TV Review: Criminal: UK (Netflix) – Season One

A police procedural anthology series created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, the first series of Criminal: UK aired on Netflix in 2019. Set within the confines of a police interrogation room, the series follows a group of London investigators – Detective Chief Inspector Natalie Hobbs (Katherine Kelly), Detective Inspector Tony Myerscough (Lee Ingleby), Detective Constable Hugo Duffy (Mark Stanley), Detective Constable Vanessa Warren (Rochenda Sandall), and Detective Constable Kyle Petit (Shubham Saraf) – who engage in intense games of psychological cat-and-mouse with their suspects to find the answers that they need to solve their cases.

This first series sees them question Dr. Edgar Fallon (David Tennant) who is suspected of sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter, Stacey Doyle (Hayley Atwell) who is accused of poisoning her sister’s partner, and Jamal ‘Jay’ Muthassin (Youssef Kerkour) who must help the police locate an abandoned trailer full of immigrants.

TV Review: Des (ITV) – Miniseries

Aired in September 2020, ITV’s Des is a three-part miniseries that tells the true story of Dennis Nilsen (David Tennant), the Scottish serial killer who was arrested in 1983. When Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay (Daniel Mays) is called to the leafy North London address, he discovers the drains clogged with rotting flesh and bones. As he waits for Nilsen to return from work, he expects the culprit to deny accountability. But when Nilsen freely admits that it’s not just one or two bodies but “15 or 16”, the police must work quickly to try to secure a conviction and identify the victims, as biographer Brian Masters (Jason Watkins) begins a game of chess with `Des’ in an attempt to understand his motives.

TV Review: Broadchurch (ITV) – Season One-Three

Broadchurch is an ITV series that originally aired from 2013 until 2017. Created by Chris Chibnall, it’s set in the fictional close-knit coastal town of Broadchurch and follows police officer Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and D.I. Alec Hardy (David Tennant).

TV Review: Deadwater Fell (Channel 4) – Miniseries

A four-part British miniseries written and created by Daisy Coulam that aired on Channel 4 in January 2020, Deadwater Fell is set in a remote Scottish village and follows a doctor (David Tennant) whose wife and three young children are murdered in a fire. As the only survivor, investigators begin to question the father and search for a motive after finding out that all five of the victims were drugged.

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Watch David Tennant, Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman & Imelda Staunton Get Into Character in ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’

(Written for BritScene)

We gave you a glimpse at one of these videos earlier this week along with three new production videos and a new clip for Aardman Animations’ family adventure The Pirates! Band of Misfits, but now we have four official b-roll videos including performances from British actors David Tennant, Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, and Imelda Staunton.

Four New Production Videos & New Clip For Aardman Animations’ ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’

(Written for BritScene)

Aardman Animations’ family adventure The Pirates! Band of Misfits has three new behind-the-scenes videos, a new clip and a B-roll video of British actor Martin Freeman in the recording studio, this week, including footage of the cast in their voice recording sessions and the film’s animation team showing how the characters go from paper to moving visuals on-screen.

Brits At The Box Office: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, David Tennant, Mark Strong & More!

(Written for BritScene)

With not a lot of British-related news going on at the box office over the last couple of weeks, things are starting to heat up again with a couple of new releases this week. It’s actually quite a good week for a number of Brits including Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, David Tennant, and Irish comedy actor Chris O’Dowd, with a great selection of films for the next seven days, and we know that you will be happy to see a couple of these in particular on the big screen at last.

Brilliant New Featurette About The Making of Aardman Animations’ ‘The Pirates! Band Of Misfits’

(Written for BritScene)

A brilliant new featurette for Aardman Animations’ family adventure The Pirates! Band Of Misfits has been released this week, including commentary from writer Gideon Defoe, British actors Hugh Grant and David Tennant, and producer Julie Lockhart about how the film was created and just how long it took to make this beautifully crafted 3D stop-motion animation.

‘The Decoy Bride’ Starring David Tennant Gets A US Release

(Written for BritScene)

Scottish actor David Tennant‘s latest film The Decoy Bride has been given a US release date this week, in which he teams up with fellow Scot, Kelly MacDonald in a romantic comedy written by comedian Sally Phillips and Neil Jaworski.

Tennant plays a writer who is about to marry one of the most famous movie stars around, Lara Tyler, played by Alice Eve.

Two Full-Length Trailers for ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’

(Written for BritScene)

Today we have two full-length trailers for Aardman Animations’ family adventure, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, following The Pirate Captain, voiced by British actor Hugh Grant in his first animated role.

The film is based on the first two of Gideon Defoe’s The Pirates! novels, The Pirates! in an Adventure With Scientists and The Pirates! in an Adventure With Whaling.

New Trailer For Aardman Animation ‘The Pirates!’, Me Hearties

(Written for BritScene)

The latest trailer for Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, the first film based on a series of novels from Gideon Defoe‘s The Pirates! series, has been released this week, following The Pirate Captain, voiced by Hugh Grant (Did You Hear About the Morgans?), and his crew of pirates.

Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists is based on the first two of Defoe’s novels, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists and The Pirates! in an Adventure with Whaling. The Pirate Captain is on an adventure to beat his rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven – TV’s Entourage) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek – Puss in Boots) in the Pirate of the Year Award, and along the way must battle Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton – Arthur Christmas) and meet a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant – Fright Night).

Film Review: Fright Night

(Read this in my publication In Retrospect – Issue 2)

Rating:

Fright Night, directed by Craig Gillespie, is a remake of the vampire-centered horror comedy of the same name, originally written and directed by Tom Holland in 1985.

Opening with the killing of an entire family on a secluded estate in Los Angeles, we are introduced to the provocative vampire Jerry (Colin Farrell), a 400-year-old killing machine who is the new neighbour of Charley (Anton Yelchin) and his mother Jane (Toni Collette). Former friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has already figured out Jerry’s secret and attempts to warn Charley about his murderous neighbour.

Film Review: Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire

Directed by Mike Newell and based on the fourth book in J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series of novels, sees Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) return for their fourth year at Hogwarts as Harry’s famous lightning-bolt scar begins aching and causing him mysterious visions. Introduced to yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, former dark wizard catcher Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson), Harry’s wishes for an uneventful school year are almost immediately shattered when he is unexpectedly chosen, along with fellow student Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), as Hogwarts’ representative in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Worse still, Harry doesn’t realize that the most feared wizard in the world, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), is anticipating the tournament, as well.