British TV/General Discussion

@BritMystery   wrote : 

Professor Ben is growing on me. I blame this on you, Solar! 😄

LOL ..  except blame   Brit    ...   when I first started  watching  Prof T  ...     Jasper   ...  I got caught up in the way he looked at a  murder  and all the possible clues.  BUT   between using his  murder solving skills  he was  always bumbling into one social  etiquette  faux  pas  after another  and being totally unaware  how to respond properly .   Good ol'  Jasper  is just a gift that keeps on  giving .   Haven't   viewed  my  Marlows  yet  ....  might look at  one  tonight. 

Solar, watched E5 of "Professor T" ... what a good episode! I am not going to give anything away, but the ending with the fingers/glove👍! Deedee, next week is the finale, will get back regarding my thoughts.

Part two of the "Marlow" second story was better than the first part. Overall, the story was good, but not as good as the first. I am hoping that the last one starts out with a bit more unmph to it.

"Unforgotten" ... still not sure who the murderer is, leaning towards someone, but not feeling strong enough about it to make a declaration. 

@BritMystery  

but the ending with the fingers/glove👍!

That was so  unexpected  for me  Brit    ...   holding up his hands  with the fingers out of his  gloves .    LOL   is  Jasper  on the road  to  self  cure  of his phobias ...   NEXT , will he be  working on keeping that handkerchief  in his pocket  instead of unfolding it  and  laying it on a seat .  HOPE  NOT  ...   Want   Prof. T   to  stay  just the way he is.  What's the fun if he's just like everybody  else.  

Still  watching  ' Downton  Abbey '  Eps.  as they fall into  PVR .   Forgot how  grating  Carson was on  me.   It's all coming back to me now.   LOL

Solar, I think there is no worry that Professor T will ever become ordinary! 

I remember that Carson (and his antics) drove you crazy. 😅 You use to call him the "pantry thief"...  (am I correct?)

Hope not   Brit    .....   would like ta see more of  Jasper's  phobias .  It's quite  entertaining really .  Then  he can step in and solve the police's  murders for  them.  lol   

 '  Pantry  thief  '   ...  that's right   Brit  .  He puts on the impression he has such high  standards and expects the entire staff  to adapt these same  principles .  In reality  he's just a thief  who stole  food from the kitchen .  In slightly less regard I hold  Robert  ,  Earl of  Grantham . He's a total incompetent .   1.   Lost  Cora's  fortune  thru  bad  investments .  2.  Totally mismanaged the  Estate  to where  it needs  restructuring to make it  financially viable again.   3.   Put his faith in an  incompetent doctor  who may have caused his daughter  Sybil  her life.   I know I am loading a bunch of detail on you  without  the benefit of  you having a  current  review.    Coming up to the end of  Series  3   ..   so  half  way to the end.   Enjoying  it .  

Now for  ' Unforgotten '  ....   know how  all the characters  who appeared in the first  Ep.  and how they tie in with the  cold  case  murder  victim .   Only , I still am no closer to figuring out who the killer  is  .   lol   

Solar, that is a spot-on summary of Robert - I remember it all. I know people loved him as a character, but let's be honest, he did more harm than good to the estate. He ran it into the ground. If Mary and Tom did not take over, the family would have eventually lost Downton. That is where the new movie story is going plot wise, I haven't seen it yet, but from what previews I have seen, the future of the estate is at the heart of it.

Deedee, I think you still have Britbox, where it is airing - and Solar, I am mentioning this as I know you will be interested...

I watched the first episode of the rebooted "Inspector Lynley" series. It wasn't great, nor was it bad.  It should have been called anything other than Inspector Lynley, because as a stand-alone without the tie-in to the series, it would have fared much better in my estimation. 

There is little outside of the Lynley character coming from a posh background and Havers, and her feisty self being regular folk, that has anything to do with the original concept. They, series creators in general, have become so lazy that they can not come up with an original idea of their own. We are getting watered down remake after remake and it isn't cutting it - at least for me (with a few exceptions).

The series' creators could have still made Lynley an aristocrat inspector, we have had several, such as Inspector Alleyn and of course, the amateur detective Lord Peter Whimsy (they were both hugely successful series that have stood the test of time) and had developed the show from there instead of borrowing once again from other people's work. 

Also, the addition of the Chief Superintendent with the troubled history with Lynley is not a good one. He is quickly going to get irritating.

To be fair, I am going to give it another episode or two because it does take a few for things to gell. I will watch though without any association to the original series... which can not be beat (I rewatched it about a year ago) and truly, after watching this I am asking why try?

Got caught up with last week's "Unforgotten" and "Marlow" episodes last night. 

Regarding "Unforgotten", at this point I don't think any of the suspects did it. Truly. I know they teased us with a license plate # and stated that whomever owned the car was the murderer. Even though, I am not convinced that they have the right person. Where does that leave us? Well, we have not heard anything more about Marty's father (have we). What did his mother tell him... not to say a word to the police about "Daddy". That statement was thrown out there and left hanging. 

What I see right now is a lot of red herrings floating in the air. I am predicting that Marty's father was involved and Marty knows some, if not all, of what happened. I know, I am hanging out on a limb with this, but I see a twist coming and I think it involves someone we have not been focusing on. 

For me, the third "Marlow" story is a big improvement over the second (at least the first part that I watched). Very happy to see this. I read that the series has gotten a green light for a third season. 

Gonna  need some  help  from  ya   Brit   on the outcome of  Unforgotten .  My  PVR  didn't record  last Sunday nights  Eps. of  Unforgotten  and  Prof. T   ......   I was so surprised  because I had checked it on Sunday .  Had it on my mind  constantly as to what could have happened .  Then I thought of something .  Don't know the time - line  but  do remember  the TV  not coming on  properly  (  only word I can think of )  a  little wonky  .....  screen message  came on and said  "  Try another station or turn your  TV off and on ..  if this dosn't work  try a ' system reboot '   Well..  to shorten up the story  ,  tried the reboot  and every thing came up fine .  So I forgot about it until I had the PVR trouble  with recording.  THINK it may have been the reboot that knocked out the  recording times .  Don't know , just my best  guess. 

Soooo  ,    I really would like ta know who the killer turns out to be  in  Unforgotten ... (  as i think this was the last   Ep. )    so  when ya watch it  ,  drop a line  as to who  that  cold case  killer  is.  lol   

Will do, Solar. It more than likely was the reboot that threw your record notification out of the system. What a shame you had to miss the finale. You know my thoughts, I am suspect of the suspects, so it is going to be interesting to see how they tie this all up. 

https://news.sky.com/story/keeping-up-appearances-star-dame-patricia-routledge-has-died-13443457

Patricia Routledge dies aged 96.

Read that this morning  Sheerwater ...   surprized she was  96 ..  her  ' husband ' died a few  years  back . They played beautifully off  each  other  .  Still  watch  it ....   one of the funniest show to come out of the U.K.         Mrs.  Bucket   ...  oh  sorry   ' Mrs.  Bouquet ' .   lol

Hello Sheerwater! So sad about Patricia Routledge's passing. She was such a large part of our lives, even in her mid-nineties she had a huge presence... thankfully we will continually be reminded of her through her iconic characters. 

She was an extraordinary talent, I saw this video of her sing "I've grown Accustomed to His Face" on Instagram  and I was mesmerized. I'll link it for anyone who would like to see it.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPTzb9cjr0b/?igsh=c3h0bWF2ZmM2MWd2

Solar, the finale for "Unforgotten" was excellent! I am so sorry you missed it. If it is repeated on another PBS channel you get in the next few weeks it is definitely worth a watch.

As an aside, let me just say our opportunities to see shows on our various local PBS stations is unfortunately coming to a close I am afraid. Here in NJ, we lost both our state and federal funding for our main PBS station which is operated by WNET. The current contract NJ PBS has with WNET expires in June of next year - without the funding they will no longer be able to continue. Some other entity may fill this breach, but at this time things our up in the air. I am also concerned that the local stations I get from Philly and elsewhere may also see the same fate. Member contributions alone are not enough to keep these smaller stations on air.

I am going to try to give you the highlight of what happened without getting bogged down in the minutia. It may take a few posts to do this, let's see how this rolls.

Okay, I'm back. First,  I will tell you I was half right, none of the suspects did it. One was complicit in the act, but none of them killed the victim. It is a complex story with mitigating circumstances which were extremely unfortunate. Of course, this put the rest of the actions by this person in to motion. The investigation unearth so much about all these people's lives - 'caused so much havoc for them, and in the end Sunny and Jess were left with a dilemma. They opened a box that on some level they wish they hadn't. 

Marty's father though and Marty (thankfully) himself had nothing - absolutely nothing - to do with any of this. I was wrong about his father, total red herring.  

(BTW, I will be stopping and saving this as I write because I don't dare lose any of this as I"I'll never be able to recreate it.)

What we learn or really come to understand is that everyone's alibi, and most importantly the timing of the victims death, is all based on the recollection of the witness who saw (or heard) the victim 's body parts being thrown in the river. I didn't actually realize how crucial his statements were. Remember when they went back to speak with him and asked him if there was anything else that he could remember and it came out that he kept a daily diary at that time in his life. Crucial, critical and life changing.

His daughter said she would look for his diary and see whatever else he may have wrote about that occurrence. (I don't know what else to call it.) In the finale we see her looking at his bookshelves and finding his diary for that time period. Well, guess what, he had the date wrong! Not his fault, it happens - it was so long ago, but now everyone that was perceived as a suspect had to be reinterviewed for the correct date - the actual date he was killed. I won't use the term murder because as the real story unfolds you will see that a murder didn't actually take place. 

We see some of the the suspects being reinterviewed and asked about the their whereabouts for the correct date.  As each describes what they were doing on the actual day of the victims death, they also go into detail about how the victim was involved in their lives. Marty really stands up for himself, I was thrilled... Sunny and Jess come to realize he has the ability to recall every moment of every day, recollecting specific times for everything he does. Sunny asks him why he didn't tell them all this before and he says "you didn't ask". Let me tell you, Sunny had a sheepish look on his face at that response and Jess looked the same. Huge screw up by both of them. They realized they didn't ask him the questions in the way they should have given his autism. Had they been more specific in their questioning, and more sensitive to his responses, they would have ruled him out long ago. 

To be honest, neither of them excelled in this investigation, they bungled whatever they handled. I realize that most people won't admit that - they want their favorite characters to be the ones on top of it, but in this case, it was the team's work that provided the important clues. Sunny and Jess were running around questioning everyone and coming up with little that concretely solved the "who did it".

Do you remember the bit about the license plate? Apparently they located CCTC near where the victim's body parts were thrown in the water (I think that was where they got the video from). That provided a license plate number. Although, the number they saw did not correspond to any of the suspect's cars. Then the lightbulb moment happened, It was DC Willetts who first realized that the license plate numbers had been altered - she was the one who discovered the video and was apprising everyone of her findings and Jess quickly saw where she was going and came to the same conclusion. 

They then tried to reconstruct how someone could alter the license plate number shown on the video (so that that person couldn't be seen/found out) and they came up with only one suspect, based on the reexamining of everyone alibis for the correct date of the victim's death. Or so we are lead to believe, because a twist is yet to come! 

But I get ahead of myself. The writers did a really beautiful meandering of all the (past) suspects lives throughout the finale and almost all of them turned out with a happier ending. Unfortunately, the immigrant friend of Asif's, Hassan was put in a detention center. The positive point, Asif does not walk away from him (I never thought he would) and we see him talking to him on the phone and telling him he was on his way to visit him. Asif is a lovely human being who helped/helps all those he can in his world. If he comes in contact with you and he can help you, he tries. We need more people like him on this earth. 

His own world gets better because his partner takes the blame for harboring an illegal immigrant and though he (the partner) has repercussions from it, he comes to realize he was taking Asif for granted and accepts the consequences without blaming Asif. He apologizes for taking him for granted and asks him to marry him. One happy ending.

The second... Melinda Ricci, tells all regarding her relationship with the victim; owns up to living a life of hypocrisy and comes to terms with herself, quits her vile job - beautifully I may add - if you are going to leave a job, that's the way to do it (if it is not on good terms) - and we see her going back to visit her partner in the hospital with new resolve. Hopefully, a happier life for her.

Marty's mom comes out of her coma from her drug overdose and tells everyone that she took the drugs herself, she felt that Marty would get more help for himself without her and tried to take her own life. Marty is fully in the clear for everything they possibly thought that he was involved in. From my perspective, they were too quick to accuse him for whatever was happening that was questionable in the first place. Thank goodness he had strong representation when he was being questioned because if Sunny and Jess could have blamed him for the entire world's problems they would have. Yes, I am being cheeky, but not without some merit.

Marty was thrilled that his mother is still alive - he didn't know this and what we have seen of his anguish is because he understood the seriousness of her situation. We see the social worker with them in the hospital and she tells them that they will be getting more help for his mother at home. Marty is delighted, all he wants is for his mother to come home and life to go back to normal. He can't be happier. And, his mother will be getting the extra care she needs. 

All good, yet...we see a lingering shot of his mother's face - she is still out of it from her whole ordeal and we don't see the same enthusiasm. Seeing it from her perspective, she is going back to more of the same, albeit hopefully a somewhat better situation, but by no means a walk in the park for her.     

So who does that leave as a suspect? The wife. This in itself becomes a whole other saga. They bring her in, question her, she tells all and confesses. I don't believe it, Sunny doesn't believe it - even Jess finds the confession questionable. Now, a whole other box is opened.

@BritMystery   

Okay, I'm back. First,  I will tell you I was half right, none of the suspects did it. 

None of the five  ......  Say no more Brit.  This has been so much work for you.  You must have spent hours on these posts and I appreciate it.. Soooo  ,   its  back to the wife is it. You were right about  Sunny and  Jess .  They don't have the same bond that was between  Sunny and  Cassie . I watched them together  and you could see that invisible line between them that would  be uncomfortable if either one crossed  it. 

Glad for Marty and his Mum ...  glad that everything will  work out fine for them .  His condition , as  such  ,  gives him total recall of his daily movements and I recall how he would not back up an inch  from his account of his  movements ..   good  for  him .   

These funding cuts you mentioned , I feel will hurt our type of programming .  They will cut back on  imported  shows  and concentrate on more local content.  Time will tell but it does not bode well for us. 

Thanks, sheerwater. Sorry to learn of Patricia's passing. I don't like when one of the old guard passes.

Speaking of the old guard, won't go near Lynley the Younger. Tried Maigret the Younger and meh. Young and supposedly handsome doesn't equal talent. 

However, following Maigret was The Gold, surprisingly good. I think. At least episode one was. Nice to see Hugh Bonneville and Peter Davison. 

The current contract NJ PBS has with WNET expires in June of next year - without the funding they will no longer be able to continue.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 

Well, dontcha know, there are more important things to do with the funding, like.........hmmm, sorry, can't think of any. More golden toilets, perhaps.

Wow. I have three stations I rely on when Law&Order with Sam Waterston isn't on - WNET, WLIW and NJPBS.