The Killing II vs PanAm

So what to watch on Saturday night?

On BBC4 we have the followup to critically acclaimed The Killing. Nordic angst, grisly murder, chunky jumpers, frowning. And a double-bill no less.

On BBC2 we have fluffy frothy pretty but empty Pan Am, Mad Men lite as it were. It's got pretty air hostesses in the 1960s wearing fetching blue uniforms. And a double-bill no less.

For the first night of The Killing I decided that it would get my vote. Bring on the murder and the frowning. I thought the first episode was pretty good. But half-way through the second one I found myself stuck in a political meeting and with a shock I realised I was bored. So I gave up on The Killing half-way through episode 2.

Then this weekend I decided to pick up with episode 3, get back in the game. Bring on the jumpers and the angst! Very quickly thereafter I found myself in another political meeting and I realised I was bored. I quickly turned over to BBC2 to watch Pan Am. Yes, it was fluffy and frothy and empty, but in a pleasant way. The girls were pretty and looked good in their blue uniforms. There was even some sort of spy plot involving Goran from ER.

So until there is a director's cut of The Killing with all the political meetings removed my vote will be with Pan Am.

Kelly Sotherton: I don't want to get to 60 and think 'if only'

Another Kelly Sotherton article has appeared, this time in The Guardian. Hence me buying the paper during my lunch-break.

The British Olympian was told she would never compete again, slipped into depression and lost her funding, but now she has ambitions at London 2012 as well as Strictly Come Dancing.

Kelly Sotherton is taking nothing for granted but is planning to live off her savings and train through the winter at Birmingham's high performance centre.

"It's rubbish, really," Kelly Sotherton says, laughing defiantly at the fact that, last Sunday, she turned 35. Seven weeks since returning to training for the heptathlon, the gruelling multi-event discipline in which she once fractured her spine in between winning bronze medals at the Olympic Games and the world championships, Sotherton shrugs. "They're really cruel in athletics. As soon as you reach 35 they put a 'V' next to your name. V for veteran. Honestly.

You can read the whole article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/14/kelly-sotherton-london-2012-olympics?newsfeed=true

Rebecca Hall in Radio Times

I discovered that Rebecca Hall is in the new issue of the Radio Times so I bought a copy and scanned the pages.

The fact that Christina Ricci was on the cover in a 1960s air hostess uniform might have had something to do with me picking up the magazine in the first place...