Coming after three very solid weeks, Episode 4 of Ripper Street’s second series marked a slight dip in quality. Though still undeniably enjoyable fare, this week’s story was let down by its over-exaggerated villains, hastily-resolved ending and watery subplot involving newbie Constable Flight.
Never a programme to devise a new storyline when an old one will do, Downton introduced a new lady’s maid tonight, Miss Baxter (Raquel Cassidy), who came in like a Mary Poppins with evil on her mind.
Episode 3 of Atlantis begins with some amusing banter on the subject of Hercules’ affections for Medusa, but this is soon interrupted. In the act of stepping up to defend an old man, Jason lands the trio in front of King Minos.
The legend of Irving Washington’s classic story Sleepy Hollow gets another retelling through this reimagining as a US mystery-adventure series, coming to the Universal Channel in the UK next week.
It’s almost as if the abrasive industrial landscape of Birmingham scours away the principles of all who set foot in its dark and vice-riddled back streets. The same can be said of Birmingham back in 1919 too (we kid, we kid!), because as Peaky Blinders reaches its fourth episode, people are willing to compromise almost every principle in order to get what they want.
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.
After his incredibly in-depth 2009 book The Making of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Charles Helfenstein has once again done a staggering amount of research into the world of James Bond, this time into the production of Timothy Dalton’s 007 debut, The Living Daylights.
Although this episode ostensibly concerns the hunt for Twitter-savvy, scumbag-executing vigilante Callum Marwood, it’s also about the enduring bond between DCI Luther (Idris Elba) and DS Ripley (Warren Brown).
With a crash, a bang, and all the wallop of a gigantic sea monster crushing a skyscraper comes Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s barmy, charming, cheesy and always entertaining action blockbuster. Time to forget your superheroes, folks. This summer it’s all about massive robots.
‘Last of the Gaderene’ represents the Third Doctor adventure in BBC Books’ Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Collection. Written by Mark Gatiss in 2000, before his career as a screenwriter for the new series, it remains his most recent Who story in prose.