I went to Beamish many times when I was younger but haven't been for over 20 years.

I remember it being a really interesting place and a great way of learning about how we used to live and work – I have fond memories of the mine, school, and grocery shop. It is well worth visiting if you are holidaying in the Northumbria region, or even a day trip.

I have been watching The Last of Us, a variation on The Walking Dead-like survivalist horror with an infection causing people to turn into flesh-eating 'zombies' when they die.

I have nearly finished the first season and am really enjoying it. The central performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay (both famous from Game of Thrones) are very good, and there is a beautiful episode midway through the season featuring Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson), probably the standout episode so far.

The Last of Us definitely exceeded expectations for me. Really good emotional character arc with the two mains. Had me tearing up at multiple points.

Like yourself i didn't watch the early years because of my age (born in 78). My gran was a fan and I have vague memories watching it with her. I started watching it regular in 92 until about 2000. I remember the body under the patio, the Simpson families incest problem, the religious suicide cult ect, ect.
To my mind it was better when it was more grounded in reality but even so it can't have been much worse than our surviving soaps.

Alone, Channel 4 UK.
I watched 5 episodes with the wife a couple of days ago. The premise of this reality show is to drop 11 average civilians in the Canadian wilderness and to see how long they can survive until we have a winner. The prize is 100k.
Channel 4 tried a similar show a few years back called Eden which was a disaster as on that occasion the contestants were expected to live in a community but egos clashed to the point that the show was abandoned after the mid season interlude.
This time around people are living completely alone. We have people who struggle to hunt, others it's the social isolation. I am enjoying it apart from one minor point. Why do reality shows insist that their contestants share sob stories from their past? It is intrusive cringe. The average viewer has more than likely experienced enough of their own sadness without being expected to empathise with complete strangers.

THE INTRUDER. ( 1972 )
An eye patch wearing stranger arrives in the coastal town of Skirlston, forcing his aggressive way into the lives of the people there, in this excellent tv series.
ITV we’re getting a lot of criticism for their lack of children’s’ tv in the late 60s, so they responded with The Owl Service, an absorbing drama centering round a group of teenagers and a sinister legend.
Similarly, The Intruder focuses on the love/hate relationships between a group of teenagers and how they deal with the threat from said stranger. One of the central figures - Jane - is played by Sheila Ruskin, who would go on to play Kassius in the Dr Who adventure The Keeper Of Traken.
Again, like The Owl Service, this serial was broadcast in the early tea time slot on Sunday and is similarly unsettling, disturbing and adult in tone.
Another thought provoking drama from a long gone era of children’s’ tv.

Rewatching The Practice for the first time in 20 years, courtesy of Disney+ (says it all that the best things on Disney and Netflix are all from the 90s and early 00s :lol:). Just finished season 3. What a great show, seemingly rather forgotten these days even though it ran for eight seasons. Season 3 is where it really hit its stride with some fantastic episodes and storylines, and that epic finale. Whatever happened to David E Kelley? He made some great shows back then (this, Ally, Picket Fences...)

First couple of eps of Hunter, on tubi. Rather enjoying it so far. Never realised how much Fred Dryer was doing a Clint Eastwood though. :lol:

Watched the first 3 eps of Star Trek: Picard season 3 last night. Have seen next to nothing of NuTrek, as most of it looks and sounds utter crud, but this got generally very good reviews and actually looked like Trek, so I thought I'd give it a go. Was going to get the Blu but it's insanely expensive at the mo' so I signed up to Paramount Plus for a month instead (I can always pick up the Blu later on when it goes down). Very enjoyable so far.

With the news of Jean Boht's death rather than put this with those posts i thought i'd just say that a couple of years ago i rewatched the first series of Bread.

It was terrible. So, so dated. Billy and that bloody girlfriend of his, watching them was excruciating. I had the whole box set but gave up after that single series.

I used to love it when it first aired too.

I remember the first series being bad but that they got better later. Although that being said, it's still a BBC mainstream sitcom of the 80s so it's only as good as that low bar :lol: