what you might have missed

I am probably quite a rarity during this lock down period, I have drank less, eat less and watched less tv. Music is my escape at the moment, best way to block out the world. As a front line carer its important to forget the world now and again. So here's 3 things lost myself in recently.

The thick of it

The thick of it is a British comedy based on the internal workings of politics. Brought to you by some of the people who created Alan Partridge and later did Veep in America. As I knew I would struggle to find and decide something knew I decided to go for something old that I knew well. It follows labour and tory politicians working in a fictional department, with the above Malcolm tucker stalking and manipulating his way through.

The Malcolm character is the most memorable as brings swearing and general abuse to new levels, I suggest you search engine Malcolm tucker quotes as I am not sure I could share them here. Its also why I found Peter Capaldi difficult to take as Dr who for a while.

Its meant to be a documentary as the cameras are shaky and move around quickly, much in the vein of "The office" which came out the same year. Its partly scripted and partly improvised, they recorded a lot and put out the best stuff. I ended up watching the 4 series in 3 goes as kept wanting a bit more. Also I remembered some bits better then others and would wait for them. Avaidible on Amazon and worth a few hours.

The righteous gemstones

The righteous gemstones is an American comedy created and starring Danny McBride , recently run on British tv to help launch the sky comedy channel. It features John Goodman as the lead gemstone, running a massive religious empire with his children, destroying all rivals and making millions. I imagine it was brave thing to make in America as it mocks money grabbing television evangelists, they have private planes and massive houses.

The so far only 9 episodes feature debauchery, murder, drugs and proliferating. It very funny in places and great for those who don't like the evangelists shouting at you for money. There isn't really a deep message, except maybe money doesn't always bring happiness or a quiet life. In fact its near the end of the run that they occasionally think that they might have taken the wrong route. A focus is the groups mother who died before the series starts and is often referred to as the one they aspire too. They are a religious family and appear to always believe their riches are God given, even the sex, drugs and rock and roll element.

F1 Drive to survive

This a must watch for all those who love formula one or indeed high quality motorsport in general. The cameras have been give free reign to film pretty much everywhere and to talk to pretty much anyone. The drivers, the principals and the behind the scenes people at the factories and in the pits. The standard tv coverage is fairly immersive these days but the programme goes deeper and follows the season via separate teams and starts from testing. It follows design, funding, testing and the drivers. It goes everywhere they do and shows the hours involved for all those working with the teams.

It shows what's involved in getting the car to the race and then keeping it on the track, wither that's through the sponsorship or the skill of the drivers at the time. This has opened the sport up to make it more accessible and more clear for those that watch. It differs from many American racing series and helps spread the word for F 1.

The franchise and tv rights were taken over by American company Liberty Media and they wanted to expand f1 interest on a global scale. This show will do that but will also appeal to people like me who have watched for years.