This year the BBC turns 100. Fundamental to Britain and funded by licence fee payers, the BBC has garnered a worldwide reputation for quality. For this special post highlighting the highlights of the corporation's massive contribution to television, I've decided to...
The original Prime Suspect, broadcast in 1991, remains arguably the best police drama ever seen on British TV. Seven years after Prime Suspect V, there was a danger that the formulaic approach of today’s ITV, which has already seen two of this year’s major new dramas...
Cardinal rules of British TV, number 46: don’t try to copy American cop shows. Sticking to this edict has earned ITV’s The Bill a long and successful career, but on the evidence of its opening episode, the people responsible for this Bill spin-off either forgot it or...
Robbie Coltrane has spent so long away from television one could imagine him sitting with a glass of whisky beside a roaring fire, throwing script after script into the flames until he found something really special, as cracking as Cracker. Sadly, the return of his...
Go on then, make a series. This pilot almost failed to take off – the opening was too slow and the Shallow Grave-style interviews were too clichéd – but Roy Mitchell's drama got more and more enjoyable as it went on. The cast is a blast from the past (except for...
Opinions vary on ITV1’s current season of two-part blockbuster dramas, one view being that they’ve taken the quick and easy route, grabbing attention with high-profile subjects then failing to back them up with believable plots and characters. This week, though, they...