Bored To Death is one of those shows where you almost wish it was bad, just so you could use the title itself as a cheap gag review. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible in this particular instance.
And so along comes the much-touted Jane Espenson (Buffy, Caprica, Game Of Thrones) and her first episode for Torchwood: Miracle Day. But will the incredibly experienced genre TV writer come up with the goods?
‘The next six hours is going to be filled with boredom, followed by monotony,’ CIA agent Rex Matheson remarks at the beginning as he boards a transatlantic flight with the manacled members of Torchwood in tow, but the subsequent episode is anything but dull.
Nobody ever said that cop shows had to be realistic to be effective. Okay, they did, and in some cases they were almost certainly right, but the maxim doesn’t apply to BBC One’s Luther.
Purporting to be a Godfather-style exploration of the highs and lows of one of the most powerful families in American politics, The Kennedys comes to us amid a cavalcade of Stateside controversy.
BBC Two’s recent The Shadow Line is a serial sodden with blood: seven hours of claret-splattered, frequently flamboyant, occasionally preposterous and completely compulsive television.
Continuing directly where the explosive first episode left off, we find Captain Jack, Gwen and Rhys (and the baby!) being extradited by CIA Agent Rex Matheson and his sultry colleague Peterfield.
Timing for the BBC’s new television news-based drama could hardly have been more apposite, with the recent News Of The World and Rupert Murdoch debacle raging on.
So, by now, the whole world (well, almost) has had the opportunity to gaze upon the first episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day, the fourth series of the Doctor Who spin-off from writer Russell T Davies.
Some programmes thrive on constantly treading the line between funny and serious without ever truly identifying which they are – Shameless did it for years before toppling over the edge – while others are content to nail their comedic or dramatic flags to the mast from the outset.