Category Archives: TV

The Capture. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Holliday Grainger, Callum Turner, Laura Haddock, Ben Miles, Barry Ward, Ginny Holder, Cavan Clerkin, Ron Perlman, Famke Janssen, Alexander Forsyth, Nigel Lindsay, Ian Pirie, Lia Williams, Paul Ritter, Daisy Waterstone.

The worn out old maxim associated with state surveillance that goes “If you don’t do anything wrong then you have nothing to be concerned about”, has been proven to be a falsehood that has been adopted by the untrustworthy and the cynical on both sides of the political spectrum as absolute mantra, a modern hymn in which to beat the masses into a behaviour pattern to which the instruments and threats of damnation could now only look upon as truly effective and a one true god.

The Capture. Television Review. full post

(441 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: The Lions Of Causton. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Tamzin Outhwaite, Aaron Cobham, Don Gilet, Nicholas Goh, Michael Maloney, Shereen Martin, Julian Lewis Jones, Douggie McMeekin, Carlyss Peer, Richard Rankin, Isabel Shaw, Marcia Warren.

Midsomer Murders: The Lions Of Causton. Television Review. full post

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

Dad’s Army: The Missing Episodes. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Kevin McNally, Robert Bathurst, Kevin Eldon, David Hayman, Mathew Horne, Timothy West, Tom Rosenthal, David Horovitch, William Andrews, Tracy Ann Oberman, Christopher Villiers, Simon Ludders, Sam Phillips, John Biggins, Julia Deakin, Jack Barry, Andrew Havill, Jerry-Jane Pears, Philip Pope, Gareth Ryan Benjamin, Tamzin Griffin, Lee Barnett, Thelma Ruby, Joann Condon.

The problem with nostalgia is that you have to judge perfectly whether it carries the same sense of perfection that Time has alluded to in your memory. There are few greater regrets than the one that is pushed forward by the emotion of fear, that the trepidation of losing something that has united a country in dark times can somehow lose its meaning when restored.

Dad’s Army: The Missing Episodes. Television Review. full post

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

Keeping Faith: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Eve Myles, Mark Lewis Jones, Bradley Freegard, Aneirin Hughes, Hannah Daniel, Lacey Jones, Demi Letherby, Eiry Thomas, Alex Harries, Catherine Ayers, Suzanne Packer, Rhian Morgan¸ Rhashan Stone, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Anastasia Hille, Brochan Evans, Martha Bright, Boryana Manoilova, Richard Lynch, Owen Arwyn.

Keeping Faith is a hard ask of modern audiences, the temptation to wander away from the serial that once had you gripped is an understandable response to the way we live today, the instant and continuous gratification, the need for visual stimulation is so overwhelming that we do not understand why such a television programme cannot keep up with the initial demand, why it cannot behave like a soap opera.

Keeping Faith: Series Two. Television Review. full post

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

Departure. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Archie Panjabi, Christopher Plummer, Kris Holden-Ried, Rebecca Liddiard, Tamara Duarte, Mark Rendall, Peter Mensah, Claire Forlani, Alexandre Bourgeois, Shazad Latif, Kristian Bruun, Sasha Roiz, Chantelle Han, Allan Hawco, Dougray Scott, Chloe Farnworth, Paris Jefferson, Ryan Pierce, Tyler Fayose, Emilio Doorasingh, Mark Lutz, Evan Buliung, Raoul Bhaneja, Sydney Meyer, Emmanuel Kabongo, Ai Barrett, Rachel Bles, Scarlett Rousset, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Akbar Kurtha, Wanda Ventham.

Departure. Television Review. full post

(468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Gotham: Series Five. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Morena Baccarin, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, Carmen Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith, Jessica Lucas, Chris Chalk, Kelcy Griffin, Hunter Jones, Jaime Murray, Francesca Root-Dodson, J.W. Cortes, Cameron Monaghan, Shane West, David W. Thompson, Andrew Sellon, Peyton List, Anthony Carrigan, BD Wong, Richard Kind, Lili Simmons, John Bedford Lloyd, Sarah Schenkkan, Benedict Samuel.

Gotham: Series Five. Television Review. full post

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

Catch-22. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Daniel David Stewart, Rafi Gavron, Graham Patrick Martin, Kevin J O’Connor, Austin Stowell, Jon Rudnitsky, Gerran Howell, Tessa Ferrer, Lewis Pullman, Grant Heslov, Jay Paulson, Domenico Cuomo, Giovanni Stocchino, Pico Alexander, George Clooney, Giancarlo Giannini, Hugh Laurie, Julie Ann Emery, Ian Toner, Viola Pizzetti, Valentina Belle, Martin Delaney, Elisa Menchicchi, Valentina Ruggeri, Francesca Turrini, David Power, Salvatore Scarpa, Marilena Anniballi, Joe Massingill, Josh Bolt, Alex Beliglia Zampetti, Joseph Millson, Giacomo Rocchini, Sara Pallini, Anthony Skordi, Massimo Wertmuller, Nicola Goodchild, Harrison Osterfield, Jamie Blackley, Peter Guinness, Jackson Bews, Shai Matheson.

Catch-22. Television Review. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Back To Life. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Richard Durden, Liam Williams, Jamie Michie, Adeel Akhtar, Christine Bottomley, Frank Feys, Imogen Gurney, Jo Martin, Souad Feress, Jennifer Tollady, Rhona Cameron, Angus Kennedy, Juliet Cowan, Jade Harrison, Celia Henebury.

It takes a special kind of relationship between a writer and their possible audience to make any connection with comedy work, especially when it is one that is set against the backdrop of murder and the after-effects of the accused being released from prison.

Back To Life. Television Review. full post

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

Years And Years. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rory Kinnear, Jessica Hynes, Ruth Madeley, Russell Tovey, Emma Thompson, Maxim Baldry, Anne Reid, T’Nia Miller, Lydia West, Arran Ansari, Jade Alleyne, Dino Fetscher, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Rachel Logan, Callum Woolford, George Bukhari, Zita Sattar, Kieran O’Brien, Pauline Fleming, Ellie Haddington,  Jodie Prenger, Dan Starkey, John McGrellis.

Years And Years. Television Review. full post

(559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Killing Eve: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia, Owen McDonnell, Sean Delaney, Edward Bluemel, Henry Lloyd-Hughes Nina Sosanya, Adrian Scarborough, Jung Sun den Hollander, Emma Pierson, Adeel Akhtar, Shannon Tarbet, Zoe Wanamaker, Nickolas Grace, Julian Barratt, Nigel Betts, Barbara Flynn.

A new television serial might be a hit with viewers from the start, the initial rush of congratulations could well be deserved, but there is always a nagging doubt that it is born of quick sensationalism, rather than the embrace of complexity, a character who titillates rather than nourishes, and whilst in a modern world there is no problem with the idea of shock tactics to win over an audience, it can leave others feeling cold, numb to the pressure to enjoy.

Killing Eve: Series Two. Television Review. full post

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