Lick My Decals Off Baby

...or fawn at the altar of fanboy (and it is nearly always boys) tv.

What is it about children's tv programme Doctor Who that makes otherwise intelligent males of all adult ages lose any sense of critical faculty?

I can envisage that sentence alone getting them hot under the collar, but come on! Take last night's double episode concluder to The Almost People, which had an old fashioned DW plot - isolated humans take on beasties/mutants* and win against seemingly impossible odds, while planet explodes/melts* (*insert adjectives of choice). Fair enough, I've no problem with that, and I would have thoroughly enjoyed it as a 14 year old. The fact something as adolescent and simple as that has blokes in their 30s, 40s, and older enthralled mystifies me I must say. It can't all be down to the admittedly delicious Amy Pond can it??

Apart from the short burst of intrigue at the end advancing the season's rolling story I felt the entire episode was a bit...meh. I did just manage to stay awake though, but there have been episodes in this season where that has not proved possible for my aging bones.

As for the rolling story, I won't elaborate here, as some may not yet have seen last night's episode (you only need watch the last two minutes), but I bet its conclusion will make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

It seems only the Yanks can make sci-fi with grown up storylines that (a) require a bit of life experience to follow (b) actually make sense outside of a pseudo-science framework. Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica being two fine examples.
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So, you curmudgeonly old bastard, what do you reckon is good tv at the moment I hear you say?

The Shadow Line is great in a "take your eye off it for a second and you'll have to rewind" way. An understated copper with a double life (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a moody and reluctant drug baron (Christopher Ecclestone) with a mad, threatening lieutenant (Rafe Spall - no really!) investigate the murder of Ecclestone's former boss hours after being released on a Royal Pardon from a long drug supply conviction, with sub plots revolving around the copper's double life, an investigative reporter and a shadowy and comprehensively nasty is-he-a-gangster-or-a-spook guy called Gatehouse who dresses like a character from 50s film noir.  Utterly captivating stuff.

Apart from that there is not a lot of interest on at the moment. I still watch Jools Holland's Later, even though he very rarely deviates from inviting whatever is currently "hot" combined with an endless list of R&B (old definition) belters and a few folkies of both the old school and world variety. I'm not going to stumble across the next (or even the first) Porcupine Tree watching this, but as it's the only even slightly non-mainstream music prog on trad tv, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

Can't wait for the new series of Forbrydelsen (that's The Killing - original Danish version) later this year. Ok, it's not quite as good as the Swedish Wallander, but it'll more than do. If you've yet to sample the delights of Sarah Lund's Fairisle sweaters you should give it a go. Apparently so popular are these patterened knitted jumpers that the company that makes them in the Faroe Islands had to take on extra staff to cope with demand.

Chunky!

It has to be said that BBC4 is the best and most innovative tv channel available on Freeview, and long may it continue!
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