Reviews
All Creatures Great and Small, Christmas Special, Channel 5 review - Mrs Hall steps into the spotlight
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
Since its revival in 2020, All Creatures Great and Small has drawn big audiences internationally and become Channel 5’s biggest hit, even if there have been occasional grumbles about how it takes liberties with James Herriot’s original books.
Travis, OVO Hydro review - a Christmas night out with some regrets
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
Travis arrived onstage with the theme tune from classic sitcom Cheers as an accompaniment. The cavernous OVO Hydro might not be a place where everyone knows your name, but a Glasgow homecoming by local lads made good certainly tapped into a festive vibe of friends and familiarity, with singer Fran Healy making ample reference to the group’s roots during their set.
Nosferatu review - Lily-Rose Depp stands out in...
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
Robert Eggers' strength as a director is his ability to bring historical periods alive with gritty, tactile realism. He does this successfully...
Death in Paradise Christmas Special, BBC One...
Monday, 23 December 2024
Though Death in Paradise is an Anglo-French production filmed in Guadeloupe, in the French West Indies, the Frenchness seems to have mysteriously...
The English Concert, Bicket, Wigmore Hall review...
Monday, 23 December 2024
Enough is as good as a feast, they say. But sometimes, especially at Christmas, you crave a properly groaning table. At the Wigmore Hall, The English...
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The Unthanks in Winter, Cadogan Hall review
An Unthanks Christmas is forever, not just for the season |
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - X In Search Of Space, Doremi Fasol Latido
Must-have box-set editions of two of British rock’s most important albums |
Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre review - comic energy dissipates in too large a space
Too much thinking; not enough laughing |
Nutcracker, English National Ballet, Coliseum review - Tchaikovsky and his sweet tooth rule supreme
New production's music, sweets, and hordes of exuberant children make this a hot ticket |
You Me Bum Bum Train, secret location review - a joyful multiverse of anarchic creativity
This latest incarnation of the show is a wild, spinning ride through different forms of reality |
The Tempest, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane review - Sigourney Weaver's impassive Prospero inhabits an atmospheric, desolate world
Magic is minimised in Jamie Lloyd's pared-back version |
Albums of the Year 2024: Mercury Rev - Born Horses
An exploration of inner space, freeze-dried electronica, French nursery rhymes and more |
Strike: The Ink Black Heart, BBC One review - protracted, convoluted puzzler lifted by its leads
The army veteran and his partner are still trapped in a detective-genre script |
Albums of the Year 2024: Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso - Baño María
Art that creates it's own (deliriously wild) lane |
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Donmar Warehouse review - a blazingly original musical flashes into the West End
War and Peace - but not as you know it |
Messiah, Wild Arts, Chichester Cathedral review - a dynamic battle between revelatory light and Stygian gloom
This supple inventive interpretation of the 'Messiah' thrillingly delivers the story |
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl review - an old foe returns
Stop-motion animation on an epic scale |
The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre review - beautiful wit, awkward staging
Tom Stoppard’s evocation of Victorian golden age Oxford stars Simon Russell Beale |
Messiah, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - once more, with real feeling
The seasonal standby returns with heart, zest and grace |
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, New Adventures, Sadler's Wells review - 30 years on, as bold and brilliant as ever
A masterly reinvention has become a classic itself |
Albums of the Year 2024: Kenny Barron - Beyond This Place
Consistently glorious - nothing less than a very great album |
Music Reissues Weekly: Vanilla Fudge - Where Is My Mind The ATCO Recordings 1967-1969
A wild ride with the ‘You Keep me Hanging on’ hitmakers |
Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes review - a Hollywood legend, warts and all
A documentary portrait of Bogie toes the official line but still does him justice |
The Little Foxes, Young Vic review - timeshifted production blurs the play's focus
Lillian Hellman’s family feud set in 1900 Alabama doesn’t survive a confused updating |
Sujo review - cartels through another lens
A surprisingly subtle narco pic from Mexico |
Queer review - Daniel Craig meets William Burroughs
Luca Guadagnino's film is crazy but it just might work |
The Legends of Them, Royal Court review - reaching out for serenity
Gig theatre piece about the pain and redemption of a pioneer reggae artist |
William J. Mann: Bogie & Bacall review - beyond the screen
Why we're still in love with Bogart and Bacall, and their legendary Hollywood romance |
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review - a middling return to Middle-earth
JRR Tolkien gets the anime treatment |
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All Creatures Great and Small, Christmas Special, Channel 5...
Since its revival in 2020, All Creatures Great and Small has drawn big audiences internationally and become Channel 5’s biggest hit, even...
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Though Death in Paradise is an Anglo-French production filmed in Guadeloupe, in the French West Indies, the Frenchness seems to have...
The English Concert, Bicket, Wigmore Hall review - a Baroque...
Enough is as good as a feast, they say. But sometimes, especially at Christmas, you crave a properly groaning table. At the Wigmore Hall, The...
The Unthanks in Winter, Cadogan Hall review
A suitable place to find yourself out for the winter solstice, buttoning up for the longest night of the year, was at the Cadogan Hall off Sloane...
Albums of the Year 2024: Everything Everything - Mountainhea...
There are some years where my pick for album of the year is obvious; something stands out so...