Tag Archives: Douglas Henshall

The Secret Of Crickley Hall. B.B.C. Television. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain De Caestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies.

It seems odd that the premier 20^th century British horror writer, James Herbert, has never had many adaptations of his copious amount and in most cases prestigious work. What has been filmed has been woeful at best and an affront to British Horror at its seedy worst. For the B.B.C. to pick up the option to one of the great writer’s latter works, the sadistic and suspenseful The Secret of Crickley Hall is a coup for both writer and television viewer.

The Secret Of Crickley Hall. B.B.C. Television. Television Review. full post

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

The Secret Of Crickley Hall. Part Two. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain DeCaestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies, Donald Sumpter.

The second part of Joe Ahearne’s adaptation of James Herbert’s The Secret of Crickley Hall sees the tension stoked up as the malevolent force of Douglas Henshall’s Augustus Cribben starts to take more of a hold on the lives of the young family that resides in the former orphanage.

The Secret Of Crickley Hall. Part Two. Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The Secret Of Crickley Hall (Part Three). B.B.C. Television. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain DeCaestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies, Donald Sumpter.

The final part of James Herbert’s acclaimed supernatural thriller, The Secret Of Crickley Hall, contained one of the most shocking scenes in recent memory on television and even though the scene was short, the chilling sight of children on the floor would have struck a nerve with anyone who has read anything of the disposal of human bodies during World War Two. Unnerving and it stuck in the craw but it proved to be an incredible piece of story-telling adapted for television by Joe Ahearne and for that the B.B.C. and the cast of the three part series deserve high credit for their acting.

The Secret Of Crickley Hall (Part Three). B.B.C. Television. Television Review. full post

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

The Snipist. Sky Arts Televsion. Television Review. (2012)

Originally published by L.Media. May 27th 2012

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, John Hurt, Kate O’ Flynn.

The opening moments of the latest Sky Arts one off dramas, The Snipist, draws on the fear of control and the misuse of information. The viewing is even more gritty and disturbing by having the disembodied voice of John Hurt relaying “the facts” of a Britain that has undergone a post-apocalyptic disaster when the deadly disease of rabies has got a foot hold in the country.

The Snipist. Sky Arts Televsion. Television Review. (2012) full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Murder Is Easy. (2023). Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Mathew Baynton, Morfydd Clark, Douglas Henshall, Penelope Wilton, Mark Bonnar, Tom Riley, Tamzin Outhwaite, Sinead Matthews, David Jonsson, Jon Pointing, Nimra Bucha, Kevin Mains, Veronika Klimenko, Joe Fagan, Phoebe Licorish.

Murder is easy, it’s the consequences that are difficult to digest, the murderer’s intent and reasoning challenging to the minds of those to whom such an act is deplorable, an unacceptable reminder that the human soul is capable of such finality.

Murder Is Easy. (2023). Television Drama Review. full post

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

Shetland. Series Seven. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steve Robertson, Anneika Rose, Julie Graham, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Anne Kidd, Shauna Macdonald, Andrew Whip, Patrick Robinson, Laurie Brett, Stuart McQuarrie, Alexandra Finnie, Connor McCarry, Angus Miller, Lucianne McEvoy, Ladi Emeruwa, Grant O’Rourke.

Disasters such as The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in 1986, the Sea Empress crashing into the sound at Milford Haven, and The Taylor Oil Spill in The Gulf of Mexico, just a pinch of the disasters that have threatened the eco system around the world in the life time of us all, and yet everyday tragedies leave the local populace and the wildlife that shares the spaces with humanity looking at ruin, feeling the pain of mankind’s folly, and even death.

Shetland. Series Seven. Television Review. full post

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

Shetland: Series Six. Television Review.

Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Steven Robertson, Mark Bonnar, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Anne Kidd, Fiona Bell, Neve McIntosh, Benny Young, Juie Brown, Jimmy Chisholm, Conor McCarry, Angus Miller, Cora Bissett, Stephen McCole, Kate Bracken, Thoren Ferguson, Andy Clark, Anneika Rose, Lewis Gribben, Sharif Dorani, Shonagh Price.

A pertinent question of the times, the ambiguity of morality, and the classic example of how low someone can stoop when they look to revenge; all this against the backdrop of island life in the shadow of murder, of the slow decline of the human mind, and the tensions that run high when an island’s life is supposedly threatened by a returning, and unwanted, soul.

Shetland: Series Six. Television Review. full post

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

Susan Hill’s Ghost Story. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Neve McIntosh, Louise Lombard, Adrian Rawlins, Casper Knopf, Maryam Hamidi, Cal MacAninch, Woody Norman, Paul Barber, Andrew John Tait, Calum Caulfield, Billy Thomson.

The issue with ghost stories that some might have has always been in the way the tale is resolved, like the mythical beast who sees the balance of power restored by the villagers below with one last gift offered to sate the taste of vengeance running in its blood. It is to this end that the typical ghost story ends the way it does, the murdered victim slipping away into the ether as the trembling confession is pulled from the mouth of the killer; it is neat and most of the time still leaves the viewer or reader with their own satisfaction sated.

Susan Hill’s Ghost Story. Television Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Shetland: Series Five. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steve Robertson, Mark Bonnar, Julie Graham, Lewis Howden, Anne Kidd, Rakie Avola, Derek Riddell, Catherine Walker, Ayanda Bhebe, Lorn Macdonald, Owen Whitelaw, Tracy Wiles, Isabelle Joss, Conor McCarry, Robin Laing, Ryan Fletcher, Meghan Taylor, John Kazek, Francis Mayli McCann, Angus Miller, Emma Mullen, Olivia Barrowclough, Titana Muthui, Erin Armstrong, Kirsty Stuart, Natali McCleary, Kate Dickie, Jenni Keenan Green, Itxaso Moreno, Therese Bradley, Robert Cavanah.

Shetland: Series Five. Television Review. full post

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

Shetland: Series Four. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’Donnell, Steven Robertson, Lewis Howden, Erin Armstrong, Mark Bonnar, Anne Kidd, Julie Graham, Stephen Walters, Neve McIntosh, Sean McGinley, Amy Lennox, Fiona Bell, Sophie Stone, Gerard Miller, Allison McKenzie, Julia Brown, Arnmundur Ernst Björnsson, Carolin Stoltz, Eleanor Matsuura, Joi Johannsson, Hannah Donaldson, Michael Moreland.

Shetland: Series Four. Television Review. full post

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