mcguin71

Having seen Little Voice when it was comparatively new I decided it was about time it was revisited with one of its rare TV showings - I honestly didn't realise it had been so long!

Undoubtedly many viewers, especially those from outside these shores, will find the acting and accents somewhat irksome, but don't let the decidedly downbeat, and grim vision of British Northerness put you off as you will be missing a a charming, perfectly acted movie.

The headline is of course Jane Horricks as the titular Little Voice. She brings the character to life with not only the perfect mimicry of the singing greats, but also her portrayal of the clinically shy woman-child living in the shadow of her dead fathers music collection.

The rest of the cast harness their talent to give equally great performances. Obviously most praise goes to Michael Caine's funny, manipulative and eventually quite slimy talent agent, or Brenda Blethyns foul mouthed mother, together with Jim Broadbent giving a solid portrayal as the nightclub owner where Caine trys to 'sell' LV.

Across the many reviews often very little is said of the equally excellent supporting cast. The pre-Star Wars Ewen McGregor, ever solid Philip Jackson, and even a Pre-'Stenders Annette Badland, provide quiet depth or stoicness to their characters - literally in Badlands case who speaks very few lines.

It's not a perfect movie with its less than flattering view of Scarborough, despite the rather nicer shots of the town at night. Also the background to the strained Mari/Laura (mother/LV) remains very much closed up until the very end, whereas I felt there was enough to warrant it being hinted at earlier.

Overall though it's so very deserving of a mere 97 minutes of your life and most definitely shows that a handful of talent can trounce megabucks of CGI any day of the week. .... So just a few niggles and a well deserved and underplayed 8/10

This episode unfortunately continues the hopeless start to season 3. It really does make watching more of a chore than an enjoyable hour of my life.

After the 'non-surprise' of ep1 I found i almost couldn't engage with the story on a decent level anymore - but somehow I persevered. Unfortunately it wasn't great.

We are still in the present/past/future and in/out the dome/town/world and the real/imagined/fake lives...and telling them apart doesn't help the viewer decide which scene relates to which segment.

It's a mess and although thankfully better than ep1 I can say its still a huge drop in quality from what made the shows beginning so great.

I'm hoping I stayed awake long enough and didn't dream that the we will be getting back to the singular storyline again now the townsfolk have been released - or at least a favorite few. Whilst the show may not have lived up to its early promise it certainly didn't deserve the kiss of death thats been presented in more recent times.

I may not be clairvoyant but I see little future for the show...season 4 is a long way off, and I fear even the mid-season may bring dark news of this continues.

Please, please, please let it return to a decent, respectable storyline, even if it does grate at times thanks to to many implausible and irritating characters. Judging by the finale it may be heading back that way...on can only hope. .... An improvement - 4/10...yes indeed a 4 is an improvement, just shows how far it sank.