Reviews

This is the rebooted Detective Sergeant John Rebus (Richard Rankin) but the early years. An ex soldier turned a maverick and violent cop on the streets of Edinburgh.

The show was commissioned by a Scandinavian streaming channel Viaplay who briefly launched a service in Britain. Then quickly pulled out.

The BBC stepped in and purchased the series by becoming an associate producer. They did not originally commissioned the show or were involved in its development and I think this is evident in the first episode.

It opens with Rebus being involved in a car accident, he was deliberately rammed off the road by a gangster called Cafferty. Rebus tries to strangle him in the ambulance.

The action moves a year later. It mostly involves Rebus's brother Michael getting involved in crime after experiencing money troubles.

There was not much original here. It has all the maverick cop cliches. At least Rankin made an impression as Rebus and I liked the tale involving his brother. The story is going to struggle over six episodes.

You Can't Be Too Careful is a cross between the movies Single White Female and Psycho.

Della Galway (Serena Evans) has moved into a new job and a new flat. As she cannot afford the rent, she gets Rosamund who works at the same office to flatshare.

Only problem is. Della is conscientious at work. She is security conscious at home, making sure all the doors and windows are locked.

Unfortunately Rosamund is very lax about security. She is lazy at work, spending time gossiping and complaining about her boyfriend.

Maybe if the story delved more into Della's life, it could had been better. This is a stripped down version of what could had been an interesting story.

If only Della got a character reference about her new flatmate.

The penultimate episode delivers a plot. It is noticeable a lot of the excitement from the first episode went away a long time ago. Such as the opening chase scene.

Kirby has been shot and is injured. He manages to get his wound dressed by his ex wife. Staying up on his feet with the help of some booze.

Kirby needs Laura's assistance. He must meet her stepfather Fane and come to some sort of arrangement. Kirby needs Fane to believe him that Dr Vincent is a Russian asset.

It seems Kirby has been working freelance for the security services to make some extra money. He is still working the angles for a big payday.

With the plot explained, at least the viewer has a fair idea of the story before the finale. Only Kirby's informants are not doing well.

After the broadcast of Deadly Obsession in 1992. Kathleen Calhaem wrote to the Broadcasting Standards Council claiming her portrayal was unfair. Her complaint was rejected. She was in prison at the time for procuring murder.

This crime story very much sticks to the facts. Kathleen Calhaem (Janet Henfrey) was a well to do and tough as nails businesswoman. She lived with another woman and could not even be described as unconventionally beautiful.

Somehow Calhaem became obsessed with local solicitor Kenneth Pigot. He was having a long term affair with a married woman Shirley Rendell. Her husband was a good friend of Pigot.

Calhaem hatched a plan to get rid off Shirley. The patsy was Julan Zajac who also went by the name of Julian Jones, a private investigator who drank too much and gambled a lot.

He was paid £10,000 by the unhinged Calhaem to kill Shirley Rendell in 1983.

I did wonder why this story was chosen. Although factual based, was it about an ugly lesbian who became infatuated by a man. The psychology regarding both Calhaem and Zajac was missing. What we get here is threadbare, almost comical.

Henfrey is very good as the manipulative Kathleen Calhaem. She would be forever known as the teacher in The Singing Detective.

Kathleen Calhaem will not be complaining about my review. She was later released from prison and died in 2006.

What is it with British killers with the variation of the name Neilson. Dennis Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer caught in the early 1980s.

Donald Neilson was the Black Panther in the 1970s. A notorious burglar turned Post Officer robber. Later he kidnapped a wealthy heiress.

Neilson had a messy unhappy upbringing but found his feet in the army during National Service. Although he was a builder, he supplemented his income by carrying out burglaries in the 1960s in the north of England.

In the 1970s he robbed sub Post Offices with armed weapons and he was not afraid to fire a gun. Although Neilson planned these robberies with military precision. Several were bungled leaving dead people behind.

As the post office stepped up security. Neilson hot on an idea to kidnap seventeen year old heiress Lesley Whittle and hold her for ransom. The ransom part was bungled and Lesley was later found dead.

Dubbed the Black Panther has he was decked out in a black hood and he moved speedily. He was caught almost by chance.

Fred Dinenage had covered the story of the Black Panther as a news reporter in the 1970s. Here he talks to some of the policemen who help apprehend this violent criminal.

Duncan of Stoneykirk returns, the Highland outlaw who Robin Hood once helped.

Now Robin Hood is on a top secret mission for King Richard. To go to Scotland and collect 500 gold crowns owed to Richard by King William of Scotland.

So Robin sets off with Friar Tuck. Only when he gets to the Scots countryside, they are ambushed by outlaws. Luckily they are part of Duncan's gang.

So there is all sorts of merriment and they partake in some Highland games. Robin turns down Duncan's offer of help. Knowing he would want a share of the gold crowns.

Only King William of Scotland is reluctant for the coins to leave Scotland. Setting up a ambush so he can have the coins back. Luckily Duncan is there to help.

A neat little story but I did wonder why Robin only took one person to accompany him and it had to be the unfit Friar Tuck.

It could be a race to the altar. Granny is convinced that Sonny Drysdale will propose to Elly May. He mentioned something about giving her a ring.

While Granny was eavesdropping from a tree. She is determined that both Elly May and Sonny get together soon. At 18 years of age she Elly May might as well be an old maid.

When Cousin Pearl hears about Elly May possibly getting married. She wants her daughter Jethrine to beat her to it. So Cousin Pearl wants to hook up Jethrine with Jasper Depew.

All this talk of marriage comes as a shock to Sonny. He regards himself as the last of the playboys.

Well at least someone in the Clampett household has got to grips with the telephone. Maybe not where the doorbell sound comes from.

Jessica Fletcher goes to the races and finds her niece Tracy MacGill is a last minute replacement as a jockey. Carlos who was scheduled to ride a horse has suddenly fallen ill.

Racehorse owner Jack Bowen is doing something dodgy, Such as doping a horse, he has already upset mobsters in Vegas who have lost out to heavy betting on an outsider.

Tracy rides her horse to win. Only Jack Bowen is found dead and Tracy is arrested.

Jessica needs to track down the real killer. The police chief seems unconcerned that there is little evidence against Tracy.

I found the structure to be messy. Too many suspects, some portrayed so heavy handed to be the likely ones.

Some of the characters betting on the horses were better.

I saw the repeat of this episode probably some time in the early 1990s or late 1980s. Hence why I had that abiding memory of Dixon stuck behind his police desk with some green walls. It's as miserable as a police station could get.

The events in the episode also had some relevance in the 80s and 90s as well. It was still rare for police to be armed and there were several incidents of unarmed men to be shot by the police. In a few instances, the wrong man.

After receiving a tip off regarding the whereabouts of some armed robbers. Sergeant Dixon arms some of his police officers which includes DI Crawford.

While searching for the armed men in a house. Crawford seems to have tripped and then shots were fired. One of the robber's is wounded. There seems to be no oral warning given by the police officers and guns were found when the robbers were arrested.

Detective Chief Superintendent Donovan (Percy Herbert) has been tasked to find out what happened. The press will have a field day if it comes to light that the men were unarmed.

The officers involved have to justify their actions and they also seem to give conflicting accounts. Even Dixon ends up in conflict with Crawford as he tries to leave the police station.

The outside location shooting in film were murky as to leave the viewer confused as to what happened. So no one has any idea what happened as Donovan tries to put the pieces together.

It was an effective episode as the officers are investigates, be away from their families and not communicate with each other. Donivan is like a bulldog but at the end gets a fair idea as to what occurred.

I still think the show did not clear up that an unarmed man was shot and some of the police officers were not suitably trained as armed officers.

The irony is not lost that the opening and closing speech was given by a police officer who had been shot dead.

When Russell T Davies decided to get the band together for his second ear as Doctor Who showrunner.

It also included bringing back his star guest writer and eventual successor Steven Moffat. Will he bring back his old box of tricks or does he have a few new twists with a few tweaks of the algorithm.

Boom is all about tension which slowly ratchets up. The Doctor arrives at Kastarian 3 where a battle takes place with the Anglican clerics and some unseen monsters inhabiting it.

Only for the Doctor to step on the landmine, manufactured by the Villengard corporation. They make a lot of money from war.

Ruby needs to help the Doctor from blowing himself up.

A simple structure with ever emerging problems. It transpires that the Doctor could take most of the planet with him.

There are callbacks to Moffat's previous episodes. Such as priests as warriors. Villengard that the Doctor turned to a banana plantation.

It relies on tension and acting from the main performers. Especially from Ncuti Gatwa.

The third series opens with Worzel Gummidge and Aunt Sally living together on Scatterbrook Farm. Just like a real married couple.

Worzel is cooking breakfast as Aunt Sally demands twelve sausages as well as toast. The full English as the pig runs away from the farm.

Only the breakfast is not cooked. Worzel is afraid to turn on the stove in case Worzel catches fire.

It turns out that the Braithwaites and the Peters families have gone abroad on holiday. Worzel and Aunt Sally have moved in and caused a mess.

Harry, the man meant to look after the farm has not bothered to show up. It is left to the Crowman to clear up the mess.

The third series have gone more for frolics, although it might not make sense if you think about it. How did Worzel Gummidge know that useless Harry would not show up to look after the farm.

In fact who did feed the animals while the Braithwaites were away? It seems the rest of the farmhands were absent.

Labyrinths is one of these episodes that have became popular in sci-fi shows. The biggest library in the world.

In this case the Discovery arrive to the Eternal Gallery and Archive. It changes location about every 50 years and is protected by a massive plasma storm cloud. Burnham takes Book with her to the archive.

Only when she touches the metal card of the book. She collapses and ends up in a Mindscape. Her mind has to solve the puzzles created by the Progenitors.

Burnham meets a man who looks like Book. An entity to help guide her in this Mindscape world.

This is a psychological episode. As Burnham has to admit aspects about her own character. It was just not that interesting. The audience has a good grasp about the character after five seasons.

It livened up a bit when the Breen showed up, but they come across as cartoon villains.

Crime goes to school and so does the Joker. Cheerleader Suzie has fallen for the greed and teamed up with the Joker.

Only his dastardly plans to jolt the dynamic duo fails. Life has given the Joker lemons and he is in no mood to make lemonade.

Batman sends Dick Grayson undercover. Hoping to use Suzie to infiltrate the Joker's gang, but he runs out of puff.

Dick Grayson is too square to go undercover and places Suzie at risk. The smell of success will not be so sweet for Suzie.

While the students are going to set up to fail in sports. The Joker has a betting scam on the outcome of the basketball match. All he needs to do is set up the basketball students as being cheats.

An enjoyable outing, certainly rather camp. It was fun to see Dick Grayson decked in a leather jacket trying to be streetwise and failing.

Terry and Bob take a shine to Angela (Wanda Ventham) and Lynn (Wendy Richard) who sell cleaning products at a store.

Only to impress them, they end up buying loads of cleaning products and get skint in the process.

Now with the prospects of taking the girls out for the night as they think both men are loaded. Terry tries to borrow some money from his sister. She sends him packing.

At least the girls have a car but Terry and Bob pay for petrol. They also end up paying a lot for the night out. Steak dinner, drinks, tips and then later on to a casino.

The girls do not want the night to end. So they try to palm them off to their factory colleagues.

Wonderfully played by Wanda Ventham and Wendy Richard. They make sure they are not an easy pull and high maintenance.

Oh they are wrapping up the series. Only there are still two episodes to go.

Victor Anderson is feeling the heat. Everyone has gotten sloppy. Jo wants to cash out but she might get betrayed by Victor.

Even Tilt the man who does the dirty work for Victor gets slapdash. Throwing a bent barrister on to the path of an oncoming train. In front of witnesses.

Cashing in when the heat is on is also not cheap. Those Swiss bankers know when to squeeze hard when you are desperate.

Craddock now starts to make his luck breaks. Jo turns out to be the weak link.

By the end this was a fast moving episode and enjoyable episode. The action went from London to Switzerland and to Paris. All studio sets mind you.

I did like the Swiss banker telling Cradock just how few bars of pure gold have been produced in the history of the world. That was a surprise.

Of course Cradock figures there was someone above Victor Anderson. By this point even the audience could guess who that person is.

Alfred Hitchcock does his bit to fight off the red peril. As well as stay in Senator Mccarthy's good books.

Mary Prescott (Claire Trevor) is a the go getting American journalist who has been invited to go behind the Iron Curtain.

She has interviewed the head of state of an East European nation and is now heading back to West Germany.

On the train is well known footballer Jan Gubak. He won his nation the world cup trophy.

Jan has been critical of his country. He is on his way to see his sister in Munich, she is having an operation.

Mary offers to looks after a valuable watch, which Jan hopes to raise money for her operation. It is illegal to take out currency and items of value from the country.

In a turn of events. Jan tells the authorities that Mary is smuggling a watch over and she is arrested.

It turns out that the watch was of little value. So what was Jan's game?

Not much of a twist. All it shows that people from this communist countries cannot be trusted. Hidden spies and double agents. It's really a propaganda piece.

If Jan's sister could not afford the operation. How did she end up in hospital in Munich?

Adam Shepherd is at Cape Canaveral for the launch of a rocket.

He imagines being part of a crew. Astronauts going to another planet. Like a diamond shining in the sky.

Only this planet unleashes hidden greed which could drive the astronauts to immense anger. All because they see the biggest diamond ever, reaching out to the sky. Untold riches for them, if they take it for themselves.

However one crew member sees sanity and is willing to die for it.

An unusual story, this would be more at home in The Twilight Zone. It is also filled with religious imagery. Very much a Christian subtext to it.

Greed is not good for you. Especially if you cannot cut the diamond down to size.

The kids at high school are suddenly goofing off school. The Joker has corrupted the youth of Gotham City by offering free money (He'll use that phrase in a movie one day.)

Each time a student places a dime in a vending machine. It dispenses silver dollar coins. The students feel they no longer need to learn. Batman tells them that nothing in life is free.

Batman knows the Joker is behind this. He purchased the One Armed Bandit Novelty Company soon after leaving prison.

The crooked jailhouse lawyer is doing all this to get himself a solid alibi. It's Batman himself. As the Joker and the bad pennies are up to no good. Using the one armed bandits by remote control to carry out some robberies.

Crime can be shocking. There is a lot here that was used in the 1989 Batman movie.

Once again the Joker has Batman trapped. It is an electrifying ending.

Broadcast after the Doctor Who episode of Rose. This was a behind the scenes look at the making of new Doctor Who.

Unusually similar clips had already been shown on a Doctor Who special shown before Rose was broadcast. That was narrated by David Tennant.

So an element of duplication between both shows. The first series of Confidential was narrated by Simon Pegg who would also guest star in the first series.

It flits through the previous Doctors, going through the concept of regeneration.

More interesting was looking at the new people involved with Doctor Who. Talking to Russell T Davies, the various heads of BBC departments (all female) as well as Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

RTD is full of enthusiasm. More important was hearing Eccleston's approach to the role. Few people knew at the time that he had already quit the role and there would be no second season with him.

So it is fascinating to hear his words. There would be bad blood for some years after as to what disagreements he had with the producers of the show.

This was shown just before the transmission of Rose on BBC1. The first episode of a new Doctor Who series in 16 years. They even had a clock counting down in this.

The series was going to be launched with a blaze of publicity. There were even billboards with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

Yet after the transmission of Rose. The first episode of Doctor Who: Confidential would be broadcast as well which would be about bringing the Doctor back to the screen.

So why the two shows sandwiching the main episode of Doctor Who?

This was narrated by David Tennant. It is a brief rundown on the filming of the new show. It went through the previous actors who played the Doctor. There are interviews from past actors.

It is all fluffy stuff, little would be new to fans of the show. You get to see clips from the new episodes.

What it did was allow David Tennant to visit the Cardiff studios and film the regeneration scene in secret. People thought he was there for the narration.

There is no inkling at the time. When Eccleston was being interviewed here, he was leaving the role after one series.

Martin Scorsese is technically the best director working today. His films are made with precision and skill. Unfortunately his recent films also come with bloat.

The running length is an unfortunate impediment to the Killers of the Flower Moon. Primarily made for Apple TV, maybe Scorsese should had made a mini series rather than an overlong movie.

Based on a factual book by David Grann. Scorsese who loves westerns has essentially made one set in the early 20th century. It is all about greed and the murder of the Osage people of Oklahoma.

William Hale (Robert De Niro) is the local political boss who has hatched a scheme to steal the oil rich reservation land from the Osage tribe. He appears to be a trusted friend of the Osage nation.

Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) was his dim nephew. Hale got him married to an Osage woman Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone.) Primarily to inherit her oil rights after her death. Hale and Burkhart slowly poison her with insulin.

Hale ordered the deaths of other members of Mollie's family so the oil rights go to her. Hale conspired to stop any investigation until Washington sends in one of their own investigators to examine the spate of deaths.

This is a story that needed to be told. It could had been done with 60 minutes easily lopped off.

There is no doubt to me that the film has problems. It is all De Niro and DiCaprio. The Osage people are cyphers. Mollie is an interesting character but is then sidelined as she wastes away.

It needed a perspective of one Osage tribe member leading the fight against Hale. That they knew what he was up to. That was missing.

Diana (Ann Lynn) is a British agent transmitting radio messages in France. She gets captured by the Germans.

It might be her luck that it is the Abweh who interrogate her. It means more games for Sergeant Gratz to play. Hence the episode title Degrade and Rule.

He is up to his usual interrogation tricks. Diana resists for now.

Gratz has also now been bitten with greed. He lavishes Nina with jewellery. Taken from Jewish jewellers. Gratz has plans to make money by forging rare forgeries.

More importantly he plans to use Diana, to transmit false radio messages to trick the British. This could be his personal triumph.

Ony Nina has a few tricks of her own. She gets to Diana and gives her much needed assistance.

This is a topsy turvy episode. Gratz just needed to dangle the image of a hot bath, warm running water and fragrant soap to get the captured women to turn, albeit reluctantly in Diana's case.

It ends with egg on his face for the first time. His enemies have got Gratz where they wanted. Unfortunately Nina has lost her protector. She might be in peril and now be back to square one.

Abby and Olivia are delayed for night court. Their subway train breaks down. It leaves Olivia to coach Abby to behave like a typical New Yorker.

Abby wants to be friendly to everyone. Everyone else gets more irate the longer the train is stuck.

When there is an argument over seating. Abby decides to resolve matters by holding an impromptu court hearing.

Back at court, there is an incompetent substitute judge. Dan Fielding eyes an opportunity to rush through his cases as he has a reservation at New York's must eat restaurant.

These reservations are hard to get and Dan is looking forward to his meal.

Only Gurgs wants to delay him because two ice skating celebrities are appearing in court as witnesses. Abby would just love to meet them.

Another awful episode. The writers are really struggling with a plot. The actors are struggling with the lines. This really is a throwback to the appalling sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s.

Once again Robin Hood is struck with an arrow as he receives a message that may not be so important.

Down at the police station a drunken man turns up, celebrating the anniversary of his wife leaving him. He expects the police to give a lift home.

A man goes to see his doctor as he has bees in his underpants. The doctor has problems of his own and it stings.

The song Bernard sings is Gossip Calypso written by Trevor Peacock.

Bernard plays an injured butler who is showed no sympathy by his master. Eventually the butler loses his temper.

Bernard pretends to be the first Englishman to land on the Moon. His worried wife tries to tempt him to stay. Which is just what the husband was hoping for.

Sheila Steafel plays an amorous Traffic Warden who has the hots for the driver illegally parked. He gets more than he bargained for.

There are a good variety of sketches but I found it more miss than hit. Adrian Bogworthy is good value.

The series jumps towards Christmas and the run up to the second lockdown.

By this time there was a winter surge. The government wanted to remove Covid restrictions for Christmas. Only there was a winter surge.

Also the government's shortcomings throughout all this.. It lack of preparedness for the pandemic when it was emerging westwards from China. Then there was the ministers own breaches of the rules that eventually became public. Boris Johnson was a serial offender and has shown no genuine remorse.

The rampant death toll in care homes because people with Covid were sent back. Then spread it to others.

It was a messy conclusion. Maybe they should had gone the polemic route and given both barrels to Boris Johnson and his cronies. That includes the press who were in effect Johnson's fan club at the time. Just check all those 'Brave Boris' headlines when he himself would not comply with the rules his government introduced.

The government gave a lot of money to newspapers in the form of advertising. Keeping them going as no one was buying them during lockdown.

I did like the anti Covid people being shown as idiotic. I think in 2021, every other person I met was a Covid sceptic. All seemed to have gone to the same conspiracy websites and thought they were clever.

Some even going to bereaved families and telling them their loved ones died of something else and it was not Covid.