Category Archives: TV

Agatha And The Art Of Murder. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ruth Bradley, Ralph Ineson, Tim McInnerny, Blake Harrison, Pippa Haywood, Michael McElhatton, Bebe Cave, Brian McCardie, Dean Andrews, Samantha Spiro, Stacha Hicks, Liam McMahon, Joshua Silver, Luke Pierre, Seamus O’ Hare, Clare McMahon, Amelia Dell, Derek Halligan, Richard Doubleday.

Nobody truly disappears without a reason, whether it is in the spirit of foul play, a release from the pressure of life, or in the act of rage fuelled revenge, people don’t vanish from public life unless there is a motive lurking under the soil of the person’s existence in which leads to the art of murder being employed.

Agatha And The Art Of Murder. Television Review. full post

(630 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Watership Down (2018). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Peter Capaldi, Mackenzie Crook, Anne-Marie Duff, Taron Egerton, Freddie Fox, Lee Ingleby, Miles Jupp, Daniel Kaluuya, Craig Parkinson, Daniel Rigby, Jason Watkins, Gemma Chan, James Alexander, Rosamund Pike, Andrew Walton, Olivia Colman, Lorraine Bruce, Rosie Day, Henry Goodman, Murray McArthur, Tom Wilkinson, James Faulkner, Lizzie Clarke, Rory Kinnear, Charlotte Spencer, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Peter Guinness, Sam Redford, Luke Neal.

Watership Down (2018). Television Review. full post

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

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Downie, Harry Enfield, Gemma Whelen, Lily Cole, Dominic Coleman, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steven Speirs, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Paula Wilcox, Rosanna Beacock, Hannah-Jane Fox, Karl Theobald, Luka Petrovic.

Words, songs, and inspiration hang in ether waiting for the right ear in which to discern their meaning, what though a clever mind can deduce is sometimes another soul will mark them with greater solemnity, the time is not always right – and the words are heeded, but allowed with great wishes and understanding to find another home in which to be born, another time in which the need is nobler, the suffering of the people more acute.

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review. full post

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

Still Open All Hours, (Christmas 2018). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Jason, James Baxter, Stephanie Cole, Brigit Forsyth, Maggie Ollerenshaw, Kulvindar Ghir, Sally Lindsay, Johnny Vegas, Tim Healy, Katie Radford, Rita Tushingham, Roger Sloman, Geoffrey Whitehead, Sophie Willan.

At any time of year it is important to remember to shop local, the CEOs of large corporations don’t need that extra few bucks in which to keep to themselves, so called high flyers who profit off the debt in which we have become accustomed too, can by the collective will of the people, find themselves a little poorer, a little less sanctimonious, a might less smug.

Still Open All Hours, (Christmas 2018). Television Review. full post

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

Not Going Out -Live. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Breton, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Mark Kempner,

There is always a concern when it comes to attempt to pull off the live show, especially when it a comedy, particularly when it is one comfortable in its own skin of being one that can be rehearsed to the point of exhaustion to make it seem sharp and on the ball. The trouble is with recording weeks or even months in advance is that relies far too eagerly on the set-up and not enough on the natural skill of the performer in which to bring the element of surprise, the ability to rise above the fluffed line with the spur of the moment quip or ad-lib in which to keep the momentum moving.

Not Going Out -Live. Television Review. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Death And Nightingales. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Matthew Rhys, Ann Skelly, Jamie Dornan, Valene Kane, Charlene McKenna, Martin McCann, Sean McGinley, Michael Smiley, Francis Magee, Des McAleer, Ciaran Flynn, Aoibheann Mullan, Paul Kennedy, Eugene O’Hare, Pip Torrens, Conor MacNeill, Frankie McCafferty.

Against the backdrop of the fight for radical Irish independence from Britain in the 19th Century, a story of corruption, betrayal and tragedy is neatly interwoven through a 24 hour period in the life of Beth Winters, a condensed down reflection of what was happening across the Irish Sea, the pride of individuality and freedom from what was arguably seen as a distant master, one who made all the rules but wanted to keep the people in chains, if not physically, then at least metaphorically.

Death And Nightingales. Television Review. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Mrs Wilson. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ruth Wilson, Iain Glen, Otto Farrant, Fiona Shaw, Calam Lynch, Keeley Hawes, Anupam Kher, Joy Richardson, Ian McElhinney, Patrick Kennedy, Elizabeth Rider, Dave Hill, Wilf Scolding, Barbara Marten, Joseph Mydell, Alex Blake, Gemma McElhinney.

It is an inescapable certainty that truth is far more stranger than fiction could ever hope to be, the stories we weave in existence, through the lies we tell ourselves to make our lives more bearable, to the possible deceit in which we hold others captive by, truth is the reality in which we all find our hidden depths in which to practice either to deceive, or to thrill with our stories.

Mrs Wilson. Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Phyllis Logan, Mark Addy, Percelle Ascott, Jan Lee.

A new Doctor at the helm, the act of actions and their consequences firmly established and the first recurring villain for Jodie Whittaker’s incarnation of the time travelling stranger from Gallifrey to deal with and yet, despite some glorious touches by Bradley Walsh as Graham, and the genuine appeal of the guest stars of Phyllis Logan and Mark Addy, the season finale of the 11th series of Doctor Who since its return in 2005, feels as if it has discovered a way to be underwhelming; not something that any fan of the show has perhaps ever truly recognised before.

Doctor Who: The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos. Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: It Takes You Away. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Eleanor Wallwork, Kevin Eldon, Christian Rubeck, Lisa Stokke, Sharon D. Clarke.

Myths and legends are constantly interwoven with the fabric of life, it is in the race memory of us all which sees nursery rhymes as a constant source of bonding between parent and child, stories which captivate the memory with stringer force than anything we might read as adults. It is the fear of something other than perceived reality, of the existence of trolls and dark forests, of monsters and brave souls which we seek assurance from; it is the trepidation and the resolution of such stories which pave the way for all other stories to exist and take shape, the concern of what lies beyond the mirror’s reflection.

Doctor Who: It Takes You Away. Television Review. full post

(491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

The Little Drummer Girl. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgard, Michael Shannon, Michael Moshonov, Simona Brown, Clare Holman, Kate Sumpter,  Gennady Fleyscher, Amir Khoury, Katharina Schuttler, Charles Dance, Lubna Azabal,  Daniel Litman, Charif Ghattas, Max Irons, Sam Troughton.

In the war to protect what you believe is yours, sometimes you have to employ methods in which are dubious at best, downright ugly at worst, it is the thinking and planning ahead in which wins the minds of the people you are charged with protecting, but one in which the enemy you have created will fight you every step of the way to kill you first.

The Little Drummer Girl. Television Review. full post

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