Fiona Lawrence

I was enjoying this show, with its intelligent dialogue and comic book fight scenes, but the underlying right wing ideology started to really put me off, not to mention the casual way Mr Reacher disposes of anyone who doesn't agree with him - found it particularly sickening the way he breaks a couple of newly created corpses' legs to fit into the boot of a car. But the incident that finally stopped me watching was the knowledge that Roscoe uses the pseudonym Margaret Mitchell at times, due to the fact she comes from Georgia and has to " represent." Represent what? A homage to the old South, at the heart of whose economy and ideology was odious slavery and racist violence? Entertaining though this show is, I couldn't go on after that.

Reacher

1 like

I'm enjoying this - entertaining, enough - but what a blunder to have Kat taking her mobile phone into a prison! The idea that she could just stroll in to the healthcare unit is preposterous enough, not to mention the nurse ( who looks like a refugee from Carry on Matron! ) giving a prisoner a truth serum, but you can get a 2 year sentence for bringing a mobile in, police officer or not! Shouldn't these programmes research better?!

Missing You

Is there any drama more overrated than Wolf Hall? Not only is it historically inaccurate , with crass dialogue and ludicrous scenarios involving punch ups in Council meetings, it is tedious. If you want a flawed Historical drama, at least "The Tudors" was entertaining. And I have a huge problem with this portrayal of Cromwell as a more sympathetic figure, often shocked by his own part in executions and dissolution.Cromwell was Henry V111's brutal enforcer, enthusiastically carrying out the King's dirty work, whether it was arranging the judicial murder of Henry's opponents or destroying the monasteries and thus displacing countless monks and nuns, as well as contributing to destitution in the country. He was the epitome of hypocrisy and greed, decrying Catholic corruption while lining his own pockets with the spoils of the church, so to make him into a sympathetic, tortured soul, which this drama attempts to do, is on a par with attempting to justify the tyranny that goes on in so many countries today. But maybe that's it - an age which can cheerfully countenance leaders like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump is perfect for a revisionist history of a murderous thug like Thomas Cromwell.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

8 likes

The Red King

This is stunningly bad. Nothing to do with prudishness - the production is just so empty. Apart from Juliane Moore, and her amusing second husband, the actors seem patently embarrassed by the limp, clunky script and the mandatory nudity. It reminds me of a series of drama school improvisations with acting students who can't quite believe what they have signed up for. And what is it with the insistence on modern day speech, with as much use of the f and c words as possible, that has infiltrated British costume drama? This works neither as history ( Countess of Somerset was English, for one thing - that is just one glaring historical inaccuracy) nor as tense pyschological drama. Whoever devised this has thrown in every ingredient designed to shock, titillate and entertain without thinking through the recipe at all. This is a waste of good actors and beautiful costumes (when they are wearing them of course!)

Mary & George

94 likes

The End

Fisk

Lovely lovely show! I'm not usually a fan of TV chefs but Sarah Lancashire's spectacular Julia is the exception. What a heart warming , comic, compassionate treat this programme is. Food is the gateway to a plethora of ideas and themes, political and philosophical, with a group of characters you will love. I've just finished watching it and will have to watch it all over again. I read that there won't be a third series which is very disappointing. Maybe , as with some of WGBH's programmes, there will be a last minute volte face and Julia will not be cancelled after all!

Julia

Absolutely wonderful- tragic, heartbreaking, raw, honest, funny... A towering performance from John Turturro as the flawed but brilliant lawyer and a heartwrenching turn from Riz Ahmed as the , possibly, irrevocably damaged Naz, following his disastrous night of. Far more intelligent and compassionate than the average murder mystery, this small screen masterpiece takes apart the corrupt justice system and shines a remorseless light on a brutal , destructive prison regime. I noticed that James Gandolfini was an executive producer, and Aida Turturro has a brief cameo... "Sopranos" Royalty and the iconic Michael Kenneth Williams from "the Wire"... how fitting that representatives of two of the most significant and groundbreaking series of the early 21st century should contribute to this later gem.

The Night Of

10 likes

Promising start but becomes increasingly depressing, turgid and clunky. And if there were more characters like Anna on TV, feminism would be set back by about 1000 years. She accepts so much horrendous treatment from her ex and her current love interest that she may as well have doormat tattooed across her forehead. The only time she shows any real spirit is on her horrendous Internet date. This show works neither as rom nor com! Tries hard to be quirky but fails hopelessly.

Significant Other

6 likes