Before this point, Orphan Black has been a show that is happy to subject its central characters to all kinds of emotional pain and agony, but it has not been a show that has pulled the trigger on killing anybody in a main role. Of course, there are many shows where this is not necessary, but arguably this one … >
The Walking Dead isn’t messing around this season, following up last week’s strong, visually inventive premiere with a thoroughly violent siege thriller. ‘JSS’, unusually, began with a quiet first act that doesn’t seem to be building too much. There’s the sympathetic, if disposable prologue, which fleshes out Enid, an ancillary character at best, and a … >
The Vikings gave us a lot of words that we use in common English. I saw it on a Horrible Histories once so it’s true. One of them was ‘happy’. That’s fortunate, because it’s a great word to apply to ‘The Girl Who Waited Died’ – 45 minutes of Saturday-morning style fun that should make … >
“I’m going to find who caused a pain that’s very much alive today. Who took his life, who took hers? And I want to punish them. Thirty-nine years later.” Thus speaks DI Cassie Stewart (Nicola Walker) at the start of part 2 of The Unforgotten. We immediately realise Cassie has an emotional connection to the … >
As you would expect of a popular story that was first written nearly 130 years ago, the strange tale of Dr Jekyll and his evil alter-ego Mr Hyde has been retold numerous times. For instance, the last version on British TV was only back in 2007, when Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat gave us BBC One’s … >
Coming off the back of a tepid opening season for spin-off Fear the Walking Dead, the original show’s Season 6 opener was an invigorating blast of large-scale spectacle and genuine substance. The most intriguing addition to this premiere was the stylistic tic of a parallel structure that flipped between present day scenes in colour and … >
BBC One’s River had a lot going for it before it aired, given that it boasted Hollywood star Stellan Skarsgard in its lead role. However, was this just stunt casting? Another example of film stars quietly commuting to television for more character-based work between big superhero movies? Or does the new six-part crime drama offer … >
Perhaps it’s just a sign of cuts at ITV, but Lewis Season 9’s opening story, ‘One For Sorrow’, has a lower than average body-count. If you only caught the first quarter hour of Episode 1 last week, then you’ve seen all the corpses you’re going to see: the body in the well and the dead … >
Primary teachers of the world – look away now! In this episode of Doctor Who, there are Vikings and (gasp!) they are not completely historically accurate! Inside a peasant’s hut, there is the anachronism of a leather-bound book, while, in a costuming decision bound to inflame the great Viking headgear controversy, warriors wear helmets that, … >
In the last ever episode of New Tricks, the UCOS team find themselves under fire for the mishandling of the Henway case. Threatened with closure, they attempt to win through by investigating the murder of a political activist fifteen years ago. UCOS’s attention is drawn to the case when the victim’s personal journal resurfaces along … >