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Post by andydecker on Jun 16, 2013 17:22:29 GMT
So I got series 15 of Midsomer Murders. It was the first under new management after they send True-May on the Long Walk so to speak. The Dark Rider was a promising start, but frankly I thought the rest pretty mediocre. Something has changed. I can't put my finger on it, but it is different. Fewer locations? Slashed budget? Too generic? Too clinical and analytical done? The new pathologist lady which I really couldn't stand. I don't know, but mostly I was bored and missed the old eccentric. Some storys were not typical Midsomer material, which didn't help, especially eps like Murder of Innocence.
The eagerly awaited Death and the Divas I really tried to like. All the elements were there. And still I thought it flat in parts. As if the finely tuned machine is out of balance. Strange.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 16, 2013 18:16:57 GMT
Also got the new Foyle's War which was as good as always. Still a shame that they had to cut the war stories short. But the post-war atmosphere was interesting and the stories were well done. It is such a contrast to all those forensic crime shows. I watched a few eps of The Body Farm which bordered on self-parody.
Of course it is hard to take those spy stories serious any longer; I saw one documentary too much how inept the secret services were in reality, from the Cambridge Four (or Fife) to the Atom Spies. Not to mention our own intelligence scandals. Still it is nice to see a old fashioned hero like Foyle for once.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 3, 2013 11:39:03 GMT
So I got series 15 of Midsomer Murders. It was the first under new management after they send True-May on the Long Walk so to speak. The Dark Rider was a promising start, but frankly I thought the rest pretty mediocre. Something has changed. I can't put my finger on it, but it is different. Fewer locations? Slashed budget? Too generic? Too clinical and analytical done? The new pathologist lady which I really couldn't stand. I don't know, but mostly I was bored and missed the old eccentric. Some storys were not typical Midsomer material, which didn't help, especially eps like Murder of Innocence. The eagerly awaited Death and the Divas I really tried to like. All the elements were there. And still I thought it flat in parts. As if the finely tuned machine is out of balance. Strange. Perhaps after the Brian True-May "race row"l, the show has become too self-consciously PC, as if throwing in a token ethnic here and there is somehow less offensive than none at all. I think Jason Hughes' departure will be either the making of the Neil Dudgeon - Fiona Dolman years, or it will toll the funeral bell on the series. While Jonesy was around, you couldn't help but be reminded of the much-loved ghosts of Midsomer past - Tom, Joyce, Cully, Troy, Scott, Dr Bullard, etc. Suddenly Baraby Mk. II, his missus and the dog are the longest serving cast members and they will either make the show their own, or we old lags will slouch off to pastures Scott & Bailey, never to return. Non "supernatural", but definitely a bit Vault-ish, the new series of Luther kicked off last night with our troubled genius DCI on trail of a chap who hides under the bed and dresses you up like Siouxsie Sioux prior to murdering you. Luther (Idris Elba) demonstrates unsuspected familiarity with late 'seventies music scene by identifying victim's enforced makeover as "post-punk," which possibly explains his fondness for walking in slow motion whenever it starts raining. 'The Shoreditch Creeper' was briefly in the frame for the fetish killings - he served time for non-consensual toe-sucking - but I think he's dead now or something, unless that's somebody else (not being deliberately flippant; I went for a piss and missed the outcome of that particular sequence). Scary "don't go up in the attic!" finale - proper horror, I kid you not - provided splendid kiss off to ludicrous/ brilliant opening episode.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 31, 2013 9:53:29 GMT
So I have seen the first ep of Ripper Street as it is on tv. I liked this a lot. And after seeing the idiotic nonsense of DaVinci's Demon I even didn't mind the out of it's time movie production. Porn is always ahead of its time in terms of technology I was quite astonished about the gore, boobs and violence. Seems so untypical for BBC. But good for them. It was a solid story, suspenseful done, with good production values. I still think Copper is better realized as a period piece - those two shows have a lot in common -, but Ripper Street is a good idea and this first ep was a lot of fun.
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 31, 2013 10:15:43 GMT
So I have seen the first ep of Ripper Street as it is on tv. It's on in Australia at the moment too, having replaced Elementary a month or so ago - just had the mint heist episode.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 6, 2013 19:30:21 GMT
Seen the 2nd ep of Ripper Street, and dems and others remarks are spot on. People don't talk, they hold flowery speeches. The slang got killed in the translation. As a foreigner it baffles me how little London is on the screen. Shouldn't there be more shots establishing the city? No corpses ending in the Thames? Weird. Up to now favorite characters are Drake (shame on me, I had to visit imdb to finally realize that he is also Bronn from GoT, another deadly professional), who still has all teeth after his bouts of barenuckled boxing and constant brawling. What a miracle :)And of course Lady Fishnet Absolutly ridiculous character, must have a limitless credit line for her clothes; she wears better things than the queen. Reid I can't relate to, too little backstory untill now. I mean, in a sea of corruption he is a pillar of law and order - when he is not turning a blind eye to murder and the trigger happy Jackson. Okay, Reid is written all over the place, like the whole show. But it is a lot of fun, so different then other british shows. I have not seen all of Whitechapel, but I liked what I saw.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 7, 2013 10:14:22 GMT
Be still, my beating heart! I shouldn't worry about the slang, andy, it's lost on many of us, too. The lack of much London is easily explained as it concentrates on Whitechapel & immediate environs (again), so we're talking about no more than no more than a one mile radius. Admittedly it was hugely overpopulated at the time and the streets would have been teeming fit to burst, but then Ripper Street and 'authenticity' are rarely in the same galaxy. Unlike Whitechapel which is at least partially shot on location (Brick Lane, Commercial Street, Cable Street, Rapton Boxing Club, The Grave Maurice (RIP), The Carpenters Arms, Whitechapel Market, Durward Street [formerly Bucks Row], etc), Ripper Street was filmed in Ireland, so you get a bogus The Brown Bear and Christ Church on top of everything else. Incidentally, saw Steve Pemberton mooching about Cheshire Street market a few Sundays back. He was wearing a battered hat and shapeless green raincoat, i.e., furtive patron of Soho adult cinema circa 1975/ Bournemouth flasher chic. He'd already browsed the books and didn't look much up for pestering, and so I let him be. Autograph hunting ain't for me, but would have considered it an honour for Edward Buchan, the only likeable Ripperologist in history, to scrawl a 'to Vault. worst wishes' message on whatever trash paperback i had about my person.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 13, 2013 19:18:00 GMT
Be still, my beating heart! to scrawl a 'to Vault. worst wishes' message on whatever trash paperback i had about my person. You too, huh? Thought I was the only one who always has a paperback in the pocket.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 29, 2013 12:18:43 GMT
Spoiler Alert: Don't read under any circumstances. Pure As The Driven - who are they kidding? It's back, madder than madness and after witnessing last night's episode - Thomas Burke meets the kung fu Triads - you'd swear it had never been away. Ripper Street series 2 picks up where the début left off with a demonstration of sensitive law enforcement 1890 style and the supremely grisly impalement of an opium addicted cop on a street railing. Yes, Chinatown has opened for business on Whitechapel which now sways on the brink of a hard drug epidemic. Det. Inspector Edmund Reid and Sergeant Drake take reluctant leave of a jail riot to rescue their skewered colleague from the attentions of the ever-"helpful" locals. Reid has the poor man carted away to the London Hospital for the attentions of the brilliant Sir Frederick Treves, so no surprise when John Joseph Merrick, The Elephant man, leans his bulbous head out a window to exchange 'how do you do's. Reid's pet American, the swaggering, one man crime wave, Captain Homer Jackson, offers a favourable verdict on Sir Frederick's surgical skills, even if the fellow has yet to master the art of performing a brain transplant while blind drunk and wrecked on a potentially lethal drug cocktail. It's Jackson who first suspects what they're up against when his x-ray vision detects the needle marks pin-cushioning the spiked cop's leg. Masterminding the opium trade are the beautiful Oriental, Blush Pang, and her lover, Jedediah Shine, a good cop gone absolutely poisonous during a sojourn in Hong Kong. Blush has been followed to London by her killing machine of a brother who is sworn to deliver her from this nest of vipers that she may beg the forgiveness of their dead parents. Lady Fishnet has little to do this episode beyond arranging for her girls to launder Reid's shirts (his estranged wife is either working in the mission or languishing in a lunatic asylum, I forget which), but that's sure to change now the sweaty landlord is making lustful demands - get yer hand off her knee, fatso! Murder, violence, vice, police corruption, betrayal, drug nightmares, improbable costumes and frequently impenetrable dialogue. It is great to have you back, Ripper Street!
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 29, 2013 13:15:59 GMT
Loved the first episode of the second series of Ripper Street. Completely preposterous and utterly brilliant.
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Post by jamesdoig on Oct 29, 2013 19:41:33 GMT
It's back, madder than madness and after witnessing last night's episode Great! Hopefully it'll be on here once the current season of Whitechapel finishes.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 29, 2013 20:07:34 GMT
Masterminding the opium trade are the beautiful Oriental, Blush Pang, and her lover, Jedediah Shine, a good cop gone absolutely poisonous during a sojourn in Hong Kong. Jedediah Shine and Blush Pang, for real? Are they now channeling dear Lawrence James? Sounds good.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 29, 2013 22:07:01 GMT
Loved the first episode of the second series of Ripper Street. Completely preposterous and utterly brilliant. Great! Hopefully it'll be on here once the current season of Whitechapel finishes. Jedediah Shine and Blush Pang, for real? Are they now channeling dear Lawrence James? Sounds good. Our esteemed colleague Dr. Strange has called it exactly right. Even the lunatic fourth series of Whitechapel seems a model of restraint in comparison to last night's goings-on. Honest, it's enough to restore ones faith in TV. was talking to the guvnor of The Brown Bear, last week and surprisingly, given that there are guided tours devoted to just about everything else around here, overnight notoriety has yet to impact on trade in the slightest. Shame the series isn't filmed on location: to have the cast drop by (in character, obviously) would be some thrill, and just imagine a nice "worst wishes to Vault" photo from Red, Drake, Jackson, her fishnetness, and the magnificent Mr. Ginger beard.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 5, 2013 18:19:58 GMT
Well, now we know what really happened to the Elephant Man. Personally, I never bought the official story.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 13, 2013 8:06:08 GMT
After last weeks astonishing revelations re: the secret and heroic last days of the Elephant Man, supremely rotten bad cop Jedediah Shine is granted a well-earned week off, allowing Long Susan to take centre stage. We begin with a night at the ( Wilton's?) Music Hall for an all singing, all dancing performance of Jack The Ripper, where pompous councillor Walter de Souza is making angry noises to the effect that he'll have the show prosecuted as an affront to public decency. While Saucy Jack is busy inventing Screaming Lord Sutch, the lights go out, and that's the signal for ar Match girl vigilante gang to strike! Councillor de Souza is bundled from the theatre and spirited away in a stolen dung cart. It transpires that the match girls, led by the charismatic if unstable Raine Cornell. are abducting important chaps who oppose their champion, Jane Cobden, the only woman on the recently formed London County Council (historical accuracy takes another good kicking). Lady Fishnet, fresh from another attempted mauling by her grasping landlord, is initially furious when the gang raid the Tenter Street brothel to abduct a favoured client, but throws in her lot with the sisters' once she's seen the extent of their suffering; these proto-feminists are cruelly disfigured by the severest cases of phossy jaw, and all thanks to the greed of men! When Raine takes to mutilating the hostages, Susan intervenes on their behalf and it's her actions save the gang from the gallows. Raine demonstrates her genius by masterminding an audacious deception on Reid and his men, only to let her hatred get the better of her when it comes to releasing the three sorry toffs .... Phil Davis recently said of Whitechapel "We're the place where the cop show meets the horror film," so what does that make Ripper Street? An East End Western? A medical drama gone insane? Who cares when it's such compulsive viewing.
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