Last Broadcast

Broadchurch returns to ITV later this month for a final season.

David Tennant and Olivia Colman are back as DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller, this time investigating a serious sexual assault in the Dorset community.

Buy the Season 1-2 box set on Amazon here.

Order Season 3 on DVD on Amazon here.

Season 3 begins at 9pm on Monday 27 February on ITV.

Here the show’s creator Chris Chibnall chats about what’s coming up…

“Welcome back to Broadchurch, and our third and final story.

“It’s been an extraordinary journey: from tiny beginnings inspired by a walk in 2011 along the Jurassic Coast where I live, to a global success in 180 territories, with two international remakes, a novel adaptation and Broadchurch walking tours that take a similar route to my first walk. It’s been quite a ride. We’ve kept a lot of secrets, had a lot of fun and hopefully given people another reason to stay in on Monday nights.

“The world we live in now feels some distance from the world I was writing about when we started. The state of the country and its preoccupations are different. Each story has deliberately tackled a new area. For the final story, Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy conduct a new investigation, into a serious sexual assault.

“We’ve spent the time since the series was last on air researching and developing this story. Myself and Script Executive Samantha Hoyle have worked closely with support organisations in the Dorset area who work with victims of sexual assault. We’ve spent time with the amazing support workers who run referral centres.

“We’ve developed relationships with and talked in depth with Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, as well as police who investigate these crimes, and survivors of these crimes. These extraordinary people have advised …

Peter Capaldi recently announced that, as of the end of 2017, he’ll no longer be the Doctor – and the search for the next incarnation of the Time Lord is on.

Here’s one suggestion as to who could take the TARDIS keys – Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer. This fan-made trailer casts Dormer as the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor…

A hugely talented actress, Natalie Dormer would be a perfect choice to play the first female Doctor.

She hasn’t ruled out the part, either; when asked, she said she “would do any role if I thought the script was fantastic. For me it’s always about the script. It has to be real human beings, contradictory, flawed, complex multidimensional characters. It can’t just be concept.”

The first female Doctor offers a chance for an entirely fresh perspective on an age-old story; every aspect of the show that has, up until now, felt so familiar will change entirely – giving the show a whole new unpredictable energy once again.

It’s a change that offers untold potential – potential that Doctor Who has never tapped before. It’s an exciting prospect to say the least.

“When was the last time you had your eyes opened?” asks Natalie Dormer’s Doctor at the end of the trailer. It’s not just a reference to the eye-opening experience of travelling in the TARDIS – the question is whether you’ve opened your eyes to a female Doctor. Have you?…

There hasn’t been a Wallace & Gromit animation since 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death movie, and yet even after 5 years off our screens (not counting the repeats that TV law commands must be shown every Bank Holiday), the man and dog duo are as popular as ever with kids and adults – as was demonstrated earlier this month when an auction of 81 Gromit statues in Bristol raised £2.3million for charity.

But for those who can’t afford a giant dog, there’s Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Newspaper Strips Collection, which collects 312 of the three-panel strips of Wallace & Gromit’s adventures – amounting to 52 self-contained stories – as serialised daily in The Sun newspaper.

They’re short and amusing tales of bonkers inventions and mechanical malfunctions, as the two get up to such japes as stopping a runaway cheese in a Dambusters parody (‘The Edam-Busters’), running a limo service, and foiling a monkey who’s cheating at conkers. There’s even the return of penguin criminal mastermind, Feathers McGraw, using a variety of hilarious disguises similar to his rubber glove in order to pass himself off as other animals.

Each story is packed with jokes and puns so delightfully cheesy (in every sense of the word), that you could spread them on a cracker with a dab of chutney. ‘Gouda grief!’ you’ll exclaim as you read, ‘I Camembert anymore of these Brie-lly terrible puns!’, but you’ll still find yourself turning the page to see what the next wacky adventure will entail. And though each story is brief the small gang of writers and artists creating the strips have captured the full flavour and spirit of the films perfectly.

A perfect gift for young and old fans of Wallace & Gromit (Christmas is just round the corner…), you don’t …

The X-Men franchise is a strange, haphazard juggernaut with a continuity that’s impossible to explain, but there’s always been a few constants amidst the chaos.

Chief among them is Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, who’s clocked an appearance of some kind in every single X-Men movie since the series began in 2000. No other actor has played a comics character for anywhere close to as long as Jackman’s 17 years. Suffice to say, there were plenty of expectations riding on his swansong, Logan.

It delivers. After the confounding mess of X-Men: Origins was followed up by The Wolverine, which delivered a strong character arc and keen eye for influences only to capitulate into formula at the last gasp, Logan completes that upward swing in quality.

There are some unavoidable flaws here, but Jackman has completed his stint by finally delivering the definitive Wolverine movie.

WARNING: SPOILERS FROM HERE ON…

It’s deeply surprising to see just how intimate and minimalist Logan is in tone. It’s a movie primarily set in barren, scorched deserts and plains on the fringes of a quietly crumbling society represented in a border area cracked by unarticulated tensions or in a shiny environment of blaring advertising and utter self-absorption, rather than the glossy cityscapes of most comic book movies.

It’s no wonder that the most conventionally futuristic imagery in the movie are the flashing billboards. The only things at threat are the survival of a handful of mutant children who are escaping from their oppressors, and it’s all the better for it.

At its heart, Logan is a story of decay and renewal. Especially in the first act, it doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable details of the former, painstakingly illustrating the crumbling of body and soul in once mighty heroes.

This decay is felt most acutely in Professor …

Doctor Who actress Jenna Coleman stars in ITV’s epic new drama series Victoria this autumn.

Victoria (Coleman) comes to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – and died 64 years later the head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, having revitalised the throne’s public image and become ‘grandmother of Europe’.

The first season of Victoria, written by Daisy Goodwin, will tell the story of the first years of the reign, beginning with the moment of the Queen’s accession in 1837, following her first faltering steps from capricious, hormonal teenager with a weak grasp on her duties and responsibilities to her marriage to Albert.

Order Victoria on DVD on Amazon here.

The cast also includes Rufus Sewell (Parade’s End) as Lord Melbourne, Tom Hughes (The Game) plays Prince Albert, Eve Myles (Torchwood) as the Queen’s senior dresser, Alex Jennings (The Lady in the Van) as Leopold I, King of Belgium, Peter Firth (Spooks) as the Duke of Cumberland, Catherine Flemming (No Place to Go) as the Duchess of Kent, Paul Rhys (Being Human) as Sir John Conroy, Adrian Schiller (Suffragette) as Penge, Nichola McAuliffe (Coronation Street) as the Duchess of Cumberland, Daniela Holtz (Phoenix, Der Verdacht) as Victoria’s governess and confidante Baroness Lehzen, Nell Hudson (Outlander) as Miss Skerrett and Tommy-Lawrence Knight (The Sarah Jane Adventures) as the hall boy, Brodie.

Episode 1: ‘Doll No.123’

Read our review.

When eighteen-year-old Victoria becomes Queen, her mother the Duchess of Kent, led by her advisor, Conroy, circle around the young monarch, itching to seize power. Hating Conroy and exasperated by her mother’s dependence on him, Victoria shuns them both.…

Poor, poor Victoria.

What an almighty hassle it must be, being such a subject of public scrutiny every time you feel a little barfy in the middle of a music performance – and indeed, the sense of tension and unease is captured beautifully in this episode’s opening scene. Turns out Vic and Bert made babies!

Speaking of mums: we’re reminded again of just how insufferable so many of the old farts surrounding the poor queen are, including her mother. Way to remind your terrified kid that her cousin died in childbirth! Grade A parenting skills, right there. Such parental, very nurture, wow.

But it seems the queen mum isn’t the only person preoccupied with the (I suppose in these days very real) possibility that Victoria won’t survive the making of her very first prince or princess – some people are very unhappy with the prospect of Albert being named as regent to the little ‘un if Vicky kicks the bucket, but doesn’t it stand to reason that she’d pick the baby daddy? Come on, people.

There’s much to love about this episode: Staffordshire, puppies, Albert the expert marksman – heart, sigh – factories, and railways. It really goes to show just how much of a time of massive and turbulent technological change Victoria’s reign was.

It also goes to show just how much of a massive nerd Albert was. That little smile of his when Sir Robert Peel – whom I’m really starting to like, in no small part due to the warmth in Nigel Lindsay’s performance – takes him on his very first locomotive ride is absolutely precious.

Indeed, we feel a palpable tension here between Bert and Vicky, where of course he wants to be have some measure of influence and to be able to support ventures that …

Jenna Coleman has been lighting up our screens this autumn in Victoria, ITV’s gorgeous historical drama about the English queen’s early days on the throne, and it’d made for truly compelling viewing.

The good news for those who have yet to see it – or for those already keen to see it again – is that it’s released on DVD this week from ITV Studios Global Entertainment and is available now on digital download.

Following her breakout roles in Emmerdale and Waterloo Road, now seems like a good time to revisit some of our favourite things the delightful Ms. Coleman has been in…

Victoria wasn’t the first time Coleman starred in an historical costume thing by any stretch.

For instance, in BBC One’s 2013 adaptation of P.D. James’ murder mystery / fanfic of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, she plays Lydia, sister to our hero Elizabeth (now Mrs. Darcy) and the wife of Mr. Wickham, who is rather a naughty man indeed. But was he so naughty he did a murder? That would be telling…

Me Before You

Illustrating that Jenna’s range extends well beyond bonnets and time-travelling, here she plays Katrina, sister to the Emilia Clarke out of Game of Thrones (also known as the illustrious Unburnt Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and of the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons).

Whether you found the film’s ending to be grim or heartwarming, Jenna is as always a ray of sunshine every time she graces the screen.

Titanic

From the creator of Downton Abbey, ITV’s four-part ambitious series from 2012 about the famous ship (spoiler alert: it hits an iceberg) features an impressively large cast of luminaries, including Ms. Coleman as the delightful …

Poldark is back!

Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) is back as Ross Poldark, alongside Eleanor Tomlinson as his wife Demelza, in ten new episodes of the Cornish period drama.

Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon here.

Buy Season 1 digitally on BBC Store here.

The second season is airing at 9pm on Sunday nights on BBC One and we’ve created a pair of bingo cards for you to play along with at home!

You can find honest and fair bingo sites here!

Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon here.

Watch the Season 2 trailer…

Are you looking forward to the return of Poldark? Let us know below……

Barbarians Rising tells the epic saga of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire from the perspective of the barbarian leaders who brought it down; a high-impact, visceral journey into the heart of their rebellions against absolute power.

The Roman Empire called them “barbarians” – tribes beyond the fringe of civilization that live a primitive, savage existence. But they are also some of the fiercest warriors in history – men and women who rose up to resist so that they might live free, or die.

Airing at 10pm on Wednesday nights on History Channel, the eight-part docu-drama reveals the true story of the 700-year battle for supremacy, a fight for freedom that would shape the world to come.

Who would you have been if you’d lived in those dangerous times? Find out with History

Channel’s great new quiz…

Featuring fully dramatized portrayals of icons including Hannibal, Spartacus, Arminius, Boudica and Attila alongside an eclectic group of experts and contributors, Barbarians Rising reveals the true history behind the legends.…

Fabio Frizzi returns to Chills in the Chapel in London later this month.

Three years since his last sell out appearance at Union Chapel, Frizzi is back on Saturday 29 October with a show that will include new orchestrations of his scores for cult films by Lucio Fulci. For the first time he’ll also explore his work outside of his longstanding and hugely successful collaboration with the Italian director. Expect thrills, prog-rocking and funk vibes all set against a back drop of legendary film clips and shocking visuals!

Tickets for Chills in the Chapel with Fabio Frizzi: Saturday Night in the City of the Dead are available now here (£25 / £20 UC members / £40 VIP adv + booking fee) and money raised goes to the restoration and development of Union Chapel.

To coincide the legendary horror composer’s return, we revisit his vast and iconic synth scores with a look back at five of his most famous pieces…

Sette Note In Nero aka The Psychic (1977)

Amongst his earlier work, the film marked Frizzi’s third team-up with long term collaborator Lucio Fulci. Sette note in nero tells the story of a woman who experiences psychic visions, which leads her to discover a murder. After her husband is charged with the killing, a paranormal researcher joins her in an investigation to clear his name.

Frizzi’s soundtrack was praised for it’s simplicity and elegance, particularly in comparison to typical Italian thrillers. Segments of Frizzi’s score was used later in Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 film Kill Bill: Volume 1.

Zombi 2 (1979)

Frizzi and Fulci teamed up again for their first collaboration on a horror movie. Regarded as a strong influence on 1980’s Italian horror, the film follows the search for a young woman’s missing father on a tropical island where the …