As I do most years, I have taken some time off work over the Wimbledon fortnight to be able to absorb as much tennis as possible, and boy what a first week of grass court action we have had. I paid quite a lot more attention to Wimbledon Qualifying this year as well, so was going into this week with plenty of tennis activity already in my mind, and lots of names to look out for.

It’s Wimbledon fortnight so completely understandable that this popped back up on the iPlayer. It’s been on my list to watch for a while but I’m left a bit nonplussed by the whole thing. The story of Serena and Venus absolutely deserves a retelling but why is the focus of this on the dad? He played his part, sure, but they’re the ones doing the work and breaking down the fences. Not sure if it was the intention but the film definitely made me wonder how much more they could have achieved if he hadn’t been so obstructive. As a film, it’s fine, it’s well made, it tells the story, it does the job, but the subject matter just needed a lot more thought.

A fun little film this. It’s a bit slow starting but I like that it doesn’t over-explain anything to start with, you just go on the journey with these characters. It’s also great to have a time travel movie that isn’t really about time travel, it’s there to serve as an opportunity for redemption, and a few fun jokes along the way… it’s a fun take on the genre. The trio/quartet of main characters have great chemistry together, and the twists and turns really took me by surprise. You were never quite sure what was going to happen and whether it was really true or not. The soundtrack was exceptional, nostalgic but not aged, and really fitting the action well. And there are deep cut references and areas where I need to do more homework, so plenty to revisit on future watches as well. Loved it.

It’s always nice when there’s a reason to pick a classic album, rather than just random selections. This one has just been remastered as a thirty year anniversary, and even though I refuse to admit the 90s was that long ago, I dived right into this. It’s brilliant. Tina’s exceptional vocals but evolving and keeping up with the times. Occasionally it’s a bit middle of the road, but then you have absolute bangers like Missing You and On Silent Wings. Plus a bit of Bond, what more do you need?

I don’t know if I had any specific expectations of this album, but it was exactly what you’d think an Embrace album should be like. It has that 2000s feel but doesn’t sound dated, it’s upbeat for the most part and it feels a bit more approachable than when bands had to be cool. It’s not gonna shake the music world at all, but I really liked it!

I’m deep in watching Wimbledon at the moment, so TV has taken a back seat but before that I’d watched a few good things that are worth a mention. The Prime Video series The Girlfriend was an eye-opening experience. Reviews have been mixed for that show, but I really liked it.

I’ve got a bit of a backlog of blog posts to write but I didn’t want to forget to make a note of the UK tour of The Shawshank Redemption. The play is an adaptation of the Stephen King short story and/or the movie and is just as tense and oppressive as both of those other mediums.

This is a bit of a mess of a movie but it is wildly entertaining. Glen Powell is very watchable as the action hero, and you can tell he had some encouragement and mild training from Tom Cruise. The concepts are all good, the way it is entirely relatable and the messsages its trying to convey about current society all very obvious.

An absolutely incredible read, this one. I got the book from the library because the concept spoke to me - I love space travel and the moon, and reading an objective view about the first people to leave the boundary of the planet was a treat. I was nervous, it’s a big book, and non-fiction can sometimes be difficult to wade through, but this was so easy to read and absolutely captivating. It’s a story told really well, and you can tell the research is thorough and the author absolutely confident in the facts they are telling - even if we don’t always know all the facts because of the highly secretive nature of one half of the two-horse race. Absolutely recommend this book, I could barely put it down and it’s just whetted my appetite for more space books in future.

Having watched the TV show and loved it, I decided to listen to the album as well. Soundtracks don’t always work for this album game, but as this is clearly the work of one man as a project in and of itself, I figured it counted. It’s a great country album, that distinctive gravelly voice across some cowboy dreaming songs. I really liked it. There’s an album for the second series too but as I enjoyed that significantly less, I might wait a while before listening to that one.

My knowledge of Myles Smith has been severely lacking and it was only when both he and Niall popped up at Radio 1’s Big weekend recently, that I started to know the name. But when I listened to the album, I did actually know quite a few of the songs, so had obviously been absorbing it all subconsciously. I’ll tell you what, this is an incredible album, definitely the best of the year so far. Absolute tunes from start to finish, great writing, great singing, upbeat for the most part and just a joy to listen to.

Every now and then I like to dip into a Danielle Steel book and follow those characters on their standalone adventures. This one was a bit of a tough start, a family dealing with the fallout of an ALS diagnosis, but then it becomes the more traditional relationship drama and an ultimately uplifting story about finding reason to go on, and really helping others as much as possible along the way.

I love The Shining, a book that I can re-read over and over, but I’ve never really been tempted to read the sequel until now. I’ve been getting into Stephen King books again, so was interested in this - one of those sequels that no one really expected or asked for. If I’m honest, I didn’t really like it. It’s very readable and the tale is told excellently, as you’d come to expect from King. But I wasn’t that bothered about this weird group and their steam, and although I liked how plucky Abra was, I felt a bit let down by Daniel… although he’s remarkably well adjusted for what he’s been through, really! The good news is, it’s quite different to The Shining, so that remains untouched in my mind.

At first, I wasn’t sure this book was going to grab me in the same way that the first one did but as it gradually retells the story from a completely different point of view, with a new romance to follow and a different approach to the eventual evacuation of the villagers to the mainland. It’s a really good read, and again it makes me want to read the next in the series to see things from yet another perspective.

I find Jimmy Nail fascinating. Not a traditional heartthrob, he did seem to have a legion of fans and get cast as the lead in rom-com style dramas in the 90s, whilst also having a music career as well. Crocodile Shoes is the point where these two elements combine, an old series about an unlikely pop star trying to break his way into the business.

I remember enjoying the first two films but I really couldn’t remember much else about them, and even a quick look at the trailers to recap didn’t help too much. Luckily, you don’t really need it for this film - it’s a new story with new and returning people, and you might miss some cute references but the rest of it stands alone. It’s a pretty good thriller, I didn’t guess the twist which is always a good sign. It’s corny though, and Rosamund Pike’s accent is not bad but definitely distracting. Plus Dave Franco has got hot, and that helps a lot.

The only song I knew on here going in was Your Song, which kicks off the album in style with that great song and terrible lyrics. The rest of it lives up to the high standard, but is probably not very catchy or long-lasting… although Take Me to the Pilot did strike a chord in my head. Very listenable but not gonna change my world.

This is a great album, it’s a step on from the two albums Olivia has released already, but it still retains everything good from them. Great lyrics, good themes and just the right amount of angst vs romance. This time we’re less punk pop and moving into more ballads and thoughtfulness but it’s still great. And so many references to The Cure, including a guest appearance from the man himself. She’s obsessed!

This is a pretty good Grace mystery story - not quite the heights of other books, but definitely an improvement on my least favourite ones. We start with a seemingly innocuous, if rather gruesome traffic accident, and that gradually becomes a sprawling investigation across two continents. Meanwhile, we have Grace’s personal life ratcheting up a notch, and the intriguing glimpses into what Sandy is doing now. Loving this series, and will definitely keep reading.

I had never heard of this film before but just stumbled across it on a collection of a classic movies. I love Doris Day so was intrigued in her being in a more serious role. It’s not a great movie, let’s be honest, but I like that it just gets on with it. From the start, we’re in the action and it’s all kicking off. It’s melodramatic throughout, but it takes domestic abuse quite seriously, which is refreshing. The ending is obviously out there, but Doris Day gets to land a plane, so who’s complaining?

We’re heading into another heatwave here in the UK, so that’s the perfect time to write about a knitted scarf, right? I’ve had this item finished for a while but it’s taken time to get the perfect photo. I had a lot of yarn leftover from knitting this blanket and remembered a scarf pattern I had stumbled across that featured five different colours alternating in different size stripes. I’m not that great at colour co-ordination, so having a set of five yarns that definitely went together meant this was the perfect opportunity to kick off this new pattern.

This is the earliest film I’ve watched to date, and it was great! A silent film that was entirely engaging and hard to look away from. The dialogue cards were incredible, portraying so much in so few words, and the use of colour helped with the tone of each scene and then suddenly some actual colour footage too. The music was good (not a patch on the musical, obviously, but surprisingly similar in places) although it didn’t alway fit easily with what we were viewing. Overall, a great watch and spurring me on to want to view more silent movies.

I have to admit to being tempted by this book simply because of the gorgeously bright cover, but actually it was a fascinating read. The author went on a journey to discover lost cities, ultimately interested in the truth behind the myth of Atlantis. Along the way, and somewhat in grief, he learns to dive and travels the world growing in confidence and ability and discovering these cities and their histories. The chapters sort of alternate between following the author’s diving journey and the history and evolution of lost city myths… and I came away with a long list of things to research, as it was all so interesting!

I loved this. It was absolutely engrossing, and even though the story itself was gentle and slow, it became a pageturner in its own right. The characters were beautiful, I really loved the energy of Kit, and how they supported each other was lovely to see. It’s a story that’s well known - the death of the high street, and the encroachment of developers - but it’s so well done here, it almost creeps up on you. And then the end where it all unravels but starts to get pieced back together… just lovely.

Back in December, I wrote about the new Jonathan Creek project - a crowdfunding book of a script that writer David Renwick hopes to be a stage play. Prohibitive costs of putting on a show meant the author decided to get the work out there in some form or other, and the form was a book. I got sucked into the idea once one of the funding options included a signed script from the TV show and - hooray! - it all has arrived!

I was very excited to watch this, as I’ve seen a lot of the promotional stuff where Brett Goldstein does nothing to hide his absolute love and affection for Jennifer Lopez and all her many rom-coms of the past. It’s adorable. Plus the trailer looked pretty good! It was good, a great rom-com, funny and cute, a love story you get invested in, J-Lo bringing her A game plus layers of Brett’s comedy on top. The bumbling British thing, the differences in culture, and oh wow, that five stages of grief thing.

I continue to really love this series, and that is mostly driven by the characters - and if we’re being even more specific, Frank. The mysteries that each book hang around are fine, but it’s the interplay between the characters, the ups and downs of their relationships and careers, and how they develop that really keeps me coming back. I felt so many emotions as we went along and it’s great that things that have happened previously continue to have an impact on the plot.

Excellent album from Alanis, she really has captured that feeling of angst (some people call it whiny, but I think it’s more than that!) and delivers it in a trademark style. Thank U is a real classic tune, but the whole album lives up to its highlights, and it’s a great listen. Maybe it’s a tiny bit long but it’s never boring, so that’s a really good sign.

I have a rule in this album listening adventure to make sure I sit through each album at least twice, because I find there’s a huge difference between the first immediate listen and then a second, slightly more familiar run through. This time, I had to give it a third go, because it was gradually growing on me. The first couple of times, I found it pretty boring, if I’m honest. No bangers, really, and just some perfectly pleasant love songs. By the third listen, I was really loving the first couple of tracks, Dinner Party getting stuck in my head. It does drift off, but it’s probably better than I initially thought.

This is a really well written book but I’m not sure it grabbed me 100%. It tells the story of one train journey, an express into Paris that factually crashed once it got there. The rest is fiction based in reality, and follows all the different characters on the train in the various different classes - what drives them, what journey they are on, and how they interact. It was interesting and got more so towards the end, but it felt like a little bit of a slog to get there.

The final outing for our private investigator duo and the stakes are high for both individuals and also the country as a whole. I like that there’s a teenager at the heart of this, that Michelle drives the story and the investigation because she cares about a lost soul. And the way the story weaves back and forth and the mystery is gradually unravelled is done really well. It’s not necessarily entirely believable, although who knows? But it’s a great thriller and a fascinating relationship between the main pair. A shame, really, that the series ends here as there’s more that could be delved into, I’m sure.

This was a tournament that just kept on delivering surprises, day after day. After blistering temperatures in the first week, the conditions cooled a little for the second but remained challenging. The wind picked up and played its part and we got to a position where whoever the champions were going to be, they were going to be a surprise!

This is sort of billed as a bit of a mystery thriller but it’s not that at all. It’s a well written story about a woman coming to terms with the end of a relationship and dealing with the mental health side of such a big upheaval in your life. I wasn’t entirely on board and not sure about all the characters but it was a good enough read to keep me going to the end, and it was kind of uplifting in the end.

This is such an interesting book with a few different layers. It’s got the history of St Kilda, a fascinating island that was so remote but eventually abandoned by the inhabitants. It’s also a bit of a drama and mystery, it’s a fish out of water story both on and off the island, and of course more than anything a romance at heart. It did take me a while to get into it but once invested, I really couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what happened and oof, it only goes and ends on a cliffhanger that means I absolutely have to read the others in the series.

So sad that Anthony Head has died. Of course for most of us, he’s either Giles from Buffy (a great excuse to rewatch that show again!) or the enraging ex-husband in Ted Lasso (similar story!). But he had a huge and varied career and I really loved him in a few more things.

It took me a while to warm up to this movie. I know it’s of a different era, of course, but even so, the whole premise just seemed too cynical to really enjoy. But gradually the characters started to grow on me, and the relationships developed in their own ways and I was invested. My favourite bit, weirdly, was the scene on the plane where Marilyn learns to love herself with her glasses on. Adorable. She was great in this, I wouldn’t have necessarily known her as a comedy actress! Overall, a better film than I initially thought and a happy ending for all!

This is a great Poirot mystery! I’d not heard of it before, but our hero is on holiday and stumbles across a woman who appears to have dodged several attempts on her life. Obviously Poirot, and our narrator Hastings, have to investigate and I don’t know why but I just really got into this one. With the missing pilot, the friend who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, confusion over wills and a threatening box of chocolates, I just found it all very entertaining.

Holly Humberstone popped up on Radio 1’s Big Weekend, and I realised I had entirely overlooked her debut album a couple of years ago. So to correct that, here we are. It’s great. It’s the kind of album that obviously channels all those other female singers - a bit Olivia, a bit TayTay, a bit Maisie. But it also stands on its own two feet and I really enjoyed it.

No one can deny that Paul McCartney is a legend, and his popping up on Chicken Shop Date led me to believe there had to be an album to promote. Low and behold, here it is! The first track is awful, I really thought we were in for a bad ride. However, once you get that initial song out the way, things pick up a bit. In the whole, it’s probably not really my cup of tea, but it’s good tunes, reflective and gentle, and a pleasant listen.

This popped out of nowhere for me, Matt Morsia, aka Legend, suddenly appeared in various places promoting this book. It makes sense, though, having had to take some time out recuperating from injury, that’s the perfect time to put fingers to keyboard. I listened to the audiobook because I wanted to hear Legend read it out, and it’s a really good no-nonsense guide with sensible advice coupled with his trademark sarcasm and dry humour. The audiobook is super short because the book is also stacked with tables and guides and lists of reps for various programmes… these are read out by someone else in the audiobook, so I skipped that. I might not stick to the plans in the book, but there are definitely things I’ll take away from this.

I’ve been a fan of Les Mills workouts for a long while now, previously in the gym and since Covid via at home subscription, and even though I’m still pretty poor at most of the workouts, there’s a lot to like in there. Each programme refreshes every quarter, so you’re always in line for something new, and one of the best bits of that is following the progress of the presenters. Some burst onto the scenes fresh and smash it, others start in the background one release and gradually make their way towards the microphone.

I was perusing my to read list and found this one, a compilation of newspaper columns written by the comedian over a decade ago. So I was tempted to just bin it, because I’ve not enjoyed reading columns so much recently, and these were bound to be out of date. But I gave it a go and there were a few that I did enjoy reading. Mitchell’s trademark grumpy smart style is funny and worth reading. I can’t promise I read every word - some of the columns about politicians I don’t know and situations that happened so long ago were easy to gloss over. But the columns that caught my attention were good and fun.

This was a great mystery thriller novel with King and Maxwell back to doing what they do best. I didn’t rate the last book in this series very highly so it was nice to be back enjoying it again. We’ve got the slightly awkward interplay between our two protagonists, but a greater puzzle to investigate and solve. I wasn’t entirely convinced by just how much trouble was made over this one guy, however smart he was, but if you go with it, it’s a good ride.

I stumbled across this video yesterday, which is a nice little behind the scenes feature for the Baftas focused on the show Beyond Paradise. A spin off of the long-running Death in Paradise, this one is set in the slightly less sunny Cornwall and, surprisingly, appears to mostly be filmed in a barn. I love behind the scenes features, it’s always surprising just how many people are involved, and how they are all so brilliant at their individual roles - with everything feeding in to this fantastic end result.

I’m determined to improve my knowledge of cinema history - older films, black and white, silent movies, the whole nine yards. It’s hard to know where to start but sometimes you just have to dive right in. This was available on YouTube, and so I gave it a go… and loved it! I’ve never watched an entire Chaplin feature before, and I loved the physicality of it - the first scene on the statue, and of course the boxing sequence, both absolutely brilliant. There’s a love story at the heart of it which is cute. I must admit I didn’t quite get the drunk guy, totally understandable he might forget everything when sober, but then why suddenly remember again when drunk next time? Weird, but barely a problem, I loved this!

I read Lily’s War a while ago and it was surprisingly good - just a lovely soap opera style story highlighting the hardships of women during the war. This was more of the same, but covered an area I really didn’t know anything about on the canals. So many awesome crews transporting necessary stuff around on the canals. And at the same time, in this story of course, falling in and out of love and dealing with family crises at the same time. Great stuff, and I’ll definitely read more of these.

The fifth and penultimate season of For All Mankind came to a close this week, concluding another tense and eventful series that moved quite a lot of storylines on, and inevitably led us to the next decade time jump. The show has been renewed for the sixth and final series - I think the creators initially had planned seven, but I’m happy they know it’s ending and can plan accordingly.

I didn’t think I would have much time to watch tennis this fortnight, so for Roland Garros 2026, I have defaulted to the excellent online radio. Radio Roland Garros has always been a highlight and continues to be so. Great balance of tennis commentary, general chatter, pun games, and friendly banter, and this year plenty of talk about the weather.

I watched the Kylie documentary on Netflix this week, so it’s only fitting to have listened to an album. I’m working through the full Kylie catalogue, so unfortunately this is one from her PWL days - which I now know weren’t her favourite. But supposedly this album is where she first started asserting some control, and gets a few songwriting credits on here as well. It’s stacked full of pop bops, but you can tell it’s getting a bit more adult, a bit sexier than previous outings. Great stuff.