The return of Van der Valk

I came across an old post of mine on Euston Films remakes, at the time the American version of Widows hit the big screen. My last question, after going through Minder, The Sweeney and Widows reboots, sequels and remakes: ‘Now, who’ll star in a new Van der Valk?’    Since local TV programmers and I […]

Read More… from The return of Van der Valk



Nostalgia: Money for Nothing

Money for Nothing—image from Amazon Prime, where, as of yesterday, you can watch a presumably cleaner copy than what’s on YouTube.   As a young lad, I enjoyed the Screen One TV movie Money for Nothing (1993), which aired on the BBC in the UK and TV1 here. Not to be confused with the John […]

Read More… from Nostalgia: Money for Nothing



Is the sun setting on Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei?

It does seem the sun is setting, after 25 years, on Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei on RTL.    Last week, the network released three episodes from 8.15 p.m., and to heck with the low ratings of the last episode which would be far too late for younger viewers. They’re doing the same this […]

Read More… from Is the sun setting on Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei?



Why the British people still prefer Boris Johnson

When you see the utter dog’s dinner the British government has made of COVID-19, namely turning their country into a petri dish for mutations while they plunder the place with impunity, you have to wonder why many there still prefer these current Tories, when even Max Hastings and Sir Nicholas Soames don’t. Is it because […]

Read More… from Why the British people still prefer Boris Johnson



Other than the ending, this is my only memory of St Elsewhere

Conversation with Mum, some time in the 1980s.    The credits for St Elsewhere begin rolling, and they read, ‘and starring William Daniels as Dr. Mark Craig’. Two taller actors flank Daniels as they walk toward the camera.    I say, ‘Mum, that’s the guy who plays KITT on Knight Rider.’    She replies, ‘He’s […]

Read More… from Other than the ending, this is my only memory of St Elsewhere



I can finally identify with the main character in a New Zealand TV show

While I care much more about when John Simm will grace our screens again (pun intended), it was hard to avoid the reality TV that gets beamed into our living rooms during prime-time. There is the disgusting Married at First Sight Australia, where I am speechless with shock that fellow Scots alumnus John Aiken appears […]

Read More… from I can finally identify with the main character in a New Zealand TV show



More TV Dregs, please

I was looking through the old JY&A links’ section, which dates back to the beginning of the site in the 1990s (indeed, back to Windows 3·1, as we couldn’t use a file name with more than three letters in the suffix). The last revamp of its look was over 15 years ago, judging by its […]

Read More… from More TV Dregs, please



Searching for Murray Smith

Earlier today Strangers, the 1978 TV series created by Murray Smith, came to mind. Smith created and wrote many episodes of one of my favourite TV series, The Paradise Club (which to this day has no DVD release due to the music rights), and penned an entertaining miniseries Frederick Forsyth Presents (the first time that […]

Read More… from Searching for Murray Smith



Why con?

  During the course of the 2010s, I came across two con artists. One thing that united them was they were men. But they could not have been more different: one was rather elaborate and was the subject of a Panorama documentary; the other was a rank amateur and, at least in the situation we […]

Read More… from Why con?