MARK DAVISON

Doctor Who Series 6, Episode 12 – Closing Time: A Review

28th September 2011 | 2 comments | 1 person likes this

No, I'm still not keen on James Corden, although I have changed my reasons as to why; in my review for his episode last year, I claimed that it was because of his propensity for fat and gay jokes, during Closing Time, I realised that he only has two expressions – either wildly exclamatory or self-pitying whine – neither of which are much fun to watch. But despite that, and...

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Doctor Who Series 6, Episode 11 – The God Complex: A Review

30th November -0001 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I should probably stop apologising for these episode reviews being late and just spend the time trying to get them done sooner shouldn't I?

It's particularly bad that I've been falling behind when it's been, for the most part, an excellent series this year (admittedly, it has caused the Guardian to run an article asking if the show's getting too complicated but, as the only bad episodes – the pirate-y one...

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Doctor Who Series 6, Episode 10 – The Girl Who Waited: A Review

30th November -0001 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Well, that was a surprise. I already voiced my concerns about the trailer for this week's episode looking a bit uninspiringly action-heavy in the previous review, but I forgot to mention that the writer's sole previous credit on Doctor Who was for the season two Age of Steel two-parter – the storyline that well and truly turned the Cybermen from my choice of most creepy Doctor Who monster (seeing clips...

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Doctor Who Series 6, Episode 9 – Night Terrors: A Review

5th September 2011 | 2 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I went into this episode with decidedly mixed feelings – the new Who hasn't had the best track records when it comes to modern day domestic drama (remember Fear Her? And I'm not looking forward to the upcoming follow-up to last year's The Lodger), but I quite like Mark Gatiss, even if he was responsible for last year's Daleks-by-numbers episode. The line-up of guest actors didn't really inspire confidence either...

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Doctor Who Series 6, Episode 8 – Let’s Kill Hitler: A Review

5th September 2011 | 1 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

This mid-season break has really thrown off my timing, hence the lateness of this review (in my defense I'm not one of those 'legitimate' TV critics who get to watch and write about this stuff in advance, I wish I was though as it would mean that I'd be getting paid for coming up with this nonsense). Although it did provide me with the opportunity to blog about a series...

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The Hour – Episode 6: A Review

25th August 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I think this whole series can be summed up with one word – actually not even a word in fact, but rather a mere sound, and that sound is 'meh'. Despite having an impeccable cast, and being handsomely filmed and designed (the anachronisms in the script have been written about in far more depth by people more knowledgable of the period than me, but the accounts of the details the...

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The Hour – Episode 5: A Review

19th August 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

I suppose at least last week’s backwards step of an episode at least meant that The Hour was going somewhere – even if it was in the wrong direction – this week’s was just static. Quite literally in places as there was an awful lot of watching people watching TV (if the Mad Men comparison can be invoked again that’s something that that show did much better, possibly because the...

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The Hour, Episode 4 – A Review

15th August 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Oh dear. After last week’s surprisingly gripping episode, it all took a step backwards again this time. Not that it isn't all impeccably made drama, but it feels like the impeccably made drama from about three different shows all bolted together. There were some very weird lurches in tone this week - going from Freddie essentially interrogating Tish's widow (Jessica Hynes - always a pleasure to see) to the 'comedy'...

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The Hour – Episode 3: A Review

8th August 2011 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Well that was... better. I’m still not convinced that it deserved the ‘smouldering drama’ tag that the announcer gave it this week, but at least something happened. It’s still painfully slow though – I think I would’ve enjoyed the past few episodes if each had been split in half (it’s not like they’re really relying on dramatic cliff-hangers), as I’ve found that my attention’s started to wander around the half...

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