Friday, 24 December 2021

TV OF THE YEAR 2021 Pt 2 - Sequels + 20 to 11

 TV OF THE YEAR 2021 Pt 2 - Sequels + 20 to 11

My Top TV of the year list is a shorter last than it was in 2020, either because they made fewer shows or we got out of the house more (most likely both). You've already seen the Lost Its , the Just Crimes, and the Made In Bristol list. Before we get to the top end of the chart, these shows are in a subdivision of their own…



THE SEQUEL ZONE


11 - Curb Your Enthusiasm (from season 1, HBO/Sky)

We’ve been unable to see this series for years cos it was on Sky Atlantic (which is also why Game Of Thrones and Succession never trouble my end of year chart). Now it’s moved to a Sky channel we can see, we’ve watched the most recent series, and regularly watch an old episode, starting with the antiquated and low-budget series 1 and working forward. It really is some of the best TV comedy ever made.


10 - This Time With Alan Partridge 2 (BBC)

The first series was so strong, that this boded well. But, apart from the subplot with the make-up woman, it lacked a story arc which would have given it momentum, ending up as a rather disjointed sketch show, the individual episodes of which also lacked a through-story. If anything it seemed like a collection of ideas left over for its first series. 


9 - Guilt 2 (BBC)

The first series of this was an outstanding bit of thriller writing, with great characters in an unpredictable and fast moving story. The follow up was an incoherent mess, sadly. Its worst crime was pretending to be set in Edinburgh while very obviously, even to a tourist like me, being filmed entirely in Glasgow. 


8 - Baptiste 2 (BBC)

An improvement on its last series, which had dropped in quality from the series that spawned it, The Missing, this still struggled to keep its threads together, and it meandered between whodunnit and multi-national political thriller. One of those ones where I now find I can’t remember who actually did do what in the end.



7 - All Creatures Great & Small 2 (Channel 5)

Like a talking dog, it’s not so much that it’s done well but that it’s done at all. So it is with Channel 5’s comedy drama, which stands out as a quality bit of family entertainment, while not really being all that groundbreaking. But I worked in Grassington again this year and it’s fun to spot the locations.


6 - Superstore (1 - 5+) 

A sitcom that has, I believe, finished now, but that we only discovered when it came to Netflix. We’re five series in. And, though the quality has varied a bit, when it’s at its best it’s one of the finest examples of a deceptively difficult genre to pull off - a network TV sitcom. No swearing, no big budget, mostly on one set, with an inclusive cast. 


5 - Never Mind The Buzzcocks (Sky, above)

Reviving an old TV panel show sounds like the tiredest cop out, especially a show which had definitely had its time when BBC 2 pulled the plug on it. But the revamp with Greg Davies, though it has flaws (eg the line up, why the hell have two permanent blokes on one team, thus reducing the number of women further than it was always going to be?) has succeeded in being funny, without requiring any knowledge of recent pop music.




4= Inside No 9 6 (BBC)

For the second year running I've written and published my TV of the year, only for someone to remind me I've missed out Inside No 9! How do I do that? This series, the 6th, had a couple of crackers in there (Hurry Up And Wait with the actor in the caravan had a twist I didn't see coming, and the Commedia Del Arte heist movie was a splendidly ambitious piece). I even listened to the podcast, which is excellent. They constantly try and push the envelope of television and frequently manage it (if that's not a badly mixed metaphor).


4=- Goes Wrong Show 2 (BBC)

The stage shows are so funny, because of the amount of time and effort that can be put into each one, that a TV show that needs to churn out 3 hours worth of new material every year is going to struggle to keep up that quality. This couldn’t quite manage what series 1 did, but parts of it were still excellent and it is, I think, the only studio audience comedy that we still watch on TV.


3 - Fargo 4 (FX / Channel 4)

Because every series is entirely different, with the loosest of links to its predecessor, this is the most unpredictable show. Series 4 has been one of its strongest, especially episode 9’s incredible Wizard Of Oz tinged black and white story which was just stunning.



2 - Doctor Who: Flux (BBC)

The easiest writer on TV to criticise, because so much of his writing has been downright bad, Chris Chibnall has been working overtime to redeem himself with the last two series of Doctor Who. Although there was only one satisfyingly solid episode (The Weeping Angels one, the one that Chibnall didn’t write), and it was full of his cliches and tropes (Everyone enters running and shouting? Check. We jump around to random locations, each introduced with its place name in giant letters? Check. Far too many characters, none of whose motives are clear, do nothing more than stand around and talk? Check. Incredibly high death count, about not one of whom you actually care? Double check - especially an entire race of dog people who, because we only ever saw one of them and had their genocide dispensed with in a throwaway sentence, must count as the most disposable species ever to not-quite-appear in Doctor Who? Check. The Doctor explains everything in a tell-don’t-show monologue, and then in a single bound she is free? Check.) it kept the pace up so well over its 6 episodes that there wasn’t time to take a dislike to it. I mean afterwards it’s Fridge Logic Central. You’re asking “if infinite planets couldn’t slow The Flux, then why would a few fleets of Cybermen and Dalek spaceships”? And “If Sontarans have to sleep and recharge like this every few hours, why don’t they work shifts?” And “that’s not a lock, that’s a door handle” etc etc. But it had loads of great ideas in there, which will live on in the memory as having been part of better stories than they actually were: the Tardis door being in different places all the time, the map of Russia being Sontar, the Doctor being turned into an Angel, and lots more. If I was 8 years old I would have loved this.



1 - Ghosts 3 (BBC)

It topped my chart last year, and it could have again if I hadn’t shoved it into this ghetto. They truly are a marvellous team, developing some wonderful stories, and executing them brilliantly. There was, we’re told, an attempted US version of Ghosts produced this year that has already been cancelled. Not surprising. This team are unlike any comedy troupe I’ve seen since Monty Python or The Fast Show. Splendid. 



THE TOP 20 - 20 to 11


20 - White House Farm (ITV) + Ridley Road (BBC)

I’ve made a sub-category of “just” crime stories. This two just reached beyond that, telling the true story of the Jamie Bamber murders, and the based-on-truth drama of the battle against 1960s fascists. These aimed high and almost succeeded .


19 - What If + Hawkeye (Disney+)

It seems unfair to judge programmes like these alongside regular shows that have a tiny fraction of their budget, but such is the way of TV today. What If was the best looking animation I think I’ve ever seen on TV, and its stories were fun if you’re a Marvel geek. But even I found I didn’t know what obscure bit of a movie from 10 years ago they were referring to each time, and the multi-universe stuff was in danger of disappearing up itself at times. Hawkeye was much more accessible fun, which could be enjoyed almost entirely without you having seen every Marvel movie, or read the Marvel comics they were based on, or read far too much about how the artist (David Aja) had his designs lifted wholesale for this without getting paid a penny. Etc etc. It would be fun to have a story this well done that wasn’t part of a cosmic soap opera that makes you feel excluded if you haven’t bought into all of it. But I seem to remember moaning about this sort of thing 40 years ago when I was growing out of love with Marvel comics the first time, so plus ca change.



18 - The Terror (AMC/BBC)

A fabulous premise, mixing period drama with horror, thriller, and a bit of magical mystery. At times it was Alien, at times it was Fargo. Sadly at times it was also a Sunday-evening historical drama with bits that weren’t as big-budget as the rest, and bits set on the North Pole that looked far too much like you were in a TV studio. But definitely wins this year’s best Polar Bear and cannibalism stories.


17 - Call My Agent / Dix Pour Cent (France 2 / Netflix)

This must be the first time a domestic French TV show has made it onto my list, and now I wonder why. This comedy drama, which is pretty lightweight and undemanding, triumphs because its characters are solid and its stories told well. The parody and satire, featuring as it does real-life French actors and directors who we’ve mostly never heard of, and the in-jokes about whom we don’t get, goes wide of the mark for this Brit viewer. It’s probably much more like Extras if you know what they’re on about. As it is, it works as a fun office drama.


16 - Time (BBC) + Help (Channel 4)

Serious drama writing, the like of which would once have found a home on Play For Today, still makes its way onto British TV against the odds. Jimmy McGovern’s Time told a good prison drama story, without having to be shaped into a franchise that would run and run like Line Of Duty. And Help by Jack Thorne, despite its stupid un-googleable one-word title, tackled last year’s cover crisis, through the lens of workers in a care home, excellently. Stephen Graham was a splendid lead in both of these, coincidentally.


15 - Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX/BBC)

Having dramatised the killing of Versace and the OJ Simpson trial, this was a hard one to pull off. It was just politics, and phone calls, and people in smoky rooms being over-dramatic, with stakes that it’s hard to get across if you’re not super-devoted to American political history. But it worked well, and wins this year’s award for keeping the make-up department busy.



14 - The Serpent (BBC & Netflix)

The tensest and most gripping based-on-a-true-story crime drama of the year, this was a very interesting success. Not least because it shows a taste of what’s to come, with the BBC having to co-produce with a company like Netflix in order to make a show of this quality. Let’s see how long it takes before the tail wags the dog. As it is, BBC got the rights to show this first, and it still felt like a British production, a filmic drama with hopefully international appeal. Creepy true story too.




13 - Starstruck (BBC)

Rose Matafeo, in a show that may have gone largely unseen, as is the nature of comedy these days, delivered the best of the recent batch of stand-ups in solo vehicles. The best, in fact, since Fleabag, will solid story writing, solid character writing, and splendid acting. This had a good initial premise, someone has a relationship with a movie star who wants a normal life, and delivered on it flawlessly. 


12 - Squid Game (Netflix)

The most talked-up show of the year, I’m given to believe it’s a genre of story that’s not unfamiliar to game-players and manga readers. To the uninitiated it fell somewhere between The Prisoner and The Hunger Games, with almost comic levels of violence, and a surreal suspension of disbelief. It was helped by being watched in Korean with subtitles, adding an air of distance and mystery. In the scenes where rich guys, played by American actors, are watching the action, their acting was spectacularly poor, something that may well have been the case for the Koreans, but who would know? A shame it ended with an obvious cry out for a sequel, which will inevitably be less good, if it even happens. 



11 - I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix)

Talking of sequels that never happen, this excellent miniseries based on an indie comic book (by the same guy whose book had given us The End Of The F**king World, while not really bearing much resemblance to the finished show) ends with a cliffhanger, almost literally. And while watching it we already know that, thanks to the pandemic in 2020, series 2 had been cancelled and now will never happen. So you have an open-ended unfinished show. Which is a dreadful shame, because this first series was very strong and kept you gripped throughout. Maybe the title sums up how we feel about how it ended.


So, what’s my Top Ten TV Of 2021. Brace yourselves…



Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - tbc
Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy (signed)

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu £10.94 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon £15.32 - Lulu £10.72 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon £11.84 - Lulu £9.98 - Etsy £6.99
Punk Colouring - Amazon £15.61 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £10.98 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £12.69 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who, and graphic novels adapted from Shakespeare, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He is the host of the podcast Comic Cuts The Panel Show. 



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Thursday, 23 December 2021

TV OF THE YEAR 2021 Pt 1 - Lost It, Just Crime? and Made In Bristol

MY TV OF THE YEAR 2021 Pt 1 - Lost It, Just Crime? And Made In Bristol

Looking back at my TV of the year 2020, it’s clear that there was more new stuff on offer last year than this. The lockdown had an effect on what could be produced, and the continued trend of streaming has seen us watch more, longer series. The box-setting of a few items in this chart, in a way that wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago, changes the balance of new shows versus older. And there are a good few big-hitters from past years that are notable by their absence. So, while last year had a solid Top 40 of different shows, plus runners-up and outsiders, this year’s 2021 list is shorter, but still full of televisual treats.



LOST IT - The shows that started full of promise, but then…


On Becoming A God In Central Florida (Amazon)

This was shaping up so well, with Kirsten Dunst getting into the weird world of pyramid selling, with some interesting characters and a touch of magic realism. Then, whether it was being made up as it went along or something went wrong behind the scenes, it totally lost it, the last couple episodes being tortuously poor.


Them (Netflix)

One of the most promising horror drama series of the year, set at the birth of the Compton suburb of LA, including some true history and some great social drama tension, this reached a halfway point where things just got silly. It was as if the creators had handed the reins over to someone else and squandered every good idea they began with. This series is 2021’s biggest missed opportunity, I really wonder what went wrong.



GAVE UP ON - The shows we tried, but…


Brand New Cherry Flavour

Was going very well until a tarantula appeared as the pivotal part of an episode, meaning one of us wasn’t going to be able to watch it any more. We’ll never know how it ended.


The Mandalorian

This is boring. It’s a western, like those 1950s serials they show on Talking Pictures TV in the mornings. I’ve watched half a dozen episodes, it doesn’t get any more interesting.


Mr Robot

This was us catching up on an old series that everyone had talked about so much. After a few very promising episodes it started to drag, then we forgot all about it.


Behind Her Eyes 

This new British drama, adapted from a novel (and we’ll find there was a bit too much of that in this year’s Brit TV drama) had an intriguing premise, but failed to make itself gripping. It may have fallen victim to the competition from shows with bigger budgets and more memorable casts. (It would have appeared further down this article if only it’d been made in Bristol).



OK, BUT… ANOTHER CRIME STORY?


We like a good crime drama. But do we like them so much that, when we tot it up, we realise half the things we’re watching are crime dramas? Either TV’s had more of them than usual, or there’s been a shortage of whatever else we would normally be watching instead. Whatever the reason, these were good dramas, but not quite good enough to escape this genre-heavy sub-group


8 - Traces (BBC)  - set in Dundee, devised by Val McDermid & Amelia Bullimore. Not bad.


7 - Finding Alice (ITV) - Keeley Hawes and the first big designer house with the killer staircase (the 2nd being The Girl Before). Not bad.


6 - Innocent (ITV) - Katherine Kelly’s been released from prison for a crime she didn’t do. A nice premise, though we then tried watching series 1 which had totally different characters in a similar premise and didn’t grip. Still, not bad.


5 - True Story (Netflix) - The only US entry in this category (as others were good enough to escape this particular ghetto). Kevin Hart is a rich guy who has to get rid of a dead body. Not bad.


4 - The Drowning (Channel 5) - Channel 5’s entry on the list, so well done there. Jill Halfpenny’s son drowns, or does he? Nice twists, not bad.


3 - You Don’t Know Me (BBC) - Nicely told unreliable narrator drama. Although, watching it at the same time as True Story, started to make it look like every drama was going to be about wrongly accused blokes disposing of bodies in skips.


2 - The Pact (BBC) - The one filmed in the brewery in South Wales where I gigged a few years ago, where they kill the boss and cover it up. Very Bechdel Test-proof. Not bad.


1 - Vigil (BBC) - Murder on a submarine. Lots of nice tension and twists, but eventually showed up the limits of having a story set on a submarine. Still, not bad.



MADE IN BRISTOL


There haven’t been so many things filmed in Bristol since the days when they used to make Casualty here. Sometimes you can’t move for film crews. Lots we haven’t seen, but these were the best that we did.


5= Agatha Raisin - we didn’t actually see this, but we saw them filming a bit at the foot of our road.

Also only watched a glimpse of, McDonald & Dodds, Kiri, and A Discovery Of Witches


4 - The One (Netflix) - Written by Howard Overman, it took a nice Black Mirror-y idea, that everyone has a perfect match and this tech company’s discovered it, then there’s a murder, but couldn’t sustain interest for a whole miniseries


3 - Showtrial (BBC) - Seemed interesting at first, with twists and turns promised, then became a courtroom non-drama, all talk and no show.


2 - The Girl Before (BBC) - Currently still watching, a very engaging story set in a real house of horror, a minimalist architect’s house. Shudder.


1 - The Outlaws (BBC) - Very good writing, co-written by Stephen Merchant (who did the comedy bits, I’m guessing) and Elgin James (who, I’m thinking, wrote the crime bits. A glance at his wikipedia page suggests it’s more likely). Bizarre casting of Christopher Walken in one of the roles, but otherwise very good indeed.


So, what are my Favourite TV shows of 2021? Stay tuned…



Buy the books:


Pop Star Colouring Annual with 50 images from 70s to now

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who, and graphic novels adapted from Shakespeare, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He is the host of the podcast Comic Cuts The Panel Show. 




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Monday, 20 December 2021

A rant about Love, Actually

 This. 100% This.

(Above, Pink News on Love Actually)

(Below, me on the same subject)

I watched Love Actually for the first time last night. My god it is a horrible movie. The article below sums up some of the horror, better than I could. It's such a white, male, unironic exploitative wankfest it's almost unbelievable!
Hugh Grant plays a sympathetic Bill Clinton. Liam Neeson plays Hugh Grant. Colin Firth plays Hugh Grant. Alan Rickman plays a slightly older Hugh Grant. And Bill Nighy plays Hugh Grant looking like Hugh Grant looks nowadays. Every one of them an entitled creep. One of them (Liam Hugh Grant Neeson) even teaches his son how to be an entitled creep. And the bloke out of The Walking Dead, also doing a Hugh Grant now I think about it, is the creepiest of all, breaking up his best mate's marriage then sodding off.
The only women with a storyline are Emma Thompson, who ends up getting screwed over and unhappy; Laura Linney, who ends up getting screwed over and unhappy; and the creepy woman in the office who gets a necklace and an unresolved storyline. And what's with all the women's clothes falling off, including Stacey out of Gavin & Stacey, but him out of The Office & Bill Nighy - and the silent bloke from Laura Linney's office, get to cover their willies?
And I forgot about the Kris Marshall-as-Hugh-Grant storyline. I thought that was bound to be a dream sequence. But no, it was Richard Curtis's teenage wet dream simply made real. What?
What's most inexplicable is that people express to like this film, to even love it actually, and that most of those people appear to be women. How? Why?
Does anyone have anything to say in the defence of this atrocious film?
PS: Die Hard is 100 times more Christmassy than Love Actually. Fact.


When I posted the above on Facebook I got nearly 150 replies:

    • Felicity Harper
      It's a good film exactly because of all that. It doesn't need to be ironic to get its point across - the women ALL have a stroyline - the men are just vehicles to show those storylines.
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      • Kev Sutherland
        Hang on, are you being ironic now? I find it so hard to keep up.
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      • Felicity Harper
        Kev Sutherland No, absolutely not. I can't bear the film, but it IS a good film: it shpws women being exploited by men who think the world revolves around them. Also, it's nonsense to decry a film because it is white and straight - it was made when it … 
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    • Benjamin Francis Elliott
      I think it has what many women want in a romance novel movie in the early 2000s.
      Hugh Grant
      All men acting like Hugh Grant, but in way that you think you can change them… 
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      • Kev Sutherland
        This film was made, of course, 8 years after Hugh Grant's fall from grace with a hooker in LA, and 8 years before Operation Yewtree and #MeToo. The high nipple count dates it as much as the posh bloke privilege.
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      • James Matthews
        Kev- I’m trying understand you, but the more I read, the harder it gets! So, you’re offended by women’s nipples?
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    • Sean Brightman
      The one redeeming feature of that film is that it features British Soul Singer Lyndon David Hall, before his untimely death from cancer.
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    • Steve Day
      Junior Simpson is in it, that's its one redeeming feature.
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    • Roger Poulter
      Is there something about Monday morning, this is the second rant I’ve heard from a comedian friend. You might like this Lin Smith😭😭😭
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    • Frank Plowright
      Very pleased to read this, as Lynn keeps telling me she thinls I'd enjoy it, whereas I'm convinced I wouldn't.
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      • Eli Winter
        Frank Plowright I had been told off by various girlfriends about not watching it for years and finally did bother due to peer pressure, a couple of years ago. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back (I suggest you don't waste your time either - hold you… 
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      • Glenn Miller
        Frank Plowright I saw this shortly after it came out with a GF at the time, the same one who dragged me to 4 hours of David Icke at the Brixton Academy. She wanted to walk halfway through the film. It was that bad.
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    • Dan Evans
      Re the article, The woman in the office can hardly be described as ‘creepy’.
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      • Kev Sutherland
        We were calling her creepy as we were watching it. She does a "gaping legs" mime as she's coming onto him. How uncreepy is that?
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      • Kev Sutherland
        Listen to her lines again, but this time they're read by Dawn French, being seductive. There. That's what we heard.
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    • Dan Evans
      I hardly think Hugh Grant is being Bill Clinton either. He’s implausibly sexless until him and Martine find a genuine connection. Bill was highly sexed and predatory by most accounts…
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      • Kev Sutherland
        And Martina wasn't doing a Monica. And my arse plays the banjo. 🙂
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      • Dan Evans
        Kev Sutherland that story was totally implausible but I think your reasoning is very flawed on this. As I say I didn’t buy it but it was clearly a ‘love’ story
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    • Jem Roberts
      Die Hard is still shit things-go-bang action for boys with tiny willies though.
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      • Kev Sutherland
        It's Chriiiiiiiiistmas! No, wait, that's Slade. As you were.
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      • Paul Gannon
        Jem Roberts even as someone who enjoys the comfort of the first Die Hard, it's the fact it was the antidote to the Stallone/Arnie stuff makes it less "big bangs for tiny willies"... Whereas Love Actually is a film that grows thoroughly more distasteful… 
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    • Simon Hall
      I love this film, and it still makes me cry. It’s the first film I watch when I start getting Christmassy.
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    • Dan Evans
      This film does little for me but neither do lazy take downs like this article. I think it lives or dies by the quality of the shorts that compose it… and the kris Marshall one just fuckin appalling! But to criticise it for being schmaltzy etc seems daft
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    • Lee Wells
      Well if you play Die Hard directly after Love Actually, then Alan Rickman gets his comeuppance.
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      • Lee Wells
        Mind you, there’s random boobs in that one too, mind…
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    • May be a Twitter screenshot of 2 people and text that says 'Angela Bishop @AngelaBishop Christmas movie tip. If you watch Die Hard straight after Love Actually, Alan Rickman will be punished for what he did to Emma Thompson.'
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      • Lee Wells
        i had no idea it was a thing. Been saying it for years. Mind you, Robin Hood - Prince of thieves works equally well to punish a womanising cad. But less Christmassy.
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    • Hans Jenssen
      One of the most horribly awful films I have actually wasted a small chunk of my life on. I should have given up on Richard Curtis after Notting Hill, which was nearly as bad.
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    • Garry Andrew Mullen
      It's an interesting perspective, but, I think men don't like this film in general because (rightly so) it doesn't show men in a positive light. The men are not the main feature here and if you watch the film thinking they are, you miss the point entire… 
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      • Kev Sutherland
        I was going to point out that all the women's lines sound like they've been written for Dawn French, putting on a different cartoon version of herself.
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      • Garry Andrew Mullen
        Kev Sutherland and that would fit. It's all very Dibley esque actually. Same writer though and he is a bit of a one trick pony really.
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    • Jem Jenkins Jones
      🤣🤣🤣 I just have Being John Malkcovich but with Hugh Grant in my head now. Have to admit though.. I do like the film sorry
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    • Marc Blake
      Never got through it without 🤮
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    • Adam Blaize
      Why can't people just enjoy the film without looking for an angle or a deeper meaning? It's not trying to be political or reinvent the wheel. It's just a bit of fun, that's it.
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    • Susan Fox
      Really don’t get the appeal of this film at all. Saw it at the cinema when it first came out …. Never bothered again.
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    • Reece Morris Jones
      I can see the appeal of the film. But it always puzzles me that folks saw it as a festive film.
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    • Dave Wynn
      I bloody hate this awful film with a passion, but my partner loves it! It’s so weird.
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    • Rocio Cano
      Hated it when it came out. The Kris Marshall, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant stories were cliché and cringeworthy. The Keira Knightley, Andrew thingy and Chiwetel Ejioffor love triangle (apart from how offensive to waste Chiwetel in a bit part) turned my s… 
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    • Steve Tanner
      I made £50 from this film. I was running a coffee shop at Oxo Tower in London when they were filming it. That short scene when they were sat drinking coffee near the giant Christmas tree? Those cups were provided by me as they'd forgotten to bring the props. 😁
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    • Patrick Mccann
      I have never seen this film nor intended to but had a kind of idea it might be a cheesy, glitzy Xmas romance type vehicle. However your discription of a unicorn wankfest has piqued my curiosity and I will give it a viewing purely in the interest of science!
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      • 5d
    • Anna Brosnan
      Disagree with some points but the "what could only be a dream sequence" in America ruins the chances of it being authentic anywhere else, office homewrecker is super creepy and that along with Laura linney storyline really enfuriates me! Hugh grant an… 
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      2
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      • 5d
      • Kev Sutherland
        It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a rich middle class man is given a female servant, she will automatically want to cop off with him. 🙂
        4
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        • 5d
      • Anna Brosnan
        Kev Sutherland yeah actually 20 year old me had much less a of a problem, almost 40 year old me does however haha, I couldn't watch it again now 😅
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        • 5d
    • Gordon Rennie
      It’s basically a stalker’s manual. Just about all the male protagonists in each story are stalkers….and the film wants you to think their behaviour is just adorable.
      6
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      • 5d
      • Kev Sutherland
        The kid grew up alright. Only slightly stalker-y in The Queens Gambit.
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        • 5d
      • Gordon Rennie
        You could remake the story with Andrew Lincoln and Kiera Knightley as a stalker horror movie and not really have to change much. … 
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        7
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        • 5d
      View 4 more replies
    • Peter John Ewbank
      "STACY" FROM GAVIN AND STACY GET HER TITS OUT IN THIS, ITS A FILM I MUST SEE !!! 😜😍😉
      2
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      • 5d
    • Peter John Ewbank
      Well read the Gentleman's Review and I definitely got see this, they all sound like TORY POLITICIANS in standard practice...
      2
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      • 5d
    • I Rewatched 'Love Actually' & We Should Definitely Leave It In The Past
      REFINERY29.COM
      I Rewatched 'Love Actually' & We Should Definitely Leave It In The Past
      I Rewatched 'Love Actually' & We Should Definitely Leave It In The Past
      1
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      • 5d
    • 10 unsung heroes from Love Actually who deserve recognition
      SMOOTHRADIO.COM
      10 unsung heroes from Love Actually who deserve recognition
      10 unsung heroes from Love Actually who deserve recognition
      1
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      • 5d
    • Elise Harris
      I went to see it with a boyfriend who loved it. He was like one of the creepy male protagonists in every way. I thought the Emma Thompson crying scene was very affecting but the rest of it is very, very horrible. The deleted subplot with the lesbian he… 
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      2
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      • 5d
    • The case against Love Actually
      VOX.COM
      The case against Love Actually
      The case against Love Actually
      2
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      • 5d
    • Jimi Longmuir
      I remember thinking it looked absolutely dreadful and was actually alright when I got dragged to see it in the cinema. Now I think it looks dreadful again, despite having seen it and kind of enjoying a bit 17 years ago. I'm not rewatching to try and so… 
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      1
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      • 5d
    • Charmian Hughes
      I’d like to see a version where the anti terror police swarm the airport and shoot the boy
      3
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      • 5d
    • Rupert Wainwright
      I still really like it
      2
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      • 5d
    • Rianne Rowlands
      Way too many “fat girl” jokes too (to a girl who is very NOT fat) that don’t land well today, but back in the early 00’s they were all the rage. (See Bridget Jones, movies based on one long fat girl joke!)
      I agree with most of your points (I especial… 
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      • 5d
      • Edited
      • Louisa Smith
        Rianne Rowlands yeah the jibes about Martine McCutcheon's character's weight really upset me, even back when I first saw it 😔
        2
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        • 5d
      • Louisa Smith
        Rianne Rowlands and I agree about Alan Rickman! Even as a cad, I just adore every second he is on screen!
        2
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        • 5d
    • Judi Stafford
      I have a good idea 💡 Don't watch it 😁
      3
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      • 5d
    • May be an image of 13 people and text that says 'TO ME, YUARE ARE PERFECT AND MY WASTED HEART WILL LOVE You UNTIL YOU LOOK LIKE THIS Then I'll blow your fucking zombie head off'
      3
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      • 5d
    • Marcus Brigstocke
      Oh. 🙄
      This again.… 
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      4
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      • 5d
      • Kev Sutherland
        Ladies and gentlemen, the best thing in the film! Merry Christmas old man.
        2
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        • 5d
    • Adrian Thompson
      Watch Die Hard straight after it, and see Alan Rickman get his comeuppance for what he did to Emma Thompson…🙂
      5
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      • 5d
    • Robin Smith
      Try this
      May be an image of 3 people, people standing and text that says 'John Cusack Kate Beckinsale Serendpit DVD VIDEO PG MIRAMAX'
      1
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      • 5d
    • May be an image of 1 person, eyeglasses and text
      1
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      • 5d
    • Emma Green
      I was always really upset by the Laura Linney storyline - I can remember saying to anyone who went on about how happy and feel good it was - but what about Laura Linney!!! What happened to her??? Is she okay? And the bit with the bloke from This Life b… 
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      2
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      • 5d
      • Felicity Harper
        Emma Green Gosh. I didn't think it was happy and feel good at all. I think that in itself makes it a good film in that people take such different things from it.
        2
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        • 4d
    • Robin Smith
      Have you tried it with the commentary track
      1
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      • 5d
    • Philip Boyce
      I'd never considered some of the points you raised but I see what you mean. What always pissed me off, right back to when the film was new, was that we were meant to be cheering on the white guy who wanted to steal away his black friend's new white bri… 
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      1
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      • 5d
      • Felicity Harper
        Philip Boyce What rubbish. He just wants her - irrelevant who her partner is. And who on earth would be cheering him on? The idea was to feel sorry for him for being pointlessly infatuated.
        2
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        • 4d
    • Davy Francis
      I recorded it five years ago but haven't watched it all. Thanks for the heads up, Kev Sutherland, you threw yourself on the hand grenade there, matey!
      1
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      • 5d
    • Kev Sutherland
      Thanks everyone for joining in with this fun thread. Now go off and buy my new Colouring Books for your family for Christmas. It's what Richard Curtis would have wanted... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NGQXRCC
      Unofficial Eurovision Pop Star Colouring Book: 33-and-a-third brand new images & articles, adult coloring for kids of all ages (Pop Star Colouring Books)
      AMAZON.CO.UK
      Unofficial Eurovision Pop Star Colouring Book: 33-and-a-third brand new images & articles, adult coloring for kids of all ages (Pop Star Colouring Books)
      Unofficial Eurovision Pop Star Colouring Book: 33-and-a-third brand new images & articles, adult coloring for kids of all ages (Pop Star Colouring Books)
      8
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    • Louisa Smith
      I watched it the other night and I have to say that it's not aged well! Some bits are fabulous, others contrived, unrealistic, make zero sense and a few moments are a wee bit teeth sucking!
      Play GIF
      Tenor
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    • Kathryn Spencer
      More saccharine than a tub of Canderel (Love Actually, not your colouring books).
      1
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      • 5d
    • Shane Chebsey
      I'm not a fan of the movie as a whole, but Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman are bloody brilliant in it with outstanding character performances.
      3
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    • Emily McGorman-Bruce
      FINALLY!! I loathe this film for all of the reasons you highlighted above (+ Kira Knightly clearly leads that guy on too!) It's a miserable film and I get told it's not every year!!
      1
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      • 4d
    • Sian Teague
      I agree so much with this. I will always defend Notting Hill as a superior film over Love Actually. Gremlins is also more heartwarming than Love Actually…even that little flasher gremlin is not as creepy as Andrew Lincoln and the other males in it.
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      • Sian Teague
        Although I do like it when Bill Nighy says Ant OR Dec to one of them.
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        • 1d
    • Kevin Precious
      It's absolute drek... it was at the time, and I can only imagine the ageing process has made it worse... oh, and when you take it out to the bin, can you take 'Yesterday' with it?
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      • 1d
    • Marc Blake
      Cannot get through it without 🤮🤮🤮
      • Like

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