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Sam and Natalia watch all four series of The IT Crowd.

The IT Crowd is a British television sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, written and directed by... sigh... Graham Linehan. Set within the IT department of fictional company Reynholm Industries, the series stars Richard Ayoade, Chris O'Dowd, Katherine Parkinson, Chris Morris, Matt Berry, and Noel Fielding.

Since its release, The IT Crowd has developed a large cult fandom. However, the show has since come under fire for a controversial anti-trans episode, "The Speech" (S3E4), as well as the behind-the-scenes actions of the writer. Sam and Natalia watch all 25 episodes of the show to see what went wrong in the mind of Graham Linehan.

Topics of conversation include The Mighty Boosh, big egos, "Did you see that ludicrous display last night?", badly aged episodes, sexism, FRIENDS, musicals, Countdown, not being a fan of football, Twitter, the Titan submersible implosion, "FAAAAAATHEEER!", and Black Books.

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Sam and Natalia watch and review the penultimate film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1.

Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) seventh and final year at Hogwarts is interrupted by Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), whose quest for immortality has brought suffering and chaos across the Wizarding World. Alongside best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Harry must find and destroy the mythical Horcruxes that are keeping He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named alive.

Topics of conversation include Piccadilly Circus, video games, The Hunger Games, controversial opinions, the dance scene, Orson Welles, the end of Dobby, M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin, splitting the book into two movies, Coraline, Boromir's death in The Lord of the Rings, the Three Brothers, Hitchcock, the Time-Turners, bad worldbuilding, Reddit and Tumblr, Algerian boxers, J. K. Rowling's tweets, deleted scenes with the Dursleys, Polish TV, Hot Fuzz on ITV, queer coding, and training AI on My Girlfriend and Doctor Who.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram⁠ (@mygfanddrwho).

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"Two words: telekinesis."

GARTH MARENGHI'S DARKPLACE is a horror parody series following fictional horror author Garth Marenghi (Matthew Holness) and his TV show DARKPLACE, presented as real in-universe, with commentary from producer Dean Learner (Richard Ayoade), actor Todd Rivers (Matt Berry), and actress Madeleine Wool (Alice Lowe).

Discontinued after poor viewing figures, GARTH MARENGHI'S DARKPLACE has since gained a cult following. Sam and Natalia sit down to watch and review all six episodes.

Topics of conversation include woke, DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS, memes, Graham Linehan, TERRORTOME, broccoli, THE IT CROWD, Stephen King, "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards", acting range, 1980s British television, books, classic DOCTOR WHO, and the movie adaptation.

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Want to criticise J. K. Rowling in a podcast? Here’s your chance!

Tl;dr: I help run a podcast which is currently doing an anti-Harry Potter series. If you’d like us to read out your anti-J. K. Rowling/anti-Harry Potter views or feedback, comment on this post, and we’ll include them in an episode we’re doing soon.

I often share episodes of My Girlfriend and Doctor Who: A British Film and TV Podcast on Tumblr, and they're received very warmly (thanks for that!). Our anti-Harry Potter series, in particular, has resulted in a lot of feedback, in terms of J. K. Rowling’s writing and obviously her anti-trans nonsense, which gave me an idea for how to channel that anger and injustice into something creative, and maybe even halfway useful.

On the podcast, my fiancée and I are reevaluating each Harry Potter film to assess J. K. Rowling’s writing and the quality of the filmmaking. We’ve just done The Half-Blood Prince, with our episode on The Deathly Hallows Part I and Part II coming out on 2nd and 16th August, respectively.

I thought it would be a cool idea to include some of the anti-J.K. Rowling comments that I've seen on Tumblr in our The Deathly Hallows Part II episode, which we haven’t recorded yet, to help shift the conversation on Harry Potter.

One thing that annoys me is when someone says something to the effect of, “Yes, J. K. Rowling is a terrible person, but we have to separate art from the artist”. Which seems to imply that the Harry Potter books are immutably excellent literary works that are simply too good to criticise or disengage with. This is an argument I want to dispel, especially in preparation for the HBO series.

So, if you have anything in particular you want to say about J. K. Rowling, regarding her political views or her writing, or if you have anything to say about The Deathly Hallows book/film specifically, or if you have any comments regarding a previous Harry Potter episode of our podcast, feel free to comment it on this thread, and then we’ll read it out for our August 16th episode.

Hopefully, it will motivate listeners to be more critical of the books and more aghast at her abhorrent behaviour.

If you’d like a reference for how it would sound, we recently included a comment for our It’s a Sin episode from Reddit. You absolutely do not have to listen to that episode, but I’ll include the link here in case you want to check how your J. K. Rowling comments would be used if you chose to participate. We read out the comment at 10:38, if you want to skip ahead: here it is on Spotify, here it is on Apple.

So, if you want to be included, comment below on this Tumblr post or message me directly! Or if you want to participate but don’t want us to read out your Tumblr username, you can either mention that in the comment/message or DM us on our Instagram page.

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Sam and Natalia continue their series reviewing HARRY POTTER by looking back at the sixth film, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his sixth year at Hogwarts with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After finding a mysterious textbook owned by "The Half-Blood Prince", Harry works with Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore to find a way to stop Lord Voldemort's ascent to power.

Topics of conversation include Sam and Natalia's rendition of Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September', the Millennium Bridge, the British Prime Minister, the Slitheen, Michael Gambon's performance, Ginny, Muggles, shipping Harry and Luna, and those bad spin-off movies with Eddie Redmayne.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram⁠ (@mygfanddrwho).

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Sam and Natalia look back at the hit Channel 4 TV drama, IT’S A SIN.

IT’S A SIN follows a group of gay men who move to London in the 1980s, depicting their lives across the ensuing decade as the HIV/AIDS virus begins to spread.

The show stars Olly Alexander (Ritchie Tozer), Omari Douglas (Roscoe Babatunde), Callum Scott Howells (Colin Morris-Jones), Lydia West (Jill Baxter), Nathaniel Curtis (Ash Mukherjee), David Carlyle (Gregory "Gloria" Finch), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Carol Carter), Neil Patrick Harris (Henry Coltrane), and Stephen Fry (Arthur Garrison MP).

The five-episode limited series was acclaimed during its initial release in 2021, becoming the most binge-watched show on the All 4 streaming service. But does it still hold up?

Topics of conversation include Russell T Davies, DOCTOR WHO, the coronavirus pandemic, the meaning of the word "gangbuster", slay, the Slitheen, that Dalek scene, likeable characters, PHILADELPHIA, Dursley McLinden, reading out Reddit comments, death scenes, and writing history.

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Sam and Natalia continue their series reviewing HARRY POTTER by looking back at the fifth film, THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his fifth year at Hogwarts with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After the Ministry of Magic take control of their school, Harry recruits his fellow classmates to fight against the return of Lord Voldemort.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.

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Sam and Natalia continue their series reviewing HARRY POTTER by looking back at the fifth film, THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his fifth year at Hogwarts with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After the Ministry of Magic take control of their school, Harry recruits his fellow classmates to fight against the return of Lord Voldemort.

Topics of conversation include David Yates, bad colour grading, Arthur Weasley, prophecies, the Cho Chang controversy, differences with the book, Sam and Natalia shipping Harry and Luna, truth serums, Dolores Umbridge and Imelda Staunton, CinemaSins, Alan Rickman's performance, JK Rowling's bad writing, Neville destroying all the time turners, young love, and whether this is the worst HARRY POTTER film.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.

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After reviewing the first three HARRY POTTER movies, Sam and Natalia watch and react to THE GOBLET OF FIRE.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his fourth year with Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After Harry is chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, he joins forces with Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) to investigate a dark conspiracy at Hogwarts.

Topics of conversation include our Homer and Marge impressions, Dumbledore screaming “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?!”, tonal shifts, CITIZEN KANE, normies, Mike Newell, Rita Skeeter, little elf boys, bad CGI, David Tennant, the ending, PRINCE OF PERSIA, Neville replacing Dobby, SPEW (the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare), Natalia’s defence of the controversial elf subplot, “My boy!”, Voldemort’s return, THE CURSED CHILD, the new HUNGER GAMES book, and Natalia breaking up with Sam over his objectively correct HARRY POTTER opinions.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and ⁠⁠⁠find us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠⁠⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS⁠⁠⁠ with your comments included as part of the review.

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Sam and Natalia have reviewed GAVIN & STACEY and THE ROYALE FAMILY, so it’s time to watch another acclaimed British sitcom—THE OFFICE.

THE OFFICE is a British comedy mockumentary TV show, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The show follows David Brent (Ricky Gervais), the manager of an office in Slough, and his employees, Tim (Martin Freeman), Gareth (Mackenzie Crook), and Dawn (Lucy Davis).

The original series ran for two six-episode series, followed by a Christmas special. Sam and Natalia sit down to watch and review the entire first series.

Topics of conversation include Ricky Gervais’s ego, AFTER LIFE, getting blocked on Twitter, woke, real-life David Brent, “Can’t make this anymore” sitcoms, the 2008 financial crisis, not believing in God, bad acting, Steve Carell as Michael Scott, 'Trivia' vs. 'The Quiz', and whether the British OFFICE is better than the American OFFICE.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and ⁠find us on Instagram⁠ (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, ⁠leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS⁠ with your comments included as part of the review.

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After watching and reviewing the first two HARRY POTTER films, Sam and Natalia rewatch the fan-favourite, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his third year at Hogwarts with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After learning that notorious criminal Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped Azkaban prison, Harry uncovers dark truths about his past and his parents.

Topics of conversation include Alfonso Cuarón, CHILDREN OF MEN, nostalgia, puberty, BOYHOOD, Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris as Dumbledore, the director's favourite HARRY POTTER character, changes to the books, one-shots, WATERWORLD, Cedric Diggory, and whether THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN is the best HARRY POTTER film.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.

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Last words

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Unethical experiments, alien invasions, and a man called Brian—this is my month of reading.

In my attempt to reach 52 books in 52 weeks, I’m rating and reviewing everything I read in 2025. You can keep up with my challenge on Instagram, under SkyWasTheRobot.

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When the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) accidentally picks up new companion Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu), he must return her to her hometime on Earth: 24th May, 2025.

But evil lurks in the dark corners of the universe. Reuniting with old friends like Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), The Doctor faces several intergalactic cataclysms. Will Dr. Who finally find his granddaughter? Is Billie Piper really The Sixteenth Doctor? And where is Jonathan Groff?

Stuck in a wormhole somewhere between the Chamber of Secrets and Azkaban prison, Sam and Natalia review DOCTOR WHO: SERIES FIFTEEN.

Topics of conversation include leaks, Juno Dawson, 'Midnight', Eurovision (yes, we open that can of worms), Borat, Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor, buns from home, Disney, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Nigeria, STAR TREK, STAR WARS, Peter Cushing, too many TWILIGHT references, Amy/Rory, Ian/Barbara, conspiracies, David Tennant, and an ongoing bit about a Jesse Eisenberg film that nobody has ever watched.

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After watching and reviewing THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE, Sam and Natalia hop back on the Hogwarts Express with THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his second year at Hogwarts with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). After a new teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), joins the school, Harry discovers that the mythological Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

Topics of conversations include Charles Dickens, THE SILMARILLION, bad special effects, the Hardy Boys, Quibi, Dumbledore being a terrible headmaster, “Are we the baddies?”, Hagrid’s age, child acting, A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, every Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, HARRY POTTER tours, single sex toilets, Arthur Weasley, millennials, Jude Law’s age, Moaning Myrtle’s parents, and Daniel Radcliffe’s unscripted ad lib.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.

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Bannakaffalatta, strong! Bannakaffalatta, cyborg!

Sam and Natalia take the TARDIS back to 2008 to review every episode of DOCTOR WHO series four, from "Voyage of the Damned" to "Journey's End".

The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) reunites with Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) to travel in time and space. When the Daleks return with their creator, Davros (Julian Bleach), The Doctor and Donna must join forces with Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Captain Jack (John Barrowman), and Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen), with the whole of reality at stake.

Topics of conversation include Kylie Minogue, Peter Capaldi in Pompeii, the Ood, ZOOTROPOLIS and ELEMENTAL, Elon Musk, Wilfred Mott, David Tennant's marriage, Children in Need, THE TRAITORS, Leeds, the power of woke, DOCTOR WHO spin-offs, and "That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana".

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.

See you next week for THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS...

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Sam and Natalia begin their deep dive into the Harry Potter universe with THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE.

Does the first instalment of the Wizarding World hold up? Or will Sam and Natalia get off the Hogwarts Express early?

A young English boy, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), discovers he is a wizard. After being accepted into Hogwarts, Harry joins forces with his new friends, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), to defeat a terrible evil plaguing their school.

Topics of conversation include Cho Chang, HOT FUZZ, John Nettleship, Natalia’s fanfiction, MY IMMORTAL, the Eastern European Hogwarts, JK Rowling’s publicist, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, Quidditch, Aunt Petunia, HOME ALONE, gender in sports, and the origins of the Sorting Hat.

Don’t forget to follow, rate five stars, and find us on Instagram (@mygfanddrwho).

If you would like us to read your comments on the podcast, leave us a five-star rating on APPLE PODCASTS with your comments included as part of the review.