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Essays

Content warning for sexual assault

Feb 14 • Rowan Davies

Whatever happened to Jennifer Lopez?

Jan 24 • Rowan Davies

I don't think about you at all

There’s a famous dunk in Mad Men in which some young dweeb in a plaid coat (I don’t know who he is, because I’d stopped watching Mad Men by this point…

Jan 10 • Rowan Davies

The corporate theory of value

I seem to have accidentally retired at the grand age of 54 (thus becoming one of the 50--64-year-olds whose ‘economic inactivity’ forms part of the…

Nov 22, 2025 • Rowan Davies

SPOILER WARNING for Primary Colors (the novel and the film)

Nov 8, 2025 • Rowan Davies

Enjoy yourself; it’s later than you think

When I was about 13, I overheard a piece of music in the background of a Radio 4 programme and found myself desperately needing to know what it was.

Oct 11, 2025 • Rowan Davies

The latest from

Rowan Davies

Swansea beach

The Editors

Titus Groan (1946)

Tobias Sturt

Titus Groan (1946)

Jon Millington

November '24: A Christmas story

Chris Waywell

April '24: Ooh, you poor man

The Metropolitan

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Raised By Puffins

Iain M. Banks (Orbit, 1996)

Jan 3 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Father Christmas

Raymond Briggs (Hamish Hamilton, 1973)

Dec 13, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Edgar Allan Poe (published posthumously)

Oct 4, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

The Secret History

Donna Tartt (Knopff, 1992)

Aug 2, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Can We Show The Kids?

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Say, what gives?

Dec 6, 2025 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

The Wicker Man (1973)

In the wood there grew a tree, and a fine, fine tree was he

Oct 18, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Spinal Tap (1984)

Jul 19, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Down By Law (1986)

It’s a sad and beautiful world

May 3, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

On The Box

Blackadder II (1986)

A sitcom so cunningly devised that you could put a silly hat on it and call it the court jester to the king of weasels.

Jan 17 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

‘A Bit Of’ Fry & Laurie (1989 - 1995)

…oh Christ, I’ve left the iron on

Sep 20, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

The Beiderbecke Affair (1985)

What I don’t understand is this…

Jul 5, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Sapphire and Steel (1979 — 82)

…have been assigned

Apr 19, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Track Listing

What a lovely way to burn

Nov 15, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

1990: Love’s got the world in motion

This is a football song

Sep 6, 2025 • Rowan Davies

1989: C30, C60, C90, Go!

Home Taping is Skill in Music

Jun 21, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

1988: Then & Now… The Best of The Monkees

Monkees are the craziest people

Apr 5, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Canon fodder

Titus Groan (1946)

A trip down the winding sentences and cluttered paragraphs of Gormenghast

Feb 7 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

Down with Skool (1953)

Nov 1, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Catcher in the Rye (1951)

Do we really want to hear about it?

Aug 16, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

The Goon Show (1951—60)

What is this 'Go On Show'?

Jun 7, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Mixtape

Metropolitan Mixtape: January 2026

New Year, Same Nonsense

Jan 31 • The Editors, Tobias Sturt, and Rowan Davies

Metropolitan Mixtape: December 2025

The year in review

Dec 27, 2025 • The Editors

Christmas Movie Season 2025

And a one, two, three, four...

Dec 2, 2025 • The Editors

Metropolitan Mixtape: November 2025

Diplomats, gangsters, monsters and the Christmas playlist

Nov 29, 2025 • The Editors, Tobias Sturt, and Rowan Davies

Seasons

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892/1984/1991)

"Remarkable, Holmes!", "Meretricious, Watson." "And a Happy New Year."

Dec 20, 2025 • The Editors and Tobias Sturt

A Study in Pink (2010)

The scarlet thread of disappointment running through the colourful skein of TV

Nov 26, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

Sherlock Hound (1984) / The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

Holmes Movies: The game is a-paw

Oct 16, 2025 • Tobias Sturt

The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976)

Holmes Movies: Sherlock Holmes meets Sigmund Freud!

Sep 23, 2025 • The Editors

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