The Week in Entertainment

Live: I Love Lucy Live On Stage at the Hippodrome, which was a lot of fun - more fun than I thought it would be when I saw it was in the package. I knew all the ads, too, except the Dorothy Gray Cold Cream.... Which, wow. Check it out below.

DVD: The rest of Murdoch Mysteries season 7. My god what a way to end the season! Now I have to wait for 8 to see about Brackenreid!! A few more Scott & Bailey eps, from the second season. Good character development, especially on Bailey, who was quite ... unlikeable in season one. Philomena, which was, as advertised, a tour-de-force performance by Judi Dench.

TV: Modern Family - Claire and Phil all over the house-buyers ("you're in bed with the right people!") was hilarious. Lily wanting to learn "to read and do math" was wonderful. As was "I will take Lily back if you can tell me the object of this sentence: Lily's parents were wrong about Mrs. Plank." "I think... the object is to humiliate us?" "Correct." Doctor Who had a good episode; I loved Maeve's "Everything confuses me so I don't say anything about" attitude (don't want it, but loved it). Pink continues to be more understanding than Clara deserves; What I never did get was why the hell Clara was lying to Danny in the first place. It's not like he gave her any ultimatum - never said don't go with the Doctor, never said anything beyond "don't lie to me". But it rather looks like it'll all be moot anyway, judging by the previews.

Read:The first two of Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. books. Very good world-building (if short on the explanation) and nice action.The Confession of Helen Vardon, which was not the best Dr Thorndyke novel I've ever read, not by a long shot!, and was narrated by the eponymous woman who was flat-out annoying. The Nightingale Before Christmas, the most recent Meg Langslow, which was enjoyable. A Snicker of Magic, a very enjoyable YA.