Full disclosure. I’m a big Phil Davis fan. Over his career, viewers have been treated to Davis as the mean money lender in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House, the human incarnation of the devil on Being Human, a murderous cab driver in the first episode of Sherlock, a crime family solicitor in Silk and, more recently, his portrayal as […]
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It’s Spring so must be time for another brilliant contemporary political thriller from the BBC. Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Adrian Lester (Hustle, Othello) star as Maya, a high-profile lawyer and her policeman husband, Nick, a husband and wife with some serious secrets. Maya is about to become the first black Director of Public Prosecutions. Just as […]
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This just in…a U.S. television broadcast network will try, yet again, to re-invent the wheel and adapt a British drama for American television. Surprise! ABC will re-make Peter Moffat’s British legal drama, Silk, the Bafta-nominated BBC drama which revolved around the lives of barristers at Shoe Lane chambers, and the lengths they went to to […]
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As if 2014 wasn’t already a busy year for Dame Maggie Smith, on Friday, October 17, the Dowager Countess was made a member of the Order of Companion of Honour in a ceremony at Windsor Castle. Ok, technically, it was actually Dame Maggie Smith that received this well-deserved honor, but it was fun to think […]
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One of the greatest things about British television AND one of the most maddening for viewers is the fact that the number of episodes in a series is limited. Unlike their American television counterparts, most British drama and/or comedy series are anywhere between 6-10 episodes max. In some cases like Sherlock or DCI Banks there are only three episodes each season. Three brilliant films but still only three. On the upside, this allows viewers to see their favorite actors in other roles, many times crossing over from drama to comedy or vice versa.
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After a healthy dose of comedy the last couple of days with Rev, Wrong Mans, Uncle, Inside No. 9 and Mr. Sloane, the focus was on drama as we are at the halfway point of the BBC Showcase screenings in Liverpool. Already armed with the knowledge that there will be new seasons of Death in […]
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Next time the Downton Abbey faithful in the UK get upset that American critics saw a clip of the upcoming series 4 before anyone saw in the UK, I might be inclined to point out that the brilliant BBC legal drama has run for two series on BBC One before U.S. audiences got even a […]
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Being ‘human’ is hard enough for the average individual. Imagine how difficult it is for your average vampire, ghost and/or werewolf. Now, put them all in a flat in Wales and it becomes almost impossible to imagine. Being Human, the Toby Whithouse creation started out almost five years ago now as a series that bordered […]
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The happiest of birthdays today to Rupert Penry-Jones, a name to this day that may not roll off your tongue but telly watchers on both sides of the pond are more than well aware of his stellar work in series such as Spooks, Silk and Whitechapel in addition to specials such as 39 Steps and […]
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Following up on the successful 2008 re-do of Hitchcock’s 1935 film, The 39 Steps, which starred Rupert Penry-Jones, Lydia Leonard and David Haig, the BBC has announced plans to tackle Hitchcock’s 1939 classic, The Lady Vanishes. Targeted for Christmas release on BBC One, the film is set to begin filming in Budapest at the end […]
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