When the BBC first announced this two-part drama, based around the disappearance of Shannon Matthews, the press release was at pains to stress that this project was not a drama about Shannon Matthews – it was a drama about the community and its mobilisation in its search for the little girl. This was an interesting prospect, and I liked the idea of an examination of the power of community and how a crime can change it, even energise it, and give it a hitherto unknown purpose. In some respects, this fulfilled its brief, but more often than not it failed. Continue reading Review: The Moorside (S1 E1/2), Tuesday 7th February, BBC1
To those not interested in the NFL or the Superbowl, the whole hoopla of the showpiece event of the sport might have passed them by. It often draws hundreds of millions of viewers from around the world, which often means that advertising on US television becomes one of the more prestigious slots of the advertising year. You could argue that a Superbowl without the special Superbowl adverts is not a Superbowl. This year, there were ‘controversial’ adverts from the likes of Budweiser and Audi that took shots against the growing isolationism of the country’s new government, but for TV fans, it was the full trailer for Stranger Things that piqued interest. Have a look after the jump. 
As readers of this site will know, I like to keep a close eye on what’s happening in Scandinavia and the Nordic countries because they’re regularly coming up with oustanding drama, especially in the crime genre. One of the more notable production companies in Sweden, Filmlance, can number The Bridge and Beck as two of its international hits, and now news reaches us it has acquired the rights to a new novel, which sounds like it could be sure-fire hit. Fredrik Backman’s latest novel Beartown is the story in question. So what’s it all about? 
The Killing Times 