Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret

Tuesday saw Channel 4 screen their much publicised documentary Mummifying Alan: Egypt's last secret. Alan had been diagnosed with a terminal illness when he’d answer a newspaper advertisement. The advert had requested a volunteer to donate their body to be mummified. Apparently no one had been mummified in the way of the ancient Egyptian kings for thousands of years and so it was seen as being one of Egypt's last secrets. The fact that the ancient Egyptians hadn’t actually recorded how to mummify someone made this whole process all the more intriguing. Apparently they’d perfected the art by word of mouth over thousands of years.

     The main man responsible for the mummification of Alan was a man called Stephen Buckley. He’d figured out the mummification process through the careful study of existing Egyptian mummy's and by many experiments in mummifying pigs trotters. Alan himself was at ease with the whole thing. He was very philosophical about what was going to happen to him and that made the parts of the show quite uneasy viewing. He was very easy to like as a man and so seeing his dead body was very unsettling. The fact that seconds before he’d been speaking to the camera and now he was a corpse was the most upsetting thing about it all.

     The actual process seemed to be carried out with a lot of respect and care. The team involved in the mummification process seemed to care about Alan. After disembowelling him through a small incision on his side he was painted in a concoction of bees wax and sesame sees oil before being ‘dried out’ in a salt water bath. He was kept in this bath for around 35 days before being dried out.

     The true hero of this whole thing though had to be Alan's wife. Despite not actually getting to bury her husband she seemed fine about the whole thing, even going to visit him in his bandaged state. She wasn’t around on his final unwrapping though which may have been a blessing. The mummification of Alan was complete and a resounding success. You could still tell that it was Alan and he looked like the ancient mummy's.

     As a whole, the show was very interesting and thought provoking. Alan's body is currently kept in Sheffield (only a short journey from my hometown of Chesterfield) and I found myself thinking about it for a few hours afterwards. The big question is did it need to be done? I have no doubt that Alan himself wanted to do it and that it has helped with our understanding of the ancient Egyptians. It has also helped in the understanding of what happens to be body after death. It also made a very good documentary.

First Look: Dexter Season 6

Dexter is back! Now on it’s 6th season the vigilante blood spatter anylyst shows no signs of slowing down as he continues to bring the bad guys to justice via his own brutal methods. Previous seasons have seen some unexpected stars playing the big killer. Who can forget John Lithgows Trinity Killer from season 4 or even last seasons Johnny Lee Miller. This season it is the turn of Colin Hanks to play the bad guy. He is the son of Tom Hanks if you hadn’t already guessed.

     Many critics had sugested that the show was becoming stale and that has kind of been addressed in the new series. This season seems darker than previous seasons with religion playing a huge influence. Dexter is forced to confront his own beliefs and the morality of what he does. It is not only religion that forces Dexter to think, it is Harrison his young son. In season 5 Dexter had to deal with being a single parent while still carrying out his form of justice. This season sees Harrison a little older and Dexter wondering how to keep his killing and his son seperate from each other.

     The genius of Dexter though is in it’s serial killers and this year we get a true monster, no make that 2 monsters. Colin Hanks is only the apprentice so to speak with an older man pulling the strings. He kills and presents his victims in scenes from the book of Revelations. We get snakes in one victims stomach while another victim is chopped up with his body parts sewn onto mannaquins in a bid to represent the four horsemen of the apocylypse. In these early episodes we have also had a plague of locusts! There is no doubt that this killer is a true monster although he obviously believes in the importance of his work. Colin Hanks also plays a disturbed individual although you get the feeling that he’s been brainwashed.

     As of writing I’ve not got a confirmed UK airdate but I’m guessing that it’ll be sometime in the new year on FX.

Once Upon A Time: First Look

I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been looking forward to the premier of this show. I think it began when I heard that Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz had created it. They were involved in the writing team for Lost, in my opinion one of the greatest shows ever conceived. The premise also excited me. It deals with fairy tales and the unknown stories attached to the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Pinocchio, etc. It also stars Jennifer Morrison who is better known for her portrayal of Cameron in House. These things all served to give me the kind of excitement that was normally reserved for a new season of Lost.

     The premise is that in the fairy tale world the evil queen has unleashed a curse. Basically all of the fairy tale characters have been transported to a place in our world called Storybrooke where there are “no more happy endings”. The thing is that none of the characters remember who they were. How do we find out all of this? By a mysterious ten year old called Henry. He is a resident of Storybrooke who runs away from home to look for his birth mother, Emma Swan (Jennifer Goodwin). She had him adopted when he was still a baby. Of course it isn’t as simple as all that and we soon find that Emma Swan is linked with Storybrooke in that she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming.

     Throughout the pilot we switch between the fairy tale world and the real world much as in Lost we switched to the flashbacks. Through the fairy-tale sequences we see what happened before the curse and we get to see some of the fairy tale characters we know and love. Snow White, Prince Charming, The Evil Queen, Geppetto and Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Granny (of red riding hood fame), Rumpelstiltskin and The Seven Dwarves are just some I spotted. Robert Carlyle in particular impressed for his portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin. The fairy tale world is beautiful, full of snowy peaks, vast forests and sparkling lakes. It is kind of what you would expect from a world inhabited by the likes of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I guess that’s one of the geniuses of the show as it cuts between this world and the real world these characters now inhabit. Another of the geniuses is the characters these fairy tale characters now are. Jiminy Cricket ( served as Pinocchio's conscience ) is a shrink in modern day Storybrooke. Rumpelstiltskin is the owner of StoryBrooke and carries the name Gold. Granny owns the towns bed and breakfast and lives with a Goth tearaway called Ruby (Red Riding Hood). The Evil Queen is also a resident in StoryBrooke. She is the towns mayor and adoptive mother to Harry.

     The show has all the hallmarks of Lost on it, from it’s mystery to it’s structure. It also has one or two Lost references. The StoryBrooke town clock is stuck on 8:15 (the flight number of the crashed plane in Lost). Emma Swans apartment number is 108 (the number from the hatch in Lost). The curse spreads across the fairy tale world in the form of black smoke (surely a reference to the smoke monster in Lost). I have been looking out for a replacement for Lost, a show that would give me the same tingling before I watched a new episode. Could this be it? Not yet, although it is a contender. The pilot was really good and it kept me watching. I loved so many different things about it and I’ll definitely be sticking with it. I’ve been watching a lot of the shows on Americas Autumn schedule recently and this is the best one so far.

     Unfortunately, as of writing, it hasn’t been picked up by a UK broadcaster. That is surely only a matter of time though and when it does, watch it, you won’t be disappointed.

The UK Autumn Schedule

British telly may not be able to boast the kind of budgets being thrown at the US studios at the moment but it’s still good in it’s own right. This shows with what is a very strong autumn schedule.
     The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing are currently enjoying very strong runs. Despite concerns over The X Factors viewing figures it still continues to dominate most peoples Saturday night. Another show enjoying a strong return is Downton Abbey and there are already plans for a 3rd series next year. I believe a Christmas special has already been filmed. Spooks is another show that returned a few weeks ago. It is currently enjoying it’s final series to strong viewing figures.

It isn’t all about returning shows though with a new Gervais/Merchant collaboration coming soon. Life's Too Short is a spoof documentary starring celeb dwarf Warwick Davies. It apparently boasts a better cameo hit than extras with Johnny Depp and Steve Carrel already confirmed. The series apparently revolves around a Dwarf talent agency run by Warwick and if The Office and Extras are anything to go by it should be both hilarious and cringe worthy in equal measure.


No, the vet drama isn’t making a return, not in it’s original form anyway. Young James revoles around James Herriots younger days as he made his way through Vet collage in Glasgow. The role made famous by Christopher Timothy has been taken by former Corrie star Iain de Caestecker. He played a young Adam Barlow. The three part series is due to air in November.


The first series of Downton Abbey was a resounding success and so a second series was inevitable. War has now engulfed Europe and that effects the residents of Downton, both upstairs and down. With a number of the characters fighting in the trenches the series switches between the horrors of war and the tranquillity of Downton seamlessly. And that is testament to the writting of creator Julian Fellowes. I’m a relative newcomer to the show having only recently watched the first series on DVD but I am a huge fan now. With a Christmas Special due to air on Christmas Day and a third series scheduled for next year there are still many Downton tales to tell.


The Jury first aired back in 2002 and this second outing is scripted by the man behind that first incarnation. Staring Julie Walters as the defendants QC it is due to be shown 5 nights over a single week next month. With her defendant standing accused of a gruesome triple murder Walters will need to be at her National Treasure best.

I'm going to finish with an exclusive clip from Lifes Too Short, a show that I'm really looking forward to.

American Autumn Schedule

America has begun it’s Autumn schedule with some brand new shows as well as some welcome returns. Long running series Dexter is currently 3 episodes into it’s 6th season while House is 2 episodes into it’s 8th season. On the other end of the scale The Walking Dead began it’s eagerly awaited 2nd season last night and Hawaii Five-O returned for it’s 2nd Season nearly 5 weeks ago. New series Terra Nova is 4 weeks into it’s first run and eagerly anticipated fairy tale saga Once Upon A Time makes it’s debut in a couple of weeks. On the comedy side, Big Bang Theory is onto it’s 5th run while a Charlie Sheen-less Two And A Half Men is enjoying it’s 9th season with Ashton Kutcher facing mixed reactions. These shows will arrive on UK screens shortly although some such as House and Terra Nova already have

Hawaii Five-O a enjoyed a great first run and so it was only natural that a 2nd season would follow, especially considering the cliff hanger ending of the 1st season. With Five-O broken up (Mcgarrett and Kono in prison and Chin Ho Kelly back in HPD) it seemed that only Danno remained to put the team back together. At the start of the 2nd season he does just that with the help of Mcgarretts old mentor Joe White (played brilliantly by Lost’s Terry O’Quinn aka Locke). Pretty soon the team are back together and once again going after the bad guys.
     The thing I liked about this reboot is that it was easy watching. It is like a throwback to the 80’s full of car chases, over the top fights and extravagant back drops. The fact that it’s filmed in Hawaii means that it is simply beautiful to watch. The cast are all brilliant in their respective roles. Some reboots of classic shows, be they series or film, often face the inevitable comparrisons with the original. Hawaii Five-O stands up as a show in it’s own right. 

Terra Nova is a new addition to the tv schedule both in the states and over here in the UK, although it is a week ahead in America. The story centres around the Shannon family. They are a normal family from the year 2149 who are transported back 85 million years. There they join a colony called Terra Nova which has been set up to give the human race a second chance. Steven Spielberg is executive producer and it shows with some very Speilberg-like action sequencers. Some scenes have even been in Jurassic Park! It has shown a lot of promise within it's first few episodes although some of the acting is a tad wooden. Stephen Lang is arguably the stand out star in the show, playing the commander of Terra Nova and the first human through the portal. He played the bad guy in Avatar if you're not sure who he is.
     As a fan of things like this I've found it a very good series although it may not be to every ones taste. There are one or two plot holes to look beyond but all in all it's a good premise, oh and there's dinosaurs.

When I heard of Charlie Sheens sacking from Two and a Half Men I couldn't see how the show could carry on. I'd always seen it as being about Charlie Harper and how he copes with having his brother, Alan, and his nephew, Jake, living with him. Without Charlie then there was no show, simple. The creators decided to carry on though and rather than recast another actor as Charlie, they have introduced a completely new character in Walden Schmidt played by Ashton Kutcher. It feels like a different show almost a sequel series. It is very good though and the humour is still there. It could have gone either way and when I found out about Kutchers casting, I wasn't so sure. I am happy to be proved wrong though as he brings something different to what was perhaps becoming a tired show.

     I'll review the various other shows that are coming to our screens in future posts. I'm going to finish off with the trailer for the upcoming Once Upon a Time staring former House M.D. star Jennifer Morrison. She played Dr Allison Cameron for 5 seasons.