My Midlands-born husband says that pikelets are known as crumpets in pretty much the rest of the U.K. (and here in Canada). I gather that they're not at all common or well known in the States (I once overheard one American tourist try to explain to another what crumpets were while they examined a pack in our local…

I've been watching the 'coming soon' announcements for my 'local' multiplex (55 miles away in a city of 100,000 people), looking for news of when 'Before Midnight' is going to run, but no joy yet. Instead, the eight cinemas in the multiplex are playing the big tentpole films - action-adventure, comic book-based, kids'…

I've even heard that he eats, sleeps, and goes to the bathroom every single day. I mean, how dare he? Martin owes readers those books, dammit. Time spent doing anything other than writing them is nothing short of a crime against humanity.

And Featherstonehaugh, pronounced Fanshawe.

It's a spoof of the book and 1950 film 'The Wooden Horse'. From Wikipedia: 'The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by POWs in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners used to conceal their escape attempt."

20th Century Frog!

It's been so long since I saw the 'Timmy Williams' skit that for one awful moment I thought it was a piss-take on Jimmy Saville, and wondered if something can be retroactively offensive. Kind of relieved when I realised it was David Frost being skewered.

'It's all right, sir, we don't morally censure, we just want the money.'

'Arthur Negus has held Bristols; that's not an election result, just gossip' becomes even funnier when you know that 'Bristols' is Cockney rhyming slang for 'tits' (Bristol City [football club] = titty). And when it's followed by 'And Mary Whitehouse has taken umbrage' it's even funnier, Mary Whitehouse being an…

I think The Uninvited is the only horror/supernatural genre movie ever to give birth to a song standard ('Stella by Starlight'). And the special effects used to show the haunting seem to have been a big influence on Spielberg and Lucas; watch the scene with Milland on the stairs, and then the opening of the Ark of the…

A bit surprised by the 'It's not that scary' comments here. Then again, I know people who feel that the 1963 film version of The Haunting isn't that scary, so I guess it depends on what scares you and how you define 'scary'. I've always felt that The Changeling is a wonderfully creepy and atmospheric ghost story, its…

I agree that the brother and sister con artists revealed a lot about some of the main characters; it was more a feeling that their storyline felt a little rushed, as if they were supposed to stay around for a few more episodes and get integrated into the life of the town more before they tried to pull their con. Jim…

Finally managed to catch up with Deadwood, and with just two episodes to go it'll have to jump the shark in a big way to make me revise my opinion that this is one of the greatest TV series ever made. I feel like going back and watching it all over again when I've finished it, to catch everything I missed and…

Gosford Park is a movie that works on a lot of different levels, and repays re-watching to catch all the details you missed first time round (Helen Mirren's reaction when Clive Owen's character arrives, for example). And it's one of those films that makes me wish there was an Oscar category for Best Cast.

Those usually go up on a Sunday (I think).

Ciarin Hinds is a phenomenal actor, and two scenes with him are better than none. First thing I ever saw him in was an episode of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series in 1995, and there was a long shot that tracked in on him while he did this tortured confession to Holmes. I remember thinking at the time that I had…

@avclub-0527c4449619569cd565d724216aea04:disqus : For more Iain Glen, check out episode 5 of 'Ripper Street' (called 'The Weight of One Man's Heart'), where he plays opposite Bronn himself, Jerome Flynn. He's also got a great role in the two-part 'Doctor Who' story 'The Time of Angels' / 'Flesh and Stone'. And if you…

I, for one, am completely happy with the casting department reading the description of Jorah Mormont in the books and then deciding Iain Glen fit the bill perfectly.

The same actor who played the Irish guy in episode one of Deadwood came back in series three as Shaunessey the boarding-house keeper. Someone on the series obviously liked him (and Garret Dillahunt) a LOT.

"The actor performing "Can I have £50 to mend the shed?" is a parody of a well known stage actor of the time called Ian McKellen"