Drama | Tellyspotting

Posted October 21, 2014 - No Comment

'Happy Valley' to 'Grantchester' was quite a change for James Norton

After binge-watching Sally Wainwright’s amazing series, Happy Valley, which starred Sarah Lancashire and Steve Pemberton, I began to see the haunting figure of Tommie Lee Royce on every street corner. Played brilliantly by James Norton, Royce was the stereotypical tormented soul/psychopathic killer (if there is such a thing). Thankfully, to get that image out of my head, all I had to do was quickly fast forward to the premiere of ITV’s Grantchester earlier this month.

Posted October 11, 2014 - 1 Comment

More 'drama' than the law allows in New Orleans at BBC Syndication Showcase 2014

It was drama overload this past week in New Orleans at the BBC’s annual Syndication Showcase (insert how much you feel sorry for me being in New Orleans for three days screening brilliant telly here). I say drama overload in the nicest possible sense. Seems as though ever since that fateful day in January 2011 […]

Posted October 5, 2014 - 1 Comment

Nearly 100-year-old Sherlock Holmes film discovered in Paris

While it won’t erase the daily reminder that we still have 14 months (plus or minus a few days) until Benedict Cumberbatch returns to the small screen in Sherlock, the recent discovery of a long thought to be lost Sherlock Holmes film will delight even the most casual fan of the world’s most famous consulting detective. The 1916 silent movie about Sherlock Holmes has been discovered by the Cinematheque Francaise, which has joined with the San Francisco Film Festival to create a digital restoration.

Posted October 2, 2014 - 13 Comments

'Endeavour' back for third series in 2015

As we dive head first into our 6th year of Tellyspotting, why not start things off with more great news from the world of British telly — it was announced late last week that the brilliant Inspector Morse prequel, Endeavour, will return for a third series on ITV.

Posted September 30, 2014 - 1 Comment

Inspector Lewis returns to PBS with Hathaway in-tow

There was no joy in Mudville back in the Fall of 2013 when news came out of the UK that Inspector Robert ‘Robbie’ Lewis and Detective Sergeant James Hathaway were pulling a Brett Favre and were going to ‘retire’ after seven series. As you can imagine, when ITV announced that both Kevin Whately and Laurence […]

Posted September 28, 2014 - No Comment

'The Paradise' set to re-open tonight on PBS' Masterpiece

At long last, The Paradise is set for a series 2 return tonight on PBS’ Masterpiece Classic series. While the doors have been shuttered since series 1 came to a close almost a year ago in November 2013, fans of the BBC drama series have been wondering whether or not the second series would make […]

Posted September 27, 2014 - 1 Comment

Ranking the best of 'Sherlock' as we (patiently) wait for 2016

The Sherlock Nation is already painfully aware that it’s a very, very long time until anyone will see new episodes. A long, long time as in 15 months to be exact when a Christmas special rolls around in 2015, followed by three new episodes in 2016 for series 4. Thankfully, the folks over at DigitalSpy […]

Posted September 25, 2014 - No Comment

Grantchester headed to ITV/PBS

Grantchester, set against the backdrop of the real hamlet of Grantchester, is the newest addition to an already stellar drama lineup over at ITV and could soon be a part of the PBS drama line-up. The six-part drama focuses upon the life of Sidney Chambers, played by James Norton (Death Comes to Pemberley, Happy Valley), […]

Posted September 24, 2014 - No Comment

First look: Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III in BBC2's Hollow Crown: War of the Roses

Filming for the second cycle of Shakespeare’s history plays airing on BBC2 and PBS in America under the Hollow Crown is now underway. As with the first set of programs, this years follow-up sports quite the line-up that plays out like a who’s who of British actors who will lend their talents and star in […]

Posted September 17, 2014 - No Comment

Your 'Downton Abbey' S4 re-cap just in time for Sunday!

As the UK braces itself for Hurricane Downton that should hit landfall this Sunday, say around 9:00pm, we thought it best that since it has been approximately nine months since most everyone last visited the Crawleys we should do a bit of a recap of where we stand both upstairs and downstairs at Downton Abbey.