Episodes
James reviews Patricia Cornwell’s At Risk (2010) on Great! Movies, Gunpowder on U&Drama and (not) LEGO Masters: Australia on E4.
James is back to eclectic mixes (again) with the seasonally appropriate ‘Gunpowder’ which he missed last year; He really rates Patricia Cornwall as a writer, but fears ‘At Risk’ will be yet another vapid, run-of-the-mill snoo...
James reviews Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords on 5*, For the Love of Dogs with Alison Hammond on ITV1 and Time Bandits (1981) on Film
James casts his beady eye on one of his favourite films (will it stand up to scrutiny?), expects something light and fluffy with wagging tails and - in contrast - surly people doing unneighbourly things. By the way, the imag...
James reviews Cowboys & Aliens (2011) on Film4, Tony Robinson’s History of Britain on 5SELECT, and The Great Erection Deception: The Stiff Nights Story on ITV1.
James was a bit late getting the previous episode out. Blame events dear boy, events. So these were picked rapidly, primarily because the titles caught his eye. There’s a Viagra scam, cowboys fighting creatures from another p...
James reviews The Boss on BBC2, Lingo on ITV1 and Deal or No Deal on ITV2
James spreads his sardonic wit in a themed game show episode! It's all a bit filler vanilla but the one that could be won equally by a goat eating spinach or a professor with a brain the size of Wrexham powers to the front, b...
James reviews Gilmore Girls on ITV2, Wheeler Dealers on Quest and Joker (2019) on ITV1
James has got confused (again) He's reviewed ‘Gilmore Girls’ thinking it was ‘Derry girls’. But he likes it anyway (with a few reservations.) And as for 'wheeler dealers', well, passionate experts looking at mechanical stuff ...
James reviews Ludwig on BBC1, Anna Richardson: Love, Loss & Dementia on Channel 4, and MAFS UK: It’s Official! With Chloe Burrows on E4.
James had heard of Ludwig, even read a good review about it, so he thinks he should shove in his critical ha’pence. As for Anna Richardson: Love, Loss & Dementia …. well … like most people his age, James is scared? Terrified?...
James reviews Secret Crush on ITV2, Killer In My Village on Sky Mix, and The Kid (1921) on Sky Arts.
So, here we go for another eclectic mix: ‘Secret Crush’ which is a .. erm … game show? A reality program? In truth, James isn't sure. He's hoping for ‘dress to impress’ levels of mind-boggling ineptitude and fist in mouth emb...
James reviews Rising Damp on That’s TV, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on 5USA and City in the Sky on BBC2
James confirms a 1970s sitcom is as good as he remembers, while an infantile Stateside police procedural gets up his nose. To end, he's sad and disappointed at a bit of jet air travel puffery, and mangles a Peter Cook quote t...
James reviews Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1, The Northman (2022) on Channel 4, and Buddha: Genius of the Ancient World on BBC4
Seldom has James's sardonic eye been put to better use than in reviewing 'Strictly.' But then he really rates 'The Northman.' Who wouldn't, with Valkyries and whatever. As for Buddha, well, it looks like the kind of religion ...
James reviews Countryfile on BBC1, and Coogan’s Bluff (1968) on ITV4.
James nods off during a worthy, bucolic program full of good intentions and finds an early Clint Eastwood doesn't come up to snuff. the image for this episode was generated by a free AI image generator with the prompt: wheat ...
James reviews It Should Happen to You (1954) on Film4, and Home and Away on 5*
James is quite impressed with a 1954 film starring Judy Holiday and Jack Lemmon, but is very much not impressed with an Ozzie soap opera set in a bay. The image for this episode was generated with the prompt: A 1950s young wo...
James reviews Sharpe on ITV4 and A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley on U&Yesterday.
James turns his analytical and sardonic eye on a gung-ho, action-packed Napoleonic war adventure and is not entirely convinced, while a documentary on the 'golden age' of British crime writing (Agatha Christie et al) and has ...
James reviews Pointless on BBC1 and Waking the Dead on U&Drama.
James usually avoids game shows because, somehow, like semolina pudding, you just know they’re bad for you. But he was persuaded to give one a go. Hence Pointless. Even the name hints at wasted time. To balance this, a progra...
James reviews The Greatest Events of World War Two (Blitzkrieg) on DMAX and Crazy Rich Asians (2018) on BBC1.
James likes a WW2 documentary and surprises himself with his reaction to a romantic fluffy bit fluff about rich Asians. The image for this episode was generated by a free AI image maker with the prompt: While a WW2 spitfire f...
James reviews Rumpole of the Bailey on Talking Pictures TV, Your Kitchen on Channel 5 and Charmed on ITV2
James is surprised at how different ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ is from how he remembers, and watches a Channel 5 documentary about kitchens (errgh) and finds some American witches more charming than he expected. But that might b...
James reviews The Shining (1980) on BBC4, and Queens of Mystery on 5Select
For once, James finds little to be caustic about in a 44 year old horror film and leaves sarcastic comments to one side when watching a the quirky first episode of a murder/mystery series. As he seldom says: all good stuff! T...
James reviews Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense on Talking Pictures TV, Olympic Games. Day 1 on BBC1, and Saucy! on Channel 4
James finds his sardonic eye well tuned! He should have read the blurb on a tedious do-it-by-numbers Hammer production, finds the Olympics barging in like a rampant warthog on heat and is then a bit shortchanged by an otherwi...
James reviews The Escapist on Legend, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning on W and Steptoe and Son on That’s TV.
Yep, it's not exactly acerbic review time as James casts his sardonic eye on a gritty UK prison drama, a program boasting a most intriguing title and - because after the first two he thinks he’ll need both nostalgia and a lau...
James reviews The Smallest Show on Earth on Film4, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder on BBC1, and Susan Calman’s Grand Days Out on Channel 5.
This time, James casts his caustic and comic eye on an ancient film almost as old as he is and does an interestingly tilted review of a murder mystery and finishes by giving Channel 5 another go, with a travelogue. Channel 5?...
James reviews An Emma Fielding Mystery on Great! Movies, Andrew Marr’s Paperback Heroes on BBC4 and Discount Dragon on Shop On TV.
James is astonished to find himself watching a shopping channel, is half bored to death by a terrible murder mystery - never again! And feels comfortably at home with a documentary celebrating the detective story. The image f...
James Reviews 'Take My Tumor' on Really, Douglas is Cancelled on ITV1, and Ghislaine Maxwell: The Making of a Monster on Channel 4
James is surprised he can't stick his caustic teeth into a couple of documentaries and then finds what he thought would be a pretty terrible sitcom is actually a pretty good comedy drama. What is the world coming to? Whatever...
James reviews 'Match of the day, Denmark vs England' on BBC1 and 'Mrs Dalloway' on BBC4
He casts his caustic eye over a disappointing - very disappointing - football game and is pretty scathing about the film of a book he found impossible to read. So not much change there, I hear some of his critics cry! (Unfair...
James reviews 'Bunraku' on Great! Movies and 'The Simpsons' on Channel 4.
James gives his acerbic, witty opinions on a martial arts movie with a difference (Umm, not sure) and once again falls for the yellow family from hell - or heaven - take your pick. The image for this episode was generated by a free AI image generator...
James reviews iTales, on Channel 4, Yes, Minister(s) on That’s TV. and It Came From Outer Space II on Legend.
James is glad he watched some very short Indian films and a complete series of an ancient but still superb parliamentary comedy, but has little time for a dreadful remake of a 1953 sci-fi film. The image for this episode was generated by a free AI im...