Tag Archives: Steve Pemberton

Inside No.9, The Referee’s A…. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Steve Speirs, Dipo Ola.

Football may have changed to the point where many who filled the terraces after they came back from the battlefields of Europe, who stood on the side-lines as attendances dropped alarmingly as the spectre and disgrace of hooliganism ravaged the sport would now not recognise how much it has altered and boomed. However, one thing perhaps remains constant, and in amongst the wall to wall coverage, the upmarket cuisine that replaced the half time pies, sugar laden teas and copious amounts of Bovril; the roar of the crowd that declares that The Referee’s A…. (insert term of abuse of choice) has never left the game.

Inside No.9, The Referee’s A…. Television Review. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Worzel Gummidge: The Scarecrow Of Scatterbrook Farm. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mackenzie Crook, Steve Pemberton, Rosie Cavaliero, India Brown, Thierry Wickens, Vicki Pepperdine, Ben Langley, Mariam Haque, Tom Meeten, Francesca Mills, Tim Plester, Phil Hulford, Andrew James Spooner, Kiran Shah, Charlie Mayhew. 

To step into the shoes of the late, great, Jon Pertwee is surely a daunting task to which few would entertain, let alone actually attempt; and yet in the guise of one of the actor’s most famous parts, that of Worzel Gummidge, Mackenzie Crook not only captures the essence of the children’s television favourite, he brings the much loved scarecrow into the modern age, one that is steeped in a reflection of the need to bring nature much closer to the generations who have grown up within the boundary of concrete and tarmac, and the concern over climate change and human-made pollution has wrecked upon the planet.

Worzel Gummidge: The Scarecrow Of Scatterbrook Farm. Television Review. full post

(425 words, estimated 1:42 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)

Inside No 9: Tempting Fate. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Weruche Opia, Steve Pemberton, Reece Sheersmith, Nigel Planner, Ruben Cryer.

Be careful what you wish for, for in every deed in which you desire something, whether it is for the benefit of humanity or your own selfish longings, Tempting Fate can be the hardest of acts in which a person can bring the wrath of otherworldly beasts in which have no understanding or control.

Inside No 9: Tempting Fate. Television Review. full post

(374 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Inside No 9: And The Winner Is… Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Phoebe Sparrow, Kenneth Cranham, Noel Clarke, Zoe Wannamaker, Fenella Woolgar.

There is always the excitement of the award season, the chance to hedge your knowledge of the subject at hand and become, for a moment, respectful of the judge’s decision, or to swallow hard, slap the top of your forehead and wonder where on Earth the reasoning and intelligence went when the victor is announced. And the winner is… sometimes the person you least expect it to be and the thought of back-handers, future projects and who was fancying who, who owed who, who wanted who, and the winner is, sometimes already decided..

Inside No 9: And The Winner Is… Television Review. full post

(530 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Inside No 9: To Have And To Hold. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nicola Walker, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Miranda Hennessy, Magdalena Kurek, Tom Mulheron.

To Have And To Hold…whatever the price may be; many things in a marriage are acceptable, the long hours, the obsessions over a hobby, debt, the odd white lie, flirting and even the boundary that comes with it is not necessarily the worst thing can break a soul; in richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, we promise to do just that, hold.

Inside No 9: To Have And To Hold. Television Review. full post

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

Inside No. 9: Once Removed. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Monica Dolan, Nick Moran, Reece Shearsmith, David Calder, Steve Pemberton, Emilia Fox, Rufus Jones.

The story never starts where you think it does; you could walk in to a narrative that is in its infancy and still find that there is a whole back story that you missed, that if you had got there ten minutes earlier then the whole complexion of the story would have been completely different, a scene missing might have seen you take another side in the argument, a stance taken. It all boils down to where you think the story actually starts and if you can live with being perhaps Once Removed from the beginning then that is something you have to live with.

Inside No. 9: Once Removed. Television Review. full post

(424 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Inside No. 9: Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Sian Gibson.

All you need is laughter, all you need is a song and dance routine done with a cheeky smile and the television viewing public will take you to their hearts; but when tensions arise and the laughter isn’t there on screen anymore, where do old double acts go from there.

Whilst Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room doesn’t touch the absolute highs that the previous episode of the series, Zanzibar, reached, it nonetheless digs into the viewer’s soul for different reasons, for perhaps more personal ones, for as the viewer remembers what made them laugh in a different era, so too does the fondness for the two characters Tommy and Len grow.

Inside No. 9: Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room. Television Review. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Inside No. 9: Zanzibar. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Jaygann Ayeh, Reece Shearsmith, Rory Kinnear, Bill Paterson, Marcia Warren, Steve Pemberton, Hattie Morahan, Helen Monks, Tanya Franks, Kevin Eldon.

It is almost impossible to get anything 100 percent right in a half hour comedy, it needs so much to go according to plan, to hit every note possible and still have the conductor enough room to prise out just a little more from the lead and the passionate soprano on the edge of the stage.

Inside No. 9: Zanzibar. Television Review. full post

(366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: Red In Tooth And Claw. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Steve Pemberton, Aisling Loftus, Simon Nagra, Michael Obiora, Tom Price, Amit Shah, Glen Webster, Jo Wheatley, Sara Crow, Maxim De Villiers, Stirling Gallagher, Sean Gallagher, Susan Hampshire, Stephen Hawke, Vanessa Hehir, Raj Awasti, Navider Bhatti.

There are many ways to die in Midsomer, some so gruesome, so shocking that it is any wonder that people don’t move to the county just for the thrill of finding out what ingenious way they will perish at the hands of a potential murderer. Few though will expect to find themselves seeing their last visions of Earth, taking in the scenes of their final moments on Earth surrounded by rabbits.

Midsomer Murders: Red In Tooth And Claw. Television Review. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)