Videos

Critical Role
2x69 The King's Cage [1st half]
Alright, time to try to renew my commitment to getting through Critical Role. It's rumoured Campaign 3 is coming to an end imminently, so me finishing Campaign 2 in time to go straight into Campaign 4 seems unlikely now, but you never know.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

Articles

Our culture isn't fantasy - so stop misusing it for mystical books
by Catriona Aitken (from BBC News)
Thought this — about the (mis)treatment of Welsh heritage by fantasy authors — was very interesting.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

A new year began this week (did you notice?) and so 100Films.co.uk has been full of end-of-the-year business.

But first: it was also the end of a month (December, obv), so there was the usual December review...





And my monthly "failures"...





Those end-of-year posts went as follows...


100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024: Final Standing

As the challenge tracker page will soon be replaced with a version keeping tabs on 2025’s effort, here’s an archive of how it looked at the very end of 2024.

Read more here.


2024: The List

Throughout the year, my monthly reviews keep you up-to-date on my progress with the 100 Films in a Year Challenge; what they no longer record is all my first-time watches. Fortunately, to rectifying that omission we have The List: every film I watched for the first time in 2024

Read more here.


2024 Statistics!

When Andy Williams sang “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”, he was on about Christmastime; but ’round these parts, the real most wonderful time of the year comes a little later: in early January, with the annual statistics post. And, friends, that time is here again.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Friends
5x11 The One with All the Resolutions [5th or so watch]
5x12 The One with Chandler's Work Laugh [5th or so watch]
5x13 The One with Joey's Bag [5th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x06 Episode 6

Films

Here we go again...

Anna Karenina (2012)
[#2 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Death Goes to School (1953)
[#1 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Collection Count

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

After the busy end to last year, the new year begins with... nothing. Well, it's always a quiet time of the year for new releases; but it's a busy one for sales, but still, nowt for me... yet: there's stuff in the post.

Number of titles in collection: 3,446 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 992 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,454 [no change]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 419 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 8,312 [no change]
Number of films: 4,366 [no change]
Number of additional cuts: 426 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,856 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,197 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Friends
5x08 The One with All the Thanksgivings [6th or so watch]
5x09 The One with Ross's Sandwich [6th or so watch]
5x10 The One with the Inappropriate Sister [5th or so watch]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
3x10 Week 2: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Vera
14x02 The Dark Wives [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]

Vera, Farewell Pet
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]

TV

Friends
5x07 The One Where Ross Moves In [6th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x05 Never Mind the Buzzcocks Does Girl Groups & Boy Bands

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
3x09 Week 2: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Vera
14x01 Inside
I haven't watched Vera since 2018 — I find crime dramas too samey to watch too many of them (that's partly why I'm over a year behind on Death in Paradise), and I just didn't feel like more Vera at the time. But it's a pretty good show, really, and these are the final episodes, so it felt right to come back for them.
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]

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.]

Films

Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
This TV movie — written by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling — becomes my final film of 2024.

Fiction

A Book for Christmas by Selma Lagerlöf
The Animals' New Year's Night (translated by Peter Graves)
[the end]

TV

The Box of Delights
Part 5 Beware of Yesterday
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
5x04 The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS [5th or so watch]
5x05 The One with the Kips [5th or so watch]
5x06 The One with the Yeti [5th or so watch]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
3x06 Week 2: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Shetland
9x05 Episode 5
9x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch series 9 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Box of Delights
Part 4 The Spider in the Web
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
5x01 The One After Ross Says Rachel [5th or so watch]
5x02 The One with All the Kissing [5th or so watch]
5x03 The One Hundredth [5th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x04 Episode 4

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

The Rookie
6x03 Trouble in Paradise

Shetland
9x03 Episode 3
9x04 Episode 4
[Watch series 9 (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. And as this update is the 'end of year' one, there are some numbers for that too. Ooh, exciting!

Number of titles in collection: 3,446 [up 6 this week; up 235 in 2024]
Of which DVDs: 992 [no change this week; down 29 in 2024]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,454 [up 6 this week; up 264 in 2024]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 419 [up 2 this week; up 98 in 2024]

Mostly bigger than last year (235 new titles bests 220), but not quite as big as the years before that (241 in 2022 and 240 in 2021). On the other hand, UHDs were virtually identical to last year, when I purchased 99, so it looks like I'm pretty consistent on that front now (all previous years were lower). Maybe next year they'll cross the 100 threshold. Basically two a week, every week? Well, you never know. Radiance are getting into the UHD game next year, so that could help.

Number of discs in collection: 8,312 [up 9 this week; up 477 in 2024]
Number of films: 4,366 [up 9 this week; up 419 in 2024]
Number of additional cuts: 426 [up 1 this week; up 76 in 2024]
Number of TV episodes: 9,856 [no change this week; up 188 in 2024]
Number of short films: 1,197 [up 2 this week; up 88 in 2024]

Discs are slightly up on last year, but films have increased loads — 419 this year is far higher than 298 last year, and solidly up on 385 and 363 in the years before that. I'm guessing more box sets with more films on fewer discs.

Total running time of collection (approx.):
583 days, 20 hours, and 10 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 9 hours, and 13 minutes from last month.)
(Up 31 days, 12 hours, and 33 minutes from last year.)

That's a whole week bigger than 2023's yearly increase, and the largest since 2020's (which was larger by about 19 hours). Should I be proud, or should I be intending to cut back? I'm never sure...

Well, whatever — more stuff is on the way! As ever, see you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Box of Delights
Part 3 In Darkest Cellars Underneath
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
4x23 The One with Ross's Wedding Part 1 [6th or so watch]
4x24 The One with Ross's Wedding Part 2 [season finale; 6th or so watch]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x03 Never Mind the Buzzcocks Does the 90s

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

Shetland
9x01 Episode 1
9x02 Episode 2
[Watch series 9 (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Blankety Blank
4x01 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friends
4x21 The One with the Invitation [5th or so watch]
4x22 The One with the Worst Best Man Ever [5th or so watch]

From Roger Moore with Love
Another one on the "is it a film or TV?" nexus, because apparently it had a theatrical release earlier this month.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

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

TV

Death in Paradise
13x00 Christmas Special 2023
At this point, I have a suspicion I'm always going to be a year behind with this show...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael McIntyre's 25th Year Stand-Up Special
He's not everyone's cup of tea (because he's massively popular and therefore some people just have to dislike him), but McIntyre remains a remarkably funny standup for someone who's been at it so long.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
32x02 Episode 2

Outnumbered
Christmas Special 2024
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games
3x01 Week 1: Monday
3x02 Week 1: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rookie
6x02 The Hammer
The show's 100th episode. So not a Christmas special, but still kinda special.

TV

The Box of Delights
Part 2 Where Shall the 'Nighted Showman Go?
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who
41x00 Joy to the World [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
The Finale [series finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
22x09 Variety (XL version) [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]