Box Set: TV Drama



A collection of some of my recent features on television drama...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, and this time it's some of my recent features and podcast chats about television drama, some of which had the temerity to exist before The Sopranos and Buffy The Vampire Slayer had even been thought of...

That Was This Life That Was - some thoughts on rewatching mid-nineties drama sensation This Life; this is a reworked version of the feature that originally appeared on this blog, with a new section looking at the experience of watching This Life on original transmission.

Doctor Who And The Rosa - a review of the standout episode of Jodie Whittaker's first series, which started out simply as a celebration of Sunday Television but eventually had to tackle the too politacaly correct NOT MY DOCTOR!!!!!! idiots as well...

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist - Channel 4's mid-eighties presentation of Dario Fo's satirical play is one of journalist Emma Burnell's choices on Looks Unfamiliar.

Dr. Pod - I join Emma Burnell and Steve Fielding on The Zeitgeist Tapes, the podcast looking at where politics and pop culture collide, to talk about politics in Doctor Who old and new and whether it really has got 'too politically correct' (clue: it hasn't).

Body Contact - BBC1's 1987 rock musical misfire is one of animator Phil Norman's choices in Looks Unfamiliar.




Top Of The Box - The Complete Guide To BBC Records And Tapes Singles is available as a paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Box Set: Book Reviews


 A collection of some of my recent book reviews...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, and this time it's some of my recent book reviews and a couple of other related bits and pieces...

Ashes To Ashes - The Songs Of David Bowie 1976-2016 by Chris O'Leary

How Does It Feel? - A Life Of Musical Misadventures by Mark Kermode

Psychedelia And Other Colours by Rob Chapman

I'm Not With The Band by Sylvia Patterson

1966 - The Year The Decade Exploded by Jon Savage

The Books I Couldn't Help Thinking About - a look at some of the writers that have had the most significant influence on me, including Richard Herring, Caitlin Moran, Andrew Collins, Nicholas Pegg, Stuart Maconie and more.



You can find more not especially highbrow literary criticism in The Camberwick Green Procrastination Society, available in paperback here, from the Kindle Store here, or as a full-colour eBook here.

Box Set: Sounds Of The 60s


A collection of some of my recent features on sixties pop music...

It looks as though some of you aren't aware that I now have a new website (which you can find here), and are still hanging around here wondering where all the new 'content' is. Well it's over there, obviously. To give you all some idea of where to start, though, I'm going to be adding some new posts here with themed collections of links, starting with some of my more recent writing on sixties pop music...
  

Sounds Of The 60s - a look back at Radio 2's Sounds Of The 60s and some of the records I discovered through it.

Funny Ha Ha And Funny Peculiar - a look at the hidden beat, psych, funk and soul highlights in sixties comedy records.

The Wind Cries Mickey Murphy - what was Jimi Hendrix really listening to when he wrote The Wind Cries Mary? This is a new version of the article originally published on this blog, with a brand new introduction. 

All Its Wonder To Know - why has the original version of I Was Made To Love Magic by Nick Drake disappeared from history? This is also discussed in Looks Unfamiliar #25: Tim Worthington - People Don't Really Go On About Psychedelic Blue Peter.

You Can't See To Find How You Got There, So Just Blow Your Mind - a review of Psychedelia And Other Colours by Rob Chapman.

Je Suis Perdue Dans La Nuit, Dans Cette Ville Où Je Vis - how I discovered 1968 by France Gall.

All That I Can See With My Mind's Eye - a review of 1966 - The Year The Decade Exploded by Jon Savage.

All Fall Down And Lost In The Mystery - a look at SMiLE by The Beach Boys, and why I preferred it before somebody worked out how all the unreleased bits and pieces joined together.




Can't Help Thinking About Me includes expanded versions of the Jimi Hendrix, Beach Boys and France Gall features, as well as pieces on The Monkees, The Beatles and David Bowie's early television appearances, and you can get it in paperback here or from the Kindle store here.