May 2026 Favourites

Hello there, I hope you’ve had a good month. Thanks to my foot injury I haven’t been out much for a while, but I am doing fine, as it has been feeling a lot better. And my mother is doing well too, although she did struggle in the heatwave we just had. I’ve included a little update on my caring situation in this post for those who are interested.

For the most part, however, my focus here will be on entertainment. And on that front the most significant thing is that I’ve been on the radio! I was very kindly invited to join in a discussion about audio description, and it’s already had some excellent feedback. Then beyond that, my mother and I have been celebrating David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, and I’ve been watching Doctor Who and some comedies.

So there’s plenty to get through in this roundup as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

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Harry Hill – Stand-Up Comedy & TV Burp Reviews

Former doctor Harry Hill has been on the comedy scene for over 30 years, and is renowned for his surreal mind and daft antics, including the use of silly stories, observational humour, slapstick, music, props, puppets and other quirky characters, often with cultural references, running gags and callbacks woven throughout his performances. Yet beneath all the nonsense there is a lot of structure, creativity and cleverness as well. So sometimes you’ll find him mocking TV shows, celebrities, human behaviour, language, the world around us, and so on, while at other times he’s just delightfully absurd for the sheer fun of it.

He recently had a great new stand-up special broadcast on Sky this month. So because I enjoyed that, I thought I would revisit all of his previous specials as well, just as I’ve done for several other comedians in recent years. And while I’m at it, I figured I would go through his TV Burp DVDs that I own too, because I loved that programme. Plus I’ll briefly mention some of his other work. I’ve also put together a playlist with a wide selection of clips, full episodes, music, interviews and more, including videos from his own Youtube channel. So I hope you enjoy looking through it all!

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Doctor Who Review – 50th Anniversary Specials

Yes, I know, we already celebrated Doctor’s Who’s 60th anniversary a few years ago. It’s all a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey. But this epic post for the bank holiday weekend is part of my ongoing series of reviews for all the series in the modern era, as I’ve been rewatching them in order. Recently I wrote about Series 7 (Part 1 & Part 2), and the cliffhanger at the end of it directly leads into the 50th anniversary specials, so naturally I wanted to move straight on to those.

The 2013 specials mark the end of Matt Smith’s stellar reign as the 11th Doctor. Some people had doubts about him when he took over from David Tennant – who also appears in the anniversary story, along with John Hurt as the War Doctor – but he really made the role his own, and showed he was capable of everything from chirpy humour to dark intensity. So he’s been very much missed ever since the brilliant send-off he had in these specials.

Meanwhile Jenna Coleman (who dropped the “Louise” from her name from this point onwards) continues to be a wonderful companion as Clara Oswald, with the mystery of why she’s the ‘Impossible Girl’ having been resolved at the end of Series 7. And there’s the welcome return of Billie Piper as a version of Rose that we’ve never seen before.

The score by Murray Gold is sublime as usual, so I’ll be picking out some of my favourite pieces from his soundtrack album in these reviews. And of course everything was overseen by showrunner Steven Moffat, who somehow managed to fit it all in alongside Series 7 of Doctor Who and Series 3 of Sherlock. Plus there was a biographical drama about the origins of the show, written by Mark Gatiss and featuring music by Edmund Butt, that I’ll also be reviewing in this post.

Altogether there’s a lot to mention from the Blu-ray set, along with additional stuff that wasn’t included in that release, and as always I’ve put together an extensive playlist of clips, behind the scenes material, music, interviews, reactions, conventions and much more. So I hope you enjoy celebrating this key milestone in the show’s history with me.

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April 2026 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re doing well. As I explained in my carer update post yesterday, this has been a good month overall, apart from Mum and I picking up little injuries, but we are both slowly getting better.

Because of that, I still haven’t been out anywhere exciting just yet. But there’s still some entertainment for me to mention as usual, for which the main themes this month happen to be the cosmos and comedy. So let’s crack on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

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February & March 2026 Favourites

Hello again, I hope your year’s been going well so far, and you’re enjoying the Easter weekend. For me, the first few months of 2026 have been a transition period, as I’ve been making the switch from my support worker role to a new zero-hours contract as an accessibility tester, so I can focus more on caring for my mother and looking after my own wellbeing. You can find out more about all of that in my latest Carer & Career Update post.

Because of that, along with the often cold and wet weather, I haven’t done many interesting things in London since my January Favourites. I’ve been out for a few walks, got a haircut and done some shopping when the weather allows, but that’s it – until very recently, when I saw my first theatre show of the year with a friend of mine, which was a much-needed bit of light relief.

So in this post I’ll be talking about my theatre visit, which involved a touch tour and audio description, as well as the variety of entertainment I’ve been enjoying at home. None of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual, and I hope you find it interesting!

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January 2026 Favourites

Hello again, I hope your year’s got off to a good start. For me, as noted in my recent update about my career and being a carer, my circumstances are set to change due to my mother’s ongoing support needs and funding cuts for my current job role. But Mum is much better than she was last year, I’ve already secured a new freelance position, and I have other financial support, so there’s good reason to be positive and hopeful about the year ahead.

I’m also celebrating 10 years of blogging and YouTubing, and that decade has really flown by! Thank you so much if you’ve played any part in that, whether it’s quietly reading my posts or interacting with me in some way, I really appreciate it!

But to focus on January, I have started going out and about more again, now that my mother’s situation has eased a bit. So I’ve met a couple of friends, eaten some delicious food and taken a few nice walks. Meanwhile at home, alongside my usual favourite TV programmes, I’ve been having a stand-up comedy binge by watching several specials and finishing an autobiography. So there’s quite a bit to mention as usual, none of which is sponsored to appear here, and I hope you enjoy!

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Chris McCausland – Keep Laughing Review

I’ve mentioned Chris McCausland several times in my blog in recent years, because he’s one of my favourite comedians, and not because he’s blind. He’s very funny, clever and down to earth, a genuine nice guy, and I got to see him live a few years ago, which I hope to do again at some point. Recently I also enjoyed his fascinating documentary Seeing Into The Future, and he’s done great podcast interviews with the BBC, Channel 4 News and Romesh Ranganathan.

And now my mother and I have listened to the audiobook of his new autobiography, Keep Laughing, and we’ve really enjoyed it, so I wanted to do a review here as well. This isn’t sponsored or gifted, I’m just a fan, and I hope you find it interesting.

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Jack Dee – Stand-Up Comedy Reviews

Recently I celebrated John Bishop’s 25 years in comedy by watching and reviewing several of his great stand-up shows, including the latest one that aired on Sky Comedy over Christmas.

Another of my favourite comedians who also had a new special on Sky was Jack Dee. He’s been on the circuit even longer, making audiences laugh since he first set foot on stage in the late 80s, and really came to prominence on TV from the early 90s onwards. So he’s been going strong for over 35 years. I’ve seen him in many shows on TV in that time, and I also enjoy listening to him on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on BBC Radio 4, as he’s proven to be the perfect host since taking over from the late, great Humphrey Lyttelton back in 2009.

Jack is of course known for his deadpan, sarcastic and grumpy stage persona, and he uses it to wonderful comedic effect. He does laugh sometimes, of course, but he’s usually very good at staying in character. It’s easiest to see him laughing more naturally in interviews, as well as the Oh My Dog podcast with Seann Walsh and guests, which isn’t the kind of podcast that interests me, but from a quick look at it out of curiosity, they do seem to have a lot of fun banter.

All that said, however, the truth is that he does actually suffer from depression, and has done for many years. So it’s good that he’s been open about it in interviews, which helps to raise awareness. He manages it well, and being able to channel his energy through his comedy has been life-changing for him.

So his latest stand-up special has given me a good excuse to rewatch and review his old DVDs, as it’s been quite some time since I’ve gone through them. Most of his DVDs don’t have extra features, but there’s plenty more footage of Jack online of course, as you can on my Youtube playlist. So I hope you enjoy looking through it all.

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John Bishop – Stand-Up Comedy Reviews

Back in October 2000, a depressed and almost divorced Liverpudlian called John Bishop naively put his name down for an open mic spot, despite having no experience of stand-up whatsoever, purely to avoid paying £4 to enter the Frog & Bucket comedy club in Manchester.

He didn’t expect to be invited on stage, but he was, and his off-the-cuff debut monologue that night triggered a chain of events that saved his marriage to Melanie and launched his stand-up career. It’s a really sweet story – one that’s actually inspired the new film called Is This Thing On?, directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Will Arnett. It seems to be getting good reviews too, so I will watch it and give my reaction to it at some stage, if not in the cinema then after it becomes available online.

25 years on from that first appearance, having since become one of the most successful comedians of the 21st century, John has been celebrating the milestone with a new tour, from which one of the performances was broadcast on Sky in December. He’s also posted a few shows from the past couple of years and a video diary from his new tour over on Youtube.

I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, having bought all of his stand-up DVDs that were released between 2010-2018. I just think he’s a very funny observational story-teller and a really nice, down to earth guy, and I like how he does something a little bit special or different at the end of some of his shows, rather than just finishing with a joke. In the past I’ve seen a few TV programmes that he’s been in as well, including his self-titled shows, but most notable for me was his stint as companion Dan Lewis in Jodie Whittaker’s era of Doctor Who, and last year’s cameo in the ITV drama Code Of Silence alongside Rose Ayling-Ellis.

So now’s the perfect time for me to mark his anniversary by having a Bishop binge on his stand-up material, revisiting his DVDs that I haven’t watched for a while and then checking out his newer material that I haven’t seen at all before. And I’ve also compiled a playlist with a selection of clips and interviews. So I hope you enjoy!

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Christmas 2025 Favourites – Part 2

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful time this festive season. Or if it’s been a difficult period, or even a tough year overall, then I hope 2026 works out better for you.

My mother and I are certainly hoping it will be more positive after everything we’ve been through in the last 12 months. I’ve written a lot about being a carer for her, and recently brought our story up to date by reflecting on the year and the considerable progress we’ve made. We did have a lovely, relaxing, over-indulgent Christmas, I’m pleased to say, so that’s put us in the right frame of mind for the year ahead. The future of my job is very uncertain, granted, but whatever happens with that I’ll be alright. So fingers crossed things continue to go well for us.

I previously posted about the things I enjoyed during the advent period leading up to Christmas, so now it’s time to catch up with all the other entertainment that’s been keeping me occupied since then. So let’s jump straight into it, and I hope you enjoy!

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