TV – Page 3 – Well Eye Never

January 2025 Favourites

Well, hello there, and welcome to my first roundup of the year – which has got off to a very cold, wet and windy start here in the UK. We’ve been better off staying cosy and warm indoors, so I haven’t done anything really notable out and about this month. I did buy myself a lovely new winter coat in M&S though, plus I got a much-needed haircut and had a few little walks, but that was it really. I have plans for the months ahead though, so I’m not concerned about that.

Besides, a quiet start to the year is quite welcome, especially after a busy and somewhat stressful Christmas thanks to our old cooker breaking down. But thankfully the new Beko cooker we had installed this month is working wonderfully. It took a little bit of getting used to at first, as the numbers on the dials go in the opposite direction than we’re used to, and the method of ignition using a button while pushing in the dials is slightly different to our old cooker. But we soon got the hang of it, and it cooks everything really well, better than our old appliance did. We’ve done meat joints, steaks, pizzas, fish, etc in the oven, which have all come out perfectly when following the packaging instructions, I’ve become a dab hand at doing delicious cheese on toast under the grill, and the hob heats things like vegetables and gravy very efficiently. So we’re happy with it, and let’s hope that remains the case for a while!

So with all that said, there are just a few bits of entertainment to mention in this month’s post and video. I did consider holding back my next update until February, but after an epic Christmas roundup, followed by a couple of lengthy reviews that I’m going to highlight here, it’s nice to do something a bit shorter. So I’m sorry it’s relatively brief, but nevertheless I hope you enjoy!

Michael McIntyre – Stand-Up Comedy Reviews

Back in December, Michael McIntyre celebrated his 25th anniversary in stand-up comedy with a special show from his Macnificent tour on BBC One. So because I enjoyed that, I thought I’d rewatch his DVDs and his Netflix special to mark his big milestone, as well as celebrate the welcome return of his Big Show series on TV.

His routines regularly have me laughing out loud, due to the great humour he spins out from his observations and experiences, often about things that we take for granted in everyday life and can readily relate to. And he’s always chirpy and full of energy, occasionally even skipping around the stage, which has become a bit of a trademark of his unique style.

He’s ruder in his stand-up specials than on his family-friendly TV shows of course, with occasional strong language and sexual references, but he never gets really crude either, and doesn’t insult or offend anyone. It’s all light-hearted and fun, he’s a great storyteller, and he’s very good at doing callbacks to earlier jokes to tie everything together. Similarly on his Big Show, while he does play a lot of amusing pranks, it’s all done in good spirits and nobody comes to any harm, as he’s keen for everyone to enjoy themselves, and he does a lot of very nice things for well-deserving people too.

Ultimately, therefore, he always packs in plenty of material for his stand-up specials and his Big Show, he always ensures that everyone is having a good time, and he’s always very funny. So I hope you enjoy this little rundown of it all.

Aardman Animations Reviews

Back in December I rewatched all of the old Wallace & Gromit films, and then thoroughly enjoyed their latest special that came out at Christmas, called Vengeance Most Fowl. You can see my thoughts about all of those in my comprehensive review post that I published shortly after Christmas.

Consequently, I thought I would further celebrate the amazing talents of Nick Park and the team at Aardman by checking out all of their other animated films as well, plus a classic TV series. I’m not interested in seeing absolutely everything they’ve done, as I don’t have the time or desire to do so, nor do I feel a strong urge to buy any of these titles I’m about to mention either. And this post isn’t sponsored of course. It’s just been fun to look at a selection of things that I either haven’t watched for ages or have never seen before, and I hope you enjoy reading about them!

Christmas 2024 Favourites – Part 2

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely time over Christmas!

Following on from Part 1 of my festive Favourites that I posted on Christmas Day, I’m now going to talk about a free exhibition I was given a tour of, give an update on events at home, and trawl through the many things I’ve been watching and listening to. And while the tour was courtesy of a PR invite, there have been no other incentives for anything to appear here, and all opinions are my own regardless.

So let’s dive into this bumper post, with an accompanying video that also features everything I mentioned in Part 1. I hope you enjoy!

Wallace & Gromit Reviews

This Christmas a brand new, long overdue, fabulously joyful, feature-length Wallace & Gromit story has just graced our screens, marking the 35th anniversary of their very first short film in 1989, and a full 16 years since their last one. So in celebration of that I’ve also rewatched their previous adventures recently, which have won several BAFTAs, Oscars and other awards between them.

In this post therefore, which isn’t sponsored as usual, I’m going to review their previous films, including the extras on the Blu-ray and DVD releases I own, as well as my first reactions to their latest movie. I hope you enjoy!

November 2024 Favourites

Hello there, welcome to my latest roundup for November. As with October, we’ve continued having work done on the house, but I’m happy to say that it’s now all over for the time being. And it has been worth it, despite the inevitable stress, disruption and cost involved over the past couple of months. The kitchen had been badly in need of refurbishment, so it’s now much safer, brighter and looks more modern, while the lighting in the living room has been improved and the outside of the house has been repainted. So it’s been lovely to get back to normal in time for Christmas. We may have more work done next year, as there are other things we want to do, but we’re not rushing into anything. This has been quite enough for the moment!

Despite all of that, however, I have been able to meet up with some of my friends for meals and entertainment, which has been a welcome distraction, and there are a few things I’ve been watching on TV and DVD. The meal and theatre show I went to with Emily were free PR visits for her to review, but nothing is sponsored to appear here and all opinions are my own regardless. So I’ve still got a fair amount to talk about in this month’s post and video, and I hope you enjoy!

Doctor Who Review – Sarah Jane Adventures – Series 3-5

Happy Doctor Who Day! To mark the 61st anniversary of this sci-fi institution, here’s the second and final part of my review of the children’s spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, following on from my previous post about Series 1 & 2.

Starring the delightful and dearly missed Elisabeth Sladen in the title role of Sarah Jane Smith, the series is available on BBC iPlayer, but I’m going through the complete DVD boxset here,

Throughout Series 3-5, Sarah Jane continues to be accompanied by Luke Smith (Tommy Knight, whose role was reduced due to his real-life studies), Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) and Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony), plus Sky (Sinead Michael) in Series 5. Vital assistance is also provided by supercomputer Mr Smith (Alexander Armstrong) and robot dog K9 (John Leeson), who have an amusing rivalry between one another throughout the series. Rani’s parents Haresh & Gita, who live across the road from Sarah Jane, also appear in some stories, played by Ace Bhatti & Mina Anwar, as does Clyde’s mother Carla (Jocelyn Jee Esien). And the Doctor also appears a couple of times, played by David Tennant and Matt Smith.

Clyde gives a generic introduction to every 25-minute episode (30 seconds in Series 3-4, and 45 seconds in Series 5) about what it’s like having adventures with Sarah Jane, with the illustrative clips updated accordingly in each series. This wasn’t a feature of the first two series. It makes sense to have it for the first episode of each series to guide any new viewers in, but it feels repetitive thereafter, so I always fast forward through it.

So let’s jump straight back into the episodes, as all the other introductory stuff was dealt with in the previous post. I’ve also created a Youtube playlist for Series 3-5 (just like I did for Series 1-2) with hundreds of clips, including a lot of videos from the show’s official Youtube channel, if you want to dig through that as well. I hope you enjoy!

October 2024 Favourites

Hey there, hope you’re all doing well. October has been quite a busy month for me, but not in many ways that will be of interest to you this time. So I do apologise from the get-go that this post is quite short. It’s not what I’d expected, but it’s a direction I’m glad it’s gone in on this occasion.

The main reason is that we’ve started to have a lot of work done on the house, which is something we’ve been wanting to do for ages. It’s only now that we’ve found someone reputable, reliable, affordable and available to do it, through a personal recommendation, and we have the financial stability to be able to pay for it, now that various issues over the last few years have been resolved. It started off as a relatively small job that the guy had been recommended to us for, but as we’ve got to know him and seen the quality of his work over recent weeks, and as he has time to focus on us, we’re keen to make full use of him while we have the opportunity. So he’s done quite a bit of work on the exterior of the house, and currently we’re working on a revamp of the kitchen. My bedroom will then hopefully be next.

I also didn’t have any shows, meals, etc booked this month anyway, and the weather’s been a bit iffy at weekends. So while I have been out for walks now and again, I haven’t done anything exciting in London during October. That should change in November and December though, as I do have a few nice things in the diary, including some with friends of mine. We’ll still be having work done as well, but I should have much more to talk about.

So for this post and video I’m just going to mention a music box set I’ve been listening to and a few things I’ve been watching, none of which are sponsored and all opinions are my own as usual. Again, I’m sorry it’s so brief this time, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Doctor Who Review – Sarah Jane Adventures – Series 1-2

In my reviews from the modern era of Doctor Who so far, I’ve completed all of the series from Russell T Davies’ original tenure as showrunner, as well as the 60th anniversary specials and Season 1 we’ve had since his return. So before I move on to Matt Smith’s era under Steven Moffat, and to add a bit of variety, I want to watch and review the two spin-offs that began during Russell’s first period on the show as well.

So I’m going to start with The Sarah Jane Adventures, a children’s programme starring the late, great Elisabeth Sladen as investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith. It’s available on BBC iPlayer, but I’ve got the complete DVD boxset which I’ll be going through here. I didn’t see much of it when it originally aired, having dismissed it as a kids show in favour of the more adult Torchwood (which I plan to review after this), but watching it properly now, it really does hold up well. Many of the scenarios could easily have become Doctor Who stories.

Sarah Jane was one of the most beloved companions of the Doctor, because she was so warm, friendly, clever and fun, reflective of actress Elisabeth herself, so it was lovely that she was given her own series. She has a wonderful family around her, with her child companions, supercomputer Mr Smith and robot dog K9 all helping her to save the world. There’s also lots of exciting action, impressive special effects, good humour and an admirable roster of guest stars (including the Doctor on a couple of occasions).

In this post, therefore, I’ll be reviewing the first two series, including the relevant extras in the DVD set, plus some earlier programmes that add further context and a few other things I’ve seen online. Then in the next post I’ll look at Series 3-5. And I’ve also put together a big playlist of clips relating to Sarah Jane in Doctor Who and Series 1-2 of her spin-off series. So let’s dive in, and I hope you enjoy!

September 2024 Favourites

Hello again! Because my 41st Birthday Favourites included the first half of September to cover the Paralympics, I had considered combining the rest of the month with October for a joint Favourites post later on. However, there are enough bits and pieces from the latter half of September that I can make a little post and video from, including another tasty free meal, a nice bit of comedy and some great factual entertainment.

So let’s get straight into it, as this won’t take long. As ever, nothing is sponsored to appear here and all opinions are my own, and I hope you enjoy!

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