u/OverseerConey

The overlap between Brokenwood's and My Life's casts is not slim, and it seems to be a rule (or a tradition, or an old charter, or something) that any actor playing one of the scruffy, low-status, usually criminal, occasionally delightful Oades family in one must be a well-dressed socialite in the other. So far, we've seen:

https://preview.redd.it/i8j8jisw8cjh1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e921725e01ad85e6d9ae3e41ae4d63bdaf6e4db

Joel Tobeck (Bobby Oades) as 'chef to the rich and famous' Tyler Wicks.

https://preview.redd.it/bm4g20g59cjh1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=07a58d13d3a1a9983cf80f6933e6bdc56ad23827

Jamie Irvine (Johnny Oades) as rich idiot Malcolm Boyd.

https://preview.redd.it/5pofk1td9cjh1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=d7529dc178a87b8c890cdf20137d31c338e71587

Sinead Fitzgerald (Fennella Richards) as Parker, a wealthy family's nanny.

https://preview.redd.it/82sqo6l0acjh1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=43a0793d16e7618c25a50876a4cdf6728f02c5c5

Millen Baird (Les Oades) as country club manager Ricardo.

No sign yet of Frodo, Rhys, Janis or Errol, but we live in hope. Perhaps they'll appear in future seasons as fashion models, corporate tycoons or minor royals.

Hi folks! I've been trying to pin down a book I read sometime last century or so - published in the 80s or 90s, I believe. My family had an eclectic collection of books so I don't know how popular it was, but it's stuck with me and I'm curious what it was called!

So, the basics: novel form, possibly some illustrations. The protagonist was an animal of the urban scavenger variety - a rat or a mouse, probably. I'm pretty sure they lived in a fish and chip shop, and I think their problems began when the shop tried to rebrand as a trendy seafood restaurant (or something like that?) and the kitchen was suddenly full of dead squid. I recall that they were freaked out by all the staring eyes.

Somehow, they ended up leaving the restaurant and the town and living rural, and there meeting more animals. Pretty sure the book was Australian, so the animals were various native critters - probably koalas, wombats, and/or other marsupials. I think the climax of the story was floodwaters coming through and the animals surviving by clinging to floating debris. I recall one of the critters disembarking at a new patch of dry land and remarking 'a change is as good as a holiday'.

Otherwise, what sticks me is a general air of city-mouse-goes-country, of missing vividly-described fast food and gradually getting used to a different way of doing things. Does this ring a bell for anyone?

I totted up the range of scores - i.e., the gap between the score of the contestant in first place and the score of the contestant in fifth place - for every mainline UK series. I also added the gap between the winning contestant's score and their closest competitor/s. They run as follows, the format (gap between 1st and 5th)/(gap between 1st and 2nd):

1. 26/1 ^((6 episodes))
2. 25/4 ^((5 episodes))
3. 21/6 ^((5 episodes))
4. 19/8 ^((8 episodes))
5. 29/8 ^((8 episodes))
6. 29/6
7. 43/1
8. 28/8
9. 39/8
10. 44/4
11. 33/4
12. 47/1
13. 31/3
14. 40/10
15. 43/16
16. 22/6
17. 61/21
18. 23/3
19. 28/15
20. 8/0
21. 15/4

As you can see, S20 is clearly the closest series in both overall spread and the gap between its leading contestants - no surprise there, as it ended in a three-way tie. S21 is the next closest in overall spread, followed by series 4. Series 1, 7 and 12 share second place in narrowest gaps between leading contestants, each being won by one point, followed by 13 and 18 with 3.

Series 17 had the biggest gaps - John Robins' lead on his competitors was absolutely massive. Series 12 had the second-biggest overall gap, while also having a tiny gap between its leaders - the top four were in close competition while poor Victoria Coren-Mitchell got left behind. Series 10 was next, but with a more even spread.

Mae had the next-strongest lead over their competitors after John - they benefited from some controversial rulings, but would, I think, have won outright either way. Mat Baynton's next in line, with a 15-point lead, though his series' overall spread was quite slim - he was an excellent tasker in a well-matched series.

I'm sure I've made some spectacular mathematical gaffs, so please do let me know if you see any mistakes - or, even better, just tell me I'm fantastically clever and send me a small parcel of cakes and money.

Be Gay Solve Crimes is a podcast that analyses detective fiction through a transgender lens, examining mystery stories both on their own merits and looking for trans subtext.

This week, they covered Requiem for a Falling Star - their first proper introduction for two of the hosts. (The third host was unable to attend this recording, but they have a guest with more Columbo experience join them.)

Spoiler-y summary: >!they absolutely love it, of course, and the two-thirds consensus is that Columbo is a trans man who loves femininity and glamour on other people but loves being a scruffy little guy himself.!<

Dean Domino may be a pretty awful person, but his perk makes him my most-used companion in Dead Money. Each companion has one teachable perk and one active one (kinda - God only has the active perk, while Dog can teach you his active perk), and Dean's active perk is the only one that can't be made redundant and is useful in every playthrough.

By way of context, the companions' active perks are:

• Ravenous Hunger - Dog will eat fallen Ghost People, permanently killing them.
• In My Footsteps - God gives you a temporary +10 Sneak and immunity to setting off pressure plates, tripwires and mines.
• Signal Interference - Christine makes radios and speakers take twice as long to set off your collar.
• Unclean Living - Dean gives you 5 seconds of immunity to Cloud damage whenever you enter it, plus reduced damage once it starts hurting you.

And the teachable perks are:

• Ghost Hunter - Dog teaches you how to permanently kill Ghost People, preventing them from ever resurrecting.
• Coin Operator - Christine teaches you to craft Sierra Madre chips.
• Sierra Madre Martini: Dean teaches you to craft Sierra Madre martinis.

First of all, you can see that Dog's teachable perk renders his active perk obsolete. Ghost Hunter is even more effective than Ravenous Hunger, because it applies to all Ghost People, not just ones that he has time to eat before they resurrect.

In My Footsteps is useful, but, aside from the Sneak boost, it provides the same effect as the perk Light Step. I always take Light Step - it's a great quality-of-life perk - and Dead Money also gives you the Assassin Suit, which provides the same Sneak bonus.

Signal Interference is handy when you're learning the map, but once you know where the radios and speakers are, you can generally disable them within seconds. There are a couple of places where I still struggle to disable all the radios in time, but they're places where Christine isn't available - inside the casino and the vault.

Unclean Living provides something very rare - total immunity to a particular damage type. You can run past speakers and Light Step lets you tap-dance on traps, but there are places where you will need to pass through the Cloud - often to access valuable caches, including rare items - and Dean lets you do so without harm.

My standard practice now is to recruit everyone, then take Dean with me to explore the entire outdoor map - collecting loot, clearing out Ghost People, unlocking doors and terminals and finding secrets. Then, I'll lead God and Christine to their respective jobs.

https://i.redd.it/r3iro3n5ewzg1.gif

https://i.redd.it/quzb3256ewzg1.gif

Kumail was doing an impression of the backwards-talking, time-and-space-warping Man From Another Place - and the background music matched his scenes as well!