A gothic castle stands alone and distant,
Alluring to friends and strangers seeking fame,
Its silent turrets loom aloof and stark,
Above those players in their chilling game.
Each night the corridors are stalked by death,
Dressed in its cloak and visage drained bone pale,
Inside the traitors mass and roll their dice,
Whilst outside in the woods the banshee wails.
Traitors. Fantastic.
(16.10.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Mike van den Bos on Unsplash
Wisecracks, one-liners, knowing looks
Join sassy walks and L.A. flats
Fat kipper ties and shoulder pads
The swelling sound of mellow sax
The fizzing tension between the leads
Temperature’s rising getting hot
Solving cases when all seems lost
With angry flirting on the job
Before Die Hard our action hero
Joined a model for a different tack
Maddie and David return tonight
Our guilty pleasure, Moonlighting’s back
Returning to the 90’s tonight with the discovery that Moonlighting’s available to stream on STV Player.
(10.10.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Farewell Major Houlihan,
The rose within ‘The Swamp’.
I never understood just what
You saw in Major Frank.
Or how you coped with Hawkeye Pierce
Or B. J. Hunnicutt,
The crossdressing of Corporal Klingor,
The madness of the camp.
But this I know, without your heart,
And mastery of stitching,
Our MAS*H would tear itself apart,
Its characters conflicted.
I was saddened to hear of the death of Loretta Swit, famous for playing Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in MAS*H, today.
(30.05.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Image Public Domain
Is it a symptom of age,
That watching TV these days,
I spend all my time, in committing the crime
Of debating just what else they’ve been in
Watching House MD tonight, I’m being taunted by a gallery of faces I’ve seen in something else before.
(10.02.25)
© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Slouched on the sofa
Watching programmes on the box
With my other half
It’s the weekend. A night to relax.
(29.11.24)
© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Michael DeMoya on Unsplash
This programme may contain…
…violence
…scenes of a sexual nature
…strong language from the start
…flashing lights, predictable plots, and wobbly sets
…nuts
…a former contestant from a singing competition
…actors you’ve seen in something else but you can’t remember what
…someone who appeared in Casualty once
…people whose diction is difficult to follow
…advert breaks at inappropriate moments
…a cliffhanger that makes you scream in frustration
…a moment that makes you shout, ‘Yes!’ in celebration
…a twist that you’ll share in the office tomorrow
…characters that become an inspiration
…a theme tune you’ll be singing for weeks
…revelations that will change a nation
…an institution the country will gather around
…tomorrow’s nostalgia today
Inspired by the warning at the beginnings of TV dramas and our personal Gogglebox conversation.
(27.08.24)
© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Pawel Kadysz on Unsplash
In an exotic isle he lies
A holiday conundrum, dead
Face down beside a nagging doubt
Beneath heaven’s blue skies overhead
The case confined to just four friends
An isolated situation
But none of them could be the murderer
An alibi by others given
Around in circles twisted knots
Until, eureka! Clarity comes
A strange coincidence occurs
Connections made, the puzzle done
They gathered in a tense circle
To hear the verdict boldly laid
Before them by the canny sluth
Who by deduction owns this stage
He walks them through it step by step
By paradise’s swaying palms
Revealing method, means and motive
Our Caribbean Sherlock Holmes
A family guilty pleasure, the murderer mystery set on St. Marie might be formulaic, but we love it.
(13.02.22)
© Ben Quant 2022
Remember when you had to wait
A week to catch the next part of
Your favourite show upon the box?
Now things have changed, diversified
There’s streaming, on demand, catch-up
And channels multiply, what choice!
The trouble is like a black hole
It pulls you in with the promise
That cliff hangers need not hang on
But now it’s late I ought to stop
As the alarm is primed to ring
But first, perhaps, another one!
We’d only meant to watch a single episode of Drop the Dead Donkey tonight, but somehow a while series had passed us by…
(12.02.22)
© Ben Quant 2022
To me this feels familiar and strange
Conflicting feelings jostle dissonant
It’s a relief to finally be back
Albeit we’re masked and social distant
Somehow, however, we’re now out of phase
Alternative dimensions are our homes
Like Schrödinger’s famous experiment
We’re both together and it seems alone
We watch each other from the corners of
Our eyes avoiding contact if we can
A living photograph doubly exposed
Collateral damage from Covid’s bans
Last night we went to see an episode of a sitcom being filmed (Andy Hamilton’s ‘Kate and Koji’). We watched a number pre-lockdown and it was lovely to be back, but noticeably the interaction in the queue and set was lacking, as if everyone else wasn’t really there.
(14.01.22)
© Ben Quant 2022
We traded favourite flavours
And swapped celebrity chefs
Compared inherited recipes
Until we had full sets
One trusted only Berry
Another Delia Smith
Some bish-bash-boshed with Jamie
But I like Nadiya best
A quick doodle today after over heating a conversation at foodbank about cookery.
(31.12.21)
© Ben Quant 2021
Ode for the Day 