Reviews

The unusual casting of Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Caine as a married couple worked a treat! They played Zee & Robert, a couple often trying to outsmart each other and Susannah York was more serious in the role of Robert's mistress who came between them. Great fun and thoroughly enjoyable!

Way beyond the norm for a TV movie, "The Laughter of God" takes us into the darkened marriage of a couple (brilliantly played by Peter Firth & Amanda Donohoe) who loathe each other. Each are having an affair and the various characters in the story are connected remotely in a good, thrilling plot with a few good twists. A clever story with a good director, Tony Bicat and an early leading role for the superb Peter Firth, this must come out on DVD at the BBC and soon! It's now 30 years old (-at the time I write this review in June 2021-) & thus a 30th anniversary edition of what many believe to be a lost classic must come to DVD or possibly blu-ray!

My friend Richard Malado posted online in 2015 that this new series was about to start on Sky Living and he played Venus' Father in it. So many people on social media were excited as he had his first part in a tv series, although small. So I and many others who knew him began watching it, waiting for the episode that Venus meets up with her Father in. About half way through the show, the episode was coming up when Venus' Father was due to appear as the previous episode ended with Venus saying that she was about to meet him so both Richard and all of us who know him were very excited in anticipation of seeing him on tv! But sadly Richard received notification just DAYS before the episode aired, from the writer saying that unfortunately Sky wanted a "named actor" for the role of Venus' Father and so they didn't include the filmed footage of him as the Father in the series but replaced it with the apprearance of another actor (Vas Blackwood). I understand that Vas Backwood is a good actor and well known but this would've been a nice break for Richard, for him to be seen in a tv drama for the first time. That was such a shame for Richard.

The late Ralph Bates, a charming and highly talented actor was paired with the lovely Susannah York in this drama showing how people face up to divorce. It really brought the truth home to the UK TV viewers and, if they didn't know what life after divorce was like, this dynamic series explained it. Full of interesting, vibrant characters and first rate acting too. Where's the DVD? Hopefully Network will do it sometime, if not then ITV themselves (who own it).

This gritty drama set in Yorkshire was based on a true story of a mute girl with a young Geraldine James playing the lead. A shocking and touching story, it revealed the life of the girl and her tough time in near poverty with her condition. Probably the best performance that Geraldine James has ever given. Also, her first lead role that really got her noticed! This excellent film should be on DVD so Network (-who release many such titles shown on ITV-) should release this true gem of a film and then they would be raking it in as this will be a big seller!

I originally saw this wonderful drama series on LWT (London Weekend Television) in 1979- 1980 and I absolutely loved it. It's one of it's kind, the theme being chain partners in an ongoing love affair with one person leaving a town somewhere in England at the end of one episode and starting a new life and love in another town the next. Then the affair that person has ends and their former partner continues the chain in the next episode. A very realistic series, ahead of its time and featuring grand actors like Donald Churchill and Judy Parfitt. A real eye-opener! It's a terrible shame that it hasn't been shown on TV for such a long time and also that it's still not available on DVD. There happens to be just one episode on youtube ("The Sponge Man") which was posted by an actor who appeared in that very episode back then! This series needs to be released on DVD by either Network or ITV DVD so we must find out which of these companies have the home video rights and contact them!