Dan McGinn
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danmc2.bsky.social
Dan McGinn
@danmc2.bsky.social
98 followers 220 following 110 posts
Dad, Husband, dog owner, Comms geezer, film critic, Blogger, Facebooker, Instagramer, less frequent Tweeter & West Ham dreamer.
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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: #Netflix's miniseries #DeathByLightning with #MatthewMacfadyean & #MichaelShannon tells the story of a long forgotten US Presidential assassination. But how does Pomona rate it?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/12/forg... #uspresidents #JamesAGarfield #CharlesGuiteau
Michael Shannon portrays US President James A Garfield in Netflix's miniseries Death By Lightning who had one of the shortest stints in the White House. Matthew Macfadyen's performance as President Garfield's assassin Charles Guiteau in Death By Lightning has shades of Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Betty Gilpin turns in an impressive performance as the reluctant First Lady Lucretia Garfield in Netflix's Death By Lightning. Nick Offerman plays future US President Chester A Arthur alongside Bradley Whitford as Maine Congressman Richard Blaine in a drama that is as interested in political backstabbing as it is about assassination.
December 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
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CALLING CARDS: Three #NIScreen and #BBC #shortfilms are being platformed online with up and coming directors working with #SaoirseMonicaJackson #EannaHardwicke & #AmyHuberman. So what does Pomona make of #Helpless #Rewarding & #MourningGlory?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/12/call...
Three up and coming Northern Ireland are getting a chance to showcase their talent on the BBC iPlayer which is platforming their short films Helpless, Rewarding and Mourning Glory.
December 4, 2025 at 7:48 AM
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CARR SHARING: In a hell of a #November for #AlanCarr, he went from winning the #CelebrityTraitors to a third series of his #ITV #sitcom #ChangingEnds. But with the sitcom Alan now in his teenage years, does it retain its charm?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/carr... #OliverSavell #ShaunDooley
Alan Carr's ITV sitcom Changing Ends with the comedian watching Oliver Savell's teenage version of him navigating adolescence in its third series. Nancy Sullivan's Christine Carr lets her husband's success with Northampton Town FC get to her head in ITV's Changing Ends. Reality bites for Shaun Dooley's football manager Graham Carr and his club chairman Colin Salmon's Ron as The Cobblers struggle following promotion in the third series of the ITV sitcom Changing Ends. Harry Peacock's Nigel Hudson and his wife Gabby Best's Angela continue to interfere in the Carrs' lives in Alan Carr's semi-autobiographical sitcom Changing Ends on ITV.
December 2, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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GREAT FELLA: #RebeccaMiller's five-part #AppleTV #docuseries #MrScorsese dives into the life and career of #MartinScorsese. But does it shed new light on arguably America's greatest #director?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/good... #cinema #newyork #hollywood #film #movies #meanstreets
Rebecca Miller celebrates the career of the great Martin Scorsese in Apple TV's five part docuseries Mr Scorsese but also reveals how his career was very nearly curtailed. Robert de Niro and Martin Scorsese revisit old haunts from their youth as Apple TV's docuseries Mr Scorsese examines the forces that shaped the great director. Margot Robbie, Leonardo di Caprio and Martin Scorsese spill the beans on the wild antics on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street in Rebecca Miller's 5 part Apple TV docuseries Mr Scorsese. Martin Scorsese's long time collaborator, the film editor Thelma Schoonmaker is among those interviewed in Apple TV's Mr Scorsese.
November 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM
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BLAME GAME: #Peacock #thriller #AllHerFault with #SarahSnook and #BBC3 #sitcom #FilmClub with #AimeeLouWood & #NabhaanRizwan couldn't be more different. But which is the more impressive?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/blam... #JakeLacy #MichaelPena #Chicago #SuranneJones #LivHill #Manchester
The disappearance of a child is every parent's nightmare but does the Peacock series All Her Fault properly mine the full terror on Sky Atlantic? Nabhaan Rizwan and Aimee Lou Wood play movie buffs in the BBC3 sitcom Film Club but does it land its gags? Sarah Snook and Jake Lacy play parents going through a terrible nightmare with the Chicago set missing child drama All Her Fault. Aimee Lou Wood's mum is played by Suranne Jones in BBC3's sitcom Film Club but does she has the comic chops to carry it off?
November 26, 2025 at 7:57 AM
danmc2.bsky.social
THE HUNGRY GHOST: #EdwardBerger's #BalladofaSmallPlayer with #ColinFarrell gives the #gambling #movie an #Asian twist. Pomona gives it's thoughts on the #Netflix tale.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #tildaswinton #falachen #streaming #cinema #macau #alexjennings #film #movies
Colin Farrell plays a fake Anglo Irish peer on an unlucky streak in Macau's casinos in Edward Berger's gambling tale The Ballad of a Small Player. Fala Chen is the gambling creditor who might hold the key to the anti-hero's redemption in the Netflix movie The Ballad of a Small Player. Alex Jennings' trickster lords it over Colin Farrell's down at heel gambling conman in The Ballad of a Small Player. Edward Berger follows up All Quiet On The Western Front and Conclave with another stylish movie in The Ballad of a Small Player.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
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ART AND HEAD: Two #movies about #creativity and the people who bring the best out of performers fall under the Pomona microscope. We review #NicholasHytner's #AlanBennett scripted #TheChoral with #RalphFiennes and #MarcEvans' #MrBurton with #TobyJones.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/art-...
Ralph Fiennes plays a choirmaster helping a choral society in Yorkshire master the music of Elgar in Nicholas Hytner's Alan Bennett scripted movie The Choral. Toby Jones and Harry Lawtey star in Marc Evans' Mr Burton - a movie about the mentor to the Welsh screen icon Richard Burton. Amara Okereke and Robert Emms rehearse Elgar in the World War One era tale The Choral. Lesley Manville leads a solid supporting cast in Mr Burton - a movie about the fledgling years of Richard Burton.
November 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
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THROUGH THE BARRICADES: Take two #TVdramas about intense love affairs and deadly conflicts. But which is the stronger - #Channel4's #NorthernIreland #Troubles miniseries #Trespasses or the Australian #SecondWorldWar tale #TheNarrowRoadToTheDeepNorth?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/thro...
Lola Petticrew's schoolteacher and Tom Cullen's married lawyer embark on an intense love affair that crosses Northern Ireland's sectarian divide in the four episode Channel 4 adaptation of Louise Kennedy's popular Belfast novel Trespasses. The complicated love life of Jacob Elordi's young military medic Dorrigo Evans, seen here with Olivia DeJonge's Ella, is the subject of Justin Kurzel's superb Amazon Prime adaptation of Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize winning novel The Narrow Road To The Deep North. Gillian Anderson plays Gina, the alcoholic mum of Lola Petticrew's Cushla in Channel 4's Northern Ireland Troubles drama Trespasses. Ciaran Hinds' philandering Australian surgeon Dorrigo is haunted by his experiences as a prisoner of war in Japan in Justin Kurzel's television drama adaptation of The Narrow Road To The Deep North.
November 16, 2025 at 9:27 AM
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Really sorry to learn of Brendan's passing. He was a great photographer and a wonderful colleague.. www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
Tributes to former Irish News picture editor Brendan Murphy
Tributes to former Irish News picture editor, Brendan Murphy
www.irishnews.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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THE APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE: There have been 423 known #movies with some version of #MaryShelley's #Frankenstein. Now we have #GuillermodelToro's. So how does it fare? Pomona gives its thoughts on this and the #LiamNeson sequel #IceRoadVengeance.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro's sumptuous movie version of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel but how does this take on the horror classic distinguish itself from all the others? Jacob Elordi delivers a sensitive portrayal of The Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Netflix movie version of Frankenstein but does the adaptation match expectations? Mia Goth plays Elizabeth Harlander in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein but do sparks fly onscreen with her co-stars Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi? Liam Neeson is back thumping and shooting at bad guys, this time in Nepal, in the action thriller sequel Ice Road Vengeance but does he finally hit his target, avoiding another substandard thriller?
November 12, 2025 at 4:44 AM
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AMERICAN TROUBADOUR: #JeremyAllenWhite takes on the role of a real rock icon in #ScottCooper's #SpringsteenDeliverMeFromNowhere. But how convincing is he as #TheBoss? And what does Pomona also make of the British indie comedy #TheBalladofWallisIsland? loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/amer...
Jeremy Allen White takes on the role of US rock icon Bruce Springsteen in the movie 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' but does his performance transcend mere impersonation? Stephen Graham turns in another memorable performance as Bruce Springsteen's father in Scott Cooper's movie 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere'. Jeremy Allen White's Bruce Springsteen struggles with balancing a relationship with Odessa Young's single mother Faye Romano and the artistic pressures of making the classic album Nebraska in 'Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere'. Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan's indie folk duo McGwyer Mortimer find themselves forced back together by Tim Key's rather enthusiastic fan in the British comedy movie The Ballad of Wallis Island.
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 PM
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HONEY TRAP: As Pomona catches up with Series 5 of #SlowHorses on #AppleTV, do we think the #London #spy series lives up to the high standard of previous series?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #GaryOldman #JackLowden #KristinScottThomas #jonathanpryce #saskiareeves #christopherchung
Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb will always be a fan favourite in Apple TV's Slow Horses but is Series 5 too reliant on him? In Series 5, Christopher Chung's obnoxious Slough House IT nerd Roddy Ho has a glamourous girlfriend, Hiba Bennani's Tara but are the other Slow Horses right to be suspicious? Kristin Scott Thomas' Diana Taverner bides her time as James Challis' incompetent MI5 boss Claude Whelan ducks and weaves but will she finally ascend to the top job in Series 5 of Slow Horses? Jack Lowden's River Cartwright seems out of sorts in Series 5 of Slow Horses but how does he get out of the scrapes he gets into with Tom Brooke's hoodie wearing loner JK Coe?
November 9, 2025 at 10:32 AM
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THE YEAR OF THE FRENCH: Family trouble brews for #JackLowden's #RiverCartwright in Series 4 of #AppleTV's #SlowHorses. But how does it compare to the previous three series?.. pomonarewind.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #GaryOldman #JacjsonLamb #KristinScottThomas #HugoWeaving #jonathanpryce
Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb continues to run rings around his MI5 bosses while sticking two fingers up to them in Series 4 of Apple TV's espionage series Slow Horses. Family spells trouble in more ways than one for Jack Lowden's MI5 reject River Cartwright in Series 4 of Apple TV's Slow Horses. Hugo Weaving's former CIA operative Frank Harkness proves a formidable enemy for MI5 and the agents of Slough House in the fourth series of Apple TV's Slow Horses. The declining memory of Jonathan Pryce's MI5 legend David Cartwright poses real difficulties for his grandson and former colleagues in the fourth series of Slow Horses on Apple TV.
November 8, 2025 at 10:58 AM
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TURKISH DELIGHT: It takes a certain kind of genius to use a fart aggressively in an #espionage drama but somehow Series 3 of #SlowHorses pulls that off on #AppleTV. Pomona's catch up continues.. pomonarewind.blogspot.com/2025/11/turk... #GaryOldman #JackLowden #KristinScottThomas #jonathanpryce
Gary Oldman is back as MI5 rogue Jackson Lamb in Series 3 of Apple TV's Slow Horses and as gloriously disrespectful as ever. Jack Lowden and Rosalind Elizear's Slough House agents River and Louisa grow closer in Series 3 of Slow Horses but can they put up with the machinations of former colleague Spider? ope Dirisu's UK Embassy Head of Security in Istanbul suspects a colleague of passing on sensitive information in Series 3 of Slow Horses but what happens when his attempt to stop her fails? Kadiff Kirwan's Marcus and Aimee Ffion Edwards' Shirley find themselves in Jackson Lamb's bad books but can they win him back in Series 3 of Slow Horses?
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 AM
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THE OLD ENEMY: The death of a disgraced former comrade brings #JacksonLamb back into facing old enemies. But what does Pomona make of Series Two of #SlowHorses on #AppleTV?.. pomonarewind.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #GaryOldman #JackLowden #KristinScottThomas #jonathanpryce #saskiareeves #london
Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb is back in Apple TV's spy show Slow Horses but how does the second series measure up against TVs first? Kristin Scott Thomas's MI5 Deputy Director Diana Taverner and Freddie Fox's Spider Webb have a back channel to a Russian Opposition leader in Series 2 of Slow Horses but can it be trusted? Dustin Demri-Burns' Min Harper and Rosalind Eleazar's Louisa Guy are coaxed away from Slough House to provide security for a Russian back channel meeting but have concerns in Series 2 of Slow Horses. Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb and Jack Lowden's River Cartwright continue to barely tolerate each other as the Slow Horses team of MI5 rejects investigate sleeper agents in Series Two of the Apple TV show.
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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THE STREETS OF LONDON: Pomona is in catch up mode as we review the #AppleTV #spy show #SlowHorses with #GaryOldman #JackLowden & #KristinScottThomas. So how do we rate Series One? pomonarewind.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #jonathanpryce #saskiareeves #RosalindEleazar #christopherchung #oliviacooke
Apple TV's Slow Horses with Gary Oldman is a tongue and cheek spy show about a group of intelligence service screw ups who still manage to run rings around their MI5 colleagues. We review Series One. Kristin Scott Thomas' MI5 Deputy Director Diana Taverner funds herself pitted against the screw ups of Slough House in Series One of Slow Horses. Brian Vernel is a fanatical English nationalist who kidnaps an aspiring comedian in the Apple TV series Slow Horses. Gary Oldman turns in a stellar performance as the slovenly but smartest Slow Horse, Jackson Lamb.
November 5, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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DANA INTERNATIONAL: Back for a 3rd series with a #BAFTA in the bag, can the popular #BBC1 #Belfast cop drama #BlueLights continue to build its complex picture of policing in the city and find a level of consistency to rival #Liverpool's #TheResponder?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/dana...
Frank Blake returns as Shane Bradley in Series Three of the Belfast cop show Blue Lights but will his tendency to cut corners as a constable come back to bite him? Sian Brooke's Grace Ellis and Martin McCann's Stevie Neil are now officially a couple in the BBC1 cop drama Blue Lights but changes are afoot that alter the way they work and live. Michael Smiley joins the cast in Series Three of Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn's BBC police show Blue Lights but how does he fare as an intelligence officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland? Mona Lisa actress Cathy Tyson plays a businesswoman behind a new exclusive members club in Belfast in the BBC police show Blue Lights but she is much more menacing than she seems.
November 4, 2025 at 6:48 AM
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TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION: With a #film exploring left wing rebels fighting right wing radicals in the US, #PaulThomasAnderson has sparked a lot of debate with #OneBattleAfterAnother. But what does Pomona make of it and the #Olympics story #September5?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/11/talk...
Leonardo DiCaprio finally gets to work with director Paul Thomas Anderson in One Battle After Another but do they pull off one of his best ever screen performances? There have been many great movies about great journalism but where does Tim Fehlbaum's Munich Olympics tale September 5 sit? Teyana Taylor plays a left wing rebel Perfidia Beverly Hills who becomes the obsession of Sean Penn's Colonel Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. Peter Sarsgaard is ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge whose team finds itself unexpectedly at the centre of a major news story in the 1972 Olympics drama September 5.
November 3, 2025 at 8:50 AM
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SCREEN TEST: #Oscar winning director #KathrynBigelow puts the prospect of a #nuclear apocalypse back on the agenda in #AHouseofDynamite. But how does it measure up against #RichLee's s21st Century take on #HGWells' #TheWaroftheWorlds on #AmazonPrime?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/scre...
Rebecca Ferguson leads an all star cast in Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow's nuclear apocalypse drama A House of Dynamite. Ice Cube plays a Homeland Security analyst watching an alien invasion unfold in Rich Lee's 21st Century take on HG Wells' sci-fi classic The War of The Worlds. Gabriel Basso's Deputy National Security Adviser has the weight of the world on his shoulders as a North Korean missile heads to Chicago in the Netflix nuclear apocalypse movie A House of Dynamite. Eva Longoria plays a NASA employee in Amazon Prime's contemporary take on HG Wells' The War of the Worlds.
October 31, 2025 at 8:22 AM
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THE MORAL MAZE: #BradInglesby's #HBO drama #Task with #MarkRuffalo is a taut thriller about people making serious, deadly mistakes. Find out what Pomona made of it and of #Series3 of the #AustralianTV #newsroom drama #TheNewsroom with #AnnaTorv. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Mark Ruffalo, Alison Oliver, Thuso Mbedu and Fabien Frankel star in Brad Inglesby's taut Pennsylvanian HBO thriller Task about revenge, biker gangs and wrong choices. Anna Torv returns as Helen Noville in Series 3 of The Newsreader which finds the Australian TV journalist locked in a bitter ratings battle with former colleagues on the News at Six. Tom Pelphrey's garbage collector Robbie Prendergrast gets in way over his head in a series of revenge crimes that go awry in HBO's excellent seven part thriller Task. Sam Reid's News at Six anchor Dale Jennings is riding the crest of a wave at the start of Series 3 of The Newsreader but it doesn't take long to knock him off his perch.
October 27, 2025 at 8:31 AM
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TO HELL AND BACK: #TheLostBus, the #AppleTV+ #movie by director #PaulGreengrass, plunges #MatthewMcConaghey & #AmericaFerrera into a recreation of the 2018 #wildfire that engulfed the town of #Paradise in #California. But does it do the story justice?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/to-h...
America Ferrera and Matthew McConaghey navigate Californian wildfires in Paul Greengrass's tale of real life heroism, The Lost Bus on AppleTV+. Matthew McConaghey's school bus driver Kevin McKay navigates a messy family life and a raging inferno in northern California in the Apple TV+ movie The Lost Bus. Two strangers, Matthew McConaghey's bus driver and America Ferrera's elementary schoolteacher are left relying on each other during a perilous road journey in Paul Greengrass's northern Californian wildfire story The Lost Bus. English director Paul Greengrass brings his trademark neorealist cinema style to The Lost Bus, an Apple TV+ true story that is part disaster film and part thrill ride.
October 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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ENJOY THE SILENCE: After all the bombast of #HouseofGuinness, is it time for the more muted #comedy of #LeonardandHungryPaul on #BBC2 whicu has #JuliaRoberts as narrator? Or should we stick with the din of #TheDonaldTrumpShow on #Channel4?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/enjo... #alexlawther
Alex Lawther and Jamie O'Donnell make the case for the sensitive, nerdy man in BBC2 and RTE's six part comedy Leonard and Hungry Paul. Sometimes the captions just write themselves - First Lady Melania Trump and US President Donald Trump's encounter with the Easter Bunny features in Channel 4's The Donald Trump Show. Lorcan Cranitch and Helen Behan are loving parents in BBC2 and RTE's gentle sitcom Leonard and Hungry Paul but could this be the right time for a more understated brand of sitcom? If you fancy rewatching Elon Musk looking really gauche in the Oval Office, then Channel 4's The Donald Trump Show might be the show for you. But can you be bothered?
October 25, 2025 at 9:55 AM
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BLACK AND WHITE BOYS: Critics outside #Ireland have fawned over it. Critics inside Ireland have lambasted it. So who is right about the recent #Netflix #StevenKnight show #HouseofGuinness?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/blac... #Guinness #entertainment #Dublin #AnthonyBoyle #JamesNorton
Gloriously over the top or hideously stereotypical? What does Pomona make of Steven Knight's Netflix Irish period drama House of Guinness?. James Norton's putting on his top hat and polishing his Dublin accent in Netflix's House of Guinness but is it one of his best screen performances? Niamh McCormack is a feisty young Irish rebel in House of Guinness but how convincing is writer Steven Knight's crafting of her character Ellen Cochrane and the other female characters? Jack Gleason plays a twinkly eyed, silver tongued fixer in House of Guinness but is his performance a bit too much Kellogg's Lucky Charms?
October 23, 2025 at 10:30 AM
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NEVER MIND THE BOLL**KS: The inspirational story of #Scotsman #JohnDavidson and his role in raising awareness of #Tourettes syndrome is told in #KirkJones #ISwear. But does the film laugh at or laugh with sufferers?.. loveitinpomona.blogspot.com/2025/10/neve... #richardaramayo #film #maxinepeake
Richard Aramayo portrays John Davidson in Kirk Jones' movie I Swear about the Scotsman's pivotal role in raising awareness of Tourette's Syndrome. Maxine Peake plays a mental health nurse with a big heart on Kirk Jones' I Swear. Peter Mullan's caretaker Tommy Trotter takes Richard Aramayo's Tourettes sufferer John Davidson under his wing in I Swear - a film that celebrates empathy and kindness. John Davidson received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh but, as the movie I Swear depicts, his struggle with Tourettes Syndrome was also to the fore.
October 17, 2025 at 8:04 AM
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Did you watch Episode 3 of Series 3 of #BlueLights last night? What did you think? Check out the Slugger O'Toole review of the Episode. sluggerotoole.com/2025/10/13/t...
October 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM