Review originally published by VODzilla in April 2023.
After sending up golden-age musicals of the 40s and 50s, such as Oklahoma! and Carousel, Schmigadoon! becomes Schmicago! for Season 2 and turns its spotlight on the darker, edgier musicals of the 60s and 70s. It continues to be a musical theatre fan’s dream, full of more inside jokes and references than you could shake a stick at.
Continue reading
Review originally published by VODzilla in September 2022.
“You’ve got a couple of perfect strangers in the servants’ quarters while you, the lady of the house, are running around after them like the maid!” After three seasons of struggling with repairs and renovations at Button House, Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) have turned the property’s gatehouse into a B&B in their latest attempt to earn some much-needed cash.
Continue reading
Review originally published by The Custard TV in June 2022.
Inside No. 9’s most surprising twist might be that seven series in, it’s just as high-quality as it was at the start. With the latest run of episodes, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have proved that they’re still perfectly capable of entertaining us, moving us and wrong-footing us at every clever turn.
Continue reading
Review originally published by VODzilla in May 2022.
Remakes are notoriously difficult to get right – so when a UK adaptation of internationally acclaimed French series Call My Agent! (Dix Pour Cent) was announced, there was a certain amount of scepticism. Thankfully, John Morton (who wrote W1A and Twenty Twelve) has managed to put a British twist on the source material without sacrificing its charm.
Continue reading
Review originally published by VODzilla in April 2022.
“The only reason to go into the past is to change shit! Haven’t you ever seen a movie?”
In Season 1 of Russian Doll, eccentric New Yorker Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) got stuck in a time loop, repeatedly dying and coming back to life at her 36th birthday party. She eventually bumped into Alan (Charlie Barnett), who was experiencing the same phenomenon, and together they found a way to end the loop by saving each other’s lives.
Continue reading
Review originally published by VODzilla in February 2022.
In each episode of Netflix’s Murderville, a blundering detective (played by Will Arnett) is joined by a different celebrity guest to help him solve a murder. The guest has no script and no idea what they’ve got themselves into. The two mismatched partners check out the crime scene, meet three suspects (all played by improv comedians) and it’s ultimately up to the guest to choose which suspect they think is the murderer.
Continue reading
Review originally published by VODzilla in February 2022.
Season 1 of Starstruck began with “little rat nobody” Jessie (Rose Matafeo) having a one-night-stand with, unbeknownst to her, famous actor Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel). After almost a year of flirty friendship and will-they-won’t-they tension, they finally decided to make a go of it… at the point when Jessie was just about to leave London for good and move back home to New Zealand.
Continue reading
Review originally published by The Custard TV in January 2022.
The Afterparty on Apple TV+ is an inventive and unapologetically silly whodunnit from the mind of Christopher Miller (21 & 22 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) with a cast made up of some of comedy’s best scene-stealers. At the outset, there has been a murder in the early hours of the morning at a high school reunion afterparty. The victim, and the host of said afterparty, is Xavier (Dave Franco), a slimy popstar/actor who nobody in attendance seemed to particularly like.
Continue reading
In November 2021, I was a guest on The Custard TV podcast reviewing The Outlaws, Showtrial and What We Do in the Shadows.
I also appeared on the podcast’s 2021 Christmas episode, talking about a Top of the Pops Christmas special from 1996 hosted by The Spice Girls.
Review originally published by VODzilla in October 2021.
In its fourth and unexpectedly final season, Good Girls is kept afloat by its charismatic leads, but the storytelling feels repetitive. Although the finale teases a new shift in the power dynamics, it’s too little too late for the show, which has now been cancelled by NBC.
Continue reading
Sophie Davies 