THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

I’ve just finished series one. I believe there’s a series two, I’ve been unable to find it anywhere. Has anyone watched series two?

It’s an Irish series that the BBC have recently got the rights too to I presume at some point it will be there. Last I checked there wasn’t a date for that though.

_________________
Cuboid of bum fluff

Devs

Originally released during the middle of the first lockdown, this high concept sci-fi miniseries from director/writer Alex Garland (he of The Beach, Ex Machina, Annihilation fame) was something I really enjoyed on a first viewing,and I seriously doubt you'd find a more apt piece for those dark days back in the spring of 2020.

It's an outstanding piece of work, outrageously good. I was watching some clips of it on YouTube last weekend and wondered if it was still available on the old iPlayer, which thankfully it still is.

It's a story as old as time itself. Tech billionaire builds a computer program that can see both backwards and forwards in time, which inevitably leads to murder, Russian spies, computer speak bollocks, and truly brilliant visuals.

Nick Offerman stars as the aforementioned tech guru, and boy oh boy is he wonderful. An almost static presence, who barely emotes, he steals every scene he's in by just being there. He's a brilliant actor. I didn't watch Parks And Recreation so can't comment on his comedic chops, but in The Last Of Us he was one of the outstanding players. He's better in this. Much better. The best description would be stillness.

I can’t recommend this highly enough.

_________________
When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

World's strongest man is always a telly favourite of mine at this time of year

The deadlift records are getting ridiculous now...dread to think what the average life expectancy of these boys ends up as but not many of them will be getting past 65 I'd have thought

_________________
Turn Stadium MK WHITE In The Playoffs

A YouTube (so not Telly per se) show that I've loved over the last 3 years or so has been No More Jockeys.
It's a light hearted name game, but I'm not going to bother describing the 'rules' as, really, every game is just a wonderfully fun half hour with 3 comedians (Alex Horne, Mark Watson, Tim Key) who've been mates for years and just having silly banter with each other in between turns.
They've been playing the game for years in their spare time. But, during the lockdowns, they started recording games played while sat in their respective houses and posting them on YouTube. It's pretty much ended now that things have returned to normal - bar the occasional special - but it was something I really enjoyed and still regularly re-watch.
It's all my type of humour - no politics or preachy social agendas. Just silly and light hearted, humour for humours sake, with a bunch of quick witted comedians who are clearly great friends.

The Crown, Season 6

How can something that started out so sublimely end up eyeball melting appalling as this pile of dross?

Where to start. Prince Harry would be a good shout. The characterization obviously written by a committee of Mail readers. Stroppy teenager, check. Jealous younger brother, check. Schoolboy bully, check. And the actor playing him just didn’t grab the position of the Prince. But there you go. The casting wasn’t very good this season, more of which later.

Princess Diana’s ghost visiting both her Maj’ and ex-hubby Charles was certainly something I didn’t see coming, and neither did the pair of them.

But all of the above was outdone by Carole Middleton. This would have you believe that her whole life was focused on steering her eldest daughter into the arms of the world’s most eligible bachelor. Absolutely ridiculous. Cringe worthy lines about showing her legs off to their best effect being the least shit.

The last episode, the queen planning her funeral, was quite simply maudlin and cloying. The final scene of her standing before her coffin in an empty abbey, flanked by her younger selves was taking barrel scraping to an olympic level.

But the biggest problem I had with this was the cast. Dominic West is just too well known to play Charles. You didn’t look at his and see the Prince Of Wales, you saw the guy who played Jimmy McNulty in The Wire. Likewise Jonathan Price as Philip. Just too well known for other things, and in all honesty he wasn’t very good in this. The biggest thing this had in previous seasons was the casting, which to a fault was always exemplary. This final season was badly let down by the cast. But there you go. Like her Majesty it had to end somewhere.

_________________
When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

I think the Crown suffered a bit by bringing it almost up to date. As it went on you start getting more and more people remembering the events that they are covering and that brings its own sort of bias about situations (not really the right word I guess but the best I can think of at the moment). That and the widely spread issue of shows dragging things out too long whilst not knowing how to stick the landing hurt it a fair bit.

_________________
Cuboid of bum fluff

Sucession

I am sure this has been done here before but finished this fairly recently over a month period

First series builds to an amazing end then it.peaks and troughs . We nearly gave up after the 'Shiv' character/actress got too annoying

The best bit were the location shoots....when they go on a. 'trip' somewhere billionaire style it's a real eye opener

Overall glad it ended the way it did at the end of series 4

_________________
Turn Stadium MK WHITE In The Playoffs

Did anyone watch Mr Bates vs The Post Office?

I knew a fair amount of the story already, but it was some great viewing and really highlighted how utterly despicable the post office dealt with the situation.

It's one I'm recording to watch. I was saddened two years ago to read that the sub-postmaster from near to where I worked in the early 2000s was one of those convicted by the post office. Such a genuinely nice man, bought the village shop with post office counter having taken early retirement from the same industry that I was working in, so we used to talk a lot whenever I went in there, and he was so encouraging to me when I talked to him about the opportunity I had to move to a larger company to further my career, giving me the confidence to go for it. He put his own money in to try and make up the shortfall from the IT system, but when the post office took action the local community apparently turned on him and he lost everything, and then died before he was able to clear his name (although I think his is one of the convictions that has been overturned since his death).

Looking forward to watching this one