I caught a bit of it yesterday. Certainly not much diversity in there. Very few women & very few non-white participants.
The Fail canât complain about that bit thenâŚ
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Gina Millerâs both though. And Dier Dos Santos is a joint national (born in Brazil).
Iâve seen it claimed that the only female judge is also the cleverest of them all.
VB
Yes I read that somewhere. Gina Miller must feel like an intruder at a rather exclusive club!
Started series 1 of Vikings.
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Thought series 1 & 2 were brilliant but got bored in series 3 and stopped watching.
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Drugs Map of Britain. BBC.
Six episodes so far and each one has been an absolute shocker. Years ago I took lots of drugs, but back then it was low quality marijuana with a hint of diesel, pink speed cut with talc and purple ohms tabs. The 90s acid was good, absolutely.
Today the choice is plainly terrifying enough to make me genuinely worry about the youth. Itâs so much more potent, more dangerous. And you can order whatever you want if you know what Tor browser is. Talk to your teenagers if you have âem.
Inside Porton Down
Very interesting
Smashed Braquo
All four seasons. Good, but constantly chuffing on fags irritated me.
Almost as ubiquitous as leather on screen. Even had a kid puffing on one Dad shared in the last series. Never happen here.
Fun without thinking too hard, as thatâs when when it gets sillyâŚ
Forgot about this, two more for me to watch with super strength E in Newcastle.
Finally got round to watching West World. Overall thought it was excellent, and a good take on the old âwhat is humanityâ sci-if puzzle.
You can see JJ Abrams fingerprints on the series, both in the plot device of the maze (searching for the centre whilst showing a bigger and bigger world a la Lost series 1-4), and the same musical use of strings when trying to unsubtlely portray tension or accentuate a plot moment - once you hear it you canât unhear it sadly!
Liked the soundtrack a lot though and from the first moment you hear the honky tonk of âBlack Hole Sunâ and the symphonic âPaint It Blackâ, youâre always listening out for the next odd musical backing to whatâs going on on-screen, although it did become a name that tune in one competition, which I won based on the first note of The Cures âForestâ 
Plot did meander a bit but Iâll forgive them for that as I prefer the Americans definition of a series as something longer than we do over here (Sherlock - 2 episodes FFS), and so having signed up for 10 they probably had to stretch things out accordingly.
Iâll definitely be watching this again.
I finished off the The Fall. I thought the last two episodes were a substantial improvement, but stretching it to a 6 episode series was really drawing it out.
Mentioned in the Old Pictures thread, Rillington Place was a well told 3 parter on a subject Iâd vaguely heard of but didnât know much about. A chilling performance by the excellent Tim Roth while the look of the piece was alarmingly seedy & authentic. Fine use of sound & lighting to create dread & menace without too much explicit violence. Like something/somewhere from another era altogether yet it actually took place less than 10 years before I was born. Strongly recommended.
The episode from Wolverhampton which showed the use of synthetics like Black Mamba, then, incredibly, perfectly legal to buy, is the one which has stayed with me the most. But all episodes have been very good.
The thing I learned from the last episode is Ecstasy is no longer commonly called such, just MD now.
Have they not done a blanket ban on those now as they couldnât keep up with new ones being made?
The series of articles on vanity fair website are all worth a read.
Intelligent dissection of the main themes and plot devices.
And stuff you may have missed. A lot of what was great about west world was the dialogue and quotes that are heavy with hidden meaning, as well as subtle visual clues.
Looking back at them is quite fun.
AFAIK all so-called legal highs were banned this year. Black Mamba (synthetic cannabis) seen in the Wolverhampton episode looked especially nasty. Obviously addictive and properly head-fucking life-ruining shit.
The OA on Netflix, just watched the first couple and itâs warming up nicely.
Staring Brit Marling (the press officer from TV mini series Babylon), sheâs also the showâs creator.
No spoilers on this one, I donât even want to know what OA stands for, apparently itâs a spoiler if you do.
Next on my watchlist now that West World has been done.