Articles by:
In 1984, the BBC produced one of the most memorable and ambitious children’s television programmes of all time. Based on the novel by John Masefield, The Box of Delights was a tick-all-the-boxes psychedelic alchemy that combined captivating story, superb ensemble performance and special effects that transcended the clunky, pre-digital technology of the age to create … >
Although there aren’t quite as many jump-out-of-your-seat-screaming-for-mummy moments as last week, the second part of this surprisingly creepy drama by Gwyneth Hughes maintains the incessant sense of claustrophobic dread that haunted its predecessor. While detective Rob Fairholme (Mark Addy) begins the search for Tom Parfitt (Michael Palin), the missing pensioner’s former care worker Hannah Ward (Jodie … >
Timothy Dalton only starred in two James Bond films; George Lazenby’s moment in the tuxedo came once and once only. But who are the journeymen (and women) of the 007 franchise, the stayers who stuck around a little longer and made the most appearances in the series? We investigate the seven actors in the top … >
In 1984, the BBC produced one of the most memorable and ambitious children’s television programmes of all time. Based on the novel by John Masefield, The Box of Delights was a tick-all-the-boxes psychedelic alchemy that combined captivating story, superb ensemble performance and special effects that transcended the clunky, pre-digital technology of the age to create … >
23 years have passed since Michael Palin’s last leading dramatic role – in Alan Bleasdale’s celebrated G.B.H. as harassed headmaster Jim Nelson – but it doesn’t show. Two decades of travelogues, voiceovers and, most recently, the reunion of the Monty Python team has neither blunted the sensibilities required to carry off a convincing serious performance … >
In 1984, the BBC produced one of the most memorable and ambitious children’s television programmes of all time. Based on the novel by John Masefield, The Box of Delights was a tick-all-the-boxes psychedelic alchemy that combined captivating story, superb ensemble performance and special effects that transcended the clunky, pre-digital technology of the age to create … >
‘Death in Heaven’ is a resolutely modern episode of Doctor Who, mixing Russell T Davies-style widescreen excess with the endlessly imaginative twists of Steven Moffat’s dark vision for the show like a pimped-up juggernaut driven by Edgar Allen Poe. It’s also one of the most poignant season finales the programme has produced under the auspices … >
“I am the spirit of dark and lonely water,” the spooky, black-robed ghoul in a notorious public information film of the 1970s once intoned. “Ready to trap the unwary, the show-off, the fool…” The Twelfth Doctor should have listened. In his short life so far, he’s been careless, conceited and crass. Yes, there’s been heroism, … >
Jean-Luc Godard once said: ‘It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.’ Recent episodes of Doctor Who have demonstrated a raft of originality but also embraced much from the show’s past – yet whatever has been appropriated from the old days is always successfully synthesised into something fresh. The gothic … >
At the beginning, she was The Impossible Girl who appeared throughout the Doctor’s lives, splintered into multiple incarnations to save him a dozen times over. They travelled together as flirty friends in the days when the Doctor was fresh-faced, floppy-haired and full of sparkling youthful exuberance and cheeky good humour. That was then. Now, Clara … >