Typical of Bluesky to become an intolerable place to be if you're more than one episode behind with Pluribus. Anyway, done now. Great. And maybe a 2025 soaked in Chantal Akerman has affected my brain, but the slow quotidian horror of it all really pleased me.

"It's not even Pitbull's best song." Yes, we are watching the darts.

now we find out if the rest of the world does anything to stop a rogue state, run by narcissists, rich kids, attorneys & podcasters, treating anything or anyone they want like a piñata - i imagine Starmer is in a meeting now checking with his advisors on best way to avoid upsetting the Daily Mail

In Agadoo did Kubla Khan Push pineapples, shake the tree

Let the annual tradition commence. #NowPlaying

The hit of Hogmanay goodness you need if you're still awake. Rik Mayall! Celia Imrie! And Peter Capaldi, somehow! youtu.be/zOVaThzcn_w?...

The Daily Mail letters page's hot take on the early closedown of television from mid-December 1973. No doubt Mrs Pratap is sick and tired of dealing with hungover shop assistants angry that The Old Grey Whistle Test once again failed to feature a live studio session from Hookfoot.

I have watched an awful lot of darts today.

Looking forward to bringing a new Penda's Fen talk to the good people of Lewes on 14 January as part of a triple bill. Tickets here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/dr-bramwell/...

The secret is out – my authorised biography of Sir Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Open All Hours) is to be published by Ten Acre Books in 2026. Getting to know Roy over the years has been a joy and it's a honour to be entrusted with telling his story. Watch this space.

Winter draws on!

Just casually inventing the music video, there. RIP Brigitte youtu.be/Wa7wjr1NwhA?...

You can’t see the Woodward for Dotrice.

Wrapping up Christmas Day with this utterly glorious read from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social

Again, this is a strong, clear article by Christian Kriticos about the wrong-headed changes to access at the crucially important BBC Written Archives Centre, and why they must be reversed. www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/65a1031...

I've signed this. I spent three years in and out of Caversham for a thesis on one particular aspect of the BBC's history. But the BBC is one of the UK's four or five most crucial institutions of the last 100 years. Impossible to write much of that history with limited access to those archives.

I think Christmas may have peaked with the Muppet Christmas Carol / Weapons double bill we did on Sunday. Great fun but I would be lying if I said there were parallels.

Wish there were still TV programmmes interviewing French critical theorists

The open letter is here and still open, but use the email at the top to do so. tinyurl.com/bbcwaccampaign

Imminent!

We hope everyone enjoys tonight's profile of Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd on BBC Four. We're pleased to announce we'll be publishing Innes' recently discovered memoirs. Innes Lloyd: Memory Box is edited by Charles Norton from Innes' surviving manuscripts and diaries, and will be released in 2026.

Just up on the Telegraph, a thorough and thoughtful piece about the wrongheaded policy changes at WAC. Thanks to Kate Murphy, @illuminations.bsky.social, @unamccormack.bsky.social and @marklewisohn.bsky.social for giving up their time. Gift link here www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/65a1031...

The BBC is trying hard to put a positive spin on its damaging policy changes at the Written Archives, which have alienated the research community. Here's our rebuttal to today's "good news" story. tinyurl.com/WACrebuttal

“Exterminated! The daft Dr Who festive special that’s lost in time” - me on The Feast of Steven in today’s print edition of the Telegraph. A merry Christmas to all of you at home. #DoctorWho

One of the excellent Company 2025 players is interviewed on Ivor's Resonance show at noon. If it's anything approaching the quality of her music, it will be a great listen. www.resonancefm.com/schedule?gad...

I had to read this twice. It made me giddy.

The listening pile is ready for Christmas Day tomorrow. "Tomorrow?" you ask. Yes. Because it's Xmas with Simon. Take it away, Mark... youtu.be/vRp9ZiTUQgo?...

Bod on BBC Four, back to back with episode 1 of Pleribus. Which I think demonstrated one importamt thing: let people who love television make television. I don't think it's any more complicated than that.

This was a lovely listen last night. A big button reading "Christmas Has Begun". www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Oh dear. Found another 20 at the storage unit.

"Pink minstrel." Sean Lock summed him up very well.

A 25yo Fall fan in 1978 is 72 now, give them to a local care home!

"You have to get them all," said John Peel of The Fall. A statement tested to destruction in recent years, if you ask me. Nowhere have I seen his advice on what to do with all your obsolete editions after 30+ years of collecting. (Pictured, sadly)

Twenty-five years since the wonderful Kirsty MacColl was killed. A singer-songwriter who just kept getting better and better. One of many favourites, this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZE4...

Yuletide felicitations! The 1975 Christmas 'Radio TV Times' magazine is now available! 🎁 Explore 10 days of December 1975’s TV listings across both BBC and ITV. Open the PDF, click on a programme title and start streaming from various platforms. 🤶 visualmutterings.com/1975-christm...

We are sad to hear of the death of our friend and RPS Honorary Member, Sir Humphrey Burton. Few have done so much to proclaim classical music’s wonders. Through his brilliant TV programmes and vivid insightful writing, he set a gold standard for us all to sustain, engaging millions with music.

Devastated to hear of the passing of Sir Humphrey Burton at 94. What a career, and so well loved by his peers. Someone who for me was the beating heart of public service and changed television for the better. Here's my tribute to him on his 90th. cstonline.net/the-five-deg...

Well that went pretty much perfectly. Thanks to the ten wonderful performers who all said yes and made it seem effortless. An idea 49 years old doesn't really need a proof of concept, but the world perhaps needed reminding. (Pic by Mark Wastell)

This is because Christie gave all her stories clear titles like "The Mystery of the Death on the Omnibus" and "Mary Had A Little Murder", while Ellison called all his "'Avast, Mine Attendant!' Wept The Desperado" and "Methinks A Computer Wouldst Damn The World"

I'm not one for getting starstruck but I ran a gig tonight with Charles Hayward in the line up. This Heat are and always will be enormous to me. The British answer to Can, in my mind, and every bit as good.

Oh man

In contrast to yesterday's praise for Year of Listing Dangerously, the Guardian wins all the wooden spoons for deathly television writing in 2025. Today's example is quite, quite bad. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Delighted to be sharing a bill with Kit Hollerbach and Philippa Stanton at the Catalyst Club in Lewes on 14 Jan. I have a 20-minuter in me about Penda's Fen, I just need to find it in the next month. Tickets here www.ticketsource.co.uk/dr-bramwell/...

Aaaaand...relax. #LovelyPost

WOW 👀 WOW 👀 WOW Not HD, but absolutely amazing broadcast footage of Derek Bailey solo and in trio with Tony Coe (cl) & Tebbe Lipere (perc), at the 1984 Claxon Festival (Utrecht). + Richard Teitelbaum, Diamanda Galas & others. "The BEST of CLAXON-FESTIVAL (VPRO/1984)" youtu.be/aSXJ2eY1XVw?...

"In places, Blackeyes comes perilously close to being Eskimo Nell with a first from Oxford." A very good Year of Listing Dangerously this weekend. Deep knowledge always in the service of very good jokes. My favourite writing about television this year.

Cabaret Voltaire's session for BBC Radio slipped under the wire a bit last month. No fanfare. No headline billing on Sounds. But it's solid and well worth a listen. Gives you a good sense of what you may have recently missed on tour: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGEZ...