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Hustle: back on form

Tim — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:51:55 +0000

The fifth series of Hustle is definitely back on form. Glad that Mickey Bricks is back from “Australia” (oh, I thought he’d been off making films), and that the writing has got its edge back. It’s much improved from before. It’s a pity Jaime Murray is no longer in it, but you can’t have everything. Kelly Adams is nearly as good in the same/similar role. Not warming so quickly to Matt Di Angelo but, then again, it was the same with Marc Warren to start with.

Episode 4 is on this Thursday.

Sky+: check your scheduled recordings this weekend!

Tim — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:49:19 +0000

If you’ve got a Sky+ box and use it to record things on series link, check your scheduled recordings on Sunday when the clocks have gone back. Last time the clocks changed we had to re-schedule the recordings because they were all wrong by an hour…

Hustle: the con is over?

Tim — Sun, 20 May 2007 13:54:39 +0000

I hate to say it, but top-notch BBC con-men series Hustle has had its day. I’d been looking forward to the new series ever since the previous series ended, but with the departure of Adrian Lester it’s not the same show at all. This series’ episodes so far have been missing finesse, and I think it’s down to trying to make Danny Blue the new leader of the crew.

He’s just a bit too irritating. I don’t think it’s Marc Warren‘s fault as such because Danny’s character has always been a bit like that. It’s just that the whole idea of the show is that it all comes together in the end, even when it looks like it’s gone wrong. Stacey Monroe said so in the first episode, and Danny took offense — but she was absolutely right.

I’ll keep watching, I suppose, in case it gets any better. But I said the same thing about Doctor Who, and it didn’t.

Eurovision: Torn

Tim — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:20:39 +0000

Thankfully this year there isn’t a song amongst the six UK candidates that I’d be embarrassed for us to be sending to Eurovision, although the Hawkins & Brown attempt was a little disappointing (too much of a mish-mash for my liking). So who did I vote for?

My vote had to go with Cyndi in the end. Yes, she’s French, but perhaps we’ll get some votes from countries who might otherwise vote for France (or from France itself). It’s beside the point really, which is that the combination of the excellent ballad with Cyndi’s very strong vocal was the best of the bunch.

Unexpectedly Scooch was another one we both really liked, so Sue voted for them as well. That song’s still in my head, although I can’t say I’ll be happy if that’s still the case when I try go to sleep.

I hoped the Big Brovaz song would be better, although it seemed to go down well with the invited European straw-pollers.

Just a TV show

Tim — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:32:23 +0000

I’m not going to switch to Sky just to watch Lost. It’s just a TV show. I do think it’s the best TV show I’ve seen, but there will be a DVD. Sure, I’ll miss it on Sunday night, but at least I’ll get to go to bed earlier.

Virgin to drop Lost?

Tim — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:04:55 +0000

Can it really be true that Virgin, run by that nice man Richard Branson, are thinking about dropping Sky One from their cable TV offering? That’s certainly what the rather alarming advert said in the middle of last week’s episode anyway, and it seems to be corroborated by The Guardian. Virgin recently bought NTL, and I had high hopes for them making everything better — but if Sky One goes, ALL IS LOST.

Oh, the picture of the numbers is something I had to take when I tried out the BBC microcomputers and discovered them working…

Bleak House

Tim — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 22:45:46 +0000

Finally finished watching the BBC production of Bleak House, which came on three DVDs. I’m always surprised when I enjoy a Dickens story, probably because I got put off ‘the classics’ when I was at school. So I definitely enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to, and some of the characters are still in my head.

Gillian Anderson was quite good at playing Lady Dedlock, so that was another surprise. Actually it was a great cast altogether: Timothy West, Charles Dance, Ian Richardson, Alistair McGowan. BUT: Matthew Kelly(!)?

Something that was a bit annoying about the DVD set though — after selecting an episode to watch, it goes to a ‘choose chapter’ screen with the names of the chapters in that episode. So if you don’t want any spoilers you have to close your eyes and click Enter twice to skip over that!