Where are we atm … the superb Line of Duty begins S4 this week, with the lush Thandie Newton taking over the dodgy copper role from stupendous Keeley Hawes. Cannot wait.
We are mid-Broadchurch (S3), also mid-Catastrophe (S3), while S2 of The Last Kingdom has just started. I’m probably slightly consciously uncoupling from the majority of these …
I keep meaning to check out Inside No 9, and I still have the final two episodes of Tom Hardy’s Taboo to finish – this is a nicely constructed work done, so far, very well.
Friends are urging a viewing of the latest Scandie Noir (Follow The Money), though I fear Clique may be more for the younger crowd.
Happy days – what are you gripped/bedazzled/hanging in there with …
Cannot wait for this either. S2 and S3 were both extraordinary television. Antiques Roadshow followed by this on a Sunday night is the yin and the yang of my TV viewing habits
I’m a bit pissed off that Only Connect has moved to a Friday (losing a fair whack of its viewers in the process). It’s not watching-while-drinking TV, and it should return to it’s Monday night double-bill with University Challenge.
Good teams in the semis of University Challenge this year. The pained, lock-jawed Monkman is a classic. Not a huge fan of Sticky Vicky Cohen … whatever.
Yes, you a bit stuck for a drinking buddy on Monday’s unless you can hang on for 24-hours in A&E. Not literally, at 9pm.
Heads up: having been previously encouraged I’m now being urgently directed to a BBC comedy called ‘Inside No.9’ - people saying S03E07 is the ‘best 30 mins tv they’ve seen in years’. Sheridan Smith rocked up for it so it should have something.
Involving Steve Pemberton, it looks to be in a similar vein as the bonkers League of Gentlemen and Psychoville.
I’m in England at the moment and spent some time with friends watching Gogglebox and Come Dine With Me the other night. I thought Americans were weird.
Is Line of Duty a show you can jump in any season, or would it be better to start from the beginning?
Line of Duty S04E04: Holy mother of God was that interrogation scene something else
Jed Mercurio does seem to sometimes push the credibility envelope but when he nails a set-piece he really hammers it home: great writing, great acting. Thandie Newton acting for her frigging life, and BAFTA.
I just saw the final of series 12 of Only Connect. Both connecting walls were all numbers. When they came up, they just looked totally random, but both teams solved them in less than half the time available. Absolutely brilliant quizzing.
Try pausing when the walls come up, and see if you can make anything out of them.Actually, I may have done okay. The freezing points and perfect cubes I think I’d have gotten. The song titles and athletics distances maybe; definitely record speeds and probably movie titles. So maybe I’d have gotten the fourth groups, both about monarchs, by default, but I’d have never known the exact answers for them.
Broadchurch S3 just finished. I’d say it was much better than S2 but not as good as S1. It followed the “everyone is a suspect” red herring mode of the first but more perfunctory. In the last episode as they tried to wrap it up, there were a couple scenes that weren’t very plausible. The two main characters were the best part as always.
Scott & Bailey. Very good at first. Got tiresome after a couple series. Right choice to end it. Rachel’s refusal to deal with her issues got to be a drag.
Happy Valley. A fairly good one. Two series so far, possibly a third at some point.
No Offence. Really good at times. In particular, Joanna Scanlan as Viv is amazing to watch. But it also has some weak spots. E.g., Alexandra Roach as Joy doesn’t really work. Someone this weak wouldn’t have a position of responsibility.
Note that all of the above are cop shows with female leads.
Doctor Foster. One series. 2nd one to come. A doctor has all sorts of personal and whatnot problems. Not a medical drama. Good enough that we’d watch the next series.
Note that there is a lot of cast overlap between these shows. So Rachel Bailey and Doctor Foster are played by the same actress. And since the characters have similar issues, it gets weird at times.
Also, in two of the above the same actor played the Big Bad. He’s also well known elsewhere and doesn’t seem suitable for a Big Bad at first. Which I guess is the whole point.
Amelia Bullmore is in a couple of these and shows a very good range. I’m impressed.
Oh, almost forgot one: miniseries London Spy. Meh. Barely could stand to watch it all the way through. If it wasn’t for Jim Broadbent we would have bailed on it.
The penultimate episode in the series of Stan Lee’s Luck Man was on the other day. Nice fake out in the previous episode. Lots of unexpected twists. Nicely set up for the last episode.
