tv
Storyville: The Queen of Africa - The Miriam Makeba Story, BBC FourTuesday, 24 July 2012
We had Kevin MacDonald’s Bob Marley epic documentary earlier this year, and this is a similar film about another artist who became a symbol as much as a singer. I only saw Miriam Makeba in her sixties, by which time she had become a revered institution they called Mama Africa, as though she was the mother of an entire continent. This Storyville documentary took us back the amazing vibrancy and courage of her early years, with some terrific archive footage. Read more... |
Arena: Amy Winehouse - The Day She Came to Dingle, BBC FourMonday, 23 July 2012
The first anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death seems like both a temptation and an opportunity for a sensationalist, hyperbolic tribute. Refreshingly, this Arena film, which told the story of the night that a superstar in the making performed to an 85-capacity church in the Irish fishing village of Dingle, for the most part avoided the clichés: the word “tragedy” wasn’t even mentioned until 38 minutes in. Read more... |
The Hollow Crown: Henry V, BBC TwoSunday, 22 July 2012
Forget the ages-old talk of London buses arranging their schedules so that they all arrive at once. The capital's patterns of public transport have nothing on the rapidity with which Henry V has hoved into view of late, whether at Shakespeare's Globe, on tour from the all-male Propeller company, in repertory at Islington's Old Red Lion pub theatre or as a baleful conclusion to the BBC's impressive Hollow Crown series of the Bard-on-film. Read more... |
Natural World: Living with Baboons, BBC TwoThursday, 19 July 2012
It’s as well to be ready. There will come a time when our civilisation may enter a period of darkness which will be known, self-explanatorily, as After Attenborough. May it not arrive any time soon, or even ever. But if, or more likely when, it does, it won’t matter anyway because we’ll have already spit-roasted most species into extinction, as Sir David has been direly warning these past few years. Read more... |
Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Alive, BBC OneTuesday, 17 July 2012
"What caused him to be so fast? Is he here for a purpose?" wondered Usain Bolt's father, Wellesley, in a mystical tone. Usain's mother, Jennifer, also seems to detect the workings of a higher power in her son's blindingly rapid progress around the world's running tracks. "Thank you, Lord, for what you have done," she said. Read more... |
The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 2, BBC TwoSunday, 15 July 2012
One intends no discredit to the keenly judged monarch-to-be that is Tom Hiddleston's Prince Hal, who will reappear on the small screen next weekend carrying the story forward in Henry V, to point out that Richard Eyre's terrific BBC adaptation of Henry IV Part 2 was stolen by dad. Read more... |
The Men Who Made Us Fat, BBC TwoFriday, 13 July 2012
If your evening regime involves lying on the sofa with a KFC boneless banquet wedged between your knees and a bucket of Fanta, complete with multi-angled drinking straw to prevent unnecessary movement, under your armpit, then you would have been forgiven for avoiding The Men Who Made Us Fat. Who, after all, wants to spend their downtime being made to feel like a self-harming, NHS-crushing lard-arse? Read more... |
Wallander, BBC One/ Sinbad, Sky 1Monday, 09 July 2012
Every leading thespian needs a depressive Swedish detective in his repertoire, and Kenneth Branagh has the knighthood to prove it. He may also face a little extra critical scrutiny this time around, since the return of his Anglicised Wallander comes in the wake of the recent Scandi invasion, courtesy of The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing II. Read more... |
The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 1, BBC TwoSunday, 08 July 2012
Now we're talking! Following on from a small-screen Richard II of greater aural than visual interest, along comes Richard Eyre's TV adaptation of both Henry IV plays, and the first thing that seems evident about Part One is how well it would hold up in the cinema. Read more... |
Episodes, Series Finale, BBC TwoSaturday, 07 July 2012
There are a few things wrong with Episodes, the comedy series in which Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig play a British scriptwriting couple who take their hit sitcom across the pond, but there’s a lot more that’s right with it. Read more... |
Pages
latest in today
The Substance review - Demi Moore as an ageing Hollywood cel...
If you like a body-horror movie to retain a semblance of logic in its plot line, then The Substance – grotesque, gory and finally...
Moby, O2 review - ebullient night of rave'n'rock...
Sometimes a gig suddenly and completely elevates. Such is the case tonight when Moby, on his first UK tour in 12 years, plays “Extreme Ways”, his...
Strange Darling review – love really hurts
“Are you a serial killer?” asks a woman sitting in a pick up truck with a man she just met at a bar. The neon sign from the motel...
The Goldman Case review - blistering French political drama
It’s a bold move to give a UK cinema release to this fierce courtroom drama about a French left-wing intellectual who was assassinated in1979....
The law's sick voyeurism - director Cédric Kahn on...
The trial of the left-wing intellectual Pierre Goldman, who was charged in April 1970 with four armed robberies, one of which led to the death of...
Zoë Coombs Marr, Soho Theatre review - stock checks and spre...
You have to admire the ambition of a show called Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life, the latest from Zoe Coombs Marr, which she...
The Truth About Harry Beck, London Transport Museum Cubic Th...
Iconic is a word the meaning of which is moving from the religious world into popular culture – win a reality TV...
theartsdesk Q&A: young pianist Ignas Maknickas on appear...
The high level of entries for this year’s Leeds Piano Competition – 366, almost twice the...
Album: Miranda Lambert - Postcards From Texas
Miranda Lambert is one of those country stars who’s...
The Lightest Element, Hampstead Theatre review - engrossing,...
British theatre has a proud heritage of science plays. From 1990s classics such as Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (1993) and Michael Frayn’s ...