TV

A productive day in front of the telly, as you can see...

8 Out of 10 Cats
10x03 Christmas Special
I love it when a 40-minute panel show is comprised of just two rounds; especially when the host declares the second one to be "the final round" rather than just "round two".
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Due South
2x04 Bird in the Hand [2nd watch]

Just Good Friends
1x05 I Don't Want to See You Again

Little Crackers
Episode 1 The Giddy Kipper
Following last year's 10 Minute Tales, Sky1 again offered up a series of seasonal short films, this lot written/directed/starring a selection of famous comedy faces. This first one is written and directed by Victoria Wood and, despite being produced by 'Sky Comedy', isn't exactly a barrel of laughs. Good though.

Live at the Apollo
6x05 (28/12/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

QI
8x14 Hocus-Pocus (extended repeat) [Christmas special]
I like magic tricks, but those two at the end were a bit pathetic for my taste, a mix of too-obvious mirrors and TV editing.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Upstairs Downstairs [2010]
Part One The Fledgling
Turns out it isn't quite as good as the competition -- a bit too stuck in its own past at times, for one thing, and a tad wasteful of potentially good plots -- but this is still a highly skilled effort. Eileen Atkins is magnificent, cast in a similar position to Downton's Maggie Smith but a completely different role, and it's beautifully shot too. Shame it's only three parts -- the pace things develop at (for instance, Rose taking the whole episode to officially rejoin the household) feels like the start of a much longer series.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]