Page 7 - Michael Socha News Today

Succession bows out in Shakespearean style; Shane Meadows changes tack with a gobby, grubby period drama; Alan Carr meets his sitcom younger self; and a TV beast exits with a smile…

It’s good to see a period drama that isn’t about Lord and Lady Muck and their faithful retainers. The Gallows Pole (BBC2) doesn’t have any aristocratic characters, except David Hartley, who is sort of king of everything. This is because he is played by Michael Socha, a very handsome man who has a glamour about him, while his fellow cast members are playing the very ordinary inhabitants of a village in Cragg Vale, Yorkshire, in the 1760s.

Post-Succession, a terrible darkness has descended on Tellyland. The only light comes from candles on tables, with desperate people huddled around them.

Shane Meadows The Gallows Pole; Changing Ends with Alan Carr; 60 Days on the Estates, Succession - best of the weeks TV reviewed

Alan Carr has often spoken about his life growing up in 1980s Northampton, the son of a football manager – but only now is his experience documented on the small screen.

Want to get ahead of the game and read the book before watching the TV show? Here’s your reading list for 2023 and beyond.

This week, UK writer Sarah Vine reviews The Gallows Pole from acclaimed director Shane Meadows, describing the performances as mesmerising. She also reviews BBC1s Annika.

An FBI interrogation plays out word for word, while Shane Meadows conjures counterfeiters and moor roamers in 18th-century Yorkshire.

This Is England’s Shane Meadows puts Yorkshire’s 18th century Cragg Vale Coiners gang on screen in a riotous new BBC historical drama.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: The Gallows Pole (BBC2) is loosely based on a novel by Benjamin Myers, which itself is based on the historical legend of a gang of starving weavers.