*‘This post is a collaboration with TV Licensing
In this super busy world, time to rest and relax is often at a premium. Running my own business, as well as having 3 kids, who also have the demands of after-school clubs and commitments, means that often my life is planned and scheduled to the max. For this reason, I have had to really focus on self-care and make sure that I plan in regular time, both for myself and for all of us as a family.
How that self-care looks can vary from week to week. Sometimes that can be a family board game or a walk in the sunshine (if we’re lucky!) with the dog. Another firm favourite as a family is snuggling up on the sofa together (dog too, of course) and watching some of our favourite shows. My children love nothing more than watching films on TV and BBC iPlayer has plenty of family-friendly films to choose from for our family movie nights. My husband and I enjoy watching a great show together and submerging ourselves in different worlds with our feet up in the evening, sharing our views and predicting what’s going to happen next.
Due to our busy lives, I am a big fan of BBC iPlayer, because it allows us to watch shows on our schedule and fit them in when it works for us. Having three neurodivergent children, it also means they can put their favourite shows on after school and learn more facts about their special interests too. I have lost count of the number of times Walking with Dinosaurs and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures have been played in this house. I wonder if there’s a record for something like that…?
Doing Valentine’s Day Differently
For Valentine’s Day this year, we decided to make it about the love for our family and had a really lovely family film night. Money was still tight after Christmas, so this was a great budget-friendly option where we could all connect and have some time together. We all snuggled up under blankets in our PJs with bowls of warm popcorn and watched a broadcast of Shrek – such an oldie, but a goodie. It was such a simple moment, but it was a nice evening, everyone laughed and went to bed with full tummies.
Master Chef Who?
One of my fondest memories from last summer was having a really big watch-through of a couple of series of Master Chef with our teen. He’s 13, and I often find getting the balance of the right shows that will hold his interest a bit tricky, especially at his age. But he became really invested in Master Chef, he had opinions on the contestants and who made the best meals. And he also got into cooking at home with us, which was wonderful. We would be cooking and he would suggest fun twists to recipes to make them more interesting, like making tomatoes into flowers, or ‘deconstructing’ meals to make them a bit different. It still makes me smile thinking about it now. I think he fancied himself a spot on the next show!
The Obsession That Was Ludwig
If you have not watched Ludwig yet, firstly, where have you been? And secondly, you need to start watching it… like right now, as soon as you have finished reading this post! The show became a bit of an obsession for my husband and I last year. We both love David Mitchell and his depiction of the puzzle-loving identical twin of a Police Chief as he swaps places with him after his brother goes missing had us gripped! It was just so, so good and it really kept us guessing.
Waterloo Road Who Knew Schools Could Be So Exciting?
A new-to-us-but old-to-everyone-else show has to be Waterloo Road. My husband has affectionately nicknamed it ‘Grange Hill for grown-ups’, the up-and-down world of a school in Rochdale. What we like is that it’s an engaging drama without the melodrama of a soap. We’re not big soap watchers in this house – no shade, of course, if they’re a love of yours. My husband and I like to play a game while we watch, predicting what’s going to happen next and enjoy being ridiculously outraged at some of the characters’ behaviour.
Relaxing Time
While our TV is far from our only way of relaxing, good quality TV shows make for an important part of our relaxation time as a family. Either all together or my husband and I as a couple. I like to watch shows with intention and purpose rather than endlessly doom-scrolling, and the BBC iPlayer is a really great way to do this.
The Benefits of a TV Licence
DoYour TV Licence lets you enjoy a huge range of TV. It covers you for:
• All TV channels, like BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Dave and international channels – but you don’t need a licence if you only watch non-BBC channels on-demand
• Pay TV services, like Sky, Virgin Media, and BT – but these are platforms that could have both live and on-demand services
• Live TV on streaming services, like YouTube and Amazon Prime Video
• Everything on BBC iPlayer.
This includes recording and downloading. On any device.
What are your favourite TV shows to watch on the BBC right now?