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Television / Radio

The Riviera/A History In Pictures/BBC4

Since lockdown it’s been meltdown for the travel industry and not the most upbeat of times for me. I was heartened therefore to watch a programme on the history of the art of the Riviera last week  which brought many memories of Rust trips there. The first part, narrated by Richard E Grant, [...]

July 28, 2020 // 0 Comments

The Plot Against America (in a film context)

The editor also asked me to post a review of The Plot Against America putting it in a film context. The two memorable films on this subject of creeping fascism are It Happened Here (1966) and Vittorio de Sica’s last film The Garden of the Finzi- Continis (1970).  It Happened Here was a black and [...]

July 25, 2020 // 0 Comments

The Plot Against America/Sky Atlantic

I have the advantage over some reviewers as I have read Philip Roth’s novel The Plot Against America twice. I am now three programmes into the HBO adaptation and enjoying it hugely. I do not find knowing the novel well a hindrance – more a blessing as you wonder how the actor has [...]

July 24, 2020 // 0 Comments

Life lessons

One of the things that irritates me about the modern younger generations in the 21st Century is their now almost-universal sense of entitlement. Much of the blame in my view can be laid at the door of the human race’s ever-advancing science and technology and specifically the all-pervasive social [...]

July 16, 2020 // 0 Comments

Will the real Poirot stand up?

I have now seen all the re-runs of Series one of Poirot. Hugh Fraser plays the dim, bespoke Captain Hastings, Philip Jackman Inspector Japp with trademark flapping raincoat as brilliantly caricatured by Stephen Fry in Gosforth Park and Pauline Moran the bossy secretary Miss Lemon. The second [...]

July 14, 2020 // 0 Comments

What’s in a name? Plenty … er, obviously

It’s stating the obvious to mention it, but in a 21st Century dominated as it is in cultural and campaigning circles by themes of equality, diversity, LGBT [and is it Q? – in any event, the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning rights], anti-colonialist and [...]

July 8, 2020 // 0 Comments

Das Boot : a historian’s view

Bernadette Angell (TV critic of the Rust) asked me to appraise the historical  accuracy of Das Boot.      I have seen the much-acclaimed 1981 film which Neil Rosen rates as one of the best war films ever. Aside from the accusation levelled by a New York Nazi, which may have been propaganda, [...]

June 25, 2020 // 0 Comments

Inside Monaco/Playground of the Rich/BBC 2

I  have enjoyed this three-part documentary on Monaco bringing back memories of the Cote d’Azur though I have always found Monaco too congested for my taste. I was interested to see Prince Albert had let the cameras in but I have the feeling that, wary of extensive filming and ruthless editing, [...]

June 23, 2020 // 0 Comments

Das Boot (episodes 3 & 4)

Das Boot is for me the most captivating series on TV and after 4 episodes I’m totally hooked. There are three locations each with their own story line and a different language. The first is the U-boat and this is truest to the 1981 film. A U-boat skipper has broken ranks and is about to defect. [...]

June 18, 2020 // 0 Comments

Great Paintings of the World/Sunflowers

Andrew Marr continue his series with Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh, one of four of the subject the Dutch master painted. It did not really tell you too much you did not know already but I guess the series is not pitched at the connoisseur – more the interested learner. My friend Martin [...]

June 15, 2020 // 0 Comments

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