Category: Television

TV Review-The Borrowers

The Borrowers are Arriety Clock (Aisling Loftus) Pod (Christopher Eccleston) and Homily (Sharon Horgon) they are a family that lives under the floorboards of James Millman’s house. James is a boy is having a rough time. His mother has recently died and they’re in the middle of a recession, which has forced James and his father to move in with James’ Grandmother (Victoria Wood). The grandmother has contacted a Professor (Stephen Fry) and alerted him to the Borrowers presence, the family, are then forced to go on the run with a fellow Borrower and tour guide, Spiller (Robert Sheehan).

The great thing about this version of the Borrowers is that like Doctor Who, this is very much a family show. Adults will laugh at jokes that will go over the heads of kids, whilst the kids will laugh at the characters sliding down into the sewers. The casting is a masterstroke and it was great to see Stephen Fry in an acting role. He is a joy in this and for the most part, steals the show. Christopher Eccleston and Sharon Horgan also put in excellent performances. Eccleston is great as the overprotective father. The only let down here is Robert Sheehan, now it isn’t’ his performance, that’s fine. As always he gives 110% but the character of Spiller is just a child-friendly version of Misfits’ Nathan, I had hoped to see him in a more challenging role this soon after him leaving Misfits.



The one to look out for is Aisling Loftus her Wide-eyed naivety/ enthusiastic take on Arrietty is believable and sweet. I predict big things for her in the future.
This is essential Christmas TV and on at the perfect time, complex and exciting enough to keep the children interested and simple enough to keep the adults watching, after a taxing day of dinner and being woken up at 4 am to open the presents.

The Borrowers airs on Boxing Day, 7:30 pm on BBC1.

TV Review-Life’s Too Short Episode 4

This episode starts with Warwick flat hunting with Cheryl, his assistant. The scene is a clever reference back to Extras that seems to have been overlooked by every other critic. But then, other critics are busy bashing Life’s too short, as this is Gervais’ year for a media bashing.

The Daily Mail recently had to print a retraction after massaging the viewing figures, they only reported the overnight figures, which given the way we watch TV nowadays, are completely redundant as they don’t include viewers who record it and watch it later or people who access it via the Iplayer. It is funny that they only do it with popular shows, you never see ‘Homes under the hammer down 100 viewers’.



Anyway, in Extras, Andy Millman tried to impress a journalist from the Guardian.  Andy asked his friend Maggie to pretend to be his assistant. Warwick is trying to impress the estate agent; into thinking, he is more important than he is. The estate agent is the same actress who played the journalist.  It’s a great scene, which again showcases Warwick’s excellent comic timing. Warwick has a real knack for physical comedy and I predict will win many awards next year.

Later in the episode, Warwick turns to Ricky and Steve when he finds out his wife is having more than a professional relationship, with their divorce lawyer.
While in their office, Warwick sits in on a skype chat between Ricky, Stephen and Steve Carroll. When Ricky badmouths Carroll after thinking he had quit Skype, things take a turn for the worse. Speaking as someone who has been in this situation, it felt just as authentic and just as awkward.
Now at the midway point, Life’s too short is turning in to one of the best sitcoms the year and you know what, I’m glad the mainstream media doesn’t like it.

Life’s too short airs on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, on BBC2

TV Review-Mongels Series 2:Episode 4

We start off at Vince’s wedding reception. Nelson is the best man. Vince only wants to be portrayed in a positive way, which means Nelson had to throw his original speech out, so Nelson turns to his friends for stories about Vince.

Nelson isn’t overly impressed when Marion brings up Vince’s weekends with his son and recounting the plot to various films, such as Twilight, Tron Legacy, and Freaky Friday with himself and Vince as the main characters. It worked quite well, but the joke wore a little thin after the second joke.
Nelson tells the story of when he and Vince were stranded on an island, a traffic island in the middle of a duel carriageway.  Vince tries to cook him. Nelson manages to talk him out of it.  Nelson then stops his story, after remembering he and Vince had sex.  This section is genuinely funny, with Nelson quoting “what happens on the Island, stays on the Island”.

Eventually, the truth about Vince comes out, which leads to a brilliant musical number called, Vince Is A Massive C***. After the song, the bride tells Vince that she loves him and says, “Kiss me you c***”. Vince kills her and is now widowed.



This was a great episode, let down only by the Kali flashback. Kali had a period in her life, where she thought she was Will Smith, this consisted of her just saying the titles to Will Smith movies. Frankly, it felt beneath Mongrels the joke suited a canned laugher sitcom.

Mongrels has truly hit the ground running, I await the announcement of the inevitable third series.

Mongrels airs on BBC3, on Mondays at 10:30 pm

TV Review-This Is England 88:Episode one

When we last saw Woody and the gang last year, it was 1986; their lives had turned upside down. Lol had just killed her father, after he raped her best friend and was pregnant by Woody’s best mate, Milky.

As you may have guessed from the title, it’s now two years later. Lol is a single mum battling guilt and depression, whilst Woody is in a self-imposed exile from the group, spending his days at work and his evenings playing charades with his parents and new, posh girlfriend. Milky has just returned from a three-month trip away. Shaun is now a budding actor and has fallen for the middle-class leading lady, of his play. The social awkwardness between the working-class character of Shaun and his middle-class love interest feels authentic, the encounter at her parent’s house, when he thinks the olives are grapes, is funny, yet touching.

If there’s one thing Shane Meadow’s does well, it’s drama. The characters are so well written, that you’re completely captivated by them. You sympathise with them. I can’t wait for tonight’s episode

This is England is a 3-part drama airing on Channel 4.

Catch up on 4OD



Life’s Too Short: Episode 3

Warwick launches a new website in an effort to get himself more work, but it only ends up getting 12 hits and some nasty online comments. His clients at Dwarves For Hire believe that Warwick always takes the best roles for himself and he attempts to appease them by creating showreels re-enacting famous film scenes. I feel that this episode is where Life’s Too Short finally found its feet. This is what I’ve been waiting for, some quality time with Warwick. The celebrity cameo is in the last few minutes and the episode works so much better because of it. Helena Bonham-Carter doesn’t overshadow the episode, in the way the Neeson and Depp did. 

We were left with Warwick and Cheryl and this is when the show is at it’s strongest. For series 2 I’d rather they toned down the celebrity cameos, maybe go an episode or two without them.

The critic’s main problem with Life’s Too Short, is that it features an adult male dwarf playing an adult male dwarf, as opposed to a leprechaun or a goblin. It’s worth a pretty penny nowadays when dwarves want to play something other than an Oompa Loompa. This is almost the same problem Jon Watkins had with The Fosters, back in 1976. I thought we had moved on.

Life’s Too Short airs on Thursday’s at 9:30 pm, on BBC2



DVD REVIEW-An Idiot Abroad 2:The Bucket List

I have been a fan of Karl Pilkington for a long time and used to tune into Ricky Gervais’ Saturday Xfm radio show religiously to hear Karl’s ramblings. I have been a fan of the podcasts since they started them and I have read Karl’s books. Yes, he is a published author and I have enjoyed spotting Karl’s cameos in all of Gervais’ and Merchant’s work. Safe to say, I was always going to watch An Idiot Abroad.

Now, if you did not like An Idiot Abroad first time round, this series will do little to win you over. Karl had such a rough experience filming the first series that he vowed he wouldn’t make a second. However, An Idiot Abroad was the most-watched programme in the history of Sky 1, so a second series was always going to happen.



This time around Karl got to pick things he wanted to do from the bucket list. A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die. Swim with dolphins, drive along Route 66, etc. Ricky and Steve still pull out all the stops to make Karl’s experience as hellish as possible, from sending him to a hug-party, to getting him dressed up by Thai ladyboys and the result is hilarious. Karl is constantly out of his comfort zone and being pushed beyond his limits.

In typical Gervais/Merchant style there won’t be a third series of An Idiot Abroad, but there are plans for a 2012 Christmas special called An Idiot Abroad: The Short Way Round, where Pilkington travels the world on a bicycle with Warwick Davis sat in a basket on the front. Forget the Olympics, this will be the event of 2012.

An Idiot Abroad is available on DVD and Blu Ray



Review-Life’s Too Short: Episode 2

For some reason, critics haven’t been that keen on this new venture from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. I think that’s due to this being Gervais’ year, every year the media seem to pick a celebrity they’ve always liked, then tarnish them. Quite why this is happening is still a mystery to me and that’s probably why I’ll never be taken seriously as a critic.

This series is really starting to take shape, Warwick again puts in an amazing comic performance, everyone involved is perfectly suited for comedy.

My personal highlight happened when Warwick and his assistant, Cheryl (Rosamund Hanson) are discussing ways to expand and bring in new business, she suggests he should dress up as a little girl and wait in the woods, as paedophile bait. In fact, the best parts of this episode were the parts that just featured Warwick and Cheryl. The convention scene was genuinely funny. You felt sympathy for the young boy with the brain tumour, but also for Warwick as everyone in the line then used the tumour excuse to avoid paying the £25 for his autograph.



The only criticism I have about Life’s Too Short is the celebrity cameos, with Warwick and Cheryl I don’t think you need them. It’s almost as if they’re making extras, without making extras. The post-credit scene made me realise, how much I miss extras.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Johnny Depp’s part in this episode, the confrontation between him and Gervais felt authentic, but if you had taken Depp out, it wouldn’t have affected the episode.
Another time you feel for Warwick is when he turns up at the couples, Star Wars-themed wedding and they expect him to be dressed as Wickett the Ewok. This reflects a real-life experience Warwick had when he was asked to open a garden centre at Christmas and told by the owner “bring your elf costume”. The speech Warwick gave at the wedding was the brilliant cringe-worthy comedy that Gervais writes so well.
Overall I’m enjoying this series and I look forward to episode 3

Life’s Too Short airs on Thursdays, at 9:30 pm on BBC2



Review-Mongrels Series 2: Episode 3

This was my favourite of the series yet. This episode is so crammed with little gems that it’s difficult to know where to begin.
Nelson is involved in a protest against the build, of a new supermarket. He foolishly leads his fellow protestors to their deaths, but in the process, he meets an older Vixen called Eileen.



Nelson and Eileen soon fall in love, but unknown to Nelson, Eileen is Vince’s mum. Nelson seeks Vince’s blessing and asks Eileen to marry him, but the surprise proposal causes her to have a fatal heart attack. Not wanting Vince to find out that, that’s how his mother died, Nelson asks Tim to take the body back to the nursing home. Along the way, Tim loses Eileen and she is sold to Zoe Ball, as a scarf.


Like last week, it was great to see a softer side to Vince. It’s a shame Eileen wasn’t kept around for a few more episodes. The father/son dynamic between Nelson and Vince would have been interesting to explore, but I’m starting to see that nothing lasts forever in the Mongrels universe.

Elsewhere, Kali has lost her spot on the fence to an African pigeon. Which leads to this week’s musical number, Immigration Nation. Which fitted the episode well. Kali tries all kinds of tactics to get rid of him and then joins a flock. Which after seeing human street-gangs, she believes will help her out. When this doesn’t work out, she tricks the immigrant pigeon into calling Eileen a slag, which prompts Vince to kill him, thus solving her problem. This was a funny subplot, which showed just how manipulative Kali could be when she isn’t getting her own way.

The other sub-plot involves Destiny and Marion, Destiny is angry with Gary after he takes her to the vets, so she pretends to run away, Gary finds him and takes him in. Which leads to bitter sibling rivalry between Destiny and Marion. It was great to see Destiny and Marion fight it out, like well, cat and dog.

Mongrels has hit the ground running this year, a third series is surely a must. This is fast becoming the television highlight of my week, its the only instance I’ve ever wished a British series was 22 episodes.
It won’t be long before we hear the word “American” quickly followed by the word “Remake”.

Mongrels airs on Mondays, 10:30 pm on BBC3



Mongrels: Series 2-Episode 2

The main movie parody here is Shaun Of The Dead. Destiny is in heat and it has turned every local dog into a sex-crazed zombie. Nelson, Destiny, Marion, and Vince lock themselves inside the pub.

I didn’t really like the main plot involving Nelson and Destiny, that could be because I haven’t seen the first series. I didn’t quite believe that a fox-like Nelson would fall for a dog like Destiny. It felt forced as if it were crafted just to suit the plot of this episode.

Nelson is trying to date Destiny, Destiny is hungry and knows that Nelson has access to food. There is an amusing moment which was a parallel to prostitution and what she would do for a dog biscuit.



It was the subplots that I found most interesting. It is Kali’s birthday so she celebrates by eating a badger on the road. A rickshaw driver runs it over and she wants revenge. She decides that the best way to do this is to blow him up. She then realises that the rickshaw driver had a seven-year-old son and feeling guilty she hits the bottle. Well, a brandy filled straw.

She decides to attend his funeral, so guilt-ridden she sits on his coffin and confesses. However, the rickshaw driver was a bird lover. The widow and her son think that Kali is the reincarnation of the driver and are overjoyed to see her. Kali’s mood is then lifted and she flies away, hitting the son in the face.

It was great to see an aloof character like Kali realise the consequence of her actions. The writers managed to capture her depression extremely well, I genuinely felt sympathy the murdering bird.

Back in the pub Marion has discovered a karaoke machine and attempts to throw a party which doesn’t go to plan. Vince hogs the karaoke machine after he discovers it helps with his Tourette Syndrome. Seeing a character like Vince belt out show tunes was funny. It was nice to see a softer side of him, even if it was just temporary.

The pop culture references are great in this episode, as well as the obvious Shaun Of The Dead, there is a nice moment where Marion reveals he lived in a house with the Being Human characters. This included a cameo from Russell Tovey, which now means he has starred in all three of the only three shows worth watching on BBC3. Whilst not as laugh out loud as episode one, episode two raised more than a few smiles. I hope Mongrels clears up come comedy award season.

Mongrels airs on Mondays at 10:30 pm, on BBC3



Life’s Too Short-Episode One

While I never got into The Office, I have always been a fan of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s other work, like their X-FM radio show, their podcast and Cemetery Junction. So, when they returned to their mockumentary-style sitcom format with Life’s Too Short, I was excited to see what they had in store.
Unlike the ordinary people who got their 15 minutes of fame in the late ’90s, the show focuses on a Z-list celebrity, Warwick Davis, playing a fictionalized version of himself. Davis is in a financial mess, with debts amounting to £250,000 and a divorce that’s taken its toll. He begs Gervais and Merchant to cast him in a new project, but they try to shake him off.

While the first episode didn’t make me laugh out loud, it was still enjoyable and funny. I think comedy is a challenging genre to get right, which is why I prefer to write reviews instead of sitcoms. Nevertheless, the show had its moments, like Liam Neeson trying out improv comedy about AIDS, with his quip about being cast in Schindler’s List because he always makes lists being a particular highlight. Davis also showed some impressive comic timing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won a few awards in 2012.

Overall, while the premiere was a bit shaky, Gervais and Merchant on an off day are still better than most of what’s on TV. I’m going to stick with Life’s Too Short and see where it goes.

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