Eurovision 2015: Semi-Final 2, Thursday 21.05.2015

For the first time since 2008, if I remember correctly, I had to miss a Eurovision semi-final.  That year I was on holiday, but this year it was due to a very enjoyable evening out at a prior engagement with mum, so I had to set my Sky+ and avoid Twitter until later in the evening when we finally sat down to watch the show.  Of course I now have a new annual tradition of taking Eurovision Eve off work, so I could stay up as late as I wanted to!

Our three hostesses Arabella, Mirjam and Alice - or their stylists, to be more precise, must have read some of the negative comments online about their outfits on Tuesday night, as the ladies’ styling was much more agreeable tonight, and they certainly look more relaxed and comfortable.  As in the first semi-final, all the contestants are called to the stage and there's that flashmobbing-dancing thing going on, which I don't really understand.  Now - songs!

LITHUANIA - "This Time" -Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila.

In a year of very few uptempo songs - and you'll wait a long time for them in this semi-final - it was inevitable that this would open the show.  It's a lively performance with an equally lively backdrop to match.  And of course there is "one kiss".  Not only that but there is a same-sex kiss between the two sets of dancers.  That’s the ‘demographic’ vote sorted then eh?

IRELAND - "Playing With Numbers" - Molly Sterling.

Molly, Molly, Molly.  In the middle of a forest too, for some reason.  She is still not connecting enough to the viewers, it's the second spot of death in the draw, and I always get the feeling that despite being the co-writer of the song, she's singing about playing with numbers and she didn't know what it meant.  On the plus side, it's a very mature song and performance for such a young artist and even if she doesn't qualify, this will be an unforgettable experience for her.  

SAN MARINO - "Chain of Lights” – Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola.

In keeping with the song's title, there are lots of lights but this awful song just can't be redeemed.  It’s a chain of s***e for you and a chain of s***e for me.  If San Marino's continued participation is to be held to ransom by Ralph Siegel's songs, then the country would be as well packing up and going home.  Michele and Anita should have been given a more ‘youthful’ song than this.  Never was that ‘no’ at the start of the song so appropriate. 

MONTENEGRO: "Adio" - Knez.

After that opening ceremony, here is the man who is now known at EuropeCrazy HQ as “K-nees”.  After a couple of 'meh' songs this brings back the quality.  It's a Zeljko song and there is beautiful staging here, which looks like they're walking on water.  His performance is faultless and then we hit the dance bit. Wow, wow and wow.  

M: I don't understand what he's singing about but he is very professional.

MALTA: "Warrior" - Amber.

After Nina from Georgia won us over with her warrior performance the other night, Amber had a lot to prove.  There is very busy staging and lighting effects going on, busy to the point of ruining the song and performance. This is like 'Rise Like A Phoenix' on steroids.  I like her lace dress which reminds me of Helena Paparizou in Melodifestivalen, but I have a new fave warrior in this year’s ESC and it's not Amber.  

M: Don’t know about break through the silence, but she’s screaming through it!

L: There’s a much better song coming next.

NORWAY: "A Monster Like Me" - Mørland and Debrah Scarlett.

So there was a lot of soul-searching after the MGP final about how this was going to be staged, particularly that long instrumental section before the final chorus.  In the end it was simple and effective.  And this is bloody special.  

M: This is good, in an odd kind of way.

L: Odd is good.

PORTUGAL: "Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa” – Leonor Andrade.

One of this year's (very few) absolute no-hopers, which is really sad as I always want Portugal to be wonderful and most of the time they just let me down. There's lots of wind (machines) and attitude from the Portuguese, gothic....

M: Cheryl Cole!  That's who she looks like.

I'm not sure what this song is supposed to be.  Is it a rock song? A pop song?  If faithful travelling companion was watching this (which he isn't) he would be asking "where's the fado?".  If the Suzy shake couldn’t make the final, this has zilch chance.

CZECH REPUBLIC: "Hope Never Dies" - Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta.

They're back, back, back after 5 years and was it worth it?  Their postcard features knights and a creepy big bridge - could this be a subliminal 'building bridges' reference? This was one of the songs which I haven't played too much before the contest, and I hadn't really paid any attention to their rehearsals so it was all new to me.  And my first thought is "bloody hell Vaclav, why didn't I notice you before?"  It's been a long day though, and I'm not sure how much longer my Vaclav-appreciation will last.  This is a very theatrical ballad which culminates in Marta chucking off her shoes.  And it's all too much for mum.

M: This is far too high class.  Far too high-falutin'!

L: You'll like the next song though :)

ISRAEL: "Golden Boy" - Nadav Guedj.

One of my most-anticipated songs of the night.  Lots of enthusiasm and entertainment value which should overturn Israel’s recent poor qualification record and ensure it won’t be bye bye after their 3 minutes in the semi-final.  But there’s only one talking point at EuropeCrazy HQ…

M: He's WHAT age?

L: 16 I think.

M: He's awfully old looking for 16.  I wouldn't like to see what he looks like by the time he's 21. But he's the king of fun.

L: Indeed he is!

M: And you’re never too old for fun, even if he is really an old guy.

LATVIA: "Love Injected" - Aminata Savadogo.

Sorry Aminata, and Latvia, because I love your country and I love Latvia being in ESC every year, but I'm never going to like this non-song in a million years.  Although it is very well-staged, and Aminata is recalling Diana Ross' "Chain Reaction" with that frock, the song still fails to connect with either of us.  She is very good at what she does though, and it's all very mystical.  It should get marks for originality, I will say that.  But at the end of the day Latvia 2015 was all really about Rigas Bebrs, wasn't it?  

M: This isn't a song at all.  I thought this was called the Eurovision Song Contest?
L: I don't like this song, never have done. 

AZERBAIJAN: "Hour of the Wolf" - Elnur Huseynov.

It's a shame really that when I think of Aserjeban (apart from thinking of Lynda Woodruff) I think of sim cards for all (allegedly of course) and the songs are inevitably overshadowed by, um, external factors.  This year we have Elnur, who is very able to deliver this type of anthemic and dramatic ballad, and then they go and spoil it all with theatrical bunkum.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the hell that is 'contemporary dance'.  Was this really needed?  I was quite captivated by this song but that was quickly overshadowed by an overwhelming thought "NOT F*****G CONTEMPORARY DANCE, NO NO NO NO NO!!" and that tells you all you need to know.  Have you not learned from the hell that was Robin Stjernberg's staging 2 years ago?

M: The dancing, if you can call it that, is wasting this song.

L: Indeed.

ICELAND: "Unbroken" - Maria Olafs.

Now here comes the unexpected car crash moment of semi final 2.  Maria leaves her 'steps' across the stage, and the northern lights staging is quite exquisite.  But the beautiful staging can't save this, because she then starts "singing" and we very quickly discover that there are no redeeming features about this manic pixie rubbish.  She probably doesn't deserve the class line-up of backing singers which include Hera Bjork and the guy who came runner-up in Songvakeppnin,Friðrik Dór....I wonder if he could have done better?  But of course they should really have sent "Feathers", shouldn't they?   

And now for viewers in the UK, on BBC Four, we have a VT about this year's UK entrants Electro Velvet.   Break time over, and time for a little country you may have heard of, called Sweden!

SWEDEN: "Heroes" - Måns Zelmerlöw. 

So the question was finally answered – the scene-stealing cartoon guy has been redesigned with a balloon replacing his umbrella.  “Heroes” is a lively song - and boy do we need one of those! - performed in a slick and professional manner which you expect from Måns by now.  Sometimes it comes across as maybe a little too clinical and sanitised, although there is no doubting its international hit potential.  Tonight's performance is maybe not the best ever performance I've heard of the song, but it succeeds.  The backing vocals work too, thus calming pre-contest questions about whether they would be able to recreate the taped Melfest backing vocals. A confident performance....just don't get too confident though! 

It’s been a long night and by now Mum has fallen asleep and missed Måns.  I make sure she sees the clip of the song later though, so she doesn't miss out!

SWITZERLAND: "Time to Shine" - Melanie Rene.

Right all you Allo Allo fans, let's get the "ooooooh Rrrrrrrreneeeeee" thing out of the way now. Done? Good.  Melanie is very good too, and makes the best of the song she's got.  The staging is effective, there are backing drummers and trees and a costume change and I love the use of "mucking around" in the chorus, but the biggest problem I have with this is that (a) it's not Sebalter, (b) it's not Sebalter, and (c) it's not Sebalter.  She is very talented though and is probably better than the song; and on this performance she deserves to qualify.  But at whose expense? 

CYPRUS: "One Thing I Should Have Done" - John Karayiannis. 

It’s time for John! He is so loveable isn't he.  You just want to give him a great big hug.  This is staged very simply but effectively, beginning in black and white and John in a solo spotlight. This deserves great things. 

At this stage I am mulling over my pre-show predictions and wondering how many I'll get right. Wondering if Switzerland should qualify in place of Iceland.  Or anyone else for that matter, because Iceland certainly don't deserve to qualify on that performance.

SLOVENIA: "Here For You" - Maraaya.  

Aah here come lovely Maraaya and their trademark headphones.  I will be down down low if this doesn't qualify, as it's one of my top 5 favourites of this year's contest (along with Italy, Sweden, Norway and Estonia).  Yet this is missing something in the echoey sound mix as Marjetka's vocals are disappearing at times - I hope this doesn't ruin their qualification chances.

POLAND: "In The Name of Love" – Monika Kuszyńska.

There is a nice pastel pink and green backdrop here, which is a rather drastic change from some of the “busy” backdrops we’ve seen over the 2 semi-finals. The song lacks the ‘killer touch’ but she is very charming and I think the draw placing combined with the back-story should guarantee qualification.

After the voting recaps there’s a little VT about ESC’s famous voting moments including the legendary “I don’t have it!”.  There’s also interviews with some of the finalists including the UK’s Electro Velvet.  I’m still not convinced by Alex’s body language – he still appears reluctant and confused and I still don’t know how to take him.

Fast forward to the results.  Who's going to the final?

Lithuania
Poland
Slovenia
Sweden
Norway
Montenegro
Cyprus
Azerbaijan
Latvia

and the last country to qualify is...
Israel.

I'm very happy to say that I predicted 9 out of 10 qualifiers correctly tonight, I got Iceland wrong and hadn’t predicted Latvia to make the final.  Oh well, 9 out of 10 ain’t bad!

Next stop, the final.  For the first time ever, there are 27 countries competing in the final so it's a) going to be tougher than ever, and b) gonna be a long night on Saturday.....

Eurovision 2015: Semi-Final 1, Tuesday 19.05.2015

So here we go!  No more rehearsals, no more speculation - it's time for the real thing.  And here in the UK that means enduring rather than enjoying the BBC3 coverage; this year's commentators are Scott Mills and Mel Giedroyc, and it can only be an improvement on last year, although I continue to have a real problem with BBC3's coverage.  Too much chit-chat and unnecessary video clips etc etc.  On your marks, get set, bake!  (Sorry, wrong show.....!)

As is now the tradition, the show opens with a tantalising glimpse of what could be, if the orchestra was brought back - but it's only a brief appearance by the ORF symphony orchestra to back Conchita - a.k.a. the artist formerly known as Conchita Wurst - "the queen of Europe" - on what, for me, was a surprisingly muted recap of last year's winner, "Rise Like A Phoenix".  Conchita is all dressed in white.

Conchita is followed by the now-standard parade of countries, each country is called and their contestants make their way from the green room down the catwalk lined with random dancing/flashmobbing people - I don't get the point of them, but that's just my opinion.  Conchita finishes her song, by which time all the contestants are on stage.

For the 60th ESC, ORF are going for some record-breaking: why have one host when you can have four?  Arabella, Mirjam and Alice are this year's main hosts, with Conchita working the green room. The multiple host phenomenon seems to be a scourge of modern television these days unfortunately. My other main gripe, apart from the unnecessary number of hosts, is the poor styling on show.  In particular, poor Alice - what did she do to deserve that?

Mum: Why is she wearing a towel?  Is she just out the bath?  Did they not have enough money to buy her a nice dress?

The three hosts look very uncomfortable in the opening minutes.  With those outfits, no wonder!

This year's postcards are clearly not going to be anywhere as good as last year's make-your-own-flag exercise.  In 2015 the contestants have a parcel delivered to their home country which gives a clue to their Austrian activity which makes up the remainder of the postcard.

MOLDOVA: "I Want Your Love" - Eduard Romanyuta.

So this year's Ukrainian entrant in exile blends Liberty X, Britney Spears, every 90s boyband and George Michael's "Outside" video and the result is an energetic if dated slice of pop.  And there's certainly a lot worse this year.  As it's one of the few remotely uptempo songs tonight, I wasn't surprised to see it first in the running order.  And they are definitely aiming for the demographic with those cops in tight leather shorts :) In recent years Moldova has carved its very own particular niche at Eurovision, but they're missing something for me this year - probably because there's nothing particularly Moldovan about it at all. Time to bring back Pasha Parfeny, I reckon. And maybe even his trumpet.

ARMENIA: "Face The Shadow" - Genealogy.

This is a surprisingly well-staged, dramatic and sincere rendition of a song I haven't really been excited about since it was chosen as the Armenian entry.  Of course despite the change of title, the whole concept is designed to make a statement, what with the various singers of Armenian origin, and then there is this very nice effect towards the end where a map of the world appears and all the singers go to their particular area of the map. The performers make the best of what is not a great song.  But then mum goes and says something which will probably redefine this song for me for ever.

Mum: Are they singing "Don't be nice?"
Laura: "Face The Shadow" will hereafter be known at EuropeCrazy HQ as "Don't Be Nice"!

BELGIUM: "Rhythm Inside" - Loic Nottet.

So I get very excited at seeing Brussels (where I've just been on holiday) in the Belgian postcard.

This very minimalist song starts off with stark white staging before the lasers erupt all over the place. The choreography of the backing singers is exquisite, Loic performs the life out of this song and that little spin after the first chorus is terrific!

L: Do you like this?
M: It's very,um.....different?  Definitely not a "Eurovision song".  The lights are a bit too dazzling for me though.

NETHERLANDS: "Walk Along" - Trijntje Oosterhuis.

So....Ms O has attracted rather more unwanted attention over the past week after, let's just say, some attention-seeking styling (to say the least) in rehearsals.  So with a continent on the edge of our seats, we wondered: just what would she wear tonight?

The answer: a black pantaloon-ensemble which even MC Hammer in his heyday wouldn't have given house room to.  She starts off with her eyes covered by a veil, which she pulls off to reveal messy hair....and don't start me on the backing singers' outfits which are awful and Trijntje herself looks as if she's in pain all through the song.  As the viewers probably are at this time.  Not since Serbia in 2013 has styling killed a song so much.

M: This song is far, far too repetitive.  What's all that "i-i-i-i" about?
L: I thought this was ok at first when it was chosen as the Dutch entry but after tonight the only thing people will remember will be the outfit.
M: 3 hours later and she's still singing why-i-i-i-?
L: Why aye man!  Actually I'd probably prefer the Mark Knopfler song to this right now.

FINLAND: "Aina mun pitää" - Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät.

But now here come the Finnish punks to blow away the cobwebs. I briefly give mum a very quick summary of the back-story but she's briefly decided to go and do something else so she misses this song.  It's certainly different, and I'm very happy for them that they got their chance to represent Finland and also raise their own profile along the way.  But on the other hand, if they are to qualify, will it be for the back-story or will it be on the song's musical merits?

If you are having your own little drinking game going, every time they mention Australia, then take a drink at this point of the evening.

Conchita's changed into a dark blue trouser-suit and has her first green room interlude, where we get a lesson in how to pronounce Trijntje.

GREECE: "One Last Breath" - Maria Elena Kyriacou.

Power ballad alert.  The one which for me is more derivative of last year's winner, than any other song this year.  You could probably sing Rise Like A Phoenix over it.  Maria Elena's a dramatic diva in a slashed-to-the waist silver gown.  The backdrop reminds me of the ITV Schools and Colleges countdown clock from my school days by the way!  (younger readers - this will probably go over your head!)

Mum has returned, she has spoken and she doesn't like this.
M: Where's this from?  It doesn't sound like a Greek song, does it?
L: I prefer my Greek entries to be more uptempo and bonkers and, well, Greek.
But you'll like the next song.
M: Are you sure??

ESTONIA: "Goodbye To Yesterday" - Elina Born and Stig Rästa.

Right, so let's get the obvious stuff out of the way: Estonia is one of my favourite ESC countries. Estonian women who enter ESC are all fabulous and gorgeous and have fantastic hair.  Elina is yet another of those women, and Stig is never going to be anything else than mega-cool.  Oh, and this song and this duet is one of the country's best entries in years and earlier in ESC season was being tipped as a possible winner.

L: Don't you remember this from the national final which we watched?
M: That was too long ago to remember.  But I like this.  Is he quite young?  He's got that kind of face it's hard to tell his age.
L *Checks the internet* He's 35.
M: 35?  I thought he was younger than that.  She's a nice looking girl too.
L: I really like them - I hope this does well.

There's some major intensity being thrown around during this performance and by the end of the song Stig is gone, leaving Elina all alone on stage.

L: Macedonia next!
M: Don't know anything about Macedonia?????
L: I like this song.

FYR MACEDONIA: "Autumn Leaves" - Daniel Kajmakoski.

Way back in the mists of time, in late 2014, Daniel won Skopje Fest.  Somewhere along the way, "Lisja Esenski" was re-imagined as OneRepublic and Timbaland's "Apologize", with the help of Blackstreet (yes the 'No Diggity' Blackstreet, now known as Merj for some reason).

In the long lead-up to the contest this has been one of my favourite entries - I like both versions of the song by the way!

Unfortunately Daniel's vocals lose it a little bit and he goes off key a couple of times.  I'm worried for his qualifying chances, it has to be said - and if FYROM fails to make it again, I worry if they may decide to quit the contest altogether.  Which would be a real shame.

SERBIA: "Beauty Never Lies" - Bojana Stamenov.

I'd have preferred if this had stayed in its original language but qualification is vital, and Bojana performs as if her life depended on it.  And then you have that moment when it turns into the biggest, gayest anthem of the year. ("Here I Aaaaammmmmmm!")

M: This is just a bit too over the top for me.  A bit too much screaming (covers ears).
L: Serbia had to come back with a big showstopper though.

HUNGARY: "Wars For Nothing" - Boggie.

I'm completely worn out after the last song but things are really being taken to extremes now - from the stompiest song of the evening to the sleeping pill of the night.  Very effective staging though, it must be said, as the tree of guns turns into a real tree.  And I like her very understated dress.  But that's about it really.

M: (zzzzzz.........)

BELARUS: "Time" - Uzari and Maimuna.

M:  Ooh he's quite nice looking!
L; Yes he's had a bit of a makeover since I saw him last. (I explain to mum that the Belarus final took place around Christmas time).

Maimuna meanwhile is a very striking and classy presence on stage and I end up enjoying all this more than I thought I would.  The most negative thing about this is that it's just too repetitive. What really surprises me is that for the 2nd year in a row, Belarus has stuck with its national final choice!

RUSSIA: " A Million Voices" - Polina Gagarina.

*OK, listening very carefully for boos!*
It's another Gabriel Alares co-write for Russia, and he's also on guitar in her band.  And yet again it's another song about how we should all get along blah blah blah....

I'll be honest here - if Polina wasn't representing Russia, I'd probably feel more positive about this entry, as she seems likeable enough.  She's a powerful vocalist with strong stage presence.

Conchita's interviewing again and finds out that Stig from Estonia has tried 9 times to represent his home country.  Oh, and check out the Serbian delegation - isn't that a certain Marija Serifovic among them??

DENMARK: "The Way You Are" - Anti Social Media.

The winners of one of the more lacklustre Danish finals of recent years.  But it's uptempo, and let's face it folks, we need all the uptempo we can get!  The staging hasn't changed too much from DMGP, with 60s styling and Beatles-type microphone-sharing.

M: This is quite catchy, I quite like it.  Sounds familiar.
L: Don't you remember it from the national final?
M: Maybe that's the reason.

They do the best with what they have, although it's one of those songs which really doesn't stand up to repeated listening.

ALBANIA: "I'm Alive" - Elhaida Dani.

This song and singer, have a lot of support within the ESC fan community.  I tell mum that this replaced the song which Elhaida initially won FiK with, back in December.

M:  If this is a better song I wouldn't have liked to hear the other one!

I have never seen the appeal of this song and it really doesn't deserve to qualify.  She is better than the song though,  But I then go on to spend the rest of the song talking about Lindita Halimi and Rezarta Smaja....

ROMANIA: "De La Capat" - Voltaj.

Although this is a rarity - a Romanian entry in its own national language (well partly anyway) this song has a clear emotional pull, with the suitcases on stage symbolising the theme of the song - Romanians moving abroad to work, and the children they leave behind. In other words, it's the antidote to all those Channel 5 documentaries....

Aww and they've brought the little guy from the video too!

M: I don't know what they are singing about but it's quite a nice tune.
L: (explains the theme of the song)

GEORGIA: "Warrior" - Nina Sublatti.

Nina does some sewing in her postcard.  I wonder if she could give me some tips as my sewing's not going too well at the moment....but I digress.  Everything about this turns out to be wonderful. The staging, her outfit, those feathers, and well, just her.  She is great, and probably the nearest that ESC is ever going to get to Evanescence's Amy Lee.  Although I still don't know what oximated means....anyway the ESC voters don't take kindly to feisty females if Mei Finegold was anything to go by last year, but this is a real vote-grabber.

M: It's not much of a song but I love her look!

Voting recap time and then BBC3 being BBC3 it's time for a VT.  Of course given that Mel Giedroyc is one of the presenters of "The Great British Bake-Off" then we've got her working in a cake shop serving cake to Monika and Vaidas, Anti-Social Media, Nadav Guedj and major Macedonian flirt-magnet Daniel Kajmakoski.

And then another VT about Electro Velvet.  And then yet another VT this time with Scott Mills interviewing devoted fans and then an interview with Dr Eurovision and John from Cyprus.

Right, on with the drinking game - an Australian-themed VT followed by interviews with Guy Sebastian, Lisa Angell and Edurne, then videos of the automatic qualifiers....oh come on, let's get on with the results!  Also, Mel is prattling just a bit too much over the songs.  The BBC3 coverage irritates me but as the years go by I'm getting irritated by commentary in general, that's why I love getting the commentary-free official DVD in June!

So, which 10 countries are going to the grand final?  Well, you'd think that they'd take a little bit more time over the announcement, rather than a dismissive 2 minutes at the end of the show.  I'm not asking for interminable X Factor-style pre-announcement pauses but after so much time-wasting and interviews and gratuitous mentions of Australia *GOOD MORNING AUSTRALIA KLAXON!* I don't think it was too much to ask for a little bit more time to just build up the right amount of tension to announce the finalists, who are....

Albania
Armenia
Russia
Romania
Hungary
Greece
Estonia
Georgia
Serbia

So there is only one more spot in the final, and it goes to...
Belgium!

So it's a great big yay!!!! for Loic - I wondered if it was maybe a little too experimental but obviously not!  I got 7 out of 10 predictions right - very sad that Daniel won't be in the final, and disappointed for Denmark but this may be the jolt they need to improve the selection of songs in their national final.

Up next: semi-final 2 - better songs and tougher competition ahead.

The Eurovision 2015 blog posts: an introduction

Almost 4 months have passed since the Eurovision 2015 semi-finals and grand finals took place. Even by my standards, these are beyond late!  As I said in a previous post, I had misplaced my notes and had been unable to find them for a long time, before they finally turned up.  I haven't had the time to post these as the weeks following my mum's death have been hectic.  I returned to work full-time, there was so much official/life-stuff to be done, and I was basically too exhausted to blog.

Despite the delay, I really wanted to post these as a tribute to my mum.  Even though she used to wind me up by saying every year that she hated Eurovision and would never watch it again, she loved it really and would never miss it.  Little did I know back in May that this would be the last time we would ever watch Eurovision together.  But I know that she will always be with me in spirit when the contest comes around.  

So here, finally, are my Eurovision semi-final and final reviews.  Enjoy :)

Summer rewind 2015: the (All)sång remains the same....or does it?

Petra Marklund's second year as host of SVT's great summer tradition didn't start well.  The last thing an outdoor show needs is bad weather, and the series premiered in a dull, grey, rainy, overcast Stockholm, the opposite of what we expect from Allsång: the beautiful Stockholm landscape bathed in evening sunshine. 

Something which has been creeping into the show over recent years is the inclusion of ever more 'VIPs' and celebs in the audience.  This went to ridiculous lengths in week 1 as the Swedish prime minister turned up with another fellow minister.  But no matter who you are, the weather does not differentiate.  So the PM and his government chum had to don their Skansen cagoules too...

The politicians' appearance attracted a lot of criticism with many online comments that SVT seems to care more about who's in the audience than who's appearing on stage.  Maybe it was just the weather, but week 1 fell flat, despite the efforts of the much-loved Hasse Andersson, this year's (other) big Melodifestivalen success story.Anyway we had the usual 'understated' performance from Carola (although it was worth mentioning for eagle-eyed fans of my other - mainly dormant these days - blog, Planet Salem, that Adam Hagstrand, Salem's former guitarist in his touring band, was in Carola's backing band). 

One new innovation we could have done without during this series: Petra singing her introduction of the artists to the tune of "Stockholm i mitt hjärta<. No, no, a thousand times no. It's not even acceptably cheesy, just cringeworthy.

Week 2 brought the triumphant return to Skansen of a certain ex-Allsång presenter who just happened to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest, but the Swedish press was just full of Norlie and KKV's "F word" controversy.  Meanwhile Tomas Ledin was back - now you all know that he's one of my all-time fave Swedish singers but if I'm honest his material of recent years doesn't come close to his classic songs.  "Livs levande" is certainly no "En del av mitt hjarta". 

In week 3 we had Isa, who had her breakthrough in this year's Melfest and I could predict her returning to Melfest and even representing Sweden at ESC in the next couple of years.  She is a very professional young performer.  The highlight of week 3 for me was Danny Saucedo performing the excellent "Brinner i Bröstet".  Like a lot of other Swedish stars, Danny has gone down the native-language route with his latest material.  He is such a star - I wonder if we will ever see him back at Melfest again? Talking of Melfest, Magnus Carlsson was rejuvenated by making the final this year and I enjoyed his energetic performance of "Gamla Stan" in week 3.

Week 4 was all about the summer hits.  Zara Larsson's "Lush Life" - a song with massive international hit appeal - has been judged the 'hit of the summer' in Sweden while "Fan Va Bra" by Jakob Karlberg has also been a big summer hit although if I'm honest it has a whiff of the 'one-hit-wonder' for me....unlike Darin (above), who has established a brilliant career which has completely been reinvented with his Swedish-language material. He performed the gorgeous "Ta Mig Tillbaka", (a song which always managed to bring me much-needed calm during my horrible summer) and its fine follow-up "Juliet".  And on a completely shallow note, isn't he just getting better and better-looking?????

Week 5 brought us the return of the rain, see-through raincoats and Ulrik Munther.  Just like Danny and Darin, he's turned his back on English-language music in favour of Swedish.  He performed "Nån gång", which I found a disappointing and irritating song. He still retains the youthful look but at least he doesn't look as if he should be in Junior Eurovision any more.  Dinah Nah's "Make Me (La La La)" was one of those songs which I've played a lot since Melfest and I think we can confidently say we'll see her back there next year, if only to prolong her 15 minutes of fame.  I'm pretty confident we'll also see Ida Lafontaine at a future Melfest too.

Not much to say about week 6 apart from Alcazar, who were also this year's chosen artists for the Allsångsscenen är din" special which directly followed the show. The 'Zar didn't disappoint, the show was packed with energy, discotastic fabulousness and all the hits and more .  A major highlight was a particularly memorable duet of "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" by Andreas and special guestPeter Jöback.  Alcazar really did put on an entertaining show. I missed week 7 but did manage to catch the Four Seasons medley on YouTube performed by the Swedish cast of Jersey Boys, including David Lindgren and Bruno Mitsogiannis (again, I can imagine either or both of them in a future Melfest).

On 11th August, the final episode of this year's series was a very grand occasion, to commemorate 80 years of the Allsång tradition at Skansen, with a spectacular backing group - no less than the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.  Lena Philipsson was among the artists with her new song "Jag är ingen älskling".  A big finale then, with a big surprise.  For no-one was expecting that big announcement from Petra Marklund (above) that she was quitting the show after just two series to concentrate on her own solo music career.  An emotional farewell, one final dramatic performance of Kent's "Musik Non Stop" and then she was gone.

Presumably to avoid a whole summer, autumn, winter and spring of speculation in the Swedish tabloids over who the new host will be, SVT moved quickly to announce that Sanna Nielsen will present the 2016 series.  She gained good experience co-presenting Melodifestivalen 2015 with Robin Paulsson, where she emerged as a professional and fun presenter; if she can reach out to the public at Skansen as well as the TV viewers then SVT will have done the right thing appointing her as Petra's replacement.  But I'm sure the Swedish media will have lots to say, as always, when next July comes around....

Review: Eurovision's Greatest Hits (BBC1, 03.04.15)

This review's been sitting in my drafts folder for months so I thought it was about time I got round to posting it.  It seems such a long time since that early April evening when mum and I sat watching this Eurovision anniversary concert.  So let's rewind....

Eurovision's Greatest Hits was commissioned by the EBU and produced by the BBC.  The concert took place at London's Hammersmith Apollo at the end of March and was screened on BBC1 on Good Friday, which was a nice way to start Easter weekend.  Fans of "Strictly Come Dancing" would also recognise the musical director Dave Arch.  It was a bright and well-produced broadcast which proved that the BBC would be able to stage a future contest if only given the chance.  And let's face it, the way things are going it's about the only sniff of a Eurovision production which the BBC's ever going to get now!  (But we live in hope).  Presenters Petra Mede and Graham Norton even made reference to that famous 1998 pairing of an Irish man and a Swedish woman...some history repeating here :)

I'd been looking forward to seeing this show ever since it was announced, and I certainly enjoyed it. But if the mostly negative reaction online which followed it was anything to go by, I seem to have been in a minority.

Much of the criticism related to the dated and predictable line-up.  Perhaps it's a generational thing: I'm one of the Eurovision "oldies" who has stayed loyal to the contest since my 1970s childhood, therefore the likes of Anne Marie David, Brotherhood of Man etc may have had more relevance for people of my age than for the new generation of fans, who will view Loreen and Conchita Wurst in the same way.

And let's not forget the earlier years of ESC were completely overlooked too.  As the years go on, everyone will get older and eventually leave this world behind, so I have no objections to the nostalgia circuit rolling on alongside the modern era's contest.  And fast forward to 2035....prepare for all the complaints about Conchita, Loreen, Alexander Rybak and Lena turning up at the 80th anniversary concert in favour of some of the overlooked winners from 2025 or thereabouts......

Obviously there were some notable exceptions.  Of course there would be no Abba.  And I understand that the fragmented versions of Bucks Fizz meant that they were off the list ("Making Your Mind Up" was performed by Bobbysocks in the show finale) but I'm surprised by the absence of Katrina, with or without her Waves.  I wondered if she had been asked?

Other more relevant criticism related to the lack of representation from the 'new' countries which have joined the contest in the last 20 years.  Apart from Russia, there was no 'Eastern' representation, although it has to be said that "I Wanna" and to a lesser extent "Everybody" wouldn't have been remembered as 'greatest hits' by any means; but where was "Molitva" for example?  Or even "Wild Dances"? (Athough Ruslana probably has much more important things to do in her troubled country).

So what about the acts? 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest kicked off the show with "Only Teardrops" which despite being one of the most overhyped and predetermined winners of recent years, has not aged well.  I would have substituted this with another song - probably "Satellite" although I guess Lena is moving on with her career and doesn't want to be part of the whole Eurovision thing?

For those of us who discovered ESC as a child in the 70s, Anne Marie David was much more up our street (or should that be rue).  In the early 70s, French-language songs totally owned Eurovision.  The exquisite trilogy of winners from Monaco (1971) and Luxembourg (1972/1973)  symbolised a golden age for the French language ballads, however this was smashed to smithereens by Abba in 1974 and the contest would never be the same again.

Anne-Marie reprised her 1973 winning song "Tu Te Reconnaitras" in a bilingual version.  At this point my mum made an interesting observation: she couldn't remember "Only Teardrops" but clearly remembered "Tu Te Reconnaitras/Wonderful Dream".

Even the Herreys, who gave the world one of my least favourite ESC winners ever, turned out to be quite entertaining, even bringing back their dance routine for "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley", a song title which probably set the contest back years in this country.

I told mum that Dana International's win in 1998 was a major turning point for the contest.  The same couldn't be said for "Diva" which I thought was a pretty 'meh' winner.  (1998 for me was all about "Hemel En Aarde", "Where Are You", "Alltid Sommer" and, ok, laugh if you want to - "Guildo Hat Euch Lieb"!)  Dana's rendition of "Diva" was vocally not great but extra points for topless men.  Ohh yes.  Dana indeed knows the demographic.

The Olsen Brothers, who pleasantly surprised many of us when they won in 2000, led a mass singalong of "Fly On The Wings Of Love".  I was quite puzzled that mum didn't remember this song as she liked it at the time.

One song we've never been allowed to forget is Brotherhood of Man's "Save Your Kisses for Me" which brings back memories of doing the dance at school discos that year (!) Unfortunately I doubt if I could recreate the dance routine these days though, with these dodgy knees!

It's been a parade of winners to date but at this show, two of the "Big 5" countries are not being represented by winners but more recent contestants.  It's time for a Spanish medley - no it's not Rodolfo Chikilicuatre or even my once beloved D'Nash come to that - but Rosa Lopez.  Mum can't remember her at all.  She certainly looks very different these days to the Rosa of the "Europe's Living A Celebration" days.  I spend most of this medley, boring mum about David Bisbal and how much I was in love with him back in those days...."and if I'm supposed to remember who David Bisbal is!" was her indignant reply!

But mum is certainly bursting with recognition of the 1982 winner Nicole, who is showing off her multi-lingual versatility on "Ein Bisschen Frieden".  Bearing quite a similarity to JK Rowling too, don't you think!  I have to say though that 1982 wasn't one of my favourite contests, and I was never too excited about this one winning.  'Peace songs' I feel are always a rather cynical way to win votes at Eurovision.

If we're doing interval acts, then the greatest of all was represented by the 2015 vintage of "Riverdance".  Yes of course they could have gone for something more obscure, but you can't underestimate the impact which this had, not just on Eurovision but also in wider popular culture and on the world of dance.  This still gives me chills, I love that music.  Flatley and Butler may be long gone from the show but this new breed ensured that it's in good hands - or should I say feet!

Wonder how long it takes the members of Lordi to get ready for their concerts?  We loved "Hard Rock Hallelujah" and even thought it may have not been to everyone's tastes it was a worthy winner and I was so happy at that time to see Finland finally get its first win.

France is the other country being represented by a 'non-winner' this time Natasha St-Pier.  I thought it was quite surprising that she performed "Je N'ai Que Mon Ame" rather than a medley of previous French winners, or if they couldn't get Marie Myriam then I thought it might have been more appropriate for Natasha to pay tribute to the last song to win it for France in 1977.

The booing for D-d-dima Bilan (or at least for the country he represents) was cut from the broadcast version of the show.  I have always preferred "Never Let You Go" to "Believe" - he sang both on this show - but boy does he over-egg everything.  On the plus side, there was no skater in sight.

Bobbysocks!  They completely ruled.  Where they always win over a lot of other past Eurovision acts is that they still seem to love performing "La Det Swinge" and that feeling was reflected right back at them from the crowd.  Possibly the best performance of the night.

What a reception from the fans when Loreen took the stage.  For many of the newer/younger fans, Loreen would be the highlight of the evening.  And at least she kept her clothes on this time (unlike in this year's Melodifestivalen guest spot) but she didn't repeat that iconic dance routine.  According to mum, "Euphoria" is one of the very few winners from recent years which she can still remember.

And then of course where would a Eurovision celebration be without the King of Eurovision, Johnny Logan?  Performing a medley of "What's Another Year", "Why Me" and the utterly fantastic "Hold Me Now", which for both of us remains one of the greatest Eurovision winners.  I think this was mum's favourite part of the show - she always loved Johnny Logan.

If Johnny is the king of Eurovision then the queen has to be the very first winner of the contest, Switzerland's Lys Assia is still going strong at 91 years old and was a special guest of honour, 'Queen' Lys was crowned by Graham Norton!

I didn't want this show to end but the final act on stage was the defending champ Conchita Wurst with "Rise Like A Phoenix".  For some reason she is only known as Conchita now - I guess she's so famous she doesn't need a 'surname' any more :)

Conchita was back for the show's finale, including a duet with the contest's other ground-breaking winner Dana International on "Waterloo".

In a contest which has spanned 60 years, it was always going to be impossible (or should that be im-paaa-seee-baal) to please everyone all of the time.  After all, this was not a show for the hardcore all-year-round ESC fan family, but was clearly targeted as a nostalgia trip for the once-a-year Eurovision casual viewer.  So the haters are probably gonna hate, but I'm not ashamed to say that as a member of that hardcore year-round fandom, I enjoyed Eurovision's Greatest Hits.

The Square-Eyed Couch Potato: August-September 2015

With the double whammy of the World Athletics Championships and the gripping excitement of the Vuelta, not to mention some other commitments, my TV viewing has taken a bit of a back seat.  So don't even expect me to get through that backlog any time soon!

Let's start not in Britain but in Sweden, where series 11 (yes!) of "DOOBIDOO" (SVT) is filling that gap in PED season, and although it's screened on a Friday night, thanks to SVT Play it's become my new Saturday night TV highlight.  This of course is that other gameshow, the one that isn't "Så ska det låta" but it has a lot of things in common - a similar format/studio set, and a number of Melodifestivalen artists past and present among the guests.  If you haven't discovered it then check out the show at http://www.svt.se/doobidoo/

Of course a show like Doobidoo would never be commissioned over here in a million years - it would just be too 'light entertainment' - panel game shows these days are usually staffed by the same old comedians bouncing private-joke irony and sarcasm off each other.

Watching TV in this country at certain times of year has a real whiff of the "groundhog day" about it. And we are coming into that time of year when that appears more obvious than ever,  Over on BBC1 they've launched series 13 (yes!) of "STRICTLY COME DANCING" with its usual mix of BBC presenters/sports stars/pop stars and a man in a category all his own, the shy and retiring avoider of reality TV (NOT!) - the one and only Peter Andre.  I'm sure the costume department will ensure that he bares those famous abs at every opportunity.  Although from what I've seen so far, I'm more interested in a couple of the new professional dancers - Gleb Savchenko and Giovanni Pernice.  And Tristan MacManus is back too, let's hope he sticks around a bit longer this time :)

I did manage to finish "THE SABOTEURS" (More 4) which has been a gripping series - with a shocking ending - but it was one more subtitled gem.  I'm very happy that television channels over here are finally waking up to the idea that there is life beyond the UK and USA.  Now if someone could just buy the original Swedish version of Humans???  Pretty please??

More4 seems to be the latest go-to place for subtitled drama.  After The Saboteurs ended, it was replaced by "RESISTANCE", a highly rated French series about a group of heroic young people battling the Nazis in France during World War II.  I've watched the first two episodes so far and it's compulsive viewing.

A message to TV schedulers - can you all stop scheduling my subtitled telly at 9pm on a Friday night?  Apart from Resistance there is also Dag on Sky Arts and Days of Honour on STV Glasgow at the same time.  At least I can get round recording them all by putting Resistance on More4+1 on series link.

I had gathered a backlog of several episodes of "DAG" (Sky Arts) on my Sky+ box so had a little binge-watching session last weekend.  If you haven't seen it, it is a Norwegian sitcom and the humour is blacker than black.  The lead character, Dag, is a marriage guidance counsellor whose life is more messed up than any of his patients.  Dag is surrounded by a weird and wonderful supporting cast of friends and family, notably his best friend Benedict who gets into a number of amusing scrapes along the way and inevitably ends up the worse for wear.  For a comedy, this is an incredibly 'deep' show and may not be to everyone's taste - I was ready to abandon it at the beginning and didn't really get into it until about 3 or 4 episodes in, but it's well worth watching if you're in the right frame of mind. It's a dark show but has some incredibly poignant moments too.  Sky Arts is currently showing series 2 but I believe it has run for 4 series.

If you ever have a bad day at work, then reassure yourself that at least you don't work with Ian from Poundworld in Burnley.  He's a real-life retail Alan Partridge.  He's one of the stars of "POUND SHOP WARS" (BBC1) which has returned for another series; chronicling the efforts that Poundworld and Poundland go to, to keep those customers coming in.  It's a lightweight and undemanding way to spend a half hour, but we still have to suffer the excruciating Caroline Aherne voiceover.  Irritating beyond belief.

Pound Shop Wars is just one of many people-at-work docusoaps which have been filling up the TV schedules over the last couple of years.  But what about when work is over and it's holiday time? Simples.  Let's do "ordinary people on holiday"!  Let's rip off Gogglebox!  And the result = "TRAVEL GUIDES" (ITV).  Of course it's TV's perception of "ordinary people" who inevitably in the name of 'entertainment' have no concept of the real joy of travel and holidays, and only care about getting on TV.  I'm not suggesting that ITV bring back "Wish You Were Here", but please, someone, somewhere, give us some intelligent and informative travel programming!  BBC Northern Ireland's "Getaways" did get the thumbs up from me earlier this year, because it reminded me of "Holiday: You Call The Shots" which I really enjoyed from a few years ago on BBC1.

But we live in dumbed-down times.  And never was this more obvious than on "THE SATURDAY NIGHT STORY" (ITV), yet another subliminal attempt by ITV to try to convince us that despite all the great Saturday night TV over the years - and I remember a lot of it! - that basically, it's all about Ant and Dec.  And X Factor.  The only redeeming feature on this lazy 2-part Saturday night retrospective filler?  Only the long-awaited reunion of the Gladiators!  Now there is one Saturday night TV classic which I think is ripe for a revival: entertaining family viewing for a Saturday night with no Ant, Dec, or Cowell in sight.  Gladiators - ready!

There seems to be an annual tradition when "THE CHASE" (ITV) is on its traditional summer break, We are usually subjected to deliberately bad replacements so that we will long for The Chase even more.  Well, this year we had two replacements; the first was "FREEZE OUT", an air-hockey themed game so embarrassingly bad that it should probably go the same way as "Take On The Twisters" (remember that one?  No, please don't).  Mark Durden-Smith was a personality-free host, with his "slide on!" catchphrase falling flat at every opportunity.  The only redeeming feature was po-faced 'ice judge' referee Uriah Rennie - and my research tells me he's an actual proper football referee - a potential cult figure who was wasted on this show.

Maybe he could have got a transfer to the other summer replacement for The Chase - "REBOUND" which does have potential, perhaps in the 4pm Tipping Point slot?  It was a fast-paced, decent enough show - although I thought host Sean Fletcher was a little bit rude to the contestants sometimes - and I could see it coming back.  Hopefully it's not been 'beaten by the bar'.

Hooray! "THE CHASE" (ITV) is back in its teatime slot after that summer break.  And they've brought a new chaser with them - Jenny "The Vixen" Ryan, who seems quite nice just now compared to some of the other panto baddies - although if you watch some of the old episodes from the first series over on Challenge, even the Dark Destroyer wasn't half as grumpy as he is these days!

Later this month ITV is celebrating 60 years on air. "ITV CHANGED MY LIFE" looked back at how the channel had changed the lives of those who had appeared on its programmes, including the flight simulator champ on The Krypton Factor who became a professional pilot; Glasgow's very own Gary Mullen who appeared on Stars In Their Eyes and continues to make a living from his Freddie Mercury tribute act; the couple who met and married on "Blind Date" (they also had a lot of TV coverage around the time of the recent death of Cilla Black) and the cross-section of children whom we followed into adulthood in the 7-14-21-28-35-42-49-56 Up series, which is one of the best programme formats ever invented.  On a more serious note the programme also looked at how World In Action managed to overturn the wrongful imrisonment of the 'Birmingham Six'.  If anything, this excellent documentary just left me full of regret and sadness at what ITV has become - a dumbed-down shadow of its former self.

There will soon be another live episode of "CORONATION STREET" to celebrate 60 years of ITV. The episode will air on 23rd September and we can only hope that they will use it to bring this whole tedious Callum saga to an end, (however that would then presumably be followed by an equally tedious "Who Killed Callum?" storyline!)

Holiday news

Just as a follow-up to my previous post,  I'd finally like to report that in a few weeks we will be going on holiday to Port de Pollença, (better known as Puerto Pollensa) which is a pretty little resort in the north of Mallorca, which I've read and heard a lot of good things about.  Believe it or not, this will be my first ever Spanish resort holiday!  We've only ever gone on holiday together to Spanish cities like Barcelona and Palma.

I've had a few comments over the last few days that this upcoming holiday is more "conventional" than usual!  That may be true - and it's a big change telling people where you're going and they don't automatically ask "where's that?".  However, after the trauma of recent weeks it's the type of holiday I need right now, even if we're not the conventional sunworshipping resort-y travellers.  I'm reliably informed that PP (as it shall be known here from now on!) has a laid-back cafe/restaurant culture and has more of a Spanish feel than some other resorts on the island.  And yes, you can look forward to reading my usual holiday diaries on here :)

Finally, just one more thing - as you'll understand, I'm going through a pretty bad time just now so haven't really had the energy to get all those outstanding blog posts written.  But they will be published eventually, please bear with me.

A holiday 'Made in Spain' - but where?

It's just a few weeks to go until faithful travelling companion and I head off on our annual summer holiday, but where are we going?

Well, the one thing I can definitely confirm is that we are heading to Spain once again.  But whereabouts?  Well that's still at the discussion stage, but there should (hopefully!) be some news soon. All I know is that it won't be Magaluf, or Marbella, or Benidorm, but there's lots of other options to choose from.  There have been a few setbacks thanks to the escalating costs of flights and hotels, but we'll get something.  More than ever, we really need a holiday.

(By the way, did you spot my little Spain 1988 ESC reference in the blog post title?)

The Square-Eyed Couch Potato: June-July 2015

For obvious reasons I haven't really had the time or energy to blog lately, but I'm slowly going to ease myself back in over the next few weeks so please bear with me. And much of this review is about what I haven't watched, as what I have!

Let's start with a three-part profile of comedy legend Bob Monkhouse, which was screened in June.  "BOB MONKHOUSE - THE MILLION JOKE MAN" (Gold), presented by Paul O'Grady, looked back at the life and career of the man who, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, defined TV entertainment.  What I didn't know was that Bob kept an enormous archive of joke books and other material from his career.  It would perhaps have been better if the show had focused on the lesser known aspects of his life, rather than taking the more conventional route.

"CORONATION STREET" (ITV) continues to struggle through a rather dull phase, with too many repetitive storylines.  The Callum/David/Kylie custody storyline seems to have been going on for ever, which is probably because it has, with the added tedious dimension of the return of Sarah(-Lou) Platt and her daughter Bethany - I know Sarah was pregnant at 13 but the actress who plays Bethany looks more like her sister than her daughter!  But there was one very important story to be wrapped up. Following the very sad death of Anne Kirkbride earlier in the year, the writers finally decided to lay Deirdre Barlow to rest.  During her death and funeral there was the odd glimmer of 'old' Corrie humour and - shock horror - quality.  However it was not to last.  R.I.P. Deirdre: a genuine character whose likes we'll probably never see again in the modern-day Corrie of rushed and sensational storylines, pointless characters and bad acting :(

"EMPIRE" (E4) has been one of my favourite new dramas of this year, and whilst the larger-than-life first series has ended (sad face) the good news is that season 2 is coming to E4 this autumn, so we won't have too long to wait to see what happens to Cookie, Lucious and their family's battle for Empire Entertainment.  Taraji P Henson's portrayal of Cookie Lyon has made her one of TV's most iconic characters of the past few years.  By the way if you've enjoyed the songs from the show - masterminded by long-time fave of this blog, Timbaland, the soundtrack is available for download.  And there is a little Eurovision link to this show too - Jim Beanz, co-writer of Dima Bilan's 2008 ESC winner "Believe" wrote and produced most of the music for "Empire" and also starred in the show too.  Bring on season 2!

I needed something to keep me going on a Saturday night to get through PED. There was a longer wait than usual for the latest series of "THE NATIONAL LOTTERY: WHO DARES WINS" (BBC1) but it finally arrived on our screens.  It's certainly not rocket science, but it does just fine for a Saturday night.  I wish it was on all year round, but that's just me being greedy.  So another series is over and it's been replaced by "FIVE STAR FAMILY REUNION".  I tuned into the first episode to check it out.  Like "Who Dares Wins" it's presented by Nick Knowles - my dear mum really liked him, by the way! - but there the similarity ends.  I wasn't impressed with the first episode so won't be watching it again.

You wouldn't expect good television during the summer months, but the last couple of months have brought a surprisingly rather good period of telly.  So I suppose it's just as well that the weather has been so cold and awful.  And you won't be surprised to learn that I've amassed a huge backlog of TV over the past few months -  I still haven't seen series 1 of The Legacy, never mind season 2; whilst the whole series of 1864 remains to be watched.  I also started watching the mystical, weird and wonderful "JORDSKOTT" (ITV Encore) but had put this on hold so need to catch up.  There's yet another new subtitled drama from France - "WITNESSES" (Channel 4) which I've added to my 'to-watch' list.

However, I am in the process of watching something subtitled and reasonably current though (it finished last week).  You often wonder if there are any more stories to be told about World War II, but of course there are, and those stories are always told very well by European TV drama.  We've seen the Polish "Days of Honour" (Series 3 is now underway on STV Glasgow), and Germany's "Generation War" and now we can add another one to the list. "THE SABOTEURS" (More 4), is an NRK international co-production which tells the story of the Germans' attempt to use Norwegian heavy water to build an atomic bomb, and the Allies' attempt to stop it.  It maybe doesn't sound too interesting, but the first few episodes have  did just enough to hold my interest and I'll keep watching, even if the British officers are hilariously stereotypical and 'tally-ho' to take seriously; at one point Anna Friel even said "good luck chaps!" which just reminded me of the British airmen in 'Allo Allo".

Talking of wartime, in "THE BBC AT WAR" (BBC2), Jonathan Dimbleby took a very personal look at the BBC's role in broadcasting the events of World War 2; because it was none other than his father Richard Dimbleby, who was involved in reporting the war as it happened.

"HUMANS" (Channel 4) has been one of the biggest shows of this year, and series 1 ends tomorrow night.  I'm no sci-fi fan by any means, and I've given up on ever watching anything substantial and/or decent on Channel 4, but this has really surprised me.  It's tense, creepy, and unmissable, and the stunning Anita/Mia (above) is its defining image.  Maybe because it's not actually a British idea, but was based on an SVT show called "Real Humans", perhaps?  And the good news is that there is going to be a second series - so there's more life in the 'synths' yet.  Let's just hope it doesn't go all Broadchurch series 2 on us, eh?

Ah, taking of Sweden...Sky Arts recently repeated the excellent and informative documentary about Abba, "WHEN FOUR BECAME ONE" which featured lots of very interesting archive material about the band's members before they came together as the global phenomenon.  The programme also featured interviews with Svenne Hedlund and Marie Ledin.

Another TV show which originated in Scandinavia is Channel 4's latest barrel-scraper, "MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT".  Why fall in love and go down the usual route when the TV people could put total strangers together in the name of 'scientific experiment'?  I'm actually thinking more of that section of "The Word" where people would "do anything to get on TV".  Yet just when I was writing off the protagonists as middle-class TV wannabes with nothing to lose, a strange thing happened.  For I briefly started to care about the two couples and whether they could defy the odds.  As it turned out, Emma and James (above) fared better than Jason and Kate.

"DANCING THROUGH THE BLITZ - BLACKPOOL'S BIG BAND STORY" (BBC2) was a fascinating documentary about the big band and dancing boom before, during and after World War II. However, it was a bit of a misnomer, as it wasn't really about Blackpool as such, although it did figure.  I guess that's just a minor gripe from me about an otherwise good show.

I didn't know that after several operations on her vocal cords, "Maria" winner Connie Fisher would never be able to sing again.  "I'LL SING ONCE MORE" (BBC4) followed Connie on her journey to recover her singing voice.  Enter vocal coaching magician Gary Catona from the USA, who helped Connie to find her voice again.  Of course there was a happy ending!

It's a show with an offputting and trashy title, but "OAP INTERNET VIRGINS" (Sky One) has a surprisingly warm heart.  Basically it's about young internet stars from the world of video blogging or vlogging as it's better known, being teamed up with elderly people to teach them the joys of the internet.  Now I know I'm feeling emotional at the moment, but the first episode, which matched twin vloggers Niki & Sammy with 84 year old George, had me in floods of tears as I was just overwhelmed by George's wonderment at this new world which opened for him, and his endless devotion to his wife, who subsequently passed away.

You know the story.  You have your own memories of certain decades, and they don't always match up to the conventional media view.  Remember the "I Love The 70s" and "I Love The 80s" series - which I liked, by the way, even if they didn't always match my own experiences.  There were the obvious targets in "THE 90s: THE DECADE THAT SHOOK THE WORLD" (Channel 4) but it did focus Britpop.  Which I liked a lot.  And even if 'Britpop' turned out to be a media circus, I will not hear a word said against that time, because (for me anyway) it was a good one.

So it might not have been to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed rolling back the years on what was originally a one-off revival of "TFI FRIDAY" (Channel 4).  Back in the 90s, that programme defined the Britpop/Cool Britannia era of course, and certainly one of the defining moments of Chris Evans' TV career.  Yes, this revival was over-indulgent, packed with unnecessary 'celebrities' and it may be a relic from a TV past which doesn't exist any more.  But it turned out that it's not going to be a one-off after all, and Evans is set to bring back the revived show; and just one request from me: please, please, please don't let Nick Grimshaw anywhere near it!  By the way, I thought I'd take the opportunity to mention one of our little "TFI Friday" memories here. Remember the "It's Your Letters" song?  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46OoOtOnEuo) Well, my mum always used to sing "It's Your Lettuce" whenever she was serving up salad at dinner time, and I'm sure if she'd been around to see this revival she would have belted out that song with glee!

Sadly of course, I won't have any more of those little funny moments which we shared watching TV together, and there have been many, many times over the past 4 weeks when I've been watching TV and have broken down at the most minor and unimportant detail, because I won't be able to share them with my mum any more.  But, surprisingly, TV has been a comfort and a distraction during my darkest weeks, so it does serve a meaningful purpose after all.

I'll be back at the end of August with another Square-Eyed and hopefully by that time I'll have worked my way through some of the backlog :)