Would you believe it - some good telly at last!

We're well into autumn so it's competition telly time, which is generally good news for me. 

There was a weird thing recently called Dressing the Nation which purported to be looking for a new designer to join the team at M & S. This has to be a gimmick as I'm sure M & S are regularly overwhelmed by applications from people with the appropriate qualifications and relevant experience wanting to join them but it made for an entertaining programs. The putative designers all had quite = er - expansive personalities and some of the ideas they come up with even wearable. Although some weren't. It passed the time agreeably, sort of filled the gap left by Sewing Bee and was a short series. My favourite moments each episode were when they let what they assured us were 'genuine M & S customers' in, to comment on the clothes and made the designers sit and watch what appeared to be a  real time live feed of the customer reaction. 

As far as current offerings go I do not go near Strictly, whose delights escape me, although  I realise it's very popular. I am watching Bake Off, but with only half an eye as I've got bored with it and I don't like Alison Hammond as a presenter, or all the stupid double-entendres, or the dressing up at the start.  It doesn't seem quite so focussed on decoration this time around, thank goodness, but there's till time for that to turn around. 

Also on a culinary theme we are of course watching Masterchef the Professionals and I am still of course bemoaning the spoiling presence of Greg Wallace. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have no idea what this man is doing anywhere near this program, he brings nothing to the party that Marcus  Wareing and Monica Galletti do not bring themselves - and more expertly wrapped at that. However there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from watching people who are very good at their job to start with getting even better,  even if, when faced with some delicious looking main the general refrain in this house is 'but where's the potato?'

Over on Sky Arts I have been celebrating the return of Portrait Artist of the Year. I am currently obsessing over whether the male judge, Tai Shan Schierenburg ( spelling?) has had a hair transplant or just adopted a rather drastic new hairstyle. His hair currently looks like the fuzz that used to adorn the head of the Action Man Toy when they stopped just painting on his hair and replaced it with some sort of fabric-y stuff. There is a bijou problemette with PAotY here in that the OH has a distressing habit of walking through the living room when it's on and saying things like 'None of them know how to paint' or 'That look nothing like the subject'. The latter comment is actually sometimes true, never better exemplified by the winner's portrait the year the prize was to pain Lenny Henry. The resulting picture looked nothing like Lenny Henry, If you didn't see it, Google Images is your friend here.  I would have defied even his mother to have recognised him from it. But that's not a common thing and I like watching how the different artists work, seeing which medium they choose and how they approach the task of producing a portrait. 

Moving away form competition TV tonight sees the return of Wolf Hall, or more accurately the start of the The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantels sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. I'm currently trying to work out some time to finish my rewatch of Wolf Hall (one episode to go) before the new series starts this evening. 

In late summer I did find a few drama series to watch, courtesy of Amazon Prime/You Tube. On Amazon there was a very entertaining legal drama called Newton's Law; much input from the people who brought you Miss Fisher 's Murder Mysteries so that was a good start. Sadly there was only one season of Newton's Law but it was a fun watch. Another Oz drama I enjoyed was Winter, one series, one made for TV film, both very good I thought, if a bit grim - especially the film. On You Tube I called up a thing called The Brief, an old ITV drama starring Alan Davies. I had totally forgotten that I had ever watched it, in fact I had forgotten it altogether, but I came across a reference to it in an old letter from a friend - can you tell I've been doing some clearing out of Very Old Stuff that should probably Never Have Been Kept? I was intrigued by her sentence 'I too am watching The Brief, mainly like you for EP, unfortunately I was away for the episode with DJ and CV'. I was totally bamboozled by these initials so went off to IMBD to discover they referred to Edward Petherbridge, Dominic Jephcott and Christopher Villiers , three actors both she and I admired at the time. And after that discovery I had to see if I could find the program and remind myself abut it and there it was on You Tube. Again not very many episodes and more serious in tone  than Newton's Law, but it was a bit of a trip down Memory Lane. 

And now for a couple of small household chores before I settle down to lunch and the downfall of Anne Boleyn and Co.