SusanUK

Mr Alfred Salteena, "an elderly gentleman of forty-two", an ironmonger by trade, meets a young lady, Miss Ethel Monticue, on a train and promises to introduce her to the royals and nobles of his acquaintance if she comes to stay with him. What he doesn't tell her is that the sum total of his acquaintances is one, Lord Bernard Clark, who lives in a remote castle surrounded by portraits of his ancestors. Alfred engineers an invitation to stay with Lord Clark and Ethel is beside herself with excitement. Alfred soon realises that Bernard is much more the type of man Ethel is looking for, since he is after all a real Lord. Alfred wants to learn to be more suitable, and with Bernard's help, he begins training at Crystal Palace. The training regime is far from easy and some of the funniest and at the same time most poignant scenes are of Alfred's attempts to get it right. Things don't go according to plan, but it all turns out moderately all right in the end. No spoilers here, though. You'll just have to watch the film! The movie is a delight. If you like fairytales with a twist, you will enjoy the wonderful recreations of 9-year-old Daisy Ashford's idea of what the world looks like. And if you're a language person like me, you will be tickled by the dialogue. At 9 years old, Daisy Ashford must have been either an absolute darling or a real pain in the butt! Either way she created some very lovable characters and wrote a gem of a story.

"24" isn't meant to be analyzed and dissected. If its creators are to be believed, they made a lot of the storylines up as they went along. They didn't know who the second mole was when they started. They had several endings ready. So if they didn't even have it all planned out, what's the point to all the analysis? The series is a hit, its fans love it, those who hate it stopped watching "hours" ago and won't watch the second series, so who cares? The phrase "cult TV" is bandied about so much these days and seems to mean "a TV show whose repeats people actually watch". So what's wrong with that? Put it right up there with "The X-Files", "Friends" and "LA Law" if that's what makes it cult TV. I'll be watching the repeats the same as I did all through the first showing of the series. Remember "Twin Peaks"? This is going to go the same way, but without the cherry pie. Now what would be good for a "24" viewathon??

Frau Siebenstein owns a shop which buys and sells second-hand goods. The shop is also home to a raven called Rudi and a suitcase called "Suitcase". To say that they can both talk would be an understatement. They spend most of their time bickering like children but are the best of friends at heart. During the programme Frau Siebenstein uses something a customer has brought in or bought that day as inspiration for a story. Typically there is some kind of moral to the story but not always. I remember this programme being part of the Sunday afternoon slot for children - not being a child never stopped me from watching and thoroughly enjoying it. The programme has such a fireside feel about it. They don't seem to make things like that any more. What a shame.