Fazzinchi

Boyd and The Team

It is a blogging tradition that when anyone writes about Waking The Dead, one should also include comments about Boyd’s shouting. I have put my reference in the title just to get it out of the way and shall endeavour to not mention it again. Trevor Eve who, even to a person of my years, is now more commonly known for his Detective Superintendant Boyd than he is for his immortal Eddie Shoestring, is quite (more…)

Christmas Review #2 of 12

Okay, so, Cranford was done and dusted well in advance of “Christmas” but this forms a part of my dozen, festive reviews by virtue of the fact that it seemed to set the tone for the subsequent Dickensian offerings from BBC and ITV.  Alternatively, it’s my blog and I make the rules.  Cranford was, on the surface, one of those cosy Sunday night offerings that are served up from time to time as a “feel good” period drama.  This one ran over five consecutive Sundays in November and December but, far from the cosiness that may have been expected, Cranford (more…)

Christmas Review #1 of 12

They are peculiar things, traditions. As I said in the previous post, this is the second year that fazzinchi.co.uk has run a series of twelve Christmas telly reviews and that, in my mind makes it a tradition. “Voyage of the Damned” as if you didn’t know was this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special and was the third one that this production team have created for our Christmas viewing pleasure, following The Runaway Bride in 2006 and The Christmas Invasion the year before that.  So, if (more…)

Tommy Jessop and Nicholas Hoult

Sunday nights are a strange time for watching television.  The early evening is a regular haunt of shows like Antiques Roadshow, Last of The Summer Wine, Heartbeat and, wierdly, an increasing number of sociological doumentaries: The Robert Winston Hour.  It is a television schedule designed for elderly aunts but for the rest of us it feels like a lull before the oncoming storm of the working week.  A kind of soporfic inducement to encourage us to bed early.  Later in the (more…)

Staying In

Series one of Not Going Out was a delightful surprise. A Friday night, BBC1 comedy in the slot that had brought us the funny-for-five-episodes My Family and much other forgettable fayre, suddenly threw up a little gem. It didn’t baulk away from its comedy as so many other, more knowing, 21st century sitcoms tend to do and neither did it rely on extreme characterisation that encourages the audience to “laugh at” instead of “laugh with”. No, here was a comedy that was just (more…)

Broad Shoulders

Way back in the dark ages, over two years ago if you’re counting, the very first post on Fazzinchi.co.uk was not about Doctor Who, sci-fi, or the latest American import show. It was, in fact, about cricket. My sports-related blogging has been somewhat lacking of late but what better time to resurrect the past-time? The big sporting question of the weekend is choosing what to watch at 5pm on Saturday afternoon. On ITV, the English rugby team are begining the defence of their (more…)