I have to confess I watched the first episode of Becoming Elizabeth and hated it, but I freely realise it's because I count myself as an amateur historian and from a young age have read extensive biographies and research papers on that period of English history (when I was 10 we did the Tudors in school and even then I remember being an irritating little know it all) My standards are so high that a historical drama has to be really really bloody good for me to like it. Added to the fact that these dramas are so often marketed as "You think you know (person from history) but you don't!!!" My smug little boffin brain goes Er, well, yes I do actually. It's why I'll never see Six: The Musical. Know it alls are not the demographic.
With you with the Black Sails worship though. My blood pressure has never recovered from Season 4 John Silver. Have often wondered if I could convince my husband to chop off his leg and not wash for six months.
I adored Press Gang - had them all on video tape and watched endlessly for years. Colin was my favourite- particularly when he says there is a radioactive lizard in the filing cabinet. But they were all brilliant.
I now have them on DVD and rewatched with my children a couple of years ago - think they must have been 9 and 11. They liked them too! A classic series. Thank you for taking me down memory lane. And please say hi to Dexter from me!
Esther I stuck with Physical the first series - one episode released per week last year as I loved ep 1.... and it WASN'T worth it. Gosh the ending was crap. Sorry. It became repetitive and dull. I'm surprised that it got a second series. Rose is amazing though - as always. I LOVED Hacks beyond words. Also new season Stranger Things is so brilliant - appealing to my 80s horror nerd self. Very Nightmare on Elm Street. I think ep 4 'Dear Billy' is one of the finest bits of writing of this year...
I'm watching 'The summer I turned pretty' with my daughter which is annoying me as why oh why do we teach young girls that the moody twat who treats us badly is the one we can 'fix' or change... and the title alone is shocking - what - a girl is only valued by her looks? Sorry I think my grumpy stage of menopause is kicking in. Oh - I loved Modern Love on Prime - all individual stories about love... and also 'Love Life' both seasons was fab - where a love life is charted until 'the one.'
I love Billions (even without Damien Lewis, who was the original draw, as the acting continues largely excellent and the script is very sharp) but I know I’m hopelessly behind all curves - and also that Machiavellian shows about high finance and testosterone are not everyone’s idea of a good time.
There’s nothing that puts me off a historical drama or novel than a bit of “hey nonny nonny mayhap prithee” crap. Once they start on about sweetmeats I’m so out. Susannah Dunn’s Tudor novels are very much against this style and she makes a point in the blurb at the back about writing as normal people would have spoken. There’s a great bit in one of them where Anne and George Boleyn are having a fight and he basically tells her to fuck off. Very unlike the home life of our own dear Queen.
Wow - Physical sounds right up my alley (given that my alley was the one Pineapple Dance Studios was down in the 80s). Murders in the building is very watchable - glad it is back. We have been watching You - creepy stalker, set in New York, yet humorous.
I usually get to things well after the curve and when I text my friend group 'I think you will like this great series on Netflix called Unbelievable' I get back a load of rolling Eye emoji and 'it is 2 years old'. We have just finished the whole of Seinfeld which I missed in the original and actually felt tv-grief when it ended.
I don't know about anybody else but I just don't watch TV unstreamed anymore. Except when my husband scrolls obsessively through the news channels while I put my hands over my ears and lalala until Netflix is back on.
I’m stuck at home with covid at the moment and have been rewatching ‘Never Have I Ever’ on Netflix. It’s funny and easy watching if you are coughing your guts up and feeling crap. X
The Dexter Fletcher part of this is incredible! I have Covid and just watched some Press Gang on YouTube to make me feel better. Becoming Elizabeth and Sherwood are on my list. Highly recommend Only Murders for incredible apartments and coats. Other shows I am enjoying are The Bear, Dark Winds and The Old Man. Spike and Lynda for ever!
Yes! I feel the same way about Rose Byrne! So does my husband which is less enjoyable. I think it’s because she does a lot of comedy and comedy is always under-appreciated. She and Domhnall Gleeson were so good together in Peter Rabbit that it made me wish they were in something else without rabbits. I’d love to watch Press Gang again but also scared to as it’s perfect in my memory. I always remember that line in one of the first episodes (maybe the first) where Lynda is late for an exam and the teacher says “It started at 9!” and she says something like “yes it was supposed to, you’re doing fine”. Always wanted to be Lynda, curly hair and a husky voice was it too much to ask? I’m glad Only Murders in the Building is back. I don’t really like crime shows but it’s so knowingly silly and Selena Gomez plays off Martin Short and Steve Martin in such a funny and endearing way that I really enjoyed it. I did watch the first episode of Dopesick, and that was quite good, Michael Keaton is great, but I’m also listening to Empire of Pain, so that’s quite a lot pain and I haven’t been back for more. Really just waiting for the Stranger Things finale.
Morning! Have we talked about Conversations with Friends? I really enjoyed that series.  In my early thirties I had an affair with a married man so the story was very...what’s a less scary word than triggering? Poking? Nudging? Yes it poked and nudged me and I realised how crazy and upsetting and ultimately DOOMED that situation is always going to be.
Learnt so much from the whole thing and mainly I think that quite a lot of men (trying not to just say ‘men’) are weak and even at 32 you can make shit choices.
Anyway, enough about that - it was great and I also really enjoyed Chivalry. Watching that doc about the alps murders - horrendous. Ooh and is there to be another series of Divorce do we know? That was bloody brilliant as they say.
Ah, Press Gang is my daughter's favourite programme now, beating even Glee. Very jel Dexter is a family friend!
I have to confess I watched the first episode of Becoming Elizabeth and hated it, but I freely realise it's because I count myself as an amateur historian and from a young age have read extensive biographies and research papers on that period of English history (when I was 10 we did the Tudors in school and even then I remember being an irritating little know it all) My standards are so high that a historical drama has to be really really bloody good for me to like it. Added to the fact that these dramas are so often marketed as "You think you know (person from history) but you don't!!!" My smug little boffin brain goes Er, well, yes I do actually. It's why I'll never see Six: The Musical. Know it alls are not the demographic.
With you with the Black Sails worship though. My blood pressure has never recovered from Season 4 John Silver. Have often wondered if I could convince my husband to chop off his leg and not wash for six months.
Press Gang!
I had such a girl crush on Lynda day. And a more traditional crush on Spike Thompson too.
Top 5 programmes of my youth.
Yes it made it to Australia and I thought it was so amazing.
I adored Press Gang - had them all on video tape and watched endlessly for years. Colin was my favourite- particularly when he says there is a radioactive lizard in the filing cabinet. But they were all brilliant.
I now have them on DVD and rewatched with my children a couple of years ago - think they must have been 9 and 11. They liked them too! A classic series. Thank you for taking me down memory lane. And please say hi to Dexter from me!
Esther I stuck with Physical the first series - one episode released per week last year as I loved ep 1.... and it WASN'T worth it. Gosh the ending was crap. Sorry. It became repetitive and dull. I'm surprised that it got a second series. Rose is amazing though - as always. I LOVED Hacks beyond words. Also new season Stranger Things is so brilliant - appealing to my 80s horror nerd self. Very Nightmare on Elm Street. I think ep 4 'Dear Billy' is one of the finest bits of writing of this year...
I'm watching 'The summer I turned pretty' with my daughter which is annoying me as why oh why do we teach young girls that the moody twat who treats us badly is the one we can 'fix' or change... and the title alone is shocking - what - a girl is only valued by her looks? Sorry I think my grumpy stage of menopause is kicking in. Oh - I loved Modern Love on Prime - all individual stories about love... and also 'Love Life' both seasons was fab - where a love life is charted until 'the one.'
Really enjoyed Sherwood - excellent cast
And impressed with the flat voweled Nottinghamshire accent. Especially interesting for me as for a while
I used to live not far from the real events it’s loosely based on and worked around Ashfield for 9 years.
As a teenager living closer to the city I remember the bus loads of miners and Met police driving up there
It’s gritty but so well written and acted
I love Billions (even without Damien Lewis, who was the original draw, as the acting continues largely excellent and the script is very sharp) but I know I’m hopelessly behind all curves - and also that Machiavellian shows about high finance and testosterone are not everyone’s idea of a good time.
There’s nothing that puts me off a historical drama or novel than a bit of “hey nonny nonny mayhap prithee” crap. Once they start on about sweetmeats I’m so out. Susannah Dunn’s Tudor novels are very much against this style and she makes a point in the blurb at the back about writing as normal people would have spoken. There’s a great bit in one of them where Anne and George Boleyn are having a fight and he basically tells her to fuck off. Very unlike the home life of our own dear Queen.
Hacks is so brilliant. Jean Smart is hilarious and there are laugh out loud moments in every episode.
Wow - Physical sounds right up my alley (given that my alley was the one Pineapple Dance Studios was down in the 80s). Murders in the building is very watchable - glad it is back. We have been watching You - creepy stalker, set in New York, yet humorous.
I usually get to things well after the curve and when I text my friend group 'I think you will like this great series on Netflix called Unbelievable' I get back a load of rolling Eye emoji and 'it is 2 years old'. We have just finished the whole of Seinfeld which I missed in the original and actually felt tv-grief when it ended.
I don't know about anybody else but I just don't watch TV unstreamed anymore. Except when my husband scrolls obsessively through the news channels while I put my hands over my ears and lalala until Netflix is back on.
I <3 Spike on press Gang !!
I’m stuck at home with covid at the moment and have been rewatching ‘Never Have I Ever’ on Netflix. It’s funny and easy watching if you are coughing your guts up and feeling crap. X
‘Working Moms’ on Netflix, I mean the WORST title but deeply darkly hilarious and also just made me ache it hits the point so accurately at times.
The Dexter Fletcher part of this is incredible! I have Covid and just watched some Press Gang on YouTube to make me feel better. Becoming Elizabeth and Sherwood are on my list. Highly recommend Only Murders for incredible apartments and coats. Other shows I am enjoying are The Bear, Dark Winds and The Old Man. Spike and Lynda for ever!
Yes! I feel the same way about Rose Byrne! So does my husband which is less enjoyable. I think it’s because she does a lot of comedy and comedy is always under-appreciated. She and Domhnall Gleeson were so good together in Peter Rabbit that it made me wish they were in something else without rabbits. I’d love to watch Press Gang again but also scared to as it’s perfect in my memory. I always remember that line in one of the first episodes (maybe the first) where Lynda is late for an exam and the teacher says “It started at 9!” and she says something like “yes it was supposed to, you’re doing fine”. Always wanted to be Lynda, curly hair and a husky voice was it too much to ask? I’m glad Only Murders in the Building is back. I don’t really like crime shows but it’s so knowingly silly and Selena Gomez plays off Martin Short and Steve Martin in such a funny and endearing way that I really enjoyed it. I did watch the first episode of Dopesick, and that was quite good, Michael Keaton is great, but I’m also listening to Empire of Pain, so that’s quite a lot pain and I haven’t been back for more. Really just waiting for the Stranger Things finale.
Morning! Have we talked about Conversations with Friends? I really enjoyed that series.  In my early thirties I had an affair with a married man so the story was very...what’s a less scary word than triggering? Poking? Nudging? Yes it poked and nudged me and I realised how crazy and upsetting and ultimately DOOMED that situation is always going to be.
Learnt so much from the whole thing and mainly I think that quite a lot of men (trying not to just say ‘men’) are weak and even at 32 you can make shit choices.
Anyway, enough about that - it was great and I also really enjoyed Chivalry. Watching that doc about the alps murders - horrendous. Ooh and is there to be another series of Divorce do we know? That was bloody brilliant as they say.