If I had my druthers, Sean Bean would play Father Michael Kerrigan for the next thirty years and become as dissociable from the role as David Suchet in Poirot or Tom Baker in Doctor Who. Instead of Sharpe or Boromir or Ned Stark, the words ‘Sean Bean’ would instantly conjure up the image of a man in a cassock struggling to do good. But he’ll be missed, because we need characters like Father Michael on television – people we can look up to, whose deeds and manner sustain us....

You see, Burnout Paradise is brilliant in so many ways. It takes the brutal violence that made Takedown and (to a lesser extent) Revenge such works of genius, and applies it to a living, breathing sandbox world that ends up being more fun than the old-style game within it. Races are great, takedowns are still fun, but the city brings a whole new element of exploration that the franchise has previously lacked....

Unless they introduce a BAFTA category for most critically panned new comedy, it’s unlikely Campus is going to bring home any awards. Slated more or less across the board, the series opener of Channel 4’s new comedy really brought the haters out in full. Last week, I wrote that a lot of people probably wouldn’t like Campus and, man, was I ever wrong. People don’t not like it. They really, really hate it....

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Episode 2 With the second episode I think I can fairly say Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card isn’t just going for nostalgia. I know it seemed that way last week but I think it’s something much simpler. The show is simply continuing from where it left off. It knows its audience and is telling the same simple and cute stories it became famous for. It’s not all callbacks and references but it’s just playing out the same beats it used to....

After years of investigation and dead end leads we learn that Kate has been doing some moonlighting and continuing to obsess and track possible suspects in the case. Sure, its dangerous, but Beckett has never been one to back down from a challenge. She will not rest until someone answers for her mother’s death. When Beckett figures out where the town car might be, she goes rogue again and finds it with blood all over it and Vulcan Simmons waiting in the wings....

7.6 The Time Of Our Lives Or is it? I guess if you’ve been consciously deprived of food, then a Big Mac must be welcome indeed. But that hardly makes it fine cuisine or worth the wait. So it is with the Caskett wedding in The Time Of Our Lives, which, unfortunately, is anything but. Which, of course, becomes the theme of the episode. In the first possibly legitimate case of the supernatural on the show, Castle quickly finds himself living in an alternate reality where he and Beckett met, as they did in our world, briefly and forgettably, at a book signing many years ago but have otherwise been living very different separate existences in the six years we’ve actually been watching them dance slowly towards each other in our narrative....

Where so many shows these days aim so low and yet still fail to meet even those expectations, Chuck delivers a superb ending that leaves you wanting more. But the key premise of Chuck Vs. The Ring is essentially getting Ellie married to Devon, and as you might expect, it’s an event of mythic proportions. With the exception of Harry Tang and Emmett Milbarge, all the cast regulars are at the wedding, plus the ‘Awesomes’ and Stephen J....

Wreck-It Ralph is a film that’s been in development in different guises at Disney for some time. Were you tempted, as producer, to go back and look at what had been done before ahead of embarking on this version? It was kind of good that I hadn’t, because I had a clean slate. I think one of the difficulties is that the world is so ripe to be used in animation, that you have to figure out the right story to tell....

This week, the storyline is separated into the classic A, B and C sitcom formula. There is a D strand as well: Abed’s “plot.” But it is really more of a straight up F. When the Dean announces that a new “whale” (lazy rich kid who can be in school forever) is coming to scope Greendale out, he gets the whole campus ready to win him over. However, our fair Dean also refuses to allow the school to create a fake fraternity....

After the corporate espionage shenanigans of last week, our favourite study groups downshifts somewhat, as they complete their final anthropology assignment in Paradigms Of Human Memory. Apparently, anthropology homework requires a certain degree of sculpting skill, as well as an incredibly thick skin… As is always the way, a monkey appears out of nowhere, kicking off a wander down Community memory lane, with a slight twist. This isn’t a clip show, filling the tail end of the season....

Paul Higgins (Utopia, The Thick Of It) and Kate Dickie (Game Of Thrones) play a Scottish couple who’ve turned their backs on modern society and set up home in the middle of a forest. Higgins’ character, John, has taken up the role of the hunter-gatherer – catching and cooking rabbits, fishing, picking grubs and berries – while Kate (Dickie) stitches animal skins together in a dank hovel dug into the husk of a fallen tree....

I’m not sure there’s an answer to this question, but if you’re interested in throwing out ideas, then Kurosawa’s autobiography is a great place to find inspiration. Kurosawa is one of those figures who can lay claim to being a visionary. His films are meticulous, involving and intelligent, and his writing style is much the same. There’s something about the way he puts words together that reminds me of his movies....

6.10 Ricochet Rabbit However, what’s great about insane people is that they’re never alone, and very soon he’s found a couple who are either terminally stupid or just as unhinged to do his bidding. Where I think this episode went slightly wrong was during his pursuit of the poor woman he abducted and released. Given what she’d been through, you’d reasonably think that she’d want company, lots of company, rather than to place herself in a location where she was vulnerable....

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Season 2 Episode 3 Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is always a joy to watch, but every good series has moments where it needs to pause to set up its mysteries and to establish burgeoning conflicts. Such is the case with “Two Broken Fingers,” which continues the joy of the team investigating with Tina and Hobbs but with more focus on placing other puzzle pieces on the board than getting the full picture....

For his first Doctor Who Christmas special, he’s done away with massive monsters, old foes and visiting companions’ extended families. In its place, he’s decided to try and weave Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol into a Doctor Who story, while also putting together a tense, festive adventure for the Time Lord. We’ll do the basics of the story, first. We’re not giving anything away here that’s not common knowledge, but if you want to go into the episode completely cold, then jump to the red marked text coming up....

By the late 1960s Doctor Who was a show in crisis. With its ratings falling, a lead actor disillusioned and exhausted by the punishing filming schedule, and both its producer, Peter Bryant, and script editor, Derrick Sherwin, looking to move on, it seemed increasingly likely that the BBC might pull the plug. Having only just joined the show and seen these recurring problems first hand, junior script editor, Terrance Dicks, persuaded his bosses to let him commission and develop a back-up serial in case any of the upcoming scripts fell through....

1.6 Of Monsters And Men While Dracula‘s writing has played a substantial role in keeping the series from achieving what it could (given its cast and producer-ly pedigree), in Of Monsters and Men, there was also another culprit to blame: the direction. On the relationship front, one coupling took a huge leap forward while another suffered a painful and possibly permanent setback. After getting drunk on Grayson’s money, Harker and Mina run home through the rain and then make love for the first time (a distinct no-no for someone of Mina’s class and condition)....

Dragon Ball Super Episode 6 For the die-hard Vegeta apologists out there, the idea of Vegeta not only being afraid of something, but outright terrified of it, might be hard for them to swallow. That concept is largely the driving force of this entire episode. With Goku not satiating Beerus’ Super Saiyan God cravings, he heads to Earth to continue his search. This leaves Vegeta pretty much in charge of the fate of the Earth and ensuring that Beerus doesn’t lose his cool and get destruction happy all of a sudden....

Within minutes of winning a BAFTA for their comedy, Lyeman’s Boys, the couple are accosted by a slick, enthusiastic LA television executive, Merc Lapidus, who wants to adapt their show for an American audience. Predictably, things begin to go wrong the second they get off the plane. Far from the straight adaptation they were hoping, Sean and Beverly soon discover that their friend and series star, Julian (Richard Griffiths), will have to audition for a role they’d assumed was already his....