I kept hearing about people watching The Handmaid's Tale and wondering if it was any good or worth a watch. I never seemed to have got around to watching it and then my hairdresser asked me if I had watched it so I thought that there must be something about this programme that may need to be investigated.
Oh my! What had I done? Why have I not watched this before? It is absolutely amazing. Now it's not a nice jolly series so if you're not a fan of dark dramas then this isn't for you. It is just so addictive, one of those ones where you watch one programme and you've got to watch the next and before you know it you've just binge watched a whole series. Oops that's exactly what I've done, watched the entire first season and now ready for the next. The second season is in full flow on the tv right now and I've binge watched through Now TV on the Entertainment package so I've got to wait now I suppose. That's just cruel......I need more!!! The series is taken from the best selling novel by Margaret Atwood and is set in Gilead which is what used to be the United States. The women of Gilead are treated as property of the state as it is now under the rule of a fundamentalist regime. After a major dip in the birth rate due to many environmental disasters, the remaining fertile women who are left are named as 'Handmaids' and made to 'serve' and repopulate a world which is declining fast. The series is about Offred and her sheer determination to survive this awful world and be reunited with her husband who she believes may still be alive and her daughter who was taken away from her. It is another one of those dramas which is similar to The Man In The High Castle where you just thank goodness that the world isn't like this and hope it never will be. It's a little scary but like I say so addictive and I now need to know if she will escape. If you've not watched it and like this kind of drama or if you've been wondering what the hype is all about well watch it as it's brilliant. The filming is great and a talented cast too with Joseph Fiennes and Samira Wiley who you may know from playing Poussey Washington in Orange Is the New Black. Give it a watch, you will be forever saying to yourself 'nooooo is this really happening?' and 'wooooah no way'. So I've really not watched anything else this week so I'll catch up with my regular shows another time. Celebrity Big Brother started this week but I'm not sure it's worth mentioning. I do think this may be the last series but I'm keeping my eye on it just to see whether anything great happens. They have got a few good celebs in this time but they still get over powered by other reality tv stars who I don't know at all so that kind of spoils it but maybe for others that makes their viewing great so who knows. I'll review that when it finishes. So have a great week and I will be back tomorrow again for Music Monday if you would like to join me......take care for now and be nice with the remote, don't forget to share!!!
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Oh I was beside myself on Friday night....tears flowed, big proper blubbing ones too. We all said goodbye and farewell to Nashville after six seasons of a fabulous drama and music to add. It finished just the way I wanted it to and finished with a good old classic finale song.
I'll miss it, it was one of those series that you just get hooked on and love like a best friend. I might just go back to the beginning for old times sake and watch it again. I've just binge watched Sex and the City yet again, well you forget bits and some programmes are just worth watching millions of times. So goodbye Nashville, it was nice watching you, I think I may have flooded the whole of the East Midlands with my tears but hey I'll recover. I watched the new Channel Four comedy Hang Ups which I thought was quite good. I love Stephen Mangan so that was a good start but I also loved the whole idea of the series. Stephen plays Dr Richard Pitt who decides to start up his own business providing therapy sessions online through a webcam. Well with a busy family and a whole load of celebrity guests as his clients you can imagine how it goes. It is typical when work for home that if you embark on a conference call there is bound to be someone who walks in or interrupts in some way. It happened to me the other day so a funny idea from one of life's very simple hiccups. Give it a watch and see what you think.......book your moment on the sofa on Wednesday 10pm. Oh crikey what is going on in Casualty, have they had a new writer or have they been given a bigger budget. There have been explosions and a storyline that's kept me on the edge of myself seat. The last programme ended with me aghast! Oh didn't see that coming.. I won't go into details as it was only last night and there may be people who have 'taped it' so yet to catch up. I still say 'taping it', if you are too young to remember it goes back to the days when we recorded programmes on video cassette tapes so I'm a gal still stuck back in the 80's. So after all my tears and watching ambulances fly around all over the place, it's been a tough week but looking forward to another one. Celebrity Big Brother returns, mmmmmm not sure but may just have a look to see who goes in. I never know anyone usually and they seem to drag so called celebs over from the U.S who no one over here has ever heard of. Will we be seeing the last of Big Brother? I don't know, there was talk of this being the last, I do think it's days are numbered again. Have a great week and remember to share the remote nicely and kick your feet up with that all important brew. Pop back tomorrow for some music talk on Music Monday but for now...... Take care. Ahhh we will miss her won't we? Yes Poldark came to a bittersweet end with the tragic death of Elizabeth and the happy marriage of Drake and Morwenna. I'm giving a little whoop to that as I wanted their story to end happily and for that girl to smile again.
Elizabeth though tried so hard to make things right with George by diverting suspicion and bringing on a premature birth so that George would finally believe that Valentine really could be his son. We all know that's not true but it was so sad she had to put herself through all that hen her new baby was in fact George's. She paid the ultimate price and now what will happen to the feud between Ross and George? For she was the only one keeping the peace. Well we will have to wait for the next series. I can't wait now. Oh a bit of a new starter this week with Age Before Beauty. Who knew Robson Green was going to be a trouble causer, the man always looks so cheeky and innocent. Well he's stirring up trouble between his sister in law and her husband. You see Bel was a past love and he believes he would of been with her if someone else hadn't got there first. Teddy played by Robson asks Bel (Polly Walker) to come back and help out her other sisters by helping to rebrand the failing MirrorBel Beauty Salon. She agrees but in the mean time Teddy has cooked up plans leading Bel's hubby to embark on an affair with a young personal trainer. Bel starts to look at her image and thinks she may need a bit of a change herself, where best to go eh? It started well in this this first episode and was quite entertaining. A great cast of actors including Sue Johnston and Lisa Riley but I wasn't totally blown away by it. I will continue to watch it though as you can never judge a programme from just one episode. If you fancy a watch it is on Tuesday 9pm BBC1. Nadiya's Family Favourites is a great programme on BBC2 Monday's 8pm. She was the Bake Off winner if you remember and has gone from strength to strength with her new career, baking a birthday cake for the Queen and now presenting her own series. Nadiya is so funny and has still remained true to herself regardless having all this fame. Her recipes her gorgeous and easy to follow too so take a little look and see what you think. I love that she brings the family aspect in by inviting her own family to tase her food, you're always going to get the truth from your family and she also tells little stories about her family life so well done Nadiya. That's it for this week, I did go and see Mamma Mia - Here We Go Again at the cinema this week which I will review on a Music Monday. I also watched The Incredibles 2 movie this week with family and friends and it was really good. Along time after the first film but still great. My friend hadn't even seen the first movie which I was surprised about, I thought everyone had seen The Incredibles. She enjoyed it, a good all round entertaining family film. Just one warning, a massive cute factor rating for baby Jack Jack. So funny and soooooo cute. Right that's me signing off this week's Pass the Remote. Please come back tomorrow for Music Monday but for now........ Take care. Oh what an end to Our Girl ( I always type My Girl, greedy eh?) She's not mine she's our's well until she got under the covers with James, woah steamy stuff, definitely Jame's Girl now. It was a sensational finish to the series I thought and what an ending. Oh I hope they all make that jump, probably be a big splash but hey thanks to Special Forces for nipping off on their hols and leaving them with their boats hundreds of feet below a big cliff. They weren't to know I suppose but it certainly made a very entertaining and tense finale. Can't wait for it to return again.
I'm a bit obsessed with Eat Well For Less, it's just fabulous to see lives turned around just by the food they buy. If you haven't seen it Gregg Wallace and Chris Bavin get hold of a family (not literally) and seek out their shopping habits and tot up their budget. We at home firstly gasp at how much these people spend then congratulate them when they cut their weekly shopping budget down by quite a considerable amount. There are families buying zillion bottles of cola to takeaway meals most nights and the savings are unbelievable. I noticed a difference when I started doing my bulk shop at Aldi as it's just amazing how much the prices vary. It's also surprising how much rubbish we chuck in our trolley's, things we really don't need. I hate throwing food out so I take a lot of tips from this on how to buy well and it is so much healthier to cook nutritional meals from scratch. Yes convenience meals are quick and easy but it really doesn't take much effort to cook a nice meal. A slow cooker is the best thing for having a cheap healthy meal ready at the end of the day......wouldn't be without mine. Love this programme, good educational, tip grabbing telly.. I've had a pretty free weekend this weekend. I did have lots of plans to get some paperwork done, some other writing projects but guess what I did in the end? Well I procrastinated in a big way but I binge watched a load of Sex And The City. Now I've seen the whole lot of this over and over before so it's not as if I haven't seen it and I'm not sure what made me start. Oh that's it I caught a re run of one episode on tv and thought it may be good to watch some more. So I have totally wasted this weekend with four girls from New York and their dating antics. I kept asking myself, are you happy though Sue from the Brew? and I can honestly say I was. It's been a long time since I've just relaxed and not done anything. A while since I had time to chill by myself so I think I will catch up with the other stuff this week but hurray to a bit of relaxation. The thing is I almost feel guilty for it, but why? Stuff it.......I'm not gonna feel bad. It rained anyway so my gardening wasn't happening and that's my excuse as if I need one. This week we see the last in the series of Poldark and a new drama starting on Tuesday called Age Before Beauty which looks good. I will also be reviewing Nadiya's Family Favourites next week which is fabulous. If you've not seen it it's on Monday BBC2 8pm. Very funny and be prepared for very tasty recipes. So my conclusion this week is that binge watching box sets does have a lot to answer for but sometimes you just have to do it, recharge the old body batteries ready for more mayhem that life brings us. Thank you so much for reading today. Please pop back tomorrow fro Music Monday but for now.......... Take care. Yes we are back to some sort of normal with the old telly box. My programmes seem to be all where they should be now with no one playing the odd game of footy or popping off for a quick visit to Wimbledon.
I'm watching Nashville which is going to be coming to an end very soon so I'm watching it very slowly so that it lasts as long as possible. That sounds daft doesn't it? I just don't want it to end. Oozles of seasons and I love these people in Nashville like they are my own family. I want to see them all settled and happy playing their country tunes and living happily every after. For goodness sake if Deacon and Jessie don't get together I may swear or if Juliette doesn't find some kind of happiness I will not be happy. That woman.....I think I've loved her and hated her all at the same time. I've gone ahhhh poor Juliette one minute and then shouted 'you nasty woman' (maybe not that polite) the next. Will be sad to see it end though.....only three more episodes to go. We saw the return of Stan Lee's Lucky Man this week with the gorgeous James Nesbitt. I love this but did worry where it had ended after Season 2 but some clever writey person has been very good to make it all quite clear without having to watch a little catch up trailer. I'm on track now and can remember Harry's past and he's still donning his bracelet of hell and someone is still chasing him to pinch it from him. It is really good and so good to see Mr Nesbitt on our screens again. You can catch the new series on Sky One on Friday evenings at 9pm. Unforgotten was the other new starter this week and what a start. A body discovered in amongst the roadworks on the motorway. A good job that body wasn't by the side of the A52 in Derby as due to a financial shortage and a halt of the roadworks I fear any dead body would be there undiscovered for another ten years. So Cassie and Sunny are on the case and trying to discover the identity of this body and hopefully at some point they will find the killer. I think that's the point of the programme but we'll see. Great drama and so good to see it back. I love Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar together, they make a great crime busting team. I have caught up with two episodes so far of Picnic at Hanging Rock. This is quite a dark spooky drama starring Natalie Dormer who is fabulous in her role as Hester Appleyard who starts a college for young women. One Valentines Day the girls go for a picnic and three of the girls mysteriously disappear and now it's a mission to find out what actually happened. I do find I have got to carry on watching as I now need to know what happened so I'll keep you posted unless you're watching it too and in that case you'll know. This drama is on Wednesday's BBC2 9pm. Well that's it for this week....I'm off to join Poldark, only watching him from the comfort of my sofa but that's ok. Please come back tomorrow for Music Monday but for now you all take care. Yes it's over and congratulations to France for winning the World Cup and after Wimbledon too we can get back to some sort of TV normality again. There will be something else I'm sure, as I sit here the BBC are trying to flog me a watch at the Tour De France but I think I'll leave that for now.
Our Girl got bumped out of the way this week with football and a marathon tennis session. I believe it will be re scheduled so just keep an eye on your TV guides on that. I think that was a bit rude to keep cancelling and I don't think anyone should be playing tennis till 11pm. The fit sports people can probably manage it but I need my cuppa and night-shirt on way before then. I also find my neighbours get a bit miffed with the balls going over the fence so late. They don't have that problem on Centre Court do they? Poldark saw a death again.....they are knocking a few cast members out of this aren't they? I don't wish anything awful on anyone but I did want the Rev Ossie to get some sort of tick off for being a bit of a rotter. Watch out for his mum Lady Whitworth as I think she will want justice for the murder of her son. Played by the fabulous Rebecca Front I think she may pick up where Ossie left off but obviously not with the sexy bits. It was great to see Keeping Faith on BBC 1 this week after it aired on BBC Wales. Due to the massive popularity of this series shown on BBC iplayer too it got his well deserved air on prime time tv and so it should. I binge watched it on BBC iplayer and really enjoyed it in fact I have posted about it quite a bit here and also on my Music Monday feature as the soundtrack is amazing. So get a watch of this, I'm not going to give anything away and I am actually watching again. Tune in on BBC1 Thursday's at 9pm. Take a look at my categories for posts relating to this if you want to know more about it but just watch for spoilers as I didn't think it would go to main BBC. A second series has already been commissioned so that's fab news. Tonight sees a new series of the crime drama Unforgotten with Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar. If you haven't seen this before catch up on the last two series on ITV Hub as it is brilliant. That's my one to watch this coming week So here's to a rest from sport for the time being and the return of super drama and great entertainment. I have actually loved the World Cup so will miss it, only another four years until the next one. Thank you for reading today, join me again tomorrow for Music Monday where I will be telling you all about Rock Choir Live our summer concert which took place last night. Eeeek it was amazing! Take care till then. Oh crikey that was a sad one of Poldark last week. Poor Dwight and Caroline losing their little baby daughter Sarah to a rare heart defect. Oh if anyone deserved to be happy with their family they did. I know Caroline wasn't keen on having children but she fell in love and was bonding so well with her. Oh I cried, and then had to hold my breath again as there was a huge flood in the mine. We are a bit busy this week with people being stuck in underwater mines this week.
Yes all the best to the young lads and their football coach in Thailand who are at present being rescued from an underground cave. Four out so far so lets hope all 13 people get out safely. It all happened in Our Girl as well this week. Bones didn't half put the guys and gals through their paces with even the threat of sending Georgie home. She wasn't going anywhere was she? How could she? That would be the end of the series......silly. I wasn't expecting to see Bossy Bones go out though. Blimey I was a bit annoyed at him, I know he was trying to get the best out of everyone but woah I wasn't expecting him to get blown to pieces. He spotted a suspect package left at a dinner party and.......well took it upon him selves to take the detonation. After all I said the other week about him and Georgie maybe becoming an item, how wrong was I? It's Captain James we've got to be watching. he's taken quite a shine to Georgie in a big way, but who didn't see that coming? Now James is married to Molly who was played by Lacey Turner in the early days so it's a bit like nooooooooooo you can't do this to Molly. I don't think Georgie will let it happen but who knows....will they succumb to a bit of passion? Keep watching. I watched The Big NHS Singalong this week which was a programme following the NHS Choir and how they put together the song 'With A Little help From My Friends'. They recorded it at Abbey Road Studios with a few celebrity friends and then the programme aired this week was a live link up around the country of more NHS workers as they attempted to break the record for the biggest singalong. This is all to celebrate 70 years of the NHS and it was a lovely moving adventure. I love being part of a choir as you know if you read my Music Monday posts and I love seeing the joy it brings to others in their choirs too. I was great to see how it all comes together and I also enjoyed seeing them get excited about recording at the famous Abbey Road Studios as I know how it feels to record there. So a big well done to the NHS Choir and you can download their song now. Well another busy week of football again and haven't we done well so far?Semi Finals on Wednesday, I think most of us will be watching that surely?? It's been a fantastic tournament and I will miss it when it finishes. One week to go and who will be playing the final next Sunday? Ohhhhhh we will have to wait and see......fingers crossed!! Thank you so much for reading today......please come back tomorrow for Music Monday but for now you all take care and stay cool folks. Well the football continues to dominate my telly and I'm sure a lot of tv's all over the world really. The pubs are heaving especially on an England game here and to be honest I'm really enjoying it.
There are some very exciting matches and the VAR is proving to be very controversial. VAR is Video Assistant Referee so by using video footage the correct decisions can be made. Well you'd think so but I'm sure more mistakes are being made from what I've seen so far. Oh well it's adding a bit of excitement and it has got us all talking about it. We are now in the final sixteen knockout games and already some of the big teams are going out such as Germany, Portugal and Argentina. Does this mean England have a chance? Oh goodness knows eh? We always have this hope but then it usually gets dashed.... well.......about now really. We play again on Tuesday evening at 7pm against Columbia so fingers crossed everyone. They play on the ITV jinx.....it's ok we seem to always lose on ITV but do well on BBC. That's just a myth surely......a silly superstition. As long as the players don't spend to much time lying down on the ground we should get a good game played. I'm not on about our lads so much but my goodness there are some that milk it for a few minutes of extra time. Some of them should have babies, that stings a little from experience I can tell you. I saw something the other day on Facebook which was quite funny. It referred to players having so many tattoos but then they don't seem to have the same pain threshold when playing a game of football. I'm tending to watch the same programmes at the moment so I will get back to our great dramas later but I need to go back to my footy. I think I will miss it when it goes. I've never enjoyed shouting at the tv so much in ages and half the time I don't quite know what I'm shouting about. I just hope that if anyone hears me I'm talking great football sense, just like the commentators. I don't know whether I agree with Gary Lineker or would just like to pinch a packet of Walkers Crisps from him..........do you think he has a pack of cheese and onion at half time? Bet he does or we may catch him with a pack of Golden Wonder now that would be massive controversy. Ok lets see what happens this week but all the best to England and if there is no Pass the Remote next week it's because I'm sulking.....no not really I'll be here. Join me tomorrow for Music Monday if ya fancy but for now take care of yourselves. Wow it's been a busy week with the footy and I'm enjoying it, there are some great matches. Today's England win was fab wasn't it? Two of their goals were scored when I went out the room so I like to think I had a part in that. A big well done to our lads and may the success continue. I'm so worried about getting too excited because of so many years of disappointment but we still have to have hope otherwise it where would the world be. It's just a game.......a game we need to blooming win!! No pressure but I do need a World Cup win in my lifetime. Too much to ask??? Maybe.
Great drama continued this week with Our Girl, Ackley Bridge and Poldark. I will come back to those later. Nashville has started again and this will be the last episodes now to end it forever. I don't want it to end. I may well go back and watch it all again. At present it is on Sky Living at 9pm on Friday evenings. My son and I ditched the tv this week and popped to the cinema. to see Sherlock Gnomes. This is the follow up to Gnomeo and Juliet which I enjoyed very much, but this second movie was even better. I'm not sure who was more excited to see this, me or my son. I had a feeling he was accompanying me. I have got a love for gnomes and I'm surprised I don't actually own any. This may change but I would expect them to come alive when I wasn't looking. Sherlock Gnomes is sent to save all of the gnomes as they are being taken prisoner by Moriarty. He threatens to smash them to pieces on Tower Bridge but not if Sherlock can foil his plan first. It's gripping on the edge of your seat stuff this but I love the gnomes and so want them to be saved. I loved this film......Gnomeo and Juliet are still the main characters and go on a bit of a 'rocky relationship' moment but do they they get back together to take over to be head of the garden? Well you'll have to go and see it to find out. No spoilers here. Great voices provided by James McCoy, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Michael Caine, Ozzy Osbourne, Stephen Merchant, Julie Walters and so many more. Half the fun of these films is to guess the voices but I have a son who memorises all the cast of these films so I can just ask him and he can tell me, saves me time on Google. Overall a great film and worth seeing especially if you saw the first one. David Furnish (Elton John's hubby) is one of the producers so you can guess what the soundtrack includes. Yes lots of Elton in there which is fab and also makes the movie great. So there I leave you this week, not so much of a tv review but I do like to throw a movie in from time to time. have a great week and please join me for Music Monday tomorrow if you fancy. For now though take care. Well welcome back Poldark but chuffin eck my nerves were shattered by the end of this week of tv with this and Our Girl. It was drama at it's best and what a start to the new series on Sunday. Ross and Demelza are making a go of it and patching up their differences after they have both experienced a little bit of loving in the arms of someone else.
Well they are very sexy attractive people and they are bound to attract some attention but the drama really lay with other family members this week. Oh I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see whether Demelza's brothers were actually going to be executed. I thought to myself this can't surely happen as there is a bit of an unfinished love interest going on with Drake and Morwenna. We have got to see that woman get away from the Reverend and get together with Drake......for that reason alone he couldn't hang. I held my breath waiting for that decision and that nasty George Warleggan would sooner lie and see injustice on Demelza as a way to get at Ross. Someone needs to wipe that smirk of his face. Oh sorry my fellow brewsters I was getting a bit carried away then but that man does annoy me. I'm sure Jack Farthing who plays him is lovely and he is playing him so well but blimey I do want Ross to get one over on him......again. The story follows later tonight at 9pm on BBC1. Please let me breath a bit easier tonight. Phew. Another tense moment was with Our Girl. Oh heck they went off piste and got themselves captured. Mr Big Boots Captain 'Bones' McClyde waded in and saved the day and a few lives there which we all thank him for but he is so cocky isn't he? I know it's early days but do you think he may be her new love interest? Eventually when they've stopped rubbing each other the wrong way. Who knows but I like Bones.....he's a bit naughty and brash but he will be interesting to watch. The tv has been taken over by some sort of football tournament.....yes its the 2018 World Cup. I do like it and I am watching it, although I must admit I'm not a massive football fan but I do like these big tournaments. It just means there is less of the other stuff to watch though. I suppose it is summer so no one is staying in and watching telly.....you're all outside barbecuing eh? One drama I have stumbled on is another BBC Wales series. It's called Hidden and is available on the BBC iplayer. It is a good crime drama about a girl who goes missing and a body is discovered. It basically follows the story of this girls murder and the investigation of others that may have gone missing in the same way. There has only been two episodes so far so that may be one to watch if you need a crime drama fix. Well enjoy the summery evenings and the World Cup.....there are plenty of games to come along. Englands first game is tomorrow evening at 7pm on BBC1 so fingers crossed for a good result. Join me again for Music Monday tomorrow, for now though take care. |
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