TV reviews

A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005

UK TV

Christmas mini-reviews: Gavin and Stacey and the Next Doctor

7 January 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special

Well, it may be a while since they’ve been on, but that doesn’t stop me making a few notes and comments on some of the Christmas fare. Not all of it, since I still haven’t watched Crooked House or The 39 Steps, but Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who‘s The Next Doctor at least.

Gavin & Stacey
Disappointing this. Kind of like Gavin & Stacey by numbers, with more or less the same as what we’ve seen before just slightly expanded upon – a kind of G&S‘s greatest hits – rather than anything too original. So we get the holiday incident, the big fight, references to Ness’s exciting past, etc, but nothing too startling. Don’t get me wrong, there were some great moments, but they were surprisingly few and far between.

Still, at least the potential for a new series is obviously there, they did try to give both Gavin and Stacey something to do this time, and there were no sudden flip-flops of character designed purely to achieve a happy ending or a wrap-up of loose plot threads. And it is a Christmas Special, so you have to give it some leeway.

All the same, I found the BBC3 “Making of…” show, Gavin & Stacey: The 12 Days of Christmas, to be a whole lot funnier than the episode itself.

Of course, it might just be because we didn’t watch it on the day then met up with my wife’s aunt, who said “Oh, haven’t you seen it yet? Well, I won’t spoil it for you then,” before proceeding to tell us about six of the funniest bits in it. Curses.


The Next Doctor
50% of this was good, 50% of this was bad, and there was a pretty clear demarcation line: anything with David Morrissey in it – good, even moving at times; anything with the Cybermen, little children or Dervla Kirwan in it – bad and very silly, particularly the giant Cyberman.

Again, a Christmas special so some slack should be given and it was a whole lot better than last year’s Titanic snooze-fest with Kylie. But not great.

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Leverage

22 December 2008 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Time for a third-episode verdict on TNT’s Leverage then. After a good start, the show has continued to maintain its relatively high standards. Episode two tried to go for a slightly harder edge, with an Iraq veteran being cheated out of his rehabilitation money by government contractors and crooked politicians.

Episode three went with something a little more personal and more interesting, with Christian Kane’s character returning home to Kentucky to deal with a racehorse owner who kills horses for the insurance money. High mark of the overly complicated episode is the introduction of the show’s Professor Moriarty: fellow insurance investigator Mark Sheppard (BSG, The X-Files, Bionic Woman, etc), who’s scheduled to appear in at least five episodes. Sheppard is adept at the cons and investigations as Hutton but is on the right (?) side of the law, and makes an interesting addition to a show that was in slight danger of repetition and losing tension in the long run.

Most of my initial criticisms remain: it’s not very hard hitting, the cons are easy to spot a mile off and there’s a fair bit of duff acting. Add to that Gina Bellman’s less than outstanding attempts at accents, a decreasing amount of the character interplay from the pilot and the fact that most of the cons have relied on something being obviously switched at the last moment. It’s also not especially memorable, so you never really remember the cleverness of the cons or much of the plot in the same way as you do with Ocean’s 11, say. 

But it’s still very fun to watch. The cast are all pretty charismatic and there’s an intriguing randomness and weirdness to its sense of humour (one character has a fear of horses because "they murder clowns" and there’s a flashback to Kane being tortured because he wouldn’t reveal the location of a monkey, for example). 

Worth watching if you want some diverting, not too heavy entertainment of an evening. 

Carusometer rating: 2
Predictions: Should last at least season