Category Archives: TV

COBRA: Series Three. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Robert Carlyle, Victoria Hamilton, David Haig, Lisa Palfrey, Marsha Thompson, Edward Bennett, Lucy Cohu, Richard Pepple, Alexa Davies, Ben Crompton, Jane Horrocks, Holly Cattle, Gregg Chilingirian, Anthony Flanagan, Emily Fairn, Cavan Clerkin, Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Geoffrey McGivern, Rina Mahoney, Wil Johnson, Khalid Laith.

Our perception of government is not only flawed, it is a dangerous and unsustainable in a modern setting; for what goes on behind the scenes of 10 Downing Street, the secret doors of power, and in the inner sanctum that is the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, is not for the faint hearted or those who deny that some meetings are not taken place in public for the fear of upsetting the children, the electorate, or as Orwell observantly wrote, The Proles.

COBRA: Series Three. Television Drama Review. full post

(507 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

The Whisperer in Darkness. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jana Carpenter, Barnaby Kay, Nicola Walker, Mark Bazeley, David Calder, Ben Crowe, Gabrielle Glaister, Ferdinand Kingsley, Nicola Stephenson, Edie Simpson, Robert Glenister, Ben Crowe, Stephen Mackintosh, Karl Johnson, Phoebe Fox, Phoebe Francis Brown.

The enigma that is H.P. Lovecraft is perhaps lost on modern readers, for in is writing it is possible to see just how far ahead of his time he was, and whilst the notion of his own personal beliefs arguably kept his name from being investigated by readers long after his untimely passing, only the adventurous reader seems to dare go deep into the world created by the writer.

The Whisperer in Darkness. Audio Drama Review. full post

(508 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward. Audio Drama Podcast Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jana Carpenter, Barnaby Kay, Samuel Barnett, Mark Bazeley, Samantha Dakin, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Susan Jameson, Nicola Walker.

Everybody can name some horror writers, even if the genre alludes them, or they shy away from the experience due to the fears that grip the imagination or the heart; the ordinary passerby can confidently place a name down in the column of the masters of the frightening mass and walk away knowing they have looked into the heart of darkness and seemed knowledgeable.

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward. Audio Drama Podcast Review. full post

(624 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Time: Series Two. Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey, Tamara Lawrence, Siobhan Finneran, Louise Lee, Alicia Ford, Lisa Millett, Nicholas Nunn, Sophie Willan, Julie Graham, Kayla Meikle, Matilda Firth, Brody Griffiths, Isaac Lancel-Watkinson, Terri Reddin, Karen Henthorn, Conor McCarry, Jackie Jones, Danielle Henry, James Corrigan, Alexandra Monaghan, Cindy Humphrey, Michelle Butterly, Maimuna Memon, Alicia Brockenbrow, Christopher Middleton, Dana Hagjoo, Louise Willoughby, Faye McKeever, Angela Wynter, Philip Hill-Pearson.

Time: Series Two. Drama Series Review. full post

(631 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Loki. Series Two. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson, Jonathan Majors, Ke Huy Quan, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Eugene Cordero, Wunmi Mosaku, Tara Strong, Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr.

To love reading graphic novels or comic books is now socially acceptable, a medium that even finds itself part of a university curriculum, part of cinematic history, and one that the vast majority celebrate being enamoured by the absolute sense of accomplishment of the films and the surprise of how well the television serials have captured the imagination of even the least dedicated of fans and brought cool to what was once derided by teachers and cliques as being a poor substitute of reading.

Loki. Series Two. Television Drama Review. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

The Newsreader. Series Two. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Anna Torv, Sam Reid, Robert Taylor, William McInnes, Marg Downey, Stephen Peacocks, Michella Lim Davidson, Chum Ehelepola, Rory Fleck Byrne, Daniel Gillies, Philippa Northeast, Chai Hansen, Caroline Lees, Maria Angelico, John Leary, Jackson Tozer, Rhys Mitchell, Dan Spielman, Hunter Page-Lochard.

If everything in life is a political act, then we are in effect the news. We may be a bystander on the scene, but in effect our presence makes us a leading player in observance, and how re react to the narrative is how we are judged by those who sift through the pictures and present their evidence to the awaiting world via The Newsreader who is the most constant face on our television screens.

The Newsreader. Series Two. Television Drama Review. full post

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

Ghosts. Series Five. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast:  Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Ben Willbond, Yani Xander, Nathan Bryon, Geoffrey McGivern, Emma Sidi, Richard Durden, Peter Sandys-Clarke, Rufus Wright, Anna Crilly.

Endings must always be acknowledged for the emotions they unearth from within your soul.

We can sit back and cradle our heads in our hands and lament a passing, or we can smile at the thought of having had the fortune to be included in the moment, to share the time with what proves to be an inspirational piece of art and be part of something that caught our attention enough to have us wallow in its performance.

Ghosts. Series Five. Television Series Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

We Apologise For Any Inconvenience. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Deborah Findlay, Adam Gillen, Ruth Everett, Asif Khan, Gerard McDermott, Rosie Mellett, Hasan Dixon.

When we think of strange happenings at train stations our minds could be drawn to the terrific tale by Charles Dickens, The Signal-Man,  and the second adventure in the spooky Sapphire and Steel series, for our lives in the last two hundred years have been altered by the arrival of the ability to travel across country in a matter of hours rather than the days and weeks it would have taken to journey for example from London to Inverness even at the end of the 18th Century; but also time has a way of causing ripples, and where better than a place where mechanism and modern ingenuity meets the stagnation of patiently waiting for life to continue.

We Apologise For Any Inconvenience. Audio Drama Review. full post

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

Quantum Leap (2022). Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Raymond Lee, Caitlin Bassett, Mason Alexander Park, Nanrisa Lee, Ermie Hudson, Susan Diol, Georgina Reilly, Walter Perez.

Time has moved on but somehow remains the same when it comes to searching for a new idea when it comes to entertaining television viewers, and for those who were struck by the sense of excitement and particular novel storytelling that brought the original run of Quantum Leap to the screens, to look upon what is essentially a sequel, one that is written with a new sensibility and direction  driving the narrative, it can be daunting, perhaps even disrespectful to that which made Scott Bakula a house hold name and further enhanced the popularity of Dean Stockwell.

Quantum Leap (2022). Television Series Review. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Interview With The Vampire. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, Bailey Bass, Kalyne Coleman, Chris Stack, Christian Robinson, Rae Dawn Chong, Maura Grace Athari, Roxane Duran, John DiMaggio, Jeff Pope, Dana Gourrier, Rachel Alana Handler, Rudy Eisenzopf, Kyle Roussel.

There is a difference between glitz and style, one not often noted upon when there is money thrown at glitz as if it were the smart prospect in the room because it has the big name behind it, bravado mistaken for confidence, arrogance confused with grace, and one that can be the ruin of a franchise before it even starts; for in humility the viewer immersed in a series created on the back of one of the best selling books of all time will be enthralled and not overwrought with the smell of perfume disguising the smell of rotten meat.

Interview With The Vampire. Television Drama Review. full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)