As evidenced by the amount of question marks I’ve used over the past seven reviews (current tally: 33), you haven’t been reading reviews of The Returned each week, so much as watching me try to stretch my feeble mind around what has happened in an episode of The Returned, with phrases like ‘a strong performance … >
Netflix’s first season of Daredevil was notorious for peaking somewhere in the middle, with a run of a few episodes with an unerring focus and blistering sense of tension and pace. Jessica Jones has patiently taken longer to reach its peak, opting for a more sustainable pace – but it certainly reaches it with these … >
As we enter the second half of this ten-part first season, ITV’s Jekyll and Hyde feels like it is just getting into its stride. This week’s story episode finally has Richard E Grant’s Bulstrode meet Robert, at last delivering on the premise that the series promised all the way back in its opening episode – … >
Once upon a timeline, there was a pilot for a parallel universe-hopping E4 comedy-drama called ALT. Written by Jamie Mathieson (currently one of the best writers on Doctor Who), it starred Craig Roberts (Being Human) and Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones), with Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class). And in a parallel universe somewhere – perhaps … >
Is there such a thing as melancholic electronica? ‘Melanctonica’? If there isn’t already then Cristobal Tapia de Veer just invented it with the soundtrack to Channel 4’s huge summer hit, Humans (ahh, remember when we were all sweating Pimms and wondering what Colin Morgan’s character Leo was?). And if you watched the show or were … >
The BBC’s On Stage season has thrown up a few gems and the Beeb should be applauded for their efforts to expose regional theatre to a wider national audience. However, Live from Television Centre showcased four very different performances which proved to be a mixed bag of talent. My biggest bugbear of any live television … >
Episodes 2-4 of Jessica Jones indicated that this was a show that’s confident to move at its own pace, evenly doling out plot twists across the season in a strategy of delayed gratification. The next batch of three episodes sees more groundwork laid for the inevitable explosion, before delving into some thrilling pay-off on all … >
“The end of lies.” So says Scottie in the fourth episode of London Spy. This week, the mystery is kicked up a gear as answers begin to materialise. Tom Rob Smith’s BBC Two drama has spent the past few weeks dangling suggestions and red herrings in front of us like a cat with string, but … >
The Walking Dead’s mid-season finales have always been a bit of a lottery. On one end, there’s the satisfying, game-changing action of Season 4’s prison battle, and on the other there’s the mostly lethargic winter finale from last year. One thing has united every mid-season finale, however – a huge, emotional event to push the … >
Bringing the Swinging ‘60s to Brighton, hit musical Hairspray opened last night at Theatre Royal. The Broadway musical has had a long-running stint at the West End, and now embarks on a huge UK tour of smaller theatres across the country. The adaptation from much larger stages to that of the smaller venues such as … >