The TV we watch...

[Abrasha33]

I've forgotten when I used to watch TV

 

[Nitefly]

I’m rewatching Game of Thrones at the moment and it really is the bestest. It’s so damn ‘epic’ - the character development is exceptional, you really care for the heroes and you really, really hate the villains

For anyone that wants a good bit of medieval-style conquests, ‘lords and ladies’ intrigue and doesn’t mind a light sprinkling of fantasy elements, this is absolutely critical viewing.

The only caveat to me recommending this is that it requires a strong stomach… it’s brutal and miserable. There is a lot of violence, cruelty and misogyny and plenty of scenes that may upset. This can stray a little too much towards ‘titillation’, especially during the earlier seasons which also have excessive nudity, but I think it wisely recalibrates away from this as the show goes on so that the misery is less titillating and just, err, really hard to watch…?

What a show \o/

Edit: I have some friends to refuse to watch this purely on the basis that “there are dragons”… which is silly because as a whole it’s not really about the dragons / fantasy and is instead much more about the human relationships and conquests. I will tell them that it’s much more like, perhaps, ‘Braveheart’, which they like. Yet they still refuse to watch because they cannot get on board with the idea of ‘dragons’… so frustrating!

For anyone on the fence, I’d say commit to the first 2 episodes and you’ll get a good idea of what’s to come.

 

[Matt N]

It’s been quite a year for Christmas TV on the BBC, and I’ve now managed to watch some of the main anticipated TV events on the channel!

Gavin & Stacey: The Finale
This had been quite hyped up, but I have to say that it did not disappoint for me! To keep it spoiler-free, there were plenty of laughs and running jokes from previous episodes continued, but there was also quite a lot of heart and emotion at times as well. I very much enjoyed it, and I thought it was an excellent ending!

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
I thought this was excellent! It’s been years since I’ve watched one of the Wallace & Gromit films, but this was very funny and definitely every bit as fun and charming as we’ve come to expect from the duo over the years! I enjoyed the somewhat modern twist with the AI/robot storyline, but also very much enjoyed the return of Feathers McGraw over 30 years on! Overall, I definitely thoroughly enjoyed Wallace & Gromit, and the new instalment fits in very nicely with the others as a thoroughly fun hour and a half! I do think a Norbot scene would be a nice addition to Thrill-O-Matic in Blackpool…

Tiddler
This was not exactly anticipated as such, but me and my mum decided to watch it out of nostalgia, as we always used to watch the animated Julia Donaldson specials when I was a child. I’m not really the target demographic, but I thought it was quite sweet!

Outnumbered
This was definitely funny enough and had some good laughs in places, but I do feel like it’s maybe lost something now the children are grown up. A lot of the charm of the original episodes came from the wild improvisation of the child actors, particularly Karen and Ben, and you don’t get that as much now they’re all adults. I also thought that the reasonable emphasis on cancer was maybe a tad depressing for a Christmas special. Nonetheless, it was still a fun watch with a few good chuckle-inducing lines, if not quite up there with the original episodes for me.

 

[Graeme]

My Christmas viewing this year:

BBC2 has been showing some quite-good quizzes in the evenings. Earlier on we have House of Games and Celebrity Mastermind. After that, we have Only Connect and University Challenge. Not essential, but it's nice to have as back-up.

On Christmas Eve I like Midnight Mass. It gives me a very peaceful feeling.

And of course the big one was Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Very good, but I feel like I was in a bad mood and need to watch it again. On the positive side, the gnomes were absolutely brilliant and the humour with them came across 100% as intended (I'm sure). The recharging was hilarious. On a slight negative, I didn't think the side story with the police worked all that well. There is not normally that much exposition in W&G, and the female police officer, in particular, was more flattering than they usually portray their characters (normally, Gromit is the only sane one). Bringing back Feathers McGraw, and having him acknowledged by so many as a feared criminal, sort of undid the subtle humour that he was really just a penguin. I think the story might have been better if it had focused more on the gnomes. However, let's stop there, because I can't further criticise something with so much love poured into it. I loved the Mayor; the slow speed of the canal boat chase was genius, and I'm pretty sure I saw a barge with "Flying Duck" on the side! Looking forward to watching this one again, and hope to see new additions to the series in the future.

 

[Graeme]

I watched a fantastic documentary last night - Loch Ness: They Created a Monster. I know programmes about this subject are ten-a-penny, but this really was a cut above. Made by BBC Scotland, it focuses on the monster hunters themselves, and the various feuds between them. Much recommended for 90 minutes' escapism.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Just watching Toxic Town now (It's on Netflix)

It follows the Corby Toxic Waste scandal on the ill fated "Wonderland" theme park's proposed site, that led to birth defects in newborn babies.

It's a bit slow so far, to be honest, but thought some might be interested in it, due to the loose links with one of the UK's many planned theme parks that never materialised.

Also, forgot to mention, it's a good reminder of why all that 'red tape' that we often complain about, when we want to see things get built, is so very important.

 

[Graeme]

Also, forgot to mention, it's a good reminder of why all that 'red tape' that we often complain about, when we want to see things get built, is so very important.

Yep, I can't stand it when people talk about cutting red tape as though it's a good thing. Cutting red tape allows them to supply us with poor-quality food, poisoned crops and bee-killing pesticides.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Yep, I can't stand it when people talk about cutting red tape as though it's a good thing. Cutting red tape allows them to supply us with poor-quality food, poisoned crops and bee-killing pesticides.

Have to admit to a little hypocrisy here... I often think that there's 'too much' red tape, especially when the purpose of some of that red tape is not critical to the health and lives of civilians or wildlife. But this show is a sharp reminder of just home important most of it is.

Let me expand on that though, and give some examples. I think it's way too easy to get something listed in this country, and we list things that really shouldn't be listed. Sure, beautiful and / or historically important buildings, that can still serve a purpose today, or ones that are of such historic significance that they need to be preserved, regardless of whether they still serve a purpose, should absolutely be listed / protected. But we even have 50s / 60s ugly concrete tower blocks / council estates that are listed buildings, no joke. Every town and city in the country now has abandoned eyesores, that just fall into more disrepair each year. They'll never be saved, because of the costs involved with working on a listed building. Their owners have often resorted to arson or similar to rid themselves of the burden. So they'll just sit abandoned and get uglier and uglier each year, taking up valuable space and standing in the way of progress.

Green belt is another issue. Again don't get me wrong, it IS important, and we do need tight controls over what green land is used for development, it absolutely should never be a free for all, or a given, that green belt can be used to build on. But we've a massive housing crisis in this country, we will have to give up some of it, a tiny percentage of the areas closest to current city / town boundaries, if we're ever going to solve that crisis.

Then there's the 'not in my back yard' lobbyists and campaigners. One example is energy. Everybody knows and agrees that the national grid needs upgrading, we need new carrying capacity / power lines and new renewable generation. Arguments about which specific energy types are right aside, because I don't want to get into a 'solar won't work in this country' or a 'wind only works with storage capacity' debate. My point is that, everybody agrees something needs to be done, but nobody wants anything in their backyard. Solar farms meet massive opposition, turbines are labelled as ugly, and locally to me, National Grid unveiled plans to massively upgrade the power lines to new, bigger, pylons carrying higher capacity cables, and all I see locally is people saying "Why here though, why not there," or "why can't they do this instead, then we wouldn't have to look at pylons!" SMR's are going to be a massive upgrade to our Grid, but I already know what's going to happen when they start looking for the sites needed, close to major cities... We all do!

Balls, I went on a rant again, sorry, I need to stop that... Point is, I agree that most red tape is needed, especially when lives are stake, and this show is a sobering reminder of why. But there's still far too much of it overall, and because of that, we have a big issue in this country with just "getting stuff done."

 

[Graeme]

But we've a massive housing crisis in this country, we will have to give up some of it, a tiny percentage of the areas closest to current city / town boundaries, if we're ever going to solve that crisis.

Do you not think it's strange, though, that we suddenly have to build so many housing estates? Our birth rate is low, so the increase must be coming from immigration. It seems to many that we're making the country overdeveloped when we don't need to, ie. we're making the crisis! Just seems a bit suspicious to me.

Solar farms meet massive opposition, turbines are labelled as ugly, and locally to me, National Grid unveiled plans to massively upgrade the power lines to new, bigger, pylons carrying higher capacity cables, and all I see locally is people saying "Why here though, why not there," or "why can't they do this instead, then we wouldn't have to look at pylons!"

Personally, I'm all for green energy. Wind, wave, solar... makes sense to me that we use what Nature's given us. I agree though, we've all had to listen to the "saloon bar bore" who tells us we're wrong. I can see why people don't want pylons or nuclear though.

I dare say the London Resort would actually have happened if we'd had a competent government at the time, who could have granted an SDO (I'm no expert, I admit).

The trouble with just bulldozing over others' feelings, though, is we can never be sure we have the correct information ourselves. That's the trouble with any ideology. We're told so many lies by the authorities to push their agendas, I can see why people end up believing nothing. Maybe if we were actually asked, and told the truth, it'd be better? Truth and democracy - what a concept!

Then there's the matter of our own changing perspectives. I couldn't wait to ride the Alton Valley Woodie in 2005. Now, I'm glad they didn't cut down the trees.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Do you not think it's strange, though, that we suddenly have to build so many housing estates? Our birth rate is low, so the increase must be coming from immigration. It seems to many that we're making the country overdeveloped when we don't need to, ie. we're making the crisis! Just seems a bit suspicious to me.



Personally, I'm all for green energy. Wind, wave, solar... makes sense to me that we use what Nature's given us. I agree though, we've all had to listen to the "saloon bar bore" who tells us we're wrong. I can see why people don't want pylons or nuclear though.

I dare say the London Resort would actually have happened if we'd had a competent government at the time, who could have granted an SDO (I'm no expert, I admit).

The trouble with just bulldozing over others' feelings, though, is we can never be sure we have the correct information ourselves. That's the trouble with any ideology. We're told so many lies by the authorities to push their agendas, I can see why people end up believing nothing. Maybe if we were actually asked, and told the truth, it'd be better? Truth and democracy - what a concept!

Then there's the matter of our own changing perspectives. I couldn't wait to ride the Alton Valley Woodie in 2005. Now, I'm glad they didn't cut down the trees.

There's been a housing shortage in this country since the war, and it's only getting worse every year. I don't really care what ethnicity people are, how people got here, we're all here now, in the UK, just trying to live our lives. Makes no difference whatsoever in my opinion, we all need homes. 4 million homes we're short of apparently. I read that we have the lowest number of homes per capita in the Western world. If the population is increasing, for any reason whatsoever, then we need to build enough homes to meet that demand. It's that simple. The population has been increasing for decades, and we've not been building enough homes for decades, that's ultimately what got us here.

And of course I understand why people don't want things in their backyard. But who does? Who's knocking down the doors of the powers that be and saying "please obstruct my view of these fields with a lovely solar farm instead," "please run your new power lines over my land, I just love the hum," "ohh can I get one of those pretty 5G towers opposite my window please?" Nobody wants it, truth be told. But most want to use electricity, mobile signal, railways, roads and every other type of infrastructure... They just want it to be built in somebody else's backyard instead of their own. Sod that, if we absolutely need it, build it where it's needed, build it where it makes the most sense economically, ecologically and operationally, as long as it's safe. We've wasted too many billions, for far too long, pandering to this nonsense.

I don't think the woodie is quite the same, it's not really essential infrastructure, at least not to most people. It would have been nice, but to be clear here, I'm only talking essential infrastructure and homes. I'm not, for one minute, suggesting anybody should be able to go and build anything, anywhere and anytime they want, not at all. But you only have to travel to other European countries to see how dilapidated our own national infrastructure is becoming, despite the best efforts of all the boys and girls up and down the country who do their absolute best to maintain it and keep it up and running for us, an incredible feat really, given the state of much of it.

Severn Trent have been out and fixed leaks, to the delipidated mains pipes of our village, so many times in the last twelve months, that I've genuinely lost count. Patchwork repairs, upgrading very small sections of rotten old metal pipes, to that blue plastic pipe each time, as they go. Would have been cheaper and easier to replace the entire thing in one go. But you can't do that, because certain horse riders, who use the various stables in the village, would not be able to ride their horses for a week or two. (Not all horse riders round here btw, most are great, it's a small minority, plastic millionaires, who think they're above everyone, even those who live here.) We'd have to close the pub, and would lose money, sure, but I'd say it was worth it for the bigger picture.

Gigaclear were installing FTTP / 1gbps to the village last year. They were ready to start in 2023, but those same horse riders, who don't even live in the village remember, complained about road closures so many times that they completely pulled out and cancelled the project, so it looked like we'd be stuck with 8mbps copper. The village is a dead end, so it's purely because they couldn't ride!!! The Parish council got involved, and actually did the right thing thankfully, got the residents together, who all appealed to Gigaclear to go ahead, and it worked. They were then ready to start work in spring 2024, but had to wait until September, why? Because the County Council, who own the country park behind the village, thought that road works might interfere with the food fair and a couple of other small events they hold on the park over summer. There's not supposed to be vehicular access to the park through the village, there's a HUGE car park on the other side of the park, accessed via a town. So instead, they let the school in the village deal with the disruptions when they reopened in September instead. I kid you not, a crappy little food fair, which is accessible more easily from many other places, was more important than a primary school's daily operations and safety. You couldn't make it up. (1gbps down AND up now though, which is really quite nice after 10 years of less than 8mbps down and less than 750 kbps up. )

Look now, you made me rant again ffs. But I am so sick of this nonsense, can we just start getting stuff done please!!!

Also... I really need some good coaster trips in 2025! Didn't do much last year, so I've clearly gotten way too involved in village politics as a result recently, and I don't like it. Starting to sound like Victor bloody Meldrew. :/

P.s @Graeme if you wanna carry on the convo, feel free to PM me, I don't think we should derail this thread any more. But I don't mind chewing the fat with you and putting the world to rights in private messages.