‘Babylon’ pilot review
Whoever would have thought that Danny Boyle’s long overdue return to television would be in collaboration with the creators of Peep Show and Fresh Meat, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong?
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Whoever would have thought that Danny Boyle’s long overdue return to television would be in collaboration with the creators of Peep Show and Fresh Meat, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong?
With Europe now at War and Britain enlisting its men, including the staff of Selfridges, to do their part for the war effort, the store continues to attempt to boost public morale.
A stodgy, filler episode this week, that lays bare some poor characterisation. The unspoken is vastly more interesting than the dialogue, though Peter Capaldi and Ryan Gage do inject some humour into proceedings.
Veering between bluntly wraught melodrama and a satisfyingly personal conflict with a slave trader, ‘Commodities’ is an episode of varying quality.
Maintaining the high quality drama set up in the previous episodes, the latest Mr Selfridge instalment is carefully crafted, with a bit more balance and light. Key players take a step back, allowing secondary characters stories room to breathe, showcasing the best example of the ensemble cast so far.
The Musketeers continues its solid, unsurprising start with ‘Sleight of Hand’.
It too is another enjoyable yet predictable romp through the murkier side of swashbuckling. Meanwhile, characters are further defined, approximately fifty people are shot, and guest stars swagger as only Jason Flemyng can swagger (copiously shifting weight from buttock to buttock with each stride).
Talk of Britain being on the brink of war causes unrest within the Selfridges staff, with fears that they will all lose their jobs if Mr Selfridge escapes back to America to avoid the European conflict. This, and demonstrations by Trade Union representatives, leads Harry to create an ‘Empire Exhibition’ to explain to both the customers and the staff that the store is staying put. This is topped off with a staff party held at Delphine’s to boost morale, but with it comes all sorts of conflict and drama.
Likely to be smuggled your way under a blaze of pretty much no publicity whatsoever, this dark delight from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith is BBC Two’s new modern version of anthology tales such as Tales Of The Unexpected and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. But to sell it as merely some kind of unimaginative remake would be to sell it short.
The fifth and, sadly, final series of the BBC One’s award-winning sitcom featuring the UK’s favourite fictional family, the Brockmans, is here and it’s very much a typical Outnumbered episode.
Adrian Hodges’ adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ novel occupies the post-Sherlock Sunday evening slot on BBC One and it looks the part. Prague doubles for a lived-in Seventeenth Century Paris, and the fight scenes are stylish and kinetic. A strong and charismatic cast delivers, though ultimately the end product is solid rather than exceptional.