Reviews

I binged this in one sitting, it is gripping from start to finish. I saw reviews saying it was a tough watch, but I didn't find it as tough as others said. It was indeed uncomfortable at times, but having knowledge of how survivors of sexual assault act, I think I was better prepared than most.

Which brings me to the point of why this was such a good series. Survivors of sexual assault are not 'perfect victims'. No-one is a perfect victim/survivor like the media and the court system would have us all believe. Most survivors have a past that includes drugs, drinking too much, a fight or two, or something else. This is how perpetrators get off charges in court - the defence finds a typical human flaw/mistake in the survivors past and manipulates that mistake to have the court and media believe it was deserved, or they lied. Another tactic is to claim they exaggerated because they went back to their abuser time and time again. The reality of course, is that trauma impacts how the brain processes and makes sense of events. In sexual assault or domestic abuse, in order to make sense of the incident, survivors often return so that they can tell themselves if they chose to return, they are not victims. They can even convince themselves they consented, or it was their fault. Others convince themselves it didn't happen. This can be a way to protect themselves mentally, however it ends up with a cycle of self-destruct. They rarely act in a logical manner. Most importantly, other abusers can spot survivors a mile away, and this results in them being targets of multiple abusers in their lifetime.

Baby Reindeer shows this pattern in such a raw and unapologetic way. I cannot commend Richard Gadd enough for being so honest about it. When his stalker 'Martha' meets him, he has already been sexually assaulted, and is dealing with the mental load of that. She clearly had a routine of testing out her next targets by pretending to cry and see how people react. 'Donny' (Richard) reacts in a way that only a survivor would - he kept feeling sorry for her and falling for her manipulations until he finally cracks and tries to set her up. Of course, this was her plan all along, and she records him and uses it to get the police of her back. This is a classic narcissist tactic. Domestic abusers do the same - they push and push and push, and when the survivor snaps, they record them, call the police, and then claim to be the victim themselves.

Many reviews and social media posts have discussed how Donny is self-absorbed and stupid for going back to the guy who sexually assaulted him, and for contacting his stalker. Such people have clearly led a life in which they have had no experience of being targeted by a stalker or a rapist (or knowing someone who has), and their lack of understanding and compassion is not only disappointing, but ill-informed. I hope they live out the rest of their lives without experiencing it first-hand, but I will say, if you have no experience in such matters, keep the judgements to yourself and read the wealth of research conducted on this subject in the fields of Criminology and Psychology. 'Donny' is not atypical in his actions - and probably would have gone for help sooner had there not been so much stigma and incorrect judgments about such abuse in society (the same stigma being perpetrated by those complaining about his behaviour and saying he was stupid). The self-destructive behaviour and self-loathing that comes with sexual assault cannot be underestimated, and people need to have more compassion and stop perpetuating the 'perfect victim' myth. Society as a whole needs to work harder at reducing the stigma and preconceptions they have of survivors actions while they try and make sense of their trauma.

This show is what the world needs right now. It is what you'd get if the comedy genius of Blackadder III, Red Dwarf and The Mighty Boost merged. It has a bit of Monty-Python-esq humour in there too.

It is witty, clever, and I haven't liked a comedy this much in years. There are multiple one-liners and lots of witty comments that sometimes come so fast that I had to rewind as I was laughing so loud I missed the successive jokes.

Noel Fielding is exactly as you expect - sarcastic, likeable, genius wit, and Greg Davies with his classic insults (my favourite was his character calling Turpin/Fielding a 'foppy tit'). Haha.

The character Tommy Silversides played by Connor Swindells was brilliant. His character has Richard Naylor all over it - he reminds me of the character Ace Rimmer in Red Dwarf - I was almost expecting him to say 'smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast' at one point. The whole series felt like a warm, nostalgic, comedy hug.

I hope this isn't a one-off series and that that it goes on for many more seasons. It is absolutely brilliant and highly recommend it to all.

Those saying it isn't funny simply don't get British banter/humour/wit, so ignore them. If you like British comedy, this is for you.

I started this series with trepidation, as Aussie TV shows are mostly awful and generally depressing, badly acted, and too serious. Occasionally they are brilliant (Underbelly, Wentworth) and this series falls into the brilliant category. It starts off slow, and typically Aussie - in a depressing setting with drunk bogans... I honestly thought - oh not again. Will this be horrible like Beautiful Kate or Animal Kingdom (original movie with Heath Ledger - not the American TV show adaption) with no happy ending and hours of torturous unnecessary depressing scenarios where not much happens in terms of plot, but what does happen makes you wonder why anyone would make something like this and then call it entertainment? Well the answer is yes, and no - but thankfully, mostly no. It is a bit Animal Kingdom-esq, but what makes real entertainment rather than depression inducing trauma is the great acting and the well-timed humour. Aussie TV shows and movies rarely understand the importance of humour (again the exceptions being Underbelly and Wentworth). Boy Swallows Universe is also one of the exceptions, as they get the balance right.

Most of the plot line is confusing for a long time, and you can't work out if the strange happenings are going to take you into a supernatural/sci-fi show or something else. By the time you realise this is written from a traumatised child's perspective and the imagined happenings are actually how Eli has managed to cope with his childhood trauma (which is genius), there are still too many loose ends. There are parts of it that make absolutely NO sense and are left unanswered. The person on the end of the red phone for example is presumably meant to signify Eli internally trying to make sense of what he should do, but it isn't clear for a long time that is what is happening. Towards the end, Eli is in hospital and you see the villain Tytus Broz walking past a ringing red phone which is on a trolley in presumably the same hospital, where he picks up a scalpel off a tray and walks through a door. Eli then wakes up - it is clearly a dream, but why is the red phone there and why is it ringing? The red phone until this point is only ever been for Eli and his brother Gus to make sense of their trauma and is always situated in the basement or their step fathers house - why is it in the hospital hall near Tytus? That scene would have been better if the phone was ringing in the basement, and then another scene where he is dreaming Tytus is on his way to kill him. Putting the two together makes no sense to me. There is also no explanation of why Gus thinks he can predict the future or what the significance of his blue wren predictions are. Once you realise the TV show was about trauma, the predictions don't fit in and aren't explained. Did Eli invent Gus' predictions, and if so - why? Did Gus actually have predictions or were the predictions just Gus displaying paranoia due to trauma and catastrophising? Or could he really see the future? Whatever was the case, it wasn't explained. Lastly - when Gus gives a huge chunk of money away it makes absolutely no sense. Why didn't he buy the house they wanted anyway, or renovate their father's house which clearly needed it. I haven't read the book, so I suspect these might all be answered in that, so I shall read it to find out.

Despite these issues, the show is amusing where it needs to be, the acting is great, and I still really enjoyed it and recommend people watch.

This is THE best Christmas music TV special of all time. Usually they are totally cringeworthy, awkward, and odd. Not this one! Hannah Waddingham is an outstanding singer and entertainer, bringing on her friends and colleagues from her decades of entertaining on the West End and Broadway, along with the Gay Men's Choir, English National Opera Chorus, the cast of Ted Lasso, Game of Thrones, and more. Honestly - this is the best Christmas music show out there. Feel all Christmassy and warm and fussy inside from watching. She is a national treasure and I have no idea why she hasn't been on our TVs for the past 20 years. At least we have her now. Thank you to whoever produced this. Can we have this every year, please!

I love Guardians of the Galaxy - a group of misfits who are wholesome, kind, imperfect and therefore wonderful. However this movie is going to give kids the same level of trauma that Never Ending Story, Dumbo, Watership Down, Bambi, etc etc gave Gen X. Absolutely brutal animal cruelty scenes (for some reason it's easier to cope with villains who only target humans) and it had me balling my eyes out at certain points (poor Rocket and his friends). While it ends up mostly okay, I'm never watching it again as long as I live. Triggered all sorts of childhood movie PTSD - not sure it needed to be that harsh and traumatising to be honest!

Well, Shonda, you wowed us again! Even though I love the Bridgerton series, I was surprised at how great Queen Charlotte was. It was the perfect combination of drama, character development, flashes to the past and back to the present. It showed how challenging mental health can be for people who have family suffering - especially when there is so much love between those involved. The childlike happiness and strong loving relationship between Charlotte and George III was a delight to watch and the final episode had me in tears and that is a rarity for me!

The only thing I can find fault with is the Brimsley and Reynolds story arc. I absolutely loved it, and *that* solo dance scene had me heartbroken but I do wish they had explained what happened to Reynolds. I can see the idea was to get us to make up our own minds, but I think I would have preferred to be told... other than that - I loved it and can't wait for the next season of Bridgerton! I hope Shonda does a Greys Anatomy and gives us 19 seasons of stories and spin offs from the Bridgerton crew!

Idealised story with lots of inaccuracies! While this story was enjoyable, there were so many inaccuracies. Married women in Aus weren't allowed to work until 1966, yet Annie who is married, works in a department store... the sexism of Australians is still off the charts to this day, and this series portrayed them as more progressive than they are even now! While by this point English people would have been less racist than the Australians, I can't imagine a black baby being born out of wedlock being given back to the mother so easily. Australia was stealing black kids from their parents until the late 60s - I am not convinced that an engagement would stop this kid being taken away.

The first episode was shot much like a soap, but equally as addictive. An absolute masterpiece in terms of the set and depictions of explosions etc. The creators, I presume from watching this, are detail oriented. They clearly didn't want to miss anything out, from the setting down of a telephone into its socket, to conversations that aren't that interesting but they felt needed to be shown for authenticity. And while at times I was thinking - they could have skipped that bit, I also appreciated the effort in the attention to detail. It was shocking to see how reluctant certain people were to tell the Prime Minister how bad things really were. Clearly, the film was trying to highlight the impact that cultural norms, mores and hierarchy had in the disaster, and watching this as a westerner was infuriating. The lack of workers willing to risk being exposed to a higher dose of radiation for a short time to stop the meltdown was frustrating. I know we, as westerners are led to believe if this had happened in the USA for example, a hero would have risked their life to save everyone- but I do think that probably would have happened knowing what we know about the USA and the selfless acts of firefighters in terrorist attacks etc. Maybe I'm being too critical. Easy to say when I'm not in that situation of course. That said, I couldn't help but think if the PM had alerted the USA earlier (who were apparently not far away on an aircraft carrier) and asked for help much more could have been done. I had no idea how much faffing around and linear solutions were executed to the end before the next solution idea was started! Easy to say all this from an armchair with hindsight, but there was so much incompetency that I did not expect from the Japanese considering how technologically advanced they are as a culture. Equally frustrating was learning the fact the generators were only 10 metres above sea level, and yet the company had been warned to improve matters 10 years earlier. This shows why profit focused corporations should never be allowed to operate nuclear facilities and the industry needs to be highly regulated and inspected by government. I do think that if these plants had been government owned or properly regulated the improvements would have been done and the sea defences completed. Also worth noting - there is a scene where two workers are stuck in a room when the tsunami hits and can't get out. It was so realistic and traumatising to watch - the actors should be commended. Brilliant acting!

This is a really great movie and story. The cast are outstanding from start to finish, and Tom Felton was utterly brilliant as his character. I did a lot of googling while watching this, and am beyond disgusted at Churchill's decision to exile Seretse permanently. British children should be taught this story in school - we are led to believe Churchill was someone to look up to, but in reality his stints as Prime Minister show he was a ruthless man with very little care for anyone if it didn't suit his agenda. While it is obviously not uncommon for politicians to lie to get into power, using the reversal of Mr Khama's exile as an election tactic is the lowest of the low.

A must watch for all.

This is a documentary by two people who have unimaginable privilege and have no understanding of the real world. A complete whinge-fest from whinging about living in a palace built by Christopher Wren because the door frames were too low, to whinging about King Charles (who walked Meghan down the aisle and linked arms with her mother on their wedding day to ensure she wasn't too overwhelmed), to claiming William 'screamed' at Harry in front of the Queen. Please. It seems Harry has adopted the American culture of telling everyone your feelings about everything. Gross. Harry has no self-awareness - he admitted to telling the press his brother was bullying him, and then got upset when the palace denied it. Erm, this whole documentary is meant to be about how the press treated you badly, yet here you are using the press to publish stories about your brother . Eyeroll! Meghan claims the palace never refuted stories about her when they did. On numerous occasions, and they never normally do that! She actually was treated better than Fergie or Di. Harry is so "in" the firm he doesn't understand the British public aren't the media. We read it for gossip, but we don't believe it. British people actually loved them both, and were (and still are) annoyed at their exit - and more annoyed at this petty whinging and throwing the Royal Family under the bus. Is this the Kardashians? Ugh! Please let this be the end of them on this. A pair of delusional, privileged whingers. I think I speak for most people when I say I'd let the Daily Mail call me whatever they want for millions of pounds in salary, a castle to live in, with jobs that consist of cutting ribbons and speeches! Get over yourselves!

Obviously it is difficult to understand why people went along with Elizabeth Holmes or even liked her for that matter. If Amanda Sigfried played her correctly, she was weird, awkward, over rehearsed and strange. Perhaps this is why people thought she knew what she was doing? Anyway, as far as the as the TV story goes, it was very well done. You are watching with disbelief and intrigue, but also horror. Stephen Fry did an outstanding job of playing Ian Gibbons. It is an absolute tragedy what she did to that man! I hope her guilty verdict is upheld and she spends 20 years in prison. The people whose lives she destroyed deserve justice.