Malory Towers brings oodles of nostalgia and fresh perspective

If you are a child that grew up in Britain then you would be familiar with Malory Towers. Or, you have at least heard of it. The one with the boarding school? No? well, there are many books like it. However, Malory Towers is one of the most popular. And with good reason.

When I heard that this series was being remade I was eager to see how it would turn out. I was the type of kid who craved going to a faraway school filled with friends who I could have endless fun, and midnight feasts with. Nothing sounded better than having a sleepover with classmates every day! And that is exactly the feeling that CBBC so effortlessly brings to the table. CBBC, you say? They are hardly known for top quality television that should perk the interest of adults. But that is a false statement. And Malory Towers is the perfect example why. Following in the success of products like Sarah Jane Adventures, The Worst Witch...Malory Towers is another notch on CBBC's belt and it should certainly make you race to your nearest device and open BBC Iplayer,

Malory Towers centres around the arrival of Darrell Rivers at Benenden School in the Cornish countryside. And from the get-go there is a flurry of characters at the school that perk your interest as a viewer. From teachers to students there is a wide range of extremely lovable characters to the darn right detestable that make your toes curl. This remains faithful to the greatness and the innocent and vivid descriptions of children's literature that is often tricky to depict on the screen. This version doesn't make you feel like that. In fact, it grabs your face, and makes you never want to leave. Just as Darrell never wants to leave the school. Nothing ever feels strained or forced. It's just all round lovely.

The plot of each episode usually focuses around drama within Darrel and her associates. There is talent that springs from every actress as they weave a web of fun, and relatability. Themes from the painful and awkward ways of making friends-to being scared of ghosts, spiders to more serious topics like estrangement from parents, class divides - Malory Towers has it all. Occasionally television for children can be dumbed down - or bought to extremes in attempts to rehash or modernise classic stories but Malory Towers was directed to perfection. (Just like 'Anne with an E' on Netflix. Add that to your list!)

The filming locations and the glaringly headstrong actresses make every twenty minute episode a delight and it just makes you feel at home. As a viewer, we learn to begrudge yet adore characters like Gwen and it is all done so in a bloody great, feminising experience wrapped up in a bow. I start every episode humming along to the theme tune and feeling like I am skipping into school with them. The escapism is strong in this show and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for something that appeals to their inner child. Even if you don't think you are, please do yourself a favour and check it out anyway.

Watch Malory Towers on BBC Iplayer. It's available for a year.

'Thirteen' Episode 1 Review

I heard about 'Thirteen' a while ago but I forgot about it so it was a nice surprise to be reminded about it especially with a trailer I have never seen before and the fact that I could watch it today. The concept is used a lot but it's hugely relevant. The strongest draw I had to 'Thirteen' is Jodie Comer who plays the main character, Ivy. I've been excited about Jodie Comer since knowing her from E4's 'My Mad Fat Diary' which is one of my favourite recent series from the UK of all time and she's incredible in it. So, I trust that every show she does is as real and raw as that show is, and I was right. She was a secondary character but now her talent brings her to the forefront and it really shows.

Everything about her is authentically English which sounds weird because characters are universal but something about her is so representative of english mannerisms. It's not easy to explain. BBC Three/E4 and many more are extremely good at finding those people and she's one of the best. Onto 'Thirteen' it's about a girl who disappeared when she was thirteen and all that transpires once she's escaped but mystery and darkness immediately surrounds her as she returns to a world which we're consistently reminded she doesn't belong to. This suggestion is put forward, in fact, I almost started to believe that it was just highlighting skepticism especially within the two detectives which are on her case.

But we don't know. We never know. Her story is very straight and unconfused, and British eeriness surrounds everything. Ivy, bright-eyed and hollowed compels the story is hard-hitting and believable, despite what is we are going to end up believing about her. Something is really classic about the way that episodes move, and the steady pace with clues hiding everywhere to add to the tension and the rising unrest about everything.

The role of the family and the persistence of the mother that it is Ivy and refusing DnA evidence is very real. It's happened in real cases. I just wish that it was someone other than the mother who believed beyond reason. Her sister, maybe but it makes sense that the sister would be the opposite, and she is. (It actually reminds me of an episode of 'Elementary' I recently watched about a girl who pretended to be a found missing girl. Check it out 'Miss Taken' episode seven of season four. Yes, the pun is amazing.)

Breaking into the house that Ivy was 'kept' in, the emptiness is chilling but only because the show makes it that way and I'm starting to suspect Ivy might have lived there alone. You go back nd forth on Ivy's story a lot. Suspiscion is giving to you outright by the show but Ivy's photos looking so perfectly her and everything checking out so well makes it hard so as a viewer, in my experience, I kept changing my mind. It's a nightmare, but it's thrilling. Ivy definitely has purpose in who she lets in and doesn't, but then it just feels like she just radiates to the people that are most unchanged and that makes sense.

'Thirteen's is definitely interesting for its location. We're used to seeing how cases like these go down in places like America and like the show says "There's never been an escaped kidnapee before." and they mean in the UK which, there has, but it's interesting for them to point that out; that it's less common here which is dark and scary. It's remote from America but the same in nature. There are a lot of beautiful moments in the show which involve Ivy. Small conversations like the conversation of being given fish to eat sometimes and the facts she knew about it regarding pregnancy and also including the assumptions that the detective displayed about whether or not Ivy had been made pregnant. "He gave me fish until I didn't need it."

It was tender, just like Ivy being given a pink cardigan and she asks "Like a present?" which makes your heart vibrate with soreness. The show gives extra dimension such as in the male detective and caring about Ivy's case a lot suggesting he is interested in her. What the show does well is put what has changed on trial and how it quickly overwhelms Ivy and she runs to find a place of solitude in a small garden in the middle of town where she went with her childhood sweetheart Tim who follows her there and knows where to go. If Ivy isn't Ivy then there is some next-level intelligence how she works in this knowledge. The cinematography of Ivy sat with Tim is beautiful here.

There are so many ways this show can go. Ivy could have been brainwashed to believe she is that person, she could have been kidnapped by someone closer (someone like the mum or dad, for example which explains the blind acceptance but I hope it isn't that predictable), She could be Ivy, then started to believe she isn't and then pretend to be Ivy when she really is which alright, I acknowledge that could be a bit far but interesting none the less if I nailed it! Lies coming to a head and Ivy coming to find out that the world built around his is artificial is extremely emotional and a great perspective for 'Thirteen' to take.

I predict that the teacher they are trying to prescute for taking Ivy is taking the blame for a reason because kidnapping being linked to a school is far too easy for a storyline. The mother's connection to the headmaster (which seems like an affair right now) is worthy to remember, I think. In the 'next time' look ahead to the next episode we learn that another young girl is missing so the second episode might uproot everything I'm thinking and change it all. Humour - if any- comes through slightly and I laughed a lot when Ivy tells her mother "It's ok mum, I'm twenty-six" because of the strangeness of the situation that she has to say it.

The accents are slightly 'Broadchurch' and the feel of it also reminds me of it too which is not a bad inspiration and is it just me but does Tim look like he just stepped out of 'The Returned'/'Les Revenants'?
To summarise it's really exciting BBC Three have their first original series to be purely broadcast online. 'Thirteen' comes at a good time due to the recent success of 'Room' and the spotlight and human interest in kidnapping stories right now. (It's weird to say that things like these come into 'media fashion.' It's not nice to think about, but true and for good as long as it stays in people's attention and memory.) I have felt like BBC Three on Iplayer won't get the attention that it thinks it will but with series like these, I hope it will. With the news 'Thirteen' might be making it onto BBC Two slightly undermines that but it's a great credit to the quality of the show. The hashtag #FindTheGirl and the interactive experience is cool too.

You can watch 'Episode one of Thirteen' on BBC Iplayer now.

'The Last Kingdom' first episode review and initial thoughts.

The Vikings as a subject has been chronicled throughout television and film and a recent addition to that 'The Last Kingdom' is one out of the many which attempt to narrate it. The recent example being 'Vikings' which is currently plundering the area and has been received well. I was looking forward to the first episode of 'The Last Kingdom' because not only did it look interesting, but I was interested to see what it would do.

The episode begins in the brightly beautiful land of the saxons and we are introduced to the characters gradually. Matthew Macfadyen (Edmund Reid in 'Ripper Street') travels a couple thousand years back in time to his usual nineteenth century typecast and fits in extremely well. He is believable and although his time on screen is short-lived, his costuming and his normalcy rather than an extreme warrior as often suggested through TV everybody around this time in this position was is useful for 'The Last Kingdom' to begin with because it sets the scene and makes the threat larger than we would imagine it to be.

Joined by Ian Hart who serves the show as the knowledgeable and religious man with intent and loyalty solely to the lord and not those who want to be (Think Varys in 'Game of Thrones', 'Gaius' in Merlin) and he does it incredibly well. His character always seems as guiding as unchanged as he is in E4's 'My Mad Fat Diary' something else where he excels in this type of way but then would be productive to watch as things as never as they seem with characters like these.

Uhtrid, the second son is introduced as a very likeable and questioning character. At first, he does seem to be the 'black sheep' which is often the case in any TV show with a kingdom in it but that isn't too unforgivable but it's how the plot can can be driven. But what sets Uhtrid apart is unlike most young, 'king'-to-be  he actually does seem like a child and the actor who portrays him is good at making him small and not solely a 'already-king' in the suit of a child.

Things I already like about this show is that there is immediate links and contrasts with pagan life and christian life and the line after Uhtrid is baptised 'Welcome to the christian world" is a very metaphoric look in the life Uhtrid is about to have, being put into something he has no part of. As for the Vikings, at first, I would be lying if I said they weren't the average 'viking' package subscribed by how time has passed. They are joking, merry, and never seem to appear as if they are entirely trying because just because these things are consistent in TV does not necessarily make them untrue. Yet, what changes my mnd even though that part is always enjoyable and is deisnged to show the stuffiness of the saxons during the battle 'The Last Kingdom' is more detailed than what is usual for Viking depictons and in this case, it is more apparently and underlined what made them so frightening and advanced. (With devices such as pagan tongue and complex shield defence from both sides.)

It's not long before Uhtrid is captured by the vikings which is an interesting concept. Choosing to keep him is not as easy to believe, but understandable why they do. Uhtrid's lack of struggle and ties being cut to his heritage and finding place with the danes is unusual yet common to show a struggle between being pulled equally from each place. We quickly meet the characters within the viking section and 'The Last Kingdom' is definitely good at, although we know and we see saxons being brutally killed everywhere, we feel warm and homely for the vikings and it begins to warp what the first part told you and removes the accessibility to be able to accurately choose a side which is the way it should be yet in dong this the saxons become more easier to lose because we are no longer with them. Perhaps that is to do with a poor structuring of that side which I'm sure will be explored in the second episode when Uhtrid returns. But not having that person to connect with on that side does contribute to the challenge that the show produces and I hope continues to go with.

We meet the eldery blind viking who entrusts and asks Uhtrid to cut chicken for him and creates an alliance very quickly. Again, nothing new, But I trust and like this character a lot for his wisdom and love for the vikings and what happens. I am interested what is history is and whether or not it was similar to Uhtrid in some way. The viking way of making each other learn and treatment of each other is a stark difference and something the show really plays on which is good. How Uhtrid fits and his humour belongs with them is endearing. A comparison of symbolism of how when Uhtrid was with his 'family', they came close to drowning him with baptising him within a religion and then with the vikings, he is offered but not told to take the pagan necklace which he then goes to tell the saxons that he was 'forced to wear.' Where they force in brutal ways, they don't in others and it seems the exact other way round on the opposite side. Whereas the baptism occurred with the saxons, Uhtrid was playfully thrown off a viking horse into the river.

A scene where Uhtrid looks at his father pinned to a post in a field reverberates and a part which really speaks to you is when he falls on the ground silently and he blends into the long grass. In my opinion, this makes a brief 'show and tell' of his birthright and the culture which he was born from but which he needs to break away from. The way children in 'The Last Kingdom' are used in general to reflect the times and adult subjects. There is a scene where a viking son attacks the other children with a threat of a real sword and rips off the top half of a little viking girl's clothes. It's extremely piercing and scary and you almost cheer on the viking leader who punishes this until you remember that this is typical behaviour, just not when it's a certain child or a child doing it.

Flashing forward to Uhtrid becoming older at the end of the episode was good and the actor who takes over is just as good and is able to make him greatly acted. There are elements of plot missing and it seemed like a large jump to make but the way it was ended with the attack and destruction of the viking group was a perfect move because you believe that you are going to spend the entire show getting to know them but that is far from realistic to expect and it toys with that.

Overall, 'The Last Kingdom' does have promise and I do want to want to watch more but there isn't anything too special about it yet. You would definitely enjoy it if you are interested in historically-based shows and there is a huge undeniable awesome cast on their way in future episodes including David Dawson (Also 'Ripper Street', 'Peaky Blinders', 'The Banished.') There is something slightly Starz 'Spartacus' about the music at points (Also adult Uhtrid- Nasir from 'Spartacus' anyone?) and there does seem to be inspiration from HBO's 'Game of Thrones' in the title sequence but inspiration can only be a good thing even if it doesn't truly set it apart.

I'm not very impressed with the diversity or much in the way of well-rounded female characters in the first episode which is crucial but It will be seen if given time for the story to be open us, this happens. But just like Ragnar in the episode described as he dipped his finger into the water and tasted it; this show could be 'Sweet water.' I haven't seen in take of in any visible popularity yet but the show can grow and make it and survive and I hope it will prove to be good enough to with so many-start up series more than ever meeting their early graves however being part of the BBC guarantees it as least two series.

I rate this episode at around 3.5 stars. Have you seen the 'The Last Kingdom'? What do you think about it?

You can catch 'The Last Kingdom' on BBC2 in the UK and on BBC America in the US.