Jellybeansucker

My review is on the colour series as I've not yet watched the first two b&w series, but the fact that they were so popular they led to a successful public campaign not to end the show after Series 2 as originally planned, and long before the days of social media, means they must be good! I can say the next two series were extremely good, equating to one of the highest quality TV dramas I've ever watched.

The best episodes, and there are many excellent ones, are tightly written gems of intrigue that if you missed a minute of you might lose the plot, which turns and twists like a poisonous snake. It's very surprisingly hard hitting for a 50 year old show, it's made for adults and is all the better for it. This is of course a major reason why it's so popular with fans and so highly rated.

The casting and resulting acting is top notch, it made a star of Woodward here, whose star eventually and rightly shone in America, after a long career outside the A List. Callan's scruples and doubts are as enthralling as the Cold War plots of Red Files on Russian agents and his methods of dealing with them, sometimes coldly and ruthlessly, sometimes cleverly, and not strictly to orders.

Another highlight is the relationship he has with his colleagues, all of whom are in a strict hierarchy, one or two of which he dislikes far more than the targets he's asked to do a job on. The favourite for me is Cross who appears in most of the colour series, superbly played by Mower, a very under rated actor, who portrays his seething dislike of being under Callan, because he comes from a higher social class and in Military terms, where most of the agents are picked from, would have been an Officer to Callan's Corporal. Highly recommend others watch the repeats now showing on TV or get hold of the DVDs. IMO the most compelling espionage TV show of them all.

Despite the nice setting and acting and twisty plot, the fact he got away with a serial murder spree after so many close shaves and the fact Paltrow knew he did it made a travesty of the ending. Made the Police and the private eye look incompetent.

They could've done even more with the dual identity thing than they did, this was the best thing going for it. Letting the rings be found after he was so meticulous in everything else looked implausible. A curate's egg of a film looking for an Oscar.

Railway Modelling teams compete for the prestige of winning the competition. It's a long overdue addition to the increasingly popular hobbyists strand of TV and this show suits Channel 5's populist output. Filmed in a casual and fun way it's entertainment for model railway enthusiasts rather than instruction, although you can certainly pick up some tips if you watch carefully enough. It's a fun and interesting watch but my main quibble is the lack of time it spends focusing on each model. It's all a bit too cursory and fleeting for me personally, because you really want to see more of them in action. Still the finale of the show where the finished models actually get to run is well worth the wait.

Purists will possibly hate the way it focuses on adventurous themes for the models each week and in Series 1 probably the best team of modellers lost out by not wanting to lose that authentic realism most serious railway modellers are after. The focus is on adaption and all round modelling creativity which is fun but doesn't spend much time on the trains themselves or mention what type of loco or wagon or controller the team is using.

To be fair there have been good shows on TV that discuss this better and YouTube has plenty of technical videos for the how to make this work or construct that. So this fun and breezy show is not for technical nerds but is a general fun way of seeing varying types of railway models and the craft of making them. It certainly will inspire more people to take up the hobby and the model manufacturers will love it. Also timed well for Christmas present buying.

Another sensual portrait of intimacy by the French, with lots of sex and nudity. What a surprise. They're obsessed. This time a passionate lesbian affair is given the full on French movie treatment of a thin and contrived story line to support the main event, as it often is in French movies - sex and nudity. Once the plot line leads us there, it's off with the token backstory, the majority of the cast and of course the clothes. All tastefully done in nice surroundings near to nature - it's Art, you see. (Oh yeah?)

It's directed and written by a woman, which is blaringly obvious all the way through, it has that exclusively intimate aura that shouts 'Women are far more sensual and better at love than men, as you can see here.' The upside is the two leads are very good looking, well you'd probably want that as a producer to sell more tickets and DVDs wouldn't you. Good committed acting too, it has to be said. Highly predictable and typically titillating French film fayre that will probably bring that pause button into play. Watch with a bottle of fruity French wine.

Made as a follow up movie to Private's Progress setting several of the same main characters in industry, I'm Alright Jack way exceeded expectations to become one of the most celebrated British comedies of all time. Everyone is on top form from the scriptwriter and director to every actor. There are so many above average performances here it seems unfair to single individuals out although the inclusion of up and coming character actor Peter Sellers in typically meticulous form lifted it high above the ordinary.

It's sharp as a razor in its depiction of British industrial relations and a lot less dry than previous satires on the theme like Ealing's The Man In The White Suit. This is a far harder hitting satire with a more realistic 'getting down with the workers and shirkers' feel which squeezes a lot of humour out of the coarse blue collar language and working practices. Chock full of subtle visuals and verbals, this film is a joy to watch not just once but many times - very rewatchable.

Other memorable highlights are the cross class relationship of posh but pleasant twit Ian Carmichael and the sultry spindle polisher (ha ha) Liz Frazer and has a pleasing hint of chemistry to it. Made in a period where your class still very much mattered in England it shows the real needle between the lower and upper classes at its height with both the workers and the management trying their best to get one over the other.

The film's biting satire was aimed as much at the unscrupulous business practices of greedy owners and playing the stockmarket as it was the manipulative unionised workers who demand the best pay and conditions for their meagre efforts and are quick to down tools to get them. It may be a terrible advert for British industry which rang very true to life of the next two decades but it's a stonkingly good one for British comedy, the one industry in which the Brits are genuinely hard to beat.

A sitcom written as a series of increasingly unrealistic scenarios the three get themselves into. Okay it's exaggerated reality under comic licence then, as almost all sitcoms are. Still, the formula here gets cartoony and really stretches credibility beyond the suspension of disbelief thing.

The show's humour is modern language based which at it best is simply coarse and worst full of sexually explicit comments. It becomes at times one long extended hen party with the three of them all embarrassing themselves in different ways, giving us the show's major source of comedy - the comedy of shamelessness which is currently very trendy.

Some may gel with its reflection of modern life but if you're a fastidious sitcom fan who likes some subtlety and nuances of humour instead of being smashed in the face with it, Drifters may not be for you.

Magic is probably a curate's egg of a movie at best as viewing experience but it's an interesting piece of work. Great filmic idea but with a dull and middling script and directed too loosely for a semi horror suspenser. There is nowhere near enough suspense which the subject demanded and although the pay off scenes are unnervingly creepy and very good you may have drifted off before they come, which will be a shame.

However the upside is if you're still with it for the final scenes then the lead character will make you squirm with horror film satisfaction as it turns out he may have spent a little too long with his dummy as his only companion. With a better script and tighter direction by a suspense or light horror specialist and not the big scale, big subject specialist that Attenborough was then Magic could easily have been a minor classic like Halloween or The Howling of the same era instead of the forgotten curio it's become.

There are even hints of what the film should have been in the major classic The Shining made a year later which handles the same theme of isolation leading to unhinged happenings much better and drenches us in suspense. I like to think Kubrik took this from the less showy Magic and maybe Nicholson realised his mistake in turning down such a role and dived into his part in The Shining. As said above though it was a box office success thanks to a memorable trailer and a strange story and I urge a viewing if you haven't yet seen it.

Why hath it took so long for a sitcomedy about our beloved bard to be born? Watch this and wonder why, as there are opportunities galore exploited for comedy gold and silver. Elton's forte is plundering easy mines like history or the police for sitcoms or modern world maladies like traffic congestion and slavish consumerism for his novels. And here it's the same jamboree for the former motormouth. And he doth fill his booties, verily.

Well enough researched as always for a broad statement making punchline grabbing comedy, hinting at a depth of understanding beneath that won't fool true authorities on the subject. Though he's learned the key points well enough as ever and been fairly true to history, or the disputed history and chronology of Shakespeare's works and the bits within passed off as his. The result is a pretty successful comic rendering of the lofty man of literature and his works.

Watchable, cleverish and funny especially for English lit and lang lovers. It suffers from Elton's usual excesses and limitations but lack of dialogue and plot and comedy targets have never been Eltonian flaws. If you like your sitcoms verbally busy, punchline heavy and narratively waspish then you will doubtless find 'infinite riches in a small room' watching this most excellent comedy.

A superb episode of the great TV show that thrilled us all in the 70s. Another one where Bodie shows his terrific action skills, as a marksman from a helicopter, in a pistol shooting fight in a warehouse and in unarmed combat, of which he was possible the best exponent ever, certainly on British TV. In an episode involving an ex colleague from their time in the SAS it helped that Collins who played Bodie was ex SAS himself. Fantastic hard hitting combat scenes that knock spots off most movie fight scenes today.

Dunkirk is made as an 'experience', trying to put the viewer there and experience the same terror and foreboding as the troops. The evacuation plan was a quickly thought up emergency plan to try and get as many troops back home as possible. There was little real expectation it would work as soon as the Luftwaffe started bombarding the sitting targets. The expectations were that the entire German military forces would descend on the beaches and annihilate them. Churchill evidently said getting 40,000 back home, a tenth of the number stranded there would be acceptable. They got 300,000 back.

The British sent in their RAF fighter squadrons in what was in effect the prelude to the Battle of Britain and for Nolan it was a great chance to show in modern movie technology the breath taking dogfights between 109s and Spitfires in the way that 1968 movie The Battle of Britain couldn't. For me the best part of the movie experience was the Spits giving the German military machine the first and rare demonstration of machine and combat equality. Unbeknown to the frightened and later angry stranded land troops was the fact that Britain was fighting their cause out of view in the skies, and preventing their expected annihilation. The air battle was the most decisive challenge to the Germans in the Battle of France with the French planes already blown out of the sky and the French army hardware in the form of tanks mostly still in transit to the north.

This is a different movie from the norm made by a film maker known for his experiments on the screen. Dunkirk is no exception and it will inevitably alienate some who crave a normal linear narrative movie with characters they can relate to. The format chosen here will not give you this character or story depth. If you want that then maybe the movie Dunkirk released in 56 is the better movie for telling the whole story. Dunkirk 2017 is a loud and visually stunning event allowing you to witness the action and fear of those troops their country tried against tough odds to save. With the most emotionally engaging part of the movie the huge fleet of little boats sent in to pick the troops up, many sailed by their civilian owners, you get a taste of the Dunkirk Spirit, thanks in large part to the stirring performance of Mark Rylance.

A big film about a very important episode in the history of War War 2, if not the most illustrious or glamorous or victorious episode for the allies, and one left more to history books and TV documentaries rather than movie makers to inform us of. It cried out to be (re)made in modern style to remind people of the sacrifice of both troops and civilians and how precarious the allied cause was in the early stages of WW2.

One of the most charismatic movies ever made. It's infuriated liberals ever since it premiered but that was one of its intentions. Well done for it, and it was partly inspired by factual cases where killers had their charges dropped after lawyers argued the accuseds' abuse and violation of legal rights by police. Eastwood plays a homicide inspector who is so sick of the legal system being played by defence lawyers he has decided to be judge himself, meaning trouble for any murderer he's chasing.

What's surprised me reading about the making of it is how many big name star actors were approached for the role of Dirty Harry and turned it down in apparent disgust at the character and the tone of the film. Newman I could understand but not some of the others - Lee Marvin! Step up Clint Eastwood and walk into movie super stardom! And there isn't anyone who'd've done a better job of it. Wayne maybe in his day but his day had gone to do it credibly.

Eastwood played the zero tolerance cop with relish and conviction and no shortage of style. From the half eaten hot dog to the pistol pointing wise cracking ending, the first shoot out scene, so blunt and direct and full of charisma delivered a picture into movie folk lore. Relentless from then on with really hard hitting scenes for 71, this would cause a stir in the movie industry after audiences loved it and wanted more. They got a lot more and not just from Dirty Harry, as there were many imitators after this iconic (sorry couldn't avoid it) movie.

Eastwood was supremely charismatic and super cool in his portrayal, giving us one of the most memorable and quotable movie characters ever. But a special mention must go to Andy Robinson as the really disturbing killer who has nearly as much screen time as Eastwood and goes to town on his nutcase compulsive murderer, Scorpio. You'd probably question the Mayor not insisting Harry Callahan be taken off the case, considering he wanted to pay off Scorpio from the start but it's clear even Harry's superiors have more than an sneaky admiration for his no nonsense methods.

Dirty Harry, the movie is a hard slapping crime thriller that still serves as an antidote to legal weakness and injustice and political correctness. I've watched it countless times and it just seems to get stronger with every passing decade. The film packs a punch on many levels, not least pure entertainment and should be on any serious top 250 list. The fact it isn't on this one is down to the same true villains of the movie, liberals.

The best episode in the best series of the best sitcom ever put on TV. The Germans may be the most famous but as brilliant as it is, The Psychiatrist surpasses it. It's better written and produced with 4 years to perfect episodes and get them even tighter and funnier than series 1. There is so much going on in this great episode it makes me dizzy still.

Pure farce as busy as it comes with cripplingly funny scene after scene, it is relentlessly funny from start to finish with hardly a wasted line. Inspired with possibly even a hint that Cleese himself was in need of psychiatric assessment. Everything ties together make the funniest half hour of comedy I've ever witnessed. A classical lesson of what can be achieved in a half hour sitcom if you really try. But you probably need a genius at the helm to do it.

Kubrick is one of the greatest film makers of all time, he was from the visual impact school of directors right up there with Schlesinger, De Palma and Scott who were all influenced by Kubrick's visual prowess and all revelled in colour film making. None were from the narrative story telling school at the other end of the spectrum although Kubrick had made cogent movies as good as Paths Of Glory but by the time of almost full colour movie production he had nestled firmly into the graphic design subset of auteurs wanting to make film art.

And it's with this 'piece' he puts on an exhibition of what he can create. It is quite like walking slowly through a filmic art gallery, with a thin semblance of a story running through it, but not as the main event. The focal point is the visual lushness of the sets, the brilliance of the design and greatness of the concept. It displays techniques and skills more than human relationships. It is high on art, low on drama, and will inevitably split the audience into two very different groups, those who are mesmerised by this sensual feast and those are bored rigid by the lack of real drama or action or purpose.

I think it's an absolutely brilliant indulgence taken to its limits by someone given a seemingly huge budget to make a really memorable spectacle about not much at all. I love it and hate it! The creative side of me welcomes it being made to display high end film art and show off what can be done in the craft, as an exhibition. The earthy side of me thinks it's a highly pretentious showy bore by someone seeking greatness as an artist and failing to give me a satisfying story. (But glad it was made as the visual design is truly eye catching, even if parts are very overindulged in such as the long colourful vortex sequence near the end and the general use of classical music masterpieces, which nonetheless do fit and enhance the experience.)

Yes, this classic sci-fi art movie will split viewers down the middle, even individuals.

A movie in the vein of The Haunting and other light horror classics involving spooks and middle class witches and warlocks and academic sceptics. It's so nice to have these lighter movies in what's become a hugely broad Horror genre with real extremes. So if you tire of flesh eating zombies or insane serial slashers give this a try. It's a film you can watch with the lights off after midnight, it boosts the mild scare factor nicely and should make it effectively creepy.

Imo it's up there with The Haunting on entertainment, it's about as credible (not very), but its story is more involving. It builds tension to the end and has a decent creepy feel mainly down to a very good performance of the wealthy aristocratic warlock. Much of it is shot in the dark which also heightens the creepy atmosphere and the story involves the summoning up of an evil entity which has gained its master the wealth and status he enjoys.

Technically well made and directed with tightness. Creep factor is high. Good acting, good tension building, great atmosphere, memorable ending. An old fashioned classy type of psycho horror.

Possibly the best of the Nazi hunter movies, well the best thriller in the genre anyway. It's not as solid or authentic as The Odessa File before it - a nicely genuine and believable Nazi hunter movie, but it adds real thriller excitement in a few quite hard hitting scenes for its era. Schlesinger uses his trademark visual impact to good effect and the Oscar winning Goldman script is just as flashy, making Marathon Man an overtly confident and ambitious thriller.

It has intrigue and plot twists to keep your mind alert but this can get you dizzy as you're heavily engaged in the visual action, so I always found trying to work it out without missing any of the narrative very demanding. But the acting is even more starry in this flash movie. It's Olivier versus Hoffman and I do mean versus, in a celebrated classical meets method acting showdown. Having said that Roy Scheider is the best thing in the movie for me with a terrific no nonsense performance that cuts through all the intrigue and suits the thriller element the best.

A classic movie thriller that maybe suffers from its ambition and showiness and possibly its age judging by the surprisingly low ratings here. When it came out it was much hyped and talked about. Maybe there've been too many thrillers since with licence to be more graphic and clever still which have overshadowed this one. But for its charisma and ambition it is still a belter for me, way up there in the thriller ranks, being easily more involving than most that came after.

A good original subject for a sitcom with a great title, they gathered a good cast too but did not get the budget, being commissioned in the middle of drastic cutbacks at the BBC. I cannot remember a watching a cheaper looking sitcom production ever. All the 'action' took place in the one building, two room set - a wooden village hall with a kitchen. From the first episode it looked like a slap in the face from the BBC, commissioning a 3 episode series that cost less than the comedy executives' lunches.

Hynes led the ensemble valiantly but after the first few dozen lines it was clear she didn't write the script with as much conviction. It was woolly, too mild and too focused on gentle character nuances rather than subject related comedy punch lines as befits a proper sitcom. It had the trad sitcom look, a good historical story behind it and could even have been a female Dad's Army had it the ambition to, but it didn't seem to have an ounce of it. It had the semblance of quirky characters needed but even the strongest of them had little that was that funny to say.

It ended up looking more like a period parody of (spoof mini sitcom) Acorn Antiques but no where near as funny. It was pleasant enough to watch with some eccentric mumbling characters but without having enough conflict from without or within to drive a decent episode story. So although its pleasantness gained it a second series, this went nowhere quickly, limited by its tiny budget, script and ambition. In hindsight it may have been better to end it on the relative medium high of just one short series. Could have been, in another year, maybe with another creator, a very good sitcom, but that would have been a totally different one to this.

Not for me this visually rich and indulgent movie version of the classic story but of course this highly stylised take on it does have its merits and its place in the canon. Coppola creates an atmosphere so thick it may stifle you as it did me. I was riveted for the first 40 odd mins while also feeling queasy and this was every time of the three or four I tried watching it through. I'm intrigued still but I'm not going through that again, it's like sea sickness at best.

I reckon Coppola created a film watching substitute for heroin in making this. Not that I've tried it but I just assume the two experiences must be alike. That's one area he got the novel spot on, in the woozy dreamlike tone and atmosphere of the early chapters. Very impressive technically but I personally just couldn't get beyond this without feeling unwell. Oh well I'll just have to stick to the hilarious Mel Brooks spoof instead.

Brilliantly shot war movie involving a squad of reservists on a training exercise expecting anything but real warfare. Works in so many ways, has visual power, great action, is a tense thriller as the squad is picked off one by one, is a decent low art picture because of the great setting, the foreign feel of it, the Vietnam angle, great photography, incredible atmosphere it creates and not least the stunning music score. Wildly watchable and memorable film.

The simple plot line with stupid characters doing stupid things as the unbelievable catalyst for events is questionable as ever and the acting so-so overall but Boothe puts in one of the best 'no crap' performances you'll see, and what an underused actor he was. And it has clever and inventive devices such as the use of blanks by soldiers against the live ammo of swamp dwelling hillbillies, resulting in a fantastically orchestrated action finale as the two remaining reservists have to rely on pure soldiery to survive. It's a belter!

Period WW2 geekfest movie shot with admirable British restraint. Well cast and fairly well scripted, if a little complex, but very well acted fictional thriller based on the Nazi code messaging system for its frighteningly deadly unter seaboot corps in its North Atlantic theatre destroying Allied supply ship convoys, principally en route to bulk up the soviet Union's resistance against the might of the of the German Panzer Corps, Wermacht front line infantry, Waffen SS and winter trained mountain corps. If you want to see them all in action then don't watch this film but other action based war movies with them in.

This isn't an action war movie, the closest it gets to it is a wound up maths geek biffing his boss on the chin. This is like a pure strategy console game, a long puzzle giving us piece upon piece to solve. It's not fabulously handled by the writer-director partnership in this regard, but the drama certainly is. This is a complex strategic mystery thriller made by straight drama experts rather than complex spy thriller experts but nonetheless I love it, because they get the feel of it spot on and get exceptional performances out of Winslet in particular as a believable female nerd, and Northam as the flamboyant posh police inspector in charge of the high level case.

Has a great old fashioned atmosphere helped along with a superbly chosen score of contemporary swing music and Mendlesson, very classy! Highly recommended for a rare geek's look at the non combat roles played in the real war against the dense grain of the overwhelmingly action movie infested WW2 canon.

With most of the humour centred on the complexity and opaqueness of Shakespeare's sonnets, this episode weaves a neatly labyrinthine plot around the Sonnets' two most famous subjects, the earl of Southampton, his supposed patron and the Dark Lady. Elton has fun with the possibilities these offer a sitcom writer.

The comedy is good while some of the structuring is a bit uneven. This series has a feel of being slightly rushed through to me. Had Elton spent longer trying to pen a fuller script each time then Upstart Crow could easily be a classic. Or maybe its just Elton's limitations as catchy punchline writer rather than a skilled character writer our greatest sitcom writers are.

The release of a new Dad's Army movie 45 years after the first movie and nearly 40 years after the last episode was always going to spark debates and divisions among the sitcom's legion of fans. I feel after watching it that the makers were incredibly insensitive to this matter and bulldozed out a version destined to stir up trouble in the ranks. Don't want to give spoilers but a couple of very major liberties are taken with the enduring original. Had me coughing out me popcorn they did because I carefully avoided reading any previews that were floating around.

That aside, and it's taken me all week to put that aside, I found it very enjoyable watching and found the comedy pretty good and the acting from at least half of them very good.

Where I found it weak was on the balance of characters - I've never seen Jonesy looking so left out and Frazer and Hodges are virtually extras in this. The non platoon characters however have way too much screen time, including CZJ which deprives us of precious time with our beloved heroes and their trademark bickering and petty rivalries.

The only relationship given any regard for that here was Mainwaring and Wilson's, which was well done but quite honestly threatened to overshadow the other characters until the last third of the film when Pike and Walker were suddenly remembered by the makers, if Jonesy, Frazer and Hodges weren't.

Jones is utilised a little but only as a plot device. His great character which dominated many a TV episode was hardly woken up at all. And these great regulars were deprived of their hour because the makers decided it would be politically correct to give far bigger roles to the side characters, one of which never even appeared in the entire ten year run of the sitcom!

I'll sum it up thus, if you're totally new to Dad's Army you may enjoy a pretty good comedy romp set in old Blighty (if there is anyone in Britain new to Dad's Army); But if you're an avid fan of the sitcom who can quote lines and reel off your top ten episodes without thinking, you might want to hunt down the makers of this near travesty and put some cold steel up 'em (A few more in this category I fancy).

A poor choice by Hammer's execs to choose a sleepy Victorian ghost story with which to return to the big screen. Radcliffe and co. fine, special effects and costume dept. all very good as usual. It's competent but not that compelling. Not a bad finale but I'd lost interest way before it came. To put most of the excitement factor in the final third after a dreary two thirds is a big mistake, in my book. The story itself seems only suited to book form too.

The script is frankly dull, the story even duller. Ghost stories have their place in horror but not in Hammer Horror, imo. There was much growing psychological menace but this was never Hammer's thing. It's closer to Hitchcock than Hammer but I couldn't imagine AH making such a dull film. A waste of a big movie budget, I can't imagine what such a flat copy of a film already made would bring to anyone. I do not know how this choice of movie project got anywhere near a commission.

Big fan of original and thought I wouldn't like this because of that, but when I eventually saw it, I liked it. It restyles the wishes for a modern day audience and they were mostly very funny. My favourite was the sensitive boy, the funniest by a long way. The two dogs named Dudley & Peter was a nice little nod to the innovative original too.

Hurley was surprisingly good in her role and having a Brit starring in it was a the right thing to do. Frazer is a very good versatile actor, always good at comedy. It's more OTT than the original and it didn't last the distance quite as well, notably sagging in the last third, I thought. The script is funny but not subtle and witty like the 67 film. That script had a lot of Peter Cook gems in and is worth watching just to see a different type of humour.

The remake didn't murder it at all, like some have wrongly said. It was a quite different version of it for more in your face modern tastes. Stands up on its own well if you didn't see or want to see the original, making it a worthy remake project. Thought it missed a trick by not including the seven deadly sins in person as the original did, one of my favourite scenes of the 67 film, however it helps make both films quite different watches. Just choose the version to suit your mood.

Game shows range from daft to extremely good. I'd say pointless was both, on the surface it seems a daft idea, but when you've watched it a few shows, it really works, and the concept feels like a rare piece of TV inspiration, absolutely brilliant original idea for a show, and there is tons of quiz mileage in it, it could run and run.

Then you have the choice of presenters. Have to say at first this put me off watching it for ages. I briefly looked in, didn't really know what it was or understand what they were doing, looked at the question setter guy sitting down and thought 'Oh no, this is far too dry for me'. Armstrong didn't do a lot for me at the time either. Well, opinions can change because after finally getting into it, I think they are fantastic together, dry and formal yes but very witty and often really funny together. Osman is Stephen Fry like in his knowledge and wit, but drier, probably sharper and nowhere near as smug about it. I think he's a great find and would like to see him on some more panel shows. Armstrong is just a natural frontman, very clear and concise, warm and friendly. What's surprised me is how funny he can be too, as I was never really convinced by his more overt comedy routines.

This show has stiff competition from some great gameshows like Millionaire, Weakest Link and Eggheads but I think this is the best of the lot, inventive, very entertaining, humorous and stupidly addictive. It's a cracker. Oh and the celebrity specials they do are a scream, with these two upright, slightly nerdy looking, well spoken chaps quietly sitting or standing there in ridiculous outfits. Absolute belter of a show, really! Do give it a go, if you've avoided it like I did, it's well worth getting into.

Under rated, I feel, by a sizable amount. Yes it was a bit different to the more innocently silly Wrong Trousers but it was both a post-Wererabbit feature and a clear spoof of Murder mysteries. I loved the cartoony menace rumbling away as the plot thickens. Brilliant references, a great (cartoon) murder thriller atmosphere and the usual fantastic animations and characters. I found it the most gripping and compelling of all W&Gs. There's just enough silliness and action in it for W&G purists while IMO giving a much better, more involving story and a far slicker narrative. I thought it was pretty near to perfection and am surprised so many seem not to be as impressed.

It is a bit different, definitely darker than the early ones but this came after the darkish Wererabbit movie, so this progression is to be expected. Yes it's not as charming and may be on the dark side for young kids, but you have the early ones for eccentric charm. This is post-Wererabbit and is an excellent little murder thriller.