What TV programmes have you been watching lately?

[Marc Meakin]

I did think episode 2 was fairly generic. I think it was OK, except that the ending doesn't really hold up.

Episode 3 best one yet this series

I thought it was quite good but when you take a step back and look at what was required to achieve the goal, none of the twists and turns of the story really needed to happen.

Twists and turns are its raison d'etre.
I liked the last twist in particular.
There was more plot in that half hour than moat movies cant achieve un nearly 2 hours.
I would live Netflix to take over the show, just think what could be achieved with an hour long episode

[Gavin Chipper]

Episode 3 best one yet this series

I thought it was quite good but when you take a step back and look at what was required to achieve the goal, none of the twists and turns of the story really needed to happen.

Twists and turns are its raison d'etre.
I liked the last twist in particular.
There was more plot in that half hour than moat movies cant achieve un nearly 2 hours.
I would live Netflix to take over the show, just think what could be achieved with an hour long episode

I would have liked for the twists to all be necessary to the outcome, but it was still a good episode.

Fuck that Netflix shit. Moving it away from free-to-air is not a good thing. Same with Black Mirror. The BBC are also capable of producing hour-long programmes. They do even exist. But I quite like the neat conciseness of the half-hour format.

[Marc Meakin]

I thought it was quite good but when you take a step back and look at what was required to achieve the goal, none of the twists and turns of the story really needed to happen.

Twists and turns are its raison d'etre.
I liked the last twist in particular.
There was more plot in that half hour than moat movies cant achieve un nearly 2 hours.
I would live Netflix to take over the show, just think what could be achieved with an hour long episode

I would have liked for the twists to all be necessary to the outcome, but it was still a good episode.

Fuck that Netflix shit. Moving it away from free-to-air is not a good thing. Same with Black Mirror. The BBC are also capable of producing hour-long programmes. They do even exist. But I quite like the neat conciseness of the half-hour format.

Black Mirror is a prime example of how a bigger budget and free range on length can improve a program
Admittedly tge last season was a bit meh but season 4 and 5 of Black Mirror was superb.

[Gavin Chipper]

I wouldn't know. I haven't seen them.

[Mark James]

Somewhat ashamed to admit but I enjoyed the Friends reunion. I think Friends gets a bit of unfair stick. The later seasons definitely declined and I watched it from the start recently and the decline set in earlier than I thought but even the weaker episodes are better than a hell of a lot of other sitcoms.

[Jon O'Neill]

Somewhat ashamed to admit but I enjoyed the Friends reunion. I think Friends gets a bit of unfair stick. The later seasons definitely declined and I watched it from the start recently and the decline set in earlier than I thought but even the weaker episodes are better than a hell of a lot of other sitcoms.

Who gives it stick? It's still wildly successful. I've heard criticisms about a lot of the jokes being mildly homophobic, transphobic, fat-shamey and that is definitely the case. But those aren't really themes of the show, don't punch directly down and it's not enough to spoil the actual enjoyment... for me anyway.

[Gavin Chipper]

I think there's an impression that it's for the masses rather than comedy connoisseurs. Maybe it's just snobbery of some sort. I can't really comment as I've only seen about one episode though - maybe because of this impression. (To be honest it doesn't look like it would appeal to me from what I've seen.)

[Marc Meakin]

I was definitely more of a Seinfeld fan.
I bit like Oasis and Blur rivalry a lot of Friends fans didn't like Seindfeld and vice versa.
Friends was a show that made me smile rather than laugh.
The reunion was nice to watch sans adverts but i am not a fan if James Cordon

[Mark James]

Somewhat ashamed to admit but I enjoyed the Friends reunion. I think Friends gets a bit of unfair stick. The later seasons definitely declined and I watched it from the start recently and the decline set in earlier than I thought but even the weaker episodes are better than a hell of a lot of other sitcoms.

Who gives it stick? It's still wildly successful. I've heard criticisms about a lot of the jokes being mildly homophobic, transphobic, fat-shamey and that is definitely the case. But those aren't really themes of the show, don't punch directly down and it's not enough to spoil the actual enjoyment... for me anyway.

I'm more talking about the snobbery kind Gev is talking about and from an "is it funny" level rather than any, for want of a better word, "woke" criticisms. And yeah, it gets unfairly compared to Seinfeld. Seinfeld was a once off (well twice if you include Curb). A more apt comparison would probably be to Frasier, which I would still consider funnier than Friends, but compared to some of the recent "big" sitcoms like Two and a half men, How I met your Mother or the Big Bang Theory, Friends is way better than any of those.

[Marc Meakin]

Inside no 9 season 6 episode 4.
Great misdirection and a rathly grisly ending almost a filmed version of a fireside camp ghost story

[Gavin Chipper]

The first episode is probably the weakest but it appealed to me especially as Dublin is one of my favourite cities and I do like Dominhal Gleeson and his brother.
The clever film references are brilliant and the last episode had a very clever twist.

I did watch all of these in the end. I'd say it was better than the first episode seemed to indicate. Wait - what was the clever twist?

Spoiler alert
The series ended at the beginning as it were.
Like Memento.
If you rewatch episode one again it will all make sense.
My favourite episode was the Twelve Angry Women one.
I think each episode had a film based subplot.

Oh yeah. I probably should have noticed that.

[Marc Meakin]

This is Lady Parts.
Highly original, very funny the music is great too
Its about a Muslim all girl punk rock band.
Its on Channel 4 /more 4 boxsets.
Go watch it, you won't be disappointed

[Gavin Chipper]

I've watched the repeats of all the episodes of Fawlty Towers on BBC1. Now, I do like Fawlty Towers, but with its reliance on just cringe and slapstick humour and with not much in the way of plot development in most episodes, some of them do seem very long and would probably be better as 20-minute episodes. I'm the sort of person that checks the time multiple times during even gripping programmes, but even for me it's noticeable that I'm doing it during Fawlty Towers episodes.

[Marc Meakin]

I've watched the repeats of all the episodes of Fawlty Towers on BBC1. Now, I do like Fawlty Towers, but with its reliance on just cringe and slapstick humour and with not much in the way of plot development in most episodes, some of them do seem very long and would probably be better as 20-minute episodes. I'm the sort of person that checks the time multiple times during even gripping programmes, but even for me it's noticeable that I'm doing it during Fawlty Towers episodes.

They would have been better as stage plays

[Marc Meakin]

Inside No 9 season 6 episode 5 was the nost derivative and fornulaic but with Derek Jacobi it was always engaging.
I did like the way they did the switcheroo at the end

[Marc Meakin]

Maybe better on the football thread but the BBC should not have broadcast the footage of Errikson getting CPR and panning in on his distraught wife

[Gavin Chipper]

Maybe better on the football thread but the BBC should not have broadcast the footage of Errikson getting CPR and panning in on his distraught wife

I wasn't watching but that sounds pretty bad.

On a connected but far less serious note, presumably because this resulted in the game being suspended, the BBC 1 schedule was a bit messed up this evening. I put the TV on the watch Pointless Celebrities at 8:40 (well a few minutes before actually), and it had already started. Programmes should never start early. People aren't psychic. Put some filler in. It must have started about 5 to 10 minutes early but the game was shortened by much more than that. So they must have filled in most of the gap, but decided to just stop a bit short. Really weird decision. They've done the same before when sports things have ended early as well.

[Sam Cappleman-Lynes]

Maybe better on the football thread but the BBC should not have broadcast the footage of Errikson getting CPR and panning in on his distraught wife

They explained when the match resumed that they weren't in control of the footage (it was coming directly from UEFA) and apologised for the distressing scenes that were broadcast.

[Marc Meakin]

They could and should have cut the feed though
Yes the caneraman and the Euefa producers are more culpable

[Marc Meakin]

If a streaker ran on the pitch they would have cut the feed

[Callum Todd]

Yeah whenever a streaker runs on the pitch the UEFA camera directors always manage (perfectly so far as I have noticed in the past few years) to prevent us from seeing a pair of bare buttocks. But a (probably) dead man having his chest compressed to revive him, while his friends and girlfriend watch on distraught? They were happy to keep the cameras on that, and not just keep them on but zoom in, etc.

[Marc Meakin]

GB News lol.
The Daily Mail news channel

[Marc Meakin]

Friday Night Dinner
A bit late to the party here but it is rather brilliant.
All in box sets on More 4

[Gavin Chipper]

Just finished watching Time on the iPlayer - a prison drama starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. It was quite interesting. Apparently people have said that it was very realistic. Having never been to prison, I can't say too much, except that a couple of things didn't seem remotely plausible, including the whole storyline with the prison officer.

[Marc Meakin]

Just finished watching Time on the iPlayer - a prison drama starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. It was quite interesting. Apparently people have said that it was very realistic. Having never been to prison, I can't say too much, except that a couple of things didn't seem remotely plausible, including the whole storyline with the prison officer.

I binged watched his yesterday and thought it was excellent.
I thought it was perfectly plausible once you accepted that a prison officers son was in jail.
Jimmy McGovern had done his research

[Gavin Chipper]

Just finished watching Time on the iPlayer - a prison drama starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. It was quite interesting. Apparently people have said that it was very realistic. Having never been to prison, I can't say too much, except that a couple of things didn't seem remotely plausible, including the whole storyline with the prison officer.

I binged watched his yesterday and thought it was excellent.
I thought it was perfectly plausible once you accepted that a prison officers son was in jail.
Jimmy McGovern had done his research

I doubt it was plausible. I'm certain that if a prison officer's son is in prison they have ways of dealing with it. They'd easily be able to hide him in the prison system, and it certainly wouldn't be left to the individual prison officer to sort out his safety. Furthermore, if it really was the case that the prison officer had to act in the way he did to protect his son (if we're going along with the unrealistic fiction), it would count as duress and would be a legitimate defence in a court of law.

[Marc Meakin]

Just finished watching Time on the iPlayer - a prison drama starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. It was quite interesting. Apparently people have said that it was very realistic. Having never been to prison, I can't say too much, except that a couple of things didn't seem remotely plausible, including the whole storyline with the prison officer.

I binged watched his yesterday and thought it was excellent.
I thought it was perfectly plausible once you accepted that a prison officers son was in jail.
Jimmy McGovern had done his research

I doubt it was plausible. I'm certain that if a prison officer's son is in prison they have ways of dealing with it. They'd easily be able to hide him in the prison system, and it certainly wouldn't be left to the individual prison officer to sort out his safety. Furthermore, if it really was the case that the prison officer had to act in the way he did to protect his son (if we're going along with the unrealistic fiction), it would count as duress and would be a legitimate defence in a court of law.

I think duress would have only been plausable mitigation if he named names.
I think the only implausable thing was after his, son gets badly assaulted he should have gone to the VIP section and then named names.

[Gavin Chipper]

I binged watched his yesterday and thought it was excellent.
I thought it was perfectly plausible once you accepted that a prison officers son was in jail.
Jimmy McGovern had done his research

I doubt it was plausible. I'm certain that if a prison officer's son is in prison they have ways of dealing with it. They'd easily be able to hide him in the prison system, and it certainly wouldn't be left to the individual prison officer to sort out his safety. Furthermore, if it really was the case that the prison officer had to act in the way he did to protect his son (if we're going along with the unrealistic fiction), it would count as duress and would be a legitimate defence in a court of law.

I think duress would have only been plausable mitigation if he named names.
I think the only implausable thing was after his, son gets badly assaulted he should have gone to the VIP section and then named names.

It wouldn't have got as far as the assault. I'm guessing provisions would have been put in place right from the start given that he was the son of a prison officer. But let's say that's not the case. The prisoner officer would have been made aware of the threat, he would have reported it, and it would have been sorted out. He would not have had to do anything himself other than report it. He would not have had to suggest the replacement prison, and they wouldn't have put the son in a position where he could have got discovered again.

[Marc Meakin]

I doubt it was plausible. I'm certain that if a prison officer's son is in prison they have ways of dealing with it. They'd easily be able to hide him in the prison system, and it certainly wouldn't be left to the individual prison officer to sort out his safety. Furthermore, if it really was the case that the prison officer had to act in the way he did to protect his son (if we're going along with the unrealistic fiction), it would count as duress and would be a legitimate defence in a court of law.

I think duress would have only been plausable mitigation if he named names.
I think the only implausable thing was after his, son gets badly assaulted he should have gone to the VIP section and then named names.

It wouldn't have got as far as the assault. I'm guessing provisions would have been put in place right from the start given that he was the son of a prison officer. But let's say that's not the case. The prisoner officer would have been made aware of the threat, he would have reported it, and it would have been sorted out. He would not have had to do anything himself other than report it. He would not have had to suggest the replacement prison, and they wouldn't have put the son in a position where he could have got discovered again.

Most dramas are based on people making the wrong decision and suffering the consequences thats how dramas work.
Jimmy McGovern wanted to highlight the problems in prisons.
You go to prison as a punishment not to be punished.
That was what I got from this.
I thought the acting was excellent and Sean Bean playing against type was particularly good to see.
If it was made in America he would have ended up as a tough guy

[Gavin Chipper]

I wonder what prisons are like in other European countries. I think I've heard about Scandanavian countries having better prison systems. Obviously in America (or lots of America) they're far worse than even here.

[Gavin Chipper]

I was round a friend's and it came up that I'd never seen Maid Marian and her Merry Men. So we watched the first episode on YouTube. I don't think it was brilliant, but maybe I'll give it another go.

[Marc Meakin]

Just started Ted Lasso.
Much funnier than it ought to be given its unlikely premise of an American college football manager becoming the manager of a struggling Premier league club.
Very good writing highliting 2 nations divided by a common language.
Raced through the first 9 episodes.
Its on Apple tv

[Mark James]

New season of Curb your Enthusiasm. It's fine. The endings to both episodes I've seen so far have a been a bit subdued, no real big pay off of converging storylines which is a usual hallmark, and the whole Larry shopping a show to different networks and screwing up arc was done before. Still some good laughs though.

[Gavin Chipper]

The Outlaws (Stephen Merchant etc.) on the BBC is quite good. I've seen the first couple of episodes and it combines stupid comedy with gangland drama quite well.

[Marc Meakin]

The Outlaws (Stephen Merchant etc.) on the BBC is quite good. I've seen the first couple of episodes and it combines stupid comedy with gangland drama quite well.

So far so good and the surprise Oscar winning legend in a comedy drama set in Bristol is the biggest wtf moment in TV since Boy George was in The A Team.
Btw you can catch the next episode on Iplayer

[Ian Volante]

Second series of His Dark Materials. As ever, some of the changes in narrative relative to the books I find a bit grating, but overall it's very well done.

[Marc Meakin]

Succession.
This has something in common, to me anyway, with Breaking bad.
Both shows I abandoned originally after episode one but I was persuaded to try again and stick with it.
Im glad I did as this show is head and shoulders above anything else I've watched this decade and along with Breaking Bad in my top 10 of best shows of the 21st century.
Its all about the writing, some, nay most, of the dialogue is peppered with acidity and expletives.
Everyone is odious and yet although you may not root for them, well maybe, Greg, its just so good.

[Gavin Chipper]

Watched the first episode of the new Gamesmaster last night, with Trevor MacDonald instead of Patrick Moore as Gamesmaster. I think having Maggie Aderin-Pocock instead would have given a nice symmetry (she is co-presenter on The Sky at Night if you didn't know). But anyway, I quite enjoyed it.

[Gavin Chipper]

I watched Cancelled presented by Richard Bacon the other day (on All 4), which is about cancel culture. I thought it was fairly interesting in parts. The bit that stuck out at me though was that they had some guest speaker at Cambridge University and he was quoting Hitler using the word "negro" and saying bad things about Jews, putting on a fake accent while doing so. And people got really offended by it and he was put on a blacklist, though I think this was overturned. Here is a BBC news article on it in fact. It is of course utterly ridiculous to get offended by this, and at Cambridge University as well just makes it surprising that people cannot comprehend the difference between racism and quotation/parody etc. Stone cold mental.

In the aftermath, John Cleese blacklisted himself, as he was due to give a speech there. And here is a rather awkward interview with John Cleese where I'm not sure he does himself any favours.

Also, I've watched the repeats of The Office that they've been showing. Interestingly in the final episode of series 1, Gareth Keenan mentions that the dog in the Dambusters film is called "Nigger". There you go. I'm not sure they'd do that now, but they did at least repeat it without cutting it out. Must have offended a fair few people though.

Edit - This video has a clip of the Cambridge event. I think most people were quite happy at the time at least. Just a few nutjobs.

[Mark James]

Binged Kin today, decent Irish gangland drama. Wasn't as good as similar show Love/Hate but still some good performances. Thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic and I saw one review complaining about how stupid the criminals were in terms of the decisions they made, which I'd agree with, but good enough show overall.

[Gavin Chipper]

Mandy (BBC comedy with Diane Morgan). All episodes on the iPlayer. Worth a watch. Only about 15 minutes per episode.

[Marc Meakin]

Mandy (BBC comedy with Diane Morgan). All episodes on the iPlayer. Worth a watch. Only about 15 minutes per episode.

Very funny and surreal
Favourite episodes were the cruise and the space ones

[Gavin Chipper]

Around the World in 80 Days (with David Tennant) was decent I thought.

[Gavin Chipper]

Toast of Tinseltown. Good.

[Mark James]

Toast of Tinseltown. Good.

Not as good as the original series. Still a few laughs though.

[Marc Meakin]

The Curse.
Sort of Guy Ritchie lite.
From the writing and acting talent of King Gary and People Just Do Nothing
All episodes on more 4
Set in 1980s Newham and quite accurate (although filmed in Liverpool).
Very funny, 6 episodes, very bingeable

[Ian Volante]

In an unusual fit of up-to-dateness, I watched most of 'This is Going to Hurt' the other day. Excellently dark humour, veering more often towards the dark.

A few big laughs for me, a rarity indeed.

[Gavin Chipper]

The Curse.
Sort of Guy Ritchie lite.
From the writing and acting talent of King Gary and People Just Do Nothing
All episodes on more 4
Set in 1980s Newham and quite accurate (although filmed in Liverpool).
Very funny, 6 episodes, very bingeable

Why write your review as a poem?
Very Ralph Gillions.
I enjoyed it.

[Marc Meakin]

In an unusual fit of up-to-dateness, I watched most of 'This is Going to Hurt' the other day. Excellently dark humour, veering more often towards the dark.

A few big laughs for me, a rarity indeed.

Very good.
House meets M. A. S. H
Very funny at times also very moving and enlightening.
Don't watch when you are eating your dinner.
Edit... Episode 6 is a real shocker in several contexts
This reminded me of Bodies an early Jed Mercurio show.

[Gavin Chipper]

Also don't forget to watch the Film version. [of The Young Offenders]
It was made in 2016 and is set in 2007 .
Still very funny although I recommend you watch the series first

Watched the film last night. It was enjoyable up to a point but the plot ran out of steam towards the end and the minor characters weren't as subtly drawn as they are in the TV version. Thought it was quite amusing that the psychopathic drug dealer in the film and the uptight school principal in the TV series are played by the same actor. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I'd be that bothered about watching it again, whereas the TV series is one I anticipate revisiting from time to time in years to come.

It did feel a bit stretched as a comedy and I found the nailgun scene didn't work in a comedic sense but there were some funny scenes especially involving the bike road trip.

The film is on the iPlayer at the moment and I watched it today. I thought it was decent enough. I have to admit I didn't notice that the school principal was the same guy as the drug dealer.

[Gavin Chipper]

I watched the first episode of Servant of the People the other night. Episodes 2 and 3 are also on All 4 so I'll watch them at some point. Not too bad, and it's quite surreal watching it in the current climate.

[Gavin Chipper]

I watched the first episode of Servant of the People the other night. Episodes 2 and 3 are also on All 4 so I'll watch them at some point. Not too bad, and it's quite surreal watching it in the current climate.

Watched episodes 2 and 3 today. Quite fun.

Also I finished watching The Curse yesterday (heist comedy). I quite enjoyed it although it wasn't top tier brillant or anything. Not all the loose ends were tied up which suggests they're leaving it open for a second series, but I'm not sure if it really has the legs for it.

[Gavin Chipper]

The Curse.
Sort of Guy Ritchie lite.
From the writing and acting talent of King Gary and People Just Do Nothing
All episodes on more 4
Set in 1980s Newham and quite accurate (although filmed in Liverpool).
Very funny, 6 episodes, very bingeable

Oh yes, you watched it too.

[Matt Morrison]

Euphoria. Not sure what I expected but it is way better than whatever that was.

[Marc Meakin]

Watching the Ipcress file.
Very faithful adaptation of the book.
Although the Berlin ambulances did not make that noise until 1968, this is set much earlier

[Ian Volante]

Euphoria. Not sure what I expected

A mild rush of endorphines?

[David Williams]

Watching the Ipcress file.
Very faithful adaptation of the book.

Not watched it yet, but if the lead character is called Harry Palmer that's one major difference from the book.

[Marc Meakin]

Watching the Ipcress file.
Very faithful adaptation of the book.

Not watched it yet, but if the lead character is called Harry Palmer that's one major difference from the book.

Good point though as I remember it he was nameless

[Callum Todd]

Cobra.

Amazing cast, very interesting premise(s). Sometimes shoddy execution, often trying to introduce several new plot points per episode, even towards the end of the series, leading to a fairly flat finale that leaves many issues unresolved. Overall I still enjoyed it though and will watch future series.

[Marc Meakin]

Although I would never buy Apple products, their output on Apple TV is definitely quality over quantity.
The latest offering that's brilliant is Severance a comedy Sci - fi drama that's directed by Ben Stiller.
Impressive cast including Adam Scott John Turturro and the irrepressible Christopher Walken