Whereas the previous 2 series each had 13 episodes covering a variety of different storylines, Children Of Earth and Miracle Day each revolve around a single epic story that plays out across the entire series, with 5 episodes in the former and 10 in the latter. Children Of Earth is easily the best, and is where Torchwood really peaks, while Miracle Day is the weakest of all 4 series, but still has plenty to enjoy as long as you relax your expectations a bit.
So this is my review of both of those series, including the Blu-ray extras, and I hope you enjoy!
Welcome to the second part of my review binge of Torchwood. This is the brilliant Doctor Who spin-off for adults starring the magnificent John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, the handsome, funny, courageous, flirtatious and immortal hero whose team investigate aliens and other strange phenomena that have fallen through a rift in space and time over Cardiff.
I recently reviewed Series 1, where I also discussed Torchwood’s origins and early references in Doctor Who. So now I’m moving straight onto the second series, which stepped things up a gear and gave us some excellent storylines, as they had really found their feet by this point. Plus I’ll mention the Blu-ray extras and a lot of the music as well. I hope you enjoy!
Welcome to the next in my series of Doctor Who reviews for the modern era. Following on from my reviews of The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1-2 & Series 3-5, I’m now going to revisit Torchwood, the other much more adult spin-off created by Russell T Davies. The show includes sex, violence, swearing and topics that wouldn’t be at all suitable for Doctor Who. But it’s a lot of fun, with some really interesting stories, distinctive characters, great action, enjoyable humour, a solid soundtrack and beautiful high definition visuals.
I saw it on TV when it first came out and originally bought the DVDs, before I then got all 4 series on Blu-ray. So I already know I like the show, but it’s been quite a while since I last put time aside to watch it. Hence it’s nice to go back through it again, especially as I don’t remember all of the stories vividly. I’ve also compiled big Youtube playlists for Series 1-2 and Series 3-4, with episode clips, behind the scenes footage, music tracks and much more, as I’ve done for my other Doctor Who reviews.
So let’s get on with my in-depth review of the first series, and I hope you enjoy!
Back in March I had a great time seeing a live show by the brilliant comedian Ross Noble, and followed it up by rewatching and reviewing all of his DVDs in May and June.
He switched to online releases from 2017 onwards, as he didn’t feel there was a market for DVDs any more, which was a shame, but at least we can still enjoy his hilarious improvised comedy that way.
So for this final part of my trilogy of Ross Noble review posts, I’m going to look through his streaming releases, along with various other bits and pieces I haven’t already mentioned in the previous couple of posts. I’m not reviewing absolutely everything he’s ever starred in of course, these are just the main things I’ve taken an interest in. And you can see a wide selection of clips of Ross on my Youtube playlist as well. So I hope you enjoy!
As for me, work is very busy, with people wanting to get as many jobs done as they can before my redundancy kicks in next month! I’ve had lots of lovely messages and good wishes from colleagues already, which is very flattering. And thank you so much to all of my other friends and followers for their messages of support as well, including relevant vacancies and volunteering opportunities that people are already starting to bring to my attention, please do keep those coming. I won’t apply for everything that people send me of course, but they’re all giving me food for thought for my future career path.
I still feel quite calm about it all so far, because I have strong foundations from my current job and volunteering work that I can build on – and I’ve had a nice surprise in relation to the latter that I’ll mention next month. Plus I’m fortunate not to have major financial worries at the moment – although I have taken the opportunity to cut back on a few subscriptions that I can live without for a while, as saving a few quid here and there each month soon adds up. It also appears there are one or two paid research opportunities that could be of some benefit.
In any case, my plan is still to have a bit of a well-earned break, in order to sort out some stuff at home, as well as get out and about more as I have various things booked in the next few months. But I’m continuing to keep a close eye out for job and volunteering opportunities as well, as you never know what’ll come up.
Aside from all that though, I have been enjoying my leisure time as usual of course, and you’ll know about the shows I’ve been to see recently if you’ve been keeping up to date with my posts. So here’s my latest roundup of outings, sport, comedy and music that I’ve got into this month. As always, none of it’s sponsored or gifted, and I hope you enjoy!
Following on from my comedy and musical theatre visits back in June, a couple of weeks ago I experienced a different genre – a horror play – when I attended an audio described performance of 2:22 A Ghost Story at The Criterion Theatre. Not only was it a great show, but I also got to meet a movie star and a renowned disability advocate. So it was well worth the visit, it wasn’t sponsored or gifted, and I hope you enjoy reading about it!
Well, we made it through another odd year. We finished 2021 in a stronger position than 2020 in some important ways, and step by step we are getting back towards a sense of normality. But we still to be careful and patient, as opposed to carefree and complacent, and hopefully the situation will continue to improve during 2022.
This Christmas has also marked my 5th anniversary of living in London! Granted, much of the past couple of years has been a bit of a write-off, but that just makes it all the more amazing how much I’ve achieved and crammed in so far, with public speaking, TV and radio interviews, podcast appearances, student documentaries, theatre visits, museum tours, the charity abseil, so many new friendships and connections, the attention my blog’s had in general, and many other things that I would never have imagined happening or being successful at before moving here. So in that sense, the lockdowns have been strangely beneficial for giving me a chance to relax and reflect on all of that, as well as giving me all the more impetus and confidence to expand my horizons even further going forward. So if you’ve played any part in my London journey so far, whether it’s just reading these blog posts, or chatting with me, or getting together with me in person, thank you so much! It always means a great deal that people take such an interest in my adventures and my ramblings.
So before I find out what 2022 has to offer, it’s time to wrap up 2021 with a traditional bumper post and video looking back at what I’ve been doing and enjoying during December and the Christmas period. As usual, nothing here is sponsored and all opinions are my own. I hope you enjoy!
Finally. After all the pandemic restrictions and my recent health problems, it’s such a joyous relief to be out and about properly again, doing the things I enjoy.
So there’s quite a lot to mention in this month’s post and video, as I’ve been attending theatre shows for the first time in ages, taking nice walks, and enjoying a mixture of films, dramas, comedies and music at home. Plus I bought the new iPhone 13, which I’m very happy with as explained in my review, so the photos and videos you see going forward will be taken using that.
Apart from the theatre show States Of Mind, for which I was given complimentary tickets to go along and review, nothing else in this post involves any gifting or sponsorship. And all opinions are my own throughout. So I hope you enjoy!
Hello again, hope you’re all doing well. May has been a mixed month for me health-wise, though the good outweighs the bad, especially now I’ve had both my Covid vaccinations and restrictions have been eased further. And in terms of entertainment I’m focusing more on paid streaming services again, having found my way out of the Youtube wormholes I happily got sucked into during the depths of lockdown, though there are still occasional things grabbing my attention there too of course.
So there are various things to mention as usual, none of which is sponsored or gifted, and I hope you enjoy this latest post and video roundup!
Well, what a year this has turned out to be, huh? Perhaps we should just rename it 2019B or 2019.5 and start 2020 again next January. It’s like we’ve had a faulty software update in the calendar that needs serious debugging and virus-checking before it’s rolled out again.
Obviously I’m not dismissing the tragic side of things by saying that. My heart goes out to everybody who has lost loved ones or been severely affected in some other way, and I sincerely hope you all stay safe and well as best you can. Please follow the guidelines on hygiene, distancing, isolation, etc, because it really will save many lives. It will take a few weeks at least before we start seeing the impact of such measures, but they will help, and we will get through this. Huge thanks to all our incredible health and care staff, as well as the many other people providing essential products and services.
Beyond this introduction, I have no desire or intent to write posts about the situation, as it’s not nice and there’s enough about it online already. However, I have created a Covid Resources page, where you’ll find many links for information, advice and support, plus many ways to stay connected and entertained at home, which I hope you find useful.
Clearly this is going to change what I’m able to do and post about for a while. So in this post and video I want to wrap up my recent museum and theatre visits, as well as disability related updates and TV favourites, for both February and March. That way, I can move forward with a clean slate as I settle into a temporary new routine.
All of which means there’s a fair amount to cover here, making it a good distraction from everything that’s going on. I haven’t been sponsored or gifted by anyone to mention them, and all opinions are my own. So I hope you enjoy!
Well Eye Never 
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