Good Cop, BBC One

GOOD COP, BBC ONE New prime time police drama is handcuffed by cliché

The BBC's new prime time police drama is handcuffed by cliché

A sense of déjà vu strikes from the very first shot. It is a dark and stormy night. A lone man staggers down an empty street through the lashing rain. Once indoors we see he has blood on his hands. A minute has not yet passed but Warren Brown – for it is he – tears his shirt off. Before we can admire the size of the former cage fighter’s guns he produces a real one. Roll titles.

Good Cop: From Page to Screen

GOOD COP: FROM PAGE TO SCREEN The creator of the BBC's new police drama outlines the ABC of screenwriting

The creator of the BBC's new police drama outlines the ABC of screenwriting

On Thursday the BBC will screen the opening episode of the television drama Good Cop. I finished writing it back in August 2010, and on the strength of that story and ideas for a total of four episodes, the series was green-lit in February 2011. We completed filming (pictured below) by the end of December 2011, then came post-production. Now at last we have our transmission date and it will be broadcast to the world.

Maxwell Davies Ninth Symphony, RLPO, Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

MAXWELL DAVIES NINTH SYMPHONY: The Master of the Queen's Music rounds on the recent armed interventions

The Master of the Queen's Music rounds on the recent armed interventions

The new Ninth Symphony, from the pen of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, is something of a paradox.  It was commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Helskinki Philharmonic Orchestra and is dedicated to the Queen on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. And yet it is a round condemnation of the nation’s interventions – called "disastrous" by the composer in his programme notes – in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Help! Are you a John or a Paul?

Open auditions for a show timed for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first single

One day soon Beatles scholars and Professors of Fabology will emerge from their caverns and their ashrams to inform us that it was 50 years ago today. On 5 October 1962 “Love Me Do” was released and, to recycle a phrase often appended to lesser earthquakes, the world would never be the same again. There will be celebrations, doubtless, across the universe. Tribute bands will perform bootleg gigs in the likes of, probably, Indonesia and the Baltic, all booted and suited and moptopped up and harmonising like the Everlys etc etc.

theartsdesk in Liverpool: The Sea Odyssey

THE SEA ODYSSEY: Titanic-themed street puppeteering on an epic scale takes over Liverpool for the weekend

Titanic-themed street puppeteering on an epic scale takes over Liverpool for the weekend

There is something surreal about emerging from an underground station in Liverpool and being confronted by an enormous giant lumbering its way up the street. Even coming up the escalator it is possible to hear the band accompanying this gigantic being merging with the roar of delight from the crowd. And crowds there have been. Over the three days of the Sea Odyssey it is estimated that 600,000 people have seen the latest street theatre creation from Nantes-based Royal De Luxe.

Lindberg, Cowen, RLPO, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

LINDBERG, COWEN, RLPO: It's not often you hear a concerto for one trombone. Premiering in Liverpool was one for two

It's not often you hear a concerto for one trombone. Premiering in Liverpool was one for two

There’s always a bit of a buzz around a premiere, even one which may seem slightly off-the-wall. Jan Sandström’s Echoes of Eternity is a concerto for two solo trombones – unusual in itself, given that there are precious few concerti for just one solo trombone – and symphony orchestra. Add to that the fact that one of the soloists is also the conductor and it’s easy to see that this piece is beginning to get complicated.

A new opera about sex trafficking

Liverpool opera about women who are far from sempre libera

The oldest profession is at the heart of one of the most popular operas in the canon. But the price put on a woman's sexuality will not be quite so glamorously portrayed in a new opera as it is in La Traviata. Ensemble 10/10, the contemporary music ensemble of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. will premiere Anya17, a new piece by Adam Gorb based on an arresting, highly disturbing libretto by Ben Kaye.

CD: Ringo Starr - Ringo 2012

The latest from The Beatles' drummer is a lame duck walk

If The Wombles had made this it would likely raise a smile despite its lame, lazy nostalgic guitar pop. It even goes as far as to include a feeble version of seminal skiffle song "Rock Island Line". The harsh words it deserves, however, are tempered with pathos, for Ringo 2012 only garners limelight because its creator was drummer for the biggest band of all time. Despite the constant Beatles hagiography of the frotting heritage rock press, these days no one under 50 has personal recall of their epic impact (the rest of us watch BBC Four documentaries and sigh).