What an absolute joy it was to sit through 8 - 9 hours of pure genius at work. After watching Episode 1 I was a little worried about what way the documentary was going. It wasn't unlike the original film as there was a lot of angst and heaviness going on and at the end George left the band. At the start of the Episode there was an awful lot of very fast cutting and at times was a little distracting, added to that there were clips of film overdubbed from an audio only source which looked a little weird so between that and all the aforementioned angst I was left feeling a little deflated. Day 2 and I settled down to watch Episode 2 which was so very different to the first one. I started to feel very positive and engaged with film. The boys were really having a great time and the good humour and banter was amazing to watch. It wasn't until they brought Billy Preston into the fold that the whole thing magically started to take shape. I would go as far as to say that if Billy Preston hadn't been brought onboard the album might never have happened, such was the positive influence he had on the other four guys it gave them room to concentrate on doing what they do best, writing some incredible music. This continued througout the whole of Episode 2 and into Episode 3 which for me only had 1 awkward moment when Paul looked as if he wasn't really into doing the rooftop gig but as we already know, the show went on. Barring my hesitancy about Episode 1, Peter Jackson has done us all a huge favour by letting us in on what it was really like to make the album and it wasn't anything like the funereal film that was released first time around. It was full of joy, happiness and humour and has changed my outlook on what it was really like, it was absolutely wonderful to watch. It's a much more positive and uplifting experience than the original film and I'm only sorry it didn't go on for another 8 hours!. Absolutely brilliant and a very highly recommended must see. Just can't wait now for the release of the Blu-Ray and if it's released soon it will be top of my Christmas list.

12 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Saturday morning Granada kids TV programme which ran for one season (although it seemed much longer!) when Tiswas were on their 1979 summer holidays.

Featuring Duggie Brown (Lynne Perrie's brother) Uber-gag-meister Frank Carson and former Cavern Club DJ, professional scouser Billy Butler.

Set aboard a boat on The Mersey, featuring a dockside audience and guests interviewed out on deck, it became the only televison programme, apart from the cricket, to be regularly called off due to inclement weather.

ANNOUNCER: There will be no Mersey Pirate today because it's raining.
KIDS WATCHING AT HOME:Yesss!! ... Brilliant!!!

It was rubbish to be honest, despite the inclusion of Carson. It felt as if the producers and crew were trying to manufacture a Tiswas-like anarchic madness within the staid confines of a format which wasn't that far off from resembling BBC's Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.

Then again almost anything having to stand in for Chris Tarrant and Sally James would have seemed pale at the time.

The format was repeated by Granada the following summer (sans Duggie B and shipping vessel) with the Billy Boyle fronted 'Fun Factory' (verification needed .. especially on the 'fun'.)
This effort not only introduced us to idiot cockney DJ Gary Crowley, but was the first ever television show to feature the artistic talents of a young Jeremy Beadle.

Enough said I think.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Gordon Welchman was one of the original elite codebreakers crucial to the allies defeating the Nazis in World War II. He is the forgotten genius of Bletchley Park.

Filmed extensively at Bletchley Park, the centre for codebreaking operations during World War II, this documentary features the abandoned buildings where thousands of people worked tirelessly trying to crack the codes; Hut 6, where Welchman pioneered his groundbreaking work; and the machines that Welchman helped design.

Post-war, Welchman moved to the United States to be at the nerve centre of the computer revolution. He was employed by the Mitre Corporation, a US defence contractor, and engaged in top secret work. Recently released top secret documents reveal that the case of Gordon Welchman reached the desk of the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, which then led to questions being asked in the House of Commons after Welchman's death.

Welchman's legacy continues to this day as Professor John Naughton and former CIA analyst Cynthia Storer reveal how Welchman's pioneering work in the field of traffic analysis led directly to the modern secret surveillance state, and particularly the use of metadata - as revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

R.I.P.Julian Bream,you`re one of my favourite guitarists,especially working with John Williams,Peter Pears,etc.I do remember this series very well,when first transmitted for Channel Four in 1985 on Sunday Nights,when screened at 8:00 p.m.There are 8 episodes in total,not only he presented the show,but he devises the TV programme,and travels to Spain,and also performs with his guitar,and also he`s a great lutenist performing like the 17th century such as Bach,Sanz amongst others.The final episode-we hear the complete performance of Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo [the most popular guitar concerto of the 20th century as well as Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre],performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.Also in 1985,RCA Red Seal released Guitarra!-The Guitar In Spain as a Double Album,Double Cassette and a Double CD to cash on the TV series.But I will treasure the series on DVD,as well as his guitar playing,in which I`ve Got on CD,and I still remember him so much.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I remember this TV series,when first screened for LWT on Sunday nights,which it ran for 6 series [52 episodes in total],and good comedy acting from Tim Brooke-Taylor [sadly passed away on Easter Sunday 2020 at the age of 79],Richard O`Sullivan and Joanne Ridley.The series created by John Kane and Keith Leonard.The intro and the outro theme song is written and performed by Peter Skellern,and the opening sequence was actually filmed at Three Cliffs Bay,Gower,and I hope they`ll bring back the series broadcast again as a fitting tribute to Tim Broke-Taylor,and I still love the series so much and brings me memories of Sunday Night TV.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The story is based on a ex-soldier now employed as part of the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Issues stemming from his Afghanistan service are affecting both his private and work life as the officer assigned to protect the Home Secretary.

The whole series moves at a very fast pace with a well written story-line that has many twists and turns to keep you guessing up to the last episode.

This one lives up to its hype, I highly recommend watching this series.

8 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Brilliant series, but seemed to divide people. I saw it first time around and I think it passed a lot of people by or they didn't get it. Ironically, I think its format and sketches have been like a prototype for many series that started as a web series such as Limmy's Show and Consolevania.

For those that haven't seen it has Adam and Joe playing characters and doing silly hidden camera stunts like eating the 10% free portion of a box of cereals, Vinyl Justice where they looked at people's record collections such as Frank Black and said if they were crap or good while dressed as policemen, Adam's Dad reviewing pop music, silly observations of things to try spoofing the format of Why Don't You?, the most famous bit spoofs films and TV using toys such as: Toy-tanic, Furends (Friends), Stuff This Life etc.

IMHO it wouldn't get commissioned today due to Channel 4 focusing on what is middle-class safe reality TV or pseudo-game shows such as The Circle, Four in a Bed or really patronising shows featuring an excuse to show excessive full frontal nudity. Back in the late 90s they out-shined BBC in terms of comedy content (Brass Eye, Father Ted, buying big American comedies like Frasier and treating them with respect by showing them at a time when people are awake - Seinfeld at 2am come on BBC 2!). It would probably have been a successful Youtube channel instead if it was invented a decade later.

The Adam Buxton podcast is well worth checking out for more of the same with high school chums Joe Cornish and Louis Theroux as recurring interviewees, as is their now defunct BBC 6 Music and comedy show.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A car is pulled from Strangford Lough, the owner kidnapped. DCI Tom Brannick recognises the calling card of a legendary assassin known as Goliath. The legend goes he was a serving police officer who vanished without trace 20 years ago and among his original victims was Tom’s wife.

Against opposition from old friend DCS Jackie Twomey, Brannick and his partner, DS Niamh McGovern, break open the Goliath case in the hope that it will help them solve the kidnapping. As they dig deeper, they find gaps in the original Goliath investigation. Someone tried to suppress the truth.

When a vital clue leads them out to an island on Strangford Lough, a discovery is made that changes everything.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Filmed during lockdown, this investigative documentary made by Academy Award-winning film-maker Alex Gibney, with co-directors Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, includes revealing testimonies from public health officials and senior White House staff, exposing a system-wide collapse.

With the US election just around the corner, the film scrutinises the US response compared with South Korea, and how they handled the virus. On 20 January 2020, both countries discovered their first cases of Covid-19. Since then, however, the novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 220,000* Americans, while only claiming 447* lives in South Korea

(*at the time of publication).

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

John Z DeLorean’s extraordinary and doomed attempt to build the sports car of the future in 1980s Northern Ireland is the stuff of legend. A buccaneering American entrepreneur, DeLorean had film star looks, a famous fashion model as a wife and an enormous ego that drove him to rival the giants of the US car industry.

Millions of pounds of British tax-payers money later, an unprecedented social experiment where Catholics and Protestants worked side by side in relative harmony in West Belfast ends in a trail of corporate waste, greed, fraud and, incredibly, an FBI cocaine-trafficking sting.

Using rare and unseen footage filmed by Oscar winning directors DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, and through colourful news archive documenting his life and career, this is the first in-depth psychological profile of DeLorean, a man who rose from the ghettos of Detroit to build his American dream in war-torn Belfast. A dream that quickly went up in smoke...

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Gerry Rafferty, who died in January 2011, was one of Scotland's best loved singer/songwriters, famous around the world for hits such as Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle With You.

This ArtWorks Scotland film, narrated by David Tennant, tells the story of Rafferty's life through his often autobiographical songs and includes contributions from Gerry's daughter Martha and brother Jim, friends and colleagues including Billy Connolly, John Byrne and Joe Egan, admirers such as Tom Robinson and La Roux, and words and music from Rafferty himself.

This documentary was first broadcast at 9pm, 29 Aug 2011. Well worth catching if you are in any way a fan of the man and his music.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Don't let the welsh dialogue (with sub-titles) put you off this compelling drama. A good solid police drama with lots of little twists and turns and smaller sub-plots to keep you engrossed.

Series One and Two both are equally viewable and I would recommend you spend sometime getting sucked into this series.

Available on BBC iPlayer as at August 2020.

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Another top quality BBC series that I recommend taking the time to watch. Eight 40 minute episodes that I personally watched over two nights.

Based on the Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings the series serves up a feast of subtle British humour and action carried out with quality acting by the players. Although not billed as such, this drama has a thick underlying element of black humour that just makes it a pleasure to watch.

Sandra Oh as Eve is excellent but Jodie Comer as Villanelle steals the show with a character that you can't help to adore given her quirky, if some what, dark and bizarre behaviour (but then as a psychopathic contract killer what can you expect).

The background stories of the main players fills out over the series but there is obviously a lot more to see and learn and episode 8 leaves me in no doubt that there will be a future series (or two).

7 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

'Mockumentary' series in which 'Saturday Night Live's' Fred Armisen and Bill Hader parody well known documentaries in a fictional but supposedly long running series celebrating it's "Fifty-First Season."

Helen Mirren introduces each episode to provide a kind of false gravitas.

It does help if you are familiar with the subject that is being parodied. For example, the first episode 'Sandy Passage' completely missed with me as I hadn't seen (nor heard of) 'Grey Gardens' which it was taking as inspiration. Once I corrected that, I realised how well crafted the episode was.

The standout from the first season is the 'A Town, a Gangster, a Festival' episode in which they seemingly get an entire small town in Iceland to play it straight in staging a festival devoted to Al Capone.

You assume that they put out a casting call for some local actors and Al Capone is just the right kind of subject in being slightly bad taste but plausible enough in terms of the mythology built up around him that it comes across as convincing. The whole episode is deliciously well staged.

Like 'Spinal Tap' there are music documentary parodies as well. 'Blue Jean Committee' is based on a very obviously 'Eagles' style California band who’s members are facing up to the expected awkwardness of their upcoming Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction having been estranged for over 20 years.

Does it always hit? No. But it's well written, well directed, well performed and nuanced enough that even when some of the episodes don't quite make it - it's still always a worthwhile watch.

'Spinal Tap' is obviously the granddaddy of the 'mockumentary' format... If you love that film as much as I do, then you'll definitely enjoy 'Documentary Now!'

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Play for Today was a series of single dramas broadcast by the BBC between 1970 and 1984. These were years of crisis, a time when the consensus politics of Britain’s postwar world had begun to unravel. Industrial relations, education and the health service faced fundamental challenges, the country was struggling with the end of empire, and the personal had become increasingly political.

Play for Today reflected and responded to all of this and more in 300 dramas, shown in primetime on BBC One to audiences numbered in millions. Many of the best actors, writers and directors of the time contributed to the series, with some of the best-remembered broadcasts being Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party, Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills and the strange fantasy, Penda’s Fen, written by Alan Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke.

The series was contemporary, often controversial and occasionally censored. But it was also immensely varied, showcasing social realism with comedy, costume drama with fantasy, and personal visions with state-of-the-nation overviews. It was mischievous, critical and challenging, and unafraid to tackle taboos.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the first Play for Today in October 1970, this film is a celebration of the series, told by a number of its producers, directors and writers. It explores the origins of the series, its achievements and its controversies. Presenting a rich range of often surprising extracts from the archive, the film features interviews with, among others, producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, film-makers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, and writer and director David Hare.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

[Episode 1] - At the beginning of 1945, Berlin remains under the spell of the Nazi promise of salvation, an illusion at odds with the city’s daily reality. Every day there are bombing attacks, fires to be extinguished and corpses to be buried. Life goes on as the front lines of the war close in each day. Death comes for men, women, the old, the young, the National Socialists and the forced labourers.

In April, the Red Army stands ready outside the city. In a time of uncertainty on the front lines, nobody has a clear view of what will happen. Civilians hiding, SS soldiers shooting deserters, and Red Army soldiers hoping to survive the final days of the war. As the war comes closer and closer to the metropolis, it returns everything to its roots, showing no mercy.

[Episode 2] - The Battle for Berlin has begun. Step by step, the soon-to-be victorious powers advance. On 30 April, the Red Flag flies over the Reichstag and Adolf Hitler takes his own life. Another seven days pass before the Wehrmacht disassembles. National Socialism is finally beaten, along with Germany and Berlin. But for many, the fall of Nazism spells liberation rather than defeat.

[Episode 3] - The British, French and Americans are waiting to enter Berlin. In the meantime, the Soviets appoint mayors, organise the food supply and go on the hunt for war criminals. The Jewish community, among whom there are few survivors, regroup.

The fate of the city is determined at the Potsdam Conference. Life returns to the ruins, theatres reopen and orchestras play in the open air. By the end of 1945, the bond that held the Allies together is torn apart - and the Cold War begins.

Journey back in time to Berlin's most fateful year - 1945 - through the eyes and voices of those who experienced it - ordinary German people and the Allies who entered the city.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I was pretty fond of this at the time. I think a large part of the humour depended on your knowledge of UK Soaps, especially ITV ones. Like a lot of Harry Hill's stuff this was (largely) family friendly, slightly surreal and very silly. The TV series had a large team of talented writers including Stand-up comedians John Moloney and Chris Addison and David Quantick (who provided additional material for Brass Eye, On The Hour, Spitting Image). I think largely what killed it off was the tight deadlines (if I remember rightly this was broadcast weekly) and the fact the writers would need to sift through hours of TV to find a 20 second funny clip. For something like Emmerdale you are looking at 2 hours worth footage a week, now imagine that across multiple channels, then there's issues of licensing the clips, getting special guests etc. Frankly it must have been the equivalent of pointing your house to work on. All that said I got some big laughs out of most episodes and thought it was good twist on the overused clips show format.

For anyone curious the compilation TV Burp Gold DVDs are a good place to start and very cheap often costing less than £1 each. But be warned some it is a bit dated given they are referencing TV and pop culture from nearly 10 years ago.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Recently discovered home movie footage from 1936 offers a unique and powerful insight into what people in Germany were thinking and experiencing. In these pre-war days, Germany was on a high and the Hitler Youth seemed like fun and games, but Nazi control was soon to become an all-pervading force, militarising the nation. The rise of anti-Semitism is explicit and grotesque, shocking even though we now have the knowledge of what happens next.

The film follows an infantry division during the invasion of France, fighting their way to Dunkirk, and reveals a new perspective on what the evacuation meant for the average German soldier. On the Eastern Front, a far darker and more visceral journey across the endless Russian steppe and the almost unimaginable horrors unleashed during Operation Barbarossa is captured by a soldier.

As well as amateur movie footage, the film charts the progress of the war through the diaries of ordinary Germans, some dizzy with excitement at what Hitler had achieved, others horrified by the effect it was having on their friends and families.

Christmas in Germany 1941 is an unsettling time. Food is scarce, the weather is freezing and news from the front line in Russia is causing Germans to realise the war is a very long way from over. The stage is set for the second half of the conflict.

Through the home movies and diaries of ordinary Germans, this film charts Hitler’s dreams crumbling and the moral reckoning the German people must now face. It reveals the stories of people battling to save their families from deportation to the death camps, while others endure the horrors of ever more deadly bombing raids, all set against a backdrop of propaganda and false hope pouring forth from Nazi high command.

In Russia we meet a German doctor who throws himself into the firing line at every opportunity, not to win glory but to save his wife and three young children from deportation to the death camps in the east, while in Dresden a Jewish diary writer struggles to deal with ever-mounting restrictions and deportations.

We also meet some of those forced to live under German rule, including extraordinary footage of a group of Jews living in hiding just a mile from Anne Frank, and a family in Normandy enjoying a bucolic summer before they find themselves on the front line when the Allies take on the German troops on the Atlantic Wall.

The film then moves to the endgame of the war, the choices faced as the net tightened and the crazy efforts to fight to the bitter end even as all hope is gone.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I remember this series very well and first screened on Saturday Nights on ITV,and among them participants were on the show,such as the Welsh Comedian John Sparkes,when he teamed with another comedian Harry Enfield,which they called themselves Dusty and Dick,but sadly they voted off as far as I remember.Among the professions on the show such as singers,magicians,stand-up comedians,etc.I think this TV show ran for one series,and I hope they broadcast again on Youtube,so I know who were the acts on the show.The theme song is performed by Kate Robbins.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

If not the best show and my all time favourite, Robin Williams was a true comedian and in Mork & Mindy he showcased his skills of making people laugh, each episode was amazing and well planned out.

Though anything Robin Williams acted in was great work though this is his all time best show.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

An enjoyable romp through the classic Dracula story. Broadcast as three 90 minute episodes the show has it all, drama, suspense, a little bit of comedy and of course horror.

The BBC has done well in commissioning such a well written show (by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat of Sherlock fame). The excellent online reviews such as "bloody stunning" are well justified. What you get is an update, well shot , adaptation of the original vampire story.

Whilst not a true devotee of the horror genre I thoroughly recommend give this a viewing.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I remember this show quite well,when this series used to be screened three episodes per week at 1:30 p.m.,and also launched the careers of well-known celebrities such as Bob Hoskins [who looked a bit like a car dealer],Brenda Fricker,Judy Parfitt,Ben Kingsley,Nigel Havers,Peter Capaldi,Brian Cox,Tom Conti,Gregor Fisher,etc.Not Only I loved the series so much,but also my late mother liked the series,and still brings me back memories,and oh yes,In case you want to know the actual music introduction opening of the TV series is of course the opening bars of the fourth movement [Allegretto] from Sinfonietta by Leos Janacek,in which I like it so much as well as the TV series,and also I like the celebrities and they look so young and how they dressed beautifully.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is my all-time favourite TV series,and there are 121 episodes in total.Richard Hatch took over from Michael Douglas in Series 5,playing Lt.Dan Robbins.Also,guest stars appeared in this show such as Mark Hamill,David Soul,Paul Michael Glaser,Stefanie Powers amongst them,and not to mention Arnold Schwarzenegger who play Joe Schmidt in the episode-Dead Lift from Series 5.Now,I`ve got the complete series,what a great TV series,and I still remember used to screen these on Tuesday Nights.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I remember this series very well and made in 1980,and used to be on at 4:15 p.m.every weekday as part of Watch It or ITV logo,and ran for lasting 6 minutes approx and there are 39 cartoons in one series.This cartoon series is produced and directed by Derek Phillips for D.P.Films,and the animators were Martin Chatfield,Andy Wagner,Rose Welsh and Joanne Gooding,and also released on DVD with only 6 episodes.Also,I do like the music from the intro and outro especially.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I remember this show very well,especially good acting from Fred Dryer [who used to be an American football defensive in the National Football League,before coming as an actor] and Stepfanie Kramer.Also,in this series which launched the careers such as George Clooney,Robert Englund [before coming as Freddy Kruger from Elm Street franchise] amongst others.At the moment,I`ve got three volumes so far at the moment,and there are 153 episodes in total.All I know this series used to be screened on Saturday nights, and by the same people who created the A-Team,and not to mention the same performers who wrote the main theme tune.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is one of my favourite TV series of all time,and I remember this when I was 5 years old,when this came to our TV screens.All I can remember this,when screened on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 p.m. in the London area and repeated again on Saturday afternoons at 12:00 p.m.,and repeated again on Sunday nights at 11:45 p.m in 1983,and disappeared in our T.V.screens,and now I`ve got a complete series on DVD. there are 52 episodes in all and ran for 2 series.Also,this TV series launched the careers,before they became famous such as Judy Parfitt,Stephanie Beacham Roger Lloyd Pack [as a photographer in one episode uncredited before he came Trigger in Only Fools and Horses],David Suchet as a anti-terrorist in the episode called Fighting Fund.Not to mention,John Thaw also appeared in one episode called Lena,and filmed on location in Venice.This series is created by Gerry Anderson,and this is the only action thriller series,which has nothing to do with science fiction,which he fondly remembered.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

In 1959, Britain’s biggest film company, The Rank Organisation, launched a bold experiment. Rank replaced its cinema newsreels with a series called Look at Life. These films observed all aspects of life in 60’s Britain. Rank sent its camera crews all over the country to record Britons at work and play. They recorded Britain’s passions and fashions. Our ancient traditions and modern anxieties. Their cameras also ventured further afield, to record Britons holidaying abroad and the men and women serving in the colonies and the Commonwealth. Shot on high-quality colour film, Look at Life was never broadcast on TV. The series offer unique insights into the passions, preoccupations and values of a pivotal era. The social and cultural shifts which took place in the 1960’s had a profound effect on British society. Traditional sources of authority were challenged as people questioned the established order. Demographic changes increased the diversity of towns and cities across Britain. Communities were forced to adapt to a newly modernised physical environment. It was an age that reshaped the character of British urban spaces, and fundamentally changed British lives.

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

It's a topic in itself, but a lot of "factual" and "reality", not to mention "comedy" programmes often consist of what would be an excellent 10 minute YouTube video dragged out for an one hour. Maybe attention spans are shorter than they were two decades ago, but The Undateables for me is incredibly slow moving with a recap after every ad break of which there are multiple long ones.

The cynic in me says this is yet another attempt to peer in at the window of humanity and sneer at people who are different. Sadly, all mainstream TV channels are guilty of this. The fact clips of this show have become memes and appeared on "try not to laugh" compilations on YouTube says it all; as does the title.

To sum up, a 10 minute programme dragged out for 45+ minutes is not my idea of a good time. Sally Phillips easy-going voice can't save it for me. Ignoring the offensive factor, it's just tedious.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The Trap is a series of three films by Bafta-winning producer Adam Curtis that explains the origins of our contemporary, narrow idea of freedom.

It shows how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom. This model was derived from ideas and techniques developed by nuclear strategists during the Cold War to control the behaviour of the Soviet enemy.

Mathematicians such as John Nash developed paranoid game theories whose equations required people to be seen as selfish and isolated creatures, constantly monitoring each other suspiciously always intent on their own advantage.

This model was then developed by genetic biologists, anthropologists, radical psychiatrists and free market economists, and has come to dominate both political thinking since the Seventies and the way people think about themselves as human beings.

However, within this simplistic idea lay the seeds of new forms of control. And what people have forgotten is that there are other ideas of freedom. We are, says Curtis, in a trap of our own making that controls us, deprives us of meaning and causes death and chaos abroad.

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?