This article contains spoilers.

So we've all seen it now. The slate has been wiped clean for the current series of Being Human, and the departure of Nina and George, on top of the earlier exit from Aiden Turner's Mitchell last year, has not gone down well with viewers. There are of course those happy to roll with whatever decision showrunner Toby Whithouse comes up with, but there’s also a much more vocal faction who have expressed strong feelings towards the slightly clumsy revelation of our favourite werewolf couple's tragic fate.

These are the viewers Whithouse has publicly called out in various interviews, as he reacted to their refusal to follow the show into its new era at all. But is change always a bad thing? It seemed impossible to comprehend at first; how can a television series built around three (and then four) central characters carry on without three quarters of that magic team? As it stands, we're left with original cast member Annie, returning werewolf Tom and newcomer Hal.

Not many fans outwardly hate Annie, but I've not heard of any queues of fans lining up to call her their favourite either. I may be alone here, but I always felt that the series' power revolved around Mitchell and George's relationship, and to have both branches severed within the space of two hours (watched consecutively) could have considerably cheapened that importance in retrospect. I also, however, would rather there be more Being Human than the alternative, and shifts this substantial can sometimes actually rejuvenate a flagging show.

Last weekend's premiere episode proved that there's still life in the series, but such a sudden shift in the dynamic of the cast is hard to take for even the most dedicated of fans. The fact that some are  reacting so negatively is completely understandable, but there have been a number of classic series that have lost a main cast member in a similarly sudden manner and lived to fight another day. But there have also been those that struggled to stay afloat after their stars chose to walk off into the sunset, and it's unclear which path Being Human will take at this juncture.

The most recent example is Misfits, which unexpectedly lost one of its most popular members after its second series. Forced to write Nathan's exit into a web-only short, fans of the show were offered little in the way of reasoning or explanation come last year's premiere, which introduced the similarly hyper Rudy into the gang as a replacement. Series three survived viewer distaste and emerged stronger than ever, but time will tell whether the further departures of Simon and Alisha will spell greater trouble in the future. 

At the end of the Misfits finale, left only with Curtis and Kelly from the original line-up, a few alarm bells rang for the show's die-hard fans. It seems that British shows are more subject to change than their US counterparts, which often rely on familiarity to draw disparate viewers into each week's adventure. Just think of Doctor Who as a prime example. Who would have thought, having witnessed the furore that's surrounded Being Human and Misfits over the last year, one of our most popular shows makes a habit of changing its entire cast every few years or so.

The closest the BBC series came to the same violent reactions was with David Tennant's departure on New Year's Day 2011. While I'm sure there are some people who stayed true to their threats never to watch the show again, many more have persevered with the new line-up, and the nation has taken Matt Smith to their hearts to almost the same extent as they had with Tennant.

Skins, too, chose to avoid the post-college slump in its attempt to portray the teenage condition, and thus bravely changes its cast every two years. I'm almost certain that the quality of the E4 show would not have been so high for so long had they stuck with the original generation of teens, and the unique take on keeping the show fresh has paid off. 

There are, of course, those series that rely so heavily on their leading man/lady, that a change in the subordinate line-up goes largely unnoticed. House MD, for example, changed its medical team more times than viewers could count, and the current cast consists of doctors collected over its eight year run. Only three original characters remain, Chase, Wilson, and Dr. House himself, and the entertainment value has been all the better for the risks the showrunners dared to take, though sadly it wasn’t enough to save the show from cancellation, as announced this week.

But there are also those series that fail miserably after a member of their cast is removed. Some continuations after a notable departure simply smell of greed, and Scrubs learned the hard way that a popular show may quickly lose favour once your leading man has moved on. The Office: An American Workplace, too, recently lost its Ricky Gervais, in the form of funny-man Steve Carell, and speculation on who was to replace him was rampant. Two and a Half Men seems to have blown through the Charlie Sheen controversy, but not all shows get that lucky.

No one is sure whether Being Human can survive this latest blow, but fans owe enough to the show to at least give it a chance. Lesser series have gone on to have long and successful runs after a prominent or popular cast member is lost, and there are just as many that could stand to lose some of their stale cast members. Would another eight episodes of Mitchel, Annie, George and Nina really have satisfied viewers, or could getting some fresh blood into the bed and breakfast be the best thing to have ever happened to Being Human?

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We've got until the start of April to wait until the second season of Game Of Thrones, and it really can't come soon enough. HBO has helped with the wait, though, by unleashing a large collection of pictures from the upcoming season. 

You can see them all here, and, as always, you can make any of the thumbnails bigger by clicking on them.

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1.1 and 1.2 Magus; Marbeley

Time was, waterborne adventure and thriller stories cast their characters out on the ocean. From Odysseus to Long John Silver, via the Ancient Mariner and Captain Ahab, the thrill of the sea has been its openness, the capacity for adventure when the characters can go almost anywhere. Rivers are different. Rivers are claustrophobic. With rivers, you have only two choices, forward, or back. 

Joseph Conrad knew this. In setting Heart of Darkness on a river, he was able to use it to support his narrative while creating a sense that his characters were being drawn towards something. There was something awful waiting for Marlow, but he had no choice but to keep following that constant, inexorable stream towards Kurtz. 

The makers of The River (Paranormal Activity's Oren Peli and Michael R. Perry) are clearly hoping to use the same natural dread. Here, Bruce Greenwood is the Kurtz. He reprises his Star Trek role as father figure in jeopardy, playing the Steve Irwin-esque TV adventurer-cum-naturalist Emmet Cole who, twenty years into a successful career, goes missing somewhere along the Amazon. He is presumed dead, but thrillers being what they are, clues remain to suggest that he is alive and well. Well, alive at least. His wife and adult son, Lincoln, take a boat upriver to find him and bring a TV crew along for the ride. In-universe, this is handwaved by establishing that the TV company is funding the expedition and interested in making a follow-up show on Emmet, and for the show we’re watching, it allows for a ‘found footage’ device to be used. 

The opening two episodes, shown as a double-bill and available via iTunes in the UK, are patchy, but not without promise. The exposition, which is necessary, is handled somewhat clumsily. While good use is made of fake news clips and footage from The Undiscovered Country, Emmet’s show-within-a-show, the characters are established rather amateurishly, with the dialogue feeling rather forced. We know, for example, that Emmet loves his wife because on looking at a fluorescent blue dragonfly he tells us that the only thing he “knows this blue in nature are my wife’s eyes first thing in the morning”. His son’s angsty demeanour all too often slips into ‘you weren’t there for me, mom’ rants. Yes, he and his mother have issues, yes the boat’s pilot is an angry man overprotective of his daughter, yes, the bodyguard is a badass, we get that. But they’ve got eight episodes on a small boat to let it show through; we don’t need to see it all in the first fifteen minutes. 

Sadly, on the strength of the first episode, fifteen minutes may be enough. These characters are rather shallow and it is difficult to invest much concern in them, a major problem for a horror piece. The central mother/son relationship falls flat, it is angst by numbers and the son acts far too much like a whiny teenager for us to accept him as the show’s lead. On a generous interpretation, this is a character flaw, not necessarily a writing one, and watching him develop will add a satisfying extra dimension to the show’s arc, as long as the writers have the confidence to let him grow. Unfortunately at this early stage, it creates more melodrama than horror. 

More work is also required for Jahel, the mystic daughter of the boat’s captain. Her role seems to be little more than walking spirit guide, muttering mysteriously in Spanish about ‘ghost friends’ and ‘soul traps’. Although she is given the show’s funniest line, this is a little throwaway, and she soon reverts to the mystical intonations. We’ll need to see something more from her before she is seen to be anything other than a stock ‘magical ethnic’ character.

Kurt Brynildson, the bodyguard is handled much better. He is given very little backstory, just right for this stage of the show. The bits we do see are perfect and we end up knowing enough not to trust him, but not so much that we know why we shouldn’t. Likewise Quitely the TV producer and AJ the lead cameraman. There are definitely a few surprises in store for and from these characters and they genuinely piqued my interest.

It’s not just the characters. The show’s key device of using found footage feels forced. It is a conceit with a purpose, providing a ‘third eye’ so that characters may be in jeopardy, but it is not sustained well enough. Some of the scenes require a colossal suspension of disbelief to convince you that they would have been filmed. Yes they are making a TV show, but would they really film Tess Cole walking into a bar to tell her son that his dad’s safety beacon had been found on the day of his funeral? At least the cameras are acknowledged in that scene, later ones, particularly between Lincoln and obvious love interest Tara, are conducted as though as though the characters don’t know they are being filmed. It is a nagging inconsistency that needs to be ironed out swiftly.

In addition, as the majority of it is presented as professionally filmed, it doesn’t feel like found footage –it’s too slick and well made. It even has some post-production features such as captions and subtitles that would have required the input of the characters who were actually there. Would some editor in a studio know that, for example, they were entering the boat at 10:37 without consulting a ‘survivor’? While there is some use of unmanned footage, such as from security cameras, this is not really enough to sustain the device. The authored nature of the footage also removes a layer of objectivity that would have added a greater sense of danger. The horror would be made more intense seen through the cold unblinking eye of a CCTV camera, while a more patchwork collection of footage would help to convince the viewer that something awful is going to happen to these people.

Watching it, I found it better to ignore the found footage and enjoy the storyline for its own merits. I wouldn’t be too surprised if subsequent seasons –and there is just enough to sustain multiple seasons- see this conceit jettisoned. 

However, once it gets going, The River manages its thrills well, using misdirection and darkness to their full advantage. It could do with more of them, however, and a better balance between the quiet reflective moments and the key horror set pieces. The show is establishing its characters, but we’re not seeing this done carefully enough to warrant all these scenes of Lincoln talking about how his dad was never around when he was a kid. I would rather see his character emerge through his response to his current situation than through heartfelt soliloquies and schmaltzy flashbacks.  

That said, the scariest moments are the subtle ones –the dolls in the second episode making a particular point of this. This episode is better overall, combining tension with some genuine creepiness and a great use of the natural dread of the darkling jungle. It also hints at a mixture of monster-of-the-week episodes and a longer story arc, a device that has served cult television very well and which will help to maintain a regular dosage of actual horror for the viewer without dragging too much of a central mythology behind it. 

So, despite some early niggles, The River has a lot going for it. Its central premise is strong and there are plenty of opportunities for thrills, both mystical and mundane. The characters have been forced upon us but they have room to grow, and stuck together on a tiny boat, there is plenty of dramatic scope for them to do so. There are clues and red herrings a plenty in the show’s central mystery and plenty of river to go. We are still a long way from Meestah Kurtz here. 

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It’s not a massive surprise, this, given that the storylines were running out and there weren’t many interesting things left to do with the title character. However, Fox has decided to pull the plug on the hit TV show House, at the end of its currently-broadcasting eighth season.

The show, which stars Hugh Laurie, has been a cut above the usual medical dramas, with Laurie injecting it with a massive dose of sarcasm, and a mastery of an American accent. By April, 177 episodes of the show will have been made and broadcast.

It’s be wrong to say House is being cancelled, though. This is, surely, a case of a show coming to the end of its natural life, rather than one cut off in its prime. It will also most certainly live on in the world of DVD boxsets and TV repeats for many, many years to come...

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Production is weeks away from starting on series seven of Doctor Who. But aside from the fact that Steven Moffat is writing episodes, that Mark Gatiss is penning one, and that there are well-reported changes that are set to happen in front of the camera, we still don't know much about who's writing what.

At least until now. Today, it's been revealed that both Toby Whithouse and Chris Chibnall are penning episodes for the new series of Doctor Who.

Being Human supremo Whithouse, who some suggest is the heir apparent when Steven Moffat gives back the keys to the TARDIS, is set to write the episode currently third in line in the new series. His The God Complex was one of the highlights of the last run for us.

Returning after a long gap is Chris Chibnall, who last penned The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood for Doctor Who, before going off to be head writer on the now-cancelled Camelot show for Starz.

With filming starting, expect the drip feed of guest star announcements to begun in due course, too...

SFX

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This review contains spoilers.

4.11 Making Angels

I was slightly aghast that Fringe ran another story this week on the subject of precognition, given that the basis for the previous one was exactly that. Maybe they intended these stories to not run concurrently in some earlier schedule, but this is the order in which they arrived.

In this week’s Fringe, a university professor gets hold of Observer technology, which allows him to see what happens to people, and out of some type of religious mercy he decides to cut to the chase and kill them before things get messy.

My problem with this idea from the outset is that nobody has a life that doesn't impact on others in ways that you'd never imagine, and so this angel maker would have a huge job to do and insufficient resources to achieve much. Therefore, what's the point?

Relatively little about his motivation is presented until the very end, other that “he's religious” which in the context of this story could be used to justify just about anything. If God had a plan, it was a very small one, it appears. Thankfully, there was more to Making Angels than this, as the time assassin narrative seemed oddly contrived.

The true highlight of this story was the amazing scenes where Astrid meets her alternate, who for the purpose of clarity and my own sanity we'll call Kick-Astrid. The difference between these two is possibly the most extreme between alternates we've seen, as Kick-Astrid is seriously messed up by her relationship with her father and his recent death.
From the point where she marched into Walter's lab things got very interesting.

What's always been apparent about Kick-Astrid is that she's doesn't do emotions well, but the death of her father has obviously unhooked some. Very soon, Altivia turns up to join the doppelgangers party – a shame Walternate didn't also turn up to complete the set. How this develops, and Kick-Astrid's quest for answers from her counterpart, were engrossing, as was her interaction with Walter, who actually got her name right.

In the end, Astrid tells her other self that she's not very close to her father, something Kick-Astrid had a major issue with. A later scene shows that this wasn't the truth, but Astrid sold it as a convincing lie. In this one tactical diversion, Astrid demonstrated that she is much more complicated than we've been led to understand, and I was fascinated by her cunning.

Astrid always had the potential to be a much deeper character than just an accessory to Walter, and this story glimpsed the Farnsworth we've always suspected but have never before seen.

The story slightly fell apart right at the end, unfortunately, with some explanations I just didn't buy. Peter asks why the professor aimed at the Window and Olivia gives a mindless answer about being religious. Suicide by cop is still suicide, and therefore a mortal sin, I assume. And do I need to mention the incredibly poor job of examining the home of the professor? There's a safe – what's inside it might be important, no? Nah.

Okay, that left them with a story arc insertion at the end where they suggest that the Observer, September, went rogue and left the device on purpose. Given that they're all called after months, presumably there are 12 Observers, or rather 11, since one got shot? Presumably that could be an opening for Peter if things don't work out for him.

This was a better episode than the week before, and Jasika Nicole was really fantastic. She's always great in this show, and I can't believe they've taken till it's nearly over to give her the screen time she deserves.

On the subject of screen time, where was agent Lincoln Lee this week? He wasn't mentioned or seen, and no reason for his lack of presence was offered, which is slightly sloppy.

Next week, Fringe goes to Westfield, a place that some find remarkably difficult to get away from.

Read our review of Fringe season four episode 10 here.

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As Noel Clarke is cast in JJ Abrams’ sequel to Star Trek, he joins a small band of actors who’ve appeared in both of sci-fi television’s biggest franchises.  Some actors have appeared in many more. Guy Siner has worked across Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5! But let’s stick to Who and Trek for now…

Here then, in alphabetical order, are ten actors to have crossed the divide.

Daphne Ashbrook

In 1996, Daphne Ashbrook was cast as Dr Grace Holloway in the Paul McGann TV Movie of Doctor Who. A few weeks before the film debuted, BBC2 premiered an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called Melora in which Daphne starred as the eponymous Melora Pazlar.

John Franklyn-Robbins

The opening scene of Doctor Who story Genesis Of The Daleks sees the Doctor confronted by a Time Lord in a cowl played by John Franklyn-Robbins, who gives him a time ring to act as a lifeline. Some years later, John appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Macias in an episode called Pre-Emptive Strike.

Barrie Ingham

Barrie Ingham appeared opposite William Hartnell as Paris in the Doctor Who story The Myth Makers. He was seen alongside Peter Cushing as Alydon in the film Doctor Who and The Daleks. Much later he was seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Up The Long Ladder as Daniel Odell.

Christopher Neame

In 1980 Christopher Neame appeared in Doctor Who as the alien Skagra in the Douglas Adams-scripted Shada. A strike meant the story wasn’t completed and to this day it remains untransmitted, bar a short clip of the Doctor and Romana punting which was used in The Five Doctors.

Neame had better luck with the Star Trek franchise, appearing in Star Trek: Voyager episode Heroes and Demons and more recently he was seen in the two-part Enterprise episode – Storm Front.

Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson’s sublime, pop culture-obsessed sitcom Spaced contained many Who references, most notably when Bill Bailey’s character Bilbo asks Tim to “step into the office” and they enter a police box door.

Both Pegg and Stevenson were in the cast for Invaders From Mars, a Big Finish Doctor Who audio adventure. Pegg appeared the series proper in 2005, playing The Editor in The Long Game. He also provided the narration on the first series of the companion programme Doctor Who Confidential. Jessica Stevenson, under her married name of Hynes, made two appearances in the episodes Human Nature/Family Of Blood and The End Of Time.

Simon Pegg’s burgeoning film career took him to America, where JJ Abrams cast him as Montgomery Scott in Star Trek.

Maurice Roeves

A fine character actor, Maurice Roeves played Stoltz in the superlative Doctor Who adventure The Caves Of Androzani, which saw Peter Davison’s Doctor meet his end in a dramatic and exciting action adventure created by, arguably, Who’s greatest writer: Bob Holmes.

In 1981, Holmes had scripted The Nightmare Man which featured Roeves as a policeman on a sleepy Scottish Isle confronted by an unseen horror. A few years later, Maurice Roeves turned up in Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Romulan Captain in the episode The Chase.

Deep Roy

In Doctor Who, Deep played the role of Mr Sin in The Talons Of Weng-Chiang. After a memorable appearance in the superb Blake’s 7 episode Gambit as the speed chess freak The Klute, Roy returned to Who as Posicarian in episode 7 of The Trial Of A Time Lord (or part three of Mindwarp, if you prefer). His more recent credit (in a multiple role) as the Umpa-Lumpas in Tim Burton’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory led to his casting as Keenser in director JJ Abrams’ first Star Trek movie.

Mark Sheppard

Mark appeared in the most recent series of Doctor Who as Canton Delaware in The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon. A few years earlier, the Battlestar Galactica actor was seen as Leucon in the Star Trek: Voyager episodes Collective and Child’s Play.

Guy Siner

Guy Siner is perhaps best known as Lieutenant Hubert Gruber in ‘Allo ‘Allo. Siner has many sci-fi roles to his name. In Doctor Who, he appeared as Ravon in the classic Tom Baker story Genesis Of The Daleks. He was Stuart Reed in the Enterprise episode Silent Enemy, his credits also include Babylon 5 and several Star Wars video games. He is one of the few ‘Allo ‘Allo actors to also have appeared in the series which inspired it: Secret Army.

David Warner

Acclaimed character actor David Warner has several connections to the Doctor Who franchise.

In 1976 his character was memorably and shockingly decapitated in The Omen, which featured Patrick Troughton as a priest. More recently he played the Doctor himself in the Unbound audio series and appeared in the Scarifyers story Magic Circle as the no-nonsense retired cop Harry 'Thumper' Crow. His voice was heard in the Doctor Who animation Dreamland in 2009.

He has appeared in  two Star Trek feature  films - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - as well as making an appearance as Gul Madred in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Chain Of Command. 

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This review contains spoilers.

2.4 (I Loathe You) For Sentimental Reasons

This week's episode of Being Human was all about temptation, but unfortunately turned out to be not-so-tempting. Last week's episode was great because it focused on the core characters, and I expressed a desire for that to continue. Unfortunately, we almost immediately veer back off the path through a series of vampire flashbacks, werewolf identity debates, and Ghosts Anonymous meetings.

Picking up last week's plot in which Aidan lost his access to hospital blood, we quickly learn that he has been visiting the blood prostitute so often that her body isn't reproducing its own supply fast enough to keep up with his demand. She asks him to come back later, when she will have a replacement ready, but when Aidan returns, he finds that the replacement is a child.

Meanwhile, Suren wants to turn a local low-life who can give the vampire community influence over politicians and a constant supply of nubile young ladies for their blood dens, but Aidan resists since they do not know the man that well or be able to control him. However, as he becomes more and more desperate for blood, he agrees to do the honors of turning the man. As he starts to feed, however, his blood lust takes over and he begins drinking far too much.

Parallel to this action, we run through a series of flashbacks setting up Aidan and Suren's past. At one time, they were very interested in each other, but Aidan maintained a wary distance due to Suren's status as a royal and the fact that Mother would disapprove. Aidan's progeny repeatedly encourages Aidan to go for it, but when he doesn't, Aidan finds them in bed together instead.

As Aidan considers this, Suren joins him in draining the man they're supposed to be turning and they begin to kiss. Blood drips everywhere as they kiss and drink, leaving the man dead as they collapse in an over-stuffed and satisfied heap. We were told that feeding would turn Aidan into someone we wouldn't want to meet, and it looks as though that someone has arrived.

Sally, meanwhile, is spending all her time with Zoe, trying to live vicariously through her. This fails for the most part, as Zoe isn't good at flirting and doesn't know what she wants out of life, but things briefly seem to be improving when Sally attends a Ghosts Anonymous meeting with Zoe and runs into Nick, the ghost she dated last season who couldn't stop reliving his death by drowning.

Nick asks Sally to accompany him to a restaurant, which Sally assumes is a date, but when she happily reveals this to Zoe, Zoe informs her that she is actually already dating Nick. This is thanks to Sally pushing him into dealing with his death, and encouraging Zoe to decide what she really wants out of life. Sally confronts Nick, who tells her that he asked her out to thank her for dumping him, because since he's been dating Zoe, he's stopped reliving his death.

Heartbroken, Sally finds a couple kissing under a tree and possesses the woman, despite knowing what doing so will cause. Not realizing that the woman he cares about is no longer in control of her own body, the man keeps kissing Sally.

Josh, on the other hand, spends most of the episode trying to be a good guy, but failing miserably. When a woman comes up to him and informs him that she knows he's a wolf and requests his help in freeing her brother from the psych ward, as they are both also werewolves, Josh rescues the man to prevent him from turning at the moon and harming the other patients.

They later track him down and ask him to come out with them so that they can thank him properly, revealing that they are both pureblood werewolves - they were born with their curse, not turned later on in life. This manifests itself as their senses and instincts being heightened all month long, rather than just at the moon, and they are eager when Josh reveals that he's been searching for a cure.

Initially put off by their rude, entitled nature, Josh reluctantly agrees to accept their financial help, right up until they reveal that while they're happy to support his finding a way to turn the transformation off, they intend to use that information to turn the transformation on, permanently. Believing their true form to be the wolf because their human bodies hold back their senses and instincts, they want to take wolf form for the rest of their lives.

Josh is disgusted, as the wolf represents everything he hates, but they point out that what they feel isn't that different from what he does, that their bodies are being taken over by something that isn't really them. Only instead of having to deal with that one night a month, they are forced to endure it all the other days. Josh finally calls Nora for her advice, stating that he thinks they all want the same thing, and that maybe they really should work together.

One of my biggest complaints with this show is when it forgets what its core premise is supposed to be: a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost walk into a Boston apartment. I seem to recall only one scene with all three of our main characters, and it was extremely brief and not particularly relevant to any of the plots.

It's not that other characters shouldn't be included, but that the outside characters should affect the core relationships. For instance, last year, Josh's maker Ray had an extended arc on the show, but it served to create tension between Josh and Aidan rather than pull Josh completely out of storylines with his friends. I'd like to see something similar happening this season with characters like Suren, Zoe, or the pureblood werewolves, rather than each of our characters being pulled off in different directions and not really interacting with each other.

Overall, I didn't care for this episode and I miss the dynamic that worked so well in last week's. This show is at its best when it gets its main characters in a room and lets them fondly snark at each other. It would be nice if the writers remembered that.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

3.13 Bringing Out The Dead

The last episode of The Vampire Diaries saw the long awaited return of Elijah, and with him comes a whole lot more action from the original family. Everything was getting a little civil among the many different factions of Mystic Falls, but the episode number meant that peace cannot have fallen only half way through the season's run. Bringing back a much loved and ambiguous character like Elijah has done the trick, as this set-up episode teases some enticing future developments.

The first order of business is Rick's bad taste in women, something Elena refuses to believe. Last week's plot strand of Damon and Rick hunting for Meredith's true motives was a highlight, but things now seem a little less clean-cut. Fingers are being pointed in every direction over the murder of the doctor a few weeks back, even leading Sheriff Forbes to the Gilbert household. Tyler is enemy number two, but he's fallen fowl of limited space in The Vampire Diaries ensemble, and doesn't feature at all this week.

Most new characters are greeted with guarded distain by VD fans, but Meredith's presence in the original novels suggests she will play a bigger role than initially suggested. In the books, she is Elena's best friend and a worthy adversary to Damon. But a reinvention on this scale probably means she shares only name with the Meredith of the books. The character isn't winning any hearts at the moment and, knowing this show, that means she won't last too long.

Her medical dabbling with vampire blood lands the Forbes family in deep trouble, as she heals Caroline's father just before a mystery attacker takes their opportunity. His subsequent transformation (or lack thereof) creates the most compelling plotline of the episode, and gives us our first experience of a vampire-to-be who resists his first craving for blood. It's a convenient tool to bring Caroline and her father's story to a close, while Candice Accola melts hearts with a lovely performance.

Of course, when there's human drama, the writers can always be trusted to bring Matt out from hiding (seriously, where does that guy live?), and the guy is on top form this week. At first, we're led to believe he's there to serve Caroline's story, but some choice words from Klaus reintroduce the long-past Elena/Matt pairing. Against my better judgement, I've always been a fan of Matt, and a brief, chaste romance between the only two humans on the show would be lovely while we wait for the girl to choose between her two undead lovers.

But the cliffhanger is what the episode will be remembered for, as we get an original family dump in its final moments. Not only is Klaus joined by Elijah and Rebekah, but the rest of the siblings decide to show their faces too. Bonnie's dull-as-dishwater story finally reveals what was in the lockbox, and that provides the real kicker.

Things are bound to get interesting next week, and the character count is getting harder and harder to keep track of. For a filler episode, a lot is set up for future weeks, and some loose ends are tied up neatly in preparation.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

6.3 Alex

Introducing a new character part-way through your series is quite a risky move. Doing it the week after one of your most popular characters has departed is even more inviting of viewer distaste. Respect to Bryan Elsley and newcomer Sam Jackson then, that the episode doesn't come off too badly, but it's still a huge step down from the quality on display last week.

Since the second series, a main character has been offed in each generation's second outing, but never has it been so early in its run. Having Grace depart in episode two allows this cast to live through the grief without the series finale in mind, and thus allows the episode to do something a little bit different. 

As a memorial service is planned, for example, the show openly comments on the crassness and disingenuous rituals that remembering the young often brings out, and I hadn't seen that on a television show before. Like with Chris' funeral in the first generation, the characters aren't allowed to say goodbye to their friend, but we're never shown the fallout, and she is barely mentioned until the final few scenes.

This is mainly because of the episode's focus on new character Alex, and outsider on the group's grief and a new perspective on the characters we already know. Some results of this tactic work better than others, with his relationships with the father and grandmother feeling a little forced when taking precedence over the more interesting goings on elsewhere. His story threads end up commenting on the nature of death and the importance comforting one another, but it's a struggle getting as far as this pay-off.

The episode is at its best when we're spending time with the ensemble; their dynamic showing the awkwardness and slight mundanity of that shared, fresh grief that happens when a group loses one of their own. It's a smart choice to exclude Rich from the episode entirely, even if the episode feels like it's lost an arm as a result. Altogether, there is no outpouring of grief or even very much support between the peers; there are just people coping very badly and turning to their most unattractive character traits. 

Which brings me to Liv, who is pretty much the secondary character in this episode. Even if she's popular elsewhere, I have to admit that she is the character I have bonded with the least, and one who often downright infuriates me. No matter how hard I try, there are few redeeming features to her portrayal, and she seems only to be a tool for bringing new characters to the show. Last year, her episode introduced Matty through a whirlwind romance, and here is pretty much the same, if only Alex wasn't gay.

Even though I wasn't too taken with Alex's character this week, I predict that he will settle into the group dynamic quite nicely. We were in need of a gay character now that Franky's bisexuality has been watered down (if not washed away completely), so he's also welcome in that regard. Overall, this introductory episode is a good watch, and doesn't disappoint in light of last week's revelations but next week looks like a classic in the making, as we delve back into the complex mind of Miss Franky.

Filming is set to start this month on the seventh series of Doctor Who since its 2005 revival, with Matt Smith reprising his role as the Doctor.

Steven Moffat has also teased one or two more details about the series, and, if you don’t want to know anything about them, you should look away now.

Over in Australia at the moment, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is performing the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular. And Mr Moffat has written a few words in the programme for the performance.

Specifically, he had this to say about what we can expect from series 7…

“Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is coming. In Cardiff, we're gearing up for the biggest, the best and the most ambitious season we've ever made. There will be shocks, surprises and heartbreak - the Doctor is about to say goodbye to his very best friends, Amy and Rory.

And then he's about to say hello to someone very different - the Doctor is going to meet someone very new in the very last place he could ever have expected...”

Sounds intriguing, although that’s all we’re getting for the time being.

You can read more over at the marvellous Blogtor Who, here…

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This review contains spoilers.

2. A Place In This World

After the first episode eased us back into the world of Spartacus, familiarising us with the new status quo for the escaped slaves, this episode gets the story moving again. Attacks on Roman villas, the execution of Spartacus' new philosophy and - most enjoyably - more time spent fleshing out Oenomaus.

Indeed, the main thread of the episode (as alluded to in the title) asks what a slave should when his master disappears. In the case of Oenomaus, the answer is to return to the pit and wait for death. In the case of Tiberius, it is to search for a new cause. Neither appears to fully succeed, but the seeds of drama planted here will grow into mighty plots. Will Oenomaus get his purpose back? Has Tiberius found his own, or is he just pretending? These are questions we want to see answered.

Fight-wise, it's always good to see Oenomaus in action, particularly while he's in such a dark place. It's also good to see The Pit return, used to such great effect, when its creation seemed to serve a single purpose in the first season - although I have to admit, I'm missing the fun of the arena match-ups where the focus was on two men in stupid armour working out their 'backstage' issues. Don't get me wrong, I like having Crixus and Spartacus be pals - but it'd be a shame if they never got to fight again.

Of course, the change in inter-character dynamics doesn't damage the series too badly. The absence of John Hannah as Batiatus, however, is a bit more of a problem. Batiatus was self-important, cowardly, borderline incompetent and yet, even as we watched Spartacus (and others) defeat his plans over and over, there was part of us that wanted him to succeed. As many feared, there's now a giant hole where his character should be, and not just because he swore better than anyone else in the series. Indeed, it seems that this episode's search for purpose may have a more meta-textual vibe than first imagined. Where do you go when you've killed off a main character that prominent?

There are contenders for the crown of series villain, of course. They're just not particularly strong. Glaber, the supposed antagonist, is a charisma-free zone with no discernible personality. Ilithyia is more interested in protecting herself than stopping Spartacus. And while the return of Ashur makes for an interesting narrative twist, it's clear that Lucretia is the only one with enough presence to be the series villain, and she's still acting the loon (although hopefully not for too much longer, given the episode's end.)

The further developing romance plots are a bit more prominent this series, not just because the rebellion's actions are currently fuelled by the search for Naevia, but because Mira is becoming a more prominent character. Her increasingly kick-ass disposition feels a little unearned, but in a series keen to objectify women it certainly helps its credibility to have a female character around who isn't bitchy, insane, or, er, taking things lying down. It's interesting how Ilithyia's feelings towards Spartacus have clearly changed, however - things get slightly weird as her hate turns to something more primal. Can't wait to see what Glaber thinks of that...

With a strong thematic centre spread over multiple character threads and a twist ending that promises a quick pace for the series, this may well have been one of the most well-written Spartacus episodes ever. Not bad going for a series which started out as an unashamedly ridiculous piece of exploitation television.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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Warning: this review contains major spoilers.

4.1 Eve of the War

Being Human series creator Toby Whithouse hasn't minced his words about fans' reactions to the news that Russell Tovey and Sinead Keenan were to leave the show. 

In an interview with The Guardian, he said, “Losing Russell and Sinead so suddenly was very difficult. But it never occurred to us for a moment to stop making the show. Not because we need the cash, but because we knew there were 1,000 stories left to tell and 10,000 characters left to create.

"But if I'm honest, the reaction of some of the fans is depressingly predictable. People are perfectly entitled to watch something and say 'I didn't like it'. But to say 'I'm not going to like that thing I haven't seen yet' is blatantly bonkers."

Whithouse's apparent anger with certain fans railing against a series they have yet to see is understandable, and yet I can also express some sympathy with those fans who have chosen to leave the show behind. When Being Human first started out way back when, Messrs Turner, Tovey and Critchlow were the heart of a show about a vampire, werewolf and a ghost just trying to get along with their lives the best they could. The entire premise of the show hinged on the interplay and chemistry between these three leads, lending it a humanity and a grounding in reality that I believe spoke to its many fans.

That's not to say that the show cannot continue without those leads. I do believe, however, that you cannot gloss over the power of the relationship between those three characters. It was, for my money, at the very heart of what made the show tick. 

Which leads me to the obvious question hanging over this series: can Being Human really continue without Tovey, Turner and Keenan? 

On the strength of what was on show in this series four opener... I'm really not sure. 

More than ever, the show appears destined to move away from that core central premise of the unholy trinity, expanding the otherworldly universe even further and taking in some wise words from the future along the way. New characters are introduced, old ones are given a lead role, and all the time, poor Annie is still, in my opinion, gloriously underwritten. 

Whithouse has previously commented in his BBC blog that Critchlow is the heart of the show. I once believed this to be true, and I truly want Annie to take centre stage in this series as she, and Critchlow herself, deserves better treatment than many of the episodes she was handed in series three. However, on the strength of this episode, I fear we're in for more wailing, moping around and the general ineffectiveness that plagued her character for much of last year. I hope I'm proved wrong. 

We all knew from the trailers and pre-publicity that werewolf Tom had been bumped up to a leading role in this series. Michael Socha's athleticism and on-screen presence are both winning characteristics and I'm a big fan of his past work. Here, he got to do the tough guy bit over and over, as well as deliver the laughs in an episode that was largely devoid of the lighter side of entertainment. While making comparisons with the past might not be welcome, it seems obvious that Tom will be taking on the snarling side of Mitchell's character, and that's no bad thing. 

The other new character is, of course, Hal. Clearly the most anticipated change of them all, Hal has some stupendously large boots to fill, but if it's charm and screen presence you're after, Damien Molony is your man. Hard to describe just why, but he electrified scenes in this opener, making you feel instantly familiar with his character. He has an aura of dramatic brilliance about him, and while he was really just teased before us in this episode, it looks like he's going to rule the next. 

As for George, well this was a bit of a surprise, if I'm honest. Not that he's dead, as anyone who's read anything to do with the show over the past month or so would know he was leaving during the series. I didn't think he'd go so quickly, though. I actually think it's the right decision to let him free now, leaving the show's reboot to happen sooner rather than later, but it did all feel a bit rushed. Anyway, that's all I'll say on his exit as much has been written about that already, suffice to say that we'll miss you, Russell.

So, with the characters out of the way, what of the opener's plot? Well, the one thing that stands out most of all is that when Whithouse has mentioned he wanted to explore new aspects of the Being Human universe, he wasn't kidding. New prophecies were revealed about the 'war child', the vampires’ unending desire to rule the world was once more laid before us, and then there were those visions from the future (London 2037 looks to be a rather depressing place, no?). From the snippets we saw, there's a full-on Terminator-style resistance against the vampires and it will be interesting to see how all the various present-day plot points weave together to play their part in the future. 

The vampire hoards were again dressed to kill and unnervingly cocky in their pursuit of their inhumane goal, but one particular vampire was missing. Remember Edgar Wyndham's barnstorming appearance in the final episode of series three? Remember how he turned up, twisted everything on its head and essentially made the final act of the series so compelling? Well, he's dead, of course, as George killed him. Only, we didn't get to see any of that, just like we didn't get to see Nina's untimely end. I appreciate that timing and actor availability played a role in some of this but for the series to begin by previewing the final act of what's gone before, only to then essentially rewrite the history books in what seemed a throwaway bit of writing smacked of a script that wanted to get the old stuff out of way to concentrate on the rebooted future. 

And this was the problem that beset Eve of the War throughout. In wanting to say goodbye to the past and hello to a huge, sprawling future in an hour, I fear it buckled under its own weight of ideas. Introducing so much new folklore (wouldn't vampires know how to protect themselves from werewolf blood by now; isn't it a bit convenient for love-making werewolves to cancel each other out in order to create a human baby?) served to bog the show down. The introduction of the human skin parchment which laid out all vampire myths and legends from the past was a perfect example. Nothing wrong with introducing this, of course, but I don't remember it ever being mentioned in the past and its appearance in this episode, along with a surprisingly annoying turn from Harry Potter's Mark Williams, was so rushed, so muddied, that its impact was somewhat lost. 

Worst of all, was George's part transformation, brought about as he somehow tricked his body into thinking that there was a full moon. Of course, I understand the ridiculousness of questioning the theory behind a fantasy universe, but surely this is stretching the basis of what we've thus far learned about werewolf lore?

This new series, then, presented us with a lot more questions and only a few answers and the end result was the distinct impression that Whithouse wanted to put the last series to bed, dealing as he had to with the departure of his main cast but one. With that in mind, I'll assume that things can really begin next week. 

That question again: can Being Human really continue without Tovey, Turner and Keenan? For now, the jury's very much out.

This review contains spoilers.

4.16 Friends And Enemies

Last week's Star Wars prison break adventures continues, and finds Obi-Wan Kenobi, in disguise as bad boy Rako Haardeen, onboard a vessel with bounty hunter Cad Bane and criminal mastermind Moralo Eval.

The tone remains downbeat and unrelenting as the untrusting trio crash-land their ship into the choking bogs and swamps of Nal Hutta - a planet that's not unlike a cross between Dagobah and Tatooine. As an opening, it's visually spectacular, but nothing less than the audience has come to expect from The Clone Wars.

There's more dazzling imagery to come, but before then we find the escaped prisoners in need of ditching their orange jumpsuits and claiming some new cloth. Amusingly, Bane ditches an Indiana Jones-esque fedora in favour of another hat. But the laughs stop abruptly as the bounty hunter ends his relationship with Rako, pushing him off their leaving ship.

Furthermore, Obi Wan's new persona is subject to a nasty scene of heavy violence at the hands of several Gamorrean and Nikto guards. The Clone Wars, yet again, bats no eyelids in regards to torture. Though, thankfully for Kenobi, he can now use his Jedi powers to free himself.

On the other side of the galaxy, we find Palpatine suspicious of the Jedi, who are being a bit too sneaky for his liking. Indeed, the Jedi's plan (concocted by phone-loving Yoda, Mace Windu and Obi Wan) finds itself coming seriously unhinged with Anakin off to find Rako, who he still believes killed Obi Wan. The little green one ponders that this confrontation could see the end of at least one of the Jedi.

Perhaps they'll learn from this and not keep secrets from their 'friends' in the future? Yes?

Regardless, Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano are hot on the trail of the fugitive trio and it's not long before they find them, leading to another eye-popping treat for the brain. But this is not before we find Anakin in Dark Side mode again. In his quest for information he takes to force-strangling a bartender in the middle of a saloon.

Disturbingly, this is witnessed by Tano, who seems to take as much pleasure in the deed as her mentor does. Last week's Deception saw some hints of the Sith raise their head and here we find it in both Jedi. It had never occured to me previously that the young Padawan would jump to the Dark Side and one wonders if this is a precursor to a possible shift in allegiances.

Friends And Enemies is a thought-provoking installment with writer Brent Friedman continuing to throw up challenging ideas and notions, whilst director Bosco Ng (who also wrote The Incredibles short Jack-Jack Attack, fact fans) delivers a number of beautifully crafted moments. None more so the the final few moments as Skywalker and Tano catch up with the Bane, Haardeen (that is, to say, Obi Wan) and Eval.

Amid crashing ships, hand to hand combat and gorgeous lightsaber action, a secret is revealed and evil escapes. It sets up the third part of this arc with breathtaking style.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

Hustle is nothing but topical, and this week the team goes after a business that sells a miracle diet plan, after a friend of theirs falls seriously ill.

The friend, Carol, is played by Oliver! musical performer Jodie Prenger, though she doesn't sing at any point for those expecting that. She's in here to provide an odd romantic diversion for Eddie, which is the sort of unlikely pairing only the writers of Hustle could come up with. I'll be honest, it wasn't good.

Thankfully, that's a minor subplot – the main course this week is a nicely convoluted hustle where they decide to exact revenge on the diet scammers Dean and Dana Deville. What the BBC had been pushing hard before the screening was that Dean is played by John 'Captain Jack' Barrowman, no less. His slightly exuberant acting style is perfect for Hustle, where the characters need to be substantially larger than life.

But I'm sorry to report to Barrowman fans, he's out-matched, as his co-performer this week is the amazing Raquel Cassidy. The gurning that she delivers here makes Barrowman's performance seem stilted, as her character appears to present the sum of all female hormonal issues since time began. She's mesmerising, and poor old John tries to hang on to her coattails as she marches around with a permanently maniacal stare.

They weren't the weakness here – the weak link was probably the somewhat predictable nature of proceedings, where you're asked to think that they've made a mistake, when it was obvious for anyone who watches the show that they had not.

That moment was all wrapped up in a faux heist inspired by a dozen of those types of movies, where Sean and Emma steal a valuable artefact to order for the Devilles. My issues with this were, firstly, the ease at which they got in, and the other was a horrible MacGuffin they'd created, where the objects inside the exhibition were covered in a chemical that could be detected by infrared sensors at the exhibit exits.

The idea of a light-proof bag didn't occur them or the writers, and under any sort of scrutiny this plot point made little or no sense whatsoever.
A better but derivative idea was the switch with the Fabergé egg, which they appeared to steal, but actually left in the exhibition room. Okay, that was a borrowed idea from The Thomas Crown Affair, but it spawned a nice scene for Sean to walk from police custody, much to their chagrin.

What was also excellent was the prosthetic work that was done with Robert Glenister (Ash) to give the appearance that he'd gained and then lost six stone. What's great about this show is they often take the time to show you the backroom work on a scam, and the sequence of film showing Ash going through different fat-suits was most enlightening and entertaining.

This wasn’t the best story of this season, but it did feature the most entertaining villains so far, I'd say.

That's four down, and just a couple to go. Next week, in the penultimate Hustle, the team go up against Mark Williams, who isn't playing anyone as remotely charming as Ron Weasely's dad, or driving a steam train…

Read our review of Hustle episode three here.

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The magnificent Eve Myles is back in the UK, following several months living in Los Angeles while Torchwood: Miracle Day was being filmed. And, what's more, she's treading the boards, starring in a new play with Zach Braff (who wrote it), by the name of All New People.

Here, Eve tells us about the play, about working with Zach, and then chats about the future of Torchwood, and of Gwen Cooper...

I should start by telling you that I've read a book.

Well done! [claps]

Thanks! It’s by a man called David Weston, called Covering McKellen, and in it, he charts understudying Sir Ian McKellen as King Lear on an RSC world tour for a year.

And what he really gets across is the day to day variance of a theatre performance. One, for instance, that stuck with me was the absence of a director on a daily basis, once the show is set up.

Given what you’ve just come from, and the weight of TV work you’ve been doing, is it that differing culture that’s brought you back?

I think the kind of need I had to come back was that I’d done so much theatre up until the point of doing the first series of Torchwood, which kind of took over my life for five years. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience.

But with a play, for me, there’s no time to sit back on it. You’re living on your instincts. And, every night there are subtle changes and adjustments, because what’s in front of you is a living, breathing audience. They will tell you, straight away, what works and what doesn’t work.

It’s a very strange partnership, they are like your silent partner. You’re doing a performance so that they enjoy it. They don’t care whether I enjoy it. I don’t care whether I enjoy it! I want them to come to the theatre.

This play is 90 minutes. Every play should be 90 minutes. There would be so many more theatre-goers if plays were shorter.

Do you really think that?

I do, because 90 minutes is a blast of fun. This play has a very dark undercurrent to it, but that’s what makes it as funny as it is, because you’re dealing with real people. Heightened situations, but dealing with being young, lonely, and needing.

Is it almost a 90 minute exercise then in holding your nerve? You talk about the audience giving you instant feedback, presumably the discipline for you is not overreacting to that?

Sometimes with comedy you can fall into the trap of trying to please the audience too much. You can’t do that. We’ve still got to tell the story of All New People. We’ve still got to tell what we’ve been doing in rehearsals.

If certain gags get bigger laughs than we expect, then there’s a certain discipline you’ve got to have, not to tip it over the edge. Because if you start expecting that big laugh every night, you start playing it differently. Suddenly, the laughs get smaller, because you’re playing it for a laugh, you’re not playing it for real.

What Zach is drumming into us, and Peter, the best director I’ve ever worked with, what they’re drumming into us constantly is that we play everything straight. We play everything for real. As an actor, that goes against everything in your body, because you know it’s funny, you know the lines are funny, but the situation is even funnier. Played straight, it’s brilliant.

Do you remember when Stephen Fry was in the play Cell Mates? I remember reading what Simon Gray wrote about one of the performances, where he was livid, because he thought his leading man had gone for an easier laugh, damaging the tone of the rest of the play.

Did you read the book he wrote about Cell Mates? I did a study on it in college.

You can’t do too many things. If you stay truthful to what you’ve done in rehearsals, and truthful to the script, then you can’t go wrong?

Presumably, you also have to always be aware that it’s the audience’s first night, even if it’s your last?

Exactly. And you’ve got to go in there and give them 90 minutes of a great time. Because they’ve spent a lot of money to get there, to sit there, and look forward to it all day. To go out there and be able to do that live for people is the best job in the world.

My favourite bit in Zach’s Garden State is where Natalie Portman tugs her ear. Does he give you an ear tug moment in this?

He doesn’t.

I’d drop out, then.

Yeah. Better cancel. He didn’t tug anything, unfortunately. [Laughs]

We last met up just as Torchwood: Miracle Day was about to start, you’d been living in Los Angeles for months. Was the play giving you something to get back to some sort of normality?

Since I’ve come back I’ve done Baker Boys for the BBC. Afterwards, last year had been such a whirlwind of events, just incredible, I was having lots of stuff sent, and there was nothing that I wanted to do. As a jobbing actor, I never get a script and go I can’t be bothered with this. Life doesn’t work like that. For a movie star, maybe, but for a jobbing actor, that doesn’t happen.

When this came up, I kept saying that next year, I want to go back to theatre. I’d done six years of television, I don’t want to fall into the rut of just being a TV actor. The discipline you have to come back to with theatre is massive. It’s brilliant for an actor, it reminds you why you did this job in the first place.

I’ve never done comedy, so my idea was to do a play, hopefully with some comedy in it, and it would be great to do it in the West End. So when this came about, a comedy for Sky came about too. My agent said there’s a script coming through for you, and you may have an audition on Monday. They’re going to have a think about you.

She explained who it was, and I thought I’m not going to read a script that I may have an audtion for on Monday. I’d rather go to the park with my daughter. I don’t have time for that.

But the script came through on the Friday. And on the second page, I was reading it out loud. It was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. 40 minutes, I’d read it, and I was like, I’d better be seen for this on Monday. This is what I want to do next. This is what I need to do.

So I did the audition on Skype, which was probably the most bizarre evening of my life, with Matilda [Eve’s daughter] watching Alice In Wonderland in the background...

The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp one?

No! The proper one, the proper one!

She’s shouting “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!” in the background, with me doing a big, heavy scene.

You know, in one line, you’ve cost yourself a role in the next Tim Burton film, don’t you?

Literally. Yes!

I had to do this. I’m petrified, but that’s why I need to do it. I don’t want to ever feel that I’m going to work, and I can do it. I want to be like, can I do this?

Torchwood, then! Where is it?

It’s in limbo. It went down sensationally well, better than we’d hoped. I know that Russell has put out what his situation is at the moment, so things have been on hold for a while. And that’s all I know. There’s no closure on it at all at the moment.

Do you think we’ll see it again?

This happens every time! All the time! There was never going to be a second, there was never going to be a third...

What does your gut say?

Yes. It says that it definitely won’t be 2012, I’m guessing 2013. A movie, to draw a line under it.

You think that’ll be it, one last hurrah?

We appreciate our fans too much. And Russell appreciates his fans too much, and all the support they’ve given us from day one. If Russell wanted to do another one, he’d do it. And he’d do it as a thank you to everyone who supported us. I know that they mean the world to him.

What format do you think? An American television movie, or a big screen release?

I’d imagine it’d be a screen release. Then, that’d be the end of a massive chapter for all of us. The fans, Russell, Julie, me, John. It’d close it.

Do you think Gwen has to die in the end? You have almost the Jack Bauer challenge with her?

No, I don’t. And I am looking at it as an outsider. Every year, you’re expecting to turn to page 16, and go, oh I’ve been shot in the face. You just expect it, it’s Torchwood. But no. I don’t think so.

I think they’ve really developed that character into a fantastic everyday hero. I don’t think that it would be right to take somebody like her out of the equation.

My reading of Gwen has always been that living is harder for her than dying.

Yes, absolutely. She lives, especially from when Ianto died, in complete guilt. And she loses people around her all the time. It’s always the ones who are left behind who suffer. So I don’t think they’d kill her off. But saying that, we never knew that Tosh, and Owen, and Ianto, Alexa, they would be killed off. It depends on what story [Russell] wants to tell. If he tells the story of, in the first scene, Gwen gets shot in the face, and it’s then backstory...

That’d be the Hitchcock way to do it.

Wouldn’t it?! It’d be great.

So I’ll write down that you want to be shot in the face, Zach Braff tugs things, and you don’t want to work with Tim Burton. You know how the Internet works, I’ll distill everything you’ve said down to that.

[Laughs] Oh Christ!

I think if she does die, she’s going to die fantastically.

Beyond Torchwood, beyond theatre, looking ahead, I’d imagine that once you’d been exposed in America, to coin a phrase, for six months or so, the offers must change.

The general rule from talking to others is that once you’ve had success in a female sci-fi role, 90% of anything you get through is a watered down derivative of what you’ve done. Has that been the case with you, and have the offers been changing? What are you looking for?

Inevitably, offers do change. Scripts get sent, and are you interested, rather than the other way around. It also happens because I didn’t start a year ago. I started in my second year of drama school, doing television.

You did Shakespeare early, too.

Yeah, I did it straight out of drama school. I did four television jobs, then straight into the RSC. So I’ve done it for a long time, I’m in it for the marathon and not the sprint. I also understand that you’re very popular one moment, and not the next. So I’m a stickler for good scripts.

I wouldn’t do anything because it’s money, or it’s the next big blockbuster. I do it because it challenges me, it’s a good piece of writing, and it frightens me a bit.

Future-wise, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. Stay grounded, and try to enjoy the work I do. As soon as I start feeling miserable, then I need to change the work I do, or try another medium. Maybe a radio play, or something completely different.

My goal is to stay happy in my work, and to do quality work. For people to see me in different things that they did not expect me to do. If they come to see me in All New People, they will be able to go, I can’t believe that’s Gwen Cooper.

Gwen Cooper, thank you very much!

All New People opens for a strict ten week run at London’s Duke of York Theatre on February 22nd. More details here.

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Warning: this review contains spoilers.

1.1 It's a kind of a birthday present

Let's get the snickering at the rather Freudian name of this show out of the way and launch straight into the set up. The Almighty Johnsons (fnarr!) is the story of four New Zealand brothers who are the human incarnations of Norse gods. 

There's Mike, or Ullr, the god of the hunt and champion rock paper scissors player. Ty, human version of Höðr, god of the cold and dark which makes him the ideal man to fix fridges which is handy because that's what he does. Anders, Vodka magnate and smooth talker by day and incarnation of Bragi, the god of poetry by day as well. It's very much a 24 hour role for him. And lastly we have the baby of the pack and focus for this opening episode, Axl.

It's the eve of young Axl's 21st birthday and we first see him stocking up on booze under a night sky filled with shooting stars. After a near miss with a 4x4, he invites the pretty blonde driver back to his party as you would do to the person who nearly ran you down. After getting a bit bouncy on a trampoline (heeeeee!) she pulls out a dagger and what follows is an assassination attempt on Axl so pitiful, she might as well have sent him a warning letter a week in advance. 

But Axl's issues don't end there, the morning after he's abducted by his own brothers and driven to the woods to meet his 92-going-on-31 granddad Olaf, the god of rebirth and dancing around holding a lamp. He can add god of exposition to his repertoire as he brings Axl up to speed with his legacy. Turns out, the baby of the pack is also the king of the gods himself, Odin!

Despite such a solid set up, The Almighty Johnsons (vwoop vwoop!) starts off in a manner as uninspired as the title. Billed as a comedy drama, it manages to lack both as the episode plods along ploddingly. There are attempts at showing the tensions between the elder brothers but the biggest crime is right after being told his entire life is a lie, Axl then carries on partying. This is pretty typical of The Almighty Johnsons’ approach, a great big sloppy mess (thrrup thrrup!) of plotlines and stock characters thrown together. 

The Almighty Johnsons seems to be following the footsteps of both Charmed and Supernatural but remains firmly in their shadows. Plot elements are dropped in seemingly as an afterthought through Olaf. There's no rhyme or reason to this show, the would-be killers, or the loose telling of Norse mythology. 

The brothers themselves just simply aren't interesting enough for me to care about, they may get a few admirers but they won't be watching for the plot. At the end of the first episode, it's revealed that the last incarnation of Odin died before he could fulfil his quest and his godly brethren passed away alongside him. So how the hell did they get to return?

In an age where Being Human and Misfits are doing amazing things with fantasy in a modern day setting, The Almighty Johnsons has no place. Granted, the show is in its early stages, but this opener is disappointingly promise-free. Largely devoid of wit, cohesion and even commitment to premise, it doesn't even have the courtesy to be entertainingly awful. 

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The Radio Times has posted some hints of what to expect from Graham Norton’s interview with Alex Kingston, which is set to be broadcast on his chat show on Friday night.

Kingston, soon to appear in the second series of the BBC’s new Upstairs Downstairs, was asked whether the character of River Song would return to Doctor Who at any point. And she notably refused to rule it out.

"You may see her again. Who knows?" she teased. "Let's just say, Upstairs Downstairs and Doctor Who don't film at the same time."

She also revealed to Norton that she knew “for the whole of the last series” about her character’s specific relationship to Amy Pond, although the other actors didn’t. “They discovered it in that episode when they read the script”, she said, referring to A Good Man Goes To War.

Our suspicion is that we might be seeing River Song at some point during the show’s 50th birthday celebrations, but that’s just us speculating. The story at the Radio Times is here.

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Stories about a live-action TV series set in the Star Wars universe have been floating around the web for ages, and the fresh news, earlier this month, that it had a working title (Star Wars: Underworld) led to hopes from some quarters that such a series may one day arrive on our television boxes.

Yesterday, a new and rather strange rumour surfaced, first at Ain’t It Cool, and then picked up by the good people at Bleeding Cool (it goes without saying, by the way, that you should probably stop reading if you don't want any part of Star Wars Underworld's plot spoiled for you).

According to an unnamed source (who may or may not be reliable), one of the early episodes of the series may involve time travel – and the story owes a certain debt to The Terminator or Soldier, the Harlan Ellison-penned Outer Limits episode that inspired James Cameron in the first place.

The episode will involve a “group of bandits” who travel back in time to “stop Darth Vader ever existing”. As Bleeding Cool points out, this might not necessarily mean the bandits will attempt to kill Vader when he’s clad in black and struggling to breathe properly – they may head back further in time to kill Senator Palpatine, or even Anakin Skywalker while he was yet a boy.

If this proves to be the case, I wonder if they could spare the time to bump off Jar Jar Binks while they’re in the vicinity? We live in hope.

More news on this rumour as we get it. Assuming no one from the future comes and murders us before we can tell you about it, that is.

Bleeding Cool

Ain’t It Cool

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Speculation, as we all know, is one of the internet’s major foodstuffs, and Matt Smith’s recent comments in a Press Association interview have given us all something to chew on. Asked who he’d like to see as his eventual successor on Doctor Who, Smith was silent on gender and vague on age but specific on one thing: the twelfth Doctor should be cooler than him.

“I think there will need to be a younger, cooler person than me. Or maybe an older, cooler person, who knows?” So no fezes or bow-ties then? 

Smith also added to the recent kerfuffle about his tenure in the role, saying “I don’t think I’ll be doing it as long as Mr Baker,” which means we’re unlikely to see a 7-year stint in the TARDIS from Smith, who also told the Press Association,

“I just sort of take each year as it comes really. We’ve got all the rest of this year to get through and then we’ll sit down and review it from there and see where it goes.”

So someone younger or older than 29 year old Smith, but definitely cooler… Any ideas on that?

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DoctorWhoTV

You’ve probably caught, over the past week or so, news arising of a brand new show that’s heading to CBBC in the autumn. It’s entitled Aliens Vs Wizards, and the reason why it’s probably on your radar, and certainly on ours, is just who’s behind it. The brains behind the show belong, after all, to Russell T Davies and Phil Ford, the creative forces behind the terrific The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Described as an “action adventure drama” by the BBC, Aliens Vs Wizards is set to centre around the character of Tom Clarke, a 16-year old who lives with his dad and grandmother, and someone who hides a bit of a secret.

That secret? That his family are wizards, and, more to the point, wizards who have a problem on their hands. For when aliens by the name of the Nekross arrive, it turns out that Tom’s family is under significant threat.

So sets the scene for a mash-up that very rarely happens. As Russell T Davies has said, “Wizards have never met aliens before”, adding that “when they do, the result is spectacular! The mysterious Nekross know exactly what to do with magicians. Eat them! Let battle be joined!”

The work on Aliens Vs Wizards apparently began towards the beginning of 2011, at the point when it was clear that The Sarah Jane Adventures would be ending, due to the illness and eventual tragic death of its star, the much-missed Elisabeth Sladen.

Davies conceived the show over dinner in Los Angeles with Phil Ford, and it’s now set to head into production this coming March. Twelve 30 minute episodes are to be produced for the show’s first series, and another The Sarah Jane Adventures alumni, Gareth Roberts, has already been recruited to the writing team (his agency webpage, here, lists him as writing a pair of 30 minute episodes).

Furthermore, a second series has reportedly already been commissioned, too, set for transmission in 2013.

The official synopsis, released as part of the BBC’s press announcement, reads thus:

“From the dark side of the moon, aliens are scanning the Earth searching for magic and are prepared to destroy everything in their path to get it. All that stands in the way of Earth’s imminent destruction are two 16-year old schoolboys, Tom and Benny. It’s Ray Guns vs Wands; Science vs Magic and Aliens vs Wizards.”

It’s massively encouraging that CBBC is continuing its commitment to such genre television, and given the rich and deserved praise heaped on The Sarah Jane Adventures, it’s warming to see that the team behind it are getting to channel their talents into such a new show.

None of us wanted The Sarah Jane Adventures to come to an end in the circumstances that it did, but it’s perhaps the most fitting legacy of all to it that its spirit and impact will live on in Aliens Vs Wizards.

We look forward to the show, and will keep you posted on it.

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This article contains spoilers.

So, it's all over. Network television's 'little show that could' has faded to black for the last time, after an hour of heart-breaking romance, action, Jeffster, Subway sandwiches and geeky references galore. It may not have been the perfect finale many had been waiting for, but it did the show justice in its final hour, and stayed true to how Chuck began all those years ago.

The show always wore its absurdity on its sleeve, and for those who could accept a show based primarily around a downloaded supercomputer inside one dashing geek's brain, wonderful character moments, pitch-perfect comedy and sincerely romantic drama were in store. It was never afraid of the cheesy moment, or outlandish story twists, and for that we loved it.

Now that it's off the air for good, here are some of the other reasons we loved Chuck, and why we're grateful for its win over the network, managing against the odds to run for five wonderful years. Major spoilers lie ahead…

Chuck & Sarah

Chuck and Sarah were the unabashed focus of the two-part finale, and there was always the sense that the show's writers may have put more stock in their importance than the viewer. Those doubts were put to bed by the final scene, on the same beach that the pair sat on in the pilot, as every single fan was hoping for a final reconciliation.

The show managed the almost impossible job of getting their resident 'will they, won't they' couple together without a huge dip in quality, and come last week's finale, the natural growth of their dynamic could clearly be seen. Every series needs an epic romance to anchor its drama, and Chuck and Sarah's unlikely partnership did just that.

Adam Baldwin

We loved Adam Baldwin in Firefly, but who could have guessed that his rebound show, unlike many of the other cast members’ next projects, would have cemented him in the geek hall of fame once again. Colonel John Casey was, on the surface, the most one-dimensional character on Chuck for a good while, but as the end drew closer, everyone could see the journey the character had been on.

He now had a daughter, for one thing, and his developing relationship with Alex and Morgan was once of the show's more touching threads. Never forced or overly schmaltzy, Casey's rediscovery of his family and growing affection for his team was what Chuck was all about, and the character went further than anyone in representing its central concept.

The Buy More

A lot of locations on shows become characters in their own right, but they're rarely as beloved or essential as the Buy More was to Chuck. It went through many incarnations over the years, from a simple cover job to full-blown CIA-run facility, but it was always endearingly dysfunctional and home to some of the best supporting cast members on TV.

As the show got darker and darker, particularly during its third series, the store was always a comforting presence where comic relief could run wild. It was a loss when fringe members of the staff were lost due to budgetary and time constraints, but Jeff, Lester and Big Mike were always around to raise a smile, and they were always welcome.

Ellie & Awesome

Ellie and Devon (a.k.a Captain Awesome) were around from the beginning of the pilot until the end of the finale, and things hadn't changed too much for them. Some would call that boring, and often this painfully stable couple could come across a little dull, but they gave a heart and sincerity to the show, and were a grounding force in Chuck's life throughout.

Devon was the first to learn of his brother-in-law's secret identity, after all, and the writers were constantly trying to integrate them into the A-plot, to mixed results. What was important about the pair was their 'normalness', and they transcended their loving but nagging sister/perfect boyfriend character types to become fully rounded people as popular as their more 'interesting' counterparts.

Jeffster

Jeffster, though once a genuinely hilarious idea, lost a lot of fan favour over the years. The characters, as well as their musical partnership, were a casualty of constantly threatened cancellation, as each and every season finale was desperate to pay off the joke before it was too late. The result is a dilution of the gag's impact.

The finale was smart in that, instead of creating a new contrived scenario for Jeffster to sing along to (like season four's Push It number in the maternity ward), it paid homage to the moment in which we all fell in love with them in the first place. Season two's wedding sequence remains one of Chuck's finest moments, and we were reminded of that during the equally bizarre Take on Me number.

The action

No matter how little money or time the show had to spend on action sequences, each and every fight scene was always superb. It's essential for an action show to have convincing shoot-outs and ass-kicking but, as Chuck has always been camp and light-hearted in these moments, the show could get away with a lot.

It always hit the right mark in these parts of the episode, either as comedy or character-building drama, when other shows would have simply taken time out from the episode's structure to show off their stunt work or special effects. It struck an admirable balance, and has left us with some truly memorable moments.

The nerdy references

You could always rely on Morgan to drop a reference when the occasion called for it, or even if it didn't, but a love of pop culture ran through the very DNA of Chuck, so much so that even the most ardent geek wouldn't be able to spot them all on first viewing.

From the Tron poster behind which Chuck kept all of his secrets, to the faithful Comic-Con stickers on his wall, the references were genuine, and they were what caused many to fall in love with the show. Creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak understood their fan base from the start, and the references became more and more obscure as the series continued.

The guest stars

Some might say that the casting people got a little carried away at times, but if you wanted to measure the success and influence of Chuck, one way would be to count its notable guest stars. From Mark Hamill to Stan Lee, from Summer Glau to Timothy Dalton, it seemed that everyone wanted to take part in the show, and it was terrific treat for the fans.

They even had major genre stars as regular or recurring characters - Linda Hamilton as Eleanor Bartowski and Carrie-Anne Moss as Gertrude - and it was often as fun to read the list of a season's guest stars as it was to see them appear. If you haven't seen this clip already, I'd really recommend it.

Its title sequence

We live in a world without title sequences, and it’s a sadder place for this fact. These little works of 30-second art have been dying out for a while, but Chuck takes inspiration from classic shows in its simply wonderful animated titles, summing up everything the show is brilliantly.

Against the soundtrack of Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake, we see bullets, car chases and throwing stars chase the little animated stick man across the screen, and it's a lovely introduction to the next 40-minutes to come.

Subway

And last, but by no means least, we come to the saviour of Chuck and everyone's favourite sandwich outlet, Subway. The fans actually saved the show from cancellation after its second season, and they did so by aggressively targeting one of Chuck's chief sponsors.

On April 27th 2009, fans were asked to buy a footlong sub in the show's name, and the extraordinary level of support led the good folks at Subway to strike a significant deal with NBC. Product placement was rife from this point, but viewers knew of its significance, and it created an effective running joke lasting until the end of its run.

As a final thank you from Chuck's team and its fans, Subway got one final mention in the finale, as the buyers of a now defunct Buy More. The show cheated death for so long, so it's fitting that this should be how it ends.

Read our review of the last episode of Chuck here.

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

4.10 Forced Perspective

It was about time we had a decent standalone story, and this week’s episode attempted to provide just that. Fringe division encounters a girl who can predict the future when death is imminent, but then in Fringe it's never that straightforward, is it?

What I liked about it was the ending wasn't a happy one, despite how much of the script went into connecting the viewer to the girl, well played by Alexis Raich, an actress who once played a young Piper in Charmed.

There are far too many TV shows out there where everybody resolves their problems and goes off to a new life at the end of the show. Not here, though, and kudos to Fringe for having the balls to run with what in the end is a tragedy.

Woven into the death prediction narrative are a few minor progressions of the greater story arc, a discussion on the nature of the Observers, and Olivia's obvious concern for her own life after its end was predicted by one of them. That she was abducted by Nina at the end of the previous episode wasn't touched on much at all, amazingly. But I'm sure what went on then will surface soon enough.

My only marginal concern about Forced Perspective was that the girl’s own part in the death of the first victim wasn't even considered. She handed him the drawing, which he then looked at and discussed with his co-worker, slowing him up just enough to make sure his date with destiny was precisely on time.

There wasn't a hint that she felt some responsibility for what happened, even though if she'd not handed him the sketch he'd probably have survived. Or is that the point? It's already happened, and so whatever she does or not, it will occur?

She's also got another super-ability, because as gifted an artist as I am, I couldn't create an accurate drawing on which someone could be identified while riding on a bus.

More commendable was the excellent effects created for the time-frozen bomb explosion, which captured the moment of destruction. The budget for effects in Fringe looks like it's been cut in recent stories, so they're using them more sparingly I've noticed. But whatever they spent on that sequence was a good investment, even if it was a short one.

What we're expecting is for the girl to either confirm or dismiss Olivia's death prediction, where in fact she does neither of these things, predicting instead her own inevitable demise. Fringe has a way of holding out what you think is a likely end point, and then when it's convinced you it is heading in that direction, snatches it away. And, that's what happens here, again.

What they put at the end instead was an odd scene where Nina and Olivia revisit an argument they'd had earlier about experimenting on children. What's difficult for the viewer is that, in this universe, Nina brought up Olivia, entirely altering the dynamic between the two, and it's one that I don't think the show has delivered convincingly. Nina still comes over as the same personality as before, and to a degree, the plot supports her duplicity.

Yet Olivia doesn't see even a hint of that, confusingly. Olivia's complaint of migraines might be a connection to her abduction, but we're given very little to work with. We're not even shown the face of the Observer watching her apartment, but given the height of his cheekbones, I'm convinced it is not the one Olivia saw shot.

To those who say that’s obvious because “he's dead”, would that actually stop him appearing at future points in time? I suspect not.
This wasn't the best Fringe episode this season by a long chalk, but what it did do was position plenty of things for later stories to engage with. The death prediction story wasn't original – it's an idea that's been reworked a hundred times in movies and other TV shows.

What we need now is another main story arc episode, to keep the momentum up, but I'm not sure if this week's story is exactly that. But what I do hear about episode 11 is that Astrid gets to meet her alternate, which sounds an entertaining prospect.

Read our review of Fringe season four episode nine here.

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This review contains spoilers.

I'm not sure how many bent coppers that Hustle has endured, but it's a fair number over the years. So did this one add anything new? No, if I'm honest, even if this slice of conman pie was as succulent as ever.

Each season, its writers throw a story in where the viewer is kept out of the loop from the outset, like you’ve came to a party late and missed the joke that everyone found hilarious. This is one of those stories, where what goes on beyond our view is crucial, and only revealed when you’re entirely confused about what's actually happening.

Their nemesis here is DI Fisk, played with sneering-mode-set-to-max by Patrick Baladi. He's perfectly cast, and manages to remind you of every person you've met in a position of power who's abusing the privilege. The crew appear to be working a simple inheritance scam when Fisk manages to sneak in Kat, a previous romantic interest of Sean's, to spy on them.

Skye Lourie, who plays Kat, delivers a decent performance, which isn't easy considering she's supposed to act duplicitous to the audience yet not appearing to be obvious to the crew. In the final analysis, they knew all along, so she could have been as unsubtle as she liked, really.

There appeared to be a plot point that was approached, before being ditched, which was about the father of Kat's child. Was it meant to be Sean? I think in one version of the script it was, because some of the dialogue suggested it was heading that way, before the connection was unceremoniously dropped.

In the end, the story deflates when you find out that Fisk has been conned by a senior copper played by Sophie Ward, because there's nothing especially clever about such a massive omission. Part of the fun of Hustle is guessing where the story is going, or at least having a stab at doing so. Perhaps others might have guessed that Fisk was the real mark, but in retrospect, there wasn't much evidence of that up to the point of the reveal.

There might have been some mileage in the delayed conflict between DCI Angela Wainwright (Ward) and Mickey if she had a possibility to return for a rematch, but she doesn't, so other than neatly closing the story loop, it didn't serve much purpose.

Because of the surprise by omission aspect, I didn't enjoy this as much as the last episode, where it was the crew who were kept in the dark and not us.

What I did love, however, was the opening sequence, where Adrian Lester poses as a DJ, which was extremely funny. Part of me was laughing at the dreadlocks he was wearing that, irrespective of his head movements, seemed immoveable, but also at Lester's amazingly over-the-top 'street' accent. Loved it.

Hustle is at its best when it takes things too far, I've concluded, and as such I've high hopes for the next story, purely because it has John Barrowman in it. I mean, it's not like he'll over-act or anything, is it?

Read our review of Hustle episode two here.

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This review contains spoilers.

6.2 Rich

I've been critical of Skins since the beginning of this series (granted, it's only episode two), and that's mainly because the show had for a long time failed to look, sound or smell like the show I started watching back in 2007. I hadn't bonded with this new bunch of Roundview students like I had with Sid, Cassie, Cook or Katie, and that was a huge problem for my enjoyment.

Well, now I can say that series six, episode two has given me that same elusive feeling classic Skins had offered me before, and I will count this story as one of my favourites.

After last week's unfortunate car accident, Rich is trying to break through the cast iron barriers around Grace, set up by Mr. Blood. It helps that we already believe in Rich's love for Grace, and his desire to see her doesn't have to be justified.

Alexander Arnold is brilliant throughout, selling every self-obsessed rant and desperate action into something we can all relate to and sympathise with. I'd never felt like we'd gotten to know Rich before this week, as his episode last series was a study of 'metal kids' in general before it was a peek into his particular mind. Here he became a fully rounded character, crippling flaws and all. His relationship with Grace was one of my favourite things of last year, and it's understandably at the forefront of this episode too.

But his chemistry with Will Merrick is what really makes the hour worth watching. Rich and Alo had a nice bromance brewing last year, and writer Daniel Lovett, who also scripted last year's Alo, has here created an effective portrait of two best friends overcoming the obstacles of puberty. It's not a new concept for two male friends to be fighting over the problems that adolescence has brought into their paths, but here it's done with an honesty and innocence past friendships on the show hadn't demonstrated.

Tony and Sid always had an underlying aura of disdain and resentment; Cook and Freddie a homoerotic tension that manifested itself in their mutual attraction to Effy. Rich and Alo's scenes this week feel more true to life than any shared by the show's previous depictions of male friendship, and their exchanges give the episode a sweetness and honesty only underlined by Rich's parallel longing for girlfriend Grace.

Admittedly, not a lot happens in the episode, as Rich ends up in an even worse position than when he started. Nonetheless, Rich has all the ingredients that make up a great Skins episode: crazy house parties, a brilliant turn from the adult supporting cast (Chris Addison is magnificent as Blood), laugh-out-loud humour, friendships torn apart, heartbreaking romance, surrealism, and outlandish plot complications. In short, this is an episode of Skins, and I hadn't felt that way after watching for a long time.

Despite some distressing stuff towards the end of the episode, the show has also never been funnier. Alo's description of Mini as "a padding pool that got punctured"; the boys' band mate offering their  pitiful wrestling match as "sheen of respectability" with a drum beat; Rich's mum taking Take a Break's 'guide to teenage suicide' to heart; or Rich's reaction to a girl crying in front of him ("can we get some biscuits over here"). There are plenty of laughs here to break up the impending doom, and the mixture of light and dark works beautifully.

And, while the final revelation of the episode has been done many times before, and doesn't come as much of a shock when it arrives, the episode has afforded enough slack by this point that we have no choice to buy into its central conceit. The performances here are honest and endearing, and we can only hope that next week's fallout can offer the same joys as Rich managed to.

This review contains spoilers.

2.3 All Out Of Blood

This week's episode of Being Human is all about temptation. Each character experiences their own form of longing for something they can't or shouldn't have, and all but one of them rise above it. This episode also serves to prove why this show is so much better (and why Aidan is so much more likable and relatable) when it doesn't focus on vampire politics. By giving Aidan a storyline that ties in with the house and his roommates, he's instantly more interesting and enjoyable.

Aidan's storyline this time revolves around the woman he hooked up with in the bar at the end of last week's episode. Julia, as it turns out, has just been accepted to complete her residency at the hospital, and is making Aidan very happy. Josh encourages this, saying that as long as Aidan has his blood-drinking urges under control, then he should be enjoy it. That is, right up until he actually meets Julia, at which point it is revealed that Aidan's current girlfriend is Josh's ex, the one he left upon discovering he was a werewolf.

Josh tries to apologize to her, but Julia shuts him down over the way he abandoned her, and later tells Nora that she can't forgive him for being selfish and cruel.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this was that Julia was never painted as a bad person for her opinion of Josh. As much as Nora (and we, by proxy) might feel sympathetic towards Josh for what he felt he had to do, it is equally important to acknowledge that from Julia's perspective, her feelings are valid, too.

Aidan, however, finds his temptation when he discovers that the blood supply at the hospital has been locked up due to disappearing units of blood. Unable to get his supply of non-live blood, he tells Sally that his only choice is to eat live, which will turn him into someone she wouldn't want to know, or to get sick, give in, and binge.

This temptation, as well as the temptation of keeping Julia in his life, despite promising Josh that he will never see her again because he doesn't want to hurt his friend, haunts him for the rest of the episode, until he finally gives in and visits what can only be described as a blood prostitute. She comes with a burly guy to serve as her 'protection' should Aidan get out of hand as he feeds. He ultimately does, and has to be pulled off of the woman, laughing in that giddy way vampires on this show sometimes get after they feed.

Nora's temptation takes the form of freedom. Excited by her heightened senses just before the full moon, she becomes frisky and wild. She initially turns down Josh's suggestion of the two of them being locked in separate storage units during the moon, insisting that she wants to be free to run in the woods. Josh tries to persuade her, finally telling her that he saw her kill Hegeman. She reveals that she already knows about that, and that she resents Josh not only for infecting her with his curse, but for having the compassion to run from Julia before he could spread it, but not having the same courtesy to run from Nora.

Back at the hospital, she sees Julia again. She proceeds to stalk her all the way back to Julia's apartment. But as she crosses the street, apparently with the intent of attacking Julia once she's turned, she is nearly hit by a car. This seems to snap her out of whatever mental state the wolf has put her in and she returns to the storage unit, agreeing that she needs to be locked up. She and Josh turn inside their metal cages, putting dents in the doors as their wolves take over.

For Sally, temptation comes from her discovery that reincarnation is an option for ghosts, facilitated by nurse Zoe Gonzales. Able to see ghosts because she encountered one as a child, Zoe has decided to use her gift to help match up ghosts who wish to be reincarnated with infants.

Sally is immediately intrigued by the concept, having died so young and before she got to really experience life, but after interviewing Josh and Aidan, Zoe turns Sally down, explaining that Sally is too angry. Sally begs, saying that she is afraid of the dark figure that's been haunting her ever since she tried to dream, but Zoe points out that the figure would follow her anyway. Only if she were reincarnated, she'd be a defenseless infant against it.

Sally heads to the nursery on her own to find a baby to bond with, but the figure appears in the nursery and scares both Sally and the baby. Seeing how scared she is, Zoe asks her about the figure, saying that maybe she can help Sally get rid of it.

Josh experiences temptation in this episode as an echo. There's real regret in his eyes as he chases after Julia, and the look he and Nora exchange when he returns to the house speaks volumes.

It's a contributing factor to Nora's behavior for the rest of the episode, particularly her stalking of Julia to her apartment. The fact that Nora felt threatened enough for her wolf to do that says all we need to know: Nora, or at least her wolf, is fearful that Josh is being tempted by the human life he could have with Julia that he can never have with Nora now that she is also a werewolf.

While this episode had a few week points (for instance, I am desperately trying to forget the "bedding our women" line, although thankfully Josh acknowledged that he was being "douche-y" almost immediately after), it was actually the strongest so far of the season.

Sally's story was wistful and gave us new information about ghost culture, Aidan greatly benefited from a storyline that wasn't about vampire politics, and Josh and Nora continue to be the emotional core of the show.

Nora's growth into her new life is fascinating to watch: she offers us a new take on being a werewolf as she tries to reclaim her agency in the face of one of the most agency-denying things a person could ever face in this universe: having control of their body regularly taken from them once a month.

The season is getting better and better as the pieces fall into place, although I suspect things will take a turn for the worse when Aidan is plunged back into the vampire hierarchy as we move forward. Still, this was a solid episode, and my favorite one so far of this season.

My only wish is that the writers would learn from the success of this episode and try to focus more on interactions and conflicts between our main characters rather than Boston's latest vampire drama. Perhaps I'm cynical because vampire politics have been so overdone as of late, but I just don't find them interesting and I enjoy Aidan so much more when he's interacting with his friends than when he's interacting with the Big Bad Vampire of the Week.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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We’re finally seeing the covers coming off the second season of Game Of Thrones, which premieres on HBO from 1st April in the US, and arrives on Sky Atlantic in the UK the day after.

This brand new trailer for Game Of Thrones season two features a good chunk of new footage, and sets the scenes for what we hope will be another unmissable ten episodes.

Take a look and see what you think…

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This review contains spoilers.

5.12 Chuck Versus Sarah
5.13 Chuck Versus The Goodbye

I've given Chuck a hard time this season, mostly because much of the spark of brilliance that circles the show appeared to have gone out. I've thought very hard about what it was that was missing, and I've even come up with a small theory about the problems Chuck had, that may or may not be accurate.

Where this season suffered, and the previous season too, was references, which where a staple of the early years. Chuck's bedroom was a cleverly constructed homage to lots of geek ideas, many of which were worked into the plot of the show. Star Wars, Die Hard, Halo, Madden, Hong Kong cinema, Beetlejuice... all these things permeated Chuck like a common geek unconscious, and we got most of the references immediately.

But there was one reference from the outset that was worked and reworked, and that was the TRON poster. They even got Bruce Boxleitner (i.e. Tron) to appear as Devon's father. So why I am mentioning this in the context of something that went wrong?
Well. it didn't go wrong, at least not until Disney decided to go back to that franchise with TRON: Legacy, and then - and this is a guess - someone in NBC made one of those corporate soulless choices, where they decided that supporting another company's movie/franchise wasn't in their interest.

So from that point onwards, TRON was never referenced again, even if it had been one of the very pillars of the show. Suddenly, the only references they made were to Subway, their supporter, and all the cool situational gags vaporised.

I could be entirely wrong, but how a show that sported the TRON poster ever week didn't even mention the Legacy movie is beyond me if the reason is something else, like they got bored with the idea.

That analysis out of the way, I'd like to say that the show's finale had a moment when the brilliance returned, so brightly  I'm still seeing a big glowing spot in the centre of my visual cortex.

But before I get to that, the conclusion of Chuck was broken into two parts, with the first being a by-the-numbers spy thriller, where Sarah is out to kill Chuck even if she appears to be normal. I got very worried watching this, because it reminded me very much of the end of Alias, a show that didn't end on a high in my book. There wasn't much comedy in here, and the longer it went on, the more concerned I became that Chuck would end as if it was a serious show, and entirely out of character.

In retrospect I should have had more confidence in the Chuck team. They had all their gunpowder dry, for those that stayed the distance.

What I liked about it was that where the show is usually a little predictable, many characters did things you wouldn't normally expect. The sequence where Elle crashes the car was really unexpected, for instance. There were also two montage sequences, one where Sarah was keeping a video diary, and the other of Chuck/Sarah moments. These were designed to up the emotional level, and worked for a fashion. However, I'd have liked to have seen another funnier one, with Chuck mucking up. The Chuck team really did some work on one to show off some of the amazing costumes that Yvonne Strahovski has worn. I especially loved seeing the Princess Leia costume again, and the Angel with rapidly deployable wings.

All these touchy-feeling parts were emotional ammo being horded for unleashing in the second part, Chuck versus the Goodbye.

There were two components to the Goodbye, one of which was to bring back some familiar faces and even an old location. When Sarah first ended up at Chuck's side they placed her in a German sausage shop called Wienerlicious, which they brought back as a fake retail location in Germany. No Orange Orange, but Sarah's outfit was more fun here anyway. 

The returning character was Linda Hamilton, as Chuck's mum, who gets one great but remarkably short scene. She shouldn't feel so bad, Alex and Big Mike only get token appearances too, and much to my disappointment, neither Harry Tango nor Anna ever came back (ahh...).

Those with eagle-eyes might have noticed some less well known faces in the final Chuck. Robert Duncan McNeill (director, who once piloted Voyager) was an 'operative', and the women called Gabbie, is show production assitant Gabrielle Eisenstadt. I'm sure I missed other people who are part of the show and made it onscreen.

Yet the characters that stole the show weren't the leads. Chuck had a massively ambitious and in the end 'signature moment' for Jeff and Lester, in the scene that made me laugh and cry a little at exactly the same time. Poor general Beckman is sat on in a concert hall on the only seat backed with plastic explosives, put there by Quinn. When the music stops she will be obliterated and the symphony is coming to a close...I don't know who thought of this plot point...but it was inspired.

Quinn, Chuck and Sarah are on the roof and the music starts to subside, there is only one word that will ride to the rescue: 'Jeffster'. Jeff and Lester emerge from behind the curtain to reacquaint us with the A-Ha classic Take On Me, much to the confusion of pretty much everyone but them. It was comedy gold, possibly platinum. As Casey puts it, "we're doomed", but we're not. We're all saved, every last person who ever watched Chuck and liked it. A TV triumph plucked from the very ashes of the final episode or the last season.

In the end Quinn wasn't much of a threat, all it needed was someone with the nerve to shoot him, which eventually Sarah has. But then this story wasn't about him, it was about Chuck and what he'd do to keep the people he cares for safe. Chuck must take the Intersect glasses and use them to disable the bomb, before Jeffster finish their full orchestral rendition.

It requires both Chuck and Sarah, and the Irene Demova Virus to disable the bomb, referencing their earliest adventure. They all live, with the exception of Quinn, happily ever after. Free Subways all round.

It ends, oddly, how Alias ended, on the beach, but with not all the story resolved in some way. Does Sarah get her memory back or not? Well, we're supposed to be optimistic I guess, and say that she does, hinted at by her remembering the virus. But it didn't exactly slam the narrative door shut, as Chuck has the Intersect once more.

I've seen people complaining on TV discussion forums that they didn't like the ending, where I was fine with it.

Perhaps in a  decade or two they'll decide it would be nice to have a Chuck reunion, if those in the show are available, and I'll certainly tune in if they do.

In retrospect, Chuck went on a little too long with a premise that was probably worth two good seasons, but it still made me smile enough that I was never annoyed to see it return.

I covered Chuck in 78 reviews for Geek, including this one, and for most of the time it's been a pleasure to report on such an inventive production. I hope those involved return to our screens soon, or at least get solid paid employment in an successful electrical outlet somewhere in Burbank.

Read our review of the last episode, here.

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This review contains spoilers.

1. Fugitivus

It's been almost two years since Spartacus and his loose coalition of slaves and gladiators killed their masters and escaped the Ludus, and in that time, much has changed, both in-show and in the real world.

Picking up some months after the initial rebellion, Spartacus: Vengeance finds the rebels enjoying some success, living off the spoils of raids against small parties of Romans and generally acting as a thorn in the side of Capua. When the political fallout threatens the career of Gaius Claudius Glaber (the one-time Legatus, now Praetor, who originally captured Spartacus) he is compelled to return to the city and take personal charge of putting down the rebellion. As you'd expect, it's not quite as simple a prospect as it sounds.

Before we go any deeper into the contents of the episode, we have to address the elephant in the room, and that's the casting of Liam McIntyre following the untimely death of previous series lead, Andy Whitfield.

Under the circumstances, McIntyre succeeds as well as could be hoped. It isn't quite a seamless transition, but McIntyre retains the piercing stare, restrained temper and surprising gentleness of the character, if filtered through his own interpretation. Perhaps it's the amount of time since the original series, or perhaps it's the knowledge that the show doesn't rely on the character (it did fine without him in last year's six-episode prequel, Gods of the Arena) but as sad as the circumstances of Whitfield's departure were, it's clear that the show can go on with McIntyre in the lead without too much retooling.

That said, it certainly helps that structurally, there's almost no similarity between this series and the first. The cast is drastically reshuffled, with a host of new names and faces replacing the many slaughtered favourites from last time. A selection of returnees keep things on even ground, and the elevation of Glaber from secondary to primary antagonist helps to imply a shape for the coming episodes, as does the escapee's plan to rescue Naevia. Familiar locations such as the Ludus courtyard and the Arena make small appearances, but evidently the decision has been taken to move forward as completely as possible.

That's not to say a little recap and familiarity wouldn't have been nice. It's clear that the writers haven't wasted too much effort reminding us who the characters are and how they relate to one another. In a world where Wikipedia exists, and where many viewers will have seen the series on DVD far more recently than its initial broadcast, it's perhaps fair to not waste time explaining who's who to viewers, but personally, I would have liked a little more of a refresh. The A-listers are of course unforgettable, but it took me a while to dredge up who Mira was, and remember whether Agron was a new face or not.

Complaining about that, however, seems churlish when the series' true strengths are back in full force. Spartacus: Vengeance serves up the same mix of violent and sexual content as its predecessors, capped off with some charmingly melodramatic dialogue and the best TV-cursing this side of The Thick of It.

It's Oenomaus who gets the episode's best fight scene, fending off multiple assailants without breaking a sweat, but the most ridiculous overall surely goes to the raid on a roman brothel, which is almost impressive for the sheer range of perversions it packs into about three minutes. The combination of age and critical acclaim has clearly not impressed any additional maturity on Spartacus: Vengeance, and one suspects viewers would have it no other way - particularly at a point in the series where events have barely begun to warm up.

In terms of ongoing plots, there are plenty of threads already running, though not all as good as each other. It's clear that the rebels' difficulty in holding the revolution together will play a major (and enjoyable) part, as will Ilithya's attempts to cover up her murderous extra-curricular activities.

On the other hand, Oenomaus' difficulty reconciling his betrayal of Batiatus seems to have an inevitable conclusion (not least because he's based on a real historical figure) and Lucretia's re-appearance as a madwoman might grate if she doesn't snap out of it in the long-term (one suspects she will, as soon as it becomes most inconvenient for those around her) though for now it's the hook of an interesting question: how did she survive anyway? That wound had clearly been seen to...

Overall, a decent start to the series by any assessment. Perhaps not the out-of-the-gate sprint some might have expected, but certainly it knows where it's going and will doubtlessly play its audience like a maestro in reaching those destinations. As ridiculous and compelling as ever, Spartacus is truly back, and we know from experience that as good as this was, things can only improve from here.

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There’s, sadly, no new footage that’s been released by HBO in its new promo tease for the upcoming return of True Blood in the summer. But if you were looking for proof that season five was on its way, well, that’s about as much as you’ll get.

Nothing stays buried forever, then…

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