UK TV

An archive of blog entries about UK TV programmes and production.

Classic TV

Old Gems: The Box of Delights (1984)

23 December 2010 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

The Box of Delights

Well, it’s Christmas so what would be more appropriate for the last Old/Lost Gem before we all start our marathon mince-pie fests than to look at the Old Gem that is The Box Of Delights, a spookier piece of Christmas cheer for kids you’d be hard-pushed to find.

Starring Patrick Troughton, Robert Stephens and the might of the then-new Quantel Paintbox, The Box of Delights was a six-part adaptation of John Masefield’s book of the same name that saw young Kay Harker returning from boarding school for the Christmas holidays. Along the way, he gets involved in a battle between magical peoples who want the ‘box of delights’, a wondrous creation that can not only help the possessor shrink, fly and travel in time, but also contains all manner of things inside.

And here’s the equally magical title sequence.

Continue reading “Old Gems: The Box of Delights (1984)”

US TV

Question of the week: what was the best TV show or movie you saw in 2010?

22 December 2010 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Inception

Quite a simple one today, and appropriate for the last QotW for 2010.

What was the best TV show or movie you saw in 2010?

It could be a TV series or movie. It could be just an episode of a TV show. It needn’t even be a new show, merely one that you saw for the first time this year. But whatever it was, let us all know.

You can refresh your memory by looking over my reviews A-Z, assuming I’ve reviewed it, and there’s always the weekly “what have you been watching?“

Off the top of my head, I’d say personally

  • Inception – which is probably the best movie I’ve seen in the last one or even two years
  • In Treatment – which although slow to develop, really proved itself in its final week
  • Dexter – bar its final episode
  • Southland – the second season of which was just phenomenal (roll on season three)
  • Rubicon – for its last few episodes, which made it one of the best US spy series ever
  • Rev – just for proving the BBC can still do comedy
  • Sherlock – a brilliant first episode anyway
  • Community – which has had some brilliant individual episodes
  • Rome – finally caught up with it and loved the first season, although the second season was a disappointment

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog