It struck me, entering Hour Seven of Dickensian, and staring down the double-barrel of another of Mrs Bumble’s excruciating entendres (her Figgy Dowdy is ‘Extra moist’ this week), that this is a series which is a full four hours longer than BBC One’s War and Peace, and yet feels like it has half as much … >
After last week’s visceral, gory case that leaned heavily on plot, Ripper Street went in the other direction this week with a case of the week that doubled up as something of a character study. The character in question was Thomas Gower (Jake Mann), a surprise returnee who first appeared all the way back as … >
By the end of the first season, Agent Carter had finally come to terms with the loss of Captain America, so it’s entirely understandable that this year she should be getting back into the dating game. Unfortunately her first date with Dr Jason Wilkes begins with him risking his career and livelihood simply by speaking … >
Sky Arts’ celebration of the birth of HG Wells concludes this week with ‘The Moth’ and ‘The Purple Pileus’, adapted from the author’s short stories. In ‘The Moth’ Rupert Graves (Lestrade in Sherlock) stars as Professor Hapley, an entomologist in the middle of a personal feud with Professor Pawkins. Hapley takes great delight in ridiculing … >
After last week’s strong contender for the season’s best episode, Death in Paradise comes back with an episode that, in some places shines, but in a lot of other ways falls short of the quality we’ve come to expect from BBC One’s sun-drenched crime drama. A zippy, well edited opening sequence throws us right into … >
With Sherlock writer Steve Thompson’s new ITV drama passing its halfway point, we finally gained an answer to one of Jericho’s mysteries. Sadly, it was everything we had expected, and less. Yes, the awkward tension between Isabella and Johnny, prompted by their dark secret, was nowt but a night of passion crowned by a broken … >
As the final season of ITV’s Mr Selfridge almost reaches its midway point, the action is moved from the London store to the glamour of Biarritz, France, where Harry has whisked away the main UK press (and the troublesome Dolly Sisters) to impress them over the launch of his new stores. Gorgeous aerial camera work, … >
It struck me during ‘A Dying Art’ that it would save an awful lot of trouble if they employed more than two policemen at the Causton constabulary. Most other crime dramas would leave a police liaison officer with the grieving relatives of the murder victim – partly as a point of contact, but also because … >
Alas! As quickly as Silent Witness came back it’s now time for the series to disappear again until next year’s momentous anniversary. It’s fair to say that the nineteenth season of BBC One’s long-running crime drama has seen the show reach new heights, with this week’s two-part finale ensuring it still remains must-see television after … >
I shouldn’t like to have lived in the Russia of War and Peace, as pretty as it may have been. The consequences of Natasha’s momentary lapse of sanity have come to light: James Norton plays Andrei here with a stoicism so fragile you can see his brokenness leaking out through the fractures in it – … >