Tonight, I’m mainly digging into the Blake’s 7 production paperwork that’s on the new blu-Ray. Very exciting.

Giving this a Sunday night bump. The video version drops on Thursday, so prepare yourself for clips of Black Orchid, and Derek Thompson with big hair.

Another excellent post. Love the idea of the Vogan Private Godfrey.

A long, long post on the novelisation Doctor Who The Revenge of the Cybermen by Terrance Dicks, the first to feature the bohemian Fourth Doctor: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/11/doct... #books #booksky #DoctorWho

Another great episode of this outstanding series.

NEW! #FirstLastAnything Ep 32: We are back each Sunday, till Christmas, and my guest today - versatile and fascinating music writer and musician Joanna Wyld (@joannawyld.bsky.social) - talks about bellringing, Queen, liner notes, Molly Drake and much more. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/11/09/f...

I had a long talk with the luminous Laura Dern about her roles in "Jay Kelly" and "Is This Thing On?," her New Hollywood childhood, her lifelong collaboration with David Lynch, and her mother, Diane Ladd, who died a few weeks after we spoke. www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...

Next Sunday. Screening an ultra rare BBC Christmas ghost story and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the superb A View from a Hill, plus a chat with its writer, Peter Harness. Details and tickets:

I'm watching Blake's 7 blu-ray extras. God, I love Blake's 7.

Catching up on Friday's TOTP. There's such a dodgy vibe from BA Robertson and his band. They all look like they've recently relocated to small remote villages to avoid detection for a sequence of terrible crimes.

Honestly I also want to start making up awards and then giving them to myself and to my friends. I think it is a good, fun idea.

After a tough couple of days, The Wheel is just what I need.

I'm currently staying at the Novotel Nottingham Derby, which - remarkably - features in Mötley Crüe's book The Dirt. Here I am getting into the spirit of things.

I've had the bleakest of days today, but will attempt to rectify life by watching The Perfect Kiss. It's usually a tonic.

A new episode of World of Telly is out now. This week we look at the political thriller Harry's Game from October 1982. It's available wherever you get your podcasts. The video version of this episode will be out next week.

We've posted some news about World of Telly going forward, which you can read on our free-to-join Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/world-... Many thanks!

According to the paperwork, the full Thorburn frame was shown off VT. Duration 19'42" followed by a 15" live closing link from David Vine.

...was the final on the 13th. Unless the highlights show featured the entire break, the first time the TV audience got to see it in full was on Sun 28th Feb at 10pm, when it was shown in a special programme called "147 Break". So who got the first *live* TV 147?

It seems completely forgotten now, but the Lada Classic was on ITV and the 147 wasn't shown live. The break happened on Mon 11 Jan, and ITV had no snooker coverage at all that day (I suspect clips made the news, though). They had 45min of highlights on the 12th, and the only live coverage...

This was an underrated break. I seem to recall Davis had no sleep the night before because of transport issues, and he left himself a nightmare final pink which he potted brilliantly. And won a Lada. He tells the story here: youtu.be/9lQdDq4Yq1s?...

The Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham, where Steve Davis made the first televised maximum break, is due for demolition soon. I understand the final event there will be the town's Festival of Remembrance on Friday night at 7pm, with my band doing the music. See you there! youtu.be/CgnAIsPY8hA

Great to see John’s blog back up and running. If you haven’t already then do explore his rich archive of posts - loads of fascinating material in there.

Today's post reverts to the 'On this day in early British television' format, and considers the film documentary 'Television Comes to London', shown on the afternoon of Thursday 5 November 1936. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...

Life during wartime: a post that brings together early BBC television from Alexandra Palace with the National Portrait Gallery's 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World' through a striking image of announcer-turned-Air-Ministry-driver Elizabeth Cowell. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/life-during-...

Kept it to the end.. www.mediavillage.com/article/memo...

Fancy Wanders - Gurney Slade co-writer Sid Green orchestrates a slight return of the original mould-breaking surreal sitcom two decades later, with Dave King and Joe "the Fresh Prince butler" Marcell, bewildering a new generation just after Play Your Cards Right. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

The sign of an unhealthy mind. I’ve just been watching Philip Saville’s Count Dracula, and I thought to myself “as the TV is in 4:3, I might as well watch Who Do You Do?”

Me looking at your posts.

After a month-long hiatus imposed by the labours of proofing and indexing 'Magic Rays of Light', I have re-booted the Illuminations blog, to continue my notes about pre-war television but also to broaden the focus and interests. Do take a look: www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...

I was reading various articles about Anthony Hopkins over breakfast this morning, and this extract intrigued me. I wonder which film he’s talking about? Juggernaut with Richard Harris, David Hemmings, and Omar Sharif in the cast seems possible except it’s a great film. Any other candidates?

This Man Alive: Office Party episode is amazing.

What’s it like in your head?

A big long post on Massacre in the Hills, the second Mounties novel by Terrance Dicks, featuring bucks, blizzards and - content warning - a racist 19th century term: 0tralala.blogspot.com/2025/11/mass...

I was going to write something today, but I’m suffering from post-“staying up too late watching baseball“ torpor, so I won’t. I am definitely no longer able to stay up beyond 4am without it writing off the next day.

Another great article. The description of Mackenzie is particularly brilliant: ”as if the cast of Crossroads suddenly had a crack at doing Eyes Wide Shut.”

45 years ago this week Tom Baker was in a swamp, Nyree Dawn Porter was in a void, Dennis Potter was in Eastbourne, Brigit Forsyth was in a swimsuit adorned with saucepans, and Peter Purves was in Newcastle commentating on fireworks. All this and Ollie Beak too! open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

We know it’s slightly later than expected, but Jonathan has uncovered a treasure trove of new behind-the-scenes info and pics on Series C and we want this to be the best book it possibly can. Bear with us a little longer. Production continues on #Blakes7 Production Diary Series C. Out early 2026.

Is Yamamoto an irresistible force or an immovable object? I think he might be both. What a player.

I'm knackered, but I'm glad I've stayed up to witness this madness. #baseball

Not much of a Bob Peck anecdote, but it’s the best I’ve got: we saw him in a double bill of Arthur Miller one-act plays at the Young Vic, and by the time we got out and into the pub next door (The Windmill?) he was already in situ, blowing the froth

Nearly 25 years ago I wrote a long Tolkien fanfiction about Faramir and Éowyn and what happened after the fairy-tale. I posted chapters as I was writing them: it became my first full-length novel…

Great series. And Peck so good. Extraordinarily, he agreed to narrarte the first comedy pilot I ever made. The cast and I walked down the corridor of BH with him, in total awe. He said, in passing that he’d just got back from LA having made a film called Jurassic Park. “Don’t know if it’s any good”

The mighty Edge of Darkness is on BBC4 tonight at 9.15 and also on iPlayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... You can get yourself in the mood by watching our video podcast up to the spoiler warning. Lots of stuff about Troy Kennedy Martin and other prime movers behind this fantastic series.

I finally got to see Peter Watkins’ The Trap this afternoon. Thanks to @greavesian.bsky.social for alerting me to its presence on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk0e...

Big episode of the podcast coming tomorrow. Tons of chatter, analysis, predictions, data, and insights into the recent past, the murky present, and the intriguing future of #DoctorWho. Find it where you get your podcasts!

Unwise intentional walk.

And if you enjoy this episode of Doomwatch, then you could watch our “rabies special” video podcast where we cover a number of TV series featuring foaming at the mouth and an unwell Basil Brush. youtu.be/UF2_4lp61C4?...

Oh fuck it’s May. Benny’s Theme is better than this atrocity.

Some spooky reprints have appropriately arrived on Halloween. 🎃 The Quatermass Experiment: The Making of TV's First Sci-Fi Classic and Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene are back in stock and could be haunting your bookshelves. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk/

By first post. SECOND POST IS TOAST.