This seems to be the only available space in which I can express my thoughts! Forums, twitter feeds, blogs... they all need irretrevable usernames and passwords that I can never bloody remember! What the hell is the point? You don't need a password to use the phone or go into a building (unless your work for MI5). ENOUGH with the bloody usernames and passwords!

Anyway, the Doctor Who Christmas special was lovely-- although muted. In previous years, the Christmas special has always been an event that picks up from a big end of season cliffhanger or serves as a vehicle for a big guest star. None of that was particularly in evidence this year, sadly-- there was a totally pointless cameo from Bill Bailey as an Androzani Major (get it? Huh? Huh?) and Claire Skinner, although magnificent in her role, isn't 'too big for television' big in the same way Kylie or Michael Gambon is. It's by the by I suppose, because Doctor Who has never needed big name actors to be brilliant-- in fact I think it works best when we have actors we are unfamiliar with. Christopher Eccleston was a fantastic Doctor, but when I watch him I can never get past the fact that it's the famous actor Christopher Eccleston doing Doctor Who, whereas when I see Matt Smith he IS the Doctor, because I've never seen him do anything else. Going back to my point about the Christmas specials though, there needs to be a reason to watch other than just because it's another episode of Doctor Who. There needs to be that big hook like the introduction or farewell to an incarnation of the Doctor or the return of an old enemy.  One thing Steven Moffat has done that I think is a mistake (and I'm not Moffat bashing because this is the ONLY thing he's done that I disagree with so far) is to take away the season finale cliffhanger that leads into the Christmas Special. Can you remember how maddening it was at the end of 'The Parting of The Ways' when we discovered we'd have to wait nearly six months to find out what the Tenth Doctor was like? Or what about those two absolutely gonzo endings to seasons two and three-- Catherine Tate in a wedding dress appearing from out of nowhere, or the wall of the Tardis being stoved in by the Titanic. The bloody Titanic! And I had to wait half a year to find out what the hell that was all about. Yet it made Christmas day special! It made me tense with excitement in a way I haven't been since I was a kid! It made me AFRAID to miss it! This year I seriously contemplated missing Doctor Who in favour of something else, because I could catch up with it later and, frankly, there wasn't any draw to it. A good episode yes, but essential viewing? Not really. Well made and cozy, but it needed to be the most exciting thing on telly for everyone, not just Doctor Who fans. This has to change next year I think.

Out of Moffat's two Christmas crackers, you'd have to say that the one giving the loudest and most satisfying bang was Sherlock (and I'm not talking about what may or may not have happened between Sherlock and Irene Adler). That was 90 minutes of absolute TV heaven! I haven't been so riveted by anything since Mad Men or the Wire, and it's been a long time since any British drama matched the standards set by those two shows. Wit and invention seeped from it's every pore. Every act in the story brought genuine surprise, and all the way through you feel sure that you're watching something that will be held up in awe decades from now. If you haven't seen it -- stop reading this nonsense at once and watch it.