If anybody wanted to devise a Midsomer Murders drinking game then ‘disgruntled villagers’ should certainly be one cue to take a sip. Last week they were moaning about the sculpture park, this week it’s archaeologists. ‘Saints and Sinners’ starts with the discovery of a skeleton in the ground. It’s not the first body ever to … >
Wow. What have we just witnessed? For the next six weeks we’ll be reviewing the sophomore season of BBC One’s least accurately titled drama, Happy Valley. We’re going to assume that you’ve already seen it (the first season was on top of many people’s list of top telly back in 2014), but if you haven’t … >
Following the mammoth success of the X-Men franchise and Marvel Cinematic Universe, superhero films have become a fully fledged genre of their own over the past decade. From the beginning, Deadpool is extremely self-aware and ready to poke fun at the superhero genre along with its cast, X-Men connections and the complicated 12 year journey … >
The first new instalment of The X-Files on TV since 2002 has a number of boxes to tick. It has to reintroduce the characters and the premise, reimagine the show for contemporary audiences and remind everyone why it was so popular back in its heyday – whilst also making an entertaining piece of television. But … >
It begins in silence, with brief candles… and a party of twelve, looking for all the world like the Last Supper, shortly after Judas the Betrayer has legged it. And in Jesus of Nazareth’s position, we have Robert Powell, a weary yet still steely Prince Charles, soon to be crucified by the ones he seeks … >
Natasha and her family have packed up their things (along with a couple of wounded soldiers, because Natasha is just the sweetest little honeydew that ever there was) when she spies a bedraggled Pierre wandering the street. He can’t come with them, he tells her, because he’s going to kill Napoleon. That’s nice, dear. Pierre … >
This week’s Call the Midwife aims to be about how the allure of a university education could be derailed by an unexpected pregnancy, while dealing with the simmering tension of Barbara’s relationship with Tom (and her lack of communication with Trixie). The new season’s fourth episode also shows us that there are more cases of babies affected by … >
Mr Selfridge continues its winning streak of episodes this week with an instalment that catapults some of the show’s favourite relationships into the fore, while also focusing on Harry’s turbulent fall from grace. “Have you ever noticed that we’re too wrapped up in ourselves to notice that we’re drifting apart?” Kitty and Frank are given … >
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 … >