This was up on Reddit in 2022 and I stumbled across it there. Even though the series is nearly four years old, and was watched by seemingly half the UK at the time, consider spoiler warnings for the rest of this.
Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Monday, 10 August 2026
The Stranger Left No Card (1952) / Carnival of Souls (1962) / Tales from the Crypt (1972)
THE STRANGER LEFT NO CARD (1952)
Alan Badel gets off a train, in full Gandalf outfit, to bamboozle and entertain the locals in a sleepy town. As a semi-regular to this tradition, Badel’s talents are well documented. Before his untimely death in the 1980s, his piercing eyes haunted viewers of The Medusa Touch, Children of the Damned and The Three Cases of Murder. Even in less horrific roles, such as Day of the Jackal, or his shades of grey in This Sporting Life, he’s got a hundred mile stare that works so well, it is little wonder he was so often cast as ghosts or ghouls or, as in the case of Will Any Gentleman?, a hypnotist. He was still creating nightmare fuel by his mere presence on TV and film before his death of a heart attack in 1982, aged 58, and can now be summoned by repeating his name five times.
X-Files Season 2 Ranked from Worst to Best
Last time on Michael's blog:
Recently Channel 5 in the UK nabbed the rights to put 90s SF classic The X-Files for their On Demand collection. To celebrate, one of their off-shoot channels, Five Action, have been repeating the series from The Pilot onwards. My mum (and dad, and grandparents) were huge X-Files fans at the time, and me and Cat watched a bunch of them. Too many, in fact, as Eugene Victor Tooms was a bit too much for my 8 year old mind. Some my parents deemed too scary, some I saw trailers and ran a mile, so overall I've only seen about half the first few seasons and from Season 4 or so onwards it's a blur.
Well, if it is on TV...
Monday, 8 June 2026
World Cup 2026 Power Rankings
World Cup 2026 power rankings
Instead of a group stage preview, here is a power ranking as they seem in vogue. My attempt to rank the 48 teams at the World Cup based on likelihood to win the Cup. Or do well. Or even advance in some cases. I like lists. Some teams suffer from being in bad groups, some teams suffer from being bad teams. I tried to be fair to everyone, and look forward to being proved utterly wrong within a fortnight! Onwards!
Saturday, 2 May 2026
X-Files Season 1 Ranked From Worst to Best
Recently Channel 5 in the UK nabbed the rights to put 90s SF classic The X-Files for their On Demand collection. To celebrate, one of their off-shoot channels, Five Action, have been repeating the series from The Pilot onwards.
My mum (and dad, and grandparents) were huge X-Files fans at the time, and me and Cat watched a bunch of them. Too many, in fact, as Eugene Victor Tooms was a bit too much for my 8 year old mind. Some my parents deemed too scary, some I saw trailers and ran a mile, so overall I've only seen about half the first few seasons and from Season 4 or so onwards it's a blur.
Well, if it is on TV...