Tag: BBC

An Electric Storm

An Electric Storm: Daphne, Delia and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

by Ned Netherwood (Obverse Books, 2018, Second edition)

Netherwood_Electric Storm

This is one-third a history of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and two-thirds reviews of all its associated recordings. Netherwood is clearly an expert on electronic music but his enthusiasm for the Workshop’s legacy flounders in a concerted absence of (second edition!) proofreading.

 

 

Sherlock, Season 1

Sherlock, Season 1

(BBC, 2010)

Sherlock_1

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman combine brilliantly in this dark, funny, fast-moving and at times stylistically surreal modernisation of Sherlock Holmes. Perfectly cast and ingeniously scripted in deference to its feature-length format, this is easily some of the best television ever made.

 

Doctor Who, Series 9

Doctor Who, Series 9

BBC, 2015

Doctor Who_Series 9

Bookended by Steven Moffat’s tulipomaniacal stake-raising and overblown (if ingenious) retrofitting of Doctor Who’s mythology, the other writers of Series 9 have crafted a straight flush of dark, self-contained science fantasy; gothic disturbances in which Peter Capaldi adds depth to his characterisation.

 

Red Dwarf VIII

Red Dwarf VIII

by Doug Naylor (BBC, 1999)

Naylor_Red Dwarf VIII

Returning to the eponymous mining ship, Red Dwarf became unabashedly silly and yet managed also to transmogrify into a creature of ephemeral comedic brilliance. ‘Cassandra’ is a classic episode, while elsewhere, amidst the rampant caricaturing, a long-suffering Captain Hollister steals the show.

The Goodies, Series 1

The Goodies, Series 1

by Graeme Garden & Bill Oddie (with Tim Brooke-Taylor) (BBC 1970)

Goodies_Season 1

In 1970 comedy trio the Goodies arrived under their own names, riding a trandem bicycle and pioneering a freeform sitcom where they claimed to do anything, anytime. Exuberant, irreverent, chaotic: Tim, Bill and Graeme soon found themselves (to quote their song) needed.

‘Allo ‘Allo! (Series 1 & 2)

‘Allo ‘Allo! (Series 1 & 2)

by Jeremy Lloyd & David Croft (BBC 1984-1985)

Lloyd & Croft_Allo Allo 1 & 2

Repetitive, formulaic (think Get Smart) yet often uproarious, the convoluted tribulations of a café-owner in German-occupied France rose to long-running comedic heights thanks to the incomparable Gordon Kaye (as René Artois) and the premise of rendering all languages as badly accented English.

Red Dwarf VI

Red Dwarf VI

by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor (BBC, 1993)

Grant_Naylor_Red Dwarf VI

After a stellar run from 1988-1992, Red Dwarf returned in 1993 as a caricatured shadow (almost a parody) of its first five seasons, stripping the crew of all seriousness and sacrificing thematically self-contained episodes for cheap laughs and a token story arc.

Derelict Space Sheep