Hello,
Scotty here, hope you’re doing well. Just a quick thank you to start things off: this newsletter is now 1500 subscribers strong. Thank you to everyone who has joined in the past few weeks, and those of you who have recommended it to others. To encourage further sign ups, all you need to do is share this homepage.
Here’s what's worth watching in the next week:
Stranger Things (Netflix, this Thursday) - I was worried about this show returning; the second season of Stranger Things felt remarkably flat compared to the first. Remember that random episode where Eleven joined a punk gang? Can you remember anything that happened? When I started on watching previews for the third season, I couldn't actually remember if I had actually finished watching the second (turns out, I had).
So I am pleased to inform you that the third season is Stranger Things completely back on form, as if the second season never happened. In fact, until you get roughly halfway through season three when the plot starts to link back, you can get away with not having watched the second season at all.
Here’s how much I enjoyed it: I watched the first four episodes in one go. That might not sound like much and we’ve all done it, but I cannot remember the last time I did this with a show on Netflix. When will they launch a new show this compelling?
Drag SOS (Channel 4, Tuesdays 10pm and All 4) - You might be sceptical with this one at first glance - I definitely was. It’s a show consisting of drag makeovers, because (according to the drag queens hosts The Family Gorgeous) “drag should be for everyone, regardless on whether you are a man, a woman, straight or gay.”
There’s a lot of talk about revealing an “inner diva,” the transformation leading to a performance in front of their friends and family. “Isn’t this just a copycat Queer Eye?", I thought to myself. “Surely drag doesn’t do this to people?”
Well, I couldn’t have been any more wrong. Consider this one of those shows that completely changes your perceptions about something and makes you think about how you would react if you did the same thing. One of the storylines in the first episode caused me to become a complete mess: the drag makeover of Shaun, who tried it to connect with his son who had come out to him and does drag. Yes, some scenes in this show are irrelevant (there’s a sequence where the queens lip-sync outside a Poundland in Dover) but I do not understand why this show got such a mauling in the press.
The Planets (BBC Two) - I feel a bit guilty of being late to the party for this one, but this Brian Cox series about the eight planets is majestic. Cox (as usual) travels to a fuckload of countries when he could have done it all from a beach in Dungeness, but you know what, I’ll allow it. The episodes are a storytelling fuelled CGI perfect-for-a-post-Sunday-roast evening treat.
If you have watched Chernobyl, listen to the podcast - Not only is the show one of the best things on television in a decade (really), the podcast is one of the best I’ve listened to in ages because he gives you deep insights into what really happened at the nuclear plant and the reasons why the dramatisation occasionally differed. I just wish that more spin-off podcasts from TV shows learn from this: you don’t have to just have two fans reiterating the plot back to us again. Give us something new and extra.
And a reader recommendation from Beth… The Other Two (Netflix) - “I’m very passionate that everyone should watch The Other Two created by SNL alum Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. It’s all about the effects of a 13 year old’s meteoric rise to pop stardom on his struggling actor brother and hot mess of a sister. It has some truly iconic moments.”
Oh and the “Must Watch” podcast is continuing during Wimbledon - Every Monday I’m a co-host on a TV review podcast with Nihal Arthanayake and fellow critic Hayley Campbell. Usually it’s broadcast on 5 Live first and then released as a pod later that day, but as Wimbledon has cleared the schedules we’ll be producing special podcasts (with guest host Calum Macdonald). You can listen to the episode on BBC Sounds.
That’s all for this week. Happy Pride London (and us all). As ever, tell me about the shows you love by replying to this email and it might appear next week.
Scotty x