Tag Archives: Television review

The Best Of Men, Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Eddie Marsan as Dr. Ludwig Guttmann. Picture from the B.B.C.

Originally pulished by L.S. Media. August 17th 2012

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Eddie Marsan, Rob Brydon, Naimh Cussack, Richard McCabe, George MacKay, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Ben Owen-Jones, David Proud, Leigh Quinn, Daniel Wilde.

Perhaps it took the Best of Men to prove that nobody should ever be written off just because they received spinal injuries during the war.

The B.B.C. Television drama The Best of Men looked at the lives of the pioneering work of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German Jewish refugee whose care and compassion for those he found in the spinal unit of Stoke Mandeville proved a thorn in the sides of the British doctors.

The Best Of Men, Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(429 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Titanic, Television review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. March 25th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Stephen Campbell-Moore, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Lyndsey Marshal, Stephen Waddington, Sophie Winkleman, James Wilby, Linus Roache, Geraldine Somerville.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic is one that will touch many areas of Britain and Ireland, so much so in places such as Southampton, Belfast and Liverpool. Southampton due to the amount of men from the area who were employed as workers on the ill-fated ship, Belfast will feel this anniversary with heavy heart as they remember the loss of life from a ship built at Harland and Wolff ship yard and Liverpool as the place where she was registered and where the news broke to the world that the unsinkable, the most prestigious ship of its time had been lost.

Titanic, Television review. full post

(475 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Titanic, Episode Three. Television Review.

Jenna-Louise Coleman. Picture from Unreality T.V.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 8th 2012.

L.S Media Rating ***

Cast: Stephen Campbell-Moore, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Lyndsey Marshal, Stephen Waddington, Sophie Winkleman, James Wilby, Lee Ross, Linus Roache, Geraldine Somerville, Dragos Bucar.

With the final episode of Titanic looming and drawing ever closer to the fateful moment where the death knells of the “unsinkable” ship will forever be remembered, the third episode looks primarily at three of the couples thrown together on board and shows the some of the back story that led them to the moment when the Titanic began to sink.

Titanic, Episode Three. Television Review. full post

(475 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The Minor Character. Television Review. Sky Arts.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 15th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Cast: David Tennant, Lucy Cohu, Mark Bonnar, Sara Stewart, Richard McCabe, Saskia Reeves, Richard Lintern, Darrell D’ Silva.

Will Self’s half hour play The Minor Character kicked off a new season of performances for the Sky Arts channel and on the basis of the first offering, home grown drama still has a place for all. Invoking memories of the much loved B.B.C’s Play for the Day, Will Self penned a play that is both enjoyable, slightly psychologically disturbing and one that needs to be watched more than once just to catch every nuance of David Tennant’s sparkling delivery and interaction with the rest of this perfect cast.

The Minor Character. Television Review. Sky Arts. full post

(473 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The King Of The Teds. Television Review. Sky Arts.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 6th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Tom Jones, Alison Steadman, Brenda Blethyn.

Whoever thought of putting Sir Tom Jones in one of Sky Arts Playhouse Presents plays needs to be taken outside the old B.B.C. building and be told, “They would have loved you here in the heyday of drama production.”

In King of the Teds, the fourth one off drama for the digital channel, Tom Jones plays an embittered and recently made redundant bottle worker whose best days are behind him. However, in the eyes of two women, played with such wonderful ease and playfulness by Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman, he still has the power to be as charming and loveable when he was the appointed King of the Teddy-Boys.

The King Of The Teds. Television Review. Sky Arts. full post

(449 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The King And The Playwright, A Jacobean History. Television Review.

Picture from the B.B.C.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 11th 2012

L.S. Media Rating ****

It was a time of turmoil, political instability, plots, attempted assassinations, plague and unheard of unions and William Shakespeare was there to capture it all.

American Scholar James Shapiro’s insightful look at the decade between King James III coming to the English throne after the death of the much loved Queen Elizabeth, and William Shakespeare finally retiring to his beloved Stratford-Upon- Avon, was captured over the course of three programmes titled The King and The Playwright.

The King And The Playwright, A Jacobean History. Television Review. full post

(388 words, 1 image, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Care, Television Review. Sky Arts.

One of the many high rise estates in Byker

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 20th 2012.L.S. Media Rating ***

Cast: Gina McKee, Aimee Kelly, Margaret Jackman, Kevin Watham.

The latest in the series of one-off plays shown by the Sky Arts channel dealt with the bleak and socially topical subject of care within the community.

Titled Care, the half hour drama starred Gina McKee as a district nurse charged with looking after Elsie, a long term diabetic, in the long-neglected and infamous Byker Estate in Newcastle. Like other productions within this series, it dealt very heavily with the idea of what goes on in the mind, although in this particular case it was how the mind could be seen to deal when something inside finally snaps.

Care, Television Review. Sky Arts. full post

(489 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Snipist. Sky Arts Televsion. Television Review.

Douglas Henshall as the snipist. Picture from Douglas Henshall.com

Originally published by L.Media. May 27th 2012L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Douglas Henshall, John Hurt, Kate O’ Flynn.

The opening moments of the latest Sky Arts one off dramas, The Snipist, draws on the fear of control and the misuse of information. The viewing is even more gritty and disturbing by having the disembodied voice of John Hurt relaying “the facts” of a Britain that has undergone a post-apocalyptic disaster when the deadly disease of rabies has got a foot hold in the country.

The Snipist. Sky Arts Televsion. Television Review. full post

(425 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Walking The Dogs, Sky Arts. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 2nd 2012.

L.S. Media Rating **

Cast: Eddie Marsan, Emma Thompson, Russell Tovey, Bryony Afferton.

The latest in the Sky Arts Playhouse Presents series, Walking The Dogs, tackles the very real life moment when in 1982 Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace.  This event caused a sensation, resulting in a media fury as it was revealed he had gained entry to the Queen’s bedroom and chatted with her about a variety of subjects.

Walking The Dogs, Sky Arts. Television Review. full post

(402 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

The Secret History Of Our Streets, Television Review. B.B.C.2.

L.S Media Rating ****

At the time of Charles Booth, London was the biggest and most populated city the world had ever seen. An ever changing metropolis that Charles Booth mapped with great care and dedication on how each street fared in its social standing, position, the type of people who lived there and needs.

The Secret History Of Our Streets, Television Review. B.B.C.2. full post

(427 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)