Alfred's TV Thoughts

Things have been busy recently, but I would like to use this post as a chance to post some briefer thoughts on a few things I've seen recently, some newly discovered stuff and rewatches of old favorites.

ANIMATION

The Doomies (All 22 episodes; 26 June 2026)

Having watched all 22 episodes of this new Disney+ series, created by French animation studio Xilam, I honestly believe this is perhaps the best new animated series of the year so far. Focusing on tweenage paranormal investigators Bobby and Romy, the series sees them encounter several bizarre creatures which they must defeat with help from eccentric lighthouse keeper Doug (arguably the series' funniest character) and chosen one warrior Kim. From it's interesting setting in a French seaside town to it's superb characterizations, spooky plots and excellent songs by Stefan Bossard, I was truly impressed by this series and hope a further season may one day come.

Doodle Girl - Stylosaur (Episode 1; 4 November 2024)

Following in a long line of 'hero who can magically draw objects that come to life' shows that also includes the likes of Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, Penny Crayon and ChalkZone, Doodle Girl is another show I've discovered recently and been impressed with, it's unique style and calm wholesome style makes it a winner. This first episode, as Doodle Girl helps so-called Stylosaur Stompers win a fashion contest is but an example of what made this show instantly likeable to me, as Doodle Girl's sweet personality and problem solving skills won me over. Further episodes continue this winning formula to great success, it has become a new favourite of mine.

LIVE ACTION

The Goodies - Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms (Season 5 Episode 12; 28 April 1975)

The death of Bill Oddie on 25 July has been sad news to me and so in tribute, I rewatched this episode of The Goodies, where he formed one third of the titular trio alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden (now the only surviving Goodie as Tim had earlier died in 2020). One of my favorite episodes of the show and fitting in another way as I saw it just prior to a holiday in Cornwall where this episode takes place, the Goodies go to Cornwall and discover a profitable cream mine. From it's hilarious Western style showdown with tomato sauce squirters in place of guns and card game played with toast, topped off by the excellent songs also composed by Oddie, this episode for me perfectly encapsulates the manic, hilarious qualities that make The Goodies such a fun show.

Look and Read: Badger Girl - Sounds in the Night (Episode 1; 18 September 1984)

Watching old Look and Read serials and listening to it's numerous catchy educational songs has been a source of comfort to me in this hot summer with not much else to do, and also on account of staying fairly near Dartmoor, where this story takes place, reviewing Badger Girl seems fitting. This first episode introduces city kids Debbie (Julia Millbank), Kiran (Ashiek Madhvani) and Norman (Kieron O'Shea), who stay at a remote Dartmoor farm, before future episodes build the plot further. The educational sections that take up the middle part of each episode feature Wordy (Charles Collingwood), a creature with letters covering his face and nature photographer Jane Miles (Margo Gunn), (who also appears in the story proper) discussing the events of the story and teaching songs about words, which are catchy in their own right (including memorable characters such as the Magic E wizard and Bill the Brickie). Entertainment really is the best learning tool if you watch Look and Read.

Ann Droid - Episode 1 (17 July 2026)

The World Cup continues, and while there may have been many a defensive error among the teams conceding goals, surely the standard of calamitous teamplay is nowhere near as disastrous as having Chuckle Brothers Paul and Barry in your squad. Which, as it turns out, is what this episode of ChuckleVision is all about.

First, a word about the authenticity on show here. In real life, the Chuckle Brothers were fans of English side Rotherham United, present here with much filming at their old Millmoor ground (although the ground still exists, Rotherham moved to the misleadingly-named New York Stadium in 2012). The extent of the brothers' support led to them being appointed honorary presidents of the club in 2007 (Paul still retains his honorary presidency today following Barry's death in 2018). Ronnie Moore and Tony Towner, two former Rotherham United players also play an important role in this episode, although they are portrayed here by actors Michael Callaghan and Leo Dolan respectively.

The plot by writer Nick McIvor is fairly straightforward. After an opening sequence largely involving Paul and Barry's attempts to hypnotize each other, Paul and Barry find themselves mistaken for Ronnie and Tony after a run-in with them on the street and as the situation escalates, ultimately find themselves playing on the pitch for Rotherham.

Among the highlights in this episode include the funny opening where the brothers hypnotize each other (particularly when Barry stops pretending to be hypnotized when Paul instructs him to take his clothes off and sing Land of Hope and Glory, objecting not to the clothes removal but singing the song as he doesn't know the words!) and a hilarious sequence in the locker room with locker doors that keep opening by themselves.

The centrepiece of the episode however is the final sequence in which Paul and Barry join the Rotherham team on the pitch, with predictable consequences. Not only is the ending to this sequence hilariously executed despite the fact the outcome can pretty much be seen a mile off, the football atmosphere is directed effectively by Ken Robertson, aided of course by the actual filming at Millmoor.

The flaws with this episode are mainly limited to the hypnosis thread being dropped fairly unceremoniously midway through (surely a hypnosis attempt could have been called for at some point during the chase inside Millmoor?) and also a serious stretch of credibility, even by ChuckleVision standards that Ronnie Moore and Tony Towner, who made well over 200 Rotherham appearances between them in real life can't find their way to Millmoor.

NOTE: Billy the Fish was originally broadcast episodically on Channel 4 in 1990. This review is based on the 1991 VHS release, which as far as I can tell is an omnibus of all material previously shown episodically, with minor edits.

One thing I've noticed about the majority of animated football episodes I've seen is just how unusual they are, very rarely is it a case of a perfectly normal game being played, often bizarre or supernatural elements are at play. My Fair Goalie, the Phineas and Ferb football episode I reviewed yesterday is but one example, with it's unusual Football X-7 game. Even today, the trend for weirdness continues, with newly released Disney+ series Dragon Striker combining football and magic extensively.

But for me, weird football animation doesn't get much weirder than Billy the Fish, based on a long-running comic strip in UK adult magazine Viz that has run since the 1980s (this was one of a number of animated adaptations of Viz comic strips released at the height of the magazine's popularity in the early 1990s). This adaptation directly adapts several of the early strips, bringing them to life in animated form.

Billy Thompson is a half-man, half-fish goalkeeper playing for Fulchester United, but it's fair to say that's only the beginning of the weirdness here. There isn't really much of a plot, more a rapid-fire series of short incidents involving Billy and Fulchester United which often end on absurd cliffhangers that are resolved in the most ridiculous ways possible.

No resolution is too far-fetched here for any of the cliffhangers. Some are just plain arbitrary, such as the spaceship that abducts the Fulchester team and takes them to Mars, but ends up dropping the team off at their upcoming match anyway without any explanation. Even the old 'it was all a dream' cop-out is used here, being deployed after it seems Billy is executed by a firing squad during a European game. But one of my favorite cliffhangers for sheer weirdness involves a match being interrupted by billionaire Maxwell Baxter, only for it to emerge his presence is only a cardboard cut-out with a hidden tape recorder.

Billy the Fish also parodies the cliches of football fiction such as impossible comebacks. With Fulchester losing by 12 goals in one game, elderly striker Rex Findlay appears as a substitute in the dying minutes and quickly scores all the goals needed to win the game. He and Billy are but two of the unusual players of the Fulchester team, with others including invisible striker Johnny X and real-life pop star Shakin' Stevens (however the real Stevens does not voice him, all voices here are provided by comedian Harry Enfield, whose wide range of voices for the different characters help make this even more entertaining).

Fulchester United also come under threat from various enemies, most notoriously Gus Parker, the manager of their arch-rivals Grimthorpe City who comes up with a number of hilarious schemes to destroy Billy and Fulchester along the way, even to the extent of getting himself hired as the new Fulchester manager and then trading the players with those of amateur side Peddleworth Albion, with the intent that Fulchester collapse and then he returns to Grimthorpe to win the league.

Though entertaining, this does have it's flaws. The animation is pretty low quality, with several pieces of footage obviously recycled and a lack of movement very obvious during many of the football scenes (defenders just seem to stand around doing nothing, though this may work as befitting the parody of football fiction storytelling). Also, the repeated cycle of action, cliffhangers and bizarre resolutions can become repetitive before the end of it's half-hour runtime. Also, one element of this that has not aged well is the presence of Brown Fox, a crude Native American stereotype who is also referred to several times with a potentially offensive term, this is arguably the special's weakest element.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here and World Cup season is always a great chance to review some favorite football (or soccer if you insist) episodes, and this double-length episode of Phineas and Ferb is always one I come back to.

Ferb's cousins from England have come to visit and they doubt that Ferb still retains his British side, feeling he has become too Americanized. Aiming to prove them wrong, Phineas decides to create a stadium for a unique take on football called Football X-7, which up until now has only been a theory developed by a Professor Ross Eforp (who was amusingly then shunned by society because his name was a palindrome). With Phineas and friends having made Football X-7 a reality, they are ready to take on Ferb's cousins, only to find that Ferb, their best football player has gone missing...

Meanwhile Candace attempts to learn how to be a refined British lady from Eliza, the only female among Ferb's cousins in order to impress Jeremy while the boys' father Lawrence competes with his cousin Adrian to be the best. The usual Doofenshmirtz/Perry subplot features a very ill Doofenshmirtz attempting to use his new inator that causes trees to fall and speak 'Doofenshmirtz' to answer the old philosophical saying: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

The main plot featuring Football X-7 is easily the highlight of this episode, and also gives us some more background to Ferb as well. The conflict with his cousins is interesting and leads to some funny Britain vs America moments such as when Baljeet arrives and returns some very American possessions to Ferb such as a cowboy hat and American flag leotard in the cousins' presence while Buford is there for a few football vs American football jokes as well. Ferb's eventual reluctance to play in the game, explained by a most unusual and specific curse involving emus is also very funny.

The Football X-7 stadium, in common with most other things Phineas and Ferb creates is impossibly big and complex to make in a day and defies sense with players able to run on the walls and shoot into floating goals, as is it's history with the disgraced Professor Ross Eforp. The resulting game of Football X-7 that occurs is also fun to see and once again sees Buford mixing up football with it's American version, for example him making some very illegal tackles.

The episode also has an amusing running joke as popular English team Sniffleton Nostrils has come over to Danville to play a local side with a frequent musical refrain of "Nostrils on the bus" punctuating their every appearance, and it's nice too that the song gets expanded during the end credits. A further nice touch is that real life England football players Gary Lineker and Darren Bent appear to voice some of the players.

The subplots, while decent admittedly don't add much to this episode. It is sweet as usual to see more of Candace and Jeremy together and the subplot involving them ultimately ends in a nice way reaffirming Candace's usual personality while the Doofenshmirtz subplot is almost it's own episode, with perhaps the most amusing thing about it being the whole idea of Doofenshmirtz's new inator. However, although seeing Doofenshmirtz struggling while ill is different, it feels more like a change for the sake of it and doesn't quite come off.

Reviewing episodes of specific shows is fun, but also hard work. I've been severely burnt out after a very busy 2025 reviewing plenty of episodes of TV shows (including my complete series of Public Eye 60th anniversary reviews). Since the new year, I've found it hard to inspire myself to review more episodes, hence the low output this year so far. So I am taking a break for now, but I will be back later this year.

I consider myself likely to return around the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer, I have some football (or soccer if you insist) themed episodes I plan to review, there's a couple of doozies in there I can tell ya...

In tribute to the late Rob Grant, who sadly died on 25 February and co-created Red Dwarf with Doug Naylor, writing the first six seasons of the show together, I have been motivated to review one of my all-time favorite episodes of the show, displaying their writing talents to the fullest.

The episode opens with a comically fast Star Wars style opening scroll, which is impossible to read properly when the episode is played normally but helps explain some of the changes made to the show between the 2nd and 3rd seasons such as Hattie Hayridge replacing Norman Lovett as ship computer Holly and the introduction of mechanoid Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) as a regular character. This was also the first episode to feature the now-familiar up-tempo rock version of the show's opening theme, ditching the sombre tune used for the first two seasons.

This episode sees Rimmer (Chris Barrie) and Kryten sucked into a time hole which takes them to a 20th century Earth where time runs backwards. They are soon joined by Lister (Craig Charles) and Cat (Danny John-Jules) who have left Red Dwarf to search for them.

It's a simple plot but the sequences on backwards Earth maximise the comic potential for all sorts of reverse shenanigans as the Boys from the Dwarf try to come to terms with how this strange environment work. The contrast between how the 2 individual pairs of characters regard backwards Earth is interesting to see and leads to several comic highlights.

Once Rimmer and Kryten overcome their initial culture shock at how backwards Earth works, they quickly get used to it and while they await Lister and Cat to join them, they take up work as a pair of entertainers, wowing the people of backwards Earth by doing everything forwards. Cat and Lister meanwhile struggle to comprehend how backwards Earth works, with Lister receiving unexplained injuries on arrival and initially mistaking the backwards writing and speech as being Bulgarian, eventually realizing backwards Earth is not a good place to be.

Their contrasting approaches are brilliantly highlighted by an extremely funny scene when they reunite, with Rimmer and Kryten extolling the benefits of backwards Earth such as there being no death and dead people coming back to life during war while Lister counters that backwards Earth turns animal-loving St Francis of Assisi into a sadistic animal abuser and Santa Claus into a present stealing thief.

But the best examples of the imaginatively used backwards scenes follow soon after, first with Arthur Smith's pub manager berating Rimmer and Kryten in a sequence that when played forwards is actually Smith berating the viewer for playing it the right way round (check out this video for a comparison of the sequence played forwards and backwards) and then the episode's centrepiece: the 'bar-room tidy', a typical bar fight played backwards which is gloriously hilarious with reverse punches, tables being lifted up off the floor and Lister jumping through a broken window that is repaired as he travels through it.

Among the other highlights of this episode include the opening driving test in Starbug as Rimmer examines a nervous Kryten with hilarious results before they get sucked into the time hole and a short, subtle but impactful reaction from Lister as he realizes he has returned home to Earth upon his initial arrival on the backwards world. The only flaw I have with this episode is that sometimes the logic regarding how the backwards chronology works seems a bit inconsistent and confusing like how Kryten and Rimmer are fired for the events in the bar-room, but this is only a minor flaw.

With the Winter Olympics starting today and with figure skating being one of the events, this episode of Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese depicting such an event is a perfect way to get prepared for the biggest winter sports event in the world.

Dog, who has a talent for ice skating teams up with Suzie Smith from the siblings' rivals the Smiths as her brother Stevie is injured. While Dog's siblings are horrified at first, they eventually decide to support the partnership.

However, a number of strange events then occur that Dog's siblings believe are an attempt to sabotage Dog. However Dog believes they are accidents and that his siblings are still suspicious of the Smiths. But are they truly accidents or are the siblings' suspicions of sabotage correct?

A superb episode that makes the most of the unusual partnership between Dog and Suzie to keep things interesting. The siblings' suspicions are understandable as the Smiths have proven to be their fierce rivals in previous episodes and certainly one wonders if this partnership is genuine or if Suzie has a hidden agenda.

The numerous incidents of sabotage and the siblings' attempts to deal with them are also highly amusing as other competitors such as Jocko and Old Lady McGuire come under suspicion. Jocko's attempts to try and win are particularly funny, especially as he wears a variety of inappropriate footwear for skating including skis. The scene where the siblings chase Jocko across the ice is particularly amusing as neither party can skate well and Jocko's unusual use of dog bones makes the scene even funnier.

The Wanderers are preparing for a Battle of the Bands contest against Odlulu and Fritz but receive a WanderPost from Wizard Melodia in Argentina inviting them to witness the rising and setting of a blue moon in Buenos Aires, an event that only occurs every 2 and a half years and is controlled by the Guitar Key which she possesses.

In Buenos Aires, Odlulu steals the Guitar Key (which is very large and can be played like a normal guitar) and attempts to use it in the belief it will give her the edge in the Battle of the Bands contest but unknowingly is toying with the very nature of day and night cycles...

A typical yet highly enjoyable Where's Wally? outing with the usual slight educational edge, shenanigans with Odlulu, a visit to one of Wizard Whitebeard's fellow wizard friends and the chance to find Wally in a number of crowded scenes like in the book series, but made unique by Odlulu's hilariously bad guitar playing which is amusingly compared to "an elephant with a head cold" by Wizard Whitebeard!

However, Odlulu remains convinced of her own guitar playing skills despite the clear absence of them and even Fritz can't hide his true feelings about her playing well, yet in an interesting twist he ends up being noticed for his tango dancing ability and becomes known as "Tango Cat", playing on the common running joke in the series that Fritz, a ferret is often mistaken for another animal.

Odlulu's playing is so bad she even distresses a herd of cows at a ranch outside Buenos Aires, leading to the Wanderers teaming up with a gaucho to round up the cows. Back in the city, Odlulu finally manages to play a bit better, but this is where she ends up messing with the day and night cycle, leading to yet more hilarious sequences of people and even a rooster unsure of what to do, for example a school bus moving back and forth as no one knows if it's time for school or not.

Ethel Waterfield (Joyce Heron) hires Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) to investigate her daughter-in law Paula (Jennifer Daniel), the wife of her son Keith (John Quayle). Though Ethel admits she is biased because she hates Paula, she suspects Paula may not love Keith as she seems to keep seeing a man called Jeremy Fallows (Julian Holloway) and wants Marker to see what exactly they get up to together.

With Ethel giving Marker a room at the hotel the Waterfield family run where Fallows is also staying to help investigate, Marker meets the married couple and Fallows, who seems to be a charming man. However, when Marker hears Fallows and Paula in his room one night, a less pleasant side of Fallows is heard: he is blackmailing Paula, demanding money from her and Marker must find out what exactly Paula is being blackmailed for. It soon turns out that Paula's first husband John Kimmins had apparently drowned in a boating accident, but he may or may not still be alive since his life insurance policy is worth a lot of money…

All great shows must eventually come to an end, and this episode finally brought the curtain down on Public Eye after 10 years. Written by Philip Broadley, who had contributed so many fine episodes for the show up to this point, he dependably provides one last solid offering to end the show if not on a high note, then a highly satisfactory one.

The episode slowly unfolds it's plot in a satisfying way, what initially seems to be yet another case where Marker is going to deal with a spouse's infidelity eventually leads to higher stakes with the issue of Paula being blackmailed, she very much has secrets to hide from the seemingly oblivious Keith while even Ethel doesn't suspect there's more to the apparently charming Fallows than simply being a ladies' man. The twists as we learn just what is truly going on with Paula are truly fascinating and are delivered satisfactorily to eventually help develop the full picture.

Julian Holloway is excellent as Fallows, both convincingly charming when seen out in the hotel bar and his sinister side just as convincing, particularly when we hear his voice from behind a closed door as he threatens Paula. Jennifer Daniel is also strong as Paula, with the strain of the blackmail and hiding secrets from Keith eventually giving way to drunkenness as she downs a few too many drinks from the hotel bar.

Among the supporting roles, Christine Pollon has arguably the most memorable as Olive Dale, the owner of a gallery where Paula had previously purchased a picture and it is she who tells Marker about Paula's first husband. Not only are her interactions with Marker great to see in their superb exchange, the scene in a nice touch also refers back to Philip Broadley's earlier script, the art-themed I Always Wanted a Swimming Pool as the fictional painter Francis Manton and art collector Charles Luce are mentioned.

Barrie Cookson is also good in the role of insurance man Mr. Boland, who suspects that something was not right with the inquest into John's apparent death, suggesting that the death may not have been an accident, leading to murder also being suspected and with his body having never been recovered, nothing can be certain. It is also Boland who gets the honour of delivering Public Eye's final ever line.

The direction by Jonathan Alwyn is also good with the hotel atmosphere well-done in particular, beneath it's posh veneer and charming riverside setting, the hotel is struggling with a staff shortage and noisy radiators. The boating theme is also interesting, with Marker learning about boating to fit in with boating enthusiast Paula and some of the episode's climatic scenes fittingly take place in a boatyard.

The episode's final scene ends the episode, and the show with Marker, seemingly in line to receive an £8000 insurance reward payout ultimately receiving nothing, having arrived 15 minutes too late as Fallows has revealed the relevant information to Mr. Boland first. Hurting from being narrowly too late, Marker leaves, presumably to continue taking on various investigations and living on the edge of financial ruin. It is a nicely underplayed and fitting conclusion to the show, reminding us that Marker's difficult life will most likely have to continue as it currently is.

However, this episode was not intended to be the final ever episode of Public Eye. Thames Television had planned to continue the show, but with their Euston Films department (then best known for The Sweeney) taking over to record the show on film, with all 7 seasons of the show having been recorded on videotape. However, Alfred Burke objected to having the show made on film, fearing it would undermine Public Eye's unique atmosphere and so the show finally came to a natural conclusion. A rumored revival in the 1990s under Thames' successor, Carlton Television also didn't come to pass.

Following the end of the show, it would remain largely forgotten for a long time, rarely being repeated for the best part of 20 years (a repeat of Who Wants to be Told Bad News? as part of Thames Television's 21st anniversary celebrations in 1989 being a rare exception). However, the show underwent something of a minor revival in the 1990s, with repeats on UK Gold and various episodes shown at film festivals hosted by TV preservation organisation Kaleidoscope (which often included the presence of Frank Marker actor Alfred Burke and co-creator Roger Marshall). This continued with DVD releases in the 21st century, and frequent repeats of the show on archive film and TV channel Talking Pictures TV up to the present day, bringing back memories of the show for those who were there on first broadcast and helping to introduce the show to a newer generation of viewers (including yours truly), ensuring the show's legacy would continue beyond the deaths of Alfred Burke in 2011 and Roger Marshall in 2020.

Fit of Conscience opens on a grim note as a tower block of flats suddenly collapses (depicted with plenty of camera shaking and objects falling out of cupboards), leading to several deaths and injuries. The sudden cut after to the quieter, more banal surroundings of a council office after the panic and screaming of this first scene is rather stark as public servants Harris (Michael Spice) and John Friendly (Paul Kermack) meet with builder Arthur Brightwell (Kevin Brennan) and architect Dick Overton (Peter Welch) to form a plan of action on how to deal with the imminent public inquiry into the collapse.

However, Friendly seems rather-guilt stricken about the whole affair and hires Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) to track down George Berry (Griffith Jones), a fellow public servant also involved with the construction of the collapsed tower block who has since retired and moved home. Marker is unsure of what exactly Friendly's motivations are, since while Friendly apparently wants to testify to the public inquiry with damning evidence implicating him and Berry in a corruption scandal with Brightwell, Marker is aware that by helping Friendly, he's essentially helping him and Berry condemn themselves in court.

After Friendly finds Berry and learns that Berry would rather forget the whole thing, it turns out that Berry is conspiring with Friendly's wife Evelyn (Margaret Whiting), having had an affair with her several years before while Marker learns that Berry's rather expensive flat has effectively been gifted to him by Brightwell. Friendly then wants Marker to find out if like him, Berry's corruption surrounding the tower block was an isolated act or if he's been consistently corrupt for longer, and with Berry preparing to leave the country with Evelyn, it seems he has a lot to hide…

Written by David Ambrose, his only Public Eye script, this is a complex tale with a lot going on. Although flawed, this episode's qualities are also undeniable, being a scathing critique of corruption in local politics, which in this case has led to fatal repercussions. Indeed, the initial scene in the council office appears as though Harris and Brightwell particularly want to cover up the truth, concerned more what the inquiry means for their own futures rather than the consequences of their actions.

John Friendly's motivations surrounding his apparent desire to be a whistleblower are complex, multi-facted and also somewhat confusing. On the surface, it seems like he wants to do the right thing, prepared to blow the whistle even at personal cost to himself since both he and Berry are implicated in his evidence. While Berry seems greedier, Friendly's corruption was driven more by desperation, needing the money offered by Brightwell to help pay his son's gambling debts, however his son has since sadly died in a car accident and his death has haunted Friendly ever since.

Yet, as Marker observes, Friendly may really be reluctant to testify to the inquiry since he already has the evidence and seems to have gone cold on the idea since visiting Berry and failing to convince him to join him in testifying. When Marker challenges Friendly on what he really wants to do, he sums up Friendly's apparent reluctance in this fine statement that has long stuck with me for it's searing honesty: "People who want to do something generally just do it. They don't hunt about for reasons not to".

Another factor involved is Berry's previous affair with Evelyn, suggesting Friendly may want revenge against Berry as well, he is certainly bitter with Berry about the affair and unhappy that afterwards, Evelyn focused more on their son than him. However, given Friendly's actions such as talking with Berry to convince him to also testify and also the knowledge that he would go down with Berry as well for his role in the corruption, a revenge motive wouldn't make sense. In fact, while most of Friendly's motivations are well-written, the factor of Eveleyn's affair seems to only unnecessarily confuse things.

Evelyn's role is also interesting, particularly as her loyalties seem uncertain. Though her affair with Berry on the surface appears finished, she's still in contact with him and seems prepared to elope with him to South Africa. She tries to convince Friendly that he's only destroying himself and feeling guilty when he mentions to her that he's planning to testify, playing the part of the concerned wife well. She also tells Marker as much when she visits him in his office, trying to convince him that Friendly's disturbed and asking Marker to stop him testifying. Evelyn's double dealing is superbly conveyed by Margaret Whiting's performance, arguably the best of the guest cast here.

Griffith Jones is also good as George Berry, who is unapologetically corrupt and regrets nothing despite his role in the tower block disaster. When Evelyn brings Friendly's file containing the evidence that will implicate both men, Berry wastes no time in destroying it. Preparing to flee to South Africa, Berry also self-satisfyingly boasts that the police have nothing on him and that there's nothing anyone can do to stop him leaving. Indeed, when Marker confronts him, we know that Berry will ultimately escape justice and that there's nothing Marker can do to stop his escape. It's also in these final scenes that we finally see Friendly at the inquiry, proving once and for all whether or not he will have the courage to say anything there.

Although much of the writing surrounding Friendly, Evelyn and Berry is good, sadly Marker's role here isn't as good since he doesn't get too much to do here and most of his scenes seem to involve him wondering about what exactly Friendly is trying to do. Indeed, his character is pretty much sidelined in favour of the guest cast mainly and while Alfred Burke is still excellent, it's a smaller role for Marker than he is worthy of.

The scenes set at the public inquiry that Marker gets nowhere near to are also largely unnecessary and focus too much on uninteresting details, particularly when Dr. Stoddart (Patricia Garwood) gives a long, technical speech about the type of concrete used in the tower block and how it may have caused the collapse. Her character is just one of many uninteresting supporting characters in a rather large cast here, many of whom get little to do and are saddled with forgettable, perfunctory dialogue. This episode would definitely have benefitted from trimming a number of the superfluous characters and having a tighter focus on Marker, Friendly, Evelyn and Berry.

While playing a game of hide and seek at Wanderer HQ, Wally's dog Woof enters Wally and Wenda's magical suitcase which they use for travelling around the world. Unable to pinpoint his exact whereabouts, Wally and Wenda use Wizard Whitebeard's old magical steamer trunk to explore the world in an attempt to find Woof, enlisting the help of Odlulu, Fritz and a number of other characters previously seen in Season 1 including Wizards Artbeard, Lariat and Nightingale along the way.

An interesting subversion of the usual format of the 2019 Where's Wally? series. Nearly all episodes up to this point focused on Wally and Wenda travelling to a specific location somewhere in the world to attend an event, help a fellow Wanderer or Wizard with a problem or stop one of Odlulu's schemes. Here however, in their quest to find Woof, the Wanderers travel to several locations seen in previous episodes, leading to some interesting scenarios and continuity with previous episodes.

For example, Wizard Artbeard had first appeared in Venice the Menace from Season 1 and his return here is as fun as his earlier appearance was as he attempts to help Wally and Wenda by painting posters of Woof to help others find him, initially painting Wally by mistake based on Wally's description of Woof!

Wizards Lariat and Nightingale's returns are also welcome, with Nightingale memorably using opera to tell the people of Vienna about the missing Woof while Lariat uses the Talk to Animals Key to get her dog Bruce to talk so he can explain what happened when Woof was spotted in Australia, leading to a funny running joke where Fritz remarks that a talking dog is weird, unaware that being a talking ferret himself is equally weird!

Joining the Wizards and Wanderers also in their quest to find Woof is Shila and her own dog Chinook from Yukon Do It!, making use of their dog sled to try and find Woof during the scenes in the Arctic, it's an interesting use of one of the local characters as she is taken beyond the Yukon to the other destinations around the world.

Finally, the presence of Odlulu and Fritz joining the Wanderers voluntarily is also interesting to see, with Odlulu relating to Wally's loss of Woof by mentioning how she often loses Fritz (though usually he is found quickly near food). While Odlulu has worked together with Wally and Wenda before, this has usually been out of necessity to fix the situations Odlulu has got herself into, so it is nice to see her volunteering without questions asked to find Woof. We even get a rare glimpse here of where Odlulu lives since she keeps a magic key there that the Wanderers need to track down Woof, a further nice touch.

Rosemary Jenks (Sara Aimson) hires Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) to investigate her father (Richard Pearson), concerned at his recent behaviour which suggests he may be in some kind of trouble that he refuses to tell her about. Although Rosemary doesn't have enough for Marker to go on the first time she visits for him to accept the case, when she returns she presents Marker a piece of paper that shows Mr. Jenks has been forging the signature of his boss Mr. Graham (Michael Turner), which suggests he's been caught up in fraud.

Certainly, when we see Mr. Jenks meeting with high-pressure stationery salesman Ralph Carter (Stephen Yardley) it is clear that Jenks is in debt to him and he's scared that Mr. Graham will find out what's going on and that they will both get into trouble. However, will Rosemary's intervention help save her father's job or will Marker's investigations only turn up enough dirt to ruin him?

Writer and director team Roger Marshall and Kim Mills reunite one final time for this episode, having previously been responsible for several of Public Eye's most important episodes in it's first four seasons including 3 of the show's earliest surviving episodes. While this effort is far from their best and is somewhat uneven, there are still plenty of positives here and it's welcome to see the fruits of their collaboration once more. The antepenultimate episode of Public Eye broadcast, the sense that this episode is to some extent a reunion of sorts is made even stronger by the presence of the always reliable Marjie Lawrence making her 4th and final Public Eye guest appearance as Mr. Jenks' sympathetic and likeable secretary Barbara.

Perhaps the highlight of this episode is Richard Pearson's performance as the troubled chief clerk Mr. Jenks. With a suitably lugubrious face and perpetually worried he will be found out, Pearson convincingly portrays a man who is clearly desperate to get out of trouble but at the same time afraid that telling the truth will only lead to more trouble. However, being honest is really his only hope as otherwise the police are likely to be involved and he could go down for fraud, as Marker points out. Despite Mr. Jenks' dishonesty, he is clearly a sympathetic character here as there appears to be no malice to his dishonesty, rather he's just found himself in a bad situation he is struggling to escape from, but dealing with it in the worst possible manner.

Stephen Yardley also performs well as the flash stationery salesman Ralph Carter who despite being something of a charmer is also the episode's least sympathetic character. He has a threatening and ruthless side, particularly when it's revealed he's keeping a cheque that Jenks has forged Graham's signature on as blackmail to keep him in line.

Carter's salesman skills are well-portrayed in the scene where he attempts to sell his wares to secretary Paula (Delena Kidd) at a different company, where his charm counts for little with the icy Paula who insists she doesn't need his wares. Both Yardley and Kidd are superb here, holding their own against the other as both Carter and Paula refuse to budge.

Company boss Graham seems rather indifferent towards the day-to-day business and something of a light touch, focused more on watching golf on his new TV set, yet Mr. Jenks is completely overwhelmed by him and can't bring himself to mention what's going on. However, with a lot of money on the line, once he learns what's happening, this is the spark for Graham to take decisive action. Meanwhile, Rosemary, like her father is also sympathetically portrayed here as she is well-intentioned and wants to save her father from trouble, but doesn't quite know how deep he's in, with Sara Aimson's performance also coming across well here.

Although the performances are fine and the episode's final scenes are a good and thought-provoking example of Public Eye not being afraid to show that Marker does not always succeed in securing the best outcome for his clients while at the same time showing there's little justice in the world, there are some flaws here.

While the return of Ron Gash (Peter Childs) is welcome, prompted by Marker using his name when enquiring about Ralph Carter's stationery company over the phone, his presence in the story seems unncessary and a waste of potential. Peter Childs is as solid as ever as the ebullient Gash and it's a joy seeing him have a friendly reunion with Marker at the Chertsey office. However, his scene is poorly positioned in the story, being the final scene at the end of the episode's second act which initially suggests he may end up having a more substantial role in the final part of the episode, but he disappears entirely without being mentioned again. This means his scene, though enjoyable to watch in isolation ultimately adds little.

This is but one example of this episode being somewhat poorly-paced, with the story fairly slow to get started and some of the final scenes taking place a bit too early before the credits roll, particularly the final scene with the Jenks family. Although hardly a bad episode, it's fair to say this does suffer somewhat from the imbalanced pacing and could have been more enjoyable if this was fixed. Another sign that suggests this episode has been somewhat shoddily made comes when the break bumper music plays twice in quick succession at the end of the episode's first act, first over the end of the scene where Marker investigates Mr. Jenks' allotment shed and again when the 'PUBLIC EYE' break bumper caption appears onscreen.

One of Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese's 2 Christmas specials with the earlier one being Family on Ice, the Season 1 finale, this is arguably the superior of the 2 and it's Christmas theme runs a lot more strongly here.

The family are decorating for Christmas when Mom suggests the siblings make gifts for each other after they start fighting over who gets to put the star on top of the tree. While most of the siblings are happy with who's making a gift for them when they draw their names out of a bowl, Cheese is concerned when Dog is chosen to make her a present (Cheese also being the one to make Dog his gift), aware that the gifts he's given in the past have been poor.

Cheese attempts to convince Dog to buy her certain gifts she wants to get for Christmas, but Dog refuses to be swayed and when Cheese sneaks into the boys' room and finds out what Dog appears to be making for her, she is not best pleased and decides to treat Dog likewise with her gift...

While Cheese is perhaps my least favorite of the sextet of titular siblings, this is definitely one of the better Cheese-focused episodes and she gets a lot of funny moments here as she fears what sort of present Dog is making her and tries to find out. While her vain and selfish aspects are still in evidence, the episode's concluding scenes show a nicer, more generous side to Cheese we don't see too often in the show which ends this episode on a high note.

Particularly funny is a nightmare sequence Cheese has where she ends up receiving a dog collar and is consequently treated as a dog, complete with one of the most sinister looking Boy faces in the entire show as the nightmare depicts her own family as the tormentors. Similarly funny is a scene where Cheese attempts to look less suspicious when caught snooping in the boys' room by singing Christmas-themed songs about her siblings, a tactic that fools Boy but not Cat, who consequently attempts to raise the alarm.

In contrast, seeing events from Dog's perspective shows that while in the past his gift decisions may not have been the best, he at least cares a lot about making a good gift and certainly we are tempted to believe that Cheese's fears are exaggerated in part because of her selfishness, but whether or not Dog's gift will end up being as bad as in the past lends a certain suspense here.

Although the focus is mostly on Dog and Cheese here, the other siblings still have their moments and Cat's various appearances are always funny to see. The episode's final scenes, where we see what gifts the others got each other and Cheese and Dog's reactions to their gifts feel suitably Christmasy and the resolution afterwards which finally brings happiness to everyone is beautifully done.

The final ever episode of Oswaldo broadcast was a Christmas special, despite being broadcast the following January, why it could not have been moved to an earlier slot in Season 4 which ran between November 2020 and January 2021 is a mystery. Nevertheless, viewed at the right time of year, it's another fine Christmas special.

The episode's title perfectly sums up the 2 parallel plots that run in this episode, one concerns Oswaldo, Leia and Tobias' parents, the other the trio themselves.

The parents' plotline sees them Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, but the presents that they purchase for their children (a finger skateboard, a metal straw and a robot vacuum cleaner) reflect more what they want than their children. Seeing a commercial for the Checho Ship toy on the instore TV, they realize their children would be happier with one, but the store assistant says there is only one left in stock, causing the 3 parents to fight each other over who gets it. However, the store assistant has her own reasons for making this claim and soon it becomes apparent nothing is as it seems...

The children's plot meanwhile sees them waiting for their parents, hopeful that they will get a Checho Ship when they encounter Mitchell's bodyguard Terence, who asks for their help in getting a very special present for Mitchell. But as Mitchell already has everything, getting something for him is a lot harder than it seems...

Of the 2 plots in this episode, the parents' plot is arguably the more interesting as it's fun to see them competing over the last remaining Checho Ship while the store assistant also proves remarkably adept at manipulating them. The resolution to this plotline also proves satisfying as the parents use their original gifts in a creative way to create something that will hopefully satisfy the children.

There is also a funny running joke in this episode as a number of characters claim that Christmas is really 'Christmalien', a holiday about communicating with aliens, including Oswaldo. Leia doesn't believe it while Tobias amusingly remarks that "it's way too stupid to be a lie".

The 2 plots finally come together in the episode's final scenes as everyone celebrates Christmas at Oswaldo's house, a festive way to end the episode, with Mitchell's reaction to spending his Christmas there surprising in a nice way given his hostility to Oswaldo throughout the show.

At only 5 characters long, Lifer is the shortest ever title for a Public Eye episode and also the only one-word title in the show's history. Ironically, it also has the longest writer's credit in the show, being the only episode written by multiple writers, in this case Bob Baker and Dave Martin.

Interesting trivia aside, this episode is certainly one to remember more importantly for it's moving, thought-provoking story. Arthur Biddle (Norman Bird) hires Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) to find his missing wife Sandra, claiming that she suddenly left him and that he is struggling to cope without her. He even knows who Sandra is supposed to have gone off with: a man named Brian Stafford (Tony Calvin), who works for an engineering firm. Biddle reckons that if Marker follows Stafford, Sandra will be found.

As usual, Marker's investigations raise some discrepancies that bring into question Biddle's account. While Brian Stafford is indeed working for an engineering firm, he does not seem to be seeing any middle-aged women and the only woman he does see looks much younger. The penny drops for Marker once a chef (Eamonn Boyce) working at Biddle's restaurant reveals that Biddle's wife has been missing much longer than Biddle claims she has, and when it emerges Brian Stafford was a prisoner not long since released after serving a 15-year sentence for murder, reduced to manslaughter. His victim? A certain Sandra Biddle…

A superbly-written tale of lies, revenge and the rehabilitation of prisoners into society, Lifer deserves particular praise for Norman Bird's excellent performance as Arthur Biddle, the central guest character in this episode. Initially simply nervous in the way many of Marker's clients are, Bird's performance conveys right from the start that there's something not quite right about him, though what exactly is not clear at this point in the story.

As the episode goes on however, we learn just what a broken man Biddle is, although he appears keen to have his revenge on Brian Stafford and may be dangerous, above it all he is simply a very vulnerable and emotional man who misses Sandra and has been unable to let go during the past 15 years. In particular, he keeps Sandra's room pristine as a kind of shrine to her memory and in one of his most emotional moments dances with one of Sandra's dresses as though she was there, his smile quickly giving way as he breaks down in tears due to her absence.

Bird is similarly excellent holding his own against Alfred Burke's convincingly angry Frank Marker when he confronts Biddle over what he's trying to do, explaining how Sandra was the only one who could make him happy and that he owes his revenge against Stafford to her. Bird also makes Biddle sound convincingly sinister at the end of this exchange when he responds to Marker pointing out that Stafford has paid for his crime by serving a 15-year prison sentence, saying "Not to me, he hasn't" in a sinister, whispered growl that hints at what he's prepared to do.

Also broken but in a different way is Brian Stafford, with Tony Calvin doing a fine job expressing his rather blank and emotionless character without too much dialogue, he barely speaks until Marker talks with him to warn him about Biddle's upcoming revenge. Haunted by his crime, he does not seem to be in much mood to resist, telling Marker that Biddle is entitled to his revenge. As with Biddle, the passage of 15 years since the crime has done little to make things easier for Stafford, with him telling Marker after he points out the 15 year passage of time again: "They all say that. You're supposed to get over it, but you don't. Never. Mr Biddle hasn't, has he?"

We also learn more about Stafford from his case worker, Kay Price (Ingrid Hafner), the younger woman Marker spots Stafford with early on who has taken a long time to get him to respond to her and is initially very angry with Marker for what she sees as undoing her hard work helping Stafford rehabilitate after his release from prison, with Stafford having left his job after he became aware that he is being followed. It is she who reveals that Stafford had been inside and that he was responsible for killing Sandra. Nevertheless, she allies with Marker as they work to try and prevent Stafford coming to harm at Biddle's hands. Indeed, with Marker having himself been inside and knowing the difficulties of rehabilitating, he has a certain amount of sympathy for Stafford's plight, aware that society does not look kindly upon ex-prisoners.

Among the other performances, Antony Carrick is also good as Chief Inspector Davis, who when warned by Marker about Biddle's planned revenge against Stafford fails to do anything about it and is only motivated into action once Kay is able to convince him that Biddle may be about to cause imminent harm to Stafford. Among the performances, the only real false note comes from Malya Woolf as Stafford's put-upon landlady who becomes increasingly exasperated at the number of people inquiring about Stafford, sporting a rather comical accent that ill-fits the tone of this episode.

The superb climax of this episode which focuses on Marker, Kay and Davis searching for Biddle and Stafford while Biddle takes Stafford back to the scene of Sandra's killing to get his revenge is emotional and thought-provoking as it asks a realistic and hard-hitting question: if you found the person responsible for ruining your life and had him at your mercy, ready to kill him in revenge, would you go through with it? Once Biddle is apparently ready to kill Stafford, his reaction to what he's about to do could certainly be regarded as the one most normal people would have in similar circumstances, something easy to forget when many films and shows depict killing as rather easy.

The finale to the first season of the 2019 Where's Wally? show (aka Where's Waldo? in the US or even by another name depending on which country you're in) also serves as a Christmas special, proving to be not just a fine season finale but also an appropriately festive outing to make any Where's Wally? fan feel festive.

On Christmas morning, Wally and Wenda prepare to celebrate Christmas at Wanderer HQ only to find there are no presents under the tree, much to their surprise. It soon transpires that no one around the world received their Christmas presents either and the finger of suspicion falls on Odlulu when she is spotted in one of the WanderPost photos received by Wizard Whitebeard. Using the Tick-Tock Key, Wally and Wenda go back in time to try and stop Odlulu from ruining Christmas, but can they succeed and what's Odlulu really up to?

Appropriately, given the show's educational angle, this Christmas special teaches us about some of the Christmas traditions around the world, including St. Nicholas Day celebrations in Munich, Germany on 6 December where there is a depiction of the tradition of leaving shoes outside for St. Nicholas to fill with gifts and also the Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, Philippines. Knowing Odlulu's talent for being selfish, vain and also destructive, her antics in these places including filling shoes with cake and creating a giant lantern of her face that gets out of control initially seems to be more of her usual antics.

But it soon turns out that this is actually her desperately trying to appease Santa and get her name off the naughty list having found out she's on it. However, as nothing is going right, she needs Wally and Wenda to help set her right and to convince her she's only ruining Christmas, they use the Tick-Tock Key to show her what happened on Christmas morning in Wanderer HQ which only then convinces her to team up with them.

Although they fix much of the damage, Christmas still hasn't been saved, which forces Odlulu to admit she stole Santa's sleigh, hence no presents. This leads to the trio making a trip to the North Pole to return the sleigh, which is quickly followed by the usual predictable meeting with Santa and his elves as is common in such journey-to-the-North-Pole Christmas specials.

Though there is nothing particularly special about the depiction of Santa and his elves here, the meeting of Santa and the trio leads to a truly heart-warming and moving sequence that is arguably the highlight of this episode as Wally, Wenda, Odlulu and Fritz help Santa distribute presents throughout the world, with Wally and Wenda interceding for Odlulu to try and convince Santa to try and get her name off the naughty list. Accompanied by an original song, It's the Holidays, this is truly special stuff to get one in the festive mood.

The ending in Wanderer HQ that follows is also a fine way to end this Christmas special, including the surprise appearance from one of the main characters of the book series, who up to this point hadn't been seen in the show. If there is one complaint I have about the end sequence, it's that after being the focus for so much of the episode, Odlulu disappears for this final sequence without so much as a goodbye, but this is only a minor complaint.

Finally, being Where's Wally?, this episode has it's customary short sequences where the viewer is challenged to find Wally (one of the "Where's Wally?" prompts here is by Santa) in a busy scene before his location is revealed to the viewers in a number of appropriately festive settings.