Musicals week, the final theme before the final and oh, it’s always a good one. This time, there was a big opening number where each of the couples took a turn in the spotlight. It was so much dancing before the proper competition had even begun - where they just bored this week or what? I loved it though, a great medley! George & Alexis - Argentine Tango (Phantom of the Opera) I feel like this was really difficult music to dance to, but George did an incredible job. There’s no way he could have done this a few weeks ago, before the serious side of him came to the fore. It was really good, some tiny wobbles, but very impressive.

I was on a car journey recently and was instructed to test out the Vehicle Motion Cues on the iPhone. This was a feature that I had no idea existed and it blew my mind a little bit. If you switch on this Accessibility motion feature, it adds some dots to the side of the iPhone screen, which move around in relation to what the vehicle is doing, and somehow, magically it lessens any motion sickness you might be feeling.

Back from Blackpool and everyone has been talking about their being a dip in energy, so I wasn’t expecting absolute perfection from this week’s performances. Plus there’s that new gimmick, Instant Dance, in which the couples get a dance style, a new piece of music, quick choice of clothing, ten seconds to think about it, and then go go go. It’s going to be a disaster.

We make quite a lot of fun of the build up to Blackpool but I feel bad for that now because this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing show was spectacular and worth all the hype. You kick things off with an incredible Steps medley with professionals, contestants, extra dancers, and the judges all taking to the sprung floor, and you know you’re on to a winner. Then you have the downside of the judge’s dance. It’s terrible every week but when you add in Shirley desperately trying to get Claudia to go in the right direction and failing, well that’s next level.

If you said getting a handful of celebrities and their parents and asking them questions in a quiz show, you wouldn’t think it would make a particularly good television show. But throw in the twist that the parents have to decide whether they think their child knows the answers or not, plus the joy of Romesh Ranganathan and his mother hosting, and you’ve got a hit.

Hmm, in case you hadn’t realised, next week is Blackpool. I tried to count the mentions during this episode and got to 27 - half of which were within the first ten minutes of the show. A very good job I didn’t go for the drinking game I was considering! On with the pre-Blackpool show, then. Balvinder & Julian - American Smooth The technique seemed to have improved, there was good footwork and it felt nice and gentle. The lifts were either wrong, or just lacking in confidence, but the performance was good and fitted the song perfectly.

If you haven’t already started (and finished!) watching Riot Women on the BBC, then you must stop what you’re doing and do that instead. It’s absolutely brilliant TV. Of course, the elements are all there to make it magical - the cream of the crop of British female actors (of a certain age), the writing skills of Sally Wainwright, the gorgeous Yorkshire backdrop, and a story about these women putting a rock band together. The music is provided by ARXX and it’s all entirely credible and in some cases brilliant.

We’re halfway through the series and the quality of the dancing is getting better and better each week, as you would expect. But how can we live up to the highs of last week, where we saw the first 40 of the year? Let’s find out! Lewis & Katya - Cha Cha Cha This was good, obviously, and not annoyingly good - it was completely watchable and a great dance. The technique looked pretty impressive, considering the cha cha is notoriously tricky.

Halloween night and the judges went all out on their costumes. I genuinely didn’t think I was going to be able to get through a whole night of looking at Shirley like that! And I saw a video afterwards of Motsi having to take that make-up off… was it worth it, I ask you?? Meanwhile, on with the spooky set of dances this week! Vicky & Kai - American Smooth They had the benefit of an incredible song, and it was a really engaging dance. I think some of the leg positions could have been more shapely, but all the lifts were great. The atmosphere was very intense, too. I loved it!

Tom Daley is everywhere at the moment - after a far-too-brief stint on Celebrity Traitors, he’s got a new show on Channel 4 starting imminently. The series, called The Game of Wool, is one of those cosy competition styles, like Bake Off, but featuring knitting and crochet rather than oven-based larks. It’s going to be a fascinating watch… I knit so slowly I can’t really fathom anyone creating something within a set time limit.

I was sad to read about the death of Prunella Scales today, aged 93. Every tribute and reference I’ve seen has mentioned her turn as Sybil Fawlty in the iconic Fawlty Towers, but I have to go out on a limb and say I vastly prefer her performance in After Henry. I’m mildly obsessed with this sitcom, written by Simon Brett, which started life as a radio series and made a successful move to television, featuring several of the same cast. Prunella originated the role of Sarah France on the radio, a widow who is dealing with the grief of her recent bereavement, whilst also managing having her mother in the top flat and her daughter in the basement flat - three generations of women effectively in the same house.

Strictly Come Dancing this week featured an Icons theme, which I had thought was a one off last year but apparently is now an annual thing. It’s fine, a great idea, but it does lead to some questions over who is and isn’t an icon. What even makes someone an icon in the first place? Is it global superstardom? Is it just being that person for one specific contestant? Given that Vicki Patterson chose Cheryl, I think Strictly is leaning into the latter.

Lots of news this week. When the Claudia & Tess story broke, someone said to me ‘have you seen the Strictly news?’ and my immediate reaction was ‘WHAT NOW?’ This show can’t catch a break. And the presenting duo leaving overshadowed the sad news that Stefan had to withdraw from the show due to injury, a shame after he had just come back from sickness. But he achieved what he set out to do, be able to dance with his wife, so that’s a win.

Last week, Tess and Claudia surprised Strictly Come Dancing fans and the rest of the world by announcing this series would be their last. It was shocking, obviously, because they are part of the fabric of the show, and also because it came out of nowhere - I hadn’t heard any serious rumblings of them leaving and no one had leaked the announcement before it happened. Instead it was just a simple video released by the pair confirming their intentions.

No theme this week, no extra guest mentors, no messing about, we’ve got a full house and a collection of dancers who are ready to prove what they can do. So let’s just get on with the show! Karen & Carlos - Quickstep The training VT made this look great, and it was fab on the floor too. The frame slipped on a few occasions, but it was a lot of fun with plenty of style and sass. Very fast, and the tiny slip at the end, but who cares? It was great!

I’ve just recently finished watching the second series of Platonic and it was absolutely incredible, even better than the first one. It doesn’t look like I wrote anything after watching the first series which is a surprise because it was an excellent set of ten episodes. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen star as best friends who had fallen out for a while but end up reconnecting and getting wrapped up in each other’s lives again - in comedic but completely platonic fashion.

It was nice to be back in the Strictly party watching sort of live on a Saturday rather than a day delayed, and what better way to celebrate than with Movie Week! Hooray! The best part of this is guessing the movies as the celebrities walk down the stairs, and then by extension what song they’re going to be dancing to. We really will make a quiz out of anything.

Two years ago, I wrote about the emergency hot water bottle cover I knitted and how proud I was of the result. It was a super easy pattern that came together really well and quickly, and I went on to knit a couple more covers for family members so that we could all have that extra bit of warmth and protection. They’re all pretty well used now, those original covers, and some of them have stretched a bit, so it seemed like a good time for a refresh - with a new winter approaching rapidly. I wanted to play around a bit with colours, and put a bit more thought into it, so I bought a selection of chunky yarn and mix and matched to come up with the below.

I always love going to the coast, and what’s better than combining a trip to the seaside with a spot of musical theatre at the same time? Weymouth Pavilion was the setting for this adventure, a glorious theatre that is right on the seafront, overlooking some choppy waters. They were definitely choppy when I was there as the wind had picked right up. As the winter night drew in, the multi-coloured lights on the theatre came on and it was a sight to behold.

You’ll have seen it by now, I’m sure, when Eugene Levy met Prince William as part of his travel show The Reluctant Traveller. This Apple TV show began life by putting Eugene out of his comfort zone, as someone who didn’t really like travelling or care much about broadening his horizons. Three series in and his outlook has changed, so each episode is more just an exploration of a different place, a different culture, with Eugene’s thoughts layered on top.

I ended up watching this show late, picking it up on Sunday instead of the usual Saturday night party. It was weird, but did mean that I could go straight from the live show into the results show, so that was fun! This was the final time we’d see all fifteen couples competing, with the first vote, the first dance off, and one person facing leaving the competition at the first hurdle.

Strictly’s first live show of the year and we are back in action baby - technical gremlins and all. The show opened with a rather self-indulgent but still lovely dance through the decades, and then we were introduced to our judges (still insisting on doing the dance and shimmy over to the chairs despite the fact they never manage to get their on time, I’m looking at you Shirley). Our couples took to the floor, with the exception of Dani Dyer who has to sit this year out due to injury and is replaced by last minute super-sub Amber Davies.

This time last year, I wrote about how I was heading into the new series of Strictly with mixed feelings. There had been endless bad news coming from the Strictly camp and the selection of celebrities didn’t have me jumping up and down with enthusiasm. I said: Guess how long it was into the launch show before I was giddy and clapping and bouncing around the room? About ten minutes, if I’m being modest, five minutes if I’m being truthful

I had missed the BBC’s dramatisation of the Brinks-Mat gold heist when the first series aired in 2023, but when the second series came around, there was so much talk of it (and my love for Jack Lowden had grown so much) that it was impossible to ignore. What an incredible TV show, based on an even more incredible story. The scale of this crime and the ongoing repercussions are incredible.

I’ve never been a big fan of Peanuts, the kids in the show are annoying and I just never really gave it much time. But the Apple TV screensavers that feature Snoopy and Woodstock are absolutely brilliant. The pair of them spend most of the time snoozing in various locations, but occasionally they also get up to mischief - Woodstock tending to get the better of Snoopy, or the dog frustrating the bird with his nonsense ways.

Until I saw the DriveTribe video, I didn’t realise that Richard Hammond was working on his own gin - but, of course, it makes perfect sense. Hammond has long been a gin drinker, enjoying the tipple in many episodes of Top Gear and The Grand Tour. And when James May created his line of gin, Hammond was first in line to do the taste testing. As I wrote previously, he seemed to be very interested in the details of the gin-making process, so this next step was always going to happen.

My job involves a lot more meetings and scheduled phone calls than it used to, and although that is all managed through the calendar app, I’ve found jotting down the upcoming schedule on paper can be really helpful for me getting organised and prepared for the day ahead. I’ve tried a few different planners, initially starting with just a simple ruled notebook, and then moving on to the more dedicated planners for this exact purpose. I think I’ve found the pinnacle of these planners, made by Clever Fox.

This is just amazing - Brian May joined Andrea Bocelli on his tour for this incredible performance of Who Wants to Live Forever… the only good thing to come out of the Highlander movie. I have not given Brian May enough credit for his vocals before!

The pattern of this striped cardigan caught my eye and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Although it says it’s designed for men, it looks pretty unisex to me. So I set about knitting it and am pretty happy with the result. The only issue with the final result is that one of the shoulders sticks up a bit like it should have shoulder pads in it. The other one is fine. Also, it’s far too hot at the moment to be wearing a cardigan of any sort let alone a woollen one. I always seem to finish a project at exactly the wrong season to be wearing it.

When the sun comes out, lots of people migrate towards the coast. The beaches are crammed with families swimming and building sandcastles, and the coastlines are full of tourists enjoying the weather and the views. Recently, I was one of those people! However, so many humans travelling in the same direction makes traffic a bit of a bore, and therefore makes public transport more enticing. I’m not a big fan of buses, (more a fan of trains) but then I found myself on a bus… that goes on a boat!

I’m not really sure how this happened but I know it’s worth commemorating - four film adaptations of War of the Worlds in a row! The first two were definitely planned but then whilst researching what other War of the Worlds movies were out there, I discovered I had a copy of Jeff Wayne’s musical concert, and then of course had to go back to the 1950s and see how they managed the effects back then.

Oliver! the musical has had many outings since its inception in the 1960s, and the most recent is a West End Revival that burst onto the scene last year. I saw a performance on one of the variety shows and immediately bought tickets to see it. Taking up residence at the Gielgud theatre, the show is currently booking through to March 2026 and is so far having a very successful run.

This is the second part of a two-part round up of not-so-recent television I’ve been watching. There was a sizeable reduction in what I was able to get to over summer due to the great events such as Glasto and Wimbledon, but I’m back in front of the little grey box again and there’ll be more to discuss soon. Meanwhile, these shows caught my eye over the past few months.

As usual, I took some time off work this year over the Wimbledon fortnight to watch as much tennis as I possibly could. This time, I decided to shift the days a bit and focus more on the second week rather than the first… so typical that this was a year in which most of the top seeds went out super early and so I was left watching rather random people instead.

Recently, the BBC re-aired the 90s series Showstoppers - a musical extravaganza hosted by Gary Wilmott. I remember having this recorded from its original airing and rewatched it over and over. I know the first episode pretty much word for word… for a musicals fan, it’s a must-watch. The show came about because the BBC Concert Orchestra were basically at a loose end and producers suggested a one off show featuring songs from a variety of musicals. It went down really well, so they followed it up with a six part series, featuring lots of different musical guests, heaps of new and old musical numbers, and lots of dodgy jokes but great charisma from host Gary Wilmott.

I haven’t been watching much television recently as it’s been too hot to concentrate, alongside all the other extra-curricular activities - Glastonbury, Wimbledon, Goodwood FoS, etc. However, it’s been a while since I did a roundup of what I had previously watched, so there are still quite a few to catch up on. This is part one of a two part catchup for some of my recent viewing.

I will take any excuse to think or talk about Back to the Future, so seeing this post on the Guardian last week was another excuse to bring up the topic of my favourite movies. The premise of the article is just a revisit of the film trilogy on its 40th anniversary, recapping the history of it but also bringing it into context a little bit.

During Glastonbury last year, I was under the weather and couldn’t give it as much attention as I wanted, and as it deserves. So for 2025, I was determined to make up for that, especially as next year is a fallow year and there will be no festival to enjoy. I watched as much as I could that the BBC had to offer (there are five stages that are broadcast so not complaining but I do wish they could have spent some time on the Avalon stage, it looked like good things were happening there).

The final episode of series fifteen of Doctor Who was already a pretty good one, wrapping up the season nicely, but then we had a couple of surprises that tipped the whole thing sideways and raised many, many questions!

I’m completely fascinated by the furore surrounding the new production of Evita in the West End. The choice by producers to take the iconic Don’t Cry For Me Argentina song out to the balcony is causing all sorts of angst. Star Rachel Zegler heads out to the balcony and belts out the song to passers-by, with the ticket-buying audience inside settling for a live stream of the big moment. Hardly surprising that the people inside are a bit miffed at this, having paid a significant sum only to have a key moment of the show completed remotely. For those outside on the street - and they are starting to gather in their hordes, waiting for hours to see the spectacle - it’s a real treat. There’s no real consensus on this one.

As a birthday treat, my parents and I visited the Bombay Sapphire site in Hampshire for one of their Gin Distillery Experiences. It was a gorgeous day, and although I was driving, I was very in the mood to get my hands on some gin and see how the famous blue bottle came to be. The tour lasted about 90 minutes, starting with the most important thing - a drink. For drivers, there was a non-alcoholic option available, but otherwise it was a guide to making the perfect gin and tonic. There are only four steps to it - ice, gin, tonic, garnish - but it turns out the way I make my drinks is wrong at every single stage. Whoops!

So, the dust has settled and I finally have a moment to put fingers to keyboard and jot down some thoughts from this year’s WWDC announcements. I’ve been quite lacking in keeping up with any news so was blind going into the Keynote, and they crammed quite a lot in without there being anything too major.

There’s a bit of a fog in my memory of how I got from enjoying the sports film Friday Night Lights, giving it s score of five out of five, and writing about it favourably, to buying and watching the entire box set of the television series of the same name. The TV show has excellent reviews and I think part of it might have been the participation of Connie Britton who will forever be Rayna James in my eyes but is no less awesome for that… but what could I possibly like about a series focusing on a small US town with an obsession for American Football?

I really didn’t know very much about Dear Evan Hansen when the show rolled into town on its current UK tour. The song You Will Be Found is obviously the biggest hit and pops up on various musical reviews and occasional variety shows, but outside of that I could only have told you that the main character has a cast on his arm, and Ben Platt was in the film.

Since Sky took the broadcast rights for WTA and refuse to put any decent replays up, I’ve not been watching as much tennis as I used to. It’s a shame, but it also means when I do get to subscribe to Discovery for a month to watch the French Open, it’s a real treat. Watching the players running around the orange clay courts whilst listening to Radio Roland Garros, what a fab way to spend two weeks.

I’ve been intrigued by the play The Shark is Broken since I first heard about it, and was very keen to see it when it embarked on a UK tour. The show is set aboard the boat during the filming of the mega blockbuster Jaws, featuring as the only characters in the play, the three actors who star in the movie. They have plenty of time to spare as the mechanical shark, known as Bruce, keeps breaking down. The play spends time with these three as they get to know each other, argue and make up, in these many hours spent trapped aboard.

For the last few years, I’ve tuned in to the Eurovision Song Contest with some trepidation… thinking I’ll watch just a bit and then it will probably be boring and I’ll end up going to bed early with a good book instead. That hasn’t happened, each year is entertaining in its own right, and 2025 was no different. I did think the show was lacking something, that unique camp-ness that makes Eurovision the juggernaut that it is seemed missing. Most of the entries were credible and well performed and pretty sensible, with just a couple showing that quirkiness that we know and love.

If you want to watch some educational but entertaining TV, wherein our host travels around ancient countries by train and looks at a lot of burial sites, I have just the thing for you. Alice Roberts, celebrated academic and broadcaster, has produced three series of a TV show for Channel 4 in which she does just that. The first, Ancient Egypt by Train, was the gateway drug that led quickly to Ottoman Empire by Train and most recently Ancient Greece by Train.

A couple of months ago, Apple launched a new service as part of their news subscription called News+ Food. The additional app functionality appears in the News+ app, bringing together recipes from around the different outlets that appear in the News app, and allows you to save any recipes you might find. As with other recipe apps, it then allows you to make sure you’ve got all the ingredients available, and then follow along as you cook with an easy view within the app.

Bat Out of Hell: The Musical was on my list as a must-watch so when the UK tour rocked up nearby earlier in the year, I couldn’t help but snap up tickets. Part of me wondered whether it was going to be too similar to We Will Rock You, an absolute staple in my musicals collection. It has that vibe about it, dystopian rock and roll, a jukebox musical of great rock from decades past, and some grungey characters leading the way. But it definitely was different and held its own.