I have Sinned by Caimh McDonnell

As with all of McDonnell’s books, this is supremely well crafted. There is a rare mix of common sense, humour and adventure within his works.

McDonnell is particularly strong in developing characters. They are all different and whatever they may be up to, they are believable. It’s nice to see characters behave rationally, doing what is the most sensible thing within the context of the novel. The adventure element is also well realised, with there being enough to get your teeth into without taking anything away from the pace of the story. The humour is very well balanced. It is present in large quantities, but not at the expense of plot. At times my laughter was loud enough to require me giving an explanation to those within the same building. McDonnell will subtly set up a joke and then 3-4 pages later a punchline you didn’t even know was in the offing will arrive.

These books are all tremendous fun to read and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Stand up from The Shed – Medical Mishaps – with Scott Bennett

This show is going from strength to strength and with any justice, by the time things go back to normal, Scott will be considerably better known than he was before lock down. If he’s not already built up a following, I’d be amazed. There were over 100 comments within minutes of the show starting and close to 600 by the end. There’s definitely the feeling of being part of something when you’re watching.

The comedy is strong and despite the community ambience, there wasn’t any jokes incomprehensible to newcomers. It was wonderful seeing Scott bantering with people making comments. Between telling Nick Mellors that he wasn’t Robinson Crusoe, he did a great impression of Kevin Daniel, which was accessible to people who didn’t even know him. As ever, Jemma was a huge attribute to the show. Scott’s reaction to her describing a pressure washer as ‘a blasting thing on the pavement’ was a lot of fun.

This is a show that is growing and developing. In the top right hand corner there was the logo ‘Shed TV’, it has its own theme (this is pleasingly upbeat), there is the wall of positivity, Question of the Week and Roy and Mags to close. It’s nice to see so much thought and structure put into content like this. Just because something is online, it doesn’t mean that the production values will be cheap. This show has quality to it, the odd tech glitch, which can happen to anyone, aside. Scott and Jemma work hard to make this show a success. Scott is full of energy and being able to deliver a new show of this size every week is nothing short of amazing. Jemma provides energy, atmosphere and her comments spur Scott to some of his best ad libs.

Question of the Week was medical mishaps. Okse’s made my eyes water. Scott’s was described very vividly, with Mags’ comments providing the punchline. Brian May’s mishap was rendered down to earth. The sketch with Scott phoning the doctor’s and speaking to the receptionist (Jemma), was very well rendered. It was great to see that so many people had written in with their own mishaps. As ever, Roy and Mags were a joy.

For those in a position to donate the link for paypal is: info@scottbennettcomedy.co.uk