TV

The Greatest TV Shows of the Noughties
The Top 20, as voted for by viewers.
Good: Doctor Who in the top three; Life On Mars in the top ten; no Big Brother anywhere; astonishingly, QI trumps The X Factor (and dozens of others)!
Bad: Doctor Who only at number three; The Apprentice at number two; dearth of US shows (great to celebrate what we've done here, but there are numerous outstanding American shows that have just been ignored); Britain's Got (no) Talent trumps QI (and dozens of others)!
And the winner... well, who saw that coming? Though it was worth it for all the commentators' reactions, particularly the editor of Heat. What a cock.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

10 Minute Tales
Episode 3 Ding Dong
Episode 4 Let It Snow
Episode 2 The Walkers
Episode 6 Dog Alone
Ohhh, they're all Christmassy themed! And all about a man & a woman in some way!
(Note the ridiculous typo in the URL for Dog Alone, which makes its episode page impossible to find without searching Google.)

FlashForward
1x09 Believe
FlashForward is, on the whole, still A Bit Rubbish, but this episode's main plot is actually quite good and sweet. Just a shame we have to suffer the on-going stories in the middle of it.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Films

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
[#1 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Finally getting underway...

Articles

3D TV is being billed as possible industry saviour by Maggie Shiels
(from BBC News)
They'll be lucky.

Frozen Britain seen from above
(from BBC News)
Oo-ooh!

Media Demand New Words For 'Snow'
(from the Daily Mash)

The National Union of Journalists last night demanded at least 12 new words for snow. The NUJ has lobbied the Oxford English Dictionary to approve a range of synonyms including 'squibble', 'floatynice' and 'roadf****r'... Wayne Hayes, The Sun's assistant editor (snow), said... "I want to write 'Droppyice covers Britain or 'Boffins warn of further clouds****y'. But those gayboy Oxford eggheads won't let me."

Russell Tovey to join Torchwood team? by Dan French
(from Digital Spy)
I wonder... if John Barrowman mentioned that someone like Heath Ledger was a good actor, would Digital Spy run a "Heath Ledger to join Torchwood team?" headline? I wouldn't be surprised.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week... except over Christmas. Which I think was fair enough.

As this is the first post-Xmas update it covers, essentially, What I Got For Christmas. (Well, What DVDs And Blu-rays I Got For Christmas -- I did get other stuff too. For a change.) Anything in the days since will be added from next week's update (not that there's much. Yet.) This slightly skews the normal way of things, I know, but I'm sure no one cares that much. Or at all.

Number of titles in collection: 1,111 [up 9]
Of which DVDs: 1,057 [up 4]
Of which Blu-rays: 54 [up 5]

Number of discs in collection: 2,739 [up 33]
Number of films in collection: 1,157 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,864 [up 84]

Statistic of the week will return next time. See you then, faithful reader.

TV

10 Minute Tales
Episode 1 Deep & Crisp & Even
Episode 5 Statuesque
A series of eleven dialogue-free short films, most with famous stars (and/or crew) that Sky1 aired over the Christmas period. As one might expect from a concept that sounds quite arty, they can be a bit ambiguous and not always wholly satisfactory; but the constraints also allow imagination to flourish -- Deep & Crisp & Even, for example, has several lovely ideas that are beautifully realised through well-applied special effects.
(I set this on my V+ box while I was away. Unfortunately it mucked up and I've missed one. Shame.)

Click to enlarge.

How I Met Your Mother
3x13 Ten Sessions
3x14 The Bracket
Ten Sessions is an exceptionally good episode, particularly it's single-shot climax. (Not that The Bracket is bad, that is.)

Wallander [Swedish]
1x08 Fotografen (aka The Photographer)

TV

Ad of the Decade
"X of the Noughties/Decade" lists are everywhere at the minute, but this is quite a fun one: a viewer-voted Top 20 of the best TV adverts from the last decade. Naturally there's a bias towards more recent ads (I honestly don't believe the Compare the Meerkat "simples", which placed 3rd, will be remembered in a decade, unlike the "wassup?" Bud ads from 2000, which placed 20th), but some genuinely impressive and deserved ones are here.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Doctor Who Confidential
4x19 Allons-y! [season finale]
And so, it ends. The great thing about this Confidential is that, while still doing the usual behind-the-scenes thing, it still compliments the episode and highlights how great it was, particularly the performances of David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
3x12 No Tomorrow

TV

How I Met Your Mother
3x10 The Yips
3x11 The Platinum Rule
Picking this back up after a break over Christmas. E4 are now well into season 4, so there's certainly some catching up to do.

Poirot
12x01 Three Act Tragedy
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

Out of Time by Michael Beek
(from Music from the Movies)
Long interview with incumbent Doctor Who composer Murray Gold about his work on the final specials, some of his initial thoughts for the next series, and his future plans in general.

TV

2009 Unwrapped extra [2nd watch]

The Graham Norton Show
6x13 New Year's Eve Special [season finale]
Feels slightly odd watching a specifically New Year's Eve-y special several days later, but then it was filmed far in advance anyhow so what does it matter? Still, this is a much preferable choice to the dross BBC One have been offering up on New Year's Eve for the past few years, so I hope it was a success.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
6x10 Wilson
An exceptional episode of the show, which (as the title may suggest) centres on Wilson rather than House, as the latter's usual activities continue in the background -- always a nice comedic touch (see Buffy episode The Zeppo for a similar thing). Even more unusual is how unChristmassy it is -- House is usually very full of the festive season for several episodes each year.

Spooks
8x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
Cliffhanger-tastic.

Top Gear
14x07 Episode 7 [season finale]
"How short can a one-hour programme be?" Jeremy Clarkson wonders towards the end of this episode. It's ironic, not that he realises it, because Top Gear almost always overruns by 5 to 10 minutes, which is a right bugger if you're intending to watch something on the other side. And, indeed, it's almost exactly 60 minutes into this episode that he actually muses that, before continuing to go on for a couple more. Clearly they need much, much better timing.
Still, fun episode, even if it was supposedly made with no money and -- here's a real surprise -- was actually full of car reviews.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Producer: 'Bond 23 is up in the air' by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Oh dear.

Sherlock Holmes 2 plans in jeopardy? by Oli Simpson
(from Digital Spy)
An over-dramatic headline if ever there was one (which is probably why they added the question mark). The story boils down to if the filmmakers decided to pursue a suggested thematic strand, which they probably won't, then the copyright holders would probably tell them not to, in which case they'd surely just do something else instead anyway.
Digital Spy: always good at telling us what people aren't and won't be doing.

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2009
A particularly funny year for what has now become something of an annual tradition on C4 (this is its fifth year). Nice to see Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross both back and on one team too, though my personal favourite contestant was the ever-excellent Rob Brydon.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Doctor Who [new]
4x18 The End of Time Part Two [2nd watch]
Caught the final 20 minutes of this by accident. Still brilliant -- what a send-off.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
3x06 Episode 6 [series finale]
A fitting conclusion to what has consistently been an excellent series (even through the occasionally awkward second season). In keeping with the overall tone: not too sentimental, not too neat, but far from depressing. Nice job.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin and Stacey: The Out-takes
Outtakes can be a mixed bag, and often reek of "it must've been funny if you were there". Thankfully, this bunch are mostly pretty good, even sustaining a full half-hour, aided by commentary from Ruth and James.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Live at the Apollo
5x06 (1/1/10 edition) [season finale]
Love Reginald D. Hunter, there wasn't enough of him. Not that the other two weren't good as well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
7x06 Genius (extended repeat)
A particularly funny edition, I felt. I imagine much of the silly riffing was cut the for the half-hour version, so it's a shame that's the only one available on iPlayer.
[Watch the shorter version (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

2009 Unwrapped extra
Red Button off-cuts from the excellent 2009 Unwrapped. These are mostly just as good, so one can only presume they were cut for time. They could've replaced some of Alone in the Shed in my opinion.
It's a shame Red Button content doesn't last long and is only sporadically available online, because these deserve to be more accessible. Two of the best are available online however: Hole in the Wall with Nick Griffin, and the pandemic compilation CD advert.

Doctor Who 2010 Trailer
Ooh, that looks exciting. So much to see...

Top Gear
14x06 Bolivia Special
Mad.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Victoria Wood: What Larks!
Behind the scenes of Victoria Wood's new Christmas special, which turns out to be an entertaining bit of comedy in its own right.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who [new]
4x18 The End of Time Part Two [New Year special]
After being a little disappointed by Part One, I thought that was excellent. A little indulgent at the end, maybe, but when you have such a beloved lead leaving it's OK to be a little indulgent within the show itself -- after all, it's not made for those who don't care that he's going, is it?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

James May's Toy Stories
1x06 Hornby [season finale]

Marple
4x03 They Do It With Mirrors
A pretty good one, til the over-done ending that didn't fit. Oh well. I guessed the solution also, but I like to think that's more me being clever than a fault with the programme.

Articles

Tennant's last interview before leaving Doctor Who by Lizo Mzimba
(from BBC News)
Is it? Is it really? I doubt it. But still, in this brief video he has a few things to say of passing interest. Likely there'll be much more interesting stuff to say once the post-broadcast interviews appear in Doctor Who Magazine and what have you.

Entertainment review of the decade by Mark Savage
(from BBC News)
BBC News look back over the decade in entertainment, taking in Top Ten lists across awards, ratings and sales for cinema, music, literature and TV. I like a good list or twenty.

TV

2009 Unwrapped with Miranda Hart
A look back over the year's big news stories and entertainment events... except none of them are real. A triumph for comedy and (admittedly, basic these days) special effects, it's particularly enjoyable on New Year's Eve.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Film 2009 with Jonathan Ross
Episode 28 Films of the Year
Despite the title, they don't seem to bother with the reader-voted Best Films of the Year list any more. Which is a shame, because surely that's what such shows should be about? There's the UK Box Office Top 5 -- commented on by the staff of the UK's best independent cinema (and, clearly, it wasn't their intelligence that won them that accolade) -- but that's not a real assessment of quality, is it, cos the masses flock to crap -- Transformers 2 is in there, for one.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

New Year Live
I like that the BBC have cut this down to just half an hour -- and half of that the fireworks display -- rather than the over-long content-free indulgence it used to be.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
[#94 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

And that's the end of that. And I didn't make it, for the first year ever (of three). Better luck next year...

TV

Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra
What a brilliant show this is -- informative, educational, funny and entertaining at the same time. Highly recommended. (It was shown by the BBC back in May, though at only 60 minutes -- on the DVD it's a full 49 longer, and worth it.)

QI
7x05 Groovy (extended repeat) [Christmas special]
[Watch the shorter version (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

An American in Paris (1951)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Articles

'Hellish' Celebrity Big Brother house unveiled by Neil Smith
(from BBC News)
It looks gorgeous. I'm almost tempted to watch just for the set. But I won't.

Ramis preppingGhostbusters 3 for 2011 by Mike Moody
(from Digital Spy)
Fingers crossed they can pull it off...

Thriller, Muppets selected for film archive by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Along with 23 others -- some definitely worthy, others I've never heard of.