Christmas TV 2024 | Gavin & Stacey | Strictly Come Dancing | Missing You

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Well, hello and welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast where we take a look at the hottest

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new TV and film releases on streaming television platforms. I'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor

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of Woman and Woman and Home. And Ian, it's a rather special festive one this year, isn't

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it? Yes, the sound of sleigh bells can only mean one thing, Hannah. It's the bumper Christmas

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and New Year Binge Watch podcast. And I'm Ian McEwan, writer on TV Times, TV and Satellite

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Week and what's on TV or not you will not miss a thing over the festive fortnight because

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we're going to flag up all the crackers, none of the turkeys hopefully Hannah, in this. Bumper

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binge watch podcast so I caught you did there I mean, I think often Christmas TV can look

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a little bit similar can't it the same shows coming around But there is some good stuff

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to look forward to much of this on what I like to call normal TV And we care well the first

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thing up the thing I definitely am gonna be watching on Christmas Day See one is the new

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Wallace and grommet and here's a clip Morning grommet, how's my favourite pooch? Another

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great day of inventing beckons! Wait till you see the next thing I'm working on. A smart

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gnome! Call me Knobbot! Ho ho ho! Whee! Oh look at him go! I wasn't that blown away by Dawn

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of the Nugget, the Chicken Run sequel, but... Vengeance Most Foul featuring the return of

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the evil penguin from the wrong trousers, feathers McGraw and Wallace inventing a robot gnome.

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It feels like an AI gnome doesn't it? It's like a play on all of our fears. It looks great

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and I simply cannot wait for that. But there's another... eagerly anticipated show also on

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BBC One on Christmas Day, Hannah. Are you excited about the big finale for Gavin and Stacey?

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Hiya, you all right? Oh, I'm absolutely buzzing, I am. weekend away just me and you well yeah

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except it's not just me and you is it yeah this car later on today I will be driving our family

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across the border to a foreign land are you doing I'm testing the flow space pass me them

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nunchucks 30 years ago you two went on a fishing trip that almost tore this family apart just

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say you despicable little rat you are music

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This is getting out of hand now. Oh, yeah, so I absolutely love, I'm a huge fan of Gavin

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and Stacey and anybody that hasn't watched this before, please do to watch this finale because

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it left on a bit of a cliffhanger, didn't they? And this really is the finale. There's lots

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of talk about, previously, will they do another one, won't they? And I don't think they will.

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And here we go, this is it, the big special on Christmas Day. And... Lots of questions

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will be answered I hope Ian. That's right because we haven't actually seen any Gavin and Stacey

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since 2019. The big cliffhanger ending was Nessie proposing to Smithy so we're going to find

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out, well did he say yes? Are they married now? And we're going to find out finally what did

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happen on that fishing trip. that Uncle Bryn went on with Jason. So, I mean, I love Gavin

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Astatii, Julia Davis and Adrian Scarborough, the couple that they play are tremendous value

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who are always bickering and then making up. Also, Alison Steadman and Larry Lambs. I mean,

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they're just so good, innit? I mean, I'm an absolute fan. We interviewed... Joanna Page

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with a cover of This Month's Woman at Home and she's just so lovely. You know when you meet

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somebody and you think are they going to be the same as they seem on television and invariably

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they're not. Actually she is, she's so much fun, so excited and so grateful to be back

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doing this. I think that's so wonderful when you're a bit of a superstar and of course...

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James Corden and Ruth James, they co-write this, don't they? And they're great. And if they're

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saying it's the end and that they're very emotional about it, then I think it's definitely one

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to watch. And we have a bit of a no TV rule in our house when we were growing up for Christmas

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day. Well, I'm breaking it, Ian. That's what I'm doing. Not even the King's speech. Well,

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can record that. Well, I'm gonna put it out there now. I think Gavin and Stacey will be

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back. Do you? Never say never. Never say never. Now, something that we both love, and it wouldn't

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be Christmas without it, mate, it's not turkey, no, it's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.

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Absolutely delightful darling. You pop it out.

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As well as that, so that's on Christmas Day again on BBC One. What a lineup they have.

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But there's also a rather nice documentary called Strictly Come Dancing 20 Fabulous Years, which

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you can watch on BBC One on Saturday the 21st of December and of course it will be on iPlayer.

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So yes, Hannah, are you looking forward to seeing this year's batch of celebs and who do you

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think will waltz off with the Glitter Balls trophy? Well you know what I absolutely love

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Strictly, it really kind of, even though it starts so early, I think it's September isn't

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it, somehow it just, it starts Christmas for me and when it really ramps up towards the

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end and it just, I don't know, there's something so glitzy just like Christmas that it, I don't

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know, it's just fun isn't it, it's just happy, it just brings joy and I like the idea of a

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documentary, I'm interested to see what actually is revealed in said documentary. But yeah,

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it's the... I don't know who's going to romp through. There's some good names here, aren't

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there? Yes, well, I'm not putting my money on Josh Whiddicam from The Last Leg. I think he

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could struggle. But Tamsin Althwaite, I think... Tamsin Althwaite is good. ..could be a bit

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useful. Great to see Billy Munger, the former racing driver. Of course, he lost both his

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legs in a crash, didn't he? Be great to see him in action. Yeah, I mean, Vogue Williams

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is incredibly popular, her podcast, isn't it? She seems to be absolutely everywhere, advertising

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anything and everything. So whether she's got, she'll have a big fan base and it all comes

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down to that, really, doesn't it? And you can bet that Harry Akeen's Harry Eaton, AKA Nitro

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from Gladiators, you can bet that he's going to be very competitive. Well, Hannah, let's

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just move across to a bit of streaming platform action because come New Year's Day... You may

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well be looking for something to binge your way through while you recover from the night

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before. There's a new Harlan Coban adaptation on Netflix called Missing You. And here's a

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clip. I haven't heard from Josh in 11 years. Maybe it's time we tried something new. What

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about that app I signed you up with?

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I'm Detective Inspector Kat Donovan. Today we're appealing for information regarding the disappearance

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of Rishi Migari. Yeah, this looks good. It's got Richard Armitage seems to be in every single

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Harlan Coban, doesn't he? And he's in this one, as is Sir Lenny Henry. You got Mark Warren.

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You got lots of star names. And it's it centers on a female detective. played by Rosalind Eliezer

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from Slow Horses. And two things happen to her. Her former fiance pops up on a dating app,

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played by Ashley Walters, and she's trying to find out who was behind the murder of her police

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officer dad, and that's the role played by Lenny Henry. So these are very bingeable because

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every episode ends with a cliffhanger, and they're really kind of twisted plots. You don't know

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who you can trust. So will you be tuning into this, do you think, New Year's Day, Hannah?

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Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm not sure. I don't sort of feel like it's completely something

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that is me, if you know what I mean. It's not my genre. I kind of, I'm still feeling in that

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sort of happy, sparkly mode. So I'm not sure that kind of, it absolutely is the family thing

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with everybody around, which is, you know, we've still got family there, still kids about. So

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I don't know if it, if it kind of, if I'll watch it there and then. But as you say, if you're

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kind of wanting something to binge watch and you're nursing... perhaps a little hangover

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maybe, then I guess this is something to lose yourself in quite easily. There's quite a lot

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more to round up. So Bake Off also has Christmas specials, or two Christmas specials, one on

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Christmas Eve, and one on Friday, the 3rd of January. There's also, well, this is exciting,

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isn't it, Hannah? On Boxing Day on Netflix. The return of Squid Game. So cannot wait for

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that. This is one for you though, Hannah, which I bet you're looking forward to. On BBC One

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on New Year's Day, The Traitors. Oh, I just can't wait just to see what Claudia's wearing

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alone. I'm obsessed with her wardrobe, although I'm not sure I could afford it. I looked into

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a couple of the jumpers and I think they were about 300 quid and I thought, maybe not for

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me this year. But yes, it's back. And of course, there's Celebrity Traitors as well later in

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the year, which will be really exciting too. Just a brilliant game show that of course,

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as we've talked about before, was kind of reluctantly picked up, I think, originally, and all turned

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down, I think even. And now suddenly, look where we are. It's a phenomenon. People absolutely

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adore it. And it will be in, it will be ringed in people's calendars when it'll be circled,

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for sure. Good stuff. And SAS Rogue Heroes is... Coming back to The Beep on the 2nd of January,

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there's an interesting looking drama, Lockerbie, A Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth, about

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the Lockerbie disaster. Also, I think this might be in your wheelhouse, Hannah, we've got a

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kind of rom-com called The Road Trip, which arrives on Paramount on Boxing Day. So why

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do you all hate each other? I didn't do no ex-hinges. Oh! Even after everything that happened, I

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still care about you.

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I'm the only one who remembers what she did to you. What happened, Adi? It's complicated.

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I mean, apart from anything, Ian, the back-shop of this is gonna make you want to book your

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next holiday. And I think that January is the most, I think it's the biggest time for people

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to book holidays, weirdly. I never think that it would be, because the credit card bills

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are coming in. But actually, it's a big month for travel. And this is gonna make you want

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to travel once you've seen this. Yes, they go off in a camper van. They're heading to a wedding

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in Spain, these two sisters, but they're sharing the van with the ex of one of the sisters.

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So we can have a few flashbacks. But yeah, that looks like fun. Now, of course, Christmas is

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also very much about football, isn't it, Hannah? And on BBC iPlayer on Boxing Day, we've got

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a two-part documentary about Sir Alex Ferguson, the hugely successful. Man U managers. Another

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family favourite that is back on Boxing Day on BBC One. Well, the return of outnumbered.

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It's lovely being Savannah by kids at Christmas. Yes, lovely. Come on, let's do something fresh

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too. What? Idiots.

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Why do you always do this? AHHH

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Are you a fan, Hannah? You looking forward to seeing this? I'm such a huge fan of that number.

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I absolutely love it. I love the fact that they just kind of, you know, move off script and

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the kids are just so brilliant. I can't imagine how difficult it was to cast for that, but

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yet it just absolutely works. And of course, every time I watch it, I feel really old because

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those children have now grown up and are actually like adults. I'm really looking forward to

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this. I think it will be... because often when you're younger and then you become older, does

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it still work? And it has for them. So I think outnumbered fans will be delighted. Well, we

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could go on forever because there's so much good stuff, isn't there, Hannah, around Christmas?

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But I am now, instead of asking you what you've been binge watching on this week, what I want

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to know is, what are you looking forward to binging on next year? Well, I love a bit of

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Disney Plus and high potential. is one to watch out for because this is all about a very super

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smart cleaning lady. She's also a single mum and she finds herself helping the police solve

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crimes. It's a seven part glossy LA set and it's a pretty beautiful backdrop. I like stuff

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on Disney Plus, it's never really what you expect and I'm looking forward to this one. And on

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BBC One Keely Hawes is going to play Cassandra Austin. Miss Austin, which is a four-parter

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in which Cassandra burns her famous sister Jane's letters. Also on ITV1 there's a new show called

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Playing Nice and it's awful actually because it's like every parent's worst nightmare and

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fear and just when your baby's born they're taken away and this is Unthinkable Dilemma,

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a four-part thriller really awful about two couples who discover that their toddler sons

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were switched at birth in this hospital mix-up. And this has the brilliant James Norton and

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Niamh Algar. So I'm looking forward to that. Brilliant. And finally, yes, it's happened

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at last. They're bringing back Bergerac on you and drama and Damian Maloney from The Split

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will play the Jersey Detective, originally played of course, by John Nettles way back in the

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80s. So yes, we're taking a Christmas and New Year break, but we'll be back. with a new episode

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that will drop on Friday the 10th of January when we'll be checking out Pete Wicks in For

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the Love of Dogs on UNW, God help us, and the new Netflix western primeval starring Betty

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Gilpin. So yes we look forward to those and much more but in the meantime it just remains

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for us to say to our listeners Hannah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and...

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watching