One of the scenes I remember most vividly from Cucumber, Russell T. Davies' underrated 2015 mini-series - which could somewhat reductively be called Queer as Folk for the 21st century - is a sequence in which three characters, all men, all queer, get ready for a night...
‘Shipping’ and the power of the will they won’t they in TV. From Star Trek to Succession: Why we’ll never stop rooting for our favourite couples.
For most people these days, “shipping” is when an online shop adds half the price of your shopping cart which allows you to have a delivery person chuck your purchases vaguely at your front door. But there is another definition of the word is a mystery to most, except...
One Year In, Marvel’s TV Series Have Found a Formula That Works
At some point around ten years ago, Marvel Studios figured out a system that worked for them: take the formulaic plot structure inherent to superhero movies and wrap it in different genres that fit each character. This strategy helps Iron Man feel like a war movie,...
Why I Want to Save Our Channels
"Great telly stays with you." I see television as a medium with the ability to bring us together more than any other. There's no greater feeling than watching the same thing together as a nation. It can generate a buzz and conversation and make you feel part of...
‘Maid’ the must-see Netflix drama that feels tender and timely.
Netflix dramas can be a strange breed. They're often bombastic and over the top like the strangely addictive YOU or they are sleeper hits that become huge like Korean mega-hit Squid Game. Every so often though the streaming giant delivers a drama that relies more on...
The BBC: Something’s Got to Give
Following the news that the licence fee will be frozen for two years, Robin Parker looks at where the BBC goes from here. It’s rapidly becoming less a tactic than a matter of policy: whenever they’re in for a kicking, this government initiates Operation Bash the Beeb....
Helen Chambers is the MVP of ‘The Tourist’
In the fourth episode of the BBC's brilliant thriller The Tourist, rookie cop Helen Chambers admits she tried to kill herself. It's an admission that comes out easily. She admits that the death of her father when she was younger, felt like 'the lights went out in her...
Why ‘Seinfeld’ still works in the streaming era
Thanks to the influx of streaming services, television classics are now available to us more readily and easier than they ever have been, and with it comes the news usually that those very services are willing to pay an arm and a leg to buy those streaming rights. So...
How ‘The Leftovers’ quietly became the most soulful show of the Peak TV era.
Damon Lindelof’s The Leftovers, adapted from Tom Perotta’s novel, feels only timelier now. The series is set in a world that is dealing with the aftermath of an unexplained event – called The Departure that saw 2% of the world's population vanish with no warning. its...
2022: Our Most Anticipated Shows
2021's television was outstanding but we've high hopes for the shows of 2022. In this piece, Site Editor Luke Knowles and site contributor Hannah Fletcher pick their most anticipated new and returning shows. It's entirely possible that none of our picks will live up...
The Best of 2021: From It’s a Sin to Mare of Easttown 2021 really delivered.
This without question my favourite post of the year. It's another chance to celebrate the best television had to offer. 2021 was another strong year. Standouts It's a Sin, Mare of Easttown, Only Murders in the Building and the long-awaited third season of Succession....
The Magic of Strictly Come Dancing: Why BBC One’s Saturday night spectacular continues to thrive
As this year's series of Strictly Come Dancing reaches its final stages, Matt Donnelly looks at what makes the show special and how it has stayed relevant where other shows have long since fallen out of favour with the British public. September means many things to...
OPINION: How ‘Rectify’ brought arthouse to the TV screen and became a standout drama.
A look at one of the best dramas ever to air that you've never probably heard of. First aired Monday 22nd April 2013 2015 on SundanceTV Contributed by James Donaghy Placing murder front and centre of your prestige TV drama is a solid strategy. Nothing gets the blood...
OPINION: Why we should stop searching for more Game of Thrones and focus on ‘The Last Kingdom’
As broadcasters and streamers scramble to fill the void left by Game of Thrones, we look at how that show has been under our noses since 2015! First aired Thursday 22nd October 2015 on BBC Two Game of Thrones may have ended with a whimper rather than a bang, but its...
OPINION: Why we need to be shouting about the brilliant ‘What We Do in the Shadows’
Megan Hyland looks at the brilliance of What We Do in the Shadows and why the series hasn't caught on here in the UK and why that needs to change. My first experience of What We Do In The Shadows was watching the 2014 film halfway across the world with no furniture,...
OPINION: How Buffy formed the most important stages of my life.
"You could find yourself reflected in any of these women – or all of them – but what mattered most was that they were all powerful in their own ways, and as someone who saw themselves as more of a Tara than a Buffy, the idea that there could still be strength in...
OPINION: American Crime Story is one of the best of television and has no business being that!
American Crime Story is back. It's a show that attracts big names and asks them to play possibly bigger names like OJ Simpson, Gianni Versace and President Bill Clinton. It's also a show, in my opinion, that shouldn't be as riveting and exciting as it is. It actually...
OPINION: The Americans: Why this overlooked TV classic had me rooting for the “Evil Empire”
Over six seasons this espionage thriller dredged the psyche, setting the bar for character development and quietly changing the face of TV. Get ready to root for the “Evil Empire” First aired Wednesday 30th January 2013 on FX *The show's first two series actually...
OPINION: Why the BBC’s crime-musical drama ‘Blackpool’ still Rocks!
A Look back at one of the bravest, boldest and different crime dramas of the noughties"VIVA LAS VEGAS" - Peter Bowker's Blackpool.First aired Thursday 11th November 2004 on BBC One. Contributed by Michael Lee When Blackpool first launched on BBC...
Opinion: Why are the soaps struggling to be part of the conversation?
A look at how Soaps are struggling to create propper conversation in a wider and varied TV landscape from Alex Osborne from Walford Weekly Podcast Everyone has an opinion about soaps. What’s right? What’s wrong? If their ratings start to suffer then Streaming is...
OPINION: Cracker: A look at what made ITV’s crime drama so groundbreaking
A Look back at possibly the most important and influential British crime drama of the 90s'"I rehearsed the death of my father for years. I even got a little bored. I knew all my lines but he was still alive!" Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerlad Cracker 'The Mad Woman in the...
OPINION: Remembering the brilliance of the Twelfth Doctor
Remembering the brilliance of The Twelfth DoctorContributed by MiloDoctor Who has been experiencing a lot of change recently, but my favourite era of the revival show is without a doubt Peter Capaldi’s time as The Doctor. Maybe part of that is...
OPINION: What Can we Expect from Russell T. Davies’ Who Return?
Russell T. Davies’ return to Doctor Who was something that came as a complete shock, I wasn’t expecting it at all and it turns out, neither was anybody else – although the last few episodes of the Chibnall run seemed to harken back to the days of the Russell...
OPINION: Why ER is one of the best TV dramas ever made.
Around the same time as Boris was telling the nation, you must stay at home, I for reason, decided to finally binge US medical drama ER. It's not quite as a left-field of a choice as it may appear. My podcast colleague Matt had spoken about his love of the show on...