With the characters and their respective storylines established in the opening two episodes, the story of Hazelwood Manor and its staff focuses attention mainly on one character this week. We learn more about Sean’s past and why he was so keen to avoid the publicity over the group’s lottery win. Richard Rankin is given a … >
Smallfilms are a peculiarly British animation studio: industrious, creative and successful but always too tiny and quaint to ever be called a powerhouse. Initially a two-man operation working out of an old barn – with Peter Firmin making models or providing traditional artwork alongside Oliver Postgate animating these elements and (in a voice that was … >
‘Can a magician kill a man by magic?’ The question was asked on Jonathan on The Peninsula, back in Episode 3. His reply, ‘A magician might. But a gentleman never could.’ So we assumed him a gentleman. But in the knock-your-socks-off impressive tumult of the Battle of Waterloo that opens Episode 5, we see that … >
The season finale finds us in May 1940 – in a world vastly different than the one when Home Fires started. The British expeditionary force has been driven back and France is expected to fall. The prospect of Nazi boots marching through Great Paxford is real. Steph teaches Frances how to shoot a rifle, and … >
With the award nominated first season of Survivors, Big Finish produced a widely praised but grim masterpiece, blending new characters with those from the original 1970s TV series. June 2015 sees the release of Season 2; does this maintain the high standards, and how will it evolve whilst keeping in touch with the essences of … >
We haven’t seen Thunderbird 4 since the show’s opening two-parter, so this week’s Thunderbirds Are Go redresses that balance somewhat, with an underwater rescue mission that puts the little yellow submarine front and centre. The hapless Ned Tedford from ‘Slingshot’ is back, this time trapped in an out-of-control underwater extraction platform that threatens to not … >
Theatre Impresario Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin) and Police Pathologist Professor George Litefoot (Trevor Baxter) were thrown together in the classic Doctor Who tale ‘The Talons of Weng Chiang’. Since 2010, as Victorian investigators of infernal incidents, they have been enjoying a terrific series of audio adventures. The latest boxset sees the pair leave London … >
Stonemouth, the BBC’s new adaptation of Iain Banks’ crime novel bestseller, proves to be something of a mixed bag in its opening episode. It’s well-acted and features some truly beautiful cinematography, with the lovely seaside town of Macduff doubling as the fictional Stonemouth. A suicide under suspicious circumstances provides a compelling mystery at the heart … >
The term ‘Marmite viewing’ is sometimes bandied around too easily. However, it’s hard to avoid how accurate a description it is for Netflix’s new sci-fi series, Sense8. From the minds of The Matrix creators, Lana and Andy Wachowski (who most recently gave us the utterly bonkers Jupiter Ascending), this is a show that you will … >
When you lift your head from the screen for a moment and think about it, we have an odd relationship with our gadgets. We take a cold lump of circuits into our homes, bedrooms, pockets, and we train it into being our own, one swipe or tap of personal information at a time. Memories, selfies, … >