Recommended Television Programmes

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • HighlandDougie
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 3079

    While much looking forward to the next "Engrenages", in the meantime - and apologies for lowering the tone of the thread (although I'm not sure about the highbrow credentials of the otherwise estimable TPTV), "Sex Education", courtesy of Netflix, is both funny and rather touching. Gillian Anderson gets the chance to vamp it up - and the scenery (Wye Valley, I guess?) is lovely.

    Comment

    • DracoM
      Host
      • Mar 2007
      • 12956

      'Silent Witness'
      After a fine series of epis for years, the present series has IMO finally and gravely lost its way.

      It has become increasingly sidetracked by in and out of office love affairs, flirtations between one of the central characters with police officers, but this time TWO of the central characters, no, THREE of the central characters; there are less and less likely occurrences like the substitution of heart for heart to help destroy credibility of Dr Alexander, and now, central character Clarissa virtually solves a complex case single-handed, not only at the computer in the office but also round at a maybe-perpetrator's country mansion / private research unit + Cayman Islands intrigues, then an in-house lab assistant / student falsification of evidence....etc etc etc........ - .............and FGS, that's just ONE epi.

      Comment

      • Serial_Apologist
        Full Member
        • Dec 2010
        • 37563

        Originally posted by DracoM View Post
        'Silent Witness'
        After a fine series of epis for years, the present series has IMO finally and gravely lost its way.

        It has become increasingly sidetracked by in and out of office love affairs, flirtations between one of the central characters with police officers, but this time TWO of the central characters, no, THREE of the central characters; there are less and less likely occurrences like the substitution of heart for heart to help destroy credibility of Dr Alexander, and now, central character Clarissa virtually solves a complex case single-handed, not only at the computer in the office but also round at a maybe-perpetrator's country mansion / private research unit + Cayman Islands intrigues, then an in-house lab assistant / student falsification of evidence....etc etc etc........ - .............and FGS, that's just ONE epi.
        And of course taking on the relative of a murder suspect without preliminary checking her, who turns out to be the main culprit!!! But at least they selected The Ship Inn on the Thames embankment near Hammersmith Bridge for one of the extra-curricular lunch breaks, which is where I always have my cycling stop offs, and I happen to know they do a nicey spicy veggie burger with salad & french fries, and the waiter-barman is a miserable sod.

        Comment

        • Nick Armstrong
          Host
          • Nov 2010
          • 26516

          Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
          And of course taking on the relative of a murder suspect without preliminary checking her, who turns out to be the main culprit!!! But at least they selected The Ship Inn on the Thames embankment near Hammersmith Bridge for one of the extra-curricular lunch breaks, which is where I always have my cycling stop offs, and I happen to know they do a nicey spicy veggie burger with salad & french fries, and the waiter-barman is a miserable sod.
          "...the isle is full of noises,
          Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
          Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
          Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

          Comment

          • vinteuil
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 12768

            Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
            .


            ... very much enjoying Ride upon the Storm (channel 4 Sundays, and available for binge watching on All 4). By the makers of Borgen, and with the wonderful Lars Mikkelsen as a charismatic, deeply flawed, alcoholic patriarch priest; a tale of family love and hate, peril, moral jeopardy, redemption, warfare, corruption, love, shattered hopes, death, adultery ... all in the improbable setting of the workings of the Danish National Church. But this is not Trollope : it has more than a hint of Tarkovsky - with a dash of Kierkegaard...




            .
            ... no takers for this? It's on at an unearthly hour - but (I would say) - well worth catching....


            .

            Comment

            • Nick Armstrong
              Host
              • Nov 2010
              • 26516

              Originally posted by HighlandDougie View Post
              "Sex Education", courtesy of Netflix, is both funny and rather touching. Gillian Anderson gets the chance to vamp it up - and the scenery (Wye Valley, I guess?) is lovely.
              Yes, watched this series lately and I agree. Always good to see Ms Anderson, what an actress (or actor, as we're supposed to say these days); plus a big bonus of having the splendid Mikael Persbrandt (the brooding, dangerous - and, sadly, late - 'Gunvald Larsson' from BECK) as a local plumber!

              "...the isle is full of noises,
              Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
              Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
              Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

              Comment

              • Braunschlag
                Full Member
                • Jul 2017
                • 484

                Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
                ... no takers for this? It's on at an unearthly hour - but (I would say) - well worth catching....


                .
                Most certainly - binged it in two days. Excellent work and good lengthy episodes to keep you interested. Slow TV perhaps (for really slow Nordic try The River, Walter Presents, that scripwriter was overpaid).
                Worth catching.

                Comment

                • jayne lee wilson
                  Banned
                  • Jul 2011
                  • 10711

                  DAS BOOT (2018) Sky Atlantic.

                  Always a huge fan of the original which I watched three times at least, this is an utterly compelling follow-up and a more than worthy successor, interweaving the no-holds-barred sea battles with a new plot line involving French Resistance undercover inside the German Operations. 8 Episodes of which I've already seen 4 - so I guess I'll finish by the weekend...!

                  ​There's a stunning opening scene of devastating contrasts, which leaves you reeling!

                  If I don't feel involved with a few of the characters quite quickly, start to care about how they make out, I soon lose interest in a drama series. It is THE deal-breaker - but here, the deal is definitely a maker. Wonderfully shot, acted and directed, very involving indeed. It doesn't pull any punches, but you always want to stay with it. (The Problem with the recent Les Misérables was the opposite - I never cared enough about any of them (save perhaps Cosette) to feel the grimness worth bearing...). I like too the way that the principal Gestapo character is shown as ruthless and brutal at interrogations, but allowed to be a human being, more rounded out, with his own doubts as well. You really do end up wanting to see more of him (Tom Wlaschiha, compelling screen presence, as is Vicky Krips as the undercover Resistance agent he takes a shine to).

                  I do find subtitled films in unfamiliar languages a problem, as I need the connection with language, but here - well, we have French, German and English, so I'm mostly OK!
                  Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 07-02-19, 20:47.

                  Comment

                  • Serial_Apologist
                    Full Member
                    • Dec 2010
                    • 37563

                    Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post

                    [I]If I don't feel involved with a few of the characters quite quickly, start to care about how they make out, I soon lose interest in a drama series.
                    A lot of people feel the same way, I think. There's something quite... mean? About continuing watching a play or film, none of whose characters one feels any sympathy for.

                    Comment

                    • gurnemanz
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 7380

                      Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
                      DAS BOOT (2018) Sky Atlantic.



                      I do find subtitled films in unfamiliar languages a problem, as I need the connection with language, but here - well, we have French, German and English, so I'm mostly OK!
                      Thanks for reminding about this. I've downloaded the first episode and will watch with my wife (German native) The odd thing about subtitles is that I can't help reading them even if I do understand the original.

                      Comment

                      • gradus
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 5601

                        Originally posted by gurnemanz View Post
                        Thanks for reminding about this. I've downloaded the first episode and will watch with my wife (German native) The odd thing about subtitles is that I can't help reading them even if I do understand the original.
                        I wish the BBC would run Heimat again, I thought it tremendously good and very useful for those of us wishing to practice our German comprehension.

                        Comment

                        • gurnemanz
                          Full Member
                          • Nov 2010
                          • 7380

                          Originally posted by gradus View Post
                          I wish the BBC would run Heimat again, I thought it tremendously good and very useful for those of us wishing to practice our German comprehension.
                          They did a couple of years. I downloaded it all but have only dipped in to remind myself. It's excellent but there is a lot of it.

                          Comment

                          • Richard Tarleton

                            Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
                            DAS BOOT (2018) Sky Atlantic.

                            Always a huge fan of the original which I watched three times at least, this is an utterly compelling follow-up and a more than worthy successor, interweaving the no-holds-barred sea battles with a new plot line involving French Resistance undercover inside the German Operations. 8 Episodes of which I've already seen 4 - so I guess I'll finish by the weekend...!
                            I just managed to watch the original, couldn't bring myself to watch this. The sheer claustrophobia and terror of a submarine....(the only one I've been on was safely tied up alongside)....a steel tube reeking (in those days) of diesel and cigarettes (submariners smoked like chimneys)....my father spent the last three years of the war in subs, to the ruination of his health, most of this time in this T-class in the far east - as a friend who was on a T-boat after the war put it, “Your father must have had quite a tough war. The incidence of fatalities amongst submariners was on a par with RAF bomber crews, and worse than any other arm of the services. Inevitably they didn't have injuries, either the whole crew died or survived”. He'd previously been on a sub which disappeared a fortnight after he left it....

                            Comment

                            • Braunschlag
                              Full Member
                              • Jul 2017
                              • 484

                              Originally posted by gradus View Post
                              I wish the BBC would run Heimat again, I thought it tremendously good and very useful for those of us wishing to practice our German comprehension.
                              I wished it for years after the first broadcasts and finally bought the lot when each was released. It was long, sometimes a bit pretentious but remains my No.1 ‘film’ of all time.
                              It’s all on YouTube, only in the original German (no subs) but I’ve watched it so many times I’ve almost memorised the script. I was never really taken by the final series, it struck me as a bit of an indulgence by Reitz (maybe that’s why it was shorter, the TV companies might well have had enough of Reitz by then).
                              Interestingly, I saw a ‘Making of Heimat’ ( referring to the most recent saga) and Reitz comes over as a bit of a bore now, ‘auteur this, auteur that’ and there’s a quite astonishing sequence where the locals are obviously fed up with his impositions. Its quite a ding dong and the locals show their exasperation clearly.
                              Heimat 1 and 2 remain the best, 3 is good (also savaged by the broadcasters who had the upper hand by then). Heimat 4 (technically a prequel) I’ve seen once and that was enough. Things run their course, a pity Reitz didn’t see that clearly.
                              For Reitz fans there’s a hilarious prog on a local Munich TV station online where Reitz and Salome Kammer are demonstrating their culinary skills on a cooking programme.

                              Comment

                              • Conchis
                                Banned
                                • Jun 2014
                                • 2396

                                Before a Heist repeat, how about a repeat of the BBC's 1970 Sartre adaptation Roads To Freedom, which a lot of people have been clamouring for for years?

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X