CAR ART SO FAR FOR 2024

Chaz Mostert - Walkinshaw Andretti United - Supercars

Zhou Guanyu - Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber - Formula One

Cam Waters - Tickford Racing - Supercars

Mazda Montrose TWR Coupé, 1979. For the UK market the first generation Mazda 626 was rebadged as the Mazda Montrose. Tom Walkinshaw Racing prepared a version of the Montrose Coupé though the modifications were cosmetic, the cars retained the standard 2 litre Mazda powertrain.

494 words into a fic for the first time in about 15 years, yay!

Must stop letting myself get distracted by researching things for it and then going off on tangents and stopping writing however.

For example: It took Jack 17 and a half years to get back to being Superintendent but it's like 3 years before compulsory retirement for Superintendent ranks. I like a thought that @everythingisdragons recently too - they could have made a real feature of Jack's bitterness that he only got it as essentially a stand in just before he had to retire and that if it wasn't so close (or the reboot necessitating it) then he'd never have gotten it back given his reluctance to play the political game.

Gina was an Inspector for 15 years, 6 of which were at Sun Hill. She became Inspector 10 years after joining the MET which (yes this is Gina - but!!) as a female back then was quite some going (83-93) Timeline also means she would likely have been a Sgt when she and Adam were together.

I still have the itching to write my original character, Charlie, in even though it would not fit canon wise and would not make sense given the time that I'm writing about (Conviction ep time) 🤣🤣

Even now I'm trying to flick through the first Conviction ep to see if it mentions where the Devlin's came from as I remember they were 'new' to Sun Hill as a little crime dynasty but can't remember where they'd been. I remember post fire Jason had been in Kent so I'm assuming it's there but I'm far too anal and must check it out to be sure. Then I got distracted by writing this. ETA: Not Kent- they're from the wonderful catch all of 'Up North'.

My brain is very like these gifs, each bit dancing off to distract me into something else! (context: they're teasing Ali who had signed for Strictly Come Dancing at the time)

Sup? I keep forgetting all the fun I had here on Tumblr years ago. I'm out on Substack now. Anyone use it? Like it? Thoughts? Or anyone just feel like taking a little read thru my adventures as a cruise ship comedian...

xoxo Cruise-tina:)/The S.S. Walkinsauce

wau

Walkinshaw Andretti United Merchandise Store

Official Walkinshaw Andretti United Racing 2023 Merchandise Range. Support Chaz Mostert & Nick Percat in the Ford Mustang this race season. Check our all our apparel items in one place.

April 21st 1746 saw Glasgow host formal celebrations to mark the defeat of the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden, and award the Duke of Cumberland the freedom of the city.

The Town Council of Glasgow became the first municipality to confer the Freedom of the City on Cumberland. They were followed by Edinburgh and Dundee, even as Cumberland was presiding over a campaign of genocide in the Highlands and Islands. He could have gone south to a no-doubt rapturous reception in London, but stayed for three months to personally supervise the genocide and then left orders to his officers and men who were only too happy to carry out his butchery.

There is a simple explanation for Glasgow’s civic actions – to them, he was the good guy and Charles wasn’t bonnie but a baddie. It was a Whig town, loyal to the House of Hanover and opposed to Jacobitism, and was doing very well out of the Union with millions of pounds of tobacco being landed on the Clyde and treated for export across the UK and Europe.

At the turn of the year, Glaswegians had also experienced a week-long occupation by Charles and the Jacobite army and had been none too impressed, not least because the Prince demanded £15,000 and fresh clothing for his men – he got £5500 and a lot of shirts.

According to one source Charles himself was not as popular with the ladies as he had been in Edinburgh, though it was in Glasgow that he first met his future mistress Clementina Walkinshaw. He also apparently had time enough to father a child who grew up to be a Kirk minister.

Glasgow militia had been the reserves for the government army at the Battle of Falkirk Muir, so it is no surprise that the city was in raptures when news came through of Cumberland’s victory over the Jacobites at Culloden.

According to excerpts from the records of the Town Council: “The event was duly ‘solemnized’ with a cake and wine banquet by the city fathers on 21st April, and a deputation was sent to Inverness to congratulate the Duke of Cumberland, who was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box.”

In June, Glasgow University was among the first educational establishments to confer an honorary doctorate on the man who by then was still only 25 – Aberdeen and St Andrews Universities would later make him Chancellor.

The Glasgow citation read: “Who, by the blessing of God, has put an end to the unnatural and wicked Rebellion that threatened destruction to all our Religious and Civil Rights and Liberties … the Rector Principal Professor of Divinity and Professor of Law are appointed to wait upon his Royal Highness when he comes South, and present the diploma with the Universities compliments to him”.

Cumberland had overnight become the most popular man in lowland Scotland. It was only when the Tories in England learned of the aftermath of Culloden that he was nicknamed the Butcher – an English invention and one that stuck. The Scottish public later passed their verdict when a type of foul-smelling ragwort was called Stinking Billy. Tories were the opposition to the Whigs.

It surprises me that there have been no motions to rescind the honours bestowed on Cumberland, given the atrocities carried out by his men in his name in the aftermath of Culloden. A petition to to repeal the freedom of the city bestowed on Cumberland was submitted in 2017 bu a guy called John Toner, but for whatever reason he must not have shared it, the only signature on it was his own, hence it was rejected. More recently there have been calls to rename Cumberland Street in Glasgow.

Jaguar XJR-S V12 ("timber!"). 

When the Jaguar XJR-S was launched in August 1988, Jaguar was riding the crest of a reputational wave, having just claimed its 6th Le Mans victory and, in 1987, won the World Sportscar Championship.It was a genuinely bespoke model produced by Jaguar Sport - a high-performance wing jointly owned by Jaguar and the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Group. Initially powered by a 5.3-litre V12, the engine was upgraded in 1989 to a bespoke 6.0-litre unit with Zytek fuel injection. It was good for 334 bhp and 160 mph.Boasting a new forged steel crankshaft, forged alloy pistons, modified air intake and a dual exhaust system, the engine was unique to the XJR-S and was only phased out once Jaguar introduced its own 6.0-litre V12.The XJR-S proved to be an immediate winner with contemporary journalists. In a Motor Sport magazine group test, the Jaguar handed out a humiliating spanking to a Porsche 928 GT, a BMW 850i and a Ferrari Mondial T – no mean feat.While the XJR-S may have looked pretty much like a standard Jaguar XJR coupé, virtually every mechanical part was unique. Each car left the factory as a hand-built unit from Jaguar Sport’s manufacturing facility at Bloxham, which had attained legendary status as the skunk-works unit that built the seminal XJ220.

11.26 Flora and Fauna

Reg alert! Reverse! Reverse!

HOLLIS: And with all this talk of amalgamation, I mean… CONWAY: Well, I don’t think a herbaceous border is going to make much difference to that, do you?

CONWAY: Well, let’s just concentrate on picking up the crisp packets and the coke cans before we get into the hanging gardens of Sun Hill, shall we?

MONROE: Whatever you do with this garden is strictly off duty. I don’t want you tip-toeing through the tulips when you should be pounding the beat.

Great comedy episode with a guest appearance from Alex Walkinshaw.

Today in Great Lakes shipping history. June 5th.

1891: in heavy fog, the NORTHERN QUEEN (steel propeller freighter, 299 foot, 2,476 gross tons, built in 1889, at Cleveland, Ohio) struck the schooner FAYETTE BROWN (wooden schooner, 178 foot, 553 gross tons, built in 1868, at Cleveland, Ohio) about ten miles off Dummy Light on Lake Erie. The BROWN, which was loaded with stone blocks, quickly sank in over 60 feet of water. One of the schooner’s crewmen climbed aboard the QUEEN while the others barely had time to scramble up the schooner’s masts. Accounts of the accident differ. The schooner’s skipper claimed that the NORTHERN QUEEN continued on her journey while the schooner’s crew clung to the masts while the skipper of the NORTHERN QUEEN claimed that he tried to find survivors, but lost the wreck in the fog and reluctantly continued on his journey, figuring that there were no survivors. Nevertheless, about an hour after the disaster, the steamer ROBERT MILLS (wooden propeller freighter, 256 foot, 1,790 gross tons, built in 1888, at Buffalo, New York) came along, heard the cries of the unfortunate seamen clinging to the masts and rescued them. No lives were lost.

1947: the Canada Steamship Lines steamer EMPEROR, loaded with ore and bound for Ashtabula, hit the rocks off Isle Royale at 4:10 a.m. The vessel sank within minutes but the crew was able to launch 2 lifeboats. Captain Eldon Walkinshaw, First Mate D. Moray, and 10 other crew members drowned when one of the lifeboats overturned. Twenty-one other survivors were rescued by the U.S.C.G. cutter KIMBALL.

1961: Over the winter of 1960 – 1961, CHARLES M. SCHWAB was rebuilt by joining the forward end of the original SCHWAB with the after end of the former oil tanker GULFPORT. On this date in 1961 Captain Raphael “Dewey” Marsden conducted sea trials with the vessel on Lake Erie between Lorain and Cleveland.

1972: The PARKER EVANS was in collision with the upbound Erie Sand steamer SIDNEY E. SMITH JR just below the Blue Water Bridge, at Port Huron, Michigan. The SMITH sank in 20 minutes with no loss of life. The EVANS, with bow damage, proceeded to Port Weller Dry Docks for extensive repairs. As a result of this accident, on October 5, 1972, alternate one-way traffic between the Black River Buoy and Buoys One and Two in Lake Huron was agreed upon by the shipping companies. Also a call-in system was initiated to monitor traffic between the Detroit River Light and Buoys 7 and 8 in Lake Huron by the newly established Sarnia Traffic.

1979: while carrying corn on Lake Superior, CARTIERCLIFFE HALL (steel propeller bulk freighter, 730 foot, 18,531 gross tons, built in 1960, in Germany as a.) RUHR ORE) caught fire 10 miles north of Copper Harbor, Michigan. Her crew abandoned ship in two life rafts and one lifeboat. Six died in this tragedy while five were injured; four (including Captain Raymond Boudreault) were injured seriously enough to be flown to the University of Michigan Burn Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. U. S. Steel’s THOMAS W. LAMONT rescued 17 at 4:52 a.m. while CSL’s LOUIS R. DESMARAIS rescued two more. The CARTIERCLIFFE HALL was towed to Thunder Bay by the tug PENINSULA the following day.

Boat Nerd

hello cat and mouse! i hope you are both having a good day! i’m currently trying to find faceclaims for a character, he’s meant to be a sleazy back alley doctor/surgeon type, but i’m honestly kind of struggling to find anything!! the character is meant to be anywhere from his 30s to his 50s if this helps.. i’m mostly looking for like, surgeon/doctor/etc resources but they’re not a huge priority tbh? thank you for your help and i hope this isn’t too difficult of a request :D

Eric Dane (1972) English, German, Scottish, Finnish, Russian Jewish, Austrian Jewish - Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.

Nigel Harman (1973) - Casualty.

Alex Walkinshaw (1974) - Holby City and Casualty.

Matt Czuchry (1977) - The Resident.

Luke Roberts (1977) - Holby City.

Jesse Williams (1981) African-American, Seminole / Swedish - Grey's Anatomy.

Colin Donnell (1982) - Chicago Med.

Richard Rankin (1983) - Trust Me.

Nick Gehlfuss (1985) - Chicago Med.

also:

Michael Imperioli (1966)

David Tennant (1971)

Karl Urban (1972)

Gabriel Macht (1972) Ashkenazi Jewish.

Chris Messina (1974)

Matthew Macfadyen (1974)

Joaquin Phoenix (1974) Ashkenazi Jewish / English, with some Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, German, Irish, Welsh, and French Huguenot.

David Harbour (1975)

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (1977)

Tom Ellis (1978)

Tayanç Ayaydın (1978) Turkish.

Daniel Brühl (1978)

Oscar Isaac (1979) Cuban-Guatemalan-Spanish, small amount of French.

Aaron Paul (1979)

Sam Heughan (1980)

Boyd Holbrook (1981)

Ben Barnes (1981)

Theo James (1984)

Oliver Jackson-Cohen (1986) Egyptian Jewish / English.

Robert Pattinson (1986)

İlhan Şen (1987) Turkish.

Sam Reid (1987)

Bill Skarsgård (1990)

Here you go, anon!

Making fun of people’s mental health issues, even if they aren’t people that you particularly like, is absolutely despicable. This is incredibly poor behaviour for a so called “historian”. Whatever happened to working against historical bias? You don’t have to like bpc, but maybe check yourself first before you mock someone’s alcoholism

Anon,

You are indeed correct that I am not particularly fond of Charles Edward Stuart. That said, you should not treat a three to four lines long post on Tumblr the same as a scholarly opinion expressed in, say, a thesis or a paper. These are different media, and serving different purposes.

The post is already marked as not being anything close to historical fact as it deals with Charles Edward and his father being (un-) able to set up bots, which, given the different landscape of technology and information media in their day and sardonic tone, should be enough to know not to treat this post as a scholarly piece.

I agree that illnesses are a difficult subject and have to be dealt with sensibly.

In the case at hand, there is ample historical record suggesting that Charles Edward Stuart was generally not a very pleasant person to deal with, growing increasingly worse following the failed rebellion in Scotland, which seems to be the time when he made visibly intoxicated appearances in public more often. Being seen behaving erratically further hurt his cause as it led to potential European supporters feeling that he was in no shape to make another (and successful) attempt on the British throne (or even just on Scotland), which frustrated him, and perhaps contributed to his alcohol abuse, which also alienated him from his partner Clementina Walkinshaw and only daughter.

Walkinshaw left Charles after putting up with a little shy of a decade of physical and psychological abuse to protect their young daughter Charlotte and herself from harm, possibly with the help of his own father, as Charles' controlling ways meant she would have had little chance of just closing the door and leaving, even more so as mother and daughter would have been financially dependent on Charles, who, for the next 23 years, did not support his child as she grew up and declined wanting any contact with her.

Given this historical background which the post and tags also allude to, I felt it was safe as not to be misread as a general vilification of people struggling with alcohol abuse (who are, which is important to mention, not automatically abusive, particularly intentionally so, to other people by the way), but an expression of a personal distaste for this particular man featured in the post which is coloured by the fact he turned violent against people in a socially and physically weaker position than and dependent on him while intoxicated, and did so, as the lengthy period of the abuse and indeed disparaging letters written by him suggest, unremorsefully.

This does of course not mean that I think Charles Edward Stuart would not have deserved help, a kind of help that sadly was not available at the time, or that I have a distaste for any (modern) person who struggles with an addiction of any kind. If you had taken the time to check my past post history, you would have found that there is nothing to suggest so.

Your criticism has however alerted me to the fact that I forgot to add warning-/mention-tags to the post as I normally would, so that people who do not wish to stumble over a post mentioning either alcoholism or domestic abuse can filter it; I have rectified that.

To me, the line "[y]ou don’t have to like bpc" especially in conjunction with you also citing "working against the historical bias", reads as though your main point of issue with my post is that I do not like Charles Edward Stuart and made an according comment on my blog.

If this is the case, my best advice (something you were so free in giving me unwantedly that I in turn am confident you will hear out mine) to you is to not engage with people whose opinions you don't agree with rather than getting up and personal in anons.

I don't know you (and you clearly don't want to be known by me even in a loose internet-acquaintance way, seeing as you used the anon function for your ask), and don't have to agree with me; but I am also firmly of the opinion that the key to good, peaceful coexistence in any space where people meet is to engage them respectfully.

To me, your response is emblematic of the worrying trend of (internet-) anti-intellectualism that does not tolerate discourse in that, instead of expressing polite critique, you resort to a public response coupled with attacking the credentials you deem me to have under the guise of defending what, nonnegotiably, is a good cause (namely the dignified treatment of people who suffer from mental illnesses) by taking a post out of context, or misreading its message.

Lastly, I would also like to remind you that first and foremost, you are responsible for curating your own online experience and how that, and your resulting behaviour, affects others; you are of course free to disagree with me or any other poster on this site or anywhere else, but there are other, more proportionate responses to not liking a post someone put on their own personal blog than getting up and personal in an accusatory anon message.

Your personal feelings on a matter are not necessarily those of others, and to shout at a stranger because you do not agree with them is poor form both in person and online.

You are free to block people, including me, whose posts you don’t want to see and sites like AO3 or Tumblr allow you to filter tags.

Perhaps the best, and most effortless response is to move on from posts that you do not agree with. This does of course not mean you should ignore things such as hate speech or other content that violates Tumblr user guidelines, or indeed the law (e. g. doxing, (explicit) images posted without the consent of the person in them, or in some places, denying the Holocaust happened etc.), but if a post simply does not sit right with you personally, sometimes the best response is none at all. There is so much content on Tumblr alone that each of us could fill our entire day just sending (and in turn, receiving) rude anons to people we disagree with for one or the other reason.

If you feel like wanting to discuss something you read with the original poster, perhaps the best response is to send them a private message, and ask politely “what do you mean by [x]?” or “could you please explain?” rather than sending them a rude anon attacking them personally. Many people, including me, are genuinely open to discussion and constructive criticism and will listen to what you have to say if you approach them politely.

Thoughts from re-bingewatching (mostly series 18 onwards recently) The Bill

Smithy is a bloody idiot if he thinks he's in love and puts himself in serious danger. He's literally seconds away from being killed for both Louise and Kerry and if his colleagues hadn't burst in each time he'd not be there no more. He is loyal to an absolute fault as long as he likes you! 💗 His bravery is second to none - as well as being bloody stupid! Literal Super!Sarge.

I don't hate Kerry as much as I did watching as an adult rather than when I was late teens/early 20's. As discussed with @everythingisdragons, a lot of what she does is understandable when you look from her position. Her station-best friend is murdered just before she's due to get married. Gina has to spend her and Luke's wedding day stopping Craig from telling her that he spent the night with Luke. She's strung along whilst Luke and Craig do lots of angst and staring across the room at each other and then is gaslit by Gina, Craig and Luke when she asks him if he's gay. She finds out she's pregnant and they split. She has a miscarriage just as they 'get back together'. She's dumped by the love of her life because he's gay, she finds out he spent the night before they got married with a man who she thinks is her friend and then he walks out on her again when she literally begs him to stay and says it doesn't matter that he's gay they can deal with it. After a few one night stands with Smithy she then falls for Cameron who starts being calm and kind and understanding and then slut shames her (along with Smithy for that!) and dumps her. She has a drunken one night stand with Smithy and hides it from Cameron when he wants to get back together. She then ends up being manipulated by a psychopath, told everything she thinks she knows about a man she's known and trusted for a while is wrong and that he raped her. Said psycho uses her further vulnerability to keep the pressure up and everyone at work is pressuring her to either make the complaint official or stfu with others telling her how wrong she is because Smithy wouldn't do that. Cameron is a tit who can't keep his mouth shut when they get back together (Who the fuck brings up a rape allegation in the middle of an ARMED ROBBERY? and then demands his girlfriend tell him if it's the truth or not as she's trying to keep a man with a FUCKING BOMB strapped to him calm and secure whilst the disposal team arrive?) and makes the situation worse by lying on official documents and to the investigators and tries to cover it up and make her lie. Gabriel keeps put the pressure by telling her he's got the CCTV and will protect her because he's her 'guardian angel' and the only one looking out for her. Gabriel then goes on and rape her (unknowingly impregnating her which adds to further hormones) knowing people wouldn't believe her after she accused Smithy and then withdrew it when she finally talked to him. Cameron cheats on her with Honey (her good friend!) and they have an illfated 'thing' when he and Kerry split up. She's in complete freefall and desperate for someone to love her and look after her. She's almost killed by the Radfords yet returns to David the same night that he was going to shoot her (and Smithy!) and almost gives up her job for him until she sees he ALSO cheats on her. Gabriel's still hanging around, Gina's got it in for her cos of the rape allegation against Smithy even though they sorted it out between themselves and she realised her didn't rape her. Cameron leaves her and returns to Australia despite her literally running after him and begging him to stay like she did Luke, David and Irene are promising her a new life, Gina's threatening to get her out of the station. She comes to her senses and uses David's trust in her to set him up - and then is about to be arrested for conspiracy to commit armed robbery (Irene taped it all). On top of all THAT, her dad goes on to have a heart attack. Despite it all there's only one person she can trust who is still there when the chips are down... Smithy! He tells her he loves her but there's too much going on to process it until she knows her dad will be ok. When he is - she returns to the station to tell Smithy she loves him too... only to get shot and essentially die in his arms. Phew.

I actually hated Andrea more this time around. I never liked her and hated her character first time but I think this time the deceit and lies really really fucked me off on top of the whole 'I'm such an innocent little flower who is really fucking stupid despite noone realising how obvious she's being.' She shit on every single one of them and betrayed them yet wouldn't have it at the end that she was the one in the wrong.

I found Phil Hunter and Rod Skase more odious than I did first time round too. Teenage me had a crush on Rod yet watching again I really don't know why (other than hormones!). He was still watchable though and enjoyable for the dick that he is at least. Phil was always slimy and smug but this time watching again - ugh. He should have had his downfall - not be allowed to walk off into the sunset 'redeemed'. The stuff he did to Nick... ugh.And the underage daughter of his lover too! I also enjoyed Danny Pearce less too, much for the same reasons as Rod I think.

Geoff Daly was more of a dick than I remembered. I didn't mind him first time around but this time he did nothing but moan, cause problems for others, use his rank be a dick.

I love the 90's way of the - mostly CID - boys calling each other by their full names when being snarky with each other. "Geoffrey." "Donald!"

The 80's/90's girls were a thousand times better than the 00's girls. On the whole they got stuck in and did the job and told the men where to stick it which was even more impressive given the time and not all this batting their eyes at them. Viv, Suzi (Croft), June, Kerry (Holmes), Cass, Liz, Vicky, Jamila, Norika, Sally (Johnson), Christine etc. The only exception being Gina, obv. (There's some 00's girls I don't mind, Mel, Millie, Kirsty, Stevie, Amber (for the wrong reasons), but most of them were problematic for various reasons or just plain poorly written.

I miss Derek! :( Even now! Him and Gina bitching together with Jack - probably about Heaton would have been hilarious.

Mickey's rape still remains IMO one of the strongest storylines on the show in its history and uses a backing of its strongest cast at the time to play it out so well and sympathetically. Even Delaney's actor is one you can believe in and want to kill through the screen. It's one of few that continued down into other storylines too and was remembered when necessary.

The Target trilogy is another that is an incredible story telling trip from start to end and so well done.

Will Fletcher is a horrible character who showed no loyalty to anyone. He knew Emma had a boyfriend/fiancé/husband and didn't back off. Even when he knew or at least suspected Matt was an abuser he still kept digging and digging away and antagonising him purposely despite that putting Emma in further danger of harm. He played with Honey's feelings, messed her around and even when she literally TOLD him she didn't want anything serious but was inviting him on a holiday of essentially sun, sea, sand and sex he still turned her down (after saying he was going until the night before) and as we know she went off to meet Eva and ended up being killed rather than getting on that plane. It was a good week before anyone realised she was missing. He treated Dan like crap too despite him supposedly being his best friend. When both men liked Emma when she first arrived, Dan stepped aside and let Will try his look. However when the petrol station woman decided she liked Dan rather than Will, Will swapped the petrol pump from a Diesel to unleaded (despite Dan having put the right one to the car) so that Dan would get bollocked and be the cause of the car having to be towed back to the police garage, emptied, flushed and then refueled and he'd get points on his licence - points that ended up stopping him going on the advanced driving course he'd applied for (that Will knew nothing about till Dan applied for it!) so that Will got his place - and then when Dan asked if he was going to turn it down given the situation when Will admitted what he'd done, Will essentially laughed at him and called him stupid in a roundabout way. He also indirectly is the reason that Dan hurt his shoulder and began the steroid journey because instead of following him to arrest the man who stole it as he should have done, he stayed with the motorbike he'd been about to buy before it was stolen, which meant that Dan had to arrest him solo and got hurt. He also took the credit for finding the missing baby in Deadly Secrets when it was Dan. He's also incredibly petulant, sulky and thinks he's the best copper at the station. I couldn't help by being amused when Callum called him out on it within 12 hours of knowing him. Speaking of Callum, Will was also stuck straight up his arse and sucking up when he knew that he was low level bullying Dan, telling him to stick where he was and that he'd never be anything more than a PC when he was asking to progress onto a course.

There's several points where multi-episode mini-stories really struggled, assuming it was because of each part having a different writer and them not seeming to collaborate or at least read other peoples episodes before writing their own. For example Conviction 6 makes out like Smithy and Stevie continued things after the last episode of Gun Runner when they really really didn't. It's quite a confusing episode in some respects because of that.

Towards the end there's a lot of 'because of the reboot' decisions in stories rather than it feeling true to the character. Without going into too much detail because the recap will be up soon, the last episode of the Conviction six parter is a great example of this and also the point above.

Why did Des fire bomb the station to retrieve the counterfeit fifty? I know why but like... what part of that action makes sense? Surely you play dumb until it's mentioned - if it is mentioned - and then say you must have been scammed somehow and put in another amount?

Dan Casper is a special precious cinnamon roll and I will fight to the death anyone who says otherwise! He's sweet, kind, generous, does not like injustice or people picking on others (ie: telling Emma she doesn't have to be mean to Beth and act all hard because of what happened to her, they still love her either way). He's super sensitive too. If he loves you he pretty much forgives you anything and everything. He's adoooooooorable! (Same for Leon pretty much!)

TPTB missed a trick not having Dan, Will, Leon, Nate and Ben all onscreen at the same time and living together in a big house share.

Speaking of Ben, I enjoyed him a lot more this time too. The first time round he was too involved in the possé stuff of Callum, Sally and Will and I used to not pay as much attention as I could during those parts but he also proved himself to be very sweet and a proper gentleman who went above and beyond with the tropey-hidden!anger stuff for a little bit.

There's a good few characters who have decent arcs through the series looking back. Gina's move from all seeing, all knowing fearless ball breaker to human and terrified of losing more officers after her thousandth one died (I jest but it started to feel that way sometimes!) was very human and believable. Neil's transformation was understandable given everything he experienced over the years, even if it was the hideous Andrea stuff in the middle. Smithy from cocky PC, Sgt who wasn't to dissimilar but had obvious hints of Uncle!Bob's moulding and influence through to mature and responsible grown up Sgt and then Inspector was wonderful.

Gina and Smithy's friendship was a thing of beauty. Other than Louise, Gina was the only other person he cried in front of - the other times he'd run off to be by himself. I still laugh at Jonathan's reaction to Smithy having a key to Gina's.

Jack and Mickey's wasn't too far behind either, though Jack had an awful tendency to be lead by another brain that wasn't in his head - ala Rachel Heath time and abandon Mickey when he needed him the most.

If there needed to be another Sgt in uniform, why couldn't Kirsty have been promoted (as a newcomer not with much background they wouldn't have to know how long she'd been a PC etc) or one of the others if not keeping Diane? Why move Jo across? She could have become a DS alongside Max and fill the gap there.

Gina's ex, Harry, does not come across like any sort of man that Gina would ever allow near her! Infact he seems the absolute opposite that she'd go for! (Episode 181)

Speaking of Gina's exes, we all know I'm bias for Gina and Jonathan, but the little reveals here and there of Adam and Gina's relationship were lovely, especially her obvious heartbreak when she spots his kids for the first time (The open day where Eva's daughter Joanna goes missing). The only reason they broke up is because she couldn't give him the kids she knew he wanted so she ended it and he didn't know why until they reunited at Sun Hill. It was beautifully done and you could get them being together.

Ugh, i wish she'd told Jonathan at the wedding (Jim/June) that she was ready to commit like she was going to! Or at the station the day after when she found him about to leave!

Although I love the end of the show as in the episodes themselves (Respect 1 and 2) I really dislike the way a lot of the storylines were rounded off. Callum post his dad's funeral and his assault and his jostling with Jo and his suspension were forgotten about for Respect 1 and 2. Max's drugs stuff was left ambiguous after his return as it wasn't mentioned and he had calmed down a bit and was less argy bargy and more wind up merchant. (And why didn't Mickey tell Jack rather than make a big song and dance about telling Neil instead!) It was a shame because it makes people totally forget how decent a person Max was from Assault On Sun Hill to In The Know a lot of the time as well as being an occasional dick. He was absolutely gutted he had to arrest Noah (Backlash) and had really bonded with him and took the time to help him and see things from his level despite his initial thoughts. He threatens a dangerous dealer to keep Fran safe. He also gave Noah his PSP to keep! (Brings back memories of Smithy giving TIm his gameboy in Lullaby). He went looking for Pavel in Righteous Kill despite it meaning he got held at gunpoint and looked out for Julie and her uncle as much as he could. He was impressed by Smithy in Gun Runner and told him and offered to help him through the DPS and other PCC interviews and sit with him if he needed someone. He was impressed by Beth in Beth Undercover and told her so. He had a really fun friendship with Eddie - or "Edmundo!". Cowboy Country - he was adorable as well as a little bugger for telling everyone about Terry's love of country music.

Speaking of Max - his and Millie's 'relationship' (not in the actual terms as in a couple) always intrigued me. Purely for the fact that she was so obviously swoony over him and all heart eyes and he never let on that he was aware (though obviously was!), however in Righteous Kill he says to her at the vending machine - after he's nobbled some money off her to take Pavel some food and drink where he's hiding out) that "it doesn't have to be a big thing." and it sort of... seems out of place as nothing linked was mentioned before it and nothing was said after (and then there's Smash and Grab a few episodes after and Millie loses the crush for a few episodes) Is this 'big thing' her crush? Is he telling her to back off? Or telling her it could be something casual... it goes unanswered and it's always bugged me why it was said because nothing came of it or was building up to it and she doesn't say anything in response other than "Sure."! Unless he's meaning not wanting to talk like she offers? Or the thing he's checking up on? (that he's going off to find Pavel without telling anyone?)

There'll likely be more as I remember it haha!

Remember back in the day when I diligently posted blogs every Tuesday...? Here's me trying again. Another installment of my new series on being a cruise ship comedian has dropped. It gets juicy.