Tag Archives: crime

Murder on the Home Front (ITV)

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

Something of a peculiar beast this one, which is billed as a crime drama following the pioneering early forensic work of a pathologist working in London during the Blitz in 1940. I say ‘billed as a crime drama’ because to … Continue reading →

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Arne Dahl: The Blinded Man Part 1 (BBC4)

Posted on April 7, 2013 by

One day, BBC4 is going to stretch its Nordic Noir cloth too thin and the whole thing will unravel on them in an alarming threadbare mess. The channel keeps going back to the same well, going deeper and deeper in … Continue reading →

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Lewis S7 – Down Among the Fearful

Posted on January 15, 2013 by

There’s not much to say about the first story in the new series of Lewis – it’s very much the same old fare, with a languid mystery loosely weaving themes of religious faith involving suspects played by famous actors being … Continue reading →

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Line of Duty E1-3 / Blackout E1-2 (BBC)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by

The BBC has chosen July to air two new drama shows that feel like they’re reasonably direct offspring from last year’s The Shadow Line, even though they themselves are quite different from one another. Normally too such dark shows would … Continue reading →

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Case Sensitive: The Other Half Lives E1 (ITV)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by

Has it really been 16 months since the first two-part outing for Sophie Hannah’s detective duo Zailer (Olivia Williams) and Waterhouse (Darren Boyd)? It really doesn’t feel that ITV has much sense of expectation of or commitment to this series. … Continue reading →

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Lewis – S6

Posted on June 8, 2012 by

And so another series of the Inspector Morse spin-off has come to an end, slipping so smoothly down our gullet that we barely even noticed that it was there. The programme never had much bite, to be honest. That wasn’t … Continue reading →

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The Bridge S1 E1-2

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

Where once it was possible for a Scandinavian drama to sneak onto the BBC schedules without anyone noticing, these days they come with such a huge fanfare and sky-high expectations that it’s almost inevitable that there will be a little … Continue reading →

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The Turin Shroud Secret, by Sam Christer

Posted on April 10, 2012 by

Contains some spoilers. Considering that just about every other historical and religious icon has been plundered by some post-Dan Brown conspiracy thriller in the last decade, it’s surprised me that seemingly no one has hitherto used the Turin Shroud as … Continue reading →

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Unforgettable S1 E1-9

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

It would be delightful if it were possible to do a one word review of Unforgettable as being “Forgettable”, but that would be both glib and unfair. Instead, it’s a perfectly proficient police procedural just like dozens of others, okay … Continue reading →

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Rizzoli & Isles S1

Posted on November 25, 2011 by

Do we really need yet another crime/police show? Not really, but at least this series revolves around two strong and interesting female characters for a welcome change. Angie Harmon is a revelation as a tough blue collar Boston detective very … Continue reading →

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The Tales of Max Carrados (BBC Radio 4 Extra/Ladbroke Radio Production)

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

I like to think of myself as a fan of detective/crime fiction, and of classic crime fiction in particular, so I was rather startled and a little irked to find out about early 20th century character Max Carrados. He appeared … Continue reading →

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Body of Proof S1 E1

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

As a big fan of crime shows, Alibi is the television channel for me. Usually it just gets the cast-offs and reruns (back-to-back Murder, She Wrote episodes for example) but just sometimes it strikes lucky by snapping up an American … Continue reading →

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The Shadow Line – Ep1

Posted on May 9, 2011 by

Caution: contains spoilers It’s been a very strange week for TV drama. After months of domestic drama drought we suddenly get overloaded with Exile, Vera, Case Sensitive – and now this conspiracy thriller boasting a staggering cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, … Continue reading →

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Case Sensitive: Point of Rescue

Posted on May 7, 2011 by

Having slagged off Vera and in particular attacked the central female character, I need to urgently reassert my “I’m not a sexist male reviewer really, honest guv” credentials – which brings me to this week’s other crime procedural drama début … Continue reading →

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Spiral (Engrenages) S3 E1/2

Posted on April 12, 2011 by

When The Killing started, I really didn’t want to tie myself into watching 20 hours of subtitled drama on a Saturday night, but I felt obliged to at least give it a go. And damn the thing if it didn’t … Continue reading →

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