Torple

01. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) 02. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right 03. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart 04. Goldfrapp - A&E 05. Snow Patrol - Run 06. Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me 07. Eminem & Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie 08. Beyonce - Halo 09. Chemical Brothers - Galvanize 10. Pink - Who Knew 11. The Killers - Somebody Told Me 12. Amerie - One Thing 13. Rihanna - Russian Roulette 14. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers 15. Leona Lewis - Run 16. Sugababes - Push The Button 17. Girls Aloud - Untouchable 18. Kelis - Trick Me 19. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole 20. Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

01. Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People 02. Katy Perry - Hot N Cold 03. Bloc Party - Flux 04. MGMT - Time To Pretend 05. Coldplay - Clocks 06. Sugababes - Run For Cover 07. Riva & Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now? 08. Roger Sanchez - Another Chance 09. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor 10. Outkast - Hey Ya! 11. Michael Andrews & Gary Jules - Mad World 12. Take That - Rule The World 13. Sugababes - About You Now 14. White Stripes - Seven Nation Army 15. Cee Lo Green - f*** You 16. Timbaland & Keri Hilson - The Way I Are 17. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child 18. Lady GaGa - Paparazzi 19. Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone 20. Lady GaGa - Alejandro

Not a bad opening show. There were no hugely obvious potential winners in amidst that lot (unless Goldie Hawn pulls off a shocker), but let's face it the first show was never going to be about the contestants. JUDGE JUDGEMENT Tulisa was OK. She wasn't exactly the QoL that Tirren, Champion of the Underclass, was ready to herald her before the series had even begun. She's a bit TOO hard-faced I think to truly inherit Cherly's Queen of Hearts role, but on the flip side going from the first show I'd say she's more knowledgable and far less likely to fall back into the "OMG YOU'RE SO CUTE" cliches. Gary Barlow seemed to have the hardest time of it. I wouldn't say the issue was so much that he was humourless (he managed a fair few witty one liners did ole Gaz), but that he really didn't look like he wanted to be there. There was a distinct air of "I HAVE AN IMPORTANT CONCERT TO GET TO, WHY ARE YOU HERE?", and he didn't have even the low patience levels of Simon Cowell with the loons. Louis Walsh was predictably much less of a comedy buffoon. Without Cowell to bounce off and try to "rival", there was less squawking and point-scoring, and he might actually start taking the thing seriously for the first time in a while. Dame Kelly Rowland was the star turn I thought though. I did worry initially that she'd be the Dannii of the panel; seen as the cold fish and very much the "fourth" judge in the panel. I'm not so sure that will happen now. I think she came across the best out of all of them. She seemed to manage the perfect balance of being warm, friendly and flirty, whilst also providing actual useful technical criticism. HURRAH

I ADORE Bubbly In The Fridge. Monday and Tuesday's episodes made me genuinely sad that EE couldn't find a way to keep Zoe Lucker on board, as I'm sure it COULD have been done. They only have themselves to blame for keeping her in the background for so long. She's proving now that she's quite capable of mingling with the rest of the Square without Max, so why they never bothered before now I'll never fathom. Perhaps the biggest f***-up of recent years.

01. KT Tunstall - Uummannaq Song 02. The Pierces - Glorious 03. Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing 04. Take That - Love Love 05. Yasmin - Finish Line 06. Friendly Fires - Live Those Days Tonight 07. Lady GaGa - The Edge Of Glory 08. Clare Maguire - The Shield And The Sword 09. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work 10. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This 11. Take That - Happy Now 12. Andrea Corr - State Of Independence 13. Adele - Set Fire To The Rain 14. Linkin Park - Iridescent 15. Adele - Turning Tables 16. The Pierces - You'll Be Mine 17. The Wombats - Anti-D 18. Example - Changed The Way You Kiss Me 19. Eliza Doolittle - Mr Medicine 20. The Feeling - Set My World On Fire 21. Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall 22. Ellie Goulding - Lights 23. Nerina Pallot - Put Your Hands Up 24. Spiritchaser - These Tears 25. Katy Perry - E.T. 26. Katy B - Easy Please Me 27. Underworld - Diamond Jigsaw 28. Tinie Tempah - Simply Unstoppable 29. Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum 30. Lady GaGa - Judas 31. Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor 32. Incubus - Promises Promises 33. Cee Lo Green - I Want You 34. Hurts - Sunday 35. Peter, Bjorn & John - May Seem Macabre 36. The Naked And Famous - Young Blood 37. Panic! At The Disco - Ready To Go 38. David Bowie - Golden Years 39. Beady Eye - Millionaire 40. Jessie J - Who You Are

01. Pink - Just Like A Pill 02. Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles 03. Doves - Pounding 04. DB Boulevard - Point Of View 05. Sugababes - Stronger 06. Robbie Williams - Feel 07. Sugababes - Freak Like Me 08. Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me 09. Coldplay - The Scientist 10. Aqualung - Strange And Beautiful 11. Sugababes - Round Round 12. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor 13. Coldplay - In My Place 14. Aaliyah - More Than A Woman 15. Nelly & Kelly Rowland - Dilemma 16. Lasgo - Something 17. Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out 18. Liberty X - Just A Little 19. Beverley Knight - Shoulda Woulda Coulda 20. Eminem - Lose Yourself

01. Zero 7 - Destiny 02. Dido - Here With Me 03. Sugababes - Run For Cover 04. Iio - Repture 05. Gorillaz - 19/2000 06. Dido - Thank You 07. Riva & Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now? 08. Basement Jaxx - Romeo 09. Roger Sanchez - Another Chance 10. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me 11. PPK - Resurrection 12. Linkin Park - In The End 13. Kosheen - Catch 14. Outkast - Ms Jackson 15. Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You 16. Ian Van Dahl - Castles In The Sky 17. Janet Jackson - All For You 18. Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag 19. Muse - Feeling Good 20. Mary J Blige - Family Affair

Buzzjack hath forever redeemed itself with THAT qualifier. AMAZING

Greg was utter SHIT. I can't decide if he was shit because he was given such duff material or if he was given such duff material because he was shit. By rights, his character deserved a little more of the focus in Friday's episode than he actually got - a 2 minute let's-ship-him-off-as-quickly-and-quietly-as-possible. It was more a cameo than anything.

Something Kinda Ooh is a terrible finalist. Generic pop at it's most disposable.

01. Delta Goodrem - Lost Without You 02. Johnny Cash - Hurt 03. Coldplay - Clocks 03. Kelly Rowland - Stole 04. Delta Goodrem - Innocent Eyes 06. The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love 07. Dido - White Flag 08. Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage 09. Tatu - All The Things She Said 10. Michael Andrews & Gary Jules - Mad World 11. Emma Bunton - Maybe 12. Evanescence - My Immortal 13. Sugababes - Hole In The Head 14. Black Eyed Peas - Shut Up 15. White Stripes - Seven Nation Army 16. Beyonce & Jay-Z - Crazy In Love 17. Avril Lavigne - I'm With You 18. Will Young - Leave Right Now 19. Missy Elliott - Gossip Folks 20. Tomcraft - Loneliness

01. Anastacia - Sick And Tired 02. Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending 03. Sugababes - Too Lost In You 04. Anastacia - Left Outside Alone 05. The Killers - Mr Brightside 06. Keane - Bedshaped 07. Snow Patrol - Run 08. Jamelia - Thank You 09. Outkast - Hey Ya! 10. Jamelia - See It In A Boy's Eyes 11. Keane - Everybody's Changing 12. Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams 13. Keane - Somewhere Only We Know 14. Eric Prydz - Call On Me 15. Damien Rice - Cannonball 16. Nelly Furtado - Try 17. Will Young - Your Game 18. Basement Jaxx - Good Luck 19. Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For? 20. Kelis - Milkshake

I am now a good three years behind everyone else. HO HUM 01. KT Tunstall - Uummannaq Song 02. The Pierces - Glorious 03. Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing 04. Take That - Love Love 05. Yasmin - Finish Line 06. Friendly Fires - Live Those Days Tonight 07. Lady GaGa - The Edge Of Glory 08. Clare Maguire - The Shield And The Sword 09. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work 10. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This 11. Take That - Happy Now 12. Andrea Corr - State Of Independence 13. Adele - Set Fire To The Rain 14. Linkin Park - Iridescent 15. Adele - Turning Tables 16. The Pierces - You'll Be Mine 17. The Wombats - Anti-D 18. Example - Changed The Way You Kiss Me 19. Eliza Doolittle - Mr Medicine 20. The Feeling - Set My World On Fire 21. Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall 22. Ellie Goulding - Lights 23. Nerina Pallot - Put Your Hands Up 24. Spiritchaser - These Tears 25. Katy Perry & Kanye West - E.T. 26. Katy B - Easy Please Me 27. Underworld - Diamond Jigsaw 28. Tinie Tempah - Simply Unstoppable 29. Nicola Roberts - Beat Of My Drum 30. Lady GaGa - Judas 31. Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor 32. Incubus - Promises Promises 33. Cee Lo Green - I Want You 34. Hurts - Sunday 35. Peter, Bjorn And John - May Seem Macabre 36. The Naked And Famous - Young Blood 37. Panic! At The Disco - Ready To Go 38. David Bowie - Golden Years 39. Beady Eye - Millionaire 40. Jessie J - Who You Are

Oh I'm with you. Lauren Ambrose is by far the best thing about this series so far. It's all the small touches. I LOVED that little moment last week when Vera dismissively told her the Oswald campaign was "disgusting", and Jilly literally jumps for joy and squeals "I KNOW"

You just know John Barrowman probably INSISTED on casting that one :D I'd guess you're probably right, just purely because as we're now mid-way through the series, they really do need to start exploring the whole who-is-behind-it sooner rather than later. As an aside, I noticed that like Arlene Tur (Vera), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly) is listed as guest cast rather than main cast. I reckon she'll be the next big death.

I'm not sure there was supposed to be much relevance to the word "revelation", given Jilly Kitzinger at the moment seems to be unaware of what's really going on behind the scenes. I took it just to be standard PR drivel. The whole Oswald thing is the big gaping hole in the plot. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, I really just CAN'T imagine the general public ever switching opinion so quickly to laud a convicted paedophile as their new prophet. Even by sci-fi standards, it's stretching plausibility a little TOO far.

This was brilliant. The kids were generally pretty good, certainly both those playing Alice and Joe avoided being the usual precocious child leads. The action scenes were WONDERFUL (the train crash and the town/warzone scenes) and there were plenty of heart-in-mouth moments to keep you on edge. The only thing that lets it down is the woeful ending.

Dr Vera the new IANTO :( That was a rather uncomfortable ending. I guess this is the part where Torchwood really turns and starts "exposing the dark side to humanity", as with the last series.

Jane Beale?

Tanya right now is a bit of a hypocritical mare, and I'm finding it increasingly impossible to root for her.

01. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) 02. Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver 03. Royksopp - What Else Is There? 04. Stereophonics - Dakota 05. KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See 06. Coldplay - Speed Of Sound 07. Madonna - Hung Up 08. Gorillaz - Dare 09. Bloc Party - Banquet 10. Chemical Brothers - Galvanize 11. KT Tunstall - Other Side Of The World 12. The Bravery - An Honest Mistake 13. Amerie - 1 Thing 14. Natasha Bedingfield - I Bruise Easily 15. The Killers - Somebody Told Me 16. Gorillaz - Dirty Harry 17. Coldplay - Fix You 18. Sugababes - Push The Button 19. Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends 20. Foo Fighters - Best Of You

01. Chicane & Tom Jones - Stoned In Love 02. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars 03. Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (Come To An End) 04. Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright - Set The Fire To The Third Bar 05. Jamelia - Beware Of The Dog 06. Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla 07. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy 08. Madonna - Sorry 09. Jamelia - Something About You 10. The Kooks - Naive 11. Mary J Blige & U2 - One 12. Nelly Furtado - Maneater 13. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child 14. Take That - Patience 15. Justin Timberlake - SexyBack 16. Pink - Who Knew 17. Sugababes - Red Dress 18. Beyonce - Irreplacable 19. Muse - Starlight 20. The Killers - When You Were Young

Quite an exceptional year for the charts... There were about 40 songs in that list I considered worthy of points. Even acts I generally disliked at the time (PCD, GA, Ne-Yo stand up) were pulling it out of the bag 01. Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me 02. Katy Perry - Hot N Cold 03. Kelly Rowland - Work 04. The Killers - Human 05. Goldfrapp - A&E 06. Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire 07. Coldplay - Viva La Vida 08. Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind 09. Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody 10. MGMT - Kids 11. MGMT - Time To Pretend 12. Ne-Yo - Closer 13. Elbow - One Day Like This 14. Alphabeat - Fascination 15. Duffy - Mercy 16. Duffy - Warwick Avenue 17. Sugababes - Denial 18. Pussycat Dolls - I Hate This Part 19. Beyonce - If I Were A Boy 20. Amy MacDonald - This Is The Life

01. Groove Armada & Mutya Buena - Song 4 Mutya 02. Nelly Furtado - Say It Right 03. Bloc Party - Flux 04. Robyn - With Every Heartbeat 05. The Killers - Read My Mind 06. Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive 07. Freemasons - Uninvited 08. Avril Lavigne - When You're Gone 09. Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around Comes Around 10. Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse - Valerie 11. Timbaland & OneRepublic - Apologize 12. Rihanna - Umbrella 13. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love 14. Take That - Rule The World 15. Sugababes - About You Now 16. Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough 17. Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks 18. Mason & Princess Superstar - Perfect (Exceeder) 19. Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The 80s 20. Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby

I'm really not at all sure what that shrill harpy Marina is doing there, but beyond that not a terrible top 10 at all.