It’s time to indulge in all the Christmas TV specials you can handle

With help from our TV sponsors at Lightbox, Tara Ward rounds up some of the most delicious Christmas TV specials for you to feast upon. There’s 100 reasons why Christmas is so bloody awesome, and 99 of them relate to watching TV specials about Christmas. Indeed, there is no better time than Christmas to watch … Read more

Give yourself the gift of the Extras Christmas special these holidays

Alex Casey wheels out a holiday favourite in the celeb-studded feature-length finale of Extras. Christmas is a time for traditions and rituals, for dredging up old articles about Love Actually and fighting with strangers online about whether the movie is good or bad. Although Hugh Grant dancing to ‘Jump’ is indisputably good, I would like … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: Binge every episode from pilot to finale

With summer upon us, there is no better time to shut all the sunlight out of your room, pull a blanket over your head and watch TV until your eyes hurt. We assemble the best shows on Lightbox that you can binge from pilot to finale. Wolf Hall Binge time: 6 hours, like a perfectly … Read more

Labour Day: the best and worst workplaces on Lightbox

It’s Labour Weekend this weekend to commemorate the 8-hour work day by not going to work for any hours. It makes sense. To celebrate, Madeleine Chapman and Calum Henderson combined brains to find the best and worst places to work on Lightbox. THE BEST 1) Pawnee Parks Department (Parks & Recreation) With Leslie Knope being … Read more

Throwback Thursday: Remembering Finding Leo, the greatest extra feature of Extras

With the DVD special feature all but a distant memory in this cloud-based hoverboard age, Alex Casey remembers her favourite bonus feature from BBC’s Extras.  I’ve already written about how much I love Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s underrated behind-the-curtain series Extras. As a teenager who cradled her DVD boxset of The Office like a … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: The best popstars who tried out television

Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we pluck out shows from Lightbox‘s extensive back catalogue. This week, Pete Douglas presents a guide to all the best popstars who gave telly a whirl.  I bloody love a good popstar cameo on a TV show. Ever since Stevie Wonder accidentally crashed into Theo and Denise … Read more

‘Trump is barf’ – TV writer Steve Hely on when the truth becomes stranger than fiction

Alex Casey talks to TV writer and author Steve Hely ahead of his appearance this weekend in the WORD Christchurch festival. Steve Hely has written for some of the most iconic television comedies of the golden TV era, so it was only fitting that I give him a call whilst wearing a Liz Lemon-style slanket … Read more

‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard…’ – The best celebrity appearances in Extras

Alex Casey assembles her favourite celebrity appearances from the BBC comedy Extras, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Forever shadowed by The Office, and more recently Ricky Gervais’ atrociously long pre-recorded intro to the NZ Comedy Festival, Extras is the wondrous second TV comedy masterpiece from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. I love Extras. I love … Read more