Vale Patricia Routledge: Mrs Bucket has left the building

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Vale Patricia Routledge: Mrs Bucket has left the building

7 October 2025

British actor Patricia Routledge died at the age of ninety-six last week. I came to know Routledge through her role as Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet, it would seem), in the BBC produced TV sitcom Keeping up Appearances, which ran from 1990 to 1995.

I think the show screened in Australia a little after that time.

I’m not much of TV watcher, but I’d come home one day, flicked on the TV, and there was her show. Hyacinth, originally from a working class family, believed her place was near the top of the pecking order, not the bottom. Her attempts however to scale the social ladder were frequently thwarted by her sisters, and brother-in-law, who were quite content with their working class lives.

I made a point to tune-in each week, and ended up seeing a series or two of the show. After production ceased in 1995, Routledge was frequently asked to reprise her role as Hyacinth, but refused. Speaking later, Routledge said she wanted the show to go out on a high. A good call.

Keeping up Appearances starred numerous well known British actors. Clive Swift portrayed Hyacinth’s hen-pecked husband Richard, with Shirley Stelfox, and Judy Cornwell, as her sisters Rose and Daisy, respectively. Geoffrey Hughes played Daisy’s husband Onslow, and Josephine Tewson was cast as Liz, Hyacinth’s jittery neighbour.

Although Routledge was opposed to continuing the show, a prequel film, Young Hyacinth, with Kerry Howard in the titular role, was made in 2016, which was set about forty years before events of Keeping up Appearances.

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entertainment, Patricia Routledge, TV

Where no Star Trek syndication royalties have gone: to William Shatner

12 September 2025

William Shatner, the Canadian actor perhaps best known for portraying Captain Kirk, in the original series (TOS) of sci-fi TV series, Star Trek, claims to have not been paid a penny for the shows that screened in syndication. After the show’s original run, between 1966 to 1969, after which the series was cancelled, some TV stations began broadcasting re-runs.

It seems incredible to think that Star Trek might not have become the cultural phenomenon it is today (that is, numerous movies and spin-off shows), if not for those re-runs during the 1970’s, which ignited broader interest in the story.

I imagine none of the other (original) Star Trek cast members received any residual fees either. It seems no one gave any thought, at the time, to the notion of TV shows being re-screened after their original run concluded. Perhaps though cast members received compensation in kind, when negotiating their fees to appear in the later series of movies.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Shatner also said he’d only ever seen a small number of the original TV shows, and none of the spin-offs. Of course the point can be made that there’s no use watching the shows since you were in them, and presumably know what happens.

But the experience of participating in a broadcast production, be it a TV show or a movie, is a world removed from viewing same. This is something Keir Dullea, who portrayed astronaut David Bowman, in 2001: A Space Odyssey, touched on at a special screening of the film, in Sydney, in 2006.

Dullea said all he could see — particularity during the close-up scenes where his character appeared to directly face the audience — were cameras, and production crew and equipment.

As a result, he said he didn’t get a true sense of the story until watching the finished product. This despite being right in the middle of proceeding at times. It can’t have been much different for Shatner. But we’re talking Captain Kirk here, someone whose perspective is a little different…

Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, return for Northern Lights trip

12 August 2025

It seemed pretty clear 2020’s The Trip to Greece was the final jaunt for British foodies Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. This after travels to the north of England, Italy, and Spain.

But now a new six-part series, The Trip To The Northern Lights, where the pair will venture around Scandinavia, starts production later in 2025, and presumably screens sometime in 2026.

Margaret Pomeranz, David Stratton, join Australian Film Walk of Fame

28 June 2025

Colloquially referred to as Margaret and David, the long time Australian film critics became, on Sunday 1 June 2025, the first non-actors to be inducted to the Australian Film Walk of Fame.

The pair are perhaps best known for the two film review television shows they co-hosted, The Movie Show, on SBS, from 1986 until 2004, and then At the Movies, on ABC, from 2004 through to 2014.

Among other roles, Stratton served as director of the Sydney Film Festival from 1966 until 1983. Pomeranz meanwhile was a prominent anti-censorship activist, and was once detained by police during a protest. Despite the warmth of their professional partnership, they often disagreed with each other as to the merits of a film. This became a distinguishing hallmark of their collaboration.

In the earlier days of disassociated I wrote a fair bit about film, and often saw Pomeranz and Stratton at various previews screenings and other events. Stratton hosted a conversation with Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 2006.

One evening, while waiting to go into a preview screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Sydney in 2012, Pomeranz walked right passed me, as she was leaving the earlier screening. “Any good?” I asked her. She nodded politely in response.

The Australian Film Walk of Fame plague awarded to Pomeranz and Stratton earlier this month, is the second one presented this year. In recent years, the Walk, located outside the Ritz Cinema, in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, has been a little quiet. Is this something of a Film Walk of Fame revival?

Netflix adapting My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin into a TV series

27 June 2025

Talking of Miles Franklin, the late Australian author, not the literary award named in her honour, Netflix is filming an adaptation of her 1901 novel, My Brilliant Career.

Principal photography is currently underway in parts of South Australia, with Melbourne born Australian actor Philippa Northeast in the role of Sybylla Melvyn. Here’s the novel’s synopsis:

Trapped on her parents’ outback farm, Sybylla simultaneously loves bush life and hates the physical burdens it imposes. She longs for a more refined lifestyle – to read, to think, to sing – but most of all to do great things. Suddenly her life is transformed when she is whisked away to live on her grandmother’s gracious property. There Sybylla falls under the eye of the rich and handsome Harry Beecham. Soon she finds herself choosing between everything a conventional life offers and her own plans for a ‘brilliant career’.

Anna Chancellor portrays Sybylla’s grandmother, and Christopher Chung has been cast as Harry Beecham. At this stage, word has it the show will screen either later this year, or in early 2026.

While you’re waiting for the TV show, track down and watch Gillian Armstrong’s 1979 film adaptation of My Brilliant Career, which starred Judy Davis and Sam Niell as Sybylla and Harry respectively.

Harry Potter producers pull lead actors for ten year TV adaptation from hat

31 May 2025

Two years after the announcement of a ten series TV adaptation of the (original) Harry Potter books, members of the primary cast have been announced.

This includes Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout in the roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively. Other castings include John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape. No word yet on who will portray bad guy Voldemort, though rumours suggest this might be Cillian Murphy.

So, another ten years of Harry Potter on the screen. No doubt fans will be delighted. It is anticipated the first series will be broadcast sometime in 2026 or 2027.

Seen, read, and heard, books, film, TV, and music March 2024

27 March 2024

Long time readers of Kottke have doubtless seen his semi-regular media diet posts, where he writes about the movies and TV shows he’s seen, plus books he’s been reading. Kottke is a voracious consumer of media if those posts are anything to go by.

In comparison, my consumption is far more modest. Maybe it’s because I have a minimum of two to three hours away from screens daily, and/or I spend too much time daydreaming.

Still, dimming the lights during the quiet remains of the day, and taking in a movie or TV show, and afterwards, a book, is always something to look forward to.

Movie poster for The Miseducation of Cameron Post, featuring Chloe Grace Moretz

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a 2018 film directed by Desiree Akhavan, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, as the titular character. After learning Cameron has a girlfriend, her conservative aunt and guardian sends her away for gay “conversion” therapy at a religious institution. I watched this twice, as I found the first viewing unsettling to say the least.

Also unsettling and confronting is Nitram, by Justin Kurzel, which delves into the mind of the person responsible for Australia’s largest mass-shooting in 1996, at Port Arthur, in Tasmania.

Tully, directed by Jason Reitman in 2018, stars Charlize Theron as Marlo, who is struggling to raise a family after the birth of her third child. Reluctantly she hires a night nanny named Tully. Despite some early misgivings about Tully, the two quickly develop a close bond.

Knives Out, made in 2019 by Rian Johnson, sees Daniel Craig playing a James Bond like role that not the least bit James Bond (thankfully). Craig portrays Benoit Blanc, a private investigator, who tries to piece together the apparent suicide of a wealthy family patriarch. If whodunits are your thing, this is not to be missed.

I’ve also found time to look at Nemesis, a documentary produced by the ABC, which looks at the last three Coalition party Prime Ministers of Australia. What can I say? Once a politician, always a politician? And, we may wear the same stripes, but that doesn’t mean we like each other. Even if politics isn’t your thing, this is still fascinating viewing.

I’ve also been tuning into Universe, a documentary by British physicist Brian Cox. There’s no missing the similarities to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, made by Carl Sagan in the early 1980’s. Compared to Cosmos, Universe does plod a little, but Cox’s enthusiasm, indeed joy, for the gargantuan entity we reside in, is nothing short of infectious.

Most people probably know Cox played keyboards in British dance/electronica act D:Ream, and their 1993 track Things can only get better, perhaps remains one of the band’s best known tracks. But you may not know that Cox later conceded the song was misleading and scientifically inaccurate. The universe, despite being a mere baby, is already in an inexorable, albeit protracted, decline. Things are certainly not getting better…

Turning to novels, I’ve recently read Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, by Sydney based author and lawyer Shankari Chandran, which won the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award for Australian fiction. I’m not really into crime fiction, but couldn’t put down The Housemate, by Melbourne writer Sarah Bailey.

Likewise, Funny Ethnics by Shirley Li, set across the west and inner west of Sydney, which I wrote about here last year. I’m currently reading Before You Knew My Name, by Jacqueline Bublitz, a story about two women, one alive, one dead, whose fates become intertwined in New York.

The Triple J Hottest 100 was broadcast two months ago, but I’m still sifting through the countdown for tracks to add to my playlists. At present though I have Paint The Town Red, by Doja Cat, and The Worst Person Alive, by G Flip, on repeat. Also State Violence State Control, by Arnaud Rebotini, which was on the soundtrack for Mark Raso’s 2014 film Copenhagen.

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books, film, music, TV

The Super Models, Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi, reunited

22 September 2023

Nineties supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, were household names thirty years ago. At least in my household, that is, because when you had an aspiring fashion photographer in your midst, little that the four did would go unmentioned. But thirty years on, Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi, remain household names, on account of their now legendary trailblazing exploits.

The Super Models, trailer, a four part documentary produced by Apple TV+, which began streaming on Wednesday 20 September 2023, sees Cindy, Linda, Christy, and Naomi reunited thirty years later, and traces their epic story, from the 1980’s onwards:

“The Super Models” travels back to the 1980s, when four women from different corners of the world united in New York. Already forces in their own right, the gravitas they achieved by coming together transcended the industry itself. Their prestige was so extraordinary that it enabled the four to supersede the brands they showcased, making the names Naomi, Cindy, Linda and Christy as prominent as the designers who styled them. Today, the four supermodels remain on the frontlines of culture through activism, philanthropy and business prowess. As the fashion industry continues to redefine itself — and women’s roles within it — this is the ultimate story of power and how four women came together to claim it, paving the way for those to follow.

Pistol, the story of the Sex Pistols by Danny Boyle

28 May 2022

Pistol, trailer, a six-part TV series tracking the rise, and fall, of legendary punk band, the Sex Pistols, debuts on Tuesday 31 May 2022.

The series is based on the 2016 memoir Lonely Boy, by Steve Jones, former guitarist of the English group, and is directed by British filmmaker Danny Boyle, he of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, and Slum Dog Millionaire, fame.

Actually we’re not into music, we’re into chaos.

Hell yeah. Time to break out Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, the group’s only studio album, released in 1977. God Save the Queen, Anarchy in the UK, Pretty Vacant… the music only gets better as time goes by.

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Danny Boyle, music, TV

Australian soap opera Neighbours coming to an end

4 March 2022

After months of speculation, it’s official, long running Australian television soap opera, Neighbours, is coming to an end after thirty-seven years. The call was made after the soap’s production company Fremantle, were unable to find another broadcaster in the United Kingdom to screen the show.

Ironically the only time I ever saw Neighbours was when I lived in the United Kingdom for a few years. There was a curious — to me at least — ritual at one of the places I worked at, where many of the staff would take their lunch breaks a little later than usual so they could watch Neighbours. My colleagues would assemble in a meeting room and look at the afternoon screening on the wall mounted TV, while engaging in animated banter about what was happening.

I’m a little surprised the producers struggled to find British support for the show though. Neighbours, and its Sydney based counterpart Home and Away, were, at the time, broadcast twice daily, in the early afternoon, and then a few hours later in the early evening. If that’s not a gauge of the popularity of a TV show, what is?

The final episodes will be filmed in June this year, according to reports.

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television, TV