TV

Dexter: Original Sin
1x04 Fender Bender

How I Met Your Mother
1x05 Okay Awesome [2nd watch]

Richard Osman's House of Games
9x04 Week 1: Thursday
9x05 Week 1: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

While that All the Anime order I mentioned still hasn't arrived, a package from Australia turned up having only been dispatched at the end of last week. Really highlights the ridiculousness of whatever AtA have done to mismanage their Christmas sale orders. Anyway, it has finally been dispatched now and is due Monday.

Number of titles in collection: 3,660 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 977 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,683 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 502 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 8,794 [up 12]
Number of films: 4,697 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 483 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,280 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Dexter: Original Sin
1x03 Miami Vice
Amazing restraint for this franchise to have got through 108 episodes, almost all of them set in Miami, before using this title.

How I Met Your Mother
1x04 Return of the Shirt [2nd watch]

Richard Osman's House of Games
9x02 Week 1: Tuesday
9x03 Week 1: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

Hitman: World of Assassination Free Starter Pack

So, the developers of this have made the new James Bond game, First Light, which naturally I'm looking forward to; and this game is widely acclaimed (PC Gamer regularly include it in the top half of their annual top games list), even though I didn't think it was really my kind of thing; but it has a free demo on Steam, so I thought "why not? You never know."

Well, what Steam calls a "demo" the game calls a "starter pack" — it makes you install the full thing, all 60-something GB of it. I guess the idea is you'll love it soooo much you just have to upgrade immediately. I spent 10+ minutes trying to log in online, because you have to before you can actually play anything, and it's not implemented in a Steam Deck friendly way so it took undue effort. But I persevered. Then I had to work out where the hell the actual demo/starter content was — not as clear as you'd think, because you've installed the full game, which after years of support seems to have a tonne of stuff on offer (they're still releasing new content for it regularly). But I found where I had to go eventually.

And then I got killed trying to do the fucking training mission.

I could've had another go at it, of course, but I hadn't really been enjoying it up to that point anyway, so why bother? I was right the first time: this is not a game for me. I hope I enjoy First Light more.

Tabletop Games

Daggerheart:
Dragon Heist in the City of Splendors
&
Curse of Strahd

So much for mentioning these every week! But they've both been continuing non-stop since I last remembered to specifically call them out (which was a month ago yesterday).

TV

How I Met Your Mother
1x03 The Sweet Taste of Liberty [2nd watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x07 Episode 7 [season finale]

Richard Osman's House of Games
9x01 Week 1: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

TV

Dexter: Original Sin
1x02 Kid in a Candy Store

How I Met Your Mother
1x02 Purple Giraffe [2nd watch]

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x99 Champions Week 2: Thursday
8x100 Champions Week 2: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Good Puppers!

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x96 Champions Week 2: Monday
8x97 Champions Week 2: Tuesday
8x98 Champions Week 2: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

After yesterday's minor disaster, I almost didn't want to go back to Skyrim today — shocker, I know! I considered finding something else to play for a bit. After all, this is the only game I've really engaged with for months now, and I have hundreds of others in my backlog, dozens of which I'd class as "ones I really want to play" — why not finally make time for them? But I was worried it would end up souring me on Skyrim, so I decided I should get back on the metaphorical horse. And, of course, I love it still.

Saw a thread on Reddit today asking how long it takes to complete. Some replies were estimating times of 60–100 hours to do not just the main quest but also most major side quests. Well, I'm over 123 hours now and still haven't properly started the main quest, nor even begun most of those major side quests, nor even visited several major cities (yes, still — in fact, my tally is still three out of ten). Am I doing it wrong... or am I doing it right? I think the latter.

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

TV

Dexter: Original Sin
1x01 And in the Beginning...
Finally getting round to this third incarnation of Dexter. We considered skipping over it for Resurrection and coming back to it later, but... well, let's just say the opening mintues proved that would've been a poor decision!

How I Met Your Mother
1x01 Pilot [2nd watch]
Having finished Friends, this seemed like a good replacement. Plus, it's over 16 years since I watched it the first time (I wouldn't have said I'd watched it recently at all, but 16 years! Jesus!) Talking of time, what feels even more insane is that the 'far future year' of the framing device is now just a couple of years off in 2030. Eek.

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x95 Champions Week 1: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Despite months of play, and now over 120 hours in-game, today I forgot one of the cardinal rules of Skyrim — indeed, of most any game: save regularly. I died in a fight I didn't think was going that poorly, and lost a bunch of progress and some rare loot (at least, stuff I hadn't come across yet) loot. Bit annoying. On the bright side, my horse had also died slightly earlier, and I resigned myself to having to buy another one because it had been so long since my last save (and, yeah, I didn't think to save then! What an idiot), so I got that back for free. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

TV

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials
Part 1 Bundle of Love
Part 2 Battle Commences
Part 3 The Finger Points [finale]

The latest Christie adaptation, this time on Netflix. Apparently reviews have been mixed, but I thought it was rather good overall, with several neat twists in the final episode.

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Set out to do something specific today... then got distracted on the way, to the tune of over an hour's playtime. But where I left off, that's where I'd intended to get to — so, next time.

Ah, good old Skyrim.

Tabletop Games

Good Puppers!
A couple more rounds of this. Beginning to get the hang of it, I think.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game
The sequel's out now — need to get ahold of that.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

A trio of posts kicked off my 100 Films in a Year Challenge on 100Films.co.uk at the start of this week.

First, the overview of the structure for 2026's challenge — which is also my 20th time doing all this:





Then, two posts outlining specific 12-film categories. First up, Blindspot:





Finally, what this year I'm calling "What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen All the Best Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Mystery, and Thriller Films?"





Now that 2025 is wrapped up and 2026 is begun, will there be anything to report next Sunday? Probably not. But you never know.

TV

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x06 Does 90s Pop

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x93 Champions Week 1: Wednesday
8x94 Champions Week 1: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
5x05 Circus
5x06 Scars [season finale]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

I thought some more stuff would turn up this week (I placed an order in the All the Anime sale back in December, but they're doing a terrible job of catching up on those), but nope, not a sausage.

Number of titles in collection: 3,655 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 977 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,678 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 498 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 8,782 [no change]
Number of films: 4,691 [no change]
Number of additional cuts: 481 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,280 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x05 Episode 5

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x91 Champions Week 1: Monday
8x92 Champions Week 1: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
5x03 Tall Tales
5x04 Missiles

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x89 Week 18: Thursday
8x90 Week 18: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Game 7 (of 7)

When we played this 'level' with the Charms and Potions Expansion stuff the other day, we actually only included about half the villains, because there are so many now. So this was the other half.

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x86 Week 18: Monday
8x87 Week 18: Tuesday
8x88 Week 18: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
5x02 Incommunicado

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

I feel like I've been doing a lot of faffing about lately — I've done a couple of dungeons, sure, but a lot of general exploring, house stuff, crafting... Almost killing time for the sake of it, because I couldn't decide what to do (there's already a pile of quests in my journal, plus multiple major and minor places I've still not visited... and there's always the main story, of course). So today I... just got on with some actual stuff. Did a quest; carried on to a proper new location. It made almost 2 hours of playtime absolutely fly by, and I could've done a lot more; kept going for a lot longer. This is why I fell in love with the game, not doing random nothing for the sake of it. So, I really should do more of that going forward!

Tabletop Games

Good Puppers!

I backed the sequel to this on Kickstarter last May, but it only just came through — along with a copy of the first game, so I thought we'd start there. It seems fun, though also like the kind of thing you have to play a few times to really get its rhythm and tactics.

TV

Leverage: Redemption
1x09 The Bucket Job
If I’d known this was a Christmas episode, I would’ve chosen to watch it a couple of weeks ago!

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x83 Redemption Week 2: Wednesday
8x84 Redemption Week 2: Thursday
8x85 Redemption Week 2: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x81 Redemption Week 2: Monday
8x82 Redemption Week 2: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Slow Horses
5x01 Bad Dates

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

TV

Not Going Out
14x06 Hotel Room [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Game 7 (of 7)

Now with all the extra stuff added by the Charms and Potions Expansion. It certainly took a lot of time and brainpower!

this week on 100Films.co.uk

It was all about wrapping up 2025 on 100Films.co.uk this week, with the final couple of end-of-year review posts (and no sign of anything about 2026 yet), supplementing the ones from last week.

First up, my favourite part of every year: the statistics post...





And finally, my favourites from this year's viewing...





Next Sunday, 2026 finally kicks off.

Films

The Greatest Showman (2017)
[2nd watch]
[#1 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2026]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
The Charms and Potions Expansion
Pack 4 (of 4)
Fun, but did take all afternoon to play thanks to so much to do to complete it.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Ohh yeah, that's the good stuff! After almost three weeks (virtually) cold turkey, it felt great to get back into Tamriel for an hour-and-a-half, explore a bit, find some locations, clear a dungeon, sell some loot... Oh Skyrim, how I've missed thee!

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Number of titles in collection: 3,655 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 977 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,678 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 498 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 8,782 [up 3]
Number of films: 4,691 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 481 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,280 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Shetland
10x05 Episode 5
10x06 Episode 6 [coming soon]
[Watch series 10 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x80 Week 16: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
10x04 Episode 4
[Watch series 10 (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x78 Week 16: Wednesday
8x79 Week 16: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
10x03 Episode 3
[Watch series 10 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
8x76 Week 16: Monday
8x77 Week 16: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
The Charms and Potions Expansion
Pack 3 (of 4)

TV

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
4x10 Week 2: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch series 10 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Not Going Out
14x05 Dragon Castle
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
4x09 Week 2: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
10x01 Episode 1
[Watch series 10 (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

As was the case for the entirety of 2025, no new reviews were published to 100Films.co.uk this week... but my review of the year did kick off! Hurrah!

Today's post should be the statistics one. I haven't had time to finish that yet. But so far we've had the December monthly review...





Plus, of course, the December 'failures'...





And, for the review of 2025 proper, the full and final list of what I watched to complete the Challenge...





As well as the full and final list of all my first-time watches last year...





For once, I'm confident in saying there'll be more next Sunday, as my review of last year continues — and hopefully concludes!

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Although it's now 2026, this is really the final update for 2025, so the tallies include counts for how much my collection has changed over the last 12 months. More about that in a moment.

In terms of what's new, four titles from Australia (that I pre-ordered months ago) arrived in the dying days of last year, while titles from UK and US sales that I ordered in December itself are still either on their way or not even dispatched. C'est la vie.

Number of titles in collection: 3,654 [up 3 this week; up 208 in 2025]
Of which DVDs: 977 [down 1 this week; down 15 in 2025]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,677 [up 4 this week; up 223 in 2025]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 497 [up 4 this week; up 78 in 2025]

In every respect, my collection has grown less in 2025 than it did in 2024, with fewer new Blu-rays (both regular and 4K) and a lower decrease in DVDs not covering the gap. Well, that's a good thing, because I'm already out of storage space as it is.

Number of discs in collection: 8,779 [up 8 this week; up 467 in 2025]
Number of films: 4,690 [up 7 this week; up 324 in 2025]
Number of additional cuts: 481 [up 3 this week; up 55 in 2025]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change this week; up 332 in 2025]
Number of short films: 1,280 [no change this week; up 83 in 2025]

Despite the lower increases in titles, the number of discs has gone up by almost the same amount as last year. And though I feel like I buy a lot less TV nowadays (for one thing, it feels like a lot less TV gets released nowadays), my collection grew considerably more than in the last couple of years (332 episodes vs 188 in 2024 and 160 in 2023) — indeed, the most in one year since 2019 — and crossed the 10,000 episode mark.

I guess thanks to all that TV, the annual running time increase is only 4.3% less than last year's...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
614 days and 27 minutes.
(Up 14 hours and 44 minutes from last month.)
(Up 30 days, 4 hours, and 17 minutes from last year.)

Well, that was fun. See you next week for a return to business as usual, faithful reader.

TV

Poker Face
2x02 Last Looks

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
4x06 Week 2: Monday
4x07 Week 2: Tuesday
4x08 Week 2: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
The Charms and Potions Expansion
Pack 2 (of 4)

TV

Biggest Night of Musicals
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
14x04 Oasis
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game

TV

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x04 Episode 4

New Year's Eve Fireworks
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
4x03 Week 1: Day 3
4x04 Week 1: Day 4
4x05 Week 1: Day 5
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Ronan Keating and Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party
Part 2 (of 2)
"Watched" in the sense of "left on in the background after the fireworks".
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tabletop Games

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
The Charms and Potions Expansion
Pack 1 (of 4)

Finally getting on to that expansion I've been mentioning.