tv
BBC Young Musician 2020 Finale, BBC Four review - poise versus extraterrestrial ecstasyTuesday, 04 May 2021![]()
“You have to be careful you’re not judging the piece,” cautioned a pearl-necklaced Nicholas Daniel, great oboist and winner of the 1980 BBC Young Musician (of the Year, as it then was). Read more... |
Line of Duty, Series 6 Finale, BBC One review - crafty ending leaves wriggle room for a sequelMonday, 03 May 2021![]()
WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS Read more... |
Intergalactic, Sky One review - lovely CGI, shame about the dramaSaturday, 01 May 2021![]()
Welcome to Commonworld, in the year 2143. It’s been built above the ruins of the old world, and the opening sequence of Sky One’s new interstellar thriller showed us the crumbling remains of Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral mouldering beneath glittering futuristic super-scrapers and sweeping skyways. Read more... |
Viewpoint, ITV review - the perils of the peeping tom policeWednesday, 28 April 2021![]()
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller Rear Window has spawned its fair share of copycats, including Disturbia and Brian de Palma’s Femme Fatale. Read more... |
Line of Duty, Series 6, Episode 6, BBC One review - the pace accelerates for AC-12's final countdownMonday, 26 April 2021![]()
As the finishing line begins to materialise through the haze of fear, suspicion and zany acronyms, the pace of this sixth series of Line of Duty (BBC One) has hotted up appreciably. In earlier episodes, there sometimes seemed to be a lack of intensity, and even the fabled interview scenes didn’t always grip like they used to. Read more... |
The Winter's Tale, RSC, BBC Four review - post-war poise colours a solid productionMonday, 26 April 2021![]()
It has been a hard coming for this RSC Winter’s Tale. Erica Whyman’s production was cancelled by the virus days before its premiere last spring, with plans to stage it in the autumn frustrated by the second lockdown. Read more... |
Mare of Easttown, Sky Atlantic review - Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mysteryTuesday, 20 April 2021![]()
Read our review of the season finale here Read more... |
Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty, BBC Two review - when crime paid handsomely for corrupt officersThursday, 15 April 2021![]()
As Line of Duty aficionados debate the identity of H and wonder who DCI Joanne Davidson shares her DNA with, this new three-part series from BBC Two investigates the history of real-life corruption in the Metropolitan Police. Read more... |
Too Close, ITV review - capable cast struggles with unrewarding materialWednesday, 14 April 2021![]()
What may have happened here is that an intriguing book has been turned into a not so great TV series. Read more... |
This is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist, Netflix - the last word (for now)Thursday, 08 April 2021![]()
It’s no surprise that 30 years on, the individuals most closely connected to the world’s biggest art heist are showing their age. Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
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Last night was the first time I had heard the 12 Ensemble, a string group currently Artist-in-Residence at the Wigmore Hall, and I was very...
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On walking into Mikalene Thomas’s exhibition at the...
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Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston just gets better and better, both as singer and as actor. Last night’s recital at Temple Church had an unusual and...
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Microtonic comes into focus on its third track, “Infinity Peaking.” Album opener “Goit,” featuring a guest vocal by Working Men’s Club’s...
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At the age of 83, Martha Argerich contains more personality in...
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Myra Hess was one of the most important figures in British cultural life in the mid-20th century: the pre-eminent...
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Sebastian Copeland’s images of the Arctic may look otherworldly – with their tilting cathedrals of ice, hypnotic light, and fractured seascapes...
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An album is one thing, a live show is another. A truism of course, but one which is inescapable during this London date by the Rotterdam-based...
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Rehab people will tell you there are three stages to drug abuse: fun; fun with problems; problems. There’s also a fourth phase, where there aren't...