Category Archives: TV

Murder Is Easy. (2023). Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Mathew Baynton, Morfydd Clark, Douglas Henshall, Penelope Wilton, Mark Bonnar, Tom Riley, Tamzin Outhwaite, Sinead Matthews, David Jonsson, Jon Pointing, Nimra Bucha, Kevin Mains, Veronika Klimenko, Joe Fagan, Phoebe Licorish.

Murder is easy, it’s the consequences that are difficult to digest, the murderer’s intent and reasoning challenging to the minds of those to whom such an act is deplorable, an unacceptable reminder that the human soul is capable of such finality.

Murder Is Easy. (2023). Television Drama Review. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Beyond Paradise: Christmas Special 2023. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kris Marshall, Sally Breton, Zahra Ahmadi, Dylan Llewellyn, Felicity Montague, Barbara Flynn, James Fleet, Eva Feiler, Kulvinder Ghir, Jade Harrison, Miranda Hennessy, Chris Jenks, Colin Matthews, Oscar Meredith, Sheila Reid, Melina Sinadinou, Isaac Vincent-Norgate, Amalia Vitale.

We make a display of forgiveness as one would give presents out at a specific time of year, not because we wish to absolve the sin, but because we wish to have our heart and mind settle in peace; the darkness and reflective hours spent in the will of counting out all we have left in the dust of our lives becomes more fragile, more delicate, as we soon realise that the year is coming once more to its close.

Beyond Paradise: Christmas Special 2023. Television Drama Review. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Church On Ruby Road. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, Davina McCall, Anita Dobson, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Barney Wilkinson, Bobby Bradley, Mary Malone, Belinda Owusu, Gemma Arrowsmith, Hemi Yeroham.

The Christmas special of Doctor Who is arguably never meant to be taken as seriously as the series that follows it, it is after all a time for hope and the occasional moment of silliness, not one for frights and trepidation.

Doctor Who: The Church On Ruby Road. Television Review. full post

(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley On The Case Of Conan Doyle. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Most novelists will find that their creations are their greatest nemesis, they are the mirror of themselves magnified to such an extent that the reader will actively prefer to be in the company of the image built up in their mind than the author who built up a sweat framing the narrative description of the hero to whom the reader adores.

It doesn’t seem fair in many ways, that when pushed the reader will often have no clue about the writer’s own exploits, only saving their hero worship for the drawn and perfect; in a way it is almost as if the creation held a gun to the author’s head and willingly pulled on the trigger.

Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley On The Case Of Conan Doyle. Television Review. full post

(594 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Ghosts. Christmas Special 2023. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lolly Adefope, Matthew Bayton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Neil Edmond, Dare Emmanuel, Sutara Gayle, Neriah Johnson.

All good things must end.

Ghosts. Christmas Special 2023. Television Review. full post

(437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Lot 249. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kit Harrington, Freddie Fox, John Heffernan, Colin Ryan, Andrew Horton, James Swanton, Jonathan Rigby.

A good ghost story at Christmas is fitting, it reminds us not to take life for granted, it urges us to think of those we have lost, not just in the passing of the calendar year, but throughout our lives; for in that memory, we understand that time is fleeting, it is corporeal, and at times the lesson it wishes to teach is one to which is required to scare us into doing the right thing.

Lot 249. Television Drama Review. full post

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Not Going Out. Christmas Special 2023. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Breton, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Richard Syms, Francesca Newman, Max Pattison, Finlay Southby, David Hargreaves, Delroy Atkinson, Angela McHale, Ketorah Williams.

To get a British comedy series to a hundred episodes is no mean feat, it is rare, it takes perseverance, and a following that almost pleads with the makers to continue the story line of a much-loved character and those who are family, friends, and the recipients of the farce that often ensues.

Not Going Out. Christmas Special 2023. Television Review. full post

(353 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Terry Malloy, Adèle Anderson, Isla Blair, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Chris Jarman, Julia McKenzie, Suzanne Proctor, Jemima Rooper.

The Daleks may well be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to think of an enemy that is relentless, unfeeling, without emotion, and whilst you know that they will never understand compassion or empathy, they are but dust when the fan comes to think of their creator, when Davros enters the narrative, for in just one being you have a fictional character that can be seen in the most evil of men that have ever walked the Earth; that this creature who first locked intellect with the Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks, is in every way the master of genocide, of propaganda and lies, and to whom the viewer associates completely with the malevolent wickedness of Fascism.

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(659 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Briggs, Adèle Anderson, Wendy Craig, Andrew Fettes, Raj Ghatak, Natalie Gumede, Anjli Mohindra, Jamie Newall, Jude Owusu, John Scougall, Venice Van Someren, Nina Wadia, Tracey Wiles.

If ever there was an arc of stories that deserved to be told for television within the Doctor Who universe, then The Time War would surely be the set that the fandom would overwhelmingly clamour, would petition in their droves to have given precedence over all others.

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(692 words, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

A Murder At The End of The World. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Emma Corrin, Brit Marling, Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Joan Chen, Raúl Esparza, Jermaine Fowler, Ryan J. Haddad, Pegah Ferydoni, Javed Khan, Louis Cancelmi, Edoardo Ballerini, Christopher Gurr, Britian Seibert, Kellan Tetlow, Neal Huff, Daniel Olson, Annette Wright.

The rise of the internet podcast has seen the amateur armchair detective morph into an investigator capable of holding court over a local case that has perplexed them and have at least a small following that are willing to delve into their possible outlandish theories and suspicions, for every mystery, every possible homicide can now leave a mark on the world wide web that could be the next big thing, the next sensation.

A Murder At The End of The World. Television Drama Review. full post

(588 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)