ITV
The Sister, ITV review - half-baked dramatisation of esteemed novelThursday, 29 October 2020
Neil Cross’s novel Burial was hailed for its skilful plotting and insightful characterisations, as well as its macabre atmosphere. Disappointingly, the author’s own adaptation of the book looks clumsy and uncomfortable on TV.It’s being shown in four... Read more... |
The Singapore Grip, ITV review - colonial clichésMonday, 14 September 2020
ITV’s Sunday evening costume drama slot is filled for the next six weeks with this lacklustre adaptation of JG Farrell’s satirical novel, The Singapore Grip. Set in 1942, it was written in 1978 as the final part of his trilogy about British... Read more... |
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum, ITV review - will motherhood be the gateway to a new life?Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Apart from her acting abilities, the qualities which made Sheridan Smith a star were her authenticity and lack of pretension. Both shone brightly from ITV's affecting documentary, in which Smith assessed how her success affected her mental health... Read more... |
Roswell, New Mexico, ITV2 review - they've landed!Wednesday, 24 June 2020
It fell out of the sky in the summer of 1947, and crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. UFO-logists and conspiracy fanatics insist it was an alien spacecraft, but the US Air Force says it was a meteorological balloon.For the purposes of this... Read more... |
Harry's Heroes: Euro Having a Laugh, ITV review - jokey documentary delivers painful emotional truthsWednesday, 20 May 2020
Former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly famously commented that football is far more serious than a matter of life and death. This couldn’t quite be said of Harry Redknapp’s renewed adventures of footballers reunited (ITV), yet behind its jokey... Read more... |
The Village, ITV review - the weird and wonderful micro-climate of PortmeirionWednesday, 29 April 2020
Portmeirion, the Italianate village created by architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis on the River Dwyryd estuary, might have been designed to provide the perfect surreal setting for the 1967 TV series The Prisoner. But though it resembles an opium... Read more... |
Van der Valk, ITV review - can the Dutch detective make a successful comeback?Monday, 27 April 2020
Between 1972-1992 five series of Van der Valk were made for ITV, starring Barry Foster as the eponymous Amsterdam detective. Nearly 30 years later comes this reincarnation with Marc Warren in the title role, no doubt hoping to find a regular home in... Read more... |
Quiz, ITV review - cheats never prosper. Well, hardly everThursday, 16 April 2020
James Graham’s play Quiz was a hit in Chichester in 2017 and then made a much-admired transfer to the West End. Considering its subject matter – the fabled “Coughing Major”, Charles Ingram, who allegedly cheated his way to the titular seven-figure... Read more... |
Believe Me: The Cyprus Rape Case, ITV review - British teenager’s holiday from hellWednesday, 15 April 2020
The case of the British teenager allegedly raped by a group of young Israeli men in Ayia Napa in Cyprus last year, only to find herself convicted of “public mischief”, has built up a head of steam in the international press and has provoked outrage... Read more... |
Return to Belsen, ITV review - Jonathan Dimbleby retraces his father's journey to a nightmare worldWednesday, 08 April 2020
When the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany was liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on 15 April 1945, the BBC’s reporter Richard Dimbleby was there to record the occasion. It was Dimbleby’s report for BBC... Read more... |
The Trouble With Maggie Cole, ITV review - Dawn French stars in new comedy dramaThursday, 05 March 2020
ITV's drama department is in overdrive at the moment, with a seemingly endless release of series with high production values and stellar casts, and the latest is The Trouble With Maggie Cole. It's a six-parter based on an idea by Dawn French (... Read more... |
Liar, Series 2, ITV review - more crime-by-numbers from the Williams brothersTuesday, 03 March 2020
The first series of Liar, one of many thrillers from the fertile keyboards of Jack and Harry Williams, was on ITV back in 2017, so you may have forgotten the somewhat labyrinthine details. In a nutshell, smarmy surgeon and serial rapist Andrew... Read more... |
