Gunpowder (Episode 1/3, BBC One, 21/10/2017) follows the motivation and execution of an act of terrorism. I am aware that the use of that word is both anachronistic and subject to technical objections so I will clarify by saying that it is an example of violent action by individuals against executives of the state. We […]
Review: Victoria and Abdul
Victoria and Abdul (dir: Stephen Frears) is the latest example of an established genre of films which has developed the trick of holding up a mirror to the British as a people, seeing a certain amount of ugliness but then managing to come up smelling of roses. The ugliness we see is usually something along […]
The Beguiled
The Beguiled is Sofia Coppola’s take on the 1966 novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, and an earlier film adaptation by Don Siegal, starring Clint Eastwood. Coppola has a history of exploring female sexuality and power in works like The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette. Now she adds another clever and complex study – one with […]
Versailles Season 2: Episode 1
Which is your favourite Blackadder series? The Elizabethan one where Miranda Richardson redefines the Virgin Queen for all time? The Regency one? Or perhaps Blackadder Goes Forth, the WWI series with its final ascent into poignant seriousness. They are all good but I bet not one of you gave a thought to Series One. You […]
Harlots: Episode One
The opening titles of Harlots pull no punches: It’s 1763, London is booming and one in five women make a living by selling sex. We’re plunged immediately into the vivid world of Margaret Wells’s brothel, as her working girls laugh and bicker over their entries in the latest edition of Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies. […]
Jackie
Just one week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963, his widow invited Life Magazine journalist, Theodore H. White, to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port. She had a story to tell. In the resulting piece (which you can read here) White focuses on Jackie Kennedy’s hazy memories of that […]
British History’s Biggest Fibs With Lucy Worsley
British History’s Biggest Fibs With Lucy Worsley (Episode 1/3, 26 January, BBC Four) opens with an account of the Wars of the Roses. Lucy Worsley lurches in pursuit of a retreating camera, talking of constant warfare. The corners of her mouth remain upturned in a conspiratorial smirk even when she mentions the slaughter of children. […]
To Walk Invisible: BBC’s Brontë Biopic
Screenwriter Sally Wainwright is best known for hard-hitting drama, Happy Valley and ratings hit, Last Tango in Halifax. Kicking off her career with a stint on Emmerdale, she’s found her niche writing, and latterly directing, TV drama set in the North of England. Her work is characterised by down-to-earth storytelling with a big dash of […]