crime
Vienna Blood, BBC Two review - psychoanalysis and murder in turn-of-the-century ViennaTuesday, 19 November 2019
“Talking cures and exploring the darkness of men’s souls – are you sure this is a career for a gentleman?” This is Vienna, 1906. Freud is exerting an influence, to the disapproval of many, including the father of cool-as-a-cucumber Max Liebermann (... Read more... |
'I’m having too much fun writing novels': author Nicolas Searle on The Good LiarThursday, 07 November 2019
"Surreal" is how the man calling himself Nicholas Searle describes the last five years of his life. He began working on his debut novel The Good Liar in 2014 at the age of 57, having recently retired from the Civil Service. The nature of his former... Read more... |
The Irishman review - mobster masterclassThursday, 07 November 2019
Much has been made of Martin Scorsese’s recent dismissal of Marvel films. Putting that debate aside, there’s no escaping the fact that in an era of rapid-fire sequels, with the same ensembles trotted out year after year, there’s far more ... Read more... |
Dublin Murders, Series Finale, BBC One review - eerie detective drama grips tightlyWednesday, 06 November 2019
You wouldn’t expect a drama called Dublin Murders (BBC One) to be a laugh a minute, but the cumulative anguish, menace and torment of this eight-parter made it almost unbearable, even if viewers were thrown a tiny scrap of hope in the final frames.... Read more... |
Michael Connelly: The Night Fire review - unputdownableSunday, 03 November 2019
Ballard and Bosch sound like some dystopian upmarket commodity. They are, but deep in with the low life. They are Michael Connolly’s new duo of detectives, one in semi-disgrace, one retired. Throw in Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, and you’ve got... Read more... |
Spiral, Series 7, BBC Four review - hard-hitting return of our favourite French cop showSunday, 20 October 2019
And welcome back to our favourite French cop show – perhaps our favourite cop show from anywhere, in fact – which has raced into its seventh series (on BBC Four) with some typically grimy storylines about death and lowlife in a very de-romanticised... Read more... |
Giri/Haji, BBC Two review - inspired Anglo-Japanese thriller makes compulsive viewingFriday, 18 October 2019
Well here’s an interesting one. We’ve been up to our eyebrows in Eurocops for the past few years, but this Anglo-Japanese fusion from BBC Two (the title translates as "Duty / Shame") feels strikingly fresh and different.It began, as policiers are... Read more... |
My Life is Murder, Alibi review - whimsical tales of detection from Down UnderWednesday, 25 September 2019
Lucy Lawless achieved cult status in the Nineties fantasy classic Xena: Warrior Princess, and later became a regular in such disparate creations as Battlestar Galactica and Parks and Recreation. In My Life is Murder, she joins the ever-expanding... Read more... |
The $50m Art Swindle, BBC Two review - ramblin' gamblin' man comes home to roostTuesday, 24 September 2019
“It’s nice to make money – lots of money,” said Michel Cohen, former high-flying New York art dealer turned debtor, jailbird and fugitive. He made oodles of the stuff and then lost it all, leaving a string of wealthy art collectors and galleries to... Read more... |
City on a Hill, Sky Atlantic review - power, corruption and larceny in 1990s BostonThursday, 19 September 2019
Connoisseurs of gnarly Boston-based crime sagas like The Town, The Departed and Black Mass will quickly find themselves at home in this sleaze-ridden new show, made by Showtime and brought to us by Sky Atlantic. Created and largely written by Chuck... Read more... |
The Kitchen review – more gangsters' molls taking over the reinsWednesday, 18 September 2019
Three women decide to take over their husbands’ criminal activities, proving more than a match for the men who dominate the underworld. If this outline of The Kitchen sounds familiar, it’s because it was just last year that Steve McQueen’s... Read more... |
The Informer review - tough but tin-eared B-movieThursday, 29 August 2019
If it wasn’t for bad luck, Pete Koslow (Joel Kinnaman) wouldn’t have any luck at all. Being an Iraq special forces veteran jailed for protecting his wife in a bar fight seems wretched karma enough. Released as an undercover informant on the Polish... Read more... |
