Articles by:

Rob Smedley

‘Hard Sun’ finale review (spoilers)

The sunset arrives for Hard Sun series 1. Will there be a series 2? Apparently series creator Neil Cross has a plan for five series up his sleeve, which given the ratings seems ambitious. The end of series 1 doesn’t feel certain that there’s a future in a series about the future being extinguished. When … >

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Hard Sun episode 5 review

SPOILERS If Hard Sun proves anything, it’s that you should never mix work and family. For instance, I have to clap my hands over my ears and yell ‘LALALALALALA!’ whenever my dad tries to talk to me about Hard Sun. Work and family have been part of a messy, violent knot since Episode 1, but … >

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‘Hard Sun’ Episode 3 Review

There’s been quite a few tweets this past week from people saying they’ve finished #HardSun, and lauding it as a drama well worth a watch. That’s good to hear if you’ve not seen it all yet, especially as many crime dramas can start strong, only to drag on too long and fizzle out near the … >

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‘Hard Sun’ Episode 2 Review

Welcome to the slow road of weekly Hard Sun reviews. I’m sipping the series slowly, like a fine cognac, or Pepto Bismol. By now you may have watched the entire 8 episodes. In fact, you could’ve watched them all several times over. Judging by the iPlayer charts you might well have: it’s proved very popular. … >

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‘Hard Sun’ Episode 1 Review

Take a cursory glance at Twitter (the best kind of glance), and you’d be misled into thinking that the world was going to end any day now. Fortunately BBC One’s new Saturday night diversion ‘Hard Sun’ gives us all a cheerily optimistic 5 years before the great big horrid orange death-ball eradicates us all. The … >

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Doctor Who ‘Twice Upon a Time’ review

A two thousand-and-something year old man said it last Christmas, and it feels even more apt now: ‘Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.’ And that’s what we have right here. An ending and a new beginning. Sad and happy all at once. Very Moffat. The mourning of … >

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Peaky Blinders series 4 episode 5 Review (spoilers)

In his (thoroughly excellent) book about the making of Doctor Who, ‘The Writer’s Tale’, Russell T Davies describes dialogue as ‘two monologues clashing’. ‘Everyone,’ he says, ‘is always, always thinking about themselves.’ And though that applies to every drama, it feels especially appropriate to Peaky Blinders, and especially this week. Everyone’s got an agenda, and … >

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