#or 'Brokeback Mount Him' which is what i am referring to Staged as from here on out

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And they were neighbors...

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I mean, same...

There's a line between being angry with each other and wanting to rip each other's clothes off and these two use it like a freaking jumprope.

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Someone shelving a DVD of Staged series 1 and 2 in the LGBTQ+ section of a shop is entirely too accurate and will never not be hilarious...

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I mean...

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From that to this in six months...

it just keeps getting better and better

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Michael talking about David on the death podcast: "I'm saddled with him."

David:

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BAFTA short film appearances Checklist:

DT✅

GT✅

MS✅

MS’s Dog ✅

AL… AL??? Hello?

So, for those who haven't seen it, the full BAFTA opening monologue of David's with a Staged-inspired sketch is now online! You can watch the entire sketch on Youtube here.

I did, of course, absolutely have to make a clip of the moment with David and Michael at the end, in person at the theatre, because it is just...it is the most married thing I have seen in a very, very long time:

Like...this truly feels like boyfriend/husband/some sort of long-term couple bickering. And I'm not referring to the words (which I'm assuming were prewritten, since this was a bit?), but the energy between them. Even the way David and Michael feign annoyance with each other is so underpinned with affection that it fills your heart nearly to bursting. It's so completely domestic and soft and I really do wonder if the people in the audience (at least the non-UK industry folks) understood what the hell was happening and what we were witnessing here. Amazing.

Also, to your point about the members of the cast in the sketch, it is certainly strange (and noticeable) to see who was in the clip and who wasn't. AL's absence was made especially glaring by the fact that she was not seated next to Michael during the sketch, either (though from what I have been told, they were sitting next to each other for the remainder of the broadcast). So I'm not sure what was going on here, but the choices were definitely choice-ing.

In any case, I am beyond delighted that we not only got a Michael reference/appearance at the BAFTAs, but that it happened so early on, and that he was so prominent in the bit. I'd love to hear from my followers as well about your thoughts on the opening sketch, so please feel free to chime in in the comments!

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So, for those who haven't had a chance to listen, Georgia recently made an appearance on Blank Podcast, and there was one section of the interview in particular that stood out, which is where she talks about Michael and David and Staged. You can listen to it above, and here is a transcript:

Georgia: "It's very meta, both on screen and off screen. Erm...but we sort of...Michael and David had known each other from Good Omens season one and they got on very well, but they weren't...they weren't "mates." Now they are mates. They are like...yeah. I mean they are...they are very interlinked now forever. For many reasons."

I would encourage folks to listen to the audio, because the text alone honestly does not do it justice. In particular, the specific way Georgia said the word "mates" (especially the second time). What is also interesting is that in the rest of the discussion preceding this, the whole interview flows like a conversation, very naturally. But the moment Georgia starts talking about Staged (and especially Michael and David), her cadence switches abruptly.

It almost seems as if she is carefully choosing her words, trying very hard not to say too much yet seemingly thinking so loudly as to make it noticeable at the same time. We know from past experience that Georgia does not post anything on social media or say anything in interviews haphazardly, so one can just imagine how much she was telling us without telling us anything at all.

Of course, this is pure conjecture and speculation, but between the #mumanddad/"Happy Together" pic and everything else, it most definitely does make you wonder. I hope my followers will listen, however, and let me know what you think...

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I've already shared many of my thoughts on Staged winning two I Talk Telly awards today and the subsequent acceptance speech videos for those awards, but I can't stop thinking about Michael not being in either video.

Michael and David are the heart and soul of Staged. It's not a far reach to say that they are the reason Staged came to exist in the first place, after Simon witnessed their amazing chemistry in GO, and that they are also the reason it continued on for as many seasons as it did. I am in no way attempting to diminish the supporting cast, but there is a reason that Michael and David keep winning the acting-related awards and no one else has.

For them/the show to collect two new awards (Best Comedy and Best Comedy Partnership) and Michael to appear nowhere in either acceptance speech video is very strange at best, and at worst, downright concerning. And it is further not helped by the way in which the videos are presented. It would actually be much less bizarre if we only saw David and Georgia's video, as they did the same exact thing when Michael and David won that same award in 2021 (when Michael was sick with Covid, which was why he wasn't in the video). So it makes sense for them to have gone this particular route:

...And then we have Anna's video. A video that contains cardboard cutouts of David and Georgia in the background, and in which Michael is neither seen nor even mentioned, which seems thoughtless at best given that Michael is the reason Anna was in the show in the first place (and apparently as a very last minute addition).

And for some reason, Lyra is the one speaking while they are both in front of the cutouts and AL is standing there like she's giving away a new car on The Price Is Right:

I'm just honestly at a loss for what the reasoning was behind this. Because all it does is draw more attention to the fact that Michael is missing, that he's been virtually absent from Twitter since the end of October, and that he's been previously reluctant to promote Staged and is apparently equally reluctant to appear in a video with his own girlfriend co-star (as he himself once referred to her, mere moments after saying that he loves David).

Whatever the case may be--if someone from PR has told Michael to continue laying low, if he's busy with rehearsals for the play he's about to star in, or if Michael is fully over promoting Staged in any capacity--none of this seems normal. I'd love to hear what my followers think, of course, so please feel free as always to speak your mind in the comments on this post...

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I just realized something

the picture used when announcing the winner for the best comedy partnership that david and michael won:

does originally include anna:

I completely forgot she was even there to begin with. also, interesting choice to edit a photo like that rather than use one just with michael and david to begin with.

Oh, man. I don't know why this managed to totally escaped my notice the other day, but you are absolutely right! Thank you for pointing this out.

And I am with you, I somehow also forgot that Anna was in the original picture, which seems to speak to how memorable she was in season 3 of Staged (as I recall, she actually had less screen time in season 3 than either of the other two, and Georgia had more, interestingly enough).

What's fascinating to me is exactly what you said, however. That instead of using any one of the numerous already existing shots of Michael and David together in S3, they chose this one and edited her out of it. And not only was AL edited out of the shot, they also edited David and Michael to be closer together. I mean...there are choices, and then there are choices, and that was most definitely A Choice.

It somehow doesn't feel like an accident, either. Especially not when we consider that something like this has happened with previous awards. As we all vividly remember, David received an NTA in 2021 that was presented to him by Michael. At the time, the NTA Instagram page was posting pictures of the winners in each category, and every picture was of the winner either giving their acceptance speech at the podium, or by themselves in the press room.

Except...this was the picture they used for David:

To me, this always felt like an inkling of the press knowing something without actually saying it (especially given that the Radio Times also referred to Michael and David as a handsome couple that same night). And to now have the blatant editing of that I Talk Telly graphic two years later, is well...really quite something, when you put it all together.

So yes, that is very definitely an interesting choice, and I am honestly wondering if they just assumed no one would notice or realize. (Which it seems many didn't, as everyone was talking a lot about Michael being absent from the acceptance speech videos, but you are the first person I've seen say anything about her being absent from the photo). I am glad you did notice, however, so that we could discuss it...

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Love seeing this clip show up on my TL again, and especially love seeing this comment on it...

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Just saw a clip of the Staged bloopers and cut scenes and it made me wonder if you'd ever written a post about David saying "you're the Debbie McGee to my Paul Daniels". Non UK people might know that Paul Daniels was a stage magician who was very popular in the 80s and might even know that Debbie McGee was his assistant but they might not know that they were married for 28 years until Paul Daniels died in 2016. David is calling Michael his wife, or at the very least his glamorous assistant 😳🤣

No need to post if you've already written about it, I went quite a way back through your blog to try and check but, well, you've written a lot about Staged 🤣

Hi there! Oh gosh, I have not actually written a post about David saying that, mainly because being a non-UK person, I did not actually know who Paul Daniels or Debbie McGee are, or that they were married (I think the other part of the reason I don't know them is that they were both a bit before my time). So thank you so much for this delicious tidbit/insight! Let's get a visual up here as we start to talk about it:

The first thing I will say is that I have seen the Staged outtakes, and what makes me love this moment so much is that this was very definitely not part of the script, but rather something David said himself, without prompting. He says it so earnestly as well, as if this particular reference is one that is specifically for them but also one that he does not mind other people hearing. David had to know that this could have made it to the final cut, so the fact that he said it despite that fact seems to speak volumes.

Again, could this just be David joking and calling Michael his sidekick/assistant? Absolutely. But it's incredibly hard not to see the deeper meaning potentially at play, especially when we consider that David has called Michael his wife on at least two other occasions. The second instance in particular is still so remarkable to me, because it wasn't in a promotional or media context, but to a private audience. It's further bolstered by Rob Wilkins referring to Michael and David as "the loveliest couple," which again is a specific choice of words. So it does make one wonder if David and Michael have quietly been calling themselves that for some time, at least to their personal circles (a long time, even, given that Staged 2 aired at the beginning of 2021).

Regardless of whether David's comment was meant as a joke or as a sly allusion to the nature of his and Michael's relationship, what I love most about this (and what I think we could all agree on) is that David is saying that Michael is the person he makes magic with. Magic we saw in Good Omens, and then subsequently in a few seasons of Staged, and again in GO season 2. And with any luck, magic we will get to see Michael and David make together for a long, long time to come.

Also, for those who have never seen what Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee look like (as I hadn't), I need to share this picture:

...And also say that I really would love to see Michael in that outfit and headpiece on the left. His hair is as curly as Debbie's, so we can definitely see how lovely that headpiece would look on such a head of hair. Not to mention the pink sparkly I Dream of Jeannie-esque outfit and coordinating eye shadow, which Michael would absolutely slay in. I will never know peace until we see a picture of him in that outfit, and I think he would love to wear it, especially given how much we know Michael loves drag. Couples Halloween costume this year with David? We can only hope...

Again, thank you for sharing this most excellent information, which I hope my followers will also very much enjoy. Thanks for writing in! x

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Michael talking about being in the nude while David is wearing a kimono and lying in bed. This is very normal...

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"You idiot. We could have been...us."

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Georgia talking about staged again and now their…… flirting? Is that what you would call putting a heart on Anna and her calling Georgia a flirt?? Radio silence from the both of them and now randomly there’s this.

Hi there! Well, I'm not sure it's really random. But let's get the visual up here first, for those who haven't seen Georgia/AL's Insta stories today:

So this seemed to start with Georgia posting the story about Staged playing on BBC iPlayer after she finished watching OFMD. The second story is the one with Georgia drawing the heart around AL, followed by the story with her drawing a heart around the glass of wine Michael is holding, and then Anna shared Georgia's story and called her a flirt.

The reason I don't believe this is random is because for the last several days, all everyone has been talking about online is Ineffable Con and Rob/Gavin's comments about the kiss between Michael/Aziraphale and David/Crowley. And as we've seen before, just when the conversation gets too focused on Michael and David, Georgia and AL post a story or photo to bring the attention back to them. It's actually fairly predictable at this point, since it's happened multiple times previously (though I would say this seems a bit more blatant than other instances, given that there isn't any reason for either of them to promote Staged right now).

My thought in regard to the "flirt" comment is that I agree with you in not understanding exactly how that reads as flirting (as it didn't come across that way to me). I do wonder if this is another attempt at Georgia and AL trying to be the female analogues to David and Michael (which we've also seen before), but it again doesn't work because they don't have that same chemistry or flirty dynamic that Michael and David have. Also, if this actually was "flirting," what was the purpose in GT circling the glass of wine? Is she flirting with the wine as much as AL? Once you look past the straightforward promotional aspect of these stories, it just seems very weird.

Weirdness is apparently the theme for the day, however, as there was also this reply from AL on Twitter earlier:

If you look at the timestamps, AL replied to this tweet/Michael's tweet exactly one minute after Michael replied. Going back to the idea of predictability, there's been nonstop discussion for the past several days about Michael and David kissing, and my first thought was that she seemed to just be looking for a reply that she could jump on and insert herself, to where I would not be surprised if she has notifications set up for his tweets for just such an occasion.

Upon further consideration, I did get the feeling that her "Where can I get one?" was not at all sincere in the way that Michael's was. It came across to me as a passive-aggressive way of reasserting her position (i.e., "I'm the only one who actually gets to love Michael Sheen"). It also makes it seem like she is fighting with the fans for Michael's attention, on top of already competing with David (although let's be honest, there is no competition there). More than that, however, I also got the feeling that AL copying his comment was her way of mocking him for wanting the t-shirt at all (i.e., "Look how stupid he is for wanting this stupid shirt"). Which of course is not something she would actually say, but the copied text along with the reply coming only one minute later makes it seem a bit circumspect. And it makes me feel sad for the fan who made the original post who may not realize what is really going on.

In any case, those are my thoughts on GT and AL's social media posts today. As I've always said before, I know I could be completely wrong in my interpretations, but the timing is just too strange for me to believe it's a coincidence. I'm happy to hear others' thoughts, though...

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mr-tom-a-dildo-lover replied to your post "Cut footage of Michael and David flirt-growling...”

We're all just helplessly drowning in the sheer tsunami of their sexual tension. Nobody on earth has ever mutually WANTED this hard before.

You're right and you should say it out loud...