The Dawns have are Quiet - TV Review - Russian with Subtitles

Last night while the wife had control of the TV, because the Saturday film on Sky Movies didn’t excite me I took to YouTube in search of something to watch. I once again found a little gem from Russia this time, which had been released as a film and later extended for a TV series. I watching the TV series with English subtitles.

In English, the title is “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” set in the Second World War, a plus for me has I love this period and the war particular so I was up for a later night if it was good, all four episodes in a block making it a late night for me.

Sergeant Major Vaskov is in command of a squad manning an anti-aircraft gun but when his squad are order to the front line much to his annoyance he his left behind to command their replacements. Vaskov seems a man ridicule the butt of the joke by his troops and the villagers where his gun is located. Badly wounded in the Winter War against Finland he is not fit for frontline service.

The next morning he is shocked! He is now in command of a squad of young woman and feels humiliated. He and the woman develop an uneasy peace over time. That begins to change after they shoot down a lone German plane. The Sergeant feels there is more to the plane being in the area, which was not near the front line. He was right it was a reconnaissance plane, finding the dead pilot it was confirmed, and that night another plane dropped a group of paratroopers a bit further from the village.

One morning one of the woman comes across two Germans in the woods and manages to hide and get back to the sergeant to alert him of their presents. He phones his commander the news but it sounded like he doesn’t believe him telling him to take out a small patrol from his squad to find them.

The Sergeant Major takes five of his squad with him in search of the two Germans and believes he knows where they were heading. They clumber through the Russian wasteland to reach their goal and begin to bond. Once they set up, they soon they find out they were not chasing two Germans, but sixteen! Makes a difference. But they set up to take them on. These Germans aren't just ordinary paratroopers. This is a team of seasoned and highly trained infiltrators, from the elite of the Waffen-SS.

This film is based on a novel of a true story.

When they engage their enemy, they started by managing to reduce the Germans numbers but soon they feel their first loss. The Sergeant wins the respect of his soldiers as he leads the Germans the merry dance managing to reduce their numbers. But the cost begin to mount. They continue to fight against the Germans with the woman costing the Germans lives.

Yes, all the woman die but the one death that sticks in my mind was the one where one of the woman is sent back for help but dies trying to cross a bog were she drowns. When the sergeant is chased into the bog later, he sees her stick sticking out of the water and now he knows she is dead and no help is coming. Joining up with the remaining woman, they and the sergeant fight to the end. After losing his comrades the sergeant goes after the remaining Germans, captured three, and marches them back to base but he is found by Russian troops out looking for him.

It is an incredible story of incredible bravery and courage, which connects the audience with the story lines of five ordinary girls and their extraordinary lives and true heroism. The girls who committed their live to saving thousands of others, sacrificing their lives during the horrible war.

The film is set in the beautiful part of Russia beautiful scenery and thrilling and saddening story, an enjoy able watch, as it is a truly inspirational and motivational story once you no it’s a true story, which will not leave anyone untouched! I thought the acting was great which is always good and I would really be happy to recommend it. You can find it on YouTube but I have supplied the links…

Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v8v1GUjwLc

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2BRNbyIp8

Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rQx_I7CCEM&t=988s

Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKlVB10QBjw

1976 - It was hot

Some people love this heatwave as reminded me of 1976 it was hot really hot. When out and about I try to stick to the shady side of the street/road. I don’t do sitting around the garden either a personal hate the idea of a BBQ unless I can sit inside. I have not always been a hater of the sun that was until the summer of 1976. That summer did for me and turned me into a summer time Grinch.

The summer of 1976, was hot and not for a few days or a week but it seemed to drag on all summer and beyond. If I weren’t in my bed my I would be sleeping in the open over the park or around the riverbank, 16 years old just left school and exercising my new found freedoms. Interspersed with some job seeking it was a time mostly for lazing about which was the name of the game for me.

1976 Blackweir (library picture)

The River Taff was our swimming pool and it was free. Soon has the tide started to come in we would mass about and a bit of swimming and messing around with raft we made or found. At one stage, the lower end of the Taff dried up and it was surreal to walk along the riverbed and watch the tide come in later. We would hit the bikes and cycle up Blackweir to hang out just to feel some kind of breeze. Trips to the Empire Pool and Guildford Crescent baths were always a fun place to hang out

Then it was off a bike ride to Cosmeston (lake) limestone quarry, which had filled in with water when the pumps stopped. Swimming was frond upon and could get you into trouble. The police the area from time to time but with so many people hanging out the authorities could do little. If you did swim there, one thing you will never forget was how cold the water was, freezing. It’s now incorporated into a very popular country park.

We needed money to go to Barry Island but the odd trip was made along with the less exciting Penarth with the trains particularly to Barry full. It was our little Blackpool with all the fun of the fair and lovely sandy beach but the arcades were my downfall leaving little spare money for the rides.

The rest of that summer, we just chilled out lazing around the park making half-hearted attempts to kick a ball about or watching the cardsharps playing brag.

How I am a old fart hiding from the sun in the house.

“Shivers” (1975) - Film Review - Horror Film

I reviewed “Rabid” last week and I remember it was part of a night double feature was “Shivers” (1975) so during the wife’s soap loving I decided to re-watch the film. The film gives you a good horror movie! Naked women, sex, violence what else? All we ask in a horror movie is to be scared and disturbed and taken out of your comfort zone.

A young couple are looking to buy a property at Starline Towers apartment block, which amongst many of its resources boasts shops, dentists, and doctors all within the complex. Meanwhile in one of the apartments, which I thought, was a father raping his daughter? But he kills her instead, strips her naked and cuts her open as if he is looking for something. He then kills himself by slitting his throat. However, turns out to be a scientist living in an apartment complex, kills the girl, and using acid to destroy her internal organs.

In another apartment, a couple are at the table and the man feeling unwell leaves for work but heads to the dead girl’s room, they could have been having an affair. He goes to work still feeling sick and decides to head back home. He is sick over the balcony and we see some slug creature slip down the drain.

I found myself laughing at several scenes: a woman emerging from her apartment, attacks an unsuspected delivery-boy while crying out "I'm Hungry! Hungry for love!” The constantly sobbing housewife Janine stumbles upon her unconscious husband Tudor and finds out that hubby dearest just about puked his guts out as the bathtub is one bloody mess. So she does what every loving wife would do: she puts him in bed and turns on the TV-set. A little later, he calls her, saying, "I feel wonderful. Join me in bed".

She runs to her friend’s apartment who is infected after an encounter with the parasite in the bath and soon the two partake of some Lesbian sex. Once infected you become sex crazed.

Tudor pukes out a parasite on an ignorant woman holding an umbrella. She wipes off the blood and exclaims "poor birdy"; Dr. St. Luc, on the from run for two homosexual attackers, hides in a darkened living room, only to stumble upon a father and his daughter sitting on a sofa. "I think you'd like my daughter Erica", the man says, just before he starts kissing her.

The film is dated it was made in the seventies and when you remember that, it’s a pretty good film. From the era of the nasty exploitation movie. I liked it. It pushed all the right buttons. All it takes is one little parasite and your body does all the thinking for you. Anyone who doesn't join the parasite induced orgy is going to get hurt.

I loved the Barbara Steele lesbian kiss scene. That was some good parasite action. Also loved the nurse, (Lynn Lowry). She has a great scene where she undresses while the doctor is on the phone. Always good to have nudity going on while a plot point is being discussed. "Uh huh. Yeah Yeah. Listen can I call you back? There's a naked nurse in here."

My Rating

The Welsh and FA Cup teams picked for another journey.

I am so looking forward to the start of the season even if my team (Cardiff) are certainties for relegation if you believe the football pundits and bookies, bullshit I cry wait and see is my reply. However, I am also looking forward to the start of the Welsh Cup and FA Cup and finding a team to take me on a journey to the final. I have being doing it for years before the internet and always had a good bit of fun. Unlike before the internet now you can find information on all clubs thanks to social media and a general internet search.

So who will I start the journey to the Welsh Cup final with …

I always start with a Cardiff base team I was surprised that, Aberystwyth Exiles are Cardiff based playing in the Cardiff Combination League have entered the JD Welsh Cup for the very first time and face a trip to Welsh League outfit Treharris Athletic.

Checking the South East draw there were seven teams from Cardiff and only one drawn home, Cardiff Corinthians. They play out of Taff Wels ground ‘The Riverside’ Station Road, Radyr and play in the South Wales Alliance League Premier Division. They face Wattsville FC in the Qualifying Round 1, so I have my team - until they lose.

In the FA Cup Extra Preliminary round the team, I chose …

United Services Portsmouth were known has Portsmouth Royal Navy FC before changing there name in 2004. I rather liked the idea about following a service team. The change of name also marked the opening up of the side to players from all of the armed services as well as civilians. Since the name change, the club has remained in the Wessex League Division One.

They are home to fellow Wessex League Division One team Andover Town and both teams know whom they play in the next round either Knaphill or Sholing. Last season the BBC showed a game from the opening round to the final, but thoroughly enjoyed watching the earlier rounds. I hope we will see more of the same this season.

Sunday Crush – Bananarama

Ok I think everyone knows I am greedy but even I couldn’t split the three beauties of Bananarama, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward and it’s always been the same. God what a date that would be and the big hair as you may know I have blogged before I just love eighties big hair. They came to my attention when they joined Fun Boy Three in "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" single/video but they were all over the music press leading up to the single and after.

The collaboration with Fun Boy Three gave them their first significant mainstream success. Later they joined up with Fun Boy Three again for the single, 'Really Saying Something', around a year later. After their tie up with Fun Boy Three, they released the single "Shy Boy”, and reached fourth in the UK charts it was their second single their first crashed and died that was before the Fun Boy Three releases.

Ok it could be my attraction maybe of a sexual nature but they could sing as well as looking gorgeous even with the wacky dress sense the simple bib and brace sexy tomboyish style of their earlier work. Venus marks a pivotal shift towards a more glamorous and sexual image but still nowhere as over the top of girl bands of today with their tits out

.

Venus was always my favourite track and who could forget the various costumes including a devil, a French temptress, a vampire, and a Greek goddess all tastefully done from classy woman. To this day, I can’t understand why in the UK it didn’t top the charts it was eighth beaten to number one by Madonna with Papa Don’t Preach. The Venus video was a smash with the MTV generation in the USA as in was the late nineties before you could view the channel in the UK.

When Fahey left the band the remaining two members added, Jacquie O'Sullivan to the line-up and Bananarama’ s hit streak continued with the addition of O'Sullivan. With a reported lack of input into the group, she decided to leave the group. Dallin and Woodward decided they would remain a duo.

The original line up got together on a couple of occasions for one off events then out of the blue a tour was announced with the original three back together last year.

There was a fanfare of excitement in the media and social media on the news of a tour. They sold out with more added and the concerts received rave reviews. They also when on a short tour of North America again a sell out and after a season of summer outside gigs they will go their own way again with Dallin and Woodward returning to a duo.

Like a fine wine, they are still beautiful having aged well and actually, I like the older wine more than that cheeky younger wine of the eighties.

Must see TV - Week beginning Sat 21 July 2018

Another bad week TV wise with very little to excite me but Dr. Pimple Popper is back on TLC next Thursday I have been following her for years on YouTube. Even Netflix, which I subscribe to as a back up to poor weeks, is not giving this week, oh well.

Hopefully things will pick up in the next few week if you believe the flashing "coming soon" flash trailers. confirmation is what I want but I expect them to come through more in the autumn.

Monday – Channel 4 – Now to get Rich Quick 8.30pm ***New Series***

Businessman Dave Fishwick - creator of Bank of Dave - we need a follow up series to see how the Bank is doing today and a guy I really like in this programme attempts to teach people the moneymaking skills that helped him become a self-made millionaire. He gives people the tools to make their money grow and double their investment pot in just a few months. In the first edition, he advises a council worker who wants to double her £1,000 savings by running food stalls in her spare time with the help of her mum and sisters, and introduces a pensioner from Warrington, to the world of financial investment.

Tuesday – BBC 4 - Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema 9pm ***New Series***

Mark Kermode dissects the heist movie, talking us through its building blocks: the introduction of the gang, including the obligatory mastermind and loose cannon, the explanatory sequence, the job itself and the demise (or not) of the criminals.

As well as clips of our favourite crime capers (whether Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job, Baby Driver or French Connection) we learn about parallel editing, jump cuts and low-level camera angles. And you have to love Kermode for pointing out the astonishing similarities between Mission: Impossible, Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers and Rififi.

This programme will be followed by the classic British film “The Lavender Hill Mob” stupid time for this film.

Wednesday – ITV – The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco 9pm ***New Series***

Consigned to the bin by ITV however, fan power brought it back. Millie and Jean (Stirling and Graham) arrive in San Francisco in 1956, 14 years after the murder of a colleague. They fear the killer has struck again, this time in the American city (he leaves a significant mark on his victims’ hands) and through a mixture of guilt and tenacity, decide to track him down. They are helped by an American codebreaker they worked with during the war.

Thursday – BBC 1 – Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix 8pm ***New Series***

A team of inventors try to help people in need, creating solutions to their problems. Forty-year-old Graham was a passionate snowboarder until an accident changed his life. Now severely disabled, can anyone help him realise his dream of standing upright on a board again? Others requiring help are Alexander, who could die if his skin is exposed to sunlight, and trainee hairdresser Kyle, whose hopes of becoming a professional stylist are hampered by his deformed hand.

Thursday – TLC –Dr. Pimple Popper 9pm ***New Series***

It’s back for a second series for those who like pus and Dr. Pimple Popper. In this week episode there is the story of Melissa, who covered her huge lipoma with a sweatshirt for years. Tyler's fear of cancer stopped his head lumps being diagnosed, and Tahj is covered in painful boils.

Friday – 5Spike – Wynonna Earp 10pm ***New Series***

If you haven’t seen this show before, Wynonna Earp, is the great-great-granddaughter of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, battles revenants, the reincarnated outlaws that Wyatt killed. She also fights other supernatural beings that inhabit the Ghost River Triangle, a cursed territory near the Canadian Rockies that includes Purgatory, her home town.

Having already entrusted her newborn child to care of Great Aunt Gus, Wynonna must face the entity who originally cursed Wyatt and his line.

Turning homes into mini power stations

A Micro-Hydro station

I am sweating my balls off looking through the back door at the box with our new garden furniture I just do not have the energy to get started. To the sun worshipers, I hate all the sunshine we have been having but wait a minute I have to get back to the reason for this post, energy.

We are missing a trick with the heatwave and in general, I think the government should looking into turn house into a mini power station. If that was to happen, excess energy could be sold to the national grid, which would be beneficial to the country and put money in the people’s pocket or it could offset the cost of your bill.

There are a number of systems you could have installed and use singular or together. I like the idea of Geothermal Energy where by a giant storage heater is buried a few metres below the surface, the soil maintains a constant temperature of 11-12°Celsius in the UK. By feeding a coil into the ground and pumping water through it, the earth doubles up as an efficient central heating system.

One of the three different sorts of solar energy technology, PV (Photovoltaic Cells) is the most expensive but potentially the easiest to manage and maintain and then we have wind turbine (modern-day windmill) which has rotors fitted with aerodynamic blades, attached to a generator.

I myself would love to generate power via Micro-hydro and harness the power of run water. Recent advances have made it viable for use in properties with only a small natural water supply but you still need access to water, a river or stream and cash all three I don’t have and never will but I can dream.

Clearly, the prospect of a typical house turning itself into a mini-power station is still some years off in large numbers anyway but what about new builds. Even with the grants on offer, prices will have to fall to bring these options into the budgets of most households. Meanwhile, the big power suppliers are starting to plug into their own renewable sources and pass on the benefits to customers.

Has I just finished this blog, it only started to rain, lightly and will not hang around for long.

Run Wild, Run Free (1969) - Gem of a Film - Worth a Watch

Sometimes channel hopping can bring you something of a gem to watch and that was what Happen today when I stumbled upon "Run Wild, Run Free" the 1969 film starring Mark Lester and Sir John Mills. Beware it is a tearjerker.

It is a sensitive and beautiful film with music that matches the sensitivity of the young child Phillip played by Lester. He has some sort of psychological block and hasn't spoken since he was very young. His parents play by Sylvia Syms and Gordon Jackson are loving but struggling to understand their son with the mother seeming hard than the father. 

Phillip loves the moors and soon finds friendship with a wild white pony and with the aid of Mills (The Colonel) a completely new world begins to open up for him. He soon befriends a girl from the neighbouring farm (Diana) Fiona Fullerton who gifts Phillip a pet young falcon while he temporary losers his pony. Both the girl and the colonel know Phillip can talk and it’s not until the end of the film his parents spectacularly find out.

When Diana and Philip are out riding, they become lost on the foggy moor, Phillip is spooked, and both him and his pony ride into a bog where the pony becomes bogged down in mud. His parents and the colonel search for Phillip and Diana and the weather deteriorates.  When the rescue party find them they struggle to pull Phillip's pony out of the bog and after giving up Phillip dives in calling for his pony also called Phillip. Everyone jumps back into action and slow the pony is pulled out  …. The film ends.

My Rating

The Bullet Bra - Sweater Girl

Unknown

but I would like to

Dug up from my saved films on YouTube I watched “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw” (1958) earlier today a bit of a stupid film really but ok to watch but maybe not as good as the wife and Therese were watching at the cinema. The reason for the blog is not the film so no review but a memory sparked by one of the stars, Jean Mansfield one of the most famous sweater girls.

Like Lana Turner, and Jane Russell, they adopted the popular fashion in the late forties/fifties of wearing tight, fitting sweaters that emphasized the woman's bust line. One of the movie studios termed the name “Sweater Girls” the bra that made the look was the “Bullet Bra” cone shaped which gives the wearer a pointy look, which looks extreme. The popularity of the bra was soon spreading with the stamp of approval from their idols, film stars but it was the fifties when the bra was the most popular.

Jean Mansfield

The bra cups were cone-shaped and I cannot say if they were sexy or dangerous being so pointy. Though it definitely accentuates the bust line, it gives women’s breasts a shape that never occurs naturally in nature. I think the Wonderbra was the greatest bra ever made and sold but if you can see past the comical look of the bullet bra it can be a sexy look.

Hippies and new softer bras consigned the bullet bra to the waste bin but for burlesque dancers until designer by Jean-Paul Gaultier used them in one of his runway shows and popstar, Madonna bought into the style and used them for her Blonde Ambition Tour back in the early 1990s.

Recently another popstar Lady Gaga has been using cone bras on her tours. The cone bra was definitely the iconic look of the 50s. Some lingerie brands offer a selection of cone bras, but their impracticality and visual attention grabbing make them more like novelty or luxury items.

Marilyn Monroe they are pointy

The Foreigner (2017) - Film Review - Excellent Film

Netflix came good this afternoon with a nice film called “The Foreigner” (2017) and from start to finish this film was excellent, cannot say anything more but I will. This is the best ass-kicking the IRA have received on film since Harrison Ford (Jack Ryan) buried Sean Bean (Sean Miller) and is crew in “Patriot Games” (1992).

The two main stars are Jackie Chan as Ngoc Minh Quan in his 50’s working in a Chinese Takeaway and Pierce Brosnan as Liam Hennessy who I did not recognise throughout the film. We find out later into the film Quan was trained by America Special Forces. The rest of the cast were good as well in this pacey film. The film opens with a bombing in London where Quan’s daughter is killed by UDI (read: IRA).

A rogue group is declared responsible for the bombing and Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Hennessy a former terrorist and leader of the UDI he is under pressure from the British Government to come up with the names for the bombers. Quan is also in the mix to find the terrorist he targets Hennessy for information.

Hennessy underestimates this seemingly meek restaurant owner: Quoc's swift retaliation is to blow up the toilet of Hennessy's to get his attention in his well-guarded office. As the politician seeks refuge at his country villa, Quoc follows, camping out in the woods and then terrorizing his security guards and finally confronting the man himself again. Hennessy may think he is in control but is being betrayed left right and centre by the bombers. His wife is sleeping with his nephew and she is part of the rogue group so is Hennessy’s younger love interest.

The film leads to Quoc getting his revenge with one big hurrah unleashing violent revenge on the baddies. Then again, his exploits could be seen as distracting from the main story about Hennessy, who has dissenters to search out but his undermined from within his ranks. The chaos also reveals how he has sold out his ideals for a life of corrupting power, illicit lovers, and clandestine deals with the British authorities which he once fought against as a young street fighter. While all this is happening to the politicians in London and Belfast, Quoc's presence is easily forgotten.

The action and choreography are top-notch. Of course, we get scenes with Jackie Chan using hand-to-hand combat, but we also get scenes with explosives and booby-trapping. These moments are filled with suspense and excitement, as we cannot wait to see where the story and characters take us next. Some scenes show Quan working with different methods of warfare that are incredibly tense and well crafted. These scenes create a level of suspense, engaging the audience completely in the world that Martin Campbell has created. In tandem with these scenes of huge action and combat, there are moments of quiet that allow the audience to reflect on what Quan must be feeling, creating an excellent film.

My Rating

Imagination - What makes a sexy/erotic picture?

I came across this picture earlier today and immediately thought, wow what a picture and it jumped out at me because I found the image was powerful and extremely interesting. First, it is in black and white, which I find far superior than colour. It interested me intensely and I like the fact I do not know anything about the image. Likely to be a film shot, I would thing but I could be wrong but I have no idea which film if it is.

The subject of the picture belongs to my imagination my first thought is she a prostitute leading a client to a room maybe working in a brothel where money would pass between the two for sex. She looks tired as if she knows these stairs intimately and most people I have asked their thoughts of the picture agree with my opening thoughts, lady of the night.

However, when I sat back and just looked at the picture there were a myriad of versions forming in my mind mostly of a sexual nature. It would not be me if sex were not involved in some description.

It could be a wife coming home warily from a party with a husband/boyfriend or maybe they have had an argument. An affair with her older married boss, possibly, she is being blackmailed for some indiscretion, and she does not want her husband to find out but now trapped.

On the other side of the coin she looks to knackered for some random one-night stand don’t you think, but would a bloke care. They could even be neighbours heading home after a night out, separately or maybe a stalker about to pounce on the woman. However, what if she could be the danger leading the man to his death. She could be a lesbian a man hater who likes to tease men be for killing them or a drunk wife being marched home after embarrassing her husband at a works Christmas party not saying that happen to me and the wife! Just saying it was a long walk home. I feel it is a sexual something about this picture, which oozes sex.

She looks Hispanic to me, Puerto Rican. She reminds me of a Puerto Rican girl from the film “West Side Story” it looks of that era the early sixties in America. I have aged her as either side of thirty soon has I saw the picture, I said it looks and feels late night. The dress suggests and looks incredible the way it clings to her body and shapes her behind and a bit of high heel is a beautiful sight. I see plenty to suggest sex in the picture but I get the feeling she is not interested in sex, she just wants to get out of these heels and get to bed with no sex.

Sunday Crush - Suzy Kendall

My crush this Sunday is the lovely British actress Suzy Kendall who I suppose is remembered for “To Sir, with Love” (1967) where she played teacher - Gillian Blanchard. Many of her films were made abroad like “Story of a Cloistered Nun” (1973) an Italian nunsploitation film.

I became quickly smitten with her best known for her film roles of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her attractive blond looks got her many leading roles in some fairly prestigious productions, although she increasingly appeared in lower-profile films and television series later in the 1970s, before finally retiring to spend more time with her family.

I was seven when the film “To Sir, with Love” was released and finely watched it in the mid-seventies and seeing it through the eyes of a randy teenager on the brink of his sexuality. Back then, she was the kind of actor who I was attracted to, fit, and blonde with a twinkle in her eye married to pianist, comedian, actor, and legend Dudley Moore, whose work with Peter Cook remains a favourite to this day.

Kendall had perk boobs, I do like boobs and make no secret of the fact all kind of shapes and sizes, and then it was all natural and the way she dress on and off screen was cool. She was in demand as a model with her wholesome look attracting picture editors. I loved her Mod look with at sixties girl around town. The doe-eyed, honey-blond actress of extraordinary beauty, was not averse to going naked for her art like in the film Penthouse and the First World War spy film Fraulein Doktor with Capucine soon to feature one upcoming Sunday.

Must see TV - Week beginning Sat 14 July 2018

A bit of a quiet week but there are a few gems in the TV schedule with Channel Four giving the most new content this coming week, but for Saturday (again) and surprisingly Friday with nothing new to shout about. The highlight of the week for me looking to be Tuesday night. I have been looking forward to the new offering on the History Channel, Knightfall 9pm. I have seen the trailers and they have watered my mouth in anticipation I just hope I am not disappointed.

Sunday – ITV – Unforgotten 9pm ***New series***

Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar return as detectives Cassie and Sunny, investigating another emotionally charged cold case. When the body of a teenage girl who went missing at the turn of the millennium is found at a building site off the M1, four old school friends are placed under the spotlight and their relationships are tested to the limit. With Alex Jennings, Kevin R McNally, Neil Morrissey and James Fleet a star line-up.

Monday – BBC2 – University Challenge 8:30pm ***New Series***

I don’t know why I like this show in the years of watching I have answered a hand full of questions but still watch. Jeremy Paxman presides over proceedings as the academic quiz that returns for its 25th series since the revival of the show in 1995.

Competitors from 28 universities around the UK answering questions on all manner of subjects. The opening match of the first round sees four students from the University of Warwick take on a quartet from Exeter University, battling it out for a place in the second stage of the contest as they seek to succeed 2018 winners St John's College, Cambridge and lift the trophy.

Monday – Channel 4 – Our Guy in Russia 9pm ***New Series***

Truck mechanic and motorcycle racer Guy Martin sets off to explore the biggest country in the world in his own unorthodox fashion by going on some unusual adventures. Beginning in Moscow, he gets a lesson in Russian politics when he rides with biker gang the Night Wolves, and finds out about law and order when he interviews two young daredevils who evade the police while trespassing on skyscrapers. Guy also learns how British engineers helped to create the city's underground railway system and goes for a ride in an old Soviet air force jet.

Tuesday – History Chanel – Knightfall 9pm ***New Channel***

Part-fictionalised drama recounting the fall, persecution and burning at the stake of the Knights Templar, as ordered by King Philip IV of France.

“Today we fight for the Grail,” shouts a bearded Templar Knight before the annoying Saracens overrun the Crusader stronghold of Acre. The CGI battle sets us up very nicely for this thunderously silly but not unenjoyable fiction centred on the secretive martial order and their search for Christ’s fabled cup.

Our hero is Landry du Lauzon (Tom Cullen) who seems to combine 21st-century virtues of decency, good teeth, and a progressive attitude to other races, which allows this epic clash with the Muslim world to just about pass PC muster. At best, the blood, sex, and intrigue are reminiscent of Game of Thrones and The Tudors. At worst, you may be thinking, “Monty Python” you decided.

Tuesday – Alibi – Harrow 9pm ***New Series***

In this melodramatic Australian procedural Ioan Gruffudd hams it up as brilliant, maverick pathologist Daniel Harrow – who wants to know why the person on his slab died, not just how, and he’ll bend the rules to find out. And of course he ignores his strait-laced colleague who tells him, “That’s the police’s job, that’s the court’s job, that’s not our job.” 

Today that leads him to reopen the cold case of a woman’s suicide. It all follows tried and tested lines, but there’s a hint at the end that the series could get darker and more interesting according to spoilers.

Tuesday – Discovery Channel - Cooper’s Treasure 10pm ***New Series***

Darrell Miklos searches for another shipwreck, and with just eight weeks of funds left, he needs to find a different shipwreck that he can salvage. This is the second series of this interesting show where Miklos sets out to find shipwrecks originally located by astronaut Gordon Cooper from space in 1963. We have yet to see him find anything of major interest let alone any riches.

Wednesday – BBC1 - The Island That Saved My Life 7:30pm ***New Series***

At the age of 23 and suffering from depression and shyness, Sarah Moore moved from her family home near Edinburgh to the beautiful but remote Scottish island of North Ronaldsay, a place with a population of fewer than fifty people.

As part of BBC One's Our Lives, this documentary follows Sarah's life on the island and the people she meets there. Like many remote communities, North Ronaldsay has its fair share of struggles whether it's the cancellation of air services, which bring vital supplies, extreme weather conditions, or the need to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet. Sarah has had to adapt to an entirely new way of living and thinking to survive. This character-driven documentary looks at a unique way of life in incredible place that may not be around for much longer.

Thursday – Channel 4 – George Clark’s … Old House, New Home 8pm ***New Series***

Architect George Clarke returns to unlock the potential of old houses. He meets teachers Simon and Sofie, whose 1930s Liverpool semi has lost its way thanks to a small kitchen squeezed into what would have been the washhouse and some dodgy interior design choices made by the previous owner. Can he come up with a structural redesign and interior scheme with just £15,000? He also visits a medieval farmhouse in Kent that's like a perfectly preserved time capsule and needs an upgrade suitable for a young and rapidly growing family.

Thursday – Channel 4 – Ramsay’s 24 Hours, To Hell And Back 10pm ***New Series*** 

Gordon Ramsay travels across the United States in search of restaurants in dire need of renovation - and after analysing their situation, he has just 24 hours to bring them back from the brink of disaster.

His first stop is the New York community of Congers, where he hopes to save family-run Italian restaurant Bella Gianna's. Gordon and his team work round the clock to clean the premises, remodel the interior and revamp the menu, while also teaching the staff to prepare new dishes and work together as an efficient unit. What will the customers think of the new-look restaurant?

The Triple Echo (1972) - Film Review

I decided to watch the football last night and it was a case of bye, bye England but I remembered to record the fantastic film “The Triple Echo” on True Movies. I had seen the film before once but it stuck in my mind and I was more than happy to see it in the schedule last night.

A soldier Barton (Brian Deacon) stationed in Wiltshire, England during WWII meets Alice (Glenda Jackson) who has been keeping her husband's farm going single-handed whilst the Japanese are holding him a prisoner of war. Barton soon starts helping around the farm and it’s not long before they become lovers.

Barton decides not to return to the army and Alice offers to give him a place to hide and to stop any gossip of a strange young man living on the farm she comes up with an idea. The plan was to dress Barton in woman’s clothes, makeup the full hog and pretend to be her sister, Cathy.

It throws the Military Police off her/his scent and even the locals are convinced but there is trouble on the horizon from a nearby army camp. A brutish army sergeant (Oliver Reed) comes across the farm and takes a shine immediately to both women alone with no men. However, it is the younger Barton he really wants and while Alice knows, where this could lead. With the sergeant becoming a regular visitor to the farm Cathy finds the attention flattering and stupidly agrees to go to a dance with him being naive to the consequences, Alice refuses to go she knows what the smitten sergeant is after.

Has he gone rogue and beginning to like Cathy and the dressing and make-up? Alice is no longer attracted to Barton/Cathy and their relationship deteriorates and as much as she tells Cathy of the dangers of going to the party.

At the party, she (Cathy) starts to realise the trouble she was in and tries to escape out of the toilet window to little avail. Waiting outside the toilet the sergeant grabs her and pushes her into a side office, time to pay the piper. Inside his mate is copulating with a real lady and the nasty sergeant is like a kid in a sweetie shop jumps into attack mode grabs a feel he has a surprise which leads into one of the best scenes has he realises.

He was shocked to find meat and two veg and he is not happy Cathy manages to get a good knee into his lower regions and does a runner. Once the sergeant recovers, he sets off in pursuit checking in the office for soldiers who are on the run from the army and spots Cathy.

Cathy heads for home with the former randy sergeant and the Military Police closing in on Alice’s farm. Alice and Cathy have a tender goodbye. He is now no longer Cathy and makes a runr for it but is soon caught. Kind of knowing the treatment, he could receive in prison Alice shoots him.

The cross-dressing aspect of the tale is what makes this an unusual Second World War film. It is hard to believe that the rugged Oliver Reed would genuinely mistake Deacon for a woman, but there you go. The climax has an air of inevitable tragedy to it, so a sense of foreboding seeps over the latter stages of the film which I liked. The central performances are subtle and effective, although Reed is something of a scene-stealer as the flamboyant and utterly horrid army sergeant.

My Rating