It feels like you can’t move for seeing good press about The Outlaws, the recent comedy from Stephen Merchant. I finished watched it a week or so ago, and it was so good, I just wanted to add to the celebration of such a good show. Here are five things to love about it: The cast. From relative unknowns to the supremely famous Christopher Walken (how on earth did that happen?), the cast are a real odd mix of people… which is kind of the point! The show centres on a group that are forced to do community service together and it is how the different viewpoints clash and interact that make for some of the funniest and most interesting moments of the series. The lorry. In doing the rounds for promoting the show, Merchant was constantly having to explain that picture of the wardrobe lorry in the river. Awkward. But also somehow a great piece of promo for the show, as it’s about people not quite sticking to the rules, either on purpose or just because that’s how life goes. The Banksy. In the final moments of the final episode, Christopher Walken paints over a genuine Banksy artwork. That is all. The parents. The core cast are great but there were a few exceptional pop up characters too, particularly the parents - Nina Wadia as an overprotective mother and Richard E. Grant as an aloof and distant father. Amazing. The fact that we know there’s a second series. The two series were filmed back to back, so it’s great to know before you’ve even finished that there’s more joy where this comes from!

Musicals week has arrived, and it’s one of those that all the couples say they were desperate to participate in… but we’re getting to the sharp end now and the good have to be even greater to get through. Also, this is the first week in Strictly history that Craig Revel Horwood wasn’t on the judging panel, replaced by Cynthia Erivo. It was fitting, as she’s a superb theatre star with plenty to add on the couples performances. It was also fun for the women to outnumber the men on the judging panel, too - first time ever?

Recently, I watched Shang-Chi, the latest Marvel movie, and it was really good but I couldn’t have predicted the road it would lead me down. After watching the movie, I dug into the behind the scenes documentary that also popped up on Disney+ at the same time. It was a great look at how the movie came together, the thoughts behind updating the character and bringing some legendary martial arts into the Marvel world.

Just your regularly scheduled week this time, with plenty of excitement building up to musicals week next time out. My only thought from the intro sequence is to pity the colour balancing people, Motsi’s dress was something else entirely. On with the show, predictions this week have to return to Dan, unfortunately, and perhaps Tilly following last week. Talking of which, Tilly opened the show! Tilly & Nikita - Quickstep Nice concept, I thought the dance was a bit kicky, and I was really concerned that she was going to trip over her own or Nikita’s feet, which suggests it wasn’t as smooth as you might like. Good personality in it, though, almost like a Charleston. The judges liked it but they’re starting to get really picky now… and only medium scores for this one.

Much is made of us being at the halfway point of the series, presumably because they can’t make a big deal about going to Blackpool anymore. The montage of contestants talking about how much the series means to them at the start of the show was using footage from two weeks ago (I’m assuming so that no one was painted green) but it really confused me.

Woohoo, Halloween! Actually, if I’m honest, I’m not normally that bothered about Halloween week - the costumes are always exceptional but as a holiday, it’s not that interesting. The only prediction I had coming into this week was that someone would definitely be painted green. I wasn’t expecting that to happen right in the opening Pro number, but there it was! We also had someone painted red, but hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.

It’s not the best time to get obsessed with maps and walking, given that the autumn and winter weather is starting to kick in, but I recently discovered the Get Outside section of the Ordnance Survey website. As the official mappers of the UK, they have plenty to peruse on the atlas and map side of things, but they’ve also made a big effort to encourage people to leave the comfort of four walls and a roof and make the best use of their products.

The drop out rate this week was somewhat reduced, but sadly Judi and Graziano weren’t able to perform due to testing positive for Covid. I’m sure it’s not outlandish to suggest they might have been in the bottom two this week after a couple of weeks in that position, so that left things a little bit more wide open in terms of who might perform well and who might be going home.

Coldplay have always been a divisive band, one of those who for some reason it’s cool to dislike them. I’m not sure if I’ve fallen either side of the debate, although their debut album Parachutes got me through some difficult times, so does have my esteem. I haven’t really thought about Coldplay for a while, but two things in the news recently have made me think about what this band is doing and where they’re headed.

It was a bad week for Strictly drop outs leading up to Saturday’s show. First, Robert and Dianne had to withdraw, which was a shame but totally understandable - health comes first! I hadn’t realised Robert had been through the heart surgery two years ago, so definitely the right thing to do. And then Ugo had to take a week out (hopefully!) due to a back issue - I’m guessing that high jump into forward roll over Oti last week wasn’t such a good idea? Anyway, let’s take a look at those who did participate.

It always surprises me how quickly a theme week arrives but here we are with Movie Week, and boy it was such a colourful collection of characters that gathered at the bottom of the stairs as the show began. We were also treated to a gorgeous pro dance opening the show with the wonderful Johannes and Kai taking centre stage - it made me warm to Kai a little bit more.

The second season of supremely popular comedy Ted Lasso came to a close yesterday with the final episode wrapping up lots of open threads but also derailing everything for a cliffhanger to lead us into season three. I loved this series just as much as I loved the first one, but it can’t be denied that they are two very different beasts. As I mentioned when I wrote about the first series, I still have a desire to write about each episode individually, but for now I’ll focus on the main things that jumped out at me over the last twelve weeks.

Nerves ahoy as this is the first week when someone actually gets voted out. After last week’s incredible opener, where everyone put in a good show and we saw a minimum of mistakes, I think the nerves and the training schedules started to get the better of some people as there were a lot more wobbles during the evening. But let’s see how that played out, couple by couple.

I missed this when it came out last year, but James May’s adventures around Japan are an absolute must watch. Apparently this show was pitched to the BBC originally but they never made it, leaving Amazon to pick up the tab for a six-episode stint around the many islands of Japan. James May makes a brilliant host for this show, the premise being that he loves Japan but has never quite been able to explain why and wants to find out what it is that makes this country tick. He’s joined in each episode by a local guide, and rather than the usual situation where they just translate and point out local landmarks, these guides get fully involved and really give James a hard time. Particularly in the first episode where James’ lack of skills in a competitive snowball fight are very quickly pounced upon by his guide, but also in the giant robot fight, and in every activity that he and Yujiro participate in.

Right, we’re in it now, aren’t we? The first proper week of people dancing and showing us what they’ve got. What an incredible show it was, a bonanza of lights and colour, banging tunes and of course buckets and buckets of glitter. I think we say this every year, but the standard seems so high? I don’t think there was a single dance that was cringey and unwatchable, and there’s usually always one. But let’s revisit dance by dance and see what predictions we can make.

I don’t remember which was the first Pitch Meeting video I watched, but I do know that ever since then, I’ve been obsessed. Ryan George, of the TV and film site ScreenRant, creates and features in these incredible videos that recreate what might have happened in the pitch meetings for a variety of different films. They are ridiculous and hilarious and, more than anything else, always completely spot on. A few times over the past few years of writing Film Watch posts, I’ve wondered what on earth could have happened in the pitch meeting for the odder movies I’ve seen - now I don’t need to wonder any more.

Like many people, I spent some of my lockdown time in the garden: digging, planting, weeding, wondering, waiting. It seemed like a sensible thing to do, we weren’t allowed to go on any grand adventures, so why not go on a bit of a journey closer to home? I’ve tried growing things before, my so-called Great Gardening Adventure that resulted in a couple of tomatoes, a withered cucumber, and some strawberries that were brought back from the brink by strong advice from my mother.

In 2019, I wrote a quick post after every week of Strictly Come Dancing. Last year, I wrote absolutely nothing about the show, even though the fantastic Bill Bailey won it and I spent the entire two and a half hours of the final crying at everyone being so emotional. This year? Who knows, maybe something in between? It seems about time to dust off the glitterball on the blog though, and have my say over the launch show that took place this past weekend.

I used to be an incredible podcast fanatic, but my interest has waned steadily over the past few years. The prevalance of celebrities picking a genre and talking to other celebrities about it got boring for me, so I moved on to audiobooks and music instead. The other trend that seemed to be a move in the wrong direction for podcasts was the silo effect - exclusive podcasts to various platforms, Audible being one of the main players in that space.

I’m always interested in new and helpful ways of tracking your health and fitness data, but well aware of the perils of getting obsessed with it. It needs to be a guide rather than the be all and end all of everything. That’s why the Gentler app caught my attention - advertising “better control of your well-being” by turning data into more human and accessible insights. It has all the usual information, workouts done, calories burned, time spent on activities, but it presents tham in a useful way. It also gives you hints and tips about the direction you might want to take it - “you did a great run today, why not try a longer one tomorrow?” sort of thing. I do like a bit of a nudge and guide about what to do next.

When I want something a bit more relaxing to watch, I dip into Dawson’s Creek on Netflix. Maybe relaxing isn’t the right word, all those hyperbolic teenagers making a drama out of a molehill, but it’s a comforting treat regardless. The only problem with it is, up until this past week, the theme tune was Run Like Mad rather than the correct I Don’t Want to Wait by Paula Cole. Never has the Skip Intro button been more appropriate.

I recently finished watching the second series of Home Before Dark, an Apple TV+ show that is a mystery adventure following a family in a small town. When you try and describe this show in any more detail than that, it starts to sound a bit odd: Well, there’s a ten year old girl who thinks she’s a reporter and digs into a cold case when her family moves back to the small town her father grew up in. Yep, she’s just a kid and she talks to sources and riles up the local police and gets into all sorts of mischief and gets to the bottom of the mystery.

I’ve previously watched all the James Bond movies to date, pending Time to Die, in a big journey from the opening credits of Dr. No to the closing sequence of Spectre. It was a heck of a ride full of highs and lows and good action sequences and questionable moments, and I loved it. So having completed the movies, tick, tick, tick, what next? I decided I wanted to read the books - a series of 12 novels and 2 collections of short stories published between 1953 and 1966. In my research on the books, I found that Audible had the full series of audiobooks read by an outstanding selection of authors. I mean, just get a look at these names:

Apple TV+ has a great strike rate so far when it comes to their TV original releases. We’ve watched a really good percentage of them and enjoyed almost all with just a couple of near misses along the way. That means we try and give everything come up a go because the chances are more than good that it’ll be worth watching. Thus, we watched Physical, a series staring Rose Byrne as a budding home video workout star trying to break through in the 1980s, whilst also supporting a family and a husband who has his own political ambitions. It sounds like an odd premise and actually the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets.

It’s not ideal, is it, having to host an Olympic Games during an enduring worldwide pandemic. Tokyo 2020 delayed their games by a year and still it didn’t feel like it was really the right time to go ahead with it. But when would be the right time? That’s the difficult question. Many, many precautions were put in place and still athletes were having to self-isolate after catching or being pinged about a potential exposure to Covid.

I mentioned yesterday in my post about Riviera that I wasn’t a huge art fan, and that’s true but it made me wonder if it’s because I don’t know enough about the subject matter. A solution to that quickly leapt to my attention - the DailyArt app. The title says it all really, the app presents you with a new piece of art every single day with a bit of background and a story behind the piece. Giving art context really helps to appreciate it and there’s a good mix of modern and classic pieces. Plus if you don’t like something one day, there’ll be a brand new piece along the next day!

I’m not a huge art lover, so it’s a bit of a wonder that the Sky show Riviera appealed to me. The show initially followed the dramatic and over-the-top adventures of an art curator in the South of France, dealing with deception, murder, and rebellious families, all with high fashion and expensive paintings draped along the way. The main draw, if I’m honest, was the lovely Julia Stiles and actually it ended up being worth watching.

A fun fact from Disney’s behind the scenes of the recent Loki series is that the God of Mischief has been on the big screen for less than two hours out of the fifty or so available in The Infinity Saga. Two hours across ten years, and yet this character is so incredible popular. I saw one of those weird bracket competitions on Twitter for who was the MCU’s best villain and it came down to Thanos vs Loki. Villain is a bit harsh for the Asgardian scamp, and I don’t actually know who won out of the two of those, but it does show how popular he really is.

Of course the overarching plan is to watch all the films in the world, but there are quite a lot in existence already and then all these creative types just keep making more, so, you have to pick and choose. I’m sure you’re well aware by now that I love a structured challenge and I saw Stephen King tweeting recently about his ongoing project - to watch a movie from every year between 1961 and 2021. What a great idea!

How joyous for Wimbledon to be back on our screens! One week down and one to go, and what great tennis we’ve seen so far. I hadn’t particularly intended to write a post about this year’s championships, but then I remembered that it’s so-called Manic Monday, and it’s potentially the last one we will see. Going forward, Wimbledon will no longer have that sacred Middle Sunday off, instead they will play on through.

The second series of Apple TV+ series Trying came to an end yesterday, bringing to a close an emotional but fantastic series that has already been renewed for a third. I don’t know why I didn’t write about this series after the first series, but now eight further episodes on, I think the second series has outclassed the first outing anyway, so now seems like a better time to give it a review.

If you’ve read any of my Film Watch posts for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll have noticed a trend towards the end of the first three phases that goes something like: ‘I think this is a good film but I’ve totally lost the plot and don’t know what’s going on. I’ll have to go back and rewatch the movies and do some homework.’ Well, with the bonus of ever-extending lockdowns, I’ve actually managed to do it! I set about rewatching the Marvel movies all the way from Iron Man through the latest Spider-Man, and not just watching with my eyes but making notes at the same time. At first the notes were supposed to just be people and places, to try and keep track of who exists, the crossovers and the locations. It ended up a bit more extensive than that, but oof, it’s helpful.

To celebrate their 100th anniversary (there’s a lot of great history there that’s probably for another time), Kotex have launched a global She Can Initiative to support and promote menstrual cycle hygiene and education - getting rid of that never-ending stigma about the cycle that half the population live with for a good portion of their lives. As part of the intiative, they’ve launched a series of videos with inventor Simone Giertz to help visualise various areas of the menstrual cycle by the art of machine.

I am completely in love with the show For All Mankind. The sheer audacity of the whole thing is wonderful. It’s out there but also somehow grounded in reality. If you’ve not seen it, or read my thoughts on Series 1, the premise is an alternative history where Russia landed on the moon before the US, and everything that follows from that. I read a review of the show that explained how anything that tries to exploit the butterfly effect - small things creating exponential changes - is bound to start slow but gradually pick up speed. That describes the first season perfectly. It took me two attempts to get going with it, but once I did, I adored it.

I can see why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was scheduled to be the first of the new breed of Marvel TV shows to appear on Disney+. It’s a more standard superhero series than the innovative approach taken by WandaVision. However, I loved both of them equally in different ways. Falcon was a much calmer show, despite traditional action sequences, superhero fight scenes and plenty of drama. Although it had all that you might expect from a MCU movie, Falcon had a lot more. There was a deeper dive into the psychological effects of living in this world, whether that is regret from things you’ve done, how hard it is on the people left behind, or how much courage you have to have to take up the mantle.

“I need another pair of earphones,” I said. “What’s wrong with the five pairs you already have?” “I don’t have five!” Indignantly, I counted them. I didn’t have five. I had six. But they’re all for different purposes, you know? Original AirPods - revolutionary and brilliant but struggling for battery life. AirPods Pro - to replace the AirPods, which I never quite got round to throwing away. BeatsX - sporting headphones, but again struggling for battery life. BeatsX but in a different colour - to replace the original Beats X that I couldn’t quite bring myself to ditch. AirPods Max - Because they are freaking awesome. And also felt like my ears could do with a break from all the inner ear nonsense. Beats EP - Wired Beats required for Windows laptop since working from home The new ones, by the way, are absolutely necessary and could not be fulfilled by any of the above - a pair of earphones specifically for Fitness+ workouts.

A medium level spring clean uncovered this little gem in a dusty box tucked away in a random corner. I got super excited when I first saw the edge of it, because I thought it was the original part one book by George Gipe. Sadly that one is still missing in action. And I never did have a copy of part three.

I’ve been loving the new Star content that was released on Disney+ in the UK recently, and one of the first things I checked out was Cougar Town. Featuring the lovely Courtney Cox and a lot of people that used to be in Scrubs, the show revolves around a really tight-knit group of family and friends as they navigate divorce, new relationships, new parenthood, empty nests, and lots of other things.

In my last post I mentioned that Inside the Factory inspired my purchase of a casserole dish. If you’re not aware, the show features Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey visiting various factories around the country, sometimes world, to find out how our staples are made. It’s always interesting to see how a factory works, how the weird machines do what they do, and our hosts give us lots of fascinating facts and figures along the way.

Last week, a Le Creseut casserole dish was delivered to my house. You know the ones, top of the range pots and pans that come with the associated price tag. I could tell you the excuses and reasons behind this - spending more time in the kitchen, should have the best tools you can, not spending on a lot else at the moment - but actually there are only two things that led to this purchase:

More and more content is being added to the Apple TV+ streaming service, and I’ve noticed they’ve started increasing their children’s output alongside the adult dramas and films. Recent additions include the acclaimed Wolfwalkers and a new series of Snoopy and Charlie Brown, but one that really caught my eye was Stillwater. Obviously, it was the panda that made me give it a watch, and whilst the show itself is aimed at a younger audience, it is so beautiful, I had to watch the whole thing. Exquisite animation follows three kids through various situations, often requiring their neighbour Stillwater the panda to offer some wisdom and tell them a story that illustrates the moral of the episode.

This weekend, I finished watching the final season of Agents of Shield and it was, as expected, brilliant and moving, hopeful and emotional, and an action-packed time-travelling ride to the end. The first thing to say about it is thank goodness it came to a good conclusion, that for the most part the time-travel story made sense, and it was a happy ever after for almost all of the characters. Phew!

I wish I could say that the many lockdowns of 2020 turned me into a domestic goddess with a sparkling clean house and freshly baked goods spilling out of the oven every day. It did not. I, like many people, spent a lot of time in my pyjamas, working too many hours, and watching too much TV. But, I have managed to get in the kitchen for the last couple of weekends, and one of my first adventures of 2021 is homemade granola!

It’s been about a month that Apple Fitness+ has been out in the wide world and I’ve been using it pretty consistently since then. I wrote some thoguhts when the service initially launched and I thought it would be worth an update. My bottom line feelings haven’t changed: it’s a great addition to my fitness schedule but it doesn’t replace anything wholely. I turn to it when the main aim of my workout is closing my rings because having the visuals up on screen really helps achieve those goals. When I’m after something a bit more intense, Les Mills is still my go to.

We’re in the middle of another lockdown which means opportunities to go outside are few and far between, and that living vicariously through YouTube is the order of the day. I’ve suddenly realised the appeal of those “slow television” videos, particularly where people are just walking around looking at stuff. If you like a bit more content than that, I’ve also found just the thing! Tom Scott has a YouTube channel with a variety of subjects but I’ve really been enjoying his Amazing Places series. He uncovers all kinds of interesting facts about places you wouldn’t even think existed, for example, the latest video about the road used extensively in TV dramas.

The first two episodes of WandaVision appeared on Disney+ this week and I very quickly devoured them both. I wasn’t expecting to be as interested as I was, thought maybe I’d check it out when I had the time, but all the hype surrounding it completely sucked me in. Here are five immediate thoughts about the show: In navigating the menus to get to the show, Disney+ recommended their new Marvel Legends series and I’m so glad I watched this first. It introduces a bit of backstory to the characters that are appearing in their new line up of TV shows, so at the moment just two episodes of about eight minutes each featuring Wanda and then Vision. It was super useful. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I can’t keep up with the Marvel Universe even when I’m in the middle of the movies, so a quick reminder of their history made all the difference.

I can’t believe I didn’t write anything after watching the first series of Staged in summer of last year. David Tennant and Michael Sheen bantering for 6 x 20 minute episodes. It was one of the bright spots of culture that came out of the specific circumstances of lockdown. Despite it being an epic piece of work, I suppose no one really wanted a second series as it meant life hadn’t got back to normal. But here we are, lockdown three is in full effect and the second series of Staged has brightened up a terrible January.

Hooray for the dreaded time of year where I pick out the top five albums I’ve listened to over the past twelve months. Each week for 50 weeks, I listen to two albums. One is a new one (this year or the previous year) and one is an older one (from any time previous to that). So I can’t promise to have listened to every album that was released last year but of those I did, I’ve managed to narrow down five of the best.

Normally at this point, I write a post setting up some goals for the coming year. Like many people, I’m certain that setting new year’s resolutions is NOT the thing to do for 2021. I can’t even bring myself to look at my 2020 post to see the things I wanted to achieve that absolutely didn’t happen. 2020 was an unpredictable and unprecedented year that is best put behind us and even though setting specific goals isn’t the way forward, it’s still worth looking, thinking and hoping that the next twelve months will be better. I was lucky in a lot of ways last year and count my blessings, but for everyone’s sake I’m hoping that 2021 will bring us all good things and life can settle just a little into whatever the new normal is going to be.

There’s an enormous amount of TV out there - existing and brand new, bingeable and streaming weekly - and the vast catalogue is only going to keep on growing. In fact, the appetite for amazing TV seems to be growing with many famous names and faces making the transition from the big screen to the small screen… and, of course, the big screen not being so big at the moment!