Review Louisa Mellor 27 Aug 2013 - 07:00
Believe the headlines, 4-part C4 drama Southcliffe is every bit as harrowing as you’ve heard…
According to the DVD blurb, four-part C4 drama Southcliffe explores themes of tragedy and grief. A more apt verb may have been ‘wallows in’. What Tony Grisoni’s spree-killing drama tells us about tragedy and grief other than how hollowing they are to experience and how dreadful to observe, I don’t know. From start to finish, it's a zoo for human pain, and an utterly draining experience.
Part of the problem is that the cast and writing is too good. A lesser lot might have fudged it, allowing us a gulp of fresh air via an unconvincing performance as a grieving family member or Stephen Morton, the man who shot dead fifteen of his neighbours and then himself in the fictional small town of Southcliffe. Not so.
Believe the headlines, 4-part C4 drama Southcliffe is every bit as harrowing as you’ve heard…
According to the DVD blurb, four-part C4 drama Southcliffe explores themes of tragedy and grief. A more apt verb may have been ‘wallows in’. What Tony Grisoni’s spree-killing drama tells us about tragedy and grief other than how hollowing they are to experience and how dreadful to observe, I don’t know. From start to finish, it's a zoo for human pain, and an utterly draining experience.
Part of the problem is that the cast and writing is too good. A lesser lot might have fudged it, allowing us a gulp of fresh air via an unconvincing performance as a grieving family member or Stephen Morton, the man who shot dead fifteen of his neighbours and then himself in the fictional small town of Southcliffe. Not so.
- 8/26/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
We are three episodes into Southcliffe, one away from its denouement, and all the individual threads are beginning to slowly but surely come together. This episode, aside from some incidental and beautifully observed moments, dispenses with the flashback structure it has employed in the first two episodes, choosing instead to further pursue the aftermath of the shootings. To achieve this, director Sean Durkin and writer Tony Grisoni push the character of journalist David Whitehead to the fore as he reacquaints himself fully with his hometown that has been touched by the devastating incident.
In a way, David Whitehead (Rory Kinnear) is somewhat a device, a conduit through which we are allowed to understand and comprehend the grief that has come to these people. The episode is primarily concerned with Whitehead going around Southcliffe and interviewing those touched by the tragedy as an attempt to gain a human perspective on his story.
In a way, David Whitehead (Rory Kinnear) is somewhat a device, a conduit through which we are allowed to understand and comprehend the grief that has come to these people. The episode is primarily concerned with Whitehead going around Southcliffe and interviewing those touched by the tragedy as an attempt to gain a human perspective on his story.
- 8/14/2013
- by Will Chadwick
- We Got This Covered
After the first episode kept itself brutally low key and focused on mainly two characters, the second episode of Channel 4 and Warp Films’ Southcliffe expands its purview to a few more of the town’s members as the examination of how a mass shooting alters the lives of people continues. We are introduced to two new families; the Goulds and the Salters, who each have their lives dramatically touched by the tragedy, as Southcliffe continues its honest, unflinching portrayal of town life destroyed by one unbelievable event.
Once again this episode is told mostly in flashback and following the same structure as the first episode, it opens with more of the shootings. This time we see Stephen invading and breaking into people’s houses and murdering them in their beds. Most shockingly he breaks into Chris’ house (the man who assaulted Stephen previously) and shoots his girlfriend as she lays next to him.
Once again this episode is told mostly in flashback and following the same structure as the first episode, it opens with more of the shootings. This time we see Stephen invading and breaking into people’s houses and murdering them in their beds. Most shockingly he breaks into Chris’ house (the man who assaulted Stephen previously) and shoots his girlfriend as she lays next to him.
- 8/6/2013
- by Will Chadwick
- We Got This Covered
2011′s Martha Marcy May Marlene was a film that promised many great things to come from its writer-director Sean Durkin. The slow burning and deeply unsettling drama was incredibly confident in its telling, relying mostly on subtlety and stillness to tell a story which never revealed its hand to early. It was a debut that promised Durkin an exciting start on the indie filmmaking path, however, after only one film Durkin was quick to make that leap from film to TV and from America to Britain for the four part miniseries Southcliffe.
From only one episode in it is clear that Southcliffe is somewhat a continuation with the themes and style of Martha Marcy May Marlene. Set in the eponymous small eerie seaside town, populated by a cast of characters who are each touched by issues both mental and physical, the story starts with a series of shootings with a brooding,...
From only one episode in it is clear that Southcliffe is somewhat a continuation with the themes and style of Martha Marcy May Marlene. Set in the eponymous small eerie seaside town, populated by a cast of characters who are each touched by issues both mental and physical, the story starts with a series of shootings with a brooding,...
- 8/5/2013
- by Will Chadwick
- We Got This Covered
It's another golden week for telly, as one of the most popular characters in Skins history returns for one last hoorah and chilling new drama Southcliffe arrives to grip all who witness it. Read on for more details about this week's scheduling treats in our latest Must-See TV rundown...
Skins: Monday (July 29) at 10pm on E4
It's Cook's turn in the spotlight this week as the last Skins movie kicks off with Jack O'Connell's second generation bad-boy having grown into a hard man working in the Manchester underworld delivering drugs.
All's going well until things take a dramatic turn when he falls for his employer's girlfriend. Oops. Expect plenty of grit and more "I'm Coooook" moments of badassery as the troubled troublemaker gets the brutally beautiful swansong he deserves.
Watch the trailer for Skins below:
New Tricks: Tuesday (July 30) at 9pm on BBC One
Amusingly, New Tricks...
Skins: Monday (July 29) at 10pm on E4
It's Cook's turn in the spotlight this week as the last Skins movie kicks off with Jack O'Connell's second generation bad-boy having grown into a hard man working in the Manchester underworld delivering drugs.
All's going well until things take a dramatic turn when he falls for his employer's girlfriend. Oops. Expect plenty of grit and more "I'm Coooook" moments of badassery as the troubled troublemaker gets the brutally beautiful swansong he deserves.
Watch the trailer for Skins below:
New Tricks: Tuesday (July 30) at 9pm on BBC One
Amusingly, New Tricks...
- 7/28/2013
- Digital Spy
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