What I'm watching - Pie In The Sky

 I've recently come to a realisation that TV is becoming more bleak and dark.

The lockdowns of the last year have led to me spending more time in front of the telly purely to fill some of the hours, and although I've mostly watched box sets of old shows, so much of the programming seems to be either following varying political and race agendas, and much of the scheduled drama series are very dark. And to be honest, it's put me off watching many of them.

As I've got older, I've taken to watching more factual programmes than anything else. I've taken to travel and food programmes in particular.

Much of the drama seems too depressing to me and so I go back to those old shows of bygone times.

'Pie In The Sky' is what I think of as 'Sunday Night Telly,' light-hearted drama that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Richard Griffiths is great as the police detective  (Henry Crabbe) who'd rather be in the kitchen of his restaurant whilst solving various crimes. Ably assisted in the restaurant by his wife Margaret, played by Maggie Steed, it's a programme that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Luckily, the complete series is available on UKTV and it's an hour of enjoyable fluff that doesn't tax me and make me miserable.

This last year has been hard enough without watching TV that's going to drag you down and leave you feeling depressed.

Long ago, I decided that if I was going to watch television it was going to be on my terms. If I'm not watching something that entertains me, then I'm not going to watch it.

I can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend an evening watching programmes that made me feel worse than when I started.

'Pie In The Sky' cheers me up. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm enjoying every minute of watching it.

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My Top 10s - Sunday night telly...

This week, I'm taking a trip back down memory lane to look at my favourite, 'Sunday Night TV programmes.'

However, many of them weren't on a Sunday at all! What I'm talking about are shows with that laid back feel that would ease you into a Sunday. Debz calls them 'Cake and Custard' shows if you know what we mean. Light-hearted dramas with comedy involved (with the exception of one which is just comedy).

These are shows that we've enjoyed over the years, so much so, that I've bought many of them on DVD so that we can rewatch whenever the mood takes us.

10) Death In Paradise

Set on the island of St Marie, the show has had a revolving cast over the years with each main character being a British detective leading the investigations of the local police. The detectives are, in their own way a little quirky, and each has brought a novel twist to the show. You can catch it now on the BBC, and the first eight series are available on Netflix in the UK.

9) Born and Bred

Based in the fictional village of Ormston in Lancashire in Lancashire, it follows the lived of the villagers, in particular the doctors, father and son team of Arthur and Tom Gilder (Played by James Bolam and David French). Maggie Steed, who played the role of pub landlady Phyllis Woolf, is also in one of the other shows on this list.

8) Kingdom

The series follows Peter Kingdom (Stephen Fry), a small-town solicitor whose work revolves around cases brought by the eclectic and eccentric populace of  Norfolk village Market Shipborough (fictional). Ably assisted by his sidekick, Lyle (Karl Davies) they go about sorting the problems of the village whilst also having to deal with his wayward sister Beatrice (Hermoine Norris). It's available to watch on the ROKU channel in the UK at the moment.

7) The Darling Buds Of May

Set in rural 1950s Kent, it follows the life of the Larkin family. It starred David Jason as "Pop" Larkin alongside Pam Ferris as "Ma" Larkin, with Catherine Zeta-Jones playing their eldest daughter Mariette, who marries tax inspector Cedric "Charley" Charlton, played by Philip Franks. 'Pop' is a farmer, who also a bit of a wheeler-dealer, flirtatious with ladies, and charming, good-hearted, but always on the lookout to keep the money flowing in. This is the programme that brought Catherine Zeta-Jones to most people's attention.

6) Last Of The Summer Wine

 Set and filmed in and around Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England, and centred on a trio of old men and their youthful misadventures; the main three characters changed over the years but the ones we all think of as the best line up were 'Compo' (Bill Owen), 'Cleggy' (Peter Sallis) and 'Foggy' (Brian Wilde). The show ran from 1973 - 2010 and was a masterpiece of comedy. You can still see it on Britbox and it was recently showing on UKTV

5) Jonathan Creek

It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solving seemingly supernatural mysteries through his talent for logical deduction and his understanding of illusions. Caroline Quentin was his first side-kick, but along the way, there have been four others. Series 1-5 are still available to watch on the BBC iplayer.

4) Pie In The Sky

Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe is a long-serving police officer in the fictional county of Westershire. Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty, "semi-retired" policeman (much against his will), is the head chef and owner of the title restaurant set in the town of Middleton which he runs alongside his wife who is played by Maggie Seed (also in 'Born & Bred'). The shows follow his investigations as well as his attempts to run the restaurant. The show can still be seen on UKTV.

3) Monarch Of The Glen

The first five series of Monarch of the Glen told the story of young restaurateur Archie MacDonald (Alastair Mackenzie,) trying to restore his childhood home in the Scottish Highlands, alongside  Richard Briers, Susan Hampshire, and Dawn Steele, whilst the final two series of the show focused on new Laird Paul Bowman trying to modernise the estate, primarily starring Lloyd Owen The show is based loosely on Sir Compton McKenzies 'Highland Novels' but set in the early 2000s as opposed to the 30s and 40s of the books.

2) Ballykissangel

Originally, the story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest, Peter Clifford (Stephen Tompkinson) as he became part of a rural community. It showed him trying to fit in with the local community but often hindered by  Father Macanally (Niall Tobin).  This show rated highly until both Tompkinson and bar owner Asssumpta Fitzgerald (Dervla Kirwan) left at the end of series 3. The show continued for three more series when it was ended, but the show at its best was a total joy to watch.

1) Lovejoy

I just loved this series. The series concerns the adventures of the Lovejoy (Ian McShane), a roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a "divvy", a person with almost unnatural powers of recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antiques from fakes or forgeries. Assisted by Tinker (Dudley Sutton) and his ever so slightly dim, assistant, Eric (Chris Jury), they solved the mysteries. The show, like so many others, started to run out of steam when original cast members Phyllis Logan (Lady Jane) and Chris Jury left the show and were replaced by Daine Parish who played Lovejoy's new apprentice, Beth Taylor and Caroline Langrishe who played Charlotte Cavendish, the new lady in Lovejoy's life. The show is the epitome of what I call Sunday Night TV.

There are many other shows in this category that I could have chosen, but these are the ones that I loved. Let me know what show you thought should be in this line-up.

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Too much telly, but it's OK, it's box sets of things I liked!

This year I've watched more TV than I have in years due to the lockdowns.

And I've bought more DVD box sets of the shows I loved to watch in times gone by, Why?

Well, it's probably because I don't enjoy a lot of today's telly. It's either too dark (in mood), unfunny (I don't like political humour and there's too much of it these days for my liking), and there are too many game shows and reality shows for my liking.

Which leaves me watching a lot of documentaries or re-runs.

I was thinking about the box sets I've bought over the years and find myself re-watching. Shows like 'The West Wing,' Michael Palin's 'Around The World In Eighty Days,' and shows like, 'Ballykisangel.'

I have to say I like to buy DVD box sets, as most programmes I used to watch, I never saw all of them. I've not been good at being in front of the telly at the same time every week, so I like being able to watch when I like.

I suppose that's why Netflix and Prime are so popular - TV on demand.

But getting back to my DVD Boxsets, over this last year I've bought loads of them. shows that I loved over the years. Some have been as good to watch again now as they were the first time around, some not so.

Remember 'Howard's Way' from the 1980s? I only ever saw the first series, but for some reason, I loved it, even though it was a bit corny. So I bought the complete box set - £30. 13 episodes in each series and there were 6 series - hours of entertainment for the price of going out for something to eat!

Debz bought some box sets from work - shows like '24' and 'ER', as well as a few films.

I bought 'Lovejoy,' 'Sharpe,' 'Miami Vice,' 'Magnum PI,' 'Quantum Leap,' 'Born & Bred,' 'Monarch Of The Glen,' 'Land Of The Giants,' 'Sunday Night At The London Palladium,' 'Some Mothers Do Have 'em,' 'Frasier,' 'The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel years),' 'McCloud' and more.

We've topped them up by rewatching boxsets of shows like, 'Minder,' 'The Darling Buds of May,' 'Friday Night Lights,' 'Man In A Suitcase,' 'Inspector Morse,' 'Lewis,' 'Jeeves & Wooster' and more.

You may notice there's a lot of what I call 'Sunday Night Telly,' easy-going stuff that doesn't tax you too much. I think I inherited my likes from sitting in front of the telly with my Mum and Dad when I was at home.

Yes, I may have spent a few quid on box sets - most were second hand from Ebay or Facebook Marketplace which meant they weren't too expensive. I'll tell you this though, for us it's been really enjoyable watching programmes we knew we were going to like.

It means that although we've watched a lot of telly, we've sidestepped the soaps, not got involved in the talent shows and managed to avoid 'Naked Ambition,' Dinner Date,' 'Pointless' and programmes of that ilk - and we've avoided the news at all costs as well.

For the most part, it's kept us sane, and calmer than we otherwise might have been!

I'm not saying that the stuff we've avoided isn't worth watching - it's just not our taste. We'd rather watch the shows above and a few documentaries. What we've watched may have bored you to tears, but as I said we've enjoyed it.

That's what we've been watching - what's graced your screens? 

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