It's Chekhov's gun all over again: if you give Mrs. Patmore an electric mixer in episode one, it had better be used as a murder weapon by episode eight.

That's a really good point. 'His Last Vow' wouldn't have been nearly so meaningful and heartbreaking if the previous two episodes hadn't set it up properly.

When my son was about ten Citizen Kane came on TCM one Sunday evening, and he started watching it with me. He was really enjoying it, but he was obviously tired, and it was getting late, so I said he could finish watching it next day, as we have the DVD. He looked at me, wide-eyed, and said 'Mom, I have to find out…

Thanks for reminding me about Rick Mercer Report tonight. I better catch up with it before it goes off the air to make way for the Olympics and then hockey playoffs. On the bright side, taking shows off the air to make way for hockey playoffs isn't a problem the CBC will have after this season.

Boy, reaction has sure been mixed on this season of Sherlock, with a lot of people seeing to feel episodes 1 and 2 were, if not downright bad, then really not up to the standard of any of the previous shows (mind you, though, I read enough 'Wow, they were great' comments to realise your mileage is really going to vary…

Fellowes dealt with it rather better in Gosford Park, with Ivor Novello as the famous guest who's acutely aware he's there to (quite literally) sing for his supper. It was amusing that most of the upstairs people were completely unimpressed by him, whereas the downstairs folk were thrilled to think a genuine star was…

Penelope Wilton just hits it out of the park with Isobel week after week, even when she isn't given much to work with. I'm glad to see the character getting some grace and dignity back, after being treated almost as comic relief in series two. Her connection to the family has always been rather tenuous, and her role…

Apparently Julian Fellowes was surprised that people reacted with such passion to the 'Anna being raped' storyline. Really, Lord Fellowes? You take one of the nicest and most popular characters on the show and have something horrific and life-changing happen to her, and then are surprised people take it to heart?…

Well, although what we now know as lobotomies weren't widely performed (or known as such) until the 1930s, the procedure was known to have been performed as early as1888 (and I don't think anyone calls it a lobotomy on the show). The doctor who performed those 1888 procedures presented the results at a medical…

I can't praise the British show Ripper Street enough. Series one aired on BBC America early in 2013, and I understand series 2 starts there 22 February. Series one (8 episodes) was set six months after the Jack the Ripper murders, while series 2 takes us into 1890; both focus on the men of H Division, based in…

I'm compelled to point out it's Eddie Marsan, not Marsden. He's one of my favourite under the radar actors (hopefully to get on to the radar when he plays Mr. Norrell soon). His comedy chops are on display in World's End; for a complete change of pace watch him in the four-part British series Southcliffe, which is…

Don't apologise for praising James Donald, Judkins ma.!

James Donald, who played Clipton, is one of my favourite British character actors of the period; so much so that when I first saw the film version of Quatermass and the Pit, and realised what his character was about to do, I started yelling 'No!' at the screen.

Yes. Yes, it is.

You too?

Varney the Vampire was cited by Logan (I think) in an interview about the series, but it's way too early for the time period the series is set in (then again, so is Frankenstein, so who knows). I love the idea of the series, and will definitely give it a try.

I'm looking forward to this second episode being formally inventive, incredibly moving, and laugh-out-loud funny. I also hope that it can look at Sherlock and John's continually evolving friendship against a backdrop of cases which, in isolation, are interesting but which add up to more than the sum of their parts by…

Looking forward to John Logan and Sam Mendes's TV series Penny Dreadful on Showtime this spring. It could be a hot mess of a show, with all the excesses of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film; or it could be brilliant, more in line with the LoEG graphic novel. A good cast (Josh Hartnett, Eva Green, Billie…

Amanda Abbington, who plays Mary, is actually Martin Freeman's real-life partner, and I think they've got a nice, easy, natural chemistry together on the show.

Lady Mary to tenant: 'I hear you've given up sheep.'