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Why, oh Why do proramme maker insist on putting in so much extraneous noise, masquerading as 'musical accompaniment ? The intermittent noise in this production did it no favours and was nothing but a horrible annoyance, although the occasional 1930s Al Bowly number was anything but and far more in-keeping with the period nature of the production.

The direction was strangely jumpy and the acting underwhelming. Indeed, most of the characters made little impression and demanded little attention, althouh Lucy Boynton was a very acceptable exception. I find myself wondering how she'd do in the role of Tuppence Beresford - surely rather better than was Jessica Raine in the 2015 BBC adaptation, and much closer to the superb Francesca Annis from the 1980s series. As for others, the appearance of a be-turbanned character who weirdly saluted 'Bobby Jones' made little sense and, in the end, I really didn't care who did what, or why Evans hadn't been consulted.

There was plenty of stunning scenery and views of grand houses, but overall impact was lacking. That said, some scenes did work well and were gripping. The final result was a curate's egg of a series - 5 out of 10.

Has there ever been a better 'Boy's Own' story, told on film ? In my humble opinion, definitely not.

Not only is this a terrific action film, it tells a great story of a turbulent time in the history of India. It is obviously a cinematic version of that history, and has its fair share of old fashioned stereotypes which certainly wouldn't find favour in today's woke world, but it manages to weave drama, action, romance and even a few moments of comedy into a story which also speaks of the horror of internecine conflict. Interestingly, it also foreshadows the modern fad of decrying the British Empire, with one character complaining bitterly about the bad done by the Empire while another points out that it had brought civilisation, and much more, to many places on the globe. As testament, the real star of the show is an ancient steam engine, named 'Victoria', which carries its mismatched contingent of passengers across many miles of hostile territory, on rails which would never have existed but for the efforts of British engineers. Come to think of it, 'Victoria' herself was probably built in England. As for the human cast, they play their parts to perfection, even if some of the dialogue may be a bit dated, the settings are brilliantly evocative and the direction supports it all. The absence of background 'music' adds massively to the tension at key moments, while its presence works brilliantly at others.

'North West Frontier' may not be a 'great' film but it's terrific entertainment as well as being a salutary lesson in history for those who are prepared to look beyond modern day ideologies. At the time portrayed, Moslems were fighting Hindus, as they still are today, regardless of any involvement of the British. Arms manufacturers still sell their wares to whomever has the money to buy them. Fanatics are still prepared to do anything in the name of their 'cause', whatever it may be. British soldiers still put their lives on the line in efforts to restore peace and order in fractured societies.

It may be nearly 65 years old, but 'North West Frontier' could have been made yesterday, it's that relevant. I've watched this film numerous times in the past and have high hopes that I'll see it a few more in the years still to come.

After 'Death in Paradise' I had hih hopes for this spin-off, but something's gone very wrong. 'Beyond Paradise' is poor beyond words. The characters, acting, story lines and scripts are utterly banal and the overall result is more like a very weak soap than anything else. In the original series, Humphrey had the benefit of a strong supporting cast, so his eccentricities were countered. In this abomination, he simply comes across as an utterly useless individual, with his crime solving abilities pushed to the side, as concentration is on the pathetically hopeless personal behaviour of him and his equally moronic girlfriend.

In the end, this is utter drivel with no redeeming features. There is nothing to draw viewers in and nothing to keep viewers' attention. The characters are uninteresting at best, annoying at worst. I couldn't care less what happened to any of them. If it was possible to score it as a big fat zero, i would. Please, please let there be no further series of this tripe.

This is a largely dull and frequently quite boring police drama. It has nothing to draw viewers in beyond the main story; while there are efforts to develop 'back stories' for some of the characters, they're weak and uninteresting. The lead character, Roy Grace, has all the charisma of a rice pudding, while being beset with the usual luggage from his past which seems to pervade all television drama nowadays. There are plenty of nods to modern policing and general behaviour, as opposed to the actions of misogynistic nasty guys of days gone by and, frankly it's not even very well done. The production is jerky and the script pretty basic; it's the type of drama which can be turned out with very little effort and isn't even average. 3 out of 10 is the best I can give it.

"Desperate Measures" suffers from having an illogical and, frankly, impossible plot. The villain is akin to a cartoon character while the bank manager and police officer are little different. That said, the principal characters do their best with what they've been given - ridiculous plot, a plethora of unlikely circumstances, and a fairly mundane script.

A less likely gang of bank robbers is not just hard to imagine, it's impossible to imagine. How a nervous bank cashier is transformed into their leader is a question better not even asked. However, if all of the impossibilities and other failings are put to one side, the series can be watched and even enjoyed. The story does move along at a decent pace and is interesting despite being so implausible. Rather oddly, I found myself reasonably gripped despite its deficiencies, and award it a 5, which somewhat surprises me.

Huge amounts of CGI and loads of dramatic noise. Very little acting or dialogue and a completely unrealistic story line. Some scenes would probably have been more at home in a Brian Cox documentary about space.

It really doesn't grip, although one or 2 scenes do hold the attention for a few seconds and there are a few moments of genuine emotion. However, this is no great. Sci-fi epic. In reality it's a rather boring vehicle for a couple of big names to have some fun and make oddles of cash. Yes, the scenes in space look dramatic, with lots of whirling around and dodging assorted debris but they're also utterly unrealistic. No doubt many will have been captivated by it all but I prefer something with a bit more acting, script, dialogue and reality.

The only thing 'Better' about this rubbish would be in the phrase 'Must Do Very Much Better'. The storyline is ludicrous and the acting weak, The characters are utterly unbelievable and the dialogue ridiculous. That a D. I. can have such a friendship with a major villain and hide it from her colleagues and superiors, while meeting the villain and his employees in car parks and elsewhere is about as likely as my granny being on the next moon-shot.

How on earth can the BBC go from the brilliance of 'Happy Valley' to tripe like this ? Dull, boring, ridiculous, moronic, idiotic - do I need to say more ?

What on earth has happened to what used to be a 'must watch' programme ?

In recent times, it has deteriorated so badly as to be bordering on the unwatchable. The acting is stiff and wooden and the stories formulaic, the direction jumps around all over the place and the scripts are on the verge of becoming ludicrous. The cast have become stereotypical and unattractive, with only Don Warrington and Elizabeth Bourgine surviving from the original series and now providing the only relief from the tedium created by a series of almost identical story lines which are dull, tedious and boring.

Ben Miller, Kris Marshall and Ardal O'Hanlon with the wonderful support of Danny John-Jules, Sara Martins and Josephine Jobert brought character and interest to the programmes, almost all of which has now been lost with a third rate cast of nonentities. I'll give it 6 out of 10 on the basis that the earlier series were worth 9s and 10s, while the recent episodes barely rate a 1 or 2.

Time for 'Death in Paradise' to be its own final victim.

How anyone can use words such as 'superb', 'mesmerising' or 'gripping' when reviewing this series is beyond me. In reality, it's dull, slow and very boring.

The basic story is fine but its development is so slow as to be glacial. The dialogue is mostly lacking in any sparkle and the direction is often rather spasmodic, with scenes shifting somewhat abruptly at times. The main cast appears to be mostly female, the few men involved being portrayed in less than friendly light - they're mostly either villains, unhelpful and uninteresting police or rather gruff others.

Alexandra Roach and Joanna Scanlan do their best with weak material and others, such as Sian Reese-Williams (DCI Cadi John from the far superior "Hidden") are also fine, but the main bad boy, played by Iwan Rheon, simply scowls his way through the first 2 episodes while wearing the necessary haunted look of a confessed killer. None of them demand much in the way of attention or empathy and, after those 2 episodes, I gave up.

Watching paint dry was preferable to worrying about what had happened in some Welsh wood or field 18 years earlier.

The original "Happy Valley" six-parter has to be the best, or at least the best I've ever seen, police dramas series. The story is brilliant, the casting, acting and direction superb and the absence of 'background dramatic music' is a God send which adds so much to the overall ambience. Viewers are actually able to hear the dialogue and aren't distracted by the annoyance of entirely unnecessary noise which does nothing to enhance the drama, in fact, it diminishes it.

Sarah Lancashire is phenomenal in her lead role and it's hard to believe that anyone could have been betteras she tries to deal with the horrors of her past while carrying out her duties of the present. In the rest of the cast, James Norton exudes menace as the main villain, while Steve Pemberton and Joe Armstrong are utterly believable as the ill-matched baddies. Siobhan Finneran is wonderful and so realistic as the understated sister, trying desperately to deal with her own demons while also supporting her police sergeant sibling. The rest of the cast, including Rhys Connahr as young Ryan who is the epitomy of a child who simply doesn't understand what's going on, is just perfect.

I defy anyone to watch this series and not be afected by the raw emotions of the story, not to be drawn in and wonder how they might react in similar, or even remotely similar, circumstances. This is Sally Wainwright at her very, very best, supported by a cast at the very top of their game.

Absolutely fantastic series, brilliant throughout. 10 out of 10 is the least I can give it.

'The Political Correction' offers genuine discussion of a variety of issues with all angles covered and all views allowed. I disagree with many of Paul Embrey's views but actually love hearing his well argued points. The others; in the studio - Dehenna, Arlene and, previously Nigel - are always fair and don't impose any preconceived views.

But what has happened recently ? Suddenly 'The Political Correction' vanished and was replaced by 'Portillo'. I have no problem with 'Portillo' (i was actually at school with him !) but an explanation would be welcome. The Political correction' is suddenly back - what is going on ?

Watching the first episode of this series, I found it a genuine story of 2 halves, The trouble is that one half, that with Stanley Tucci, was intriguing and gripping, but that with David Tennant was utterly ludicrous. While Tucci's character had real appeal, Tennant and his manic wife, played quite idiotically by Dolly Wells, were simply unbelievable. Furthermore, the Tucci story line made sense, while the story line of Tennant and his wife made no sense whatever. The characters portrayed by Tennant and Wells were completely implausible and their acting bordered on the ridiculous.

While I would like to continue watching to see how the Tucci story line unfolds, I really can't put up with the other nonsensical tripe, so that's it for me. 3 out of 10 for Tucci and his fellow prisoner, less than zero for the rest.

Slow and dull, with very amateurish direction. Jack Shepherd seems to be trying to play a version of the rather morose Morse, but really isn't strong enough as the lead. The rest of the cast appear somewhat bored with the whole thing. The action jumps from scene to scene with little logic or cohesion and the dialogue is pretty mundane. Overall, it lacks anything to grab and hold the viewers' attention and, frankly, I quickly lost interest; none of the characters made much of an impression and I really couldn't care less who the bad guys were or why they'd done what they'd done.

On the positive side, the background musical accompaniment does not intrude and there's some decent scenery which may encourage tourism even if it doesn't add much to the story line..

It's not awful but certainly nowhere near as good as other similar detective series of its time. 4 out of 10 is the most I can give it.

Sadly and despite the high profile castings, this is little more than CGI tripe.

Little more than 20 minutes in, I'd come to the conclusion that it wasn't good and, after an hour, I was convinced. Flashy, noisy, lots of CGI drama, but little real substance. This is someone's idea of a view of the future if the nasty rich people don't stop oppressing the majority of the population; it's rubbish, as is most modern science fiction which has much more to do with preaching current fads than being scientific.

As a film, it has nothing to say, the action is as fabricated as it's possible to make it and the script is mostly incomprehensible gibberish.

It is difficult to understand why Jodie Foster, star of great films such as 'Taxi Driver', 'The Accused', 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Contact', and Matt Damon who was so good in 'The Martian', would agree to take part in something so poor. Others may like this type of flashy, noisy, nonsensical CGI drama; I don't and I see it as being the antithesis of good film making.

1 out of 10 is more than it's worth, but the least I'm allowed to give.

To be honest, when I decided to give 'From' a chance, I had pretty low expectations. Another pseudo-sc-fi series with horror and mystery mixed in sounded like a recipe for failure.

However, I have been more than pleasantly surprised. In fact, 'From' turned out to be a series which became increasingly watchable, even compelling as the story evolved. The basic idea seemed novel and the casting and direction all worked well. The whole mystery of how and why the mismatched community had come into existence, the occasional episodes of genuine horror, the hints of other supernatural forces at play and the peripheral elements of science fiction all combined really well.

I was drawn in sufficiently from the outset to keep watching and even to be very disappointed when episode 10 drew to a close with umpteen questions hanging in the air. Apparently we have to wait until next year for series 2 and to get at least some of the answers. For my part, I'm looking forward to it with considerable anticipation.

In the first 15 minutes we are greeted with the suggestion that GCHQ is predominantly " male, pale and stale" as an employee escorts a coloured newcomer to her station, where there appear to be a large number of coloured faces in evidence. We then have a coloured American, identified as being on attachment, telling the assembled poor Brits about what is going on.

There is lots of unnecessary, annoying and intrusive background noise, presumably designed to add atmosphere, tension or some such but actually just annoying. Whatever this is about, I won't be bothering with the rest of what is clearly a politically correct load of rubbish.

'The Tourist' is a bit unususal and sometimes a bit confusing. That said, it's not at all bad.

The basic plot of a man who loses his memory is simple, but the story woven around this is increasingly interestingly. As the series goes on, and as he gradually remembers pieces of his, sometimes shocking, past and the story develops, the characters actually become more interesting and some even more appealing, despite some obvious shortcomings. By the end, I was really rooting for him as well as one or two others.

Overall, it's well cast, acted and directed, the plot and script make sense and, mostly, so does the storyline. No doubt there are holes to be picked but it was an enjoyable experience to watch it to the end. Or was it, indeed, the end ? There seems to be a suggestion of something more, which I would welcome. 8 out of 10.

Something of a curate's egg, this one. The story is pretty unlikely but it did have enough to keep me watching, although the short scenes and jumping around from place to place and time to time could cause a degree of confusion. A second rate journalist running around trying to catch a killer had overtones of "The Night Manager" (an equally unlikely scenario), while a somewhat psychotic, gun-toting, female companion was clearly derived from "Killing Eve". I should add that I found both to be over-hyped rubbish.

The script is limited and too much of the dialogue was in the modern style of supposedly "realistic" mumbling. Why can't modern actors open their mouths when they speak ? When the background noise is allowed to be natural sounds, it's fine and adds to the atmosphere, but much of the time there's loud, intrusive and utterly unnecessary "music" which drowns out dialogue and is very annoying.

However, and despite its many shortcomings, I did watch to the end and found myself interested in how it would all turn out. Nothing very special but worth a 5, I feel.

How does stuff like this get put on at prime time ? In fact, how does it get put on at all ?

Basically it's dull and uninteresting with little in the way of a coherent story line. The characters all seem to be caricatures and hardly likely to turn up in a small west of Ireland village; the supposed humour is either absent or passed me by. As a crime drama, there seems to have been a crime but where's the associated drama ? A good ration of foul language and drunkenness plus an excess of box-ticking when it comes to the characters and casting.

One episode is more than enough.

The premise is fine but the storylines are pretty unrealistic and the scripts poor. That said, the sound quality and generally poor enunciation, with strong southern accents and a very annoying and constant background noise, make it almost impossible to follow much of the dialogue. It's all in the modern staccato style of direction which allows for little in the way of real acting or character development; it's hard to decide whether to like Clarice or not and her colleagues are mostly little more than adjuncts.

Five episodes in is more than enough to form a view and my view is that I won't bother with episode 6.

"Die Hard" is a very good thriller / drama type film. Bruce Willis does what Bruce Willis does - no one can claim he's a great actor but he can certainly play a great heroic character as John McClane. For great acting, watch Alan Rickman who is magnificent as Hans Gruber,the principal villain, and Bonnie Bedelia who wonderfully underplays as McClane's wife being pulled in 2 directions - she loves both her husband and her job, but which should take precedence ?

The setting is brilliant and the action terrific, if inevitably entirely unbleievable. However, it's the type of film for which you suspend all sense of reality and simply sit back and enjoy; despite bullets flying everywhere, somehow McClane avoids them all while slowly doing away with his adversaries. Thankfully, it's not beleagured by the now ubiquitous and appalling CGI that makes more modern films far more glitsy but also so obviously manufactured.

Of course John McClane will win out; of course his wife will see him in a new, heroic light and, of course, Hans Gruber will die, but how it all comes about makes for compulsive viewing. There are the usual idiots involved, in particular the hostage who believes he can save his life by giving McClane away and the police who don't believe McClane's frantic calls, but without them there would be far less of a film.

This is a film that is worthy of second and third viewings and more; it's first sequel was of similar merit but, thereafter, the magic fades until the fifth and final film in the series which is, frankly, a pile of junk, relying on CGI effects to make it appear exciting when it's just rubbish.

I've just watched the first 10 minutes or so of the 'Christmas Special', and that's more than enough for me.

The original series was brilliantly done, full of great ideas and scripts with some terrific satire. This reboot, at least what I saw, was simplistic and crude. The characterisations were weak, the scripts seemed to rely on crudity rather than humour or satire, and the voices were mostly unrecognizable.

I may be of an older generation, but I know good television when I see it, and this doesn't even come close. It's tripe.

Has there ever been a series which started with such promise, enthusiasm, energy and ideas, but ended as such a mess, as "Blake's 7" ?

This is a series that descends from science fiction via fantasy to total farce. While early episodes have purpose and direction, later ones are often incomprehensible nonsense. Doing no more than mirroring assorted human dilemmas. Scenes shift without explanation, action is disjointed to say the least and often ludicrous to be honest.

This started as a genuine contender to rival the early 'Star Trek' series, and even seems to have borrowed a few plot lines, but then ran out of money and failed to realise it. The settings in the last series are dreadful, nothing remotely alien, and little more than cowboys and Indians at times; the space scenes look more 'Thunderbirds' than anything else.

Whoever actually wrote these episodes, let alone directed them, should hang their heads in shame.

I remember this from it's initial showing when I thought it was good. It was, at first; perhaps I missed the final series. Hopefully I was in the pub enjoying a pint with friends rather than being subjected to the tripe that was series 4.

7 out of 10 for series 1 to 3, 0 for series 4. Overall, 5.

Not a bad film but one very much of its time. The most ridiculous romantic nonsense introduced to keep American audiences happy and an appallingly arch performance from Jill St John that makes me cringe. Some silly musical interludes and beautiful native girls - what more can one ask for in a film that's supposed to be about a highly dangerous scientific expedition ?

It has very little in common with Conan Doyle's original story but I suppose it's worth 5 our of 10 for general entertainment. Certainly no more than that.

Sensationally good review of the horrors of the Blitz in the early part of the Second World War. Lucy Worsley presents a picture of not just the fortitude and resilience of the population but also lays bare some of the frustrations and anger they felt. She tells us how, perhaps with hindsight, the government decisions were not always in the best interests of the people and also reveals some of the propaganda methods that were used to keep spirits up. Through the true stories of a disparate group of Londoners she brings those times to life quite brilliantly.

This programme should be compulsory viewing for all those in today's younger generations who seem to feel so constantly oppressed and disadvantaged. Those who suffered the torment of the Blitz knew real disadvantage, not the imagined complaints and deprivations of today.