I can't quite work out how I feel about Nancy Drew becoming public domain. It's not like I can just go ahead and write some Nancy Drew, is it? Even though that's a dream I've had for several decades and I know *exactly* how to do it very, very well.

Here's to a New Year that brings better things, hope, progress and love. Here's to looking out for one another, to having no truck with bigotry, bullying and oppression. Here's to helping and giving. If you can see this, you know where I am if you need me. Let's see what we can all do together.

So 2025 was the year I bumped into German game show Klein gegen Groß, in which talented kids compete against celebrities, sometimes in very impressive tests, sometimes in daft games. This was the first clip I saw. Maybe you'll get hooked too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QQ-...

See the closedown of several MTV channels at 6am this morning, ending with exactly what you might expect. www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1yh...

Went the anagram route today, apparently. 🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

According to the psychic wordsearch clogging up my feed, my 2026 is going to be ruled by butter, rind and Ravel. Presumably Maurice and not Freddie.

And now from @markharrison.bsky.social, it's the quiz of the year. filmstories.co.uk/features/the...

New Muppet Show documentary from BBC Radio 4 and host Louise Gold. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

As far as I know the only new Scooby-Doo this year was a cameo gag in an episode of Teen Titans. This hasn't happened in a while. Let's not have it happen again, shall we?

12YO girl signed up to do “stand up comedy” at the talent show. 13YO boy decided to heckle her. Teacher started to tell the boy to leave her alone, but the 12YO comedian said “no, no, let him go, this is the closest he’s ever going to get to having a conversation with a girl.”

The new Avatar has the same story structure as three weeks of Eastenders culminating in the greatest hits of The Return of the King, all rendered with jaw-dropping, eye-popping, ear-rumbling aesthetics. I love pretty much every bit of it even if it adds up to far less than the sum of its parts.

Santa's Beard. youtu.be/xKBk4aP4-nE

It's the day for Jon Brigg's latest ghost story reading, The Bells of Marlowe House.

The ace Katie Norris is on Cats Does Countdown tonight and I should say she's absolutely one of the best comedians right now and leave it at that but because everything needs some hustle I have to also say she's in my upcoming audio drama Rez High and absolutely nails her very unusual role.

Each of Leonie Swann's sheep detective novels - the somewhat more mature books on which the upcoming Hugh Jackman movie has been based - will cost you just 99p for a Kindle download today. The first was translated by Asterix genius Anthea Bell! www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D2RZYRF...

2025 was the year I went from respecting, admiring and not really clicking with Raye to hearing Where is my husband! for the first time and immediately rewinding live TV to play it again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKc...

Solid gold Taskmaster tonight. Absolutely blinding prize task. A few friends didn't realise it was on - if that's you too, I recommend hitting the Channel 4 catchup when you can.

Fucking hell, almost fell asleep at my desk during that Odyssey trailer

Who will be inside the snowman costume on tonight's Beyond Paradise Christmas special? Danny John-Jules? Joséphine Jobert? Prince Harry? Claudia Winkleman?

It's a whodunnit, a howdunnit and a whydunnit all in one! And it's 50% off! -> store.steampowered.com/app/368370/H...

Indulge me while thread together a few (very late) Christmas gift ideas. I'm using the 'If I want it, I'll recommend it' rule, starting with Matt Leacock's Lord of the Rings game, Fate of the Fellowship. www.zmangames.com/game/the-lor...

That lad @markharrison.bsky.social has taken time off from watching Frasier to write a Christmas quiz for @filmstories.bsky.social, complete with some cheeky misdirection, sneaky inclusions and lots of fun. filmstories.co.uk/news/film-qu...

Guy Ritchie is having another, unconnected go at Sherlock Holmes. Not for the first time, young Holmes is in Oxford. You never know, it might be great. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-NE...

I want this 'find the deed, save the day!' film with Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Jacki Weaver and I want it right now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKvk...

For now at least I choose to believe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i344...

Emmerdale Farm got cheers and applause on last night's Late Show with Stephen Colbert. www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6eS...

Finally, Spielberg's making a movie about beatboxing. Do you reckon somebody dubbed Emily Blunt or did she go full method?

Now both of Joe Lycett's episodes of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue have aired it's vividly clear that they need him back whenever they can, like Would I Lie to You with Bob Mortimer, or indeed Last One Laughing with Bob Mortimer. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

@alasdairstuart.bsky.social When they talked about the plot of the unmade Knight's Tale sequel in this, I thought of you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZFh...

Here's a direct link for those looking to order. www.cbeditions.com/hesketh.html

Kindle people can grab lots of Diana Wynne Jones books, including all three of the Howl's Moving Castle series and the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, for just 99p each today. www.amazon.co.uk/amz-books/bo...

Yes, of course Emma Thompson is funny and exciting, but the real hook in Down Cemetery Road is Ruth Wilson, as she cycles nonsense routes around a sort-of Oxford, pulls persistently on the plot's tangled threads and has her amazing Ruth Wilson face.

Was writing something with a dragon in it and have become slightly dragon obsessed.

Dick Van Dyke's Diagnosis Murder is a Jake and the Fatman spin-off that pines for the TV of the 60s and 70s. Matlock, Mannix, and Mission: Impossible's Cinnamon Carter all appear in episodes, as does a younger Van Dyke, in vintage footage from The Dick Van Dyke Show. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFG1...

A rare chance to catch Keith Gordon's excellent but underseen adaptation of William Wharton's novel, set in the last days of WW2 in the Ardennes, with Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Ethan Hawke, Ayre Gross, Gary Sinise, Frank Whaley, John C. McGinley. 6pm at London ICA today WITH DIRECTOR Q&A!

insanely good thing to say when you enter a room

I love this film so very much.

I've just lost Proper Crimbogeddon.

Some Dawson Brothers spoke with @simonbrew.bsky.social about Fackham Hall and taught him interesting things about working with pigs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egcs...

Crack down on audience bad behaviour. It’s ruinous.

Treat yourself to a free demo of the new Moomin game. store.steampowered.com/app/3256150/...

Found a doorway in Munich into which the devil had somehow become trapped in metalwork. I assume you have to knock six times to release him...

My 1994 Sunday Telegraph review of BLINK (nb I would almost certainly enjoy this film more now than back when I watched it in the company of a bunch of grumpy film critics at a screening sandwiched between FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and A DANGEROUS WOMAN. (Jeez, only three new releases that week?)

We went to see Gremlins tonight. Wonderful craft and imagination. There could not possibly be a worse choice of writer-director for the next one than Chris Columbus. I know people think of this one as quintessentially 80s but 30s-50s cinema is the key to understanding where it all comes from.

My daughter is currently crowdfunding for her first short film as a writer-director, based on her experience of working as a waitress over the past few years, shooting on location in London with a talented, young, all-female crew. Please share/donate if you can! www.kickstarter.com/projects/pos...

This playlist contains beloved stop motion film Madame Tutli-Putli and several behind-the-scenes videos. This is great! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

I was always excited about Christmas TV. It was a big part of the celebration for screen-loving me. I got the Radio Times again this year. Where movie premieres used to be the big draw for me, now it's the Beyond Paradise special, Stuffed or the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

Here's a little light in the world. New Jonathan Creek, in the form of a script for David Renwick's unproduced play The Fantom of the Acropolis. How could I resist? www.kickstarter.com/projects/idi...

I'm aware of the trope wherein a party of adventurers meet in at an inn. It seems rooted in Tolkien's Prancing Pony. The party normally has a fighter and a magic user. What else can you tell me about this trope, as if I know nothing?