Dancing On The Edge, Episode Two. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode, Janet Montgomery, Angel Coulby, Sam Troughton, Jacqueline Bisset, Joanna Vanderham, Anthony Head, Jenna-Louise Coleman, John Goodman, Mel Smith, Allan Corduner, Mike Brett, Oroh Angiama, Jane Asher, Jamie Crew, Trevor Edwards, Austin Hardiman, Tom Hughes, Cosimo Keita, Neville Malcolm, Wunmi Mosaku, Jay Phelps, Caroline Quentin, Miles Richardson, Chris Storr, Steve Williamson, Emily Joyce.

 

Richard III: The King In The Car Park, Television Review. Channel 4.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A monster who died at the hands of the Tudor dynasty and whose reputation was further sullied by a playwright from Stratford in the greatest piece of political spin or a misunderstood, kind and benevolent man who was wrongly usurped by Henry VII. Whatever the point or stance you take on it there was something compelling about the programme Richard III: The King in the Car Park and the woman who it seems had spent most of her life trying to find the man that history had demonised.

Dancing On The Edge, Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode, Janet Montgomery, Angel Coulby, Sam Troughton, Joanna Vanderham, Anthony Head, Jenna-Louise Coleman, John Goodman, Mel Smith, Allan Corduner, Mike Brett, Oroh Angiama, Jane Asher, Jamie Crew, Trevor Edwards, Austin Hardiman, Tom Hughes, Cosimo Keita, Neville Malcolm, Wunmi Mosaku, Jay Phelps, Caroline Quentin, Miles Richardson, Chris Storr, Steve Williamson.

 

Ripper Street, Tournament Of Shadows. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, Justin Avoth, Jonathan Barnwell, Lucy Cohu, Peter Ferninando, Amanda Hale, Michael McElhatton, Clive Russell, Derek Riddell.

 

The sixth instalment of the series Ripper Street, Tournament of Shadows, was one in which secrets were revealed, the memories of a turn of the 20th Century crime classic, a great historical backdrop was used, unfortunately sparingly and in the end had the awkward feel of an episode that would have been better had it been allowed to go in one direction rather than the three or four strands it tried to follow.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Supplement, An Interview With Luke Moore.

In a city dominated by musicians who were either born within reach of the lifeblood that feeds the city, The River Mersey, or those that came to Liverpool to study at L.I.P.A. or any other of the institutions that makes Liverpool the cultural hub of the country, too come across a man from Stechford in Birmingham who has become part of the music scene is a thrill.

A Poet Found On The Co-op Shelf.

The woman looked at me and with scorn in her voice said out loud

You say you are a writer, yet you say you were bought up in Birmingham,

Ha…it’s brought not bought you fool.” She sounded angry and proud

And I just smiled with a glint in my eyes as I tried to explain I was found next to a dram

…Well a bottle really of finest malt and a packet of 20 Silk Cut fags

Which lay on the shelf of the local Co-op on aisle three.

The people who bought me had had their own shopping bags

Roger McGough Thrills The Playhouse Theatre With Poetic Licence.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Very few poets can hold an audience’s attention in the same vein as Roger McGough. Even when he comes home to his native Liverpool, the crowds flock to see him in a similar way that you might expect to see pop stars that would find themselves surrounded by an adoring public, desperate just for a song or two. The crowds that make up the Playhouse Theatre are more discerning than the sight of those baying for blood from the latest protégé to come off the musical television conveyor belt and for an hour and a half, Roger McGough had all of them all spellbound in poetic glee.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Carrianne Hayden.

Carrianne Hayden is one of the many musicians/actors that have made Liverpool their home after finishing at L.I.P.A. She has contributed to the ever burgeoning and diverse music scene in Liverpool and has a distinctive voice that has the ability to send appreciative shivers up and down the spine as each note she plays grabs the listener in ways they never thought of.

Hailing from the Worcestershire town of Bewdley, Carrianne spent time abroad recently in which to stock of what she had achieved and where she was going musically. Now back in Liverpool it seems there is no stopping this talented and friendly musician. I was able to catch up with her at the University of Liverpool radio station as she prepared to perform a number of songs including the incredible Run Rabbit Run.

Whole, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Annabel Annan-Jonathan, Jacob Beswick, Joseph Adelakun, Grace Willis.

Is anybody truly whole? That is the question bought to the Unity Theatre by the combined efforts of 20 Stories High, Director Julia Samuels and a host of others in what can only be described as distressingly real, wonderfully charged and written and acted with so much passion and brilliance that not only is Whole one of the finest things you are likely to see this year but it will also leave you grasping at thoughts of those you may have wronged at school.

Camel, Camel. 40th Anniversary Retrospective.

When people think of Progressive Rock in the early 1970s, minds invariably wander to the likes of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and even possibly Supertramp and Frank Zappa could be mentioned in there with hushed tones. All these bands and many more would get the nods of approval and songs readily ticked off the list to why they would be included in any compilation from that era, however unless they were dedicated fans, listeners of Progressive Rock might skip completely over the debut self titled album by Camel released in 1973.