Category: Drama

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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The Sweeney – 50th Anniversary Review

Five decades on from its initial broadcast, The Sweeney remains one of the all-time classic cop shows, with one of the greatest theme tunes as well (by Harry South). Back in the 1970s, it was notable for its gritty realism, action sequences and violence, and for shining a light on the imperfections within the police force, from innocent mistakes and failed investigations to casual rule-breaking and outright corruption. British police dramas had largely shied away from the more illicit and brutal aspects of the job until then, but this tackled them head-on, so it really stood out.

Created by Ian Kennedy Martin, it starred the magnificent John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan alongside the equally brilliant Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter, with Garfield Morgan as their boss Frank Haskins, all of whom are sadly no longer with us. Their characters worked for the Flying Squad – known in Cockney rhyming slang as Sweeney Todd, hence the show’s title – and were normal, vulnerable human beings with their own problems like the rest of us, rather than flawless superhero crime-solvers. They didn’t always get the results they wanted, and when they did it wasn’t always in a tidy or strictly legal manner. So they were relatable to the audience in many ways, even if they were stronger and more courageous than most of us. And in amongst all of the drama they had occasional moments of humour too, as in a dark job like that you need moments of light relief.

There was an impressive roster of guest stars as well, with a lot of current or future big names from stage and screen popping up in many of the episodes, giving the show even more gravitas and credibility. It’s a further testament to the quality of the writing that many of them were tempted to get involved in the first place. It was a real mark of pride to have The Sweeney on one’s CV.

At long last the show has now been remastered and released in its entirety on Blu-ray, with 50th anniversary editions having gone on sale between June 2025 and February 2026 for Series 1, 2, 3 & 4, all of which I’ve bought to replace my old DVDs (so nothing here is gifted or sponsored). It’s been the perfect excuse for me to revisit the show, having not watched it for quite a while. So here are my brief reviews of all the episodes and extras from the box sets, and I hope you enjoy!

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Doctor Who Review – The War Between The Land And The Sea

The latest spin-off from Doctor Who, The War Between The Land And The Sea, aired on BBC One here in the UK in December, marking the last part of the collaboration with Disney. Although, strangely, it still hasn’t dropped on Disney+ to my knowledge, which is extremely unfair on international audiences, given that they had posted new episodes of Doctor Who simultaneously with the BBC. I know Disney aren’t that bothered about the franchise any more, but still, it’s not very polite.

Anyway, I saw it on BBC iPlayer last year and gave a spoiler-free review in my Christmas Favourites. But now I’ve bought the Blu-ray that’s just been released, I wanted to rewatch the series to discuss each of the episodes in more depth, as well as looking through the extra features, just like I’ve been doing with my other modern era Doctor Who reviews.

In general, the series is a mixed bag. It is entertaining in many ways, with some great acting performances, cool special effects, big twists, evocative music, and a strong environmental message that isn’t preachy, asking what might happen if the creatures of the sea could really communicate with us. One particular character from Doctor Who gets a fantastic sub-story here as well. But in other respects the show doesn’t fully live up to the title or the hype, as it descends into a predictable love story more than a war drama, meaning it tails off towards the end rather than reaching an epic conclusion.

So on the whole I do think it’s worth a watch, whether you’re a Doctor Who fan or not, just as long as you manage your expectations a little bit. And with that in mind, I hope you enjoy my episode reviews here.

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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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Christmas 2025 Favourites – Part 1

It’s been a long year for my mother and I, so we’re glad that Christmas has finally come around, and thankfully the preparations have been going well, just as I hope they have been for you. Granted, there is the potential loss of my job next year hanging over my head, through no fault of my own, but that won’t affect me as severely as the friend I provide support for. And given everything that’s already gone on at home during 2025, my mother and I just want to relax, forget about our problems and over-indulge to celebrate Christmas, as you’re supposed to do. And we’ve got everything we need for that.

So I’ve actually been able to go out and about in London a few times this month, now that Mum’s more comfortable being on her own in the house again, having got some of her independence and confidence back. Sometimes it’s just been for walks, but I’ve also met up with a friend as well.

And then at home I’ve been enjoying a lot of entertainment, including dramas, comedies and music. Some things are still ongoing or are on my to do list, so I won’t mention them just yet, but there are already plenty of bits and pieces I can talk about already. So with the usual disclaimer that none of this is sponsored or gifted, I hope you enjoy this varied selection.

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October & November 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re doing alright and are looking forward to Christmas.

During the last couple of months, my mother has been recovering well from her fractured wrist, both physically and mentally, thanks to all the support she’s received from the NHS and social services. There still are, and always will be, times when she gets anxious or finds things difficult of course. But having melatonin to help her sleep at night, and a wheelchair to help her get out and about more, has given her a real boost, along with various other forms of help she’s had. And at the very end of November I was even able to go out for a long walk and explore the shops by myself like I used to do, because she felt able to cope on her own.

You can find out more about all of that in my journal posts as usual, including some recovery of my own after I had a wisdom tooth extracted. You can also hear an interview I recorded in October for RNIB Connect Radio about my caring role, which was featured in their Good Company show and then released independently as a podcast.

All that aside, I’ve naturally been enjoying plenty of entertainment as well including Doctor Who, comedies, podcasts and audiobooks. So that’s what I’m going to focus on here, and I hope you enjoy this latest roundup!

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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!

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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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Doctor Who Review – Series 5

Now that the most recent series of Doctor Who is out of the way – and I’ve just updated that review with details of its Blu-ray steelbook release – and as there’s going to be a big gap until the next series while the BBC decide what to do, I’m going to continue rewatching the earlier series of the modern era.

I’ve already reviewed all of the series and spin-offs from Russell T Davies’ first stint as showrunner, so it’s time to move on to the fifth series overseen by Steven Moffat, which aired 15 years ago in 2010. Hard to believe it’s that old already.

With a new showrunner, Doctor, companions, Tardis and theme tune, this was another fresh start for the programme, and it worked really well. So I hope you enjoy my deep dive into it, and there are plenty of videos on my Series 5 playlist you can dig through too.

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Black Mirror – Series 1-7 Reviews

Ever since the new 7th series of Black Mirror dropped on Netflix in April, I’ve been rewatching the entire show from the beginning, as I haven’t seen the earlier series for quite a while, and never even got around to Series 6 after it launched. Consequently, I’ve been writing little reviews in my Favourites posts each month, but now I’m finally up to date, I thought I would gather everything together in one post, including my reactions to the latest series.

Black Mirror is an anthology show by Charlie Brooker, which originally started on Channel 4 before Netflix took over production from Series 3. It consists of 33 episodes of varying durations, each of which tells a standalone story (apart from the finale of the latest series, which serves as a sequel to a much earlier episode). There was also an interactive film called Bandersnatch, but that was removed on May 12 as part of a general overhaul to the streaming service. I’ve included my review from the time of its release in this post for completeness.

The various scenarios are generally set in the not-too-distant future, looking at advances in technology and media that are based in reality but pushed to their extremes. There are occasional deviations from that though, including episodes that focus purely on human psychology, take place in earlier time periods, or even stray into the supernatural.

In any case, it’s often very dark and unsettling, as well as interesting and entertaining. Even though we know the events are very unlikely to actually happen in most cases, and are sometimes in the realm of sci-fi or fantasy, they’re not entirely implausible either and tend to be quite relatable in some way. Where technology plays a key part of the story, for example, we know it could exist one day or even does already in some cases. And we’re already well aware of how manipulation and misinformation are rife in certain corners of social media, journalism and politics. Hence the show is a ‘black mirror’, exposing the dark sides of humanity and technology.

With every story being so unique in content and style, featuring a different cast every time, it’s inevitable that some are better than others, and every viewer will have their own preferences. So here are my own personal reactions to each episode, without revealing any major spoilers given that the stories often go in surprising directions that are meant to provoke thought or just shock you. I hope you find it interesting.

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