TV drama
The Last Post, BBC One review - sundown on the EmpireMonday, 02 October 2017
Peter Moffat, author of Silk and The Village, has turned his sights on the last days of Empire for his latest series. Specifically, Moffat has mined his own memories of growing up in a British Army family in Aden in the 1960s, where his father was... Read more... |
The Deuce, Sky Atlantic review - a magnificent, sleazy epicWednesday, 27 September 2017
There’s a moment in The Deuce (Sky Atlantic) – a rare quiet one – where a working girl called Darlene is visiting a kindly old gent on her books. He has A Tale of Two Cities on his TV, the old black and white version with Dirk Bogarde as Sydney... Read more... |
h.Club 100 Awards: Broadcast - calling out around the worldWednesday, 27 September 2017
As Sky’s Head of Drama Anne Mensah puts it, her ambition is to “stay local but look global”. This might serve as a motto for television in its entirety, as technology swallows the planet and TV is increasingly shaped by coalitions of international... Read more... |
Rellik, BBC One review - tricksy procedural messes with timeTuesday, 12 September 2017
There are two Williams brothers – Jack and Harry – who are mainly known for two series of The Missing. No chance of the Williamses going missing. Quite the reverse. As of today – Monday 11 September – they seem to have cloned. Two new drama series... Read more... |
Liar, ITV - who, if anybody, is telling the truth?Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Could handsome, successful, designer-stubbly Ioan Gruffudd really be a rapist? Yes, according to schoolteacher Laura Nielson (Joanne Froggatt). No, according to Gruffudd’s character Andrew Earlham, a distinguished surgeon and widower apparently... Read more... |
Cold Feet, series 7, ITV review - more comedy than dramaSaturday, 09 September 2017
When the ITV comedy drama Cold Feet returned last year after a 13-year break, it seemed something of a risk. Looking back, after the near-universal acclaim and excellent viewing figures, it’s difficult to think it could have been anything but a... Read more... |
Safe House, series 2, ITV review - the abduction and captivity show returnsFriday, 08 September 2017
Forget Christopher Eccleston and the Lake District. Two years on, Ed Whitmore’s ready-mix thriller Safe House returns with Stephen Moyer in Merseyside. He plays Tom Brook – not the venerable film critic (Talking Movies is still showing on BBC World... Read more... |
Doctor Foster, Series 2, BBC One review - belief suspended for a pacy and tense returnWednesday, 06 September 2017
They say that living well is the best revenge. To be fair, they also say it’s a dish best served cold and I’m pretty sure they’re thinking of gazpacho, so I’m not entirely clear how much real meaning is to be found in these dictums. I’m also not... Read more... |
Top of the Lake: China Girl, BBC Two, series finale review - torpor not traumaFriday, 01 September 2017
So who killed Cinnamon? Six weeks ago we saw the strangled sex-worker – packed in a pink suitcase – pushed into Bondi Bay. The finale of Top of the Lake: China Girl withheld enlightenment. Puss, the chief suspect, denied responsibility. Why would... Read more... |
Trust Me, BBC One, series finale review - drama about fake doctor was also pretendingWednesday, 30 August 2017
Trust Me made an eponymous plea to the audience. Its implausible premise – that a nurse might steal a doctor’s identity and land a job in A&E – called for your credulity. Around the broadcast of the drama's first episode on BBC One, sundry... Read more... |
Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling, BBC One review - JK Rowling's debut in crime bows most promisinglyMonday, 28 August 2017
There’s a new ‘tec in town. Cormoran Strike may look like one of life’s losers – he’s on the edge of bankruptcy, sleeps in the office, and what passes for a personal life is a right mess – but in Tom Burke’s portrayal I suspect he’s going to be... Read more... |
The State, Channel 4 review - dishonest portrait of British jihadisMonday, 21 August 2017
It’s a burning question of western civilisation: what persuades young people brought up among us to walk out on their lives and join the cult of murderous fanatics who call themselves Islamic State? If any dramatist could attempt a coherent answer... Read more... |
