Put your hand up if the conclusion to Lethal White’s investigation left you nonplussed and the killer revelation felt by-the-by. Now put your other hand up if that’s basically fine because you couldn’t give a McVitie’s fig roll who murdered Jasper Chiswell, or why, or by what means. Finally, take both hands down, make loose fists and draw a scruffy Cornish beard on one and the face of an English rose on the other, then smoosh them together while making kissy noises....

In case you’re wondering, that is indeed the most anyone has ever spent on a video game (at least we hope it is). Interestingly, the previous record for the most expensive video game ever belonged to an $870,000 copy of The Legend of Zelda that was sold just two days earlier as part of the same auction event. Everyone was surprised to see that already impressive record broken in a handful of hours (at the same auction, no less) including Heritage’s own video game specialist, Valarie McLeckie....

Wait…why are we calling this a first issue when everyone knows we’ve been putting out print editions since 2015? For starters, we wanted to renew our commitment to our fans. Our print mag has always been a showcase for some of the best work this team can do, whether through exclusive access to the biggest movies and TV shows or in-depth explorations of past favorites. With the prospect of mass gatherings at comic cons in the immediate future still uncertain at best, we hope our quarterly editions give you a little fun while you stay home and kick back until we can all go to the movies, or better yet conventions, together again....

If you’ve yet to have the pleasure, and would like a steer as to which series are the best of this show, then here’s our attempt to lead you though the highs and less-highs (full runs only here, no Champion of Champions or New Year Treats included). Please note that this ranking was produced by democratic process, which means that even we don’t agree with it (the Daisy May Cooper one was robbed – Ed)....

Tonight’s Series 14 finale was no different, and we now know we can look forward to seeing Frankie Boyle, Jenny Eclair, Ivo Graham, Mae Martin and Kiell Smith-Bynoe doing very silly things for Alex Horne and Greg Davies in Series 15. We’ve just said goodbye to Fern Brady, John Kearns, Munya Chawawa, Dara Ó Briain and Sarah Millican as Series 14 reached its climax and Dara Ó Briain was crowned the Taskmaster champion....

Of a wealth of great horror TV shows in existence, the below represents our pinnacle. 13 being so few, these are English-language only (so no Les Revenants, Marianne, Kingdom or The Kingdom for that matter) and had to be series instead of one-offs (so no Ghost Watch). They’re not horror-comedies either, otherwise it would only have been fair to give every single spot to What We Do In The Shadows....

Plex offers a one-stop-shop streaming service offering 50,000+ free titles and 200+ of free-to-stream live TV channels, from the biggest names in entertainment, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, Legendary, AMC, A+E, Crackle, and Reuters. Plex is always overflowing with thousands of new and old familiar favorites on its platform and we’re here to happily select the cream of the crop. This month, our picks include techno horror, harrowing true stories, psychological drama, and more....

The biggest question facing Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) for the latter half of Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 is clearly whether or not she’ll end up being a good cat-sitter for Book’s cat Grudge. Seriously, that cat hates her! Remember when Spot scratched Riker in “Timescape” and then time was frozen? Nobody wants a repeat of that! All kidding aside, in addition to Book leaving his cat Maine Coon Cat, Grudge, in Michael’s care, DISCO’s resident space badass has also skipped out on the crew, stolen an experimental portable version of the Spore Drive, and now intends to deliver a highly illegal weapon into the heart of the Dark Matter Anomaly with the help of a questionable scientist who may or may not be from an alternate universe....

2020 has been a wild and unpredictable year for most of us, but it also brought with it a ton of key cultural incidents and shifts that kept online news and trade outlets pretty busy at their keyboards. As we finally grind toward the end of a very weird 12 months, we’ve been looking back at some of the more stand-out moments in geek culture, which we’ll recap with you here....

Yes, the new live-action series will pick up right where Boba and assassin Fennec Shand‘s story left off. Boba and Fennec have already killed off what remained of Jabba the Hutt’s goons at his palace, which means the gangster’s old territory is now theirs for the taking. “The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the Galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate,” reads the official synopsis, which teases a direction for Boba that’s very different to the path he walked in the old Legends continuity....

Flash back, if you will, to March 19, 2020. Things are looking pretty bleak. The COVID-19 pandemic has officially kicked off by just about any metric. The NBA has ended its season prematurely. Tom Hanks has contracted the virus. And everyone is starting to learn about the concept of “social distancing.” Just when it seems as though things can’t possibly get worse, the celebs decide that it’s up to them to do something, anything to cheer us all up....

The Dark Tower has arrived on the big screen, bringing with it one of the most extensive mythologies in all of literature. Since 1978, King has been creating a web of connections between many of his most famous novels, such as ‘Salem’s Lot and The Stand, and it all leads back to the Tower, the most important structure in all of the Kingverse. Director Nikolaj Arcel’s film adaptation contains so many references and easter eggs to the books and movies that I’ve decided to dissect The Dark Tower for all of its secrets....

You will though, you’ll even come to love them. Just as the spikiest people can be the most vulnerable, this show’s aggressive nihilism conceals a tender and romantic centre. Its eight episodes are essentially the story of two young people damaged by abandonment who find temporary solace in each other. With a bit of murder. Seventeen-year-old James has a plan. Testing out his self-diagnosed status as a psychopath, he wants to graduate from killing pets to murdering humans....

That religious chiller is still renowned as the greatest horror movie of all time, and it starts a run on Netflix this week. When director William Friedkin made The Exorcist in 1973, his initial cut was two hours and 20 minutes. Over several objections by producer and screenwriter William Peter Blatty (who adapted his own novel), Friedkin pruned away 20 minutes or so, bringing the film in at a tight two hours....

Not bad for a show that only ran one season, right? While there were a number of factors that contributed to CBS’ The Flash not getting a second season, the people behind it at least knew how they wanted the second season to kick off. And while planning for it didn’t get very far, the first episode of The Flash season 2 would have upped the show’s game and brought it a little closer to its comic book roots....

The second episode of The Gilded Age may only be half the length of the series’ premiere, but “Money Isn’t Everything” ironically finds more breathing room for the development of its most important characters and for viewers to see how the main and supporting cast are engaging or ignoring the nouveau riche vs old money turf war. The opening scene turns the audience towards Agnes and Ada’s staff, who didn’t get a lot of dedicated screen time last week....

The Gilded Age Episode 5 This week’s episode of The Gilded Age shows Bertha turning a new leaf in her quest to join high society. She seizes opportunities to spend George’s cash on philanthropy and makes a critical step in becoming closer to becoming a part of high society. Bertha’s attempts also end up helping Marian and Peggy along with their own agendas. The episode also delivers on a guest star teaser fans have been waiting for....

I want to take a second to talk about the Justice Friends. The original two-season run of Dexter’s Laboratory not only focused on the main misadventures of the boy genius and his bratty sister Dee Dee, but it had two side-cartoons that popped up here and there. One was Dial M for Monkey, where it turned out Dexter’s lab monkey was secretly superpowered and spent his time fighting world-threatening enemies behind Dexter’s back....

That’s exactly the question we’re asking. In Netflix historical drama The Last Kingdom, “complete shit” doesn’t begin to cover Aethelred. Toby Regbo’s character in the series is a cowardly, scheming, abusive rapist who tries to have his wife murdered and plots to overthrow his father-in-law, King Alfred of Wessex. Aethelred’s a dangerous egotist driven by self-regard, with no concern for his people. But what say the history books? Is there evidence that the real Aethelred was such a swine?...

“Life is about growth; it’s about change…” With Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full swing, having already introduced a couple of major new characters (Doctor Strange, Spider-Man) and raised the stakes for the Earth-bound Avengers (in Captain America: Civil War), it was time for the Mighty Thor’s third big-screen outing. It’s fair to say, though, that the God of Thunder was in need of a bit of a rethink after his largely soulless second adventure, The Dark World....