That's exactly what my son and I said to each other at the end of season three: 'What, they have at least 50 more people to feed and house, so they're moving them into the prison rather than taking back a town with infrastructure and supplies that's already shown it can be successfully defended?' Maybe the show's…

Cantabrigian and Oxonian are two of my favourites. And I always thought York was derived more from the Viking Jorvik than the Roman Eboracum.

Caught some of Branagh's film the other day, including the scene with Bardoloph being hanged, and damn if I wasn't tearing up. Richard Briers' look of dumb acceptance is heartbreaking. And yeah, that cast; pretty much a who's who of British acting talent. Plus that great unbroken tracking shot after Agincourt, with…

When I was visiting England in 1985 I picked up some posters for Royal Shakespeare Company performances that were fairly current. One of them is Ralph Steadman's poster for Macbeth, which is pretty brilliant:

I've really been enjoying this series, after not expecting a great deal beyond Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, both of whom I expected to be reliably excellent (and of course they were). Jacobi, playing the quiet heart of the show, has been superb, allowing Alan to be quiet and calm, hesitant even, without suggesting…

I moved from Canada to the northwest of England for five years, and as we had friends in Huddersfield we travelled the M62 quite a lot. Seeing the signs to Halifax always gave me a jolt of surprise, followed by a mild tinge of sadness that it was the wrong Halifax. There's nowt wrong with Halifax in West Yorkshire;…

My grade five teacher read it to our class in Victoria, B.C., and we loved it; couldn't wait for a new chapter each day. So no, not a New York thing.

The best ending I've ever seen is the one from the legendary Royal Shakespeare Company production of Nicholas Nickleby. Nicholas has joined an acting troupe, and been given the lead romantic role in all their productions, including Romeo and Juliet. David Edgar (writer) and Trevor Nunn (director) had huge fun staging…

@Drinking_with_Skeletons:disqus : It's often a long way from 'calmly cooperating with your opponent'. Just ask George Parros, who got into a fight with Colton Orr last week during a Leafs - Habs match. He got decked by an errant punch and fell to the ground face first, his chin taking the brunt of the fall (I read…

Ghostwatch is brilliant, and terrifying. I was living in England when it aired, and remember the tidal wave of reaction to the show. Since then I've got to know Steve Volk, who wrote it, and was able to see it again three years ago at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, where Steve introduced it with a Q&A…

A similar controversy is building around hockey, as concussions and serious injuries grow more common, and the long-term effects are being seen in retired players. It's not just about the fighting (particularly the staged fights, where two guys drop the gloves for no other reason than to Send A Message or give their…

I've kind of warmed to the film of Tollbooth over the years (okay, decades) since I first saw it; but I still remember the shock of watching it the first time and seeing that the characters looked absolutely nothing like the way Feiffer had drawn them. The illustrations are so entwined with the novel that I couldn't…

Duel got a theatrical release in Europe, which brought it to the attention of major critics and filmmakers. Spielberg was immensely grateful to the great film critic Dilys Powell for her review of Duel in the Sunday Times, saying that Powell "kicked off my career. She saw Duel and then arranged for another screening…

One of my favourites too; love Mitchell's quick-witted ad lib (and damn if it doesn't sound precisely as if Uncle Billy's staggered into a pile of garbage cans), as well as Stewart's double take and little grin. If he'd broken character the shot would've had to be re-done, but he saved it. And it's given our family a…

Just want to throw a little Last Tango in Halifax praise in here. Been enjoying it immensely, mostly for the interplay between Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, who are lovely. I've seen Reid in a few things lately, and she's quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses.

Hey, CSPWDT drags for the first half, contains some of the most eye-wateringly awful costumes ever committed to celluloid, and has acting that is for the most part so risible it almost comes out the other side to endearing; but once the undead start popping out of their graves like toast from a toaster things pick up…

@disqus_oaLJ5MNIyo:disqus , I can't like this comment enough. Mason absolutely knocks it out of the park as Watson. David Burke and Ted Hardwicke were both great in the Brett series, but I still think of Mason as the ideal Watson: honourable, brave, decent, compassionate, and intelligent, a warm counterbalance to…

Turning the story's narrator into Kipling himself for the film was a stroke of genius, and Plummer nails it, right down to the look. The final scene, between him and Peachy, is devastating. And while Connery, Caine, and Plummer get most of the acting nods, I have to mention Saeed Jaffrey as Billy Fish, who's also…

Yes, didn't they do this show a year or so back, only it was called Mr. Selfridge then? I can't wait until BHS: Birth of a Legend hits the small screen.

I've also heard this argument - that it was within living memory, and thus too soon for black comedy - advanced as an explanation why there wasn't a fifth series set during WW II. It makes sense, but on the other hand you have Hogan's Heroes and Dad's Army and 'Allo 'Allo, which make a Blackadder WW II show seem not…