I originally bought a pink PSP way back in early 2008, just because I felt like I had to. Three months later I ended up flogging it on Ebay, because funds were tight and to be honest, at the time, there weren't really that many interesting games for it. Then, just over 12 months later, I started seeing adverts on the TV for this....

And so I ended up buying this Limited Edition PSP with the game. I love my PSP more than anything, and would never dream of selling it, because I have some pretty awesome games on it, including Crisis Core, Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

A few years later, Sony released the PSP Go and over the past few months, this has repeatedly been drawn to my attention:

When it comes to Award Ceremonies, I'm one of those people that gives a loud yawn, turns over and goes to sleep. I know that being a huge lover of film, I should pay more attention, but the truth is that I have very little respect for most of these Awards. Why? Well, I'll explain it in long terms:

Who is a film made for? Well, on one side of the coin, it's made for you and me, the general public, it's made for our entertainment. But, then on the other side of the rusty coin, it's made for the companies who want to make lots and lots of money out of it. However, those companies need to remember that without the general public putting "bums on seats" as I believe Hitchcock once put it, they wouldn't be racking all of this money.

Nevertheless, in my head, the true voice of what makes a good film is public opinion. If people like it, they'll go see it, they'll encourage others to go see it, and eventually they'll buy the DVD/Blu-ray or whatever. Public opinion speaks higher than even the Critics do, because quite often a film will be a commercial success, even if the so-called critics have really panned it.

So, if the public are the people who really control how successful a film is (and let's face it, they are in full control. Just look at the blockbuster films that have millions, no probably billions of dollars thrown into them, by Executives who think they're on to a huge winner, but the film is the biggest flop, because it's actually a bit pants!!), why is it that a panel of "film professionals" decide who wins these awards? And why are these awards so important? I honestly don't really give two hoots about what a panel of apparent professionals has to say. I much prefer awards that are voted for, by the people who enjoy them for what they are: plain, simple entertainment. Not by people who see them as arty-farty, mise-en-scene, auteur-based.... (yeah, did I bore you with my Film Studies jargon? Yeah, I think I bored myself too!!)

So yeah, I have far greater respect for People's Choice style of awards that are voted for by the people.

On to the BAFTAs: However, when it comes to the BAFTA Awards, I always feel a personal sense of Britishness about the whole thing, which means that I have to show my support for it, perhaps in a protective kind of way. With that firmly in my mind, when it popped up that nominations were out, I had to go take a look and give the Awards a chance....

To be fair, half of the films are so obscure that I've never even heard of them, and it makes it hard for me to judge on who should win them. In the Animated Film Category alone, I think that the category is very misrepresented, with a great deal of films not on the list, but then, what do we expect from an industry that still primitively views all animation as a kids film (even when they're not), and kids films are never taken seriously!

Something I always find weird about nominations, too, is that a portion of the films, haven't even been released in the UK yet, and it seems unfair to include stuff that the public haven't even had a chance to see yet.

I noticed that Harry Potter has been nominated in the Sound category, which is definitely a well-deserved (in my opinion) nomination, because even though the previous films were quite lacking in the score department, the final one was breathtaking, and so beautiful. Do I think it'll win? Up against The Artist, I very much doubt it!

Nope, to me the nominations are a certain type of Film Lecturer's wet dream. Anyone who has studied Film Studies may have come across the type I'm referring to; they are the lecturers who think that starting the day with full on porn is enriching for the soul. They're the people who are convinced that all the great womanising actors (of the day) were secretly gay. They are obsessed with the hidden meaning in absolutely everything (is it possible that the set-designer put it there, because it matched the wall paper??), and French New Wave is their idea of Heaven.

But what happened to just sitting back, and enjoying a film for the simple side of things: a form of entertainment. Nothing more, not less.

Because, as this blog is all about, I don't want my life enriching with the sophistication of what-now or who-that. I just want to be Entertained. Simple.

So, what is it that I really hate about Awards?

1. The ones that are voted for by so-called top dogs are the worst of the worst. What exactly qualifies them to vote? Surely, "being in the business" is going to lead to bias, no?
2. Certain genre's of film, are always either ignored or just under-represented.
3. Films that are up for nomination were never available for wider viewing, meaning that most people wouldn't have had the opportunity to watch them.
4. Films that are up for nomination haven't even been released in the UK yet, and if they have sometimes not for very long...at least give us a chance to watch the films!!

Like an amazing amount of TV-based dogs, Brain wasn't your average kind of dog. Like Lassie, Scooby-Doo and even Family Guy's Brian, Brain was a lot more intelligent than you might initially think. I'm not really sure who's dog he was, whether he was Gadget's or Penny's. But, one thing I do know, is that he was the other half of the crime-solving double act that was him and Penny.

Interestingly, Brain was voiced by the same person as Dr. Claw, and that person was probably one of the voice acting industries most well-known and respected voice actors: Frank Welker.

Even if the name doesn't mean anything to you, I promise you that you will know his work and his voice talent, even if you don't realise it. How do I know that? Because he's provided the voices for so many well-loved characters. But, it's incredibly difficult to know which ones to pin down, because there really are too many of them, and it seems unfair to miss any out.


However, a few of his more popular roles include: 

Fred: Scooby-Doo

Fred in various incarnations of Scooby-Doo
Gol in classic Studio Ghibli film Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind
Several Gremlins in both of the Gremlins film.
Megatron, Soundwave and other voices in Transformers animations
Totoro in another classic Studio Ghibli My Neighbor Totoro
Dumbo and various other voices in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (although these role were uncredited)
Slimer, in The Real Ghostbusters
Max (the dog) in Disney's The Little Mermaid
The Devil and Station in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
Kermit, Skeeter and Beaker in Muppet Babies
Abu in Disney's Aladdin


Welker also provided various voice talents for:

Slimer

DuckTales
Potsworth and Co.
Alvin and the Chipmunks
TaleSpin
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Jetsons
Dinosaurs
Where's Wally?

Cree Summer

During it's two season run, the character of Penny was never given any form of a back history. And the only really information relating to her, is the fact that she was Inspector Gadget's niece. Despite not being the title character, Penny was very much the intelligence behind solving crimes, even if the thanks would quite naively be handed over to Gadget himself.

For me, as a kid, I always loved the fact that Penny was the smarter one, because she was a girl, even if at times, I'd now probably have found her quite irritating.

Susie Carmichael

The role of the blonde, pig-tailed character was actually taken by two actresses. The first 64 episodes being voiced by Cree Summer, and the final 21 episodes being taken over by Holly Berger.

Summer, is the daughter of Don Francks who also voiced several characters in Inspector Gadget. including Dr. Claw (when Frank Welker was unable to play the role). Gadget was Summer's first role, but it was the beginning of a very long career for the voice actress.

Not knowing that she had been the voice of Penny, I had grown up knowing her as the sassy Susie Carmichael, in popular nineties TV show Rugrats. A role that she would play for twelve years, from 1992 to 2004, including various movies and spin-off's such as All Grown Up. I instantly recognised her voice, whilst playing 2004 classic game Final Fantasy X-2, as the enigmatic Callie, and the mysterious Lenne.

Lenne

Since doing a bit of research into Cree Summers' career history, I've actually discovered that I know her voice from quite a variety of cartoons that I grew up with, including Care Bears (alongside her father), Pepper Ann (which also featured Don Adams), Batman of the Future, Star Wars: Clone Wars, As Told by Ginger and Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Summer's replacement Holly Berger didn't have quite as big a career following her stint as Penny. Before taking the role, she had featured as the voice of Jennifer in 1985 TV movie Star Fairies. Other than that, and two further stints as Penny, in Inspector Gadget video games, Berger doesn't appear to have done much else in the entertainment industry.

I know that this is a day late, which isn't really very good for a new series of posts, but better late than never right ;)

This week's favourite comes from a film that I've loved for a really long time. It comes across as a superficial teen rom-com (and let's face it, they'd probably never deny that), but I love the fast-paced dialogue that shows that underneath the shallow-ness of the characters, there is a great depth of intelligence, even if, at time, the characters themselves might not be fully aware of the irony of their words!

This post is dedicated to Brittany Murphy

1977 - 2009

Over the years there have been many animated versions of great films, some good and some bad but all of them, as far as i'm aware were created a short time after the film was released. A few years have passed since Napoleon Dynamite hit the big screen so it seems a bit strange that it's been revived as an animated series. My girlfriend and fellow entertained blogger thought that the characters had a similar style to those in Beavis and Butthead and I have to agree. That's not a bad thing though as long as the cartoon itself is ok.Thankfully most of the cast have returned to lend their voice acting skills to the characters. This is a rarity when it comes to film spin off animations and is hopefully a sign that it will do good things. I enjoyed the film with all its quirkiness so I'll definitely give the animation a look when it comes to channel 4. Below are a few pics to wet your appetite plus the teaser trailer.

Last night saw the first episode of the latest American export: New Girl, on Channel 4. With oodles of advertising on both Channel 4 and E4, it was difficult to avoid the furore of the comedy series starring popular actress Katy Perry, oh sorry, I mean Zooey Deschanel. But jokes aside, I loved Deschanel's vibrancy and the support of an interesting collection of characters.

But, I'm not here today to offer a review (I'll leave that for when I've seen it a few more times and allowed the comedy to get firmly on it's feet before I pass too much of a judgement good or bad!). No, every time that a new show starts, I'm one of those perhaps slightly crazy people who obsesses about what each of the actors have done in their previous lives. With New Girl this was a little bit easier than some shows, because there were quite a few people that I'd seen in stuff before, and already knew where I'd seen them from, and here's who everyone is :)

Zooey Deschanel
Character: Quirky Jess

Image found here.

Often compared to her fellow celeb look-a-like Katy Perry, Deschanel is perhaps best known for her roles in films including: Elf, alongside Will Ferrell, M.Night Shyamalan's sub-par thriller The Happening, and looking cute opposite Joseph Gordon Levitt, in 500 Days of Summer.

However, Deschanel's perhaps lesser known roles are a bit more interesting. For example, did you know that Deschanel starred opposite Hollywood A-Listers Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2002 rom-com The Good Girl? Or how about the part she played (Trillian) in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, back in 2005? Yep, that was news to us too. She even starred alongside big sister Emily who take a lead role in popular drama Bones.

But, the movies aren't just the exclusive business of Zooey and her older sister, because both of her parents work in the industry as well. Her mother, as an actress and father as a Cinematographer. Caleb Deschanel is perhaps best known for his work on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Damon Wayans Jnr.
Character: Coach

Image found here

Although he features in the pilot for the series, Wayans actually doesn't feature in the rest of the series, which is a huge shame, because the character of Coach had so much potential. However, if you think that you recognise Wayans, it could be because of the reason why he didn't make it past the pilot of New Girl. And that is down to his role in  Happy Endings. Allegedly, when the first season of Happy Endings erm, ended, it was a little up in the air whether or not it would get a second season. This led to Wayans taking the role on New Girl, but as many of us probably know, Happy Endings did indeed get another series, and so he left his role as Coach.

Or, if that doesn't explain why Wayans look so darn familiar, you might think that you recognise him because his Father (Damon Wayans Snr), who Jnr is a spitting image of, was the lead role in My Wife and Kids. And, if that family connection isn't enough, you might just be familiar with his two Uncles Shawn and Marlon Wayans who are best known for acting in and/or writing/directing a couple of small movies like oooh, Scary Movie Series, White Chicks, Little Man...yeah, you get the picture!!

Jake Johnson
Character: Nick

I didn't recognise Johnson from anything that I'd seen previously,  and even when I looked him up, it was confirmed that I've never seen him in anything before. However, some of you might have seen him in Get Him to the Greek with over very own Russell Brand and Jonah Hill, or Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman film No Strings Attached. Most recently he starred in the latest Harold and Kumar film A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas.

In March, Johnson (not to get confused with surfer-singer/songwriter Jack Johnson) can be seen in the new 21 Jump Street film with Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

In a weird way I really like Jake Johnson, because he reminds me of someone that I just can't put my finger on...hmm, gonna have to keep pondering over that one :)

Max Greenfield
Character: Schmidt

Image found here.

On first impression, Greenfield's character Schmidt was the only one that I never really "connected" with, because I just found it hard to believe that if he's as straight as he claims to be, he wouldn't be trying to get off with Jess. But, that aside, he was another actor that I didn't really recognise, despite the fact that he apparently appeared in an episode of Happy Endings.

Fans of hit US mystery drama Veronica Mars (starring Gossip Girl herself Kristen Bell) might recognise Greenfield as Leo, a character that he played for 11 episodes in 2005-2007. Whilst fans of The OC may remember him playing a young Sandy Cohen (otherwise played by the fab Peter Gallagher) in the episode: The Case of the Franks.

Greenfield has also appeared in eight episodes of Ugly Betty and five of Greek, so he's certainly building himself as a minor regular in some pretty top-notch US shows.

Hannah Simone
Character: Cece

The absolutely stunning Simone who I can't help thinking looks a little bit like Anne Hathaway (I imagine that I'm probably on my own with that train of thought!!) is probably the lesser known of all the main cast. She doesn't really have that much of a portfolio behind her, and the only thing that she has appeared in, that I have actually heard of is an episode of Kevin Hill.

With very little information relating to the actress I don't really know what else I can say, other than: oh my god, how hot is she, in a totally un-lesbian kind of way??

I'm interested to see which direction the character of Cece is taken in, however, in conjunction with all of the other characters.

So, there you go, now you have a better idea of where you might (or might not) have encountered the main stars of new comedy New Girl.

I really love looking up what other stuff actors have done in their pasts, because I'm nosey like that, so if there is anyone that you think you've seen before, but don't know where, then I am your gal! Just drop me an email and I'll get hunting them down!

A new feature on the blog? Woo, exciting right? Yeah, we thought so too ;) But, we all have film, book and television quotes and lyrics from songs that are memorable and we love either because they're funny, sad, poignant or just amazing for no real reason. So from now on Friday will be all about our Friday Favourites, and we'd love it if you guys joined in. Just email me or tweet me with your all-time favourite quotes from films, books, TV or songs and we'll try our best to feature them here on a Friday. You could send in one specific quote or a variety of them, we really don't mind.

I hadn't intended for all of my quotes to be from Friends, but it's so hard to just choose one :) 


Remember, to take part in Friday Favourites, just email  or tweet me your favourite quote(s)!

Beam Me Up, Cumberbatch

You read it right. The Three Stooges are set to come back in the summer, beefed up for a new audience. I thought I'd share my views on the trailer and provide a bit more information about the film.

Directors: Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly

Stars: Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso

Plot: From what I've seen of the film so far the story revolves around an orphanage which is about to be closed down. Our three favourite stooges set out to prevent this from happening and in the process wind up being involved in a murder plot. It all sounds a bit daft and at first I wasn't too impressed with the idea of a modern age stooges film but a couple of things managed to sway my decision.

1) I liked the trailer. The actors play their parts well and the humour is suitably amped up for the modern age.

2) The film comes from the Farrelly brothers, the guys who created such gross out comedies as Dumb and Dumber and Me, Myself and Irene. For this reason alone you know that there will be an element of quality behind it.

Two reasons to go and see The Three Stooges

It's from the Farrelly brothers: The Farrelly's are behind some great comedies and their unique sense if humour should lend itself well to this update of a well loved classic.

The actors play their parts well: Judging from the trailer it looks like Hayes, Diamantopoulos Sasso play their parts well. It's almost like the Three Stooges are alive and well.

Two reasons not to go and see The Three Stooges

Humour: This film might not appeal to die hard Stooges fans. The Farrelly brother's are renowned for their gross sense of humour and there is a chance that this might not transfer well to a stooges film.

Same old story: There is nothing original plot wise with this film but to be fair the story won't be the selling point of this film. It's all about the humor.

That's enough talk. Have a look at the trailer and see what you think.

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Pages: 366
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-141-33478-3


Plot: Cassia lives in a world of analysis. Where everything you do is predicted for you, including your profession, who you will marry and even when you will die. When Cassia is “matched” with her best friend, she couldn’t be happier, who wouldn’t be happy to be matched with someone that you already know? But, then her entire world begins to unravel. What if she was meant to be with someone else?

Following on from my Top Six of films in 2011, I thought it was only fair to put together a Top Six of my predictions for 2012, because there are a lot of films to be looking forward to, for a variety of reasons. So basically, it's a list of the six films that I am most looking forward to and that I think will do well over the next 12 months.

Because I haven't seen any of these films, it's hard to put them into much of an order. Also, because these films haven't been released yet, it's difficult to have much to say, so I'm just going to let the posters and available trailers do the talking :)

2011 has been an excellent year for films, with hero-based films yet again taking over the big screen. but, as the year comes to a close, I wanted to take some time to share my Top Six Films of 2011, that for whatever reason have really blown me away, made me cry, made me smile or just kept me entertained.

6. Captain America: The First Avenger

I watched Captain America literally the day after I saw the film that makes it to the Top Spot in this Chart, so in a way, it never had much hope of making it much higher. Which is an immense shame, because Captain America is a fun film, that doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a great supporting cast, backing up a lead actor (Chris Evans) who I honestly did not expect great things from. But Evans comfortably proved me wrong, and I honestly believe that he was perfect for the role.

The CGI that made Evans look so scrawny at the beginning of this film was well-used and clever, in that I genuinely believed (despite knowing otherwise) that Evans really was that short/skinny etc.

Why Captain America beats Thor: Personally, this was an easy choice to make over it's fellow Avenger, because Thor just didn't cut it for me. Maybe this is the part of me that's not a huge Superhero film fan coming out, but I prefer superheroes who are human, and where the story takes place on Earth. For me, the non-Earth based parts of Thor were boring. I also found Thor to be particularly unlikable, which is odd because I generally tend to like Chris Hemsworth.

Thor also gets a million points knocked off for having a bad-guy "creature" that freaked me the hell out. At 27 years old (as I was at the time), I never expected to come across a creature in a film that would make me stick my fingers in my ears because the sound it made was so creepy.

Disclaimer: Chris would like me to point out that he liked everything that I hated about Thor. Chalk and Cheese, my love, Chalk and Cheese ;)

5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

It seems kind of wrong to have placed this film so low, because I genuinely loved it, despite having a few issues over plot.However, in a year with so many awesome films, I had to place them in some sort of order, and unfortunately this one ended up here.

It's hard to really know what else to write about Game of Shadows, because I so recently reviewed it.

The film wasn't that well received by various critics, particularly relating to Sherlock, as well as the on-screen chemistry between Sherlock and Watson (or apparent lack of). I do agree that Sherlock seemed somewhat "different" in Game of Shadows, in a way that I can't quite put my finger on, but I whole-heartedly disagree about the chemistry between the two lead males. A large portion of the story revolves around their relationship, and Sherlock's need to protect his close friend and I thought that part of the film worked nicely.

Favourite Scene: The slow-motion action scene in the forest was incredibly well edited and put together. I've seen this scene touted as one of the best action sequences of all time, and I think I'm close to wanting to agree, even though it's not ultimately as big an action film as other, and it has so much competition. I really hope that that scene wins some form of award.



4. Tron Legacy


Effectively, Tron is a film from the end of 2010, but since I actually saw it in January 2011, I think it rightly deserves it's position here. The original Tron, is a film that I only half think I saw as a kid, probably on television, but I'm never really sure. But, noting how technologically advanced the film industry has become since the making of the first Tron, I had huge hopes that this would be a corker of a visual film, and I was not disappointed.

I think that what made Tron such a great film wasn't the special effects however, but more in Daft Punk's immense soundtrack which I absolutely fell in love with. I don't think that I've been so in love with a film's soundtrack since the first Transformers film, and Tron's actually blows it out of the water, as it plays so perfectly with the film's science fiction backdrop.

It is definitely worth a quick mention, but similar to the CGI to make Chris Evans look scrawnier in Captain America, the CGI used to create a younger Jeff Bridge's in Tron was incredible too. Of course, he didn't look entirely right, because CGI isn't quite that perfect (yet), but boy did he look good.

Considering that this is a sequel to a film that has become a cult classic, I felt that it did itself great justice as a singular film too, perhaps to rival it's predecessor in pure grandeur.

I also loved the films use of 3D, in which it was only used within the Tron world, and not the "real" world.


3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I have to get this out there, and I'm not ashamed to say it, but I really (as in with a passion) hate the original Planet of the Apes films. And no, I don't just mean that god-awful crap "starring" the over-hyped Mark Wahlberg, but I also mean the Charlton Heston ones too. I know that a lot of people have high regard of the original films, which I have a huge amount of respect for, but they were never really my cup-of-tea.

In fact, when I first heard about this new incarnation of the story, I didn't have very high expectations. That was until I saw the trailer, and I was blown away by it.

I think that what makes the 2011 version of Planet of the Apes more likable, is the fact that it throws the original ideas of origins completely out of the window, and starts from scratch with a modern audience in mind. The idea focused on something (Alzheimers) that a lot of people fear, and similar to films like the old Hammer Horror flicks, played on that sense of fear.

It's nice to see Harry Potter's Tom Felton in new roles, but despite having seen him in completely different previous roles (Anna and the King, The Borrowers etc), I do think that he played this role too closely to Draco Malfoy.

2. Sucker Punch

From what I can figure out, Sucker Punch is definitely a "Marmite" type of film, because people either hate it with an absolute passion, as they typically brand is sexist and stupid, or they really love it.

Similarly to Sherlock Holmes, I find it hard knowing what else to be said about Sucker Punch that hasn't already been said in my previous review, and also in Chris' male point of view review.

I think my ability to appreciate this film lies in two factors of my personality:

1. The fact that I'm a writer, and I am always intrigued by stories where nothing is entirely what it, at first, appears. And even when you think that you have everything figured out, something else occurs to make you question whether you're right or wrong. Another example of a film that does this well, is Donnie Darko, a film that I only half feel like I've worked out!

2. The fact that I'm a gamer, and most importantly, a fan of RPG-based games. All the way through the fantasy-based sequences which saw Baby Doll and the others fighting various soldiers and monsters etc, reminded me of playing Final Fantasy, and I kept thinking about how great this would all be in a video game.

PS, who cares if all the girls look slutty? So do all the female characters in virtually every Final Fantasy game, but does anyone care? Not really!!


1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

The End of a Era: We could go on forever about how sad so many of us are that there will never be another Harry Potter book or film, but the truth is that I don't think there has ever been a series of books or films that have been quite as epic, quite as quickly and globally as these ones.

As an ending, the film wasn't perfect, but I never expected it to be. It did, however, offer a great deal of closure that was necessary for such a popular franchise.

Was it right for the original cast to play their older selves? I've seen this question batted about quite a bit since the film came out, over the summer, and honestly, yes, I think that they were right to play their older selves. Why? Because Harry was Daniel Radcliffe's role, and Ron was Rupert Grint's role, whilst Hermione was Emma Watson's role etc. They'd spent over ten years of their lives dedicated and growing up around these characters, and it only seems right that they should be the ones to see them through to the very end.

I think that we should consider ourselves incredibly lucky that we made it through all eight of the films, with very few cast changes (the only major one being Dumbledore of course, and that couldn't really have been avoided).

Favourite Scene: The epic scene when Professor McGonagall casts a spell to ask the School Statues to protect them, and Harry and all the other Hogwarts teachers and children, join together to protect their School from Voldemort and his Army. Accompanied by an awesome soundtrack, the scene was incredibly powerful and poignant because despite his demise, the scene showed that Dumbledore's Army was even more loyal and determined than Voldemort's. Even more poignant is that most of them are kids!


The above clip, unfortunately, doesn't offer a good example of the music. However, the following fan-created video does, and it also represents everything that is bloody amazing about the final installment, that I think will always have a place in my heart.


If this films score doesn't win awards, I will die of shock (well, maybe not literally, but you know what I mean), because it truly deserves it. And Alexandre Desplat deserves all the credit he gets for this piece in particular.

Harry Potter is a series that I look forward to introducing to my own children in the future.

Sometimes I feel that at 28 years of age, I'm getting a bit old to be watching programmes like Skins, but you know what, I'm gonna watch it as long as it stays good. And yes, the new series is looking good don't you think?

I've been a fan of the series since Day One, although I really nearly stopped throughout the entire third and fourth series featuring the second generation, who I really did not connect with, in the slightest. However, I'm glad I stuck it for the fifth series, because I'm loving the latest generation of kids (does that make me sound old purely on the fact that I used the word "kids"??). The acting is brilliant, the storylines more interesting and the characters are easier to like than the second generation.

Literally counting the days to the start of Series Six, and from the trailer, I have a feeling that it is going to be a good one!!