Category Archives: TV

Doctor Who: The Witchfinders. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Alan Cumming, Siobhan Finneran, Tilly Steele, Tricia Kelly, Arthur Kay, Stavros Demetraki.

Some incarnations of The Doctor impress you from the very beginning, some take time to grow on you, in a world that has become increasingly impatient and demands results straight away, it is only to be expected that there are fans who might display a little less rationale when it comes to seeing their favourite character portrayed against the stereo-type they have built up in their own mind, expected but still disappointing, understood but concerned that they cannot see beyond their field of perceived vision of what makes a hero.

Doctor Who: The Witchfinders. Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: Kerblam! Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Claudia Jessie, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Lee Mack, Callum Dixon, Leo Flanagan, Matthew Gravelle.

It is the scream of vile objectification, of trying to make someone feel superiority over you, no matter what situation you find yourself in, especially when it is concerned with the arts, there will always be someone who snidely looks down upon your choices, and shouts viciously, “Why don’t you get a proper job?”

Doctor Who: Kerblam! Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: Demons Of The Punjab. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Leena Dhingra, Amita Suman, Shane Zaza, Hamza Jeetooa, Shaheen Khan, Shobna Gulati, Ravin J Ganatra, Bhavnisha Parmar, Emma Fielding, Nathalie Curzner, Isobel Middleton, Barbara Fadden.

Everything we do leaves a footprint in history, it is not just the so-called interesting characters of our time, the thought of as important, each one of has the potential to change the future with a single action, a smile in the right place to a person who may be contemplating a darker path, a word out of place due to anger can set in motion a war, falling in love across man-made boundaries can lead to a death of our making; that footprint in the sands of time does not discriminate, we all have the ability to effect the way our footprint is seen.

Doctor Who: Demons Of The Punjab. Television Review. full post

(563 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Cole, Brett Goldstein, Lois Chimimba, Suzanne Packer, Ben Bailey-Smith, David Shields, Jack Shalloo.

For the vast majority of British television watchers, there is nothing like a riddle wrapped inside a mystery and surrounded by the hard-boiled charm of the perpetual challenge, it is arguably why so many fans and audiences around the world have embraced the enigma of Doctor Who in all its glory.

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum. Television Review. full post

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

Strangers. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: John Simm, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Katie Leung, Anthony Hayes, Tom Wu, Emilia Fox, Dervla Kirwan, Thomas Chaahing, Jason Wong, Christophe Tek, Rosalind Halstead, Kae Alexander, Tim McInnerny, Steve Broad, Ryan McKen, Nicholas R. Bailey, Raquel Cassidy.

Writing in a team can be beneficial, it can spark ideas and literary notions that might not have come into being had the specific drama or comedy not been had influx of creativity attached to it and yet at times it can feel as if the old proverb of too many cooks is not only apt, but can feel as though the resulting broth is one that completely should be taken out of the pan and never be shown to the viewer.

Strangers. Television Review. full post

(576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Inside No.9: Dead Line. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Stephanie Cole.

When the joke is on the viewer, then anarchy is to be praised, the realm of the perpetual joker is considered greener, for if you can fool an audience into believing a certain path is being undertaken and then leaving them exasperated at the television station’s apparent lack of care for what was billed as the big Halloween spectacle, a piece of television that was to be delivered in the toughest arena of all, the live performance.

Inside No.9: Dead Line. Television Review. full post

(333 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Arachnids In The U.K. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Tanya Fear, Sharon D. Clarke, Ravin J. Ganatra, Shobna Gulati, William Meredith, Chris Noth, Bhavnisha Parmar.

If you are going to give your audience a fright then one sure fire way is to relate to their most basic fears, the ordinary phobia made terrifying, by ramping up the size and the possibility of the dread, the audience understands that whilst the science behind it may seem a bit of a non-starter, at least it grabs your attention enough to be memorable.

Doctor Who: Arachnids In The U.K. Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: Rosa. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Vinette Robinson, Joshua Bowman, Trevor White, Richard Lothian, Jessica Claire Preddy, Gareth Marks, David Rubin, Ray Sesay, Aki Omoshaybi, David Dukas, Morgan Deare.

Doctor Who has arguably never been better than when it deals with the issues of our own history, for all the aliens that crowd and jostle for the audience’s attention, for all the elements of science fiction that is associated with the writing, it is to Earth’s history in which the programme excels. For what else can an alien traveller do but show us how at times, we as a species, are as alien to each other by our actions and deeds, our thoughts and the ugly side of our personalities?

Doctor Who: Rosa. Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Susan Lynch, Shaun Dooley, Art Malik, Ian Gelder.

The finest of traditions are upheld when The Doctor does not understand everything that is laid out, throughout the long history of the much-loved programme, the element of doubt is one that leaves a longer lasting smile on the fan’s minds than the neatly, over-explained, often patronising view laid out by various writers. It is a tradition in which the new Doctor is thrust into with great forethought by Chris Chibnall as the worlds of time, space and new companions are brought together in the second of Jodie Whittaker’s appearance as the enigmatic alien, in The Ghost Monument.

Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument. Television Review. full post

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

Vanity Fair. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Olivia Cooke, Tom Bateman, Johnny Flynn, Claudia Jessie, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Ellie Kendrick, Robert Pugh, Charlie Rowe, Sian Clifford, Martin Clunes, David Flynn, Matthew Baynton, Monica Dolan, Patrick FitzSymons, Felicity Montague, Claire Skinner, Peter Wright, Toby Williams, Elizabeth Barrington, Richie Campbell, Frances de la Tour, Mike Grady, Anthony Head, Suranne Jones.

Vanity Fair. Television Review. full post

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