Category Archives: Television

TV Review: ‘The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe’

10 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Marilyn Monroe, Television

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You can also read this article at Immortal Marilyn.

The US cable channel, Lifetime, is well-known – notorious, even – for producing a range of celebrity biopics, including Liz and Dick, a widely-panned film about the Taylor-Burton affair, starring Lindsay Lohan. Since then, features on Whitney Houston and others have been released. Despite critical disdain, Lifetime’s tabloid-friendly subjects continue to attract large audiences. The channel’s decision to adapt J. Randy Taraborrelli’s 2009 book, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, was announced in August 2014. The two-part mini-series was filmed in early 2015, and broadcast on May 30-31 (the eve of what would be Monroe’s 89th birthday.) Continue reading →

Sex, Lies and a Very British Scapegoat

17 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in Anniversaries, History, Profumo Affair, Television

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Sex.Lies.and.a.Very.British.Scapegoat.S01E01

Sex, Lies and A Very British Scapegoat was first broadcast on ITV1 on December 22nd, 2013. Presented by the composer and theatrical impresario, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, the documentary marks the end of a year’s reflection on the Profumo Affair, half a century after the first scandal erupted. Focussing on one man’s downfall, the programme also coincides with the opening of Stephen Ward: The Musical. Continue reading →

Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Amy Winehouse, Music, Television

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“Amy Winehouse arrived on a wild, stormy night – ready to sing, and ready to talk.”

A year after Amy Winehouse’s tragic death, a new documentary has been screened as part of the BBC’s prestigious Arena series. Continue reading →

The Pendle Witch Child

19 Friday Aug 2011

Posted by in History, Television, Witchcraft

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Simon Armitage – one of Britain’s leading poets – was born in West Yorkshire. Like many local children, he would have been raised on stories of the Pendle Witches in nearby Lancashire.

A grimly intoxicating blend of history, crime and folklore is richly evoked in Armitage’s new BBC Four documentary, The Pendle Witch Child. Next year marks the fourth centenary of the notorious 1612 trial, the largest of its kind in England at the time. Continue reading →

‘Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn?’

21 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in Books, Marilyn Monroe, Non-Fiction, Television

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‘Are you a Jackie or a Marilyn?’ is the question posed in ‘Maidenform’, Season 2, Episode 6 of AMC’s Mad Men. First broadcast in 2008, and set in 1961, the storyline concerns on a proposed advertising campaign for Playtex brassieres. On a drunken night out, the ad-men divide the female characters into two categories: ‘Jackies’ after America’s First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (later Onassis); and ‘Marilyns’, after Marilyn Monroe. This episode was the inspiration behind Pamela Keogh’s new book, Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Timeless Lessons on Love, Power and Style. Keogh has previously covered other icons of the past, including Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn. She has also written about Kennedy in Jackie Style (2001), but this is her first full-length work on Monroe. Continue reading →