With the news of the worldwide release of Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s belated sequel to his classic novel The Shining, comes the terrifying prospect of the author covering the same old ground yet again. Worthy follow-up or not, it’s pretty unlikely it’ll be quite as bad as his latest TV mini-series adaptation, Bag of Bones.
Sometimes an actor gives a performance so strong, it defines their career. Think Russell Crowe in Gladiator or Colin Firth in The King’s Speech. Filth will no doubt be a defining moment in James McAvoy’s career.
Shhh! Lock the door, close the curtains. We’ve got to talk about the soundtrack to Channel 4’s violent cult conspiracy hit Utopia. Quietly.
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, when the world turns at Downton, it turns only in the direction of the past.
These days, there’s a viscous reverence for everything that Alan Moore creates; an effusive prayer when the bearded Old God stirs to grant us mortals new words and/or hurl lightning bolts at DC’s affronts to the creator rights. In the eyes of many, Alan Moore can do no wrong.
Written by and starring The Inbetweeners alumni Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, with Jonny Sweet, the first full series of Chickens arrives following a pilot on Channel 4 in 2011.
The first beat of the tale was a surprising one with the introduction to Jason (Jack Donnelly) taking place in the present day. Establishing our hero as a rootless young man in search of his father, we soon descended in a mini-sub and found ourselves drawn in the world of Atlantis. And it is a world, rather than the past, we are led to believe.
The third episode of Orphan Black puts Sarah’s motivations under the spotlight while revealing some elements of the show’s larger mysteries. When the body of Katja that Sarah previously buried (rather shoddily, she soon learns) turns up and Sarah-as-Beth is put on the case, things begin to get much more complicated for her, especially as she’s just been told she’s a clone.
When Doctor Who began its format was very fluid, with stories ranging from comedy to space opera. The TARDIS was more unpredictable and certainly not invulnerable, and most importantly the Doctor was clearly making it all up as he went along.
The world of Doctor Who has a fine tradition of anniversary publications. Given the level scrutiny the show has enjoyed in recent years, the trick is to find a unique angle to approach the material with. Wonderfully, BBC Books have achieved just that with The Doctor – His Lives and Times.