Wednesday, 8 April 2009

TV

Cracker
2x03 To Be a Somebody Part 3
A suitably explosive conclusion to Cracker's defining story. Incidentally, Jimmy McGovern's one-off drama about Hillsborough is on ITV3 next Wednesday (15th April), the first time it's been shown since the original broadcast in 1996.
[For some reason this episode isn't available on ITV Player, even though all preceding and following episodes are.]

Horne & Corden
1x03 Episode 3
When this is on form it's absolutely hilarious -- the Christian youth group song, for example, or the opening sketch of this episode (even if it spent too long on the build-up), or indeed several other bits -- but other bits drag on far too long, and others simply aren't any good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Speaker
1x02 Episode 2
As this has now settled down it's improved slightly, showing much potential. I like that the judges and mentors are different sets of experts -- drivel like The X Factor could learn something from that. However, Jane Horrocks is a dreadful choice for narrator -- for a programme all about speaking, why choose someone with such an irritating voice?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Wire
1x06 The Wire
1x07 One Arrest
A look ahead at the schedules suggest the BBC aren't showing all of The Wire in one huge twelve-week chunk after all, which saddens me. It's also very odd scheduling -- why rush through the first season in just three weeks if you're going to leave a gap before more?

Films

Alien: The Director's Cut (1979/2003)
[#13a in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
There are many differences between this and the original cut (they're catalogued in full on IMDb) but none that make it significantly different, hence the 'a' numbering.