PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Dalgliesh Series 1 2021

Dalgliesh Series 1 2023 Based on the Adan Dalgliesh novels by PD James, TV series created by Helen Edmundson, written by Helen Edmundson and Stephen Greenhorn, directed by Andy & Ryan Tohill, Jill Robertson and Lisa Clarke. Six episodes, each a two part story, aired in November 2021. A second series just aired last April and a third has been ordered.

Bertie Carvel plays DCI Adam Dalgliesh, Jeremy Irvine plays DS Charles Masterson and Carlyss Peer plays DS Kate Miskin. The stories are set in the mid 70s.

In the first story a nurse is murdered in a nursing school. Everyone has some sort of secrets. In the second story Dalgliesh goes to visit an old friend only to find he's died. He gets involved with a suicide and uncovers some some secrets. In the third story Dalgliesh investigates a double murder in a church. The clues lead him to a rich family with dirty secrets.

Nicely produced and rather dour. They kept my interest to the end but I doubt I'd get around to watching them again.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Series 1

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Series 1 Created and written by Raymond Allen, directed by Michael Mills. The first series aired in February and March 1973. There were two more series after that.

Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice are a married couple called Frank and Betty. Betty works, Frank can't hold a job. He can't hold much of anything in his hands either. He's a catastrophic force that damages nearly everything he comes in contact with. At his best Frank manages to destroy a multi million dollar computer, at home it's the appliances, furniture, walls, doors, windows that suffer. On their second honeymoon Frank smashes up the furniture and creates a hole in the floor of the hotel. It's havoc everywhere he goes. For the sake of the nation he should be kept in and away from everything and everyone. Frank isn't just clumsy and accident prone. He's somehow mentally challenged, he misinterprets just about everything anyone tells him.

It was a fairly popular show and the havoc is kind of fun but the episodes are the same as each other and the joke wears thin after a series of only 7 episodes. I bought the set and I'm not sure I'll bother with the other 2 series. I'll wait a bit at any rate.

Crime Traveller Series 1

Crime Traveller Series 1 Created and written by Anthony Horowitz, directed by Brian Furnham and Rick Stroud, 4 episodes each. There were only 8 episodes and they aired in 1997

Anthony is a prolific TV writer as well as a prolific book author, about the only ones I had heard of were the Alex Rider series. I've not read his books but I have seen a lot of his TV episodes: Midsomer Murders, Chiller, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Foyle's War. I can't remember what I thought of any of his Midsomer or Poirot episodes, it's been a while since I saw them. Generally both shows deliver good writing, I wish I could say the same for Crime Traveller.

 

That's Paul Trussell as DS Morris, Michael French as DIJeff Slade, Richard Dempsey as DC Nicky Robson, Chloë Annett as Holly Turner and Sue Johnston as DCI Kate Grisham. They all work at the same police station, Holly is the only non-cop, she's a scientist for the police force. At home she works on the time machine her father started. It takes all her money and time but it does work.

She takes Jeff back in time in the first episode so that they can catch a crook. That's pretty much the same formula for each episode. There are time machine complications, police complications and personal drama. Slade is a maverick cop, always breaking the rules and getting into trouble. In the first episode he chased the suspect so hard the poor guy drove his car off a tall parking ramp into the river. They were still dragging the river when the episode ended.

There's some dubious comedy, some gun shooting, some car driving and plenty of running about. The time travel rules are pretty arbitrary and fluid, and that's still less annoying than Slade. He's pretty much a selfish little boy inside. I had a bit of a struggle to get to end of the series. Tiring. It's quite popular on the IMDb, scoring a 7.3, I could only give it a 5. There's a 2004 DVD set but that's long out of print. I found them on YouTube. Glad I didn't buy the DVD.

Science Fiction Sunday 743

Doctor Who 2 Series 8 Episode 10 - 12

 

In The Forest Of The Night October 25 2014 Written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and directed by Sheree Folkson.

 

Overnight great forest grow over the countries of the world. The Doctor figures out why and the world is saved by the trees.

 

Dark Water November 1 2014 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay. First of a two part story.

  

Danny is killed and Clara wants the Doctor to save him. He finds Danny is at the 3W company's Nethersphere, a repository of souls.

 

The lady in charge is Missy, she's got a secret and the Doctor won't like it.

 

Dream Of Heaven November 8 2014 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay. Second of a two part story.

 

It's Cybermen, Missy has an army of them, all over the world, ready to turn the rest of the humans into her Cyberman army. Danny gets turned into a Cyberman and he blows himself up saving the world. No more Danny. Sad.

There was an 5th disc in the set and it's had a 20 min making of for each episode. There were two 45 min featurettes with Peter Davidson, one on making the Ultimate Doctor and one on making the Ultimate Companion. Pretty fluffy stuff.

Black Mirror Series 3 & 4

  

Black Mirror Series 3 & 4 Created by Charlie Brooker. These were produced for Netflix and each series has 6 episodes. Series 3 aired on October 21 2016 and Series 4 aired on December 29 2017.There's been an interactive movie and Series 5 since then. Series 6 is supposed to be due this June on Netflix but I've no got that and don't know if they'll be out on DVD, so far Series 5 hasn't been released on DVD and that aired in 2019.

Written by Charlie Brooker with a bit of help from Rashida Jones, Michael Schur and William Bridges. Directed by Joe Wright, Dan Trachenberg, James Watkins, Owen Harris, Jakob Verbruggen, James Hawes, Toby Haynes, Jodie Foster, John Hillcoat, Tim Van Patten, David Slade and Colm McCarthy.

Another bunch of stories that were a bit hit or miss for me. Most of the stories were a bit grim with a side of irony. The Netflix money attracted a wider range of actors and film makers. Nice though that is I find myself think I would rather watch Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe.

Science Fiction Sunday 742

Doctor Who 2 Series 8 Episodes 6 - 9

 

The Caretaker September 27 2014 Written by Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat and directed by Paul Murphy.

 

The Doctor goes deep cover as the caretaker at Clara's school. An alien robot warrior has come to life and everyone in the school is in danger. The Doctor takes an interest in Clara and Danny's new relationship. The Doctor is annoying this week, more annoying than normal. I could do with less personal drama between the main characters.

 

Kill The Moon October 4 2014 Written by Peter Harness and directed by Paul Wilmshurst.

 

The Doctor takes Clara's student Courtney on a trip to the moon in 2049. They find out the moon isn't a dead rock floating in space. The Tardis gang meet three people who are planning to blow the moon to smithereens. Something has increased the moon's weight and that's affecting the tides to disastrous effect.

 

Mummy On The Orient Express October 11 2014 Written by Jamie Mathieson and directed by Paul Wilmshurst.

 

The Doctor takes Clara for a ride on the Orient Express in space where they encounter an invisible mummy that kills. Anyone who can see the mummy is it's new target, in 66 seconds the victim is dead. The Doctor figures out how to stop it. Nice to see Frank Skinner on Doctor Who.

 

Flatline October 18 2014 Written by Jamie Mathieson and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

 

The outside of the Tardis gets smaller and smaller, eventually trapping the Doctor inside. Clara joins up with a local graffiti artist to figure out how to stop some 2 dimensional beings from killing more people.

There were a couple of commentaries and no other extras. I did listen to them and I enjoyed them.

Grace Series 1 - 3

Grace Series 1 - 3 Based on the Roy Grace novels by Peter James. Screenplay by Russell Lewis and directed by John Alexander and Julia Ford.

John Simm is Detective Superintendent Grace and Richie Campbell is Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson. They work in Brighton & Hove in East Sussex.

Series 1 only had the one episode, Series 2 had 4 episodes and Series 3 had 2 episodes. Each episode is 90 mins. There's a 4th Series coming next year.

Most of the stories were interesting but there's a lot of personal melodrama mixed in. I could do with a little less of that. There's not that much humor in the series either, though I did like when one of the cops threatened to drown that scumbag if he didn't clean up his act.

I got through the whole bunch of episodes and enjoyed them somewhat but they aren't going to be something I would want to watch again. I'd check out the 4th series when it drops.

The Curse Series 2

The Curse Series 2 All 6 episodes first aired April 27 2023.

After the big gold robbery last series some of the gang escaped and some didn't. Albert and Natasha have taken charge of the gold and bought themselves a hotel in Spain.

Natasha is ready to invest more money in the local economy. She's not one to stay in the shadows. Albert remains the weakest link and Natasha is too sure she's the clever one. She won't like it when Albert gets cheated out of a lot of the gold by Pablo Escobar.

Mick and Joey are in prison. Phil breaks Mick out of jail and they surprise Albert and Natasha. Ron shows up looking for his 20% and shortly after that Clive breaks out of jail and heads to Spain. He's wants his gold and he's ready to kill anyone in his way.

Saunders, the cop, stirs things up. The local police are crooked and the mayor isn't any better. With barely a brain between them things don't go so well for the gang. There's a trail of bodies leading to the teaser for a third series at the end of the 6th episode.

It was mostly pretty entertaining. I enjoyed the trouble the writers heaped on the gang. Hopefully, there will be another series. I'd watch it.

Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy 2023

Frankie Boyle's Farewell to the Monarchy 2023

Frankie talks about Britain's monarchy over the years. Some interesting stuff in there.

Science Fiction Sunday 741

Doctor Who 2 Series 8 Episodes 1-5

A new series with a new Doctor and new open credits. Only 12 episodes this series which aired August 23 to November 8 2014.

 

Deep Breath August 23 2014 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Ben Wheatley.

 

The Tardis gets swallowed by a T-Rex off screen and carries the poor beast to Victorian London. It coughs up the Tardis and that coughs up the 12th Doctor.

 

Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax are investigating the T-Rex when that happens.

 

Clara gets their help in dealing with the new Doctor's regeneration. He settles down after it seems there's a mystery afoot. 

 

A robot man has been killing people, and the poor T-Rex, for their body parts. It's become tired of replacing it's body over and over again. The Doctor tries to help him.

 

Clara gets a call from the 11th Doctor and the robot man winds up in Heaven with a lady called Missy.

 

Into The Dalek August 30 2014 Written by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat and directed by Ben Wheatley.

 

The Doctor picks Clara up from work and takes her for a ride inside a Dalek. It's a Dalek with issues, it's seen beauty and it wants to destroy the Daleks for being evil. The Doctor finds a radiation leak and fixes it. The Dalek is back to hating everything.

 

It calls the Dalek mothership. Clara and the Doctor try to change the Dalek's mind and it works. He now wants to destroy the Daleks again. It had seen the hatred of the Dalek's in the Doctor's mind and focused on that. It least it sends the mothership away.

 

Robot Of Sherwood September 6 2014 Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Paul Murphy.

 

Clara wants to meet Robin Hood and the Doctor fights the jovial young man on a log over a stream. Both of them get wet.

 

Robin enters the Sheriff of Nottingham's archery contest. The Sheriff is a right baddie and we find out he's got robot soldiers. A spaceship had landed there ages ago and the robots are trying to rebuild the engines. They need a lot of gold.

 

Listen September 13 2014 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

 

The Doctor picks up Clara after her rather uncomfortable date. They investigate the belief that there's something under the bed and rescue a guy at the end of the universe.

 

Time Heist September 13 2014 Written by Stephen Thompson and Steven Moffat and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

 

The Doctor and Clara break into the universe's most secure bank.

 

It turns out to be a rescue mission to help the last two of an alien race. He puts them down on a nice empty planet.

I'm quickly getting used to the new Doctor. Peter Capaldi is entertaining and noisy. There were a couple of commentaries, a couple of long making offs and few shorter bits and pieces.