On The Box This Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

I am not sure why but I have found this season of Poldark lacking. I can't put my finger on it but I haven't found this season as enjoyable as last year. One think I really am disliking is the huge time jumps! Like how Ross and Demelza's son Jeremy was born two episodes ago yet we only found out his name in this episode and now he looks around two years old!
The relationship between Ross and Demelza has been very rocky all season but last week we saw them still passionately in love, in quite a racy scene (which I loved) this week they where back at logger heads. Demelza has been set against Ross having any part in smuggling goods, this week that storyline came to ahead. I don't know how Ross gets away with things but after being ambushed by the law, he tells his friends that he is done with the copper mine and that he will now live a quiet life with his wife and son....that is if he gets away with smuggling! Yet with George Warleggan sniffing around the newly widowed Elizabeth I doubt Ross will be happy with a quiet life as we all know Ross Poldark can be a law onto himself!

This series has been called Downton Abbey in Egypt after one episode by the critics!
I didn't see Tutankhamun like that not alot happened in episode one to be honest! It opens in 1905 when Dr Carter gets struck off for punching a French Duke! A few years later Dr Carter played by Max Irons is still on digs in Egypt but yearning for his own big discovery when very rich Lord Carnarvon played by Sam Neil discovers him and asks him to help on his dig.
Most of the current Americans and English are leaving Egypt due to the unrest in Europe, giving Carter his chance to dig for Tutankhamun lost tomb.
There is also the premise for a good love story with American Maggie an Egyptolist from the Met who is clearly mad about Carter but he is more interested in the dead women around him, although she does get her man before she leaves! There is also Carnarvon's daughter Evelyn while nothing is stated about how she feels about Carter it does feels like something might happen there in later episodes.
Just are Dr Carter and Lord Carnarvon's dig is about to begin World War 1 breaks out and the whole thing is put on hold for four year or next week in our case!

Semi-finals and once again it was Mel and Sue who made this show for me. I just love there quirky and sometimes cheesy but always funny delivery. I loved how Selasi was looking for Mary, Mel and Sue's jobs and he might even get them now!! Selasi sass was on point tonight! Andrew didn't seem like he was enjoying himself this week think the stress got to him! Sue towelling down Selasi was the envy of alot of women watching! Candice felted the pressure and took to calling herself CB! Andrew won Star Baker and Selasi was sent home! We will miss him but he was jut outclassed this week. So it's Andrew, Jane and Candice in the finale!

On The Box Last Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

I thought I better get ahead of my on the box reviews before even more of my favourite shows start back in the next couple of weeks!
I'll start with the finale of  ITV's big budget drama and Downton Abbey replacement Victoria last Sunday night.
I enjoyed this some what over dramatic period drama I found it easy to watch and I liked the Downton feel with the servants stories. While the finale wasn't very exciting to be honest! The writers treated this finale as if it was a cliff hanger and anyone who knows even a little history knows this woman became one of Britain's longest ever monarchs. So I wasn't sure why it felt like there was meant to be tension at an assassination attempt when we knew that she survives and has plenty of children.
I have missed Rufus Sewell as Lord M in the last few episodes I know he needed to move on for Albert and Victoria's relationship to grow but he was still her PM so surely he would still be meeting the Queen regarding the running of the country. I think the last episodes would of been better if we had of seen some of the tension between Lord M and Albert.
Yet I loved this cosy Sunday night drama, it's not without its flaws but then so was Downton Abbey!

I have been really savouring the last few episodes of the Bake Off as we know it!
This week was another first on the show it was Tudor week! Think game pies, huge sugary displays and Paul Hollywood lording it about!! Mel and Sue was on point and Sue actually stood speaking to my favourite Selasi with a bunch of rosemary up her nose for the whole time!
The technical this week was of course a very tough Paul Hollywood challenge something called Jumbles which where like Celtic knot biscuits! This week saw Andrew, Jane and Candice do very well, but my two favourites Selasi and Benjamina didn't fare too well. It wasn't Benjamina's week and she got sent home. I felt so sorry for her as she was one of my favourites.
Next week is the semi finale which means only two more episodes of the bake off to devour!

We are only two episodes in to the new Sky Atlantic drama Westword
but we are LOVING it!
Paul sat me down and made me watch the cult movie from the 70's with Yul Brynner as the man in black. So I do know the premise of the plot. Westworld is a theme park for the worlds rich while not stated in the show how much it is to stay there in the movie its $1000 a day but that was 30 years ago! Guests enter the world of the wild west, with all the trimming, they enter into story lines build into the parks hosts or robots who look, feel and act real. In the first episode we met Dolores who is a host in the park who relives the same day over again with slight differences depending on who she meets host or guest. Her host father finds a photo dropped by one of the guest which sends him off questioning everything about his life as a host. He tells her something which seems to them trigger her into remembering different memories of a life she can't recall. Her father is shut away after the control room and management state is malfunction.
I really like how the viewer gets to see both sides the theme park itself and then those who control it or who think they do. Anthony Hopkins is amazing as always as the park's creator Dr Robert Ford who seems to be fighting his own demons. One of the guest who is terrifying is The Man in Black played by Ed Harris in a twist from the movie he is actually a paying guest but he is playing a much darker deeper game.
I really like the nod to the original movie in this episode when the viewer meets two friends Will (Jimmi Simpson) and Logan (Ben Barnes) and through there eyes we see the park from the guests point of view.
It was Thandie Newton who ran away with this second episode as Dolores repeats the words her father told her to Newton. Newton is an English Madame running the saloon in Westworld. Yet as we find out she is in trouble of becoming decommissioned in the control room as guests are getting bored of her. From the moment Dolores whispers those words to her Newton is haunted by harrowing, violent memories of what must be her past or past storylines as we found in the opening episodes hosts are reused for different storylines and characters throughout the park.
Only two episodes in there is defiantly trouble ahead!

On The Box This Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

I find this series is getting better and better finally we are introduced to Victoria's cousin Prince Albert. Straight away there is some chemistry between these two Albert is serious and quiet to Victoria's playful flattery. They both found each other fascinating, attractive and annoying in equal measures and they also came across like that on screen. Albert was maybe a bit too whinny and Victoria a bit too bratty! The piano scene was my favourite as there real feelings for each other came out to play! Of course they both hide it from each other but not to others as every one in court knows how they really feel even Lord Melbourne. He seems a little put out by the Prince and Victoria's feelings for him. If it does seem a little sudden don't blame the script writers it was actually like that in the history books. Victoria did fall for the German Prince hook, line and sinker they here engaged three weeks after he arrived at court! I did love she had to propose to him, how he looks kind of stumped over as he looks at her because she is so small, and how he wanted to kiss her before she even finished asking her question. Tom Hughes and Jenna Coleman play these two brilliantly and I am looking forward to see more of this fiery royal partnership.

Just wanted to state again how I love the production and filming of this show. Cornwall really is like another character in this show, the coastline scenes are stunning, as is the title sequence.
Ross was on trial in this episode, Francis is not dead, he misfired and the gun power did not ignite! Poor Francis can't seem to get anything right!! The trial turned out to be a paid witch hunt to send Ross down, with lots of paid 'witnesses' stating how Ross lead the plundering and looting of a ship.
The other news was Demelza is pregnant again she confines in Elizabeth that she hasn't told Ross yet because of the trial. The odds don't look good in Poldark's favour but I don't think I wasn't the only one who cheered when old servant Judd turned his statement around to Ross's favour!
In the end Poldark is found not guilty and is freed! Not sure how the jury found him not guilty maybe they saw through the lies! So now everyone knows that it was George who set up Ross, and I think that will change Ross as he will want his revenge. Francis and Elizabeth seem to found there spark again at the end of the episode but Francis once again wouldn't again make peace with his sister.
The end of the episode saw Ross and Demelza look happy but with Ross telling her that they should wait to start a family unknowing Demelza is already with child....I think there may be trouble ahead!

With the dreadful news that Bake Off is leaving BBC after this season to move to Channel Four next year, I am really going to savour the rest of this season. Unlike many other fans of the show I have seen what the format is like on a channel with ads as The Irish Bake Off (the Irish version of the show) aired on a channel with lots of ad breaks. Due to this there is only two bakes the signature and the technical with no showstopper! The viewer barely gets to know the bakers before there voted off and it ruins the pacing of the show. This added with the fact that Mel and Sue will also be leaving the show makes me think that I will not be tuning into the new version on Channel Four. Don't get me wrong I love alot of shows on Channel Four but for me the format at the BBC works best.
Now back to, tonight's episode it was batter week! Not sure if I am a fan of batter week but it was fun to watch the bakers lose there cool over frying pans!
We where only seconds into the show when Mel and Sue sang a little ditty which made me fall in love them all over again! First bake was Yorkshire puddings which had to filled with all sorts of delights! The curse of Star Baker continues as Tom had a bit of a rubbish week! We had Lace pancakes is that even a thing?!! Lace pancakes for the technical which I don't think was that hard of a technical challenge but then again I'm not the one doing it! Showstopper was Spanish street food churros which been honest didn't look appealing at all mostly over fried greasy dough!
One of my favourites Benjamina won Star Baker and Kate was sent home after her over cooked deep fried churros rabbits where not a hit!
Next week it's filo pastry!!

On The Box This Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

Life has been so hectic lately that I have been watching good TV but not had the time to blog about it! So Poldark is back on our screens Sunday nights, after a slightly longer wait then normal. The BBC decided to put it on the same time as ITV's Victoria so I have to watch one and SKY Plus the other!
For a season opener it was quite lacklustre in my opinion, this episode was all about Ross's up coming trial after been framed for murder. There can't really be much suspense about his fate as this is the first of a ten part series! I think this season will be about how the trial effects him and his family as his cousin Francis is still reeling after his gambling debts left him in ruin last season. He still seems to be on a path of self destruction as the episode ended with him holding a gun to his head.
I am looking forward to seeing how the trial unfolds and if Aidan Turner wants to get his top off a little more that would also be welcomed!

Episode three of this series was also shown on Sunday I chose to SKY Plus this due to the amount of ad breaks! I am really enjoying this but one flaw I find with this is the over dramatic storyline of Victoria and Lord Melbourne. Victoria's actual life is so full of exciting stories that to be there is no need to add this mostly fictional romance. In reality Lord M wasn't half as good looking, fatter and going bald! Some scenes of Victoria pinning for her dear Lord M are quite cringe worthy, but then she is only 18 with no really male role models. I do like how the love seems to be one sided and in this episode young Victoria relaises that been Queen must come before everything and everyone.
I am glad that this storyline is coming to an end as in the closing scenes we saw Prince Albert stroll into Victoria's life.

This week in the tent it was bread week so Paul had his claws out! My favourites are still quirky Val but I do think she is holding on by the skin of her teeth. She should of went home this week instead or young Michael his bakes where bad but nothing as bad as Val raw dough elephant of Candice's collapsed brioche! My other favourites are Selasi, Andrew and Benjamina it will fun to see how they get on next week for the first ever batter week!

On The Box This Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

Last week I shed tears as my favourite Nadiya won The Bake Off

I was a bit gutted for Ian as he put his heart and soul into his unusual bakes.

Nadiya had a cracker of a weekend her final three bakes

just out classed the other two finalists

What I would of given to try those iced buns last Wednesday

(and no I'm not talking about Paul Hollywood ones)

Her showstopper of her Wedding Cake was amazing

and a little emotional as she said this is the cake I would of

like to have on my Wedding Day!

We watched her confidence grown as the weeks went on, when 

she was announced the winner, she cried, her family cried

Mary Berry cried and then we all cried!! 

I settled down with my glass of bubbles to

watch my favourite Sunday night treat Downton Abbey

This week's episode was less filled than last week which was full of special events
Tom is back and wondering what will he do now that Mary is looking after
the Downton Estate
The dashing racing car driver Mr Talbot is back!
He is handsome, polite and swims in the right circles but for me I just don't feel it
I am secretly hoping he is not the man for Mary!
I rather the chemistry Charles Blake and Mary had
or dare I say it the chemistry between Tom and Mary!
Baxter's past came back to haunt her this week
The police in Downton must be really busy with all the going's on with the Downton servants!!
Lovely Gwen (from the very first season) was back to take
lunch with the family, six years ago she was the one serving lunch to the family
as Thomas was quick to point out! Thomas was back on form as evil as ever!
Daisy has been more brash this session (tbh she is starting to annoy me)
she confronted her Ladyship about the farm this week luckily for her she didn't lose
her job and her Father-in law got the farm
My favourite quotes this week were:
"You couldn’t be harder on those potatoes if you wanted to make them confess to spying"
~Mrs Patmore to Daisy
“A monkey will type out the Bible if you leave it long enough.”
~Mary being nasty to Edith

The Walking Dead returned (Sunday in US) this Monday night

and I managed to stay away from the online spoilers all that day
I was so glad I did because this was a cracker of a season premier
Maybe not as fast paced as last year's one but I'm glad of that as
Season 5 failed to keep up that pace as it went on
Episode 1 of season 6 was extended to 90 minutes but for me
it went by so quick
We saw flash backs in black and white of what happened
after the season 5 finale,
which was a great way to tell between the flash backs
and present day it also was a good way to build up the tension
until we see the quarry of walkers!
Rick had a plan to get the walkers out of the quarry and
away from the community but with Rick's actions in the last season
still playing on peoples minds not everyone was quick to agree to it
Rick's plan was flawed but was working until someone or something
set off a very loud horn very near the community
Will we find out who that was next week? Who knows?!
I have high hopes for this season and am hoping the season
will be better than lasts, more of a slow burning with the
zombies more of a threat than past sessions. Will we finally know if
Wolves are near?

The season premier of The Flash was set six months after the last
episode with Barry Allen now working alone as he
blames himself over the death of his friend Ronnie
He seems to met his match in Atom-Smasher who has extra strength
when he is near toxin waste
The Flash soon realises he needs his friends help to fight this baddie
Barry is left a memory stick from past friend and villain Harrison Wells
who finally after 14 years confesses to the murder of Barry's Mother
Which would finally free Barry's Father from prison
With the gang back together and his Father out of prison
things finally seem to be going well for The Flash
Until that is a strange newcomer appears at Star Labs called Jay Garrick
My husband was delighted with this as he is a total geek and knows who Mr Garrick is!
I don't so I am hoping I will enjoy where this goes this season

So that's what we watching on the box this week
Glad that Autumn is back along with some great telly!

Our Favourite Autumn TV Shows

I love Autumn TV (I love Autumn in general!)
but I just love all the great TV shows that start back in the
Autumn time. I love after a long day lighting candles
with a glass of wine, cup of tea or hot chocolate
drawing the curtains putting the fairy lights on and
settling down to my favourite shows

Downton Abbey

I have made no secret about loving Downton Abbey
and have wrote about it a few times on this blog
I am so looking forward to this starting again on Sunday
especially as now the hubby really like it too,
but it will be bitter sweet as this is the last ever series
Will Mary find love? Will Carson and Hughes marry? Will poor Edith ever get a break? Will Anna and Bates have a child? Will Downton close it's doors for good? We will find out over the next couple of weeks!

The Walking Dead

From gentle costume drama to zombies!
I didn't start watching this show till last year when Paul
finally persuaded me to watch it. I binged on the first four series
and couldn't wait for series five, but to be honest I was disappointed
with series five while there was a few amazing episodes the season felt rushed
with a lots of filler episodes. I am hoping this season will be better with the
return of fan favourite Morgan, plus anything with Norman Reedus in it is a bonus!

Vikings

Vikings we got into this over the summer while some channels
were airing re-runs. It took me a while to get into it we are just finished season two and now Irish channel RTE is airing season three before season four starts on History in the Spring
It's all filmed in Ireland with a mix for European and American actors. The show is about Viking Ragnar Lothbrok who is frustrated by the policies of his local chieftain who sends his Viking raiders east to the Baltic states but Ragnar wants to head west to the rich Britain. I am really enjoying this show and the acting is really good too!

The Great British Bake Off

I love this show I haven't done much baking this year
as I am following Slimming World diet but I still like to drool over the cakes
and Paul Hollywood!!

Gotham

Another show that Paul got me watching and I was hooked after an
episode or two! This is a retelling of the Batman story with the show starting off when Bruce Wayne's parents are killed. The first half of the first season was more of a cop show with the focus on cop team Jim Gordan and Harvey Bullock solving the crime problem in Gotham. I felt like the story shifted in the second half of the season with us seeing more of the origins of the Batman villains, like Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler and The Penguin

Gogglebox

We love this show and have been watching since the first season
It's so much fun and we do laugh so much at each episode
On paper it sounds stupid watching people watch telly but it's so much more than that
and we have got to know the varies families The Tapper family, The Michael family and The Malones our favourites are The Moffatt especially Scarlet she is so funny, Leon and June, Chris and Stephen, and Steph and Dom

The Flash

Another comic show you can tell my hubby is a bit of a geek but that's okay cause it's cool now!
I like this not as much as Gotham but Paul loves it! This season was about Barry Allen who's mother was killed aged 11 and his Father was blamed and sent to prison. Now Barry works in the crime lab but a freak accident makes him The Flash which gives him the power of super speed he uses his power to fight crime! It's a good show but a little cheesy at times!

So these are the shows we are looking forward to returning after the summer break but there are also some new shows I am looking forward to watching this Autumn/Winter like The Muppets it will bring me straight back to my childhood! ITV's remake of Jekyll and Hyde and Scream Queens
What will you be watching over the Autumn or Winter?

My Top TV Shows At The Moment

I find that with the dark nights coming in and the winter settling in I often watch more TV than in the summer. Here are a few of my favourite shows to snuggling up on the sofa to watch with a cup of hot chocolate!

The Paradise

 I am enjoying this BBC One show. It is an adaptation of the novel Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola. It tells the story of the fictional first Department Store of 1800's called The Paradise. A young country girl Denise (Joanna Vanderham) starts work as a ladies wear sales girl she is soon caught up in the ideas and charm of The Paradise and also with its owner the dark and mysterious Mr Moray. It also has a wonderful cast including Sarah Lancashire, Emun Elliott, and Olivia Hallinan. If you like Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs you should give this a look.

Mike & Molly

I love this sitcom of a couple who met at an Over eaters Anonymous group and we see the up and downs of there relationship. The third series has started on Comedy Central UK and it takes off just as the couple get back from there honeymoon in Paris. The supporting cast are brilliant from Molly's wine drinking Mother Joyce, her pot smoking sister Victoria, Mike's smart mouth police partner Carl and Mike's sarcastic mother Peggy. It does often have the hubby and me laughing out loud!

The Great British Bake Off

I have never watched this show until this series. I think it was the different people that appealed to me this year when I decided to give it a go! Then of course the wonderful baking started and I just fell in love with this show! From crispbreads, petits fours, tortes and of course the show stoppers I was baking along, not very good but I was trying! The show is over now but we still have Mary and Paul's master classes on BBC Two to show us how its meant to be done. Oh My Giddy Aunt I can't wait!!

Father Ted

I am loving watching all the re-runs of this wonderfully funny Irish TV show! Father Ted Crilly and Craggy Island with it population of weird and funny characters! Father Jack..drink, drink drink! Father Dougal...real far away! Mrs Doyle..tea father?! Its such a funny show and it never get old no matter how much I watch it! More 4 show regular re-runs. My favourite episode is either the Christmas episode or Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse episode. Now go watch it go on, go on, go on, GO ON!!!

Once Upon A Time

This show is on Irish channel RTE One on Saturday or on Channel Five in the UK. Its an American ABC show it is a fantasy drama from the same people who brought us Lost. It takes place in the small town of Storybrooke the residents are actually characters from fairy tales that have been transported to the "real" world by an evil curse by a wicked witch. The only one who can break the curse is Emma who left the fairytale world before the curse was make thus making her the only person break the curse and restore everyone's memories. I am really enjoying this fun and light heart show.

The Big Big Theory

I am waiting for the next series for this to start on E4. This a really good funny show about four science geeks Leonard, Sheldon, Rajesh, Howard and there hot neighbour Penny. As the series have gone on we have met other characters such as Sheldon's girlfriend Amy, Howard's now wife Bernadette and have dealt with Penny and Leonard's on off relationship. I love this show and it always, always cheers me up after a bad day. Can't wait for series six to start showing on E4.

Downton Abbey

One of my favourite shows ever!! I have watched this from the very first episode way back in 2010! I love it! Set in the fictional Yorkshire estate of the amazing Downton Abbey it depicts the lives of the first class family the Crawleys and the servants who run Downton Abbey. From the lowly kitchen maid Daisy to master of the house Earl Robert Crawley. It has covered allot of events in its three series from the sinking of the Titanic, the first world war, Spanish flu and recently the civil unrest in Ireland. The first series for me was amazing the second was lacking but it back on form for this its third series. I can't wait for 9pm Sunday nights!

This is my list of favourite TV shows. What do you think of them and what are your favourite TV shows?