*Spoiler Alert* As the most-watched new drama of 2021, Vigil seems to be the BBC’s answer to the hole that Line of Duty left in the primetime Sunday 9pm slot. It is the latest big budget gritty police procedural drama, with the twist of this common formula coming in the form of a new setting – a submarine 300 meters below sea level. Hot off … Continue reading Review: Vigil
As we wait for the highly anticipated new series of Bridgerton and Downton Abbey, many of us have been looking to fill a period drama-shaped hole within our lives. A difficult task to fulfil, you may say, but one of the BBC’s newest mini-series, The Pursuit of Love, may just be the answer to all your TV-related prayers. Continue reading Review: The Pursuit of Love
*SPOILER ALERT* The sixth series of Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty was without a doubt the most anticipated instalment yet. Production had already been halted for six months because of the pandemic, and lockdown meant that many people discovered the show for the first time during the last hiatus. The series has kept the nation gripped over the last seven weeks, and on Sunday night, … Continue reading Review: Line of Duty (series 6)
In the era of technological domination, education through television is far from uncommon. We gain our facts and our opinions from a screen. As our eyes remain glued to the images that flash before us, our beliefs become shaped by various depictions of history. Whilst our perceptions are informed by our lived experiences, images and stories depicted in the media fill in the gaps. Where … Continue reading The Changing Face of British Television: How Small Axe Carved New Ground
**SPOILERS AHEAD** Co-written by current showrunner Suzanne Heathcote and season four showrunner Laura Neal, ‘Are You Leading or Am I?’ is a satisfying ending to a rollercoaster of a season. It ends with less of a bang than the previous two seasons, but by no means with fewer twists. It sees Villanelle throw in the towel on her career as an assassin, and Eve turns … Continue reading Living for Killing Eve: Ep. 8 – Are You Leading or Am I?
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
‘Beautiful Monster’ ramps up Killing Eve’s pace. While series three has taken a more languid quality, prioritising character development over fast-paced action, the penultimate episode returns to an intensity reminiscent of the earlier series, building towards the series finale. This makes for the most exciting episode of the series so far, pushing closer to solving the series’ mysteries and providing some shock moments along the way. Continue reading Living for Killing Eve: Ep. 7 – Beautiful Monster
It “makes a great case for the enriching power of queerness to open up paths we never thought we could tread.”
It turns out good television can be like comfort food. Lockdown so far has been a lot of eating out of boredom and staring mindlessly between screens, but each episode of BBC’s new eight-part drama was a home-made meal and I devoured it. Continue reading Review: Trigonometry
‘Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey’ marks the start of Suzanne Heathcote’s time as showrunner, and it does not disappoint. The episode opens with a dreary Soviet flashback in which a young girl, Dasha, brutally murders her boyfriend. We then cut to the titles and the present day, in which Villanelle has moved to Barcelona and, surprisingly, is getting married. Of course, Villanelle isn’t the marrying type, and it’s unsurprising when her toast falls short, or when the dancing is disrupted by an arrival from her past, causing the entire wedding to descend into chaos. Continue reading Living for Killing Eve: Ep. 1 – Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey
Reading Malorie Blackman’s multi-award winning novel Noughts and Crosses during my last years of primary school was an eye-opening experience about the extent of racism in our society, and my position of privilege in the world. My interest was piqued when I heard that the BBC was creating a TV adaptation. With the current political climate, the open (and horrific) examples of police brutality internationally, and increased instances of racism at our university, now was seemingly the time for this series to be adapted. On a trip home from university I binge-watched the entire series in one day and found myself being shaken again by this story. Continue reading Politics on Screen: Noughts and Crosses
When I read in the Radio Times that the Profumo Affair was to be televised into a six-part BBC drama I must admit that I was underwhelmed. Although British screenwriters work wonders with recreating events of the past, with series such as The Crown and A Very English Scandal enthralling their audiences, it all seems to be a tad overdone. However, when The Trial of Christine Keeler came to its conclusion last week, the series brought to light the timelessness of political scandal, and its prevalence in the 2020 contemporary media. Continue reading Politics on Screen: The Trial of Christine Keeler
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