It’s Your Last Chance To Catch 8 Netflix Titles Leaving This June

Posted on 20/06/2026 by Boris Clair

Who doesn’t love a good Netflix binge of a weekend – even one as sunny as this one?

Whether it’s the just-dropped Harlan Coben drama critics say is “maddeningly watchable” or one of the suggestions from our list of the streamer’s brand-new June titles, there’s plenty of options to work through.

But if you’re finding it hard to choose, why not pick the movies and shows leaving the subscription service soon? After all, you won’t have a chance to do so again any time soon.

Here’s what’s on its way out in June 2026 from today on in the UK, per The Independent:

Leaving Saturday, 20 June

1) North Shore

Netflix's North Shore — Netflix’s North Shore

Starring Game of Thrones star John Bradley alongside Downtown Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt, the six-episode show’s synopsis reads: “When a UK minister’s daughter dies mysteriously in Sydney, a London detective must team up with his Australian counterpart to unravel the mystery.”

2) The Secret Agent

Toby Jones (Detectorists, The Hack), Vicky McClure (Line of Duty), and Stephen Graham (Adolescence, Boiling Point) lead this four-episode gem, which is set in Victorian London. “A shopkeeper who doubles as a spy for the Russian Embassy comes under pressure to commit an act of politically-motivated terrorism,” Netflix summarises the show.

3) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron

Yes, that is *the* DreamWorks horse flick from your childhood we’re talking about. Its stellar cast includes Good Will Hunting’s Matt Damon and Succession’s James Cromwell.

Leaving Sunday, June 21

4) Love Is a Story

This Romanian rom-com focuses on “two young artists, a violin player and an actress, [who] fight to achieve their dreams and keep their relationship together during Christmastime.” It stars Raluca Aprodu, Dragoș Bucur, and Ducu Darie.

5) #Selfie

The Romanian coming-of age flick follows a group of teenage girls (Flavia Hojda, Crina Semciuc, Olimpia Melinte, and more) who flee pre-exam stress by going on a seaside adventure.

6) #Selfie 69

Another of the Romanian movie series is set to leave on the same day. This comedy is a sequel to #Seflie, with some familiar names in the cast list. It focuses on “a trio of party-loving friends [who] make a bet: who can get married in three days” after a breakup?

7) The Secret

Based on a true story, this drama has a pretty juicy description: “A dentist and a Sunday school teacher begin a torrid extramarital affair that leads them to make a murderous pact.” Stars include James Nesbitt (Cold Feet), Genevieve O’Reilly (Andor), and Laura Pyper (Emma).

8) Who Are You: School 2015

This 16-episode Korean school drama involves “a bullied high school orphan [who] finds herself in the place of an identical-looking girl who’s gone missing” after losing her memory. Cast members include Yook Sung-jae (The Golden Spoon) and Nam Joo-hyuk (The Great Battle).

Peter Capaldi Just Shared Why He Really Left Doctor Who

Posted on 17/06/2026 by Boris Clair

Peter Capaldi, who was the 12th Doctor on BBC hit Doctor Who, has spoken out about his exit from the show.

The Thick Of It Star left the franchise in 2017. In a recent appearance on YouTube series 100 Questions with John Simmons, he claimed that he decided to leave the role because “I just wasn’t sure that it was going to go in the direction that I… everybody was leaving that I’d worked with.”

He added, “Everybody was leaving. Jenna [presumably Jenna Louise-Coleman, who played the Doctor’s companion Clara Oswald] had gone, and Steven [probably former head writer Steven Moffat, who also left in 2017] was going, and Brian [likely Brian Minchin], the producer, was going, and those are the people that make it work for you.

“We’d had some talks about the direction. I wasn’t sure that that was where I wanted to go with the show. And I also thought, I’m not sure I could come up with anything new.”

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Peter continued to say that while his regeneration, which saw the actor replaced by Jodie Whittaker, was “very sad”, he thinks that the biological process the Doctor uses to survive serious damage has become “diminished”.

Calling the concept “a very, very powerful death motif,” he said, “To be perfectly honest, I think there are too many regenerations.

“I love all the Doctors, but I’ve lost count now of how many of them there are, so the weight of this kind of regeneration is diminished. Whereas when I grew up as a kid, the first time it happened it was: ‘What just happened there?’ It was mysterious and strange. It holds the mystery of the show, the regeneration.”

It’s not the first time he’s expressed his feelings about the show, of which he was a super-fan in his youth.

On the Half Of The Picture podcast this year, he claimed: “The show became very, very big. And it was never like that when I loved it. So it became a different thing.

“I think the show is a little bit of a victim of its success. You know, the show that I loved was a tiny thing, a little small thing that survived. It just survived, but nobody knew that it was warming its way into the culture in such a deep way. And I think that’s what I have an affinity with.”

In the ’70s, the Doctor Who fan club received so much correspondence from a young Capaldi that then-president of the group, Keith Miller, said he felt “haunted” by the Doctor-to-be.

Eight Books To Read From 2026’s Best TV And Movie Adaptations

Posted on 12/06/2026 by Boris Clair

Whether it’s the new Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility adaptations (this time from Netflix and Focus Features, respectively) or yet another instalment in the Dune franchise, 2026′s film and TV schedule ought to make readers pretty happy.

There’s something for sci-fi, romance, and classic lit lovers alike – bonus points if you’re a fan of Twilight star Robert Pattinson, who’s set to appear in both Christopher Nolan flick The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three this year.

Zendaya will also feature in both movies alongside her The Drama co-star.

If you want to read ahead of this year’s releases or are keen to find out more about the origins of the movies and shows already out this year, we’ve got your back (or should that be your spine?).

Here are eight books to read from 2026′s most exciting book-to-screen options:

1) Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

Ryan Gosling at the Project Hail Mary premiere

The 2021 sci-fi novel focuses on teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spaceship one day with no memory of how he got there. Then, he learns he’s accidentally become humanity’s last hope (space enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that some of its scientific details are NASA-backed).

The movie stars Ryan Gosling, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, and, if you listen close enough, Meryl Streep. Even better news: it’s set to be released on streamer MGM+ on Thursday, June 18, in the UK, and can be rented through YouTube or Amazon Prime already.

Movie release date: It came out on March 9, 2026

2) Sunrise On The Reaping, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games author’s prequel explores the experience Katniss and Peeta’s tutor, Haymitch, had as a young tribute in Panem’s earlier Games.

Portrayed by Owen Wilson in the original movies, Sunrise On The Reaping’s Haymitch will be played by Joseph Zada (previously part of Prime Video’s YA adaptation, We Were Liars) instead. The cast will also include Ralph Fiennes, Regretting You’s McKenna Grace, and Hocus Pocus 2′s Whitney Peak.

Movie release date: 20 November, 2026

3) Rivals, by Jilly Cooper

David Tennant at a Rivals season 2 screening

The 1988 novel is the second of Dame Jilly Cooper’s 11 Rutshire Chronicles books (the last, Tackle!, was published much later than the others, in 2023).

Not only is the Rivals book filled with all the sex, scandal, and ’80s glamour you’d expect, rumour has it that the production company that made the Disney+ version has the rights to nine of the original 10 books – meaning readers who keep leafing through the series could be richly rewarded later on.

While 2026′s second Rivals season deviates from the book at times, it’s proven a hit among viewers and critics alike.

TV show release date: the first season is available to stream on Disney+, as are the first six episodes of season two. However, the series has taken a break and is expected to return to the streamer in November 2026.

4) Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

It’s no secret I’m a bit of an Austen fan, but even those who don’t usually go in for Regency novels ought to give the classic book a go. The funny, quietly subversive story focuses on the almost-certainly-financially-screwed Bennet sisters, the ridiculous and cynical Georgian marriage market, and some very eligible real estate.

If nothing else, reading it will add an extra layer of enjoyment to on-screen hits like The Other Bennet Sister and Bridget Jones.

Plus, when the 2026 Netflix series (starring Emma Corrin and Olivia Colman) comes out, you can decide for yourself whether screenwriter Dolly Alderton kept faithful ot the text – or, like Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, carved her own controversial path.

TV show release date: autumn, 2026

5) The Odyssey, by Homer

The way this Ancient Greek poem is talked about, you’d swear it wasn’t basically a sex and violence-packed soap opera. But in many ways, soldier Odysseus’ long journey home is exactly that – he meets with fantastical creatures, evil witches, and sneaky sirens during what must surely go down in history as the world’s most eventful commute.

It seems Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which stars Matt Damon in the lead role, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope and Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, alongside Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Travis Scott, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson, will be similarly impressive.

Not only is the movie shot entirely with IMAX cameras – a first for director – but the star-studded cast has described it as “unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before” and “exactly what you want [from] a summer movie”.

Movie release date: July 17, 2026

6) The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood

A sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, this story is set 15 years after the cliffhanger ending of the first book. Aunt Lydia shows her mettle as she fights against the oppressive regime set in the original novel.

The Disney+ series sees Ann Dowd, who also played Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale series, reprise her role. She stars alongside One Battle After Another actor Chase Infiniti and Bafta winner Lucy Halliday in a show critics have dubbed “ravishing” and “a triumph”.

TV show release: The first season is already out on Disney+.

7) Dune and Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert

me reading the first Dune trilogy, despite my aversion to sci-fi

To be honest, the first novel will see you through most of the first two movies, and is more than enough to call yourself a sandworm bookworm. But Dune: Part Three leans heavily on Dune: Messiah, the second in Herbert’s canonical six-part series.

It’s less action-packed than the first entry, but it contains arguably weirder characters – like a gas-guzzling fish-human hybrid – that make you wonder where the movie, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Florence Pugh, could possibly go.

Movie release date: December 18, 2026 (just about enough time to finish the first trilogy)

8) Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

It might not be as essential an Austen read as Pride and Prejudice. But Elinor and Marianne Dashwood’s plight is no less engaging than the Bennet sisters’: after some significant downsizing, the family has to make their way in a very new society. Yearning and love troubles inevitably ensue.

This year’s movie marks the first screen adaptation of the book since the BBC’s excellent 2008 TV series. Only time will tell if stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Hanna star Esmé Creed-Miles will prove just as dazzling on the big screen.

Movie release date: September 25, 2026.

The Other Bennet Sister: Why Austen Readers Should Watch The BBC Hit

Posted on 04/04/2026 by Boris Clair

Additional comment from Dr Shelley Galpin, a lecturer in Media, Culture, and Creative Industries at King’s College London.

Adapting a book for a TV show or movie means some readers are sure to be disappointed (take, for instance, Emerald Fennell’s controversial Wuthering Heights).

The BBC’s The Other Bennet Sister is no exception. Focused on Mary, the largely forgotten sibling in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the series takes significant enough liberties with the author’s original work for some readers to dub it “fanfic”.

Personally, I’ve never seen that as much of an insult (what are Clueless or Bridget Jones if not very well-done Austen fan fictions?).

If anything, though it has its flaws, I think The Other Bennet Sister is a fun, highly watchable series that fits as neatly into the book’s premise as a mid-2020s TV show can.

It’s not the best screenwriting, I grant you. But the 1940 Pride and Prejudice film adaptation, which included the lines “At this moment, it’s difficult to believe that you’re so proud.” “At this moment, it’s difficult to believe that you are so prejudiced”, made a (clunky) point.

The book is all about how we see and unfairly judge one another, including as a reader. And speaking to HuffPost UK, media, culture, and creative industries lecturer Dr Shelley Galpin said, “The [BBC] series works well as a development of those ideas”.

Of course, Lizzie misunderstands Mr Darcy and Wickham in turns, and Mr Darcy is unkindly snobbish about the Bennets.

But we know that because Austen explicitly paints the picture for us. Her real art is in making us question the characters the book itself portrays negatively: if Mrs Bennet is so irrational and silly, how come the far better-off Mr Bennet married her – and why do some of her schemes, like sending a rain-sodden Jane off to sneeze over the nearest herd of poshies, kind of work out?

Why didn’t Lizzie, or most readers, trust Charlotte Lucas when she (rightly) said Mr Collins was perfect for many of her needs?

Not to pummel the remains of a long-dead horse further into the ground here, but the book makes us ask: were we proud, or prejudiced, when we read it?

I was pleased to see that the Richared E. Grant Mr Bennet’s head-in-the-sand approach to raising children is a lot more explicit than in, say, the 2005 film (even if Mrs Bennet, played by Ruth Jones, is more flatly harsh – both Dr Galpin and I felt the speech she gives at the end of the show was not quite enough to redeem her being “such a nightmare” the rest of the time).

Other characters were reframed, too.

“I definitely felt that some of the more irritating or comic character elements were softened a little [in The Other Bennet Sister] – Mary and Mr Collins were both a little less ‘preachy’ and lacking in social awareness than in their original iterations, so I felt that some artistic license was taken with the characterisation, but this is perhaps consistent with the show centring on Mary’s view of the world more,” said Dr Galpin.

“I… liked the slight rehabilitation of Mr Collins, who is, at the end of the day, trying to do the right thing, even if he is far from the ideal romantic hero.”

Mary, whom I always saw as quite similar to the shy, bookish, devout Fanny Price protagonist in Mansfield Park, was well overdue for a similar reinterpetation, though Dr Galpin pointed out that her TV self might be closer to the original novel than I realised.

“It struck me as I watched it that Mary is essentially playing the ‘Lizzie’ role from P&P. In Austen’s novel, Lizzie is supposed to be a little awkward and lacking in social niceties (in comparison to perfect Jane!) and less attractive than her sister.

“She also continually irritates her mother by making supposedly imprudent marriage choices. Mary essentially steps into this persona in the series. The rivalry with Caroline Bingley also echoes Lizzie’s role in the original novel,” she said.

So, when the BBC show depicts Mary as strong-willed, ambitious, self-aware, and bloomingly confident once she reaches London, it’s not a correction of Jane Austen’s book but a natural extension of it.

It makes as much sense as a spin-off TV series as Mr Collins’ (relatively) successful marriage, or Caroline Bingley’s genuinely well-meaning Wickham warning, do in the novel; not what we were led to expect initially, but hey, what sucker doesn’t question their first impression?

That’s Austen, baby – and in my opinion, the witty, touching, and fun BBC adaptation has bottled it perfectly.

We’ve Got Seriously Good News For The White Lotus Fans

Posted on 23/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Fans of HBO show The White Lotus may have felt at a loss since the show’s last season, which concluded in 2022.

Since then, a season three has been announced, though all we know so far is that it’ll be set in Thailand with an all-star cast.

Expect to see Dazed And Confused actor Parker Posey, Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs, Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood, The Staircase’s Patrick Schwarzenegger, Fallout’s Walton Goggins, First Kill’s Sarah Catherine Hook and rising star Sam Nivola.

Blackpink singer Lisa is also set to star in the 2025 production; but sadly Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya won’t.

Still, some better news… Yesterday, Variety shared a happy fact about the future of the show.

The publication said that season four has been given the go-ahead by HBO, and producers hope it’ll come out in 2026.

The news comes after the show’s creator Mike White announced last November that he’d pitched his ideas for a further season.

“Mike, obviously — if he wants to move forward and do the four seasons — he will do the fourth season,” HBO and Max executive Casey Bloys said at the time.

Season four has been confirmed before season three, which is set to hit our screens on February 13, comes out.

A director's clapboard for The White Lotus — A director’s clapboard for The White Lotus

We don’t know much about season 4 ― neither writers nor execs have shared where the show, which has previously been shot in Hawaii and Sicily, will be filmed.

But let’s be real ― so long as the Emmy-winning show sticks to its “rich people’s opulent nuttiness” theme, we reckon fans are bound to be satisfied.

Jameela Jamil’s Thoughts On ‘Instagram Face’ Has Fans Saying ‘PREACH’

Posted on 27/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Jameela Jamil, an actor and host of body positivity podcast I Weigh, is pretty well-known for sharing her thoughts on the pressures women face to look a certain way.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that she recently wrote an Instagram post about “how weird it’s going to be when soon all women on television look the same but men have so much variety.”

The post said that women are getting “the same nose, the same cheekbones, the same jaw, the same eyes, the same eyebrows, the same eyelids, the same lips and are starting to aim for the same forever age and body.”

This sounds similar to other body positivity advocate’s concerns about “Instagram face,” an identikit appearance a lot of women on social media seem to share.

Jameela pointed out that men as visually different as Timothee Chalamet, Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal and Micheal B Jordan are “RIGHTFULLY celebrate[d]” for their looks, she doesn’t think women are afforded the same flexibility.

“Can you imagine a world in which every man feels RESPONSIBLE to have to save up for painful, expensive surgery to look exactly like Cillian Murphy?” she asked.

Though she stresses she respects women’s choice to pick whatever look they like, she asked “how much choice is it when you’re being bombarded with a ‘beauty standard’?”

The Good Place actor then said that though the ’90s were not exactly less punishing for women, at least Uma Thurman, Naomi Campbell, Meg Ryan, Halle Berry and more had “room for variety.”

“I’m jealous that so many men are so embraced and celebrated for what makes them different,” Jameela continued. “I want that for us.”

The actor also said she’s annoyed at the amount of money being made off of women’s insecurities, often by men, adding she noticed the beauty standard narrowing during lockdown.

“Variety is choice. Variety is agency. Variety is freedom,” she shared before a carousel of beauty trend-based images and a picture of Lindsay Lohan’s “done” face.

People were divided

Lots of commenters agreed with Jameela.

“100% agree. And why are everyone’s teeth neon white lately?” one commenter wrote.

“My 10-year-old told me I should get Botox on my jaw to look sharper, the other day. I hate social media. It is ruining our kids,” another lamented.

“You’re not alone. This conversation needs to be loud. A new trend every year, cosmetic surgeries are normal now!! It’s so sad thinking women feel pressured to get them to be considered beautiful,” yet another Instagram user opined.

Still, some thought the actor was a little off the mark.

“I feel like this exact conversation was had over 20 years ago and was a way to bash women for what they wanted to do with their bodies,” a comment reads.

“I disagree. I don’t think Kate Winslet looks like Davina McCall. Or that Dawn French or Oti Mabuse look the same,” someone else shared.

Still, most of the comments seem to be in line with a top response, which simply says “PREACH!”.

Rivals Is Just As Sexy As It Is Smart On Class And Gender

Posted on 25/10/2024 by Boris Clair

On its surface, Disney Plus’ new eight-part series “Rivals” is a salacious “bonkbuster” about the feud between two exorbitantly privileged (and horny) British men living in the exclusive British Cotswolds in the 1980s. Set among rolling green hills and wildflower-filled forests that are part of large country estates, it is, as one character quips in the show’s opening minutes, the “prettiest prison I ever saw.”

While “prison” is probably too strong of a word to describe the privileged lives of England’s posh upper crust, it does capture the lack of agency the women in this world feel. The story, an adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bestselling 1988 novel of the same name, sets itself up to tell the story of Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), who is fighting to renew the contract for his commercial U.K. television network, Corinium, and getting periodically sidetracked by his hatred for former Olympic showjumping champion turned Tory Cabinet minister of sport and womanizing rake Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell). However, it’s really a show about how women struggle to find power within this world of powerful men.

And sex. The show has so much sex that it makes “Bridgerton” seem practically puritanical. It claims its “bonkbuster” title in its opening seconds as the frame fills with a woman grabbing a man’s bare butt before her hands (and the camera) slide up his back to reveal the always charismatic and tragically handsome Rupert shagging a gossip columnist in the bathroom of an airplane that is about to “go supersonic.”

From the first episode’s memorable moment involving naked tennis (and a full frontal) to almost every scene being about an extramarital affair or conversation about sleeping with someone, the show is both scandalous and entertaining, just like Cooper’s source material.

However, viewers shouldn’t let the titillating trappings of the show deceive them into thinking that’s all there is to the story. While “Rivals” is about people who are “hungry for sex,” it’s more than its most salacious moments. Cooper’s raunchy novels are also known for her wry social commentary, and this adaptation maintains that lens.

“Underneath the fun and the froth and the silliness, there’s a very sharp social satire on British class,” showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins told The New York Times. He believes this makes the show relevant. “Everyone in Britain is still obsessed with class,” he said. “And the Americans are obsessed with our obsession with class.”

Personally, I’m obsessed with the way the show weaves together class, gender and race. The tension between the three begins to build when BBC’s star TV journalist, Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), accepts Tony’s offer to move to the Cotswolds and take a prime-time slot interviewing people live on Corinium.

Victoria Smurfit stars as Maud O'Hara in the eight-part series "Rivals," based on the novel by Dame Jilly Cooper. — Victoria Smurfit stars as Maud O’Hara in the eight-part series “Rivals,” based on the novel by Dame Jilly Cooper.

Declan accepts the offer because he sees financial gain and creative freedom. But, like everything in life and in “Rivals,” the reality is far more complicated, and Declan and his family’s move to the Cotswolds immediately shakes things up. His career decision has forced his wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit), and daughters to relocate, and Taggie (Bella MacLean), his 20-year-old daughter, quickly attracts the interest of middle-aged Rupert, whom her still-married mother is also trying to seduce (as is seemingly every other woman).

The complications grow as the narrative explores equally compelling stories about other members of Britain’s upper echelon. Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) is a romance writer working on a new steamy novel to escape her loveless marriage to vapid Corinium TV host James Vereker (Oliver Chris) while finding herself drawn to also-married businessman Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer).

There’s a tense workplace affair between Tony and Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), the Black American TV producer he brought in to elevate Corinium’s vision and helm Declan’s new show. Outside of these two characters, the world continues to expand, adding layers of complexity with affairs between other neighbors, coworkers, teenage children and enemies.

It would be easy for a show with so many subplots to lose the main story thread, but this is not the case in “Rivals.” Instead, each character and their every interaction adds layers of meaning and complexity to the world.

This achievement is a testament to the careful crafting of a show that could be all too easily dismissed as a “guilty pleasure.” From quippy, dry-humored dialogue to the meaningful facial expressions the camera focuses on in a scene, every part of the show feels intentional and purposeful. This is especially true during sex scenes that use nudity to reveal more about the men than the women — both literally and emotionally.

Overall, I was repeatedly impressed at the way “Rivals” creates a female lens into a male-driven world. From this angle, the men and their political ambitions and machinations look increasingly ridiculous. What grounds this silly, privileged world is the women and the way that they carve out space for themselves when they are supposed to be loyal wives, mothers, daughters and employees.

As Taggie tells Rupert at one point, “Well, maybe I’m fed up with sitting around waiting for my life to happen.” Like Taggie, all the women become increasingly fed up with the men in their lives. As the series progresses, it explores the small ways that they seek autonomy within a society and time period that tries to limit their agency. The particular gender roles they inhabit and the blatant sexism they experience are both specific to the 1980s and also timeless.

What’s most impressive is that the show accomplishes this feat in a fun, frothy way that is a treat to watch. By the end of the final episode, the only complaint I had was that I wanted more.

“Rivals” is the second of the 11 novels in Cooper’s “Rutshire Chronicles” series, so there’s plenty of source material for the series to build upon if it is renewed for a second season. And, based on the multiple cliffhangers at the end, it should be.

“Rivals” is available to stream on Disney+.

Here’s What Love Is Blind’s ‘Sleep Test’ Really Involves

Posted on 10/10/2024 by Boris Clair

US Love Is Blind fans will know that Stephen Richardson’s fallout with fiancee Monica Davis involved scandal, sex, and… a sleep test.

Among other shady behaviour, the most recent episode of American Love Is Blind saw Monica finding sexts to another woman on Stephen’s phone that were sent while he was engaged to her.

He said of the event, “I did make a completely stupid mistake while being drunk at a sleep test with somebody who texted me.”

We don’t know if he was actually doing a sleep test at the time, and his actions were obviously slimy regardless.

But if you’re anything like us, you might be wondering what a sleep test even is ― and it turns out it can be a pretty useful tool (that said, the secret to a truly seamless sleep is a clear conscience).

What’s a sleep test?

According to healthcare provider Cleveland Clinic’s site, a sleep test, or sleep study, is officially known as a polysomnogram.

It’s a “diagnostic test that tracks and records how multiple body systems work while you’re asleep,” they say. It’s used to diagnose sleep disorders.

It tracks things like your heart brain, and respiratory system as you sleep. It can be used to spot things like insomnia, sleepwalking, and sleep paralysis.

Sleep studies are “similar” to an oximetry test, which “involves wearing an oxygen monitor on a finger during sleep and can often be done at home.”

The NHS says these can be helpful if you have signs of sleep apnoea.

When you’re awake, symptoms of sleep apnoea may show up if you:

feel very tired
find it hard to concentrate
have mood swings
have a headache when you wake up.

At night, your partner may notice your:

breathing stopping and starting
making gasping, snorting or choking noises
waking up a lot
loud snoring.

What if I want one of these tests?

If you’re worried about your sleep habits, your doctor may refer you to specialist clinics which can facilitate sleep investigations.

Studies range from heart monitoring options (a respiratory polygraph) to inpatient observation and movement monitors (actigraphy).

Inpatient observations are the “polysomnograms” we mentioned earlier.

For what it’s worth, sleep studies usually ask participants not to drink ahead of the exam, or to only have as much as you usually do.

GBBO’s Cornucopia Showstoppers Have A Kaos-Worthy History

Posted on 08/10/2024 by Boris Clair

After last week’s falls, frights, and quittings, you’d think the Great British Bake-Off had had its fill of Kaos.

But it turns out this week’s showstoppers, mouth-watering cornucopia, have a history that’d fit right into the Greek mythology-based Netflix hit.

Also known as a “horn of plenty,” cornucopias symbolise abundance.

They date back to Ancient Greece and originally consisted of a goat’s horn filled with fruits and grain ― and were supposedly once used to conceal a very important guest.

What’s the myth behind cornucopias?

According to Dictionary.com, a Roman retelling of the Greek legends from Ovid says that Hercules wrestled the horn from a river god called Achelous. Nymphs then turned it into a horn of plenty, always brimming with food.

One of those nymphs, Amalthaea, fed her foster child Zeus (Jeff Goldblum to fans of the Netflix show) food from the cornucopia in some Greek myths while he was hiding from his father, Brittanica’s online encyclopedia shared.

A Greek legend goes on to say that Zeus went on to place the horn of plenty along with the rest of the goat among the stars, the encyclopedia adds.

The motif stuck around, becoming part of Ancient Roman myths and even appearing in a 1630 Rubens painting of the goddess Abuntia who was associated with the horn.

Its image is so enduring that we recognise it today, featuring it in movies like The Hunger Games and, apparently, attempting to recreate it in flour on the telly.

And we put it in our Fruit Of The Loom T-shirts! Right?

Some people think they remember seeing the produce-filled horn on the cartoon fruit-bearing label of Fruit Of The Loom T-shirts when they were younger.

I’m one of them, but according to the company, we’re wrong ― the company shared on X that “The Mandela Effect is real, the cornucopia in our logo is not.”

Sounds like something a regretful Zeus would make the brand say after an overzealous Earhtly marketing campaign, but okay…

You can watch The Great British Bake-Off every Tuesday at 8 pm on Channel 4.

I Just Learned How Long It Really Takes To Animate A TV Show, And I’m In Shock

Posted on 27/08/2024 by Boris Clair

If you’ve ever completed a flipbook in the corner of your school copybook, you’ll likely have thought to yourself, “How can animators do this for entire episodes?”

Even given that backgrounds are reused, many animated shows use 24 frames per second ― the thought of drawing enough to last you, say, 30 minutes is enough to make me giddy.

Luckily, both TV writer Michael Jamin (formerly of King Of The Hill and Beavis & Butthead) and animator Butch Hartman (who’s worked on shows like Danny Phantom and The Fairly OddParents) have answers.

Unluckily, however, both their accounts mean I’ll never be able to watch a cartoon in the same way again.

It’s a lonnng time

According to Jamin, he spent about six weeks writing a 30-minute episode of King Of The Hill with his colleagues ― after that, they’d spend a couple of weeks making the episode’s soundtrack.

Animators needed the final cut of the track to ensure their characters’ mouths moved in time.

When those were sent to the animators, he said the storyboard (not the whole animated show ― just the storyboard) took “a month or so.”

A month or two after that, they’d watch an early “animatic” to see how it flowed ― but only “a few months after THAT” would they see the coloured-in version. This was still months before the final edit.

“From beginning to end, when it’s ready to air, it’s about nine months,” he added.

That seems to check out

Hartman agreed, saying Danny Phantom and Fairly OddParents both consisted of two 11-minute animated sections.

In the end, it would take “about ten months to do.”

That’s from conceiving the script to completion, though, he says.

However he adds “it’s sped up now with flash animation to about six months, but that’s about the time.”

Oh good… a casual half-a-year!

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