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...and R.I.P. SPOOKS. Thank you for ten hair-raising years of quality TV....

Posted at 1:59 PM in Television

With the second trailer for David Fincher's upcoming English language and yet-to-convince-me-it's-in-any-way-worthwhile remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO having recently hit the web, it somehow seems appropriate that the extended television version of the original Swedish adaptation and...

Posted at 9:35 PM in Television

(THE FIELD OF BLOOD aired on BBC1 Scotland on Sunday May 8th and Monday May 9th.) I'm a little surprised that FIELD OF BLOOD is the first of Denise Mina's novels to be adapted to the screen. The GARNETHILL trilogy...

Posted at 11:08 PM in Television

This past weekend, the BBC's Emmy-winning crime series WAKING THE DEAD began its ninth and sadly final season with a two-parter, "Harbinger", penned by Ed Whitmore. Whitmore is someone whose writing I have a lot of time for, particularly with...

Posted at 1:01 PM in Television

For the last several years, most of my TV recordings have come courtesy of the Freecom DVB-T USB stick I picked up for somewhere in the region of £15. Back then, the only television being broadcast via antenna in the...

Posted at 5:13 PM in Television

On a handful of occasions in the last six months or so, I've furtively mentioned trips to London and Bristol relating to what I rather cryptically described as an "employment opportunity". Having now clarified matters, I'm now in a position...

Posted at 5:04 PM in Television

Murderland is a three-part crime drama starring Robbie Coltrane that aired on ITV1 over three weeks, from October 19 to November 2. Crime dramas are, of course, a dime a dozen on ITV's evening schedules, whether they're long-running series like...

Posted at 2:59 PM in Television

Source: EW.com Well, I won't claim that I'm hugely surprised, or indeed hugely disappointed. The writing was on the wall more or less from the get-go, and the fact that it got a second season at all is, depending on...

Posted at 11:21 AM in Television

* Warning! * This post contains major spoilers for the episode. So, Ruth is back. And poor old Malcolm crept out the back door after eight years on our screens. Thankfully, he was still breathing when he departed, breaking with...

Posted at 4:46 PM in Television

The television miniseries (or serial) is something of a lost art. British television dramas tend to take one of two forms: (1) one-off or two-part standalones, or (2) longer-running, multi-season productions of varying length. Wikipedia defines a miniseries as "a...

Posted at 3:04 PM in Television

Written by Daniel Percival and Andrew Holden; Directed by Daniel Percival * WARNING * Spoilers ahead! * WARNING * The overused phrase "rollercoaster ride" is not one I'd normally use for Waking the Dead, but it certainly applies to the...

Posted at 9:25 PM in Television

...a discussion of the merits of I Spit on Your Grave on last night's Casualty. It was brief, and the episode as a whole didn't do much for me, but for a moment I thought I'd entered some sort of...

Posted at 11:30 AM in Television

Written by Edward Bennett and Ed Whitmore; Directed by Edward Bennett This has got to rank as hands down the silliest episode of Waking the Dead ever screened - a crushing disappointment when you consider how good last week's instalment...

Posted at 1:35 PM in Television

Written by Ed Whitmore; Directed by Dan Reed Apologies for skipping over an entire series and a two-parter, but I wanted to write about this one while it was still fresh in my mind. (I'll come back to Series 7...

Posted at 12:49 PM in Television

I don't really have much to say about the weekend's opening two-parter for Casualty's twenty-fourth series, which in comparison to the last couple of season premieres really wasn't all that impressive. I will, however, point out that I grudgingly respect...

Posted at 9:27 AM in Television

Dollhouse is the latest series from Joss Whedon, whose previous shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, all attained cult followings and are fondly remembered despite never having made it big with the masses. (In fact, Buffy and Angel...

Posted at 9:22 PM in Television

A few thoughts on the opening two-parter of the eighth series of Waking the Dead. (Warning: spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen it.) Overall, a stronger story than the last two season premieres, mainly because this one had a...

Posted at 10:55 AM in Television

The 2009-2010 television season will shortly be starting on either side of the Atlantic. While British television doesn't really operate around the same seasonal structure as its American counterpart, there's still something of a tradition of new series of popular...

Posted at 4:03 PM in Television

Looks like Tim Minear has joined the staff of Dollhouse full time for its upcoming second season, after holding down a part-time consulting role on Season 1 (for which he wrote two episodes, including the broadcast season finale). This can...

Posted at 10:21 PM in Television

Another year, another 48 episodes, another "Why am I still watching this?" conundrum. The answer to the latter point, I suppose, is that I'm a glutton for punishment. I'm also, however, an optimist, and I continue to cling to the...

Posted at 4:23 PM in Television

I started watching this today, although given the sweltering heat I kind of wish I'd chosen something that wasn't set in the Deep South. Anyway, despite the fact that it did nothing to cool me down (seriously, if this fucking...

Posted at 10:20 PM in Television

Back when the current series of Casualty started airing last September, I put together a write-up about the opening two-part storyline, expressing admiration at how effective it turned out to be. I've remained quiet about the rest of the series...

Posted at 8:21 PM in Television