Martin Gray

Quiet man, reviewer, blogs on comics at Too Dangerous For a Girl @martgray.bsky.social @MartGray Instagram: martin.gray.566

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Articles

(A longer) life on the ocean wave

1 month ago | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

Unexpected extra days at sea meant more time to enjoy the luxury, fun and food of the Norwegian Aqua on its maiden voyageI’m not a thrill ride person. Heights scare the heck out of me. Speed makes me nervous. I don’t need a funfair at sea, I like a ship that’s an ocean of calm, a place to relax with plenty to interest, but little to alarm.
The relaxing break District

Jan 10, 2025 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

Settle into the Royal Oak in Keswick for home-from-home comforts where all the beauty of the Lakes are on the doorstepIt’s a good job the Lake District is so enticing or I’d never have ventured out of our suite at the Royal Oak, Keswick. Sitting on the characterful Main Street of the Cumbrian town, the historic former coaching inn – part of the Thwaites group – has modern rooms so cosy we relaxed the minute we opened the door.
A cruise to Iceland fires the imagination

Oct 12, 2024 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

You’ve seen it in Game of Thrones but nothing prepares you for the true drama of IcelandThey call Iceland the land of fire and ice and that’s certainly proving the case as we tour the volcanic landscape outside Reykjavik. It’s March, it’s freezing but we’re basking in the warm spray thrown up by the hot springs, gazing at an active volcano in the distance through scads of steam.
Passions: I love Death in Paradise but the predictability of the casting is murder

Apr 10, 2024 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

Wouldn’t it be a surprise if the show’s new lead was a middle-aged white guy? Ralf Little has quit Death in Paradise. Transplanted British detective Neville Parker has left Saint Marie, finding his happy ending with DS Florence Cassell. And so it begins again, the speculation as to who the next lead in the BBC1 staple will be. If the past 13 series are anything to go by, you can bet on a familiar telly face of the white, middle-aged and decidedly male persuasion.
Passions: Why Hippodrome Silent Film Festival is well worth shouting about

Jan 30, 2024 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

Whether you’re already a silent film fan or just si-curious, it’s movie magicWhile millions never move from the settee when it comes to watching films, or grudgingly go to the multiplex to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageously priced popcorn, me, I’m going to Bo’ness. Because the former mining town in Falkirk is the unlikely centre of the universe when it comes to… silent films.
Passions: I'm dreaming of a fright Christmas with TV terror tales - Martin Gray

Dec 14, 2023 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

The BBC’s festive short dramas are always worth a watch... with the lights offA sad tale’s best for winter,’ wrote William Shakespeare, but I’m down with Charles Dickens, who embraced the tradition of festive ghost stories with A Christmas Carol. The first edition of 6,000 copies, published on 19 December 1843, sold out by Christmas Eve. It’s kept on selling.
Passions: Corny Christmas TV movie romances are the gift that keeps on giving

Dec 4, 2023 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

And if Channel 5 afternoon fare is set in Scotland, all the betterLairds beware, young American women are just waiting around the corner to spill a cup of coffee on you. Well, they are if you believe the latest batch of Hallmark et al “holiday movies”.
Passions: Halloween spooks welcome, but have a joke to (withered) hand

Oct 30, 2023 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

Nothing says “traditional Scottish Halloween” like a ten-year-old arriving at the front door dressed like US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Luckily, the mini-Milwaukee Monster was happy to eschew mystery meat for a finger of Fudge, but if we have to have cannibals on our street, couldn’t the kid at least give us his Sawney Bean? Never mind, L’il Jeff was having fun, as were the 100 or so other kids who knocked on our front door last All Hallow’s Eve. I’m not kidding, we counted.
Scotsman Passions: I'm feeling pretty sick at the demise of BBC soap Doctors

Oct 23, 2023 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

BBC1 bosses are binning underappreciated daytime drama set at GP practiceI’m feeling a little nauseous. The BBC have announced the cancellation of Doctors. I unironically love the lunchtime soap, which centres on a GP practice in the fictional West Midlands community of Letherbridge. A gaggle of doctors, a trio of receptionists, a nurse, a midwife and a silent figure named Tash – think Tracy the EastEnders barmaid – live, laugh and love. Sometimes they even see patients.
Passions: Aisle always smile when the supermarket Christmas shelves arrive

Sep 13, 2023 | scotsman.com | Martin Gray

It’s months until Baby Jesus arrives but the Lindt Gold Reindeer is here right nowIt’s September, the sun is shining, so of course the supermarket Christmas aisle has arrived. And in 2023, in my local store, it’s just the Christmas aisle – the nonsense of recent years, which has seen Hallowe’en, Bonfire Night and Christmas team up, is over. Just look at all the goodness. There’s the Lindt Gold Reindeer and a less glitzy own brand doppelgänger.