All stories by Harry Venning on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 8, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Broadchurch; Mayday by Harry Venning

I should like to declare a moratorium on all TV dramas concerning the devastating effect the death/disappearance of a young person has upon a small, close-knit and invariably photogenic comm…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:23AM
Friday, March 1, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Funny Business; Heading Out by Harry Venning

“I don’t disturb you when you’re working, do I?” snaps stand-up comic Jimmy O at a Comedy Store heckler. “I don’t come in the alleyway and knock the cocks out of your mouth.” H…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:02AM
Friday, February 22, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Murder on the Victorian Railway; Complicit; Sarah and Duck by Harry Venning

Pity poor Thomas Briggs, catching 40 winks on his evening commute back home only to be bludgeoned across the head and thrown from the luxury of his first-class carriage on to the tracks. Bri…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:04AM
Friday, February 15, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: The Spa; Black Mirror by Harry Venning

The Spa stars the incomparable Rebecca Front as the long-suffering head of a health, beauty and fitness centre, where staff and clients alike prove a constant source of grief, inconvenience …

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:44AM
Thursday, February 7, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Dancing on the Edge; Common Ground by Harry Venning

The problem with Dancing on the Edge is that it doesn’t have much edge. At least, precious little is to be found in the first two episodes. It has intrigue, atmosphere and ostentation in a…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:08AM
Monday, February 4, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Moving On; Eyes Down! The Story of Bingo by Harry Venning

Flick around the TV channels any afternoon, and soon they all begin to resemble the amorphous sludge that is ITV2. The exception to this rule is BBC1, which regularly serves up original, inn…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:38AM
Friday, January 25, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Dani’s Castle; My Mad Fat Diary; Father Brown by Harry Venning

Having achieved a highly commendable runner-up position on Strictly Come Dancing, Dani Harmer’s elevated star status is reflected in the fact her former CBBC show Dani’s House has been u…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: World Without End; Blandings by Harry Venning

On a cold January night, few things warm the cockles more satisfyingly than a large serving of medieval mayhem. Channel 4’s new big-budget drama series World Without End has it all – mur…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:16PM
Friday, January 11, 2013

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Spies of Warsaw; Great Night Out; FIT by Harry Venning

Adapted by Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais from the Alan Furst novel, Spies of Warsaw is a two-part drama set in the espionage-riddled, pre-war Polish capital. David Tennant stars as French …

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:12AM
Saturday, December 22, 2012

Features: Christmas TV preview by Harry Venning

Harry Venning's guide to what to watch on the box this Christmas

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM
Friday, December 21, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Michael Grade’s History of the Pantomime Dame; When Wrestling was Golden – Grapples, Grunts and Grannies by Harry Venning

My Christmas came early this year, courtesy of BBC4, and two splendid documentaries that turned out to have a lot more in common than their titles might suggest – Michael Grade’s History…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Thursday, December 6, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: The Royal Variety Performance 2012; The Town by Harry Venning

“Coming up,” promised the continuity announcer during an ad break for The Royal Variety Performance 2012, “Alan Carr and David Walliams as you have never seen them before!” Which was…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Tuesday, December 4, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Full English; Nation’s Best Am Dram by Harry Venning

I have tried to like Full English, I really have. I love animated comedy – The Simpsons and South Park are two of my all-time favourite TV shows – and appreciate all the time, effort...

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:18PM
Wednesday, November 21, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: The Secret of Crickley Hall; Last Tango in Halifax by Harry Venning

Most artistic endeavours carry with them a fundamental and irrefutable acid test that establishes whether they have achieved their aim or not. If you laugh throughout a comedy, it’s fair t…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:12PM
Sunday, November 18, 2012

Analysis & Opinion: Fine-tuning their craft by Harry Venning

Harry Venning talks about Sky Arts' latest offering Nation's Best Am Dram and reports that amateur theatre is flourishing across the country

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Thursday, November 15, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!; Nation’s Best Am Dram by Harry Venning

When I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! first hit our screens it was fresh, fun, original and compulsive viewing. Ten years on and the very jungle screams with the tedium of it all....

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:00AM
Wednesday, November 7, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Nick Nickleby; Some Girls; The Late Great Eric Sykes by Harry Venning

Charles Dickens, it is sometimes suggested, created the format for soap operas. A combination of melodrama, exaggerated characters and social comment, his works were written and published in…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:09AM
Wednesday, October 31, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Wizards vs Aliens; Harry and Paul by Harry Venning

First there were monsters versus aliens, then came cowboys versus aliens, and now CBBC wades in with its own genre mash-up, Wizards vs Aliens. Extraterrestrials, I can’t help feeling, have…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:36AM
Monday, October 29, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Chas and Dave – Last Orders; The Thick of It by Harry Venning

There is nothing quite like a BBC4 documentary to shake you out of your complacency. Take Chas and Dave – Last Orders, for example. I had hitherto been quite happy to dismiss Chas and Dave…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AM
Friday, October 19, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Switch; Hebburn; VIP People by Harry Venning

ITV2’s new comedy drama Switch follows the romantic and magical misadventures of Stella, Jude, Grace and Hannah – four twentysomething, flat sharing female witches in super-trendy Camden…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Monday, October 15, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Me and Mrs Jones; Cuckoo by Harry Venning

Me and Mrs Jones opens with a goldfish in a toilet bowl. I can only guess that the goldfish took one look at the script and attempted to escape before his television career suffered irrepara…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:00AM
Friday, October 5, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Hunted; Best Possible Taste – The Kenny Everett Story by Harry Venning

A lot happens in the first 30 minutes of Hunted – fist fights, gunfights, kidnapping, betrayal, sex, flashbacks, flash forwards, disguises, assassinations and a dash of foreign travel. Abo…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:01AM
Wednesday, October 3, 2012

TV & radio reviews: TV review: Homefront; The Paradise by Harry Venning

Six-part drama series Homefront follows a group of servicemen’s wives and families as they struggle to lead normal lives at home while their men are on active service in Afghanistan. Each …

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:32AM
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Waterlitz, Black Rock, Brighton Festival by Harry Venning

Black Rock, Brighton Festival: It is amazing what can be achieved with a large industrial crane, a collection of freight boxes, a projector, light show, fireworks, live rock band, actors pre…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:14AM