Amber Avenger

Finally I have the body of a superhero!

If you are precious about spoilers then don't look, but the synopsis for the next episode sounds like a brilliant scenario to set up some classic Partridge. I really enjoyed it, it's kind of cherry picked the best of things like Knowing Me, Knowing You, Day Today, Mid Morning Matters and the recent "documentaries" on Sky and yet created something new with it. It started off slow, but there is lots of potential there. I listened to a podcast with the writers the other day and they said they are already working on the next Partridge project for the BBC so I wonder if this series is only intended to be a one-off.

There was a documentary a few years ago where Joanna Lumley went to live with Will.I.Am for a week, it was actually pretty good tv.

I thought Bradley was pretty good, as was the new Doctor. Some of the Yorkshire accents were absolutely criminal though.

Fair enough. They aren't everybody's bag. I find it odd though that superhero films get singled out. Generally nobody ever seems to ask if cinema needs another RomCom, another spy film, another war film etc. There are plenty of sub genres within, Ant-Man is basically a heist movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming a high school comedy, The Dark Knight Trilogy is as polar opposite from the first two as you can get. And if you don't like 'em then fine, but they may well be paying for films you do - Inception wouldn't exist if the Dark Knight hadn't done great guns at the box office.

And then the final episode of Car Share following the cliffhanger of series 2 is on a few weeks later, on the late may bank holiday

I thought Annihilation was a load of old tripe - albeit visually stunning tripe. Really don't get all the fuss. Not a bad film by any means, but maybe I'd read too much of the hype.

The Generation Game is a sort of damned if you do, damned if you don’t sort of format. Change it too much and people complain, don’t change it enough and it’s stuck in the past and just doing a load of greatest hits, apparently like what happened on Sunday. It’s obviously been through production hell, it was originally supposed to be four episodes and has been cut to just two. It’s really easy to knock light entertainment (see plenty of posts in this thread for examples) and plenty of the complaints about the latest Gen Game could have been written to the letter before a second had even been recorded. When light entertainment is done right there really is nothing like it. In this day and age, shows that can be enjoyed in equal measure by people of all ages from 5 to 105 are in short supply. For me I think the hosts are key – for me Mel and Sue aren’t prime time bankers, they are a cult hit who enjoyed a bit of good fortune presenting the Bake Off (and did it very well, even if their presenting style isn’t to my taste) and shows of varying fortune before and after. I think the Generation Game is probably doomed to failure in any reboot as there are too many things working against it, as too many people think it should be different things. That doesn’t mean light entertainment elements can’t be taken by other shows. In fact many have – it’s fingerprints are all over Saturday Night Takeaway for example. What I think will probably happen in reality is that people will deem the latest Generation Game a failure and that will hinder any future light entertainment programmes trying anything similar for a while. It did rate reasonably well though, will be interesting to see if many people go back for episode two.

There is a decent chance Ant could lose his job(s). It'll certainly financially hit him long term - reports in the paper today is that a £20m contract to front Sazuki ads will be canned (I'm surprised it's taken this long for them to comment). At the moment, we don't have any real evidence either way he won't be treated like any other drunk driver (as indeed, he should be). Unless of course you mean the treatment and support network he will have to aid his recovery, which is a slightly different argument along with how much mud will stick to him in the long term? On the "he could afford a taxi" point, well yeah of course. However, I don't think people who are covering up addiction always think as logically as you or I. Doesn't excuse it, but I'd be surprised if that crossed his mind. Whilst we don't know the full details of the case (and it's probably dangerous to whilst the case is live), I'd be surprised if his "justification" was he was driving drunk to save a couple of quid given the context of his other recent well-publicised troubles.

Last night's 24 Hours in Police Custody was quite something. If you haven't read about it, try to avoid anything about it before watching. To be honest even if you have it's very much worth a watch. A well made documentary

One line in a review I read said "the worst drama I've ever been gripped by" - which I agreed with. John Simm was brilliant but it was a very shonky plot.

Another week, another bonkers twist on Star Trek, although this one had me thinking "really...?" rather than "Ah, ok then"

My girlfriend sat down to watch the tv show with me, and she similarly had no idea what it was about, except she'd seen the title and the outfits and thought it was some Downton Abbey style Victorian drama. To say she was shocked was an understatement. Luckily she did enjoy it for what it was...eventually!

Yeah, I was surprised there were still two episodes to go in this season, especially

Second busiest 7 Days he's ever had

It's on CBS's streaming service so in theory there is no reason it couldn't all come online at once. However as they seem to have launched the service with only two new series of note, this and a spin off of The Good Wife, I think they are doing it as weekly so people don't watch it all at once then cancel

I really wanted to like this, concept looked decent and I think James Norton is a fantastic talent, but it's just a bit...dull. I just can't bring myself to care about any of the characters. First proper let down of the year for me on TV

Agreed, probably the best series so far and that really is saying something. Someone online has re-edited it the "right" way round and it still makes perfect sense which is some going. "Me mum's just ordered me a biryani"

Went to a preview screening (in Manchester, sadly, not the packed out one in the Odeon in Bradford) and won't spoil it, except to say I loved it! Hope you get your peace and quiet to enjoy it!

I read this on holiday as well and thought it was great. Moving, honest, and he never made excuses. Not your typical autobiog, and it was much better for it. He's obviously a very talented writer and I thought it was a very thought provoking look at modern masculinity. I'm another in the "Thought I'd hate Kindles, but I love them" camp. Had one for years now and certainly read so much more because of it, but I still like a paper book on occasion and they both have a place. In fact, case in point, I enjoyed Robert Webb's book so much, I bought a hard copy to give someone as a gift.

I don't mind the chat when they are sat down eating food and impressions etc and the first few episodes of every series are good value for that. It's always later on in the series when they introduce other characters and it moves away from improvisation into scripted stuff where it bores me. The last episode of the current run was dreadful I thought, especially the ending!

I think Bradley will be brilliant in it, he's been pretty good in the dramas I've seen him in in the past.

The award formerly known as the Whitbread Prize so have been around a while pre-Costa

I really liked it and it was a bit odd it never got a series two. It did get a couple of Christmas specials the following year though but no series. Still those specials had one of my favourite sketches in, old fashioned sillyness

Not a Trekkie by any means, but thought the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery on Netflix set things up nicely for good old Sci Fi adventure.