I enjoyed pulling together the previous TV roundup of shows I’d watched that didn’t really warrant a full post but where I did have some thoughts to share, so I thought why not make it a regular feature? I’ve not been well recently so my TV watching and book reading has gone up massively, but now the summer of sport has arrived, this may not be the case over the next month or so.

Julia

• I was late to the party with this one but once I started watching, I couldn’t stop - Sarah Lancashire rules the screen no matter the role.
• It was confusing to me whenever Niles and Lilith were on screen together, particularly as they had a love/hate relationship here too.
• Sad this wasn’t renewed again, but I suppose there were only so many stories about how to make a cooking show to be told.

Monsters at Work

• This may be a spin off series aimed at kids but I love it just as much as the original films.
• The voice cast is amazing, with some of the big names from the films but also newer and original characters and voices.
• Some of the plot lines are both hilarious and also fascinating, in a world trying to come to terms with a change in where we get power from (close to home!)

The Dry

• This is just wonderful, a lonely Irish woman comes home to her dysfunctional family after admitting she’s an alcoholic.
• I can see why people call this an Irish Fleabag, it has similarities but also stands alone. The relationships within are just exquisitely painful and well drawn.

Loot

• The second series of this comedy on Apple TV+ and it has everything you need: workplace comedy, will-they-won’t-they romance, a bad guy ex.
• Maya Rudolph is obviously brilliant but it’s definitely an ensemble piece and actually the friendship between Nicholas and Howard is often the star of the show.
• Fingers crossed for a season 3!

The Big Door Prize

• The Big Door Prize won’t be getting another season, it has been confirmed, and I can understand why. Every episode we would watch going ’this is absolute nonsense but so good!’ and it’s hard to get recommissioned when you can’t explain it.
• Sad though, as we left the brilliant Chris O’Dowd inside the machine and now we’ll never know how he gets out.
• Although secretly I think there wouldn’t be a good explanation and so I’m quite glad to leave it before anything disappointing happened.

Fallout

• I don’t know the game this is based on particularly, so went into this with little to go on. I genuinely didn’t understand what was happening from one minute to the next, but somehow, still enjoyed it?
• The production made it for me, the music and the shots and the style of it all. Doesn’t make me want to play the game though.

Tracker

• Really enjoyed this adaptation of Jeffery Deaver’s character Colter Shaw. I’ve got the books in my to-read list but haven’t started them yet, so came into this fresh.
• Have definitely developed a slight crush on Justin Hartley, and now have to watch This Is Us just to get another fix until the second series of Tracker arrives.