A new series of Jonathan Creek started at the weekend, as usual featuring implausibly complicated murders. That's certainly part of the fun, but working Jonathan Creek into investigating these happenings is getting more and more tangential. The first episode featured a noted skeptic committing suicide after receiving a fax, and his lover receiving messages from beyond the grave for him.
And surely the idea that someone could go through a dictionary actually physically looking for a pin-mark is more than faintly ludicrous. Yes you might speak of picking something by putting a pin in it, but anyone would really use their finger.
I shouldn't get too upset by the ludicrousness I know, but it seems that the series is on a downward trajectory. I did enjoy the idea that Adam Klaus, the magician that Jonathan creates tricks for, was moving into "street magic"! This was sadly spoilt by a ridiculous subplot involving a dwarf minder getting drunk and being swallowed by an escaped python.
I do think that Julia Sawalha's character is too thoroughly dislikeable. She just seems argumentative for its own sake. Why would anyone hang around with her however much they fancy her, as Creek is supposed to?
I was always going to watch this wasn't I? First up Tetris: From Russia With Love which went through the development of Tetris from its foundation in Russian academia. In fact Discovery covered similar ground some months ago as part of an hour long documentary that took in the whole of computer games (obviously this was a very "broad" documentary - I don't think many people would attempt to summarise the history of, say, cinema, in an hour). When I say similar ground, I could swear that this was the same programme re-cut and re-edited. The credits gave 2004 production date, but the same faces seemed to have been interviewed and told the same story - OK that shouldn't change.
Oh, and what a pleasant surprise to get a random 30 seconds of Coupling thrown in towards the end! Someone hit the wrong button somewhere on the playout system.
Next up was Hard Drive Heaven in the Timeshift strand, examining the advent of the home computer, with the likes of Sir Clive Sinclair talking. Familiar ground, but as an original 16k Spectrum owner who'd previously played with a ZX80 at school and ZX81 with friends over the road, this is pure nirvana. I did chuckle when they spoke about the first BBC Micros being put into the domain of the maths teachers, and consequently some found themselves in cupboards. My maths teacher, Mr Donohue, is probably singularly responsible for my involvement in computers.
And as for the third programme in the strand? Well it's on tape. I was busy watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm downloaded from the net.