TUESDAY 03 JANUARY
Drama
Sweeney Todd
9:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC1 London & South East
VIDEO Plus+: 6883
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Written by Joshua St Johnston
Two throat-slashings, a dismembering, the removal of a bullet without anaesthetic, an illegal abortion and an amputation. No, it's not some weird change of direction for Richard Four Weddings and a Funeral Curtis, merely the contents of the first half-hour of this extraordinarily gruesome drama. The always watchable Ray Winstone is Sweeney Todd, a tormented and unhappy barber who channels his sadness into slashing the throats of his customers before chopping them up and sending the bits to the bakery next door to be made into pies. He's helped by the owner of said pie shop, the comely Mrs Lovett (Essie Davis) who, along with her remarkably cantilevered bosom, holds Sweeney Todd in her thrall. It's all very atmospheric, and you can almost smell stinky 18th-century London. And there are moments of black humour. But blimey, you'll need a strong stomach.
RT reviewer: Alison Graham
Directed by: David Moore
Sweeney Todd - Ray Winstone
Mrs Lovett - Essie Davis
Fielding - David Warner
Matthew - Tom Hardy
Sweeney's father - David Bradley
Gaoler - Anthony O'Donnell
Rector - David Foxxe
Tobias - Ben Walker
Polly - Jessica Hooker
Thornhill - Paul Currier
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