1st January I sat down to watch the new episode of Sherlock. It started with a 'Previously on' which surprised me because I couldn't think of anything they needed to remind us about. And then I supposed they were going to show us at Sherlock and John met etc. But then they cut to the cliffhangery bit at the end of series 1. At which point I remembered there had been a cliffhanger. So clearly it worked well in getting me to watch the second series.

Having established this I then decided I didn't need to watch it and carried on sorting out where I was on my cross stitch. When I next looked up I realised they'd resolved the cliffhanger. I don't know how they did, but it's entirely academic because I don't know what the cliffhanger was. So knowing the resolution would be no help at all. I could watch it on the iPlayer (as the advert on 5 Live told me the other evening) but I just don't care that much.

Skip ahead to the end of series 2 last Sunday, which ended on a cliffhanger. There's been lots of speculation about the resolution and I was quite interested in it on Monday (all I was good for after the episode on Sunday was bed, since it finished quite late). But it's been interesting seeing the stuff in the newspapers (well, on The Guardian that Dad sends to me, I'm not quite interested to look for it myself).

The thing is, it's all very interesting and mysterious etc and if the resolution was on tomorrow, I'd probably watch it and go "Oh, that makes sense." In a year's time, however, I'll have forgotten there was a cliffhanger at all and by that time the robot spaceship speculation could all turn out to be true without a single clue and I'd be none the wiser.

Which raises the question: what's the point? Well, with people currently discussing it, it's going to get people interested in the show, which is fine and understandable. But how long are they going to keep discussing it: a week, a month? Certainly not until whenever the third series is. Everyone would have forgotten by then. So they'd have been better off making the cliffhanger the first or second episode and just tying it all up nicely at the end of the third. The amount of speculation would probably be about the same and people will actually care about the resolution.

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Friday was our work Christmas party, which I've only just recovered from. All I did was to sit around and talk (and stand for an hour) but I was tired from it I slept for 11 hours Friday night, still felt tired and slept for 10 hours last night. Now I don't feel tired.

In the work secret santa for the first year in I don't know how many, I didn't get a Doctor Who related thing. I got a rabbit instead. Which is good, because generally you can't go wrong with with rabbits. However, this one has a hole in it that you're clearly meant to put something in, but no one knows what. There was no packaging, so presumably my santa doesn't know either. The most suggested things at the party were mobile, iPod and remote control. I tried putting my phone in it and the hole holds together too well to get anything in there easily. So I am stumped.

There was also food, which I mostly couldn't eat. The chef wouldn't understand that I just wanted to know what was in it, I didn't care about contamination, which she was more interested in telling me. I don't think she wanted me to eat at all. Fortunately, I brought my own - I remember last year well when I got a salad.

I have things booked for January now. I am going to see the Gymnastics at the O2. It feels like we can't get away from that place. I'm also going to see Spamalot. For the third time. But the first and second times were on Broadway and in the West End, this one's in my nearest city.

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I have seen every episode and even when I've seen people complain about it being bad, I've still enjoyed it. Because when Spooks is good it's very good and when it's not so good it's still better than a lot of other things on TV. Also it always has Harry in and he's my favourite character.

My favourite episode is still the one with the bomb in Parliament Square, which was back in series 2. And didn't have much Harry in. I do feel nostalgic for the days when each episode was a standalone and it wasn't the world ending every week. Mind you, I love the days when it finished at 10pm and there was no way you could think about going to bed because it really woke you up.

Spooks is the reason why I laughed when I saw an article about people complaining that Doctor Who was too complicated for anyone to follow this year. Spooks is impossible to understand. You can't explain the plot to anyone else. But it doesn't stop you enjoying it. In fact, I quite like it. It's different, in that respect.

I'll miss it. And buy the DVDs (at the moment I mostly have the taped off the telly versions). But, I am glad they have stopped it when it was good. I'd hate to be writing this in x years time complaining about how it used to be good, but has gone downhill.

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I did like Clyde and Rani testing the Serf Board with gloves, safety glasses and face masks. And them pretending to be married journalists working for a magazine aimed at old people.

I just liked how they all pitched in and did something to help save the world. And that the cleaner didn't die - I was convinced she was going to in that first scene.

The only thing that drove me mad the whole time (or would have done, had I not been enjoying the episode so much) was not being able to work out why I recognised Lionel whatsisname. I had to pause the credits, and then I realised why I recognised Harrison too. It is a peril of watching TV, recognising actors all over the place.

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I liked this episode. For a start there was Carla Langer, and that can never be a bad thing. I liked his friendship with Ellie, that was quite sweet. And seeing his friends that had left school. It was interesting to see that he has this other life that we don't get to see.

What I wasn't so keen on was Sky saving the day. It's just because she's new I think - if it had been Luke in her place that would have been fine. And the main trouble I have with it is that they never explained why she wasn't affected (unless they did and they missed it). Fine if you have a good reason, but it just seemed to me that they needed someone to not be affected and she got chosen.

I also hated that Ellie ends up leaving. I know it's probably more realistic, but I just really wanted a happy ending. I liked her, I wanted Clyde to come back and save her. And given that one person knows about the Night Dragon, I don't understand how the others don't.

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SJA is back! And I'm in on Tuesdays so I won't be so behind on it any more.

I enjoyed this episode on the whole. I loved that none of Sarah, Clyde and Rani knew what they were doing with a baby. Clyde was funny, trying not to make her cry. After seeing Sarah being comfortable around teenagers for so long, it was good to see her being uncomfortable with a baby. It just reminds you that she hasn't changed that much.

I also loved the woman with the wellies (I'm sure she had a name, I'm just rubbish with names) trying to run in wellies and pretending her lipstick is a sonic lipstick. She's totally a Sarah fan

What I wasn't quite so keen on was the teenaged Sky. She's clearly a Luke replacement and they were doing similar things that they did with Luke when he first arrived, with her not knowing what things were. I just felt that they were trying too hard to make her cute.

Mind you, I didn't like Rani when she first arrived either, because I felt they were trying too hard to make sure she got wrapped up in all this alien stuff and making her Maria's replacement. And I like Rani now, so I might warm to Sky. But I do really want to see Luke's reaction to finding out about Sarah adopting her.

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So my life for the past week has been very boring. Apart from discovering a big spider on my bed last night, which is the sort of excitement I can do without.

And Spooks is back, yay! Sadly only for six episodes. But this week's featured Dayna from Blake's 7 (I spent the whole of the first scene she was in trying to work out if it was her). When I went on the website to check the credits I realised I knew why I recognised Elena - she was the Borg Queen. Only First Contact was quite a long time ago.

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I also bought a subscription to the main range. I ummed and ahhed over it for ages. I do want to listen to them all, so a download subscription would be fine for that. But I want to keep the Seventh Doctor and Ace stories on CD. Burning those isn't quite the same because you don't get the inserts and prettiness.

So my choices were to get a download subscription and then buy all the Seven & Ace stories on CD, or get a CD subscription and wonder what to do with the rest of the CDs. I ended up doing the latter since it'll work out cheaper in the long run. I made a deal with hhertzof to send her the Fifth Doctor CDs in return for books. Is anyone after any of the Sixth, Eighth or Seventh without Ace ones and wants to do a similar deal?

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Yesterday I managed to post my femgenficathon fic: Stuck With You, featuring Jo Jones née Grant.

I've been watching Downton Abbey too. I kept meaning to watch it, being as so many people talked about it, and then I heard there would be a second series in the autumn, so I thought I ought to get on with it. I was expecting it to be the usual serious period drama, but it's actually quite ridiculous and I am liking it.

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I managed to move on a day when it rained pretty much all day. The removal men came, packed everything in an hour and a half, then moved it over to the house. It was so quick that my PVR hadn't lost any of its settings.

Since I've moved in I've discovered that the shower is a trickle (although I think that might be because the shower head is tiny and useless), the light switch in the kitchen is upside down, the oven doesn't work unless you set the time and the smoke alarm just outside the kitchen (which has no door) is really sensitive.

I also have internet, courtesy of BT Openzone, which I have paid for, but it's better value than dial-up or 3G. It is a bit slower than I'm used to, but far faster than the alternatives. At least it exists, which is great.

While I unpacked I listened to The Rocket Men (Big Finish Ian companion chronicle) which I thought was quite clever. And has jet packs in. Once I've had this month's credit card bill I will be giving Big Finish lots of money for a monthly releases subscription, the Benny box set and the Jo companion chronicle coming up.

I've also been watching Game of Thrones this weekend, since I promised people at work I'd marathon it this weekend. I don't know if I'll finish it though, since I'm only halfway through and it's already mid-morning on Sunday. But so far I am enjoying it, with the aid of a character and actor guide. I spend half the time watching it checking who the characters are and then going to imdb.

I had no idea so many actors I knew were in it. I am less keen on all the sex and gore, but I do like the sword fighting. I definitely need to read the book to understand what's going on - the episodes don't make it clear how much time has passed, which has been confusing me. So far I like Ned Stark dealing with his daughters making his life complicated. Which is much more interesting than him dealing with politics.

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Does anyone want to come and see it with me on a Saturday matinee?

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They stopped just before the last episode of season 4 (A Leap for Lisa) which is my favourite, so that felt like a long wait (especially when I didn't know if they were going to continue). Now they're onto season 5 I'm hoping once they get to the end of that they'll go back to season 1 so I can see the rest of the episodes I've missed.

But having seen so many episodes in a relatively short period of time it's interesting to see just how different season 5 is. I'd decided to miss the strange ones (Lee Harvey Oswald, Evil Leaper stuff and the Sammy-Jo Trilogy) because I didn't like them enough to watch a second time.

Then I watched Star Light, Star Bright, which (sort of) had aliens in it. I looked through summaries for the rest of the episodes and they nearly all have something strange in them. I can see now why it was cancelled because it's just not as good. But I can also see why they did it - there are an awful lot of episodes and only so many different things they can do. If they hadn't changed it a bit it would have just got boring anyway.

The annoying thing is it suddenly occurred to me, back in season 3, what happens to the people when Sam leaps out and they go back to their lives? From The Leap Back we know that Sam remembers his leaps while he's leaping, but once he stops he forgets. And leaping swiss cheeses your memory anyway. So I'm fine with the idea that once they go back to their lives they'll forget everything they saw at PQL.

So these people go back to their improved lives and are expected to know what happened to them while they were in fact in the Waiting Room. Definitely so in the one where he's an actor playing a doctor where Sam says at the end that he'll always remember being kidnapped. Except that the actor wasn't, it was Sam. The actor has no memories of the event.

So how does that work? Won't people be suspicious that this person started acting oddly (when Sam leaped in) and then acted differently oddly (when Sam leaped out)? What if that person destroyed whatever it was that Sam fixed in their ignorance? And why am I only thinking about this now and not when I originally saw Quantum Leap back in the mid-90s?

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It's so annoying that ITV have now got rid of half the crime drama I watch. Admittedly, all the good crime drama is on ITV, but it seems like they're on a mission to get rid of all the good stuff they show, so they can show completely rubbish instead.

I really liked Taggart - it was different from the other murder mysteries. It was on after the watershed for a start, so it was always more horrid stuff. The thing that sticks in my memory was when Taggart was still alive and the victim was a man whose parachute cord had been cut. He'd fallen through a greenhouse and his head ended up on the other side of it to his body. It was the one time I remember Taggart being a bit not wanting to be near the crime scene too long, but the doctor was quite excited by the whole thing.

(Although ITV4 does show The Professionals and The Sweeney, which if I didn't have a job I'd totally be watching every day, but as it is I can't keep up. But it comes to something that you have to go and watch stuff from th$e 70s and 80s in order to get decent crime drama.)

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Then Lewis, of course, keeps on having people in who've been in other things. I spent the whole of the last episode going mad over the psychiatrist's assistant. It was only after I'd finished watching it that I looked it up on imdb, which thankfully is up to date on the cast per episode. So then I found out she was Jasmine in the new Reggie Perrin.

On the subject of murder mysteries, on the advice of hhertzof I think it was, I tried an episode of Castle. And it turned out to be good! This is unusual because American cop shows spend too much time on soapy stuff and not enough on the crime. But Castle have got the balance just right - which is quite impressive given that they have 10 minutes less than an hour long program on ITV.

And lastly, Red Dwarf is coming back. I'd be excited about it if I knew it was going to be good. But the three episodes they did at Easter a couple of years ago were not that great. I can't decide whether I want more Red Dwarf, or I'd rather it died if it wasn't going to be good. Although it is going to be on Dave, so it will be shorter by definition. Mind you, I'd love to go to a recording, even if it wasn't very good.

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Although I am really annoyed that as of Tuesday, the channel that showed Chuck and Leverage to those of us without Sky or cable, is now only for people who have Sky or cable. And I suspect the chances of either of those two programmes being on Freeview are small. So annoying. The stupid thing is it would be cheaper to buy them on DVD (never mind rent) than to get Sky just to watch 40 episodes. Or in my case, not quite get round to watching for ages.

On the positive side, this week I have been working on my Big Bang fic. I have 3000 words - of plot notes. But I found last time that if I write down exactly what's in each scene it makes it easier to write the scenes. And it's easier to move them around at the plotting stage than at the writing stage. Now that's done I have 30 scenes. I ought to start writing on Monday really. It's just that the first 13 are from Jack O'Neill's point of view and I've not written from his point of view before. Although I have now watched so much Stargate that every voice is starting to sound like him.

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And I can't really say any more than that without spoiling it.

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That CBBC logo moving is doing my head in - I keep thinking there's something ominous in the background and there isn't. But I only have myself to blame for not saving this for Thursday nights when I can watch the whole thing with no logo.

Anyway, I liked this. And I'm just too tired to be coherent any more. I liked that Gita had worked out that something was going on with between Rani and Sarah.

But it was obvious that once it was obvious Sarah was being really forgetful that it must be Ruby who was doing it. Although I initially didn't think that Sarah leaving the handbrake off was a symptom because I've done it. Although I've realised before I got out of the car. Normally I do the opposite - I put the handbrake on and put the clutch in neutral, turn the radio/fan/windscreen wipers/lights off, turn the car off, then remember that I don't need to have my feet on the brake and clutch any more. Although this is partly because when I'm dizzy I think the car is moving when it's not, so am paranoid I haven't put the handbrake on.

Despite the obviousness I did wonder how they were going to get out of the situation they were in once Clyde was stuck in space. Or how they were going to get Clyde out of there. Ruby complained about her spaceship being dark, but it had lights at least...

I also thought Haresh's comment about only seeing Sarah yesterday when Rani was upset was perfectly logical myself. He was only pointing out that it was a bit sudden. Rani and Gita were just under-appreciative.

They missed a trick by not having Mr White voiced by Ben Miller. But I did laugh the other week on Armstrong and Miller when they had a HAL-like computer called Sam who sounded awfully like Mr Smith...

The amazing thing is that I've liked every episode this series, unlike the previous two. And there was a Harry mention. There's just nothing else to ask for really.

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I was disappointed that there wasn't more Cyril Nri because being a regular in The Bill means you're automatically awesome. The trailer was full of him, yet he barely appeared in it at all. Mind you, I didn't notice anything else in the trailer because I was trying to work out who he was. But I was very glad he wasn't a bad guy. Except for being rubbish and barely telling them anything and not telling them they had a time limit. Of course they went over it - if he'd said "you have half an hour" they'd have kept an eye on the time and worried if they were longer. And given that he had a case that fitted the three objects in exactly, how come he didn't tell them what they were? There was no reason for that at all. Bad Super, no biscuit.*

But I liked Rani with Lady Jane Grey, giving her the strength we know she showed at her beheading. And Clyde fighting Nazis and their prejudice. And Sarah and the girl had a lovely relationship. I loved the twist with her granddaughter turning up - I wondered how she knew where and when to be until she pulled out the newspaper article. Interestingly, it's now November 2010 - The Nightmare Man was September 2010. Which means Death of the Doctor was somewhere in between, so that must happen before Find and Replace, which is stated to be on 24th December 2010.

I can't believe it's the last episode next week! And is has whatshername in it. I can't be bothered to look up the actress's name, but she was the Commander in The Bill. But doesn't qualify for awesomeness because she was only in it for six episodes.

*Obviously I didn't work out what the name of his character was/

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This was clearly the Sarah Jane light episode, but I didn't notice her absence. It was good to give Clyde and Rani a chance to shine. Most excitingly, we got Carla Langer! Who hasn't been seen for two series. But less excitingly, she was only in a very short scene. There should be more of her in the series generally.

Those robots were very cool. OK, so it helped that one of them was bright red and I like red, but they looked like proper robots ought to. I liked Clyde and Rani bickering and trying to work out what was going on. And I liked how they accounted for there not being any crashes etc.

It did amuse me, Clyde saying that sixth formers looked big and scary to 13 year olds. When I started secondary school at 12 I didn't know how you told the difference between the sixth formers and the teachers because they were all tall and not dressed in uniform. Then I got to sixth form and pretty much everyone in Year 10 (aged 14) or above was taller than me. Some of the Year 8s were taller than me. There's just something not fair about the universe there.

So to sum up: I really enjoyed it.

But what is really driving me mad now: who is that bloke in the trailer for next week? I know I recognise him from somewhere, but he won't be in the credits until next week and if I search for his name somewhere I'll doubtless end up uncovering spoilers I didn't want to know (I'm liking not being spoiled). And that assumes I'll recognise his name when I see it - I might only recognise what he's been in.

Edit: I'm so glad WP stays on this page once it's posted the entry because I always remember about changing the icon after I press the publish button.

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Basically I really enjoyed this. When I first saw it, I spent the whole of the scene with Luke completely confused because I hadn't seen The Nightmare Man, so I didn't know Luke was at university and they only explained it afterwards in the panel.

I liked the blue Graske and Clyde calling them short, and Rani pointing out that he's one to talk. All the kids have got taller them him, I noticed this series. I liked Jo (who was credited as Jo Jones, I noticed) and Eleven. Although I thought that with those two extra characters they didn't really need Santiago - nothing would have changed if he hadn't been there.

I like that Jo's happy and still married. But the scene on the red planet where she complains at the Doctor that he didn't come back just made me sigh all over again, like I did with the people who decided that School Reunion meant that Sarah had done nothing in between leaving the Doctor and meeting him again. Which by definition, had to be untrue. I'm less convinced by her having all these kids. Her two Big Finish Companion Chronicles made it sound more like they didn't have any, and I liked her being Cliff's manager. When she left the Doctor Cliff promised to look after her, and now she's looking after/in charge of him, which was a nice change. It doesn't directly contradict SJA, but it doesn't fit together that well. But I did like that the Doctor didn't tell her about the Time Lords when she mentioned them, partly because Jo's better off living in blissful ignorance, partly because she really wouldn't leave the Doctor if she knew, but mostly because it's been brought up so many times with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors that I'm done with it now.

And then there was the companion mentions at the end! Which I alluded to in my write-up, but didn't want to spoil the surprise. But my TV guide did that. I think they managed to mention every Classic companion who went back to Earth in the present day. Although my TV guide seems to think that Sarah's mention of Dorothy means Ace, but that never occurred to me before I read that. I thought she meant Dodo because Ace's story isn't finished and it sounds more like Dodo anyway.

The Ian and Barbara Chesterton mention was the bit that got the applause. And the Harry mention was so sweet. Of course she loved him and of course he saved the world. And the only reason she said it in the past tense was because they can't bring Harry back and they're not contradicting the Sarah Jane Smith audio canon. But he's not dead.

Some additional things from the preview. There was a mention of Katy Manning's dirty mind and at the press preview (I think it was) she apparently said something about positions in the coffin. Which I'm sure was something perfectly innocent about fitting both Lis and Katy in the space, but Katy Manning can make anything sound dirty. And she said the blanket she was carrying was really heavy (so she didn't really like it) and she kept getting it caught in the TARDIS doors. She had to step out of it three times before she could keep walking and not get pulled back because the blanket was trapped.

The most annoying thing has been seeing websites talking about the Doctor now being immortal. They clearly hadn't seen the episode, because the Doctor doesn't say that at all and the number he does sau has clearly been picked out of the air.

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