David Nutter is one of the best TV directors out there, they don't call him The Pilot Whisperer for nothing. I'm sad that Neil Marshall isn't directing an episode though.

Or Shagga Likes Axes.

Hmm, so is Athelstan's child supposed to be Alfred the Great? They're playing a bit fast and loose with English history as the Lindisfarne raid was in 793 and Al the G was born in 849, but what the hell, nobodies watching the show for a history lesson, right?

Rollo. That warrior has to be Rollo. Even cooler when you realise that Rollo is the ancestor of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy and later King of England.

It was Hugo Dyson, not CS Lewis. Lewis was always very supportive of Tolkien's works.

I think it is shown in America in April. We've had two episodes of it here and it's really good.

One incident in my childhood brought home the scale of the slaughter in WWI. My great uncle Tommy (really) fought in the war, he lost two brothers and his legs in the Somme. When I knew him in the 60's he lived in a small house with his four sisters who did everything for him and treated him like a king. In my…

"Don't slouch, Darling."

"First off the loud burst of canned laughter sounds wholly out of proportion."
Canned laughter is never used on British sitcoms. They are, and have always been filmed before a live studio audience with film extracts used for exterior shots shown to the audience when appropriate.

I hope so, they cremated him.

That was a good Vyvyan impression, BTW. The Good Life is a lot more subversive than it's given credit for (for the time), and has two great virtues (three if you count Felicity Kendall's ass), it's funny, and it has one of the great comic creations of all time in Margo.

Yeah, but she had a great ass.

Porridge, now there's another great comedy. Perhaps Kate might consider covering Porridge after she finishes Blackadder, although there's a few un-PC bits in it. After that: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, The Good Life…..

And of course JK Rowling cribbed with her Quidditch matches in the Harry Potter series.