TV

Doctor Who Confidential
4x18 Lords and Masters
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
3x00 Christmas Special
As utterly brilliant as ever. Hurrah for Outnumbered.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ruth Jones' Christmas Cracker
The Gavin & Stacey star/writer hosts a festive chat/variety special, shown only on BBC Wales -- which of course means it's rather Welsh. Good fun though, particularly Ness interviewing Russell T Davies and Katherine Jenkins.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Gavin & Stacey
3x05 Episode 5 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Gruffalo
[#89a in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
[Watch it in HD (again) on iPlayer.]

Hamlet
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
The RSC's award-winning version starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, here converted to a film as a Christmassy treat.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer, and in HD from tomorrow evening.]

Poirot
11x04 Appointment With Death [season finale]
It's over a year since ITV last bothered to air a Poirot -- here, finally, is the last episode in the eleventh series. There's not only more already filmed (with one airing in just over a week), but more still currently filming.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Victoria Wood With All the Trimmings [2nd watch]
Her 2000 Christmas special. The cultural references are technically a little dated, but it's amazing to remember the state of things a decade a go... including how little's changed.

TV

Doctor Who [new]
4x17 The End of Time Part One [Christmas special]
Well, that was a little disappointing. For every moment of brilliance -- the Doctor/Wilf scene in the cafe, the Master in numerous humourous outfits at the climax -- there were several of utterly fan-centric public-excluding science-fiction/fantasy-overloaded groaningness -- the Master's technobabble-stuffed resurrection, the unusually slow pace, the po-faced narration.
It was an episode of two halves, then... just two halves that occurred concurrently, flicking back and forth between the two. Fingers crossed Part Two can pull off a better goodbye for the Tenth Doctor.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
3x05 Episode 5
Here's a new way to create a Christmas special: just show an ordinary episode of the series. It's a very good one mind.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
5x05 (24/12/09 edition)
Gina Yashere's been living and working in the States... and you can tell. It's her pacing, repetition, the way she addresses the audiences -- stylistically it feels slightly more American stand-up than British stand-up. At least she was quite funny, though I preferred Ed Byrne's and Adam Hills' routines.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
7x04 Geography (extended repeat)
Why have they suddenly reintroduced QI XL halfway through this series? Not that I'm complaining really, but it is a tad odd. Though, once again, they're not bothering to put it on iPlayer. Sometimes the BBC really let themselves down.
[Watch the shorter version (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
Christmas Special 2009
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

TV REVIEW Doctor Who "The End Of Time" Part One by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
Like most reviews around the web this afternoon, it's packed with praise... though does note some of the flaws, if not all the ones I regarded as such.

TV

Is anything not a special or finale?

Have I Got News For You
38x09 (18/12/09 edition; uncut repeat) [season finale]
Also, Christmas special.
[Watch the short edition (again) on iPlayer.]

The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson
1x07 Best Of [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
23x13 Where Are They Now? [season finale]
Very little new material, but the best bits of this series were good, and outtakes are always nice. Well, these ones were.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
3x08 Absent Father Christmas [Christmas special]
Goodbye, Not Going Out. At least it went with a funny episode.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas
Apt title, which is nice. Very funny also. And, unlike most comedy shows, every last word was written by Victoria Wood herself. Super.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Victoria Wood: Seen On TV
Feature-length documentary shown earlier this week as part of Victoria Wood Night on BBC Two. Interesting and, courtesy of lots of classic clips, very funny.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

...No.

Articles

Press Notes by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)

[Russell T] Davies has caused controversy by voicing his concerns about the future of the BBC, should The Conservative Party win the 2010 General Election. Davies told The Mirror he fears the BBC will be dismantled by the Tories and is convinced that a move to freeze the licence fee by the Conservatives will be the beginning of the end for the corporation. "They'll dismantle it slowly. It'll get smaller and smaller until it just supports Radio 4 and some news. I'll come back and fight them at the barricades. I feel a bit like Alan Bennett, who said his favourite things about Britain were the BBC and the NHS." Davies's remarks were picked up by many UK papers, but not it seems in Conservative Central office. When journalist Ian Dale rang their press office for a statement he was told they wouldn't comment on it, because "Mr Davies is a backbench MP and, as such, his opinion isn't necessarily party policy".

Articles

Swedish Christmas straw goat burnt
(from BBC News)
"A giant straw goat - the traditional Scandinavian yuletide symbol - erected each Christmas in a Swedish town has been burned to the ground yet again."

TV

The Funny Side of...
Episode 6 Christmas
'Funny' in quite a loose way, unfortunately.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

James May's Toy Stories
1x05 Lego
1x04 Scalextric
Welcome daily repeat run for this series (bookended by new episodes) as I missed it first time round. Why they're repeating it so thoroughly out of order, though, is anyone's guess.
[Watch Lego and Scalextric (again) on iPlayer.]

Merlin
2x12 The Fires of Idirsholas
2x13 The Last Dragonlord [season finale]
[Watch The Fires of Idirsholas and The Last Dragonlord (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
7x13 Christmas [special]
Said so.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x04 (23/10/08 edition) [2nd watch]
22x01 (2/10/08 edition) [2nd watch]
Today's Christmas-present-wrapping repeat-viewing provided by Dave.

Articles

The Joke’s On Who 2 by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
"By some systems of counting Planet Of The Dead could be considered Doctor Who’s 200th story (if you count Shada, for example, and The Trial Of A Time Lord as four separate stories)"
Well this is a thorough "oops" moment for a sci-fi mag -- the exact opposite is true (you have to not count it & count them as one to make it #200). Interesting list otherwise though. (Part 1 is here, incidentally.)

TV

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
17x15 (18/12/09 edition) [season finale; 1st half]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
5x03 (18/12/09 edition)
5x04 (19/12/09 edition)
[Watch episode 3 and episode 4 (again) on iPlayer.]

Merlin
2x11 The Witch's Quickening
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
8x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Cameron 'has story for Avatar sequels' by Simon Reynolds
and
Cameron: 'Avatar follow-up not prequel' by Hugh Armitage
(from Digital Spy)
"I have a trilogy-scaled arc of story right now"
Oh.

TV

Cranford
2x01 Part One: August 1844
Hilariously funny, heartbreakingly sad, and altogether excellent.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Merlin
2x10 Sweet Dreams
"It is destiny, my love. ... Destiny and chicken." Brilliantly funny episode, this one.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Misfits
1x06 Episode Six [season finale]
I nearly didn't bother watching Misfits, but I'm glad I did because it turned out to be a cracking little series. Looking forward to season two already.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Russell Howard's Good News
1x09 Xmas Special (extended repeat)
The closing stand-ups featured in this series have all been fairly weak, but this one really took the biscuit. So bad I actually gave in and fastforwarded him. I think the audience wished they could've done the same.
[You can (still) only see the shorter version on iPlayer.]

Spooks
8x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
14x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

new review at 100 Films

Avatar (2009)

It’s hard to resist flaw-spotting with Avatar after reading so many praise-filled reviews... But for all the derivative plot, blunt message, cheesy dialogue, thrilling action, spectacular imagery, pretty good CGI and debatable 3D, it may have a greater problem in gaining anything like widespread acceptance... For every SF/F-loving sycophant there’ll be a member of the general public who thinks it’s a load of old tosh.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently a whole pile of feature films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.

Collection Count

Collection Count, now in its ninth week, tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics.

For the first time, there are no changes whatsoever to report this week. How dull. But that's Christmas -- one shouldn't go buying stuff before it! Next time we'll be the other side of The Big Day, so I'm sure there'll be much to report.

Fortunately, it's time for the monthly running time update, so at least there's something to cover in this post. And do please stay 'til the end for a mini announcement.

Number of titles in collection: 1,102 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,053 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 49 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 2,706 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,148 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,780 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
186 days, 20 hours, and 39 minutes.
(Up 3 days, 17 hours, and 49 minutes from last month.)

What with next Friday being Doctor Who Day Christmas Day, Collection Count will be having a week off. (Probably.) Perhaps two. Look for a post-Christmas, no-doubt-sizable, tenth update sometime early in the New Year. (Or on December 27th, if I feel like it.)

See you anon, faithful reader.

TV

Best Ever Family Films
Not sure about the order. Or all the films included. And it's rather dated, especially with some of the commentators. But hey-ho, it's good Christmastime schedule-filling.

Misfits
1x05 Episode Five
Aww, poor Simon.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Spooks
8x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wallander [Swedish]
1x07 Den Svaga Punkten (aka The Tricksters)
After the epic cinema-released dramatics of episode six, it's back to lower-key normality here. The subtle touches that acknowledge previous events -- Linda's glasses, for example -- are nice.

Articles

Patrick Stewart 'to be knighted' by Sarah Rollo
(from Digital Spy)
Considering the source and rumoursome nature of this story, that headline should probably end with a question mark. But that's Digital Spy for you. Very well deserved if true though.

RATM: 'Campaign is a historic revolt' by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)

"I'm sure he's a very nice young lad. If there is any backlash against him it is totally undeserved, but it's the fault of The X Factor for pushing forward this 'guaranteed number one pop single'. To then turn around and cry, boo hoo hoo, that people are complaining about it - I don't have much sympathy for the X Factor people.
If we're going to start feeling sorry for young men who are going to have the number two single at Christmas, then that's putting our sympathies in the wrong place. Whatever sympathy is out there, then please use it to leave your donations for Shelter.
There are people who really deserve sympathy and support at Christmas, not the latest X Factor poster boy.

Also see a raft of articles on the forthcoming Hamlet, starring David Tennant, here.

Articles: Hamlet

Been reading lots around the web today about the forthcoming David Tennant, on BBC Two on Boxing Day. Its imminence, plus a screening/Q&A at the BFI and the launch of the extensive tie-in website, means there's a lot around now. Here's some of the best bits I've seen...

'Go make you ready'
and
'For this relief much thanks'
by John Wyver (from Illuminations Blog)
The blog of the company that made this Hamlet, here reacting to the screening and general such like things. Always worth a read, this blog.

Hamlet (BFI, 14th December 2009) by Julia Raby
(from Between the Acts)
Despite a few irritants (misplaced words, misspellings), this is a nice spoiler-free first analysis of the film and some talk of the Q&A.

Hamlet for the cross-platform age by George Entwistle
(from About the BBC)
"The reason we co-commissioned Hamlet, and the reason the project is so near to our hearts, is that we believe this version, with this cast, has the potential to engage audiences who wouldn't normally turn up for Shakespeare."

Hamlet on TV by Mark Lawson
(from TV matters from guardian.co.uk)
On the choice of scheduling for Hamlet, and other such matters. Includes well-reasoned criticism of Simon Cowell, so is of course perfect. (See also Lawson's article on the original stage production, The play's the thing.)

'Both at the first and now...' by John Wyver
(from Illuminations Blog)
Last word to the Illuminations blog, again, here collecting previews, reviews and other such links relating to the film.

TV

Merlin
2x09 The Lady of the Lake
I can only presume the full significance of that title is to become clear later...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
8x04 Episode 4
Guessed the twist, but not the manner of its executions. Nice splat.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
3x09 The Best of Would I Lie to You? & Unseen Bits [special]
Does what it says on the tin.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Avatar (2009)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
Despite being thoroughly unimpressed by the trailers and the hype, here I am, seeing it on opening weekend. In fairness, it's about the only time I'll have to get to the cinema until January, so this is the only way I can guarantee seeing it in 3D.

Articles

Russell T Davies And The Lure Of America by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
Lots of very clever things about the differences between American and British TV. Fascinating, I thought.