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McDonald & Dodds - season 1: two one-and-a-half hour eps, like two mini movies. McDonald is a tough London DI. Dodds is an old nebbish sergeant. They solve murders in Bath, which is so wonderfully scenic. The first one was a ride - kept us guessing. The second one was also complex but not as intricate. It's mostly about the chemistry of the partners, like any of these buddy police procedurals. And Bath... so lovely.
Season 2 was just televised in UK, again two movie-length eps (so far). No idea when that's coming to BritBox but we were charmed so we'll watch more if we still have the service. We're thinking of moving on though.
No sword fights. Recommended for DOOMers that like a decent Brit detective show.
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I like Bath. It was very pleasant. Plus, there's a giant roman bath there!
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Herschel's house is there, I believe with the telescope with which he first observed Uranus is on display. I hear the locals call the road to his house the "Herschel Highway".
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Nope. Bad, thatguy, bad.
We did a nighttime guided tour of Bath. They promised they wouldn't share any educational information whatsoever. It was all just jokes and magic tricks. The funniest thing we did on the tour. It might be the Bizarre Bath tour. ( heading down the rabbit hole.....)
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There's a lot of Bath v London culture clashes in that show. I haven't been to either yet so those went by me.
Bath does look lovely. Lots of gratuitous drone shots of the city and cathedral. And those are very welcome.
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One of my favorite Grimdark author's Joe Abercrombie lives in Bath. And didn't Jane Austen famously comment she hated Bath? All told it's a nice place. I'd go back.
We did the tour of the actual Roman Baths in Bath and I left my brand new flash on the counter at the water tasting station. They were kind enough to send it back to me.
I keep waiting for you to review the Rob Lowe show "Wild Bill"
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04-02-2021, 09:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-02-2021, 09:43 PM by Drunk Monk.)
The Bay (2021 - Season 2) 6 eps. A police procedural set in Morcombe, a British beach town. Moody in that cold wet blue-green coastal town way. What we really liked about this is was that there were only two deaths and those had profound impact. After so many police procedurals where the death isn't really felt, this dwelled upon the aftermath. That felt more authentic. Great cast of Brit actors that we've seen in all sorts of other places, including James Cosmo who I just saw in Skylin3s. Every character was well developed and the colliding back stories were entanglingly entertaining. BritBox only seems to have S2. I could see backtracking for that. There's only one ep of S3 - it just started filming. A satisfying ride.
No sword fights. Recommended for DOOMers who have BritBox, which is only me, but it is a good investment if you want to binge Brit TV.
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Started Season 1 of The Bay and plowed through the first half. It's a little more raw. The characters are being formed and the world is being built. Season 2 was stronger and it's weird to watch Season 1 because we know the outcome of many of the characters already. Still enjoyable tho.
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Finished The Bay s1. That was quite good. S2 was more intense and I wish we would’ve watched it in order now. So many story arcs intertwined but a satisfactory conclusion and we were wrong in all our guesses until the very end - figures it out just before the reveals. Very enjoyable Brit police procedural.
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Traces
1 season of 6 hour long eps. A daughter of a murdered mom returns to her home town in Dundee Scotland as a forensic investigator intern. We're 3 eps deep. It's okay. Could use more shots of Dundee. The characters are engaging and it's mostly female driven, which is refreshing. There's two stories - a fire that the forensics group is investigating and the cold case of the mom's death. We're waiting for them to interconnect. Laura Fraser is one of the forensic doctors and she was great in The Loch (aka Loch Ness http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=5363) A slow burner.
No sword fights. Not particularly DOOM recommended yet.
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Finished Traces. That was very satisfactory. Solid characters and performances all around. Guessed the killer around e5 but that was fairly obvious by then. Those lovely Scottish accents sold it. Never got a sword fight but can’t have everything, amirite? Not particularly DOOM recommended.
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The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco. Some Brit WWII code breakers relocate to SF and get involved in all sorts of intrigues. I didn't watch all of this. Stacy did. I only sat in for a few eps. It was okay. Empowered women, and somewhat diverse. It had Jennifer Spence again, who was in Traces.
This is the 3rd season of The Bletchley Circle - the first two were set in Britain. This 3rd series was shot in Vancouver which led to frequent outbursts from Stacy saying 'Where in SF is that?!'
No sword fights. Not DOOM recommended.
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Wild Bill
Rob Lowe is a U.S. police chief transplanted in the UK. It's a decent role for him, and I'm not really a fan. He's a father and his daughter reminds me of someone, but I'm not sure who.
Weirdly, it features Rachael Stirling, who was also one of the leads in Bletchley Circle. She's also the daughter of Dame Diana Rigg
6 eps. Stacy has watched them all. I only watched a few and fell asleep in some of them.
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That answers that question. I was thinking of a free trial just to watch Wild Bill.
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Wild Bill is a bit of alright. The setting is dismal - wet UK. Lowe's DC is played by Bronwyn James, and she's a wonderful character. That father/daughter relationship is well constructed. It's a solid role for Lowe, and as I said, I'm not a big fan of his. But he is winning me over here.
I totally recommend BritBox obvs, especially if you're into Brit police procedurals (which we are obvs), classic Brit comedy or old skool Doctor Who. That being said, we might let go of it soon and move to another platform. We recently added PBS passport and we only budget for a limited amount of streaming services.
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