What TV show did you last watch?

(01-06-2025 12:29 )Doddle Wrote:  Landscape Artist of the Year 2024
9.6 Back to Hever Castle, with almost an Anne Boleyn drinking game, another hot sunny day, and many good results.

LAotY 2024
9.7 The semi-final takes place at Buckler's Hard, some village in Hampshire, with 4 female heat winners and 2 blokes, joined by a female wild card. This leads to the choice of an all-women final next time.

Sisters of Disruption : The Brontes, by Anita Rani
Was Heathcliff a gentleman of colour? Were the sisters ahead of their time, what with being published under male pseudonyms, like what Joanne Rowling does? Anita doesn't go all the way to ask "were the Brontes woke?" but I suspect there was a temptation.

Photographing the Edge - Life and Death at 8,000 Meters
Back to mountaineering, with Ishikawa Naoki, the first photographer to attempt to climb the world's 14 highest summits. He did Everest back in 2001, then again in 2011, but really accelerated with the others in the past decade. He often used a local guide, Pemba Tenzing, who helped him especially on Manaslu, which he had to redo once the summit was reclassified. However they split up and Pemba met an icy fate. Naoki pressed on in his memory, and on his first attempt at his final summit, he witnessed two other climbers zoom past him near the top and get killed in avalanches. A year later, he tried again and made it. Sobering but remarkable.

(02-06-2025 20:38 )Doddle Wrote:  Landscape Artist of the Year 2024
9.7 The semi-final takes place at Buckler's Hard, some village in Hampshire, with 4 female heat winners and 2 blokes, joined by a female wild card. This leads to the choice of an all-women final next time.

LAotY 2024
9.8 The final happens from a rooftop terrace at the Royal Opera House, looking out over Covent Garden, as the sun sets. All three ladies left had distinct and interesting styles, and would have made fine champions. Their commissions were all pretty good too. The one I thought might be the best, actually got the win. Orkney awaits...

The Listening Post
A talk to Jeremy Scahill about the dubious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Last Week Tonight w/John Oliver
The desperate state of Air Traffic Control in the USA.

The Daily Show w/Jon Stewart
Mixed feelings on Elon Musk leaving DOGE, and a talk to Carole Cadwalladr about the pernicious rise of AI.

(29-05-2025 20:35 )Doddle Wrote:  Who Do You Think You Are? Fred Sirieix
He went to France, unsurprisingly, and found a POW from WW2, and a frequent soldier from WW1 who was part of battles like Verdun and the Somme. He also found winemakers, and finally orphans.

WDYTYA? Will Young
Someone charmingly up for this, the saga of his grandfather turning out to be a WW2 POW was quite something, but the latter stuff with the gruesome Hugh deSpenser, and the final discovery of his royal antecedent was probably more than anyone expected.

(04-06-2025 12:45 )Doddle Wrote:  Landscape Artist of the Year 2024
9.8 The final happens from a rooftop terrace at the Royal Opera House, looking out over Covent Garden, as the sun sets. All three ladies left had distinct and interesting styles, and would have made fine champions. Their commissions were all pretty good too. The one I thought might be the best, actually got the win. Orkney awaits...

LAotY 2024
9.9 The commission involves visiting renewable energy sites on Orkney, and surprise, no judge can be bothered to go there to offer good vibes this time. The final painting is very good, and they all like it.

Heatwave - The Deadly Summer of '03
I don't mind assorted cheap celebrities pretending this was an earth-shattering history-changing moment, but it does make me wonder why I don't remember it that much.

Rex Harrison at the NFT
David Lewin introduces and asks a few questions, but mostly lets the audience ask, and there's a few clips too. The notoriously temperamental Harrison is mercifully in a good mood, which helps. The nearest he gets to the grumps is the suggestion that Dr Doolittle was a flop.

(05-06-2025 20:19 )Doddle Wrote:  Landscape Artist of the Year 2024
9.9 The commission involves visiting renewable energy sites on Orkney, and surprise, no judge can be bothered to go there to offer good vibes this time. The final painting is very good, and they all like it.

LAotY 2024
9.10 The now obligatory end of series round-up sees another chance to enjoy clips which became overfamiliar as the weeks went by. At least they included the actual commission this time. One thing emphasised in this series were the crowds in attendance each week, to the point where the judging summaries at the end of each episode seem to be the apex of the show.

Still, almost up to date at long last.