OV9

I've started watching The Night Manager season 2 after a rewatch of the first one. Jury is out after a few episodes and I'm wondering if the thumbnail on the BBC iplayer is a massive spoiler - which is difficult to avoid as its on the home screen of the app.

We've been watching Mystery Road: Origin. We've doe it all wrong by starting with S2 of this prequel series . Still, really enjoyed it and will move on to S1 next, before then moving on the later-set series. Very dark.

Not a TV series, but we watched The Zone of Interest on Ch4 last week (it was one of their adbreak-free showings). As you would expect, it's a haunting and difficult watch. We deliberately didn't read anything about it beforehand, so only new it was something to do with Nazi-era Germany. We had a dawning realisation a few minutes in as to what the disposition was. I won't say anything more than that, in the event that anyone wants to watch. But be warned, it is a hard watch. Oh, and if you are thinking of watching it but don't know anything about it, keep it that way. I think knowing anything more about it beforehand would have diminished the impact.

unzippy wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 2:15 pm Also, only 30 mins an ep and 6 of them? A lot of effort for not a lot..

Yeah, I think releasing it weekly was not the best idea - the first three episodes have had a nice build up, and the last three will finish it up.

Still, can't get that water cooler hyyyyyyyyyype if you release it all at once, or in two blocks, etc.

Still pretty good so far IMHO.

Beany wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 3:47 pm

unzippy wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 2:15 pm Also, only 30 mins an ep and 6 of them? A lot of effort for not a lot..

Yeah, I think releasing it weekly was not the best idea - the first three episodes have had a nice build up, and the last three will finish it up.

Still, can't get that water cooler hyyyyyyyyyype if you release it all at once, or in two blocks, etc.

Still pretty good so far IMHO.

I was more thinking of the VFM side of things. Surely by the time you've got cast/crew organised, sets built etc you're better off maximising your investment by pumping out longer episodes than 30min?

unzippy wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 11:10 am by pumping out longer episodes than 30min?

Second Screen Viewing ??? I'd guess this is important give the typical sort of fan of this sort of show ??

Oh, the base problem there is that the novellas are (IIRC) all under 100 pages each in most prints; they're quite simple stories.

Even the audiobooks (which aren't exactly read at pace!) only go to three hours, and that's unabridged - again, 80-100 pages of material, nowt to abridge!

Getting more out of it would involve a lot more 'infill' writing and....well....you know how GoT and HotD have been doing in that respect....

AKOTSK is really trying my patience, I probably should've waited until it was done and binged the lot in a sitting. It's beautifully made and I am hopefull for an absolutely epic conclusion but there's just not enough in each episode to feel satisfying.

Fallout I gave S1 a shot and unexpectedly the Mrs really enjoyed it too, we've charged straight into S2 now.

RobYob wrote: Wed Feb 11, 2026 11:12 pm AKOTSK is really trying my patience, I probably should've waited until it was done and binged the lot in a sitting. It's beautifully made and I am hopefull for an absolutely epic conclusion but there's just not enough in each episode to feel satisfying.

Fallout I gave S1 a shot and unexpectedly the Mrs really enjoyed it too, we've charged straight into S2 now.

Fallout is great. The posters and such I used to see in my nephews room make sense now!

Zonda_ wrote: Thu Feb 12, 2026 9:28 am

RobYob wrote: Wed Feb 11, 2026 11:12 pm AKOTSK is really trying my patience, I probably should've waited until it was done and binged the lot in a sitting. It's beautifully made and I am hopefull for an absolutely epic conclusion but there's just not enough in each episode to feel satisfying.

Fallout I gave S1 a shot and unexpectedly the Mrs really enjoyed it too, we've charged straight into S2 now.

Fallout is great. The posters and such I used to see in my nephews room make sense now!

I played so much Fallout 3, completed all the DLC too

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

Very very funny. Written by the same person as Derry Girls but a little darker.

Edit - just finished it. It’s absolutely brilliant

Like a lot of Irish stuff these days (Bodkin, Small Town Big Story et al.) it’s surrealist and bonkers but in between all that it’s a complex story that’s carefully and evenly revealed through the 8 episodes and is quite poignant in places.

Thoroughly recommended

Scrubs is back!

One of my favourite sitcoms, and it's actually good; they've hit the right tone with the comedy, although it very much misses some of the big players (Kelso, Ted, Janitor), and the new cast just don't cut it. Still, it's off to good start.

Being Gordon Ramsey

Really enjoyed this as they followed him and his family while he set up the restaurants at the top of 22 Bishopsgate. Seems he's very lucky to have a really lovely family life (when he's there), is surprisngly grounded and I hugely admire his unstoppable energy, he's constantly fizzing with excitement. It's the usual take-your-brain-out, well put together Netflix docu-series, a solid 7/10.

Miracle - The Boys of ‘80

Netflix documentary about the US Hockey team from Lake Placid in 1980.

I know nothing about Ice Hockey but that really doesn’t matter. It’s a really interesting human story about a bunch of College kids (when the Olympics was still Amateur - for most) against the Soviets - who were basically pro.

Amazing story and to see how close the guys are, 45 years later is lovely.

As an aside, it was the origin of the “U! S! A!” Chant…

Beany wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 7:10 pm A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

Think I should give that a watch, it looks up my street.

Although if my lore recollection is right wasn't Ser Duncan the Tall killed by Ser Barristan Selmy?

Recently, I have been mostly watching

Heated Rivalry

No it was not my choice, but I kind of liked it. It's a nice love story, although you do see a lot of men's arses.

Explosive Newt wrote: Sat Feb 28, 2026 5:20 pm

Beany wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 7:10 pm A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

Think I should give that a watch, it looks up my street.

Although if my lore recollection is right wasn't Ser Duncan the Tall killed by Ser Barristan Selmy?

Nope.

The whole series is about 3 1/2 hrs so you can watch it in an afternoon.

I enjoyed it, bar some reservations that feel lesser now that it's over and it was otherwise very good - I wanna say 8/10 but that might be recency bias - maybe 7.5, but a good one. Just a really good, well thought out adaptation of a fun story, done extremely competently by people who knew their assignment.

It's early seasons GoT good, but it has a beginning, middle and end that actually work.

Apart from Dunk having the constitution of Wolverine it was a great watch. Will have to catch up with the books sometime.

In defence of him basically being an unstoppable force through sheer force of will, the novellas are a lighter, simpler, slightly more 'romanticised' take on the world. Not exactly saving princesses from evil knights etc, but closer to that sort of tale than the complex, political meanderings of main stories, so there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief to be expected, although I don't think it's too bad.

You know how the whole story there in the series was three and a bit hours? Novellas are similarly breezy - you could sit down with them now, and have them all finished in time for dinner, so don't put off reading them, they're quick jobs.

Cool, I really enjoyed binging the Murderbot short stories, I think the later longer ones weren't as good tbh.

Drive to Survive - Flávio Briatore being a massive wanker is even better to watch knowing the final results for Alpine.