Dirty, Harry�

I was a little disappointed to hear that season two of Life On Mars is to be the last, a mere 16 episodes doesn’t seem like quite enough to satisfy the palette when it comes to this unusual cop drama. If internet rumours are to be believed there may well be the opportunity to enjoy the US re-make (if “enjoy” is the right word) or even look forward the much suspected sequel/spin-off called Ashes To Ashes (to keep the Bowie theme alive) that will be set in the eighties. All this

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Tags: Ashes-To-Ashes, BBC1, BBC4, Gene-Hunt, John-Simm, Life-On-Mars, Period Drama, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler, The-Sweeney

Christmas Review #5 of 12

Marc Warren has clearly been unfeasably busy of late, in addition to his ongoing role in Hustle as the bubbly wide-boy Danny Blue, we’ve seen him appear in a show-stealing lead role as Elton Pope in Doctor Who, as the master assassin, Mr Teatime, in The Hogfather, and here as a rather well known Transylvanian. In another of the BBC’s recent adaptations of classic books and quite a surprising choice given the huge number of incarnations already created, Dracula gave us a fairly

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Tags: BBC1, Doctor Who, Dracula, Hogfather, Hustle, Marc-Warren, Period Drama

Christmas Review #4 of 12

Debuting with a more than respectable 8m viewers and keeping 5m or 6m of them happy throughout its 13-week run, the latest incarnation of Robin Hood was a curious beast.� Trying to capture the newly formed family viewing slot of “Saturday at 7pm on BBC1″ it was roundly panned by critics to begin with but I felt quite comfortable with it all along assured that it would get better as everyone settled down.� By the time the final episode aired last week (the oddly titled “A Clue: No”)

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Tags: BBC1, Castle, Christmas-TV, Jonas-Armstrong, Keith-Allen, Marian, Nottingham, Period Drama, Richard-Armitage, Robin-Hood, Sherriff, Sherwood-Forest

Christmas Review #3 of 12

Standing on a beach in Wales, apparently disguised to look like a beach in Noway, we last saw Rose bidding a tearful farewell to the Doctor in one of the TV highlights of 2006.� Actress Billie Piper has since indicated, if reports are to be believed, that she sort of regrets not staying on the show and is quite jealous of Freema Agyeman who is going to try and fill her shoes in series three of Doctor Who in the spring.� (The countdown starts here!).� I am sure much of this “regret” is just professional respect for the cast and crew

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Tags: BBC1, Billie-Piper, Christmas-TV, Doctor Who, Freema-Agyeman, His-Dark-Materials, Julie-Walters, Period Drama, Phillip-Pullman, The-Ruby-In-The-Smoke

Robin Hoodie

So, Robin Hood is back on Saturday evenings on BBC1 and The Other Viewer and I (and by all accounts, 8.2million others) merrily watched the unfeasably young Jonas Armstrong in the lead role attempt to lure another mammoth audience to the “Doctor Who slot” in the latest incarnation of this medieval tale. Series pilots are always difficult affairs as they try and introduce the characters, situations and settings as well as the general theme of proceedings, while at the same time trying

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Tags: BBC1, Doctor Who, Jonas-Armstrong, Keith-Allen, Period Drama, Robin-Hood

It’s Not Bleak House

Last Sunday the BBC debuted its newest period drama, Jane Eyre, starring newcomer Ruth Wilson as the eponymous heroine and Toby Stephens as the brooding Mr Rochester. Like Bleak House before it, and to which obvious comparissons will undoubtedly be made, it is a fine example of the BBC once again fulfilling its mandate to strive for quality over the lowest common denominator television shows that other channels seem intent on churning out (yes, McPartlane and

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Tags: BBC1, Bleak-House, Jane-Eyre, Mr-Rochester, Period Drama, Ruth-Wilson, Toby-Stephens