Ripper Street - Series 1

This was a strong episode to start a new gritty drama.

This series had a good exploration of how the police had to deal with controlling law and order in the aftermath of the Ripper murders, with it set six months after the last murder and a new one causing fear of his return. Within this an interesting clash of industrial and technology against the old ways was highlighted. This was also heightened by the police's attempts to control society, including vigilante groups baiting for blood and answers after a Ripper copy cat murder victim is found. The main character DI Edmund Reid, the name of one of the factual policemen that hunted for the Ripper, faces conflict and struggle from Inspector Frederick Abberline (also factual) who was determined and obsessed with identifying the man behind the Ripper mask.

 

Reid was well developed and complex with a good heart, hard exterior, but not so fused to the use of rough tactics in order to crack a case. The lose of his daughter years earlier and the testing effects it had on his marriage to Emily, leading to him start an affair with Deborah Goren also gave a good deal of depth to the character and a good bit of exploration alongside the other storylines. These storylines including business corruption, the terror caused by a gang, murder as part of pornographic films, the reliability of someone suffering from mental health and the fears of cholera.

 

The last two episodes really built up the tension and sent it up a gear as the truth around the mystery Dr Homer Jackson and Long Susan emerged. This had been that Jackson or rather Matthew Goode had seduced and run away with Susan or rather Caitlin Swift the daughter of American shipping magnet Theodore P. Swift, who along with members of the Pinkman association try to hunt them. This led to the death of PC Dick Hobbs which caused a lot of shock waves to the force and a showdown between Jackson and Frank Goodnight resulting in Goodnight's death, which came after he framed Jackson as the Ripper but was later released by Reid's determination to get to the truth.

 

Matthew Macfadyen gave a great portrayal of Reid, providing a complex and connectible character, while other cast members including Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Burling, Amanda Hale, Charlenee McKenna, Jonathan Barnwell, David Wilnot and David Dawson all provided good performances of their respective characters making it a varied, intriguing and diverse series.

Doctor Who: Series 7 - The Bells Of Saint John

This was a great return for the second half of Series 7 with a strong opener.

I really enjoyed this episode with changes in some of the usual aspects of the show and re-introduction of the new companion Clara Oswald. This was a great way for Clara to have her 'intro adventure' while at the same time being recognisable. This had come in the strong continuity ties of her being a nanny like she was in The Snowmen, the gaining of computer skills linking to the skill of her appearance at the start of the series in Asylum of the Daleks and the return of the Great Intelligence.

The Doctor and Clara's chemistry works really well and they bounce off each in a fun and interesting manner. Clara herself seems like a strong character with a lot of potential for growth especially surrounding her mystery of her dying twice. I was slightly worried that she might end up being another Rory-like situation where she dies a lot, but hopefully that won't get to used too much. Also I liked the remastered theme tune, with its classic series 1970s or 80s aspect, which was a good way of acknowledging the old with the new in this momentous year.

The story of Miss Kizlet and the Spoonheads highlighted the fears around the control of Wi-Fi, our reliance on it and a fear that people's souls would be taken by the internet. The use of the Wi-Fi to control and 'download' people's minds was quite a scary thought especially when it turned out that Kizlet and her staff were returned to their original mind sets and in Kizlet's case that of a child. The reappearance of the Great Intelligence further created intrigue as to how and why it all ties in together.

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman gave great performances with a good amount of chemistry. In turn Celia Imrie, Robert Whitlock, Dan Li, Manpreet Bachu, Sean Knopp and Richard E. Grant's voice all gave good performances and really added to the episode.

Mayday

This was an atmospheric mystery drama and twisted and turned in an effective way.

Surrounding the disappearance of May Day Queen Hattie Sutton, four residents of the tight nip community, Fiona Hill, Gail Spicer, Linus Newcombe and Steve Docker come to suspect one of their loved ones of being involved. This narratives allowed for a set of intriguing and contrasting situations that kept twisting and turning, keeping my attention as I tried to work out who and what had happened.

The plot thickened with the suicide of Gail's husband Malcolm whose project had been destroyed by Hattie's campaign and led him to financial ruin. This threw more suspicion on Malcolm which led Gail and her son James to get rid of the evidence showing Malcolm's obsession over the failed project. It also added more into this vigilante feeling that emerged and made the people searching and their intentions quite dark. This can be seen by Steve who leads the search and tries to divert it from his mentally ill brother Seth who often lives in the woods because of his belief in druidism.

There are also strange happenings as the trees seem to whisper, the odd behaviour of Fiona's daughter Charlotte and Linus kept seeing the ghost of his mother as he tried to discover more about his father. Meanwhile, his friendship with Hattie's sister Caitlin added a good and nice quality compared to the psychological darkness. There was a lot of character development looking into differing aspects creating an effective and complex narrative, leading to a dramatic finale where it was revealed to be Fiona's husband Alan was the murderer, but she framed Linus' father Everett, and Caitlin transformed into Hattie and haunted Alan as he picnicked with this family.

The main cast including Leila Mimmack, Sophie Okonedo, Max Fowler, Lesley Manville and Sam Spruell all gave great performances and really held the story and me captivated. Peter Firth, Aidan Gillen, Peter McDonald and Tom Fisher also gave good portrayals and worked well with the main cast to make it an intriguing and complicated drama.

Dancing On The Edge

This was a great five-part series that intrigued and made a big impact.

This 1930s period drama was a vibrant and well developed story around the struggle of the Louis Lester Band, a black jazz band who faced scrutiny, discrimination, but found fame. It had many aspects including journalist Stanley Mitchell who discovered the band run by its namesake and strove to get them heard and recognised. It was good how Louis and Stanley developed a friendship and the band were able to become famous through Stanley's connections to Arthur Donaldson and Lady Cremone, and their approval by royalty.

This, along with the music, added a stylish and unique quality, making me be able to enjoy the songs and made it a great soundtrack to help the story develop. In turn the series also used the scrutiny that black people faced as the band had to have constant employment in order to be allowed to stay in the country, apart from Louis who was originally born in the UK. This is emphasised by the deportation of the band's manager Wesley, who was actually also born in the UK, but couldn't find his birth certificate to prove it.

Louis' relationship with Sarah Peters added a sweat and light quality to the series and it helped to develop the characters well especially with their sad parting of the ways. In turn Stanley's relationship with Pamela Luscombe, his friendship with Lady Cremone, Donaldson's encourage towards Jessie to awaken from her coma and the changes made at Stanley's music magazine made the series full of various storylines and interesting ways to see the character's develop and form.

From the start there was a mystery of Walter Masterson and Julian Luscombe especially when Louis was pulled into helping to dealt with a drunken women found in Masterson's room. Also the plot thickened with the attack on the band's lead singer Jessie Taylor which further created mystery as Julian seemed to be the last person to see her before it happened and she herself didn't seem to be herself. Then her later death came as a shock and started to reveal what the flash forwards at the start of the episodes had been about Louis getting accused of Jessie's murder and having to go on the run. Then the ending was tense as Julian planned to shot Masterson but instead killed himself leaving a confession to Jessie's murder.

Matthew Goode and Chiwetel Ejiofor gave great performances as Stanley and Louis, along with Angel Coulby, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Head, Joanna Vanderman, Janet Montgomery and Tom Hughes who were really good and added a lot to the episode. Other cast including Wunmi Mosaku, Jenna-Louise Coleman, John Goodman and Ariyon Bakare all did well to support the main cast and hold their own.

Silent Witness - Series 16

A very powerful series, displaying its strength and integrity.

Initially the series has to deal with the departure of Harry Cunningham played by Tom Ward who left the show between this and the last series and his replacement in the form of Jack does work well to bring another aspect to the show. Although not the most likable character, his knowledge and work in forensics brings an interesting new side to the investigations especially in the first story where the techniques he used were effectively created and made to look stylised and interesting. Moreover, this interaction with established characters Nikki Alexander and Leo Dalton worked well. The addition of Jack's assistant Clarrisa Mullery also helped to strength the team and to allow for more of the technically side to come out.

The stories in this series were, as ever, dark, gritty and poignant. The first story, Change, saw the lengths someone would go in order to secure the future of a suffering business, especially when faces from the past emerged. Although with this one I wasn't really sure about the sceptical attitude of the leading investigator DS Gold. The second one, Trust, saw to contrasting stories of trust where is had been abused in order to develop a deadly form of anthrax or it had been lost in the premature death of a baby believed to have been murdered but later found to have been natural causes.

The third, True Love Waits, saw the destructiveness of love as a man would do anything including murder in order to find his wife and control her life again. Within this there was a better development of the police officer character, DI Kate Warren, as she faced pressure from her high ranking father to solve the case quickly leading her to conceal evidence. Then the fourth, Legacy, revealed a conspiracy to hid a nuclear warhead that led to the deaths of two boys and the questioning of Leo's conduct by Nikki.

The final story, Greater Love, saw a lot of elements with a shock ending. It's quite a dark story, with the team going to Afghanistan to investigate human remains believed to be that of missing and presumed dead soldier Dan Lambert. The story was tense as it twisted and turned and often my suspicions over what really happened and who was responsible would shift from terrorists to rogue British soldiers. It also tried to highlight the motives behind terrorists through Nikki's interaction with some Taliban prisoners, one of which was later identified as Lambert having been forced to join and brainwashed. It ended in a very dramatic way as Lambert was forced to be a suicide bomber in order to destroy the water project, but Leo sacrifice himself by leading Lambert away before the blast took place.

William Gaminara is superb in his final series, along with great performances from Emilia Fox, David Caves and Liz Carr. The guest cast included Sharon Small, Anna Brewster, Derek Riddell, Bryan Dick, Bill Ward, Ashley Chin, Adam James, Christine Bottomley, Rob Jarvis, David Murray, Penny Downie, Ed Stoppard, Cal Macaninch, Richard Johnson, Mark Womack, Joe Doyle, Chris Reilly and Brana Bajic, who all gave good performances and made their stories unique and work well.

Black Mirror: Series 2 - Episode 3

This last episode highlighted issues of politics, satire and technology.

The story follows failed comedian Jamie Salter who voices a cartoon blue bear Waldo, whose appearance on a satirical comedy show. In this setting it was interesting to see how Waldo, portrayed as a children's character, was used in quite a grotesque satirical way in order to attack politicians and other figure, while Jamie expressed no interest in politics and was only in it for the comedy. In turn Jamie's struggle with life compared to the success of Waldo helped to create a believable and connectible character.

It was interesting to see how Jamie was constantly pressured into entering the world of politics as Waldo's success spiralled. This success came after a passionate speech that Jamie makes through Waldo about the state of politics and how useless it could be and used just to further a career. This is especially seen with the prospect that Waldo could win the election which would be a really weird situation. Although this doesn't happen, it raises good questions about the influence of technology, especially how it has become a central part of the political campaigning machine.

It was also good how Jamie's relationship with Gwendolyn Harris works well to add a bit of light to the episode and makes it more terrible when during the speech mentioned above on a televised debate show, he attacks the main rival Liam Morgan but also Gwendolyn after she rejected him because she was told by her campaign manager to not associate with him. This led to Jamie refusing to do anymore of Waldo, but under pressure relented and then tried to convince people to not vote for Waldo and left the van in which Waldo was created. It was also a sad ending to see that Jamie had become homeless while Waldo the brand had gone worldwide.

Daniel Rigby gave a great performance as Jamie, really holding the episode, while Chloe Pirrie, Jason Flemying, Tobias Menzies, Christina Chong, James Lance and Michael Shaeffer all gave good performances and really working to make it a strong story.

Black Mirror: Series 2 - Episode 2

This was an initially creepy and unusual story with a very surprising twist.

The episode opened with an intriguing mystery of Victoria Skillane who wakes up in a bedroom, not being able to remember who she is. It was interesting and creepy as she adventured outside to find everyone filming her every move. This was an weird and good idea explore and reflect as this does seem to be a thing nowadays that whenever something happens people start filming it. The apocalyptic situation is well thought through and was a scary concept.

The tension is built up again with the introduction of Jem, Damian and Baxter, especially as Baxter, who had initially saved Victoria and Jem from the voyageurs: the people constantly filming, then turned on them and was about to torture Victoria before being shot dead by Jem. The constant use of flashbacks also helps to create more mystery and intrigue around the truth identity of Victoria and why this world exists.

The revelation of the truth was in itself twisted and such a shock. Victoria was revealed to be an accomplice to the kidnap and murder of a toddler by her fiance. She had filmed the whole thing and was found guilty and sentenced in a kind of eye for an eye situation where she has to suffer this strange world everyday and then be made to remember in front of a baiting group as part of a reality tv show. This is a very twisted concept of punishment and it was kind of strange to feel sympathy for Victoria especially when her mind is being wiped by some electrodes while having to watch the footage she filmed.

Lenora Crichlow gave a fantastic performance as Victoria, really allowing for me to connect with the character and maintain that even when the character's true identity was revealed. The rest of the main cast, including Michael Smiley, Tuppence Middleton, Ian Bonar, Nick Ofield, Russell Barnett and Imani Jackman, all gave great portrayals of their characters enabling me to believe in the fake world that they aimed to create.

Mary & Martha

This was a powerful one-off drama about the effects of malaria on two mother's lives.

This was the story of two mothers, Mary and Martha, whose sons George and Ben tragically die of malaria after visiting Mozambique. Mary and Martha are contrasting characters with differing lives but they are united in grief and work well together. The chemistry between is well developed and the two act as very strong and empowering individuals. Their journey shows the need for help and resources that Africa needs in order to combat, not just malaria, but diseases in general.

It did show a good side to Africa, with its beauty, animals, its modernisation and the great work of that volunteers can achieve. In turn it showed the devastating effects of malaria, with the condition itself, the difficulty to get help in time and the way the death of George was shot in a fast paced manner was effective in showing how the disease rapidly takes the sufferer's life. The aftermath scenes are very powerful and emotive allowing for me to develop a great connection and concern for the characters.

Both women's reaction are very understandable and Richard Curtis' script goes far to make it a heart-breaking and yet positive story. This positivity came with their determination to make a change that led them to fight and tackle the political policy machine in order to increase aid tot he children affected. The scene in the committee was so powerful, well scripted and performance making it an important message about the work countries need to do in order to help prevent malaria.

Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn gave superb performances as Mary and Martha, along with Lux Haney-Jardine as George and Sam Claflin as Ben who also gave good performances. The supporting cast did well including Frank Grillo, Ian Redford, Bongo Mbutuma and Nokuthula  Ledwaba.