What's Good To Do

The first review of Inspired by Night has been posted on whatsgoodtodo.co.uk.

I’m really quite overwhelmed by the five star rating and the lovely write up made me cry!

Read the review here

What's Good To Do

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A long time ago in a city far far away (London) I was sat in the office restaurant eating lunch. We were talking about the League of Gentlemen and my colleague told me that he had been friends for many years with one of the writers. In fact, some of the character names in the show were inspired by him and his family. He told me that, while studying, the writer had been advised that when creating characters it helps to name them after people you know, because you immediately feel a connection to them and they feel real.

That conversation has always stayed with me, I bring it out anecdotally whenever the League of Gentleman is mentioned or whenever that particular writer is connected to a project.

But it really came to mind two years ago when I started writing Inspired By Night and needed names for the characters. For the most part, any names I’ve borrowed have been purely for the name sake, but occasionally a little personality or scenario has crept in that influenced the character.

For instance, James is a computer programmer that Olivia had interviewed and as part of the interview, Olivia had designed a test. Steven was cocky about it, thought the test very simple while James over analysed it.

I was childishly pleased that Steven had made a small error – nothing critical but an error all the same, but James had made an error that was actually my mistake in the test design. When I corrected it, I found James would have been right.

This actually happened in real life and knowing I was going to use this anecdote prompted me to use the name. I bumped into the real life James recently and told him he’d inspired a character name, he was cool with it. There are no other similarities at all between the character and his name sake though.

One of the characteristics of Steven is that he’s very confident, despite his young age and lack of work experience. Olivia finds that particularly annoying. I once worked with a guy who was straight from university, and I always marvelled at how confident he was, dealing with the public. I didn’t find him annoying as such, I was more jealous at his ease and manner, but more than anything, I was annoyed at myself for having always hidden behind the mistaken belief that confidence came with age and experience. My colleague – you guessed it – Steven, showed me it didn’t. I can’t imagine how much I’ve missed out on in life due to my shyness and social awkwardness, stupidly believing that one day, when I grow up, I’ll be much more confident. I’m still waiting to grow up!

After I’d decided to use the surname Teller, I couldn’t help calling Steven’s father John – a vague reference to John Teller, the deceased father of Jacks Teller from Sons of Anarchy. I also named the house keeper at Thornton Manor after Rose from Upstairs Downstairs.

 

And then there’s Ruth. Some of my favourite parts of Inspired By Night include conversations between Ruth and Olivia. I named her after my friend and she accidentally took on some of her personality… Albeit a slightly exaggerated version.

“Why are you wearing flat shoes?’

“I’m taking you shopping”

“I hate shopping”

- Ruth & Olivia

Ruth never makes me go shopping, though it’s true I hate buying clothes, usually it’s me that makes Ruth go shopping, when I need a special occasion outfit, because she knows about clothes and I don’t. She’d never let me go out in public looking ridiculous but she wouldn’t out and out tell me I looked awful – unless she absolutely had to.

Ruth was the first person in whom I confided that I was writing a novel with lots of sex in it. She just grinned at me and said she couldn’t wait to read it.

Finally I had to name Olivia’s ex boyfriend Brian. We have an in-joke amongst my friends that I only fancy blokes called Brian – it only happened twice, a long time ago. As huge fans of The Life of Brian me dating someone called Brian was a gift, but replacing him with another Brian was something else. I’m going to stop saying Brian now!

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

So who's* loving Peter Capaldi?

*Throws arm in the air and waves it around frantically.
We’ve been waiting with baited breath for the new episode of Doctor Who, the first of the new Doctor’s tenure. There’s mixed reviews online but the two distinct groups seem to have largely similar views: the new generation fans hated it and the old generation fans loved it.

If you haven’t watched the episode yet, and don’t want it ruined for you, please look away now. If you continue past here please don’t blame me if I spoil any surprises.

Okay so I loved this episode. But then I haven’t hated any new Doctor’s first episode so far. I only vaguely remember watching the show when I was a kid (Peter Davison was my Doctor) but since the reboot and easier access to old TV, shows I’ve embarked on watching the completed stories that are currently available from the beginning. Admittedly some of the William Hartnell stories were difficult to get though but I’ve just finished watching the Third Doctor’s story: Doctor Who and the Silurians. Sadly there is a severe lack of Patrick Troughton stories – which is a crying shame because so far I think he’s my favourite Doctor.

So yes, I only got massively into Doctor Who when it returned, but I was also more interested in technology, computers, space and science by then so I had a much better appreciation of the nerdier elements of the show, than I had had when I was a kid. I’m also not going to deny having a major crush on David Tennant and declaring he was the best Doctor ever. But let’s put things into perspective a little bit.

Of course, your favourite Doctor is a matter of opinion and new generation fans tend to mainly form their opinions based on Doctors 9 – 11. And let’s be honest, The Tenth Doctor was the prettiest of those Doctors (and actually, probably, all the Doctors) and as Madame Vastra pointed out in this feature length episode:

Madame Vastra: He looked young. Who do you think that was for?

Clara: Me?

Madame Vastra: Everyone. I wear a veil as he wore a face.

Clara: For what reason?

Madame Vastra: The oldest reason there is for anything: to be accepted.

Or as Steven Teller complains in Inspired By Night:

“someone in their wisdom decided to make The Doctor all handsome and sexy and easily accessible to a mainstream audience.”

I read a tweet, the following morning after Deep Breath was shown that said “I’m so glad my teenage self was around for the Tennant era – they were the glory days of Doctor Who.” Although I’m not entirely convinced this teenager has actually watched the preceding forty odd years worth of Doctor Who to confirm that statement. It seems like a shockingly quick judgement to make on the new Doctor.

So just to be clear: Is David Tennant actually the best Doctor? Or just the most attractive? I imagine that opinion also changes with age. See I’ve had a bit of an unexplained crush on Malcolm Tucker… so by rights I should also have a crush on the Twelfth Doctor.

But I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a crush on the Doctor full stop. The Doctor is a name, not a number! Maybe not William Hartnell, but give me a couple of decades and that might change too. I definitely had a crush on Troughton and Pertwee has some pretty amazing sideburns. I can’t imagine being attracted to Colin Baker or Sylvestor McCoy, but until I watch all their episodes I’m not ruling it out as a possibility.

I haven’t worked out which are the glory years of Doctor Who in my opinion yet, I’ve still got five Doctors worth of stories and companions to get through before I can make that decision, but I can safely say that I won’t be swayed by his looks.

The Doctor is one man. In a world where we try to fight against the media’s body image and assure our children that beauty comes from within, how can we not love The Doctor in all of his incarnations? Because he is the same man. If we love his knowledge, his view of the universe and his sense of adventure, then surely it doesn’t matter how many lines he has on his face.

Having watched lots of Classic Doctor Who over the last few years, it struck me that the female characters were always strong. Even the companions with any sense of confusion and bewilderment when faced with the bigger on the inside police box, or stepping out onto a different planet centuries in the future, got stuck in. Look at astrophysisist Zoe Heriot or Liz Shore, a fabulous woman working for U.N.I.T.

But that doesn’t seem to happen as much in modern Doctor Who. Along with making him attractive, the writers also gave us a romance between The tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler. Well that’s just really annoying. But then add to that Martha Jones who despite being a doctor herself and obviously intelligent and well educated, turned all gooey eyed when confronted by the Doctor.

And let’s not forget Captain Jack – total bad-ass in Torchwood but a simpering doe eyed lovesick boy when faced with David Tennant…

I liked Amy and Rory because they were together and even if Rory occasionally got a bit paranoid and jealous, it was clear that Amy loved him, not the Doctor. And even though there’s a very definite ‘you’re not my boyfriend’ sentiment being bandied around by Clara, there was still a sense of this potential for romance. It’s just unnecessary. Doctor Who is a family sci-fi show, it doesn’t need romance.

With the Doctor getting a reboot on his regenerations, it’s seems fitting that he starts from an older age, like William Hartnell. But children loved The Doctor then and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t love him now.

I thought Deep Breath was very clever. I loved the references back to past stories – the clockwork men, directly linked to the Girl in the Fireplace story and the Doctor himself recognising his face (from the Fires of Pompeii episode). I also liked that there was an overarching theme of expressly reminding Clara – and the viewing audience – that he is the same man. It’s almost as though the writing team acknowledged that they needed to reassure us that it’s okay to have an older Doctor, to almost try and convince us to give him a chance, he’ll win you over. It’s a shame that they felt the need to do that of course. The older generation, I suspect, didn’t need any such persuasion.

In truth the only thing I didn’t really like was the introduction of Matt Smith’s Doctor on the phone from Trenzalore asking Clara to help his future self. It felt like a cynical move to appease the kids. I suppose the fact that Peter Capaldi was okay with that, shows his professionalism.

I can still remember reading lots of heartbroken Facebook messages after his first episode, about how Matt Smith was not as good… I said it then and I’ll say it now…

When you say not as good, you mean not as pretty. Give it a few weeks and you’ll recognise and love him for Who he is.

The Doctor.

So who's* loving Peter Capaldi?

Why I'm not doing the Ice Bucket Challenge

Subliminal marketing: text ICED55 £5 to 70070 to donate.

It seems the Ice bucket challenge is getting more and more popular, I can’t get through my Facebook timeline without seeing loads of videos of cold wet people, some I know, some I don’t.

I’ve been nominated twice but I’m not going to do it. It’s not because I don’t want to throw water over myself and it’s not because I don’t think it’s for a good cause. I just don’t see how me throwing ice cold water over myself will make any difference.

When it started, sure it was a great idea. And calling out celebrities to take the challenge was a brilliant idea because it raised awareness, but somewhere along the way it became a fun and trendy thing to do. The same thing happened with the no make up selfie. Suddenly every person on the planet is taking a photo of themselves with no make up or filming themselves on their phone being drenched in water.

When celebrities do it, there’s a whole team around them, probably a press release is sent out and the mass media take it on board. The whole world gets to hear about it and as long as they’ve made it quite clear what the cause is that they are supporting, and a call to action to the viewers, their stunt will likely raise a substantial amount of donations for the cause.

But at what point does it just become a trend that people follow for their own vanity reasons.

“Look here’s my ice bucket challenge for cancer” I keep seeing pop up on my timeline. There’s no information along with the video to advise people how to donate or even why they should donate. Why are you throwing water over yourself? For cancer.

To my knowledge, the current Ice Bucket Challenge is to raise money for ALS. A neurological disease that has no cure. Had you heard of ALS before the ice bucket challenge? Probably not. In the UK the equivalent charity is MNDA. But the point of the challenge is to raise awareness of a disease that is relatively unheard of and struggles to get funding for research. It’s as much about putting the disease in the spotlight as it is about raising money.

Watch this video: it’s the best Ice bucket for ALS video I’ve seen, it’s also really emotional, but it explains the point of doing this challenge.

Celebrities have the means to help raise awareness and having them do this challenge is great. But no one knows me. The media won’t care if I throw water over myself. The only people who would see my video are the same people that nominated me to do it in the first place… And they already know about the challenge.

Note that I said they know about the challenge, and that it’s for charity. But do they know which charity, do they even know how their action is helping that charity?

If the rules are that you have 24 hours to do the challenge or you have to donate money to the charity does that mean all these people filming themselves are just avoiding making a donation? Where is the fundraising coming from? Is someone making a donation on their behalf in exchange for the icy drenching? When I was nominated, no one suggested that they would donate money on my behalf. That seems to be a rule that’s slipped through the net and doesn’t get mentioned anywhere in the videos or the accompanying Facebook post.


So instead of contributing to a, frankly, over saturated stream of videos, I’d much rather just donate the money to the charity.

I’ve been nominated twice, so I have made two donations by texting ICED55 (and the amount) to 70070.

If you want to donate and help further the research into this awful disease, then please donate as above or visit:
This just giving page to donate to MNDA in the UK, or visit:
The ALS Association website to donate to ALS in the US.

Why I'm not doing the Ice Bucket Challenge

If this was a film who would play the main characters?

You have to think big, right? So when I started writing Inspired By Night I made a mental note that one day it would be awesome if it was turned into a film.

But who would play the characters?

Well it’s not that simple because who I pictured in the role and who could play the role are different. Actors can always be made up to look like a character, and truth is Steven and Olivia are much younger than myself and the actors I imagine playing them.

Steven

When I started writing I knew that anyone who knew me would recognise that Olivia is very (very) similar to me so to avoid anyone thinking of my other half when reading about Steven, I purposely described him as looking like David Tennant and built a bit of a dialogue around Olivia’s celebrity crush being The Tenth Doctor. For the actual publication all those references have been changed but feel free to imagine Steven looking a bit like The Doctor. In actual fact, the mental image I have of Steven Teller is more like Tom Ward (Harry Cunningham, Silent Witness) who, let’s be honest, looked like the Tenth Doctor before David Tennant did!

The reality is that, as he’s fresh out of university, both Tom Ward and David Tennant are too old to be Steven.

Having recently watched Spider-Man 2 I couldn’t help thinking that Andrew Garfield would make a good Steven Teller, but again he’s probably getting a little old, although if he can get away with playing Peter Parker I’m sure he could pull off a university graduate.

I also think Colton Haynes would be a pretty good contender. The Arrow star who plays Roy is used to hanging around with a nerdy lady too. In fact there’s a few similarities between Olivia and Felicity Smoak.

 

Olivia

For Olivia Jones, I see her as being a bit like Sara Gilbert as Lesley Winkle in the Big Bang Theory. She’s smart, dry, quick witted. I definitely see Olivia with nerdy glasses and brown curly hair.

In terms of age, I think Kat Dennings would be perfect for Olivia. The Thor actress is something of a self confessed nerd, so she’d have no trouble getting Olivia’s personality right.

Ruth

Olivia’s best friend Ruth is pretty much based on my friend so I always just pictured her when I was writing it. But she’s not an actress so she can’t play herself!

I would like to see Mia Wasikowska in the role. She always reminded me of my Ruth when I saw her in Alice in Wonderland.

Chris

We never see what Chris looks like – he’s just the sexy commanding voice coming out of the computer speakers. Olivia believes (or hopes) he is the guy in the Facebook photos that looks like Angel.

As we don’t see Chris, I don’t know who would play him. Maybe it’s enough to just picture him looking like David Boreanaz.

 

Have you read it? How did you picture the characters?

If this was a film who would play the main characters?

The video games that take over your life

I was inspired by a brief Twitter conversation with my friends and fellow authors Danielle Austen and Saundra Fox this week, about the video games that cause you to lose entire days of your life. It made me think back on my relationship with video games.

I came to video games pretty late. I have always been one of those people that likes to try things – generally if I don’t excel at it immediately I move on to the next thing. I spend more time on the things I’m good at but then I get itchy feet and need to try something new. Some might call me fickle, but I like to think I’m just thirsty for new experiences.

Of course my default setting is lazy so, over the years I’ve found I’m most interested in trying new things that don’t involve me leaving the sofa.
My first experience with video games was on the ZX Spectrum. I was the master of Derby Day and Con-Quest. I discovered a version of it for an emulator recently and lost a few hours to it. Certainly more hours than I ever managed as a kid!

I was without games then until someone gave me their old Master System after they upgraded. It had Alex Kidd built in and I owned Shinobi, an Olympics game and Sonic.

I’d become addicted to the Shinobi arcade game while on holiday in Malta a few years earlier – but the Master System version won’t as much fun as I remembered. Maybe I’d been caught up in the excitement of being on holiday and had fonder memories than the game warranted – I can’t be sure.

At uni my friend had a PlayStation and I got really into Tekken and Tomb Raider. I worked in the SU bar of the quieter campus and honed my Tekken skills. But I don’t think I ever beat my mate. He was a full on gamer and I was just mildly interested and slightly competitive.

And there it dwindled until a few years ago when My other half brought home Indiana Jones for the Wii. The first game we completed from start to finish and it all suddenly fell into place. Maybe because it was Indiana Jones and it was going through a story, but it suddenly made sense to me. I wondered why I hadn’t ever played a game to completion before.

When I was introduced to Lego batman, normal life as I knew it was over and instead began an ongoing love affair with all things Lego. Whatever is happening in the world, it all stops for a new Lego game and resumes after we’ve completed 100% of the game.

But the first game that really made us lose entire days to game play was Red Dead Redemption. A Christmas present (from our cats, they have fab taste) we made the most of our week off work and played it daily. We had no idea how many hours we were losing to the game, all we knew was a need to know what happened next.

I swerved Undead Nightmare though – I’m ridiculously scared of Zombies!

12 months later our Mogs bought us Skyrim and we lost another festive holiday to the PS3… Skyrim is extra special to us. Apart from the obvious breaks for Lego releases, we played Skyrim for nearly 18 months. We still play it from time to time although we’ve only really got the never ending cycle of assassin and companions missions to do. We have now started the previous game in the series though, Oblivion and it’s pretty amazing too. Especially as we got to create our own race and were asked the question:

Are you sure you want to be a nerd?

If anyone is interested in the Lego games and enjoys the Elder Scrolls I’d recommend Lego Lord of the Rings or Lego The Hobbit – they’re as close to Lego Skyrim as you’re going to get!

The video games that take over your life

Black Cat Appreciation Day

So last week I posted a timely article about my cats, unaware that it was world cat day. Well today is black cat appreciation day.

I love cats, I don’t have a specific preference to black cats, I just happen to have two black cats and I love them both dearly (even the evil one who tries to cause stair accidents). So I can safely say that they make great pets, equally as awesome as any other colour cat.

Just be aware that they hide in shadows and make you feel super guilty when you accidentally stand on them!

Black Cat Appreciation Day

My contribution to the Robin Williams debate

Everyone is talking about Robin Williams at the moment, the talented funny man committed suicide this week, shocking the nation and prompting widely differing views from grief, surprise and anger.

In the UK more than 5000 people committed suicide in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Most deaths go unreported until a celebrity dies and then the manner of their death becomes a spotlight in the media and gives rise to speculation and commentary by the public. We are always saddened by the death of a celebrity but all the deaths that occur daily go largely unnoticed except by those that are connected to the deceased.

Generally when a celebrity dies I express sadness but then get on with my day, especially if that celebrity died from old age. I may seem heartless but when an octogenarian musician that hasn’t had any part of the music scene for the last two decades passes away, I don’t feel that it’s a huge loss to the music industry. Everyone dies eventually.

When a celebrity in their prime of life dies suddenly, I am a bit more saddened by it, Kirsty McColl, Martin Gilks, Rik Mayal. But still, I don’t mourn for long because I didn’t know them, never met them and their music and films are still there. It’s not like when someone close to you dies and leaves your life and that’s it, you have photos, memories, maybe home videos. But the reason you loved them, their sense of humour, their company has gone. That’s devastating. And that is devastating for the loved ones of the celebrity, but for the rest of us, only knowing their public persona, their music, or their fictional characters, their death has no more impact on our life than any other stranger’s death.

The death of Robin Williams however has had a huge global impact because of the nature of his death. Had he died naturally from old age or a heart attack, he would be mourned and we’d move on as with any other celebrity death. But his suicide has shocked the world. That this seemingly happy, funny man could be depressed is at odds with the majority of people’s understanding of depression and there are tributes being made to show how highly thought of he was, even if he didn’t feel it himself. On the other hand there are those calling him selfish and cowardly.

I have worked with a lot of people battling with their mental health and I’ve seen how destructive it can be, how difficult it is for normally confident happy people to be rendered incapable of leaving the house, or even getting out of bed. Depression is a serious condition but it’s a word used flippantly by the vast majority. It is difficult for people who have never suffered depression to understand, it’s easy for us to think ‘oh pull yourself together’ or ‘what have you got to be depressed about?’ The thing with depression is that it’s an illness that can strike, no matter how successful your life might appear to be.

If anything good can come out of Robin Williams’ suicide, it must be that it throws a spotlight on mental health and has prompted debate, because for every person that dismisses it as a selfish cowardly act, there are now more people openly talking about this illness, because unless you’ve experienced it or been in anyway affected by it, you can’t possibly judge someone for their actions when suffering the pain of clinical depression.

It’s important that those of us who are suffering from depression, panic attacks or stress, get help. And those of us that haven’t experienced any mental health episodes, need to be more understanding and open to the possibility that a friend or family member, who usually seems so happy and confident may be too scared to ask for help for fear of ridicule or insensitivity from those closest to them.

But ultimately we all need to know that there are people out the who can help us. Whether it’s a phone call to the Samaritans or finding a local mental health support group. Depression and anxiety can hit anyone at any time and it’s crucial that if you find yourself affected you know that you are not alone.

Robin Williams, a great comedian and actor, may his soul rest in peace.

My contribution to the Robin Williams debate

Acknowledgements

I wasn’t asked to write any acknowledgements for the novel, so I wanted to take the opportunity here to thank people for their particular support with making this novel happen.

So thanks to Xcite books for publishing my first novel and particularly Elizabeth Coldwell and Alex Davies my editors for trawling through the typos and punctuation mistakes and continuity errors.

Thanks to my friend Jason for the throwaway remark he made about about Fifty Shades of Grey that inspired me to start writing in the first place.

Also thanks to my friend and fellow author Mark Murphy for convincing me to send my manuscript off to publishers.

And Rile for keeping the distractions of awesome TV and video games to a minimum while I was writing.

Finally I have to give particular mention 3 very special people, without whom Inspired would never have been anywhere near good enough to submit to a publisher let alone get picked up publication:

Ruth, Elaine & Debbie. These marvellous ladies were entrusted with reading my very first draft – Inspired is written in the first person from Olivia’s point of view and anyone who knows me will recognise similarities between me and my leading character so it’s not easy reading sex scenes when you’re picturing the character as someone you know well. So fair play to these three for persevering with it and giving me some crucial feedback that shaped the novel into what it is today.

Acknowledgements

Pre Order the print version of Inspired by Night

The print version has now been made available for pre-order before it’s official release in 2 weeks time.

Pre Order the print version of Inspired by Night

Inspired By Night - Ebook Now Available

Well this is pretty exciting isn’t it? The ebook version of Inspired by Night is now available to buy on Amazon. and if you fancy having a sneaky peek at the book before you buy it you can visit the product page and look inside.

At only £1.83 this charming story can be yours for less than the cost of a bacon butty!

Inspired By Night - Ebook Now Available

Look at my Cats...

I made a conscious decision a few years ago that I wasn’t going to have any children. I may seem coldhearted to some people but I just don’t get all excited and swoony over babies. Loads of my friends have got kids, and they’re all gorgeous, but I just haven’t felt any desire to have any and I don’t think I’ve got the energy now anyway.

But that’s not to say I don’t have a kind of mothering instinct…

So meet my children. Lots of visitors to our house can’t tell them apart – which is ridiculous because they both have distinctly different faces and builds. Little Mog is all lithe and sleek, with a  narrow and angular face, his eyes are so big that you can see the whites. Big Mog is all fluffy with a beautiful rounded face.

Little Mog when he was a teeny tiny kitten.

Little Mog aged 1 peering over the top of the shelf at me.

Little Mog under a  bag – one of his favourite hiding places

Big Mog waiting to head off on an epic adventure.

Big Mog prefers the Wii balance board.

Big Mog sure loves shiny things. Like a kid at Xmas!

I read an alarming article recently about how black cats are being abandoned at animal shelters because they’re not photogenic… by photogenic I assume that means, their pretty little faces are obscured by shadows. We have a lot of black stuff in our house so our cats regularly hide from us while remaining out in the open… they get stood on a lot by accident, the poor things.

But not photogenic? Look at them… look at their faces… seriously look at my cats..!

 

 

 

Look at my Cats...

It's almost time

So this week I was pretty excited to find this on Amazon:

And then twelve hours later the cover art appeared.

I did hear a rumour that the ebook may be available before the 22nd so I’m checking regularly to see if it appears on amazon and will let you all know as soon as it is available.

Otherwise continue synchronising your watches to 22nd August!

It's almost time

Google Everything

There’s really not much that can’t be Googled… I sometimes wish that more people would turn to Google for answers!

Google Everything

Probably The Best Advert Ever Made

In my opinion anyway. I love this. We saw it on YouTube not realising it was actually an advert that had been aired in the US. It later made it to UK screens and remain one of my favourite adverts of all time…

Yes that’s right, even though they’re just those annoying things that break up good TV shows… I have a favourite advert!

In my hand is two tickets to that thing you love… Genius!

http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE

Probably The Best Advert Ever Made

Animation vs Animator

I remember the first time I saw this. I’d not long been dabbling with using Flash and this video just blew my mind.

I like to return to it once in a while. It inspired me!

http://youtu.be/npTC6b5-yvM

Animation vs Animator

I've now got something of a crush on Jack Bauer.

Spoiler alert: I’m warning you now, I’m going to talk about 24. If you haven’t watched it and don’t want to have any plot lines ruined, click here now and step away from this page…

I really enjoyed Live Another Day. I lived in London for 6 years and it was great recognising places and seeing Jack Bauer running around my old stomping ground.

There was a couple of things I found odd, like hearing Chloe refer to a mobile phone instead of a cell. Why did they do that? Okay she’s in England, but she’s still American, talking to another American – why switch to UK English?

The President is dead!

Not really – I just said that in case anyone spots it before they click away from the page. The president isn’t really dead. Unless we’re talking about President Palmer. Or President Palmer. Neither brother had a long life span in 24 – although David Palmer fared pretty well crossing over 5 series.

Anyway, what I really wanted to exclaim is:

They blew up Wembley Stadium!

I couldn’t believe that. I mean, yes the cliffhanger that President Heller had also been blown up was shocking, but not as shocking as seeing the turf at Wembley blown up! I was gobsmacked.

Agent… Walker?

 

I loved Agent Kate Morgan. Yvonne Strahovski is no stranger to playing kick-ass CIA agents after her role as Sarah Walker in Chuck – in fact I couldn’t help picturing Chuck in the early episodes when she talked about her husband being jailed for selling secrets to China. That sort of sounds like something Chuck might unwittingly do!

Consequently we kept referring to her as Sarah Walker, which got a tad confusing when we think of poor Agent Walker, who’s death lead to Jack’s rampage that resulted in him being on the run and branded a traitor in America.

Seriously – Jack Bauer, a traitor?

The man who responded with:

with all due respect, Madam President, ask around.

When questioned about where his loyalties lay.

That was the worst part for me. After all these years, after the number of times Jack Bauer has thwarted terrorists, kept America safe and willingly sacrificed his own life for the greater good – he gets branded a traitor? Because he gave that sneaky sniveling dirty rat of an ex-president, Charles Logan a good kick up the ass?

Frankly I don’t know why Jack Bauer isn’t elected President. He’s got a much better clue about what’s going on in the world than anyone else does.

I mentioned this a while back, but we decided to start 24 again from the beginning, finishing all 8 previous series just as Day 9 came to an end. It’s been a great run and I’m sad it’s over. I really hope that they renew it. I’ve missed 24. I’d be delighted to see it return for a full series. I mean they can’t leave it at 9, right?

I love Jack Bauer. He’s like a cross between Superman and The Terminator. Indestructible and relentless in the face of terror. Long may he remain a part of popular culture.

What do you think? Is Jack Bauer a superhero? Share your thoughts below.

I've now got something of a crush on Jack Bauer.