Glen – Page 2 – Well Eye Never

Doctor Who Review – Series 6

Recently I began revisiting Matt Smith’s reign on Doctor Who, by taking a deep dive into Series 5 as part of my ongoing posts about the modern era of the show.

So now it’s time to move on to Series 6. With the previous series, new showrunner Steven Moffat had given the programme a big overhaul, and very successfully too. So this time around things are more settled. The 11th Doctor is again joined by the gorgeous Karen Gillan playing the feisty Amy Pond, along with Arthur Darvill in the role of her newly wedded husband Rory Williams. They make such an enjoyable trio with great chemistry between them, because they became such good friends off-camera when they started working on Series 5 together. You can see how much fun they have together in the Confidential documentaries as well.

We also see plenty more of Alex Kingston as River Song, and we finally discover who she really is. Her identity is revealed as a mid-season cliffhanger, as originally the series was split into two halves, with a 12-week gap between them. Such a break had never happened in the modern era before, so it was a bit frustrating at the time, especially given the big reveal. But at least the series can be watched all in one go now. Other mysteries from the previous series, about The Silence and the exploding Tardis, also continue to develop here, along with new story arcs about the Doctor’s death and Amy’s pregnancy.

So there’s plenty to get through in this post, in terms of the episodes and the various extra features as per usual, and once again I’ve compiled a playlist for the series with lots of clips and bonus material. I hope you enjoy!

Caring For Mum – Part 4 – Breaking Point

At the beginning of August I wrote about the decline in my mother’s physical and mental health, given her struggles to adapt to her blindness and the fact she was having a lot of falls, one of which had fractured her collarbone. And that in turn was impacting my own wellbeing, as I had to devote a lot more time and energy to her needs.

We were in a bad way at the time, with no certainty as to if, how or when things would get better, so that we could get back to some sense of a normal life. Several people have said they’ve found those posts very moving, and my friends have kept in close contact to ensure that I’m ok, for which I’m very grateful.

Shortly after making that trilogy of posts, things took a further turn for the worse, as Mum fell and broke her wrist. My big fear of things spiralling even more out of control appeared to have been realised.

However, alongside the stressful and lengthy recovery process, the incident also triggered a chain of events that have resulted in Mum receiving a lot more help and support than either of us expected, to such an extent that she’s now in a much more relaxed and positive state than I’ve seen her in for ages. It’s a shame that it took an accident to be the catalyst for all that support, but so far it seems to have been a bit of a blessing in disguise.

We’re not out of the woods yet, as she is still finding some things difficult, and I’m still having to spend a lot of time looking after her. So it is still tiring and stressful sometimes, there’s still a lot of stuff we need to sort out, and there will always be the risk of further setbacks. But we are getting through the days much more easily now, and we have greater hope and optimism for the weeks and months ahead, and all being well there should be more big developments by the end of the year.

So I want to reflect on our journey in the last few months, to bring things up to date. I have been writing extensive journal posts as well, but this is a good opportunity to summarise what’s been happening, and I hope you find it interesting.

Carer’s Journal – October 2025 – Part 2

Now we’re getting somewhere. In the last couple of weeks, there have been some huge leaps forward in my mother’s situation, giving us a welcome sense of relief and optimism after such a long, hard summer. So in this latest instalment of my carer journal posts, I’m happy to share some very positive developments that, fingers crossed, bode well for the remainder of the year.

Carer’s Journal – October 2025 – Part 1

Welcome to the next part of my carers journal, in what is set to be an important transitional month for us, as my mother is hopefully coming out of her cast in the second half of October. We’ve also had some very significant news this month that will greatly enhance her ability to get out and about again, and we’re still looking into her long-term care options as well. So there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel if everything works out. Here’s what’s been happening during the last few weeks.

Top Of The Bucket List – Farewell Patricia Routledge

On Friday we sadly lost Patricia Routledge at the age of 96. She loved her acting career and charity work, focusing on it throughout her life, not even getting married or having children. She was happy as she was, and exceptionally good at what she did in her many roles on stage and screen, including the title character in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and her recitals of monologues by Alan Bennett.

But she will forever be remembered most fondly for playing the snobbish, candlelight supper-serving, ‘Lady of the House’ Hyacinth Bucket – pronounced ‘bouquet’ – in the wonderful sitcom Keeping Up Appearances during the 90s, written by Roy Clarke. Patricia was perfectly cast and in 1996, the year after it ended, she was voted the UK’s most popular actress at an awards ceremony for the BBC’s 60th anniversary. By that point she had already been honoured with an OBE 3 years earlier, she was granted a CBE in 2004, and ultimately became a Dame in the 2017 New Year Honours list, for her services to theatre and charity work.

September 2025 Favourites

Welcome to my latest monthly roundup, I hope you’re doing well.

In terms of my caring responsibilities towards my mother, who is still recovering from her broken wrist, I’ve continued posting separate journal updates about everything that’s been going on, split into Part 1 and Part 2 for this month. So do read those posts if you want to be kept informed about that side of my life. Suffice to say that while we are still finding things difficult in some ways, she is continuing to get various forms of help, and we are now starting to consider the support required for her longer term care needs. Plus we’ve already had a very positive development at the start of October, perhaps the most significant to date, that has the potential to make a huge difference long-term. I’ll tell you about that in my October journal posts in the weeks ahead, and it’s going to be an important transitional month if all goes to plan.

Apart from all that though, I have kept myself entertained in various ways as well, with music, TV shows and an audiobook. So here are the main things I’ve been enjoying, and I hope you find them interesting to read about as always.

Carer’s Journal – September 2025 – Part 2

Welcome to the next part of my caring journal, which I know has been getting quite a bit of attention recently, and thank you to all those who are taking the time to read it.

The second half of this month has continued to have positive developments overall, with thoughts turning to long term home care for Mum, as well as ongoing help with things like her sleep and mobility. But there have still been difficult moments as well, with Mum having occasional restless nights, sometimes due to sleep-induced confusion as to who I am or where she is, along with moments of general anxiety or panic, as has become the norm in recent months.

Generally though we’re doing ok, as we can see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of Mum’s wrist cast coming off later in October, and we’re looking forward to arranging proper care for her.

So here’s what’s been going on over the last couple of weeks, which I hope you find interesting.

Fawlty Towers – 50th Anniversary Review

50 years ago the classic hotel sitcom Fawlty Towers opened for business on the BBC. And while it only ran for 2 series, it’s no exaggeration to say that it blessed us with 12 of the greatest half hours of comedy that have ever been broadcast on British TV.

The huge popularity of this BAFTA-winning programme continues to grow to this day as well, most recently aided by the stage show that has just been broadcast on TV to mark the anniversary. It just goes to show that, unlike many old sitcoms which ended up being very much of their time, Fawlty Towers still holds up perfectly well, and still blows all of the modern comedies out of the water, which is a remarkable achievement.

Created by John Cleese with his first wife Connie Booth and set in Torquay (though they never filmed there), and accompanied by Dennis Wilson’s beautiful theme tune, it has an excellent mixture of characters who find themselves caught up in a variety of highly amusing and increasingly farcical scenarios.

While manager Basil (played by John) constantly hopes for a relaxing day with normal guests, and strives to find ways to have a fancier class of clientele visiting his establishment, it never takes long for things to unravel, driving him to frustration. It doesn’t help that his sharp-tongued, fear-inducing dragon of a wife Sybil (Prunella Scales) is constantly nagging him, and that his keen and well-meaning yet confused Spanish waiter Manuel (played by the dearly missed Andrew Sachs) is impossible to communicate with. He does at least have support from waitress Polly (played by Connie), who provides some sanity to keep Basil grounded, but he makes life difficult for her sometimes too, by using her in his attempts to get out of sticky situations.

The show has a solid hit rate of verbal, visual and physical gags, along with plot strands that come together nicely, and a first-rate cast who bring it to life so brilliantly. And such was the amount of action packed into each episode that the scripts were twice as long compared to other sitcoms and had twice as many camera cuts.

The humour is quintessentially British too, so much so that 3 attempts to remake the series in America and one in Germany all inevitably failed. It has inspired several other sitcoms though, with the makers of shows like Father Ted, Cheers and 3rd Rock From The Sun all acknowledging it as a major influence. And in general it set an incredibly high benchmark that few sitcoms (if any) since have come anywhere close to.

I’ve watched the series countless times over the years, but now is the perfect excuse to watch it yet again and actually write a bit about it to celebrate the occasion. So I’m going to go through the episodes and the extras on the Blu-ray set I have, as well as checking out the stage play on TV, which I didn’t get around to seeing in person in the West End. Plus I’ve put together a Youtube playlist of highlights and bonus material to go with this. So I hope you enjoy!

Carer’s Journal – September 2025 – Part 1

Here’s the latest update on how my mother and I are doing, as part of my series of journal posts about being a carer. She’s still recovering from her broken wrist, having sleepless nights, and experiencing moments of anxiety and panic. But she’s also regaining some confidence and mobility, which has been great to see, and things are moving forward in terms of the help and support she’s getting from healthcare professionals, which is reassuring.

July & August 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re doing well and have been enjoying the summer. If you’ve continued to follow my blog over the last couple of months then (a) thank you so much and (b) you’ll have seen there’s good reason for me not going out much lately, given the issues at home that I’ve now opened up about. Looking after my mother has become a much bigger drain on my time and energy than it used to be, but we are gradually getting help now.

Still, beyond all the disability and care-related stuff I’ve been sharing recently, I’ve also kept myself occupied and distracted with various forms of entertainment, some of which I’ve written separate blog posts on as well.

So here’s a quick roundup of things I’ve written about and entertainment I’ve been enjoying over the last couple of months. I’m still not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, but I hope you find these bits and pieces interesting.

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