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Reviews
The Comey Rule (2020)
Classy acted horror story
Whilst partisan politics may allow some minds to slip into either a sense of exposed truths, or scornful indignation and disdain, as a UK citizen I have independence. What is certain is that since 2016, the president of the USA transmuted from a respected individual into a cartoon. The Comey Rule presents the information, it's up to everyone to draw their own conclusions. As Trump, Brendan Gleeson is delicious, but he does not fall into parody. Playing James Comey, Jeff Daniels is quite superb. Quality, thought-provoking telly!
Game of Thrones (2011)
No spoilers!
Where do I begin? Goes the old song lyric. .. GOT-A Song Of Fire & Ice is the greatest show I have ever seen. A landmark in visceral, intelligent, savage entertainment, it is without equal. "But it's got dragons!" spout the uninitiated, but leave preconceptions by the door of your home & immerse yourself in the Seven Kingdoms and you will not regret it.
I think I shall use this show to assess people- if you don't like it, why would we ever want to know one another? For you would have no heart, soul or pulse to derive enjoyment from politics, thrills, love, sex, gore, monsters, humour and often magnificent acting. Appearances by Jonathan Pryce, Jim Broadbent and the greatest of all, Diana Rigg, speak volumes. 10/10 & faultless, it's my favourite TV of 40+ years. CLASS.
Melvyn Bragg's Radical Lives (2014)
The magnificent English sons
This superb two episode series masterfully charts the writings and influence of two of the greatest English radical thinkers of the last 1000 years; two men united in their belief of freedom and democracy and yet separated by an immense expanse of time.
John Ball, a preacher and cleric, inspired the downtrodden serfs of 'Merrie Olde England' to rebel against their landed gentry masters and strike hard against tyranny and the inherited structures of medieval Britain to try and gain personal freedom. Englishman Thomas Paine, hundreds of years later, inspired many but ultimately most successfully, the over-taxed, over-lorded Americans to fight for a noble independence from both the British crown and parliament which was won so magnificently in 1783.
Also inspirational in the French Revolution, Thomas Paine skirted controversy in France, even risking his life for expressing his convictions and Melvyn Bragg brilliantly describes this perilous navigation. We learn that John Ball was to trail a similar journey many years before with an equal threat of personal danger from many quarters, including from his own, albeit ex-communicating, church.
An essential TV work that serves not as a slave to democracy, but as an explanation and validation as to why democracy and liberty is still keenly fought for in the more unsettled parts of our planet even today. Quality television has never felt more relevant or required in these days of a vote for Scottish Independence or the Gaza crisis.
This fine notion of democracy and freedom is forever one to keep in mind as we the electorate cast our votes; for the betterment of mankind does still reside in own hands, even if for many that power is simply exercised at the Ballot Box.