Category Archives: TV

I’m Not In Love: The Story Of 10cc. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

They remain an enigma, the product of fusion, of two distinct writing styles between the members that graced the name and the now iconic nature of the band, a natural progression from the 60s fashion in which they could trace the first roots of the group and one that quite rightly is still performing today, albeit with only one original member at the helm. 10cc were a group of diversity, of experimentation and of a solid reliability, you could not fault them in the day and anyone taking time out to devour the rich back catalogue will soon follow the point that you don’t have to just like 10cc, you have to love them unconditionally as well.

I’m Not In Love: The Story Of 10cc. Television Review. full post

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

To Walk Invisible. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Finn Atkins, Chloe Pirrie, Charley Murphy, Adam Nagaitis, Jonathan Pryce, Mark Frost, June Watson, Megan Parkinson, Matt Adams, Kris Mochrie, Luke Newberry, David Walmsley, Rory Fleck Byrne, Rebecca Callard, Joe Armstrong, Thomas Howes, Thomas Nelstrop, Karen Shaw, Jonathan Carley, Hugh Simon, Freddie Meredith, Gracie Kelly, David Prosho, Paul Knyman.

To Walk Invisible. Television Review. full post

(547 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Ethel And Ernest. Television Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn, Luke Treadaway, Roger Allam, Pam Ferris, Peter Wright, Virginia McKenna, June Brown, Simon Day, Alex Jordan, Harry Collett, Gillian Hanna, Duncan Wisbey, Karyn Claydon.

 

If we were all as fortunate, as happy in life as the parents of British artist, cartoonist and graphic novelist Raymond Briggs then the world would arguably be a happier place. In a touching, beautiful piece of animation, the celebrated artist’s portrayal of his mum and dad’s life from the first time they met to the day they both passed away was explored, visually described and heartbreakingly detailed with praise, attention and sheer craft in the feature length Ethel and Ernest.

Ethel And Ernest. Television Review. full post

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

Jonathan Creek, Daemon’s Roost. Television Review.

Top of Form

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Alan Davies, Sarah Alexander, Warwick Davis, Ken Bones, Georgie Lord, Emun Elliott, Rosalind March, Jason Barnett, Caoimhe Clough, Sisan Coyle, Jo Martin, Ryan Oliva, Nicole Cooper, Chris Forbes.

 

Let someone get away with murder once and they will believe it can be done again, they will come up with another ingenious way to sidestep justice and the person that helped them be free the first time round will undoubetedly be called upon again to provide the alibi they require.

Jonathan Creek, Daemon’s Roost. Television Review. full post

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

Witness For The Prosecution. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Billy Howle, Hayley Carmichael, Monica Dolan, Kim Cattrall, David Haig, Miranda Nolan, Charles De’Ath, Dorian Lough, Paul Ready, Tim McMullan, Robert East, Adam Jowett, Andrew Havill, Ted Robins, Reid Anderson, William Atkinson, Grant Crookes, Carla Langley, Paul Dallison, Keith Lomas, Charlotte Mason-Apps, Dennis O’ Donnell, Graham Partington, Nicola-Jayne Wells, Patricia Winker.

Agatha Christie is such a staple of television and film that sometimes it can be hard to overlook or forgive when an adaptation has not quite hit the high marks expected of it, sometimes you have let it wash over you and remember the good times, when a marvellous suspense mystery would have the viewer glowing with anticipation and the television schedules would be moved accordingly.

Witness For The Prosecution. Television Review. full post

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

Maigret: Dead Man. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Lucy Cohu, Shaun Dingwall, John Light, Mark Heap, Katia Bokor, Aiden McArdle, Karen Cagnon, Amber Anderson, Michael Fitzgerald, Ian Puleston-Davies, Peter Schueller, Hugh Simon.

There are many interpretations to any role, there are sublime ones and there are fresh readings, the ones that are arguably more remarkable because you know deep down the actor portraying the part has spent virtually all their lives preparing for the part and have therefore found the moment to give the exact reading the character deserves. For Rowan Atkinson, the role of Maigret must have played over and over again in his mind, the right nuance, the deliberate thought, the compassion, even to those in who do not deserve it, has to played just right and in the tale Dead Man, Rowan Atkinson plays Maigret with absolute conviction.

Maigret: Dead Man. Television Review. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

King Lear, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Don Warrington, Alfred Enoch, Mitos Yerolemou, Pepter Lunkuse, Rakie Ayola, Fraser Ayres, Norman Bowman, Thomas Coombes, Wil Johnson, Debbie Korley, Philip Whitchurch, Mark Springer, Rhys Bevan, Miles Mitchell, Sarah Quist, Sam Glen.

There are times when television isn’t brave enough to stand up to the dictum laid down by the B.B.C. at the beginning of its lengthy life span, to not only entertain and inform but also educate those willing to be edified in something other than endless reality programmes or the often insufferable endless round of celebrities plying their trade on panel games or news items. Yes it sticks the mission statement in many ways but the bravery is truly seen when it puts on its screens a captured live recording from a theatre of one of William Shakespeare’s more complex and lengthy plays.

King Lear, Television Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: The Return Of Doctor Mysterio. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas, Justin Chatwin, Tomiwa Edun, Logan Hoffman, Aleksander Jovanovic, Lee Kemp, Charity Wakefield, Daniel Lorente, Sandra Teles, Tanroh Ishida.

The problem with having a year off is that it takes time for the mojo to get going again, the momentum of life is such that if you sit still long enough either you fade into obscurity or you show creaking signs of the love you have no longer being a fluid and marvellous thing. Momentum and timing is everything to a lot of people, especially in the world of fandoms; take time away and the spark can drift, even for the biggest and most dedicated of fans and when you finally do appear again, the result can be down at heel, not at your sparkling best.

Doctor Who: The Return Of Doctor Mysterio. Television Review. full post

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

Midsomer Murders: The Village That Rose From The Dead. Television Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Nick Hendrix, Anthony Calf, Hugh Dennis, Raj Awasti, Caroline Blakiston, David Burke, Christopher Colquhoun, Michael Haydon, Pippa Haywood, Matt Houghton, Seeta Indrani, William Melling, Sally Philips, Catherine Steadman, Edwin Thomas, Manjinder Virk, Jo Wheatley, Angus Wright.

The past is so much harder to leave behind when the ghosts won’t stay dead.

Midsomer Murders: The Village That Rose From The Dead. Television Review. full post

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

Rillington Place, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tim Roth, Samantha Morton, Nico Mirallegro, Jodie Comer, John-Paul Hurley, Christopher Hatherall, Tim Bentinck, Sonya Cassidy, Bryan Parry, Eiry Thomas, Chris Reilly, Pearl Appleby, Erin Armstrong, Kevin Mathurin, Sarah Quintrell.

There are some names that fall through history’s tentacles like poisoned water, the seeds of their crimes going undetected at the time and yet their title living on for all eternity, gruesome and disturbing, shocking and vile, there is no other way to describe the horror that was committed by John Reginald Christie at Rillington Place.

Rillington Place, Television Review. full post

(461 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)