Show Reviews

Inside Harewood House, the opulent backdrop to the, ITV Series Victoria

It narrowly missed being Downton Abbey, but as the backdrop to ITV’s drama Victoria, Harewood House in Yorkshire has become a silent star. Inside the sumptuous Palladian mansion that has interiors and a history fit for a queen – read review here

Victoria, ITV, Episode Seven review: ‘The Queen getting pregnant was never going to be an easy affair’

It’s the penultimate episode of ITV’s Victoria – it’s hard to imagine how viewers will fill their Sundays after next week. This episode, ‘The Engine Of Change’, did exactly what it said on the tin (err, title) – and more. It introduced the arrival of the locomotive, signaling the dawn of a new era for Britain… and also the imminent arrival of a V&A baby, signaling a new chapter for the royal couple too. Read review here.

What time is Victoria on TV tonight?

The Queen and Prince Albert look ahead to the future during the penultimate episode of the ITV drama. Read review here.

Victoria’s scintillating secrets: How the hottest drama on TV has put Poldark in the shade (thanks to 12,000 candles and a £10m budget)

It has been dubbed the most glamorous show on TV, thanks to its lavish costumes and sumptuous sets. But few of ITV drama Victoria’s seven million fans would guess it was actually shot in a freezing-cold aircraft hangar populated by an unruly owl and some very incontinent pigeons. Read review here.

Essential Byron

“Essential Byron makes the case for his poetry, presented by Daisy Goodwin, dressed so seductively, she might be about to set off for an assignation with the lord herself. But as she flirts with his memory, you could at least imagine her being among the hysterical crowds that flocked to Byron´s lying in state when he died at the age of only 36.” Sunday Times.

“I only wish I´d met him,” says Daisy Goodwin in this quick introduction to the work of the lusty lord. Seduced by his nanny at nine, dead in the early afternoon of his life. Francesca Annis, Rosamumd Pike and Jim Carter are among the readers.” Sunday Times Critic´s Choice.

Essential Poems for Britain

“Daisy Goodwin returns with another visual anthology exploring what it means to be British (and some national quirks) through dramatised poetry readings by John Thomason, Timothy West and others. From a love of the country side to class, cricket, race (In my Country by Jackie Kay)and regrets (Steve Turner´s British Rail Regrets) from Larkin to Shakespeare and Housman´s ´blue remembered hills´, it´s an eclectic and evocative selection.

It features the winner of the first BBC national poetry competition, and there´s a performance by Sheila Hankcock of UA Fanthorpe´s wonderful Atlas which, ending on a photograph of John Thaw, is intensely moving.” Daily Telegraph.

Essential Poems

“The Essential Poems series, presented by Daisy Goodwin, works so well because brilliant actors are able to recite poems as though they were thoughts spoken aloud for the first time. Instead of being a distraction, the contemporary settings help to reinvoke that sense of immediacy. Essential Poems for Britain covers many of our national obsessions – gardening, pets, nostalgia, British Rail, cricket and the tabloids.” The Times