Blood Rite at Guildhall Courtyard

The show was advertised as A spectacular, digitally-animated new outdoor dance show. Set on the site of London’s Roman amphitheatre, an explosive fusion of urban dance, music and video projection transforms the facades of Guildhall Yard. Using the latest technology in motion tracking, combined with live dance and cutting edge hip-hop music, Blood Rite shows an unforgettable series of provocative scenes that both reveal the horror of the arena and celebrate the perseverance of the gladiatorial spirit. Commissioned by the City of London Corporation.

We had watched other digitally animated shows at this location and were quite excited about it.

This year (20 & 21 October 2017), the animation was beamed across 3 sides of the square rather than just one and there was a large stage erected in front of the museum for the dancers.

The information we saw was that the show would last 20 minutes, so we expected the show to be repeated at every 30 minute interval. However when we reached there at 7:30, the show was half way through, so we caught the tail end of it.

The dancing was nice, but I don't know how much it added to the experience. Plus there was very bright light from the side near the church, so all the ambiance and the magical feel of previous shows here was kind of missing. It felt like you had arrived at the rehearsals of the show rather than the show itself, if that makes sense. The animation wsan't very informative either.

City of London puts up some amazing shows, but unfortunately this one, did not take our breath away like some of the shows that preceded this.

Culinary Genius at ITV London Studios

Headed to ITV London Studios to watch a taping of a new show by Gordon Ramsay - "Culinary Genius"

When we applied, we weren't told how long it would go on, but they did recommend that audience : "bring in a packed lunch to get into the spirit of things"

1st point to note : entry to this building is not on the river bank, but at the opposite end of the building (parallel road)

Quick security and bag check at the gate and we were let in. Security again recommended that we pick up a bagged lunch before heading in. Good advice as there's nothing you can pick up inside, even if you are watching a cooking show.

It was quite interesting to watch how a cooking competition actually gets filmed. I'd love to have that army of assistants following me about in my kitchen and cleaning up after me, while I cook. Lol.

Bottled water was provided and loos were adequate.

As mentioned before, there is no place to pick up any food on the inside.

Also no photography inside the building. They are quite strict about cell phone usage too. So if you cant turn your phone to airplane mode, don't bother visiting.

They took a 45 min lunch break around 1:15, before shooting a second episode, but a lot of the audience kept leaving in between and most of them left during lunch.

Didn't get to see Gordon Ramsay, but an interesting experience for sure. Would love to see the show when it comes out, to truly appreciate an editors job.