Welcome to my first Favourites post and video for this year! As I had a very busy Christmas that lasted until mid-January, it made sense to combine the latter half of that month with February for this roundup.
Recent weeks have been quite relaxed compared to the festive period, as hoped and expected, but there’s still quite a variety of bits and pieces to mention. These include an audio described gallery tour, a free meal, a special scenic view of the city, an important new audio play, things I’ve been watching that have been recommended by friends, and other entertainment I’ve enjoyed. Some of these items are PR-related, as indicated when appropriate, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy!
Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the classic historical sitcom Blackadder, and a new Complete Collection Blu-ray was released in December to mark the milestone. I was too busy to look through it at the time, but I finally got around to it recently, so this is my extensive review of the series and all the bonus material.
All of the series and specials are set in different historical periods, so it always feels fresh and different. Each period is represented by exquisite costumes and beautiful sets, along with enjoyable variations of Howard Goodall’s theme tune. All of the episodes were written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, except for the first series where Richard had teamed up with Rowan instead. As great as Rowan is, bringing Ben on board really gave the series the shot in the arm it needed. And John Lloyd (best known for producing QI these days) was the producer for every episode except the pilot (which sadly isn’t in this set) and the millennium special.
Thanks to the sterling efforts of Richard Latto and his colleagues – who also compiled the excellent Young Ones Blu-ray in 2022 – the episodes have been remastered for this new Blu-ray edition, alongside all the old extras ported over from the previous Ultimate Edition DVD set (even though it’s not mentioned on the packaging), and a huge treasure trove of new bonus material as well. A lot of hard work has clearly gone into this collection, it’s very impressive.
So this is my review of the four series, the specials and the bonus material in the box set, as well as the pilot and documentary that were on Gold last year to celebrate the anniversary. As usual, I’m not sponsored or affiliated with anyone involved in the show or the Blu-ray production, and these are all my own opinions, so I hope you enjoy!
Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. For me, July has been a relatively quiet month, thanks to the wet weather, my PIP review and preparations for my birthday month in August all interfering with my time.
Nevertheless, in this latest post and video roundup there are a few nice outings I can mention, a couple of comedy shows I’ve been bingeing on, and a bit of music as well, none of which is sponsored or gifted as usual. So I hope you enjoy!
Hello again, hope you’re all keeping safe and well. We’ve now had nearly 3 months of lockdown, and this ‘new normal’ still feels surreal. It certainly puts everything in perspective, that a microscopic virus can temporarily shut down the entire planet in a matter of weeks. It’s a stark reminder of how powerful nature can be.
Everyone’s perception of time is rather weird at the moment too, with the weeks seeming to fly by, but that can be explained by science at least. Although, of course, it will be dragging much more slowly for those going through a particularly rough time at the moment, and you have my sympathies if that applies to you.
As I see it, the current small changes to our lockdown, as part of the government’s long term recovery plan, are basically urging people to use their common sense, as the virus is still circulating. We must continue to stay at home and work from home if at all possible, and obey the other safety rules. But provided we do so, we have a little bit more freedom now. So I hope people will continue to be careful and sensible, as we’re nowhere near out of the woods yet, but we’re getting there slowly. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And obviously for disabled people things are more complicated, as Lucy Edwards has discussed with a couple of her fellow blind activists in a recent video.
As for me though, I’m still doing fine. I’ve been staying indoors to keep my elderly mother safe, but recently I went out for the first time in over 5 weeks, as a couple of essential items were missing from our online shopping delivery. So I was very pleased to find that there were hardly any people and very few cars about, and that I was able to use the priority hour for disabled people at the supermarket, which was fully stocked and had social distancing measures very well enforced. So my risk of exposure was hopefully minimal.
But otherwise I’m still staying at home, and I’ve continued to keep myself entertained in various ways. So here’s my latest recap of what I’ve been enjoying and discovering recently, along with videos summarising week 5, week 6, week 7 & week 8. As usual nothing is sponsored or gifted, and all opinions are my own. So I hope you enjoy!
Well Eye Never 
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