The Watch List - Sept/Oct | Just Add Ginger

The Hills | DVD 

There are some TV series that every now and again I get the urge to watch. It's like a craving. And The Hills is one of those shows. Even after all these years I still get completely swept up in watching the everyday dramas of these twenty-something year olds. It's the perfect background entertainment for times where I do need to have something I can dip in and out of in between being a mum, and for some bizarre reason, whenever I watch it I want to get up and do housework, which is an utterly strange, but positive bonus.

The Great British Bake Off | All4

Even though I missed Mary Berry's final series last year, I have always been quite a Bake Off fan. So knowing it had changed hands, and had been given a bit of a Channel 4 makeover with new hosts and potentially a new structure, I went into watching it this time round with my sceptical hat on. 

At first I really wasn't sure. The dynamic between Noel and Sandi just wasn't the same as the banter that Mel and Sue had and it was something I quite missed. Now however, catching up with GBBO has become one of our weekly rituals and I'm finding myself rather warmed to the new lineup. 

As for favourite contestants, I'd really like to see Liam win this year. He's been a bit of an underdog throughout the competition but week-by-week he's started to come into his own. 

The Apprentice | BBC One

Just like Bake Off, The Apprentice is something I watch religiously every week. It's reappearance on  TV is the signal to me that Christmas is coming, and it just instantly makes me have that warm fuzzy feeling inside. 

The first few weeks always make me cringe and I spend most of the time wincing and hiding behind a cushion, but once all the contestants find their feet out comes this passionate, opinionated woman from within me who shouts at the screen, utterly convinced she could do things better (even though I would be utterly pants if I were on the show).

I try not to have a favourite contestant because every year without fail it is those who leave the show. It's like a curse. There hasn't been one year where any of my top picks have made it to the final rounds. So this year I'm keeping my thoughts to myself and hopefully I'll have finally backed a winner.

Don't Tell The Bride | All4

I have been a fan of this show for so long. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, and it makes me swear like a trooper at the TV screen. As fantastic as it is frustrating, now that all the past series plus current episodes are on All4 I quite regularly find myself binge-watching show after show when Eric is asleep or it is a sleepy Saturday morning. 

When we were engaged there was a part of me that thought it would've been quite fun to apply to Don't Tell The Bride, but Ryan and I were on the same page so much I think we would've made pretty boring contestants. For couples who claim to know each other so well it's sometimes difficult to believe that some of the weddings you see take place. Unless the whole point has been to put ideas forward that are intended to provoke their other halves purely for the entertainment factor, in which case it's a bit of a farce. 

But perhaps that's just me being cynical...