Nov 8, 2018
don’t sound so thrilled, laszlo.
seen from Malaysia
seen from Bulgaria
seen from China
seen from Pakistan
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Taiwan
seen from Philippines
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from France
seen from Australia
seen from China
don’t sound so thrilled, laszlo.
TV OF 2019. PART 2
BBC once again excelled with its music documentaries – its Top of the Pops series reached 1987 and 1988 plus it also showed documentaries on Soft Cell, Marianne Faithfull, Betty Davis and Woodstock and Get Rich or Try Dying (about the industry that's grown up around deceased stars like Elvis and Prince). (Channel 4 showed the disturbing and heartbreaking documentary about Michael Jackson and the abuse claims against him, Leaving Neverland). One of their best music documentaries in a long time was I Can Go For That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock presented + written by Katie Puckrik (really hope we get to see more documentaries from her as this one was so good).
BBC showed a documentary on Palitoy + their range of Star Wars toys (I really wish they'd do one on Sindy or Action Man) plus the making of the Star Wars films in England. They also did a short series called Novels That Shaped the World that examined themes such as class and race. Plus the Back In Time series chose to focus on school for this series (I always find them interesting as I think a lot of people don't realise how much things have changed). We also had American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley which was an interesting look at things we think are true about American history which aren't necessarily what we think. Also thought the BBC series on the rise of the Nazis was good
I liked Kathy Burke's All Woman where she looked at subjects like body image or motherhood + I was glad to see another documentary from Rich Hall, this time on the Cold War between Russia + America. But by far my favourite was A Fresh Guide to Florence with Fab 5 Freddy, in which the artist + rapper Fab 5 Freddy looked at black representation in Renaissance art. He made an engaging host + it was an interesting topic – I really hope they show more documentaries by him.
I do like a good thriller/crime drama + some of my favourites returned this year – Death in Paradise, Grantchester, Shetland, Tin Star, Baptiste (technically a spin-off) and Line of Duty (which had the excellent Stephen Graham in it this year). Also watched Luther + True Detective for the 1st time + enjoyed them both. I was glad that Netflix picked up on Top Boy + we got another excellent series of that.
Also had some new crime dramas – The Capture, London Kills (deserved better than a daytime slot, I thought), Wild Bill (I was gutted to read it was cancelled after only 1 series as I thought it had real potential + Rob Lowe was fantastic in it), and a couple of outstanding shows set in Scotland – Traces (about a girl investigating her mother's murder) + Guilt (about a pair of brothers trying to cover up a hit & run accident they're involved in). Also saw The Alienist (which was set in Victorian London) and Vienna Blood (which had a similar theme in some ways of psychiatry as a new tool for the police but was set slightly later in Vienna) plus The Name of The Rose (which was also based on characters from a book, this time medieval monks) For me, the best one was Giri/Haji about a Japanese policeman who comes to London in search of his brother – excellent writing + acting all round plus some nice touches that made it stand out without being too quirky, like the use of animation. (Plus Will Sharpe completely stole the show as the rent boy Rodney).
