Articles by:
The Musketeers make a joyous return to our screens. ‘Keep Your Friends Close’ begins with the great circle of life and death leaving its indelible ring-stain on the coffee table of our heroes’ lives: just as the Cardinal, a very naughty (albeit rather sexy) man, is laid to his final rest, a bouncing royal baby … >
The petty jealousy and absurd one-upmanship continues in this final instalment of BBC One’s Mapp and Lucia. My cringing discomfort at the ridiculousness of the titular characters at times moves me to want to grab them by the kingfisher blue lapels and shout at them that maybe their lives would be a little bit more … >
Insufferable is the word I keep coming back to when I try to find new and novel ways of describing the two titular characters of BBC One’s Mapp and Lucia. Insufferable, insufferable, insufferable. I’m not normally one to engage in schadenfreude; indeed, sometimes I do think my empathy for make believe characters extends far further … >
By the end of the first episode of BBC One’s new adaptation of EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia, I found myself expressing to my partner in no uncertain terms my gratitude that we live in a midsize city where we don’t know any of our neighbours. Anna Chancellor is Mrs. Lucas – known to her … >
Oh, blessums, The Boy In The Dress really is an utterly sweet tale. Based on the book of the same name (and whose author, David Walliams, makes a brief appearance as a drama teacher turned football referee), BBC One’s one-off Boxing Day film tells the story of twelve-year-old Dennis (played with masses of understated, genuine … >
If there’s one thing The Fall has really, really done right, it’s that I find myself almost breathlessly grateful that Rose Stagg is alive. We must be thankful for such small mercies in a narrative world that provides so few. If I were to list all of the things and people in this episode that … >
The Fall is frustrating television at its creepiest. Or possibly creepy television at its most frustrating. I admit to spending at least portions of the last few episodes feeling masses of frustration at the fact that, apparently, they can’t just swoop in there and arrest the guy and worry about the rest later. At times, … >
There is something oddly comforting about special features, so much so that they are at times a greater deciding factor in whether I’ll be inclined to buy a boxset than how much I liked the show or film in question. So when Doctor Who’s Season 8 boxset arrived, I armed myself with a nice cup … >
Arriving at the BBC’s studio in Cardiff Bay on a grey October morning, it’s hard to feel festive. There is, however, something quite enchanting about the sets of Doctor Who’s Christmas special, ‘Last Christmas’, that immediately catapults one’s mood into a lofty snowbank of holiday cheer. CultBox were on set on the last day of … >
For those of us who like our televisual escapism grim and stressful, The Fall has once again provided plenty to get stuck into. It’s so refreshing, in many ways, to have a crime show where the tension and complexity of a single story arc is given so much room to breathe, and it takes full … >