What TV series are you currently watching?

[San Antone]

I thought it was supposed to air on April 20.

This is Season 1 - I am streaming it off Paramount+

[DavidW]

This is Season 1 - I am streaming it off Paramount+

Oh season 1!  Ha!  I missed that.  I got my hopes up and actually checked the app. Yeah I need more sleep.

[Brian]

Just finished series 1 of Vera.  I discovered the show when at my parents.  The later episodes are great.  Starting from the beginning, the first three episodes were a bit confusing and melodramatic.  But then the fourth episode was a banger!  I'll be starting series 2 soonish.

Oh!! Thank you. We watched the first three and found them...a bit confusing and melodramatic.    Guess it's time to try number four!

[George]

Second time through this great show. Everyone is great, but Jon Voight is absolutely hilarious as the father.

[Papy Oli]

We'll have to try that one, Lol, as "This Country" didn't work for us.

We are also now halfway through Blue Lights, a crime series set in the Northern Ireland Police series, about 3 policemen/women in their probation period. Quite nicely done and gripping enough. Just a bit more close to the bone than normal given the threats reported lately in the news.

Finished Blue Lights after a hiatus. Decent, ultimately more about the psychologic impact on the newcomers in the force and its inner workings than the crime aspect.

Aussie comedy Colin from Accounts on the BBC IPlayer.

Ashley is a medical student who has just been dumped. Gordon runs a micro-brewery and has always been unlucky in love. The two are thrust together when, distracted by Ashley's actions, Gordon hits a stray dog with his car.

Blunt, sarcastic, sometimes puerile, at times dark or creepy but an absolute understated little gem of a Rom-Com of sorts at its most adorable and heart-warming, without ever being soppy or unrealistic. 8 x 30 min episodes, crammed with characters and side-stories, binged in less than 24 hours, leaving us now terribly missing Gordon & Ashley.

Man, this was a great watch.

     

3 episodes in a second run of the above.     
Even more laughter and appreciation of how great this is.

[Irons]

Finished Blue Lights after a hiatus. Decent, ultimately more about the psychologic impact on the newcomers in the force and its inner workings than the crime aspect.
 

3 episodes in a second run of the above.     
Even more laughter and appreciation of how great this is.

Colin was a great watch, Olivier. Thanks for heads up! Harriet Dyer who plays Ashley has that rare quality of screen presence. Your eyes are drawn to her whenever featuring. Mind you, Colin was the star!

[Brian]

This is not entirely on topic, but just to say that I'm listening to a mono recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite (Ancerl/Czech), and that spooky first-movement flute solo sounds like something you'd hear in a scene of Columbo.

[Papy Oli]

Colin was a great watch, Olivier. Thanks for heads up! Harriet Dyer who plays Ashley has that rare quality of screen presence. Your eyes are drawn to her whenever featuring. Mind you, Colin was the star!

Good stuff, Lol.

Another one in the queue at the moment is the third and final series of "GUILT", starting tonight on BBC 2, although the full third series is already on the I-player. We had forgotten quite a bit of the story arcs in Series 2, so we'll be watching that one again beforehand.

[SimonNZ]

Had ignored this when it came out, but its way better than I expected.

[BWV 1080]

Had ignored this when it came out, but its way better than I expected.

There was some talk of a sequel, treading the ground of I Claudius, unfortunately nothing came of it.

[vandermolen]

Magpie Murders
A highly entertaining Agatha Christie type series, set in 1955 and the present day.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Stumbled across this series and when I saw who some of the main stars were (Gabriel Byrne and Charles Dance) thought "Let's give it a go!"  It's called "Secret State" (British) series about the interconnectedness of big companies, politicians, and the military in this drama.  I believe that it's from 2012?  Watching the first season (episode 1) and it looks promising.  Story line (so far):  an American petrol company's plant in a poor working area of England has just had a major explosion killing a lot of locals.  The government is under heavy criticism and is trying to sort out the mess (at least some of them seem to be trying to)....and I'll leave it at that!  I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

PD

[George]

[Papy Oli]

Binged in one rainy Sunday afternoon: BBC's GUILT final season 3.



It has its usual darkness, sarcasm, humour, plotting & backstabbing, with a couple of new storylines and some new characters intertwining nicely into the longer established arcs. This is actually what saves this season from otherwise being too "samey". Closing it all (neatly) in this third instalment feels right but also necessary.

Still a recommended watch for the fans this oddball of a series.     

[Irons]

Binged in one rainy Sunday afternoon: BBC's GUILT final season 3.



It has its usual darkness, sarcasm, humour, plotting & backstabbing, with a couple of new storylines and some new characters intertwining nicely into the longer established arcs. This is actually what saves this season from otherwise being too "samey". Closing it all (neatly) in this third instalment feels right but also necessary.

Still a recommended watch for the fans this oddball of a series.     

Watched first episode. I liked it, the wife didn't. We both enjoyed the first series, this seemed a bit contrived in comparison.

[Brian]

Stumbled across this series and when I saw who some of the main stars were (Gabriel Byrne and Charles Dance) thought "Let's give it a go!"  It's called "Secret State" (British) series about the interconnectedness of big companies, politicians, and the military in this drama.  I believe that it's from 2012?  Watching the first season (episode 1) and it looks promising.  Story line (so far):  an American petrol company's plant in a poor working area of England has just had a major explosion killing a lot of locals.  The government is under heavy criticism and is trying to sort out the mess (at least some of them seem to be trying to)....and I'll leave it at that!  I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

PD

Speaking of which, I recently saw on Britbox a three part miniseries of crime novel adaptations starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon, called "Quirke." Definitely going to give that one a go, especially as the novelist (John Banville) is a skilled developer of character and setting.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Speaking of which, I recently saw on Britbox a three part miniseries of crime novel adaptations starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon, called "Quirke." Definitely going to give that one a go, especially as the novelist (John Banville) is a skilled developer of character and setting.

Haven't heard of that miniseries, but will check into it.

By the way, how do you like Britbox overall?  Thoughts?

PD

[Brian]

We've loved Britbox. "Cozy" and witty mysteries are our bread-and-butter TV, so we have loved watching all of Death in Paradise, Jonathan Creek, New Tricks, Shakespeare & Hathaway (which is a little dumber than the first three), etc. They have basically all the Agatha Christie adaptations, including a few classic movies from the 70s/80s ("real" movies, not TV movies). Almost all the BBC adaptations of Dickens, Shakespeare, Hardy, Austen, etc. And there are some good prestige dramas such as Line of Duty. The sitcom collection includes a lot of new stuff and a lot of true classics (Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, etc.).

One thing that is nice about Britbox compared to other services is that it does not have a lot of junk clogging things up. We don't have to wade through 50 generic low-budget reality show competitions in order to find the acclaimed TV. It seems to be made by people who really like good television. We began paying for it during the start of the Covid pandemic and we have definitely found 3 years' worth of good stuff to watch, much of it previously unknown to us. (Rosemary & Thyme was a silly but charming surprise, for example. And we had never heard of A Touch of Frost.)

One thing that is not so nice is that despite having access to the BBC archives, they don't upload anything near all the BBC material that exists. I think the BBC also makes money selling streaming rights to Netflix, Amazon, etc. So despite being owned by BBC Studios, Britbox doesn't have Sherlock, and for a lot of panel shows (8 out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie to You?, etc.) it only has a small number of seasons. It also only has 3 of 23 seasons for Grand Designs, our favorite home show. As a food person, I was very interested to learn that Sue Perkins (of Bake Off) had a docuseries called The Supersizers where she and a food critic spent weeks eating the authentic diets of people in various historical eras. Like a week of eating all Elizabethan specialty foods, or ancient Roman foods. But it's not on Britbox—in fact, the only place it is available is super-grainy videos on Sue's personal Facebook page! So there are some pesky gaps.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

We've loved Britbox. "Cozy" and witty mysteries are our bread-and-butter TV, so we have loved watching all of Death in Paradise, Jonathan Creek, New Tricks, Shakespeare & Hathaway (which is a little dumber than the first three), etc. They have basically all the Agatha Christie adaptations, including a few classic movies from the 70s/80s ("real" movies, not TV movies). Almost all the BBC adaptations of Dickens, Shakespeare, Hardy, Austen, etc. And there are some good prestige dramas such as Line of Duty. The sitcom collection includes a lot of new stuff and a lot of true classics (Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, etc.).

One thing that is nice about Britbox compared to other services is that it does not have a lot of junk clogging things up. We don't have to wade through 50 generic low-budget reality show competitions in order to find the acclaimed TV. It seems to be made by people who really like good television. We began paying for it during the start of the Covid pandemic and we have definitely found 3 years' worth of good stuff to watch, much of it previously unknown to us. (Rosemary & Thyme was a silly but charming surprise, for example. And we had never heard of A Touch of Frost.)

One thing that is not so nice is that despite having access to the BBC archives, they don't upload anything near all the BBC material that exists. I think the BBC also makes money selling streaming rights to Netflix, Amazon, etc. So despite being owned by BBC Studios, Britbox doesn't have Sherlock, and for a lot of panel shows (8 out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie to You?, etc.) it only has a small number of seasons. It also only has 3 of 23 seasons for Grand Designs, our favorite home show. As a food person, I was very interested to learn that Sue Perkins (of Bake Off) had a docuseries called The Supersizers where she and a food critic spent weeks eating the authentic diets of people in various historical eras. Like a week of eating all Elizabethan specialty foods, or ancient Roman foods. But it's not on Britbox—in fact, the only place it is available is super-grainy videos on Sue's personal Facebook page! So there are some pesky gaps.

When I looked at it, I had the impression that it seemed to contain mostly older shows (a number which I've already watched most of).  I'd love to be able to watch newer ones and/or ones which are currently being shown in the UK.  Wondering whether or not there's any way to do that--short of moving to the UK?

That Sue Perkins show sounds quite interesting!  I love reading about the history of food.  Once, some years ago, I had to make a food to bring to a medieval feast and found a relevant cookbook.  Made a greenish-colored  bread which featured a whole lot of parsley.....boy, was that ever a whole lot of chopping!

PD

[DavidW]

I also love Britbox Brian.  The only thing is that since it seems like content is 80% Britbox and 20% AcornTV, so I wish they would just merge.  Would like to go back to watching Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries.