TV Times

Quoted from Sandford1981

It all came down to vast sums of money from laundering so in that, there’s a path well trodden but when you reduced it down to ‘just police pensions’ I smiled. I think it’s another reason to love it.
All that intrigue, the twists, corruption, criminality and killing (sounds like a normal shift for a met Bobby) and it was something as mundane and dry as a pensions. Brilliant!

Yeah, I felt the same.

Was thinking it must be something to do with MI5 and state secrets, but it turned out to be something as prosaic and middle class as pensions, which made it all the more chilling.

Gangs of London
6.5/10

I feel like I’ve been watching a different series to everyone else as it I don’t see what the fuss is about.
There has obviously been money spent on it, the cast is good and it looks well. However, I can’t help but think a lot of it is violence for violence sake. The story lines are scarcely believable and are not strong enough to hold it all up.
I haven’t been to London in a while but how does anyone do their shopping? It seems you can’t drive a car without having an accident, the streets are awash with bad illegitimates with fully automatic weaponry and there’s no supermarkets because they’re all heavily guarded James Bond bad guy style lairs!
I found the country house and then the helicopter scenes laughable although they were executed well and looked good technically, they just didn’t fit and belong in a Hollywood action flick which is understandable given the show’s creator.
The tone and pace of it is all over the shop too and at times I think it’s a really elaborate urine take.
The most astonishing thing for me is despite all the above I haven’t stopped watching. Perhaps it’s coz I’m laid up on strong painkillers…I don’t know.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Gangs of London
6.5/10

I feel like I’ve been watching a different series to everyone else as it I don’t see what the fuss is about.
There has obviously been money spent on it, the cast is good and it looks well. However, I can’t help but think a lot of it is violence for violence sake. The story lines are scarcely believable and are not strong enough to hold it all up.
I haven’t been to London in a while but how does anyone do their shopping? It seems you can’t drive a car without having an accident, the streets are awash with bad illegitimates with fully automatic weaponry and there’s no supermarkets because they’re all heavily guarded James Bond bad guy style lairs!
I found the country house and then the helicopter scenes laughable although they were executed well and looked good technically, they just didn’t fit and belong in a Hollywood action flick which is understandable given the show’s creator.
The tone and pace of it is all over the shop too and at times I think it’s a really elaborate urine take.
The most astonishing thing for me is despite all the above I haven’t stopped watching. Perhaps it’s coz I’m laid up on strong painkillers…I don’t know.

I made it to half way through episode 2 of the first series and gave up. Load of tosh.

Quoted from ginnywings

I made it to half way through episode 2 of the first series and gave up. Load of tosh.

I have finished it all now.
I’m definitely blaming the meds.
I’m downgrading it to a 6.

I must do better…

Black Bird
8.5/10

Jimmy Keene is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison but he cuts a deal with the FBI to befriend a suspected serial killer. Keene has to elicit a confession from Larry Hall to find the bodies of as many as eighteen women.

We finished this last night and I have to say I was really impressed with it. Taron Egerton is excellent but Paul Walter Hauser is even better as Larry Hall. There’s a good supporting cast including Ray Liotta and Greg Kinnear as the story develops nicely in the real world as well as behind bars. It is all based on a true story too, which makes it all the more frightening and downright creepy. Definitely worth a watch if you like a good drama or the true crime genre.

Strike
8.5/10

War veteran turned private detective Cormoran Strike solves brutal murders with the help of his trusted partner Robin Ellacott.

I have just finished the latest series of this and wish I hadn’t binged it as I now have a bloody long wait for the next.
As I’ve covered before I am a sucker for the genre and I particularly like the dynamics at work in this show.
I really like Tom Burke and think he does a great job here and Holly Grainger is also good as Robin. It reminds me of an old programme I was similarly fond of from the mid 2000s called Vincent and starting Ray Winstone. Both well worth a look in my view!

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (season 3)
7.5/10

I enjoyed the latest series as I did the previous 2. I watch it knowing it is more 24 than Homeland or The Americans but like it nonetheless. It’s far from perfect and if you wanted to you could pick holes in it but for turn off your brain popcorn entertainment it’s pretty good.  

The Bear

A chef who previously worked in kitchens doing fine dining and making intricate dishes returns home to Chicago to run his family's Italian beef sandwich shop after the suicide of his older brother who left behind a business in debt and a eclectic gang of unruly kitchen staff.

I thought this was absolutely top notch US television. The performances, writing, story etc are all brilliant, the whole thing is rich in so many great characters and the soundtrack is top. Pack that all into eight 30ish minute episodes and you have a series you can smash in a relatively short amount of time. We had to go with 2 episodes max a night though as the better half once worked in kitchens and I think the intensity and claustrophobia of a lot of the scenes was a bit too much for her, but again she loved it too.

Because it's so good and also relatively short it left me hungry for more and I was happy to see it has been lined up for further series. I watched this a month or two ago but have sporadically seen various friends picking up on it and raving about it just as much so it's definitely recommended.

9.5/10

Quoted from Manchester Mariner

The Bear

A chef who previously worked in kitchens doing fine dining and making intricate dishes returns home to Chicago to run his family's Italian beef sandwich shop after the suicide of his older brother who left behind a business in debt and a eclectic gang of unruly kitchen staff.

I thought this was absolutely top notch US television. The performances, writing, story etc are all brilliant, the whole thing is rich in so many great characters and the soundtrack is top. Pack that all into eight 30ish minute episodes and you have a series you can smash in a relatively short amount of time. We had to go with 2 episodes max a night though as the better half once worked in kitchens and I think the intensity and claustrophobia of a lot of the scenes was a bit too much for her, but again she loved it too.

Because it's so good and also relatively short it left me hungry for more and I was happy to see it has been lined up for further series. I watched this a month or two ago but have sporadically seen various friends picking up on it and raving about it just as much so it's definitely recommended.

9.5/10

The Bear is absolutely brilliant, there’s a long one shot scene in the last episode (I think, been a while since I watched it) that’s as good as anything you’ll see on TV.  Can’t wait for season 2.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Strike
8.5/10

War veteran turned private detective Cormoran Strike solves brutal murders with the help of his trusted partner Robin Ellacott.

I have just finished the latest series of this and wish I hadn’t binged it as I now have a bloody long wait for the next.
As I’ve covered before I am a sucker for the genre and I particularly like the dynamics at work in this show.
I really like Tom Burke and think he does a great job here and Holly Grainger is also good as Robin. It reminds me of an old programme I was similarly fond of from the mid 2000s called Vincent and starting Ray Winstone. Both well worth a look in my view!

I thought all 4 series have been good tbh, although Holliday Grainger certainly helps bump up the score.....  Well worth a watch and I look forward to seeing more of them when they get made.  Manages to not shy away from the leg whilst also not making it all about the leg which is a tough balance to get right