Titanic. Television review. (2012).

Originally published by L.S. Media. March 25th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Stephen Campbell-Moore, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Lyndsey Marshal, Stephen Waddington, Sophie Winkleman, James Wilby, Linus Roache, Geraldine Somerville.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic is one that will touch many areas of Britain and Ireland, so much so in places such as Southampton, Belfast and Liverpool. Southampton due to the amount of men from the area who were employed as workers on the ill-fated ship, Belfast will feel this anniversary with heavy heart as they remember the loss of life from a ship built at Harland and Wolff ship yard and Liverpool as the place where she was registered and where the news broke to the world that the unsinkable, the most prestigious ship of its time had been lost.

The Best Of Men. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Originally pulished by L.S. Media. August 17th 2012

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Eddie Marsan, Rob Brydon, Naimh Cussack, Richard McCabe, George MacKay, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Ben Owen-Jones, David Proud, Leigh Quinn, Daniel Wilde.

Perhaps it took the Best of Men to prove that nobody should ever be written off just because they received spinal injuries during the war.

The B.B.C. Television drama The Best of Men looked at the lives of the pioneering work of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German Jewish refugee whose care and compassion for those he found in the spinal unit of Stoke Mandeville proved a thorn in the sides of the British doctors.

Whitechapel. Television Review. Series Three, Episode Four.

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 20th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davies, Steve Pemberton, Claire Rushbrook, Sam Stockwell, Ben Bishop, Hannah Walters, Jacqueline Roberts, Camilla Power.

The continuity announcer said before the start of the second part of the second story of Whitechapel, that some viewers may find some scenes upsetting, she might have well as ushered into the phrase, “and you’ll kick yourself for not realising who the killer is.” Such were the latent and subtle clues strewn throughout this final part that it was easy to forget the one fleeting and seemingly innocuous moment in the first episode where the murderer was revealed.

Whitechapel. Television Review. Series Three, Episode Three.

Originally published b y L.S.Media. February 13th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Rupert Penry Jones, Phil Davies, Steve Pemberton, Claire Rushbrook, Sam Stockwell, Ben Bishop, Hannah Walters, Jacqueline Roberts, Camilla Power.

Series three of Whitechapel continues with the gruesome premise of a murderer and the brutality of dismemberment. The scene is set by that other act of social discourse and interaction that some can find squeamish and sends shudders down the spines of the strongest of police officers, namely the spectacle of a family christening attended by those family and friends who you never see except when there’s free drinks on offer by the host. Given the choice I think I’d rather investigate another of those historical patterned murders, no matter how insidious, than ever have to wipe new born baby sick of a freshly ironed shirt.

Whitechapel. Series Three, Episode Two. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 7th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis, Steve Pemberton, Sam Stockman, Claire Rushbrook, Shaun Evans, Christina Chong, David Schneider, James Dreyfus.

Just who exactly is watching you? One side of the argument could be the state, the police, Neighbourhood Watch! The other is the person you let in to read the electricity meter, the furniture delivery man or the amiable builder who happened to make something of that spare space.

Whitechapel. Series 3, Episode 1. Series 3, Episode 1.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 31st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davies, Steve Pemberton, Claire Rushbrook.

If you are a fan of the whole historical story of Whitechapel, the abundance of dark characters that litter and parade through the East End of London’s dark and dismal past like a proverbial Mister Hyde to the City and the West End’s Dr. Jekyll, then the modern detective story of Whitechapel and its mismatched team of detectives is just the return you have waited for.

We’ll Take Manhattan. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 27th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Aneurin Barnard, Karen Gillan, Helen McCrory, Joseph May, Frances Barber, Robert Glenister.

It can only be described as astonishing to think that nobody has filmed the love affair between two of the most iconic British people from the 1960’s before now. Before the Beatles and the Liverpool invasion of Ed Sullivan’s show, which made a generation of American teenagers sit and take notice for the first time what was happening across the pond in dear, tired old Britain, there was a seismic cultural revolution that took hold with just one camera shot.

Birdsong. Part Two. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 31st 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * *

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Goode, Clemence Poesy, Richard Madden, Thomas Turgoose, Joseph Mawle, George Mackay, Anthony Andrews, Rory Keenan, Laurent Lafitte.

The second part of Birdsong, written by Abi Morgan, which worked well in parts in the first installment, unfortunately descended into cliché ridden and almost predictable deaths for some of the major characters within the plot. Even for those who have read Sebastian Faulks’ excellent novel it seemed to go from convoluted to create a dull ending.

Birdsong. Part One. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 23rd 2012.

L.S. Media Rating * * *

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Goode, Clemence Poesy, Richard Madden, Thomas Turgoose, Joseph Mawle, George Mackay, Rory Keenan, Laurent Lafitte.

Birdsong is a late 20th Century classic and arguably, to some critics, Sebastian Faulks’ finest novel to date. To fans of the book though who have been desperate to see this First World War drama brought to a larger audience, they have waited, patiently or not, since 1993 and it has to be said it was almost worth the wait.

Sherlock, Reichenbach Fall. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. January 16th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott, Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs, Mark Gatiss, Jonathon Aris, Loo Brealey, Amber Elizabeth, Pano Masti, Katherine Parkinson, Vinette Robinson.

Save the best till last, always keep the audience wanting more and keep them guessing…even if it means the clamour and noise from the enormous fan base that’s been the envy of many other prime time television programmes gets louder and louder until the B.B.C. and the Moffat/Gatiss writing team confirm that there will be a, hopefully, third series.