Author: Martyn

The Inbetweeners Movie DVD review

For those unfamiliar with the hit E4 show, The ‘Inbetweeners’ are Will, Jay, Neil and Simon, four sixth form mates who are not popular, yet not completely social outcasts. After three hugely successful series, it’s time for a big-screen outing. The movie opens with Jay completely naked, wearing a pair of snorkels, whilst watching pornography and doing something with ham that I couldn’t possibly comment on. His mother walks in on him and passes the sad news that his grandfather has just died.  With Jay’s inheritance money, our heroes decide to book a holiday to the Island of Malia.



What follows isn’t original, but it is extremely funny. The main plot involves the guys trying to get laid, falling out, making up and maturing. The film is pant wettingly funny, from start to finish. There are far too many moments of genius here, to highlight any one scene in particular. Seeing as this has now become the highest-grossing British comedy of all time, I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of The Inbetweeners.

Special Features:

Includes over 2 hours of exclusive unseen material.

Disc 1 – Feature film, 5.1 audio, and subtitles

Disc 2 – Exclusive Special Features:

  • Making Of
  • Joe Thomas Dangerman
  • Things We Did Instead of Rehearsing
  • London Premiere
  • Skye Premiere
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Sims Parody
  • Bloopers

Review-Fight For The Remote: Episode 2

The Past/Present Predicament

Episode two starts with an argument, Jon and Alice have just had the dinner party that was mentioned in episode one. Jon has been less than the perfect boyfriend and Alice isn’t happy.  Jon at his sarcastic best criticises Alice’s friend’s new doctor boyfriend, with the great line “all those orphans with prosthetic arms and real hands, work that one out”.
The fall-out from the fight lasts a few days, the pair then turn to their friends for advice and the episode soon turns into a sweet and touching flashback. This is the origin of their relationship.



I won’t give away too much of the plot, but this is a brilliant episode. It’s full of pop culture references, from classic kids insults on a bus to Young Frankenstein.
What makes Fight for the remote so great is that Jon and Alice are so familiar to anyone who has been in a long-term relationship. The arguments and conversations feel authentic. The writers have truly managed to capture the mundanity of the long-term relationship; Alice summed it up best when she told Jon “I remember when we used to have a life and not just a Lovefilm account”.

I, erm had something in my eye when Jon made his romantic dash down the stairs.

Fight for the remote is available for download via the website or iTunes

Follow  The Fight For The Remote Cast On Twitter:

Ayesha Antoine

Andrew Hayden-Smith

Helen Oakleigh

TV Review-Life’s Too Short Episode 4

This episode starts with Warwick flat hunting with Cheryl, his assistant. The scene is a clever reference back to Extras that seems to have been overlooked by every other critic. But then, other critics are busy bashing Life’s too short, as this is Gervais’ year for a media bashing.

The Daily Mail recently had to print a retraction after massaging the viewing figures, they only reported the overnight figures, which given the way we watch TV nowadays, are completely redundant as they don’t include viewers who record it and watch it later or people who access it via the Iplayer. It is funny that they only do it with popular shows, you never see ‘Homes under the hammer down 100 viewers’.



Anyway, in Extras, Andy Millman tried to impress a journalist from the Guardian.  Andy asked his friend Maggie to pretend to be his assistant. Warwick is trying to impress the estate agent; into thinking, he is more important than he is. The estate agent is the same actress who played the journalist.  It’s a great scene, which again showcases Warwick’s excellent comic timing. Warwick has a real knack for physical comedy and I predict will win many awards next year.

Later in the episode, Warwick turns to Ricky and Steve when he finds out his wife is having more than a professional relationship, with their divorce lawyer.
While in their office, Warwick sits in on a skype chat between Ricky, Stephen and Steve Carroll. When Ricky badmouths Carroll after thinking he had quit Skype, things take a turn for the worse. Speaking as someone who has been in this situation, it felt just as authentic and just as awkward.
Now at the midway point, Life’s too short is turning in to one of the best sitcoms the year and you know what, I’m glad the mainstream media doesn’t like it.

Life’s too short airs on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, on BBC2

TV Review-Mongels Series 2:Episode 4

We start off at Vince’s wedding reception. Nelson is the best man. Vince only wants to be portrayed in a positive way, which means Nelson had to throw his original speech out, so Nelson turns to his friends for stories about Vince.

Nelson isn’t overly impressed when Marion brings up Vince’s weekends with his son and recounting the plot to various films, such as Twilight, Tron Legacy, and Freaky Friday with himself and Vince as the main characters. It worked quite well, but the joke wore a little thin after the second joke.
Nelson tells the story of when he and Vince were stranded on an island, a traffic island in the middle of a duel carriageway.  Vince tries to cook him. Nelson manages to talk him out of it.  Nelson then stops his story, after remembering he and Vince had sex.  This section is genuinely funny, with Nelson quoting “what happens on the Island, stays on the Island”.

Eventually, the truth about Vince comes out, which leads to a brilliant musical number called, Vince Is A Massive C***. After the song, the bride tells Vince that she loves him and says, “Kiss me you c***”. Vince kills her and is now widowed.



This was a great episode, let down only by the Kali flashback. Kali had a period in her life, where she thought she was Will Smith, this consisted of her just saying the titles to Will Smith movies. Frankly, it felt beneath Mongrels the joke suited a canned laugher sitcom.

Mongrels has truly hit the ground running, I await the announcement of the inevitable third series.

Mongrels airs on BBC3, on Mondays at 10:30 pm

TV Review-This Is England 88:Episode one

When we last saw Woody and the gang last year, it was 1986; their lives had turned upside down. Lol had just killed her father, after he raped her best friend and was pregnant by Woody’s best mate, Milky.

As you may have guessed from the title, it’s now two years later. Lol is a single mum battling guilt and depression, whilst Woody is in a self-imposed exile from the group, spending his days at work and his evenings playing charades with his parents and new, posh girlfriend. Milky has just returned from a three-month trip away. Shaun is now a budding actor and has fallen for the middle-class leading lady, of his play. The social awkwardness between the working-class character of Shaun and his middle-class love interest feels authentic, the encounter at her parent’s house, when he thinks the olives are grapes, is funny, yet touching.

If there’s one thing Shane Meadow’s does well, it’s drama. The characters are so well written, that you’re completely captivated by them. You sympathise with them. I can’t wait for tonight’s episode

This is England is a 3-part drama airing on Channel 4.

Catch up on 4OD



Book Review- The Brilliant Book 2012

The Brilliant Book 2012 is an outstanding read for any Doctor Who fan. With its encyclopedia-style format, it offers a plethora of mini-synopses on each episode, deleted scenes, interviews with the writers, cast, and directors, and even an explanation about the missing pirate.

The book’s attention to detail is impeccable, and readers will find themselves poring over every page. From a list of every hat ever worn by the Doctor to scripts from deleted scenes, Charles Dickens’ Twitter feed, George’s school report, and a behind-the-scenes look at the CGI and effects, this book has it all.

One of the book’s highlights is the inclusion of loads of little in-jokes and references. For example, Henry Gordon Jago presents the section on Madame Vastra, and there’s a fascinating history of the Corsair and the storyboard for the original opening of The Doctor’s Wife.

This is a book for the whole family to enjoy. Dads, kids, and even mums will love exploring the intricacies of the Doctor Who universe.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Film Review-Another Earth

Another Earth is a great little gem of a movie, written by Mark Cahill and Brit Marling. Marling also stars as the main character of the film, Rhoda Williams.
Rhoda has recently been accepted to MIT and she goes out to celebrate with friends and drives home drunk. On the drive home she listens to a news broadcast on the radio about an approaching planet that looks just like Earth, she looks out her car window and crashes into another car, putting John Burroughs (William Mapother) in a coma and killing his wife and son.

Rhoda is sent to prison and after serving her sentence she tracks John down and decides to take care of him. Rhoda learns that there is a lottery to win a trip to the mirror Earth. She hopes that her other self didn’t make the same mistake and applies for a place.

Although the title and premise make this sound like a sci-fi movie, it is far from it. Another Earth is clearly a metaphor for a second chance, something we all desire. The only misstep this movie took, was having Rhoda and John become romantically involved. The relationship could have been a lot more touching if it hadn’t been romantic.

This is easily the best movie I have seen this year and shows indie cinema at its best. Had this been a blockbuster the mirror Earth inhabitants would have been evil versions, with goatee beards and WMD’s. I can’t recommend this film enough, this deserves a lot of praise. I would love a mini-series follow up exploring the consequences of another Earth being so close to ours and also to see what was happening to the inhabitants on mirror Earth.

Another Earth is in cinemas, nationwide.



Book Review-Elisabeth Sladen’s autobiography

I can’t be critical about this book. Lis was a lovely, affectionate person who touched the heart of everyone she met and, everyone she didn’t. I remember hearing that she was going to be in the series 2 episode, school reunion. Despite never having seen an episode with Sarah Jane in, I knew who she was. Sarah Jane is the definitive companion.

Sadly, Elisabeth died in April 2011. Even now, a few months away from the anniversary, it still feels fresh and somehow unreal. It isn’t just the older viewer who has lost someone; it’s also the millions of younger viewers that knew her from The Sarah Jane Adventures.



The role of Sarah-Jane Smith is arguably her most famous. The book charts her early life in Liverpool, as well as her career on the stage, her break into TV and radio, her marriage and motherhood, and her return to the Doctor Who family, in 2006. Every tale is recounted in glorious detail. It’s easy to see how children have always been spellbound by Lis.

She is also warm and praising about her Doctor’s, although Tom Baker comes across slightly better than Jon Pertwee. She then praises her later Doctor’s, David Tennant and Matt Smith, as well as the young cast of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
This is a brilliant book, with a lovely message from her daughter and a foreword by David Tennant.
Russell T Davis summed it up best when he said, “The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis.”

Elisabeth Sladen: the autobiography, is published by Aurum Press and costs £18.99

Listen to our review of the final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures

Film Review-Puss In Boots

A Puss in Boots spin-off has been in development since he made his first appearance in Shrek 2 way back in 2004. Now that DreamWorks have milked the Shrek franchise for all its worth, it is finally time for the cat to have his day.

This is essentially an origin story. It’s set way before Puss met Shrek, Fiona and Donkey. Since Puss is the main character, he needs wacky, funny characters around him. The love interest is a feline named Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) is Puss’ best friend from childhood. Puss and Humpty Dumpty were once as close as brothers until Puss became famous. Humpty soon became jealous of Puss and betrayed him by tricking him into a bank robbery. Years later, Humpty tracks him down seeking forgiveness, as well as help with a new scheme. The scheme involves stealing some magic beans from an out-law couple, Jack and Jill. The magic beans will send them up the famous beanstalk to the golden-egg laying goose.



The first half of the movie is better than the second half. I think this is due to it being such a busy story, the ending is little anti-climatic, but strangely unlike most children’s CGI movies, it isn’t bogged down by the over-preachy moral of the tale. The performances are all solid, but special mention must go to Antonio Banderas, he manages a performance that is consistently amusing as well as moving. The moment he sees his heartbroken mother staring at him is gut-wrenching. Visually the film is a treat. The 3D works well but adds little to the overall experience. The film would still be funny, enjoyable and moving in 2D. Puss in Boots is not a great film, but it is an extremely good film.

Puss In Boots opens in the UK on December 9th 2011.

Episode 50: Doctor Who-Colony in Space

Which, after nearly two years, your heroes reach episode 50!

After a report on the Torchwood: Miracle Day signing attended by Martyn and Paul from The Pharos Project, we take a look at the Doctor Who episode ‘Colony in space’.  In this episode, we delve into the classic Doctor Who adventure “Colony in Space,” which originally aired in 1971. Starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as his companion Jo Grant, “Colony in Space” takes the TARDIS crew to a distant planet where human colonists are struggling to survive against a ruthless mining corporation and the native alien inhabitants.

We explore the conflict between the human colonists and the mining corporation, and how it reflects real-world issues of corporate greed and exploitation. We also examine the portrayal of the alien race, and how it challenges traditional science fiction stereotypes. We discuss the performances of Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, and how they embody the Doctor and his companion in this adventure.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Amazon Music, Podchaser, Player FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

Check out our Youtube.

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