Anne-Marie Duff

Winds up feeling strangely perfunctory. This is subject matter that should fascinate, rather than deliver an occasional droll observation.

As a broad-strokes account of Lennon’s complicated family dynamic, trouble-making youth, and first tentative steps toward rock stardom...succeeds as both entertainment and a rumination on the roots of one man’s nascent artistry.

Despite breathless proclamations about 'the biggest, most high profile murder case in British history' and timely trappings of closely held government secrets threatening to come to light, it all turns out to be rather boilerplate.

Revives history we could all stand to know better, and proves most useful in clarifying both what was at stake and the rules of the game...