I spent the morning alternating between a bit of prep work and clearing up the office - especially the floor! After an hour or so, I could see the carpet - amazing! 
We caught up with the gazillion of Lambing Live episodes shown last week on the BBC. Luckily, we had beef for lunch!
Labels: house and garden, TV
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Well, what to make of series two, now that the final episode aired last night? I had high-hopes of the series, after series 1 just blew me away.
I guess my expectations were raised as soon as the latest series began, two months ago. All-in-all though, I�ve found it all a bit disappointing and uneven; with all-over-the-place storylines and just a tad too much gore (or is that me, be an oldie?), and too many characters who came and went. The acting has been great though!
The scene in last week�s episode in the train where Mitchell, the vampire took revenge on a carriage load of humans brought a whole new meaning to being a blood-donor!
Last night�s episode continued the blood-fest with a shocking scene that would have caught every viewer by surprise � yuk!
The best bit was in the final 15 minutes or so; Annie being banished to the �other side� and the baddies getting their just rewards (I hate stakes..prefer them medium to well-done).
The final scenes of Herrick�s resurrection and Annie being seen on a TV screen on the �other side� with the boys promising to get her back left the viewer hanging - and set the episode up nicely for a third series.
Will I watch the next series, if there is one, you bet!!!!
So, series 3 � are you listening?
This episode 
The Series
You might catch this final episode in BBC iPlayer HERE
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We watched the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice in all its Blu-Ray glory this afternoon (five episodes today and one yesterday!). In my view, it�s still the best adaptation ever produced
Not sure about the transfer to Blu-ray though � it looked decidedly grainy in places, and it also had a very strange voice-over at the beginning, announcing the disk number.
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The trailer for the new Doctor Who series premiered tonight just after Total Wipeout. Apparently the new series starts on April 3rd.
It still looked weird to me��
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The soap celebrated 25 years on-air tonight with a live episode. The BBC hype machine went into overdrive leading up to the event � you couldn�t go anywhere on BBC TV without a reminder at every possible opportunity!!!. Viewers were heard singing the theme tune and being asked for their opinion on the ongoing plot � there was even a special logo integrating the meandering Thames with a ribbon and a �25�. 
The plot centred around: �Who killed Archie Mitchell?�. Viewers had been left wondering since Christmas Day and there had been various non-soap stars on pretty-much all prime-time BBC shows pontificating on who-dun-it. I just got the impression that it was all a bit desperate (even though I like the show), forcing the the whole thing into the national consciousness.
Scrub the previous comment � 14.4 million people tuned-in, with 16.6 in the final five-minutes. That�s unbelievable viewing figures these days for a TV show!
Cripes�they even had a show after the live episode (EastEnders � The Aftermath) where they met all the live cast including the character �Bradley� who was now errr�. dead! It seemed weird/scary/inappropriate* (delete as applicable) as the host (Doug Lamb, son of Larry Lamb who played Archie) interviewed Bradley, his face literally dripping with blood (having just fallen off a roof). The actor, Charlie Clements was so hyped-up, he could hardly speak.
So, onto the episode itself. Actually, it was very well acted. In fact, it was hard to tell it was live. The errors as I saw them were mainly in the camera work � a wobbly shot here, a lighting issue there and a inappropriate zoom just once! I think I picked-up a few fluffed lines early on and Ronnie left the supermarket without paying for her goods! (see, my old retail habits die hard!!!), but apart from that, it was very watchable � even if you�re not a fan.
You have to marvel at the sheer organisation of the thing � that�s the bit that interested me the most. The scenes were quite short (typical soap), but of course, if it�s going out live, that means that the actors have to get form one part of the set to another pretty quickly � and it�s a big set. Even the simplest of shots (entering the Queen Vic pub for instance) is more complicated when you realise that the exterior of the Pub is nowhere near the interior � 90 seconds away actually. Add to that, scenes like the substitution of the stunt-man that doubled for Bradley falling off the roof and that they only had 90 seconds-or-so to get him and the air-bed he fell on, out of the way before the cut to Bradley lying on the ground.
The only thing that felt a bit inappropriate was that in order to keep the plot-line a secret, the cast weren�t told who the murderer was until very late in the day. In fact �Stacey� wasn�t told it was her until 30 minutes before the live episode aired. They had even recorded alternative murderer confessions, presumably to confuse anybody thinking of leaking the story. Neil McDermott who plays �Ryan� was even told he was the decoy. Complicated stuff ehh? As it was, viewers didn�t find out who it was until about 1 minute from the end of the show and I don�t know if that was part of the suspense or whether those higher up wanted to keep it from the cast for as long as possible!!
Interestingly, for me anyway, for a show that was obviously rehearsed, rehearsed and then rehearsed some more, it over-ran by about three-minutes.
Photographs � BBC and Digital Spy
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Cover of School for Scoundrels
Those of a certain age will remember Ian Carmichael, a British actor who specialised in playing �upper-class twits�. He died on Friday, aged 89.
I�d recently watched him in the 1960 film: �School for Scoundrels� � which was hilarious!!!!
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I�ve heard that the new series begins in March. Rumour has it the titles of the first three episodes are:
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Series 2 started last week and I quickly caught up with episode 1, courtesy of SkyPlus, over the weekend. What did I think? Well, surprisingly, I didn't enjoy it at all. The acting was fine, as usual, but structurally, the story was all over the place and there just seemed to be too many characters. I thought the idea of any series 2, episode 1, was to attract new viewers and ensure the existing ones get more of what they liked.
I think existing fans of the show would have just about tolerated it, as I did, but new viewers, attracted by all the hype, word-of-mouth and the BBC dedicated blog, I'm sure, would have concluded, it was a mess!
I didn't think the werewolf CGI was particularly good either and I wondered about the wisdom of changing Annie's character, so she can now be seen by everyone else (as a ghost, in series 1she was invisible).
A very disappointing and confusing episode!
So with some hesitation, I watched episode 2 today. Phew, what a relief, the whole thing now seems to be back on track. Toby Whithouse, the Producer, has promised a darker storyline, and I can see what he meant � the whole Annie-boyfriend sub-plot was very intriguing and quite a surprise to see the role Terry Wogan played!
There were plenty of comedic touches too, to balance the overall theme �Annie's role as a newby-barmaid for instance. So, all-in-all, plenty of fine acting from the lead and support casts - I can't wait to see how episode 3 turns out�
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Shown in two parts (on Christmas Day and New Year's Day) and attracting an audience of 10+ million viewers (which is very respectable for a cult TV programme), this was David Tennant's final appearance as the Time Lord.
We'd been out of the country for Christmas and the new year, and so far, I'd managed to avoid reading reviews about the two episodes (apart from one on Digital Spy) or talking to anyone about the programme.
So, here we are, I've caught up with my work, I have the morning free and the road conditions are so treacherous, that I'm not going anywhere � a perfect scenario then, for a thorough review of both episodes. I hope I'm not going to be disappointed � the episodes had been hyped-to-death leading up to Christmas day, and they'd even created a BBC ident featuring Tennant, a snowed-in Tardis and a herd of reindeer! Sometimes, the Who episodes don't live-up to the hype!
Here we go then�
Part One 
The episode began with voiceover (a sinister Timothy Dalton) � a good start that set the tone for the episode and his occasional narrative style worked well throughout this episode. The Ood (great 
characters!) appeared early in the episode prophesying the Doctor's demise. There were also some touching moments including a scene in the cafe with Wilf, (Bernard Cribbins) and the Doctor reflecting on their lives � almost a tear in the Doctor's eye as he explains his is to end shortly�
Well, having watched it through, I'd say overall it was a pretty gripping episode. Maybe a few too many characters � two actually! - what was the purpose of those spiky green aliens?
I'm not sure about the wisdom of intertwining religion and the who-mythology � the Tardis showing in the church's stained-glass window and frequent voice-overs extolling: "�and so, it came to pass�", just seemed a bit presumptuous to me. Hopefully kids watching this aren't going to grow-up thinking Jesus died in a police-box.
Typically with RTD, he's able match serious moments with humour with equal strength and June Whitfield's role as Minnie the Menace continues this as an amorous pensioner who fancies the Doctor.
John Simm returned as the Master � and he played it well. If you thought he was mad the last time we saw him in Who, then he's completely barking in this one. And, just when you think the episode is just about good vs. evil - Who vs the Master - a bigger picture is revealed by introducing a couple of characters who have a strange device that looks like a prototype StarGate.
There's an ongoing mystery about how Wilf managed to find the Doctor so quickly when he returned in the Tardis. No doubt, that'll be explained in episode 2. (err, it wasn't).
It was good to see Bernard Cribbins play a bigger and more significant part in these episodes. Who-fans will remember Bernard as an official companion with Peter Cushing in one of the big-screen versions of Doctor Who, back in the 60s, and it seemed rather fitting to see him 'promoted'.
A few references to TorchWood and the Doctor's torment at not being able to let ex-companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) in on things kept the whole Whoniverse on track and will have pleased die-hard fans obsessed with continuity.
Bits I didn't like? Not many actually; apart from the religious undertones, and the green aliens, the only other bit was the 'shaky-heads' scene as everyone turned into the Master towards the end - it just looked daft. Technologically though it was very clever � they used a special camera recording at 4 frames/sec then played it back at normal transmission speed.
The episode finished with the role of Timothy Dalton being revealed � as a high ranking Time-Lord which set the scene for the final episode - the return of the Time-Lords.
Some significant lines from the episode:
On the strength of episode 1, I'm looking forward to watching part-two.
A short scene set on Gallifrey where the Time Lords realise their fate is followed by the revelation that Donna has been unaffected by the whole world being transformed into the Master. The Doctor is captured by the Master only to be rescued by those green spiky aliens � I think I'm growing to like them! 
A eye-watering moment around 15 minutes in where Wilf and the Doctor share another touching scene.
The episode continued apace, with Wilf showing his courage in charge of a laser-gun on the alien's space-ship helping to save the World.!
A slight red-herring 15 minutes from the end where it looked like the Doctor was about to sacrifice himself to save Wilf�but even though he didn't die, he commented that the 'regeneration has begun�'
Some significant lines from the episode:
The final scenes that followed were brilliant � very sentimental: Visiting Martha Jones (who's now married Mickey), then Sarah Jane, then Captain Jack, then Donna's wedding, and finally 
back to see Rose on January 1st, 2005 before he'd met her as the Doctor the first time round (sniff).
The regeneration scene from Tennant into Matt Smith was visually stunning and 
very touching when Tennant's delivered his last words: "I don't want to go..".
Who-purists will wonder why as the change took place, the interior of the Tardis spontaneously combusted as well � that's not happened before � maybe it's to please the American's audiences and their love for explosions!
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A great episode with superb performances from everyone. It pulled together most of the plot strands, gave a good send-off for DT and set-up Matt Smith nicely for Spring 2010.
Labels: TV
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TV at Christmas is always a highlight for me, although in recent years, there seems to be less stuff worth watching (or is that me, just getting older?). Here is our short-list.
Whilst we'll be away over the festive break, suffering 30 degrees of sunshine (!!!), the SkyPlus box is also getting hot, hopefully doing its stuff, ready for our return.
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I usually like to buy a copy of both the Radio Times and TV Times and compare how they've covered various programmes during the festive season.
I didn't think I'd left it too late this year, but obviously I did, (in fact, looking back to last year, I bought them during the first week of December in 2008). I managed to get a copy of the RT, but not the TVT. And just to make things more complicated, there seems to be TWO versions of the Radio Times being distributed this year, each with a slightly different cover - can you spot the difference? 'simples' ehh?...and more importantly why did they do this...? As far as I know, it's the first time there has ever been different covers - still, it evened up the blog nicely!! :)
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Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr
This is our final weekend before the holiday, so there is plenty to do � not least the packing! We had a productive morning, mostly cleaning and generally tidying-up.
Additionally, we took the cats to the Vet for their final injections. We decided to get to there slightly before the 2pm opening time, to avoid the queues � a good move as it turned out, because it got much busier as as we approached the hour.
Both Biscuit and Bon-Bon demonstrated a degree of catittude when meeting the vet � and they growled (yes, Persians growl) through the whole process. Still, it's 'job done' for another year and at least they're both protected for any cat-lurgy!
Time to put our feet-up for a bit as we've got ourselves pretty well organised. So-much-so, we'll probably start packing tomorrow, just to make sure it all fits!!!
TV time: We watched the final episode of series 2 of Merlin (recently commissioned for a third series), and the final of Strictly Come Dancing.
More snow is forecast for tonight and so we've cancelled our get-together with Mae and Denis at Downtown tomorrow for the annual presents-swap. It's not been above �1 here today and with more snow coming, it's bound to make the journey very difficult. We've rescheduled it for Sunday, January 10th.
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Our original plan was to pick up Jo, Janet and Carol and head over to Han, our favourite Chinese restaurant in Market Harborough for a final pre-Christmas gorge-fest.
However, the atrocious weather here put paid to that and we decided to have everyone round to ours. As it turned out, Carol wasn't able to make it, so the four of us gorged on an Indian feast of meals courtesy of JS and M and S!
After eating, we settled down to the blu-ray DVD 'Enchanted', an unusual film, released just before Christmas in 2007. It was half cartoon and half 'real' and started off looking like an old Disney cartoon classic such as Sleeping Beauty. The heroine, Giselle (played by Amy Adams) is tricked by the Wicked Witch (Susan Sarandon, in full panto-mode!) and ends up being transported to modern-day New York, The story revolves around Giselle coping as a one-dimensional cartoon character in the 21st century and gradually changing her views about 'true love'. Ahh, bless!
It wasn't really a film that test the blu-ray capabilities of the player, but the colours were very vibrant � especially the dance scene in the park. And, apart from Timothy Spall, I didn't recognise any of the actors, although Jo pointed out that the 'hero' was the guy (Patrick Dempsey) from Grey's Anatomy. But, it a strange kind of way, it was a very watchable film with some clever special effects (especially the chipmunk) and maybe one especially suited to this magical time of year.
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Over on Digital Spy, they�ve got an extended interview with the producer Matthew Graham, as to what to expect from the final series. Here is a snippet:
The ending of Life On Mars was somewhat ambiguous. So you're saying that Ashes will have a more definite explanation?
"Not only that, but it will also hopefully explain the ending of Life On Mars as well. The idea is to unify the two shows. Series three unifies Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes and makes them one show. By the time you get halfway through series three of Ashes To Ashes, you will actually feel like you're watching series five of Life On Mars!"
So with that in mind, can we expect Life On Mars characters to come back in Ashes series three?
"Umm... you can!"
Ooo�err!
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� BBC
Christmas TV wouldn�t be Christmas TV these days without the festive Doctor Who episode. This year, it�s David Tennant�s final stint as the Time Lord in an episode entitled, �The End of Time�. It�s a two-parter, showing on Christmas Day and New Year�s Day
Some familiar faces are back � some welcomed, some less so�
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Just caught episode 1 of �Paradox� a new series on BBC1 starring Tamzin Outhwaite as cop Rebecca Flint. It�s only a short series � five episodes I think, but it looks promising (providing the plots don�t get too unbelievable).
The premise is that images are being downloaded from space to some sort of research laboratory in the UK. When they�re examined, they seem to indicate a disaster/crime that is yet to happen. Or do they? The episode then slowly pieces together the images and a race-against-time plot emerges.
Episode 1 was very watchable � good acting, UK locations and impressive special effects (but luckily, not too many!). Lucy Mangan, from the Guardian thinks otherwise (see the link to her review below)
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SATURDAY
We set off early � 7am � Ann drove to head over to L and B's for the weekend. Humberto is still in hospital and we plan to drive over to the 'Norwich and Norfolk' to see him.
We had a good journey to theirs and arrived by 9.30. After a quick nibble, we set off for the hospital. The hospital is quite 
large but we eventually found the ward that they had put Bertie in. What a shock when we saw him! He'd lost a lot of weight and it took ages to wake him up (we put that down to the drugs they'd put him on). He was totally un aware of who we were and curled up and went back to sleep � a really sad sight to see and very upsetting for Lee.
It took ages for the Nurse to turn up (which didn't impress us) and Ann saw her privately to ascertain the state of Bertie's health. After a long conversation, the news wasn't so good. It would appear that Bertie is on some medication to calm him down and in addition to that, it's likely that he has a form of dementia � that would explain his condition when we arrived. We won't know for sure until he's been assessed more formally, and the likelihood is that he'll have to go into special care.
We all felt really sad as we left the hospital � speaking selfishly, I don't want to ever get like that!!
On the way back we stopped off in Aylsham, - a sleepy hollow of a village - for lunch. We found an 'olde-tea-shoppe' and had a quick lunch. In truth, I think we all felt pretty sh***y even though the food was good
After a quick look round the village square, we headed back to theirs and spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV, reading and scoffing biscuits and cake!
We were all pretty tired, so after watching Merlin and Strictly we ate early and were tucked up in bed by 9!
SUNDAY
We were up later than normal for a weekend - 8ish - and had a light breakfast. I had brioche and preserves whilst Ann had cereal.
After packing up our things, we headed home after following Lee to the petrol station because she had been having problems fixing her petrol cap. As it turned out, it fitted back without any problems at all!
We arrived home around 12.15. Ann got stuck into work, whilst I carried on transferring the data to my new phone. Luckily, I managed to sort out the disaster where I'd accidentally deleted ALL my appointments for the next two years during the transfer of information between the old and new! Phew!!
By 5pm, we decided to take a break and watched a bit of TV. Ann then returned to the mountain of paperwork, whilst I finished off the phone. All being well, I'll have it all sorted in time for returning to work tomorrow�but I think Ann will still be buried in it!!!
It's been a strange weekend with Bertie's health playing heavily on all of our minds! 
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It�s a two-parter � Part 1 is on Christmas Day, and Part 2, New Year�s Eve. For casual viewers, it�s David Tennant�s final two episodes.
The title for the Christmas Day edition is, somewhat predictably, The End of Time, Part One.
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Regular reader(s) will recall that this was the �sleeping giant� of a hit on BBC3 earlier this year.
Now, series 2 is almost ready to go. It promises to be more epic in scale, darker in tone (and it was pretty dark in places in the first series!) and, introduce some new characters to the story of vampire, werewolf and ghost living together in a house in Bristol.
Transmission date is as yet, unknown, but probably early 2010.
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BBC One, 7pm. David Tennant makes his penultimate appearance at the Doctor in this darker-than-normal episode (his final appearance will be during the two-parter showing over the Christmas period.)
Also starring the ever-reliable and versatile actress, Lindsay Duncan, the 60 minute episode centres around the Doctor's visit to Bowie Base One on Mars in 2059.
The verdict? For me, the simply the best episode so far, with the final fifteen minutes being real 'edge-of-the-seat' stuff.
If that wasn't enough, the closing scenes, where an unusually arrogant Doctor takes control of the time-line, to save the day, only to find the outcome remains the same, was moving stuff.
DT's performance was simply outstanding, especially at the end, where he moved seamlessly through emotionally extremes with ease. As many have said, he was born for the part.
Add to all this, references to the Ice Warriors, a Dalek and the final scenes featuring a lone Ood was a great touch.
Wow! Doctor Who at its very, very best!!
PS The excerpt for the Christmas special looks great � the Master returns!!
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