I was quite enjoying the banter of this, just a grumpy guy and a Santa character chatting away, but there was a whole sub-plot that came out of nowhere and didn't make sense. Did I black out at some point? Because there was a lot of talk about an iPad and then suddenly Santa had the iPad and he was being chased but it wasn't at all clear why or what had happened. Presumably it was going to be explained later at some point but I just couldn't be bothered with it.

This was an okay movie, derivative of all the other body switch movies but at least leaning into that and referencing them all - including the one Jennifer Garner herself has been in! It was more confusing to try and keep track of who was doing what and what their goals were because there were three switches, rather than just one. Although, still not sure how the baby and the dog switched because there's no way either of them were wishing for that to happen at the exact right moment.

Turns out, Melissa Joan Hart has made something of a career of cheesy Christmas movies recently, so after Holiday in Handcuffs, it was only fair to check out another one. I wanted to like this because, you know, MJH and baking, what more do you need? Actually, it was no good, and a bit of a slog so that I had to give up. The Nutcracker coming to life is one thing, but then he had no real personality or charisma so I just wanted him to go back to being a toy.

What a terrible film this is. Mr C was sure this was a Christmas film, and I guess it is as it's based around the holidays but that's about as far as it goes. I'm never sure about a movie that leans into the was-fat-but-now-thin-so-everything-will-be-better trope and on top of that, all the characters in this are completely awful before and after. And I'm not even sure what the point of it was?

I was aware that this film has very poor reviews but I've read the book and it has a great cast, so why not give it a go? Turns out, I loved it! I can see why people don't necessarily like it as it's a bit grinch trying to skip Christmas, but I thought it was funny, and in the end quite moving. The neighbours were a nightmare and I would definitely have moved long before it got to this point, but hey, all's well that ends well.

Despite a couple of stinkers so far this year, I'm still on a mission to watch more of these cheesy romance movies - not everything has to be a massive blockbuster, right? I jumped at this one because of Teri Hatcher and it was actually surprisingly good. The situation contrived and the love story a bit forced, but it had some good themes of learning about yourself and starting over, and not being judgemental about other people. I liked it!

I didn't think this was going to be a particularly good movie, the title being a pretty bad start to things. But I was curious and gave it a go. It was terrible. Really bad and obvious sets, some dodgy accent work, terrible dialogue and implausible storylines. I suspect there was going to be some falling in love at some point, but there was no chemistry between any of the characters, either the sisters, the ones who were getting married, or the ones who were presumably going to end up together. Best avoided.

This was an okay movie, Melissa McCarthy pretty much holding the whole thing but the relationship between her and Paapa's character was good. They tried so hard to cover all the potential plot holes with the wishes and stuff but then I think they missed a pretty important one.

It seems like I’ve been saying this a lot recently - this thing from the past is coming back or being rebooted in some way, and it sounds like a really bad idea. And, just as with most of the other things, it’s actually turned out so much better than I was expecting. In this instance, the subject in question is the Paramount reboot of Frasier. It seemed so unnecessary... …

This was a really good, traditional festive rom-com style book, with our hero coming home in something of a disgrace and revitalising the area and solving lots of people's problems. It doesn't all go smoothly though, and I liked the will-they-won't-they of the relationship between two people that clearly love each other, and the ever-growing mystery around her father and suspect council goings on. A really good read, and I hadn't realised that Wynbridge was a series so there are more books to get stuck into.

I wanted something quick and simple to read, easing into the holidays nicely, and Paddington always delivers. This time the bear was up to all kinds of mischief but I like that there were glimpses of things he can actually do really well - gardening, and unexpectedly, doing foley work! But of course there's chaos as well, and it was a lot of fun to journey through the adventures with our furry friend.

I wasn't expect much from this movie, but actually, I ended up really enjoying it. It's a blatant copy of Groundhog Day but it kind of leans into it with the clock and everything so it's not annoying. I love messing about with time and the chance to redo things and see what different outcomes there will be, so it was right up my street from that point of view.

I love Melissa Joan Hart, mostly from nostalgia of kids shows, and this TV movie has been in my sights for a few years now but it's taken until now to find the time and the streaming to get it watched. I'm not sure if it wouldn't have better to stay unwatched as it's not that great! MJH and Mario López are both fun and have good chemistry, and they do the best with what they've got, but it's not a great movie.

After watching Miriam on the Graham Norton Show, I realised I had the audiobook of her memoir tucked away so quickly started listening to it. Miriam talks with that trademark openness and honesty, littering the stories with frankness, swearing and shocking moments - but you know she doesn’t do it to be inciting, this is just her truth. It’s long, but it’s well read and fascinating from start to finish.

I read this because it was sold as a time looping festive story, in the spirit of Groundhog Day. And it started out like that, ooh what is this weird looping, and reliving the same day, and all the joy and hilarity that comes with that. but then there were only a couple of loops until we got stuck back in to the rom-com side of things. And then there was never any real resolution to why it had been happening. The characters and story were cute but in the end it was just frustrating.

We watched and at first I thought it was going okay. I mean, it wasn't good but it was just a cheesy Christmas movie with people learning lessons and getting in the festive spirit. There was over-acting aplenty, and precocious kids, but it was entertaining enough with a glass of wine.

I was not necessarily as geared up for this final as I was hoping - it all just seemed so predictable, and I knew it wasn't going to be the emotional rollercoaster that other finals have been. However, I kept telling myself that stranger things have happened and Ellie might not just run away with it, right? Great opening dance, by the way, so lovely to include both Amy and …

This is a report of the 1996 Everest disaster where several people died trying to reach the summit in just one day, as told by survivor Jon Krakauer. From the afterword that hits out at those trying to discredit him, there’s some animosity about the truth on various sides of the story, but even with that in mind, this is a really well told story. It’s factual alongisde memories and thoughts, not accusatory but just trying to unravel what really happened up there.

It feels like we're lacking brand new credible festive movies this year, so grabbed at this one with both hands after loving the first one. It didn't quite live up to that original from last year, but it was still pretty good - nice and frothy and with the addition of a Sam Ryder song and the fabulous Krakowski... excellent.

It's always nice to finish off the year with a stand out classic album, and so you can't go wrong with this one from the Boss. Born to Run is obviously the main track leading off the second side, but otherwise it's just a really good solid rock album full of the genius of the man and his band, and it stands the test of time.

I've not really reviewed a dedicated holiday album before, although there was that Halloween one by Duran Duran earlier this year. Christmas albums can be a bit repetitive, but this one by Cher is absolutely legendary. The single and lead track that she's been promoting on all the TV shows is brilliant, it really gets you in the mood and then it's followed up by fantastic guests, great old and new songs, and an overall brilliant hour of tunes.

I read this earlier in the year and for some reason didn’t write a review at the time. It’s a book chronicling the early years of both Ant & Dec’s career - this pair really can’t do anything apart! They take it in turns to discuss their early years, meeting on Byker Grove and transitioning to a pop career that they weren’t always comfortable with. Within each chapter, they pop in and out almost as though it’s a conversation, and you can really hear it as though they are talking to each other. Good, interesting approach, a little distracting in places, but I learnt quite a lot about their early years.

I'm willing to suspend plenty of belief and common sense and, quite frankly, intelligence, to watch these super cheesy Christmas movies - in fact, that's part of the charm to get lost in a schmaltzy world of nonsense. But this one was really dull, and the premise just didn't make any sense at all. So I canned it after twenty minutes. On to the next!

Hooray, it's time for another Mastermind specialist topic that I think I could have a good go at if I was sitting in the hot seat. It was a few episodes ago and Amy's chosen topic was the sitcom MIRANDA. Yay! If I'm being completely honest, I only knew this had occurred because Miranda herself took the quiz on Tiktok. She did pretty well, not 100% though! Amy got ten …

The Graham Norton Show is legendary on British TV screens - a chat show that is hilarious but friendly, mixing unexpected celebrities together so that you never know when a fascinating moment is going to happen. I dip in and out, the quality of the show naturally depends on the selection of guests, and your enjoyment varies depending on your knowledge and liking of them. This week's show featured a …

I feel like this book hits slightly differently now we have experienced a global lockdown, but this was written in 2017 before any of those events occurred. The book is billed as life-affirming and funny but I didn’t find it to be those things - it was drama, it was tough, emotional and moving, it was families finding out a lot about each other in a short space of time, it was illness and loss and grief. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it, it’s just not quite what I was expecting. In places, it was quite predictable, but not in a bad way either… it was well written and an engrossing read, if ultimately quite depressing.

After a very minor scalding incident with a hot water bottle, I realised that there was a lack of HWB covers in the house and that I could probably whip one up quite quickly with a bit of leftover yarn. I sourced this super easy pattern, and even though I was using slightly different weight yarn, it worked out so well. The pattern is so easy, increase a little, knit …

Sarah Morgan’s Christmas books are becoming something of a staple and this was another good one. A group of friends head to a remote and romantic inn for their festive book club meeting and they have plenty going on in their own lives, let alone getting involved in the drama of the inn itself. Good characters, great friendships, plenty of ups and downs in family, friend, and romantic relationships, and that lovely festive feeling throughout.

After the slightly disappointing quarter final in which an injured Nigel withdrew and no public vote was held, we're back at the sharp end again. With each couple doing two dances tonight, there will be three scores from the judges added together, although our remaining couples are so close, you have to wonder how much difference that will make. We're at that point where the start of this competition seems …

I had previously talked about how excited I was for the Doctor Who specials celebrating the 60th anniversary of the show (sort of), and seeing my personal favourites David Tennant and Catherine Tate return. Well, we have three episodes done and dusted and was it worth it? YES! Here are some thoughts from the shows short run, spoilers obviously within: Bifurcating the Doctor! We now have two Doctors running around, …

There seems to be a lot of Sonic around at the moment, with his Playstation game out, appearing in various other games, and now this release on Apple Arcade. As iconic and nostalgic as the zippy blue hedgehog is, we do need to be careful about an overload for him. But for now, this is a new and different game, so let's give it a try!

This game appears to follow exactly the same premise, gameplay and style as the first one, which is perfect because really that's all we want - more opportunities to swing through the city. I think the map is bigger than it was previously, and the graphics continue to stun and astound. Getting to the top of a high building, looking out over the city, particularly if you can time it at the golden hour, it's breathtaking.

This album popped up in Apple's new releases, as there was a fresh version out to celebrate its 20th anniversary. TWENTY years. Madness. I remember listening to this album when it came out, I was a huge Alicia fan at the time and this was her second album that really followed the greatness of the first. Lots of piano, obviously, sweeping and soaring moments, alongside down and dirty R&B at the same time. Wonderful stuff.

Mika jumped back into my consciousness last year with his stint hosting and performing at Eurovision, and this album popped up towards the end of a year where I was starting to scrabble for which ones to listen to. This is, apparently, his first full length record in French, and I actually really liked it. I'm not the best at listening to lyrics anyway, so only being able to pick out the odd word wasn't much of a problem. And the music is just lovely pop to enjoy.

This was an ok rom-com, but it didn’t grab me as much as I’d hoped - mostly because the main characters weren’t really that likeable and I’m not sure they had a huge redemption arc as they probably needed. I’m torn by the big time jumps as well, on the one hand it’s fun to dip in and out of a life like that, but on the other hand, it meant the events felt quite remote and as though they didn’t really connect in the same way they might otherwise. Ok but not a favourite.

I wanted to try knitting in multiple colours, having previously done a bit of stripe work on full rows but not mixing it up mid-row. I found these patterns for Marvel icons in squares and thought that looked quite a fun place to start. The Captain America shield was my first attempt and I couldn't really get my head round it, somehow it is both too loose and too tight …

Obviously, I’ve picked this up because of how good the documentary is, I don’t suppose I would normally read a footballer’s autobiography. This one is okay, it’s written well, it feels like you’re just sitting down opposite Paul and having a chat. It has plenty of humility and common sense in there, almost repeating that a bit too often really - we get it, Paul, you’re a normal guy! But fascinating to see behind the scenes of how the success of the documentary and the day to day workings of the team affected the players doing the actual business of playing the beautiful game.

So close to the end now and the show descends into chaos! We were all really looking forward to five brilliant dances on Musicals week that would then send four couples through to the semi finals, only to find that Nigel injured himself and couldn't perform. This late in the day, that means he's out of the competition! There are contingencies in place for this, of course, and instead of …

I’ve had a couple of mental health revelations this year, simple things that I’ve learned about myself. They mostly fall under the category of things that you read tips for all the time and think, well sure that’s just common sense, then realise you’re not actually doing it and that might be why you’re bending under the stress. Meanwhile, recently, Apple launched a new element to their health tracking platforms …

Oof, this is not a good film. It's quite simple in premise and storyline which is fine, it's quite refreshing not to have a gazillion sub-plots going on, just a few relationships that need a helping hand. But there are too many problems to ignore - the travelling situation doesn't seem that bad, the chemistry between the two is off, and some of the dialogue is painful. But it has a happy ending, and the uncle is adorable, so could be worse.

I enjoyed the previous memoir by comedian Tom Allen and was curious what this second book would be about, coming so relatively quickly after the first. Sadly, this one is a memoir of grief, with Tom sharing stories and humour from family life with his father, and then the process of coming to terms with his death, and life afterwards. The stories are great, and there’s a lot of honesty and growth and learning throughout. It’s nice to go on the journey with Tom.

This one is a formulaic story about mistaken identity and falling slowly in love, whilst also having the trope of a made-up country, a strained family relationship, and learning to help the community on the sidelines. It has plenty of problems, many of which I've made note of above, but actually if you just go with it, it's not the worst Christmas movie out there - quite entertaining really, and some fun interactions between the brother and sister.

Legend. I've listened to a couple of MJ albums already, but this one was his first proper solo album. It's so good, I hadn't actually realised that the first two songs were so old - they have that timeless feel that could have been released at any time during Michael's career. It's just a fantastic disco album with incredible and iconic vocals and just the start of so much more to come!

I mean, the only real way to describe this album is: meh. It was okay, grown up pop, pleasant enough but not at all worth reaching out for. It didn't make me want to turn it off but I wouldn't seek it out. The only particular upside is that it felt like all the members got their moment to shine, which is a step forward.

The audiobook version of this I listened to was read by Freema Agyeman so it was quite nice to hear it in the voice of Martha herself. It was lucky too, because there were elements of the text that were third person and some that were first person by Martha. It sounded okay being read by Freema, but I did think it was a bit weird switching between the two like that. However, a good story, meaningful and moving as always, with deeper thoughts about extinction and the lengths you might go to to preserve history.

We're at the point now where the floor suddenly seems very empty even when all the couples are there - just six dances to get through tonight, and then only five couples making it through to next week. But hooray, the next show is the musicals special and with the quality of dancers we have left, we should be in for some brilliant entertainment. But that's next week, let's focus …

If you'd asked me a couple of months ago about Whigfield, I'd have said she was a one hit wonder. A brilliant hit, obviously but that was it. Turns out, she keeps on popping up on those 90s episodes of Top of the Pops because she has quite a few dance tracks that I remember and recognise. The album is surprisingly good, the songs do sound similar, particularly Another Day and Saturday Night, but I actually really enjoyed listening to it.

I'm not a big fan of a concept album like this, but somehow this one wasn't too annoying, despite leaning in to the theatre concept quite heavily. It was a surprise to hear Martin Freeman pop up as the narrator, if that's what we're calling him, but thankfully those interludes were short. We all know how I feel about too much talking in an album. The songs were okay, but not hugely memorable, so that's a couple of points off really.

This was a much-talked about book at the time, part of Oprah’s book club I think, although before I got really on board with that club. However, I snapped up this book but have taken quite a long time to actually get round to reading it. It was good, well written, and a tragic journey through a relationship curtailed, but it felt a little bit drawn out in places. The thing happened and then it took a long time for any further developments. But definitely worth a read.