Doctor Who - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

BANG! That was the quite literal sound of Christmas being made for many, if not all, Whovians, as that legendary Time Lord – the Doctor – returned to Earth for his annual festive jaunt through time and space.

Last seen marrying his would-be killer and faking his death on the shore of Lake Silencio (and then flogging his stylish tweed jacket and bow tie on telly for Children in Need... Hardly keeping a low profile!), the Doctor is still alive and well and running around big exploding space ships that are threatening to destroy the Earth. However, this pyrotechnic opening was merely the introduction to a less explosive adventure set in a wintry forest, inside a box in a living room, with tree spirits, the Green Man and his misses, and Bill Bailey...

In the midst of the second World War, Madge (Claire Skinner), a mother of two, finds herself widowed shortly before Christmas when her husband (Alexander Armstrong) crashes attempting to pilot his damaged plane across the channel. Without the heart to tell her kids about their father's fate so close to Christmas, and having to evacuate London to the safety of the countryside, Madge tries to stay strong in the face of hardship. Arriving at their new country-house residence, Madge, Cyril and Lily meet the eccentric care-taker – known to many as the Doctor. In an effort to make their Christmas the best one ever, the Doctor has kitted out the 1940's country-house with an array of weird and wonderful quirks, not least the inter-dimensional portal to a Christmassy forest cunningly disguised as a rather large present. However, overcome by the temptation to take a peak at what's inside the impossible box, Cyril inquisitively wanders into this strange and distant world alone, where something has disturbed the trees of this mystical forest...

Loosely based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was certainly fairly Narnia-esque, but with a very different story. It had a kind of fairy tale feel about it – a well told narrative of magic and wonder, and the fate of the Universe didn't hang in the balance. The main threat was to the happiness of one family at Christmas, and an alien forest that's facing imminent destruction at the hands of the environmentally unscrupulous harvesters of Androzani Major. It may not have been quite as big a spectacle as the likes of A Good Man Goes To War or The Wedding of River Song, but it was an enjoyable family tale nonetheless.

Matt Smith's performance was as fantastically eccentric and mad as ever, but the star of this particular episode had to be Claire Skinner. As both a heart-broken widow and strong and resilient mother (and saviour of an entire race of trees), she masterfully balanced the various aspects of her character, mourning the loss of her husband but also keeping it together to rescue her children. Any woman who isn't phased by a strange man in a back-to-front space suit, and then proceeds to drive him around looking for a time travelling police box, then three years later loses her husband in the war and her children in a forest inside a box, and still manages to take it all in her stride is not only an incredibly strong individual, but also a perfect candidate for the TARDIS crew! As for the rest of the cast; Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Paul Bazely made an appearance, but it was far too fleeting in my opinion, and could've done with a bit more from the polluting space marines – who, for all their industrious virtues, have scanning devices that can easily be fooled by a cardigan (and apparently sonic screwdrivers still can't do wood – I think the people of the future need to better hone their technology!).

I did feel that the Green Man's acting was a little wooden, though... Probably best he sticks to tending to nature and naming pubs in the future.

Overall, whilst this may not have been the most exciting of episodes for Doctor Who, it was nevertheless a brilliant adventure for the festive season. With the rather miraculous and warm ending to Madge's story, followed by the brief cameo of Amy and Rory inviting the Doctor in for dinner, there was indeed an air of the Christmas spirit about it.

But alas, that's it from the Doctor until Autumn 2012 – well, it's been a busy year for the Time Lord! If you missed the Christmas special, it's available on BBC iPlayer here.

Black Mirror - The Entire History of You

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

The human memory is a fragile thing. Whenever we remember something, we are completely rebuilding that memory from scratch and, because this isn't exactly a perfect process, that memory also gets changed ever so slightly each time we reconstruct it. And, further more, psychological studies have proven that simply by asking leading questions it is possible to recall things that never actually happened, so not only are our memories slightly altered simply by remembering them, but any information we learn after an event may also corrupt that memory...

Anyway, now that you're questioning whether you really had porridge for breakfast last Tuesday, on with the review! The third and final instalment of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You, is set in the not too distant future where everyone has access to memory implants that record everything they see, hear and do. Essentially Sky Plus for the brain. Written by Jesse Armstrong (also known for writing Peep Show, The Thick of It, and Four Lions to name a few), The Entire History of You explores the implications of such a technology in a very personal human drama...

The story pivots around Liam (Toby Kebbell), an out of work lawyer with a wife and kid, and his growing obsession over the interactions of his wife, Ffion (Jodie Whittaker), and one of her former friends, Jonas (Tom Cullen), at a dinner party. Having witnessed a couple of subtle nuances in conversation between them, Liam begins to suspect that something is afoot. While most of us would dwell on this, second-guessing whether what we saw was true or not, and ultimately end up in an ill-advised argument for making paranoid accusations, Liam is able to replay the events exactly as they happened so he can confirm what he saw, and also present evidence to support his accusations when that inevitable argument arises. However, Liam goes on to spend the rest of the night wallowing in his obsession with the recording of the evening, driving himself beyond the realms of rationality...

It's an incredibly powerful piece of personal human drama, focussing purely on the dynamic of the three central characters, their strained relationships, and the memory implant at the core of the issue. Once again, the series produced another triumph of narrative, characterisation and all-round performance as it delved into Liam's tortured psyche, replaying and re-analysing events, only serving to fuel his paranoia further. As with the other episodes of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You holds up a hyperbolic mirror to modern society and gives it a cautionary nod, as if to say “mind how you go.” Could we really be trusted not to drive ourselves mad if we had access to this kind of technology?

Compared to it's predecessors, though, The Entire History of You felt much more domestic. The National Anthem showed us the power of social media in the modern world and how quickly news can spread through such a medium. 15 Million Merits then went on to paint the picture of a world ruled by pointless apps and talent shows, an exaggerated parody of our modern obsession with the menial distractions these things provide us with today. The Entire History of You tells the tale of human strife, amplified by the ability to torture oneself with technology that perfectly recalls every moment of your life, but felt like a story that could have been told with or without the technology at it's core – nonetheless, the application of the memory implant was certainly an intriguing premise.

Whilst The Entire History of You's conclusion didn't quite provide the same sense of closure as the previous two episodes of Black Mirror had, it still came to a sensational (if literally painful) finale, marking the jarring end of the premier series of Black Mirror. I sincerely hope we see more fantastic programming like this in the future!

If you missed The Entire History of You, it's available on 4OD here.

Lost Christmas

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire and EddieIzzard.com.

There are some films that you just have to watch at Christmas; It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol (especially if it's the Muppets), Gremlins... And now a new film commissioned by CBBC, Lost Christmas (starring the fantastic Eddie Izzard), looks set to join this pantheon of all-time Christmas classics. After the preview screening of this tragic and heart-warming urban fairytale at the British Film Institute, there were very few dry eyes left in the audience!

Set in Manchester on Christmas Eve, a mysterious and enigmatic man, Anthony (Eddie Izzard), suddenly appears on the streets with no recollection of who he is or why he's there - all he knows is a series of bizarre facts and that he has an uncanny ability to find the lost. With his unique ability, Anthony transforms the lives of five people whose lives have been shattered by the decisions of their past...

Superbly written by John Hay, David Logan, and Izzard, Lost Christmas is a tale of great personal tragedy over the Christmas period. It shows how the simplest of actions can completely change your life and the lives of those around you, and that bad things can happen, but also that sometimes miracles can happen and you may just get a second chance. Even though it has been billed as a children’s film, Lost Christmas is a film for all the family, and deals with some rather heavy concepts which will be more accessible to the maturer audiences. As Eddie Izzard said at the Q&A,  “I think it’s actually timeless. I don’t see it as a kids’ thing, I see it as a family film. I think you’ve got to be a teenager really to grab hold of where we’re going with some of the loss.”

It is an incredibly touching story, told mainly through the experiences of Goose (Larry Mills), a young boy with a tragic back-story, who encounters the ethereal Anthony. Together, they meet people from all walks of life, each with their own personal tragedy, but all unknowingly linked by the events of last Christmas. As heartwarming as it is deeply tragic, Lost Christmas certainly takes you on a profound and emotional journey - even I, as stoical as I am, found myself moved by this film! By the time the end credits had rolled, there were a fair few teary eyes in the auditorium.

Eddie Izzard provides a truly phenomenal performance as a seemingly non-human enigma, filled with facts and understanding, but no idea about his own life. He superbly captured the essence of a mysterious and ethereal being, carrying a strange sense of detachment and fore-knowledge throughout. Izzard’s dramatic style is a far cry from from his usual on-stage joviality, and another great addition to his growing repertoire of performances outside of his global acclaim as a stand-up comedian. With such a fantastic cast (including Jason Flemyng, Sorcha Cusack, Geoffrey Palmer and first-time actor Larry Mills), the film’s range of characters felt fully realised and fleshed-out, really drawing you into their own personal stories and how they tie-in in the grand scheme of things.

Although this film has been commissioned by CBBC and stars the unparalleled comedian-come-actor Eddie Izzard, don't be fooled into thinking it'll be a light-hearted Christmas jaunt. It will take you from crying tears of sadness to tears of joy - either way, keep the box of tissues to hand! There are also some scenes that may be quite unsettling for younger audiences pretty much from the outset, so parental discretion is almost certainly advised. There is a happy ending, but it takes a good 90 minutes of tragedy, heart-ache, loss and redemption before you get there!

That being said, though, it is still what I'd class as a 'feel-good' film. In spite of all these traumatic experiences, the story manages to leave you with a warm feeling in the end, and has a very “Christmassy” feel to it. It’s certainly not to be missed!

Lost Christmas will air on BBC One on 18th December, 5.30pm. It will also be shown on CBBC on Christmas Eve at the same time with some edits for language and content.

Black Mirror - 15 Million Merits

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

Have you ever wondered where our society is heading? Where might our obsession with menial distractions, infuriatingly tedious apps, and unrelenting talent shows lead us? The answer is 15 Million Merits, the second instalment of Charlie Brooker's dark trilogy, Black Mirror.

Set in the moderately distant future, 15 Million Merits envisions a world ruled by the Hot Shots judges – a triumvirate not too dissimilar to the judges of the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. The populace of the world are confined to a life of physical drudgery, existing in a world of touch-screens, apps and poor quality entertainment, all the while peddling exercise bikes to earn merits to buy food, update their avatars with unnecessary gimmicks, skip irritating adverts, afford new programs and – for the fine price of 15 million merits – a chance to audition for Hot Shots. Those who get through go on to lead their lives as part of the social elite (but still at the behest of the judges), and those that do not, return to their lives on the bikes, peddling away for meaningless merits for meaningless things with no apparent goal in mind (hey, sounds like my understanding of contemporary economics!).

At the heart of it, though, 15 Million Merits is a love story – albeit perverted by the world in which they live, but a love story nonetheless. Bing (Daniel Kaluuya) is an exemplar of the general populace; he spends his days on the bike, increasing his merits, partaking in brainless app games (which bear a resemblance to both traditional time-wasting games for the discerning smartphone user, and X Box Kinect), or spending some quality time with himself watching Wraith Babes. He meets Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay), a fellow peddler, and they gradually develop a bond. Bing soon discovers that Abi is an incredibly talented singer and, with a bit of encouragement and financial support, convinces her to try her luck on Hot Shots, perhaps leading her to a better life. Of course, this being Black Mirror, Abi's talent and attractiveness turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing...

There was also a third party in this romance, portrayed by Isabella Laughland, who seemed to harbour emotions for Bing, but was completely over-looked by him whilst he was busy pursuing Abi. Unfortunately, her character was not fleshed-out and played only a minor part in the scheme of things, and I was surprised she didn't become more prominent later on as a grounding relationship for Bing... Alas, it was not meant to be!

Daniel Kaluuya certainly provided a magnificent performance, going from listless worker to love-struck human being, crying out for something real in this artificial world, and then the ultimate anguish at Abi's “success” and the state of the world. This was, of course, amplified by the antagonistic yet hypnotic judges, brilliantly played by Rupert Everett, Julia Davis and Ashley Thomas, who bore some kind of resemblance to their real life counter-parts (although I have no recollection of Louis Walsh ever running a porn station...). One of the many successes of 15 Millions Merits, as with Black Mirror’s first episode, The National Anthem, is that the characters have been realised perfectly, making them not only believable but actually empathy-invoking. In The National Anthem, one felt for Michael Callow in his desperate and unavoidably damning situation, and now in 15 Million Merits, Bing's emotional agony is truly palpable as he throws himself against the walls of his touchscreen cell.

Obviously the satire at 15 Million Merits' core is our obsession with mundane distractions. The sight of someone buried in a smartphone app on the tube, or slinging birds at pigs whilst queueing for a coffee, or flicking a virtual piece of paper into a virtual bin is becoming an all too familiar sight, and now with innumerable sport simulators using motion-sensing technology (“Just like playing real tennis, but without the fresh air, genuine exercise or human contact!” GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY TENNIS!) the future as envisioned in this episode is an ever-present possibility. And the unskippable adverts (well, skippable with a penalty) and the inability to sign off from it all were other elements that felt pertinent to things today – especially when enduring two minutes of unskippable commercials on 4OD whilst trying to watch a show parodying that very thing!

I couldn't help but feel that the cynical observations of talent shows were also rather spot on! In spite of Abi's evident talent, the judges demanded more from her, asking that she sacrifice her integrity and sell herself out to their commercialism in order to reach the “top”. She got to where she supposedly wanted to be (or rather, what everybody else classed as “the place to want to be”), but she was no longer true to herself. This was, to me, the perfect analogy for the media parasite, the X Factor; a show that pulls in both the talented and the not-quite-so-talented in droves, gets them to perform like dancing monkeys and tries to mould them into something more commercially viable. On paper, it's a great platform for budding artists, but has the grandeur of the X Factor made it lose sight of that agenda in exchange for marketability? This was a parallel I felt Black Mirror drew particularly well, albeit in slightly hyperbolic take on reality – either comply with what they expect from you, or your back on the bike, peddling away your days.

Bing's climatic and rousing speech on the stage of Hot Shots perfectly encapsulated my feelings about these televised talent shows, and again Kaluuya’s performance was incredibly invoking. Naturally, though, the judges managed to find a way to make even his revolutionary speech against their regime into something to be marketed and broadcast for the masses...

Once again, Black Mirror proved to be absolutely phenomenal, and is certainly my favourite thing on television at the moment. Plus, this particular episode couldn’t have been booked for a better time slot - immediately after the X Factor finale!

The final instalment, The Entire History of You, depicts a world in which people have the technology to replay recordings of their past experiences, and one couple have a particularly bad evening...

If you missed 15 Million Merits, you can catch it on 4OD here.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

This article can also be found on Step2Inspire.

BBC One's highly acclaimed, multi-award winning drama, Sherlock, returns to our screens on New Year's Day, 2012. Starring the impeccable duo of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, the contemporary adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective stories comes back for a second series with three, 90-minute films – A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville, and The Reichenbach Fall.

Co-created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the first series became a sudden hit in Summer 2010, drawing in an audience of over 9 million viewers and has since been sold in 180 countries worldwide. However, after having such a huge success with the first series, how does one follow up on that? “Well this year, knowing we were a huge hit, I suppose we felt 'let's do the three big things'; The Woman, The Hound and The Fall,” said Moffat in regards to their plans with series two. “Instead of making people wait years and years, we thought - to hell with deferred pleasure, let's just do it now, more, sooner, faster! That also means we see three different sides to Sherlock. We have Sherlock and love, Sherlock and fear and Sherlock and death. He definitely goes through the mill in this new series.”

In the first episode, A Scandal in Belgravia (scripted by Steven Moffat), a case of blackmail and some compromising photographs threaten the heart of the British establishment. Sherlock and John find themselves embroiled in a battle against international terrorists, rogue CIA agents and a conspiracy involving the British government, and Sherlock engages in a battle of wits with an antagonist as cold, ruthless and brilliant as himself... To Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler will always be the woman.

The second episode, an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, has been written by Mark Gatiss – who also plays Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, in the series. “My idea for Baskerville was, as ever, to look for the 'modern',” Gatiss said about his re-imagining of this Holmes classic. “Rather than setting it in a spooky old house, I wanted to find the sort of thing that frightens us today. We're still a very credulous species but we tend to be more afraid of secret goings-on and conspiracy theories. So I thought, what about a scary weapons research place out on Dartmoor? Where secret animal experimentation or something similarly terrible was taking place.”

“The reputation of the story was obviously a challenge, it's the most famous and best-loved of them all. No pressure! At its heart, though, it's a horror story and horror is a big part of the appeal of Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to make it the scariest version there's ever been. Trying to work that out almost killed me!”

The series concludes with The Reichenbach Fall, scripted by Stephen Thompson, and will see the fall of the world's greatest consulting detective at the hands of his arch-nemesis – Moriarty...

Both Gatiss and Moffat are self-professed Sherlock Holmes nerds, and despite initial scepticism surrounding the modernisation of the most famous fictional detective of all time, they have gone on to create a series that is a truly remarkable tribute to the works of Conan Doyle. And is that not also a testament to Conan Doyle's stories, in that almost 125 years since they were written, the tales of Sherlock Holmes are still just as relevant to us now as they were then, and stand as the perfect example of superb characterisation and narrative writing. It's little wonder that Sherlock Holmes is one of our most loved pieces of literature!

After the sublime first series, I for one can not wait until series two hits our screens!

Sherlock returns at 8.10pm, 1st January 2012 on BBC One.

Black Mirror - The National Anthem

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

The première episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, The National Anthem, introduced us to a dark and twisted political thriller set in a very recognisable and contemporary world. With the prolific use of social media, information is disseminated faster than ever before, and life for the rich and powerful is in constant scrutiny by the public. Brooker’s blend of twisted humour, intense drama and intelligent satire certainly made for a thoroughly engaging and phenomenal, if disquieting, piece of television!

In the early hours of the morning, Prime Minister Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear) is woken with some disturbing news – Susannah, Duchess of Beaumont, has been abducted, and her kidnapper has a rather unusual demand. In exchange for the safe return of Princess Susannah, at 4pm precisely the Prime Minister must have sex live on television. With a pig.

Despite their best efforts to keep the news under control and out of the public eye, the government could feel their influence slipping... Within moments, the hostage video had gone viral, become a trending topic on Twitter, and news teams were biting at the bit to break the injunction. With the public's voice now more influential than it's own government's, the information was disseminated quicker than anyone could have anticipated, and the world came to a stand-still as running news coverage took the reigns, driving Callow into a corner.

With time running out, presented with very few alternatives and faced with the ever-changing opinions of the people, the Prime Minister is caught in a terrible dilemma...

The National Anthem felt predominantly like a political satire, with a great deal of the focus being shifted towards the public's opinion of the Prime Minister and his actions rather than the drama of abducted royalty. This was one of it's greatest elements, staying away from the plot of a rescue operation and concentrating on the human drama caught up in it. Providing an utterly superb performance as the tortured Prime Minister, Rory Kinnear captured the essence of a man torn, trapped in a no-win scenario,who ultimately loses the love of his wife and gains the sympathy of the nation...

However, at the core of the narrative lay the pitfalls of modern technology, in this case the 24-hour news and the virulent nature of social networking. The Prime Minister's every action was dictated by the opinion polls, the potential fallout from the public dependant on whatever action he did take, and by his ultimate desire not to lose all respectability in the eyes of the voters, knowing all too well that the world was watching. And that they were, in disturbingly familiar scenes of collective voyeurism... If anyone's ever had the misfortune of watching I'm a Celebrity with a group of people, certain elements of The National Anthem were not too dissimilar to watching how people react when watching a particularly unpleasant 'bush tucker trial' – a mix of disgust and glee, derived from the public humiliation of another.

In every respect, The National Anthem captured a great degree of truth, and despite the bizarre plot (a princess is kidnapped by a Turner prize-winning artist who demands that the Prime Minister have sex with a pig on live television) the sheer brilliance of Brooker's writing and the superb performance from the cast brought a considerable amount of credibility and gravity to what is actually quite a ridiculous and humorous premise. And here again lies a triumph of Brooker's work – despite it's more comedic (albeit macabre) elements, The National Anthem was nonetheless very dark and disturbing, and one of the most engaging and evoking dramas I have seen in some time! No matter how long I make this review, no amount of words could truly do Black Mirror justice!

Next week’s episode, 15 Million Merits, is a sarcastic look at our future - a dystopian world in which everyone is forced into a life of physical drudgery, and the only way to escape this existence is to enter a very familiar talent contest... I’m certainly looking forward to it!

If you missed Black Mirror, you’re bloody stupid. However, you can catch up on it on 4OD here.