meddow

Going in to the finale I was thinking how series two of Being Human has been a bit of a disappointment, but it actually managed to redeem itself a lot in the final.

( Spoilers )

On the whole, series one was a much better series. But I actually have hope the writers will be more onto it for series three.

I've seen a few movies. Saw Sherlock Holmes and really enjoyed it. I spend the movie thinking to myself 'they're just like House and Wilson' and then realising I was failing because the comparison should be the other way round. I also couldn't help but think that the movie would have been improved by the presence of Jason Statham or Vinnie Jones.

Also saw The Lovely Bones. I know it's been getting mixed reviews but absolutely I loved it. I haven't read the book (been meaning too for years, but just never got around to it) so I can't compare, but what I really loved about it was that it gave teenage girls a lot of power. Teenage girls don't feature in thrillers except to be victims (with the exception of another Peter Jackson film, Heavenly Creatures) – and okay, this does not entirely change that, but by following the impact of the death of one victim of a serial killer and rapist, it treats the victim as more than just a cheap and faceless motive to drive some angsty detective – and the person who her death does drive is her little sister. Though the film is not really a true thriller anyway, it's thriller mixed with a bit of fantasy/horror and a lot of family drama.

In terms of Peter Jackson's films, I also see it as something as a sequel to Heavenly Creatures. After all, Heavenly Creatures has teenage girls creating a fantasy world, taking up residence and then murdering to protect it. The Lovely Bones has a teenage girl murdered and taking up residence in a sort-of fantasy world which is how she creates it.

In the absence of the Thick of It, I've been checking out the creators and actors past work and discovered Knowing Me, Knowing You...with Alan Partridge, which is utterly hilarious. It's a chat show in which everything that can go wrong, goes wrong and the host is a basically a narcissistic idiot. Alan Partridge is of course Steve Coogan who had a cameo in In the Loop, but the Thick of It connections really come from the show being co-created and co-written by Armando Iannucci and Rebecca Front appears in every episode playing a different guest.

The scene you all have to watch, and my favourite part of the whole series is the Abba medley (or why Steve Coogan didn't get a part in Mama-Mia).

I'm going to check out I'm Alan Partridge next.

And on the subject of The Thick of It, I have somehow convinced myself that the future of the show will be announced shortly after Gordon Brown calls the election – there's nothing to support this conviction of mine, but I can't help but get impatient with him about the election calling, particularly after events this week, since the PM in The Thick of It called the election specifically to quell dissension in the ranks and stop a leadership coup.

Finally, Being Human starts again soon. Excitement!

1. The second series of Being Human - one of the few things with vampires I can bear to watch - is due to start on 10 January. What I’ve been dying to know since the first season finished is what is going to happen with Nina.

2. In case you haven't seen it: David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Nan's Christmas Carol (Risotto! Risotto! Risotto!). I love the return on the Tennant and Tate double act, even though there wasn't much of it in Doctor Who. Those two should be in everything.

3. Oh, and just in case you need another reason to love Catherine Tate:

"I love love love In the Thick of it - it's fantastic. I'd like to get my nan character with Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker character and they can have a swear off."

Okay, so I’m not advocating a Nan-Malcolm swear off namely because I have a gut 'hells no!' reaction to mixing naturalistic-comedy characters and sketch-comedy characters (although it's hard to pick. Malcolm is more foul mouthed, but he would have to be provoked to pick on an old lady), but a Thick of It/Doctor Who crossover needs to have happened last week (no, The Fires of Pompeii does not count). Actually, no. Malcolm and Donna would probably get along really well. But Malcolm vs. the Tenth Doctor, now that would be one for the ages.

(I don't know why I'm forever pitting characters against each other in my head. It's certainly fun though.)

4. And something for Thick of It fans and Peter Capaldi fangirls: News at Bedtime. A Radio Four news spoof about nursery tales with Peter Capaldi, and also with Chris Addison guesting in the first episode and Alex MacQueen guesting in the second.