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Articles by Bernadette Angell

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About Bernadette Angell

After cutting her journalistic teeth in Boston USA, Bernadette met and married an Englishman, whom she followed back to London. Two decades and three children later, they divorced. She now occupies herself as a freelance writer (credits include television soaps and radio plays) and occasional amateur gardener. More Posts

Episodes!

I am now into the fifth series of this entertaining production.  Certain characters have made it through from the first notably British scriptwriters Beverley ( Tamsin Greig) and Sean ( Stephen Mangan) , Carol ( Kathleen Rose Perkins)   Merk Lepidis ( John Pankow) and Matt Leblanc playing [...]

January 22, 2024 // 0 Comments

Episodes

The other day I was chatting to theatrical folk and complaining about the dire state of television. We have never had more choices of viewing yet with worse content or appeal. My friends suggested the right approach was to watch via “Catch-up” and iPlayer for decent programmes from the [...]

January 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Persuaders!

My Sunday afternoon ritual in the 1970s was to watch the Persuaders at 3-30pm. It adopted the formula of the earlier Man From Uncle: suave actor (Robert Vaughn) opposite someone totally different – Russian Ilya Kuryakin (the Scot David McAllum ) – overseen by an old boy (Leo Carroll). [...]

November 19, 2023 // 0 Comments

Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia (Channel 4)

I’m not a great one for a Channel 4/5 conspiracy documentary which tends to be more speculation to grab the headlines but not bolstered by hard evidence. However this one made a plausible case. This was that Jack Kennedy befriended Frank Sinatra, who arranged glamorous Hollywood film stars for [...]

November 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

Yesterday on TV

Monday night is my quiz night on TV. Clive Myrie is now presenting Mastermind and Amol Rajan University Challenge. Both programmes tend to be associated with one presenter – Magnus Magnusson and Bamber Gascoigne respectively – but the two new boys have settled in well. On one episode of [...]

October 17, 2023 // 0 Comments

World on Fire/BBC 1

In best Rust traditions we review a series after – not before – the final episode. The drama is set in 1941 and there are several independent plot lines. (1) Robina (Lesley Manville) is a snobbish, bossy Englishwoman of a certain type who has billeted with her Kasia, the Polish lover [...]

August 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

Combating the Lockdown/Poirot

I am no admirer of Boris Johnson but I will concede that – in having to deal with three seemingly contradictory Covid issues, namely the risk to physical health, its economic consequences and the mental consequences of locking the population up – he was on new ground for a Prime [...]

August 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

A spy among friends/An Englishman Abroad

The title A Spy Among Friends gives it away. The theme of this ITV drama is that the escape of Kim Philby, the MI5 counter operation chief working for the KGB, was facilitated by his chum Nick Elliott and all part of a public school fellowship. The gritty Anna Maxwell Martin, a Northeasterner not [...]

July 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

Ten pound Poms

I saw the last episode of this drama last Sunday and enjoyed it. To a certain extent it rounded things off to another it left matters open as the director and producer James  Brockenhurst and cast must surely hope for a second series. It deserves it but there may not be enough for the [...]

June 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

Ten Pound Poms

My late parents knew an eccentric travel agent who was involved in the £10 scheme to attract white British people to Australia. I can recall a visit to the docks to see sad faced immigrants rejecting one life for another. This was the force behind BBC One’s latest drama. It featured one family [...]

May 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

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