Watchlist: Jan into March

Time to catch up with a little of what I’ve been watching lately…

The year began well with the first series that got our staff room talking after each episode – I’m talking about the third season of Traitors of course! They managed to up the stakes and find some memorable characters in Linda, Minah, Charlotte and Alexander (who I wanted to win) and others.

Severance – (Apple) Series 2 gets stranger and stranger. I still don’t understand what the goats are about! Just a couple of episodes to go – will report back on them anon.

Fly Me To the Moon -(Apple) Film starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatam – The two leads have chemistry – which helps in a romcom. He is the serious launch director for NASA, Kelly is an advertising exec who is used to dirty tricks, recruited by Nixon henchman Moe (Woody Harrelson) to sex up NASA’s image. The course of true love never runs smooth though, for Kelly is asked to film a fake moon landing in case Apollo 11 goes wrong … I won’t tell more but this was great fun.

Celebrity Bear Hunt – (Netflix) – Bear Grylls vs the celebrities in the Costa Rican jungle. That man is superhuman! A team of celebs live on the beach and do tasks each day – the losers have to enter the ‘Bear Pit’ which is around a sq. km of canyon jungle – and escape before Bear catches them. I liked the way he was never patronising to those he caught. Of those caught, one was eliminated each night. Poor Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen though – he not only got caught having a wee in the pit, but also had a panic attack while swimming on a task later, when as the oldest man he was doing so well and was rather loveable.

Zero Day – (Netflix) I kept dozing off during this Robert De Niro vehicle, in which he is a former US President brought back to help investigate when a zero-day cyberattack causes planes to fall out of the sky etc, killing thousands. So convoluted. Don’t ask me what happened, I was probably sleeping.

Conclave – (Prime rental). What a fab film, and well-deserved BAFTAs and an Oscar for Peter Straughan who adapted it from Robert Harris novel. Another superb ensemble cast, held together by Ralph Fiennes, with help from Isabella Rossellini as the only female part of consequence, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Lucian Msamati are all good too. It’s a film really about politics rather than religion – highly recommended indeed.

Snatch (Netflix) – based on the Guy Ritchie film. Why have the two seasons of this all-starensemble cast (Rupert Grint, Dougray Scott, Juliet Aubrey, Luke Pasqualino, Henry Goodman , Marc Warren, Tamer Hassam etc) only dropped on Netflix now? It was made in 2018 and aired on US channel Crackle. Anyway it is huge and silly fun, and so much better than The Gentleman. It’s violent, but funny. I particularly loved the interplay between convict Vic (Scott) and his wife Lily (Aubrey). Despite being the lead name, Grint as toff Charlie is probably the worst character. One for fans of Hustle.

I have been loving the Eastenders 40th anniversary episodes. ***Spoiler*** I’d never have picked Martin Fowler as the one to die in the pub fire/explosion. I’ve loved seeing all the visits back to the Square by characters from the past – Grant Mitchell, Minty & Garry, David Wicks, Angie (as a spirit) and of course Nigel. Now those episodes are over, there’s a distinct lull in the air – but we know there’ll be storms acoming!