‘Good Omens’ – Amazon

It’s no secret that it’s hard work to adapt a beloved book for the screen. Hard. Frickin. Work. And quite often a totally thankless task. Everyone has a uniquely personal idea about what a character looks like and sounds like – that’s the beauty and the curse of reading. You’re never, ever going to please everyone as a quick search on Twitter about any film/ TV show/ book/ art exhibition/ literally insert anything here. You’ve just got to be content with your version of the story and give it your all. As Ms T Swift put it so eloquently, haters are invariably going to hate.

Things that certainly will help please the masses are oodles of lovely money to make your production look lush and expensive (thanks Amazon), legendary casting, and having one of the original writer on your team. So the omens for Good Omens are… good. Neil Gaiman and the much missed Terry Pratchett wanted to adapt their much loved novel for the big screen for many years. Neil wasn’t willing to go ahead after Terry died but in classic authorial style received a letter with Terry’s blessing post mortem. with the project. And with him at the helm it’s got to be a tempting prospect for any actor. The cast list is enviable – Nick Offerman, Jack Whitehall, Miranda Richardson, Jon Hamm, all the League of Gentlemen, Frances McDormand and Benedict Cumberbatch to name but a few.

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'Joanna Lumley's India'

Another jaunty ITV travelogue for those of us going no futher than the park this summer presented by Joanna Lumley (don’t be fooled by the rocks that I’ve got, I’m still J-Lum from the block), grande dame of the small screen and the lady who the word mellifluous was coined for. This is a three part whistle-stop documentary on ITV and J-Lum (I’m going to use it until it catches on) is keen to play up the family connection. She was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, in the last days of the Raj and her family ties go back several generations. One might think she’s rather brave trading on being directly related to the old colonial empire. Thinking about it, that apostrophe in the title might be a little insensitive.
But don’t worry – this is not a programme designed for much thought or reflection. “Gosh!” and “Fabulous!” she enthuses every few minutes about everything. To her credit it certainly doesn’t seem forced and her sparky interest is very infectious. She talks with her hands in rhapsodies about everything – Morgana Robinson’s impression of her on The Agency is entirely accurate. Amusingly the Radio Times insists she’s toned it down a bit this time!
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'Hinterland: Series 3'

I have finally relented and let Mr H submit a review for his favorite show. He spent 20 years living in Wales for his sins so consider him our foreign correspondent.
“It’s beautiful, I’m so glad you bought a big new telly” – Sarah Hamstera (1847 – Present)
It’s not often I hear justification for a purchase but there is power in beauty and Hinterland knows that all too well…
Hinterland (Y Gwyll) is an oddity in British television in that it is created and produced primarily for the Welsh audience but filmed once in Welsh and again in English. This means that there are 2 versions available to the tv audience (3 if you include the much rarer and heavily abridged all English version), the all Welsh version (Y Gwyll) appears on BBC owned S4C followed a short while later by the ‘International’ version which is predominantly in English but with key sequences in Welsh with English subtitles. This is the version put out on Saturday nights on BBC4 fitting nicely into their standard Scandi-Noir slot where we get to see just how well we have come to understand and love the genre. In some ways it feels odd that we aren’t watching the Welsh version with intermittent English scenes but, given the core audience, it’s understandable.
For those that haven’t yet sampled the ethereal delights of Hinterland, it is ostensibly a police procedural drama set in the beautiful scenery of the rural Welsh countryside surrounding Aberystwyth. This, for the most part would be enough but there is much darker fayre to be had below the verdant and bucolic surface.
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