TV

The Graham Norton Show
28x12 New Year's Eve Show
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
20x09 The Last Leg of the Year [2020]
Apparently the last time I watched The Last Leg was over five years ago. It doesn't seem to have changed much.
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

University Challenge
Christmas 2020 ep6 Durham v Downing, Cambridge
Christmas 2020 ep7 New College Oxford v Reading
Christmas 2020 ep8 Semi-Final 1
Christmas 2020 ep9 Semi-Final 2
[Watch this series (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Yesterday, I set a record for the highest number of new films I've watched in a year. But today, I'm just trying to make sure December 2020 doesn't fall short of my goal of 10 new films per month...

Death to 2020 (2020)
[#264 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Does this count as a film or a "TV special"? Netflix have well and truly blurred the line at this point — so I'm going with "Film", because I need it to reach my target.

Minions 3D (2015)
[#263 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

TV

Not Going Out
11x00 Resolutions [special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2017)
[#261 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

Under the Skin (2013)
[#262 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
Blindspot 2020 #12 (i.e. the last one — hurrah!)

Films

Tenet (2020)
[#260 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
+ several featurettes from the film’s special features (8 out of 13, to be precise); mainly ones about how they achieved depictions of time running simultaneously forwards and backwards

Films

Presto (2008)
[2nd watch]
Saw this in the cinema before WALL-E with my mum, but she couldn’t remember it so we pulled it up on Disney+. She still didn’t remember it, but it is bloody good.

Soul (2020)
[#259 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]

this week on 100 Films

There was just my final pre-Christmas monthly TV column over at 100 Films in a Year this week...





More next Sunday.

Collection Count

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

This would've been a running time update, but I've pushed it to next week to cover the yearly totals. I'm not currently expecting anything between now and next week, but you never know (especially with my procilivity for caving to sales).

Number of titles in collection: 2,509 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,081 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,428 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 93 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 6,438 [up 10]
Number of films: 2,886 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 203 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 8,982 [no change]
Number of short films: 807 [up 4]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2020
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Dad's Army
7x06 Turkey Dinner [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got 30 Years for You
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Morecambe and Wise Show
The Lost Tapes Episode 1 (of 2)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Russell Howard Hour
4x15 The Big Issues [special]

University Challenge
Christmas 2020 ep5 UCLAN v Loughborough
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories —
Part V: Christmas Adventures edited by David Marcum
The Stolen Relic by David Marcum
Not sure how I feel about the religious, supernatural aspect of this story, but it gave it a suitably seasonal aspect, at least.

TV

Blankety Blank
Christmas Special
I'm always up for a revival of Blankety Blank (the last one was on ITV in 2016), and this is no exception. It was pitched as a Christmas one-off, but I would imagine they'll be more if it was a hit.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mrs Brown's Boys
Mammy of the People [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Strictly Come Dancing
18x18 2020 Christmas Special
Unable to do their usual Christmas special, Strictly resorted to a viewer-voted countdown of the 25 best dances from the show's history — which, in many respects, made for a more entertaining special than usual.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Wheel
1x05 Christmas Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

And also...

La La Land (2016)
[final 20 minutes]
I'm counting this in the TV section rather than Film because we only caught the last 20 minutes on BBC Two before calling it a night for Christmas Day (so it's not a proper, i.e. full, rewatch). But I have to mention it anyway because, my God, what an ending! And what a remarkable, strangely fitting capstone to this most unusual Christmas.

Fiction

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories —
Part V: Christmas Adventures edited by David Marcum
The Adventure of the Missing Irregular by Amy Thomas
The Adventure of the Knighted Watchmaker by Derrick Belanger

These were both pretty good, I thought. Glad to see the collection picking up.

TV

Cinderella: A Comic Relief Pantomine for Christmas
Very silly, of course, but all in the right spirit. There's a slightly extended version also available on iPlayer, so I might (re)watch that at some point. [Watch the BBC Two edit (again) on iPlayer.]

Ghosts
2x07 The Ghost of Christmas [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse
Sometimes, I count TV movies as movies for 100 Films. And sometimes, I don't. Maybe I should be more consistent on this...

University Challenge
Christmas 2020 ep4 Nottingham v Sheffield
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Upstart Crow
4x00 Lockdown Christmas 1603 [Christmas special]
Apparently it's been two years since the last episode of Upstart Crow, which amazed me when I realised it because, well, it doesn't feel like it's been that long. I have nothing more insightful to add to that — it's just weird.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two (2020)
[#258 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
A proper Christmas film for Christmas Eve Eve.

Die Hard (1988)
[5th watch]
Rewatchathon 2020 #45. Another proper Christmas film for Christmas Eve Eve.

Fiction

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories —
Part V: Christmas Adventures edited by David Marcum
The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Bob Byrne
The Jet Brooch by Denis O. Smith

Every Christmastime for the past five years, I've intended to actually read this collection. In 2016 (when it was published and I bought it), I actually started it... but only managed the introductions (of which there are five! Slightly excessive, I feel), and first piece, a poem, of which my only comment was "oh dear". This time, I re-read the intros, but skipped the poem.

Sadly, the first story didn’t give me any more confidence about the quality of these pastiches — it’s scattered with blatant Americanisms and bits of prose that are on the surface adequate but lack refinement. It’s also not a particularly engaging or remarkable mystery; and the Christmas setting is entirely incidental and not even atmospherically evoked. Either this is just a misguided way to start the collection, or it really shows just how special Doyle’s writing was (or perhaps the kind of authors who focus on pastiching someone else’s characters are at the same level as self-published internet fan fiction, even when they appear in a professional-looking printed volume).

Fortunately, the second of these stories was considerably better; not without issues (the climax, where everyone is happy to blurt out every little detail with only the mildest prodding) was a little lacking in stylistic nuance for my taste, but the mystery, its investigation, and its solution were all neat enough.

There are a total of 31 pieces in the book, which would be perfect for filling December — if one started it on time, which, obviously, I did not. Let's see how much further I get before the season ends and reading these feels inappropriate...

TV

The Goes Wrong Show
2x00 The Nativity [Christmas special]
The BBC list this as being in "series 2" but don't give it an episode number, so I'm assuming (hoping) it counts as a special and that means there's six more episodes on the way — because the more the better, in my opinion! Quite how they keep coming up with so much pure hilarity from what sounds like it should be an easily-exhaustible concept is beyond me.
[Watch it (again and again) on iPlayer.]

Small Axe
Lovers Rock
[#247 in 100 Films in a Year 2020]
This has been appearing on "best film of the year" lists — it was Sight & Sound's #1, even. I... had a very different reaction. I'm not a fan. [Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Ghosts
2x06 Perfect Day [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
2x06 Malice
2x07 Æsahættr [season finale]
Some have thought this second series boring, but I mostly enjoyed it — the benefit of watching it all in just six days, perhaps. Apparently the third (and final) series isn't yet officially commissioned, but I really hope we get it. [Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

Staged
1x06 The Cookie Jar [2nd watch; extended]
[Watch the extended episodes (again) on Netflix.]

The Vicar of Dibley
...in Lockdown Episode 3 (of 3)
Because of its bitty, sketchy nature, I'm sure this series of three short episodes will work just as well as a single half-hour compilation — especially as that contains extra material (to run 34 minutes vs the three parts' total of 27). Wish I'd just waited now...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Celebrity Mastermind
2019/2020 Episode 10 (of 10)

Ghosts
2x05 Bump in the Night
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

His Dark Materials
2x05 The Scholar
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

It'll Be Alright on the Night
34x04 (19/12/20 edition)
I know bloopers are pretty much lowest-common-denominator comedy, but they can be funny. Not this selection, though — this was dire.
[Watch it (again) on the ITV Hub.]

Staged
1x04 Bara Brith [2nd watch; extended]
1x05 Ulysses [2nd watch; extended]
[Watch the extended episodes (again) on Netflix.]

The Vicar of Dibley
...in Lockdown Episode 2 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

7 new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


The 100-Week Roundup XV

Featuring...
- The Other Side of the Wind
- Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
- Paper Moon
- Hitchcock/Truffaut

Read more here.


A Christmas 100-Week Roundup

Featuring...
- The Christmas Chronicles
- The Man Who Invented Christmas
- A Christmas Carol

Read more here.


More next Sunday.