tv
Perry Mason, Sky Atlantic review - low life and hard times in Depression-era LATuesday, 23 June 2020
Rather like David Suchet’s Poirot, the world will always think of Raymond Burr as the doughty defence lawyer Perry Mason, whom he played in nine TV series and 26 TV movies between 1957 and 1993. But Burr’s Mason existed before the age of the prequel, which now brings us HBO’s impressively-mounted back story of the battling attorney (showing on Sky Atlantic). Read more... |
The Luminaries, BBC One review - one of the most visually arresting dramas of the yearMonday, 22 June 2020
Alarm bells start ringing whenever you discover an author is adapting their own work for a screenplay. In the case of New Zealand novelist Eleanor Catton, the alarm proves to be false. Read more... |
Tutankhamun in Colour, BBC Four review - amazing enhanced images bring fabled Pharaoh to lifeFriday, 19 June 2020
Tut in colour, and he is! Read more... |
The Woods, Netflix review - missing-person mystery reveals a heart of darknessThursday, 18 June 2020
After the success of the sci-fi crime drama 1983 (2018), another Polish original series has landed at Netflix. The Woods, directed by Leszek Dawid and Bartosz Konopka, is a six-part mystery thriller adapted from Harlan Coben’s novel, set in two main time spans: 1994 and 2019. Read more... |
The Salisbury Poisonings, BBC One review - the Cold War comes to WiltshireWednesday, 17 June 2020
The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with the nerve agent novichok in 2018 was one of the more bizarre episodes in recent memory, a kind of delayed-action echo of the Cold War. Read more... |
A House Through Time, Series Finale, BBC Two review - timely series reaches uneven conclusionWednesday, 17 June 2020
Setting his third series of A House Through Time in Bristol (BBC One) was a stroke of inspired prescience for historian and presenter David Olusoga. Read more... |
Hillary, Sky Documentaries review - facing the fire and furyFriday, 12 June 2020
“Never get rattled”. For some, it might sound like a trite self-help mantra. For Hillary Rodham Clinton, it was an essential daily memo and a practical self-affirmation. In recent public memory, she is the political figure who has been rattled the most, often with sinister intent. Read more... |
What We Do in the Shadows, BBC Two review - the vampires of Staten Island are backFriday, 12 June 2020
The first series of What We Do in the Shadows, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s mockumentary about vampires in Staten Island (a TV spin-off from their cult New Zealand-located film) was a joy, and although it’s a hard act to follow, it’s delicious to be reacquainted with these timeless Transylvanian transplants and their mission to conquer the Americas. At least, that’s what their master, a crumbling vampire baron, has told them to do. Read more... |
Freud, Netflix review - hysteria and horrorThursday, 11 June 2020
Anyone expecting, as I was, a reverend and slightly earnest miniseries about Sigmund Freud's early professional years will be in for a surprise, and mostly in a good way. Read more... |
Das Boot, Series 2, Sky Atlantic review - multi-layered war drama goes from strength to strengthWednesday, 10 June 2020
Das Boot made an impressive debut early last year with its entwined narratives of war by land and sea. 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...
Album: Doves - Constellations for the Lonely
Doves really are quite prog rock aren’t they? It’s never really leapt out at me before, probably because I’d always thought of them as brooding...
Ridout, 12 Ensemble, Wigmore Hall review - brilliant Britten...
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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Helen Charlston, Sholto Kynoch, Temple Church review - fine...
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...
Album: bdrmm - Microtonic
Microtonic comes into focus on its third track, “Infinity Peaking.” Album opener “Goit,” featuring a guest vocal by Working Men’s Club’s...
Argerich, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Papadopoulos, Barbi...
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Jessica Duchen: Myra Hess - National Treasure review - well-...
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Interview: Polar photographer Sebastian Copeland talks about...
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Rats on Rafts, The Victoria review - crepuscular Dutch quint...
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...