Rumpole and the Right to Privacy (2007)

UK

Radio Play
Series: The Afternoon Play
Writer: John Mortimer
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Cast: Timothy West, Prunella Scales, David Shaw-Parker, Nigel Anthony, Elaine Claxton, Anton Rodgers, Stephen Critchlow, Kim Durham, Joanna David

An entertaining and typically humorous radio play, that highlights the often hypocritical relationship that public figures have with the media. Iain.Stott

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Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf (2006)

UK
Radio Play
Series: The Afternoon Play
Writer: John Mortimer
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Cast: Timothy West, Prunella Scales, Felicity Montague, Nicholas Le Prevost, Philip Jackson, Matt Smith, Karl Johnson, Sean Baker, Ellie Beaven

A quite hilarious if rather predictable radio play, with the verbose Rumpole defending a teenage boy accused of sending offensive e-mails to a school mate; the twist can be seen a mile away, but it’s hugely entertaining none the less. Iain.Stott

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Monsieur Monde Vanishes (2009)

UK
Radio Play
Series: The Afternoon Play
Writers: Ronald Frame, Georges Simenon
Cast: Richard Greenwood, Claire Knight, Emma Currie, Eliza Langland, Crawford Logan, Nick Underwood

A mildly diverting if disappointingly uninvolving adaptation of Simenon’s tale of existential crisis and provincial debauchery, with Greenwood’s titular performance being particularly bland. Iain.Stott

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The Machine That Made Us (2008)

UK

Short Television Documentary
Director: Patrick McGrady
Cinematographer: Jeremy Irving
Presenter: Stephen Fry

An entertaining if rather speculative look at the invention and construction of the world’s first printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 15th century Germany. Iain.Stott

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How Reading Made Us Modern (2009)

UK
Short Television Documentary
Director: Sarah Howitt
Presenter: Professor John Mullan

A well-enough-made if rather uninspired and not particularly insightful look at the growth in popularity of reading since the late 17th century, exploring the social significance of increased accessibility to literature for the average person. Iain.Stott

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Disco Pigs (2001)

Not Recommended

Ireland
Feature Film
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Writer: Enda Walsh
Cinematographer: Igor Jadue-Lillo, Peter Robertson
Composer: Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Cast: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Brian F. O'Byrne, Eleanor Methven, Geraldine O'Rawe, Darren Healy, Sarah Gallagher, Charles Bark, Tara Lynne O'Neill

Cassidy and Murphy are stunning and it’s beautifully photographed, but despite the film’s various pleasures, this violent, twisted fairy tale of a film, an examination of obsessive love and mental illness, is a really rather unpleasant and hard to watch experience. Iain.Stott

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Red Rock West (1992)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Director: John Dahl
Writers: John Dahl, Rick Dahl
Cinematographer: Marc Reshovsky
Composer: William Olvis
Cast: Nicolas Cage, J.T. Walsh, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, Timothy Carhart

Though it never reaches the heights of his subsequent The Last Seduction or the Coens’ Blood Simple, which it resembles more than a little, Dahl’s seedily entertaining thriller, following Cage’s cash-strapped drifter as he becomes perilously involved with various low-lifes in the small town of Red Rock, is a nevertheless squalidly piquant experience. Iain.Stott

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