Tag Archives: Neil Dudgeon

Midsomer Murders: The Lions Of Causton. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Tamzin Outhwaite, Aaron Cobham, Don Gilet, Nicholas Goh, Michael Maloney, Shereen Martin, Julian Lewis Jones, Douggie McMeekin, Carlyss Peer, Richard Rankin, Isabel Shaw, Marcia Warren.

Midsomer Murders: Drawing Dead. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Bill Bailey, Ruby Bentall, Will Brown, Nicholas Burns, Ben Caplan, Nicholas Farrell, Eloise Joseph, Jemma Redgrave, Elana Saurel, Ellen Thomas, Joshua Williams, Heather Wright.

There was a time when teachers would look upon their pupil’s reading habits and consciously judge them accordingly, no matter how interested in the source material, the children’s ability to report on what they had read and the lessons learned from the text, the snobbery and direct condescension placed at the student’s desk as they admitted to reading comic books whilst their peers and friends got praise for having spent their weekend with their noses pretending to have insight into the world of ‘serious’ literature was short sighted and demeaning.

Midsomer Murders: Death Of The Small Coppers. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland,  Ann Eleonora Jorgensen, Mark Benton, Peter Egan, Ellie Haddinton, Ray Fearon, Thusitha Jayasundera, Ella Kenion, John Light, Niamh McGrady, Chance Perdomo.

It never does a television series any harm to rejuvenate itself every now and then, it arguably suggests an element of self-awareness that it is willing to go through the process of reincarnation, like an insect that becomes sheltered in its cocoon, when it re-emerges out into the sunlight it can be seen to be more colourful, more illuminating than it had the chance to be before.

Midsomer Murders: The Ghost Of Causton Abbey. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Amber Aga, Michael Byrne, Beth Cooke, John Cummins, Zebb Dempster, Angela Griffin, Tony Gardner, Anita Harris, Jason Merrells, Anjili Mohindra, Chu Omambala, Elaine Paige, Justin Pierre.

The curse is a powerful tool when it comes to bringing a story of murder to life, it is the symbol of the preordained motif that will weave itself through the narrative and give a sense of comfort, as well as cunning, to the viewer as they watch the gruesome tale of death unfold.

Midsomer Murders: The Curse Of The Ninth. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Manjinder Virk, Callum Blake, Simon Callow, Colin Michael Carmichael, Robert Daws, James Fleet, Rosie Holden, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, Caroline Langrishe, Cyril Nri, Maggie O’ Neill, Joseph Prowen, Flora Spencer-Longhurst.

You can be scarred for life by the sword as it maims you, cuts into your skin and draws blood, but it is death by the bow that leaves you cold and frightened, the artist’s revenge and thoughts of cold bloodied murder always more palpable as the strings are drawn and the fire in the cold stare is highlighted across the bridge and the arm, drawing back till something snaps and the music becomes a requiem.

Midsomer Murders: Death By Persuassion. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Samuel West, Susie Blake, Abigail Cruttenden, Claire Skinner, Nicholas Gleaves, Georgie Glen, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, John Macmillan, Anamaria Marinca, Paul Shelley, Thalissa Teixera, Karl Theobald, Jodie Tyack, Lotte Rice.

You can arguably do no wrong by having the name Jane Austen come to lips of those you are indebted to performing in front of; a sure-fire winner, only the Brontes could lead the television or cinema audience to sit up and take notice more readily, even the most tenuous link will do, and it is that the scriptwriters have a moral duty to not let the work descend into a screenplay anarchy, dependent upon creating a pastiche which is below gratitude and honour to the much-loved writer, which sparks of desperation and folly.

Midsomer Murders: Red In Tooth And Claw. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Steve Pemberton, Aisling Loftus, Simon Nagra, Michael Obiora, Tom Price, Amit Shah, Glen Webster, Jo Wheatley, Sara Crow, Maxim De Villiers, Stirling Gallagher, Sean Gallagher, Susan Hampshire, Stephen Hawke, Vanessa Hehir, Raj Awasti, Navider Bhatti.

There are many ways to die in Midsomer, some so gruesome, so shocking that it is any wonder that people don’t move to the county just for the thrill of finding out what ingenious way they will perish at the hands of a potential murderer. Few though will expect to find themselves seeing their last visions of Earth, taking in the scenes of their final moments on Earth surrounded by rabbits.

Midsomer Murders, Last Man Out. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Nick Hendrix, Jason Hughes, Manjinder Virk, John Bird, Susan Jameson, Raj Awasti, Tia Bannon, Joe Dixon, Daniel Eghan, Susan Fordham, Frances Grey, Esther Hall, Stephen Hawke, Michael Haydon, Bruce Lawrence, Natasha Little, Mark Powley, Mike Ray, Paul Reynolds, Parth Thakerar, Glenn Webster.

The village green, second only to Lords as a natural home of English cricket, a place where the icy, money tentacles of show business have not crept in and the game remains pure, cricket at its most gentlemanly, where the only thing to worry about is bitter rivalry, untamed jealousy and the wearing down of the natural order; where the Last Man Out might still buy the round or quite easily find himself the target of death.

Midsomer Murders: Crime And Punishment. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Nick Hendrix, James Atherton, Frances Barber, Neil Morrissey, Sam Troughton, Manjinder Virk, Philip Bird, Phoebe Campbell, Marty Cruikshank, Emilio Doorgasingh, Susan Fordham, Ty Hurley, Vicki Pepperdine, Sara Powell, Katy Cavanagh, Joe Sims, Clive Swift.

When those who watch become all powerful, is it any wonder that those under the microscope start to wreck a little havoc of their own, to tip the balance back in the favour of common sense rather than authoritarianism, the pettiness of the small minded that can lead to people in rural villages falling out with each other.

Midsomer Murders: The Village That Rose From The Dead. Television Review.

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Fiona Dolman, Nick Hendrix, Anthony Calf, Hugh Dennis, Raj Awasti, Caroline Blakiston, David Burke, Christopher Colquhoun, Michael Haydon, Pippa Haywood, Matt Houghton, Seeta Indrani, William Melling, Sally Philips, Catherine Steadman, Edwin Thomas, Manjinder Virk, Jo Wheatley, Angus Wright.

The past is so much harder to leave behind when the ghosts won’t stay dead.