hoiking stuff, not hauking stuff, which is something else entirely..
i know. i haven't done a meme for ages!!
here's stuff about me most of you probably know, but hey, it's never to late to brush up on the revision beforehand...
oh, and i pinched this from enchochada
Name: Devi or Dee to the guys in work.
Birthday: 26th July. Sometimes it’s the 25th but I was actually born on the 26th.
Place of Birth: Bristol, in the maternity ward of the hospital where I work.
Marital Status: Single. Some past boyfriends, girlfriends and one-nighters but nothing major.
Occupation: I’m a scrub nurse, been one for just over 5 years now. Though my official title is ‘Theatre Staff Nurse’ I’m proud to call myself a scrubber. Been working in several different specialities over the past few years; orthopaedics, plastics, general surgery. Currently working in urology which in Bristol is the most active Urology Dept. in the country, and a Centre of Excellence. Unfortunately we aren’t paid any more for that status..
Star sign: Leo
Hair : Straggly, long and blonde from a bottle. Got an appointment with my hairdresser in a few weeks to re-blonde me for the summer.
Eyes : They’ve been changing recently but they’re still blue-grey and deeper than usual.
Height : 5'11"
Weight : Fluctates depending on how often I can get to the gym and whether I can get lunch in work. Currently just over 11 stone. .
Q: Do you have a nickname?
A: Had many in the past but now currently Dee or Dee-lite (after the band).
Q: How long have you kept a weblog?
A: Since the beginning of 2005. Only livejournal too, I can’t face trying to keep more than one journal in business.
Q: Where do you live?
A: Bristol, city stuck in the crease of the West of England between there and Wales.
Q: But were you born there? If not, then where?
A: I was born there but have moved around a bit between then and now. Some time in Aberystwyth, some more time in London I guess I’m boomeranging…
Q: Tell us about your family
A: My mom and dad are still alive and still married, which among my friends is something of a rarity. I have some cousins in Birmingham, some distant cousins in Illinois, north of Chicago. That aside we are quite a small family, and if we’re honest, kinda like it that way.
Q: Describe your looks?
A: Rangy, long-limbed and something of a mirror to my interests when it comes to posture. That is I can glide if I’m feeling regal or walk like a Baltimore gangsta. My arms are still 31 inches and look longer in anything fitted, my back is long, my feet are huge but everything is delicate; which is something I am actually pleased about. Blonde hair, a smattering of tattoos on the sweeping curves I have, small-boobed but like the fact. In fact I sometimes think I resemble Sonny off ‘I Robot’. Shoes are almost always Cons, unless I’m dressing up, and if I’m honest I don’t show much flesh unless it’s above 25 degrees, which in the UK isn’t often.
Q: Tell us about your partner (or ideal partner if you haven't got one)?
A: Currently single so “ideal partner” will have to suffice. Someone who gets me, I’m technically bisexual so gender’s not an issue, but someone who sees the lack of trust and has the patience to work through the feral aspects of my personality to get to the gold beneath. Cos there be gold in them there Dee’s…
I know I’m farrrrr too complicated for most people to handle, which is a great pity for all considered, but hey, life continues.
Q: For a day out would you prefer, a theme park, a football game or spend the day in a bar?
A: A theme park. Football, soccer to me, is hideous and I’m not a big fan of gridiron if I’m honest either. I like the NFL but that explanation’s complicated. And seeing as I don’t really drink I guess it’s theme park by default.
I actually haven’t been to one in over a decade. Some things I love, like Pirate Ships, but anything that spins (like a top) will make me hurl - I speak from experience - and… I dunno. It’s like skiing, I used to do it in the nineties but life just got in the way. So yeah, Alton Towers or whatever…
Q: What do you do for a job?
A: I scrub. I am a theatre staff nurse who hands surgeons instruments when they do operations. This isn’t glamorous; it’s a highly dangerous job. Surgeons, especially senior ones, have the tendency to revert to childhood and so my job can morph into a cross between a baby-sitter (“don’t drop the forceps on the floor!”) and include the stress of a nuclear reactor technician (“I’m missing a swab! I’m missing A SWAB!!!”). Add onto this more paperwork than your average public sector employee, rotating hours and long shifts and I’m surprised I do this job. But I have the aptitude for it, caring yet utterly precise and with unshakable integrity. I fit.
And that fit-ness allows my slightly unique characteristics to be accepted/tolerated.
Q: Who would you sound like if I called you on the phone?
A: A person. Questionable age, questionable gender, and if I get a stammer block you might think there’s a problem with the line. But there isn’t. Or if there is it isn’t me. And I have used the “sorry, there’s a terrible line” technique when shutting off cold callers.
Q: Religion - do you do it? If so what?
A: Mom’s Jewish. So I’m kinda of an offshoot of that. Given my job and the ‘life is sacred’ mandate of Judaism I am allowed a little leeway. Don’t do pork, try and keep kosher and look forward to the festival days with a chance to eat well with the family and light candles. I’m definitely more a ‘Heeb’ reading, secular Brooklyn-esque Jew than a quiet, invisible religious UK Jew.
Plus I’m technically a mud-blood to quote Harry Potter so I’m happy with my secularism.
And I believe in evolution.
Q: Politics - right, left or centre?
A: Well Labour for certain, but now it’s kinda obvious they’re ALL a bunch of greedy, posh bastards I’m not sure.
Q: Do you like it hot or cold?
A: HOT! I love Middle-East hotness. Really blistering heat, going to work in shorts, leaving the windows open at night and listening to the city while you sleep naked. Love it. We ought to have more heatwaves.
Q: What book are you reading at the moment?
A: Have several on the go at once, but currently wading through Martine Cole ‘The Runaway’. Typical Cole stuff: domestic violence, East-end cockney stereotypes, prostitutes, happy happy life. Though there is an interesting sub-plot where one character is in seventies New York and gets into a spot of trouble when the Mafia and the IRA start threatening each other. But I’m basically reading it to free up space on my (groaning) bookshelf.
Q: What was the last song on your Ipod?
A: Notbroken by the Goo Goo Dolls. Currently going through their album ‘Something for the Rest of US’ on repeat. Love it.
Q: Describe your music collection?
A: Eclectic, as one surgeon actually described it last week, following the jump from Girls Aloud to The Specials. Most modern stuff, a deep vein of North American bands which some in the UK haven’t heard of (3 Doors Down, Sarah McLachlan, Silversun Pickups) and also soundtracks and scores which make people go “Eh?” when they hear it.
Q: SPORT - Yes or no?
A: I watch the NFL when I can, and the Superbowl every year, I love the Winter Olympics for the hockey and skiing. I also go to the gym whenever I can, usually on weekends, to keep my body strong and my shoulders and back supple. Those two areas of my body have structural issues so keeping the muscles around them good is a real priority for me.
Q: Do you have a website/homepage? (leave link please)
A: Yes: http://devida.livejournal.com/
Q: Do you have a celebrity crush?
A: Katherine Moennig and Christian Kane are the big two.
Q: Do you have a celebrity hate?
A: Not really, I feel nothing towards the TOWIE and Made in Chelsea crowds though. I mean, what do they do?
Q: Beer or wine?
A: Neither really. Rose wine if you twist my arm. I’m allergic to hops so beer’s off. Tipple of choice is Captain Morgan.
Q: Home or abroad?
A: Home. Though I’ve often contemplating living in America or Canada. In fact I’m going to New York in September on my own and, if I’m honest, it is a sorta personal trial to see if I could enjoy myself in North America on a daily basis.
Q: Toothbrush - are you electric or manual?
A: Manual, batteries run down on the electrics and you have to buy a new one and they cost a packet and in my opinion are in that grey area of being an ‘acceptable waste of money’.
Q: Type of the property you live in?
A: A 2 bedroom second floor apartment on a new Bovis build just down from the hospital where I work. All 10 flats in the block are filled with young professionals, with at least two of us working in the hospital and two other residents being teachers and nursery workers. Very quiet during weekdays and so far has been fairly quiet on weekends. I think this is a combination of insulation and size of the apartments rather than people’s lifestyles though.
Q: What were your best subjects at school?
A: English, anything else I was just there for the grades, nothing like photography came about until I left in ’97.
Q: Spender or saver?
A: it actually depends. If I see something I like I will buy it on the spot, if not immediately then in a few days’ time when I’ve had a chance to muse over the initial ‘thrill’ of seeing it. But if I’m not initially thrilled I won’t buy for the sake of buying. In fact I will probably save more then, and I certainly save a good chunk of my pay-check every month.
Q: What newspaper do you buy?
A: Very occasionally I buy the Independent. And I read articles online from the Guardian and the new York Times.
Q: One of life's regrets is?
A: Not going to America to study back in 2000. I needed back surgery but in my heart I could’ve delayed it. However saying that NOT going to America put events in motion that led my life in ways that are key to me being where I am now. So… if I had’ve gone then there’s a good chance the me that’s typing this would not exist. Which is a slightly brain-melting thought.
Q: Coronation St or Eastenders?
A: Neither. English soaps make as much sense to me as soccer. Boring, depressing, violent, loaded with stereotypes. I live in Bristol, I have all the above in spades thank you very much!
Q: Do you like questionnaires?
A: Depends on the questions. Intelligent = yes. For dummies = no.
Q: Where do you buy your clothes?
A: Everywhere. My biggest fashion store is definitely M&S. Their Per Una, Autograph and Indigo ranges are very good, their underwear is world-renown and their bed linen is amazing. Also Next for cute bargains and pretty things. But I also have a North American style which means I wear some NFL jackets in the wintertime, cons trainers, and also some slogan tops from the likes of Café Press. I will occasionally go to Harvey Nichols for bargains, the main ones coming from Firetrap, and I have splashed out on designer dresses from the likes of Vivian Westwood and other brands from the racks of Liberty’s in London.
Q: Cat, dog or goldfish?
A: My family has a cat that comes to us for feeding though technically he isn’t ours. Name of Yoni and he is adorable ginger, tomish and has deformed feet.
Q: Rare, medium or well done?
A: Currently I’m going through a “Nuke it” phase. But I think that uncouth, scandalous approach is drawing raised eyebrows from some restaurants I visit. Especially the French ones! So I think I will have to be a little more mature in my steak consumption.
Q: Do you drive?
A: Yes. Since 1998.
Q: Have you ever been in trouble with the law?
A: No. I try to avoid the law. The only times I have ever talked to the law I’ve been made to feel like the criminal. So my opinion of the UK Police force, even prior to the London riots, was pretty low. I know it is not their fault, and I know it probably isn’t true but the tag of racist, homophobic, inconsiderate white people is hard to shift.
Q: Is there an afterlife?
A: Well Eisenstein said that energy will last forever, and our souls power our bodies so in theory there must be something after we die. But I’m not gonna fly a plane into a building to find out.
Q: Tell me something that scares you?
A: Foreskin. And Nail-bed repair operations. When the surgeon has to rip the fingernail off with forceps to clean it and then reattach it? Makes me wanna hurl. Either that or adopt a faux-german accent and mutter the phrase “Ve have vays of making you talk, ya?”
Q: How would you describe your personality?
A: Curious, but layered. Not so much like an onion (nod to Shrek) but more like a Russian doll. To someone I don’t know I will be quiet and reserved which could be considered as being cold and aloof, but in a way I’m just curious. After I’ve figured you out I can be happy, slightly loony and always trying to make you laugh. But also deep and thoughtful. Unfortunately, this attitude does come with a price tag, and that is mild ptsd which will make me shut down like a broken clock for no obvious reason. Those moody, introverted silences do end, but even I have no idea when I’ll come out the other side of it, so in that sense I am very unpredictable.
Q: Tell us about some jobs you've had that you've loved?
A: Well, one of the first jobs I really loved was stacking shelves at night for Tescos. Pet-food, tissues and tampax were my aisles and I was efficient in all of them. You can even juggle with the latter two products, not the pet food though. And of course working on the nightshift you will see everything in a 24 hr store like Tescos.
I also worked in a café for 10 months, service cappuccino, cleaning tables and washing dishes. The perk was that we could eat for free if we were on duty. That however ended after I left the café. I think, to this day they changed that law because of me. I have a thing for cake, and free cake while working was just too much of a temptation. I don’t think the café’s summer profits were as high as they were the previous year.
Q: Name some places you've lived?
A: London, Bristol, Aberystwyth.
Q: What kind of things do you enjoy on TV?
A: Intelligent drama with well-rounded and thought-out characters and story arcs. Stuff like The Wire, Treme are great due to their fantastic attention to contemporary detail in American culture. Spartacus is just sex and blood but is actually a great script behind the swearing. And The Walking Dead is great not only cos of zombies (and when are zombies not great?) but because the show seems to continually avoid obvious plot-traps or clichés and I’m one of these people who likes their television to wrong-foot me, making my mind go “Oooh! Did not think to go there!” when some big reveal appears.
here's stuff about me most of you probably know, but hey, it's never to late to brush up on the revision beforehand...
oh, and i pinched this from enchochada
Name: Devi or Dee to the guys in work.
Birthday: 26th July. Sometimes it’s the 25th but I was actually born on the 26th.
Place of Birth: Bristol, in the maternity ward of the hospital where I work.
Marital Status: Single. Some past boyfriends, girlfriends and one-nighters but nothing major.
Occupation: I’m a scrub nurse, been one for just over 5 years now. Though my official title is ‘Theatre Staff Nurse’ I’m proud to call myself a scrubber. Been working in several different specialities over the past few years; orthopaedics, plastics, general surgery. Currently working in urology which in Bristol is the most active Urology Dept. in the country, and a Centre of Excellence. Unfortunately we aren’t paid any more for that status..
Star sign: Leo
Hair : Straggly, long and blonde from a bottle. Got an appointment with my hairdresser in a few weeks to re-blonde me for the summer.
Eyes : They’ve been changing recently but they’re still blue-grey and deeper than usual.
Height : 5'11"
Weight : Fluctates depending on how often I can get to the gym and whether I can get lunch in work. Currently just over 11 stone. .
Q: Do you have a nickname?
A: Had many in the past but now currently Dee or Dee-lite (after the band).
Q: How long have you kept a weblog?
A: Since the beginning of 2005. Only livejournal too, I can’t face trying to keep more than one journal in business.
Q: Where do you live?
A: Bristol, city stuck in the crease of the West of England between there and Wales.
Q: But were you born there? If not, then where?
A: I was born there but have moved around a bit between then and now. Some time in Aberystwyth, some more time in London I guess I’m boomeranging…
Q: Tell us about your family
A: My mom and dad are still alive and still married, which among my friends is something of a rarity. I have some cousins in Birmingham, some distant cousins in Illinois, north of Chicago. That aside we are quite a small family, and if we’re honest, kinda like it that way.
Q: Describe your looks?
A: Rangy, long-limbed and something of a mirror to my interests when it comes to posture. That is I can glide if I’m feeling regal or walk like a Baltimore gangsta. My arms are still 31 inches and look longer in anything fitted, my back is long, my feet are huge but everything is delicate; which is something I am actually pleased about. Blonde hair, a smattering of tattoos on the sweeping curves I have, small-boobed but like the fact. In fact I sometimes think I resemble Sonny off ‘I Robot’. Shoes are almost always Cons, unless I’m dressing up, and if I’m honest I don’t show much flesh unless it’s above 25 degrees, which in the UK isn’t often.
Q: Tell us about your partner (or ideal partner if you haven't got one)?
A: Currently single so “ideal partner” will have to suffice. Someone who gets me, I’m technically bisexual so gender’s not an issue, but someone who sees the lack of trust and has the patience to work through the feral aspects of my personality to get to the gold beneath. Cos there be gold in them there Dee’s…
I know I’m farrrrr too complicated for most people to handle, which is a great pity for all considered, but hey, life continues.
Q: For a day out would you prefer, a theme park, a football game or spend the day in a bar?
A: A theme park. Football, soccer to me, is hideous and I’m not a big fan of gridiron if I’m honest either. I like the NFL but that explanation’s complicated. And seeing as I don’t really drink I guess it’s theme park by default.
I actually haven’t been to one in over a decade. Some things I love, like Pirate Ships, but anything that spins (like a top) will make me hurl - I speak from experience - and… I dunno. It’s like skiing, I used to do it in the nineties but life just got in the way. So yeah, Alton Towers or whatever…
Q: What do you do for a job?
A: I scrub. I am a theatre staff nurse who hands surgeons instruments when they do operations. This isn’t glamorous; it’s a highly dangerous job. Surgeons, especially senior ones, have the tendency to revert to childhood and so my job can morph into a cross between a baby-sitter (“don’t drop the forceps on the floor!”) and include the stress of a nuclear reactor technician (“I’m missing a swab! I’m missing A SWAB!!!”). Add onto this more paperwork than your average public sector employee, rotating hours and long shifts and I’m surprised I do this job. But I have the aptitude for it, caring yet utterly precise and with unshakable integrity. I fit.
And that fit-ness allows my slightly unique characteristics to be accepted/tolerated.
Q: Who would you sound like if I called you on the phone?
A: A person. Questionable age, questionable gender, and if I get a stammer block you might think there’s a problem with the line. But there isn’t. Or if there is it isn’t me. And I have used the “sorry, there’s a terrible line” technique when shutting off cold callers.
Q: Religion - do you do it? If so what?
A: Mom’s Jewish. So I’m kinda of an offshoot of that. Given my job and the ‘life is sacred’ mandate of Judaism I am allowed a little leeway. Don’t do pork, try and keep kosher and look forward to the festival days with a chance to eat well with the family and light candles. I’m definitely more a ‘Heeb’ reading, secular Brooklyn-esque Jew than a quiet, invisible religious UK Jew.
Plus I’m technically a mud-blood to quote Harry Potter so I’m happy with my secularism.
And I believe in evolution.
Q: Politics - right, left or centre?
A: Well Labour for certain, but now it’s kinda obvious they’re ALL a bunch of greedy, posh bastards I’m not sure.
Q: Do you like it hot or cold?
A: HOT! I love Middle-East hotness. Really blistering heat, going to work in shorts, leaving the windows open at night and listening to the city while you sleep naked. Love it. We ought to have more heatwaves.
Q: What book are you reading at the moment?
A: Have several on the go at once, but currently wading through Martine Cole ‘The Runaway’. Typical Cole stuff: domestic violence, East-end cockney stereotypes, prostitutes, happy happy life. Though there is an interesting sub-plot where one character is in seventies New York and gets into a spot of trouble when the Mafia and the IRA start threatening each other. But I’m basically reading it to free up space on my (groaning) bookshelf.
Q: What was the last song on your Ipod?
A: Notbroken by the Goo Goo Dolls. Currently going through their album ‘Something for the Rest of US’ on repeat. Love it.
Q: Describe your music collection?
A: Eclectic, as one surgeon actually described it last week, following the jump from Girls Aloud to The Specials. Most modern stuff, a deep vein of North American bands which some in the UK haven’t heard of (3 Doors Down, Sarah McLachlan, Silversun Pickups) and also soundtracks and scores which make people go “Eh?” when they hear it.
Q: SPORT - Yes or no?
A: I watch the NFL when I can, and the Superbowl every year, I love the Winter Olympics for the hockey and skiing. I also go to the gym whenever I can, usually on weekends, to keep my body strong and my shoulders and back supple. Those two areas of my body have structural issues so keeping the muscles around them good is a real priority for me.
Q: Do you have a website/homepage? (leave link please)
A: Yes: http://devida.livejournal.com/
Q: Do you have a celebrity crush?
A: Katherine Moennig and Christian Kane are the big two.
Q: Do you have a celebrity hate?
A: Not really, I feel nothing towards the TOWIE and Made in Chelsea crowds though. I mean, what do they do?
Q: Beer or wine?
A: Neither really. Rose wine if you twist my arm. I’m allergic to hops so beer’s off. Tipple of choice is Captain Morgan.
Q: Home or abroad?
A: Home. Though I’ve often contemplating living in America or Canada. In fact I’m going to New York in September on my own and, if I’m honest, it is a sorta personal trial to see if I could enjoy myself in North America on a daily basis.
Q: Toothbrush - are you electric or manual?
A: Manual, batteries run down on the electrics and you have to buy a new one and they cost a packet and in my opinion are in that grey area of being an ‘acceptable waste of money’.
Q: Type of the property you live in?
A: A 2 bedroom second floor apartment on a new Bovis build just down from the hospital where I work. All 10 flats in the block are filled with young professionals, with at least two of us working in the hospital and two other residents being teachers and nursery workers. Very quiet during weekdays and so far has been fairly quiet on weekends. I think this is a combination of insulation and size of the apartments rather than people’s lifestyles though.
Q: What were your best subjects at school?
A: English, anything else I was just there for the grades, nothing like photography came about until I left in ’97.
Q: Spender or saver?
A: it actually depends. If I see something I like I will buy it on the spot, if not immediately then in a few days’ time when I’ve had a chance to muse over the initial ‘thrill’ of seeing it. But if I’m not initially thrilled I won’t buy for the sake of buying. In fact I will probably save more then, and I certainly save a good chunk of my pay-check every month.
Q: What newspaper do you buy?
A: Very occasionally I buy the Independent. And I read articles online from the Guardian and the new York Times.
Q: One of life's regrets is?
A: Not going to America to study back in 2000. I needed back surgery but in my heart I could’ve delayed it. However saying that NOT going to America put events in motion that led my life in ways that are key to me being where I am now. So… if I had’ve gone then there’s a good chance the me that’s typing this would not exist. Which is a slightly brain-melting thought.
Q: Coronation St or Eastenders?
A: Neither. English soaps make as much sense to me as soccer. Boring, depressing, violent, loaded with stereotypes. I live in Bristol, I have all the above in spades thank you very much!
Q: Do you like questionnaires?
A: Depends on the questions. Intelligent = yes. For dummies = no.
Q: Where do you buy your clothes?
A: Everywhere. My biggest fashion store is definitely M&S. Their Per Una, Autograph and Indigo ranges are very good, their underwear is world-renown and their bed linen is amazing. Also Next for cute bargains and pretty things. But I also have a North American style which means I wear some NFL jackets in the wintertime, cons trainers, and also some slogan tops from the likes of Café Press. I will occasionally go to Harvey Nichols for bargains, the main ones coming from Firetrap, and I have splashed out on designer dresses from the likes of Vivian Westwood and other brands from the racks of Liberty’s in London.
Q: Cat, dog or goldfish?
A: My family has a cat that comes to us for feeding though technically he isn’t ours. Name of Yoni and he is adorable ginger, tomish and has deformed feet.
Q: Rare, medium or well done?
A: Currently I’m going through a “Nuke it” phase. But I think that uncouth, scandalous approach is drawing raised eyebrows from some restaurants I visit. Especially the French ones! So I think I will have to be a little more mature in my steak consumption.
Q: Do you drive?
A: Yes. Since 1998.
Q: Have you ever been in trouble with the law?
A: No. I try to avoid the law. The only times I have ever talked to the law I’ve been made to feel like the criminal. So my opinion of the UK Police force, even prior to the London riots, was pretty low. I know it is not their fault, and I know it probably isn’t true but the tag of racist, homophobic, inconsiderate white people is hard to shift.
Q: Is there an afterlife?
A: Well Eisenstein said that energy will last forever, and our souls power our bodies so in theory there must be something after we die. But I’m not gonna fly a plane into a building to find out.
Q: Tell me something that scares you?
A: Foreskin. And Nail-bed repair operations. When the surgeon has to rip the fingernail off with forceps to clean it and then reattach it? Makes me wanna hurl. Either that or adopt a faux-german accent and mutter the phrase “Ve have vays of making you talk, ya?”
Q: How would you describe your personality?
A: Curious, but layered. Not so much like an onion (nod to Shrek) but more like a Russian doll. To someone I don’t know I will be quiet and reserved which could be considered as being cold and aloof, but in a way I’m just curious. After I’ve figured you out I can be happy, slightly loony and always trying to make you laugh. But also deep and thoughtful. Unfortunately, this attitude does come with a price tag, and that is mild ptsd which will make me shut down like a broken clock for no obvious reason. Those moody, introverted silences do end, but even I have no idea when I’ll come out the other side of it, so in that sense I am very unpredictable.
Q: Tell us about some jobs you've had that you've loved?
A: Well, one of the first jobs I really loved was stacking shelves at night for Tescos. Pet-food, tissues and tampax were my aisles and I was efficient in all of them. You can even juggle with the latter two products, not the pet food though. And of course working on the nightshift you will see everything in a 24 hr store like Tescos.
I also worked in a café for 10 months, service cappuccino, cleaning tables and washing dishes. The perk was that we could eat for free if we were on duty. That however ended after I left the café. I think, to this day they changed that law because of me. I have a thing for cake, and free cake while working was just too much of a temptation. I don’t think the café’s summer profits were as high as they were the previous year.
Q: Name some places you've lived?
A: London, Bristol, Aberystwyth.
Q: What kind of things do you enjoy on TV?
A: Intelligent drama with well-rounded and thought-out characters and story arcs. Stuff like The Wire, Treme are great due to their fantastic attention to contemporary detail in American culture. Spartacus is just sex and blood but is actually a great script behind the swearing. And The Walking Dead is great not only cos of zombies (and when are zombies not great?) but because the show seems to continually avoid obvious plot-traps or clichés and I’m one of these people who likes their television to wrong-foot me, making my mind go “Oooh! Did not think to go there!” when some big reveal appears.