crime
The City and the City, BBC Two review - detection in four dimensionsSaturday, 07 April 2018
It’s difficult to grasp in your imagination, never mind filming it and putting it on TV. In China Miéville’s source novel, dramatised here by Tony Grisoni, the twin cities of Besźel and Ul Quoma exist side by side, and in some areas even overlap.... Read more... |
Ordeal by Innocence, BBC One, review - Agatha Christie goes nuclearMonday, 02 April 2018
Ordeal by Innocence belongs to a new and, you hope, short-lived sub-genre. The only other stablemate is All the Money in the World. Both were in the can and good to go when very serious sexual allegations were made against a member of the cast. For... Read more... |
The Third Murder review - unpacking a crime enigmaFriday, 23 March 2018
Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu offers up mystery aplenty in his new film The Third Murder, enigma and riddle too. He also moves away from the territory of family drama for which he is best known. There’s similar intensity in some of the... Read more... |
13 Commandments, Channel 4 review - murder most FlemishMonday, 19 March 2018
To Belgium for the latest continental instalment of murder really rather unpleasant. 13 Commandments, yet another crime drama brought to Channel 4 under the auspices of Walter Presents, began with the grizzliest manner imaginable. A man arrived at... Read more... |
Collateral, series finale, BBC Two - Carey Mulligan hares to the finishTuesday, 06 March 2018
In a revelatory interview for the Royal Court’s playwright’s podcast series, David Hare admits to a thin skin. In his adversarial worldview, to take issue with him is – his word – to denounce him. He’s quite a denouncer himself, of course. In... Read more... |
Marcella, Series 2, ITV review - more twisted tales of detectionTuesday, 27 February 2018
Marcella’s writer Hans Rosenfeldt was the creator of Scandi classic TV drama The Bridge, the one that made detectives with emotional disorders the flavour du jour, but you do have to wonder what kind of police force would continue to employ DS... Read more... |
McMafia, Series finale, BBC One review - the last bite is the cruellestMonday, 12 February 2018
McMafia has taught us to recognise one thing – you might call it the “Norton stride”. As the charismatic Alex Godman, James Norton has been advancing, confidently at screen centre, towards one challenge after another, and they have been coming (... Read more... |
Spiral, Series 6 Finale, BBC Four review - hot fuzz hit new heightsSunday, 04 February 2018
Happily, there’s hope for Spiral junkies – as series six ends, we bring you news that series seven has just gone into production. This is just as well, because these last dozen episodes have been an object lesson in how to make TV drama for the mind... Read more... |
Gomorrah, Series 3, Sky Atlantic review - there will be bloodFriday, 02 February 2018
No doubt McMafia has its strengths, but it’s like a mug of Horlicks compared to the grappa-with-aviation-fuel blast of Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic). The Naples-set organised crime drama takes no prisoners. It gives no quarter, and expects none.As a... Read more... |
Before We Die, Channel 4 review - underwhelming and unengaging Scandi noirWednesday, 17 January 2018
The new import is the latest procedural from Scandinavia, this time focusing on Stockholm’s biker gangs. The first episode aired Tuesday night, with the rest of the series available on All4 now. In the age of the boxset binge, this availability is... Read more... |
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri review - Frances McDormand is on fireWednesday, 10 January 2018
It probably won’t take long for the title to be sawn in half. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will become casually known as Three Billboards and its specific location will drift into a vaguely remembered background. The place name is of a... Read more... |
McMafia, BBC One review - James Norton looks promising in a murky le Carré worldTuesday, 02 January 2018
It’s not the first time that James Norton has kicked off BBC One’s New Year primetime celebrations in Russian style. Two years ago, he was costumed up as the courageous Prince Andrei, in illustrious ensemble company for Andrew Davies and Tom Harper’... Read more... |
