Shark Liver Oil

"They were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should!" Shark Liver Oil returns with a canter through the Jurassic Park film where it all started to really go off the rails. From the moment a talking dinosaur appears in a dream sequence to the improbable arrival of two branches of the US military, it's one hell of a ride. And look out for the new-age facepaint...

It's Halloween so it's time for A SPOOOOOOOKY STORY! This time we've got a new author to us, a giant of the ghost story genre, a man so good at writing creepy stuff he can make it funny as well - MR James (Monty to his mates). Join us as we encounter some VERY silly decisionmaking, some questionable archaeological practice and a classic terrifying ending. Can we have a cuddle?   As always email us...

Whew! It's been a long time coming and it's a hell of a long episode. We navigate our way through what turns out to be a huge chunk of the book in Part 2. It's mostly a history lesson, filling us in on Thomas and Wolsey: The Early Years. There are highs, lows, a few laughs and some absolutely and devastating and beautiful writing. It's no Goosebumps, put it that way.  Thoughts? sharkliveroilpodcas...

Hello again old friend! Shark Liver Oil returns with a readthrough of Hilary Mantell's Wolf Hall. In Part 1 we meet our rags to riches hustler Thomas Cromwell as as he starts his ascent to become one of King Henry VIII's most trusted advisors. We're introduced to some of the main characters of the story including Cardinal "get me some cherries" Wolsey and Stephen "glass half empty" Gardiner. And w...

The final part of our readthrough of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling. You've heard of Hell in a Cell, well this is Danger in the Chamber as the book ends in a multiple threat matchup between Harry, Volders, a basilisk, a phoenix, a hat, a sword, Ron and a self-aggrandising memory charming soon to be ex-teacher. Fight!

The third of our four parter on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Important questions abound including: just how bad are the terms and conditions for the Hogwarts teaching staff? Why won't Harry take his glasses off to play Quiddich? And why oh why won't any of the adults do something about Ron's dangerously defective wand?    sharkliveroilpodcast@gmail.com is the place to send your suggest...

IT'S TIME for another installment of our read-through of the second Harry Potter book! This time out we've gotmore fallout from the Car Caper, surprising shifts of comedy and darkness, and, above all, more on how on earth Dumbledore chooses these teachers. And the promise of more capers to come! As always get in touch if you've got questions, ideas, thoughts or comments - sharkliveroilpodcast@gmai...

We've returned with our read-through of the second Harry Potter book. This week we enjoy all the fun and frolicks of a totally normal Dursley evening hosting a leading member of the drill industry, a bit of light grand theft auto involving a disappearing car, ancient tree vandalism and some serious early shenanigans involving Mcgonagall and the House Cup. What a start!   Reviews, comments, hellos...

The crypt door creaks, the bat flaps against the uncaring moon, and strange, uncanny things happen, such as Shark Liver Oil releasing another podcast episode! WE'RE BACK and as always it's our favourite tradition, the Halloween Spooky Special, that's made us revenant once more. This time it's Edgar Allen Poe's classic tale of a tale told by a heart, which is actually told by a person, who is so sa...

Dave has never seen it, Matt has loved it for years, and a surprisingly large number of people online think it's got problems - and it bloody has - but the good shines through, and it's a lovely old job. It's a Wonderful Life has elderly angels in questionable underclothes, remarkably clear explainers of banking and debt, and a feel-good crescendo to beat them all. But we all know the real game is...

We've gone back to the Goosebumps well for our Halloween Spooky Special this year. It's the first one in the series, so probably the best one right? We encounter a spooky house, some spooky kids and a man in a cowboy hat who lures children into his car. Doesn't get more horrific than that.   Get your feedback in to sharkliveroilpodcast@gmail.com  

In the final part of our read-through of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, we continue to be blown away by the quality of what we’ve got to read. And it’s not just the writing - it’s the sheer chutzpah of McGonagall, kneecapping her own house in the cup competition. It’s the sheer insanity of Hogwarts’ detention policy, which somehow involves centaurs who can somehow click their hooves. An...

In part 3 of our read-through of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, we have our first encounter with Quidditch and it's one for the ages. In Harry's second game the entire hopes of Gryffindor House rest once again on the shoulders of a first year student, the referee is literally out to get him and the backup seeker has gone AWOL. But come on lads...it's Hufflepuff. Also in this...

It’s part 2 of our read-through of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or Sorceror’s Stone if you’re in America), and the magic continues! We discover some key information this time: Snape’s pre-game ritual, the secret baller life of Hufflepuff House, and the questionable quality of the Hogwarts Megabus, to name but a few.   We’ve got two episodes of this one left after this, so send in your...

Welcome to the first part of our read through of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/ Sorcerer's Stone (depending on where you live). In this episode we meet Harry for the first time, gasp in awe as a middle aged drill-makng executive has a complete nervous breakdown and wonder whether lovely Hagrid really was the best man for the job of protecting the wizarding world's most important child. It's g...

Happy New Year! It might be a little late but you bet your ass that we recorded this in full festive mode on Christmas Eve. So sit back, relax and re-live an absolute Christmas classic as we take you through all the thrills, spills and suspected broken bones of that Christmas classic Home Alone! Merry Christmas, happy new year and have a brilliant 2020! 

It’s time for the Halloween spooky special! Every year we read one of literature’s great scary classics (except for when we do Goosebumps) and this year it’s a doozy - a readthrough and discussion of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. As always we’ll be digging into the huge and important questions - was this the first ever haunted house? Why not just play Wonderwall? Is that really...

Did you hate it? Did you love it? Whatever you thought, it’s the END OF THE SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, and we’re sprinting through the finish line with a degree of spriteliness that is WHOLLY INAPPROPRIATE to the ending of the story. But what can you do? Shark’s gonna Shark. This final episode of our coverage features the great unanswerable questions: is war ever justified? Are dragons all secretly ant...

We may as well nail our colours to the mast straight away with this one.. we liked it. Sure, there were a few issues with how we got to this point, which meant one or two of the character moments may have not quite been what they could have been, but take a step back and leave your predictions at the door and this is one pretty awesome episode of television. We explain why we liked it while re-liv...

We’re watching the last season of Game of Thrones so we can get some narrative closure on the series, and it’s all controversy, all the time this week. We’re going through Episode 4 of Game of Thrones’ eighth season, which is called The Last of The Starks, which does not contain anything you might be expecting: INCLUDING the setup for the comedy spinoffs we’re all begging for: Tormund and Brienne...

Matt and Dave talk you through the biggest battle yet on Game of Thrones, an episode that ended up somewhere between a thrilling rollercoaster ride and a loud, confusing trundle through a ghost train. We loved so much about this episode - the Dothraki charge, the Unsullied last stand, Beric and Jorah's ends and Arya's injury time winner. We had problems with how dark some of it was, how so many of...

We’re getting our Song of Ice and Fire fix from the TV, and this week, it’s episode 2 of the final series of Game of Thrones: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. It’s a tense one, and perhaps the most unsettling thing is that an awful lot of characters have suspiciously complete character arcs. Grey Worm is even talking about how he’s one last job from retirement. It’s all set-up, and it’s all rich st...

We're covering the final season of Game of Thrones. Yes, this is supposed to be a books podcast but we're sick of waiting for George to finish his writing so we're turning to television for closure. We'll bring you a week by week recap of every episode. But wait! There's more! This week we have a special bonus section at the end where we predict what's going to happen to each character. We'll keep...

In the fourth and final part of Lord of the Flies: Roger releases a boulder, Ralph runs for his life and Piggy takes a tumble. Will any of the boys get off the island alive? We've also got your reviews and thoughts on the book.    sharkliveroilpodcast@gmail.com  is the place to get in touch if you want to add your thoughts to the mix.

We read the classics with a sideways view, and today we’re reading from ’Shadows and Tall Trees' to ‘A View to a Death’ in William Golding’s classic ‘Lord of the Flies’. We’ll level with you: it gets dark. And it’s a masterpiece.    As always, get in touch with your thoughts: @sharkliveroil on Twitter or sharkliveroilpodcast@gmail.com.