Category Archives: Television

TV REVIEW: Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins in ‘Cranford’

Posted on November 16, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – As pretty as an English village green in summer and as bracing as a winter’s meadow brook, the BBC-TV’s new five-part period drama “Cranford”, which starts on Sunday, is an instant classic. Starring some of … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: ‘A Room With a View’ by Andrew Davies

Posted on November 3, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The best thing about the new television adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel “A Room with a View” is the music by Gabriel Yared. It’s not clear why the Beirut-born, Paris-based composer chose to do a … Continue reading →

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Feat of clay: Terracotta Army marches on

Posted on October 9, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett The exhibition of China’s 2,000-year-old terracotta warriors at the British Museum is everything it’s cracked up to be. Some 100,000 tickets were sold in advance of the six-month display of a small group of the immense army … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: Billie Piper in ‘The Secret Diary of a Call Girl’

Posted on September 27, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett Chrissy Skinns, producer of the new Billie Piper series “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” which debuts tonight on ITV2, insists that the show’s depiction of prostitution as something fun, glamorous and relatively carefree is an accurate one. In … Continue reading →

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‘The Larry Sanders Show’ is a big plus on Sky

Posted on September 13, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett A big thank you to Sky Plus and ITV4 for making it possible to have a dozen episodes of “The Larry Sanders Show” ready and waiting after a lengthy trip on the road. The show, which aired … Continue reading →

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VENICE FILM REVIEW: Penny Woodcock’s ‘Exodus’

Posted on September 4, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Although director and writer Penny Woodcock’s post-apocalyptic fable “Exodus” wears its heart on its sleeve and occasionally staggers under the weight of its earnestness, it’s an engaging piece of work. Woodcock places the story from … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: David Morrissey in ‘Viva Blackpool!’

Posted on June 9, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The BBC has taken the U.S. title of its flamboyant musical crime miniseries “Viva Blackpool!” for a 90-minute special follow-up to a show it originally called just “Blackpool.” David Morrissey returns as the charismatic if … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: Lee Evans in ‘The History of Mr. Polly’

Posted on May 7, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON — The fanciful style that H.G. Wells employed for his 1910 comic novel “The History of Mr. Polly” is difficult to transfer to the screen but ITV has done a good job with its new version … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: David Suchet in ‘Maxwell’

Posted on May 4, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett David Suchet (left), who is very good in the title role of the drama “Maxwell” tonight on BBC2 , says that he researched the life of Robert Maxwell for other characters he’s played. He used the flamboyant … Continue reading →

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Recalling … a bumpy ride with Linda Gray

Posted on April 29, 2007 by admin

By Ray Bennett There’s a scene in an early episode of “Dallas” in which Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing in a long gown bumps downstairs on her backside. She wore jeans beneath the gown and in her back pocket was a … Continue reading →

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