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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. Stacey and …

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. It is arguably a …

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 …

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! First, the series as a whole was good but not great. Ncuti continued to blow everyone else away, but Varada made a valiant companion - nice to see one who was …

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 …

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. …

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. But a few things did catch my eye, so here we go: Firstly, a …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

I love a music quiz and The Hit List provides a lively boost of music and energy on a Saturday night. The scheduling of this show confuses me but every now and then a celebrity special pops up, and this past weekend was exactly that. Harry from McFly, some people from morning TV and yay, two Gladiators. Now, there were plenty of questions raised by this appearance - why those …

I recently wrote about my clampdown on spending when it comes to streaming services, but I haven't been lacking in the television department. Most of these were available on 'terrestrial' streamers, and a great variety there has been too! Paradise I just managed to squeeze this in before my Disney+ plan lapsed, and it was really good. The twist at the end of the first episode is up there with …

I'm always in awe of people who can write comedy songs. It seems like some kind of magic trick to me to be able to write a song anyway, to then add a layer of comedy on top is a great skill. Victoria Wood is the legend at it, but there have been many more since that also come up with hilarious works. Flo & Joan, two dead-pan sisters, have …

As I mentioned in my previous post about streaming services, it was the furore around Adolescence that made me sign back up to Netflix. I was managing to ignore the babble about most shows on the network, but this one just couldn't be let go. As soon as I started watching it, I could see why there was such a fuss - it is absolute television gold. I watched all …

One of my goals for this year is to spend less on streaming services. I've mentioned it a few times in posts over the last 12 months or so but it has became a real focus for 2025. I totted up how much I'd spent on streaming services in 2024 and whilst it wasn't a completely extortionate number, it was more than I was comfortable with considering there are only …

I previously sheepishly confessed to purchasing a Le Creuset casserole pan and I’m sure you can imagine it gets far less use than it should do. However, I was so impressed with it at the time that I also purchased a deep frying pan by the same maker and it was also excellent... that one definitely gets used on an almost daily basis. Until now. The pans are supposed to …

I've let my work/life balance get very out of alignment recently, and have quite a lot of catching up to do here on mrschristine.com. However, while I get my act together, I thought it was worth sharing five things that have been keeping me going over the last couple of months where otherwise I may have run screaming for the hills. Cheers I'm a sucker for a really good sitcom, …

This video popped up recently on the BBC Archives, featuring a short look back in the day over whether people would buy films if they could, rather than renting them. We know the answer to that now, my bulging Apple library is a testament to it, but back then it was DVDs, rentals, and Netflix in it's original rental-by-mail format was still a few years in the future. It's so …

I'm loving the new series of Mythic Quest, which is in its second half now, and features all our favourite characters in new and hilarious circumstances. Rachel Meyee tying herself up in knots in front of Congress in last week's episode? Perfection. And actually, Rachel taking centre stage in that episode reminded me of this article from last year that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It …

A recent interview with Tim Rice has brought up the idea of captioning musicals for audiences to gain a better understanding, using surtitles (not a word I had come across before) as newer generations are so used to subtitling their content anyway. It’s very frustrating at times, especially if you’re the words man... Time and time again, the lyrics couldn’t be heard when it was choral. If you’ve got great …

Okay, I've sat with this for two weeks and I can't take it any more. I, like many people, trawl through the Superbowl adverts looking at who has sold out this year, and I was astounded to see Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal resurrecting their When Harry Met Sally characters to sell mayonnaise. It's awful. I wouldn't have minded if it had just been that once, but I've seen it …

The Backstreet Boys popped up on Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary concert and boy were they well received! Who would have thought that Paul Rudd and Jon Hamm would be bopping along to these boys as if their lives depended on it! Plus Maya Rudolph always in flirt mode, it's wonderful. What I love most about this is actually the YouTube comments, not traditionally a place known for positivity, are …

One of my new year resolutions is to spend a bit less on streaming services, which means I'm having to be a bit more judicious about when I watch certain things... and that I'm inevitably watching more on the free services like BBC and Channel 4. It does mean an increase in ad viewing as well, which is a downside, but at the moment, it's worth the trade off. Here's …