Witnesses, Series 2
by Hervé Hadmar & Marc Herpoux; dir. Hervé Hadmar (Channel 4, 2017)
subtitled, from ‘Les témoins’ (La Une, 2017)
![TV poster: “Witnesses, Series 2” by Hervé Hadmar & Marc Herpoux; dir. Hervé Hadmar (Channel 4, 2017) [subtitled, from ‘Les témoins’ (La Une, 2017)]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Witnesses-2.jpg)
8-part French crime drama. Hadmar aims for moody and disturbing, drawing events out until the house of crazy comes tumbling down, exposing everything and everyone as bizarrely motivated and rather pointless. Marie Dompnier evinces the presence and mien to carry it through.
Doctor Who: The Great Beyond
by James Kettle (Big Finish, 2024)
A six-parter structured around a proper SF idea. While the plot follows recognisable patterns and the support characters play to standard, unnuanced types, Kettle lands a poignant denouement that allows the Doctor to live and grow from the consequences of his actions.
Black Mirror: White Christmas
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Carl Tibbetts (BBC, 2014)
The grimmest of Christmas specials, leavened only by Jon Hamm’s used-car salesman vibe as three flashback stories twist into barbed wire. Oona Chaplin conveys the potential horror of relative time in a virtual environment, paving the way for Rafe Spall’s unravelling denouement.
Vampire Cheerleaders 1
consisting of:
“Vampire Cheerleaders: Fang Service” by Adam Arnold; ill. Shiei
“Paranormal Mystery Squad: So My Sister’s a Bitch in Heat” by Adam Arnold; ill. Comipa (Seven Seas, 2011)
Manga. ‘Vampire Cheerleaders’ never gets past its own title, offering teen melodrama, mild titillation and forced humour with little real speculative edge. ‘Paranormal Mystery Squad’ has more potential, yet unfolds in a confused, cluttered mess while sketching its characters with a sledgehammer.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
dir. Tim Burton (2024)
So determinedly kooky that it forgets to be anything else, Burton directing a bog-standard redemption arc that renders Michael Keaton dramatically anonymous and wastes Winona Ryder’s talents. Notwithstanding Jenna Ortega and Arthur Conti, who give genuine performances, only the music is worthwhile.
A Princess of Mars
by Edgar Rice Burroughs (A. C. McClurg, 1917)
audiobook read by Scott Brick (Tantor, 2008)
A freewheeling adventure aimed very much at an adolescent male market. Burroughs affects an erudite narrative voice (for pulp), and has invested sufficient thought to fudge a depiction of Martian culture. Events, however, transpire in an extemporised cavalcade, dreamlike and dramatically untethered.
Which Way to Anywhere
by Cressida Cowell (Hodder & Stoughton, 2022)
audiobook read by Cressida Cowell (Little, Brown, 2023)
Another quite masterful MG fantasy adventure series-in-the-making. The audiobook production is hobbled somewhat by inexplicably lame sound effects. Cowell herself reads very much as if standing in for David Tennant, her narration proving perfectly adequate except insofar as it emphasises an absence.
Black Mirror: Plaything
by Charlie Brooker; dir. David Slade (Netflix, 2025)
Quality near-future SF. The premise (true artificial intelligence) is obliquely approached, the viewer first overawed by Peter Capaldi’s presence, drawn into rubbernecking by Lewis Gribben’s performance, and lulled by the adroitly executed 90s-style simulation game Thronglets. Quiet dark humour completes the backdrop.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons
by Peter S. Beagle (Simon & Schuster, 2024)
audiobook read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2024)
A gentle fantasy that subverts tropes even while making use of them. Though dragons feature, most of the plot is submerged-iceberg character development: Robert and Princess Cerise in particular, but also Prince Reginald, Ostvald and Elfrieda. Taylor-Corbett’s audiobook reading plays to this.
Mr Browser in the Space Museum
by Philip Curtis; ill. Tony Ross (Andersen, 1985)
Colonial fiction transposed to a SF setting. Curtis doesn’t have a great deal to say, but captures the attitudinal gulf between students and adults. Ross’s scratchy illustrations once again add a layer of engagement that the text couldn’t achieve on its own.