[TV] What's good to watch on BBC iPlayer ?

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Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
I watched The Hairy Bikers Coming Home For Christmas yesterday. Dave and Si cook a meal for the people who helped Dave while he was getting treatment for cancer. A bit more of a weepy one that usual for the Hairy Bikers.
 














Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,878
I've been working my way through the Dr Who back catalogue. I have jumped around a bit to see episodes/series that I remember liking a lot at the time (the Ecclestone one with the Dalek being a particular favourite), but predominately I've started with Hartnell.

Jeez a lot of it is shit. Just goes to show you should never judge the past by today's standards (for anything) as I thought it was great at the time.
 


deletebeepbeepbeep

Well-known member
May 12, 2009
21,806
Watched a bit of Reecher, is it me or does it feel like the actors are just reading out lines of exposition continually to the viewer rather than interacting with each other.

Also all of the main characters are characterized as perfect do gooders even though they are mass murdering killing machines.

I know it's meant to be a bit of fun but it's a bit shit even for that.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
I've been working my way through the Dr Who back catalogue. I have jumped around a bit to see episodes/series that I remember liking a lot at the time (the Ecclestone one with the Dalek being a particular favourite), but predominately I've started with Hartnell.

Jeez a lot of it is shit. Just goes to show you should never judge the past by today's standards (for anything) as I thought it was great at the time.
Its down to many little evolutions and adaptions, they never had the picture quality and special effects budgets available today.

Dr Who Rule #1 "However intelligent and evil an adversary is, their method of killing is usually to walk slowly forwards with hands/polyps/tentacles extended and to strangle their victims "

Dr Who Rule #2 " If you are attacked as in Rule #1 above, no attempt to escape can be made by walking briskly or jogging away from a slow moving adversary."

Dr Who Rule #3 " Rule#2 does not apply if you are currently with the Doctor when confronted by an adversary, running is now obligatory. "
 




Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,878
Its down to many little evolutions and adaptions, they never had the picture quality and special effects budgets available today.

Dr Who Rule #1 "However intelligent and evil an adversary is, their method of killing is usually to walk slowly forwards with hands/polyps/tentacles extended and to strangle their victims "

Dr Who Rule #2 " If you are attacked as in Rule #1 above, no attempt to escape can be made by walking briskly or jogging away from a slow moving adversary."

Dr Who Rule #3 " Rule#2 does not apply if you are currently with the Doctor when confronted by an adversary, running is now obligatory. "
:lolol:

I accept the budget bit, it's just that some of the stories and/or resolutions (along with the actual progression) are dreadful. 'The Edge of Destruction' and 'The Keys of Marinus' being two examples.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
:lolol:

I accept the budget bit, it's just that some of the stories and/or resolutions (along with the actual progression) are dreadful. 'The Edge of Destruction' and 'The Keys of Marinus' being two examples.
Usually a 4/5 part Dr Who of 25 mins a pop could effectively be broken down in to 50 minutes of actual running time... the " Sandpit " era of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor was one of the worst..
 








Van Cleef

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2023
848
This has been recommended before (maybe on the other iplayer thread) but Hell or High Water is a brilliant film. So good I watched it again and I don't really "do" modern films.
Oh, and School for Scoundrels is available too for any Ealing fans out there.
 


Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
Been working through some of the Storyville documentaries.
The Taking of Pattie Hearst is a cracking story.
Continuing the revolutionary theme, the Black Panthers is a worth a watch, and The Trials of Oppenheimer was very interesting too.
I don't know if it is part of the storyville series (may have been arena?) but I recently watched 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' which was quite interesting. Covering the life of artist Nan Goldin and her efforts to hold the Sackler family to account for the opioid epidemic in the US.
 




armchairclubber

Well-known member
Aug 8, 2010
1,658
Bexhill
Finding the series Kin a real thriller. This totally passed me by think first series was 2021?
Dublin gangland war with brilliant casting each and every one.
Edit: Don't watch much TV.. now see not alone!
 
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vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
Saw the first episode of the new series of The Tourist last night. Not sure if it's " Good " to watch as its got very gory all of a sudden and also rather weird. The action has moved to Ireland now in the hope of finding out Elliot's past and recovering his memory. So in a nutshell, we have a policeman besotted by a lifesize female doll, violent abductions, someone nearly killed by a molotov cocktail, and divers murdered while underwater and a truly grislily murder in broad daylight.

As I get older I struggle with ever increasing anxiousness with many things and graphic murder,wounding, torture etc rather sets it off alarmingly for me. Nearly every drama these days involves murders and its getting so repetitive.
 




vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
Mad about the boy : The Noel Coward Story...

Knew very little about him bar Mr Bridger...

Now know lots more and glad I do, well worth 90 minutes of your time imo
Yes, watched this, very interesting programme indeed. He had a quiet arrogance and a wonderful charm and was excellent in many fields, amazing when you consider he left school practically uneducated.

Have referenced here or in a similar thread that " Archie, The man who would be Cary Grant " is worth watching too on ITVPlayer, another one who had an awful childhood yet rose above it, Jason Issacs brilliant as Grant !
 




vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
Managed to finish the second series of The Tourist. I think we may have missed one episode but it did not adversely affect anything in this slapdash and stereotyped thriller.

A couple of characters from the first season put in a needless reappearance and at one point the female lead is shot in the stomach but is up and about quite merrily after a week ! Lots of mean looking Oirishmen chambering their rifles and pump action shotguns over and over again to look macho...the Gardai rarely bothered to put in an appearance despite all the corpses and shootings piling up...other than that, it's adequate, just. If they do a third series, and there was a hint, I dread to think how much dafter it will become.
 


Wozza

Custom title
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
24,383
Minteh Wonderland

Highly recommend the award-winning Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea, which dropped on iPlayer a few days ago.

Description:

A suspenseful, immersive look at the lengths to which people will go to gain freedom. The film follows various individuals as they attempt to flee North Korea, one of the most oppressive places on earth and a land they grew up believing was a paradise.

At the film’s core are a mother desperate to reunite with the child she was forced to leave behind; a family of five - including small children and an elderly grandmother - embarking on a treacherous journey across the Yalu River and into the hostile mountains of China; and a South Korean Christian pastor on a mission to help them.

Leaving their homeland is fraught with danger - severe punishment if caught and possibly even execution - as well as potential exploitation by unscrupulous brokers. Family members who remain behind may also face retribution. Yet these individuals are driven to take the risk.

Gripping, visceral and urgent, Madeleine Gavin’s film embeds the viewer with these family members as they attempt their perilous escape, palpably conveying life-or-death stakes.
 


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