crime
Dalgliesh, Channel 5 review - doleful detective fails to fire on all cylindersSaturday, 13 November 2021
Treading in the footsteps of Roy Marsden and Martin Shaw, Bertie Carvel is a making a decent (albeit soporific) stab at embodying P D James’s introspective detective Adam Dalgliesh, though you have to wonder if he’s getting the help he needs from... Read more... |
Shetland, Series 6, BBC One review - too many cooks and too many crooksThursday, 04 November 2021
The population of the Shetland archipelago is only about 23,000 (similar to Broadstairs or Amersham), though judging by the adventures of DI Jimmy Perez, an extraordinarily large percentage of them harbour dark secrets or murderous tendencies. BBC... Read more... |
Wole Soyinka: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth review – sprawling satire of modern-day NigeriaThursday, 07 October 2021
Eight-years passed between the publication of Wole Soyinka’s debut novel, The Interpreters (1965), and his second, Season of Anomy (1973). A lot happened in the interim. One of Nigeria’s most resilient critics of corruption and... Read more... |
Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle review - period piece speaks to the presentTuesday, 21 September 2021
More than once, reading Colson Whitehead’s latest novel Harlem Shuffle, the brilliant Josh and Benny Safdie movie Uncut Gems from 2019 came to mind, which was unexpected. For one, Whitehead’s book takes place on the other side of Central Park, far... Read more... |
The Toll review - once upon a time in west WalesSaturday, 28 August 2021
Budget constraints. In the hands of the right filmmakers, they can be a blessing in disguise, forcing creativity from simplicity. That’s exactly what works for The Toll, a dark comedy set in the wild west of these isles: Pembrokeshire.Michael Smiley... Read more... |
Deceit, Channel 4 review - how Colin Stagg became prime suspect in the Rachel Nickell caseSaturday, 14 August 2021
It seems unlikely that the Metropolitan Police will welcome Channel 4’s new four-part dramatisation of the hunt for the killer of Rachel Nickell, since it’s a reminder of yet another of the Met’s historic catastrophes. Screenwriter Emilia di... Read more... |
ANNA X, Harold Pinter Theatre review - lacking in substanceTuesday, 20 July 2021
There just isn’t enough there, with ANNA X. Daniel Raggett’s production is the third and final of the RE:EMERGE season at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with Emma Corrin of Lady Di fame in the lead. The graphic design – the brightly-striped faces of... Read more... |
Baptiste, Series 2, BBC One review - powerful comeback for the sorrowful French detectiveMonday, 19 July 2021
Baptiste (BBC One) has two powerful weapons in its armoury, in the shape of its stars – Tchéky Karyo as the titular French ‘tec, and Fiona Shaw as the central character in this second series. Both of them are astonishingly persuasive at conveying... Read more... |
Lupin, Part 2, Netflix review - master of disguise versus racists and liesSaturday, 12 June 2021
Lupin isn’t really about the fictional character it’s named after (the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc), but about Assane Diop, who’s an obsessive fan of the Lupin novels. He’s also a gentleman thief... Read more... |
Nobody review - Bob Odenkirk reinvents himself as all-action dynamoFriday, 11 June 2021
Fans of Bob Odenkirk’s work in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul will be delighted to see him taking centre stage in Ilya Naishuller’s thriller, but perhaps bamboozled at the spectacle of Odenkirk taking the plunge into the blood-splattered... Read more... |
The Beast Must Die, Britbox review - a crime story which plumbs psychological depthsThursday, 10 June 2021
They all laughed when the streaming service Britbox declared that it wanted to become a sort of UK-orientated Netflix, because so far it’s been mostly a back catalogue operation which plunders the BBC and ITV archives. You really want to pay a... Read more... |
Before We Die, Channel 4 review - Lesley Sharp excels as a detective in crisisThursday, 27 May 2021
Perhaps inspired by its ever-intriguing Walter Presents strand, Channel 4’s new thriller Before We Die is based on a Swedish original called Innan vi dör (“before we die” in Swedish). The action has been transplanted to Bristol, whose buildings,... Read more... |
