GOOD TV

[Gloria]

It has the makings of a really interesting project.

[Tripps]

"Good TV" Bit of an oxymoron at the moment - hard to find on a cold wet Sunday afternoon -so the devil finds work for idle hands. It was my birthday recently - no fuss, but I got out my favourite card which itself is four years old and decided to record it for posterity in case one day, the battery runs out.

Trigger warnng - 'Not suitable for vegetarians.' Happy Birthday

[Wendyf]

Happy Birthday David.
Looking forward to watching Vera tonight.

[Tripps]

Looking forward to watching Vera tonight

I watched it - usual formula, but watchable.

Did you notice the bit part guest appearance by Rita Tushingham? I don't think she ever did better than 'A Taste of Honey', which I saw again recently on Channel 306.

[Stanley]

I've been ODing on snooker over the weekend. Went to bed last night before the end if the final but Marl Allen won..... Well watch McMafia on catch up tonight.....

[Nolic]

I've given up on McMafia. Expensive to make but made little sense to me. Nolic

[Wendyf]

Looking forward to watching Vera tonight

I watched it - usual formula, but watchable.

Did you notice the bit part guest appearance by Rita Tushingham? I don't think she ever did better than 'A Taste of Honey', which I saw again recently on Channel 306.

I didn't enjoy it as much as usual, in fact I probably dozed off a bit in the middle. I was ready for Rita Tushingham having spotted her name on the cast list in the Radio Times. I don't remember seeing her in much since A Taste of Honey, but I think she was in Bread.... or was it Boys From the Blackstuff?

[plaques]

McMafia. Don't watch TV myself so I can't comment but Mrs P is an avid watcher and thinks the plot is complicated but predictable. Being fluent in Russian probably helps. From her description it sounds as though its loosely based on the background history from the Tsar, Lenin, Trotsky Stalin and Yeltsin. But there again who am I who knows nothing!

[Stanley]

I watched McMafia on iPlayer. It is as opaque as ever but the effort of trying to make sense out of it kept me engaged. Tell Mrs P I am impressed...... Main thing that strikes me is that they are an amoral bunch! If this is an accurate representation of the oligarchs and super-rich, include me out!

[Gloria]

The last "A House Through Time" tonight. I can't think how they're going to make the last one as interesting as the others have been, but we'll see. Looking forward to it again.

[Stanley]

It was quite a good programme.....
I spent most of the evening watching videos on Youtube of a bloke called Leo who is restoring an old wooden yacht. What a mammoth task. (LINK)

[Gloria]

I thought it was a very good series, I do hope they do another.

[Wendyf]

Me too, I shall miss my Thursday night slot in front of the tv.

[Stanley]

I think he might pop up with another one, it has been so popular.

[Gloria]

McMafia, don't know why we are still watching it, I suppose we keep hoping it will improve. Only two more to go so I suppose we have to stick with it.

[Tizer]

It's a shame that they named the TV programme with the same title as Misha Glenny's highly rated book of 2008. LINK He raised an important issue - that the criminal world has thrived and spread in recent years to infect business, politics, sport, entertainment etc to an extent that most of us are still not aware. He claims, for example, that there are big business corporations that are effectively also criminal organisations yet we let them carry on regardless. An example of one that did get caught out was the big American company Enron. Many others are bordering on criminal - what will we find out about Carillion as the investigators get involved? The criminals have so much money at their disposal now that they are better resourced than the law enforcement agencies and they can also afford mind-boggling bribes.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Gloria, I forgot to watch it on iPlayer last night, I shall stick with it to the end living in hope....
A very good point Tiz and worth reflecting also that the boundary between 'acceptable business practice' and criminality is blurred by the fact that the regulators see some situations as too complicated or too closely allied to the process of government itself. Look at the growth of the private militias in Iraq and how security was 'outsourced' and ask who profited from that.

[PanBiker]

I too am fairly well baffled with McMafia but have been gripped by the gritty "Kiri". Sarah Lancashire is good!

[Tripps]

Here's a follow up to 'The Detectorists' - made me smile. . . .

Struck gold

[Stanley]

I watched the latest McMafia..... It doesn't improve.....
See THIS for the sad story about the real life detectorists who thought they had found a horde of Roman Coins worth £25,000. Unfortunately it turned out that the makers of the TV series 'The Detectorists' had left them there.

[Stanley]

I tried 'Requiem' last night on BBC1. You have to concentrate to have a chance of unpicking the plot! I had difficulty hearing some of the conversations.... I suspect they have modified the sound to make it more obscure! I shall give it a chance but it's not grabbed me like a Shetland.....

[Wendyf]

A new series of Shetland arriving soon, looking forward to that!

[PanBiker]

We did the firsts couple of minutes of Requiem then turned over for happier stuff. Nigel Slater roaming around Lebanon sampling and learning the local cuisine, good program.

[Gloria]

We nearly did the same, but stuck with it and it improved. I think it could be good, we will give it another go anyhow.

[Wendyf]

I started watching it, but decided early on that bed plus good book seemed a better option.