Tag Archives: Gemma Whelen

Inside No.9: Wuthering Heist. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Kevin Bishop, Gemma Whelen, Paterson Joseph, Rosa Robson, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Dino Kelly.

To take risks is every artist’s right, and whilst there will be those that don’t appreciate the gamble, preferring instead to instruct the artist to stick to what they do best, or to translate, what the observer can comfortably comprehend, the reward received is great indeed, and can bring the artist’s talents in to even sharper, more critical view.

Inside No.9: Wuthering Heist. Television Review. full post

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

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Downie, Harry Enfield, Gemma Whelen, Lily Cole, Dominic Coleman, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steven Speirs, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Paula Wilcox, Rosanna Beacock, Hannah-Jane Fox, Karl Theobald, Luka Petrovic.

Words, songs, and inspiration hang in ether waiting for the right ear in which to discern their meaning, what though a clever mind can deduce is sometimes another soul will mark them with greater solemnity, the time is not always right – and the words are heeded, but allowed with great wishes and understanding to find another home in which to be born, another time in which the need is nobler, the suffering of the people more acute.

Upstart Crow: A Crow Christmas Carol. Television Review. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Upstart Crow. Series Three, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck, Paula Wilcox, Harry Enfield, Helen Monks, Gemma Whelen, Tim Downie, Rob Rouse, Mark Heap, Dominic Coleman, Steve Spiers, Spencer Jones, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Adrian Edmondson, Rosanna Beacock, Joe Willis, Beattie Edmondson, Brandon Fellows, Ben Miller, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Ken Nwosu, Nigel Planer.

If there is one thing an audience can count on with Ben Elton, aside from being involved in some of television’s most iconic comedies in the last thirty years, it is his unequalled ability to take a moment and turn it completely on its head and leave you with the feeling of being driven over the edge emotionally, of having the laughter pulled from underneath you and understanding that with great comedy must come empathy and grief in equal measure.

Upstart Crow. Series Three, Television Review. full post

(493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Upstart Crow: 2017 Christmas Special.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck, Emma Thompson, Gemma Whelen, Paula Wilcox, Harry Enfield, Rosanna Beacock, Dominic Coleman, Tim Downie, Mark Heap, Spencer Jones, Helen Monks, Rob Rouse, Steve Speirs, Joe Willis.

“Be not afraid of greatness”, words to live by and words in which there stands the golden possibility that Ben Elton’s Upstart Crow will gather the same attention bestowed upon the realm of Blackadder, for in the wit and humour of the show stands that greatness, a passion for the bard that never seems to fall out of favour and why should it, for in the greatest of them all lives much to pluck a juicy Christmas tender joint from.

Upstart Crow: 2017 Christmas Special. full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Upstart Crow: Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: David Mitchell, Gemma Whelen, Liza Tarbuck, Harry Enfield, Paula Wilcox, Helen Monks, Tim Downie, Dominic Coleman, Mark Heap, Rob Rouse, Steve Spiers, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Adam Harley.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Ben Elton, one of the prestigious and prolific comedy writers of his generation, was asked to step in and take what was a perhaps seen as a series that confused some, baffled others and had those who had the wherewithal to not only admire Rowan Atkinson but who also understood the intricacies of historical comedy, heavily borrowing dialogue from William Shakespeare, to the absolute heights of the British comedy mountain.

Upstart Crow: Series Two. Television Review. full post

(553 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Prevenge, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley, Kayvan Novak, Gemma Whelen, Kate Dickie, Tom Davis, Dan Renton, Eileen Davies, Tom Meeten, Mike Wozniak, Sara Dee, Grace Calder, Marc Bessant, Leila Hoffman, Delia Moon, Jaqueline Wright, David Puckridge, Elen Rattenbury.

The happiness in pregnancy can sometimes be overshadowed by emotions that in others could be seen as causes for concern, for some it is a joy, for others it can be the start of a nightmare, a march down a road in which nobody is safe; especially not the male population to whom a single wrong word or accidental view point can see them metaphorically beaten.

Prevenge, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Mapp And Lucia, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast; Miranda Richardson, Anna Chancellor, Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, Pippa Haywood, Nicholas Woodeson, Gemma Whelen,  Poppy Miller, Felicity Montague, Paul Ritter, Jenny Platt, Susan Porrett, Maxine Roach,  Joanna Scanlan, Simon Startin, Harish Patel, Frances Barber, Gavin Broker, Soo Drouet, Andy Godfrey, Sophie Leigh Stone, Peter Mould.

The English and their manners, it is a wonder at times that we haven’t tied ourselves up in knots and caused a type of inner combustion with the subtle one-upman, or indeed in the case of the three part television series Mapp And Lucia, one up-womanship that so leads to conflict with our neighbours and dearest friends. It is possibly the modern etiquette attached to an English Civil War, if we cannot get rid of a Government taking the country apart, lets kick down the social ladder.

Mapp And Lucia, Television Review. full post

(500 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Persuasion. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish 175.

Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Tracey Childs, Christian Edwards, David Silbey, Jonathan Forbes, Paul Chahidi, Miranda Raison, Gemma Whelen.

Persuasion is perhaps the most potent weapon on the planet, if you can influence your way of thinking on to others what could that make you? A skilled negotiator perhaps, a person of reason, a tyrannical despot or perhaps the biggest persuader and manipulator of them all, The Doctor!

Doctor Who: Persuasion. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish 175. full post

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