class system
ArchipelagoWednesday, 02 March 2011
Upper-middle-class familial relations are placed under an unflattering spotlight in Joanna Hogg’s rich, resonant and often scathingly comic drama, which triumphantly harnesses the power of the unsaid and the unseen. Like its predecessor Unrelated,... Read more... |
DVD: Upstairs DownstairsFriday, 11 February 2011
When it was broadcast over Christmas the jury was split on Upstairs Downstairs. Some were spitting with rage at the temerity inherent in the idea of revisiting 165 Eaton Place (though the street exteriors, it's revealed on the DVD documentary, were... Read more... |
Posh and Posher: Why Public School Boys Run Britain, BBC TwoThursday, 27 January 2011
Say what you like about the posh – they know their place. Equipped from an early age with a sense of entitlement, they also have access to the oldest and most powerful social network there is: call it what you will, but the old boys' network remains... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Actress Eileen AtkinsFriday, 24 December 2010
Eileen Atkins (b 1934) acquired long-overdue fame with her performance in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. Her desiccated spinster was the indisputed star turn until death did us part. It’s taken a while. Aside from half a century... Read more... |
Downton Abbey: The Finale, ITV1Sunday, 07 November 2010
Defying predictions that there would be no audience for a period costume drama set in an Edwardian country house, Downton Abbey has become the TV event of 2010. Episode one notched 11.6 million viewers (including repeats and ITV Player viewings),... Read more... |
TV Gallery: Downton AbbeySunday, 07 November 2010
Maggie Smith Violet, Dowager Countress of GranthamHugh Bonneville Robert, Earl of GranthamPenelope Wilton Mrs Isobel CrawleyDan Stevens Matthew CrawleyMichelle Dockery Lady Mary CrawleyTheo James Kemal PamukJim Carter Mr CarsonBrendan Coyle Mr... Read more... |
Lee Nelson, touringMonday, 18 October 2010
There’s just the one joke with Lee Nelson. When I caught a short slice of him earlier this year the joke more than filled the available slot. Nelson has since been granted his own show on BBC Three. Now that he’s out on tour, the question arises of... Read more... |
Unequal Opportunities, BBC TwoTuesday, 21 September 2010
There’s an equality gap in our education system. Poor kids come bottom of the class, while rich kids are destined for the elite universities. In the eloquent words of education minister Michael Gove: “Rich thick kids do better than poor clever kids... Read more... |
Cherry Tree LaneThursday, 02 September 2010
Ever since his award-winning debut From London to Brighton (2006), Paul Andrew Williams has been an exemplary British filmmaker of sparky, low-budget genre tales. Cherry Tree Lane is Straw Dogs in suburbia, a schematic and brutal home invasion film... Read more... |
The Leopard: The Original Film for FoodiesSaturday, 28 August 2010
The Leopard is being re-released by the BFI this week in a new digital restoration. Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s great Sicilian novel was first seen in 1963 and went on to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Il... Read more... |
The Maid (La Nana)Thursday, 26 August 2010
Domestics of varying kinds have always figured prominently in the cinema, from Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Mary Reilly. (Julia Roberts playing the hired help? Uh, don't think so.) But there's rarely been as... Read more... |
Who Do You Think You Are? - Rupert Everett, BBC OneTuesday, 27 July 2010
Rupert Everett knows who he is: he is English, he’s a toff and he’s a poof, thank you very much. And that’s just about all you need to know to tell you that, as a breed, they’re pretty damned sure of themselves, these English toffs, poofs or not.... Read more... |
