A love letter to RuPaul’s Drag Race

If you have never seen RuPaul’s Drag Race, then you need to lock yourself in a room, sign up to Netflix and get comfy.

It’s fabulous, and I am obsessed with it. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s essentially a mashup of Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model…but for drag queens, obviously.

It features the beauty that is Mr RuPaul as head judge who is either looking fierce in drag…

…or seriously dapper in one of his many smart suits:

It also features the one and only Michelle Visage – my personal favourite from this years CBB:

Who you can always rely on to tell it like it is…

Each episode involves challenges, and then a final runway. The losing queens each week then have to lip sync for their liiiiiives

And then the losers have to sashay away 😦

The queens themselves are amazing, of course

There’s always a good guest judge too…

And there’s plenty of shade being thrown, just to spice things up

Really, how can you not love it? If you’re in the UK then you can watch it Seasons 1-6 on Netflix. Season 7 is being shown in the US at the moment and technically isn’t available here yet…but that’s OK, cus if you haven’t seen it before you’ve got 6 wonderful seasons to catch up on (I would start with season 6 and work backwards). I love it and I hope you will too.

I’m gonna end this post with some words of wisdom from Ru, & hope you enjoyed my GIF overload!

 

All GIFs from giphy.com

21 Reasons Why You Should Definitely Watch Crufts 2015

Crufts is one of the TV highlights of the year (second only to the wonder that is Eurovision). It’s the worlds largest dog show, hosted by The Kennel Club with over 28,000 dogs taking part every year. If you haven’t watched it before, then I highly reccommend you tune in because dogs are THE BEST. If you need some persuading, here’s some reasons why:

1. Tiny dogs 

2. Huge dogs

3. Fluffy dogs

4. Dogs with dreadlocks

5. Dogs with better hair than you

6. Dogs with hardly any hair at all 

7. Dogs in raincoats

8. Dogs having the time of their lives jumping…

9 …and running on ramps…

10. …and weaving in and out of poles…

11. …and coming through tunnels! 

12. Doggy kisses

13. Dogs that change people’s lives

14. Patriotic dogs

15. Celebrity dog lovers

16. Dog breeds you probably haven’t seen before

17. Doggy dancing

18. Dogs with a cooler onesie than you

19. Dogs and owners with matching outfits

20. Wrinkly dogs that you just want to cuddle

21. And finally, the lovely Clare Balding who presents the show – the voice of all great TV events 

So make sure you don’t miss out on the greatest celebration of our four-legged friends – it starts Thursday 5th March on More4, 6.30pm and will be on over the weekend.

All photos Copyright onEdition 2014 ©

Review: Arthur and George, ep 1

The first episode of ITV’s new 3-part drama, Arthur and George, aired this evening. It stars Martin Clunes as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who forms a friendship with George Edelji (played by Arsher Ali). George has recently been released from prison having been convicted of mutilating horses (and threatening to do the same to children), and the story follows his journey to clear his name.

Today’s episode featured a round-up of the original story of George’s case, and Arthur beginning his investigations into the case. Although it was a little slow to start, it had plenty of mystery. It’s nice to see Martin Clunes not playing Doc Martin for a change; some people on Twitter complained about his Scottish accent but as a born and bred southerner it sounded Scottish enough to me…

Frustratingly, the sound levels were quite poor – and the music over the top of speech was quite loud! Always makes a drama less enjoyable when you have to strain to hear what’s going on…

I’ll include the trailer below – I found it a little bit creepier than the trailer lets on, but if you like that sort of weird Edwardian/Victorian esque mystery (lots of mist, shadowy figures, symbolic dead animals, creepy dolls) then you’ll probably enjoy this. I also enjoyed the romantic subplot between Arthur and his “friend” Miss Leckie, which provides some needed light relief. I think I’ll probably tune in for next week’s episode, but mainly because I can’t cope with an unsolved mystery. All in all, I felt it was pretty average – it wasn’t the worst drama I’ve seen but it certainly isn’t the best. What did you think?

TV To Look Forward To – March 2015

There are a few programs coming up in March that I definitely won’t be missing, and I think they’ll be worth tuning in for:

1. Ordinary Lies

I cannot find any definite scheduling times/dates for this drama, but I’ve heard it  should be appearing on screens at some point in March 2015…will update if I find out!

It stars Jason Manford, Michelle Keegan and Sally Lindsay among others, and explores how just a little white lie can spiral out of control and have huge consequences. I’m really interested to see how this one pans out, and looking forward to seeing Jason Manford in an acting role.

2. DCI Banks

Wednesday 4th March, 9pm, ITV1

Returning for its fourth season, with Stephen Tompkinson playing the title role. The DCI Banks books are some of my favourites, and I love a good detective show, so can’t wait for this!

3. Comic Relief 2015

Friday 13th March, 7pm, BBC1

The best way to brighten up a scary Friday 13th is to get funny for money! Always a good watch, and for an amazing cause – make sure to tune in (and donate if you can!).

4. Crufts 2015 

Starts Thursday 5th March, 6.30pm, More4

I am a huge dog lover, and I have a lot of love for Crufts. I’ve got a whole other blog post planned on this so I’m not going to go into much detail here, but if you have love for cute, fluffy, four-legged animals then this will be your kind of thing.

So there’s four programs I’ll be trying not to miss this month – I’m sure there are many more starting that I don’t know about/have forgotten, so let me know if you know of any good ‘uns.

February TV Favourites

My top 5 favourite TV moments from February 2015:

1. The Secret Life of a Four Year Old: This Channel 4 program was adorable and hilarious in equal measure. It followed a group of four year olds in a nursery setting, to see how they interact with each other when adults aren’t around. It included some very funny moments and some huge characters. I could definitely do with more than one episode of this.

2. Celebrity Big Brother Final: After one of the most explosive CBB series ever, it boiled down to the battle of the Katie’s: Hopkins vs. Price. Obviously the wrong one won – Katie Price was the most boring contestant in the whole series. Say what you like about Mrs Hopkins, at least she provided some entertainment.

3. Return of Gogglebox: I’m just happy to have Sandy & Sandra, Steph & Dom, Leon & June and the rest of the gang back on my screens. It’s one of the funniest TV programs on at the moment.

4. The Gift: My current favourite tear-jerker. If you haven’t seen it, it involves Matt Baker and Mel Giedroyc helping people to trace down people they want to thank or apologise to – it’s a bit like Long Lost Family but with people who aren’t related. So far, I’ve cried at every episode and I LOVE it.

5. That fall: 

I’m sorry Madonna, but that was hilarious. And Twitter practically exploded.

Sunday Night TV Battle: The Casual Vacancy vs. Indian Summers

Sunday night at 9PM is the perfect time for a drama – it gives you something to take your mind off the week ahead and the horrors of Monday. Two weeks ago, two new dramas started at this time. The first is The Casual Vacancy, showing on BBC1, which is based on JK Rowling’s novel of the same name. The second is Indian Summers, set in India in 1932 during the final years of British rule. It’s probably unfair to compare the two – The Casual Vacancy is a manageable 3 part adaptation whilst Indian Summers is a 10 episode beast of a series…this also means there’s only one episode of The Casual Vacancy to go. But as it stands so far, which one comes out on top?

SETTING

The Casual Vacancy: Quaint, quintessential English village – with a less desirable neighbouring council estate.

Indian Summers: Lush Indian (although technically Malaysian – it was filmed in Penang) vegetation, vibrant colours, bustling streets and beautiful villas. You can almost feel the heat, which is lovely when you’re sat in a rainy, freezing cold England.

Winner: Indian Summers. The setting is truly beautiful and really transports you somewhere far away from your sofa.

PLOT

The Casual Vacancy: Virtually everyone in the village is absolutely vile, and – spoiler alert – the one really nice guy dies. Then it’s a fight to see who will take his Parish Council place…although someone has other ideas. It moves at a nice pace and it’s easy to keep up with.

Indian Summers: No exaggeration, I have no idea what is going on. Not a clue. Given that my memory is awful and there are a lot of characters, I accept this could be all my fault but I had to resort to reading the Guardian’s episode recap just to find out what had happened. Obviously there are a lot of unanswered questions and secrets at the moment – which is a good thing because there’s 8 episodes left to fill…

Winner: The Casual Vacancy – purely because out of the two, I’m more excited about watching it’s conclusion. I admit, Indian Summers might get better as it goes but if I’m perfectly honest it’s a Sunday night and so far it’s requiring far too much concentration.

CHARACTERS 

The Casual Vacancy: Admittedly, most of the characters are horrible, but throughout the drama you get the opportunity to understand a little bit more about why they are the way they are. You also feel real sympathy for anyone under the age of 18 stuck in this god-awful village. I have a particular fondness for Kyrstal Weedon – daughter of a local heroin addict who is just trying to make her way through life.

Indian Summers: There are a lot of characters…I just haven’t felt any emotional connection with most of them yet. I do have a favourite but I literally cannot remember her name which sort of speaks for itself.

Winner: The Casual Vacancy.

CASTING

The Casual Vacancy: Dumbledore and Miss Marple, plus Rory Kinnear, Keeley Hawes and Emilia Fox.

Indian Summers: The one and only Julie Walters, plus the bully from The Inbetweeners and some amazing newbies.

Winner: The Casual Vacancy. Honestly thought Mrs Walters was unbeatable but we haven’t seen enough of her in the first two episodes and Michael Gambon and Julia McKenzie are killing it as the interfering, prejudiced old couple.

COSTUME, HAIR & MAKEUP

The Casual Vacancy: An impressively realistic heroin addict, an interesting take on school uniform and Keeley Hawes looking INCREDIBLE with flaming red hair.

Indian Summers: Seriously beautiful outfits – and some incredibly daring necklines for the 30’s.

Winner: Indian Summers

OVERALL WINNER

The Casual Vacancy. Out of the two, it’s the one I would recommend. However, Indian Summers seems like it has so much more to offer us, so may review it again in a couple of weeks to see if my feelings towards it change! You can catch up on both on iPlayer/4OD.

TV Weddings

I love weddings as much as the next girl, possibly more (I don’t want to admit to having picked my perfect engagement ring – but I have. Run now, boys). Weddings are great. Everyone’s happy and there’s great suits and dresses and flower arrangements which for some inexplicable reason I find fascinating. Celebrity weddings are so entertaining and I always feel I need to know who wore what, and how many tiers they had on their cake. It tends to be a girl thing which I think has been drilled into me from years of watching Disney films.

Of course, I love watching other people’s weddings so as a general rule weddings shown on TV are great. However, the TV weddings I am referring to here are the ones where the production company has paid for the wedding: Don’t Tell The Bride and Celebrity Wedding Planners are the only ones I can currently think of but I expect there are more!

Whilst they have different formats, essentially it boils down to a production company paying for your wedding. In DTTB the groom is given £12,000 to plan his wedding while the bride has no say whatsoever, in Celeb Wedding Planners, the celebrity is given £12,000 to plan the wedding, and the couple has no say whatsoever. So far, all good. These programs are funny and entertaining.

I only have one issue – why are brides the most ungrateful people on Earth?! Bearing in mind that someone else is paying for their entire wedding (so they’ve saved themselves 12 grand) why do they feel the  need to bitch and moan about everything in the lead up to their wedding? As far as I am aware, nobody forced them to take part in the show. If they wanted to plan it themselves that badly then they would never have signed up for the show. I know some of it must be for the cameras but a lot of the time they just come across as demanding and pretty self-centered.

I know its their ‘special day’ and everything, but you signed up for the show so suck it up and wear whatever dress (ugly or not) you are given. At the end of the day, it should be about the person waiting at the end of the aisle and not the chair covers, bridesmaid’s dresses or hen night!

The People of The Jeremy Kyle Show

If you have ever watched The Jeremy Kyle Show (and I assume that if you live in the UK then you have) you will understand the shows premise. People go on it in an attempt to find some sort of reasonable conclusion to arguments they have been having with friends, partners or their families – sometimes all three. They can have DNA and lie detector tests, and Jeremy Kyle attempts to mediate the feuding groups into some sort of peace. He does this aided by a very beefy security guard, who is present in case the participants forget they are on national TV and try and knockout their own mother or something, which happens all too frequently. He is also assisted by everybody’s favourite, Graham. Graham is Head of Aftercare on the show and is apparently able to help people with everything from drug addiction to organising child maintenance payments.

Often the title of the show revolves around a question that the participants wish to know the answer to. For example: Is my boyfriend also my brother? Will my fiance run off with my gay best friend? Is it true that my husband is sleeping with my sister? My brother stole my girlfriend but is he the father of my child? etc…

You get the general idea. However, when I watch The Jeremy Kyle Show, I have only usually have one question: HOW DID YOU GET ANYONE TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU?

To back up my point, I would like to supply you with some screenshots of people who have actually featured on the show:

I rest my case.

Maybe they just have really great personalities. Although judging from the show, this is difficult to believe. I reckon they must just have sex with other people who have also been on The Jeremy Kyle Show. I never ever see people that look this when I’m out and about, so god only knows where they all are. I hope they’re all very happy with each other, and all I would like to say to them is: ‘how about a visit to the dentist once in a while?’.

Dancing on Very Thin Ice

I have been watching this series of Dancing on Ice, mainly because there is nothing else on when I come in from work on a Sunday. But I’ve never really loved it, and I’m not sure why because judging by my taste in TV I should be completely obsessed. So, I’m breaking it down to try and understand why it doesn’t grab me as much as the other big reality shows (Strictly Come Dancing/X Factor)…

The things that are right with DOI:

• Phillip Schofield (my love for the Schofe knows no bounds).
• Getting to watch professional ice skaters do their job really well (in the professional routines, anyway)
• Getting to watch celebrities – I use the term loosely – fall over
• They wear pretty sparkly costumes

I was really scraping the barrel with that last one.

The things that are wrong with DOI:

• We no longer get to look at Holly Willoughby. Christine Bleakley is nice and everything, but she’s no Holly.
• It’s on a Sunday night, which is just wrong. As everyone knows, SATURDAY night is the home of reality TV. Sunday is for results night only, and by putting it all on a Sunday they have effectively ruined the structure of my weekend.
• The show doesn’t lead up to anything. When X Factor and Strictly start, everyone knows that its the run up to Christmas, and every week its gets a little bit more sparkly and exciting. DOI feels a little anti-climatic in comparison.
• They voted off Pamela Anderson in the first week. This would never have happened on Strictly. Its so disappointing.
• Speaking of them voting people off, the way they structured the first two weeks is ridiculous – they had just six celebrities performing each week and voted one out each week, which wasn’t fair at all.
• Jason Gardiner. He is mean, and not mean in a good way a la Craig Revel Horwood. Just mean. Maybe he just needs to get laid.
• Half of the judging panel know nothing about ice skating.
• Nobody really cares who wins.

In conclusion, DOI just isn’t as good as the other reality show offerings that ITV brings us throughout the year. Although I’ll probably carry on watching it as I’m always brain dead after work on a Sunday, and crave mindless entertainment. If my opinion of it improves then I will take it all back and explain myself, I promise…

10 Reasons why Daytime TV is a good thing

Daytime TV is one of my favourite guilty pleasures, but I no longer want to feel guilty for enjoying it when I can. Here’s ten reasons why we should all celebrate daytime TV:

1. When you’re allowed a day off school because you’re sick, it feels like a treat to be sat there watching Homes Under the Hammer knowing that all your friends are in their Maths lesson.

2. Old people use it for company/something to do when they can’t go out. Getting rid of daytime TV would be like age discrimination.

3. This Morning is sort of like the Mail Online in a TV show, so you can get all your gossip/health tips/cooking info/news updates without having to read anything. Which is probably pretty useful for a proportion of the population.

4. Jeremy Kyle will ALWAYS make you feel better about your own life. If you’re feeling miserable because you’ve been dumped/lost your job/having a bad day, switch on Jezza and immediately feel better because you know who your own father is/the father of your baby isn’t questioning the paternity because the baby is ginger/your mum isn’t a 62 year old pensioner who won’t stop sleeping around (all of these have actually featured on the show).

5. Students need something to distract them from work. As do people who work from home. Similarly, unemployed people need something to distract them from trying to get a job.

6. The adverts in the breaks between daytime TV shows are usually hilariously bad and tend to focus on a target market of incontinent elderly women.

7. Loose Women. I admit it divides people, and a lot of people hate it but I am not one of those people. I love it. Mostly because it means its lunch time, and I like to structure my day when I’m at home doing nothing.

8. Really (the channel) offers such gems as Bridezillas, Don’t Tell the Bride, and Cheaters. Which is brilliant for everybody who has an hour to spare because everybody loves these programs. I have heard so many men complain about watching DTTB, but I put it on when my whole family was around and everybody watched it (included Dad, uncles, brothers, grandad) and they were SO involved by the time the actual wedding came around. So don’t tell me you don’t love it, boys.

9. Getting to look at Holly Willoughby/Phillip Schofield. Because everybody must fancy one of them at least a little bit. How could you not?!

10. There is something for everyone on daytime TV. If you’re willing to surrender some of your intellectual integrity then you will undoubtedly find something to watch and enjoy. It would just be nice if we could all start admitting that we enjoy it so that people like me don’t feel quite so bad…

(I would like to add here that I don’t watch daytime TV EVERY day, and when I do it isn’t all day, because if you did that I think you would probably go a little bit insane)