them, and watch them become, if not national treasures, then at least interesting enough to warrant their inclusion in the television watchers weekly habitual intake.

Professor T. Television Series Review. (2021). full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)