#only one scene with neil and christy in this episode

[kopykunoichi]

MacChristy

Christy 1.4 - A Closer Walk

[fandomsbyladymelodrama]

No pressure on this, but I wanted to ask if you'd like to tell me about one of/some of your favorite Christy scenes, and the things you like most about it/them? I can't singlehandedly revive the fandom on here, but it's such a joy to talk over this show with other fans!

I didn't realize until recently how thoroughly the Neil/Christy relationship informed my romantic preferences in all the media and writing I've done since watching it in my teens. Older, scholarly man/younger, determined woman, some kind of angst in the man's past, a need to change things for the better as an intrinsic part of the woman's character, a taboo element that stands in the way of the relationship... Even in the slash pairings I love so much, there's still so many elements of it!

Hey filmmakers, don't think we don't notice that you frame these two with Christy on a step/incline half the time to de-emphasize the height difference...

Oh my, oh my. Okay, first, let's be real. I've been waiting for an ask like this since 1994 (baby Tumblr wasn't even born yet 😂) so get ready for some major Neil/Christy feels that I've been suppressing but also diligently-tending-in-the-background for 30+/- years. THEY. ARE. PERFECT. Top-shelf OTP bottle, for sure. You understand, right? Of course, you do. We've discussed. But yeah, I feel the same way about this show/book/pairing influencing and informing both my writing style and romantic preferences in fiction over the years. Happy to admit it. Yes *raises hand* 1000 times yes. Hello, my name is ladymelodrama, and the fact that CBS so cruelly stole resolution for Neil/Christy from us forever (I'm not counting the PAX movies, I'm just not) is a crime against good television everywhere and will haunt my Christy-loving bones until I'm dead and buried in the ground deep enough so's the critter's can't find me, as Little Burl or Creed Allen would say. Anyway, you asked about Neil and Christy and favorite moments and since I can't just pick one...

I have a proposition to make :) Let's trade fave moments until we run out of them, maybe? No pressure, of course, but this is me mostly unwilling to commit to my Top 5 Scenes until I finish my rewatch, and even then I'll probably change my mind a couple times 😂 But here's one that I'll discuss in detail today and which I like to call the "Will This Do?" scene aka "and then they both smiled their little smiles at each other and lived happily ever after. The end." <3

(Credit to @heatherfield for this gif, and bless you, friend, for continuously shipping the same pairings as me - makes my gif-hunting so much easier haha <3)

So why do I love this scene so much? Oh, you know. Margret's dress. Objectively, it's gorgeous (the woman had style, even if she had no heart). And hey, it only coded Neil/Christy as endgame from the first episode, no big deal. Plus it was one of the softest moments in the whole show and THE WAY THEY SMILED AT EACH OTHER. Ugh. Soffffffft. I'm mean, you're seeing this too, right? ;) Meanwhile, I'm sure David is over here in the corner...doing what David does best XD Lurking. Always lurking.

(and, based on the pic I chose, maybe taking notes on how to have better chemistry with Christy? - "Dear Diary, Neil MacNeill is kinda the worst, have I mentioned?" 😂) But in all seriousness, what I love about that scene (and the exchange of smiles, in particular) is how there's an honest-to-goodness, my-spirit-just-spoke-to-your-spirit bit of humanity happening there. I die for those moments, little and quiet as they may be. It's just so...SOFT. They don't know each other yet. Not really. There's no romance at play (other than what I assume might be mutual physical attraction, even if Christy would never let herself go there. Not on her first days in the Cove) so it's more a budding friendship that we're seeing and friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite things? (Jorleesi, Jisbon, Siegfried/Audrey, Obidala, Red Cricket, Dickon/Mary much?). I also really enjoy when she comes down the stairs looking all pretty-in-lavender with her hair down (still lolling at your comment on that detail btw because...c'est vrai 😂) and "Oh no, David, it's so late...how will we ever get to Lufty Branch in time?" "Not we, Christy." (exactly, David, you're getting it). Too bad she has to spend all afternoon in this rustic cabin with a plaid-shirted, barrel-chested, brogue-speaking, moody mountain man with inside pain for dayssssss. Oh the everlasting horror XD

So yeah, so much to love about this scene (and the entire convo in the cabin afterwards and him plucking her from Theo prior to the whole dress thing - guy helps girl down from horse = I'm in love 😍). To witness the very beginning of their arc (okay, Part II of the beginning, but the doctor was busy with brain surgery during Part I, so you know what I mean) and to have the actors play it so, so beautifully and in an Appalachian setting that's just misty and magical and to die for all by itself... Mmmm *chef's kiss* Your turn, @darsynia <3

[spaceorphan18]

Have you listened to any glee podcasts other than Kevin and Jenna’s (and yours)?

Or do you have any general podcast recommendations?

I listen to podcasts all the time! I don't listen to any other Glee ones -- tbh, I think they'd drive me (more or less) crazy. That's no shade on the people making them -- apparently, there are some good ones out there? But I'd just get too annoyed if they got a detail wrong, or if I couldn't debate a position, so I usually stay away.

But... here's what I'm subscribed to! (Besides Kevin and Jenna's)

All About Agatha - Yes, that's right, I listen to a podcast where the hosts talk about everything Agatha Christie has ever written. This podcast is all around wonderful. Unfortunately, one of the hosts passed away recently, which is sad, but the other host is continuing on. They go into more than just Agatha Christie and discuss various aspects of detective fiction, too.

The NYT Book Review & Poured Over (The BN Podcast) - I don't listen to these a whole lot, but I have them more so for work related podcasts. But if you want book reviews of new books in a more commercialized setting - these fit the bill.

Pod Meets World - Three of the stars of the 90s show Boy Meets World break down their time on the show and watch an episode each week. I can't stress this enough, this might be my favorite podcast right now. Not only are they really open to their experiences - but they talk in depth about all aspects of the show - from the story itself to all of the behind the scenes stuff. It's really amazing.

Office Ladies - I'm sure a lot of people know this one - Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer from the office break down an episode week by week. I do love this one a lot. But as we're nearing the end of the series, I get a sense that both Angela and Jenna are, maybe, beginning to get a little tired of it. (No shade on them, and it's just a feeling I'm picking up.) They spend more time going down deep dive rabbit holes than talking about the episodes. I still enjoy it, and I do think they're both wonderful people. Another great podcast for learning the ins and outs as to what make a tv show.

Star Talk - With Neil DeGrasse Tyson. It's all about science! And I love learning about science. I've been listening to this one the longest.

Jay and Miles Xplain the X-Men - I've also been listening to this for years, too. The hosts started back in the silver age, and have been unpacking and reading every X-Men and X-Men related comic book ever written. It's been about a decade and they're nearing the end of the 90s. It's really cool for anyone wanting to find an in into X-Men comics.

Double Love - @constantcompanion This is the Sweet Valley High break down podcast I mentioned earlier. These two women (who are about ten years older than I am) have been reading through every SWH book ever. And bless them. They discuss them with a great amount of humor

Dawson's Critique - Two women hosts rewatch all of Dawson's Creek. The cool thing is that they're my age, and experienced DC at the same time I did - which is cool. But kind of like how I view DC now, I can only take so much of it at a time. It's a solid podcast, but I have to be in a mood to listen to it.

Zack to the Future - which is on permanent hiatus. This is the one where Mark-Paul Gosselaar and a comedy writer named Dashiell Driscoll watched old Saved by the Bell episodes. It was... hit and miss, tbh. MPG seemed a bit uncomfortable doing it, but always at least had interesting things to say. Driscoll, though, was a terrible co-host. I feel bad for the guy - because he knew he was getting skewered online, but he had zero chemistry with MPG, and didn't seem like he knew what he was doing half the time. *shrugs*

The Tolkien Professor - I don't listen to this one that often, just more or less have it as a reference -- but the host is an actual professor of literature who really, really deep dives into Tolkien. It's sometimes more or less like taking a college course in Tolkien.

So, that's pretty much it -- amazing, i kind of listen to things that break down other stories and dive into story telling. I'm sure y'all are surprised.

I do have Darren's podcast downloaded, but i've never listened to it. Idk. Plus, I have random episodes of other podcasts - like all the ones Chris has been on. :)

If you guys have any good ones - let me know!

[teachingmycattoread]

Things We've Yelled About This Episode #3.14

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (any page references are to the Reader's Digest edition, which is the only physical copy we have in the house)

Does the dog die (website)

Scooby Doo

The Hound of the Baskervilles wikipedia article

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)

Basil Rathbone (imdb)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

Doctor Who (1963-1989, 2005-?)

Stranger Things (2016-?)

"Dr Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered:

'Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!'" p. 153, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Looking into the camera like you're on The Office (meme)

The Locked Tomb series, Tamsyn Muir

Sherlock (2010-2017)

Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why, hbomberguy (youtube)

Moon's haunted (meme)

"One of Sherlock Holmes’s defects—if, indeed, one may call it a defect—was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and assistants. " p. 273, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Conan Doyle's belief in fairies (wiki)

Grimspound, Dartmoor (wiki)

Beowulf (our episode here)

Yeth-hound (wiki)

Buckfastleigh (wiki)

Bond Boys/Girls (wiki)

Piers Morgan

"I would have got away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids" (wiki)

a surprise tool that will help us later (meme)

Spiritualism (wiki)

Harry Houdini is an actual wizard (this post, wiki)

A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (our episode here)

Miss Marple; Agatha Christie

Miss Marple parlour scene (this trope)

Found footage (wiki)

Dracula, Bram Stoker (our episodes here and here)

As far as I can tell, the G. K. Chesterton Afterword for the Reader's Digest edition of A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles is an amalgamation of the essay "A Defence of Detective Stories" from his book The Defendant, and an essay simply called "Sherlock Holmes" that can be found in G. K. Chesterton: An Anthology, ed. D. B. Wyndham Lewis.

Steven Moffat (imdb)

Mark Gatiss (imdb)

Jeremy Brett (imdb)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988)

Ian Richardson (imdb)

Donald Churchill (imdb)

Brian Blessed (imdb)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981) (youtube)

Elementary (2012-2019)

Elementary Season 2 Episode 18, "The Hound of the Cancer Cells"; Season 4 Episode 16, "Hounded"

Buzzfeed Unsolved (youtube)

Hamlet, William Shakespeare (our episode here)

Benoit Blanc; Knives Out (2019), The Glass Onion (2022)

Eugenics (wiki)

Phrenology (wiki)

" 'It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.' " p. 142, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Knives Out (2019)

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet, William Shakespeare; Act I Scene 5

Benny Hill theme tune (youtube)

Benoit Blanc in the no-smoking zone (youtube)

Rian Johnson (imdb)

Leverage (2008-2012)

This moment from Leverage Season 5 Episode 10, "The Frame Up Job"

" 'Funny weather we're having, isn't it?' he said, lamely.

'Is it?' said Crowley. 'I honestly hadn't noticed.' And he reversed back down the country lane in his burning car.'

'That's probably because your car is on fire," said R. P. Tyler, sharply." p.338, Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (2006 paperback)

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (our episode here)

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (our episode here)

Cat Rating: 7/10

What Else Are We Reading?

The Locked Tomb series, Tamsyn Muir

Wheel of Time (2021-?)

Bernadette Banner on Wheel of Time (youtube)

Anno Dracula, Kim Newman (our episode here)

Next Time on Teaching My Cat To Read

Q&A

[yukinojou]

The Sandman on Netflix - first impressions

Okay, not so much first impressions as "I mainlined the lot in 26 hours and it only took so long because I was stuck at work for the first 7 watching on my breaks and then had to actually break for sleep". Spoiler-free above the cut, spoilery below it, criticisms at the end.

Caveat: I've been a Sandman fan for 22 years. I first read the books in a big bookshop, doing the surreptitious reading at the bookshelf for two weeks in snatches, because I was in London with very little money and graphic novels were very expensive. It took me five years to buy the lot, and it was only then that I found out how the story ended because I didn't manage to get that far in those two weeks. The Sandman was absolutely foundational for my philosophy, aesthetic, and dear gods Desire was a revelation - "You mean you can be both???" I never liked Preludes & Nocturnes' horror bend, so it's my least-reread volume, but Doll's House is my second favourite after Season of Mists. I've read all the Gaiman-penned addenda and most of the first run of The Dreaming. BIG Sandman fan.

And the show blew me out of the water:

Perfect cast is perfect. I had a lot of reservations because of the announced ones, only Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park and Gwendoline Christie immediately seemed right for their parts. But somehow they've dug up Exactly The Right People and let them play it with a richness of nuance that is so rarely allowed in American drama.

The pacing. The show breathes! There are quiet moments, there are very few action sequences, and the big plot moments are people talking. Let the words tell the story, let the actors act, let the scenery breathe and shine.

The filmography is quietly lovely. It starts "typical BBC Period Drama" but veers so soon into the just-off, just-bizarre. All the taxidermy at Fawney Rigg, the richness of every set (messy rooms!), the texture of everything. And even when it's not recreating the panels one by one (which, closest adaptation of a comic I've ever seen), it's shot in such a graphical way, drawing the eyes to the action with the composition, especially in the first episode. Much appreciation for clear vivid lighting in such a dark show too, I didn't have a single moment when I didn't know what was going on. And the colours in the second half are so bright, a very glam lighting that disappears for mists and shadows as the spell breaks.

I saw someone on Tumblr mention this is a bit like Sandman fanfic, that sensibility of fleshing out motivations and behind the scenes actions. And it is, and it works, plus it tightens plotlines in a way that hopefully makes sense to people watching for the first time. Which I'm very much not, as someone who can quote whole pages.

The rewrites are - the first word that comes to mind is Kind. Neil's a more mature writer now, not a shock jock in his twenties, there's no template of gritty 80s comics he has to adhere to in order to get the show to our screens. In the comic, the kindness only really arrived with Death in issue 6. Here, the tweaks let it be present from the beginning. And all the nuance and richness - you can see where he took characters that were flat stereotypes and then jiggled them until layers spread out. More about that below, in the spoilers...

Spoilery plot bits:

I actually love Ethel the most of the changes? She's such a pistol and a conwoman and legend in her own right, using Roderick and probably so many others to learn and forge a life on her own terms. I love the fact she let John use the ruby as a child, that we saw her arrival at Fawney Rigg and all the research she must have done to recognise Alex offhand, and that she showed up the Corinthian in five minutes flat, only letting him get close because she knew that's how she makes people go splat. I already liked her in the book, especially the way she calmly let her co-conspirator go splat there, but letting her shine was very much the right choice. I adore complicated women, and the way her sacrifice was echoed in Unity at the end, though honestly I would have had John grab the amulet from her rather than refuse.

The Corinthian's plotline - more about HIM later because oh my favourite eye munching nightmare was perfect, but that's the fanfic bit. He doesn't exactly change anything in Preludes & Nocturnes, but it makes perfect sense that he'd be doing it, because he's a smart cookie who doesn't want to go home and play nice. And in the Doll's House he actually pulls the plot together a lot. All a logical extrapolation, and building on both his popularity in the Kindly Ones and The Dreaming, and the fact they managed to cast Exactly The Right Guy.

The rewrites in 24/7 - damn, I'm going to have to rewatch this one, aren't I? Ugh. But I've seen Lourdes' character called a tiger woman and she's very much not, she's just trying to forge her happy ending and her equal partner, trying not to poke at the insecurities he has while still supporting him and not diminishing herself. And Bette, so desperate, so fragile there with all the things she won't let herself feel in order to be safe in her small town as a vulnerable single mother, and that's death as a writer, that's why she can't write her book. The scene where she burns her manuscript just made my heart hurt. The whole sequence is so much quieter and less graphic and yet more heartwrenching. You're so ready for Dee to go down with a bang.

(Rosemary! I had an inkling she'd survive when she was Black - because optics of her getting shot in that situation - and when the dog appeared because Neil knows if he killed a dog just after Gregory's sacrifice we'd riot, but oh the layers in the way she did survive, giving up on everything, just pleading for the dog, the way it showed how much a hurt simple kid Dee is too... Rosemary is so much love.)

Doll's House revisions give people more agency, and Gault is adorable as a sort of light mirror of the Corinthian, but I was a little sad about losing Lyta's confinement in the Dreaming, a pregnancy that lasted years. Some of that languidness was there in the series, but the hair brushing and lack of agency in the comics made the explosion of anger after Hector disappeared into a more wrenching shock.

I read about the Cereal Convention years before I attended my first WorldCon, and mwahahaha. Still a loving sendup of literary cons, with their panels and awkwardness and small talk and the flash of recognising a fellow obsessive. Gilbert ducking in and out of panels was brilliant.

Lucifer doing the Oldest Game was absolutely logical (honestly, Choronzon almost besting Dream always felt like a stretch), but oh the ending. As above, Season of Mists is my absolute favourite Sandman volume, and Gwendoline's Lucifer stepping down and shutting out all that racket of demons who dared command them will be the very best. How soon can we have season two?

Casting, broken out separately because the squee is strong:

Tom! Okay, I liked the Sandman Audible thing, and James McAvoy is a favourite actor, but it let me down with the kind of Morpheus voice so much I was resigned to not having the voice-in-my-brain in the series as well. But it is, and it's the grave white-on-black baritone in my dreams. He also acts so subtly with the eyes and makes the best faces, so much I'm willing to forgive the fact he often forgets to close his mouth completely. (He does have lovely lips, doesn't he?) The moments where the stubble comes through were jarring at first, but also very true to the comics. And oh, his 17th century wig was the best, shadows of Michael Wincott in The Crow. Plus the way he shows Morpheus thawing and cogitating desperately each time a woman yells at him (which is roughly twice per episode) is so clear and almost adorable. Oh, the ending is going to hurt so much.

Boyd! I was honestly worried about him because I hadn't seen him in anything before and in his usual offstage look he's - a bit awkward, like completely not what I imagined the Corinthian as, and also not the right voice (again, offstage). But oh, I should have trusted him. Because this is perfect, this is MY Corinthian, the eye-munching gay nightmare I've loved for two decades. True to himself, so much joy of life (ice cream scene!), crafty and in love with adulation, so flawed and bright in ways that completely don't address the serial killer part. I love that even more than Morpheus, he has chemistry with everyone. Like, people see him and want to make out immediately, and you buy it because he's charm on a stick. And he does it all in sunglasses, dammit. And he's so funny! I can't wait until The Kindly Ones, because Boyd and Patton Oswald are going to be a HOOT.

Vivienne! I literally had a phone named Lucien, that's how much I love the character, and she's perfect and open-hearted and frustrated. I really hope they'll bring up her raven past at some point, because that's the core of her devotion and the clear-headed way she sees Morpheus.

Kirby! Oh, she's just THERE, she's Death, that's her and her kindess and cheer and frustration with her boneheaded brother. That bit with her taking off her shoes was just *chef's kiss*. She's there and she's Death and she looks perfect in a 14th century headdress while daring her brother to strike a friendship that'll last centuries.

Come to that, Ferdinand Kingsley was adorable and also very confusing because at some angles he looks very much like my cousin. But his chemistry with Dream was perfect and I can't wait to see him again.

Gwendoline, of course, was dreamy and poisonous and oh, that smile at the very end killed me dead. I didn't know she had so much malice she could drag up to the screen like that, and even that slightly dodgy Rose of Versailles wig couldn't get in the way. Her clothes, on the other hand, mmm.

Mason! I was sold on them as Desire as soon as I looked up them doing Frank'n'Furter and Cabaret MC, but oh, you can see they love Desire the way I do, the way Desire as Dream's sister-brother was a revelation and a breaking of gender chains, and Mason's having so much fun with it. Plus they totally sold me in both sibling scenes, the very tactile and adoring way they were with Despair, the way they kept pushing Dream's buttons to the very end.

(I adore Despair's upgrade to comfy clothes and crocs. Despair's such an everyday thing, so insidious and hiding in plain sight, it fits so well.)

*flails* Everyone else was great too, with honourable mention to Emma Duncan, who gave away so much with her eyes, and Ernest Kingsley (Kai'ckul) who managed to copy Tom's performance to the letter while doing very heavy eye-emoting in just moments.

Criticisms:

I wish Cain and Abel had more time, because I love them. They bring out the Dreaming's creepiness nicely, but it wasn't even mentioned that Secrets are always true and Mysteries are stories. (And yes I mourn Gregory, but it was a well-written sacrifice and Goldie tied the knot nicely.)

I really don't think the budget was as high as rumoured, because the CGI is - sparse? I mean, it's beautiful, but at some points it's C-drama streaming budget, not millions per episode. Really visible outside Hector and Lyta's house, where all people are Very Pastede In, and outside the physical sets like the throne room and the library, the Dreaming suffers from lack of texture at times. The Threshold too, the outside was well done but the inside is just red. I'd love more organic textures there.

Relatedly, the dreams of the house dreamers in Doll's House aren't weird enough, especially when they start to merge by just dropping people into the same meadow. The vortex effect was pretty cool, but before that, no blurring, no overlapping, and the dreams themselves - I loved Zelda breaking Chantal's recurrence, but the dreams weren't different enough. They could have done so much with different lighting, CGI and whatnot, the way they did Dee's attack on the throne room, but I suspect budget was running out and they were relying on the actors to sell it (which they did, but I love that sequence so much in the comic).

And okay, some of my favourite quotes didn't make it in. "Beware the march of ideas!" "I give you a name and the name is lost!" And of course I imagined the summoning incantation differently, more frantic, more building up, but then they surprised themselves that it worked...

And that's everything out of my brain in the first hours. Maybe now I can actually sleep? And someone stop me from writing fanfic with Ethel and the Corinthian because whoa, that chemistry sizzled.

[danwhobrowses]

The Sandman - Quickfire Thoughts

So after a series of sporadic binges between Netflix tussles I've finished The Sandman. Having gone into the adaptation of Gaiman's comic fairly blind I had barely any expectations, but here's what I thought of it

Spoilers for the show of course, you were warned

As much as I don't want to invoke the wrath of Gaiman - who also frequents the tumblr - negative points for not fitting Enter Sandman in the entire show.

A strange observation but, is it me but ever since Game of Thrones Charles Dance seems to only do small or low-screentime roles now; Godzilla King of the Monsters, Dracula Untold and now Sandman, he's great but because he's great it's curious that he doesn't do many long-term roles

Dream's casting was great, and props to Tom Sturridge for carrying an aura of menace and power in the first episode while butt naked

One of the very few things I knew of The Sandman comics was ol' toothy eyes, The Corinthian, and boy howdy was Boyd Holbrook fantastic, he's one of the five characters, including Sturridge as Dream, I feel dominates every scene they're in, he's a great charismatic but manipulative villain

The Gregory stuff made me sad, the show did have a fair amount of moments where it's meant to be sad and uncomfortable, but at the same time I don't want to be that sad or that uncomfortable

Liked the river scene, it's super artsy and dark. I wish we had more of that from this series, stuff like in this gif where Dream is as chilling as any nightmare he created, would've liked to see more of the Fates too

I do love some Jenna Coleman, been a fan all the way back since she debuted on Emmerdale, but, it didn't feel like her role in her episode was enough to necessitate the Constantine nod. Jenna could've been a regular sorcerer, or even an immortal Johanna. I dunno I think I just kinda hoped to see Matt Ryan reprise as John, especially since DC is killing the Arrowverse. Maybe DC didn't wanna play ball or Neil has S2 plans for her, but we needed more of Jenna to establish Johanna.

Speaking of potential Season 2, Hell. The Hell Episode was great, mainly because of standout no.3: Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. Tom Ellis' Lucifer series wasn't something I quite got into, I heard rumblings of it ending dumbly, but Christie's Lucifer is amazingly sinister but in a quiet way, they know who they are so they don't need to threaten, but there is that twinge of sadness and longing that Dream exploits in their Oldest Game

Though 'anti-life' felt like a cheat, I did like the Oldest Game. The wink nudge of Lucifer picking a direwolf but then, by my interpretation, Morpheus choosing hope to corner Lucifer into submitting rather than become something that would diminish their own hope. Matthew the raven gets props as well for giving Morpheus the inspirational pep talk

24/7 was one of those cases where it was a great episode but one I was greatly uncomfortable with, sometimes my own fault like forgetting that Bette's son is in college. But this does explore why John Dee's views on a perfect world is twisted and the Ruby is not safe in his hands, I did feel especially bad for Bette

Oh, John Dee is no.4, David Thewlis man. As much as Dee was unnerving, apathetic, and calculating, Thewlis did a great job in showing the childlike innocence that had been contorted by his sheltered life and manipulation, there is poetic irony that he wants a world of honesty but consistently deceives himself.

Episode 6 was perhaps my favourite, among my comic knowledge was the presentation of Death in Gaiman's story as a joyful punk rock girl who is full of life, Kirby Howell-Baptiste did a great job. I did of course feel extra sad when she approached the cradle, instant thoughts of 'no, not the baby!' in my mind, I don't know enough of her character to wonder if she still feels burdened by the abruptness of some people dying but there can be time for that later

What made it my favourite though was the Hob storyline, it was just nice and wholesome really and it explored more of Morpheus' ever-shrinking distance from humanity

The Vortex storyline I wasn't as sold on as the 'Morpheus reclaims his powers' storyline, it was still good but it did sit in the real world more than the fantasy

I enjoyed the whole house of people and Lyta, and how they all supported Rose in her search for her brother, plus the connection with Unity to merge the storylines together

Probably what made me not so connected to the Vortex storyline in spite of it having the Corinthian be the main villain is the nature of the Vortex, we're told very little about its nature and the 'I don't know' answer does feel weak, she is powerful just because

Morpheus also seems to take two steps back on his character development too, to go from Death telling him that they are not better than humans, should learn to take people's help and him accepting that he and Hob are friends to 'I will use this Vortex, a threat to the dreaming and waking world entirely just to bait some rogue nightmares' and also dismiss Gault's suggestion that even nightmares can change and want did feel like he was undoing his own work

Didn't quite like the Rumpelstiltskin vibe he was giving out with saying he'd come for Lyta's baby too, there could've been at least a bit more compassion or explanation, instead it served as a 'misunderstanding' trope to distance Rose from Morpheus

The ending was solid, albeit one which could've used a bit more explanation. Desire was a character we saw so little of - much like Cain and Abel, whose dynamic reminded me of Hilda and Zelda in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - and even though we have them outright tell Despair that they are the mastermind of Morpheus' imprisonment and the Vortex arc, we don't actually see any of their actions, just an off-comment by Unity that clocks Morpheus in on the deception.

I feel like, while Gaiman may've intended to keep the audience out of loop, it may've served better to see Desire perform at least one action that guided the plot around, even if it was just to twirl a fake mustache, and explain how they intended to use the Vortex to be Morpheus' undoing, since there seems to be rules for not killing an endless' kin not established in the series (that I recall anyway) was the plan, but since I don't understand what that would lead to it's hard to understand the threat.

Overall I liked it, going in mainly blind I do have my questions but we had a great cast all doing really well, and I want to see more of it, so it laid some strong groundwork we can hopefully build towards.

[tiesandtea]

Suede in Ray Gun (US), issue 45, April 1997

The London Suede... English voodoo Wherein we learn of the ecstacy of being Suede By Michael Krugman

RG: It's refreshing to not hear the "We're going to tour America and everyone will love us" lip service that most English bands spew about making it here.

B: I'm just honest about it. In almost every other country in the world, we've had quite a lot of success, and it just hasn't happened in the States. Maybe it's something to do with the basic make up of the band that just grates with American music. Maybe it's the fact that we haven't had a successful tour there.

RG: That's true. All of the tours here were troubled in one way or another, what with Bernard's father passing away, or Richard having just stepped in. In many ways, we've never gotten to see the real Suede.

B: No, you haven't really, which is a shame, cos you missed out on something good. It's kind of down to us really, it's our problem. But I think that's pretty much true about a lot of English bands. They fuck up in the States. It's nothing I'm going to lose much sleep about at the moment, though.

A in-depth interview with a US alternative music magazine Ray Gun, conducted in November 1996. Full transcript from Suede Scrapbook (sent in by Elizabeth) under the cut. Scans including photographs by Donald Christie can be viewed here on the Richard Oakes Fans fb page.

It seems an eternity (in pop terms, at least) since Suede were declared the best new band in Britain, one week before the release of their first single. Since that time, so much has happened, both from without - the phenomenon that is Britpop - and, more importantly, from within. Suede v1 were a heavensent combo of genius guitarist and larger-than-life flashboy in Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson. Together they led Suede through two magic records, the eponymous debut and their daring masterwork, Dog Man Star. Then, as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone, split in a burst of still-not-clear acrimony.

Or so it seemed. When Butler bolted, Brett, bassist Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert weren't yet ready to call it quits. They took the high risk of replacing the best guitarist of his generation with an untested 17-year-old with a gift for mimicry, both musical and physical. Young Richard Oakes had to put up with endless "Brett's Little Dick" jokes, even as he proved his abilities on the Dog Man Star tour, a surreal time on the road that saw the band come closer together as people than they ever had before. With the question of “what's the point?” still in the air, Suede went away again, this time to refigure out their purpose and place in the post-Oasis universe.

Two years later, they've finally returned, and, lo and behold, they're as special as ever. With Coming Up, Anderson & Co. have created a chrome and steel cityscape of broken hearts and souls, resplendent in youth and lust and the pursuit of Ecstacy. The sound is vintage Suede, glamtastic guitars swirling, though Oakes and new keyboardist Neil "The Lizard" Codling have substituted a more consise Pop! vibe for Butler's manic virtuosity. The record proves once and for all that Suede are still as vital and vibrant as ever.

Backstage at the Manchester Apollo, a distracted Anderson and Gilbert sit down to talk, their minds not on the inquiry but on the imminent first gig of a long tour. Once the conversation starts, Anderson, known to his bandmates as His Lordship, comes alive, the legendary haughty veneer replaced by a candidness and a big-chested pride that comes from knowing just how good his band Suede really are.

Ray Gun: I suppose we need to start with Bernard's departure. Is there a stock answer? Do we not talk about it at all?

Brett Anderson: I've got a sheet with the stock answer.

Simon Gilbert: There's not a lot too be said. That was three years ago.

Brett: It's ancient history. The only time we ever think about that whole episode is when people ask us in interviews. It's like this bizarre thing that was in the past.

RG: Well then, why don't we talk about Richard? How did he join up?

S: He actually wrote in when he heard Bernard had left the band. He actually wrote in to the fan club, sent in a tape. We heard it, thought it was amazing and got him in for an audition. By the first song - he played "Heroine" - it sort of clicked.

B: That whole period was pretty strange, cos we were touring an album where one of the members who had co-written it with me had pissed off. It was quite frustrating and quite difficult at times. Which I got through with a lot of good will and a lot of positivity, but it was quite hard work. A lot of people had sort of thought, "Awww, the band had collapsed." We had to tour the album. It's just what you've got to do when you're in a band. For one thing, I was really proud of the album. I thought it was a fucking great album, there's a lot of songs on it that I really wanted to play live. I spent seven months writing the fucking thing, and when you put that much work into it, I was living it night and day, you just want people to hear it.

RG: Dog Man Star fell between the cracks in a way. It was overwhelmed by the very public split between the band and Bernard, and more importantly, it is a remarkably adventurous second album that came out at the same time as Britpop began to get more and more generic. Do you feel it went over people's head?

B: Yes and no. Commercially, it did. It wasn't commercial for a couple of factors. Not just because of its musical obscurity or whatever, cos it wasn't that musically obscure-

RG: It was complex.

B: It was complex, yeah. It was a combination of that and losing the guitarist. A lot of people thought the band had split up. A lot of people had a lack of confidence in the band because of that. And it was unfounded because, you know, most people experience backlash because they've made a shitty record, or cos they're not very good anymore. In some senses, Dog Man Star is probably the best record we've ever made. So yeah, it went over some people's head, and it was a difficult record to sell, but I think it was quite a landmark record. I read various snippets of things and people talk about bands trying to make their Dog Man Star. The record has definitely got a character which can be translated to other people's records. It's got a very sort of serious, epic, complex sense, d'you know what I mean.

RG: No matter what tension was going on in the studio, it remains a very brave album, in that you were a relatively straightforward pop band and you made a record that the 14-year-old segment of the audience would invariably be baffled by.

B: That had always been the idea for Suede. We'd be pushing it all the time. We've always had a sense of adventure in the music. It's a very difficult thing for people to get their heads around, cos we tend to write in a very similar, what, when it comes to singles. Like, stylistically, there's not much difference between "Trash" and "The Drowners." They're heady, poppy...a rush. If someone just looked at our singles, they'd say, "Oh this band hadn't progressed at all." But if you listen to any of the albums, we always try to change stuff around. And making Dog Man Star just seemed like a natural progression from the first album. We wanted to do something that was really really out there. And that sort of spirit of adventure has been killed off by Britpop, in a way. I think the good thing about Britpop is that it readdressed songwriting, but I think the bad thing about it is that it promoted safeness in music. And at the time of Dog Man Star, we could've written an album of tracks like "The Drowners" and "Animal Nitrate", we just didn't want to. Cos, you know, you're given a power, you're given a platform, you might as well do something that'll fucking prick up their ears, d'you know what I mean.

RG: Suede were the band that kickstarted the Britpop thing, not unlike what Nirvana did in the US with alt-rock. That is, taking a previously indie sound to the charts. Do you feel responsible for all this?

B: Yeah, totally. If you look at all of this chronologically and historically, Suede were the first band to do that. The kind of things that are in early Suede songs, talking about specifically English culture, not sort of singing songs about, y'know, rockspeak, d'you know what I mean? Just sort of bad cliches. So, not speaking rockspeak, talking about specifically English culture, which we were definitely the first band to do. Before Suede, there was a real confusion about what being in a band was all about. I mean, we came on the scene, we were so specific about what we wanted to be. We wanted to be Suede. And all the other bands around were just without a clue, just a joke. There were all these awful bands that didn't know how to write songs. I don't want to slag a load of bands off cos they're a load of crap. Just these bands that couldn't play, couldn't write a song, had no focus about what being in a band was. And Suede came along, and that's why we stuck out like a sore thumb, cos we had a certain sense of style, which no one else had. I'm not talking about we bought our clothes from fucking Armani or whatever, but there was a sense of what we were. Which was something beyond crappy student hair and shorts.

RG: But then just as you released your masterpiece, you got lost in the wake of Blur, Oasis, etc.

B: Well, yeah, we did, because of the simple fact that we'd lost a member. It would have been a completely different story if he'd stayed in the band. At the time it was quite frustrating, but I think, looking back on it, it was the best thing that could've happened. Cos I don't think we are considered a Britpop band. The same way that you wouldn't call the Stone Roses a baggy band, even though they started it. They're kind of beyond it by doing it in the first place, d'you know what I mean?

RG: Did you feel a sense of competition in making Coming Up? A need to prove yourselves?

S: There's probably an element of that, but it wasn't something we consciously had.

B: One of our strengths is that we don't particularly get influenced by what's going on around us. Some people might say that's a failing, cos you're not taking stuff in. I think Suede have definitely always had their own sense of style, they always had their own direction. I think there was a definite desire to refocus what we're about, cos I think with Dog Man Star, it went very experimental, we went in all directions everywhere. What you want to do is bring it all back to the central thing, and refocus on what the essence of the band was.

RG: That's the thing about Coming Up. It's Suede distilled to down to it's very nature. There's no wanky bits on this record.

B: Yeah. It was really important just to cut out all the dead wood, not have anything that didn't work. I wanted to make the sort of album that would work the first time you listened to a band. You don't have to like Suede to get into it, d'you know what I mean? It would just work on its own terms.

RG: In a sense, it was your first album. For any number of reasons, this Suede is not the same Suede.

B: It wasn't 'til we started writing the album, and Neil came along really, and the second phase of Suede really took off. Cos then it was really a new band. It wasn't just like the same instruments and stuff like that. I did feel as though Neil and Richard sort of combined to take it into a completely new form. No one could say, "Oh, they're just trying to replace Bernard," or whatever, it was a completely new feel to the band.

RG: The record seems to be influenced by real things, by friends and family, by being a person and not a pop star.

B: Definitely. It wasn't something I did consciously, but I did definitely retreat from all that. I pretty much retreated from the pop star shit really. I just got completely disillusioned from it and didn't particularly feel like going to the Squirrel's after show or anything like that, d'you know what I mean?

RG: As the scene became more celebrity oriented, you were noticeably absent.

B: We have this image of being this band of blokes that are kind of like obsessed with our hair and like, the superficial side of it all, and there's nothing further from the truth. I'm just so disinterested in the Face side of being a pop star.

RG: You certainly know how to use it to your advantage, though.

B: Well, sticking it in front of a fucking camera, if your face is going to be on the cover of a magazine and 100,000 people are going to read it, you don't want to look like you're just woken up, do you?

RG: The characters on Coming Up are like a chronicle of the modern drug-taking lifestyle.

B: Virtually everyone in London, a huge section of the people I know, are just complete rave heads and complete weekenders. There's this whole culture, this weekender culture, where you work throughout the week and on the weekend they just go completely insane. They're just popping pills like there's no tomorrow. And there are a lot of those sort of people on the record, yeah.

RG: And yourself? You've got a reputation as someone who enjoys a bit of chemicals.

B: No more than anyone else, really. I've always had too much of a focus on what I'm doing to ever slip too much into it. I've always almost used drugs, in a way, rather than let them use me. I've used them, yeah, (A), to let off steam. Who doesn't? When you're thinking all day, you need to just be blank for a couple of hours. And (B), to sort of like stimulate your mind sometimes. But when you say something like that and people get the wrong end of the stick. You get headlines like "BRETT PROMOTES DRUGS TO WRITE." Which is absolute bollocks. I'd say quite the opposite. I'd say it actually deters you sometimes, it actually stops you from thinking. But, y'know, when you're taking drugs and fucking hammering yourself into the ground for 15 years, which I have been doing, you actually get a sense of how to use them. There's a total difference between some 16-year-old taking drugs, and taking fucking Ecstasy for 15 years now, d'you know what I mean? So I know exactly how my body reacts, I know exactly how my mind reacts, I know exactly how to use it rather than let it use me.

RG: To be honest about it. Too many people go, "Don't do drugs" or "Drugs are the greatest!" whether they mean it or not.

B: I'll tell you what. We're doing this interview for the States, and I think there's so much fucking dishonesty about drugs in the States. It's one thing that really pisses me off. It's fashionable to say that you used to do it and you don't do it anymore. It's fashionable to be in rehab. All you have to do is say you're in rehab and make the right sort of music and you've got a hit record. And it's got nothing to do with your music, it's got to do with this society of people who go to rehab. It's absolute utter fucking bollocks.

RG: It's the culture of apology, the idea of saying, "I'm better now."

B: Exactly. Especially when it's saying, "Oh, I'm a rock 'n' roll and cool because I used to do drugs. I'm not a complete square. But I've given them up now, so I'm a good guy." Why don't you be fucking honest about it and say what you do and what you don't do. It's a load of fucking lies. It's all over the world, but it's extremified in the States, cos, y'know, everything's extremified in the States.

RG: Seeing how you've been so honest on the subject, did Damon Albarn's much-quoted comments about you being some kind of junkie piss you off?

B: I just don't like people commenting on what I do. I'm willing to talk about anything, but when other people start passing judgement on me...

RG: I want to talk about the more common Suede images, things like electricity and diesel and the sea and so forth.

B: There's a definite language that I like to make my own. I like to use words - not repetitively, I've never overused a word or phrase. The most used one is like, "hired car," which I've used about three times. I quite like establishing your own kind of language, and almost like, putting a copyright on your language, so when someone comes along and uses a word like that, then you can go, "Ah, that's one of my words," d'you know what I mean?

RG: So if someone writes about, say, the motorway...

B: Then I'll slam them into court and sue their asses. Seriously, that's why as a lyricist I have a style, like I have as a singer. I think lyrically speaking, words are generally pretty barren at the moment, and I think it's important to have a bit of pride in what you do and take it seriously.

RG: The imagery you use creates a very vivid world, albeit one that is very modern and very cold.

B: I try to put a bit of warmth in it as well. I don't see the world as this pointlessly bleak experience. There's a lot of optimism I have for life. Living in London is really exciting every day. I like to write about things that have got a timelessness, that's quite important to me. I don't like writing about things that are just of the moment. I tend to choose things like electricity or something like that, specific things that are part of the modern age, the modern age being something that happened about 96 years ago and that'll carry on for another hundred.

RG: Is there are Suede tribute band like say, No Way Sis?

B: Yes, actually, in Canada. They're called Snide. They come from London, Ontario and they do Suede and the Sex Pistols, so that's really cool. That's the only one I know, though I think there's a couple in Australia as well.

RG: Does the singer try to look like you? That's always the funniest part of those bands.

B: Yeah, like a cross between me and Johnny Rotten, if there is such a thing.

RG: Do you really want to make it in the US? Do you care anymore?

B: Not really, no. To be absolutely totally honest. I've been over there three times, three big tours, worked really hard, and at the end of the day, maybe there's just something about Suede that just doesn't connect with the American mentality. If they like the record, then they like the record. Your role as a musician is kind of like being this conquerer, and I find that really unhealthy. Everyone's always talking about breaking territories like they're fucking Alexander the Great.

RG: It's refreshing to not hear the "We're going to tour America and everyone will love us" lip service that most English bands spew about making it here.

B: I'm just honest about it. In almost every other country in the world, we've had quite a lot of success, and it just hasn't happened in the States. Maybe it's something to do with the basic make up of the band that just grates with American music. Maybe it's the fact that we haven't had a successful tour there.

RG: That's true. All of the tours here were troubled in one way or another, what with Bernard's father passing away, or Richard having just stepped in. In many ways, we've never gotten to see the real Suede.

B: No, you haven't really, which is a shame, cos you missed out on something good. It's kind of down to us really, it's our problem. But I think that's pretty much true about a lot of English bands. They fuck up in the States. It's nothing I'm going to lose much sleep about at the moment, though.

RG: The thing with Suede is that you are pretty much a band of outsiders. In many ways, so are the kids that listen to you. Perhaps more so.

B: Totally. We do get a certain section of our audience that, you know, the Suede gigs they're coming to are the only times they've been out this year. They come in slippers, d'you know what I mean? Slippers and a dressing gown, rubbing their eyes like they just got out of bed. But yeah, we do attract a lot of people that are attracted to the band for unusual reasons, or are inspired by the band when they wouldn't be inspired by other people. It's not your run of the mill interchangeable "another band" kind of thing, and that's something I've always been determined not to be, "another band." It can sometimes be hard work, because you pretty much play on your own field, and you're pretty much cutting your own grass and making your own headway. It can be quite lonely, but it's a position we've always wanted.

[aion-rsa]

Best Returning British TV Series 2021: the Most Anticipated Series Coming Back This Year

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There’s no getting around it; you’re going to see more of your TV than your friends and loved ones over the next few months. That being so, it’s lucky that there continues to be still so bloody much of the stuff, despite Covid-19’s best efforts to shut it all down. They might have been delayed, they might have been curtailed, but they weren’t stopped. Returning British TV shows are on their way. The horizon is filled with them, gambolling like lambs over the fields and into your living room.

There’s comedy and drama and crime thrillers arriving by the lorryload, and sci-fi and fantasy coming by the… much smaller lorryload. (More of a small van for returning British sci-fi and fantasy this year, but check out the new titles coming soon.)

We’ll keep this list updated as soon as more details are announced and release dates are confirmed.

A Discovery of Witches Season 2 (January 8th)

Based on Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy about the forbidden love between a powerful witch and a centuries-old vampire, A Discovery Of Witches debuted on Sky in autumn 2018 (read our reviews here) and was renewed for series two and three almost straight away. The second run sees leads Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode (pictured) time-walking in Elizabethan England where they meet some famous faces of yore.

A Very English Scandal series 2

This one has yet to receive the official commission stamp, but it’s too good not to pass on a bit prematurely. Following on from the success of Russell T. Davies’ acclaimed three-part drama based on the real-life events of Lib Dem leader Jeremy Thorpe’s plot to have his lover Norman Scott murdered, the BBC plans to turn the ‘A Very English Scandal’ header into an anthology series following different true life events that rocked English society. As reported by Deadline in March 2020, Agatha Christie adapter extraordinaire Sarah Phelps is writing a three-part drama about a 1963 sex scandal involving the Duchess of Argyll, nicknamed ‘The Dirty Duchess.’

Back Season 2 (January)

Channel 4 has a second run of Simon Blackwell’s excellent sitcom Back on the way. The first series aired in autumn 2017 and was delayed while actor Robert Webb suffered an episode of ill health. The comedy reunites Peep Show’s David Mitchell and Webb as Stephen and Andrew, two erstwhile foster brothers whose neurotic rivalry boils up in the wake of Stephen’s father’s death. Louise Brealey also stars in the squirming, tragicomic delight. Stream the first series on All4 here.

Back To Life Season 2 (tbc)

Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon’s six part comedy-drama about a woman released from a lengthy prison sentence arrived in 2019 as one of a clutch of well-received original BBC shows. Haggard plays Miri, who returns to her childhood home and isn’t exactly welcomed back to the community with open arms, alongside Adeel Akhtar, Geraldine James, Liam Williams and more. It aired on Showtime over in the US, and will return for series two, which is currently being written.

Baptiste Season 2 (tbc)

Tcheky Karyo will return as grizzled French detective Julien Baptiste in a second series of the Williams Brothers’ Euro-set crime thriller. The character made his name on two series of The Missing, and earned his own BBC spin-off in spring 2019. (Read our spoiler-filled reviews here.) Series two sees Baptiste in Budapest on a search for the missing family of a British Ambassador, and co-stars Killing Eve‘s Fiona Shaw. Production on series two was halted in March 2020 because of the global spread of COVID-19, but got back up and running in the summer.

Breeders Season 2 (tbc)

Filming wrapped on the second series of Sky One parenting comedy Breeders just before Christmas 2020, so we can expect to see the new episodes later this year. The series, created by Simon Blackwell, Chris Addison and Martin Freeman, follows the child-based frustrations and catastrophes of Paul (Freeman) and Ally (Daisy Haggard), breaking taboos and punching you in the heart as it goes.

Britannia Season 3 (tbc)

Playwright Jez Butterworth and showrunner James Richardson first brought their trippy vision of warring Celts, mystical druids and invading Romans to Sky Atlantic in January 2018, and were quickly rewarded by a second series renewal. That run has already been and gone, leaving us awaiting the return of David Morrissey, Mackenzie Crook and co. for more bonkers ancient history, this time with added Sophie Okonedo!

Bulletproof: South Africa (January 20th)

After two hit series of crime drama Bulletproof on Sky One, police officers Bishop (Noel Clarke) and Pike (Ashley Walters) are back for a three-part special set in South Africa. The miniseries will see the crime-fighters’ attempt to relax on holiday scuppered when they become entangled with a dangerous kidnap plot.

Cobra Season 2 (tbc)

Robert Carlyle’s PM will return for another series of Sky One political thriller Cobra, written by The Tunnel and Strike: Cuckoo’s Calling‘s Ben Richards. The first series saw Carlyle’s character attempting to maintain power after solar flares took out Britain’s power grid and left the country in chaos as political factions vied for his position. What disaster will befall him in series two we don’t yet know…

Dead Pixels Season 2 (January)

Jon Brown’s gamer comedy debuted in March 2019 and was renewed four months later for series two. It stars Alexa Davies and Will Merrick as two die-hard MMORPG gamers (massive multiplayer online roleplay game, if you were wondering) and Charlotte Ritchie as their non-gaming flatmate. Here’s our interview with the creator on how other TV shows and films so often go wrong in their depiction of gaming and gamers.

Derry Girls Season 3 (tbc)

Lisa McGee’s terrific 90s-set Northern Irish comedy is set to return for a third series about the lives of secondary school students Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James. Filming was due to begin in June 2020, but Covid-19 disrupted that schedule so we’ll have to wait a little longer for this one. Set in the 1990s, Derry Girls is a coming-of-age nostalgia-flood with characters to love and jokes to spare, in which crushes and friendship fall-outs are dealt with in the same breath as dangerous political turmoil. Cracker.

Doctor Who Season 13 (tbc)

Thanks to Covid-19, we’re getting a shorter run of eight episodes for Doctor Who‘s next series, which is confirmed to welcome new companion Dan to the TARDIS. Played by comedian-actor John Bishop, Dan will join Yaz and the Doctor as they continue their travels after saying goodbye to Ryan and Graham in New Year special ‘Revolution of the Daleks.’

Endeavour Season 8 (tbc)

A three-episode seventh series of Russell Lewis’ Inspector Morse prequel aired in February 2020, taking Morse into a new decade, as he and the team investigated the discovery of a body on a canal path on New Year’s Day 1970 (read our spoiler-filled reviews here). Shaun Evans not only returned as the lead, but also directed his second instalment of the long-running crime prequel. Series eight was due to begin filming in summer 2020 but it was pushed back until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gangs of London Season 2 (tbc)

The body count was high in Sky Atlantic’s ultra-stylish, ultra-violent 2020 thriller Gangs of London, but enough characters made it all the way through for a second season to be commissioned. When it eventually arrives, expect more expertly choreographed fight scenes, more international crime family intrigue and more betrayal. Co-creator Gareth Evans and his fellow directors gave us a taste of what to expect from the new run here.

Gentleman Jack Season 2 (tbc)

Renewed even before series one had aired, Sally Wainwright’s Gentleman Jack arrived on BBC One in the UK and HBO in the US with a bang. It stars Suranne Jones as real-life trail-blazing lesbian industrialist Anne Lister, with a cast including Sophie Rundle, Gemma Whelan and Rosie Cavaliero. It’s witty and dynamic, offering television a new 19th century hero at whom to marvel (here’s our episode one review). The eight-episode second series started filming in November 2020.

Ghosts Season 3 (tbc)

This tremendously fun comedy arrived in 2019 from the cast of Horrible Histories and Yonderland. Happily, it was renewed by the BBC for a third series, which guarantees us at least six more episodes of spectral shenanigans as Alison and Mike (alive) try to keep the ancestral family home going while dealing with an influx of housemates from history (dead). Speaking to Den of Geek in November 2020 about the terrific Christmas special, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, who plays Mike in the show, said they were hoping to film series three in spring 2021.

Guilt Season 2 (tbc)

BBC Scotland’s dark comedy-drama Guilt was a word-of-mouth hit that became an award-winning hit. Created by Neil Forsyth and starring Mark Bonnar, it was the story of two very different brothers attempting to cover up an unthinkable act. It’s currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer and will be joined by a second four-part series. Don’t get it confused with the US Amanda Knox series of the same name, which was cancelled.

Happy Valley Season 3 (tbc)

We’re cheating here because there is very little chance that 2021 will see the planned third and final series of Sally Wainwright’s excellent crime drama Happy Valley but it’s too good a drama not to include. The word seems to be that creator Wainwright and star Sarah Lancashire are keen to return for the final chapter in Sgt. Cawood’s story, but they’re waiting for young star Rhys Connah, who plays Cawood’s grandson Ryan, to get a bit older before tackling the story Wainwright wants to tell. Patience.

His Dark Materials Season 3 (tbc)

One final eight-episode season is on its way to BBC One and HBO to conclude this stunning adaptation of Philip Pullman’s book trilogy. Season three will tell the story of The Amber Spyglass, taking Lyra and Will to even more new worlds, where they’ll meet strange creatures and have to face a weighty choice. Pre-production began earlier in 2020, but the renewal announcement didn’t officially arrive until December. Here’s a taster of what we might expect to see.

Innocent Season 2 (tbc)

ITV’s Innocent was a four-part series about a miscarriage of justice that aired in May 2018. Its conclusion certainly didn’t call for a continuation so news of a second series renewal was a bit of a head-scratcher until it was revealed that creator Chris Lang (Unforgotten) was writing a whole new case and a whole new set of characters for the second run, now due to arrive this year.

Inside No. 9 Season 6 (tbc)

Knowing a good thing when it has one, BBC Two renewed Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s ingenious anthology series Inside No. 9 for a sixth and seventh series back in March. That means 12 new half-hour stories told with wit, originality and – every so often – a surprising amount of heart. Shearsmith Tweeted in November 2020 that the team were in rehearsals and planning to start filming on the new episodes imminently.

Killing Eve Season 4 (tbc)

Season four of mega-hit spy thriller Killing Eve was announced back before season three aired, so we know that it is coming, the question is: when? As the series films across various European locations, it’s been hit harder than many by the Covid-19 pandemic, and production was confirmed as being on an indefinite hiatus in October 2020, so don’t hold your breath for the usual April start date. As soon as things are up and running, we’ll let you know.

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TV

New British TV Series for 2021: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky Dramas and More

By Louisa Mellor

TV

New British TV Series from 2020: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky Dramas and More

By Louisa Mellor

Line of Duty Season 6 (March)

Series five of Jed Mercurio’s hugely successful crime thriller concluded in May 2019, and, after a Covid-related five-month delay, filming wrapped on series six in November 2020. Line of Duty stars Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar as bent-copper-hunters AC-12, with each series welcoming a high-profile guest – previous series have welcomed Stephen Graham, Thandie Newton and Keeley Hawes, and this time around it’s Kelly Macdonald.

Man Like Mobeen Season 4 (tbc)

Announced on creator and star Guz Khan’s Instagram account in September 2020, as reported by Comedy.co.uk, hit BBC Three comedy Man Like Mobeen will return in 2021. Series three left fans on a serious cliffhanger that saw Mobeen doing time despite his best efforts to stay out of trouble and raise his younger sister. Catch up on BBC iPlayer here.

Marcella Season 3 (January)

ITV’s Marcella, co-created by The Killing’s Hans Rosenfeldt and starring Anna Friel, went out in a blaze of bonkers glory in 2018. Series two marked a turning point for the detective show, which went from domestic crime drama to full-blown comic-book spy thriller, complete with faked deaths, conspiracy, and secret investigative units. Series three has Marcella working undercover in a Belfast crime family. It’s already aired on Netflix around the world, and will finally arrive on ITV in January 2021.

McMafia Season 2 (tbc)

Starring James Norton as the conflicted British son of a Russian mob boss, McMafia was BBC One’s big, glamorous New Year drama for 2018. It was renewed for another eight episode season a good while back but updates on progress have been very thin on the ground since then Whenever it arrives, expect more double-crossing and high-stakes violence set against the backdrop of gangland London. Read our series one episode reviews here.

Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Season 4 (tbc)

A fishing show may seem like a strange choice for this list of mostly high-profile dramas and comedies, but Gone Fishing deserves as much celebration as any of them. That’s thanks to Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse’s natural chemistry as two long-time friends, both of whom have been forced to contemplate their mortality in recent years due to serious heart problems. It’s fishing, yes, but it’s also chat, silliness and genuine human warmth.

Motherland Season 3 (tbc)

Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh and Helen Linehan’s parenting comedy Motherland will be back for a third series. Starring Anna Maxwell-Martin (Good Omens, Line Of Duty), Lucy Punch, Paul Ready and Diane Morgan, it’s a caustic look at the demands of modern parenting and life in your thirties and forties that you don’t even need to have kids to relate to/stare at in rapt horror.

Peaky Blinders Season 6 (tbc)

Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight’s BBC Two crime saga following the ascendancy of Birmingham’s Shelby family in post-World War One England, is set to return for two further series, which should, if all goes to plan, take us all the way up to the outbreak of World War II. Series five aired in late summer 2019 and here’s all the news we have on series six, which was sadly forced to suspend production in March due to the global spread of Covid-19. Filming is due to resume in January 2021, so fingers crossed we’ll get the new series later this year.

Sex Education Season 3 (tbc)

Season three of Netflix’s celebrated high school comedy-drama went into production in September 2020, so there’ll be a little wait until the new episodes arrive on the streaming service. The show has won such an adoring fandom over its two seasons that they’ll wait as long as it takes to continue the stories of Otis, Eric, Maeve and of course, Gillian Anderson’s masterful Jean.

Staged Season 2 (January 4th)

A lot of people tried their best to make new TV under lockdown conditions last year, and some fared better than others. At the top of the comedy pile is Staged, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen as exaggerated versions of themselves, rehearsing a play on Zoom with a host of big name guest stars and plenty of laughs courtesy of their other halves Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg.

Stath Lets Flats Season 3

We waited too long to hear that Channel 4 was doing the sensible thing and renewing Jamie Demetriou’s excellent Stath Lets Flats for a third series. During that wait, the show won three Baftas and even more fans, securing its reputation as one of the best comedies around. According to cast-member Kiell Smith-Bynoe, who plays reluctant letting agent Dean, the plan is to start filming in summer 2021, if everybody’s schedules can match up.

Taboo Season 2 (tbc)

From Steven Knight, creator of the excellent Peaky Blinders, in collaboration with star Tom Hardy, Taboo presents a very different vision of Regency England to the traditional Jane Austen world of assembly balls and etiquette faux pas. It’s about James Delaney, an almost invincible, little bit magic, highly mysterious thorn in the side of the East India Company. Series one aired in early 2017, and as of summer 2019, Knight had finished six of the eight scripts for the second series. Here’s what we know so far.

Taskmaster Season 11 (tbc)

Joining the Taskmaster and little Alex Horne for series ten of Taskmaster – its first series on Channel 4 – were Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring. Then came a New Year treat featuring all-new one-off contestants. In 2021, we’re due a full new series starring Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak and Sarah Kendall, plus a champion of champions miniseries.

Temple Season 2 (tbc)

Adapted from Norwegian series Valkyrien, Temple is the story of an underground medical facility run by a desperate surgeon and his apocalypse-prepping colleague. It stars Mark Strong, Carice Van Houten and Daniel Mays, and debuted on Sky One in autumn 2019. The series two renewal was announced as the series one finale aired, and the new episodes are expected to air in summer 2021. Read more about the series here.

The Bay Season 2 (January)

Daragh Carville’s Morecambe-set crime thriller returns with a new case for Morven Christie’s DS Lisa Armstrong and co. this year. The first series dealt with the disappearance of a set of teenage twins and shady goings-on in a picture-perfect coastal town, earning it the title of ‘the new Broadchurch’. Here’s our episode one review.

The Capture Season 2 (tbc)

Ben Chanan’s BBC One thriller The Capture was a high-stakes crime drama that tackled the question of what truth and innocence mean when video evidence can be so easily manipulated in the modern age. It starred Strike‘s Holliday Grainger, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them‘s Callum Turner, and was renewed for a second series in summer 2020.

The Crown Season 5 (tbc)

Olivia Colman took over from Clare Foy as HRH Elizabeth II in The Crown series three. The time jump saw Matt Smith replaced by Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip and Helena Bonham-Carter take the reins from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, with Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher. For season five, the palace welcomes Imelda Staunton (pictured) and Lesley Manville as the Windsor sisters.

The Last Kingdom Season 5 (tbc)

The Last Kingdom series five will adapt the next two books in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories series: Warriors of the Storm and The Flame Bearer. Starring Alexander Dreymon as Viking-raised-Saxon Uhtred of Bebbenberg, it’s an action-packed historical drama filled with wit and characters to love. Read our spoiler-filled episode reviews and more.

This Time With Alan Partridge Season 2 (tbc)

Filming concluded on the second run of This Time With Alan Partridge in December 2020, so there shouldn’t be too long a wait for the new episodes to arrive on BBC One. Series two sees Norwich broadcasting veteran Alan established as the co-presenter of fictional magazine chat show This Time, following his gaffes on-screen and off. Susannah Fielding co-stars.

Unforgotten Season 4 (tbc)

Cassie and Sunny (played by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar) return for a fourth series of ITV’s excellent cold case crime drama Unforgotten. What makes Chris Lang’s detective series stand out is its empathy—for its characters, for the victims, and often, for the killers themselves. The new series will take another decades-old case as its starting point, and no doubt tell another engrossing, affecting story led by excellent performances from a cast including Susan Lynch and Sheila Hancock.

War of the Worlds Season 2 (tbc)

FOX UK sci-fi War of the Worlds was one of the first TV dramas to restart filming after the enforced Covid-19 lockdown (it helps when your show is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the population has been more or less destroyed), so even with all the effects-heavy post-production required, we can expect it to arrive this year. It uses H.G. Wells’ story more as a jumping-off point than a bible, and developed into a poised and atmospheric sci-fi for adults. Read more about it here.

World on Fire Season 2 (tbc)

To the delight of fans following series one’s tense cliff-hanger ending, Peter Bowker’s WWII drama following multiple interconnected stories from around the world during the war, was recommissioned in November 2019. The stories of Harry (Jonah Hauer-King), Kasia (Zofia Wichlacz) and Lois (Julia Brown) will continue in the second run, alongside those of Lois’ conscientious objector father Douglas (Sean Bean) and Harry’s ice-cold mother Robina (Lesley Manville). 

Year of the Rabbit Season 2 (tbc)

Detective Rabbit returns! Matt Berry, Susan Wokoma and Freddie Fox will be back for more Victorian crime-based comedy in a second series of Channel 4’s acclaimed Year Of The Rabbit. C4’s Head of Comedy Fiona McDermott describes the show, which is co-written by Matt Berry with Veep and Black Books‘ Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, as “glorious, gutsy and audacious”, and you won’t hear any disagreement from us. Series one is currently available to stream on All4, and the six new episodes are expected to arrive this year.

Also returning:

Brassic Season 3 (tbc)  – Joseph Gilgun’s Sky One comedy returns for a third run.

Code 404 Season 2 (tbc)– Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays are back on Sky One in this very British comedy take on RoboCop.

Don’t Forget the Driver Season 2 (tbc) The brilliant Toby Jones returns in this heartfelt seaside comedy drama.

Feel Good Season 2 (tbc) – Mae Martin’s autobiographically inspired comedy returns to Channel 4.

Hitmen Season 2 (tbc) – Mel and Sue will be back on Sky One for more paid-assassin larks.

King Gary Season 2 – Gary King will be ruling the crescent once again in this BBC One comedy.

I Am… Season 2 (tbc) – The Channel 4 female-fronted anthology drama returns with Suranne Jones among the cast.

Intelligence Season 2 (tbc) – David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed are back on Sky One for more tech-spy comedy.

State of the Union Season 2 (tbc) – Nick Hornby is creating two new characters who meet up weekly before their marriage counselling sessions for this BBC Two comedy-drama.

The Cockfields Season 2 (tbc) – This Gold original comedy starring Joe Wilkinson and Diane Morgan will return, but sadly, without comedian Bobby Ball, who passed away in 2020.

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[kopykunoichi]

I'm totally hijacking this thread, because I could do this forever until we've exhausted literally every scene with them.

The second episode is interesting because the scenes dealing with the death of Opal's baby were originally shot to be part of the pilot episode, but then ended up being clipped and made the focal point of this episode.

So the pilot establishes the love triangle with this little kiss that almost came out of left field:

But originally, there would have been a lot more interactions between Neil and Christy centered around their disagreement and subsequent making up about Opal's baby.

To remind anyone who hasn't recently watched the series or read the book of the context, Opal McHone (Fairlight's sister in the show) finally had a little girl. But the baby was suffering some sort of ailment that the mountain people had attributed to being "liver growed". The cure was to touch the baby's heels to the back of her head. Opal did this and accidentally broke her daughter's back. Christy was the only one at the mission, so she was asked to lay out the child and prepare her for burial. When she seeks out Neil afterward, she is shocked, angry, and wanting to blame something or someone for this unnecessary death.

She argues with Neil, accusing him of not doing his duty in teaching the cove mothers how to take care of their babies. He explains that he's done his best, but on certain subjects, his word can't cross Opal's Granny (who had been a local herbalist with a healthy bit of superstition worked into her remedies). He explains how much time he has to spend stitching up these people because of the feuding. He doesn't have time to teach mothers about taking care of their babies because there's only one of him. He also makes a statement that makes him sound like a complete atheist when she wonders how he can believe in God. "I don't! I believe in science and in myself, and I'm sorry if that's not good enough for you!"

Later, Opal overhears Christy explaining to Ruby Mae that Opal's ignorance is what ended up killing her baby and goes into a deep depression and won't eat or talk to anyone. Meanwhile, her husband, Tom, is being hunted as part of a feud aggravated by a dispute about a moonshine distillery, so he's not there to help his wife. Christy takes the McHone boys to the mission and arranges for Fairlight or Miss Alice to stay with Opal.

I love how when Neil and Alice are talking about Opal's condition, Alice comes to Christy's defense, and her words have an effect on Neil. She starts to walks away, but then turns around to tell him that she thinks Christy needs to see him. It's rare to see Alice encouraging the relationship between Christy and Neil (and it's probably because it's early on in the series and she hasn't sensed Neil's regard for Christy yet), but I always appreciated her insight in that moment.

To the man's credit, he does what she suggests and says exactly what Christy needs to hear, with a little physical comfort thrown in for good measure.

"It's my fault," she says when she sees him, her voice cracking.

He quickly assures her that's not true. She says that using Opal's baby as an object lesson for Ruby Mae was a heatless thing to do.

He grips her arm and leans in, telling her that she didn't set out to hurt Opal or for this to happen.

When he makes no move to let her go, she looks and him and briefly dips her head as though she wanted to lean it against him, but then changes her mind and looks forward again. "Will she get better?" Christy asks.

Neil puts his other hand on her shoulder and gives her a gentle squeeze, "I can't say. But if you flog yourself over it, you're no good to anyone. Take it from a man who knows."

We're seeing a clear glimpse into Neil's heart. Beneath the gruff exterior, he's a man who deeply feels every one of his failures. He internalizes so much of the troubles of the cove and blames himself for failing his people. Christy realizes that, though he vehemently defended himself to her, he truly does feel responsible for them...even as he is arguing to absolve her of blame at that moment. Over the series, we see him struggle with this time and again. He gives her more grace than he gives himself, but he also recognizes the futility of allowing guilt to cripple you.

This tender moment showcases one of the great strengths of their relationship. They have similar passions and a similar propensity to take too much on themselves (albeit in different ways, which is why they drive each other nuts). Neil has more experience under his belt, so he is able to guide her through the rough spots particularly effectively, because he's been exactly where she is right now.

At the end of the episode, Opal rallies and helps establish a truce with the feud.

After a brief talk with David, where he offers to "ride her home" (dude seriously needs to work on his phrasing), she declines and says she'd prefer to walk. David turns around and looks at Neil, who is standing behind them, and gets this look on his face and responds "Fine, I'll see you later", with a little too much emphasis...like he suspects she's just lingering to talk to Neil. Which - haha, sucker - she most certainly is.

Neil watches David sulk off. Go on home, pup...

...and then saunters up to speak to Christy, complimenting her for the part she played in the outcome, saying she worked a miracle.

She smirks and replies, "Not me, Doctor. Only God works miracles".

He grins at her retort.

"And God helps those who help themselves, right? Then take the compliment...it was meant sincerely," he adds in a low voice.

She catches his change of tone and stares at him, feeling for the first time that little rush of pleasure she always gets when he praises her. "Thank you," she all but whispers.

Look at her looking at him! I'm always left wondering at these little scene breaks - was there more? Did he walk her part of the way home? All the way home? Did they stand there talking more after that? Or did he just note that little look on her face and head to his cabin to rheumenate on it for the rest of the day/night/week?

Okay, your turn @fandomsbyladymelodrama

@darsynia

No pressure on this, but I wanted to ask if you'd like to tell me about one of/some of your favorite Christy scenes, and the things you like most about it/them? I can't singlehandedly revive the fandom on here, but it's such a joy to talk over this show with other fans!

I didn't realize until recently how thoroughly the Neil/Christy relationship informed my romantic preferences in all the media and writing I've done since watching it in my teens. Older, scholarly man/younger, determined woman, some kind of angst in the man's past, a need to change things for the better as an intrinsic part of the woman's character, a taboo element that stands in the way of the relationship... Even in the slash pairings I love so much, there's still so many elements of it!

Hey filmmakers, don't think we don't notice that you frame these two with Christy on a step/incline half the time to de-emphasize the height difference...

Oh my, oh my. Okay, first, let's be real. I've been waiting for an ask like this since 1994 (baby Tumblr wasn't even born yet 😂) so get ready for some major Neil/Christy feels that I've been suppressing but also diligently-tending-in-the-background for 30+/- years. THEY. ARE. PERFECT. Top-shelf OTP bottle, for sure. You understand, right? Of course, you do. We've discussed. But yeah, I feel the same way about this show/book/pairing influencing and informing both my writing style and romantic preferences in fiction over the years. Happy to admit it. Yes *raises hand* 1000 times yes. Hello, my name is ladymelodrama, and the fact that CBS so cruelly stole resolution for Neil/Christy from us forever (I'm not counting the PAX movies, I'm just not) is a crime against good television everywhere and will haunt my Christy-loving bones until I'm dead and buried in the ground deep enough so's the critter's can't find me, as Little Burl or Creed Allen would say. Anyway, you asked about Neil and Christy and favorite moments and since I can't just pick one...

I have a proposition to make :) Let's trade fave moments until we run out of them, maybe? No pressure, of course, but this is me mostly unwilling to commit to my Top 5 Scenes until I finish my rewatch, and even then I'll probably change my mind a couple times 😂 But here's one that I'll discuss in detail today and which I like to call the "Will This Do?" scene aka "and then they both smiled their little smiles at each other and lived happily ever after. The end." <3

(Credit to @heatherfield for this gif, and bless you, friend, for continuously shipping the same pairings as me - makes my gif-hunting so much easier haha <3)

So why do I love this scene so much? Oh, you know. Margret's dress. Objectively, it's gorgeous (the woman had style, even if she had no heart). And hey, it only coded Neil/Christy as endgame from the first episode, no big deal. Plus it was one of the softest moments in the whole show and THE WAY THEY SMILED AT EACH OTHER. Ugh. Soffffffft. I'm mean, you're seeing this too, right? ;) Meanwhile, I'm sure David is over here in the corner...doing what David does best XD Lurking. Always lurking.

(and, based on the pic I chose, maybe taking notes on how to have better chemistry with Christy? - "Dear Diary, Neil MacNeill is kinda the worst, have I mentioned?" 😂) But in all seriousness, what I love about that scene (and the exchange of smiles, in particular) is how there's an honest-to-goodness, my-spirit-just-spoke-to-your-spirit bit of humanity happening there. I die for those moments, little and quiet as they may be. It's just so...SOFT. They don't know each other yet. Not really. There's no romance at play (other than what I assume might be mutual physical attraction, even if Christy would never let herself go there. Not on her first days in the Cove) so it's more a budding friendship that we're seeing and friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite things? (Jorleesi, Jisbon, Siegfried/Audrey, Obidala, Red Cricket, Dickon/Mary much?). I also really enjoy when she comes down the stairs looking all pretty-in-lavender with her hair down (still lolling at your comment on that detail btw because...c'est vrai 😂) and "Oh no, David, it's so late...how will we ever get to Lufty Branch in time?" "Not we, Christy." (exactly, David, you're getting it). Too bad she has to spend all afternoon in this rustic cabin with a plaid-shirted, barrel-chested, brogue-speaking, moody mountain man with inside pain for dayssssss. Oh the everlasting horror XD

So yeah, so much to love about this scene (and the entire convo in the cabin afterwards and him plucking her from Theo prior to the whole dress thing - guy helps girl down from horse = I'm in love 😍). To witness the very beginning of their arc (okay, Part II of the beginning, but the doctor was busy with brain surgery during Part I, so you know what I mean) and to have the actors play it so, so beautifully and in an Appalachian setting that's just misty and magical and to die for all by itself... Mmmm *chef's kiss* Your turn, @darsynia <3