tv
The Fall of the Berlin Wall with John Simpson, BBC Four review – the future we’ve left behindFriday, 08 November 2019
John Simpson remains the BBC’s longest serving foreign correspondent. Here, he returns to the biggest moment of his career. This personalised retelling of the collapse of the Berlin wall encompasses fond remembrance, factual detail and the confidence of retrospective analysis. And, the big BUT question is addressed: where are we now? 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... |
Rich Hall's Red Menace, BBC Four review - laconic comic referees the Free World versus CommunismWednesday, 06 November 2019
Who won the Cold War? Nobody, according to comedian Rich Hall in this 90-minute film for BBC Four. His theory is that after the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago, Russia and America merely “flipped ideologies”. Read more... |
Rick Stein's Secret France, BBC Two review - is the travelling chef's palate growing jaded?Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Another year, another cookbook. Rick Stein is back for his next round of food travels and this time, we’re going to France. “For the French, food isn’t part of life, it is life itself,” says Stein, as his Porsche zips through the French countryside. Read more... |
His Dark Materials, BBC One review - generic TV fantasy with ready-made twistsMonday, 04 November 2019
The good news is that television's serial slow burn will allow for a lot more original Pullman to make its way to screen than was possible in the one and only instalment of the intended film trilogy, The Golden Compass. Its virtues were many, despite drastic late alterations, and in terms of casting and cinematography, this version doesn't look set to outstrip it. Read more... |
Get Rich Or Try Dying: Music’s Mega Legacies, BBC Four review – inside the RIP businessSaturday, 02 November 2019
Half a billion dollars is what the top five most lucrative estates of deceased musicians earned last year. The figure represents the cunning work of a few people to turn “legacy” into its own immortal industry. To watch a program on this theme is to peek through the keyhole of a locked cabinet. How does the “RIP business” work? How much – so goes another question – are we really allowed to see? Read more... |
The Great British Bake Off, Series 10 finale, Channel 4 review - bittersweet end to a divisive seriesWednesday, 30 October 2019
And that’s a wrap: last night concluded 10 years of The Great British Bake Off. This show is the nation’s TV equivalent of comfort food. In the past, it has stuck to a well-worn recipe — the result was fun to fight over but easy to love. Read more... |
Guilt, BBC Two review - dark Scottish comedy starring Mark Bonnar and Jamie SivesWednesday, 30 October 2019
“He was dying slowly. We just made it quick.” This is sharp-faced, menacing Max (Mark Bonnar: Catastrophe, Unforgotten, Line of Duty) to his sensitive brother Jake (Jamie Sives: Chernobyl, Game of Thrones, The James Plays). Jake is driving Max’s car on their way back from a wedding in Fife – Max is beside him, swigging champagne - and accidentally runs into and kills an old man in an Edinburgh suburb. Read more... |
Love and Hate Crime, BBC One review - Abel Cedeno was a killer, but was he also a victim?Wednesday, 30 October 2019
This series examines murders in the USA “with elements of love and passion as well as prejudice”, and the second season opened (on BBC One) with "Killing in the Classroom", the story of the fatal stabbing of New York school student Matthew McCree by bisexual teenager Abel Cedeno. Read more... |
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild, Series 10, Channel 5 review - living off your wits and below the radar in SwedenWednesday, 30 October 2019
“I think we all dream of simplifying our lives and reconnecting with nature,” reckons Ben Fogle, and since this was the start of the tenth series of this show, he must have struck a chord with viewers. His first subject was 24-year-old Italian woman Annalisa Vitale, who’d dropped out of university in Italy despite her obvious academic potential and set out to build a life of self-reliance. Read more... |
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