this week on 100Films.co.uk

A new era began this week on 100 Films. For starters, it's been rebranded as 100Films.co.uk. Learn more below...


A new era begins...

Welcome to my new-look blog! Don’t worry, you’re going to find a lot of it familiar — I haven’t changed the underlying template, and all the old posts are still there... Primarily, it’s a new name and a new logo, which is showcased on the front page in dozens of randomly-changing header images... More substantively, along with the revised aesthetics comes an adjusted focus.

Read more here.


The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge

Just like its title, this new version is similar but different. My original challenge was wholly straightforward: watch 100 films I’d never seen before every year... But this brand-new version of the challenge… well, it’s going to require some explaining... You see, rather than just watching any old 100 films, now there are a selection of categories, and films will need to fulfil criteria to qualify. Whereas the old challenge merely motivated me to watch more films, this new version is designed to encourage me to watch certain kinds of films.

Read more here.


But the old era still requires some wrapping up — my "review of 2021" posts started last week, and continued this week with...


2021 Statistics

one of my personal highlights of the entire year: the statistics. Regular readers will know what this is all about, but if you’re new to these parts and enjoy things like percentages and graphs… oh boy, you’re in for a treat!

Read more here.


The Worst of 2021

‘Worst of’ lists have become widely unpopular in the film-viewing community in recent years... but film watching inevitably involves taking the rough with the smooth... Also, I’ve done this list for 14 of 100 Films in a Year’s 15 years, so now would be an odd time to stop

Read more here.


The Best of 2021

Finally, for the last time (not really the last time): what I consider to be the best (or, more accurately, my favourite) films I saw for the first time in 2021 (that bit’s correct)... it’s 10% of whatever my final total is. This year that total was 207, so it rounds to 21. (If you think that’s too many for a list like this, feel free to scroll down and start wherever you like.)

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x59 Week 12: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
6x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Carry On Spying (1964)
[#1 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 2,752 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,697 [up 2]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 141 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 6,907 [up 2]
Number of films: 3,266 [up 2]
Number of additional cuts: 247 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,226 [no change]
Number of short films: 934 [up 4]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x57 Week 12: Tuesday
5x58 Week 12: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
6x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x10 Episode 10 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x56 Week 12: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
6x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x53 Week 11: Wednesday
5x54 Week 11: Thursday
5x55 Week 11: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x10 The Final [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x52 Week 11: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
6x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x50 Week 10: Friday
5x51 Week 11: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Agatha Raisin
4x01 Kissing Christmas Goodbye [Christmas special]

The Great British Bake Off
12x09 Pâtisserie Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x48 Week 10: Wednesday
5x49 Week 10: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

It's the last Collection Count of the year! No, not of 2022 — I know it's already January 2nd, but I didn't get anything new this year (yet), so this is really the last count for 2021. (Also, it was meant to be posted yesterday, but sorting out all the numbers took time.)

The big addition this week is Severin's box set of folk horror, All the Haunts Be Ours, which across 12 discs (plus 3 CDs) contains a whopping 22 films and 14 shorts (not to mention all the other special features). There's also Fim Detective's The Sherlock Holmes Vault, containing four films from the 1930s plus a bunch of shorts. Together, they represent some significant increases for the final update of the year.

Also this week, as well as the usual stats, it's time for a monthly running time update. Plus, as I said, it's the annual wrapup, so we can also see how things have increased since 2020's final count.

Number of titles in collection: 2,750 [up 3 this week; up 240 in 2021]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [no change this week; down 26 in 2021]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,695 [up 3 this week; up 266 in 2021]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 141 [up 1 this week; up 48 in 2021]

Ending the year on a nice rounded number of 2,750 titles? I like it. But that increase... Last year's title increase was 234, which I described as "mad" because the previous high was 154 — and now there's a new high! Oh dear. Moving on...

Number of discs in collection: 6,905 [up 18 this week; up 459 in 2021]
Number of films: 3,264 [up 27 this week; up 363 in 2021]
Number of additional cuts: 247 [up 1 this week; up 44 in 2021]
Number of TV episodes: 9,226 [up 1 this week; up 244 in 2021]
Number of short films: 930 [up 21 this week; up 119 in 2021]

459 discs in one year?! Bloody hell! But last year it was over 500, so... As for 244 episodes of TV, that's a new low, down from last year's then-new low of 289. I think it's partly me buying less TV, but also less TV making it to disc nowadays (whither a Blu-ray box set of The Americans, hmm?), not to mention a lot of the 'best' TV having shorter seasons.

Total running time of collection (approx.):
497 days, 5 hours, and 20 minutes.
(Up 6 days, 13 hours, and 12 minutes from last month.)
(Up 30 days, 14 hours, and 48 minutes from last year.)

That's a massive increase for just one month (all those many-film box sets, I guess), but last year's annual increase was larger (over 32 days). Still, the average is around 23 days, so 2021 was no shirk. Last year I said "I do hope I manage to calm it down again next year" and, well, I guess I did... but not much, eh? Maybe next year...

And that begins next week, when I'll definitely have more stuff to add. There's no stopping me! See you then, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

No reviews on 100 Films in a Year this week, but my look back at 2021 is underway...


2021: The Full List

As revealed in my December review, 2021 finished on a tally of 207 new films — my third highest ever. They’re all listed below, in alphabetical order

Read more here.


My Most-Read Posts of 2021

2021 was a relatively quiet year for me, review-wise — I made just 55 posts, vs. over 120 in each of 2019 and 2020, and over 200 in 2018 and 2017. Nonetheless, that’s still enough from which to draw a Top 5, right?

Read more here.


There was also the December monthly review, which obviously has a year-end-y aspect to it...





And tomorrow on 100 Films, a new era begins...

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2021
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Big New Years & Years Eve Party
Part 2 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
39x07 Eve of the Daleks [New Year's Day special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Happy New Year Live!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x46 Week 10: Monday
5x47 Week 10: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Big New Years & Years Eve Party
Part 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x07 He Came! [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

23 Walks (2020)
[#207 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

A Study in Scarlet (1933)
[#206 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

That's it for another year of 100 Films. The last year? Well, we'll see...

TV

Death in Paradise
11x00 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x08 Free-From Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x44 Week 9: Thursday
5x45 Week 9: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x06 Part of the Family [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x40 Week 8: Friday
5x41 Week 9: Monday
5x42 Week 9: Tuesday
5x43 Week 9: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Anything Goes
I suppose I could count this as a film, as it was screened in cinemas, but it does feel like a filmed stage production (cf. One Man, Two Guvnors, Hamilton). Whatever you count it as, it's really good fun.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x37 Week 8: Tuesday
5x38 Week 8: Wednesday
5x39 Week 8: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
[#205 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

The Great British Bake Off
12x07 Caramel Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
13. Canaries [the end]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x10 Christmas Special [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x05 Something to Share?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael Ball & Alfie Boe: Back Together
[Watch it (again) on My5.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x07 Episode 7 [season finale]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x35 Week 7: Friday
5x36 Week 8: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

A bunch of new box sets turned up this week, just befoe Christmas... and their impact was completely wiped out by two of them being partial upgrades. One was Cartoon Saloon's Irish Folklore Trilogy, replacing my copy of the only one of trilogy I owned (Song of the Sea). Another was the latest classic Doctor Who Blu-ray release, which this time replaced three DVDs (and maybe another Blu-ray, Shada, although as there are some special feature differences, I'm hanging on to that for now). Take all that into account and the net increase in titles was... zero. Of course, evidence of the new arrivals exists elsewhere. For example, another was Arrow's Shawscope: Volume One box set, which alone added 12 films to that tally.

But then Christmas came, and with it a couple of Blu-rays as pressies, and so things ended up like this...

Number of titles in collection: 2,747 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [down 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,692 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 140 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,887 [up 19]
Number of films: 3,237 [up 17]
Number of additional cuts: 246 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 9,225 [up 38]
Number of short films: 909 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

Just a brief one from 100 Films in a Year this week...


Merry Christmas from 100 Films in a Year

this is — officially speaking — 100 Films in a Year’s last Christmas. I’ve been stuffing it with more Christmas films than I usually watch, but, ironically, not Last Christmas. Maybe tomorrow. (Maybe not, too.)

Read more here.


Big changes are coming soon...

TV

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x08 Christmas Special

Old Jack's Boat
2x00 The Christmas Quest
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs
9x11 at Christmas
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Pointless Celebrities
14x17 Christmas Special 2021
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Last Train to Christmas (2021)
[#204 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Doctor Who
39x06 Flux, Chapter Six: The Vanquishers [season finale; 2nd watch]
Conversation around this died off so quickly, I can't believe it's only been a couple of weeks since it was on. Indeed, so instantly did I drop it from my memory that I'd also forgotten my other half was away and hadn't seen it yet. Hardly a glowing recommendation, eh? But then it doesn't deserve one... although, removed of any expectations, I minded it less on a second viewing.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
11x06 Panto [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

A Boy Called Christmas (2021)
[#203 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
12. The Paradox Moon

TV

Blankety Blank
1x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x04 I Love Lucy
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Hawkeye
Part 5 Ronin
Part 6 So This Is Christmas? [finale]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x06 Episode 6

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x34 Week 7: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
11. A Day to Yourselves

TV

Hawkeye
Part 3 Echoes
Part 4 Partners, Am I Right?

Films

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
[#202 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
10. Missing Habitas Frond

TV

Hawkeye
Part 1 Never Meet Your Heroes
Part 2 Hide and Seek

Films

A Christmas Story (1983)
[#201 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
9. A Perfect Christmas

TV

Would I Lie To You?
15x00 At Christmas
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Final Countdown (1980)
[#200 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
As 100 Films is... changing... this is my last-ever official #200. The title seemed apt.

Jingle All the Way (1996)
[#199 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
8. A Girl Called Doubt

TV

Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City
A bit of a cheesy sing-song of some Christmas standards? Perfect seasonal viewing.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

The Wheel
2x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
7. Christmas with the Plasmavores

TV

The Wheel
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dreamcatcher (2003)
[#198 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973)
[#197 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
6. We Will Feed You to the Trees

Collection Count

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

This week's additions are mostly anime: that big sale order I've been talking about finally turned up, as did this week's single biggest addition (in every sense), the ultimate edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's huge, heavy, and gorgeous. Should it replace my Platinum Edition DVDs, though? I ought to double-check the special features and sort that out, because there's no point keeping DVDs of something I have on Blu-ray unless the Blu-rays are missing content. The DVDs are in a rather nice tin, though...

Number of titles in collection: 2,745 [up 10]
Of which DVDs: 1,058 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,687 [up 11]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 139 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,868 [up 27]
Number of films: 3,220 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 243 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,187 [up 68]
Number of short films: 909 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader... though probably not on my usual day, as that's Christmas Day and I imagine I'll be busy. But you never know.

TV

Moriarty the Patriot
1x19 The White Knight of London Act 1
1x20 The White Knight of London Act 2
[Watch it (again) on Funimation.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
5. Visiting Hours

Films

Happiest Season (2020)
[#196 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
4. For the Girl Who Has Everything

Films

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
[#195 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
3. Inflicting Christmas

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
2. Father of the Daleks

Films

Black Widow 3D (2021)
[#194 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox by Dave Rudden
Foreword
Introduction: The Wintertime Paradox
1. He's Behind You

Films

Pather Panchali (1955)
[#193 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
Blindspot 2021 #11

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
1. The Master: Anything You Can Do [the end]

Enjoyed that a lot. As with any anthology, some stories are better than others, but overall there were more hits than misses (and the misses aren't "misses" per se, they're just not direct-hits).

Now, as I mentioned back at the start, it's on to the next one...

TV

The Wheel
2x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
[#192 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
There are three cuts of this film, and the Blu-ray I own contains two of them. So, to clarify, I watched the UK/international theatrical cut.

Elf (2003)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #33

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
2. Judoon: The Rhino of Twenty-Three Strand Street

Collection Count

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

So, last week I mentioned that I'd ordered a pile of stuff from All the Anime's sale. Frankly, I really thought it would turn up this week, but it hasn't. Even without it, this is a Big Week — with it, it would've been a record-shatterer. We'll see what happens when it does finally turn up.

Things that did arrive include StudioCanal's UK 4K release of Mulholland Drive. I now own three copies of the film, including a Special Edition DVD and Criterion Blu-ray, and I'll be keeping them all due to unique special features. But I guess I didn't know that when I bought the Criterion Blu-ray, because I'd removed the DVD from my list (but not actually got round to selling it, fortunately). So, this week it goes back in... despite never having left, really. Does this mean I'll soon get round to watching all those special features? Haha! That's another matter entirely...

Number of titles in collection: 2,735 [up 11]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,676 [up 10]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 138 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 6,841 [up 24]
Number of films: 3,212 [up 21]
Number of additional cuts: 243 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 907 [up 9]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
3. Daleks: The Third Wise Man

Films

Gremlins (1984)
[#191 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
4. Zygons: The King in Glass

TV

Moriarty the Patriot
1x17 The Riot in New Scotland Yard
1x18 The Merchant of London
When I started this back in July, I thought I'd race through it — I really enjoyed that first episode, and the ones that followed held definite promise. But here I am five months later, still with a bunch of episodes to go. That's because the early sheen has long worn off, and I've found it a bit of a plod since. I still intend to finish it — these two episodes felt like a slight improvement, although still with nagging things I dislike — but hopefully it won't take me too much longer.
[Watch it (again) on Funimation.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
5. Ood: The Heist

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
6. Silurians: The Red-Eyed League
Another really good one, this; so good it makes me want to read/listen to more stories of the Paternoster Gang. Of course, whether the other work that's been produced about the trio would match this is another matter...

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
7. Sontarans: A Soldier's Education

TV

Doctor Who
39x06 Flux, Chapter Six: The Vanquishers [season finale]
This season started well, but can Chibnall stick the landing?
...lol, no, of course he can't!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
8. The Silence: Student Bodies

Music

Pressure Machine by the Killers

Last year, I caught up on the Killers albums I'd missed in time for their new one. And this year, they've got another new one — but I'm on the ball this time. Well, I say "on the ball": I bought it when it came out back in August and have had it sat next to me on my desk waiting to be played for almost four months. Time flies, eh?

Anyway, this feels like a more folksy and melancholic offering from the band. It'd probably be interesting to look back over all their LPs and chart their change/development from zeitgeisty cool rock to this more adult, less radio-friendly style.

Collection Count

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

Among this week's additions is Criterion's UHD release of Citizen Kane. If you're a Blu-ray fan you'll probably have heard that BD 1 is faulty, but I'm not sure I can be bothered getting it replaced — I bought this for the 4K disc and special features, not the 1080p film disc. And this is my third copy of Kane (I own it on a UK DVD and US BD, which I'm keeping for the different special features), so I never needed that 'fourth' version anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 2,724 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,058 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,666 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 135 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,817 [up 11]
Number of films: 3,191 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 242 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 898 [up 7]

Plus, this week it's time for the monthly running time update, so...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
490 days, 16 hours, and 8 minutes.
(Up 2 days and 21 hours from last month.)

Oh, by the way, I just caved to ordering a massive haul in the All the Anime Christmas sale. So if that turns up promptly — along with various new releases I've got on preorder — next week could be a big'un. (Frankly, whenever the Anime order turns up, that week will be a big'un.)

See you then, faithful reader.

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week (as usual these days), but it was time for the monthly review — and in it, a tease about the blog's future...





Writing this post made me realise that I never actually shared the October montly review! So, here's that too...





More (perhaps, but probably not) next Sunday.

TV

The Wheel
2x05 Episode 5
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Falling for Figaro (2020)
[#190 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
9. Cybermen: Ghost in the Machine
Another cracker of a story, this, which gives us insight into the mind of a Cyberman. You might not think that was a thing of interest or worthwhile, but here, it is. Superb.

Films

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
[#189 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
10. Time Lords: Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir
This is a superb little story, a pastiche of hardboiled crime novels with a Time Lord private eye operating in the Gallifreyan underworld. I'd love to a read a whole series like this.

Poetry

What Sort Of Bird Are You? by Tessa Foley
Old Bird
It's a very long time since I've properly read any poetry, so it would probably be unfair for me to try to assess this.

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
11. Ice Warriors: Red Planet

Films

Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
[#188 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Fiction

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden
Introduction: Halfway Into the Dark
12. The Weeping Angels: Grey Matter

Dave Rudden has now written two collections of Christmas-themed Doctor Who short stories. Frankly, I hadn't really paid them any attention — nothing personal, I'm just not up-to-date with Who publishing in general — but then one of the stories from this first collection came up in a thread I happened to be reading on Twitter last month, and I looked into the books, and they seemed like good Christmastime reading. Plus, there's a total of 25 stories across the two volumes — how perfectly advent-y! So, I intend to read one a day between now and Christmas Day. We'll see how that goes...

Also: I'm not reading the book backwards for some reason — the chapter numbers count down, as in The Twelve Days of Christmas.

TV

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Long Call
1x04 Episode 4 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x31 Week 7: Monday
5x32 Week 7: Tuesday
5x33 Week 7: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
39x05 Flux, Chapter Five: Survivors of the Flux
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x03 The Woodworm Men
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x06 Pastry Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Long Call
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
[2nd watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #32. Watched the "alternate widescreen version" on the Blu-ray's second disc, because it turned out disc 1 was faulty and wouldn't play past a certain point in the film. Although I believe this version is comprised of different takes (rather than just the regular version cropped), it didn't seem strikingly 'wrong' — not that I'm particularly familiar with the film, having only seen it once before, about 15 years ago.

TV

Doctor Who
39x04 Flux, Chapter Four: Village of the Angels [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
8x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Long Call
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x28 Week 6: Wednesday
5x29 Week 6: Thursday
5x30 Week 6: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
[#187 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

The forecast 'trickle' begins — all new releases this week. Though I did just cave to some titles in HMV's Black Friday sale, so next week may be a little larger.

Number of titles in collection: 2,719 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,660 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 133 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,806 [up 4]
Number of films: 3,186 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 241 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [no change]
Number of short films: 891 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
39x03 Flux, Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
3x02 A Lot to Take In
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
12x05 German Week
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

The Long Call
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Films

The Last of Sheila (1973)
[#186 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Blankety Blank
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
29x05 Episode 5

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x27 Week 6: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Red Notice (2021)
[#185 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Films

La Haine (1995)
[#184 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]
Blindspot 2021 #10

TV

Bo Burnham: Inside
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]

Doctor Who
39x04 Flux, Chapter Four: Village of the Angels
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
14x11 The Best Bits [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Face/Off (1997)
[4th watch]
Rewatchathon 2021 #31. Did the "watch it on TV with ad breaks even though I own it on Blu-ray" thing. I feel like that’s somehow the perfect way to watch this movie.

TV

The Wheel
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Jungle Cruise (2021)
[#183 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

Collection Count

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

Last week I suggested there might be a trickle of releases each week for the rest of the year, although I did also note I had four new releases on the way plus two packages stuck at an Australian airport. Well, all of those titles turned up throughout this week, plus a couple of packages from America, making for a bumper 13 additions — once again, not quite a record, but certainly more than a trickle! And with some upgrades and whatnot amongst them, this week sees changes to every category tracked below. The last time that happened was only two months ago, but it's not a regular occurence.

Number of titles in collection: 2,716 [up 11]
Of which DVDs: 1,059 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,657 [up 13]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 132 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 6,802 [up 21]
Number of films: 3,183 [up 17]
Number of additional cuts: 241 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes: 9,119 [up 4]
Number of short films: 891 [up 1]

Nonetheless, I do think it'll be back to a trickle from now on. Some weeks will be busier than others, but I'm going to try extra hard to avoid sales and random purchases and just stick to new titles. Though, with quite a few US releases included among those new titles, and the unpredictability of international shipping, they may end up arriving in clumps anyway — just like this week. Time will tell...

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Nobody (2021)
[#182 in 100 Films in a Year 2021]

TV

Squid Game
Part 8 Front Man
Part 9 One Lucky Day [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on Netflix.]