Opera

Tosca
at Glyndebourne

Articles

Tosca review – Puccini’s high-octane bloodbath bonanza makes for a shocking festival kick-off
and
‘Really entertaining in a horrible way’: the indestructible appeal of Tosca
by Flora Willson (from the Guardian)

I'm going to see this production next month. Sounds like it's gonna be good.

Videos

007 First Light Title Sequence
Watched some of the BAFTA Game Awards this evening, mainly to see the premiere of this — the title sequence for the forthcoming James Bond game. I wasn't sure about the song at first, but it plays really nicely with the titles, which I think they've done an excellent job on. Excited for the game... though not sure when I'll actually get to play it as I doubt it'll run on my Steam Deck.

Beyond the Light
Episode 4 Music
And to go with the above, they released the fourth instalment of their behind-the-scenes dev diary, looking at music and sound.

TV

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

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

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2025
[Watch it (again) on Channel 4.]

Friends
10x17 The Last One Part 1 [6th or so watch]
10x18 The Last One Part 2 [series finale; 6th or so watch]
It's normal to end the year with Friends, right?

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
33x03 Does the 80s

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
4x02 Week 1: Day 2
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Ronan Keating and Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party
Part 1 (of 2)
Well, what else am I meant to bung on while waiting for the fireworks?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Age of Umbra
1x04 The Rampart and Beyond [remainder of 1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]

Live Aid at 40: The Concert
Didn't watch anything like all of this, but had a significant chunk of it on in the later evening.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
41x06 The Interstellar Song Contest
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Eurovision Song Contest: Basel 2025
Grand Final
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Theatre

Hamilton
UK & Ireland Tour at Wales Millennium Centre
I was due to see this back in early December, but a storm happened to blow through that weekend and travelling wasn't worth the risk — especially as we were able to re-book for today in (slightly) better seats at a lower price.

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2024
The 20th year of the Big Fat Quiz, apparently. Sometimes I really do think culture has just stood still since the early 2000s.
[Watch it (again) on Channel 4.]

Gavin & Stacey: A Fond Farewell
A rather nice behind-the-scenes special / celebration, which reminds you just how special and successful this funny little show has been.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

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

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
3x07 Week 2: Tuesday
3x08 Week 2: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
6x04 Training Day

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's NYE Disco
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Box of Delights
Part 6 Leave Us Not Little, Nor Yet Dark [finale]
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's NYE Disco
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Music

The Guest II: Original Soundtrack
I vaguely remember them releasing this a couple of years ago. It's a soundtrack album for a film that doesn't exist; a kind of concept album in lieu of any sequel to The Guest actually getting made. I never got round to listening to it before because, you know, it's not actually a sequel to The Guest; but having rewatched The Guest yesterday and been reminded of how awesome and essential the soundtrack is, I thought I'd finally stick this on.

Warriors
by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis
I feel like I should have something significant to say about this — as someone who loves both The Warriors and Hamilton — but, well, not for now. Maybe after I listen to it a few more times. What I will say is: at the start I wasn't convinced — the more of Miranda's work you listen to, it begins to feel like he only has so many ideas and tricks to deploy — but I did get into it the more it went on and liked lots of it.

Music

Yesterwynde
by Nightwish
[2nd listen]

My copy of the official store exclusive edition turned up yesterday, which includes a Blu-ray copy with the whole album mixed in Dolby Atmos (along with versons in 5.1 and uncompressed stereo), so I listened to that today. I don't know much difference it made, to be honest, other than that listening to stuff through high-quality sound equipment is always good (and I did notice a few definite surround elements).

Music

Yesterwynde
by Nightwish

It's almost four-and-a-half years since the last Nightwish album — as I wrote back then, I'll always buy a new one, though how many times I'll listen to it is another matter. For example, the one before last I've still only listened to twice in full, though a pair of standout tracks have received almost 350 plays between them. The last one, though... three times in full (four times for CD1, but only three for the multipart 'single piece' on CD2), and no standout tracks, apparently. But the last time I listened to any of it was back in May 2020, the month after it came out, so I ought to give it another go.

Anyway, for now, back to the new one — which, based on another bit of trivia I observed last time, is the first Nightwish album in 24 years where none of the tracks are over ten minutes long! One is nine-and-a-half, though, and most are over five minutes (which, I dunno, doesn't sound long in isolation, but apparently radio-friendly music is getting shorter and shorter; Eurovision still caps tracks at three minutes; and 'back in the day' Queen were warned Bohemian Rhapsody wouldn't get any play because it was over five minutes — so, y'know, it's still moderately long as songs go).

Anyway, first impressions are that it's broadly typical Nightwish fare, for good or ill — no tracks particularly stood out to me, but none were remarkably terrible either (and, to be honest, Nightwish have often offered an immediately-spotted slightly-embarrassing dud or two per album before now, so it's nice there's nothing of that nature).

Opera

Carmen
at Glyndebourne

TV

Doctor Who
40x01 Space Babies
40x02 The Devil's Chord
Space Babies is adequate; very much in the vein of lightweight nothing-y stories that RTD tosses out when there’s something else more important going on in the episode (here: introducing the show to new viewers). What I expected it to be, basically, but it had its moments. The Devil’s Chord was a lot more fun. Not perfect, but buzzing with fresh ideas; a sense of experimentation. Promising for what's to come.
[Watch Space Babies and The Devil's Chord (again) on iPlayer.]

Eurovision Song Contest: Malmö 2024
Grand Final
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Big Night of Musicals 2024 by the National Lottery
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Neil Brand's fully-scored adaptation for orchestra and actors, which was first staged in December 2022, broadcast on radio in February, and finally aired on BBC Four on Christmas Day 2023. I enjoyed it a lot on radio (the Brand intro I mention in the above link sadly wasn't included on TV, though you can find it on YouTube) and enjoyed it again with visuals... not that they add a lot, considering it's a staged reading, but actors are actors and can't help inject at least some physicality. I also wrote more about it on Letterboxd.

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Friends
1x09 The One Where Underdog Gets Away [many-th watch]
aka the first Thanksgiving one — a setting that would become a Friends staple.

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

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
2x09 Week 2: Thursday
2x10 Week 2: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it all (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
5x03 Dye Hard

Slow Horses
3x01 Strange Games
A bit of a slow-burn start to the third season, but exciting and enticing in its own way. Long may this show continue (there are still plenty of books to go).

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2023
[Watch it (again) on Channel 4.]

The Famous Five
1x01 The Curse of Kirrin Island
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
1x07 The One with the Blackout [many-th watch]
1x08 The One Where Nana Dies Twice [many-th watch]

Ghosts
5x07 A Christmas Gift [series finale]
[Watch the entire series (again) on iPlayer.]

Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it all (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
3x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas